Do you always find a great deal on kids shoes but your kids are not with you and the sale happens to end that day?? I got a great tip! Trace their foot size on a piece of paper and cut it out to keep with you!!
Halloween: Hawaiian Hula Costume
My children had Hawaiian Day at their school last week (yes they are in school--very short story but long in so many other parts--but they are loving it) and I wanted to share how I made my daughter's costume just in case you would like to make one for Halloween.
1) I love these plain tanks and they were so cheap, 90 baht ($3) at Cotton On Mega Bangna. You will see that I am using these as the foundation of all my costumes this year. I took brown fabric and used fusible webbing and ironed them on for the coconut bikini top.
2) Then I used some pom pom ribbon for the string of the bikini, you will need to sew all along the back and also the shoulder straps too and just a little right in the middle of the coconuts. And you're done with your top!
*** Quick Tip: I found the lint sticky stick works great when you want to clean up all your thread bits!
3) Now the bottom part, the skirt I used this wonderful tutorial here and do everything the same but before you put in the elastic, get your scissors and cut strips! I used 2 layers of different color green fabric so it looks just a bit more grassy!!
And there you go! Easy and fun! Btw the grass skirt gets a bit frazzled if you put it in the washer and dryer but I thought it added a nice effect to the skirt. As for the lei, I got them at Daiso but cut and strung them on some green yarn. Made one for my daughter's head piece and one for her neck. If you like, you can also use the left over petals and decorate the skirt with them. Aloha!
Happy gift...
A few weeks ago we sent a birthday present to my daughter's best friends in the states, we wanted it to be extra special and I remembered a Pinterest pin where it was a box filled with balloons and so I thought we could try with this present. The box was quite small and so we bought small balloons and packed them with some bracelets and tinsel! It turned out wonderful and I think the recipients enjoyed it too!
Put you best vest forward...
Wanted to share a wonderful tute I found. I was searching how to make vests for my children's class line leader vests and this tute from The Mother Huddle was amazing! Her tute was very clear and detailed, it was so easy to follow.
But if you would like to make a bigger or smaller size version, I would suggest using any size tee you want and tweaking the pattern from that.
As for the star emblem and LEADER artwork, I used my Silhouette to cut out templates and then acrylic paints.
Have you started working on any costumes for Halloween? Well I'm prepping tutes for a Dinosaur and Hula girl costume to share with everyone soon!
Happy Thai Mother's Day!
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| Image by Thainie |
Here in Thailand we celebrate Mother's Day on August 12th since it's the Queen's birthday. She is regarded as the mother of Thailand and is loved by everyone, this goes the same for our King.
I know the image above doesn't seem to go along with the post, it was taken this morning when I was playing with my kids. I love setting up the toys like this because it brings me great joy seeing my kids' reaction. It's an indescribable joy for both parent and child that I wish I could record each time.
Everyone has their own views on having children or not having them and I totally respect both views. I, myself, personally feel it's the most important and precious accomplishment that I could ever achieve and wouldn't have done anything different if I had the chance to do it all over again***due for editing once my kids are all teens? ;-).
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Happy Mother's Day!
Post 100...
I have been very blessed with having the opportunity to experience so many things and also be able to have a place to share these experiences. In the beginning, I started this blog as a way to update family and friends about the going-ons in our family, a few random postings and babies afterwards, it soon blossomed to be a place that I can share, what I as a reader would like to read about. Even if there might be only 10 people reading these postings, that's okay because I really do enjoy writing and creating these posts, I hope you have enjoyed them too. Thank you!
Bag and Store It
Wanted to share this find from IKEA, it's the SKUBB Storer and it worked out perfect for storing my bags and purses! And best yet, it was 229 baht ! Oh how I would so marry you IKEA if I could!!!!
Have a good weekend everyone!
