Homeschoolers' Art & Craft Day

We attended the 2nd Homeschoolers' Art & Craft Show & Tell Day earlier this month. Missed the first event last year so this time we were determined to make it. It was held in a small function hall in one of the apartments. Homeschooling family: Julia made all the necessary arrangements for the event.

At this event, the kids get to showcase their art masterpieces. Evan decided on drawing Lego superheroes for display. He even built Lego art pieces! 

Evan and his work

 Marissa's artwork

The children also get to try out various art & craft 'workshops' conducted by older kids. They can also visit the various 'booths' selling handmade items - all set up by homeschoolers. We didn't have time to prepare a booth so we just browsed around and spent $$$. Evan & Marissa tried a bead workshop.

Here, Evan tried his hand at stone painting.

Other stalls/booths include cookie decorating, finger crochet, DIY photo frame kits, design your own fabric bag, sale of homemade cookies, bookmarks, face-painting and more! It was like a carnival!

There was also an art competition based on the theme of : Biodiversity and trophies were given out to winners. Again, we didn't take part in the competition due to lack to time ;P but there were lots of entries submitted for the judging on the day of the event. 

Overall, it was a good learning experience and fun too to catch up with homeschool families. Next big event will be Sports Day and we will set up a booth!

Coppelia Ballet Premiere

Coppelia Classical Ballet Premiere: Saturday night 8:30pm Istana Budaya

Evan & I arrived early and we went straight to the media registration table to collect our 2 complimentary tickets. In my earlier blogpost, I did mention the whole family is going but unfortunately, we were informed that only 2 tickets were allocated per blogger. I didn't want to buy an extra ticket for Marissa which costs RM123, as she may end up sitting on my lap which is strictly not allowed or she may even fall asleep during the performance as the ballet is over 2 hours long.  

We bought the program book for RM10. We also took the opportunity to purchase The White Bat DVD for RM35. The White Bat was a ballet production at Istana Budaya in 2011. Read all about our experience at Istana Budaya's The White Bat here. We watched the DVD just yesterday together as a family. We still kept the program book and our tickets stapled on the front cover although it has been 3.5years ago!

Anyway, back to the ballet, it was very interesting. Our seats at the Grand Circle were pretty good because of the good leg-room and clear view of the stage. Too bad we weren't close enough to see the facial expressions. 

Act 1 was the opening dance which we saw during the rehearsal. It was magical seeing the dancers on stage in full costume dancing on the set. 

Act 2 was my favourite - Evan loved it too because we get to see the various 'dolls' in Dr Coppelius' workshop! 

Act 3 was very nice as well where the dancers get to strut their stuff here. Pas de deux between the newly weds Franz & Swanhilda plus solos by the principal dancers and guest artistes. I love watching Connor Walsh dance - he has such a big on-stage presence. A group of children also performed during Act 3 and there were 3 boys! 

I wonder what ballet performance it would be next year and hopefully Evan will be able to audition for a role in the children's ballet. I'm secretly wishing it to be The Nutcracker. 

Coppelia Ballet Coming Soon to Istana Budaya

Just 2 more days to go before the premiere of Coppelia!

I am very excited and so are my kids especially my girl who will be attending her very first ballet performance at Istana Budaya.

BFM radio conducted an interview recently with Connor Walsh and Wan Ching on July 1st

Then on July 2nd, a few of the cast members were interviewed on Bella NTV7

The dance cast of Coppelia was featured on Capital FM88.9 on July 3rd. Listeners could call in to win tickets for the ballet show. 

L-R: Wan Ching, Xandria Ooi, Mark Brinkley, Connor Walsh & Joanne Kam


Have you got your tickets to watch Coppelia yet?
Tickets still available online: www.ticket2U.biz or Istana Budaya Box Office (03-40265558)
Show time: July 6th 8:30pm and July 7th 3pm

Maybank2U Pay

Maybank2U Pay is a newly launched payment facility specially designed for small or home businesses e.g. blogshops conducting online transactions. By using M2U Pay, sale transactions can be managed systematically and professionally. 

I was given this privilege to be in the pioneer group of blogshop owners to try out the Beta version of this new payment system. We were required to attend the workshop on setting up the payment icon on the sidebar of our blogshops and to test out the transactions. After the initial phase of beta testing, it was all systems go at the launch event of M2U Pay at Menara Maybank on April 16th. 

The Cherry on the Cake's booth at the M2U Pay Launch

As a seller, this new payment system helps me manage my online transactions as I get notified once a payment has been made into my account via M2U Pay. I can view the transaction history with its description when I log into M2U website. Plus it's very easy for my customers to bank in payment for me by just clicking on the M2U Pay icon in which the payment is automatically deposited into my account. 

I was invited to a flea market organized by Maybank on May 11th at The Piazza, e@The Curve, as part of the publicity drive for M2U Pay.

So, for blogshop owners, if you are keen to find out more about this payment system, kindly visit Maybank's website to read up and also to apply. 

*This is a sponsored post*