“Sometimes things scare us, but we find ways to cope.”
Minnie Mouse
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“Smile, and let the world wonder why.”
Minnie Mouse
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“One of the great gifts you can give people is to cook for them.”
Ina Garten
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“Happiness is… my mother’s cooking.”
On behalf of Kim TaeYeon

#191021#

My idea for this year’s artwork for Taenggu Mum’s birthday is a combination of the past two years’ artworks. Since I did not post a writeup of my past years’ artworks for Taenggu Mum, you can read my old instagram post that follows after each artwork below that already detailed the reasons why and how I came up with each idea back then.

Taenggu Mum Birthday 2018: 엄마손 (Mum’s Hand)

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Did this for Taenggu's mum a few nights ago. A belated birthday cum early xmas card for her. Inspired by all the great food that she has been cooking for Taenggu all these years. To thank her for feeding my dear Taenggu so well and giving her moral support in times of need. I wrote 엄마손 (mother's hand) coz it was the name of the first restaurant I dined at when I visited Jeonju (Taenggu's hometown) last year. I imagined the food that I had was actually cooked by 탱구엄마 herself. 😅😆💭 . On a sidenote, at the same time while I was making this paper art which features an egg in a frying pan, Taenggu posted an instastory of herself holding an egg with a double yolk inside! Lol what a coincidence!! Do you think Taenggu was actually frying an egg in real life while I was making a fake egg on paper?? #synchronicity #taeyeon #taenggu #태연 #탱구 #太妍 #泰妍 #泰古 #탱구엄마 #handmade #birthday #christmas #card #엄마손 #synchronicity #universe #energy

A post shared by Celeste Koh (@lovestorieswithtaenggu) on Dec 22, 2018 at 7:41pm PST

Taenggu Mum Birthday 2017: All Hail The Mouse Queen 엄마

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"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." – Walt E. Disney On Halloween, 31st October, I had flown to Hohhot, the city of Inner Mongolia with my brother early that morning. While walking along the streets, we were fussing about money issues after spending on an expensive package to the grassland for the next day. At the same time, a voice said to me, "I'm with 엄마 now." I thought it wasn't strange at all. I thought Taenggu must have taken a break to go back to her hometown in Jeonju to visit her mum. Later that night, I posted my last Halloween special post of the day – a No-Face Batman drawing (last pic, swipe left). After it was posted, I could feel Taenggu inside of me whispering a string of words under my breath, something like "omo omo omum oma omma omo". It wasn't very clear. I thought she was simply saying "omo omo" to express her surprise at the sight of No-Face revealing his underwear in my drawing. That night, I went to sleep early without thinking much. The next morning, I saw the instagram post from her brother wishing their mum happy birthday. It was posted the night before after I had gone to sleep. And Taenggu left a comment right there (3rd pic). It was that similar string of words she whispered inside of me last night. I finally knew what it was. She was trying to say "Omma omma (mother mother)". She was trying to tell me that it was her mother's birthday! It always puzzled me why Taenggu likes Halloween so much to the point that she thinks we should have a long holiday because of that. Now I understand why. Because her mum's birthday falls on Halloween! Such a sweet daughter of her. 😇 So I did this drawing of 탱구엄마 as a mouse queen 👑 as a present for her mum. It was inspired by the mouse filter her brother put on her mum's face. 😂 Once again, happy belated bday to 탱구's 엄마! 생일 축하해요!! Hope you like this drawing 💜 #taeyeon #taenggu #태연 #탱구 #탱구엄마 #birthday #halloween #mousequeen #ratqueen #drawing #art #surrealism #fanart #evencatsrespecther

A post shared by Celeste Koh (@lovestorieswithtaenggu) on Nov 12, 2017 at 7:03pm PST

Read full post: Taenggu Mum Birthday 2017: All Hail The Mouse Queen 엄마

Since I recently did a Mickey Mouse themed photo collage for Taenggu on Photo Day last month (refer to post PHOTO DAY 2019: SAY CHEESE, MY MICKEY MOUSE CHIOBU~), I got inspired with the idea of upgrading Taenggu Mum’s image from an ordinary mouse in 2017 to our famous iconic other half of Mickey Mouse, the cute and pretty Minnie Mouse!

And to also keep the idea from 2018 where I tried to compliment Taenggu Mum’s awesome cooking skills through a simple image of a hand holding a frying pan with an egg on it, I’m going to feature Taenggu Mum disguised as Minnie Mouse cooking up several wonderful dishes for Taenggu in her very own Minnie Mouse Kitchen this year! To push myself to do something refreshingly different from past years’ drawing and plain paper art, I’m going to attempt making a miniature dollhouse sort of artwork this time.

So here are some of the materials I would be using.

Material list:

• 2 different sets of food dish erasers from The Green Party (9 pieces)
• 1 set of miniature cooking utensils with hanger from Carousell
• Disney Minnie Mouse polka dot ribbon buttons from Daiso (2 pieces)
• 1 wooden box frame / shadow box from a craft shop in Perth (I got it when I was there for holiday in March this year! 😊)
• Reference pictures with some self-edits

I won’t go too much into detail on how I made the artwork step by step this time, but I will let the pictures do the talking. 😄

After positioning every item into place on the wooden board with a white glue and leaving it aside to dry, I took a toilet break. I passed by the Rubi shoe shop and was surprised that they were selling Mickey and Minnie Mouse sneakers, bags and other accessories! What a nice coincidence, I was just making a Minnie Mouse dollhouse awhile ago! Hahaha.

When the glue was completely dry, I put the board back into its wooden box frame and stuck one last eraser I had left horizontally on the frame to cover the slit hole at the bottom (not sure what the original purpose of that hole was… hahaha).

Now presenting to you detailed photos of my very own DIY Minnie Mouse Kitchen for 탱구엄마!! 📸

Previously I had always thought Taenggu Mum’s birthday is on the same day as Halloween, 31st October because Taenggu’s brother Jiwoong posted a photo of their mother wishing her happy birthday on Halloween night in 2017.

It was until last year 1-2 weeks before Halloween when Taenggu was having her ‘s… Taeyeon Concert in Seoul for 2 days, I was somewhat aware that she revealed on the concert that it was actually her mum’s birthday on that day. Even so, I wasn’t exactly sure on which of the 2 concert dates it happened.

Recently I decided to do a Google search to find out the answer and I’m quite sure now that her mum’s birthday is actually on 21st October!

On behalf of Taenggu, I would like to thank Taenggu Mum for always cooking nice dishes for Taenggu and visiting her in Seoul where she lives alone and surprising her with your homecooked dishes which she misses the most on her birthdays and any other day when she feels lonely and needs family support.

The one who always takes care of Taenggu’s tummy well, 감사합니다 탱구엄마 for being the best cook in the world! Hope you like this Minnie Mouse Kitchen artwork I made for you. 생일 축하해요! 사랑해요!! 🍳💜

With Love,
Celeste Koh