Freebie: Arabic Alphabet Printable Flashcards for Toddlers

As a Muslim, the Arabic language is an essential part of the religion, so I've been introducing Aidi to the basic Arabic letters at this young age. Currently Aidi's at word vomit stage and will imitate a lot of words and sounds we say. He's been counting up to 4 and jumping straight to number 10 and finger spelling his ABCs so now seems to be the right time to get him used to these unique letters.

I made this set of colourful printable flashcards (with little arrows for writing directions) and would love to share them with you (click the download button below) This download is only up to the letter seen س and I'll upload the other letters soonish.

One way to use these flashcards would be to let your toddler follow the arrows using their fingers. This will encourage their fine motor skills as well! Sometimes, I'd take little pompom balls and let Aidi arrange them according to the letters. He loves that too. You could even print 2 copies of each letter and play matching games with your kids. Too many fun ways to use them. Laminate them for durability! 

If you've printed them out, tell me how you use them, or better yet, share them with me on Instagram by tagging @dzaltastic and #dzaltastic cause I'd love to see little hands using these.

Much love,

The Malaysian Batik Purse Clutch

Malaysian batik never seems to bore me. I think they're beautiful in their own unique way differentiating itself from the Indonesian batik and the designers' popping up now a days. So I took out my stash of Malaysian printed batik, made a purse pattern for a 7 inch zip and tada! Will add on a strap to turn it into a wrislet cause my smart phone fits nicely in it.

More colours will be added to this collection cause it just looks to pretty and vintage-y. Aidi, on the other hand, decided that the purse would work better as a remote control holder.

Fastest way to make a GIF image

I love GIF images and love them even more when my son's in it! Videos take too long and hey, if people don't have the time they'd probably skip the play button. It didn't take long to make my GIFs, in fact, I only took the photos using my smart phone and copied the links to share them.

So here's what I would normally do. Photos from my Android phone are automatically updated using Google+'s Auto Backup. So whenever I want a GIF image, I would take multiple continuous photos of my son in action. Now don't lie, but I know you must have loads of photos like that, especially when they're moving photos and you're just hoping that one of them would be clear enough to be shared on Facebook. Now you have a reason to do so!

After taking about 3 to 5 photos, I'll wait a few minutes and I'll have a notification on my smartphone saying my image are already backed up and there are a few photos being made Awesome. Check those Auto-Awesome images on your G+ account and enjoy photos of your baby taking his first few steps. This was Aidi's:

Here's another effect by Auto-Awesome. Multiple similar photos made awesome with frames.

I've also gotten the same effect whenever I upload multiple continuous photo from my digital camera to G+ like this one:

If you're using an Iphone, you'd probably want to install the G+ app on your phone to use this function. Tell me how it went, would love to know!

Paperlove Blog Hop: Miniature Kite Wau. Wow!

I've been a fan of paper for the longest time. Yes, paper! The colour of vibrant printed wrapping paper, the smell of old books and the sound of crinkling torn paper. I've been fascinated with it's capabilities to transform from such a simple two sided sheet to anything creatively imagined. That's why I love making printables and decided to take part in this bloghop! 

I love how they can be intricately cut, folded into 3 dimensional objects or even as mere entertainment for an inquisitive little boy.

So for my Paperlove Blog Hop, I ended up reminiscing on my past art classes in primary school and recalled one paper project that was often a hit among the students. It was kite making! And not any ordinary kite. Our traditional kite, the Malaysian kite. The Wau!

With help from my little sidekick, I decided to make a miniature Wau as a tribute to the Paperlove Blog Hop. Made out of coloured paper, glitter paper, wooden sticks, thread and some beads.

The International Kite Festival 2014 happened just recently in the country last January. Sad I couldn't make it but I heard that there were some pretty impressive kites. So this came just in time!

Photo credited to my friend's husband, Joon Ming Photography, who has some pretty impressive photos of the event

The Wau is famous for it's intricate design and size. It's known as the biggest type of kite, measuring about 3.5 meters from head to tail. Aging more than a hundred years old, Wau flying has been a favourite past time for harvesters from the rural (kampung) areas. Creative people!

It's beautiful how people from all around the world interpret the use of paper and produce something amazing out of it. There are so many types of kites, from all parts of the world, all because a thin piece of paper can carry different meaning from one person to another. Come celebrate PAPER with us through this bloghop and visit other paper lovers (below) who have blogged about their love for this one piece wonder.

