Bits And Blythes All Over The Place

Jakey says hi!!!!! Don't you just LOVE his smile!!??!! 

Hi everyone!!!!!!!!! How are you????? What have you been doing???? Wow, it's been AGES hasn't it!! Sorry for not posting for SUCH a LONG time! The last time I posted was during the December holidays LAST YEAR! Well, of course then school started, so I got all busy with schoolwork and lots of new activities. Then I had gastroenteritis for almost 3 weeks!! I even had it during the March holidays, BOO! But I'm all better now, thank you Jesus!!

So this post is going to be a little long, because it's a bunch of stuff over the past months squeezed together (I don't have lots of pictures though, because our little old camera slowly died a couple of months ago). Before I start though, I'm going to do some SHOUT-OUTS! In case you don't know, a shout-out is like a greeting, which people usually do over the radio or during a concert, to people you can't see right then. It's a way of saying HI!! If you'd like me to post a shout-out for you to your friends in my next post, let me know!

Here are my shout-outs:
Shout-out to Qin Yi, my classmate and probably the best follower ever. Thanks for swinging by my blog almost every day!
Shout-out to Nicholle -- thanks for being a great friend and my Science partner in the SCSA competition!
Shout-out to Dion -- thanks for being a great partner!
Shout-out to Harmony, Jana, Leeann, Ser Jia, Chloe, Maisy and Jodie for celebrating my birthday with me -- thanks for your super presents and an amazingly fun day!
Shout-out to everyone involved in Earth Hour -- good job!

Now on to my post! (I would have liked to share more pictures of my awesome birthday party with my friends, but I don't really have pictures because the camera was dead at that time. This picture was taken by Maisy's mom, but we're all looking at other people taking pictures with their handphones. Anyway, we had a great time!! Thank you everyone!!!).

So, see me in my blue uniform up there? That's right -- I'm with the Girls' Brigade! Do you know what the Girls' Brigade is? Well, it is an international and interdenominational Christian youth organisation. It was founded in 1893 in Dublin, Ireland. The Brigade operates in over 60 countries worldwide!

The international vision statement of the GB is "Girls' lives transformed, God's world enriched". The motto of the Girls' Brigade is "Seek, Serve and Follow Christ" and its aim is "To help girls become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through self control, reverence and a sense of responsibility, to find true enrichment of life". The GB programme follows four themes: Spiritual, Physical, Educational and Service. These words spell SPES, which is Latin for Hope. Isn't that great?

I chose to join the GB as my school co-curricular activity (CCA). All students in Singapore must participate in a CCA. As a GB girl, I have lots of important things to take part in and different roles and responsibilities. For example, we have gone to help at the nursing home and had camps in school to learn important life skills and about the fruits of the Spirit. We even had a year-end field trip to Pastamania, where we got to make our own pizzas -- YUMMY!!

Last Saturday, I took part in my official enrollment in the GB. There are six badges which can be collected throughout a year (I got my sixth today). Each badge stands for something; in this case -- God's Book, My Journey, My Service, My Treasure, My Activity and My Responsibility. The first letters of the badges spell "GB J STAR", which means a really AWESOME Girls' Brigade Junior :D

And now, here's a quick pic of little Jakey!!! Isn't he the most adorable fuzzpot ever???? He's already 9 months old, and he can stand up all by himself. He has a huge appetite and the most awesome laugh ever!!!

Just yesterday, my Dad brought me, Ro and Jakey swimming. We put a small black swimsuit on Jake and decided that we would put him in the water slowly, and get him used to it step by step. The last time we brought him swimming, he screamed his head off the moment his toe touched the water. However, this time he really enjoyed himself, and Daddy carried him around in the adult pool. He was laughing and happy and Daddy said he swam better than Ro and me (haha, very funny, Dad).

Here we all are hanging out in front of the balcony TV. I know I look deep in thought or plain bored, but I suppose that's how I look when I digest my food. It's a pretty small space, but really cozy. Just behind me is my Mom's tiny craft area, which brings me to my next topic!

