Hey Ma, hear me roar!

Children have their own unique ways of commanding or getting their parents' attention (I'm speaking from my own experience raising a lil' diva at home) but surprisingly some don't. I observed this when I attended my girl friend's son's 1st Safari inspired birthday party. I absolutely L.O.V.E that safari concept...yeay, roar! party, party! Hehe.

Check out the cute invite..Now isn't this adorable?

OK, I intentionally added the cheetah-frame just to be in the mood. Hehe.

So this time round I'm not gonna speak about my lil' diva but about the birthday boy himself. He is a handsome young man, who doesn't fret much, very easy-going with anyone and does not complain a wince even when covered with a thick costume in our hot-and-humid-equatorial-weather. And when he smiles, them ladies (usually mommies because children they are more engrossed with many other things) will usually be the ones going all "awwwwww......look at his smile!!" (I am one living example. I'm sucha sucker for sweet and innocent smiling kids. They melt you right away I tell ya. Hehe). 

Anyway, he is affectionately called Achad and on his birthday he decided to be a tiger..And of course I was humbled when I received the honour to sew the tiger-costume for his birthday. I was all sweaty and nervous and anxious for a 1st time request like this...well I've never thought I'd be sewing a tiger costume...EVER! But his mommy assured me, "don't worry this, don't worry that.."..how can I NOT be worried, this is like a first for me..and it's for a birthday party, of course I wanted everything to be perfect for him. No one can deny the fact that there is a first to everything, but hey if we don't try we won't know, right... :)

Right, so let's get started...First and foremost is this..getting the exact and most comfy measurements...

Achad's own clothing in order for me to obtain his exact measurements..

A pair of jeans and hoodie

Next step is, picking the suitable colours...

A piece of colour sample to show to Achad's mommy..

Orange for the body and black for the stripes..CHECK!

Then, the tiger shall be skinned alive...hehe kidding! Getting the body patterns ready...

Let's see...a cute pair of ears, hoodie, arms sleeves, bodice and also the tail..

(I was imagining Tigger all the while with the bouncy tail...)

And then...

Oh look, the tiger has now earned its' stripes! 

Individually sewn black stripes and white patches for the tummy and ears area..

Now look, the end product...I'm proud to introduce my 1st custom made children's costume..

The Tiger Costume! 

It might not be the most perfect costume (I apologized a gazillion times to Achad's mommy for such an amateurish result... nonetheless I am so proud of my hard work :) )

Proud parents of Achad on his 1st Safari themed birthday..

See, even mommy was in the mood to be wild with the cheetah-printed top and pointy cat ears! 

And dad seemed to look like a safari-adventurer complete with the knee-grazing khakis..

I should give credit to these people for being almost the best-dressed besides their cutie-pie son..ehem..hahahahah...

Finally, even tigers need help lighting up the candles...

Why not, it's his birthday after all :) 

GO TIGER!

:)

Toy story

Alveena has been really subtle these days. Really subtle. Perhaps she's trying to tell me that she's already bored with her already-massive collection of toys. But just look at their pathetic condition. I guess I should ask her to watch all the Toy Story movies just to let her know how they all really feel.(OK don't tell a soul that I'm sucha sissy coz I actually shed so many tears watching those movies..heheheh) I'm not sure if she's trying to tell me to get new toys for her, but then again whenever I turn around, I see her toy(s) everywhere!

 The displacement of the playpen already says it all

The baby cot now serves as a different purpose

Even during my heydays (suddenly I feel so ancient...sigh) we didn't have remote-controlled cars and motorcycles to drive us around in the living hall. (OK I don't think I was so deprived during my childhood days but don't you think this is getting a bit out of hand...?)

I truly feel like being in a garage

Of course the remote-controlled toys were bought by her grandparents - being the 1st born grandchild really has its perks I suppose, but she has to learn to play with the bugs and butterflies and dirt and sand and...(OK she should play with dolls actually...) as these build character. And perhaps I should smack myself in the forehead (or any other place) when I thought to myself, "OK let's get her something engaging and educational to play with" (as if she haven't had enough toys rite??)......

