day sixty five: glittered pegs

the glittered pegs :)

day sixty five and i hope everyone is enjoying their saturday ... we spent the morning exploring little india which was heaps of fun.  my sister lives in an apartment and the walls are concrete so a little hard to hang lots of hooks in to display the kids bits and pieces.  so for today's creation we are making glittered pegs so we can create a clothes line to hang their goodies off.  inspiration for today's project comes from little birdie secrets and is pinned to my general crafts board.  there are wonderful crafty projects on this blog, you could spend a day there just gazing!

the glittering process

these pegs were destined for little isla's room and she loves bling so we used microfine glitter, a necklace, and some plain wooden pegs.  we left some pegsb just glittered and added beads to the top of others at isla's request :)



i LOVE doing projects with my niece :)

isla was a huge help for me in completing this project ;)



pegs in action!

outcome:  great solution to all the bits of paper and art scattered about isla's room and it looks really cute in her room ... and the best part is she LOVES the pegs so much she was bouncy up and down on her bed about them!  now that's a great outcome :)

big thanks to little birdie secrets for inspiring us with a wonderful idea for putting the kids valuables on the wall :)

day sixty four: paper boats

we are sailing :)

day sixty four and we are making some paper boats for the kids to float in the pond and they are pinned to my home school projects board.  the instructions and inspiration are available from wikiHow. 

the paper boat instructions are visual and explained ... love that, especially for those of us a little challenged in the origami, paper folding group (that's me).  we decided to make some coloured ones so the kids would know which one was their's in the pond. 



the making table

the great thing with these boats is once you have made a couple, they are actually really easy to teach kids how to make ... only the littliest peep didn't make her boat but she did decorate one!



decorating was taken very seriously

we also took some decorating tips from martha and her wedding boats ... you just never know where you are going to find valuable know how for kids projects!

the boats before their maiden voyage!

perfect for all ages, even the BIGGEST kids!

paper boats outcome:  the paper boat tutorial was brilliant, it was easy to understand and the pictures with words made sure you knew what you were doing.  the actual boats are awesome, the kids had just as much fun making and decorating the boats as floating them in the pond, which was also a great success.  the paper boats do go mushy after a while and sink to the bottom but if you use a waxy paper or make several you still have heaps of fun with them before they sink! the really nice thing about today's creation was watching all the peeps making their boats and how proud they felt of their finished creations .... then add water, the odd lego sailor, and watch the fun continue!



the big float off :)

a big thanks to wikiHow for a brilliant paper boat tutorial, this one was REALLY well done and i shall be back to attempt the other paper model tutorials i saw on the site!

day sixty three: balsamic roasted strawberries with ice cream



balsamic roasted strawberries with ben and jerry's :)

 day sixty three and we are roasting some strawberries for dessert :)   pollyanna and i ADORE strawberries, in fact, when polly was little we had to hide them from her otherwise that was all she would have eaten for the summer!

this delicious sounding idea is pinned to my recipe must do's board and is from the wonderful blog joylicious ... she has the most wonderful insight into balance of life and her words and food will definitely capture you or at least make you think.

on with the creation ... i used two punnets of strawberries and followed the recipe as is, mine took 15 mintues to roast at 210C.

the sugared strawberries!

outcome:  deliciously sweet and the syrup with the ice cream is INCREDIBLE! ... in fact it was so good we are planning to have it tomorrow as well (we might share those ones with the kids!).  i might experiment with a higher heat because we were so hungry for them thanks to the amazing smell, i probably pulled them out slightly early for any caramelising to happen ... they were brilliant as was though!

special thanks to joy at joylicious for this wonderful recipe AND for making me stop and think ... loved her blog and the wonderful words that go with it :)

update on mailing a bottle: after convincing the lovely gentleman who served me at the post office that i really did want to send the bottle as it was, it then took off from singapore to the united states :)  boy i sure hope it gets there safely ... let me know christina, we will wait to hear from you!



i look a little hot and bothered but the bottle is on its way!


 

day sixty two: a mailed bottle of goodies

the bottle of goodies :)

day sixty two and we are mailing a bottle today full of goodies from singapore.  this wonderful idea comes from amberlee from giverslog and is pinned to my home school ideas board on pinterest (the kids have some new penpals and i am going to get the kids to send them some with nz goodies!).  amberlee has a wonderful blog that's full of tutorials, organising, baking, gifts, and so much more ... actually all the things i love!

ben and the lucky name :)

today's bottle is going to be sent to CHRISTINA who was randomly chosen from our hat of commenters.  thank you ben for your help writing everyones name :) christina could you please email me (kahoonz@clear.net.nz) your address and we will send it off to you tomorrow! 

it was so much fun looking for goodies that would fit in a bottle this size and also quite a challenge :) i went to tiong bahru plaza and searched through lots of stores looking for little bits!



the disguised goodies .... ooohhhh :)

so the lucky girl doesn't see too much of what's in store for her, the goodies are a little disguised! its a 550ml size bottle that i dried out with a hair dryer and then filled.  i taped around the top just incase and then taped on a label for sending.

