School have since started for Bee.  She's also in Awana this year.  Lately I found myself forgetting "fancy day" at school or when Awana store is open - the 2 events that Bee looks forward to.  I sometime use the calendar on my phone for all these but since I don't have the phone with me all the time and don't usually check it first thing in morning, it doesn't do me any good.  Fed up with too many missed events, one afternoon I asked C to make me a command centre !  aka wall organizer.  I doodle out what I like, a wall of pictures frames - one would be a white board, one a cork board, one frame will frame-hooks for jackets/bags, and one frame for art work.  I shared my design with C and he suggest he build me one big one from wood so it's less work, less holes on our wall and keep everything together in one place.  We spent the next hour brainstorming what we want, what's easy/fast to do; then sent C off to Home Depot to get the wood slats.

The outcome of C's hard work !  A wall organizer for our kids' stuff.

What C did:

• Pcked up 5 pieces of 1" thick by 6" wide and 8 feet long (ask store staff to cut the 8 feet into 2 (so they are 4 feet each)
• For the trimming of the wall mount (the part where I painted gray), you can use whatever wood width thickness you like (hubby used the same wood size and cut it down to frame the wall mount, this wood is also what he used to nail all the 4 feet slats together, lay side and side)

Less than an hour of banging nails away in our garage, C got the wooden wall mount done.  I then painted the trim with Fusion Mineral Paint's grey paint left from my dressers project.  I highly recommend this brand.  Great coverage, non toxic, water based (I accidentally got paint on the wall many times ! and I just have to wipe off after with a damp cloth).

Using a stud finder, C located 2 solid beams and used 4 long nails to screw the wood wall mount onto the wall.  It's very very sturdy.  I made a mistake with the hooks though !  We were so eager to put it up we forgot the check.  I bought some beautiful ceramic knobs to use as hooks but the screw is back in not front in !!!!  It was too late to use because the wall mount is already screwed to the wall.  Too late for me but not for you.  So make sure you check the knobs or hooks you're using for jacket/bag holder first before securing the wall mount to the wall.

I bought a roll of cork from Rona to glue onto the middle exposed area and made that into a cork board (I discovered much later, you can get the cork roll from Dollarama too, for fraction of the cost).  I also bought a small white board and nailed it on the cork board.  I used a permanent sharpie and ruler to draw in the lines for calendar and the standard whiteboard marker to write in events and appointments.  

Almost a month in now and this board has been serving us very well.  It took a few days to train the kids to hang their bags and lunch bags and Awana vests here though !  So far so good.  We post all school notices and permission slips on the cork board.  Write important events on the white board.  Some day I leave message for C there (I go to work before him) because I know it's what he checked every morning before taking Bee to school.  The fact that it's being used and used often, that to me is success.  Very happy with the outcome !

Both daughters wanted streamers to add to their new (used) bicycles.  They discovered streamers by accident when C took them to the toys store.  They were on for $8, for the plastic kind.  Hubby thought they were not-so-pretty and can't justify the cost.  He told the girls, mommy can make you nicer one and for cheap !  C really knows me :-)  I'm all about saving money !

Today our city had a down pour !  It was nice and pleasant all week and just when the weekend rolled around, gray clouds gathered and brought with them the cold rain.  We stayed in today, danced around all morning and all tried to do headstands. I can't believe I can still do it !  Yay me !  Anyways, after lunch the girls reminded me of our outstanding project.  We all went to Michaels to grab ribbons for the streamers.  I also got a whole bunch of new picture frames for another project I have in mind !!

What you will need to make a set of bicycle streamers:

- 3/8" inch ribbon, any color you like
- 2 safety pin (medium size, mine is 1 inch long) or use PAPER CLIPS if your kid likes to pick on the tassels (if they yank on it the pin might break and poke them) 
- scissor

We picked 5 colors, they were 3/8 inch ribbon, each roll was $0.89.  For each color of ribbon, cut 4 X 18" inch strips.  Cut on angle to avoid fraying.  Each tassel will have a total of 10 ribbons, 2 strands of each color.

Tie each strand of ribbon into the safety pin.  When done, push the big top size of the safety pin or the wider end of the paper clips into the pin hole on the handle of the bike.  There you have it !  Super easy right ?  We made 2 sets for $4.98 ($0.89 X 5 X 1.12 (tax)) !  Not too bad right ?  And we still have ribbons over for other projects.

The rain stopped and this little one is out testing the streamers :-)

Our girls are turning 4 and 1.  They're such fun kids !  Love is already walking at around 9 months and Bee is getting ready for preschool.  They are happy silly kids and we're celebrating another milestone with them.

