Do you remember playing with these reusable sticker books from when you were little? They had these waxy/laminated pages where you can stick and peel off stickers without ruining/ripping them. I really wanted to get one for BB so that she could have her own sticker collection one day! Right now, she just sticks them on me.

Most sticker pads I've encountered nowadays have the recommended age of 3 and up printed on them. However, from what I've read online, many parents introduced stickers at around 18 months (with supervision, of course) as activities to help build find motor skills. I personally love stickers, and couldn't wait to introduce stickers to BB as soon as I felt that she was ready for them. Mui Mui, unfortunately, is still a bit too young to appreciate them.


I went searching all over town for them and can't seem to find stick-and-peel reusable sticker books anymore. All the sticker books that I encountered are those where you can only stick on, but cannot peel off. It will likely ruin and rip your stickers when you try to remove stickers from those pages. Let's face it, we don't need another toddler crying over ripped stickers.

My new job involves a lot more "office" work than working at the hospital. Last week, I saw someone printing off a bunch of labels. My brain suddenly lit up and I asked them if they needed the back page of the labels (the waxy piece where the labels are peeled from). Sure enough, they were just going to go into recycling, so I took them home.

My face lit up as I came home with a stack of these wax paper. Note that these were only waxy on one side. Like many crafters, I have quite a stationery collection at home. I have a couple of empty A6 sized binders that have been sitting there for a few years now. Hanson was delighted to see that I was finally putting them to use.


So if you are interested in making your very own reusable sticker book, here's what you need:

Materials

• A6 binder/empty planner
• Left over waxy back sheets from office labels (letter size - 8.5" x 11")
• Hole puncher 
• Paper trimmer

First, I folded them in half (lengthwise) and trimmed the open ends of the folded sheet to the size I needed (B6). That way, the folded side will be intact.


I then marked where I needed to punch the holes and used a regular 3-hole puncher to punch 6 holes on the open side of the folded pages. That way, the "open ends" of the folded piece of paper will be closest to the binding and you will end up with both sides of the pages being usable sticker pages.


Put them in your A6 binder and you have your very own reusable sticker book - AND double-sided waxy sticker sheets! BB is having so much fun with her sticker book and she doesn't have to deal with ripped/ruined stickers anymore!



Did you make your own reusable sticker book? I'd love to see it! Please share it with me on Instagram or use the #onceuponacheerio hashtag.






This is an original tutorial written by Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio. Please do not claim this tutorial as your own. If you wish to share this tutorial, you may link to this blog post but please do not reprint it on your site. You may keep a copy for your own personal use but please DO NOT sell the tutorial or distribute it. 

I have decided to try something new. And no, I don't mean knitting.

Over the last few weeks, I have been working on a doll of my own design. I have tried out many doll patterns by different designers and I learn something through every one of them. I learn what I like and didn't like about each one. Once I got more comfortable, I started combining all the elements that I like into the doll that I am designing!

PS: Please ignore the messy background of the photos. These are extremely raw/unedited photos that I have taken as I was making this doll.

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I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to crocheting, and that's hard, because we all know that handmade is never perfect, which is what makes handmade so unique. But it's also driving me a little nuts. So I have actually been doing a lot of making, frogging and then remaking after I find a technique I love.

The doll is taking me a long time (much longer than I thought) because I keep finding new things to improve on and making those changes. I don't have it all down yet, but I couldn't wait to show you the progress that I've been making and then sharing this progress with you.

First of all, finding the right flesh tone has been a challenge. In the past few years, I've almost avoided making dolls because I don't have access to the right shade of skin tone yarn that I thought I needed.


I've been using shades such as "off white" and "cream" and "beige" to help satisfy the needs for when I do make dolls, but I find that my dolls often come out looking so pale and ghostly. I'd prefer it to have a little bit more "blood flow" to them, if that makes any sense.

Many people have suggested to use Caron Simply Soft in Light Country Peach, but it's a bit hard for me to obtain that yarn because they don't sell it at my local Michael's, and I would have to order it in bulk to have it be worthwhile if I order online.

Finally, I came by this Bernat Handicrafter yarn in the colour, Chamomile. As you know, I loved my past experience using Bernat Handicrafter for amigurumis, so I was glad to revisit this yarn. This peach coloured was exactly what I was looking for.


As you can see in the above photo that the doll on the left looks so pale, that you can barely see its white undies. Whereas the flesh tone of the right looks much more "alive".

Aside from searching for the perfect shade of peach for the skin, I also managed to try a new way to crochet. I have noticed many beautiful photos of amigurumi dolls on Instagram have this "x" looking stitch on them. It looked so neat and perfect and I wanted to achieve that look with my amigurumis!

I finally managed to figure out how to make this x-looking single crochet stitches by using the yarn-under method vs the yarn-over method. I plan to make a tutorial for this in the near future, so standby for that.


I initially crocheted the whole doll in the peach coloured yarn, but then I thought it looked too naked. So I decided to crochet it some underwear. Sadly, because the doll was so small, using worsted weight yarn for the under underwear made it look like it was wearing diapers. So again, frogging it and crocheted the underwear using colour changes in the rounds instead.