Remember my Blythe dolly Isadora? Well, do you know, my Mom is a doll customizer! Doll customizing is really an art form, where the artists take a basic doll and totally transform it. The dolls they make are called art dolls and they are collectors' items. This dolly is Sadie, one of my mom's dolls. Isn't she pretty? Sadie was bought by a lady all the way in the USA. Sometimes she shows my Mom pictures of Sadie all dressed up with her other dolls, which makes my Mom really happy.

Some of my friends own Blythe dolls in their original form and asked me how my Mom could make them look completely different. Well, let me show you! This is a picture of a Blythe in her original form. Even though their hair and eye colours might be different, their faces all have that shiny plasticky look and those same sort of features.

So, to customize her, my Mom has to completely take her apart. This is a picture of Blythe in pieces.

A lot of the work happens on the face of course. My Mom has to remove all her original colour and carve her to look the way she wants. This is what it looks like in the beginning.

This is what it looks like after awhile. Carving is hard work and takes a long time. My Mom says it's kinda tricky because it's 3D and not flat like a drawing. You have to look at it from all different angles.

The carving tools are all very sharp and so are the doll parts. My Mom has a box of plasters on her craft table. See? Poor Mom's finger got a deep cut and was bleeding :(

After she finally finishes carving, it's time for the faceup. This is when she paints in all the colours and things she wants.

My Mom also has to change the eyes and the eyelashes and decorate the eyelids. Sometimes she also colours and cuts the hair. The face she was working on in those pictures became the dolly above -- Francoise! Francoise is also living in the USA now.

Here is Rowan, getting her newly coloured hair and waiting for her new body.

And here is Rowan, all done! Rowan is going to live in South America, wow!

My Mom always takes pictures of her dolls before she packs them up to send to their new owners. She says that after working so hard on them, she really misses them when they go. Here is Miette sitting on the dolly travelling trunk. My Mom also has to put beads and charms on the doll's new pullstrings. The pullstrings control the doll's eye mechanism. Original Blythes have one string to change their eyes (they have four pairs of eyes looking in different directions), but they don't have sleep eyes. Customizers usually put in the second string so they can close their eyes if they want.

These are Sadie's eyelids.

Here are a few pictures of some of my Mom's dolls. They all live in different parts of the world now. This is Marine. I think she has a very cool city look.

This is Ophelia. She is like a romantic princess in a haunted castle.

And this is Scout! She is the only dolly available in my Mom's shop now. I think she is really cute, like a real little girl.

She's a bit of a tomboy too, so I think we should keep her! My Mom says she'll think about it.

OK -- I'm going to stop now for my dinner. I think I'll have more pictures next time because we have a new camera now, yay! But these few weeks we'll be having exams, so I'll be busy with that. Thanks for popping by!! See you again soon everyboooddyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

Nicholle's Birthday!

Hi everyone! A couple of days ago, I attended one of my friends' birthday party! Her name is Nicholle, and there she is next to me -- isn't she cute! It was a cozy little party at a really nice restaurant. Our parents sat at another table, while we chatted and ate together.

This is what I ordered, and Nicholle ordered the same too. Doesn't it look good! It's mushroom spaghetti, with extra cheese -- super yum! We had lots of drinks too! The restaurant had a little corner at the back of the restaurant where you could continually refill your glass with hot or cold water, Milo, lemon tea or pop. I had Milo -- lots of it!

Here comes the cake! I love cake-cutting time. Did I mention that I LOVE cake-cutting time? It's always so exciting when the cake comes, and you get to guess what the cake looks like while the host or hostess picks open the box.

Nicholle had ordered a lovely yellow mango cake from the bakery. Here we are -- Nicholle, the birthday girl in front of her cake, with me and Gwenyth on either side of her. We sang the birthday song, and Nicholle made her wish and blew out all nine candles.

Nicholle had brought her "Little Engineer" set for us to work on. Here we are fixing pieces together to make a little radio. When we were done, Nicholle flipped the switch and a "Happy Birthday" song came right out of the little speaker. It was so cute! Nicholle loves building things and she's really good at math and science -- maybe she could be an inventor or engineer!

