2 Room Decor DIYs Using Paper Bag - Upcycle DIY

Hey everybody, my name is Sunny. This week I will be transforming used paper takeout bags into these lovely room decors. Not only will you beautify your room while saving some money, but also doing a great deed for the environment.

Save one of your clean paper bags you get from take outs, and cut it open along the seam, then cut out the bottom. Paper bags are usually made from craft paper that have high elasticity, high tear resistance and are designed for strength and durability, which make them a great material for DIY projects.

Once it is opened up, you get a flat sheet of paper with endless possibilities.

I am going to cut off seam because it’s a tougher area than the rest. Now we are ready to cut it into paper strips. Fold in the paper on the longer edge for about an inch, and cut it off with scissors or an x-acto knife. Please be careful not to hurt yourself.

Now I am going to twist the strip into a twine like rope. I see a lot of twine being used in room décor from stores like anthropology, and I really love the look, which is what inspired my upcycle DIY project for this week.

The rope It does not have to be neat at all, but twist it tightly. You will need several strips, it’s a great activity for when you are just watching TV or Netflix.

Ok, let’s make the heart shaped twine coaster.

Harvest a piece of plastic from an old package, and cut out a heart shape, or any shape you want. This is the time to get creative.

Next, take your hot glue gun, and outline the edge with glue. You might want to lay down a sheet of paper to protect your work surface. Then quickly place the twine like rope we made along the edge. I recommend using a low temperature hot glue gun because it wouldn’t melt the plastic and is less likely to burn your hand if you accidentally touch it. Glue it in sections so the glue does not dry out before you get there.

Continue to follow the outline and circle the rope inwards. When you reach the end of one rope, just continue with another one. Try to glue the rope as tightly to each other as possible so there are no gaps.

When you reach the center cut of the excess rope, and you are good to go. The paper bag material is durable and water resistant.

The next DIY is super easy



Keep one of your plastic drink cups, or use any container you want, and start gluing the rope around the cup, gradually wrapping it around the cup upwards.

Again, glue it in sections so the glue does not dry out. Wrap the rope tightly next to each other so there are not gaps, and after a little while, you just transformed a plain looking plastic cup to a gorgeous room decoration.

  

I hope I have inspired you to get creative and upcycle.

Chinese Eggplant Side Dish - 蒜茄子

We are told to eat more colourful food all the time, so today I am going to show you a side dish made with the purple vegetable, the eggplants, called 蒜茄子, meaning garlic marinated eggplant. It’s a very traditional side dish from the north eastern part of China, which is where I am from, and I grew up eating this stuff. I hated eggplant as a child, but I loved 蒜茄子. The eggplant is salty and is infused with a mild garlic taste, but the garlic looses its bite from the marinate. Let’s go make it.  

The ingredients are very simple, it’s just eggplant, garlic and salt.

The ideal eggplant to use are these long and thin Chinese eggplants.  But it’s not readily available to me, so I will be using the round and chubby kind. 

The first thing we want to do is to get rid tip part that’s connected to the stem since the fiber is too hard to eat. Then let’s cut the eggplant down in size. I am going to cut it in half, then again in quarters, and once more, until it’s about 1 inch in thickness. I am also going to cut it in half lengthwise so it fit my pot. 

Place everything in a steamer, I am going to use my rice cooker, and we are going to steam it for about 15 minutes.  If you steam it for too long, it will be soft and mushy, if steamed too short, it wouldn’t be cooked enough.

While we wait for the eggplant to steam, let’s chop some garlic. You will need about 8 large garlic gloves. The easiest way to peel garlic is to smash it down really hard, and the skin just separate by itself. 

We want to finely mince the garlic, so a food processor will help, or just run your knife through it back and forth, then place it into a bow. 

We are going to add one table spoon of salt. Mix it well with the garlic. You can adjust the amount of salt to taste.

After 15 minutes, take the eggplants out of the steamer and allow it to cool to room temperature. Handle it gentally because it’s very soft

Once it’s cooled, take the eggplant and rip it open in the middle, and spread a generous amount of the salt and garlic mixture in the middle. I find hands work the best. Close up the eggplant, and do the same to all the rest. Compared to just rubbing the marinate on the surface, more of the salty garlic flavor will be infused into the eggplant by stuffing it in the middle. If you run out of the garlic and salt mixture, you can always chop up some more.

Once all the eggplants are stuffed, cover it with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for at least a day.

To serve, tear up the eggplant into threads. you can sprinkle on some green onion and sesame seeds for texture and flavor. Since it’s a side dish, you eat it along with rice and other dishes.  Or it’s great to eat with congee all by itself.

