DIY - Downsizing a adult dress to fit a kid

Hello, friends of Hazelnutt House (",)

I was doing some packing and pulled out this tube dress (from Forever 21) that I used to wear.  My oh my... I think I have had this dress for close to 10 years!  I wore it even when I was preggers since it is really stretchy.  So, to extend its wardrobe life, I decided to downsize this dress into something that Kiddo can wear (",)  

Here's how the dress looks before the alteration.  It has elastic shirring at the top and waist area.

I decided to cut off the shirring on the top since I had to shorten the torso area to fit Kiddo.  Set the cutout portion aside for later use.

I eyeballed the dress and decided to take an inch and a half away from the top to bottom on one side.

I wanted an easy way out instead of torturing myself with the regular inner seam - I made two rows of stitches and trimmed off the excess with a scallop shears.  Not the best way to tame a seam, but this will do and it usually holds up pretty well (",)

After taking in the sides, I reattached the top shirring and added elastic round the entire top.  And that's that! I am done!

Here's how Kiddo looks in the dress.

She wanted it to be a long dress, so I made it into a midi.  A long dress would be too cumbersome on a kid.

Check out my other clothing makeover projects:

DIY: Top to Skirt to Dress project 

DIY: Adult's top to kid's dress

Talk to you ladies soon!

Homemade Hummus - easy recipe

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",)

I was quite excited when I saw that naan has been introduced to the Mission range of bread, pita and wrap products.  I bought it and decided to prepare a hummas dip for dinner to go along with the naan.

I would usually use dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) but I did not have the time to soak the beans overnight since I wanted to prepare hummus for dinner.  So, I grabbed a can of garbanzo beans and made my way home.

There are many varieties of hummus recipes online, but this is how I prepare mine.  I usually make use of what I have instead of going out to get every single ingredient for one recipe. 

Most recipes call for lemon juice but I hardly use lemons at home, so I replaced it with just water since the chickpeas form a really thick paste when blended in a food processor.  Tahini which is a paste made from sesame seeds is usually needed, but I do not have that in my kitchen, so I added the next best thing, sesame seeds.  In place of fresh garlic, I made use of garlic salt... hehee... seems like I am replacing most of the usual ingredients used to make hummus - but I assure you, it still taste pretty good, imo (",) 

So, I blended everything together and when a smooth paste is formed, I transferred everything into a bowl and added olive oil.

Here's dinner for Kiddo and I (",)

Although Kiddo loves the naan, I thought it was too 'bready'... I prefer the frozen ones that I usually buy.  I think I will start storing some hummus in the fridge and bringing it to work for lunch along with some carrot and celery sticks.

Talk to you ladies soon (",)

Craft: Medal for the #1 person in your life

Hi hi ladies of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Kiddo loves medals and trophies.  We decided to make a '#1 Dad' medal for The Hubs for his birthday.  We got the idea from a craft book that we borrowed from the library.  

So, to start off, we made circular templates and pinned them onto felt and cut the circles out.  You will need 1 big and 1 smaller circle.

Next, we stitched the smaller circle onto the larger piece.

The last and biggest piece of circle is optional and we decided to use a scallop shears to give it some nice details.  We hot-glued the circles as well as the number 1 cut out as shown below.

Kiddo wanted jewels on hers so we glued some on hers.

Here's The Hubs' '#1 Dad' medal (",) 

This DIY craft is suitable for grandparents as well as teachers too (",)

Craft: DIY Teachers' Day presents

Hi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Teachers' Day is approaching.  Kiddo and I are busy preparing little gifts for her teachers.

I've collated last year's as well as this year's gift ideas in this entry. 

Here are some ideas: 

1) Magnets - teachers use magnets all the time, right?  

I drew the outline of these cupcakes and flowers and got Kiddo to fill them in.  After which, we laminated them and cut them out together. 

Affix these adhesive magnets onto the back and you've got yourself some DIY decorative magnets! 

2) Clips 

Other than magnets, teachers probably use clips very often.  Using the same cupcakes and floral laminated cutouts, affix a clothes peg behind and you've made yourself some clips (",) 

3) Hair accessories 

Kiddo's dance teachers have long hair, so using the Big Shot die cut machine and the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die we made them some hair ties. 

