Back from Limbo!

Yep .. the madcrafter is baaaaack!  Hope you miss me ... ;)

I wanted to start the new year with something worth sharing, and I think the following story would fit just nicely.

It all began when I found a stack of old baby wraps in the storage, belonging to Nafisa, my youngest.  Now a toddler, she hardly uses these wraps - they're still in good condition and actually were leftovers from others I had donated. Then, the idea hit me ... why not make them into something she could still use at her current age? 

Ooookay, so first, I thought about the stuff she loves the most --> soft toys, so one possible 'future' outcome of these wraps could be one of these. 

Second, she loves bunnies.  Aside from our real bunny 'Olaf' that she adores so much, she has this tiny, rather lumpy 18 cm bunny softy that big sister Zadia gave her (it was Zadia's many years ago). And here she is ..

I thought it would be great if I could make her a bigger huggable bunny to play/sleep with from the old wrap, as it is very soft and nice to the touch. Perfect!

So I scoured the internet to look for a cute, whimsical bunny pattern on the internet and voila!  Found it! Check it out: a Modern Folksy Bunny by Gingercake at Fairy Tale Frocks and Lollipops! 

Isn't she a cutie? And the best thing was, the e-pattern was 'oh so simple' and ON SALE! Hurrah!

With my (very) limited sewing skills (I have a machine that I hardly touched), I dared myself to make the bunny doll. It was a 'now or never' situation, so with a small prayer I went on and start cutting the old wrap. 

And, tadaaaa ... the green bunny from Naf's most favorite wrap (or so I thought)!  Not too bad, eh?

[I modified the look a little bit by eliminating the pompom tail (simply because I don't have a thick yarn) and simplify the bow piece.  I had this stash of flower embellishments that I bought many months ago that I hadn't use (and now I had an excuse! Yay!) So I sew together a string of velvet pink ribbon and attached the shabby chiffon flower. For the tail I stitched on another part of the wrap which I filled with polyfil / dacron.]

When the bunny was finished, I proudly presented it to Naf, told her I did something to her green wrap as a surprise.

She took one look at it and said, 'No, Mom .. not green .. PURPLE ...!'  And then she left me, unimpressed, totting her little old bunny with her.

DANG.  Completely forgot that her favorite wrap was the purple one, NOT green!  Arrghhh ... felt like my heart just got torpedoed and started to sink. [Blup blubup blup blup ..]

"Can I have it, Mom?" 

Suddenly her big sister Zadia asked me out of the blue.

"Of course!", I nodded (a bit surprised because I didn't think she would want it).

She then happily adopted the green bunny and gave it a loving squeeze - which made Zadia's bigger sister, Dinda, a bit envious ... and wanted another one made for her too! Du'oh!  

It was then that I realised, when they were younger, I NEVER had a chance to make anything for my older girls, I spent too much time at the office.  Every toys I bought for my girls were all factory made. Now, as a stay at home mom, I have all the time in my hands to remedy all that ... no wonder they were so enthusiastic about the homemade stuffed bunnies! 

To make the story short, I gladly repeated everything and made a blue bunny for Dinda, and on this second try, I think my sewing skill is getting better (well, maybe just a tiny bit, heh heh)!  Here it is ...

And now my house is full of bunnies - stuffed ones, real ones - hamsters, cats, and of course, kids. Lol! 

My  slice of heaven .... ;)

Thanks for reading friends, hope your day is as lovely as mine (or even better!)! ^_^

A Simple Headband for Naf

Sometimes when I got too much on my hand, I just do something different to give my mind a break.  

Watching Nafisa playing in the garden just made me want to create something pretty to tame her wild curly hair. 

and she loved it!

'a little gift of love does go a long way' 

... and now back to work people! Happy Crafting!

Old Post Revisited: 'Buffalo Shower at Mekarsari - Hold the Soap!'

Here's an old post that I sometimes visit to read and laugh silly at, that I wanted to share with you :)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Buffalo Shower at Mekarsari (Hold The Soap!)

TRAVEL: OUR MEKARSARI SCHOOL TRIP JOURNAL

'Departure'

It's been a long time since our last trip to Mekarsari, if I remembered it right, we had it on July 3, 2008. The girls were brimming with excitement.  They wore new pink t-shirts and girly jeans that I bought only the day before. Yes, it was actually a school field trip for Dinda (3rd grade) and Zadia's (1st grade), so, we had to ride the tour bus together with, say, about half the school's population?  

