It’s the beginning of the new year and that means time to get busy again with DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decorations.  We’ve been receiving requests on doing tutorial videos for the many DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decoration written tutorials I’ve shared in the past years.  I was not into video making then hence there were no video tutorials for them but we are now so I’ll be sharing all our Chinese New Year […]

Ayden loves eating pomelo. He is the happiest come Chinese New Year because pomelos are in abundance every where. Nothing can come between Ayden and his pomelo  How do you cut and store pomelos? For us, we do it this way: Do you do it the same way or do you have a simpler version? Do share as I love learning the easier way out when it comes to cutting fruits 

Our costs of living is getting higher. It is advisable to grow our own food where possible. I grow spinach, tomatoes, brinjals, ladies fingers, red beans and even corns for our consumption. These are all grown in pots as I don’t have much land at home. To ensure good harvest especially when you are growing fruiting plants such as tomatoes, brinjals, ladies fingers and corns, you need to make sure the soil is fertile and […]

Just the other day I shared the benefits of stamping for toddlers. In case you missed it, you may read all about it here. Today, we explore further on stamping with a new paint tool – sponge. Ayden loves Koi fish so I thought let’s make today’s art activity more interesting by letting him paint his very own koi fish. I did this same art activity with big brother Ethan back in 2012 when he […]

Ayden is 3 years old. It is important to work on his soft motor skills. At this age, I pay more attention to his finger muscles and hand strengthening as it is crucial in helping him to hold the pencil when he starts going to school. Stamping is one of the best activity to work those finger muscles as he will be utilising all four fingers and his thumb to hold the stamp. It helps in […]

The weather is horrible these days. It is scorching hot in the mornings and early evenings and then it rains in the evenings causing the boys to be trapped at home. No fret though as that only means more time for art and craft! Today the boys had fun making torn paper art. The materials needed are: 1 piece red construction paper 1 piece white paper A pair of scissors A marker pen Glue *Edible […]

Today’s Chinese New Year Angpow decor is a remake of the classic Red Packet Fish Ornament but we added additional tail to it, making it more beautiful :) Chinese New Year Red Packet Fish Ornament We’ll need an angpow with beautiful prints on it.  Cut it into a square. Turn it over and draw lines as shown above.  Cut along the lines.  We’ll need another angpow with different print or color for the tail.  Attach […]

Ethan will be celebrating Teacher’s Day in school today. He had no time to get gifts for his teachers so I helped him buy but I forgotten to get wrapping papers. I only realized we are out of wrapping paper after dinner and it is already too late to go out already. How? We made our own wrapping paper. First, I cut a heart shape from a piece of paper.  Then I placed another piece […]

It’s time to make popsicles again and this time, we are making red bean popsicle. Growing up, my favourite ais krim potong flavours are kacang merah, durian and jagung. I also like cendol and yam. I have tried making sweet corn popsicle and it turned out really well. You can refer to my popsicle posts here: http://www.submerryn.com/2015/06/easy-homemade-frozen-popsicles-recipe.html Let’s start with our red bean popsicle now. First, we need to make red bean paste.  But before […]

After my first attempt of making the highly successful and delicious banana chocolate ice popsicle that is a huge hit with the kids, I am more confident to try on other healthy treats. Since the kids love corn, I thought of making sweet corn ice popsicle as we always buy sweet corn ais krim potong.  Ingredients needed are just a cob of sweet corn, a glass of fresh milk, a teaspoon of sugar and a […]

Went back to my in-law’s place last weekend and got a whole lot of ripe bananas. Would be so awesome if I can bake banana cake with these but my oven is still not working so I have to think of other ways to quickly use them up. Ripe bananas that will bruise the next day. Must eat them up quickly! Let’s make a healthy ice treat.  I took two, strip them naked and placed […]

Chinese New Year is just a day away. What that means is hot, hot days are waiting for us. I know every year at my in-law’s place, Ethan and I will keep eating ice-cream to cool us down as it can be pretty hot over there. This year, I am well prepared. Since we will be eating ice-cream like twice a day, I better make sure we eat something ‘healthier’ as I know Ayden will want […]

Since Darling was bitten by a centipede in our bedroom a couple of nights ago, I’ve been a little paranoid. I can’t sleep at night fearing another creepy crawly might climb up our bed. So when we went shopping today the first place I go is to Daiso to look for insulating tape for doors.  Thank goodness they have lots of it. RM5 for each strip of door insulating tape. I bought two first as […]

You may want to make this beautiful flower lantern.. But you’ll need a whopping 60 pieces of angpow packets for that! Or you may want to make this equally gorgeous ball lantern… But you’ll still need 30 pieces of angpow packets for that! What if you only have 12 pieces of angpow to spare? Fret not for you can still make this: 12-pcs Angpow Lantern All you need is only 12 pieces of angpow packets […]

