Sweetie, I love this little game that you “invented”! You were really bored and then suddenly thought of this idea! It made our outside time so much more exciting and fun. Love this!
We invite our friends who see this post to join the fun and come up with more creative chalk drawing and posing ideas. Have fun! 🙂
Hi, sweets — Remember you told me that you no longer liked the orginal flower dress and wanted Hello Kitty drawn by me instead? So, I did the old trick. I took off the tutu part and cut a blank T-shirt. On the other hand, the yellow flower looked really good, so good that I decided not to discard the top entirely. Instead, I cut it out, sealed the edge, sew it to the back of the blank T, and drew a stem and two leaves. On the front of the T, I drew Hello Kitty in ballet leo and slippers with wings, a bow and a heart-shaped wand. This blank T is really good for transferring images from paper to its fabric. I just searched pinterest, found the image, laid it under the front part of the T, and transferred it on the fabric. The result? A comfy pretty little girl’s dress, reborn and loved again 🙂
You loved this dress so so much until you outgrew it. So, by your request, it’s another dress put in the ever-growing time capsule 😀
Hiya sweets — This dress has been your all time favorite until you outgrew it a couple of months ago. You reluctantly said that I could put this dress in your “Time Capsule” for you to look at when you grow up.
I found adapting white T-shirts into dress tops and then add a skirt part a really fun way to make dresses for little girls. Sometimes the stores just don’t have what you fancy. And not all moms have time to make or are good at making dresses from scratch, yours truly included LOL.
So one day I went to Target and bumped into these simple basic T-shirts. They come in different pastel colors and are so versitile. This dress is a good example of what can be done 🙂
Basically, I just cut the bottom 1/3 or 1/4 from the bottom (depending on the design of the dress) and use another piece of same color cotton cloth to make the skirt part. For this particular dress, I just drew the designs with fabric markers. There are different types of coloring that can be used on fabrics. This particular set is for drawing on light colored fabric. There are also glitter glues for fabric. Many stores have them, for example, Target, Meijer, Michaels, etc. For the dark pink tie-die frills, I just cut from another dress that you absolutely hated and wouldn’t put on. The rest of the fabric from the unwanted dress can be stored away for later use. So this way, I not only created something new, but also revived something unwanted.
You were so proud of this dress and wore it very often. It looks really woreout now LOL. But that’s what makes me feel proud and happy, too! :)))
Love always,
Mommy
Hi, sweets — This is one of your first dolls. You like the original rock star dress, but would like a fancier look for this doll. So, mommy made this spring looking flowery dress. All hand-made, down to every stitch. It’s relatively hard to find Asian looking dolls or dolls with Asian elements such as black/dark brown hair. So, whenever I see an Asian looking doll, I almost always snatch it for you. Now you have quite a few Asian looking dolls, along with blonde dolls, African American dolls, red hair dolls, brunette dolls… You enjoy the multicultural feel of your little “tribe” of different colors and sizes.
I hope you grow up to be both comfortable in your own skin, well rooted in your own culture, and embracing a multitude of cultures. You certainly do now. My sweetest, keep loving who you are and then, and only then, give the world the same love you’ve been giving yourself. Your love is and will always be genuine.
Love,
Mommy
Again, I’m going through our photos in an effort to categorize them in both themes and years. They sure bring back memories! Some of them are records of the creative works that I did for you, inspired by you, what you like, or what you need. You have no idea, sweetie, how grateful I am for having the honor to be your mom and how much I appreciate you for being my daughter. My best creative works are done after you were born. And the creative ideas just kept coming, purely because of the love that I have for you, the love that has no condition, no time limit, no matter what.
Here’s an early creative little piece — changing the story, more accurately, the ending of a story, The Ginger Bread Bear, that as a two year old you found it cruel and couldn’t bear the thought of the ginger bread bear being eaten. So, I thought, “How do I model turning the table around? How do I empower you, instead of letting you feel victimized?” Because of this thought, my long forsaken talent started to come back to me. I decided to create and illustrate an alternative ending for you. I asked you, “I’m sorry the ending’s not the best. How would you like the ending to be? How would you like it to happen?”
“The bear will not die! He can turn into a teddy bear lovey!” You said.
“What a splendid idea! Thank you, sweetie!” I answered.
Then when you were at daycare, I started drawing. I was not planning to rip off the original ending — who knows, some day, you might realize that it was simply a cookie and might think it was OK. So I attached my illustrated ending at the end of the book as an alternative.
Turned out, you LOVED it and still do.
After feeling safe about the ginger bread bear having a good alternative future, you started wanting to hear the original ending together with the alternative. You savored both of them. Then one day you told me, “Mommy, I like our ending because that’s NOT an ordinary cookie that’s just a thing. It is ALIVE! No killing things that are alive!” I embraced you and kissed your forehead, “You got it, baby. You have such a kind heart. Thank you for sharing what you think and how you feel with mommy!”
You loved and still love the whole process of turning a not-so-favorite story into one you like by changing it. You feel empowered by this. You love to own the stories you read by interacting with them on a deeper level. You love to think critically. Since then, we’ve made revision to a few books here and there, although nothing as major as this one. You learned to read on your own, and you are keeping the great empowerment of being a critical thinker. Both you and I love the active reader that you have become.
What a pleasure and an honor to grow together with you! Thank you!
Love,
Mommy
Whimsical Moon 