Freezer Paper Stenciling

A few weeks ago I read about how cool freezer papers are (have never heard of them before as these are not available in Asia) on Designing Moms, I knew I had to give this one a try. There is also clear instructions over at PanjoKids blog.

I went in search of freezer paper and found pre-cut US letter sizes at Avelis Quilts and General Store but they can only ship within the US. Ordered some and in the meantime, I decided I just had to check Etsy again to see if this has been listed. Was in luck when I found a big roll from RagaMuffin2006 and she fortunately shipped to Shanghai. Both arrived a couple weeks ago and last Sunday, finally managed to use them.

Got 2 bottles of the Pebeo Setacolor Shimmer Opaque fabric paint. Then got the kids to choose the shirts they wanted to paint on. And voila! We got our shirts.

These are just so cool that even Simon was keen to do more... We are so hooked on these. I just love the 'shimmer' of the paint. So now I'm thinking this could be something the kids can do at their birthday party...

'Pretend' Tea Party

Today was way too hot to do much so after coming home after lunch, we thought we'd have a 'pretend' tea party. Got the kids to put together some buntings which I'd cut out of an old wedding gift wrapper. They folded the top of the triangle paper and attached it to the string plus added a tape to keep the paper from falling off.

Then they helped make some cupcakes. Actually, it was also for a me trial to see what sort of cupcakes I can make for the kids birthdays in September (I know it's still a long way away but for a very busy person like me, I need a long long long leadtime to plan stuff).

The cupcakes turned out great. The recipes were from Cupcake Bakeshop by Choclit using her Plain and Simple Chocolate Cupcake with the Vanilla frosting and Yellow Cupcake from Martha Stewart's Food Magazine. I especially loved the vanilla frosting because it used a lot less sugar than other recipes. I'm still in search of the 'perfect' frosting that uses even less sugar, if that even exists. So if anyone has any idea it would be greatly appreciated.

And finally, love these cute cupcake liners which I got from Cupcake Social and Bake It Pretty. They somehow just add a nice touch to the cupakes.

Cardboard Box Projects Completed

Finally, after a few weeks of delay and interruptions, I have managed to finish my kids cardboard toys.

Added finished touches to Samuel's spaceship. Yogurt and milk caps were used as knobs and buttons. Soda can ring was used as fuel gauge indicator. Added old Hard Rock Cafe keyrings as his keys (he loves music and guitars). Used old discs as headlights. Adding the straps was the trickiest part. To be honest, I did this project without a lot of plan except that I envisioned how I can cut the cardboard box and make the shape. A lot of details were just sudden inspirations and found items around the apartment.

Now, he's asked me to make a space helmet to match his spaceship... hhhmmmm


The other project we started was also finally finished. Audrey's dolly house is all done except Samuel decided it was a great 'garage' for his Mac truck and other cars.
Mod podged the 'ground area' with print outs of green patterns. For the roof, decided at the last minute to make 'shingles' rather than mod podge it with the pattern I printed out weeks ago. Got my new Creative Memories circular cutter to good use. The kids also helped cut up the 'shingles'. Just used double-sided tape to attach the discs one over the other starting from the bottom area.

The tricky part was cutting thru the mod podged walls. Simon had already cut windows and doors before I covered the walls with paper printed with wood pattern. So I had to make sure that I cut thru the same area. Unfortunately some of the mod podge did not seal the paper and cardboard together so had to improvide and used kraft tape around the edges.

Audrey loves the little wooden beads I used as knobs on the doors and windows.

Overall, I am still feeling quite proud to have finally finished these 2 projects and that the kids are still playing with their toys.