Seashell & Raindrop

We hate love the sun in my country, because he really work hard all year round. Sometime he hide behind the cloud but most of the time, he ensure we never need to bring along a sweater wherever we go. We have summer everyday, every year, never change, never fail. So, we go beach all the time. The rain come and go. The warm breeze often follows.

May to September, in this part of the world – prime time for island hoping, beach camping, sand castle building, snorkeling and diving. I am taking my family for a family vacation in Pangkor Island this July. I can’t wait!

Before that, I decided to setup some beach deco in my house to anticipate my summer holiday with family.

Seashell with raindrop on the dry branches. The seashell reminds me of the sea and the island. I love the rain because we need it badly to cool down the hot hot day. 🙂 So, I thought of sharing the steps I took to achieved this simple summer deco.

First, I create some rain drop.

Material: Cotton string (or fishing string or any nice white string you have), scissor and crystal beads.

Crystal beads through the string.

I insert about 10 crystal beads.

Tie a dead knot at the last crystal bead.

And tie a ring circle to use as “hook”

I create total 10 of the “rain drops”. Next is the seashell, using the same cotton string to tie 2 seashell to one string.

You can choose to poke a hole in your seashell or just tie a knot around a perfect seashell according to its shape and edge. 

I finish each set with a ring circle as the “hook”. I make total of 10 seashell strings. I love how the string criss crossing randomly as if it was tangle there naturally. 🙂

I found a dry branches long time ago and I had it spray painted white to create the weathered look by the beach. I have it place inside my metal bucket filled with a silver fish-net scarf and bigger pieces of seashell. Then, I hang all the pieces randomly on the branches.

And, here’s my sun room with the new seashell deco to bring the beach into my home. I have other  seashell deco which I will show you later in the next post.

This simple deco is very subtle and goes along with all the cream and white I have in my sun room. Most importantly, it makes me happy everyday when I sit here reading my book, company my lil girl playing kitchen. I am so looking forward for my summer family vacation. 🙂

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Sharing my bits and pieces with these fun parties:

    
   

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What is the time now?

TV with children education show went off after an hour by the automatic timer I set to ensure my lil girl don’t watch more then an hour of TV every time. I was told TV is not good for young children. So, I m trying my very best not to encourage the habit and never give too much. Most of the time Sometime, I just need to give her some nice show so I can cook lunch, clearing the laundry, picking up toys or whatever I need to get done quickly.

The moment the TV went off, my lil girl run to me and say…
” Mommy, the TV is off. No more show. What is the time now?” I freeze. In my heart, I am pretty sure I didn’t teach my 2+ daughter how to read the clock and time. I don’t see how the info will be useful to her.

Me: “Is almost 12 pm now. Why you need to know the time?”
Issy: “What is the time now? No more TV time? What is the time now? Oh…is Clifford book time? She ran away to her room to grap her Clifford book before I reply. She is in love with her Clifford series and will find all possible opportunity to request for a book or two. As for me, I began to understand she is asking for what is next. I often describe the next thing to do like…is breakfast time, is shower time, is nap time, is park time and etc. It is easier for my 2+ year old to understand, and copy.

After TV time, what is next? The problem is, I often doing things randomly that I did’t set a compulsory time table for her. This suited me because I get to adjust my time according to my projects, my client meeting, supplier meeting, going market for grocery and etc. (Yeah, I took my daughter to meeting. Yeah, is crazy…urgg) Anyway, I don’t have timetable. But, few things I never skip… her meal, her nap, her book reading, prayer and sleep routine. As she grew older, she needs to know what is next. Knowing what is next gave her a sense of security and preparing her mentally and physically for the next easier.

I figure I should do her a timetable for her, with her help. I turn it to an art project with her and she love it, especially the sticking of sticker part. It is harder for me to do craft work because it is so time consuming and the amount of things needed. Designing a real cute artwork on computer and print out seamlessly is much easier for me. But she will miss all the fun.

So, after we have a quick lunch, I set the dining table up for our timetable art project. Here’s what I have…

I am given a guideline by my elder sister of how a timetable should should work. All I need to do is modify the timetable according to my lil girl needs, and my needs. I draw the timetable with free hand on a colour card. Issy gets to pick her weekday plan card (blue) and weekend holiday card (green). I decided to write all the items and time on a separate white sticker so I can change them as she grow up. I guide my girl to stick colourful sticker on item like bed time, shower time, park time, snack time and etc. I have icon of car to remind myself those are the good time to travel out of home to do things, which does not fall on her meal time and nap time. As the result, this is what we have…

I placed the timetable in my kitchen, above her cookies jar. Nothing sophisticated but it was good for my lil girl. She love her timetable with the cupcake, candy, strawberry, bunny, dog , duck and all stickers she likes.

Now, I took her to the timetable daily and point to her what is next in line. It is easy for JP too when he is caring for her during my gym time-out. He just refer to the timetable for ideas what to and what not. 🙂

Homemade Play Kitchen

I have plenty of project in mind. Too much for me to realize it in real life. I learned that all I have to do is just… one thing at a time, whenever possible. With the help of JP during weekend, I put up a small play kitchen for lil girl.

First, I have to show you this… the BEFORE.

Photo from Ikea.com

Then, here’s the AFTER. Sorry for the photos. I can’t wait till the day light.

I added an oven with pull-out door using cardboard covered with wrapping paper, chrome door handle and finish with velcro to attached the door. Then, 2 stoves is done using CD and cup coaster. I used suction hook and mineral bottle cap to create the stove igniter. Then, the cutting pad is made of old mousepad I have. Finally, the washing area is setup with a door hinge hardware that look alike, and finish with my metal bowl as sink. The bottom drawer will be used as storage area for all her cooking tools and ingredient. I didn’t cut a hole to create the sink because I am considering to recycle the same bedside table as her dress up table when she is all done the playing kitchen.

My idea came from a visit in IKEA store. I love this IKEA play kitchen as shown below.

Photo from Ikea.com

But for a price tag of RM388…Nooooo!

Then, I found many blog with Wonderwomen mommy who build a play kitchen for their daughter. So, I decide I should build one for her. To begin with, I created one with paper box which look like this. I plan to paint and colour it nicely but my lil girl tare it down in no time 😛

The stove area is fully destroyed. The only usable part is the oven area where she bake her cupcake everyday. I took the picture of this stove for the last time before I put it in the recycle area with Issy, and introduce her to the new play kitchen.

This is what she used to do…

And now…with the new play kitchen, right beside my kitchen

I am planning to add on the top section for her play kitchen. Let me hunt for suitable material and I will give her play kitchen another round of upgrade. 🙂

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Sharing my bits and pieces with these fun parties: