Winter 2016 : Insect mosaic

We went to a charity event at a local school and came across this gigantic display of insect mosaic a la Christopher Marley created by a bunch of students. Marley used to be scared of bugs but now he is creating a wonderful artworks using colourful bugs.

Winter 2016 : THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

30 January 2016.
A day after the Storm Gertrude.

We were chatting with my parent via Skype when the guests started to arrive. My sons were so happy to see other kids came to their party. New friends in Manchester! They loves the cakes (of course!) and the M&Ms disappeared long before the whole cake finished, as I expected. haha.

 

We had a really fun art and craft sessions. I didnt mind seeing our living room like this as long as the kids were having fun and the guests were enjoying themselves, helping the kids to do some artworks.

My neighbour (who is also my junior in IIUM), a PhD candidate, was struggling to meet a submission deadline that day, therefore, she couldnt make it to the party. I asked her if she could send over her kids to my house and let them stay here until Maghrib so she could focus on her writing. I truly understand what she went through and that was the least I could do to help. And she did! 

It was good to see Naufal & Aesyah really enjoying themselves with crafts and the loud & colourful party poppers :) The kids made these, toilet roll ninjas (in our case, they were actually kitchen rolls cut into two) and straw sculptures.

I had so much fun baking, cooking and entertaining the guests! It is a good break from my study. Cleaning up that evening was a breeze.

I read the news online and surprisingly we are expecting Storm Henry the next day!

Winter 2016 : Meet the teacher - Nabil

A few days after a meeting with Nazreen's teacher, it is Nabil's turn.

It was really impressive to see him art work being displayed at the gallery. Our discussion was around his artwork especially his history of Manchester project. He also has a lot of reading and catching up to do.

They learned about Earth and Space this term. They designed a space buggy.

Nabil's design:

These are the report in his book:

They also learned about Ancient Mayans this semester. I was surprised to know about this. This is a very good exposure for their age!

Nabil's ancient Mayans' mural made it to the gallery:

I am proud to see the comment by the teacher in his book. It is really good to know that they actually record everything, every artwork (scanned and printed), in the workbook. 

The kids will have a very good memory of the school, their teachers, friends and their study when they came back to Malaysia this year.

Winter 2016 : Homemade clean dough

I am busy shaping the dough and Nazmi wanted to help. I made him a clean dough. The kind of dough that does not stick to your hand or any surfaces and smells nice too. I just mix a plain flour with dish washing liquid. It is good to go.

It keeps him occupied for the whole day.

Winter 2016 : Snow in January

We are going to miss this view.

From my bedroom window.

Our neighbours asked us to join them to the Heaton Park (a large park with hills covered with snows and you can sledge there) at 7am but I need to study. I am one day away from my final exam. 

Kids are having fun around the house, playing with what's left from yesterday's evening. So it doesnt matter if we dont go to the Heaton Park. Nazran went inside after 10 minutes because he cant stand the cold.

It was really hard to roll the snow to make a huge ball. I gave up half way. It was painfully cold working with a wet snow. Someone wore my snow gloves and I ended up with thin wool gloves. It got wet pretty quick.

They made these. 
They rolled the snowball at other area with thick snow and put the parts together in front of our house. I have a bowl of warm water ready for them if their fingers started to feel painfully cold.

The snowmen were still standing later that day (and the next day). I keep checking every 10 minutes because I was studying by the window. I saw passers-by took photographs and selfies with these snowmen. lol.

Winter 2016 : Crochet sleeve for Aiskrim Malaysia

When it was snowing outside, we enjoyed it by eating aiskrim Malaysia inside!
When Nazmi said he cant hold his ice cream because it is too cold, I made this.

Winter 2015 : Shoes organiser (Manchester)

We have an issue with a large amount of shoes, especially the growing number of BOOTS in the winter. They were everywhere. We have a narrow mud room and putting a shoe bench/cabinet there is not even an option.

