26th Week of Craft Activity (4th & 11th October 2015)

For this 2 weeks' Highlight of the Craft, we made Pom Pom Animals with yarns... Of course, we added the necessary accessories to make it looks cool! 😍😍😍

Here are some of our very good looking & selected animals:

Aren't they adorable? 

The process is painstaking as it is not easy to make a fluffy 1...but so far so good! 😊😊😊

3rd Week of Craft Activities (1st Feb 2015)

Here are the Craft Activities for 1st Feb 2015...this was very popular & i repeated the same craft for 3 weekends (on top of the other crafts of course!)! LOL

Age Group 3-5: Paper Plate Pom Pom Sheep

Materials needed:

White paper plate x 1

Black Colored paper x 1

Googly Eyes x 2

White Pom- Poms or Cotton Balls

Scissors

Glue

Instruction:

1) Cut the face of the sheep, plus the legs accordingly. I used free hand to cut, but you may opt to google the template.

2) Glue the legs to the paper plate. 

3) Apply glue throughout the paper plate & start putting the pom-poms/cotton balls on it. (Here's when the kids had fun, throwing the balls to the plate & it stuck there! The younger ones were amused...)

4) Glue the googly eyes onto the face of sheep.

5) Glue the face onto the top part of the plate. Remember to check the location of the legs before sticking the face on!

And, you are done!

Age Group 6-8: Fluffy Pom Pom Sheep

This is 1 craft that even the adults can't resist & paid to make it!

Materials Needed:

Pom-pom Maker - various sizes depending on the size of the desired sheep

White Acrylic Yarn x 1 ball

Black colored foam paper x 1 piece

Googly Eyes x 2

Black colored Pipe Cleaner x 1

Scissors

Glue

Instruction:

1) Thread the yarn over & thru the pom-pom maker until you are happy with the thickness. The thickness will determine how fluffy your sheep will be. So, thread on as much as possible (eventhough it is a very tiring process...lol)

2) Cut the Black Pipe Cleaner into half & place it into the center of the circle of the pom-pom maker. Bend it to secure the legs.

3) Cut the yarns & tie it tightly.

4) Glue the googly eyes onto the sheep face. You can try google for the template if you are nit comfortable to cut it free hand.

5) Glue the face onto the yarn. Remember to check where the legs are!

6) Bend all 4 legs to desired length so that it can stand. 

7) Optional: I glued the sheep onto a base plate so that it can stand nicely.

Cute huh?

Age Group 9-12: Mini 3D Origami Sheep

Materials Needed:

Red Origami pieces x 3

Beige Origami pieces x 16

White Origami pieces x 89

Black Origami pieces x 12

White colored paper for the ears

Googly Eyes x 2

Scissors

Glue

Flower or any other decorations (optional)

Note: in case you need to refer to the diagram on how to fold the origami pieces, please refer to my previous blog here...

Instruction:

1) Starting from the bottom up, you should have 12 of the origami piece on each row. 

2) 1st 2 rows will be all White pieces.

3) 3rd row you will start to put 1 Red piece in between 2 Beige pieces. Fill up the rest of the 9 pieces with White.

4) 4th row put 2 Red pieces in each of the pocket of the Rec piece from 3rd row, then put 1 Beige piece on each side. Fill up the rest of the 8 pieces with White.

5) 5th row you will have 5 pieces of the Beige on top of the Red & Beige peuces from 4th row. Fill up the rest of the 7 pieces with White.

6) 6th row will have 4 pieces of Beige & 8 pieces of White.

7) 7th row will have 3 pieces of Beige & 9 pieces of White.

8) Finish off the remaining 2 rows with White.

9) Attach 2 pieces of Black on all 4 corners, spread them evenly. Then add the remaining 1 piece to all 4 legs.

10) Glue the ears, eyes & decorate it as you like!

Happy Crafting!

Hanging Sheep

Recently, I got an order to produce 26 units of Hanging Sheeps. It is to be hung on the ceiling of a mall in Klang Valley.