Here's Kiddo cranking up the machine...

and peeling out the felt cutouts.

We layered the felt pieces together and made them into layered floral pieces.

I used hot glue and adhered an elastic band at the back of the flowers.  You can adhere a magnet and turn this felt flower into a magnet as well (",)

4) Cards... good O' cards

We made some simple cards with cutout clothes.  When her teachers open these cards, they'll get a poppin' surprise!

Check out the pop up flowers hidden inside the cards (",) 

For the simple instructions to making this pop up card, check out this video (",)

Hope you've enjoyed the gift ideas for Teachers' Day (",)

Castle craft for kids

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

It has been some time since Kiddo and I embarked on a 'large scale' project.  Since we've no plans today, we gathered ALL the boxes, cardboard pieces and all the odds and ends that I have been saving and we spent some time thinking of what we can create.  

Eventually, Kiddo and I decided to create a castle.... 

"A big one, Mama..." reminded Kiddo.

We made use of the wall paint that we have and painted all the sides of the boxes and cardboard materials.  I particularly like using wall paint as it dries really quickly.

To add some texture to the plain walls of the castle, we stencilled some 'bricks' at random parts of the walls.

Lastly, we assembled all the parts onto a large piece of cardboard and secured them with hot glue.  

Kiddo made some flaggies for the towers and added her figurine family on the deck of the castle.

Here's the back of the castle.

We spent almost the entire day working on this project.  We did not rush.  Took our time to get it right and also lots of breaks in between.

Talk to you ladies soon!  

Kiddo's 5th birthday - My Little Pony Cake

Kiddo just turned 5 and I planned a small party for her.  She requested for a My Little Pony rainbow cake and of coz I had to fulfil my little girl's wish. 

So I came up with this idea, thinking that it will definitely cut down on preparation time without compromising on taste and how the cake will look.

So the idea I had was to bake the rainbow layers using Betty Crocker white cake mix and then frost the cake with the Best Ever Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen which I have tried and loved.  However, I added way lesser sugar coz my family prefers desserts that are not overly sweet.  I would then decorate the cake withMy Little Pony figurines that we bought from Toys R Us and top it with cake bunting flaggies which I see lots of online.  

HOWEVER, two nights before the party, as I was preparing the rainbow cake layers using the cake mix, Kiddo squealed at the sight of pastel coloured layers but at the same time turned her nose up and remarked that the cake smelled like play dough.  I thought so too myself, but couldn't put a finger to it.  I asked Kiddo if she would like to try a small piece of the cake and she declined firmly.  I took a small bite of the cake and was rather turned off by how over the top sweet it was and how artificial the vanilla taste was.  *Urgh*... I wrapped up the layers, parked them in the freezer and called it a night.

I had a bad bad feeling as I went to bed... Knowing that with Kiddo's heightened taste buds and sense of smell, I knew that she wouldn't eat the cake no matter how pretty it will look.  So I got out of bed to look for a white cake recipe.  

The recipe that I followed was the Heavenly White Cake Recipe from allrecipes.com 

I am glad I decided to bake the cake from scratch coz it turned out really pretty without the off putting smell of play dough that came with the cake mix that I first used.  The texture of the cake that I made wasn't fabulous though, it was rather dense.  Coz I had to mix in the colours while folding in the meringue mixture which must have caused lots of bubbles to pop. 

So, here's how the cake looks like with all the ideas put together. 

We spruced up the place a little with these pompoms which both the kids and adults loved.

As for food, I prepared Curried Yong Tau Foo... 

Cold tea...

Pumpkin soup....

And we ordered lots of pizza! 

Here's how the inside of the rainbow cake... Kiddo and I both agreed on a less vibrant, pastel rainbow layers. 

The kids loved the cake, but the adults found it much too dense which I totally agree.  Well, I'll still call this a success since the cake turned out the way that I envisioned it to look! (",) 

The first cake that I baked for Kiddo was when she was 3.  

This My Little Pony rainbow cake is the second cake that I've baked for her birthday.   

I wonder what kinda cake she will ask for next year ... I hope I'd be able to fulfil her wish too for her next cake request. 

Talk to you ladies soon!