buttons in mail

at first i tot these were from one of the buttons swap i participated in ..but i didnt quite make sense of the little note in the package - " please leave feedback on etsy if i like the item" ??? hmm.. wat has etsy gotta do with swap-bot? so i guess the next obvious thing is that its a gift!!! a gift from a fren! a fren who shops on etsy! i am guessing......

ms lak, is that you?!? thank you thank you! love it loads and will try to create some stuffs over this weekend. yay. this is a great week - i have got loads of new fabric stash, and new buttons! i am staying home to craft this weekend! :D

kawaii russia dolls

got these last weekend in malaysia too. had overspent on shopping for clothes and shoes (tyre was ready to 'disown' me already...) and didnt have much money left to buy these.. but they are just to cute to ignore. there were only 4 left and i had originally intended to buy only 1 but under intense peer pressure, i succumbed to 3. as for the last one, my friends had kind-heartedly contributed RM2 each to buy it for me! Thanks Kay, weihua, lak and vinwee! now i have all 4 - the last ones left. There's Princess & Prince, Flower and Blue Dot (from left to right)!!!!! i love love love them...now i wanna go collect the bigger versions.

fabrics from malaysia

got these when we went for a road trip to malacca last weekend. cheap and pretty - surely its not those good quality cotton ones that i buy online or from singapore, but its good enough for that price. had so much fun picking out the fabrics and thanks for lak and kay who had a good eye to see the pretties through the clutter.

Adopt a critter matchbox

Got sweet Petey Lee all the way from Alaska in his icey home and toys and favorite food! Love it!

mobile phone pouch

made this specially for Katya. hope she likes it.

kawaii shit

if only my shit was as kawaii as those in the picture below...

had the most puke inducing experience by far - had to go for a full body health check up thing (well, getting older already...) and as part of the package, there's a stool (aka shit) test. For this, it requires me to scoop a portion of my shit and put it into a container (just writing this makes me queasy). anyway, did just that this morning and it was h.o.r.r.i.b.l.e. i had other experiences with shit such as picking/cleaning up my doggies poo but to scoop my own poo was very yucky and puke inducing..(urggg) still had a queasy feeling when i left the house for the clinic. on the brighter side, i shdnt have to pick my own poo in the near future so i m glad. :)

Kawaii Profile Surprise swap with ArtsyFartsyProd

Nicole sent a lovely package of cuties for the above swap - love the ribbon and the My Melody deco tape especially. Thanks Nicole.

Sticky Kawaii swap

Got this from TVStar

surprise surprise surprise swap

fabrics again and again

bought more from the same source following chinyi's fabric surprise to me... :D sooooo pretty.. will use them to make zippy pouches!

On giving presents

a friend once commented jokingly " i dont need presents, i can afford to buy them myself" yes, i fully agree with that - as we grow more financially independent (esp. after several years of slogging in the corporate world and scrimping & saving), surely we can afford that Pada bag, that Dor dress, that Show-pard watch or kawaii stuffs or fabrics. No doubt, we would feel a pinch or 'slap' in spending that few thousands or hundreds on a miserable item (some would say its an investment) , but yes, we can still afford to buy them ourselves.

BUT (i emphasize), nothing beats the feeling of receiving it as a present!

its starts from the anticipation of receiving the present to the joy of receiving the present to the excitement in peeling off the wrappers to see the treasure to holding the trophy in your hands and lastly to share your joy with those around you (some would say its to boast about it). it is especially joyous to get a present which you like alot.

i love to receive presents! gimme gimme gimme more! :D

door gift

these are what i got from visiting kay's place last saturday. not bad - free meal, free use of electricity, and free gift bag!!! :D

so ms kay - can i go over everyweek for door gifts? i thrived on presents.

mini magic color book

saw this fun kid's book at tea - as you pull out the page, the car spruces to life with colors!

more fabrics

these are mine - safe stripes, polka dot and checkered

and these are chinyi's - i drool at these

bbq gone bad

tea makes the best-est bbq in my opinion. he bbq the meanest lamb chop, even compared to those at restuarants. but seemed to have lost that magical touch last sunday - look at all the badly burnt sausages! tsk tsk! nevertheless, i still enjoied it tremendously! thanks tea!

presents from hong kong on v-day

tyre and me went to welcome kay home from her hong kong trip. we heard that it was freezing cold there and she did not bring enuff clothes. we also heard that on some days, she wore her pretty brown heels with blue striped socks to offices too. we also heard that she got presents for ME!!!! :D

she got me a small box of kawaii hello kitty plasters

and she bought on behalf of tyre a kate spade bag for me!!!!!! yay!!!!! v-day gift from tyre to me bought in HK!! aint it prettiiiiiii??? love the shape, the size and color! :D thanks kay for choosing a nice one and buying it, and thanks tyre for the surprise!!! :D

roly poly owls

saw a tutorial on how to do these on one of the blogs (forgot which one already) and had been wanting trying it out. finally did it last night till 2am. did 7 only and had to reluctantly force myself to stop and go to bed cuz its late already.


its so fun and easy to do these - my version's fat and round like a ball :D and its about 2cm tall. i am going to do more of these and there are so many ways to use it - as keychains (but i must figure a way to hook the keychain to it), as bag charms, for wrapping together with presents, as pencil toppers etc etc.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day to everyone out there who's reading my blog!!! Wishing you lots of happiness and love always!!!

