Playing with Air Dry Clay

Hello lovelies!

Last Christmas, Santa gave my sons this cute kitchen play set that Perry has requested. The play set is not just for play cooking. It has tubs of clay and some molds to encourage the child to play with clay and develop creativity. Now that those tubs of clay were gone, I bought an air dry clay from the market. I had the chance of knowing this type of clay when I looked for some party loots for Perry's 7th birthday. The clay used to be in small tubs but when i came back to buy again this year, it was just packaged in resealable plastic bags. It is very cheap but it is perfect when making toys or miniatures from clay. No baking is needed.

Last night, I decided to play with the air dry clay and the kitchen set. Ivy joined me and we created a lot of food stuff for Lincoln to play with!

I started making sunny side up because my son like it and he always use that mold when playing.

Then Ivy made an apple. It's the biggest one in the picture. I made the rest. There's no mold for that so we sculpt it ourselves.

I also made bananas without any mold while Ivy was making carrots.

Aside from those, I made fried chicken legs and Ivy made lettuce and colorful seafood (crabs, lobsters, fishes, and shells).

We had fun playing with clay but our joy was doubled when we see how much Lincoln enjoyed our creation in the morning. 

The clay dries up fast. It is still soft when dry but it retains its shape even if you press it. But it can be torn apart or gets easily destroyed if you intend to. It is not like the baked clay which turns hard and plastic-like. But still, I want to create more miniature stuff from it for my dolls soon. Also, I will try painting some of what we made to see how it will react to acrylic paint.

How about you? How did you enjoy your weekend? :)

Valentine’s Cards

Hello lovelies!

This afternoon, after work, I helped my son make some Valentine’s cards for his teachers. I opened my stocks of paper flowers for him to use.

He had fun combining petals and choosing micro beads for the center. 

These are his finished cards. The printed “Happy Valentines Day” message was from the Hey Bae - Valentine Collection from the Little Sisters Studio at the Creative Market.

His message for Ms. Jo is just sooo sweet!

How have you been preparing for Valentine's day?

xoxo,
Ails

Thank you!

Hello lovelies!

It's been more than 2 years since my last post! And to start off this 'comeback,' I am sharing with you a drawing I did for the National Teacher's Day.  I made this to create cards for my little one and my nephew's teachers.

I also drew an image of the boys in their uniform...

The boys had fun coloring the images. They also assembled the cards for their teachers. Here they are working on the images...

And here is a sample of their card...

It was a very fun experience for all three of us.  And I am glad that their teachers loved the cards. I know because they told me and they even asked me who made the images. :D 

Eniweis, I will be visible here again. I will also finish re-designing this blog. And I would like to THANK my readers for continuously coming back even if I was away for 2 looong years. THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3 nbsp="" p="">

Love, Ails

Playing with Cardboard Boxes - "Dyna Maxx"

I want to share with you a story that happened on a lazy Saturday  morning (February 16, 2013 to be exact).  This story is about "Dyna Maxx." 

That morning, Perry, the little one, woke up crying.  He was restless for some reason that we couldn't understand.  It was a lazy day, meaning we didn't have any schedule or a major task to accomplish that day, so I thought of building Perry a car to play with and hoped that it will ease his restlessness. The moment I picked up 2 big cardboard boxes, Perry's attention shifted instantly towards them.  Can a toddler (1 yr 7 mos) already imagine things out of cardboard boxes? Because Perry wanted to play with the boxes right away.

So even before having breakfast, we (Mr and Mrs) started working on 2 cardboard boxes that I requested the day before from my cousin who has a grocery store.  Yes, this is premeditated but unscheduled.  I've been inspired by some of the pictures I saw on Pinterest and I rememberd how I used to play with cardboard boxes when I was little.  I even made a dollhouse and doll furniture out of boxes. 

Anyway, while we were working, the little one was trying to help.  He's been picking up cardboard  pieces and acted as if he was attaching it to the piece we are working on.  He was sooo cute and adorable but we didn't took photos because we were all busy "working."  I also wasn't able to take a step by step photo of building a cardboard car.  So I will only be sharing the final pictures of our wonderful creation. :-)

Here's the little one checking the car if everything is working perfectly.  I haven't finished attaching the wheels here.

 And here is the finished car!  It has a rotating steering wheel, 4 rotating wheels, a gas tank door that also leads to the trunk. haha I used rolled pieces of cardboard to support the car seat.  I wasn't able to put a seat belt. lol

We called it Perry's "Dyna Maxx" car!  Because it was made out of a Maxx and a Dynamite candy boxes. With just 2 boxes and a masking tape, we were able to build a nice car for our little one.  We had lots of fun and laughter building this.  I hope that even at his very young age, my son will remember this really fun and creative day someday.

Until now, "Dyna Maxx" is still alive and still entertaining Perry, his cousin, and some friends.  It already had a wheel repair and a broken windshield but it is still living up to its promise.  It even carried both my son and my nephew once!

And just this morning, I saw my little one watching cartoons on tv while sitting and eating inside his Dyna Maxx, à la drive-in theater. lol My next cardboard project for Perry will be bigger than this.  But it won't be  soon.  I'll let Dyna Maxx take all the glory it could receive before I start building something that will surely replace him in the limelight.

Have you done something like this too? Share me the link to your cardboard creations thru the comment section so I could check it out. Let's share love and inspiration! :-)

D.I.Y. - Car Pocket Pillow

My baby boy turned 3 months old 9 days ago.  I made him a pocket pillow in the shape of a car.  This is pure hand-sewn because I do not own a sewing machine yet.  The front wheel of the pillow is quite deformed maybe due to my sewing.  Nevertheless, the pillow is still cute.  =D  So here is how I did it...

Materials:

...and fiber fill.  I forgot to include it in the picture.


Procedure:

1. Draw and cut your pattern on a manila paper.  Download pattern here.

2. Trace your pattern at the back side of your patterned cloth.  ***If you are using the same cloth for the back of your pillow, make sure to invert your pattern before tracing it for the 2nd time.  If you will use a solid color cloth, like I did, you can trace your pattern either way.

3. Provide a 1/2 inch allowance from the line of your pattern when cutting the cloth.

4. Cut the windows of the car pattern.  These will serve as pocket openings.
5. Trace and cut these openings on your cloth for the front of the car.
6. Trace and cut the 'car doors' (red arrows) that will serve as your car pocket.  Trace and cut the wheels too, so your wheels will have a different color than your car body.
7. (The picture shows pieces of 2 cars, except the back.)  Now, you should have 5 pieces for 1 car.  a. front of the pillow; b. front wheel; c. back wheel; d. pocket; e. back of the pillow.

  
8. Start sewing your car windows.  Cut the allowance to easily sew the curves.

9. Start sewing the pieces together.  Start by connecting the wheels to the front body. The front wheel should be on the outside and only half of the back wheel should be showing.
10. Embroider the line separating the 2 doors on the front body.
11. Sew the pocket on the body.  The stitches should look like an embroidered outline of the 2 doors.
12. Embroider your desired design on the front body.
13. Attach / Sew the front and back body of the car together inside out.  Leave a small opening for you to insert the fiber fill.  Invert the pillow case through the small opening.
14.  Wash and iron the pillow case. (optional)
15.  Fill the case with fiber fill.
16.  Blanket stitch the opening.

And you're done! =D

Your child can hide toys in this pocket.  Or you can hide surprises for your child here too.

Look at how happy my little baby is with his new pillow. =D

Happiness! =D