I hope you will give it a try, I will post more Chinese recipes soon~

Health Breakfast Egg Pancake - 家常蔬菜蛋饼

I love to cook, and homemade food is always the best. So I want to share with you some of my favorite dishes. Today, I am going to make health breakfast egg pancake fast food. I call it fast food because it literally takes 7 minutes to make the whole thing. It’s flavorful, it’s healthy and it’s delicious.

The ingredients you will need are:

½ cup of flour

½ teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon hot sauce of your choice, but I do recommend using 老干妈 hot sauce, you can find it in Asian supermarkets and some local grocery stores.

1 egg

1/4 cup of frozen peas and corn or any vegetable of your choice.

And lastly you will need some water.

Throw all the ingredients to a bowl, and I added to it about a 1/3 cup of water. 

Mix everything well using a fork or a balloon whisk. Add a bit more water if the mixture is a little thick, it should be runny consistency.

If you are not using a non-stick pan, the trick to making any pan nonstick is a hot pan, hot enough that you drop water into it, it forms a droplet and rolls around. At this point, turn the heat down to medium-low and add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and spread it evenly.

Pour everything into the pan, and spread it out evenly. Let it cook on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

When you see the edges are cooked, flip it around in one swift motion and cook for another 3 minutes, and it’s done.

You can add more of the hot sauce to taste, and sprinkle on some green onions for color and texture. My secret to make it extra tasty is to drizzle some mayo.

The pancake is soft, the peas and corn give a pop of texture and flavor throughout, the green onion adds a bit of crunch and freshness to the mix, and the "Lao gan ma" hot sauce gives it great flavor. I hope you will try it out, and I will be back shortly. 

Girly 3D Diamond Room Decor Idea

I am back with another DIY~

You probably do not know, but I have a Youtube channel where I post cute DIY videos every week. Feel free to check it out Here to gain some inspiration for you next creative, simple, and most importantly, budget friendly DIY project.

I am a big fan of upcycling DIYs. Not only is it great for the environment to turn useless stuff into something that's useful, it's also easy on the wallet.

This week I have another upcycle DIY project for you all. It's a decorative 3D diamond wall art I made with straws, string and some paint. I am 100% sure you can do it too.

Click HERE to subscribe to my Youtube channel~ Thanks for the support!

Click HERE for more DIY inspirations

Fun Summer DIY You Should Try

I hope you are enjoying the warm summer weather and the cool summer drinks. Remember to save a clear drinking cup to make this adorable terrarium. This is a cute DIY that makes a perfect addition to any rooms.

All of the things I used to make the terrarium were collected during my summer trips, reminding me of the awesome times whenever I look at it. Hope you guys will make it too~

Click HERE to subscribe to my Youtube channel~ Thanks for the support!

Click HERE for more DIY inspirations

[Sunny DIY] Easy Earphone Sleeve / Wrap

It's been a while,
This super easy way to make a earphone sleeve will jazz up any boring old cable. I hope you try it out someday


Hope it will become handy! Remember to subscribe for more DIY videos by clicking HERE

Check out more DIY tutorials by clicking HERE

Everything You Need for Father's Day

Father's Day is coming up, and we seriously don't pay enough attention to it. I found this interesting infographics that compares Mother's Day spending to Father's Day. I have to say, I feel a little bad for the dads out there.

So save us all from the guilt of paying too little attention to Father's Day, I have two awesome DIY gift ideas that your dad will love to have this father's day

[Sunny DIY] Strawberry Shortcake Plushy DIY

Here is the templates you need to make your own strawberry shortcake~ (click on the image, then right click to "save image as")

You can enlarge or shrink the template to make different size shortcakes. Have fun making it.

Check out the video below for the instructions <3

My 2014 Year in Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's been five days into 2015, and things have been fine. I feel like everyone puts so much pressure to start off the new year on a positive note, and any imperfections in his/her life  now will some how predict their fortune for the whole year. No, December 31, 2014 is just as valuable as January 1, 2015. So I do not set any new year resolutions, I just enjoy every day as it comes, and set new goals to improve myself any day of the year. 

For the past month every one have been posting their year end review on Facebook, and since I rarely post anything on Facebook, the pictures Facebook pulled up for me really isn't a great representation of my year. I felt a little bummed out because I could not show off the awesome adventures I went on, and my year somehow felt less exciting than everyone else's.

So I am going to do a little review here, and I will even throw in a few never before posted photos as well.

January:

I started the year in Wuxi, China, and welcomed 2014 with a traditional Buddhist New Year ceremony. My boyfriend's family and I had the pleasure to struck the 88th ring of the great bell in the Buddhist temple. (88 is a super lucky number in Chinese culture). The night was super cold, but it was a lot of fun. We prayed to the Buddha and wrote down our wishes. After the ceremony was done, we ran back to the car and went back to our warm home. I did not take any pictures that day because I think it's disrespectful to take pictures at religious settings. 