I’ve got many requests for this Ang Pow Fish Lantern. I’m not too sure why when there are many more other beautiful lanterns that we can do. Maybe because it is a fish and Chinese people like fish? Makes sense? No? Nevermind. Whatever the reason, it is very simple to make this. So fish it is.  Ang Pow Fish Lantern You will need 18 ang pow wrappers for this. Ang means red. You do not necessarily […]

It’s time to dig out your ang pow packets and make Chinese New Year decorations again because before you know it, Chinese New Year will appear right in front of you :) Though I’ve always used only angpow packets for my decorations, today’s decor requires one additional item though. We’ll need toilet paper rolls to make this lantern.  Ang pow lantern I used big toilet paper rolls instead of the normal small ones as this […]

 I tell you one thing. When I first saw a friend folding this towel for her baby, I have no idea that this is the famous lamb head towels that you see in Korean drama series. My idea of Korea is Psy’s Gangnam Style. That’s it. Only that. I’m not a K-pop fan or anything so you can understand my lack of intelligence in regards to that part of the world. But now I […]

You know we are busy spring cleaning our house right? Just the other day I gave my old side table a brand new look. Read all about it here. Last weekend, we peeled all our old wallpaper borders and replaced them with new ones. Ethan helped me this time.  This border is like more than a decade old, peeling off on its own already so we have to replace it.  Wipe the wall clean before […]

I’ve been doing some spring cleaning at home for the past several weeks. Yeah, I’ve not really been cleaning my house for ages! I saw this poor ugly table at a corner; full of dust and cobwebs. I’ve had this little side table since college if I’m not mistaken.  It is so ugly now that I gave it a wipe and paint all over it except the bottom part, knowing that no one will be […]

How many of you charges your handphone this way and worry that some elephant might stomp on it when you are not watching?  I used to do it this way until that day when I saw a genius creation of a handphone charger holder being made out of plastic shampoo container being shared on Facebook.  Well, I don’t think I can even cut a shampoo container so I decided to make do with a milk […]

I love gardening but since I had Ethan, I’ve not been able to do that much. As Ethan grows older, I thought I can start gardening again but our schedule became so tight that we don’t even have time to care for our plants and eventually they all dried up and die :( A couple of months ago I saw a post on self watering container on Facebook. I glanced through it and never thought […]

Ethan came home from Kindergarten one day telling me that his friend has this super cool pencil case that can store BOTH pencils and colour pencils. He asked me if we can get something similar for him and I said, we’ll see.. Last weekend when I was in Malacca, my eldest aunt told me about her love for papier mache. She told me how she made many papier mache coin boxes and sold them when […]

Here’s a collection of our past angpow lanterns and Chinese New Year crafts.  Angpow Koi Fish We received endless request for the angpow koi fish template.  Click here for the full tutorial. The good news is we have finally uploaded the template below and also in our original post.    Just click, save and print it and trace it onto your angpow packets.  Angpow Lucky Star Lantern Click here for the full tutorial. Angpow Ball […]

Hello to our lovely readers! If you’ve been following me on my Facebook Page you’ll know that I’ll be appearing on “Hello on Two” RTM2 this 4th February 2013 at 7am. I’ll be demonstrating how to make AngPow lanterns and I need your kind opinion which of these following 3 lanterns I should demo.  1) Angpow Flower Lantern 2) Angpow Ball Lantern 3) Angpow Fish Lantern Can help me choose? Thank you very much! :D

The first time we replaced the wallpaper in our house, we let the wallpaper people do the removing of the old wall coverings. It cost us at least RM10/roll just for removing. Imagine how much we had to pay as the entire house uses rolls and rolls of wallpaper. We were not aware that removing old wallpaper can be so easy!  This time around, when we were planning to replace our wallpaper yet again, we […]

We are going to make a Chinese New Year Angpow Flower Lantern today. TUTORIAL VIDEO  Angpow flower lantern We’ll need 60 pieces of square angpows. It is getting rather difficult to get square red packets these days as the ones I got are mostly rectangular ones and these are my final 60 square ones :( Fold half and fold the flip down. Staple. Repeat this steps for the entire 60 angpows.  Separate them into […]

Chinese New Year is around the corner (seriously?) and this year we’ll be ushering the slithering SNAKE! Let’s make a cute little snake today shall we?  DIY Ang Pow SNAKE Cut open an angpow. Remove excess edges to form a clean square.  Fold both ends into the middle and fold again.  Fold the flip down, open and fold the other one up. This is just to create the crease.  You’ll get these lines as shown […]

