Nesting Storage Containers

Materials and Tools

* 30cm x 30cm sheets of thick scrapbook paper or patterned paper

* Brown satin ribbon

* Green rope cord 

* Metal ruler

* Bone folder

* Scissors

* Small hole punch

1. SCORE PAPER

Measure 5cm from edge of the patterned paper, then with a bone folder, score a line along the edge of metal ruler. Repeat with the three remaining sides, running each score line all the way across the paper.

2. FOLD SIDES AND PINCH CORNER

Fold up the sides of the box along the scored lines. Pinch together one corner where the scored lines intersect, as shown.

3. PUNCH HOLE THROUGH CORNER

While still pinching the paper together, punch a hole through the corner point.

4. SECURE CORNER WITH RIBBON

Run a length of satin ribbon through the hole, then tie it in a bow to secure the corner. Pinch, punch and tie the three remaining corners.

5. CREATE A SMALL CONTAINER

Trim one sheet of the patterned paper to 23 cm x 23cm. Repeat steps 1-4 with this paper to create a smaller nesting container, this time using green cording to secure the corners. When finished, place the smaller container in the larger one, or fill each container as desired.

Happy Crafting!

*Tutorial from the book Paper Everyday by Laurie Dewberry. 

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Tips to Paint on Mugs

There are lots of DIY tutorial online on how to paint your designs on mug. It's an ideal personalised gift without spending much. But after a few time using it the designs will go away. Here are few tips and tricks to make sure your designs last longer. 

1. Go for a cheap mug with glaze.

2. Draw on your designs twice, leave to dry between each drawing.

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3. Allow ink to completely dry before placing in oven.

4. Oven temperature should be 220°.

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5. After baking, leave to cool inside oven.

6. For long lasting designs, make sure you hand wash only.

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Happy Crafting!

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Not Right For IVF Treatment?

3 months of my lifetime has been wasted knowing that today I'm not the right candidate for IVF treatment at Seberang Jaya Hospital. It is of Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia that only childless couple can go through their IVF treatment.

Not one doctor or even the specialist at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital know about this policy before they refer me to the Seberang Jaya Hospital. I've waited 2 months for two appointments at the hospital and in those appointments we had scans, hsg, several blood tests, semen test and among other things for the IVF treatment. Then today they say that I cannot go through with the treatment!. How's frustrating!

The doctor suggested that if I still keen on getting IVF treatment than I should go to a private hospital. Obviously finance is the reason I cannot get treatment elsewhere other than the government hospital, if not I would have been in the middle of the treatment now!

Though much frustrated I still have faith in the Lord. I believe on His plan. If I meant to have only one child, then so be it. 

Funny how, the doctor that attend me today told me to pray hard. The first male gynae doctor I've met in my entire appointment at both hospital and he's the only one that tells me to pray hard.

On a cheery note, the Chicken and Beef Kebabs with Pita Bread sold at the hospital canteen is to die for. I've had 3 of these today. With generous chicken or beef filling, onion and parsley and only cost RM2.00 I've gain several kilos eating these......

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Bento box for My Picky Eater

Since boy is entering his primary school, I'll be preparing him lunchbox since I hate him eating all those junk food sold at the school canteen. Even if there are so many type of food I know that he will only aim for that greasy, limpy, cold fries. 

Preparing lunchbox at 5 am in the morning is still a challenge for me. A month long school holiday and the late night sleeps throughout Christmas week makes it hard for me to drag myself from bed. 

So, some days I opt out from decorating bento and just make sure the food is edible for my boy who only eats one type of vegetable, one type of fruit, seldom eat meat or fish. His favourite food was bread with peanut butter or chocolate spread. 

And, some days I'm not in the mood of taking photos. 

Rice & Sausage with Bread & Cheese

Waffle Pocket with Sausage & Cheese filling and Biscuits

French Toast with Cheese & Boiled Egg with Biscuit and Banana

Rice & Sausage with Egg Sheet

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Do-It-Yourself Tutu and Snowflakes

For Christmas celebration at church, we decided to make our own Tutu skirts for our Christmas performance. Tutu can be constructed without sewing. 

