Craft Workshop: "King Lion" - Story & Stamping Fun Craft Session

We had a fabulous weekend running a craft workshop for the preschoolers at the inaugural Story Carnival, held at the Enabling Village. Teaming up with the talented story tellers from Story Connections Ltd, we came together to run the "King Lion" Story and Craft workshop.

The children were told the beautiful story of the King Lion, who learns how each animal, including the little rabbit, has an unique and important role to play in his jungle army. Together with the help of their parents, they then worked on hand stamping their very own drawstring pouch to put their special treasures safe.

                                                  The little ones with their creations

The children went around the exploring the different animal stamps and the myriad of colours. They got to work excitedly; giggling, chatting and asking inquisitive questions as they created their very own personalised pouches with their mummies and daddies. 

Till our next blog post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Event: PAssion Arts Festival Craft Workshops at Punggol

WahSoSimple was thrilled to craft at another PAssion Arts Festival Village. We started our Saturday morning on 5 August 2017 bright and early and joined the residents at Punggol Damai estate. They had gathered for a morning to celebrate our Nation's 52nd Birthday and made some crafts together. It was a very bright and vibrant morning in every sense! The residents were all decked in red as they mingled at the various craft tables, making something beautiful with their family and friends!

We ran 3 crafting booths:

• Glass Marble Magnets - Residents made a pair of glass marble magnets with special designs under the theme of 'Breakfast in Singapore'. We saw visuals of nasi lemak, kaya toast, Milo peng, hot kopi and more breakfast yummies made into practical magnets.
• Shrink Art Tags - 'Everyday Objects' was the theme of this shrink art activity. Residents coloured Singaporean everyday objects like a phone, umbrella, pair of flip-flops, ice-cream cone, soccer ball, coffee cup, etc onto pieces of shrink plastic and we 'baked' it on spot to create a useful tag for their bags, water bottles, pencil cases, etc.
• Stamp A Fabric Bag: We made animal- and transport-themed stamps and residents stamped them onto fabric bags in their favourite colours.

All-in-all, it was a colourful and happy morning to celebrate Singapore's birthday! =)

If you are interested in having WahSoSimple to customise craft activities for your event, please email us at hello@wahsosimple.com.

Till our next post, make something with you hands! =)

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Event: Rubber Stamp Fun at the Hort Park

We had a lovely day at the monthly Gardeners' Day Out event at the Hort Park last Saturday. We took part in their 15th April event and had amazing loads of fun at our craft booth. In the spirit of reducing the use of paper and plastic, we encouraged the participants to design their own tote bags, drawstring bags and handkerchiefs which they will use in place of disposable bags and tissue.

The children especially had fun creating their own designs. They had to make really tough choices on the designs to stamp on their bags and the colour for their prints. It was a little messy but extremely fun for them as they showed their mega watt smiles with their creations.

Check out our Rubber Stamp Kit if you are interested in carving some rubber stamps at home. =)

Till out next blog post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: Upcycling Old T Shirts

Do you know that a simple cotton T shirt requires up to 2,700L of water before it makes its eventful journey from a cotton plant into your wardrobe space? The water it requires provides drinking water to an individual for 900 days!

Learning this astonishing fact gave us a fresh perspective of the humble T shirts we own,  and how we should give it a second lease in life post its prime days in our wardrobe.  It inspired us to craft a pot coaster from old T shirts and we were very happy to run a workshop teaching this craft to a group of school teachers.

WahSoSimple was humbled to have teachers as our students on 14 Jan 2017, as we showed them how they could make their own pot coasters from old T shirts. The session was to inspire them on how they could impart the knowledge of upcycling to their students.

If you are planning to organise an upcycling initiative, why not reach out to us and we will share some workshop ideas which you can consider. Drop us a note at hello@wahsosimple.com to enquire.

Till our next blog post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Event: The UP Market @ Toa Payoh Hub Atrium

Happy New Year!! May all the good things happen to you in 2017! =)

WahSoSimple conducted a hands-on workshop and ran a selling booth at the The UP Market @ Toa Payoh hub atrium area on 18 December 2016. We showed residents how to make an upcycled pot coaster from pre-loved T shirts and how to use washi tape on old envelopes to make bookmarks.

This day marked our second year as a participant in this meaningful event.

Our hands-on Workshop: We brought in many pieces of old t-shirts and showed residents how they can cut the t-shirts into smaller pieces to tie them to a piece of anti-skid rug to make pot holders.

Photo courtesy: Singapore CDC

Our Selling Booth: We show residents how they can use washi tape to upcycle common everyday things to something useful.

Upcycling examples:

• from toilet rolls and used envelopes to gift wrapping
• from a old DVD box to a travelling colouring kit
• from an old cassette box to a holder for your 2017 calendar
• from cereal boxes to Christmas decorations and mini-magazine holder
• from one-sided printed paper to a notebook
• from a used envelope to a bookmark

We sold washi tapes and had a hands-on 'make-a-bookmark' activity. It was fun! =)

Photo courtesy: Singapore CDC

Till our next blog post, craft something! =)

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DIY Craft: Upcycling Pre-Loved Clothes to A Useful Rug

I have lots of old clothes in my house. This is what I get with a growing child. He outgrows his clothes and I would have to either trash or donate them. I decided to upcycle some of clothes to make a rag rug.

