Ready for my post-birthday, halloween party!

For my 26th birthday, I thought of celebrating it by throwing a thanksgiving slash costume party. And there is no better date to hold it than on a halloween night! I said to myself, I better do this now while I'm still young and there's an excuse to act goofy =)

I want to dress up as a fairy in all white and glittery drama. A fairy won't be one without wings, of course. But instead of buying a ready-made set, I decided to create my own. The wings I made are quite simple but I loved the result. I learned the how-to through a youtube video which I didn't exactly follow to the letter.

This is how I did my fairy wings:

I bought the materials needed: Flimsy (yes they have to so you can bend them easily) hangers as the frame, pliers to bend the 'wingbone', super glue, black or white tights (depends on what kind of fairy you want to be), ribbons, string, a pair of scissors, and tons of glitters.

First, I bended the hangers into an oval shape. This is the most difficult part of the task. I used two small hangers for the top part and two big ones for the bottom part.

Then, I connected the same-sized circles by tying the ends, which will be the central area of the full wings. After forming the ovals, I dressed them up with white tights.

I also tied the ends of the tights and pulled them down to make a snug fit. Then the fun part begins - putting glitters to make the wings oh so pretty! I don't have much time to be more creative with the design so I just did the simple circles. The feathers helped in glamming them up even more!

Total cost in sgd: $30. Not bad. I like that it's huge and covers my entire back.

Yay! Ready to strut and party.

Princess Alicia's multi-colored coat like Joseph's

Serving in Sunday School has actually been teaching me a lot more than what I'm supposed to be doing for the kids. Last Sunday was an example. In the crafts activity part, we're supposed to help the kids create a colorful vest that resembles that of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob. The materials given to them were, shall we say, recycled - cut-out colored papers, plastic (Fairprice) grocery bags with holes for the arms, and staple wires to form an improvised vest. Um, not exciting at all! Well, for me, that is.

So I was surprised to find the girls in my group scrambled to choose different colored papers for their vest. They chose the combination of colors with infectious enthusiasm and glee! After the activity, I helped the girls put on their 'robe' and exclaimed an appreciative wow to encourage them to wear something I thought was not eyecandy at all.

But lo and behold, the girls loved them! Alicia who's in the picture placed stamp marks all over her vest to mark her ownership and proudy showed her mom our masterpiece. She was grinning ear to ear as she models the makeshift multi-colored coat. My heart became undone.

Clearly I've become jaded. I no longer see and feel like Alicia and the rest of the girls do.
I have grown up.

But it takes a child's teachable and modest spirit to produce this epiphany.
May I re/learn to wear the coat of the present with pure contentment, infectious enthusiasm, and unassuming heart like it is the best I could ever have. May my heart never grows dull and jaded and unappreciative of the little things that matter.