Pokemon Madness - PokeBag

It's funny how everything comes back from your childhood, I think Pokemon has probably been revived 2 times in my lifetime!  Yes, I'm old!  So my son has picked up the Pokemon bug from school and so he's collecting Pokemons and his storage was a plastic ziploc so I thought why not make him a PokeBag to catch/store his Pokemons. Side note, you can get a bunch of Pokemons at Sampeng for 100 baht and I think you get about 30 in a bag.  I think they're perfect for goodie bags and the kids love them!

So I used this tutorial for the bag and used felt but decided to sew and not glue gun it since it could stand some wear and tear.  Here's the steps if you're interested in making one too!  

1 - Use a round plate as a template and cut out white and red felt.

2 - Cut 2 sets of each red and white felt.

3 - Cut black felt and also white felt for the center button piece. 

4 - Once you have all the pieces, lay them out so you know what you have to sew.

5 - Then take your 2 halves and I used a zig zag stitch to sew them together.

6 - Then sew your middle strip onto both pieces and your center circle pieces.

7 - Now add your zipper, I used pins to make it easier to sew.

8 - Sew the other side of zipper.

9 - Then open your zipper and turn inside out and sew around the half that is still open.

10 & 11 - And we finished it with a shoulder strap, as requested from my son!

Action Shot!  Now you can catch all the Pokemons!

Ancient Egypt Day at School - Costume

I really loved making this costume, it was so colorful and fun to make.  The main dress was made from my favorite material, t-shirts!  To begin with, I always start with my planning, research and sketching.  The vision was Hathor the Goddess.  Then from that I make a shopping list so that I can get what I need and exactly what I need, otherwise I end up with some items I never use and that's a waste of money and I don't think I can store anymore craft items.

So to start, I took a used white tee and cut the sleeves and then a v-neck.  Then I got a red large t-shirt and cut a lower silhouette that was the size I needed and sewed it together with the white top.  Then I used acrylic paints to paint the designs.  I loved the gold paint so much!!!

Cute Egyptian Girl drawing by Marasop

Next, I worked on the headpiece and I used air dry clay to shape a cobra.  I used this fantastic tutorial to get an idea how to make it.  Then when that dried I used the same gold acrylic paint to paint the cobra.  

Then the neck piece, I was lucky to find the perfect gold necklace for 60 baht and then I got a bunch of different beautiful trim from Sampeng (they are about 15-80 baht/meter).  Used some felt and hot glued it to the gold necklace at the back then trimmed the felt.  Also added red felt petals on the sides for an extra flair!  

A little bling-I have a bunch of these sticker gems from Big C 20 baht shop (at the bottom floor, Rama 4) and so I hot glued them all around the necklace and the cobra head piece.  

I also found the most perfect bracelets for 5 baht each at Sampeng too!!  They were meant for this costume!  

Lastly, I got some gold organza and added an elastic collar and put some velcro to attach the collar to the sides of the neck piece.  

Walk like an Egyptian!!!!

Laab Tuna Tod (Fried Spicy Tuna)

This is one of my most favorite Thai dishes but it's always so spicy at restaurants and so when I saw this video it was the best thing ever!  Usually it's made with pork so when the recipe used canned tuna, it was perfect since we always have cans of tuna at home.  The original recipe is from Plao Cooking, it's a Facebook page but it's mostly in Thai but the videos are so cute and easy to follow.  I didn't add all the ingredients since some ingredients I didn't like so I'll list items I did use to make these yummy fried spicy tuna dish.

Laab Tuna Tod (Fried Spicy Tuna)

2 cans canned tuna (I used Tuna chunks in spring water)

2-3 tbsp chopped red onions

1 lime

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp corn flour

2 tbsp ground toasted rice

(ingredients I left out were mint leaves and spring onions)

Another thing I add for a bit of a kick is 1 tsp of Laab Mix but if you can't find this you can just add as much chili pepper you like.

So put all these ingredients together in a bowl and then mix and shape into paddies and then fry. Serve with some jasmine rice and if you can get some seafood sauce it pairs so good!  

Shopkins Storage

Found this medicine storage box at Daiso and it was perfect for my daughter's Shopkins.  Decorated with some washi tape and ready for the many Shopkins, if she'll just keep them in there.

Polymer Clay Fun

The kids have been having so much fun with polymer clay.  After watching many Youtube videos we finally got some polymer clay from Malaysia Clay Art, they have a starter kit with different colors and it's perfect for beginners.

Some of our favorite Youtubers for polymer clay tutorials:

• Creative Rachy
• Pudding Fish Cakes
• Polymer Clay Tutor
• Flyer Mio

Here are some of our creations!

