Five Natural Face Paints DIY

My son is very keen on face paint and temporary tattoos. Ever since he had them removed before the start of school, he's been bugging me about it. But, I remember reading this article about unsafe face paints on the market. It's very discerning and it got me looking for natural alternatives. I came across a few recipes in The Green Beauty Guide and thought I'd give it a go!

This was a great DIY for my son with all the colours and mixing, plus he got to paste them on his face. We experimented with aloe vera gel (that I had purchased for our bout of HFMD) and five natural food colouring agents - tumeric (yellow), cocoa (brown), corn starch (white), lettuce (green) and red yeast rice (red).  

Started off with the powdery ingredients. Used 1/2 tsp.

Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

Warning: This is a really long post about our experience with HFMD and what we did to prevent it from spreading to our other family members. Your symptoms may differ slightly from ours as there are different virus strains. Want to say a big thank you to my friends and my fellow mummy bloggers at Singapore Mom Bloggers for their advice!

This past week has been rather tiring because my little one and I caught Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  I don't know where and when we caught it but I had always assumed that it was an infant / toddler illness.  My son and I are definitely not in any of these categories!  It happened so suddenly:

Blisters - only 1 - 2mm in diameter. Big one with
small ones surrounding it.
They may look small but they itched
like crazy on my son. Didn't want to show the
throat picture - it's too scarey.

Fast fashion gets conscious

H&M have launched their Conscious Collection where each piece is made from organic cotton and recycled polyester.  But this is not the only sustainable initiative that H&M has. You might want to read about H&M's seven commitments to the environment here. 

Do you think that by making sustainable initiatives along the industry's supply chains, fast fashion is warranted?  Will this new collection influence you to make your next fashion purchase at H&M?  Something to think about!

Teaching kids how to upcycle!

On Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to take part in the Garden of Youth at the gardens by the Bay. I had to reach the venue by 11am to set up my outdoor workshop and be ready for my participants by 1130am. Fortunately, I had my little helper on hand!

Hydroponics Update

It's been over month since I started my hydroponics. I've only had success with my butterleaf and had two meals with them. I added them to pasta (see pic above) and soup noodles (no need to cook, just pour the hot soup over them).

As for my red oak, I managed to germinate 9 seeds but all of them died except two.  I'm not sure what happened - the leaves withered and they just decided to say goodbye. Some even got moldy. I was rather disappointed and soon replaced the seeds with the local lettuce seeds, but they didn't even germinate!

Solar Noise Barriers

Whenever I have friends coming over from Hong Kong I always get comments about how close the rail track and highways are to residential blocks (some even cutting straight through an estate!) or the lack of noise barriers.  Anyway, I stumbled upon this great win-win solution.  Taking a noise reduction barrier and also using it as solar-panels to generate electricity.  The electricity can then be used to power houses and businesses along that stretch of the barrier, or perhaps sold to the grid to offset the costs of the barrier.  Improved quality of life, costs off-set and it benefits the environment. Hey, that's a win, win, win! 

PS.  I wish I could post some pictures of those barriers here, but due to copyright.....  Anyways, they've been built in countries such as Austria, Germany, USA and now the UK. Should we have some in Singapore? 

Popcorn Cauliflower

That's right, you read correctly! I discovered this dish on food.com and thought it would be a great way to get my kid to eat more fiber during a meal. I modified this slightly and used sesame seed oil and dried herbs instead.  Remember to preheat the oven before you start cooking.

CSR has nothing to do with charity

Put your vote in here!



Update on 7 Mar 2013: Wait, CSR does have everything to do with charity. Why not? I just don't think that corporations should just donate money to charities and think that this act is CSR. There's more to it than just donating money. :-)

What are you doing next Sunday?

I have some good news! I'll be hosting a free (did I say free?) upcycling workshop at the Garden of Youth held at the Gardens by the Bay next Sunday, 17 Mar at 11.30am.  There will be live music, performances and a Festival Village flea market from 11am right up until 7pm.

We will be transforming your old t-shirt into a nice reusable bag. Plus, you get to learn how to decorate it using the paint stamping with recyclables. I'll also be telling you why we should be upcycling and refashioning.  How awesome is that?  Please register with the organiser via email if you're interested and bring along an old cotton t-shirt (large sized is best) and a pair of sharp scissors!

See you there!