May 5 : Paper

Oops, I was so busy yesterday I missed May 5! Here's my post on "paper". She insisted on showing me her brother's art work. To infinity and beyond!

Celebrations : Halloween Kiddy Cuteness!

Is it me or is Halloween just around the corner??

I just received an invite to a Halloween party and am scrambling to think up a costume right this minute. I had a few ideas months ago, but the procrastinator in me said "You know you'll get it done in a week, why worry now?"

Ok. It's time to start panicking... the party is in ONE week.


While doing research, the procrastinator got sidetracked (yet again).

And this is what she found...


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I love this last series. The kids in the pictures have just the perfect expressions too. Frodo and Tintin are my favorites! So simple yet so clever!!

How are you dressing your kiddos this year?

Busy as a bee!

So the J-man is home, but he's been so jet-lagged and anti-social because of it, i had to busy myself with lots of other things.

I accompanied my friend to pick up her wedding dress from a store two hours away from Charlotte. Not gonna post any spoiler pics so here is Jess right outside the huge Burlington Bridal Mart to pick up her beautifully beaded gown. She was one lil' excited bunny! And the dress was so gorgeous!!!!



Also visited Gwen whose dog just had 3 little puppies. The puppies are boston terrier and miniature schnauzer mix -- mini boz(es?) Too cute!! I have such a soft spot for boston terriers and their black and white adorableness!! This is my favorite. He slept in my arms the whole time I was there. They are all spoken for so I was a little sad. But I don't think we need another pet in the house...


And then I helped my friend Shey with her little boy's baptism party today. It was a beautiful breezy day and everything went smoothly!


Phew! It's been a whirlwind week! Hope you all had a beautiful weekend, and a good week ahead!

Crafting: Junior / Teens Halter Top Simplicity Pattern

I made a couple of these as gifts, but I had to try them on myself! Not having much of a chest meant they fit me perfectly. It's a pity I didn't get to take pictures of the two little cutie pies I gave these tops to. But i gifted a third one to J's cousin and she looks so adorable!!

Does this count as trying out dress patterns? (even though it's the super easy ones?) If so, another off the bucket list please!

Alright, i'll try an actual DRESS pattern one day!

Don't forget, we're giving away a beautiful turquoise necklace handmade by Oksana from Oksana Plus Hobbies. It ends this coming Friday, July 13th so hurry up and enter for a chance to win it!

Crafting: Now THIS is a PROPER quilt!

My ex-boss had a baby girl on Leap Year Day! So she deserves something special!!

This is my third baby blanket, but the first with quilting as well as binding. And can you believe I made my own binding??? I couldn't believe it either, but I was surprised to find it wasn't rocket science.






I know it's not the traditional baby girl pink, but who can resist those cute Matryoshka dolls??

Help wanted!

Source: asmalltribe.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Good morning lovely people,


I need your help!


So I am planning for the museum school curriculum again and this time I am tasked with ...

"International play" - games children play all around the world.

Now if you'd be so kind to tell me where you are from and describe a few games you've played as a child, i would appreciate it very muchly!!!


You can leave a comment below, or you can email me at


granolabar [at] gmail [dot] com


I appreciate your feedback!


On a side note: check out the miniature wooden sewing machine in the picture above! so cute!!!!

Found: Bumps and babes

Source: google.com via MandiSue on Pinterest

Recently, many friends and family members have been popping little ones left and right. On Facebook the other day, one of my old school mates congratulated a new (mutual friend) mom with "Welcome to the club!"

I feel kinda left out. :p

Not that I'm planning to have one any time soon. Although working at the children's museum does seem to make the bio clock tick faster. My favorite section is the 'I Can Grow' area, for babies and toddlers under the age of 3. Seeing those chubby little cheeks, arms and legs makes me want to chomp on them. I love babies, but I don't know if i'm ready for one of my own.

I came home from a friend's farewell dinner. She is about 3 months' preggers and it was totally unplanned. She is engaged but not married. Her family is very traditional so she got it really bad when they found out. I am very excited for her but a little sad at her family's reaction. My mother-in-law would give anything to have grandbabies NOW, and yet another woman would suffer such grief over the beginnings of a new life. I tried to reassure her that when the baby is born, relationships will be mended. But for now, she is leaving her family and moving to Florida to be with her fiance.