Photos from Me Crafty Mama and Malaysia Clay Art

Thainie Fixes: Charger Cable Fixer with Art Clay

I had a bunch of the non toxic art clay when I was making the Monster High headpiece and today I finally got another good use of the art clay (since my kids would probably use it and trash it faster than you saying art clay).  

I used it to fix my fraying charger cables and it worked out pretty good!  

Happy crafting!

Quick Valentine's Day Gifts for Classmates!

 This year I wanted to get some non-candy treats for the kids' classmates Valentine's but it's a bit pricey when it's not candy!  Luckily, I was walking in IKEA with a 200 baht gift card and found these cute flowers for 15 baht each and I needed 10, perfect!  So got home and had my daughter cut out paper hearts and we used this cool Sakura Pen-Touch Metallic Gold pen to write on the red hearts and then we cut two slits for the flower to go in and we had a Valentine's for the girls!

 Now the boys, I really couldn't find something that wasn't too expensive, I actually didn't find anything.  Well, I always loved these Mentos Kidz for goodie bags and thought about the phrase "We were Mentos to be Friends" and I had to make these!!!  You can click and save to print your own too!  

Thainie Visits: Root Garden on Thonglor

I love living on Sukhumvit, it's a wonderful area to live in.  The people, shops and places around my neighborhood have become everyday fixtures in my life.  And every now and then, there will be something good that pops up and surprises you one day...

Just recently we came across "Root Garden" (a cozy little urban garden/farm) on Thonglor Soi 3, next to the Pridi Banomyong Institute.  For once, a plot of land that wasn't going to be a condo, a strip mall or forgotten dilapidated land.  Once you step in the garden, it's like you're really not on Thonglor anymore.  There's a little pond, a chicken and goat shack, a mushroom shack, a vegetable garden and other plants that have been labeled in English.  There's also a cute little coffee shop right in front serving some drinks and snacks.  

Here's an article more on Root Garden:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/461145/

And check out their FB Page too:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Root-Garden-At-Thong-Lor 

It's located in Sukhumvit 55 and at the top of Thonglor Soi 3.  About 5 minutes from BTS Thonglor Station.

Certainly worth a trip with the kiddies!

 

 

Thainie DIY: Soft Toys Basket/Display

I love, love, love these baskets!  

As you may know or will know now, I love to rearrange our home, it's amazing how a room can totally transform with just a move of a piece of furniture or some additions (or subtractions).  

I have been trying to find a nice and inexpensive way to display the kids' soft toys which were piled away in a toy box, since the ones that we keep usually have a sentimental value to either us or them.  Well I thought about these IKEA green baskets but always decided no since you can't really see the soft toys and it's just another place to pile them.  But I thought, why not cut them out? 

And so I took my IKEA membership card and cashed me out some coupons!!!  Little secret, it's nice to have friends that use your card and earn points for you!  These baskets were 199 baht each and they are very sturdy, we actually use one for our laundry (that's how after looking at it everyday I finally thought of a hack!).  


So all you have to do is just cut an opening out and there you go!  Easy hack but really cute display basket!   

WARNING::: Please be very, very, very, extra specially, very careful when using a cutter to cut this basket (or anything with a cutter, they actually terrify me greatly and I avoid using one at all cost but my scissors were just not cutting it **pun intended) and I almost gashed myself several times!  Also, always cut away from yourself!

And here's a close up, you can see it's not perfect (after cutting I also shaved away the sharp edges) but the soft toys will make up for that.

Salad Spinner Art & Other Uses!

Did you ever see those TOKIG salad spinners at IKEA?  Well did you know you can spin more than salad?  They're great for art and they're actually the great for your delicates (you know your over the shoulder, boulder holders?!)!

So I won't be showing you my bra spinning but I will show you how we do art with them.

Paint

We start with some paints.  I'm using acrylic paints mixed with a bit of water.  Those plastic paint bottles are actually from hair dying kits that I've washed out really well and they make great bottles for paints and glue for crafts.

Salad Spinner

Paper/Cardstock

Then you load your paper inside and squeeze a bit of paint where ever you want.

Then close and spin to your heart's content...

And you'll get some beautiful one of kind art pieces like these!

You might want to get one just for art projects and another for your delicates since it can get a bit messy!!!

Happy Crafting!!xx

24 Goods Things To Do Till Christmas

Our Elf on the Shelf arrives on the first day of December and along with his arrival he brings Santa's sack filled with Advent Calendar pouches and Christmas books.

 

In past years we usually filled the pouches with candy but the kids have been having way too much sweets lately so I thought we would do something new and a little bit more meaningful.  I got this idea from a fellow mommy friend and tweaked her (already amazing) list to suit our family a bit.  It's a list of 24 good things, so each day the kids will open a pouch and we'll do what is on the sheet of paper.   

 So here is our list for this year.... 

