Simple Canvas Tutorial

I started this project by cutting the papers to the correct size. I cut them slightly smaller than the canvas so that the black showed.  I then inked the edges so that the papers looked more coordinated. 

 I chose black as the curtains that we inherited are black.

I found it really important to get the edges otherwise the paper curled up pretty badly.  It's also very helpful to get the air bubbles out before you put the Mod Podge on the top.

 At this point I did add a dusting of very fine glitter just so that it reflects the light a little more. 

Here's our finished wall (although I'm thinking of adding more !) 

(The scrapbooking papers are from DCWV Taj Mahal)



Marker Art

Ana (for a very brief period of time) declared she would one day be an artist.  She's not into details.  Her pictures usually have one main focal point and her name.  She then proceeds to color every square inch with her trusty markers.  Artist we may not be, but she can be called thorough.  And I greatly appreciate the twenty minutes it takes her to do it!

My visit

I had a very thought provoking time at the Children's Leukemia Hospital today.  There were around thirty children in the ward.  Some rooms had eight beds, others had only two.  Some were in tents to ward off infections.  All had at least two family members with them---one had six!  While some of these children are from our city, many are from elsewhere.  One mom and son had been in the hospital for three months!  This must mean that she has given up her job to stay with him.  Can you imagine keeping a two year old in a crowded room in his bed for three months?  (There were lots of computers with videos!) I enjoyed passing out the snacks and doing crafts with the older ones, but this visit has left me thinking.  What more can be done to help these families from out of town?

Be thankful today for quality healthcare that is nearby!

I'm leaving in a couple of hours to visit the children's leukemia hospital.  This is something I've wanted to do after hearing about it a couple of months ago.  We'll be doing some crafts with the children and taking along some snack bags.  I'm so happy that I packed these bags in the Christmas boxes.  They've come in really handy.  (Too bad there's no Phoon Huat baking store here!)  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
Super thankful for a group of stay at home moms that seek ways to serve at school and in their community!  It challenges me to get out there and do some GOOD!

An Easy Way to Stress Out Your Child

I don't know if you can see the two guys painting this building.  Ana was very concerned for their safety and watched them for quite a while to make sure they were all right.  Although safety is a little more lax I'm sure the ropes were plenty strong--but it's not that easy to convince a five year old!

Practice Makes Perfect!

 

I am making some progress in my Chinese lessons.  I can say some complete sentences (including DO, IO, and possessives)--even write a few with characters.  It does take a lot of perseverance.  You can't even look at the big picture!  With a daunting amount of characters to learn you just have to keep your nose to the grindstone.  So I'm trying to master my first fifty characters along with their measure word if they're nouns.  Wish me luck!

What To Do On A Beautiful Fall Day...

1. Run off some serious energy along the boardwalk.

2.  Steer a ship through the pounding waves.  (unfortunately it was low tide--so there was no water to pretend with!)

3.  Conquer your fear of bridges!  Ever since we went to Indonesia and she had to walk out across the water on a rather see through bridge--she has hated walking by herself over water.  But today she did it. 
I'm so thankful I get these two days off with Ana every week.

Boom!

Massive firework displays are pretty common here.  There are also lots of firecrackers.  At first the kids were alarmed, but not anymore!  They're loving all the noise-as only kids can!

Singapore Flashback 1

It was great fun to meet up with four alumni from ICS. One of these students I knew as a fifth grader! They've done a lot of interesting things already.  Over Northern Indian food ( I SO MISS IT!), we chatted about future plans.  We hope to meet up with one when we next come back to the States-he's in medical school in Ohio.  It's beyond encouraging to see former students doing well, tackling hard things, and becoming leaders in their community.  Hooray for Third Culture Kids! (Kids that grew up in another culture.)

Make Your Own!

So granola bars about 10 dollars a box here!  All the ingredients are easy to get, so we've been looking for our go to recipe.  I tried the pioneer woman's first.  We didn't like the molasses in it. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-granola-bars/detail.aspxhttp://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-granola-bars/detail.aspx 

Then I tried these.  I wasn't too keen on a whole can of sweetened condensed milk, but with all the healthy stuff I added I figure they cancel each other out!

changes I made:  I added an egg and a 1/2 cup of peanut butter.  I omitted the butter.  My three cups of extras included wheat germ, flax seed, coconut, peanuts, chocolate, and almonds.

Give it a try.  They fill you up and are delicious!

Our Flat (part 1)

 The bedrooms in our house aren't huge.  China's room is especially small, but his loft bed gives him a lot more space.  We hope to put a desk under his bed and repaint everything white.  We're also thinking of removing the ceiling fan (it doesn't work anyway!) as it's a hazard as you get into bed!  As his quilt went missing in the container we'll have to think of a new theme!  Who knows maybe we can find some soccer material here!

Ana and Mitike's room is really cute.  I have a few other things to hang up, but it's mostly done.  It's a fun, colorful room! I'm glad that I had most of it done in Singapore!  The company supplies really beautiful dressers and wardrobes and they repainted everything before we got there.  Now if we can keep it looking this nice!

More rooms to come!

Projects

I'm finally to the point where I can sit down and work on some things just for fun--it's nice.  Today I worked on recovering some pretty grungy potholders.  As I can't get the heat resistant batting here, it seemed like a good idea to just recover the ones I have.  Seemed to work pretty well and only took about 15 minutes per potholder.  The best part about it is that it used up scraps and cost no money!  Yeah!

The Birthday Gift

Ana has quite an interest in sewing--probably because I sew all the time.  So for a friend's birthday she drew this cute little flower.  She then (quite decisively) picked out all the material and buttons.  We learned how to sew on a two hole and four hole button as well as doing a little bit of straight sewing on the machine.  How's that for an educational gift?