Dragon & Phoenix

Longest Winter Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:44:00 +0000

Yes, it is already April but we still need to feel Spring! It's been freezing weather still and we seem to only have a few hours of great weather before it suddenly turns cold and windy. Warm weather please...

This is why we ended up 'celebrating' Easter Sunday on a Saturday! Well, it was more of a picnic with the Chinese classmates of the kids as they've not experienced Easter so we thought a picnic would be great and also to let the kids have a chance to run around. Unfortunately we only had Saturday forecast to be sunny!

Counting the Easter loot...

The week before Easter, I got ambitious and thought of making these Felt Easter Bunnies for the kids to give away to all their classmates... And then of course, I encountered some timing problems and only ended up with 9 instead of 30! Oh well... The kids enjoyed playing with them and still brought it to school and share with their classmates.

Finishing Up

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:47:00 +0000

Somehow March has just snuck up on us... what we thought would be a long long month, is now it's almost over. Easter is just around the corner (not a big event here in Shanghai expat for the expats as Chinese don't celebrate Easter, however Easter this year is celebrated on the same day as Tomb Sweeping Day).

With the weather going crazy - one day cold, one day hot, one day snowing (yes, we had a big snow which did not settle though, in March), one day rainy, and so on... everyone's been sick with the colds.

Anyway, been trying to finish a lot of stuff that are way overdue. Reading other people's blogs at least gives me comfort that it's not just me but also some of you out there have those unfinished projects.

Finished the tooth fairy pillow for Samuel, which turned out more complicated than I had planned. Pattern to follow soon.

A cardi for my boy... I love the red accents and how everything turned out nicely. I'm hoping he would still be able to get into this next winter.

And finally, matching jammies for the twins. I didn't manage to get a good photo esp since they were both doing all their kungfu moves! These were supposed to be our new Christmas tradition - new jammies for everyone - but I only managed to make the bottoms for everyone this time. The kimono top took a backseat so it was a great feeling to finally finish the whole set. The kids were quiet ecstatic and Samuel told me he didn't want his jammies washed for a long time (oh no!).

I love the versatility of these Oliver + S patterns that unisex because I can cut the pattern for both and sew both in one go.

These days...

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:30:00 +0000

A bit of jamming...

A bit of hugging on the way to school.

Playhouse All Done! (at last!)

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:39:00 +0000

We had a good 9 days off work for the Chinese New Year holiday so the kids and I spent the better part of it making our felt playhouse (inspired by Homemade by Jill) with the first 2-3 days more productive due to the terrible weather outside. Probably the one and only big project I will be able to tackle this year.

Kids are enjoying the playhouse and that is what's important. They've always taken the duvets or blankets off our beds and used them as roofing or tents so when I saw Jill's playhouse, I just knew this was perfect for my twins. They've basically told me what the design or what the playhouse should have like the front door was specially for Audrey and the garage door on the back will be for Samuel. And that there should be a garden with corn, carrots, apple tree, etc.

Here are some snapshots I managed to take. More can be found here or here.

Happy Chinese New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:27:00 +0000

Rain rain go away...come again another day

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:18:00 +0000

Rainy days... dreading the rainy days. We ended up staying home all afternoon during the weekend. We managed to go for a swim in the morning on Saturday and a breakfast on Sunday. That's as far as we got and then home.

It was a blessing in disguise as I managed to get started on the big project - Felt Playhouse. Need to get ours done soon as the Chinese New Year holidays are coming up and we have 9 days off school and work. Something to keep kids busy in case we get more of these rainy days next week.

Matryoshka Tooth Fairy Pillow

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:55:00 +0000

Okay, I know it's been a while since I last updated this blog. So many things just somehow happened all at the same time and as much as I wanted to stretch waking hours to 24 hrs, just couldn't...

Anyways, a couple weeks ago my daughter gave me a bit of a scare telling me one of her tooth was loose. So that got me scrambling to do a tooth fairy pillow. Searched online but couldn't find anything I liked so in the end I did my own design.

