Make a Caterpillar from Egg Carton

This is a simple craft for kindergarten children using recycle material. You can use either plastic egg carton or paper pulp egg carton. Plastic egg carton has a nice round shape to it but paper pulp egg carton is easier to color paint.

You will be needing:
1. Egg carton of your choice
2. Scissor and some strong glue to attach the googly eyes.
3. Googly eyes 
4. Straw (for the caterpillar tentacles)
5. Poster paint (or any type of paint of your choice)


Directions:

Step 1: Prepare the egg carton. Cut around the edges of the round shape. There might be a spikes inside the egg carton. Cut that out. You can train your child to do this but with supervision. 

Step 2: Time for your child to have fun! Paint the egg carton.

Step 3: Let dry overnight.

Step 4: Using strong glue, attach googly eyes. Curl at the end of the straw using glue. Paint and let dry. Make a slit on top of the egg carton and insert the tentacles. 

Done! Enjoy!

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Want to make inexpensive and meaningful Mother's Day Gift? Fill it in a Glass Jar!

A simple homemade gift you can give to your mom this coming Mother's day is to give it in jar. You don't have to spend a lot of money to it but the gift inside the jar can be meaningful to your mom. Fill it with your mom's favorite stuff. You can get the glass jar almost everywhere and they are versatile and just adorable for gift giving.

If you are short on money to send your mom to the spa, you can present her with a manicure and pedicure set in glass jar. Or fill it with chocolate or candy your mom love or maybe even a cake in jar!

Here are some ideas for you....

Mani Pedi Set. Fill a glass jar with a manicure and pedicure set we know every mom loves!

Take some time and bake your mom Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Or bake her a cake. There are many recipes for cake in a jar but I personally love this Red Velvet Cake in a Jar. The color is just so vibrant and perfect gift for Mother's day.

A simple store bought Hershey's Kisses Chocolate or candy,

A nice homemade Picture Frame Vase with Flowers

Can you think the reasons you love your mom? Express it to her by writing it and fill it in a glass jar. A touching Jar of Love! 

Or maybe you can fill All of Mom Favorite Stuff in a Jar!

There you go! Mother's day gift shouldn't be expensive. It can be expensive but meaningful. But a wholeheartedly handmade gift will do the work just fine. 

Enjoy. 

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Mother's Day Gift You Can Make! - Hearts Garland

Designer: Mary Fogg

This lovely handmade Mother's day gift stuffed with sweet-smelling lavender (you can fill it with potpourri) is perfect and great for using leftover fabric.

You will Need:

• Fabric (cotton will do) for the hearts: five pieces printed cotton fabric 30cm x 21cm
• Dried lavender / potpourri
• Filling (you can use polyester filling or scrap yarn)
• Pink ribbon

1. Make a heart shaped template from card or thick paper. Take one piece of your chosen fabric and fold in half, short sides together with right sides facing, and pin. Use the card template and a pencil to draw the heart shape onto the fabric. Starting three-quarters along one side of the heart shape, stitch carefully around the marked line leaving a 5cm (2in) gap for turning. Repeat for each piece of fabric.

2. Cut out the heart shapes 6mm (¼in) from the sewing line. Carefully snip into the curves and down into the ‘V’ of the heart shape. Turn each heart right side out, and gently press into shape.

3. Stuff each heart with filling and add a generous scoop of lavender or potpourri before slip stitching the opening closed.

4. Stitch a ribbon bow onto the front of each heart. Making sure the hearts are right sides facing, securely stitch them together at their widest point to form a chain.

5. Cut two lengths of ribbon and stitch one piece at either end of your chain of hearts.

Done. 

"Mother, Not always Eye to Eye but always Heart to Heart."

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Cheap Display for Your Handmade

I love recycling. My craft room is so full with containers and small boxes that I would like to recycle as cute storage for my yarn or for Julian's toys. But for some reason, I had the problem of hoarding too much that I no longer used my craft room because every nook and corner are full with stuff! There will come the day when I have to get rid of all the stuff.....'sigh'....

So at my first craft fair at Penang, I used cheap as well as recycle display. 

Spray paint Egg Tray

Spray paint works best. It's easy and cheap! But, make sure leave a couple of days to dry them. Displaying cute baby booties on these egg trays is perfect cause they fit so well.

Cup cake display I bought at Mr. DIY

Cardboard cup cake display is only about RM3.00. 

Stand Bought also at Mr. DIY

I'm not sure what is this stand for but maybe it's for glasses. Bought this for a couple of Ringgit only.

There is no such thing as 'away'.

When we throw anything away,

It must go somewhere.

-Annie Leonard.