Now, what about you? What have you made out of paper today? 

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here.

Majo Bautista / Tona Bell / Louise Best / Cathy Bluteau / Jennifer Bomgardner / Giova Brusa / Lindsay Buck / Beka Buckley / Joanna Caskie / Jonathan Chapman (Mr Yen) / Halle Cisco / Sarah Clare / Cathryn Clarge / Dawn Clarkson / Rhiannon Connelly / Jenny D'Fuego / Molly Dhiman / Ian Dudley / Ayisatu Emore / Akmal Farid / Monika Forsberg / Claire Fritz-Domeney / Louise Gale / Chrissy Gaskell / Julie Hamilton / Emma Hawman / Rachel Hazell / Holly Helgeson / Claudine Hellmuth / Kim Henkel / Sarah Hoffman / Joanne Hus / Paula Joerling / Beth Kempton / Julie Kirk / Eos Koch / Katie LaClair / Kristy Lankford / Michelle Manolov / Doreen Marts / Rosie Martinez-Dekker / Tori Mears / Maria Mederios / Lise Meijer / Debbie Miller / MaryJane Mitchell / Suzy Naidoo / Grace Noel / Hannah Nunn / Camilla Olsson / Jo Packham / Rachelle Panagarry / Monette Pangan / Melanie Paul / Nicole Piar / Jen Pitta / Liz Plummer / Julie Reed / Michelle Reynolds / Lisa Rivas / Angee Robertson / Natalie Ryan / Aisling Ryan / Elisabet Sapena / Kyrrha Sevco / Jamie Sprague / Elizabeth Steele / Terri Stephens / Juniper Stokes / Mary Tanana / Maike Thoma / Linda Tieu / Gabrielle Treanor / Tammy Tutterow / Deborah Velasquez / Jordan Vinograd Kim / Cat Whipple / Brooke Witt / Katie Wood / Amelia Woodbridge

Freebie: Frozen's Olaf & Sven Yogurt Pot Dolls Printables

I'm a big big fan of Frozen and their song 'Let It Go' has been playing on auto-loop in my head. I've been seeing a lot of Disney's Frozen things recently and decided to jump on board the bandwagon. So I decided to make Olaf and Sven YoPots (yogurt pot) dolls for Aidi to play. We slid them down a pre-made slide using some books and had a yopot race. Weee!

Now here you go, a free printable from us so you can have as much fun. Download it, print it out and make these cheap easy toys for your little ones.

Would love to see the finished product so send me a photo at dzaltastic [at] gmail [dot] com or share it with me on Instagram @dzaltastic #yopots #dzaltasticyopots

Much love, 

*This printable is only an art inspired and I am no way affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. All copyrights are property of Disney.

How I Made the Snap Clutch Handbag Purse

I've been keeping this set of Korean Imported fabric for a while now. Ordered it directly from Korea from a friend of mine. Been waiting for the right time to use it. And it came. Yes it did! For someone extremely important in my life. (Will update more on that once I give the bag to her!)

Now, I'm no purse maker. This was my first time buying a metal snap frame and I just wasn't sure how to do it. Luckily, there's the internet and I found this wonderful tutorial at Guthrie & Ghani. I started off by making a pattern for the frame since mine measured bigger than in the tute.

The frame I bought measured about 10 inches across and I wanted it to be 6 inches deep. Normally I'd go all experimente and just cut the fabric without making a dummy, but this fabric was just too pretty to make any mistakes and I only had fat quarters of each material. So I carefully cut out my pattern using some remnant linen and once I was satisfied, cut out all the pieces for the purse. I also added some batting and interfacing to give the purse some body.

I coaxed hubs to get me some fabric/metal glue cause that was the one thing I left out. Duh! Luckily he can never say no to a trip to the hardware store. Once I got the glue, I secured the completed purse body to the metal frame. It took me a while to get use to gluing the fabric into place. Plus, the glue didn't come with a nozzle so I had to use a wooden stick to get the glue in the right place. Cloth pegs and paper clips came in real handy at certain places. The purse turned out so pretty once the glue set that now I feel like I need to make another one for myself. 

Credit goes to hubs for getting me the glue and to my little wear and tear tester. Yes, mummy makes things with her hands and you destroy them with your little ones. We make a great team baby!