My Little Craft Box

I have a Little Craft Box. No, I'm not talking not about my blog, The Little Craft Box. But this is how I got the name for the blog though. Anyway, my little craft box is a box where I keep the stuff I'm going to use for a craft project. Sometimes I call it a current craft project box because I do have a few other craft boxes which I keep my sewing nic-naks.

I think 爸爸 is going to grumble again when he see me taking out this box. 吃饱撑着没事做啊？Too free nothing to do is it? *bleh*

I had a idea to do a bag with the apple theme and started sewing. However, I stopped after sewing only a few apples when I start blogging regularly. *grin* Since 妹妹 will be going to school next year and seeing how she loves to carry my bags, I thought I'll make her one instead! Yah, you can say this 妈妈 must be crazy. Really 吃饱撑着! LOL

* Can you find apples here? *

Royal Slippers for my Royal Highness

Few days back I bought the kids to a shoe shop with the idea of getting them a pair of scandals. My Queen refused to try on scandals and insisted on slippers!!!

Of course she had problems wearing slippers and they kept dropping out as she walks. Yet, she insisted on NOT getting scandals BUT slippers. And she held on to a pair of slippers and refused to let go. Sigh! Bo bian lah. Who knows, my King too wanted slippers instead of scandals too. Ai yo! This means I would have to spend more money again to get them scandals next time.

Since my Royal Highness has problem walking in her royal slippers, I added my personal touch to it. Can you tell it? Hint: You don't see this on normal slippers ... ;)

Fruit of my labour

This is a part of my Fortune Plant 金钱树 which I bought 3 years ago. It was then a shortie plant with only a few stalks of leaves. I have re-pot it once and separate it into 2 pots. I'm planning to re-pot it again since they are getting too big and tall for the tiny pots.

Recently I notice a funny looking thing growing out of the soil. It didn't look like the rest of the new stalks when they grew. This is a bit twisted. A bit wavy. I just ignore it and did my usual watering.

Today, the leaf of that twisted stalk unfolded and voila! It's not a new stalk after all. I think it could be a flower or a flower bud!! No one I know who has this plant has seen it's flower before so I couldn't get a confirmation. My friend did tell me this plant does flower about every decade. WOW! Then I'm lucky!! I not only have 1 bud but 2!! There's another smaller one below this big one. If this is a bud then hopefully I get to capture its flowers!!

Anyone knows stuff on this plant? Fill me in!!

* A fruit? A bud? A flower? *

Mint leaves smells like ...

I was making Prawns & Green Mango Salad yesterday when Mr Little Nosey came over .....

Mr Little Nosey: What's that smell?
Me: It's called Basil. *I gave him a leaf and asked him to rub it and smell*
Mr Little Nosey: Quite nice.
Me: You can try this too. It's Mint Leaf. *Passing him a leaf*
Mr Little Nosey: Hey!!! This one!!! It's toothpaste!! So they put this leaf inside the toothpaste!

Wahahaha .....

Tag: 7 Random things about me

Got tag by Wenzel's Mimi on this.

Why must be 7 huh? Hmmm ... okay lah, here they are:

1. I'm a cat-lover but I had never had any pet before.
2. I do sewing (mostly bags and kid's toys) by hand.
3. I day dream about striking TOTO.
4. I day dream about how I will spend the money if I strike TOTO.
5. I like my hair short but is keeping it long for easy maintenance.
6. I don't like to read but I'll probably MIA when my Harry Potter Book 7 arrives.
7. I love watching cartoons.

Okay, your turn now ....
LZmommy, Huisia, Kelly, Cutie Princess Mummy and Desperate Mummy.

Growing Green Ears

My sis bought the Sherk head bands from McDonald's for my kids and 妹妹 is so hooked on wearing it! She wants to put on when we go out. She wants to put on when we are at home. She even wants it on when she is sleeping! So I guess Sherk found himself a new young fan!

Tag: Who are my fans

I got the difficult tag from LZ mommy.

Seriously, I don't know if I really got fans for this blog. There maybe some for my food blog *thick skin* and maybe only 1 fan for my craft blog but this blog huh ... don't know leh. Fans out there (if I do have any), do tell me leh! *bleh*

I'm fan of Shooi, Wenzel's Mimi, Sasha, MontessoriMum, Angeleyes among others. I know you got lots of fans. Won't have problem with this tag lah!

C for Circle Printing

We did 'C' today and C is for Circle. This is another simple printing craft which is my daughter favorite.