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Little Penang Street Market - Sell Your Craft Work Here!

After organizing my first craft booth (see my previous post), I was so thrilled by the idea of showcasing my work in a craft fair I said to myself, I want to do this again! I started to search for the next craft fair available in Penang. And I found out there is a monthly event called Little Penang Stree Market held every last sunday of the month at Armenian Street.

Handmade Earrings

Hand painted T-shirt

Paper Craft - Origami

Little Penang Street Market is a monthly event established to showcase Penang's traditional and contemporary crafts and culture. So other than providing space for interested individuals who want to sell their craft work, they have also other activities such as cultural performances and book reading.

So the fee for a 3x6 feet table is only RM90.00 for the first time and RM70.00 for the next application but till date I haven't had the chance to apply as the vendor.

For those who crochet or knit and interested to sell in a craft fair why not join me as the vendor. Doing a solo craft show can be tiring and sharing a booth can be exciting. 

So do drop comments below. Have a nice day!

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Craft Fair for The First Timers

My first craft fair was at the Mid-Autumn Festival, Penang on 7th September 2014. The festival was an annual thing where they had this whole section of the carnival just for the art & craft vendors. I remember how nervous I was cause I didn't know what to expect. But I know it was a chance to meet potential customers and when i received the offer letter I immediately think YES I'm going to do this!

So the organizer, Creativision D.C. Sdn. Bhd., provided the booth with few options in terms of sizes and rental fees. I chose a 5 feet x 10 feet booth with a fee of RM150.00.

It went well and I was so happy but after the carnival ended, I thought there were few things that I thought I should have done in preparation for the craft fair.

Well preparation is the key. You need to prepare on the craft you are going to showcase and also the craft fair itself. So here I would like to give tips to new crafters out there on preparing and organizing your first craft booth.

Have Enough Crafts
The craft I was selling were crochet handmade items and most of it were baby booties and hat for babies from newborn to 12 months old (apart from a few children and adult's hats). Now after a few hours the children and adult's hat were sold out because most family comes with their children and since people would not bring babies to the carnival some would only buy them only if they think it fits their little ones but with hesitation (whether it will actually fits them).

Although I did made a little profit but I thought I could make more if only I had the right products (crochet sun hat maybe because the weather is quite hot). Sure people would buy cute little baby booties for gifts but most of the customers who drop buy would ask me whether I had more of those crochet hats.    

So I learnt my lesson there. Do a research what kind of carnival or fair and make sure you have enough and the right kind of crafts. My neighbor in the craft fair, who I got along pretty well was a Malay lady in her 50's was selling a flower arrangement made from 'kain songket'. These flower arrangement she made are for dowry typical in a Malay wedding. Since most of the people are Chinese (Mid-Autumn Festival are celebrated by chinese), she didn't made any sales apart from handing out brochures. 

Additional Supplies

Supplies for organizing your booth is important. List out the things you will be needing a week ahead and make sure you have all the things on the day of the craft fair.

• Seller's permit
• Business Card / Company Sticker and flyers
• Display (I used recycle and cheap display. Find more about it in my next post.)
• Little Baskets for small crochet items (crochet hairpin, etc.)
• Inventory sheet and sales book (pricing for all of the items)
• Tablecloths, coverings and boxes to add height and interest

• Stands and fixtures of displaying your artwork.
• Cash box containing change in notes and coins.
• Calculator
• Signs for the stall

• Camera to take photos of your stall for your website, as well as of the fair in progress.

• Clearly label all your items with their price.
• I take custom orders too so I brought a folder with photos of all of my past crochet handmade.
• Packaging materials or merchandise bags (I put flyers in each of the bag)
• Paper, pen and scissor
• Cellotape
• Rubbish Bag
• Containers 

Personal item 
• Mirror, comb, small towel, make up item (well, you should look presentable in front of your customers right?)
• Baby wipes or tissue
• Sunglasses
• Umbrella
• Hand fan 
• Change of clothes 
• Snack and water

Handling booth 
Smile and when customers drop by to your booth stand up and entertain each of their questions. Relax and enjoy yourself! Craft fairs can be great fun and a wonderful way to meet and interact with buyers and collectors.

Done properly, craft fairs are ideal opportunities to get your artwork in front of a different audience, sell directly to customers, and get feedback on your art.


After the carnival ended, I went online and did some research on any art and craft fair that is available in Penang. And I found out that there is a monthly street event called Little Penang Street Market fair and they promote showcasing of Penang's traditional and contemporary crafts. I explain more about this craft fair in my next post. 

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Happy Easter! Fun Easter Crafts for Children

We celebrate Easter day on this 5th April 2015. In Malaysia, it's the tradition to go to Church and having a food feast with the families. Here are 10 Easter crafts you can do with your children this weekend.


