Every year as we draw closer to the season of examinations, it isn't just the students who get jittery, teachers too. But like all previous years, we continue to pray for them. Schools and teachers keep their spirits up with words of encouragement, and little tokens.

It started with an innocent "Girls (my co-form teachers), are you from the era where we made friendship bands?" My extremely obliging friends weren't but they agreed wholeheartedly to learn the art of braiding.

 So we started. We did them in the evenings, in-between classes, and of course, while on those marking breaks and managed to complete the task in time.

Each band was placed into the pouches, complete with a note Ms Fatin wrote for them and they were handed out to the girls in class when we celebrated Teachers' Day. Really thankful and grateful for these wonderful friends / co-form teachers making this come true. :) 

Why friendship bands? Some of the friendships forged during secondary school days would last our lifetime and we wanted the girls to know that. Each band was braided with different colours - to let them know that individually, they are beautiful, but together they become magical. We want them to know that they could always count on each other, to look out for one another.

 Daddy helped too - he faithfully held on the knots in one hand while watching television in the evenings while I braided away. I promised C that she could have 1 too when she asked for it but only after I had completed those for the class. 2 days ago, we went down to a craft shop where she picked out her favourite colours. I made the band into a key holder as her old one was coming apart.

It was a staff development workshop and usually there is a variety for us to choose from. I chose to do one on Chinese calligraphy painting last year and this year, I went for pottery making. It was a 2-session workshop and for the first workshop, we were introduced to the type of clay we were using and some of the instruments we needed to make our very own ice-cream bowl.

 In that 2 hours, we kneaded and moulded the clay into the shape of the ice-cream bowl. we were taught how to smooth out the clay, how to handle and cut the excess material off without damaging the bowl. Then we left it out to dry.

 The second session was conducted during the June holidays. By then, the bowl has harden and it was ready for the next process. C came to work with me that day when I told her that I was going to work on the product.

She picked the colours she wanted and proceeded to paint the bowl with much concentration.

The final product! I brought it back for her and she immediately placed it in the glass display we have at home. :)

I can't remember the last time C had time to sit and do her craft. 

It has been a while and our evenings are usually occupied. 

Daddy bought her this set of craft during the December holidays and she only just got down to working on it this evening. She had completed her homework in the afternoon, taken a quick nap too and an hour before bed time, decided that she would do a little painting. Well, this was definitely a more preferred activity compared to her asking for the iPad. :)

I bought this box of craft a long time ago. We made noodles the previous time and this time round, it was donuts and cakes.

Everything that we needed!

The dough was quickly cut and moulded. 

Miniature cakes and donuts.

A little icing and chocolate on them and Precious was all ready to eat them. 

In fact, she ate them all and forgot to save one for her Daddy.

Craft from her art in Josiah.

I had to get my hands on these toys when I learned of them. 

They are really cute and since C loves to cook and play, I thought we could do both. :)

This was the ramen and dumpling set. It came in a package that resembled an instant noodle pack.

All the ingredients we needed. 

A little kneading and we made our dumpling. It was a little sticky hence I helped C with it.

Next, it was time to do up the soup base and make the noodles.

And viola! Cool! C was intrigued and she couldn't stop exclaiming, "Oh, so cute!"

Then she couldn't resist and finished up the entire "bowl" of noodles.

In case you are wondering.... how does this toy work, I found a clip online which tells you how. :)
Enjoy!

Josiah is always getting C and her peers to bring used bottles and containers to school for craft.

This time round, she had to bring 2 containers of similar sizes to school. Several days ago, she returned with them, all transformed.



One of the containers is now a musical instrument; a shaker while the other has been made into a coin bank.

Upon closer inspection, Daddy and I saw that she had painstakingly tore out pictures from magazines and pasted them in a form of a collage on the exterior and then coated it with lacquer.

C's latest creation from Josiah. It is amazing what some recycled materials can be transformed into. Cheryl used the egg tray to form the body of the caterpillar.

One of the many activities C does in school and I am sure this is definitely one of her favourite.

To think that she had used such simple materials to make this beautiful scroll.

C's Valentine's Day gift to us! :)

Daddy whispered to C that since she had written the greetings in pencil, he could erase it and then replace the words with "Mummy, Happy Valentine's Day, From Daddy"

Nice try, Dear!

This evening, C went through her bookcase and decided that she wanted to make some interesting craft.

A little cutting and pasting, and we were done.

Then we also grew a tulip.

 pretty flower!

Some days back, Aunt Di gave C her Christmas present because they would not be around on the actual day and immediately, they sat down to work on the craft.

It was a sushi-making set and C was thrilled! Even Asher could not resist having a go at it. The end product did resemble sushi, much to our delight. :)

Another set of craft that C received. She needed help doing this as she commented that she didn't have "steady hands".

More of such practices in the evenings!

When I want C away from the television, I just entice her with "craft". This evening, she did a little cross word puzzle. We would have done more if it wasn't so late.

C browsed through her many activity books and decided that she wanted to do some colouring and a crossword puzzle.

She wanted to do more but I had to stop her as it was getting late. However, it is heartening to know that she enjoys these activities.

More craft this evening!

C's weakness: craft! Even if she was engrossed with her Disney channel, once I asked "Craft?" and she would drop everything to come to the room with me. :)

We revisited some of C's old craft books which were left untouched for a long time but she found them kind of cute.

3D faces of animals!

This was really fun to make and it was easy too. C only needed to cut along the lines and fold along the dotted ones.

And she did it. :) The characters could change their costumes and C was all giggly when she saw what misfits the characters turned out to be.

C has been singing this song she learned from her teachers in school. I fell in love with it the very first time she sang it and now, :) I know the lyrics to this song too.

C did something interesting this evening.

 She had to cut along the grey lines and fold the picture into half as indicated by the dotted line.

She also cut this out and then...

She got this!

Then ...