DIY | Baby Sensory Hoop!

Hi friends,

I've been on hiatus for quite some time because *surprise surprise*, I had given a birth to a baby boy last November! It has been an exhilarating yet super exhausting ride. Nobody gave me a heads up how life can turn around completely after baby. But that will be discussed in another post!

My son is turning 4 months old (so fast!), and this is a crucial time for him to expand his motor, language and cognitive development. One of the most effective ways to do this is by offering the baby sensory toys! There are thousands of these toys in the market you can buy (my favorite is Lamaze brand. They are just fab!), but you can also make some of these toys for cheap, using things you already have in the house, or buying the supplies for not more than RM50. 

I looked in Pinterest and fell in love with the simplicity and the ingeniousness of Sensory Hoops. They are really simple to put together and not expensive at all. Especially if you take time scouring your basement for things you hoarded. They are finally useful! (I'm kidding. Please stop hoarding.) Here's how I made mine:

The main thing you need for this project is some kind of hoop. You can use hula hoop but I had this random IKEA BRYNE hoop I had since 2010 so I decided to utilize it. After getting your hoop, this is where the fun begins! Gather items with different textures so your baby can discover variety of senses when he/she touches them. At 4 to 6 months old, your baby is intrigued by textures, so march to MR. DIY and load up your items! Here are some things I include in my hoop:

1. Glitter washi tape to catch his eyes and provide gritty texture.

2. Shaggy microfiber towel with Monkey plush at the top.

3. Multi color key covers

4. Ribbons in different colors and textures.

5. Fur key chain

6. Suede tassels

7. Shoelaces (I braided one to create different texture)

8. Textured luggage tag

9. Mirror key chain

**I did not include some of the items in the picture after considering choking hazard.

Attaching using zip ties, then cut the tail off.

Remove tiny compartments to avoid choking hazard

Add bright, eye-catching colors!

Tie ribbons with different textures

More textures

MORE textures

Textures with fun twist

Plan your layout on the hoop, which item goes where, and have fun! I attach some of the items using zip ties and the rest are tied. SO EASY. And if you must know, I bought all my items except for the hoop at MR.DIY, and they rang up less than RM 30! Not only this toy is super cheap, it also benefits your child greatly. So I hope you will give it a go!

My son HATES tummy time. This toy encourages him to enjoy some moments being on his tummy.

xx

 Hope you'll give this simple project a try and share with us your very own sensory hoop!

DIY | Easy Chic Desk Accessories

Acrylic and lucite desk accessories are making their way into many homes and hearts lately. Their modern, sleek look work so well especially in small spaces. I love how they make my desk look more open, providing homes for my stationery and reduce clutter. Since I spend a lot of my time working in my home office, I was thinking to refresh my desk and have a beautiful desk set I will enjoy during working hours.

I especially love Kate Spade's Strike Gold acrylic desk set but the price runs pretty steep. I especially am fond with the gold accents that gives off glam touch without being tacky.

Kate Spade Strike Gold Pen Holder

Luck was on my side because I found acrylic boxes at Mr.DIY one day and so, I decided to do a simple DIY inspired by the desk set and gives my desk a fresh look.

These acrylic containers are actually stackable. They come with lids and the lids just made the refresh so much easier! I bought a roll of metallic gold craft paper from my local art store and get to work (barely any work though..)

Basically I just trace the paper according to the lid size and fit it inside the rim.

Once I get the perfect fit, the next step is just to put the container on top of the stackable lid.

DONE!

If your containers do not have lids however, don't fret. You can easily use PVA glue, spread it thinly on the back of the craft paper and stick it down at the base of the container. What I love about this DIY is not only it is super simple, you can easily change craft papers for a totally different look! You can use rose gold for a trendy look, or floral paper for a shabby chic look. What about marble or wood grain contact paper? The possibilities are endless.

Since acrylic and lucite containers are so versatile, they belong to other parts of your house as well. As a catch-all trays, toothbrush holders, honey sticks container, as a vase and so much more.

I also found the acrylic tape holders at Mr.DIY if you are interested.

I hope this will inspire you to refresh your desk so it can be a space you enjoy and love. 8 hours a day, you might as well be in a beautiful place. Have a great day!

DIY | Chalk Paint & How to Paint

Hi everyone, Hope you had a wonderful week! I am so excited to share with you an amazing way to paint furniture, especially laminated ones. Now usually, I'd rather stain a good piece of wood because wood grain is naturally beautiful. BUT. If you love your painted pieces more and it works with your decor, YOU DO YOU BABY. Since I am on Pinterest 90% of my life,it is quite obvious that I'd encounter chalk paint. At first I was skeptical, looking at the price and the special brushes etc. But let me tell you, this stuff is legit. No prime,no sand, just brush it on, seal, and you're good to go.

The most popular chalk paint on pinterest

Annie Sloan chalk paint seems to be the holy grail of chalk paint for Pinterest crafters. But I've seen other brands coming up with their own version of chalk paint like Rustoleum and Valspar. Choose any you'd feel comfortable with and experiment!

Since I want to try chalk painting but not willing to pay the price for one plus shipping to Malaysia, I decided to try to mix my own. There are a lot of recipes on Pinterest, but I found that this worked for me best.

HOW TO MAKE CHALK PAINT

As you can see from my previous post, I painted my old wicker chest to a warm gray taupe-y color that looks a bit like Annie Sloan's French Linen Chalk Paint. So to achieve this color, I went to the art shop (I went to section 2 Shah Alam) and bought these:

1. Raw Umber Acrylic/Latex paint

2. Mid Gray Acrylic/Latex paint

3. Titanium White Acrylic/Latex paint

4. Plaster of Paris

Of course you can buy any colour you wish (Go bold! Go pastel!) but as for the paint, I recommend you to try Marie's Acrylic ones because the coverage is amazing, the texture is soft but not runny and is at an affordable price point. I bought mine at RM6.50 for 75ml.

