//Handmade// Potato-Stamping Our Way into Christmas

Canadians have their Thanksgiving done way back in mid-October. So essentially after Halloween it's all about Christmas! Almost two full month of holiday preparation seems a bit overwhelming, but when all the shops and malls are all decked-out in red and green, we can not but feel a bit pressed to get started too!

This will be the first Christmas at our new home, and I really want it to be able to leave us with a very special memory. Everytime we have a themed project, I will scan through our entire house to see what mateirals are lying around and can be utilized. For the time being I have my eyes on the newsprint paper that came in the IKEA furniture boxes that were used to wrap the wood boards. They were pretty clean and wrinkle/tear free, so I saved them. Along with the 15lb bag of sale potatoes from the supermarket, I knew we were off to some stamping work!

I should look up who invented the whole potato stamp thing. It's really a simple craft that can let adults and children enjoy. It's easy to carve and strong enough to hold its shape, and very absorbent. Lots of fun to work with!

Prior to getting all Christmas-y, I stamped a picture for my good friend's birthday. Simply repeating the squares in opposite directions created a very organic and textured pattern. 

I actually made a mistake when working with the pattern, can you spot it? 

The birthday poster was done while the kids were at school. When they got home, we were ready to stamp the Christmas motifs! Acrylic/Ink pads on newsprint isn't exactly the most exquisite mix of materials, but we can still create the visual effect while having fun and being very economical.

Even the used stamps put together look so decorative! Too bad these cut/inked potatoes can't really last sitting on the counter.

These long Christmas posters replaced the previous Halloween-themed one and turned our home into holiday mode!

And of course I wasn't about to throw the excess printed paper away. I cut out some areas and glued them onto cereal boxes, and immediately they turned into lovely decorative cards.

Salvaging the last bit - a cheap Ikea frame can do wonders!

So the holiday craft craze has begun. Now I think it's good that we get two months, otherwise we need to call out to Santa's elfs for help!

//Townhouse Accessorization// Finally, a Photo Gallery

I've always longed for having a photo gallery in my home. Those thoughtfully curated galleries found in books, restaurants, friends' houses are all so inspiring, and really says to who ever sees it who you are. I finally got the chance to work on my very first photo gallery, so excited! 

The corner leading to the staircase is the best place to make this display. In order to get started, I brought back from Taiwan our first studio shot family portrait to North Vancouver, and found a frame that fit it. (Oddly it wasn't that easy! This studio printed photo was not a standard size, and I really didn't want to cut it.) And then I found this frame combo from Bed Bath&Beyond that had a good combination of 8 frames. This saved me a lot of trouble finding and deciding on different frames (and money of course!) The combo and the frame for our first family portrait were all in black and white, which will work well together and match our wall and floor color. 

Before I started picking out photos and mounting those frames, I hung the family portrait up. Every time I walked by it, its loneliness reminded me to hurry up and get on with the project!

Then it came the fun part of actually selecting the photos for printing. I only had photos from our past year in Canada to choose from, as all the digital data was still in Taiwan. Even so it took me hours and hours to go through every folder, and get caught in mesmerising myself in the memories of each picture in the mean time.

Every photo gallery has its own message and style. For me, I wanted it to be about 'family' and 'people'. The photos had to be people-themed, included all the close ones in our family, and the faces had to be clear/fairly-exposed/well-focused. Also, since it's a selection from our past year in Canada, I wanted to pick pictures that showcased the seasons and natural beauty of the land. When it came to the final cut, I also had to consider being 'fair' to the twins and that they appear in equal number of pictures. And of course  I wanted to include a picture of me and hubby to showcase everyone that even though we are not living together at the moment, we are very much together!

So, only 9 photos took me countless hours to select.

When picking out the photos, there was another important factor to consider, which was the frames' given sizes and their landscape/portrait orientation. In order to make my first photo gallery a success and avoid printing out the wrong pictures/spend unnecessary money, I even made a sketch of the gallery. This drawing may not mean a thing to anyone, but I am very much moved by it! Not saying that the gallery is a master piece, but it is made with my heart and soul. (Had a good laugh showing hubby the drawing over Skype and asking him which pictures are referred.)