I used felt to do this and pretty much hand sewn everything except for the outline which I used a sewing machine just to make sure the filling inside don't come out. Along the way, I also slightly made some changes to the result so feel free to do your own based on the template.

The tooth, when it falls out, would be placed inside the pocket of the apron. For now, the pillow is hanging on their room door... next I need to do one for my little boy - a robot one.

Click below image to download a printable PDF.

It would be great to see what you made. So please post to Flickr group pool here.

All Good

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:08:00 +0000

It's now November and somehow I've lost track of time so quickly! All's been good here.

We've been enjoying the nice warm weather still ...

except ... it had suddenly gotten freezing cold today!

Halloween weekend, we ended up not doing much. We don't really celebrate it here except shops and restaurants. We did end up with pumpkin soup for dinner which the kids loved. It was the first time I've made it was easier than I thought.

And finally managed to try out the recipe from Our Kitchen for this lovely focaccia. It went well with our pumpkin soup, although I'm not sure these 2 would be good pairings, but nevertheless, it turned out really yummy!

The ingredients are simple and ones I already had. Used some whole olives instead of seeded ones as those were the only ones I had. Rosemary were from my little garden.

It was perfect and so easy to make. Importantly, the kids loved the simple meal (even if we had to pick out the olives and rosemary from their slices of bread).

Bubble Dress Finished!

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Managed to get a few hours of sewing time and so so so happy that I managed to finish the Oliver + S Bubble Dress for my little girl. This was supposed to be a birthday dress but it got put on hold a bit.

Audrey was excited to wear it and we did on a little picnic outing and lots of races. She wondered why there's no 'bubbles' as shown on the packaging's picture.

On the dress, this was a great pattern to work with but approached it a bit with trepidation because it looked complicated and not sure about my sewing skills. But it turned out actually easy and just loved the way it turned out and still cannot believe I made this. Now, on to the next Oliver + S pattern... or another Bubble Dress.

The Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:13:00 +0000

The day has arrived and the kids were excitedly waking us up this morning getting us to get up as it's the day of their birthday party. We started the day with our breakfast at Wagas and came home to do some more last minute preparations. The party was to start at 3:30pm but we were all finished by 2:00pm.

When a new movie on DVD failed to keep them occupied longer, we got them on the computer playing online games, and then more "herding" of the balloons scattered everywhere on the floor to float back to the lounge area.

And when the guests started arriving, it all just went in a blur. I didn't even get a chance to take pictures of all the kids wearing their costumes, didn't manage to take more party pictures and nor did I manage to take pictures of our homemade piñata!

Here are some pictures I managed to snap...

Kids with their party clothes, all sewn up at the last minute...

Happy Birthday banner which was easy to do.

Balloons everywhere. We started with about 100 of these but some blew up before guests arrived...

One of the 6 no-sew tutus I made complete with the name tag...

And the girls wearing their tutus...

The boys wearing their superhero capes and masks...

Banana cupcake recipe from Bakerella... except I added too much food colour than I should.

My first attempt at birthday cakes...

The little goody bags for the guests...

All in all, it was a success, the kids enjoyed themselves. I'm glad it was over and I've another year to plan another; one of the advantages of having twins... 1 party once a year.

Usually we don't give kids any presents also on their birthdays as they get to have the party and plus they get gifts from guests. And yes, they get to extend their birthday as we only get them to open 1 gift a day (maybe next year I'll hide the gifts so as to extend the opening of presents longer). Sounds harsh but actually this turns out well as the kids get a chance to play and enjoy 1 toy at a time rather than get overwhelmed by so many toys.

Today You Both Are 4

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Today is a big day. My twins are celebrating their 4th birthday. Where has time gone? It seemed only yesterday when the doctor told me I'm going to have twins. The memory is still so vivid in my mind and remember every minute of it, how Simon and I sat there in the lounge trying to absorb the news, speechless yet excited while at the same time also not sure what to do.

Happy Birthday...

xoxo
mummy

Pretend Party Again

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:58:00 +0000

The kids are very very very excited about their upcoming birthdays and they requested we have a pretend party last Saturday. And we did. It was also for me to test out which cupcake to make and how I will decorate it. The kids even had an opinion on how I should do the frosting while they decorated the top with sprinkles.