We are early this time around in making Chinese New Year Ang Pow decor. It’s just that the mojo suddenly comes ya know? :D Today we are going to share how to make a simple red packet snake as we will be welcoming the year of the SNAKE in 2013. Ang Pow Snake Cut open a red packet. Fold in half and cut away excess to get a square.  Fold both sides to the middle. […]

The stormy weather calls for many rainy day crafts. We missed going to the playground for over 2 weeks now. Crafting comes handy now that we are indoor every evening. Ethan made a bowl out of string today. We are supposed to use wool yarn but I don’t have any at home so we improvised and use cotton string instead. This bowl is just perfect for party use. Just place your favourite snacks or candy […]

Darling and I love fruit juice while Ethan unfortunately doesn’t want to go near it at all :( We bought a food processor not too long ago that is able to crush ice so we can have ice-blended juice anytime in the comfort of our own home :D Today we made dragon fruit juice.  From the cactus family, dragon fruit is football-shaped and has a leathery, leafy skin that is deep red or pink. So how […]

Do you remember when you learnt to tie your shoe laces? I don’t. I don’t even remember when I learn to cycle on 2 wheels. Last Friday we bought Ethan his very first shoes with shoelaces. He has always requested for shoes with shoelaces since he saw my jogging shoes. Today, I taught him how to tie his shoelace. Surprisingly, he managed to successfully tie his own shoelaces after the second try! But what is […]

We are privileged to be invited by Resort World Genting and Nuffnang to spend a day up in Resort Cafe, Genting to learn making mooncakes and also to sample their wide variety of mooncakes. We are even more privileged when the Chef shared with us his recipe for baked mooncake skin. Ingredients for the skin: 750 gram flour 600 gram golden syrup 150 gram oil 15-20 gram alkaline water Combine flour, golden syrup and oil. […]

Gold or rather yellow kiwi fruit is the craze these days. Nevermind how expensive they are, we are consuming them like mad just because they are said to be higher in nutrients. The fact that they are sweeter and bald makes it more appealing to me lah actually.  How do you peel a kiwi fruit anyway? I don’t like to use the peeler as I’ll end up wasting a thick chunk of skin and flesh […]

Ever wonder how to teach your kid to understand the ODD and EVEN numbers? Watch this video of my lesson with Ethan. Ethan @ 4Y9M First time recording an on-going lesson, please pardon my weird English… -.- Click here to view Ethan’s multiplication lesson.

I’m a bread person. I eat bread in the morning. I eat bread in the afternoon. I eat bread in the evening. I eat bread at night. Okay, maybe that’s a little exaggerating. I don’t eat bread in the afternoon unless I’m out then Tuna Sandwich will be my lunch. Anyway, you can imagine the amount of bread I have at home. We always have left-overs. So what do I do with them? Turn them […]

Valentine’s Day is around the corner. We did a heart mobile again but this time our heart is puffier! Valentine’s Puffy Heart Referring to our post here, cut a heart out of hard construction paper to be used as the template. Let the kids trace the outline of the heart on white hard construction paper. Cut the heart out. Paint the heart red on both sides and let dry. Punch a hole. Here’s the fun […]

Do you write names on the back of Ang Pows for those special people in your life? I do. I mean I used to but this year, not anymore for today, we personalized our Ang Pow packets :D Personalised Ang Pow packet First, you’ll need to choose a picture of the person you are giving the Ang Pow to. This is easily done by stalking their Facebook account :P I helped Ethan to get the […]

Today we are going to make something extremely EASY. It’s so EASY you can even do it in your sleep :P Here’s the tutorial video:  Ang Pow Fish you can stick on your walls, windows and every where. 1) For the body, you’ll need to cut open an Ang Pow packet and trace the shape from template. 2) For the tail, do not cut open the Ang Pow. Trace the shape on the Ang […]

Today we are going to make another Lantern out of Red Packets. I don’t know what to call this. Can’t find any auspicious name for it but since it looks like a carousel to me, we shall refer it as Ang Pow Carousel Lantern :D DIY Chinese New Year decor : Ang Pow Carousel Lantern Fold as shown above Fold again as shown above. Looking like a slice of pizza now.. yum yum :P Fold […]

It’s crazy how close Chinese New Year is from Christmas. I still haven’t taken the ornaments down from our Christmas tree yet here we are making Red Packet decorations already for CNY! Today we’ll be making Ang Bao Wheel Of Fortune Red Packet Wheel of Fortune We’ll need ten Ang Bao wrappers if we are using the long type. If you are using the square packets then you’ll need to double the amount. Fold the […]