After testing a lot of mixes, I found that the ratio worked for me best is 3:1:1

- 3 parts of  latex paint

- 1 part plaster of paris

- 1 part water

1. To achieve a taupe-y gray color, mix mid gray and raw umber color. I eyeballed the measurement but it is almost 70% gray and 30% raw umber.

How my first paints ratio look like.

2. Mix the colors. Assess if the color is as what you desire. Mine turned a bit too brown so I add a bit more gray and titanium white.

3. Mix, mix, mix. If you're happy with the color, add plaster of paris and water, keeping in mind the ratio should be 3 parts paint, 1 part POP, and 1 part water.

HOW TO PAINT WITH CHALK PAINT

 Believe it or not, it is super easy to use chalk paint. People rave how you can just dip your brush and go to town straight away. However, for me there are general rules you should do to make sure your painting looks great.

1. Use a good quality brush. A good brush not only will save you a lot of money in the future, but also will deliver amazing results.

2. Check your furniture for peeling, knots, holes etc. This is especially important if you are painting laminated furniture as they are notorious for peeling. Little fixes will make all the difference.

3. It is always better to do a thin coat of paint, wait for it to dry to touch, and add another layer of paint than slapping a goop of thick paint.

Test your color at a inconspicuous area. If you're happy with the color, proceed to paint.

The first coat's coverage will give you a bit of heart attack. You can still see the original color peeking through. Wait for the first coat to dry, and add another layer of paint.

Swoon at your ability to paint without primer. Go you!

SEALING CHALK PAINT

Sealing your chalk painted furniture is crucial. Chalk paint is not as durable as gloss latex paint, but it will give you a matt, flat, rustic kind of look. If you are looking for this look but want to protect the furniture,you'd have to seal it properly.

For high traffic furniture that will get a lot of dings and spills like kitchen table, you can use polyurethane or polycrilic finish. With chalk paint, almost everyone say you should wax the furniture. While waxing will give you a beautiful hand-rubbed sheen, it is not as durable and you'd need to reapply wax every couple of weeks.

Since the only traffic my litter box will get is from my kitten, I decided to try acrylic clear spray paint to seal the furniture. This is an experiment and I will update you how it is holding up after a couple of months.

They spray motorcycles with this. So why not my wicker chest??

After you finish sealing, let the furniture cure for about 4,5 days to remove all the VOCs. This is important if you have kids, pets or love yourself. As I am carrying a baby :) and this chest is for my kitten, I let it cure fully before using.

After all the hard work and agonizing curing time, it's time to enjoy your rustic painted furniture! I hope you will give this DIY a shot and share your creations at the comment section!

Have a great week ahead!

DIY | Hidden Litter Box

Hi friends, welcome to my new blog. I have decided to give a blog on lifestyle and organization another shot so here it is!

To start this new blog, I'd like to share with you my latest DIY project. If you're my friends or follow me on instagram, you'd probably know that my husband, A and I rescued a kitten, named Limau a couple of weeks ago and decided to adopt it. Truth to be told, we had zero idea how to raise a cat! But after a lot of reading and googling, we pretty much adapted to having an accidental cat living with us, and we're glad it happened. He brought us so much joy and new things to learn!

Little ball of destroyer

One of the new things I have to learn is to seamlessly blend the kitten's items into our household. Also, THAT CATS NEED PRIVACY WHEN DOING THEIR BUSINESS. We learnt this the hard way after he peed behind our TV console. So, we needed a litter box in the living room since Limau spends most of his time there. But I didn't want the litter box to be an eyesore, because we live in quite a small house, so everything is laid out in the same floor! So after going through pinterest, I found just the right idea!

I remembered my mom had an old and now ugly wicker chest she desperately wanted to get rid of. I drove to Selayang and picked it up and started my plan.

The wicker chest in all its "glory"

Comes with a broken handle

First thing I did was to clean the whole thing. It was dusty as heck and somehow there were pieces of playdoh stuck on the top part (???).

After the whole playdoh nightmare was gone, it was time to add a little door for Limau the cat to enter. the measurement of my door is 15cm (h) x 14.5 cm (w), supposedly this matches with a medium size cat flap door. In case we decide to add the flap door later, it will be a breeze.

Using a wire cutter, I just cut through the wicker based on the measurements i did. Then, I sanded the edges with 180 grit sandpaper to smoothen them.

I cut the handles first

As the wicker chest is in golden, aged, dingy color, I decided to give it a nice coat of paint. The color I chose was warm gray to match the rest of my decor. I discovered chalk paint and decided that to try it. ( I homemade the paint *wink* ) It was so easy and looked amazing! I will share with you how you can do the same in the next post.

See the difference?

Two coats of paint and a protective sealer afterwards, the chest was ready to be used! I didn't paint the insides but you can do so if you wish!

I love this color!

As for arrangement, I laid down a huge paper at the bottom to catch litter sand, and topped it off with a rug to avoid litter tracking outside the box. We add some newspapers and Thirsty Hippo to combat the odor. So far, this litter box is doing great in catching the litter and basically hide the unsightly yet necessary "cat toilet" from view!

So that's it. It's a pretty simple DIY and you don't have to see the litter box in the open everyday! Plus, by using wicker, your cat can still observe the outside perimeter while giving him the privacy he needs. So it's a win-win. I hope this is helpful to you and will give you ideas how to hide those litter boxes.

Have a good day!