Yesterday we threw the girls a "A very hungry caterpillar" birthday party theme !  Bee loves hungry caterpillar so she asked me months and months before to have a caterpillar party !!! 

So, it started with the invite card:

Being the frugal and wanna-be-crafty mommy, I sketched out what design I want in mind and went Dollar Store hunting for décor.  Tissue pom poms or puff balls are super cheap and make big fun statement :) so I decided to make a caterpillar from tissue balls :)  which then gave me the idea for the room décor >  colorful puff balls !  then the caterpillar Monday-Friday fruits table, sweet treat table, giveaways and buntings to tie the theme all in !

Here are pictures of the party and if you scroll down below I posted the FILES of some designs I created, HOW TOs and WHERE TO BUY sections if you want similar décor.  You can download the files, printed them on card stocks, cut out the rounds and use them for the fruits cards and thank you tags.  Enjoy !

    

Fun colorful pom pom tissue balls !

  

Bee's favorite candies for adults and kids !  there's little takeaway box for each to fill up and take to go !

My eldest enjoyed the party very much !  My youngest ?  she didn't say anything :-)  her eyes lit up at the sight of all the colorful puff balls so I supposed she likes that !  Overall, hubby and I had fun decorating !  I enjoy it most (don't all moms ?) and the best part, it didn't cost too much and I can reuse all the puff balls for our summer garden tea party :D 

WHERE TO BUY:

For décor I went to Michaels and brought the following items there (ranges from $1.50-$3):

-  wooden initial

-  paper treat bags

-  wind-up toys (for babies)

-  candy take out boxes

-  pink small wooden frames (these are super cute)

-  color stock papers (for HAPPY BIRTHDAY flag)

Went to Dollarama and picked up:

-  colorful tissue packages ($1/pack) for paper pom poms (for caterpillar you'll need 1 pack of red, 2 of dark green and 2 of light green)

-  green utensils

-  wooden clips (for treat bags)

-  colorful balloons

DOWNLOADABLE FILES:

Here are files for the fruit tags (print on card stock paper, tape a toothpick behind it and stick it onto a fruit :-)  thank you giveaway bag tags (caterpillar & butterfly), flags, blank tags & water bottle label !

A Very Hungry Caterpillar party printouts

For the flag, you can download each individual file (flag 1-5, smaller file size) or the whole file hungry caterpillar hanging flag.pdf !  Enjoy !

  

HOW TOs:

-  How to make the tissue paper pom poms or puff ball

-  Vegan chocolate cupcake recipe

-  Easy cupcake frosting

GOODY BAG: 

I picked up most of these at Target:

- non-toxic bubble bottles

- 3 different colors playdoh container

- 2 of snack-size cookies and crackers bags (Annie's organic from Costco)

- a pack of slime goo

- 1 sticker book

- 1 take-away candy box

You can put anything in the bag really, crayons, doodle booklet, whistle, balls, etc.  I found that most, if not all, kids like stickers and bubbles so those 2 are my go-to items.

Repost from onelittleproject.com.  Go visit her site for some easy diy projects and crafty ideas.

I made different color poofs and hang them from my ceiling fan !

Tissue paper pom poms, also known as tissue paper balls, or tissue paper poofs.

You can get tissue paper at the dollar store, 20 pieces for $1.  So that’s two large tissue paper pom poms per pack making each one only $0.50.  For the medium size, 1 pack will yield 4 pom poms.

How to Make Tissue Paper Pom Poms:

Count out a pile of 10 sheets of tissue paper and lay them flat:

Fold the end in about 1″ to 1.5″ and fold it accordion style (fold, flip over, fold, flip over, repeat):

Continue to fold it accordion style:
  

Until you have folded the whole thing:

It doesn’t need to be perfect.  The tissue paper is pretty forgiving:

Fold it in half to find the center:  

Wrap a wire around the middle (I used dollar store jewellery wire):

And secure it to hold everything in place (Note: This would be a good time to attach thread or fishing line if you plan to hang it):

Round the edges of both ends.  The shallower the cut, the shallower the “petals” of the tissue paper pom pom will be:

So now you should have something that looks like this:

Take one piece of tissue paper:

And pull it away from the rest of them:

Continue pulling apart the layers of tissue paper:

The layers will start to look like this:

Once you finish one half, pull apart all the layers of the second half:

Fluff up all the layers until you get it into a good ball shape:

Then hang it from the ceiling with some fishing line and you are good to go!

