New bendy designs

Same shape, different style. Used to do then in a single piece of design/fabric for the shoppe but guessed pple must be tired of seeing the same style always. So, this time, will do up the bendys in matchy fabrics complete with laces for a nice feminine touch! Hope i can rush out some in time for Ms G's fair starting this friday @ liang court.

I like "The Young Victoria"

Always have a soft spot for those movies of kings & queens, duke and duchess type of era. So borrowed this movie "The Young Victoria" to watch last nite and i love love love it! Its a relatively easy plot to follow and based roughly on the life of Queen Victoria - queen of great britian , the longest reigning britsh monarch. A synopsis - "A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule and her enduring romance with prince albert".

Catch it if you like such shows too. I also like "The Other Bolyen Girl" , "The Duchess" and the likes of these type of shows.

Boosting readership!

This post will boost readership @ my blog! I think WE believe so. We being me, kay and lak. Hahaha. A couple of weeks back, we were invited to kay's place for dinner - sort of a pre-kay's birthday celebration dinner where she cooked for us again :D

As usual, after dinner, we got around to doing our own stuffs - me preparing template for sewing my own dress, lak surfing the net and kay hanging ard. Lak was surfing for those blogshops featuring pretty girls modelling their own clothes. Anyway, then somehow then we talked about my blog and how to boost readership @ my blog... and we concluded cuz there's no interesting pictures and i am quite reluctant to post my face... dun wanna scare readers away la. but very often, THE blogger's face shd be in it in order for readers to relate to her...

Anyway, we got excited when lak showed us some of her frequently visited blogs featuring pretty girls with exciting life of shopping, drinks, cool crowd etc. And we decided to do the same! We then started taking pictures of ourselves in 'cool' poses, using whatever props we can equip ourselves with.The fun lasted about 2 hours and the other halves all thought we were mad with all the posing and weird props - lucky they were keeping themselves occupied with games while tyre was sleeping in his blue room as usual :D

Here goes! Pictures to boost readership! Enjoy!

This is the first set of pictures which kay & lak took ... sort of like a warming up thing.

Then we started getting excited . I edited this picture a bit and our skins turned out yellowish. Dunno how to re-do the edits so here's it

we saw this pose on one of the blogs and decided to recreate it. one of us deliberately created a puffy hair look just so its not so normal.

Then we decided to play around with ribbons and flowers. We have seen pple used ribbons as hair accesories so we tried it out too. Not bad i think.

I think this is cute with us labelling ourselves. Tho, i do think its meant more to mock ourselves :P .. kay = elegant? me = pretty? lak = sassy? errrr.... *awkard silence*.. well lak can be quite sassy at times tho.

That about concludes our photosession. We tried to relived it again for the next two weeks but somehow, good things happen when its unplanned. When u try to plan for it, it never seemed to happen.

Hope to see a huge spike in readership! :PPP

kawaii zippies!

Custom order! Audrey's fren, Georgina, ordered 10 zippy pouches She intends to give it to her daughter's teachers for the upcoming Teachers' Day on 1 September. She gave me a free reign on what i wanna sew/match - only specification she gave was that she wanted a standing pouch with a rectangle base.

So, since i tot its a kid's gift to her teachers, it has to be cute and colorful. Here they are - all 10 of them!

getting specky with bendy specs pouch

getting specky's the trend nowadays it seemed. those nerdy black plastic ones are the perfect ones. its funny i think - i really hate wearing specs and yet there are ppl out there embracing specs as a fashion statement.

anyway, i remember my specky days. i had developed an allergic reaction to contact lens and could only wear specs. those days, my 'fashion pieces' are my specs - have them in loud colors like purple, red ... nothing boring. i even have a 'blind man' style sunglasses which i insist on wearing despite it looking really bad cuz its the only pair of blackies with prescribed lens. after i did my lasik, i dun need to carry specs ard anymore and have since thrown away all my specs cases and specs (only left one for memory sake). i do hope for the longest time in future, i will not wear any more specs. but if i do wear specs, it has to be cuz it makes me pretty but not cuz i need to.

anyway, mummy was always using this very very old grey specs pouch for the longest time like years and years - she use it to house her sunglasses or 'lao hua' specs. she really likes that cuz its light, not bulky and easy to use. she said she cant find a new one anymore cuz specs shops nowadays do not give out such pouches. they give away zippered 'pencil case' like spec cases or those hard cases nowadays. those hard cases are good cuz it protects the specs from getting squashed but pretty impractical to carrry around.

so, this weekend, i crafted a new one for her (slighted padded for protection) :D now she has a new pretty ballerina prints bendy specs pouch! :D

it fits a pair of sunnies perfectly! :D

and here's a picture of the old versu new bendy pouch.

tyre the cook

last weekend, out of boredom over the long weekend, we decided to cook our own dinner and i suggested luncheon meat alio olio - since Mr V cooked it for us once and we loved it. it seemed relatively simple.

so we dragged ourselves out of bed, went for a quick grocery shopping trip and came back home to start cooking. tyre did most of the chopping, dicing, frying which i supervised! har har. anyway, i think he has been watching too much cooking shows and he tried to toss and turn the ingredients up in the air many many times. at some point in time, suparni wanted to take over and helped cooked but we firmly said no. i think she was slightly offended cuz she then promptly brought the doggies out for a walk leaving us the whole kitchen to ourselves. unknown to her, we were actually happy that she left us alone to 'play' cooking. :D

and here's it.spam luncheon meat alio olio with campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

when its ready, picture taken, we tucked into our food greedily. after taking a few mouthfuls, tyre commented that Mr V's version taste nicer! har har. and we concluded (with confirmation from Lak) that we have added too little oil and no salt, which is a likely explaination of the bland taste.