I do wonder from time to time if my turn would ever come. But as I sat in meditation the other day, I had a sudden revelation. A thought popped into my head that said that I would be contented and happy even if i didn't have any children in this life. My yoga class that day had been about finding out who we are. And as I focused on that thought, this was what came about. I had no clue why of all things would I think that, but it is what it is. I think i feel a little more at ease with this knowledge. It takes away all the panic at the back of my mind, about family planning, about where to raise my children, about familial pressures. I don't think this means I've ruled out having children, just that at this present moment, motherhood is the furthest thing on my mind.

I didn't think one little image on Pinterest would spark off the ensuing post, but there it is. On another note, if you have a Pinterest account, add me too!

Birthdays are FUN!

Hello blogosphere!

Firstly, I'm done with my summer camps! I was completely getting into the groove of it all and then they ended. Bleagh. I wish they'll let me teach some day classes soon! I miss my babies! My gardening camp was so much fun and the kids so enthusiastic we could go on forever!! D said on the last day of camp, "i will miss you!" and made my heart melt. I took them on a nature walk in the park. We caught a caterpillar, seen beautiful spiders and their webs, found a dead (crispy) cicada and picked acorns and pine cones!

These are the babies from my two camps! I love my youth volunteer assistants too!!








And then I got new kicks for my birthday. Rocking it out at work everyday now. New Balances are sooooo comfy!



My manager G baked me some special cupcakes because she missed my b-day dinner! So sweet of her! And the cupcakes were gorgeous and yummilicious!!!



i'm going car hunting this weekend! Wish me luck! I hope i find my dream drive soon!

Yoga for Kids

Via

Gosh, I have been slacking on the blogging front. I am busy busy busy at work!

Work has been getting real exciting. Our director and managers have been working hard, planning lots of new activities for the museum. We're such a new museum (we opened last Oct) that we've been drawing in the numbers, but probably because we're still a novelty. Compared to other museums, we're sorely lacking in events. So starting this month, we've got new stuff planned. I'm scheduled to do music and yoga sessions for the kiddies and i'm super excited! On Tuesday, I did a short music session but that didn't go very well because the volume was too soft. I need to mike up the guitar, or possibly convince my bosses to get me a keyboard!

Then yesterday, our colleague M did a tap-dancing stint on stage which wowed the crowd!! I love it! I'm so glad so many new things are happening with the museum I don't think I want to search for a full-time job anymore!

Next week, I'm teaching my second summer camp, and it's all about plants and gardening!!! Right up my alley! Wish i could take the kids home to show them my garden, but i guess photos will just have to do.

I've also started planning for my yoga sessions with the kiddies. Here's a great article on a few basic yoga poses to try with the young'uns. I think it'll be such fun, and i don't really have to worry about injuries or health problems because they are limber kids!!!

If you are in the area, check out our museum website for the upcoming events!

Thank you lovelies for the birthday wishes!! i just hope for a happy year ahead with my family and friends! and maybe more time for crafting! :)

Happy weekend!!

My Dose of Summer Sunshine!

Via

I haven't been posting much this week. Been busy with my summer camp at work with a bunch of adorable little 4 year old munchkins! Oh I do miss teaching classes!!! 7 boys and 1 girl! These 4 year olds are the most chatty, funny lil' pipsqueaks you'll ever meet. The tiniest (in size) little boy, JF, just turned 4 so he's still like a little baby compared to the others who are 4 going on 5! JF tries to eat glue and is the messiest little painter in the class. But he's super good at going to the potty even though i had to rush him to the bathroom twice this week. So proud of him!

There's also N, who's favorite color is yellow, so ALL his crafts are YELLOW. He's had a meltdown today because we went 'fishing' and he just couldn't catch any fishes. I work one on one with him quite a bit because he needs that help, and i thank my lucky stars i have not one, not two but THREE youth volunteers assisting me in the class! so 4 adults to 8 kids. A pretty good ratio huh?

And then there's D, the sweetest kid, who, at the beginning of the week, refused to smile or talk to me. But now whenever he does, he has the greatest grin albeit with one front tooth missing (but that makes it all the more endearing). And apparently, he keeps talking about me at home! (altogether now: awwwwwwww...)