Anyway, check out what arrived in the post recently....

Looks intimidating at first..

...and when the packaged was unveiled....introducing multi-coloured building blocks made out of foam!

Yes, even this toy gave us a pageant look...side, top and front view respectively..

I got it from  my friend actually, who sells different kinds of educational toys for children. Being a mom herself, I guess she understood where I was coming from. (Phew, I'm glad I got an excuse to get Alveena another toy!) So as soon as I opened the package, she came running and begging me to take it all out.

The building blocks were singing "Build me up Buttercup" (err...geddit?)

Oh, glad u noticed that huge band pasted across her forehead, which was among the many reasons why my blogging was so so slow. Her fever was intermittently coming and going away as often as it liked so yeah, when in mommy-mode on, nothing else mattered of course. You actually get a whole lot sicker than your kid when they actually are. When in doubt, always, always, always go back to "Keep Calm for Mums"
(my saviour, anti-frantic-fretting-frenzy-insane-mommy-mode)..

OK, looks like a really good read..

Some of my favourites...Rule # 1!

Of course, who would deny this fact..

And the ultimate truth of all :)

Oh well, let's just go with the flow. Actually, I want so much to blame her teething but then again I was wrong when the doctor diagnosed her with bronchitis. OK, you know what, I don't wanna dwell too much about her sickly days, my point is I'm glad she is happy-go-lucky again now, even more so when she is happily building and bulldozing away those coloured blocks.

And you thought I didn't think my itchy hands wouldn't wanna make her something "in conjunction" with her officiating of a new toy? Anddddd of course I just couldn't let go (yet) the idea of my old scrap t-shirts lying around in my closet waiting to be disposed off..

Red, white and blue 

(Correct me if I'm wrong but somehow my 1st thought is Captain America's theme song during the 80's)

Hehehe....and presenting the end result.....the Multi-Colour Block Play Dress for a playdate with the colour-block toys..(I can't seem to let go the colour block idea can I? *with a smirk on my face*)

A fusion of the top part and bottom half..

Mini Muse : Alveena

Age : 1++ years old

Hairband : Mommy's elastic band

Highcut Shoes : All the way from the Union Jack birthplace

Pose: See mom, I'm getting better at my poses!

Hip, hip Hooray!

So finally, all my worries went away when I saw the smile on her face playing her toy(s).
And the smile on my face when I finished that dress. Hehehe.

Oh well, looks like another thing on my to-do list: The hunt for Toy Story Blue-Ray disc series. :)

What's the story morning glory..

Gosh! Feels like ages since I last blogged. And this week is like insane, 1 working day the next day is a holiday. 1 working day the next is a holiday (this is NOT a typo, it DID happen twice. And yes, I hate it when my whole week is being punctured by holidays at the most inappropriate days - guess that's another day to share). So many events happened and I can't wait to share, really! I was busy at work..but it also came with fun. A trip to Langkawi! Will write on that soon. Too many events, too little time! And because of the holidays-in-between-working days, now my bedtime has also gone haywire. OK, for now I better hit the sack - it's already 1am. I know tomorrow is Friday and I should be already starting to prepare for the weekend, but another hour of writing this, either:

1) I will look like a raccoon tomorrow in the office
2) My eyebags WON'T have mercy on me
3) You cannot differentiate between me and a walking zombie
4) I will speak gibberish because I will be trying my best to focus on what's real and whether I was just hallucinating.

ENOUGH. GO TO SLEEP SLEEPYHEADS. SIGNING OFF NOW.

Goodnight, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite! ZzzZzzzzZZZzz......

Blocking and skirting the issue!

I was craving for something new to wear to the office, my current wardrobe really needed a revamp. Pronto! And help just came at the right time yesterday. A relative sold off to me a pretty nice top, a long-sleeved chiffon top..the one with a Peter Pan-like collar and semi-cuffed sleeves. What made me love it is the colour block (well not really a colour block, more of a maroonish bodice and sleeves, and navy blue collar and cuffs) .. HAPPY ME!

