Time for Craft

The 2nd time into the Sony Creative Science Award 2011 competition, and we grabbed away the Merit Prize with this recycled project titled - Pursuit of happiness. Months of researching, brainstorming seems worth it. We're considered the 'lucky' (when opportunity meets preparations) ones, out of a few thousand pieces of projects submitted, we were shortlisted. The whole idea was inspired by the karakuri , automata concept. I started building the 3 seagulls with popsicle sticks. Duplicating a few copies of the same body shape on the popsicles, three pieces were glued together to get the thickness (body) of the seagull. Small little piece of white felt were sticked at both sides of the body as an extension from the wing to the body to give it the flexibility to flab. The whole setup was a A4 paper carton box, waves pieces were cut out from trash cardboard, wine cork was used as the t...

To start the ball rolling, coming up is this, yet another craft from the trash - a treasure box! (not a trash anymore) Materials like the commercial toilet paper roll and scotch tape inner paper tube must be with matching circumference. Besides, you'll need unused CDs, cardboard, paint and UHU glue. Cutting CDs into tiny bits and pieces to create the mozaic effect on the surface is beautiful indeed. You may want to wear a glove during cutting or give another cut to the sharp edges. I tried with black, white and maroon color backgrounds, they turned out equally great. A heart shaped motive was added on the cover. You can cut out the entire shape first, followed by cutting them into smaller pieces or gather the pieces together to form the shape you want, just like a puzzle. I end this post with this write out which I saw on a friend's posting on FB... ‘Maybe life is a mosaic. Count...

Inspire by my friend, Mindy, I couldn't wait further to put my hands on making a pinata for my two nieces on their coming birthday celebration at the beach. From the old old story, Pinata was first started by the Chinese. They celebrated New Year by making figures of cow, buffalo, covered with colored papers and filled with seeds. Though the point of the game is to get the goodie inside, the underlying meaning of such game symbolizes 'hopes'. As the pinata is hanging above your head, its just like you are hoping something from the sky above. Besides, it also symbolizes 'charity', as everyone will have their share of the goodie inside the pinata when it's hit opened. It took me a few days to have it done and a couple of minutes to have it 'destroyed', but I enjoyed making it and seeing the kids having fun and laughter hitting it. The happiness and memories that left behind is enough for this craft to be continued after generations. ...

As a mum with young kid, we tend to wake up in the middle of the nights checking on their safety, whether they are well undercover with a blanket or have our pet dog taken over their pillow and bolster and having a rolling good night... There're so much that we couldn't stop getting worried. To save me from fear that my boy might roll down from the bed one day, I made this bedside falling guard for him last year. We call it his guardian angel. Even though I'm not quiet confident how it will work out when I first started working on it, wondering how tolerant it will be to withstand his weight in the night, but months of quality checked - Passed!, He did not roll down- Relived! And I have more peaceful sleep all this while. These are all you need to get started: 1 huge, thick and durable carton box (I got mine free from a neighbor who bought a LCD TV) Cutter &...

This post is specially dedicated to a friend, Mindy, a big applause to a great mum who created this castle pinata for her kids at their birthday party! Didn't take a good picture of it before it's gone with the hitting and smashing from the kids for the goodness in it to explode. By the way, pinata has been a significant tradition 'toy' suspended from a height, intended to be broken by blindfolded children with a stick. It symbolises hope to look upon and has been a way to celebrate special occasions such as Birthdays, Christmas and New Year. Basically, a recycled carton box to form the shape of the castle, rounded hollow tubes were added on the corners as the towers and cone shapes were topped on the tops. Colored crepe papers were cut and decorated. It sounds as simple as it is, but it's time, effort and loves that contributed to the making! Great to share awesomeness from friends here...