The cupcakes actually turned out great and was just the right taste, not too sweet. The recipe was from Bakerella's Banana Cupcakes. And with the frosting it didn't feel too sinful. The frosting was from here which I found via Cake Journal.

One of the kids' classmate whom they've invited for the actual party got the date wrong and ended up at our doorsteps bearing this big bowl of goldfishes for the kids. This was the kids' first pets. The gold one for Audrey is named 'zhen zhu' meaning 'pearl' while the black one for Samuel is named 'mo long' meaning 'dark dragon' or literally 'ink dragon'; 'ink' because of the black colour. Unfortunately, 'zhen zhu' died a couple days later...

Then we followed up the little party with a quick play time at the Okura Garden Hotel's lawn (our new hangout) where Samuel picked up lots of leaves and put them in his bucket and poured all out onto the mat.

He picked more leaves to share with Audrey who had a bit of a fever.

Birthday Invites Out... Whew!

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Last night finally managed to finish putting together the party invites after having to re-print the cards (my DH thinks I should have added some more info). I'm not really working with any theme as things seem to be changing often so I'm just going with the flow.

This is what I ended up with the invite as Samuel wanted super hero capes plus mask. Audrey wanted some fairy/princess thingy so I ended up with a tutu. And yes, this means I need to make 6 super hero capes and 6 tutus. I bought the wands for less than a dollar so that at least took something off my plate. More on the costumes later...

So printed some stickers to use as seals on the invites. The paper was from packs I bought in Sydney way way way back then during the BK days; BK meaning 'before kids'.

All done.

When the party is over, I'll post here a free downloadable kit including: invites, sticker labels and tags. Possibly sewing pattern for the cape...

Kids' On the Sewing Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:02:00 +0000

The past couple weekends the kids have been fighting for a chance to try their hand at my sewing machine. They've finally learned to take turns. What surprised me was how well they somehow knew how to use the machine. Audrey looked like she's done it before (maybe she has while I'm at work) and Samuel... well... he's a little 'engineer' like daddy. He's seen me change the foot of the sewing machine once this morning and immediately he knew how to do it! They've learned to change to setting it to different stitch settings and using diff. foot for certain stitch style.

Kids' Messenger Bags

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:37:00 +0000

Just in time for our trip next week, managed to finished the messenger bags for my twins. This is based on a fantastic easy-to-follow tutorial from mmmcrafts.

When I printed out the blog post and showed to my twins what design they would like to have, Samuel immediately told me he wanted a blue guitar and Audrey said she wants a pink butterfly. So the easiest was to draw a these icons and use felt to cut them up and applique them onto the flap. Followed the great tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew! blog on how to do machine appliqués. As this was only my second time to do appliqués on my sewing machine, you can see there is still room for improvement. The little pieces and details were sewn in first onto the main body and then used the sewing machine to appliqué the entire design onto the flap.

I've reduced the size for these bags as the size specified was a bit big. I think I reduced the width of the bag by 4 inches. The pink one uses cotton canvas and the blue is denim linen. For the latter, I had to add some batting to give it body as it ended up a bit too soft even after the lining was added.

The greatest feeling was the big smile they had when I showed them their bags and immediately wanted to put stuff in. They didn't want me to take pictures of it as they just wanted to walk around the house with their bags.

Birthday Party Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:20:00 +0000

I just realized that kids' birthday is a little over a month to go and haven't really started planning anything. And since I've always got a lot of things happening all at the same time, I've started panicking - not sure if I'll ever have enough time to prepare.

My criteria this year are:

as much as possible low key
no balloons
as much as possible handmade
has to be a unisex theme as my twins is a boy and a girl

I'm not even sure if this is all realistic... So I've put together some 'mood boards' to see what my options are. My twins of course wants something either too boyish or too girly and even at 4 cannot seem to agree on a theme until this morning when I asked them. When I hinted at a underwater sort of theme, it seems like they both agreed. Now putting my mood boards together does not really seem like it's coherent to the chosen theme... Who knows what I'll end up having in the end but maybe I can adapt some to theme... we'll see.

