2014 Emir's Sports Day : The "Penyu" Preparation

Pictures are taken from my humble phone camera. And I'm not sure about you, but it seems that recently, each time im uploading the pictures via Blogger Phone Apps, the quality of the pictures -- err pecah pecah

This year once again, marked Emir's second year participation in his School's Sports Day. Unlike last year, I was surprised and shocked to see the level of parents involvement in Sports Day preparation, this year - Im was waiting anxiously on what theme the parents would choose.

And again, I volunteered myself to help other parents as this is the only way I can give my small contributions to the school. Being a career woman and working at strict office hours, it is very difficult for me to spend my times for any of school activities.

So, the parents chose "Selamatkanlah Penyu" as the theme for this year and like last year, we decided to minimize our spending on the costumes - in other words, gets creative with DIY. *gulp. 

And one of the parents came out with this idea - Papier mache to make turtle's back.

There you go, they gave us a week to complete 5 shells and each shell took me about 3-4 hours and the best part in that week, I was down with viral fever which make things worst :) Honestly, I haven't play with this since I was in primary school/ Ok i lied, the truth is, I have never experienced doing papier mache. Last time, Mama helped me :p

Papier mache crafts are simple but messy and takes time to dry at least an overnight. For my records purpose, wanna share with you what I have been up to for that particular very tight week :)

I asked Mr. Husband to buy ready made kanji cornflour from Art Friend which cost us about RM11, but one of the parents told me that she has tried to use the ArtFriend's Kanji but apparently, the papers did not stick well on the mold.

So i decided to make my own kanji, a lot cheaper as I refused to receive any upset outcome :)

The Star / Kosmo newspaper size are the best to cooperate with my mold. For the first layer, to prevent the papier mache sticking onto my mold, I used only water and small amount of kanji and i decided to make 7 layers instead of 5-6 layers as suggested. Really messy ok especially when I have to tear newspapers into strips, handling the sticky kanji (err i dont like sticky things on me) and doing during weekdays are literally tiring.

One tips that  I learnt from another parent is, put a little bit of salt into the kanji. As the water was poured in, quickly stir the kanji. There was no need to put it over the stove as the salt actually preserves the kanji for a longer while. 

Sadly, i forgot to pose with my five shells after all the hardwork :p Yes, I only involved up until this stage and was not able to help out for the painting etc.. Wanna see the outcome (ok, I have shared via my IG and FB)

Very amazing kan.. and can you see the effort by the parents. Semua tu DIY ok.

Bawah ni wit the Turtle's body is Emir's class teacher. Cikgu pun kene sporting jugak :)

I am amazed with the details on the shells. 

My little penyu.. :) 

and Alhamdulillah, Emir's class won the marching parade again for the second year! Hard work paid off.. Bila announcement, mak pak yang lagi menjerit compared to the kids haha..