DIY || #36 || Eye Like My Lashes on Macarons

I've hopped onto the macaron train and I'm not getting off! I'm so inspired by Sugar and Cloth's #Glossaryofmacs, a series of fun ways she paints or creates fun images on macarons! The best part - they are all edible! Today's DIY is a super sweet way to bat your eye lashes at that crush of yours during that cocktail party...or just flirt with yourself I guess. Hey, you are pretty good looking, right? All you need are food coloring pens and a batch of macarons. Prepare for a pretty sweet sugary ride! Here are the deets:

What you'll need:

1. Macarons (I bought these babies at a cute Macaron Van that drives around Boston - Cameo Macaron)

2. Edible Color Food Markers (purchased a pack at Michaels)

Steps: 

1. Like I said, super easy! Simple grab a macaron and draw the outline of a semi-circle. Feel free to make your eyelid as thick as you'd like..I preferred mine a little bit on the thinner side. 

2. Next, add lines extending outwards around the semi-circle to make the individual lashes.

3. Repeat per macaron. It's fun to spice up a few and add an eyeball. Simple draw an oval, add the lashes to the top, and a big circle in the middle for an eye that pops! That's it! 

Hope you all like today's project and let me know if you try it! Share your creations on instagram (#diykipi) and follow my colorful ride (@creativekipi)!

DIY || #24 || Homemade Creamy Coconut Popsicles

Despite being someone who isn't all too crazy about eating coconut or coconut flavored things, I am madly in love with coconut popsicles. I think it originates with the many afternoons my pops and I would get coconut popsicles at the mexican food stands during the summer. It was always a father-daughter afternoon treat. With father's day upcoming, I thought it was quite fitting for this DIY treat! Besides, these are ridiculously easy to make, taste like gourmet (seriously), and require few ingredients! I used this recipe as a template to go off of - it's great for creating that creamy yet not overpowering flavor.

You'll need (for 6 popsicles): 1 can of pure coconut milk, 1/4 can of sweetened condensed milk, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes (feel free to add more), sugar to taste (I barely added any), and a couple dashes of cinnamon. The instructions from here are beyond easy: mix everything up in a large bowl, add the coconut flakes last, do a quick taste check, pour into popsicle molds, add sticks, then pop those babies in the freezer! They froze fairly quickly, but I just waited until the next day to enjoy them. Honestly, these turn out just as good, if not better, than the store-bought ones. Bon appetit!

Some other great ideas you might try: add a little rum flavor for a pina colada type of taste, mix with other fruit juices such as pineapple or mango, or make them as ice cubes and toss them into a summer cocktail! Enjoy!

TRAVEL DELIGHT || #1 || BRAZILIAN FRUIT LOVE

Over the past five years I have been fortunate enough to travel to several countries around the world on trips related to health and community work. Luckily, I have always managed to bring along a decent camera to capture these trips, resulting in quite a collection of photographs I've acquired. Every once in a while, I'd like to share some bits of those travels with you all -- either stories of individuals I've met, foods I've ravished, or sights I think photos can never do justice. I guess it's my way of remembering how each trip fragments itself into bits of my memory, how my past melts together to teach me something of the present.

As such, there's perhaps no better way to start than with one of my favorite places -- hands down. A place seemingly bursting at its seams with vibrant passion: Brazil. One of the first lessons I learned while spending four weeks in Sao Paolo -- a growing economic, cultural, and medical hub of the nation -- was to be grateful for the creation of fruits. Not just strawberries, mangoes, peaches, and plums. I'm talking fruits I've never even heard of, never could have imagined their existence. I tried jackfruit for the first time, fruits in the shapes of stars, fruits that looked like onions yet tasted like delectable pears; I had mangoes that, for the first time in my life, I could eat as dessert after every meal, every day. I began to dream of the paintings I could make with the insanely vibrant colors of juices that oozed, dripped, and stained my hands, my teeth, my shirts, my tongue. I became a smoothie addict, an instant fruit nut and, unfortunately, now that I'm back in the States, the standard for fruit (if not the very concept of it) has inevitably been erased and set at an impeccably tasteful high.