Materials needed:

• Paper
• Paints, assorted colours, diluted
• Tube from toilet roll

How to do it:

1. I use a paper plate to hold the paint so there's lesser things to wash.
2. Dip the tube in the paint then transfer to the paper.
3. Stamp away!

Note:

• I used two colours, blue and yellow, so she can see how the colours changed to green.
• You can use anything that has a circle shape, like cup, bottle cap.
• Better still, use all of them to get different circle size!

My Old Bean's Birthday

It was my father's birthday last Sunday. My hubby bought him dinner at 避风塘 on Saturday because my super busy sister couldn't make it on the actual day.

It felt like just another gathering as there was no birthday celebration atmosphere. *bleh* Maybe we should had gone to another place where they have 寿面 or 寿桃. My father is never into celebrations so we really do not know what to do. I guess a simple dinner is still not too bad lah.

Sometimes, I feel a tiny bit disappointed and sad because our gatherings are always only my father, my family, my sister and her boyfriend. My mother and my brother's family are NEVER involved. My mother is always busy making money to want to be involve and my brother ... sometimes I wonder whether do I really have a brother. It's a long story. Sigh!

Anyways, dinner was quite joyous one because of the kids. Lot of noises! My father was forever busy with his grand children. He had a really hard time keeping up to 妹妹 who is like the bouncy tiger, Tigger. He said there is no way he is able to help take care of her!

Now, I'm looking forward to the next gathering, which I think will be hosted by my sister - when she gets her first pay-check!! Woohoo!

* My father with the kids *

Who block you in their MSN?

I just got a site that let you find out who in your contacts has actually blocked or deleted you. This is for hotmail users only. So if you have been wondering why a 'friend' is never online in your MSN ... maybe he/she blocked you! *bleh*

I got a 8 blocked contacts! But I only know 3 of them! I must have added the rest to my list when I was 'introduced' through MSN conversation. I hardly go online now thanks to my crazy MSN. Even if I do, I usually chat with the same few ladies. But it did make me wonder what I did to kena (get) blocked. Maybe like me, they must me wondering who the hell is this contact, so block better. LOL

Anyway, I worry I might cause misunderstandings and embarrassment between online friends, so I better not put in the link here. I worry later my blog kena spam leh!

My Sweetie Pie

We went to ViVo few weeks ago. The kids were excited to see ship and boat especially 妹妹 who saw ship and boat for the first time. We took a few pictures of the kids. Love these pictures of 妹妹 ...

* My Sweetie Pie *

* Sleepy Head *

* Zzzz ... gone to dreamland *

How to drink soup ...

Seems like my soup drinking daughter found using a spoon too slow and had found an easier and faster way to drink soup!

* Empty! Not even a single drop left! *

B for Butterfly Half-fold Painting

My daughter seems to like paints a lot. So we are using paints again for this craft. We will be doing B ... for butterfly. I got my son to help pick up a couple of twigs on our way home from school for the feeders.

Materials needed:

• Paper
• Paints, assorted colours, diluted
• Paint Brush
• Pipe cleaners or Twigs

How to do it:

1. Fold paper into half.
2. Paint on one side.
3. When done, fold over the other half of the paper.
4. Press in down so that the paint will be 'printed' to the blank side.
5. Open the paper and you will get your picture.
6. Glue your pipe cleaners or twigs to your picture.

Note:
If your paint is too thick, it may dry out too fast and may not transfer to the blank page.

* 哥哥 helping to paste the twigs *

Picture Frame

This sort of like a picture frame. Well, except you can't replace the picture. It stay there forever. I took a picture of my kids together recently and thought it will be a great idea to do this.

Materials need:

• 11 Ice cream sticks, 9 for the back and 2 for the front
• String
• Cardboard, size 9 x 8 cm for easy sticking
• Any Picture, size 8 x 5.5 cm (I prepare this for my son)
• Decorative items (we used punched out flowers)
• White glue to stick the ice cream sticks
• Normal glue to stick paper (we use stick glue)

How to do it:

1. Punch 2 holes on the cardboard.
2. Secure the string through the holes. (see picture below)
3. Spread white glue on ice cream stick and stick to the cardboard till all 9 ice cream sticks are stick together.
4. Spread white glue on the 2 remaining ice cream sticks.
5. Stick each on top and bottom of the 9 ice cream sticks making sure you have enough space for the picture.
6. Spread white glue on the back of the picture and stick it in between the 2 ice cream sticks.
7. Decorate the 'frame'.
8. Hang up your picture.