It took me almost 2 weeks to finally conclude what & how I want to make it. You see, since this is for hanging on the ceiling, certain important measures have to be taken:

1) It can not be too heavy, else it will damage the ceiling or worse, it fell & hit the patrons.

2) It should be visible to see from the ground & must be eye-catching.

3) The Sheeps must be cute enough to be eye-catching.

4) It has to be sturdy enough to withstand the wind & not fall.

Honestly, I have not done anything huge before so it took me 2 whole weeks, back & forth, researching & trying out all sorts of materials. Finally! After 2 weeks, I have come to a decision: 

Option 1: very expensive

I use styrofoam ball & white pom-poms

I experimented with 2 sizes, 10in & 12in. 

12in too heavy. So, I chose 10in.

Option 2: more reasonable (half the price of option 1)

I use plain coloured lantern & cotton balls

Again, i selected 2 sizes, 10in & 12in.

Still, 12in is heavier. 

I showed it to my client & we confirmed to make option 2 since it won't be able to recycle...the next Sheep year is in 12 years. By then, the whole thing would have fallen apart...LOL

Here's what I made...

Batch 1: 18 units of 12in Lantern Sheeps (couldn't get all same size)

Batch 2: 9 units of 10in Lantern Sheeps (I gave the sample together since I won't be needing it.)

Took me about 4 none sleep nights to complete it. I'd say it is pretty fast...LOL

I used Black Foam to cut the head & legs. Thanks to hubby that helped with the cutting. Mind you, it took me several trips to different shops to get all the quantities that I want...Then for the eyes, I used White Felt & Black Foam for the eye ball.

Lastly, I tied the lantern with ribbons.

It was a great experience as it is so different from my normal orders. I can consider this as bulk order, in a much bigger size than what I usually do...

Let's just hope it will look nice in the mall...:)

Oh yea, after I completed the sheeps, guess what my younger son wants? He wants 1 of those sheep in his favorite color! So, we will have an Orange Sheep in da house very soon! As soon as I get a can of Orange Spray Paint! LOL 

I shall post it on the blog once the Orange Sheep is done...hehehe

2015...the Year of Xiao Mian Yang (little sheep in Mandarin)

And, we have a WINNER! 

Yesterday, i posted a blog on my new experiment of sheep/lamb & did a little survey to find out which one is the most adorable one...so, the result is out! And,i gave her a name & a history too...:D

This is Clover, the Little Lambie.

Clover means prosperity, abundance, wealth, success, luck & overall well-being; which is highly auspicious for the Chinese. We Chinese sometimes can be very greedy & want all of the goodies yea! LOL

A little zodiac fact on sheep/lamb/goat...According to the Chinese Astrology, the Sheep/Lamb is the 8th sign & the number 8 is considered to be a very lucky number. It symbolizes wisdom, fortune & prosperity.

Clover is 18cm long & 10cm tall.

She is rather difficult to make as you can't really count the stitches when using fluffy yarn...lol

But I love the outcome!

Clover is available for pre-order now! Grab yours before it is too late! :D

Experimenting with Sheep/Lamb

Are you ready for the upcoming CNY? i know I am...LOL

And, I have this to prove it!

Just so you know, in the Chinese Astrology, next CNY will be the year of Sheep/Lamb/Goat.

I have started to experiment with various type of sheeps/lambs. 

In my opinion, we love Sheep or Lamb the best as they are much cuter...lol

Here's what I have made so far...

This is the smallest one, i used fluffy yarn for the head & body.

This is bigger than the previous one, as I used a thicker yarn. The design is the same.

This one is done using popcorn stitches. But i think the head is too big...lol...none-the-less, my kids said this one looks like Timmy!

I modified the head & used normal single crochet stitch for the body. Hm...head looks fine now but not cute...

Side by side comparison of all the sheeps/lambs...

So, which one is your favourite? I can't decide, so I shall do a survey!