I also learned a new colour changing method that results in really clean lines. As you can tell by the photo below, I'm going to have to frog the purple one and remake it so that it uses the same colour changing method as the pink one that results in a much cleaner line.



So that's it for now! I thought I'd show you a sneak peek of what I am working on and how I've been trying to improve my amigurumi game. I also wanted to let you all know that this blog is still alive. And while this post may not necessarily be "pin-able" content, it may be interesting for some people to know what I've been up to and all the new stuff I've been learning.

Aloha!!!

I can't get out of my head how much I love Hawaii. I guess that's why people often pick it as their destination for a getaway or honeymoon or maybe even a wedding!

The islands of Hawaii is full of tourists, but they still manage to maintain so much of their own culture and ways of living, which I love.

My grandma also really likes Hawaii and has a friend that lives on the island. When I was younger, she said that she wanted me to marry off to Hawaii so she can come to live with me on the islands.

Funny enough, Hanson actually has family that live in Honolulu. You can't imagine how jealous I was. We didn't stay with them, but when they came to pick us up from the airport, they greeted us with leis! It was such a nice surprise and I love that Hawaiian tradition.

We were in Honolulu for May 1st, which is what they call their "Lei Day". The lei is widely celebrated with a whole bunch of activities like lei making, lei competitions, hula dances, etc. I am so glad that Hawaiian traditions get passed down from generation to generation.

While I love Hawaii, I am not sure how much I would enjoy living there. They don't have any big-box craft stores! At least not from what I can tell during my short stay there. It would really bum me out not to have a place to buy my craft supplies.

When I came back home from my vacation, all I could think about was Hawaii. I really wish that I could have brought home a fresh lei, but obviously, that wouldn't last very long. So, I made myself one that would last forever!

I chose to make a plumeria lei because it's one of the most popular flowers in Hawaii for its large blossoms and assortment of colours. The plumeria is also one of the more fragrant type of flowers.

Notes

• Traditional leis are about 12-18" in length. 
• The lei is worked in a spiral but it creates an illusion of individual flowers strung together
• You can try to make a shorter one as a flower crown!

What You Need / Materials

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• Worsted Weight Yarn (in yellow and white)
• 4.5 mm Crochet Hook
• Yarn Needle
• Scissors

Stitches & Abbreviations

• st/sts - stitch/stitches
• ch - chain
• sc - single crochet

Pattern

Using yellow yarn...
Ch 140-160 (depending on the length you want)
Row 1: Alternate 2 sc and 3 sc in each ch starting from the second ch from the hook until you reach the end of your foundation ch
Change to white yarn...
Row 2: Join with a standing single crochet st to the first st (on the "wrong side"), [ch 10, sc into the next 2 sts] x repeat until the end of your curl

Once you're finished, just tie/sew the two ends together. I decided to finish off my lei with an "unfinished loose pom pom". I simply wrapped some yarn around a small pencil case and then tied it in the middle with some yarn scraps.






Did you make your own Plumeria Crochet Lei? I'd love to see it! Please share it with me on Instagram and/or use the #onceuponacheerio hashtag.






This is an original pattern written by Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio. Please do not claim this pattern as your own. If you wish to share this pattern, you may link to this blog post but please do not reprint it on your site. You may keep a copy for your own personal use but please DO NOT sell the pattern or distribute it. 

You may sell products made from this pattern, but please clearly credit the design to me, Juli Anne of Once Upon a Cheerio and provide a link to my blog www.OnceUponaCheerio.com. Permission is NOT granted for mass production or factory manufacturing of any kind. Thank you for understanding!

Aloha Everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA for the last month. Did you miss me?

I was busy planning our vacation to Hawaii. It's been a few years since we've gone on vacation and I just wanted everything to go as planned. But obviously, when you travel with kids, nothing ever goes as planned. I made lists of stuff I wanted to do but in the end, we just played it by ear.

It was stressful during the trip. You know, hauling around two kids on an island full of tourists. But now that I'm back home, I just wish I could be on that Waikiki Beach again.

Prior to going, I was asking my colleagues what I could do in Honolulu that is affordable, cheap, or free. The first thing they tell me, "Everything in Hawaii is expensive. Don't expect cheap anything!"

Well, guess what? We proved them wrong. Today, I'm going to share with you all the FREE stuff that we did (or had planned but never got to it because sometimes, the kids got in the way).

If you are planning a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii and reading this, make sure you pin this to Pinterest so you can find it later!

Hula Show at Ala Moana Centerstage

Torch Lighting & Hula Show at Kuhio Beach

O Nā Lani Sunset Stories at International Market Place

Hula Lessons at the Royal Hawaiian Center

Lei Making at International Market Place

Lei-Making Class at the Royal Hawaiian Center

Lauhala Weaving at Royal Hawaiian Center

Ukulele Classes at Royal Hawaiian Center