To make a tutu you will only  be needing tulle and elastic band. I got my tulle at A to Z Wedding House right here in Penang. 

So the basic of making tutu is;

1. Make the elastic waistband. Measure your waist and tie the ends. 

2. Cut the tulle. I cut 6" wide and 22" long. You can customized to your own liking.

3. Attach tulle to elastic band. Basically you just have to tie the tulle along the elastic band.

Refer to this instruction from Youtube by SoCraftastic.

                   

Notice the snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I love making those! 3D snowflakes are great and easy decoration you can make using just white paper.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

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Dinner Planner

Materials and Tools

* decorative paper

* Ink-Jet magnet paper

* metal ruler

* scissor

* craft knife

* self healing cutting mat

* spray adhesive

* glue stick

* computer  

* ink-jet printer

Instructions

1. Create heading

Cut a sheet of patterned paper to 81/2" × 11" ( 22 cm x 28 cm) and, using a computer, print the title. You can add decorative or geometric design and print the title inside the design. Set aside.

2. Create weekly table

Create a table by using a computer with the days of the week along the lefhand column and the headings (Main Dish, Side Dish, Vegetable and Dessert) along the top row. Each table cell is about 4 cm x 3 cm. 

3. Cut paper strips
Cut 4 strips of 4 cm x 22 cm strips of colored-paper.

4. Cut magnet paper

Cut a piece of ink-jet magnet paper to 18 cm x 22cm.

5. Mount paper strips
Apply spray adhesives to one side of the colored strips on step 3. Mount this strips vertically, side by side, onto the black side of the magnet sheet.

6. Cut first set of narrow paper strips
Cut three 22cm x 6mm strips fo polka-dot paper or any patterned paper you like.

7. Cut second set of narrow paper strips
Trim six 18cm x 8mm strips of striped paper of any paper patterned you like.

8. Mount magnet to paper

Apply spray adhesives to the back of the magnetic section prepared in step 5 to the paper with the weekly table in step 2.

9. Mount horizontal strips
Using a glue stick, mount the six striped paper strips (in step 7) horizontally across the four colored strips.

10. Mount vertical strips

Using a glue stick, mount the paper strips from step 6 vertically and at regular intervals.

11. Cut paper base

Cut a piece of pink-patterned paper to 24 cm x 30 cm.

12. Mount table and title to base paper
Position and mount with spray adhesives the weekly table and the title, centered on the pink-patterned paper on step 11.

13. Print dish magnets
Using a computer and printer, design and print 19mm x 4cm cell box on ink-jet magnetic paper a selection of menu choices. Cut out each dish magnet and place it on chart as desired. 

There you go! Now you have a meal organizer that makes planning a week's worth of dinners a piece of cake.

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Easy and Cheap DIY Christmas Wreath

Christmas is my favorite season to diy. All the endless possibilities to create christmas decorations out of all kind of paper; patterned paper, tissue paper even newspaper just excites me. 

I always want to make a Christmas wreath. Found tons of tutorial online but this one can be done within 1 or 2 hours.

Tutorial are from http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/mplatewreath2.html

Materials:

• paper plate (I cut a circle out of used cardboard box)
• glue,
• scissors,
• 1 to 2 inch squares of green or red (or your choice of color) tissue paper.

Instructions:

• Cut the tissue paper into 1 to 2 inch squares.
• Cut the center out of the paper plate to leave a round "donut" shape.  This will form the base of the wreath.
• Wrap each square of tissue paper over the top of a pencil, dip in glue and stick it to the paper plate.
• Continue until you have filled the entire plate with tissue to create your wreath.

Glue ornaments on the finished wreath. I got my ornaments at Mr. DIY where you can find affordable Christmas decorations.

Enjoy making yours!

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Life Hack for Sweaty Underarms

Every Sunday when I go to Church service I always make sure that I wear  dark shirt or dress. Church service can sometime go for 4 hours as we have a lot of activities. This month we are having practices for Christmas celebration so it’s going to be a lot of sweating involved.