Yesterday the weather was dreadful with a capital D.  No rain, but the sky dressed in gloom.  I decided to make some bean bags for Bee while Lovebug is sleeping.  Actually, I went and vacuumed our SUV and cleaned out the floor mats first.  They were way way overdue for a cleaning.  Bee loves playing inside the SUV !  She said it's like a small house for her.

I brought out some fabrics and let Bee pick a pattern.  She helped me rip the fabric into 5" wide strips so I can then cut them.  After sewing each bag, we filled it with brown rice.  Total time was less than 20 min., and we made 4 beanbags.  Or in our case, 4 rice bags !

Here's the How Tos:

- 8 of 5X5 squares of fabric
- beans, rice, corn kernels, or any other dry legumes

Instructions:

• Take 2 squares of fabric, turn the right side in, facing each other
• On the wrong side of fabric, about 1/2 inch in, sew around the 4 edges>  LEAVE a 2" opening for filling.
• Sew around the 4 edges again, 1/4 inch from the previous seams, to secure the bag
• Once done sewing, cut out the tip of each corners (so when you turn it right side out, the corners don't bunch up.
• Turn the beanbag right side out
• Through the 2" opening, pour in the filling, about 2/3 of the bag
• Hold the opening tight and sew it shut (on the right side of fabric).  I sew it twice to secure it.

Here's a picture of what the sewing should look like:

 

Good nuoc mam makes or breaks a Vietnamese dish !!!  Vietnamese dipping sauce is so versatile !  There are so many ways to use it.  You can use it for dipping, cooking, marinating, or dressing a vermicelli dish or salad (goi).  The component of the sauce is a few ingredients, but to master it takes a few practices :-)  why ?  because the type of fish sauce, sugar, chillies, can alter the taste and you will have to play around to see what you like, what you should add more,  less, etc.

Here's the 1-2-3 of it:

1 part* fish sauce, 1 part lime
2 part* water
3 part* white granulated sugar (if use organic sugar or cane sugar use 4 part, never use brown sugar)

If you don't have lime, white vinegar will do, or even lemon.  But sour green lime is the best !

*part here means your instrument of measurement (spoon, cup, etc).  For example, if you use 2 table spoons of fish sauce then add 2 spoons of lime juice, 4 spoons of water and 6 of sugar, etc.

ADD minced garlic and red chilies to your liking.

To make enough for 4-6 adults , I would use 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 thai chilies, 3 tablespoons of lime juice, 6 tablespoon of water and 9 table spoon of sugar.

Direction:

1.  In a bowl, measure and add the fish sauce and water together.

2.  Chop up the garlic and the chilies into small pieces.

3.  Measure the sugar and put it aside.

4. In a mortar, put in 1/4 of the sugar (leave the rest a side), add in the garlic, and the red chili/ies.  Pound them with the pestle into a paste.  This brings out the flavours in the garlic and the chillies !  Wonderful aroma :-D

5.  Using a spoon, scrape out the paste and put it in the fish sauce/water mixture. 

6.  Squeeze the lime, measure it and add to the liquid.

7.  Add the remaining sugar. 

8.  Stir the sauce until all the sugar dissolved. 

Taste and see if the flavor is to your liking.  It should be not too salty, more sweet, slightly sour, and flavourful (from the garlic and chillies).

When it comes to fish sauce, I always use Viet Huong 3 Crabs brand fish sauce.  It's light, not too salty, not too smelly :)  Great for making dipping sauce, to cook or to add to broth. 

Viet Huong fish sauce $6-$8, available at all major Asian supermarkets

Red Boat 40N fish sauce, $10+ at major markets

Another brand I like is Red Boat fish sauce.  This one is authentic fish sauce with no added ingredients or MSG.  I found the smell is quite pungent (what it supposed to be I guess) and it's a bit on the salty side so I usually add more sugar and lime to balance out the taste.

Here's an excerpt from their website:

"Red Boat is an all-natural, first press, “extra virgin” Vietnamese fish sauce. It does not contain added water, preservatives or MSG. Made from a two hundred year-old, chemical free, artisanal process, Red Boat uses only the freshest cá com (black anchovy), salted minutes after leaving the sea then slow aged for over a year in traditional wooden barrels. Red Boat anchovies are sourced exclusively from the crystal clear waters off the Phu Quoc Island archipelago."



Other popular brand you will find at the Asian markets are Golden Boy fish sauce and Squid brand fish sauce.  I don't like them as I found there's too much salt in there and little fish taste (little to no fish smell).  They are ok for cooking, not so great for making dipping sauce.  However if that's all you got around, I would use 1 part more sugar.  For example, if you use 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, use 4 tablespoon of white sugar.  Play around and adjust it to your liking.  Have fun making it !