It’s that time of the year again to be making Chinese New Year decorations :D Today we are going to make a Chinese Fan. We’ll need a wrapping paper, some gold thread and some Ang Bao wrappers. Fold the paper accordion style. Click here to find out more about accordion fold. Fold it in half and glue together. Cut two triangles. Tie a gold thread at the bottom of the fan. Cut the bottom of […]

Ethan loves Cars. His favourite is Lightning McQueen. He has 2 Lightning McQueen bags. 1 water tumbler. Numerous pants and tees, puzzles and lots more. Today, on a lazy Sunday morning, I added another McQueen into his collection – Pyssla Beads Lightning McQueen :D I found a YouTube tutorial for Lightning McQueen here and made some modification to suit us best. Lightning McQueen before ironing Lightning McQeen after ironing :D

Still on Wacoal’s Let’s Pink Event @ 1Utama last Saturday, 2 October 2011 for the launching of its 2011 Pink Ribbon Campaign to promote breast cancer awareness. Breast cancer is the most occurring cancer in women followed by colon cancer and then cervical cancer. We were taught the correct way to perform breast self-examination. You’ll need a mirror big enough to see both breasts and a pillow. Breast self-examination should be done once a month […]

I was at Wacoal Let’s Pink event @ 1Utama today for the launching of its 2011 Pink Ribbon Campaign to promote breast cancer awareness. One of the highlights during the launch is the Let’s Pink catwalk… Okay, so after seeing the models looking so sweet and pretty in pink I started to wonder, how do they DO that? Yeah you know what I mean.. They wear it so good don’t they? So I visited one […]

Can a ring cut from an A4 paper fit through 2 adults from head to toe? The answer is YES. Find out HOW! I went to Aman Rimba, Janda Baik today with a bunch of Nuffnang bloggers and a bigger bunch of Mommy/Daughter team. There were 11 of us bloggers and here is me with several of them I’ll write more about the trip later because for now, I just want to share with you […]

After learning how to make charm bracelet with Angie of Kelvin Gems the other day, we got the opportunity to learn how to make drop earrings this time around. DIY my own earring?! I’m so excited! Materials needed: * 2 headpins * 2 earwires * beads of your choice * spacer beads (These are very small metal-colored beads that serve to frame the other beads) * nose pliers * wire cutter We’ll need a headpin […]

After exactly ONE month attending BaoBei (week long school holidays deducted) Ethan brought home 30 word cards today. One look at them and already I shook my head thinking how on Earth would he be able to read all those? BaoBei word cards But surprise, surprise! Ethan took out those word cards and read them to me effortlessly! Watch this video of him reading those cards! That is Ethan’s progress in exactly ONE month. Just […]

My professional manicure done at home in under 5 minutes :D As a homemaker and a craftier, I always end up with ugly nails. I can never grow them long enough without chipping. I can never grow them long as they’ll be in the way of my work. So I have to live with ugly nails… @[email protected] Fake nails I was at a pharmacy today and saw some amazing set of fake nails but they […]

What is a charm bracelet? A charm bracelet is an item of jewelry worn around the wrist. It carries personal “charms”: decorative pendants or trinkets which signify important things in the wearer’s life. A charm is a small ornament usually (dangling) from a bracelet or chain. Thanx to Angie of Kelvin Gems, we got the opportunity to learn the art of making charm bracelet.. Looks like peanut but it ain’t easy! Feels like giving up half-way thru but persevered to […]

We are making an auspicious Ancient Coin Lantern using red packets today :) TUTORIAL VIDEO      Ang Pao Ancient Coin Lantern     You’ll need to fold 16 packets of ang paos as shown above – fold all four edges.     Staple them together to get 4 of the above     Staple them together to get the above     Arrange and staple them as shown above     Side view. […]

Check out our Chinese New Year decor collections or click on our playlist for the full set of DIY CNY Angpow Decor: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0tRhnSGZm9o9YSiYJApcMibzk35NwoqU* 1) Red Packet Ancient Coin Lantern  2) Ang Bao Gold Fish   3) Ang Pow Flower Lantern  4) Red Packet Toilet Paper Roll Fire Cracker  5) Ang Pow Koi Fish 6) 12pcs Angpow Lantern  7) Red Packet Fish Tree Ornament  8) Chinese New Year Fan  […]

We love Pyssla beads. We can make almost anything out of it! Pyssla beads The kids hard at work :D Arrange the beads according to what you want it to be Place parchment paper on the beads Iron the beads, moving the iron about for 10 seconds or so The beads will be attached to each other once ironed Let it cool before removing the parchment paper A beautiful ladybug :D You know how much […]