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Book Me

I picked up some notebooks from an old favourite store Muji at Paragon over the weekend. They gave 10% off the stationery supplies. Whoopee!

I’m in a bit of a sewing rut at the moment. Nothing pretty or productive coming out of the machine or cutting table. But good news is that I’m handquilting on an old WIP, sash by sash, cornerstone by cornerstone each evening.

Since the needle in the machine is quite old, I’ve been sewing some recycled papers together for scribble pads around the house. There’s never paper or pen when you need one and when you don’t, they are all over the house for your to pack them up.

And I jazzed up the notebooks with some iron-on experiments. And I made some for my brother – who knows better than to criticise my workmanship, or lack of. Haha.

This is a simple iron-in. I don't really like how 'bare' it looks - and the edges are not 'pretty' enough.

There, much better! I tried another scrap fabric appliqued to the book, using a zig-zag stitch.

Oh Goody goody!

Benji turned 2 last week and we threw a Crepes party over the weekend for our big and small friends.

The goody bag is something that we take rather seriously here. We always feel that our little guests need to go back happy too! Just like how their presence and presents made our boy happy.

We think: What do I want Benji to get in his goody bag when we go to other parties? We know what we don’t want: CANDIES, CHOCOLATES and toys that break too soon.

My friend helped with the goody bag preparation in a weekend – she decorated the paper bags, helped bundled crayons together, and supplied me with good and warm company.

For kids below 2 years, we included 1) alphabet and number stickers, 2) non-toxic bubbles, 3) a notepad, 4) 1 x Crayola TaDoodles Washable Crayon Buddy, 5) Cereal

For the older kids, We included 1) alphabet and number stickers, 2) non-toxic bubbles, 3) 4 pcs of crayons, 4) 2 tubs of Play Doh, 5) Cereal, 6) a note pad – I cut up my DCWV Printed Cardstock Stack for cover & Backing and also added 12 pieces of recycled paper – attached 2 mini brads at the top. I hope this will lead to more repurposing/recycling by the parents because I know how much materials we consume EACH day!

Last year, we used plastic tubs to hold the goodies. we included ‘party materials’ like noise makers, some plastic toys, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, etc. And we had chocolates for the older kids and biscuits for the younger ones. The younger ones received a Beanie Baby as well. It’s quite a good feeling to see that the tubs being put to good use still when we visit our friends for playdates. But the cheap toys didn’t last.

So, we hope that the crayons/play doh will leave many creative marks for their parents to capture for a long time to come! 😀

Punch & stamp

Now, I have to perfectly honest with you. I can’t draw. I can’t even draw a stick figure well. And Benji’s a psychic when he is able to figure out what the heck I have doodled for him when we do our ‘ca-yon’ sessions together.

So, in my quest to create things that people MIGHT find pleasing, I depend a lot on prints & templates, etc… This year, I finally caved in and stepped into a scrapbooking shop (cringe) to pick up some stamps. I’m simply intrigued by these clear stamps that Amy – the angry chicken – was talking about. And lo & behold, stamps from HEATHER BAILEY in the shop! I felt like I struck jackpot – I could not even find HB’s freshcut fabrics locally, and yet I can buy her stamps?! WONDERFUL!

The girlies at the Made with Love shop were so helpful too. They helped me pick up a stamp pad (which can be used on fabrics… I’m skeptical still), stamp cleaner (I guess clear stamps need more maintenance than the rubber ones), and the ‘acrylic’ holder. Notice I didn’t buy an acrylic block? Well, they were out of a lot of sizes, and what they have on hand are a bit pricey for my liking. But one of the staff said
I can use these acrylic album sheets and they work just as well too. And best part of it: there are 2 pieces in there! And this is less than half the price of the blocks. BEST!

I’m intending to make gift tags out of these stock-cards. Here’s one of the ‘test’ tag and see how super handy it is for adding in name/message? I’m hoping to make quilting labels with these stamps too. Hope they will stand up to washing! heh heh…