Until one day, my husband found this timber frame (maybe from an old baby cot) in our room, waiting to be disposed and he decided to do something about that. 

A few minutes later, VOILA :) 

We have made similar project in Malaysia (here).

Winter 2015 : The Anglo-Saxon costume

The last school project (well, this one is specifically assigned to the parent) before I could resume with my final essays.

The first night, I sew the trouser. I have brought a used light brown corduroy curtain for the trousers because the trip will be held in the winter. It must be really cold to spend the whole day outside.The Anglo-Saxons wore wool trousers wrapped around with a strip of cloth or leather. I have compiled a few photo/illustrations to give you some ideas on how the trousers look like (left), on the right is Nazreen's trousers. It was quite complicated but I am glad I've nailed it!

A few days after that, I did his tunic and other accessories. Alhamdulillah. I brought a used duvet cover for his tunic and another thick curtain for his cape (I designed it in such a way that the cape covers his chest, to keep him warm in the cold winter). 

The Anglo-Saxon has decorations on the neck and wrists. I found a haberdashery one day (Alhamdulillah!) and bought decorative fabric ribbon (for the wrists), rubber strip for the waist (before, he needs to tie it) and huge pins to imitate Anglo-Saxon's brooch. Photos on the left (below) are the Anglo-Saxon's brooches. The right is Nazreen's brooch. The round steel is actually a curtain's hole :) It is not the same but close enough. I am sure people in the Anglo-Saxon village would appreciate the details.

Well, I was glad to be able to finish this project in two nights. Nazreen was really proud running to his school in the morning in this costume, cant wait to show his costume to his friends! The initial plan was him to wear black shoes but the morning was so cold, he need to put on his winter boots.  

He asked me for a photo shoot session near our house after the trip.

Winter 2015 : The by-products

As usual, there will be some by-products made during or after the art projects using the leftovers. From box leftover, Nazran made a helmet to complement his new shield. They also made stick figures using ice cream sticks from Nabil's famous people.

Kids are creative. They can make anything if you give them chance to imagine and explore. 

Winter 2015 : The project table

This was how our dining table looks like for a few days during Christmas break. Both Nabil and Nazreen were working hard for their projects (Nabil's here and Nazreen's here). And I have been practicing my patience all the times because I have to do my final essays as well, yet, they need to use the laptop for their researches.

It was hard. But family first.

It pays to be patient. Seeing them produced good projects at the end of the day is the best feeling!

Winter 2015 : The history of Manchester project

During the Christmas break, while Nazreen was working with his Anglo-Saxon project, Nabil was busy doing research on Manchester. He need to prepare an informative model on Manchester. I was thinking about an A3 card which opens like a window but Nabil has better idea. He want it to be 3D!

The only problem was... we have no box. haha.

And suddenly, somebody knocked on our door and....our ikan kering (dried salted fish) and ikan bilis arrived from Malaysia!! The parcel was sent by my family. 

I was excited to get the ikan kering, I fried it right away! We ate it while chatting with my parent via Skype. But Nabil was excited for different reason. He got the box!

Nabil starts to gather recyclables around the house for his project. 

I helped him to shape the box into suitable size we filled it with recyclables according to our agreed design.

We covered the recyclables properly. It started to take a form.

Then, Nabil took it from there. He covered the box with coloured papers and add in some 'grass', where he will positioned the famous peoples.

After that, Nabil added in information on Manchester, historical timeline, famous person from Manchester (we made a quick trip to Curry's to buy a printer for this purpose) and map of Manchester. He trace the Manchester map from my laptop screen since we didnt have a printer yet. Talk about hardwork and creativity!

 

The finished project! He stick the printed famous people onto a cardboard, cut them then taped them to ice cream sticks. The sticks were then inserted into the foam underneath. Now you know why we put some layers of foam in the photo up there.

He wrapped the box with wrapping paper and add in leftover studs from Nazreen's project.