And you really, really don't want to know how super noisy it was! Uggh.  

'Hey, our bus was the only one with a toilet! Woohoo!'

But the noise didn't even compare to what I had to endure during the trip.

You see, there were 4 big-sized tour buses for our transportation, and guess what?  Our bus was the only one with a toilet! Whoa! That sure brought our travelling experience to another level, right?

Well, not quite.

Although the extra comfort facility was deemed as a luxury, I for one, thought otherwise.

Let me zip you back to the event of our arrival  at the school yard. You see, we arrived late for the morning assembly.  And because of it, we were the last to board the bus.  Hence, all the front and middle seats were taken and the backseat was the only option for me to sit on.  

And, ummm, did I tell you that the backseat was located right next to the bus' toilet? Horrifying!

I will let you do the math:

32 kids/bus (2 kids peed twice and once for the rest) + limited water in the bus' water reserve = stinky pee smell + utter desperation and difficulty in breathing (on my part)

Lucky for my girls though.  All students were instructed to sit in the front while all parents and teachers had to sit behind them. My one and only consolation was that the person sitting next to me (who had to endure the same torture) - was the school's head principle, Mr. Azwir.  Well, it took 2-hour journey from the assembly point to Mekarsari and upon arrival, we were the only passengers left wearing sickly 'green' faces.

Mekarsari

Before I forgot, let me give you a little bit of background on the place, which I took from their official website (www.mekarsari.com):

"Mekarsari Amazing Tourism Park (MATP) is a place where one can find the wealth of Indonesia’s fruit species gathered together in a single location. It is also intended to develop and breeding of superior varieties of fruit. Mekarsari is one of the biggest tropical fruit garden in the world.

The garden is intended to create a model market garden which will nurture germplasm collection representing fruit trees, vegetables, and flowering plants. The aim here is to safeguard the genetic diversity of these plants. The 264-hectare garden is conceived as a tourist attraction who will enjoy the recreational facilities which include Canal Tour, Kid’s Fun Valley, Country Side, Melon Park, Snake fruit Garden, Deer Park, and other facilities."

I am sure you get the picture of what the hullabaloo was all about - Ecotourism.

Fish Hunt

During the session, we get to ride a mini train to tour the facilities, went to Mekarsari's own harvest market, had some KFC lunch box, engaged in the 'fish hunting' in the mud ... MUD!!

[The picture of newly bought pink tshirts and girly jeans just flashed before my eyes].

Not good.

As it turned out, the fish hunt was loud and fun.  All participants must catch the newly released fish in the muddy water. To be honest, I could barely recognize the girls.  They were all brown and icky and some other students even had mud from head to toe.  

Zadia - fish hunt

Dinda succeeded in catching one fish though, so at least there was some element of victory after all.  She was so proud of herself.

Dinda - After

Zadia - After

Buffalo Bath

After the muddy session, the kids were led to a corner where they could communally gave one lucky bufallo his bath.  Imagine. 32 kids scrubbing down a fully grown buffalo.  Some rode on his back, the others tugged at his slightly curved long horns. Heck, I would be lying if I say I was not concerned about the whole buffalo idea. But the buffalo just took it oh so calmly.

A spa experience perhaps? Maybe.

Drugged? Maybe.

Was I a bit paranoid? Yes. LOL.

Buffalo Bath

Finally, after all the hollering and giggling and squealing, the kids had their fill and retreated to the restrooms for a shower and clothes change.  They spent more time playing the bungee trampoline, pushed a giant transparent ball around, having more fun together.

Strike a pose - giant transparent ball

Return Home

And as the day was ending, we all boarded the bus (this time I got lucky to get a middle seat, THANK YOU GOD!) to return home.  

All tired, but happy.

Morning Walk with the Kiddos

Today is the 2nd day of Ramadhan, the fasting month.

My girls and I have agreed to take early morning walks everyday after we eat our 'sahur', as this kind of light sport activity would be very beneficial and yet not too taxing on the kids ...

Besides, there are lots of interesting things to see and explore, as you can see from the pics that we took along the way:

Well, gotta get back to work now, I hope that you enjoy today's post {actually, very short post} and I'd like to wish you a Happy Ramadhan!