Note:

• You can choose not to use the cardboard backing. The picture frame will still join because of the 2 sticks in front. But make sure the glue is dried and the sticks are secured before hanging.
• You can use stickers to decorate the frame
  

* Step 2: Secure the string through the holes *

* Close Up of Picture Frame *

More Soap = Very Rich

爸爸 told me the following conversion he had with 哥哥 few days back, while bathing for him ...

哥哥: 爸爸, I want to use that orange soap (liquid soap in orange bottle).
爸爸: No. Cannot. You are not a good boy today.

Note: Father and son agreed that only when 哥哥 is a good boy then can he use that bottle of orange liquid soap which belongs to 爸爸.

Then 爸爸 proceed to use the kid's usual J&J liquid soap.

哥哥: But why must use this one (J&J liquid soap). Not nice.
爸爸: Not nice? You should be happy that you can wash with soap. Some people are so poor they bath only with water.
哥哥: Ya hor. No money cannot buy soap.

Pause ....

哥哥: Then we very rich lor. Got so many bottles!

爸爸: *dumb*

Tag: Technorati Favourite Exchange

This is an interesting tag passed to me by Huisia and a certain person who has since stop blogging. I have seen this and other link exchange going around for awhile. It's suppose to help increase page rank and traffic which are rather helpful for those who are doing PPP.

I'm not doing PPP so I don't know how this will benefit me but it will be nice to see my Google Rank change. It has been stuck with the same number since the first day I created my blog. But I seriously doubt this will work. Has anyone check if people have 'fave' your blog? Hey, did you 'fave' any blogs since you are doing this fave exchange? Caught you didn't I? LOL

For the fun of it, I'm passing this exchange to:
Aces Family, LZ Mommy, Desperate Mommy, My Little Terrors and Love.Joy.Life

***START COPYING HERE***
Here are the Rules:

1. Write a short introduction paragraph about what how you found the list and include a link to the blog that referred you to the list.
   
2. COPY the Rules and ENTIRE list below and post it to your blog. To avoid duplicate content and increase the amount of keywords your site can accessible for, go ahead and change the title of the blog. Just don't change the links of the blog.
   
3. Take "My New Faves" and move them into the "The Original Faves" list.
   
4. Add 5 Blogs that you've just added to your Technorati Favorites to the "My New Faves" section. Remember to also add the "Fave Me" link next to your new blogs (i.e. http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://URL-of-fav-site.com)
   
5. Add Everyone on this list to your Technorati Favorites List by clicking on "Fave the Site." Those who want good karma will fave you back. If not, you will for sure get the benefits of faves from the bloggers who continue this list after you.

My New Faves:
Aces Family - Fave this site
LZ Mommy - Fave this site
Desperate Mommy - Fave this site
My Little Terrors - Fave this site
Love.Joy.Life - Fave this site

The original faves:
WokkingMum - Fave this site
JollyAngels - Fave the site
CraftBox - Fave the site
Huisia - Fave the site
all things purple - Fave the site
cutie princess mummyFave the site
cutie princess mummyFave the site
crumbs in life - Fave the site
Something about Lai - Fave the site
Montessorimum - Fave the site
Scribblesformyangels - Fave the site
Justmytots - Fave the site
demoments - Fave the site
beckysmum - Fave the site
Joy Montessori - Fave the site
Jutz1Blog - Fave the site
Sketches of Life - Fave the site
My Baby Bay - Fave the site
Giddy Tigers - Fave the site
Oh! For the love of me - Fave the site
Pink Elle - Fave the site
Tigerfish - Fave the Site
Wennnn - Fave the Site
SiwwyPig - Fave the Site

***END COPYING HERE***

Tag: Food Around The World

Shooi and LZ Mommy wanted to know what I like to eat. Not that I need to take soooo long to think. My blogger has been down for almost a week so I couldn't post.

So what do I like to eat? Hmmm ... Too many liao! I like Chinese Food. There is so much to choose from, I'm spoilt for choices. But it's Japanese food I love. It my all time favourite. I love Sushi! I love Sashimi! But impossible to go to Japan to have sushi, though I would love to go there again, so I would have to settle for Singapore's Japanese food.

Before I quit working to be a yellow face wife, I would meet my friends for Japanese Food at least once a week. When I'm out with my friend, Shirley, we will dine at Sushi-Tei and with my friend Bonny, it will be at Ichiban-Boshi. Now, with my family at Sakae-Sushi. We used to go to Genki-Sushi too before they close their branch at Bukit Panjang. Haiz! I miss pigging out with my friends and I miss Japanese food at Sushi-Tei!