The party ended after dessert (I ordered vanilla ice-cream) and Nicholle gave out cute little goody bags with yummy snacks in them, like strawberry Pocky sticks. Here we are together just before we left. The party was so much fun and I can't wait for school to start and I can see all of my friends together! Yay for good friends! Happy birthday again Nicholle! Bye for now and thanks a lot for visiting my blog!

Maisy's Birthday!

Hello everybody! How have you been? I hope you've been having a wonderful June holidays! Last Sunday was so much fun -- we celebrated my best friend's Maisy's birthday! Here we are at Maisy's house, eating all the super yummy goodies her mom made! Maisy is wearing her cat ears because she really loves cats -- isn't she cute!

Just look at these cupcakes! They had sugar stars and little silver balls -- they were sooooo good. Maisy's mom baked many awesome treats for us. Those little cups in the background are delicious fruity jellies.

Maisy's mom was so nice and invited my little sister to the party too! There's Ro gobbling up something yummy! After stuffing ourselves, we all played many fun games, including Werewolf, Jungle Speed, hide-and-seek and catch.  

Here's Maisy's dad carefully taking out her birthday cake! It was a big pink cake with Barbie in the middle. But although it was pink, it was actually chocolate inside -- yum!

Here's Maisy with her cake! She's so cute -- just like a little kitty!

Maisy didn't want a whole bunch of candles, so her daddy just lit one.

Here we are after we sang the birthday songs and Maisy blew out her candle. Ro looks really fascinated by the cake, or the doll, or both.

Everyone wasn't sure how best to cut this doll cake. In the end we agreed that it would be best to just pull Barbie out first. We were curious to see what would happen when we did! It turned out that Barbie's legs were all wrapped up in cellophane. After she came out, the cake looked like a sweet pink volcano.

This was a pin my Mom made for Maisy because she loves cats so much. I wonder where Maisy will pin it! I think it's adorable; I hope she'll make me one. What a lovely time we had -- happy birthday again Maisy!

See you all again soon!!

The Golden Rule

Yesterday my Mom told me about what is called "The Golden Rule". The Golden Rule states that "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself". Does that sound familiar? If you are a Christian, it probably would! Jesus said it like this: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets".

This is also a lot like what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment. A teacher of the Law came to Jesus and asked Him which of the commandments was the most important. Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments".

My Mom explained that when we are being good and kind to others, even those who are not our friends, we are loving them and obeying these important commandments. Also, isn't that how we want others to treat us? I would not want to do anything to someone else that I would hate being done to me. This means we should always think carefully about the way we talk to others, and how we treat them. Are we being kind and helpful, or unkind and mean? Are we being nice to other kids in school, or are we hurtful and rude? The Golden Rule reminds us that just as we do not like others to be mean and hurtful to us, we should not be mean and hurtful to them.

In friendships, I am finding that there are all sorts. Have you heard the phrase "It takes all sorts to make a world"? My Mom says it a lot, especially when we have to deal with rude people in the shops or on the train. I think it's like that in friendships too. Some friends understand the Golden Rule, and are kind, loyal and dependable, while others are not -- it takes all sorts. My Mom once told me that there are many grown-ups who are terrible friends because they don't know what it actually means to be a friend. Usually, they are only thinking of themselves.

I have a book that describes some of the things that make a good friend. Like, a good friend is a friend you can trust. A good friend is supportive. A good friend is kind and compassionate. A good friend treats you with love and respect. A good friend sticks with you in good times and bad. But I think all of us know this, because even if we don't know the Golden Rule, we do know how it feels -- we all would like friends like that.

But we need to be friends like that too. I like this quote by Charles Kingsley: "It is only the great-hearted who can be true friends. The mean and cowardly can never know what true friendship means". My Mom says that people who are bad friends aren't real friends, and usually don't have real friends either. And this will carry on even when they are grown-up, which would suck. So it is really important that we get it right from early on. The world would be a better place if we all made sure we are good friends, because all the things that make a good friend are also the things that make a good person.