Since I spent so much effort on selecting the photos, I thought I'd share the runner-ups that didn't make the final cut! Just looking at the sea of photos makes me want to pat myself on the back, I really worked hard on capturing every moment of our life here, with a little point and shoot camera too!

After a big round of hammering, we're done! I could have done a little better with the measurements, but the result is satisfactory. After all, I am much more competent at maneuvering a vacuum or pencil than a hammer!

To compliment the gallery, I added this Hoot Stool to make the look more complete. 

I am a little hesitant at showing our entire living room at this point, but a picture taken at a wider angle will better showcase how the gallery plays in the space.

Happy twins and cheery photo gallery. Mission completed!

//Living// 2012 Halloween!

 Being their second Halloween here in Canada, the kids now have a very clear idea of what to expect. In fact they've been looking forward to Halloween right after the one last year! I was answering them "How long till Halloween? Well, 11 months." That's how much anticipation there was.

This photo was taken at the school's annual Halloween Howl. Elementary kids don't really do "dances", so this once a year night out and dress up event at the school really gets everyone to make their best effort.

We began our Halloween-making on a weekend in early October. We started by doing a cut-and-paste piece for the little window besides our front door. I knew when we moved in that I won't make a custom blind for that window, that was where we would be making our seasonal creations! The little piece looked cute from the outside, and with the lights casting in, looked pretty neat from the inside too!

Of course we won't skip making a LEGO decoration piece. See those spooky eyes peeking from behind? 

Then of course there was the pumpkin patch. We did the famous Richmond pumpkin patch last year, and that was good enough for me. Essentially it was the pumpking that mattered, I wasn't about to fight in the mud with the weather being even wetter than last year. Got our pumpkin picked in 3 minutes in West Vancouver! Although it wasn't until the day before Halloween I realized that we didn't even carve them! Well I've made quite an effort at this year's Halloween too, so I think we're good with leaving them uncarved and sitting on the porch looking orangy and autumn-y. 

What's Halloween without a costume? Kai-Chi's got her Cinderella dress since she was about 2, and finally this year she can fit into them without appearing like she's in a large bag, so that's that. We had a much longer discussion with Kai-Yu about what he could be.

We didn't like any of the cheap costumes at the stores and I sure wasn't going to spend a fortune on something that was probably going to be worn only once. So I quickly scanned through the house to see what material we could possibly utilize to make his costume, and BINGO! "Kai-Yu, how would you like to be a robot?" "Certainly!" Out with the IKEA dining chair boxes I saved, and on with our robot-making project.

After cutting the box in half and carving some holes in them, the costume was basically done. The painting and decorating was a piece of cake. Oh how I love making something so simple yet creates a great effect!

The robot looks so funny! But our son is the fun guy to everyone, so he really enjoyed being in the costume! And he's always in character when he's in it. Can't get anything from him except  some "beep's" and "boink's".

Definitely the most eye-catching costume at school this year, he really deserved this trophy. The first one he's ever got too!

 Of course our little princess played her part so well too. All her natural grace and ballet training came into place. Such a precious little darling!

At the after school Tae Kwon Do class, everyone was allowed to wear their costume. Kai-Yu was a little upset because he knew he couldn't really kick and punch as a robot, so I whipped out my face painting crayons and transformed him into a zombie in 3 minutes. Then he was very much a zombie doing TKD. What a cute kid.

Whatever we did to decorate our house was nothing compare to some very devoted Halloweeners and their homes. I was not about to put creepy ghost figures and skeletons at my door step, but I did find these whimsical wall decals at the Chinese supermarket. These are probably generic Halloween stuff, but they looked so oriental, like the window paper art we do for Chinese New Year! I doubt they picked it out because they found it looking oriental, but it worked perfect!

Can't conclude a Halloween without trick-or-treating. The rain was definitely not in our favor, but luckily we've moved to a neighborhood consists of townhouses, so we scored what we needed in less than 20 minutes! The kids were very content with a small bag of goodies.

Halloween sure is something that gets the parents to work like crazy. I can just hear them asking me in a couple of days, "Mom, how long 'til the next Halloween?"