I remember I loved Sushi-Tei's Salmon Salad. I still do. I think it cost $8. Don't bother looking in their menu for it because it not in there. The closest you can find is Sashimi Salad. Me and my friend have it changed to only Salmon for an additional dollar. Ichiban-Boshi, Genki-Sushi and Sakae-Sushi don't have that, so don't go looking for it there too.


Sorry, I don't have pictures of Sushi from Sushi-Tei. I haven't been there for years. I got you picture from my kitchen instead. Nothing compared to the professionals but can do for blog posting lah.

So mommies, Astee, Sasha, Huisia, Annie and Etcetera~, what's your favourite food? Ask daddy to bring you to eat tomorrow!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!


*************************Instructions*************************
**************************Start Copy**************************

Proposition: What is your favorite food in your state or country?
Requirements: Find some info about the food and show delicious pictures of it?
Quantity: FIVE PEOPLE.
Tag Mode: You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.

Mybabybay loves Asam Laksa from Penang, Malaysia
JustMyThoughts loves Penang Char Koay Teow
BabiesLZ loves Hainanese Chicken Rice
WokkingMum loves Sushi from Japan/Singapore

************************** End Copy **************************

Happy Mother's Day

Just in case my blogger comes up with new problems for me again,
here wishing all you great and wonderful mothers out there, a very Happy Mother's Day! You did a great job!

Drawings Collection Book

I have been encouraging my son to draw and colour for quite some time. He didn't seem interested. I can tell from how he refused to colour his school homework. Even if it only a tiny picture. If it's painting and making a mess, yes he love it.

So I thought this will be a good craft. Hopefully he will find interest in drawing and colouring in his own drawings collection book.

Material needed:

• Paper (we are using 11" x12.5")
• String
• Colouring medium (we used colour pencils)

How to do it:

1. Lay all the paper together.
2. Put a few paper clips to secure it.
3. Punch a few holes on one side of the collected papers.
4. Use the strings to tie them up.
5. Decorate the cover.

The fancy book way:
:: That's what we did ::

1. Cut the papers in staggering sizes.
2. Colour on edge of all the paper.
3. Gather the paper with the biggest piece at the bottom.
4. Continue with the instructions for the normal book.

Note:

If you have those fancy scissors that cut out zig-zag or wavy line, you can let your child use that instead of the normal scissors. The effect is nicer.

I don't have web feet

I over heard this conversation last Sunday, while we were waiting for the bus ...

爸爸: Can you swim?
哥哥: No, cannot?
爸爸: Why cannot?
哥哥: Because I don't have web feet! That's why chicken cannot swim lor. They don't have web feet. Only duck can swim. They got web feet.

Gee ... let me take a look at my feet ... maybe I got web feet. LOL

Can see, can touch but cannot type

Sigh! If anyone have noticed, I have not had any postings to any of my 3 blogs since Monday. That was because my blogger was down. I realised on Sunday when I tried to do some adjustments to the layout of my blogs. I can't create new post! That means ... no blogging!

Asking help from blogger helpdesk was no good. Why? In the first place, it's darn difficult to find the link to send them the problem and secondly they NEVER reply. I later found my way to blogger forum and posted my problem there and guess what? A Blogger staff actually replied. So they ARE alive! BUT the reply I got from him was, it's my PC problem, blah, blah, blah. Haiz! I certainly don't think it's my PC problem because I realised that are many others with the same problems I have.

Anyway, I stumbled on a neat trick a user suggested and voila! I can blog again! Shouldn't this guy be in the blogger team instead?

Anyway, I got some backdated posts, a few tags and some recipes to post. I think I can sit in front of my PC for the whole day.

A for Apple Printing

I'm planning to do a 'A-Z' of art and craft with my daughter. Hopefully I won't get stuck with a alphabet.

We are doing A today. A is for apple, of course, so it's apple printing today. I didn't guide her today. She seems to remember how to do it. I put the materials on the table and before I could guide her, she already grab the apple and started doing it.

Materials needed:

• Paper
• Paint - Toxic free and washable
• Fruit, cutted into half (We used apple)

How to do it:

1. I use a paper plate to hold the paint so there's lesser things to wash.
2. Dip the apple in the paint then transfer to the paper.
3. Stamp it away!

That's all! Easy and fun!