So my Mom checks on how I behave in different situations. She says it is important not only to her, but to God too. Am I kind, respectful, loving and helpful? She always reminds me that God is watching even if no one else is and He has given me a conscience to tell me when I am behaving well or badly. Our conscience tells us whether we are following the Golden Rule. How we treat others shows whether we are really nice and also how we were brought up. My Mom actually wrote a post about "Kindness and Good Manners" and said she expected me to always remember to show both. Not all moms tell their kids that I think. And some kids don't get to see their parents much, which is pretty sad.

In the picture above, you can see me with my sister. She is a great friend and I know I am really lucky to have her. My Mom shared with me this poem, and I thought I'd share the last bit of it with you. It is called "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti. If you have a sister, then you'd know you are really blessed!

"For there is no friend like a sister

In calm or stormy weather;

To cheer one on the tedious way,

To fetch one if one goes astray,

To lift one if one totters down,

To strengthen whilst one stands".

Are you a good friend? Do you follow the Golden Rule? I hope so!
See you again soon!

My Birthday Party!

Hello again! I'm so happy to share with you the wonderful birthday party I had with my friends! Guess where we had it? The Build-a-Bear Workshop! I invited all my friends (well, as many as my Mom said I could) and they were all so excited! It was such a lovely day -- let me show you!

This was me on my birthday morning. I'm hugging Monkey and about to have my yummy breakfast -- cheese toast and scrambled eggs. I already knew it was going to be an awesome day!

This is the birthday card I received from the Sylvanian Families. They send me one every year! Inside it reads, "Have a lovely time on your special day", written in big, bold letters. Oh, and look! There is one of the Guppies looking at my card. He was made by my Mom.

These were the first three guests to arrive. There's Harmony, then Jodie and Chloe (there were actually TWO Chloes coming to my party!). Unfortunately, one of my guests had a fever and could not attend at the last minute.

Here we are waiting for the last girl, Chloe, to come. Another guest arrived before Chloe -- Cheryl. Can you spot her? Here, we are having fun playing Duck, Duck, Goose (the Build-a-Bear version of it).

Here we are doing a "Choo Choo Train" to the first part of building a bear. Our party leader would say "Chugga Chugga" and we'd have to answer "Choo Choo". We felt kinda shy doing it, but had no choice -- we wanted to build our bears! The other Chloe still hadn't come yet, so we started first.

Aww! Look at those cute bears! Which one should we choose? Eventually, we all chose the Lil' Almond Cub, an adorable white bear with the softest, glossiest fur ever.

Now we are doing the "Choo Choo Train" to the Stuffing Station. Chloe had arrived while we were choosing our bears. There she is at the back of the line, holding Jodie's shoulders. 

 We each take two cute little red hearts...

... then we say special things for our bears...

... and put the hearts into our bears...

and make special wishes!

 

After making our wishes, our party leader took out a bright yellow bear and put him on the floor. She told my guests that they were all supposed to write birthday wishes on him, then I could bring him home as a souvenir.

Here's Cheryl writing her birthday wishes on the bear.

 Here are the two Chloes looking at each other's wishes.

This is the big Build-A-Bear stuffing machine. You step on a pedal and all the fluffy stuffing goes into your bear to make it huggable and cozy.

Here I am stepping on the pedal while our party leader stuffs my bear.

Looks kinda painful.

When my bear was just the right softness for me, she stitched him up.

 Look! It's a Chloe hiding behind a bear!

Next, we scrub our bears with little pawprint-shaped brushes. It helps to clean and fluff up our bears' fur.

Then we browse through all the beautiful clothing for our bears. It was hard to choose!

And here are our bears all dressed up in their pretty costumes. Don't they look cute? We love our bears!

Our party leader put everyone's bears into their take-home boxes, which are called Cub Condos. She also put in a little Build-a-Bear notepad and a birth certificate for our bears.

 Ooh! Look at the yummy chocolate cake! I chose to have a picture of Stitch on it.

 What a great time we had at my party! Thank you everyone for coming and celebrating with me! Stay tuned for my GIVEAWAY!