1.         Make popcorn and watch a holiday movie

2.       Bake cookies and bring them to friends at school

3.       Gather clothes to donate

4.       Sing Christmas songs and dance around a lot

5.       Make cards for your friends at school

6.       Donate books to your school

7.       Write a letter to Santa

8.       Make cards for all the grandparents and mail them

9.       Gather toys to donate

10.      Color a Christmas picture and hang paper snowflakes

11.        Make special cards and send to your cousins

12.       Have a campout by the Christmas tree

13.       Dress up and take silly Christmas pictures.   

14.      Make Olaf marshmallows and dip in hot chocolate!

15.       Bring coffee gift cards to your teacher and say thank you

16.      Give the guards some cookies and say thank you

17.       Do a Christmas song & dance show for your parents

18.       Make cards for all your teachers

19.      Give flowers to your teachers and say thank you

20.     Go look at Christmas lights

21.       Make bread dough ornaments

22.     Call grandparents and sing a Christmas song

23.     Draw a thank you note for Santa

24.     Leave a treat for Santa and his reindeer

So here's goes hopefully something special and hope this December brings you and your family a lot of somethings special too!!

Thainie Craft: Spooky Haunted House Fill and Color Cut-It-Out

Another cute Halloween craft for the kiddies.  I got this creative idea from Sarah Jane's blog.  I tried to find a print and cut or any cuts from the Silhouette shop but couldn't find any so I used Sarah's cute template as a template for cutting on the Cameo.  Here's the outline and all you need to do is:
- Click this image and then it will give you the full size image

- Right click and save to your computer
- Open your Silhouette Studio
- Drag or open the image in your new file and according to your paper choice (i.e. A4, letter...)
- "Image trace" the entire house
- Select "Trace"
- Either resize now or you could resize when you first drag to the mat

OR if you don't have a cutting machine, it's easy to cut out with a cutter or exacto knife.

And you'll have a super spooky haunted house for your kids or you to decorate for Halloween.

Halloween: Monster High's Deuce Gorgon

This year my son wanted to be Deuce Gorgon from Monster High and so I looked at the Deuce doll that we had and noted what I needed to get together to make a costume for him.  It's quite an easy ensemble, this was my checklist for Deuce (some items we already had too).

- Red Tank (or a red tee and cut off the sleeves)

This was hard to find on the internet and so luckily we had the doll and so I took a hi res picture of the tee and then recolored the red area.  You can print on iron-on/T-shrit transfer paper and iron on the tank.

  - Striped Tee 

I was really lucky to have found a close enough pattern but it had this hideous embroidered cartoon **that you cannot remove even with patience and a thread cutter** and so I just cut it out and patched it up with the sleeves that were cut off.  Then you can just cut the middle of the tee and create the sleeveless jacket.  I also found the perfect image that I printed on T-shirt transfer paper so that I could iron on the patch.  Here's the image.

- Black Jeans

We had black jeans already and so I took a washable white fabric pencil then thought to use a Crayola white crayon and drew the little diamonds all over.  The crayon is washable (hopefully) so I hope it will wash off!

- Black Glove

We found a cheap pair at a party store, they were perfect.

- Belt

We had a metal buckle belt already and so I just printed the cassette image that I created and then laminated and used foam tape to attach to the buckle. 

- Black cuff piece (piece of felt)

I just cut a piece of felt and then ironed on another skull on it.

- Checkered Shoes 

Didn't have these so he'll just wear his black sneakers he has.  

- Snake Headpiece

This was the most daunting part of the costume to do but I was excited to create it. 

First I needed a head model, so I took a cap of his and stuffed it with clothes, then placed it on a stand  and saran wrapped all over it.

 Then I got modeling clay, the type where it will air dry light.  So I first worked on the

 After the snakes were done and left to dry (I forgot to mention that when you're doing the snakes, use another wire to make scores onto one side of the snake to create a scales look, do the same with headpiece too--I had used this iron grill thingy), I took a big ball of modeling clay and flattened it into a round piece and then put it over the head model and molded around the head then a placed each snake into place and added a bit more clay to help support some snakes but be sure to let your snakes dry before doing this since modeling clay is quite sticky.

Then let it dry completely for about 2-3 days, I took it off the head model on day 2 so that the inside could dry.  I sponge painted the headpiece with yellow and light green acrylic paints.  Then I use Mod Podge Matte all over and topped with Mod Podge Gloss.  The tongues are also made of red modeling clay, just do strips and let dry then cut off that triangular trip and glue into mouth.  The eyes are gold beads that I glued into the sockets.

 - Scales

I printed a bunch of these on tattoo paper.

 - Chain necklace and belt addition + Sunglasses

I found some plastic chains and red sunglasses at the 60 baht shop Daiso and they were perfect for this.

So I hope you will be able to create your own Deuce and hope that I didn't miss anything!!  Happy Crafting!