No school holiday is complete with a little crafting. I've been thinking about doing some robot soft toys and I suck at drawing robots, so Nigel was my hired artist. He'll draw anything for M&Ms.
Had the drawing scanned and cleaned up with Photoshop. Filled in with some colour and sized it for printing into this inkjet canvas Grace lugged home for me from the states. Remind me to get more of this incredible canvas. It's an iron-on canvas that lets you print on your inkjet printer.
Printing was easy-peasy. Just load the right side up and print. Iron-on to a fabric and piece together by sewing . Sew fabric right side facing each other and invert at a small opening.
See him stuff that toy! Using his feet and all. Small hands do a better job when the toy is small. Stitch it up to close the opening and voila!!
He named his robot Adryon!
Pretending to sleep with Adryon. But he's actually in love with his little stuff toy he made and Adryon sleeps by his side every night now.
A tutu and a pink wabbit for 'Sica'. She's my biggest fan and daughter to a talented scrapbook artist - Katherine Saw!
The apron I made for Auntie Josie. A passionate cook and the reason why we are all overweight! I paired my favourite oriental fabric with some classical gingham and finished it off with vintage lace.
The little hamplett I assembled for Uncle Peter (What a sport and generous Uncle! He sponsored a gift for the Christmas Tree contest!) and Auntie Josie (For all that delicious and memorable food we had throughout the celebrations.).
A frame for mom. Picture was selected by Nigel and of course, a beautiful poem for his popo.
My Christmas tree was laden with handmade ornaments. This picture does little justice to all the little handmade gifts I've received from the swap and wonderful friend BJ!
I took down our Christmas tree today and look at my stash of handmade ornaments. Aren't they beautiful. I've been blessed.
A free-hand applique of a cupcake fit for a princess. My cousin Shen is into scrapbooking now and she was also my Christmas swap family, so I made her a little cupcake crafting pouch. And because it's her wedding I added the lace (pieces of remnant lace I got from the lady who made my wedding dress!) for a good measure of blessings!
The finished pouch with a button and a polka dot ribbon for an anchor at the zip.
Put everything in a pink box and I hope she'll have fun with the scrapbooking materials I got from Scrap and Crop. Have some wine and start scrapbooking!? Hahah!
Congratulations to Shen-Ni & Johnathan. It has truly been a wonderful ceremony and we love every detail you've whole heartedly planned for this special day. We all had an incredible weekend and here's all of us wishing you all the best. And Man, you made us all cry with that love serenade. Give thanks to the Lord, for you have found HER!!
Nigel and his sweet flower girl walking down the aisle as ring bearer.
Pretty maids in a row and a handsome prince at their tail. (Guffaw!!!)
Nigel with Unca Meow and soon-to-be Auntie in law!
All my cousins. Yean...We miss you too!
My babysitter is back. See you during the Chinese New Year. Will we be expecting your love interest?
Our family shot with our grandparents. A night of tribute to Chop Lee Kwan. After 7 decades of operations, this sundry shop has made us what we are today. This shop deserves a posting all on its own.
Founder of Chop Lee Kwan. My greatgrand parents started it all 7 decades ago and their legacy continues till today. This is a picture I retouched from an old picture and had it framed for my grandfather.
The Christmas tree contest in progress. Look at the enthusiasm and the utter mess! We have to thank all the sponsors and we hope next year they'll continue to contribute to this fun cause!
Everyone working hard on their designs. Look at the concentration.
Elizabeth and her mom's creation. I hope we didn't scare them away with our noise and mess.
Stan and Nigel's Magical Tree. A cute lacy Christmas tree with all the shiny confetti.
All the contestant's tree. Spelling mistake and all. Will post the winnings in the next post. Still waiting for the photos from Meow! (get the hint!)
Finishing touches by the Lees.
Hands Down for the winner!
So excited I have to shoo! everyone to the living hall where a jazzy team was preparing for a fantastic musical showdown. And while the judges selected the winners, we were treated to a special performance by our two very talented cousins (under heavy supervision by their mother!)
