Customised Name Hairclip For Girls

I am super excited to start posting again after a long absence. This time I wanted to make something quick and easy for my daughter, Gwen to clip on her hair. Then I thought why not customise a name hairclip for her?

Materials Needed:
- 0.5 gauge wires
- Hairpins
- White swaroski beads
- Alphabet beads

1.  It's actually super easy to make these name hairclips with no special skills required.First step is you need to loop the wire gauze around the end of the clip then secure it.

2. Then add the pearl beads to the wire and wrap it around the clip. Continue to add the alphabet beads and end off with pearl beads. Neatly tuck the ends of the wires back into the clip to end it off.

3. This is the end product. It took me less than 5 mins to finish up this project. I really love how the hairclips turned out. So easy for beginners.

Hope you have enjoyed this project!

Refreshing Virgin Mojito DIY Recipe

 

 My husband and I love having mojitos whenever we are out for drinks. But these days we hardly even have the time to go out on our own. So, I decided to concoct my own home version of the virgin mojito. My version is also suitable for the kids to drink as I excluded the rum. If you like, you can also add Barcardi for the added alcohol flavour.



Ingredients Needed (Makes 3 cups):
- 10 mint leaves
- 8 limes
- 1 bottle of 7-Up (600 ml)
- Sugar (4 tablespoons)
- Ice cubes



1. Cut the limes into halves then squeeze out the juice and sieve for the unwanted seeds.



2. Add the mint leaves, 7-Up, sugar and lime juice into the food processor to blend. This will break up the mint leaves and release the refreshing minty smell.



3. Pour the concoction into a cup and add ice. Now you are all ready to enjoy the cup of refreshing virgin mojito in the comfort of your own home.
As mentioned earlier, please feel free to add Barcardi if you want the alcoholic version of the mojito.
Now sit back and enjoy your cup of homemade drink!




Firecracker Craft for CNY

Chinese New Year is just round the corner, so the Little Mini Makers finally got round to making CNY decorations for our house.
We decided to make firecrackers decorations since we have many spare red packets or "ang paos" to brighten up our home.

Materials Needed:
- Red packets (20 pieces)
- String
- Tape
- Stapler
- Tail



1. First roll up the red packet and staple the ends together.

 Make 20 of these rolls. 10 for each side of the firecracker.

2. Next tie up the top of the string in a loop to hang the firecrackers. Then cut out a small piece of string and tie it on the original string like so. This part is to stick the firecrackers to it, one on each side.

 3. Use sticky tape to stick the inside of the firecracker to the small string.

 4. Continue adding the small string below, and then stick the firecrackers to it.

 5. Repeat this process until you have finished sticking all 20 firecrackers. 10 on each side.

6. Lastly, stick the tail onto the end of the firecrackers. And this is the completed firecracker all ready to be hung.

 Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone! May the Year of the Goat bring everyone Happiness & Wealth!

This is the firecracker decoration hanging inside our house.

 

Flexa-inspired Bed Pocket

 

I am a novice sewer who recently just bought my first ever sewing machine, so I wanted to try my hands at making something simple. Recently, I thought of creating my own piece for my son Oliver to encourage him to read his favourite books before bedtime.
When we bought the Flexa double-decker bed for him, I came across some very pretty bed pockets which can be hung by the bed to let the children store their stuff.

 
Don't these Flexa bed pockets look so adorable? I am sure they do, but they came with a more "adorable" price tag of $100+ for a set of 3!
So this set me thinking that maybe I can try my hand at making my very own bed pocket for my son at a much lower cost.
I used denim material for the back, which I got from Daiso for $2, and for the front pocket, I used a cute owl canvas-like material, which I bought from People's Park Complex near Chinatown area for around $10/yard. I only used a small fraction of it for this project.
Though I really liked the curved ends of the Flexa bed pockets (top picture), I decided to stick to a rectangular shape, as I intend to let Oliver keep his bedtime storybook in it, so a rectangular shape would make more sense than the curved edged.
Besides, it will be less challenging for a novice sewer like me!

Materials Needed:


Velcro (to sew on the straps)
Denim cloth (for the back)
Owl canvas cloth (for the outside bed pocket)
Pink cloth (optional, for the inside of the bed pocket)
Scissors
Batting (for the denim)
Piece of hard cardboard (not shown in the picture. this is for the denim cloth)
Interfacing (for the owl pocket)


First, I put the storybook on the denim cloth to use as a guide on how wide I want the back to be.
Cut out two pieces of cloth (same size), one for the front and one for the back.
Also cut out two strips from the denim cloth to be used to hang the bed pocket on the bed.
Side stitch to neaten the edges of the strips.
For the backing, line the pretty sides of the denim on the outside, and place the batting inside each side, lastly lay the hard cardboard in the middle.
Place the front of the two strips inside the front of the denim then sew the denim up around all 4 sides.
On the other end of the two strips, sew in the velcro. Sew in the other side of the velco on the back of the denim cloth.


  

For the front of the bed pocket, cut out the owl cloth and make sure it is bigger than the storybook, but smaller than the denim back.
I also cut out two strips of rectangles from the owl cloth, to be used for the sides, rather than making it flat, so that the pocket can expand a bit more.
I decided to line the inside of the pocket with this pink fat quarter cloth I found lying around, just to make it look nicer.
But this is optional since the inside can't really be seen.
Place the pretty sides of the owl cloth and pink cloth on the outside, then sew the sides with the interfacing in the middle (just to make the pocket a bit studier).
Next, fold the two strips of owl cloth in half lengthwise, then sew each to the sides of the front pocket.
Lastly, sew in the side of the two strips onto the front of the denim cloth.
 
  

There you have it! My very own Flexa-inspired bed pocket sewn by a newbie like myself.
I am not joking when I said that I am new to sewing. This is REALLY one of my first few attempts at sewing.
How I started making this is simply by looking at the picture of the original Flexa bed pocket, and then cutting out my own patterns to make a simpler and much cheaper version.
I probably only spent $5 in total on all the materials. 
I am pretty sure anyone out there can make nicer ones than me.
As you can see, my son not only put his favourite storybook in there, he also put his favourite Ninja Turtle craft box in the bed pocket, and it still fits!

 

 

I am pretty pleased with the results for my first attempt. I will definitely continue making a few more bed pockets to add on to this.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope this gives you some inspiration to make your own bed pocket. :)