This a relatively easy DIY craft project but it takes time. It took me about 6 hours over 4 days to complete this rag rug. Old t-shirts work best for this project. I used about 3 t-shirts for this rag rug that measures about 30cm by 40cm.

All you need for this DIY craft is a few pieces of old clothes, a piece of anti-skid mat, a pair of scissors and time.

I first cut the t-shirts into small pieces that measure about 10cm by 2.5cm and then tie them into knots to a piece of anti-skid mat. Simple? Yes, very simple. But it takes time to tie the knots. =)

When I am tying of the knots, I have to remember to randomly tie the knots in a mix of right-over-left and left-over-right. If I do not do this and tie all my knots in one way, then the rug will look too neat. I prefer my rug to look more shaggy. =)

I completed the heart with my pink and purple shirts first before working on the white.

As I was tying the knots, I realised that I can actually take a shortcut and skip some of the 'holes'. The rug was turning out to be quite 'puffed' up, so not tying the knot in some of the holes is perfectly alright. This is the back view of the rug. Do you see some of the holes that I have skipped?

It was fun making this rag rug. The greatest payoff is seeing my old clothes on the floor, in a rag, having a new lease of life. =)

Till the next blog post, craft something! =)

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DIY Crafts: Use Cloth, Not Plastic ... Tutti Fruitti Fabric Bags

Say, you are about to go leave your office for lunch. What do you do? You grab a small bag and put in your wallet, your hanky and perhaps an umbrella.

Say, you are about to take a quick trip to the nearest hawker centre to buy some breakfast. What do you do? You grab a small bag and put in your wallet, your hanky and your keys.

Here at WahSoSimple, we love these small environmental-friendly bags. So love them that we hand-painted our small fabric bags with tutti fruitti designs. =)

If you are interested in hand painting these bags and would like to organise a private craft workshop or get the supplies for this craft, please feel free to contact us at hello@wahsosimple.com.

Till our next blog post, make something with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: Painting Tropical Fruits on Fabric Bags with Seniors

Nobody can resist a wedge of red juicy watermelon nor a ripe and golden pineapple, especially with the recent hot and humid weather. We handpainted our favourite fruits into vibrant designs on drawstring fabric bags at our recent customised craft workshop  - specially designed for our student volunteers to bond with the lovely seniors over an afternoon of craft session. 

Stroke by stroke, we created the ripe and juicy fruits together with the seniors with the help of the student volunteers. Painting is indeed an avenue of unique self expression and no two creations were the same; as we gazed around the room at the dozens of painted watermelons and pineapples fabric bags. We found the sight amazing as the bags from the same set of stencils and shades of acrylic paint.

Happily painting and chatting away

The completed creation

Every painted piece we saw was a unique creation

Till our next blog post, make something with your hands! =)

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DIY Craft: Rubber Stamped Fabric Bag

Here I go again .. wanting to carve rubber stamps and obsessing with getting my handbag organised. =)

I carved out a couple of rubber stamps and started stamping away on my plain fabric bags with a fabric ink pad. Now I have 2 of these bags for my knick-knacks! =)

This is what I used:

• A set of linoleum cutter
• Soft rubber / eraser block
• Fabric ink pads
• 4B pencil
• Tracing paper
• 2 fabric bags

This is what I did:

1. Have an idea of what you want to make and draw / sketch / trace out your idea out onto a piece of tracing paper with a 4B pencil.
2. Stain your rubber block with an ink pad. This will make carving much easier as it will allow you to see that areas that you have craved out. Allow time for the ink to dry or you can stamp the stained rubber block on a piece of paper a few times to fast track the drying.
3. Transfer your image from the tracing paper to the rubber block. You do this by laying the tracing paper faced down onto the rubber block and rub the back of the paper with your finger tip.
4. When you have the whole image traced onto the rubber block, start craving with the linoleum cutter. Start with the thinnest cutter first to carve out the lines of your image. Follow with the thicker cutters to complete the rest of the carving / stamp.
5. Ink your completed rubber stamp and start stamping! 

Rubber stamping is a great way to personalise your notes, bags, photos, scrapbooking projects, etc. If you are interested, shop for your DIY Rubber Stamp Kit here. Have fun!

Till the next blog post, make something with your hands! =)

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DIY Craft: Paint Your Own Fabric Bag

I am not an artist or painter but I love DIY crafting with acrylic paint. It is very versatile as it works with many types of materials (wood, fabric, glass, plastic, paper, etc). And when you buy a box of acrylic paint, you have a lot of it and when you have a lot of something, you experiment and have fun. =)

I also love small bags to keep my stuff organised. I have a small bag for my on-the-go toiletries, a small bag for my tech stuff (chargers, wires, thumb drive), a small bag for my stationery and the list goes on. 

Acrylic paint + small fabric bag = My Own Customised Bag!! I am so excited!

This is what I used:

• Fabric bag
• Red acrylic paint
• Stencils
• Paintbrush
• Paint palette

To make, just place the stencil on the bag and start painting away! 

I love the bag. You know what? I am going to give this bag to a friend of mine who is always jovial and positive. 'Laugh lots' fits her so well. Hope she will like it!

Till the next blog post, make something with your hands! =) 

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