Aren't they just cool.
The three birthday kids cutting their 3-different flavoured cakes made by Auntie Josie! Yummy!
STEP 1 : DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE. This is how the template looks. I've not included the patterns, you may want to decorate them as you like. Digitally or with sharpies/colour markers. I've used quilting textile patterns and put in the recipients name with Adobe Illustrator. If you need the illustrator file, just e-mail me.
STEP 2 : DESIGN YOUR ORNAMENT & PRINT. That's my work table with all the printed shrinkable plastics. Choose shrinkable plastics that allow you to print on your inkjet printer if you intend to do this digitally. Read instructions on shrinking percentage and enlarged as you seem fit. Bigger ornaments need bigger graphics (you may try out one first.) Usually shrinkable plastics will shrink about 50% tp 60% from the printed size. Some may even shrink horizontally more than vertical. For mine, the rounded ornaments started as perfect circles, but when they're heated it shrunk vertically more, so they now appear oval like.
STEP 3 : Remember to print at 50% lighter shade. Because of the shrinking that will take place in your ovennete, things will appear very much darker.
STEP 4 : CUTTING OUT THE PIECES. All arranged out. I'd advice you to cut 1 set at a time and punch the holes as soon as you do. Make sure the punches are on the same direction for all the pieces. If not, you will have the holes in the wrong edges. 
Step 5 : PUNCHING THE PIECES. Only punch the edges where you will sew the pieces together. Always remember to punch before heating, if not it will be too late to punch once it is shrunk! Too thick and too damn hard! Oh yes, a bigger punch is used if you need a bigger hole. Too small of a hole will not be effective once it is shrunk. (I hope that makes sense.)
Step 6 : HEATING THE OVEN. Please use the oven. NO MICROWAVE OVENS (unless you want a Chernobyl incident here!) I use a simple toaster oven. You need very low heat (follow manufacturer's heating instructions). Pop them two at a time on top of foil. Watch them shrink and curl. Don't worry about the curling, it will naturally uncurl once it is ready to come out. This will take less than 30 seconds or more depending on heat. When there is no more movement or shrinking, pick them out with wooden chopsticks onto a wooden board and flatten while still warm. 
STEP 7 : Place on wooden board to cool. Do the rest. It's quite automatic after awhile. If you notice unsightly dents in the middle, it means that your piece needs more heating. Do not overheat though, it will take a lot of heat to melt it again and it will be disastrous.
You can pop in The big pieces on at a time. Don't be in a rush, I know you'll get excited watching it shrink and dance but you need to control the curving when it comes out from the oven and you need to flatten it immediately.
Check out the shrinking.
Laid out to rest.
STEP 8 : VARNISHING. I used Modge podge to varnish and waterproof the pieces. You can also use aerosol sprays but Modge Podge is way cheaper. Let dry overnight and away from busybody 4 year olds.
STEP 9 : ATTACHING THE PIECES. Select matching buttons. Size of buttons depends on how far the holes are from one piece to another ornament piece. I tie a knot to secure the button first before sewing onto the pieces.
Select the last piece and sew to the upper one.
To knot off by going around a few times and knotting at the back to properly secure the button to the piece.
Sewing the upper pieces together depending on how many layers you want your ornament to be.
STEP 10 : ATTACHING THE RIBBON. Assemble the ribbon and buttons for the upper ornament.
STEP 11 : ATTACHING THE RIBBON FOR THE TOP MOST ORNAMENT. With the same method, attach the topmost ornament with a ribbon for hanging. Select soft ribbons for this.
Do the bow for the middle. You can opt for felt cutouts or maybe lace, there are many possibilities. Use your noodles!
Step 12 : ATTACH THE RIBBON to THE MIDDLE.
Knot off with the same method for a neat finish.
Tada! The finished ornament. This is for Melissa of Group 17.
All in a row. I even made one for myself. Now, remember to write to me about your creation this Christmas.