1-2: Martha Stewart Pop-up Party Decorations - I remember making these way back in grade school and I'm going to try to remember how these are made this coming weekend. This would be a nice change from the streamers which everyone has been making like what the kids and I did one weekend (see picture 3).

4: Martha Stewart Festive Garland - another possibility combining 1, 2 and 3

5: Creature Comfort's Paper Rosette's based on Martha Stewart's Fabric Star Medallions - this may be my go-to version if I am not successful with doing 1 and 2.

1 and 4: Cookie Magazine's recommendation for party games - Bean Bag Toss and Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I was actually planning on making Bean Bag Toss this weekend so it'll be a trial or one which I'll keep until the party.

2: Coloured Pasta - could be something I'll get the kids to put together into jewelry. I clipped an article from Parents magazine last year which had some excellent ideas on what things you can make with coloured pastas. Simply Radiant has a great tutorial for making the pastas bright and colourful.

3: Pinata - definitely! I have already an idea on how I'll make one using a string or ribbons to pull open the pinata. I don't like those that requires a bat to break the pinata open. We had a small fire truck last year which I bought and then filled with small amount of candies and lots of tiny toys. It was a big hit.

5: Martha Stewart's Fabric-Scrap Favor Pick - good way to use up my fabric stash but not sure yet what I'll put inside...

6: Legos - will be something boys can do

7: Martha Stewart's Notebook Labels - my idea is more of personalized bookplates for the guests

8: Freezer Paper Printing - This was something we did one weekend and the kids had fun so I'm thinking could be an activity and at the same time a party favor afterwards.

1: Fish Bowl Cupcake - this idea was on a book I bought last year called Hello Cupcake. But also found this from here. The kids have asked me a few times when I'll make these but haven't gotten round to it. This will be my chance, I guess.

2: Annabel Karmel's Jelly Boat - made this last year for the kids 3rd birthday and was a hit, so in line with the 'theme' this may make a comeback.

3, 5 and 9: Cookie Magazine's Healthy Snacks - these snacks were featured in one of the issues I received and have tested so far the frozen banana treat. I've been wanting to try the other 2 and this may be a chance. These doubles also as party food.

4 and 8: Bakerella's Cake Pops - oooohhhh... I've been eyeing these for some time now and thought these would be perfect party food. Just haven't had much time during the past weekends. These sound a little less 'evil' than a candy pop; not big on candies.

6: Inchmark's Star Cupcakes - this is an interesting idea for a topper too which is neither too girly or too boyish...

7: Martha Stewart's Carrot-Cake Mini Cupcakes - this is more for the idea on the topper and possibly the cupcake recipe or a banana one.

Kids' Activity Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:48:00 +0000

At last we will be able to go on a short vacation after all. Kids are very excited and I definitely am, too. When we found out we can travel, I started thinking again an idea I had for some time now but have never managed to materialize it. Our friends were going on a vacation before us so I thought it was a good opportunity to start with a pack for Owen and Liam to take on their vacation.

Here's a few pictures of what I've managed to put together. You can download the tutorial (PDF) here. This is just a guide on I made our packs so feel free to customize it and share what you've made. This is for personal use only. As this is my first tutorial, please don't hesitate to let me know what improvements or how to simplify this.

The notebooks I added in the pack were extras I had and covered with scrap fabrics left over from other projects. You can find the tutorial here. The road map included in the boys' packs can be downloaded from here.

Add any goodies/toys you have in hand. Most of what I've included in each of the kids' packs are stuff I already had and so it was good to do some de-stashing at the same time. See more pictures here...

I may do more to give as Christmas presents... what do you think?

First Kindergarten Mini Album

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:59:00 +0000

Finally managed to officially finish a mini album of my kids' first (proper) nursery year. 'Proper' because when they were 1.5 yrs old, we sent them to another local nursery school which was supposed to be longstanding one in our area. As it turned out, it wasn't really great and towards end of that school term, kids hated going there. Can't really blame them. In China, it is quite normal to send your kids to nursery school as early as 1.5 years old.

