ORANGE'S RECOGNITION DRESS

Orange wore this dress on her recognition day in Day Care. Mama sewed it. I love this dress so much that I really want to create a post about it. The white fabric that was used was an embroidered organza. Believe it or not this organza was the skirt of my dress when I graduated sixth grade. I do not know how Mama was able to preserve it. The violet lining was tetoron; we couldn't find a cotton of this color. The bow was made of leftover star satin. Thank you so much, Mama for this beautiful dress! (*-*)

LIGHT CATCHER

This is another cool summer project for you and your kids.

'Got this idea from Smart Parenting Philippines March 2011 issue; under How-to column entitled Easy, breezy summer by Grace Marcellana. I just changed some materials that are not readily available in our home.

Here's a photo of the light catcher I made with my 3 y/o daughter:

The main material here are the old CDs that reflect sunlight that's why it is called light catcher.

MATERIALS:

Old CDs

Colored paper

Sequins

Flower bead

Crayons

Ribbon

Glue

Sticks (2)

Scissors

PROCEDURE:

1. I got these two (2) wooden sticks, my father's scraps after repairing an old wooden bed. I covered them with colored paper.

2. I arranged them into a cross and tie them using the ribbon.

3. The next thing I did was to decorate the CDs by tracing them in colored paper, cut, then ornate.

My little darling wants to make one too.

This is a sunflower according to her. =)

4. Lastly, I glued them on the CD, strung the CDs and tied them on the sticks.

FINAL OUTCOME:

There goes Orange's sunflower.

Glimmer, shimmer, shine! (*-*)

SUMMER TREE

Summer tree will be a traditional activity at home. We started making summer tree last year. It is like a Christmas tree but we used a tall ornamental plant and we hanged DIY drawn ornaments such as sun, fruits, and anything that has something to do with summer. Here's a picture of our summer tree this year:

MATERIALS:

An ornamental plant

For the ornaments:

Fabrics of different color (can be leftover ones)

Transparent folder

Glue

Ribbon

Marker

PROCEDURE for making the ornaments:

1. Using your marker, you need first to draw any summer-y objects on the fabric. You can also put words on it or the names of your family members. I wrote some verbs so my little girl will get to know some English words. She's already fluent with our native dialect Ilocano and national language Filipino because these were the medium of instruction in her school. She can speak a little English mixed with the two dialects.

2. Glue a ribbon on the transparent folder. This will serve as the string.

2. Paste the object that you have drawn then cut according to its shape.

Other ornaments I made:

The star was supposed to be a starfish but my daughter insisted that the star in the sky. So I wrote twinkle instead of swim.

Kite and Bird

Cloud and Watermelon

Flower and Leaf

Valentine is over but my little girl wants to include "Love". Oh, the lips was my idea, LOL. =D

Here, Orange enjoys decorating our Summer tree.

HAPPY SUMMER! (*-*)

COCONUT LEAF TOY ACCESSORIES

         When I was small, maybe 4 or 5 years old (I was leaving with my grandparents back then), during afternoons the girls in our neighborhood would gather together under the banana trees just across our home. There, they would make toy accessories out of banana leaves for pretend play. My cousin Freddie, my favorite cousin, would make me this kind of accessories so I could join the girls. Later on, I was able to make my own and I also discovered that this can be done using coconut leaves.

          I thought that this classic pastime could be a great summer activity bonding for me and my daughter since there are plenty of coconut trees in beaches. I'm glad she liked it. Let me give credit to my cousin who's already in heaven. Thanks, Manong Freddie! =)

 MATERIAL: Coconut Leaves (or a more scientific term is leaflet because coconut leaf is a compound type of leaf)

PROCEDURE:

FOR A BANGLE:
1. Separate the coconut leaf blade from its midrib.

2. Take a long and a very short portions of the leaf.

3. Wrap the small leaf around the long leaf just adjacent to the tip.

4. Fold the tip of the long leaf. Towards its ventral side. Let's call this a knot (it's not a knot though =D).

5. Insert the other tip of the long leaf in the knot.

7. Pull the tip to secure the knot. (Now, this is a real knot. =D)

8. Place the coconut leaf around the arm. (I'm making this bangle for my little girl). Again, insert the tip of the leaf in the knot to make a hoop.

9. Now, let's make a bangle's ribbon. Take the tip and insert it again in the knot (same side).

10. Once the tip is already pulled on the other side, insert it again in the knot. You should have formed a ribbon by now.

11. Lastly, take the tip and insert it on the other side to make a small hoop on top of the ribbon.

FOR A RING:
Just make a smaller version of the bangle. The same procedure could be used.

To make these ribbons on your ring just follow the procedure for making a bangle ribbon. This is done by inserting the tip of the leaf several times.

FOR  SPECTACLES:

1. Follow Procedure 1-5 of bangle and create a hoop.

2. Insert the tip on the other side of the knot to create the figure of an 8.

3. Lastly, get the leaf's midrib which will form the temple and earpiece of the spectacle. Decide on its length. 

To place it, just insert it on the side rim.

Caution: Coconut spectacles should not be worn when running or moving around. This is only good for picture taking purposes, lol =D (The midrib might poke your eyes).

My 3 y/o miss wants to make a bangle for me.

Ta-dah! Bangle by little miss.

NEWSPAPER NAIL ART

I find this nail art really cool. I saw this on YouTube by cutepolish; it caught my attention so I gave it a try.
For complete tutorial just go to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kcdt4_5Ncc .

MATERIALS I USED:

white nai lpolish

colorless polish

newspaper

70% Isopropyl Alcohol

cotton bud

PROCEDURE:

1. The first thing I did was to apply white nail polish on my nails.

2. According to cutepolish's tutorial you need to wait until your nail is completely dry before you dip it in alcohol and place the small piece of newspaper on top of it; however, I don't know why it didn't work so I tried another technique. That is, I dabbed alcohol on my nails using a cotton bud when my nail polish was still a bit wet and put the newspaper pieces immediately after. This time it worked. 

3. After a few seconds, I gently remove the newpaper pieces.

4. Lastly, I applied colorless coating. I noticed that the prints became more visible. 

RESULTS:

'Got fierce nails, rawr! Lol. =D