1. Handprint Lambs are really easy and fun to make.

2. Funny Bunnies - Make and easter bunny using toilet paper rolls.

3. Playdough Eggs - Make your own playdough here.

4. Easter Candy Pouches - A chick and bunny pouches that children can fill with candies. You can download and print the chick and bunny egg pattern.

5. Kicky Chickie Finger Puppet - Perfect for children to make one and entertain them.

Happy Easter dear friends. Spend quality time with your children and craft is the best way to share laughter in your family. May God bless.

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Crochet Cute Little Baby Sneakers

Baby booties is one of the most adorable essentials for babies. It can be the cutest little gifts for those little pair of tootsies.

Even better if you know how to make one, either by crocheting or sewing, it can be a perfect handmade gift for newborn.

I love crocheting baby booties and I can't never get enough of it. It can be quite tricky for crochet beginners but once you practice and sharpen your skills as a crocheter you will be very much satisfied of your ability to produce such a fine art. 

And the satisfaction you get when your handmade fits those newborn feet? It's just amazing. 

Crocheting a baby sneaker are indeed appealing to myself as a crocheter because it resembles just like the adult sneaker! 

I only start crocheting right after my only son turn 3 years old. So I couldn't make one for him. But I made for most of my family and friends who just had babies. 

You can find free patterns online if you want to make one. But my favorite are the these;

josicroche@blogspot.com


It is in Portuguese, but you can find the English translation at the bottom of the post. 

Enjoy crocheting.

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Mini Flowers - A Decade of Memories

Flowers is the perfect gift for all occasion as it is associated with the feelings of passion. It can serve as Valentine's gift for your ladies (or even men, for those who loves flower? Who knows?), Mother's day for your lovely Mum, for birthdays and also for weddings. 

For myself, I love fresh flowers. Nothing can beat the fresh scent and the smell of garden (for bouquet of flowers) presented right under your nose. And the feeling and moment you experienced after receiving such a beautiful creation of God is just heart warming. 

But it won't last long right? For some people, it is a waste of money because it will eventually die. 

Why not hint your men for the next gift giving occasion with this mini flowers that can lasts up to 10 years. It needs minimum care as you are only required to spray it with water once a day or if the air is humid you can just leave it as it it. But the best part is........*drum roll*.........just when the little flowers are expose with mist of water the bud blooms. And when it is dry the bud tightly closed. You can keep it in your living room, bedroom or office as no sunlight is required.

It is a miniature flower, which is a type of chrysanthemum that is treated with Japanese freezing technology.

You'll definitely need this!

Mini Flower

GET THEM HERE!

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How to Crochet a Ribbon

Crochet ribbon is cute and easy way to embellish a crochet hat or any craft project. If you are new to crochet, learn the basic stitches in crochet here.


1. Crochet several chains or until the length of your desired ribbon. Turn.

2. Single crochet the second stitch from your hook to the end. Turn. 
Repeat for several rows until you produced a rectangular shape. At the end of the last row, slip stitch the yarn. 

2. Connect both ends of your crochet piece by slip stitch.

3. This what your crochet piece will look like after slip stitching, sort of like a tube.

4. Tie at the center of the tube to create a ribbon. Easy right!

Attach to your crochet hat! Enjoy! 

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Crafting with Strips of Paper

I love paper craft. With incredible selection of papers available today, you will find endless creative possibilities you can do with just a piece of paper. Even with a strip of paper, you can roll them, shape them and glue together to create decorative designs.

The art of of designing strips of paper are called Quilling. You will be using tools such as slotted tool, a circle template, glue and not forgetting the strips of paper which are also called quilling paper. Alternatively, as a beginner, you could also use toothpick or needle to roll the paper.

Source

Quilled paper projects usually involve two stages, making paper coils, then assembling the coils into a design or pattern. Refer the following basic techniques to create paper coils;

Step 1: Roll each length of paper around your chosen twirling tool (needle, toothpick or slotted tool) beginning at one end of the strip and rolling tightly to the end. 

Step 2: Apply glue to the ends of the strips with a toothpick to secure your quilled shape.

Step 3: Lay the tool on a flat surface and allow the tension of circles to release the desired amount and if you have the circle template you can lay it on the selected circle size.

Step 4: Pinch the sides or ends to create variety of quilled shapes.

You can create almost any shape and use them in your scrapbook, cards or picture frame.

Source

If you have the desire to create your own quilling project, get the supplies at Bavakoo Gifts & Crafts. If you like paper craft, this kind of art can be quite addicting. 

Enjoy.

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