Tutorial: Little Girl Cardigan (no pattern needed)

Living in a hot climate country, I usually dress up my baby girl in light clothing to keep her cool and dry throughout the day. However, jackets or cardigans come handy whenever we bring the little ones to shopping malls where the aircond are using freezingly cold!

I bought a hot pink cardigan for my baby girl few months back and I really love the simple classic design, however there was only 1 color available then and I was not able to find another cardigan of similar design thus far. So, when I found an old cardigan of mine that I had not worn for years, I thought perhaps I can upcycle it. And I did. :)


This is the new cardigan I made for my baby, black base with sweet pink lining and a ribbon knot. Looking sweet isn't it? :)

This was what it once was. A boring looking black cardigan (I cant even recalled what made me bought it in the first place :P)

I made this cardigan without any pattern, nor tutorial reference. It is easier than I thought and so I would like to share the steps with you. It only took me about 3 hours and so perhaps you can give it a try too. :)

Educational Game: Castle Logix 趣智积木城堡

Castle building that brings fun with learning.

This is one long overdue post. I have captured the pictures for quite some times but never had time to sit down and get it posted.

Finally, here it is, a very interesting mental block building game called Castle Logix. It's a game that is suitable for kids from 2 years onwards, challenge the ability to see things from different angles and to think of a solution from different approaches.

It comes with an instruction book with 50 challenges ranging from Starter (really easy level), to Beginner, Expert and finally Master level (which is indeed quite challenging for young toddler). Come in a storage box the size of a Oxford dictionary (or Kamus Dewan) but squarish instead.

When I first introduced this game to my little captain, he was 2.5 years old, we were only doing the Starter level and I allowed him to follow the answer printed on the reversed side of the challenge. This is to let him understand what he is supposed to do and translate to put them blocks together according to the picture.

This is how the game works. Shown here is level 6, Starter.

Ta-da... He got it right at last!

Few months later he made some progress where he's able to complete the Starter level with little help from me. Then we forgot about it for awhile, when we finally continued, he remembered the rules well and started playing by himself, level by level.

Now at 4 years old, he finally reached the Expert level without needing my help. Look at the puzzles he managed to solve by himself. He was really feeling proud of himself after completing each challenge, and I never stingy on giving him the recognition he deserved - a clap, a praise and a hug sometimes.

And who says castle cannot be upside down? It really challenges the little mind to think out of the box..

This is a perfect game for a sunny afternoon as you can stay in door, so who cares about the hot burning tropics sun? ;)

He can play challenge after challenge up to 10 challenges at time. To increase the difficulty, I set a timer on my smart phone and he's consider a winner only if he completed the puzzle before the alarm rings. Pretty evil of me huh? But i believe that's one training on handling pressure. >:)

Now, I'm just wondering how long it will take for him to reach Master level, I can then retire this game until my baby girl is ready for it :)

Feel free to ask me any question about this games, I shall attempt my best to reply.

Remember...
This game should be fun and encourages bonding between you and your little one. So if they cannot complete the challenge please give help and encouragement where possible instead of losing your temper. Every kids progress differently so please don't assert too much pressure unnecessarily and kill the fun of learning.

When my little boy got too frustrated (after several failed attempts), I'll step in to help and tell him it's ok if he doesn't know how, he just have to keep trying and one day he will learn.

Cheers!



Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Patchwork Baby Quilt (Part 2) 小童拼布棉被，下集篇

It's finally done, the patchwork baby quilt for my little sweetie pie. All I need to do now is to give it a wash and my sweetie pie can snuggle into this super soft and fluffy quilt tonight. :)

I named it the Autumn Love Quilt.

One side of the quilt is full of hearts and loves in different shades of red and pink. Since the patchwork centerpiece are rather colorful and eye catching, I used the plain white cotton with slim red lines for the border to create a clean frame effect. I think they match just nicely.

For the backing fabric, I used this sweet looking autumn leaves, a quilting grade cotton from TY Pennington's Impression fabric series, looking perfect just the way it is.

I am really glad that the quilt turned out just as I expected it to be. It has some minor flaws but rather unnoticeable so I will not sweat about it. :)

Part 2 Tutorial

Refer to Part 1 of the tutorial on how to create the patchwork blocks before your begin.

Patchwork Baby Quilt (Part 1) 小童拼布棉被(上集篇)

Can you guess what am I working on this week?

Yup, I have finally started on the sewing project I had always wanted to set my hands on since I first learnt sewing - patchwork quilt! I am feeling so so excited about it, despite I have only made about 50% progress thus far I would like to share some of the work in progress photo.

Sometimes back, I got this lovely Always Forever charm packs by Deb Strain for Moda with 42 pieces of 5" x 5" hearts theme in 100% premium cotton. It's consists of many square cut fabrics with love in different shades of red and pink, just perfect to make a baby quilt for my baby girl! (yes, to shower her with mama's love.. :)

Warning: I would not be held responsible for any impulsive purchase of fabric if you ever click on any the reference links shared on my post. ;)

They had been sitting on my shelves for months, doing nothing but collecting dust. Until last night, I finally gathered up enough confident and courage to work on it (I expected patch work to be rather time consuming and challenging compare to just toddler dress making; indeed, I was right. However, it was so fun and satisfying to see the beautiful outcome that I will most certainly consider to make the next one!)

Here are the simple steps for putting up this patch work:

Cut Paper Art with Ang Pao Packets 简易红包剪纸艺术

CNY is finally over, what did you do with your little ones' Ang Pao packets? Threw them away? Kept them for next year? Those were what I did in previous years, for this time, I decided to make some artwork with my little boy using his empty packets, a good chance to educate him the concept of recycle too :)

For those who do not celebrate Chinese New Year, it's a culture where kids or singles will receive Ang Pao (red packets) from the married couples. Usually after each CNY the little ones will received at least 50-100 Ang Pao each. That probably explains why most Chinese kids welcom CNY so badly huh... :)

Anyway, I kept the empty Ang Pao and told my little captain that we are doing to used them for artwork. And we did.

This is the result of our first Ang Pao artwork project - cut paper patched fire truck. I let him used child safe scissor to cut the angpao and glue them into the drawing of a fire truck that I drew (not very nice, I know, I was never a good artist :)

I was amazed by his creativity. He suggested to make a door that can flip opened, and a dustbin that can flip open too (he wanted to glue that in the truck but I convinced him to place it outside n stead...)

Just an ordinary piece of artwork but at least we had 30 minutes of fun time and he has something to stick into his creative wall. He also helped me cleaned up all the used paper afterwards. It's important to teach little ones to clean up their own mess if we don't intend to be their slave for life ;)

How I got this idea? Thanks to the artwork he did in his preschool. This was the school bus he brought home, looks much better than my truck..

I shall think of what art project to embark on next with the remaining of the pretty angpao packets we have... Seen here, are the selection if Ang Pao packets with the word "福", which means luck in mandarin. This is sure a lot of good luck for the whole year. :)

Look for more angpao packets art? check out the decoration we did for our Ang Pao tree here..



Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.