I sweat a lot that’s why I used a lot of anti-perspiration deodorant. Recently there’s a lot of scare going on about deodorant that caused cancer in later life. Although there is no real evidence but I might just go slow on this entire chemical. So I decided to go free and used less of deodorant…but I still do sweat. So I had to pick the type of fabric and color I used on a hot afternoon day.

There’s a lot of hack on the internet on to prevent embarrassment of sweat stains. Life hacks are my favorite tips and trick to save on my pinterest.

And I found this…use an ultra-thin pantyliner on your sleeve to absorb sweat. But make sure that it sticks well to your sleeve. Once I used a cheap pantyliner and on the way to Church I noticed something bulky down my arm (I was wearing a long sleeve shirt). Upon checking it was pantyliner sticking comfortably down my sleeve. So make sure it does stick to the sleeve.

And if you are wearing short sleeved shirt, cut the pantyliner in half before applying them.

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Homemade Pizza with Homemade Tortilla Wrap

I love pizza and I love making pizza dough. But sometimes eating pizza makes me too full and eventually I only managed to eat two slice and scraped the topping to eat and just throw out the bread.

So what better way to enjoy the delicious topping and still consider it as a pizza? Use a super thin crust pizza!...Or a tortilla wrap! It super crunchy and delicious with your choice of topping.

                       

Original recipe from The Cafe Sucre Farine.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm water

Ingredients:

1. Combine and mix flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl. Add oil and water. Mix with a mixer for 1 minute or you can just use your hands. stopping several timesto scrape the sides of the bowl. After about 1 Continue to mix until dough is smooth.

2. Transfer from mixing bowl to a well-floured work surface. Divide dough in half, then in half again. Continue until you have 16 fairly equal portions. Form each piece into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand as much as possible. If dough is sticky, use a bit more flour. Cover flattened balls of dough with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes before proceeding.

3. After rest period, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Roll each dough piece into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don’t stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other or they will get soggy.

4. Serve warm or allow to cool for later use. When ready to use, place a slightly damp paper towel in the bottom of a container (with a cover) that will hold the stacked tortillas. Microwave, uncovered for 15-25 seconds (start with 15) or until warm, then cover to hold heat while serving.

Note: The tortillas will keep well stored in an airtight container or zippered bag at at room temperature for 24 hours or can be frozen indefinitely. To freeze, separate tortillas with parchment paper or waxed paper and place in a zippered bag before placing in freezer.

Enjoy and happy cooking!

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Missionary Ship Called Logos Hope

This week was the September school holiday. So off we go for an adventure....or not. With the crazy on and off haze going on here in Penang it's impossible to not go out and have irritated eyes and throat. 

But we heard about this floating book fair, it's the world's largest and it is on board a ship called MV Logos Hope. It travel worldwide and has visited 60 countries since it started to sail. I of course couldn't resist any bookfair. So geared with face masks, we head to Penang island.

All aboard! Right...here we go...It's a long walk from the parking area to Swettenham Pier. 

The entrance and exit. Quite a crowd today. It's fascinating to see the red lifeboat stands out from the white cruise ship.

So from the entrance, we came to this. A seated area with a tv screen in front and a lady (a very cute lady standing maybe just 5 feet tall) giving information about the Logos Hope. I come to know that it is actually a missionary ship. And upon entering the bookstore, I found that, although they are selling all kinds of books but they have this large area where they have Christian books and CDs. 

Children are mostly attracted to the above ship simulation.

Maybe a replica of the crew's bedroom. This was somewhere at the entrance after the seated area. Nice comfy double-decker bed with a bookcase, cupboard and also a desk.

If you zoom to the book on the table it is actually a Bible.

Here's the bookstore. I think the price was ok but a tad expensive then the Big Bad Wolf (BBW) Sales. Since BBW book sales is coming again so I better go easy here. I bought a Christian CD, the Logos Hope poster and a keychain and a few books for my son.

They are also selling toys, souvenirs and almost all kind of books.

A few snapshots for memories before we go. 

And upon walking to the parking area...we came to this. Flocks of pigeon land and pooping on several cars....luckily not ours. 

But do you know that there is a superstitions that bird poop brings good luck?

Ok......

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