The Princess Tea Party Birthday
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| Of course this idea was from Pinterest, I did this the night before her birthday morning. Only thing different was I hung the balloons outside in the living room since they always get up in the middle of the night so her room door was not going to work |
Okay this is going to be the longest post ever since it's about my daughter's recent birthday party. My now 4 year old daughter wanted to have a princess themed birthday party and so I played with the idea and thought of a Princess Tea Party theme. This way the girls would be able to be all princessy and enjoy a nice tea party with tea cups and everything. I secretly was delighted at the idea of throwing one too! Although, this year I decided to do a more cozy and small party since it would be more controllable enjoyable to do crafts and activities with a small group of girls, 6 little girls to be exact (T's 3 very best girlfriends, her godmother's daughter and her friend). Luckily, my 2 year old boy went down perfectly for his nap during the party and my 13 year old daughter was home to help! Lastly, I set a budget of about 5,000 baht ($150+) for the party since I believe you don't have to waste money when you can diy or find it cheaper!
So here's the rundown!
The Invite...
First, you have to have an invite! I found this perfect scroll online and put the details of the party as well as found a cute seal with her initial.
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The font I used was Edwardian Script but after checking for the link, I found that you have to pay for it now and so I would recommend going to any free font site like dafont.com and downloading a font style you like from there.
I then printed the artwork on A4 premium drawing paper and cut the shape out with the Silhouette. The invites were then put into an envelope and sealed with our family's letter seal to add that royal touch!!!
Here they are, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to the lucky princesses:
I then printed the artwork on A4 premium drawing paper and cut the shape out with the Silhouette. The invites were then put into an envelope and sealed with our family's letter seal to add that royal touch!!!
Here they are, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to the lucky princesses:
The Birthday Banner & Streamers...
I used the Silhouette machine and cut her name and the background shapes then used 3M repositioning spray adhesive (the link actually goes to the widely used Krylon one -- in the states-- but I am using 3M since it's the only kind I can find here in Bangkok) to attach them together. I really recommend this repositioning spray adhesive for any paper craft you are working on. It's so easy to use, you can spray several pieces at the same time, goes on clear and you can reposition it (it's like the stickiness on the back of post its!). After all pieces are cut and glued together, I strung them together with ribbon and then attached with some masking tape at the back so that it would position just the right way on the wall.
The streamers were made of scrap fabric streams that were cut and then tied onto a plain old white string (the string that is used for packages). Also great project for just decorating a room too and the perfect way to use all those scraps!!!
The Pom-Poms
I have a confession to make, I'm a tissue paper hoarder--in addition to a hoarder of mostly all craft-related items. I love my tissue paper collection and I couldn't bear using tons of them on the pom-poms. And so trusty ol' IKEA came to the rescue! I bought the colored paper napkin packs and they had the perfect colors for the party.
1) IKEA Fantastisk (don't they name their items so cool?) paper napkins, I also bought the paper plates and cups for the party there too.
2-3) You take about 6-8 paper napkins and lay them on top of each other and then follow these directions! But instead of the wire I used a plain rubber band (it was also great since you can stretch the rubber bands onto whatever you are decorating).
4) Now the tricky part! You want your pom-poms to be fluffy and airy but they just don't look like that, you have to spread the sheets since each paper napkin is 3-ply. So carefully spread your napkins apart and fluff! It's a learning curve but it gets easier!
1) IKEA Fantastisk (don't they name their items so cool?) paper napkins, I also bought the paper plates and cups for the party there too.
2-3) You take about 6-8 paper napkins and lay them on top of each other and then follow these directions! But instead of the wire I used a plain rubber band (it was also great since you can stretch the rubber bands onto whatever you are decorating).
4) Now the tricky part! You want your pom-poms to be fluffy and airy but they just don't look like that, you have to spread the sheets since each paper napkin is 3-ply. So carefully spread your napkins apart and fluff! It's a learning curve but it gets easier!
And hopefully you will get these:
The Goodie Bags and Activities Goodies...
As mentioned, I was working with a budget, luckily I found some great goodies that were perfect!
1) The custom made royal invites.
2) All the goodies on show. Books were from Kinokuniya (100+ baht/book), some princess pencils from The Emporium (they came is a 6 pack), notepads I had hoarded through the years, fruit chews, bracelets (also hoarded, bought them from Sampeng years ago) and a custom skirt I made with my fabric stash.
3) Princess tiaras, these were for the craft activity, I got the idea from here at Lu Bird Baby.