We returned to Canada in mid-January

In Nanjing, China

February:

By February, I was suffering vacation withdraw, so Draco (the boyfriend) took me to Niagara Falls, Ontario for Valentines day. Although I have been to Niagara a million times, and probably never wish to return again. This was actually the one and only time I went to Niagara with Draco. We played mini golf, visited Ripley's Believe It or Not museum and ate a lot of food. It was a short trip but funnies.

 March:

In March, I started my Youtube channel Sunny DIY. I have posted videos to Youtube occasionally over the years, but this time I am committed to post weekly DIY videos.  DIY is my passion and hobby, and I thoroughly enjoy it. With the motivation from my boyfriend, I am proud to say I have been able to consistently post new videos every week for the past 9 months. As with anything else, there is a learning curve, and I have pulled down some of my videos, so, unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to see some of the initial videos any more.

Escape room was the latest thing at this point and my friend and I attempted, but epically failed at escaping from a locked room.

May:

I had a few vacation days left for my fiscal year, so Draco and I went back to Montreal. We revisited some of my favourite restaurants and ventured to a number of new places. We also went to our first board game cafe in Montreal. At the board game cafe, we were invited to market test a new board game. It was fun to participate in something not everyone has a chance to do and to play a game that's not yet in market, plus we got a free drink out of it.

McGill University campus, Montreal, QC

I also chopped off my long hair (about 8 inches) in May. The next time I cut off my hair, I will be donating it to the Canadian Cancer society to make wigs for cancer patients.

June:

The temperature was finally heating up in Toronto as summer arrived. Toronto in the summer is really fun, I visited a few neighbouring towns, went to pick Strawberrys and participated in a few local events.

St. Jacob, ON

Strawberry picking

July:

I was invited to up-state New York  (Sullivan County) to the awesome Beaver Brook cabin. One of my favourt things to do is to hang out with new friends, doing new things. I had a ton of fun the last time my friends and I went camping and met a bunch of new people. This time, I enjoyed the cottage life with a bunch of Americans who were super cool and awesome. The bonus was that Draco was with me this time. The cottage we stayed at was very secluded, and we were basically living in the forest. It was a very different and exciting experience. Although the logistics of getting there was a bitch, I am so glad I made the trip.

Beaver Brook cabin

We spent the second part of our New York trip in Manhattan, enjoying the metropolis.

August:

Draco and I had fun at our favourite street festival "Buskerfest," and Draco also moved to a new apartment in August. The process of moving and buying new furniture was hectic, but we did it together, and decorating the new place together give me a sense of how awesome it would be to have our own home some day.  August was also when the Ice Bucket challenge, raising awareness for ALS disease, really took off. I also got in on the action and participated.

pigging out on churros and lemonade

September:

September rolled around and one of my best friends, Krystle, was getting married. The wedding was beautiful, grand, awesome, fun and crazy! I am fairly sure I will want to have my wedding at a much, much later date so people can't do a direct comparison. I am so happy for Krystle and I am so glad I had my friends to share the day with. Honestly, it wouldn't have been half as fun without them.  Some of the things that happened were talked about for months to come, but I wouldn't share the details with the internet.

Good friends + wine

October:

My birthday month! This year for my birthday, I was treated to the Cirque du Soleil- Kurios performance. I also drove in down town for the first time because it was very inconvenient to get to the Cirque du Soleil location via public transit. I have never previously driven to down town because the traffic is always so bad. But I think I am finally at the point where I am comfortable driving anywhere.

Cirque du Soleil- Kurios, Toronto ON

December:

2014 honestly just flew by, so much happened in so little time. I still remember the black out during December 2013, and now it's a year later. Draco's birthday is in December, and as a part of his birthday celebrations, we went to Ripley's Aquarium. Draco loves aquariums. The super awesome part of December is Christmas of course, but I am more excited about Boxing Day. Boxing Day was awesome this year because a family friend gave us a VIP day pass to Yorkdale (a.k.a. my favourite mall). With the pass, we got valet parking, free drinks and snacks, and VIP resting lounge, coat and bag check and free gift wrapping. Valet parking was the most important part, because finding parking on Boxing day is next to impossible, plus, having a gentleman opening my car door and greeting me and treating me like a princess is always a bonus.  The whole experience was awesome, I certainly enjoyed my sneak peak of high class living. 

We quietly ring in the new year with a small family dinner, then Draco and I went to a tea shop to just hang out and chat. 

2015

I didn't realize how great 2014 was until I recounted everything that happened. I encourage you to do the same. 2015 will be even more awesome. In less than two month, Draco and I will be travelling to Shanghai, Wuxi, Xi'an and Taipei. I can't wait.