So today my hands were itching to sew something for my daughter, that's when I thought of the colour block. I was coincidentally rummaging through my wardrobe, looking for stuffs that I could somehow mix and match using my not-so-fashionista-skills, when suddenly I pulled out 3 old tops..in which if I were to wear them, I'd definitely look like a walking Michelin advert. (no offence, but one can blame the "post-mommy-I-don't-have-time-for-gym" syndrome).

As I lay them on my bed, they kinda looked like a pastel-coloured traffic light..

I really needed to give these babies a fresh look!! Of course online tutorials were definitely the biggest help of all and within an hour or so, I managed to whip out a 3-tier colour block skirt for my lil' daughter!

There you go!

Of course my daughter was my model for this skirt...(but with much persuasion - had to "bribe" her with some raisin bread and warm milk)

"Mom, I really think these pair of leopard print booties would match my look"..

"But honey, mommy thinks those booties are a lil' loud for your whole outfit"...

"No mom, here let me get them for you...Look they're of good quality"

"Of course they're good quality, I bought them for you" -_- 

"OK mom, whatever you say, I'm STILL sticking to my fashion sense"

FINALLY a so-called "happy" shot..

Mini Muse: Alveena / Lil' Miss Chatterbox
Age : 1++ years old
Pose : I'm giving you my widest smile
Hairband and Booties : Model's own

And the look lasted only for a few minutes before she gave me the puss-in-boots look and pointed to me her nappies.

"Mama, poop poop".

-_____-

The Rainbow Retro Dress

OK it's funny how I started with blogging. Since this is my 1st ever entry, let me just come clean. (Just bear with the grandma stories) Well, I was always amazed and in awe with people who always had the time to write..blogging to be exact. 24 hours seems never enough  (I do sound busy do I?), and here other people had all the time in the world to blog. So now it's weird that I'm actually blogging and noticed that I DID have time, it was just striking the right balance with correct time management. (phew, try saying that in one breath) 

I just felt that this year was a year of revolution (big word, right?), I was and still a sponge..absorbing and learning about things around me, and application wise soon after. (this quarter-life crisis is REALLY starting to sink in, innit?!) That included juggling with my career, being a superwife & supermom andddddd being creative like creating "something pretty" for my 1 year ++ daughter. 

Well you see, it all started when I couldn't get hold of any event planner for my daughter's 1st birthday party and yeah I thought, oh well, let's see if I can whip up some magic. Well, not too much magic really, more of a "ok someone has done this and it looks great, let's see if I'm able to do the same". (but actually I was more of a mom-zilla who was more excited about the party than the kid itself). Then I stared at my palms and said, "Hey, u guys are kinda nifty eyh?" .And Wallah! here are some snippets of the event..(of course it would not happen without help from family and friends who were very supportive of the mom-zilla...)....

Welcome to our colourful party!

Even parents need some time out..

Yummy-licious rainbow sugar-rush stuffs

My daughter giving a go at Twister

Even the clown was busy entertaining

The final pose of the colourful rainbow-day

And so the obsession for colourful things started and look what now....

Tada!! Cute much? I call it the "Rainbow Retro Dress"...I was always in L.O.V.E with colours, textures, designs hence..THIS! My first handmade, homemade, made with love dress for the lil' one. Of course the model IS a lil' diva but luckily I managed to get her IN and OUT of the dress...with MUCH effort of course (take a look at her "mom-is-this-already-the-final-pose?" expression...)

The sleeves were supposed to be ruched and cinched at the arm but I improvised it to be more of a flare to give it a retro look. I also added some 3D rosettes and a matching coloured belt to add more character. Of course the shoes are my daughter's (perhaps I will learn to make shoes, NEXT! hehe) 

So now, mom-zilla is a happy mommy. And a happy mommy will find more inspirations to doll up and dress up the lil' one. Who says only adults can have all the fun :)