the bottle .. actually i am quite proud of
what i was able to fit in!

outcome: i love how the bottle looks full of singapore goodies, as for whether it gets there well that's pending! actually i loved including everybody so much i am going to find more pinteresting things to do where you guys can participate! 

my thanks goes to amberlee for the wonderful inspiration for todays creation, your website is awesome, so full of wonderful things to make and do!

have a happy day everybody, thanks so much for the lovely comments i was truly touched and overwhelmed by your kind thoughts ... wish our bottle well in its travels :)  we look forward to it arrving safely soon christina and congratulations!

day sixty two: and i need some help to complete today's creation!

hello everyone ... today's pinterest creation requires me mailing a bottle to someone ... i thought i would fill it with goodies from singapore ....  if you would like to be that person please leave a comment and i will randomly choose someone to send to today ... and you can be anywhere in the world :)

ok this is where i hope that i get at least one comment so i can send it ... so PLEASE help me complete todays creation~!  for what the rest of this creation is about, check back later today and you will see all revealed and the lucky recipient!

sponge bombs for the pool: to say these were a big hit with the big and little kids is a major understatement, we had the most hilarious time in the pool with them yesterday afternoon and it is fair to say i also copped my fair share!  the nice thing with these is they don't hurt at all when you get barreled with them and they FLOAT ... so totally cool for the little peeps like my sweet two year old niece isla who also made great use of them!

she had a surprisingly good aim!

boys being boys!

some photo's from national day celebrations ... boy to the singaporeans know how to celebrate in style!

ben, pollyanna, and sam looking at the parachuters landing ..
we are heading up to the top of that boat next week ...
i'm scared of heights ... yikes!

they celebrated like they were singapore kids!

a helicopter escorted the flag and we sang the national anthem
with about a million others!

the fireworks were outstanding!

day sixty one: sponge ball bombs for the pool

ready for water fun :)

day sixty one and its a special day in singapore .... HAPPY 46th BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE .... we are really looking forward to enjoying the day's festivities so i am up early and making some sponge ball bombs for the kids to use later in the day!  this great idea is from one charming party and is pinned to my outdoor spaces board on pinterest.



the supplies required :)

i am making seven of them and for each ball you need 3 sponges.  all you need to do is cut each sponge in half lengthways and then in half again.  gather up twelve different pieces and then tie tightly together with dental floss ... find some water, a bunch of kids, and you are good to go :)

sponge bombs of fun :)

outcome: the balls look great but whether they live up to expectations is still pending!  we will see later today and i will post the progress!  providing these balls work they would be brilliant as party favours for a pool/beach party and with some help you could even have them as a craft activity for the kids to make at the party!  they don't take long to make, are REALLY cost effective, and i bet you would have some proud kids at the end of the activity!

\

fun for the pool!

thanks so much to one charming party for an excellent idea for the water ... i absolutely loved it and think the options for these beauties for a pool party are awesome!  a visit to their website for party ideas is a must, so many great options and plenty of photo eye candy!

day sixty: scrabble word art



the finished scrabble word art :)

 day sixty and i am determined not to put you through another icy cool beverage today, so we are going to make some scrabble word art!  pinned to my general crafts board on pinterest is the inspiration for today's creation from photographer J M Barclay, who has a wonderful etsy shop with heaps of amazing wall worthy photography you can buy.

i went to my very first ikea store last night (i was in heaven!) and picked up two frames that i thought would be about the right size for the scrabble words i would be using.  for this project my neice and newphew are going to get some art for their bedroom walls :)

the supplies needed, plus your choice in glue ;)

i used some scrapbook paper for the backgrounds (you could even use the scrabble base for the background) and decided to use the matte provided in only one of the frames so i could see both effects.  the scrabble letters are the plastic ones, but as this art is destined for the kids i thought they were perfect, i am still hunting for some wooden ones though.

little isla's new bedroom wall art

my sister is not a crafter most of the time (when she does she does an amazing job) so the glue supply was limited to a glue stick ... i kid you not, this project was completed with a glue stick!  if i was at home i would have powered up the hot glue gun and if i find some better glue in our travels, i will get some for when the letters fall off :)

sam's wall art

outcome: i am so please with these little creations, they have come up really well and lucky for me my sister and brother-in-law named their kids so well i could link their first and middle names :)  i am actually going to head back to ikea to get some more frames for my own kids ... yeah their frames will have to be bigger ... what was i thinking giving them long names like benjamin and pollyanna ;)

can i just say a big thank you to J M Barclay for todays inspiration ... i absolutely loved his home sweet home scrabble photograph, especially the background with the wooden letters ... i have just got to find some of those wooden scrabble tiles!

singapore update:  we are absolutely loving singapore, the culture, the food, the heat, the entertainment ...  and for those who are interested here are some of our holiday pic's so far ... for those who are not ... see you tomorrow for day sixty one!

the girls enjoying time together




new food AND utensils for pollyanna!



there are a lot of impressive buildings here :)



the kids were fasinated watching the roti's being made :)



the boys at the hawker center :)