We were very happy when they got in to Sinan Kindergarten which is also walking distance to and from our home. The kids also were happy. So I thought I'd do a hybrid mini album chronicling the first year. The basic layout was based on Ali Edwards' Layered Template #33 but have adjusted size and changed details. Added also some embellishments to give it a bit more tactile feel.

Here's a look at some of the spreads...

I don't really know all the names in their class (I'm really bad with names and most esp. when it comes to Chinese names.) so I added a film overlay and traced the kids outline and numbered them. Then I asked one of the teachers to help write each kids' name so I can add it into the album.

The school organized for the kids to go on a train ride to the outskirts of Shanghai and the kids even had their own 'special' tickets. Added a little pocket to hold the train ticket on the fold-out page. Samuel lost his ticket so I only had Audrey's left.

I wouldn't have been able to put this together without the teacher's help in copying the photos for me. I love the ones taken during normal school activities or outings.

Birthday 'Cards'

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:55:00 +0000

My sister and sister-in-law are having their birthdays in August with only a few days apart and I thought I'd send them something different this year using up some bits of scrapbook stuff I had.

Quite easy and quick to do and the fun bit was getting the kids to draw or write something for their aunts as each one had their own pockets to hold a card and their photos. The pictures are using digital scrap stuff from various sources and background paper from the Vines Paper Pack.

Instructions for the accordion pocket book is found here.

Painting Faces

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:30:00 +0000

Sunday turned out to be a very wet day here in Shanghai. We managed to get through the afternoon with a few activities and one of the things that the kids enjoyed were the face and body paints that I've brought out. They immediately went in search of a mirror (we only have this one small 2-way mirror that was portable...).

Here's what they did...

Samuel said he's a 'knight'...

Audrey says she's a 'clown'... And she asked me to paint her belly with a cat's face...but I think I ended up making it look like a puppy than a cat (don't tell her that).

Lots of fun and we'll definitely be doing more.

Baby Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:07:00 +0000

My 3 attempts at sewing the Stardust Shoes... Yes, I did 3 pairs of these for friends who's had just given birth or is having a baby.

The pattern is quite easy and the tutorial very clear. My only problem was trying to add the elastic onto the shoes which was for me, a beginner, a bit tricky. Actually, I waited a couple weeks in between sewing the first pair and the second and third as I needed to 'be inspired' or otherwise I'll do a bad job. The waiting paid off and the 2nd 3rd pair turned out better.

Would I sew this again, I think most likely yes! I just wished I'd learn how to sew back when my twins were still tiny babies and I probably would have made dozens!

Freezer Paper Stenciling

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:11:00 +0000

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...

Flower Power

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:56:00 +0000

Last night, I had an itch to do and finish projects before the weekend. Weekend evenings are typically impossible to do anything after the kids are in bed except flop down in front of the TV and knit or crochet and let my mind go 'blank'... So, I ended up doing this fabric ranunculus that I read about on House on Hill Road. Thanks for the tutorial, Erin.

Used Audrey's jersey blouse from H&M which I bought last year but has since been hardly worn... (she thinks it is not interesting enough as it doesn't have much on it...). With bits of extra fabric from another dress I made for her and a bead, voila! It was easy to do after I 'mastered' the zigzag part. And above all, she was very very pleased with it when she saw it this morning. I'm glad, too.

It's not 'perfect' and I definitely will be doing a couple more :-)

Evolving Art

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:41:00 +0000

A quick snapshot of the kids painting on the weekend. It's evolved from a muddle of colours all mixed together to this...

Shanghai Aquarium

noreply@blogger.com (Arlyna's Blog) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:23:00 +0000

After a long lapse since the last time we went to the Shanghai Aquarium, the kids requested that we go last Saturday. We managed to get out of the door early this time, which means we managed to beat the crowd and long queue. Unfortunately, the kids thought it was a lot more fun to run thru the exhibits and fish tanks since the place was still quite empty. A few pictures from that morning...

When they managed to actually stop and look at the fishes...

And admire the stingrays...

Staff cleaning the tank...