Paper Dress: Glitter Poinsettia

Christmas is around the corner and kids are making all sorts of holiday projects at school. Big E took home a poinsettia made out of red construction paper. Little E took out origami paper right away and wanted to make some flowers too!

I drew some poinsettia foliages on the red origami paper.

Little E cut them out and glue them on the skirt.

 Then we added some green leaves and yellow core.

They look bright and festive already!

We used glitter glue to make some decorative details. 

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Paper Dress: The Bird Cage

If you know me, you know I have a favorite brand for handbags. And this is the newest apple of my eye from their Asian influenced series. 

Some critics found it a tacky representation of 1920's Shanghai. Some found it whimsical and clever. I just thought it reminded me of my last grandpa's bird cages. He had always had 3 bird cages at his place - a bamboo cage with a yellow bird, a wooden cage with a white bird, and a golden-color metal cage with a green bird. As a little girl, I enjoyed so much watching Grandpa feeding them and cleaning the cages. I loved it when Grandpa whistled a different tune to go along with the each birdie's singing.

But just like childhood memories, this precious bag is gone in a blink of an eye. I decided to make my paper version of a bird cage with Little E's help.

I drew two little birds and cut out some black tissue paper making a cage shape.

Little E colored the birdies green and cut them out.

We glued the birds on the skirt part and started twisting/lining up the golden pipe cleaners.

Then we glued the pipe cleaners in place using white glue.

It was not easy to keep them in place!

After leaving the dress dry overnight, here is our 22nd paper dress made together - The bird cage!

Paper Dress: Sea Star Bubbles

A friend of mine recently shared this photo of amazing sea star online. I was totally in awe of its vibrant colors and unique pattern. Big E and Little E have always enjoyed observing the life of different sea animals. After I showed this photo to them, they were so excited and asked to see more sea creatures at the local pet store. This week, Little E and I decided to make a paper dress about this beautiful sea star!

I drew 3 sea stars with a black sharpie. 

Little E and I spent quite some time to choose the colors and filled the patterns in.

Look how colorful these sea stars are after we cut them out!

The cutting part was not easy for Little E but we worked as a team.

Then I pulled some bubble wrap pieces out. 

Little E painted them with water color - pink, purple, green, and blue.

The water color took a bit longer than we expected to dry.

Maybe next time we can try acrylic paint on bubble wraps.

Here is our 21st paper (bubble wrap) dress made together - The Sea Star Bubbles!

Paper Dress: Black and Foil

Black origami paper and foil.

Right after I saw this pair of beauty online, Little E and I wrapped this up in 5 minutes.

She re-purposed the foil gem from the dress as her hair piece - a much more brilliant idea!

Here is our 20th paper dress made together - The Black and Foil.

Paper Dress: Summer Popsicles

Two months of summer break is almost coming to the end. Big E and Little E have had so much fun doing different activities, playing with friends and visiting grandparents in L.A.

And of course in the summer heat, the kids have a lot of chances to enjoy frozen treats - shaved ice, frozen yogurt, ice cream cones, milk shakes, popsicles...and so on. I'm always amazed by how fast they can chow down the sweet icy treats in a blink of an eye (compared to the long dragging 45 minutes at regular meal time) .

After our trip to Legoland, the kids still remembered the rainbow popsicle they had there.

When we came home, Little E and I decided to make some popsicles on paper by ourselves.

We cut out popsicle shapes using white printing paper. 

I drew some different designs and Little E colored them using markers.

I use brown poster paper to cut out two pieces of skirt patterns out. 

Little E glued most popsicles on one piece of skirt.

Here is the 19th colorful and vibrant paper dress we made together - the summer popsicles!

I thought Little E looks like a girl scout selling popsicles : )