He was extremely happy and proud with the outcome. He made it in four days. He was invited to show his project to the school assembly. His teacher told me that Nabil's project is really good during the parent-teacher meeting. Alhamdulillah.

Winter 2015 : Nazmi painting

He was watching his brothers doing school projects everyday, so, I gave him a chance to play with colours.

Winter 2015 : The Viking helmet

While studying about Anglo-Saxon, Nazreen also learned about the Vikings. He made this cute Viking helmet at school.

Oh yes, for your information, there were no horns in the actual Viking helmet. My brother told me after I shared this photo. You can read more here - Did Vikings really wear horned helmets?

Winter 2015 : Anglo-Saxon shield - the final product!

Yup, it is Plan C alright.

Thank you Papa for having the strategic thinking (the papier-mache is going to fail ;p). So, we are now constructing the shield with the aluminum pie pans *sigh* They are too small *sigh*. My husband told me not to be too serious with the whole size thing. lol. Nazreen doesnt mind making small shield, so, we just proceed with the SMALL pie pans.

Nazreen cut an A3 papers into two semi-circles. He painted each paper with red and blue paint. Leave it dry for a while. Then, he put a good amount of glue on the bottom of the pie pan and stick the red and blue papers.

Then, I helped him to stick a grey duct tape in between to make it looks neat. We leave it for a night, while I am endlessly in Alice Mode, thinking how to make the small steel dome in the centre and studs around the shield (click here to see shield design chosen by Nazreen). Baubles came to my mind!

We went out the next day to buy baubles. It was Christmas and there were baubles everywhere, some of them are shiny and steel-like. I also found a suitable embellishment to act as the studs. I bought both for GBP1 each. Yay!

So, here is the excited Nazreen. My husband helped him to cut the bauble into half. It was hard. The first attempt by end up with miserable chipped dome. Luckily we have 8 baubles. lol. The following attempt came out okay (not that good, still chipped but not that obvious).

Nazreen stick it in the centre and started to put on the 'metal studs'. And he continues with smaller studs around the shield.

Meanwhile, I helped him with the holder using fabric and kitchen tissue roll on another pie pan. And finally, Nazreen pasted both pie pans together (his beautifully embellished shield front and another pie pan with holder).

IT TURNED OUT REALLLLLLY GREAT!!!!!!! He even offered Nazran some helps afterwards because Nazran wants an Anglo-Saxon shield too!

This was a very adventurous project. A very good break from my final essays. Bring it on!!!

Winter 2015 : The mindmap converts

I didnt know my mindmaps have drawn a lot of attention in my class. I heard people talking about my mind map, lecturers acknowledged my maps and there were instances where a few people took photos of my maps. 

I have the habit of sitting at the same spot, in the front row, in all lectures. During the first semester, I sat with two good friends, Hanna from Indonesia and Hedy from China, for WEGE lectures every Friday. 

I was so happy one day when I saw both of them started mindmapping. Keep it up guys! It takes time to convert from linear note-taking to mindmapping. You'll get there one day :)

Winter 2015 : Knitted cushion

Winter is finally here!

My sons keep saying that our cushions are turning cold at night (because of the material). We turned on the heater for one hour every night. Then six of us will just snuggle up under a blanket, hugging cushions, while watching videos on my laptop. 

When you are a mother, you know you need to do something about it. I cant let them hug cold cushions at night. I need to make those cushions warm.

I ordered a set of Seriously Chunky yarn and I was jumping happily when it arrived.

I cant wait for another minute. I immediately grabbed my seriously chunky crochet needle and started working on my project. I made this cushion cover in less than one hour :) 

Finally, warm cushions for the kids! This is how you welcome winter. You dont blame the coldness. You just have to make everything warm.

Fall 2015 : What is that?

I found these guys wandering around campus.
I am not sure if those are eyes or some sort of breast cancer awareness campaign.