My guy colleagues are getting these for their wives. For martin, he got a pretty pair of heart shaped swarovski earrings and for fenton, he got a bouquet of flowers with a sad looking teddy bear (martin bought it for him for $100 - cut-throat price!)

Friendships as i grow older

i seldom get in the mood for an essay like this on my blog but here goes. i've been experiencing something lately and feel the need to write about it. i wonder if most people experience this or is it just me...

as i grow older, seems like its harder to meet up with friends... friendships are no longer like the school days. back in school days, its fun to see your friends in school, in canteen, during lessons and its so easy to just yak away, and despite spending so much time with one another, there's always a topic to talk about excitely, to laugh about gregariously, to play happily and to lament about every other hour or even minute. and its also so easy to make friends and stay as friends.

but as the years flew by especially now that we are all working, somehow, it seemed that everyone just got busier and it just got harder to meet up and when we do, everyone just seemed to have to come late or leave early as they have something else to attend to. and appointments to meet up have to be made more than a week in advance. any impromptu invites are sure to be turned down in a sec because that friend surely has another appointment or work to attend to. is no one free out there to meet up anymore on an impromptu basis?

i was just lamenting to one of my guy frens and his comment was simple - "we are not the free-est, just tat we make the effort only" awwww... bingo! E.F.F.O.R.T. is the word! and if some can take the effort to meet up and keep in touch, why some cant? it takes two hands to clap and its sad to drift apart because we dont meet up - out of sight, out of mind. :( over time, friendships will fade...

so, would you clap my hand?

another fren of mine once commented " as i grow older, i have lesser time for all my friends and cant spend time with all of them" so by that, it means that over time, only the handful of friends shall remain in the inner circle of "friends i shall take effort to meet up"

so, do i belong to your inner circle? or would you invite me to your inner circle?

yet again, instead of indulging in this depressing thought, there's another angle to ponder upon - perhaps its just that as we grow older, our interests, our lives, our priorities changes and if that friend no longer fits into our lifestyle, its inevitable to be phased out. surely you do not want to spend your precious time with mis-fit friends. surely you want to spend time in a fulfilling manner.

so, just let it be. if we are meant to be, let it be. dont force it.

hello kitty galore

got this from Krisina for the Kiwk Kawaii Zipper Pouch swap #2 and i love it. had been a boring day at work for me and was happy to reach home to find her mail! it was prettily done up in hello kitty and the pouch is filled with hello kitty goodies - mini notepads (which i am collecting), pens and stickers. happy happy ! :D

another patchwork bag

did this long time back. its my fave quilted patchwork bag so far - just the right size, color, feel etc. But dont think i will be doing another one in the near future - it takes too much work and time. Will need a more sturdy sewing machine too.

strawberry matchbox

got this from my swap partner for the strawberry matchbox swap.

apple-licious bag

made this bag last night. spent alot of time matching the fabrics but didnt like result especially the handles - the feel, the width, the color - all these were just wrong wrong wrong... is there any place where i can learn how to match fabrics? also, added interface to make it 'stronger" only to find out that i have sewn it wrongly ..duh.. well, lookin on the bright side, at least its completed! :D still happy nevertheless :D

eggs

our star turtle laid 3 eggs yesterday at the backyard. we had this pair of star turtle for many years already and it was 'passed down' by my auntie who used to keep them but when she had to move to stay in the concrete jungle, she passed it to us to keep. we never did take extra care of it and just let them run around in the garden, occasionally feeding them with lettuce.


recently suparni's been seeing the small turtle climbing on top of the bigger one and didnt know why... now we know *wink* we actually had a pair - 1 male, 1 female :D suparni's luck- she saw the eggs, but by the time i got home, the turtle had covered it up with soil. cant wait to see the mini turtles.. i hope they come out soon and that my doggies do not terrorise them.

to change or not

i have been surfing flickr recently for pretty pictures... maybe i should change to flickr instead of blogspot since i am more a 'pictorial' person rather than a 'words' person.... think think think...

new creations

after a long dry spell... i have finally come up with new designs instead of the boring (but useful) clutch purses.

There's the bendy snap open purses which are up for sale on etsy. They are limited in stock - only 3 avaliable and no more after that, unless i manage to get more of those bendy snap open clasps. For pictures, go to onebowl.ety.com

There's also the mobile phone pouch. This aint the normal type. You can use it on its own (see first picture) or you can hook the beaded chain over your bag's strap (see second picture). That way, you no longer need to rummage through your bag long and hard just to find your handphone.

gift from cousins

my HK cousins came to Singapore for CNY and got me these - a fluffy Hello Kitty towel and a handicraft book! :D

tulips

i love tulips and got these pretties for chinese new year. too bad they dont last too long.

fabric surprise from lak!

this surprise package came from lak - she ordered it online direct from Japan!! :D it was delivered on thursday actually and mummy signed for it but i didnt see it as it was chucked aside together with the newspapers at one corner. luckily, lak asked if i got the ''surprise' on friday (fyi - lak's paranoid when it come to mails due to her bad experiences with the worldwide mailing system) ... so i went home and viola!!! such PRETTY fabrics ALL for me!!!

THANKs LAK!!

Huat Huat Huat!

the first 'yu sheng' for the year! yummy.