an afternoon with play-doh!

i wrote this post in february but couldn't upload the pics at that time so i saved it as a draft. it completely slipped my mind until yesterday, when ilaika asked for her play-doh...

....d'oh!

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after writing the previous post on my countdown to ilaika's 3rd birthday, i was reminded of the many lovely presents she received from our family & friends for her 2nd birthday. i wanted her to appreciate each and every one, so i didn't allow her to play with them all at once...

hence, every few weekends for the past few months, she's been allowed one new gift. there were a few however, which i kept aside as i felt she was still too young to play with them. some of these were play-doh sets. i think she had three in total!

as a child, i loved playing with plasticine and play-doh but now that i've a child of my own, i dread the mess it would leave behind! nevertheless, i reminded myself today that i shouldn't let this selfishness deny her of some play-doh fun.

much to her delight, i finally opened the huge set that she's been eyeing since her 2nd birthday...

...i was amazed at how complete the set was...

...i don't recall having these fancy schmancy "play-doh gadgets" when i was growing up!

...ta-daaa! ice-cream for mummy, apparently...

...from ice-cream to brolly...

...hard at work...

...i made her scrape every lil bit out ;p

...the lil artist contemplating what to do next...

i'm glad i took the play-doh out for ilaika to play with cos she loves it SO much. now, if only i can figure out how too keep all the different colours apart....

princess katrina's 6th birthday...

i've just completed making these simple cupcakes and toppers for a friend's daughter...her theme was disney princesses - i matched these with her name in the walt disney font and her age in a plain font. i really like fuschia pink and bright orange. honestly, orange isn't usually a colour of my choice but together, they make such a good combination.

the pics above were taken at night so the lighting's pretty bad. i couldn't quite fix them using photobucket but i played around with other effects that are kinda cool...

- pop art -

- invert -

- cartoon -

- fresco -

- colour sketch -

 

sorry to bore you with the same pics over and over again but i'm obviously very easily amused! hopefully you'll find these as fascinating as i do ;p

pink and yellow, anyone...?

following my previous post on a rubber duckie party, i realised that most rubber duckie parties tend to be yellow and blue, most likely due to the water element that comes with rubber duckies. well, my friend wants to incorporate pink into the colour palette for her lil girl's first birthday.

so yours truly needed inspiration and went googling again ;) here are some ideas we could play with...

fuschia & yellow spring party 

- as compiled by the party dress -

click here for credits and more info

wouldn't this fuschia and yellow set up be great? just imagine combining these bits of fuschia and yellow with cheerful rubber duckies!

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pretty in pink party

- by stem parties -

i also found this pink 80's-style* baby shower inspired by the movie pretty in pink. it's the first duckie party i've come across to have pink as part of the colour theme and it was pretty!

* going a wee bit off track  now but check out those pink cassettes - perfect for an 80's party!

 

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paper rosettes

- by creature comforts -

aren't these paper rosettes so pretty? the pic above was a simple diy project by creature comforts for a circus party. if you'd like to try it out, you can use this tutorial by martha stewart.

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whilst you're at martha stewart's site, also look up this tutorial for tissue pompoms...

these yellow and pink pom poms could represent bath sponges!

i wanted to do these for ilaika's butterfly party just because they're oh-so-pretty but i already had so many other lovely ideas that i really didn't have enough time to put these together. oh well, hopefully i'll get to make them at her next party!

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just imagine all these pretty pink elements put together with yellow rubber duckies.....sweet rubber duck!

a floral cupcake bouquet...

mother's day is a month and a few days away. it's time to start planning what to bake!

last year, i tried being a lil bit adventurous and played around with candy melts. inspired by bakerella, i went on a shopping spree but could only find the wilton candy melts here in kl. unfortunately, those didn't taste too good. as it turns out, candy melts are not entirely easy to work with either. i have a feeling it's due to our hot and humid malaysian weather :(

i followed bakerella's instructions carefully right down to the exact colours (cos they were so pretty) and i even used the microwaveable bottles as she did. it initially seemed so simple but i found it tough getting the candy to melt to the desired consistency. then the ones that did set, started melting as soon as i took them out of the freezer. i had soooo many broken hearts (!) and flowers but i managed to salvage a few and thankfully, they survived the deliveries to nearby friends and relatives.

here are some pictures captured by nurul, my sister-in-law...i cropped these for a close-up of the candy melts so do click here for the original pics and more.

mine aren't as perfect as bakerella's but i do think this floral cupcake bouquet turned out pretty adorable ;)