4) These were also for the craft activity, they were little zipper pouches that the kids would paint in their names with metallic gold or silver acrylic paints. You can see my tute for the stencils here.
5) This frame was a light bulb moment at IKEA! It's the Tolsby frame and was 49 baht for each of them. I used artwork from Lettering Delights and my trusty Silhouette to cut a hole out so that a photo could be inserted, the other side just had a message saying thank you for joining the party.
All these goodies then went into a paper bag decorated with a doily and their name written on it.
The Activities & Crafts...
A smaller amount of kids turned out to be perfect since each one had the chance to do their own crafts. In addition to the princess headpiece and zipper pouch, I also had the following:
- A bracelet kit that I got at the mall (The Emporium) and it was perfect since it came with plastic bangles and gem stickers.
- A bunch of plastic beads and elastic to make our own royal jewels (Central B2S).
- A wand craft made from foam clay, which dries light and airy (Central B2S) and attached to balloon sticks. *** Sadly, this craft turned out to be more of a art piece than a wand. But the kids had so much fun making them, so did the moms!
- "Kiss the Frog" (aka pin the tail on the donkey), I took green construction paper and cut out a frog and cut out lips and sprayed the repositioning adhesive spray so that the girls could kiss the frog while blindfolded with these cute panda eye covers I got from Cotton On (Mega Bangna). It was a hit! The girls had so much fun and a lot of giggles, their prize were IKEA markers!
- Well this was a last minute activity craft that my daughter requested. She wanted a pinata (she calls it a "pee-a-tah") and how could I say no right? Well I was very lazy to do the whole paper mache pinata and on a budget to buy one and so I MomGyvered it. Looked around the house and found paper plates, stapled plates together into a shape, covered it with crepe paper and liquid glue.....then thought about what that shape would be...it turned out to be a teapot for the tea party! The lid, spout and handle were just cut out shapes, again from the Silhouette and decorated with a bit of frayed crepe paper and presto.....PEE-AH-TAH completed!
A smaller amount of kids turned out to be perfect since each one had the chance to do their own crafts. In addition to the princess headpiece and zipper pouch, I also had the following:
- A bracelet kit that I got at the mall (The Emporium) and it was perfect since it came with plastic bangles and gem stickers.
- A bunch of plastic beads and elastic to make our own royal jewels (Central B2S).
- A wand craft made from foam clay, which dries light and airy (Central B2S) and attached to balloon sticks. *** Sadly, this craft turned out to be more of a art piece than a wand. But the kids had so much fun making them, so did the moms!
- "Kiss the Frog" (aka pin the tail on the donkey), I took green construction paper and cut out a frog and cut out lips and sprayed the repositioning adhesive spray so that the girls could kiss the frog while blindfolded with these cute panda eye covers I got from Cotton On (Mega Bangna). It was a hit! The girls had so much fun and a lot of giggles, their prize were IKEA markers!
- Well this was a last minute activity craft that my daughter requested. She wanted a pinata (she calls it a "pee-a-tah") and how could I say no right? Well I was very lazy to do the whole paper mache pinata and on a budget to buy one and so I MomGyvered it. Looked around the house and found paper plates, stapled plates together into a shape, covered it with crepe paper and liquid glue.....then thought about what that shape would be...it turned out to be a teapot for the tea party! The lid, spout and handle were just cut out shapes, again from the Silhouette and decorated with a bit of frayed crepe paper and presto.....PEE-AH-TAH completed!
The Princess Tea Party Decor...
Paper napkin pom-poms, goodies, pee-ah-ta, streamers and everything else was ready to decorate! I picked up some helium balloons at Pinata Party Place while out that morning picking up the birthday cake.
Threw everything together and it looked like this:
Paper napkin pom-poms, goodies, pee-ah-ta, streamers and everything else was ready to decorate! I picked up some helium balloons at Pinata Party Place while out that morning picking up the birthday cake.
Threw everything together and it looked like this:
I had bought these adorable little tea cup sets from the 60 baht shop and you can see the IKEA paper cups, plates and napkins. I also used paper napkins that I ironed out the night before for table mats. Bought some fresh (well almost fresh day old cheaper flowers at Villa-I didn't need pre-bloom ones) and each place setting had a place card cut from the Silhouette with each of the princess' name.