Well! One more day of camp! Then i'll work through the weekend and leave for Cancun on Monday! Yay to beach holidaysssssssssss!!!

P.S. July's Good Cheer giveaway is up, don't forget to check it out!

Happy 4th of July!

I love it when people around me become sensitive about the things they say for fear of offending (coming from a different country, different culture and all). Just the other day, i interrupted a conversation between my boss and Lauren. I briefly caught a snippet of it and chirped, "So what's going on this weekend?"

My boss, B, turned around, uncertainty flickered across his face for a split second, before answering in absolute seriousness, "Oh Chewy, this weekend is our Independence Day, we call it the Fourth of July." I mean, absolute seriousness.

Lauren and I burst into laughter.

"Oh B, I think she knows what 4th of July is."

Thank you for treading so lightly on thin ice around me, but really, i do appreciate it. *chuckles*

And i went to the new Jo-Ann Fabrics in Mooresville yesterday!!! I didn't buy anything, just walked around the store and gaped and gawked (and drooled a little). They have a HUGE selection of fabrics!!!




But before I go, let me share a cute racer shorts for kids tutorial that I found over at Made. I shall attempt it, and make some cute shorts for the summer! LOVELOVELOVE!

Thank you for the tutorial Dana!!!



HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

Getting ready for the fireworks tonight!!!
Have a good weekend! And here's a celebratory giveaway for you all!
xx

Found...

I showed this to my MIL tonight and she exclaimed,

"Don't be doing that to my grandbabies!"


talk about child labor.

*giggles*

Crafting on a Monday: Mandala embroidery in the works!

Been so busy working over the weekend! Summer camp is coming up and I've been asked to plan for 2 camps! It's so much fun though! I'll be adding stuff like blowing bubbles, flying paper planes and growing beans in the curriculum! Can't wait to do the camps!

And just as I thought i was going to have a lovely Monday to rest... my neighbour calls to ask me to babysit!


We've been busy drawing...


Doing tree rubbings...


Picking wildflowers and blackberries...


And I've been snatching bits of quiet moments to do this...


This is the little cupcake! and her brother is with the J-man somewhere out in the woods...

Thrifting: Goodwill Hunting 2 (Fabric Hoarding)

This post is long overdue, but i never found the time to sit down and take pictures of my finds. But now, here they are:




Airplane fabric! A great fabric for making a kid's backpack (ha! as if i know how) or cute zippered pencil cases! I bought this fabric because i have something similar


I bought this off Etsy. Someday, i will know what to do with them... You clever people got any suggestions?


The label says 100% polyester, and i'm thinking it was a shower curtain before. It has a slight coat of water proofing texture to it. Very tricky to cut, took me insane number of minutes trying to cut a square 20" by 20" for my gardening apron project. But it turned out so lovely.


My favourite! *nostalgic* So excited when i spotted this. Maybe i can make another apron with this material, this time for kids, like a painting smock. What do you think?

Crafting on a Monday: Make your own wrapping paper!

So this is what we do at work to amuse the kiddos.




We call it the Marblelized-effect.


Ingredients:

Tempera paints
Shaving cream
Disposable Coffee Stirrer / Popsicle sticks
Paper
Hard edged cardboard/ plastic
A serving tray or any Wipe-able surface (cos it's gonna get real messy!)

Instructions

Step 1:

Squirt shaving cream all over tray. Experiment with different amounts. We were quite generous with the dosage :p

Pick any combination of paints to dribble onto tray, on top of the shaving cream. We used squirt bottles, so all you need to do is to squeeze the paint out of the bottle.

Step 2:
Use a stirrer (we used straws) to mix up the paint and shaving cream some more, creating swirly patterns. But the trick is not to stir it up too much, just enough to create some pretty swirls.

Step 3:
Gently place a piece of paper over your paints and pat down.

Step 4:
Lift the paper gently and turn it around. Lay it on a flat surface. Grab your hard-edged piece of cardboard. Start from one end of the paper, scrape off, in one sweeping motion, all the excess cream and paint.

Step 5:
Let it air dry (although it should be pretty dry by then) and admire the end results!

You can use it to make cool wrapping paper or frame it up as pieces of art! Have fun!!!