Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Easter Basket

These days, I found myself being reunited with my blog once again. Although I think I have said that before. I just feel this time it's different =) Been re reading my posts from forever-ago and I cannot believe how corny I sounded during my early years of blogging hahaha! But whatever, I thank myself so much I did. The memories captured and kept are soooo precious. Had I not started this blog, I would have forgotten most of them.

So yeah, to show you all how sincere I am with wanting to blog again, here's a little project I did recently. This may be a little too late --- or way too early. You decide haha!




I was assigned to make Easter baskets for the children of our community and I want to share how I did it.



I got these cheap bowls from Daiso (3 pcs. for $2) and altered it with some washi tapes.



Filled the bowls with  these shredded crepe paper from cold storage.



Next I made flower accents using a Sizzix die-cut machine using my leftover foam glitters.



Also with the same machine, I cut these tags and did a little brush calligraphy with my Pentel brush pen.



The fun part! Fill the bowls with treats (I'd like to thank Valerie and Jolene, sisters from the community for helping me search for these yumm chocolates!). Then wrap these bowls with plastic gift wraps I also got from Daiso.




Done and ready!



Happy Easter from us! Christ is risen!



Kidzania 2016

Finally, the boys were able to experience Kidzania! We went there with no enough knowledge of what it was all about except that it's a huge "pretend play" theme park for kids. The night before, I saw bad reviews on facebook about the insanely long queue not just at entrance but in all activities and kiddy jobs. Uh oh. 

Kuya has autism and although he can tolerate mild to moderate waiting time, I was not so sure about the "insanely long" kind of waiting time. So because Benjo already bought the tickets online and Miguel "couldn't stop grinning" it was too late to back out.  That explains my hoping-for-the-best-expecting-the-worst-face in the photo. 


Now imagine my face when I saw this! SHORT QUEUE!

The start of an amazing adventure! Look at those priceless smiles :) 


They gave us  these Radio Frequency Identification bracelets. Kids are only allowed to go out if their bracelets match with the bracelets of those who accompany them.  Kuya's was a special (red) bracelet so that all the staff will know he has autism. Apparently all the staff are trained to handle children with special needs. How AWESOME!

Happy trip!!! 

Arrival at Kidzania. It looks like a small city full of very busy small people. I mean big kids. I mean kids who think they are big people! Once we got there, I was overwhelmed with cuteness! 



The first thing Miguel saw was the acting workshop. 






But wanting to become an actor didn't last too long because now he wants to be a scientist.





We are fine with anything they want to be. Full support!



Even when they become delivery boys, as long as they are happy (and as cute as this when they work haaha). This was one of the activities I enjoyed much. It was so "real" until I looked at the "first salary" they gave me and I saw it was Kidzos and not in dollars or pesos lol. 


At one point Miguel 's bracelet won't work  Miguel was called to report to the immigration office due to his questionable identity. Good thing it was settled so he was able to continue making his dreams come true. Such as being a producer/anchor to his own documentary show at Discovery Channel. 







Now he wants to be a crew at KFC. 


But being a health researcher was too hard to resist. Especially if you come out with freebies!


Now here's the best part. The part where I got emotional.... this was when Kuya joined Miguel again to be a firefighter! Migs was always mindful of his brother, reminding him, giving him a nudge or instructions, making the experience so fun not just for him but for his brother too.  Benjo and I were watching,  speechless. At one point there was a woman who approached me, telling me how blessed I am to have both of them. We both got teary-eyed. Maybe also because we're both at our 40's, hormones make us cry always :D








Here we are, at the end of the day, so happy and full of new fun and cute memories. Maybe we just got lucky that even if it was a school holiday, it was not as crowded as described by many. And even if it was crowded there's still something we can get out of it. Like when we were queuing at the courier job, I told the boys its really like that when you are looking for a job. You need to sacrifice and work hard and wait. 


So if you are a parent, contemplating of whether you give Kidzania a try, JUST GO. It's a wonderful experience your child should not miss. 



To the staff of Kidzania especially those at the fire station, THANK YOU! Hats off to you for being so passionate in what you do and for giving our children  an experience they won't forget!

Till our next adventure! :)

Port of Lost Wonder

Enjoyed our family time on the eve of Daddy's birthday at Port of Lost Wonder, Sentosa --- a nice place for family bondings, picnics and water play. 









It was first time for us to not worry about Kuya wandering off because Miguel stepped up and took charge! In the photos you can see that they are always together as they would wait for each other all the time! At one point, when the lifeguard talked to Kuya about something, Miguel was there to the rescue, ready to explain about Kuya's autism. HAPPINESS OVERLOAD. I couldn't help but get teary eyed to see that happening.. we can think of it as the boys birthday "gift" for daddy :)











Port of Lost Wonder is open everyday, with $15 entrance fee per child on peak days and holidays and $10 on normal days. FREE entrance for adults. 
More photos here. 






Wrist Corsage in 3 Steps!

You know what I love about these Tattered Pinecone and Jumbo Tattered Pinecone dies from Sizzix? Because I can use it to make not just pinecones but pretty flowers too! 


So I used it to make a wrist corsage for one of my Thoughtful Crafts customer. She wanted silver with any color for accent and I thought it would look prettier to add flowers made of white cardstock and vellum paper. 


I always start my work with a clean surface, with all the materials in mind. I don't necessarily use all of it in the end because I never plan what to do.. I just go with the flow, enjoy the trial and error process. It works for me. So here you can see I have my Bigshot machine, dies, glitter cardstock, lace, adhesive. 


It always starts with cutting my shapes. And you need to layer the 'sandwich' made of Sizzix Cutting Pad + die + material to cut + and the second cutting pad. Roll the sandwich through the machine, and get the perfectly cut die-cuts in seconds! 


Next is to roll the die-cuts to make the flowers. You can find the detailed instructions on how to do this here. 


So pretty! And the silver leaves ... love it!


So these are the wrist corsage in 3 very easy steps: 
1. Die-cut with Sizzix.
2. Roll and assemble the flower and leaves. 
3. Attach to a layer of ribbon and laces, add pearl and stickles!

Done! :) 

By the way, here's an extra story... 


The boys are here at home. All. The. Time. Because it's school holidays until January. It's impossible to concentrate haha. And since I needed to post this blog, I went into hiding in the bedroom while they were playing outside. Guess what happened next... 


They followed me. They just follow me everywhere! LOL. So if I can't run away from them, I better have selfie with them :D

Have a great weekend! - Gen 

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