For the cake stand, I just took an over-sized cup we had and a plate and use UHU putty to hold it together. Perfect again for the teacup/tea party theme!
The Princess Birthday Cake...
How cool did this cake turn out? This 3D cake was ordered from S&P and was 790 baht ($26)! You need to order about 2-3 days ahead and pick it up yourself but it was so worth it, the kids all loved it! I then added a small decorative pom-pom, candle and tiny frog! Can you guess the on-going theme here other than the princess theme? Yes, Princess Tiana!!!
Last but Not Least...
My birthday princess and her Princess Tiana costume I had made for her.
Well, that's it.... I'm happy to report that the party was a success but will have to decide whether I'm up for another themed party next year! I hope you enjoyed sharing this special day with me and it will help you with your princess or prince! Happy crafting!
There's a card for everything!
Do you have tons of membership, loyalty or discounts cards that you have to lug around with you and the moment you don't have it you need it? Well after filtering and filtering all these cards (on a weekly basis at times), I still had a bunch that I needed to keep in my purse and they definitely were not all going to fit in my wallet.
And so I came across this wonderful mesh pouch at The Emporium and decided to do a little sewing project and make little compartments for the cards and on the other side was perfect to hold any excess coins.
You can actually use any size pouch and just sew vertical stitches where you want to separate your cards. It's easy and quick since the stitches just need to be long enough so that the cards don't wobble to the other sections. It's so handy and I can sort my cards as well, yes I am an organizational freak....
*** will get back about the brand of the pouch and price....
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| A card hill!!!! (Image by Thainie-click to enlarge) |
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| Just simple needle and thread will get your cards organized (Image by Thainie-click to enlarge) |
Something old and something new....
There's a new gal in town.....well actually it's just my new logo! What do you think? Many more surprises to come, please stay tuned!
Wipe away...
You know how those small packs of wipes some time dry out because of the sticker enclosure not sealing properly? Well I re-purposed the plastic from the big packs and used double sided tape and stuck it to the small packs! Easy to use and access!
Have a good week ahead!
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| Image by Thainie |
Noo Yoo: Piercing, Perfected.
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| Images from Thainie |
I've been waiting for this day and it finally came!!! Baby daughter got her ears pierced! My husband and I didn't really expect it to be so soon since she's not even 4 years old yet but we stumbled across this cute shop at CentralPlaza Rama 9 the other day and decided to give it a go?! She was so excited, we tried to inform her as much as we could on what was "going to happen" before getting there but she could only think about how pretty her little ears will be just like Mommies, her big sis and her aunties!
The shop is called Noo Yoo, their website is www.nooyoo.com and they have shops in The Mall Ramkampeng and CentralPlaza Rama 9 and soon at Mega Bangna. Very nice and clean with all the pretty earrings on display. They also do nose and belly piercings as well. Prices start at 490 baht for a simple pair of stud earrings and the piercing service is free. They have tons of cute earrings to choose from too but the most perfect was that they had a great selection of children appropriate small earrings for children (and all earrings are made of surgical grade stainless steel).
So we first had our daughter pick out the earrings and then she was seated to do the piercing. The Noo Yoo staff was very nice and patient with our daughter, she first carefully marked the holes with a marker and let us see if it's good to go. Once the holes were confirmed it was time for the piercing. The piercing gun was kinda cool, I was use to the gun looking kind but this was just a square looking metal tool and the earrings were well packed in these medical like packaging and so when it was ready to be used, she didn't have to touch each earring but just used the gun tool to insert and load the earrings. (Now I wished I took pics of each thing!---sorry) Well I'm not going to lie, after the first ear piercing she cried but after a little comforting we did the other ear and she was back to being overjoyed with her pretty ears! If you are interested in getting your child's ears pierced, I would probably suggest to try asking them if they can have both ears pierced at the same time (2 staff assisting) so that it's done in one go, forgot to think about this. My daughter is still gushing about her beautiful earrings!!!
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