Thainie Shopping: Bajou

Image from http://www.bajoustudio.com/

I am so delighted to introduce this new line of children's clothing that a friend recently launched.  Please check out Bajou, gorgeous handcrafted designer kidswear by the beautiful and talented Alena Henriksen --- no this is not a paid ad but I'm also overjoyed since I had the pleasure of designing her logo.  So if you're looking for gifts for Christmas, Hanukkah or just something pretty, how about checking Bajou out?!

 

Thainie Tips: Christmas Decorating

Just last week while decorating our home for Christmas I redid our curtains by sewing the tabs down so the rod would not be visible, I got the idea from Pinterest---as usual.  Also, we recently made some changes to our home and so the place where we use to hang our Christmas stockings was no longer available.  And so I thought, why not use the vast amount of hanging space over at the curtain area???  Razzle dazzle, it turned out beautiful, if I might say....  I used a few S hooks for the garlands and decorated some S hooks with a bow so the stockings could be hung on them.  Who says you need a chimney!!!! 

I love Christmas!!!!  

Thainie Crafts: Advent Tree

Christmas, my favorite time of year!  And it's even more special when celebrating with your children.  For the past years, we had used a cloth hanging advent calendar with small pockets for treats but with 3 kids now, the small pockets cannot hold a fair amount of treats for each of them.   And so began the search for advent calendar ideas which eventually lead me to spotting this cute little tree at our local Big C.  Using my wonderful Silhouette machine, I made cut out ornaments with the days leading to a big Santa cut out so that I could tape them to tissue wrapped treats.  And the countdown to Christmas begins!

Here's the breakdown for this fun advent tree (forgot to include a 100+ baht star topper from Central Chidlom --- which happens to be the best place for gorgeous Christmas decorations!) : 

Thainie Crafts: Ornaments

With the holidays coming up, get ready for some festive posts!  Especially to make up for the lack of postings :-) Here is an article I did for a magazine recently on how to make your own ornaments with your child's handprint.  I found the recipe for the dough from Pinterest (love this website) and changed a few things, like  painting the ornament with acrylic and modpodging it when done.  

I actually like this dough recipe more than modeling clay or plaster since it's easy to make and holds up pretty good.  Just an important note to use really, really, really low heat when you are baking it in the oven since you do not want to make pita bread!  Yes this happened to me, one had ballooned up like a pita bread when the oven was too hot.  I would even adjust the heat to be less than 200 degrees.

This can also be baked in a toaster oven on very very very low heat too (always watch it closely).  The rule is steady low heat and longer duration.  Once it comes out, air dry it for a day and then paint.  I was saddened that after painting the ornament it had softened but after air drying a few days, surprisingly it's now hard as a rock!  So if you don't want to bake it in the oven, it will harden with air drying over a few days in a dry place.  

Overall it was a fun craft to do with the kids and it looks beautiful on the Christmas tree.  Happy crafting!