think we will try pasta in tomato paste next time.

blotched attempts @ sewing

i finally attempted to make my own clothes! not once but twice. as the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. i think i am going to lay off sewing clothes for quite some time.

here's the first one. i saw this pattern in one of the books and loved the way it looked on the model. the instructions seemed pretty easy enough to follow - simple round collar with cap sleeves. here's the end product -

its like a baby doll dress and it looks pretty ok on picture. i just need to accessorise it abit with buttons or lace perhaps then its pretty. but its way too big for me. har har. i've got the measurements wrong ! :P

and this is my second HORRENDOUS one. its so ugly i cringe looking @ it. its supposed to be a simple drawstring skirt with 2 front pockets. but everything turned out so wrong. i had an negative inkling that it would turned out bad cuz the dirty green color fabric's really not my type plus the big pockets. dirty green with bright orange. omg! it simply screams ugly ugly ugly. but being a freshie @ sewing clothes, i decided to just follow the template blindly using whatever ugly fabrics i have on hand. and oh, how blind i am for its really U.G.L.Y!! the pockets are supposed to be worn in the front but in the picture, i worn it at the back in hope of making it lo0k better. sigh... my 4+ hours effort gone down the drain.

when i do try to sew my own clothes again in future, i will try out the first one again, this time, in the correct measurements with pretty fabric.

bag charms that come with bag charms

decided to try something new - hence these bag charms... literally bag charms cuz its mini tote bag . tot it may look too plain so further added bag charms for these bag charms. and the end results? seriously PRETTY! intend to turn them in bag charms in the near future. but for now, just pictures of the mini tote bag with bag charms (hmmm.. quite a mouthful).

this is my favorite one! the whole combination came out super pretty! from the small flowers print with linen cloth, to the mini pocket to hold the mini gold scissors and the gold chain which blends in perfectly with the whole combi. i drool...

and since i love newsprints fabric, i had to make one using tat. added pockets at the bottom complete with mini white button. And for bag charm, i added a mini bicycle.. seems to fit the whole theme.. of lesiurely holiday in paris & NY :D

somehow, this comes across very japanese zakka like from the brownish tones with cotton lace and dog&bone bag charm.

this is very girly in pink mini tote bag. feels very candy like .

kk's first crafting lesson

took quite alot of pictures during the crafting lesson with kk and had wanted to sort them out nicely with labels etc before posting. but then again, got a bit lazy so decided to do photo collage :D

it was a fun session for both of us. for me, its more the catching up with an dear old fren and chance to be more aware of crafting. 'they' say when u teach, u learn something new and enforce your skills further. and for her, its the ability to create pretty stuffs and conquering the 'scary' sewing machine (or at least that's what i think if i am in her shoes). anyway, kk's so into this sewing thing that she went to arm herself with lots of fresh fabrics and crafting tools over last weekend - in preparation of our next lesson together :D

here's pictures of her hard at work and taking time out occassionally to pose for the camera.

and here are the finished products! 2 round bendy frame pouches! sooo pretty. i like the flower prints one. (once again, bad lighting and bad photography skills makes the pouches looks less pretty. i must really pick up photoshop some time in near future)

we survived our first crafting lessons!

yes! we both survived our first crafting lessons together - me teaching & kk learning sewing basics. and for memory sake, i made her pose with the 'signboard' which reads : "i survived my first crafting lesson 9pm -2am".

will blog more about this later...

mini broke down again

my mini suffered from punctured tyre again. this time, its another mini, on a wet rainy gloomy friday morning. wat a bummer :(

was on my way zipping around quickly through the traffic when i heard a beep sound and then saw this sign huge (!) on my dashboard. sigh.. this cant be a good thing but optimistic me tried to ignore it. hoping optimistically for it to go away by itself! i am a fool. it doesnt work that way ! ahhahaahah i am just deluding myself, as usual.

after 5 minutes of driving and hoping that the sign will miraculously go away, i gave up. i stopped by the roadside and went down to inspect the tyres in the rain. cant seem to spot any problem. nevertheless, bro told me to bring to the nearest tyre shop for a checkup. the technician took one look and spotted the slightly deflated tyre and went ahead to repair it.

the whole procedure was very fast. took less than 10 minutes. in a nutshell, he merely located the 'tear', poked in a mushroom shaped rubber tubing, pulled it out to stopper the tear, sprayed some magic liquid (i say magic cuz i dunno wat's it) then its good to go. he said my tyre's a run flat tyre type,and there's no need to change new tyres. After his healing touch, it shd be able to last a long time without changing new tyres.

and the best part!??! its free! he's not charging me for the repair!! wah.. i must be looking really pretty this morning *puke puke* but as a rough guide (in case anyone out there reading this post runs into similar situations), such quick repair solutions usually costs about $10 only.

and so all ends well. i just need to reset the digital display on my dashboard so that the (!) dont appear anymore. :DD

cedarian goodies

they say - once a cedarian, always a cedarian. hmm..saying tat gives me goosepimples actually. cant say i've got strong loyalty to my alma mater (is tat how u use it in context?) but when kk asked me if i wanna to buy cedar-related goodies, i jumped at it. despite the fact that i dun like or keep soft toys and it will likely end up in some corner of the store room collecting dust.

anyway, i bought a towel, a bear with uniform and a bear in pe kit.

and for decency sake, the bear wore undies! cute they way they pay attention to this detail,

used, used and overused

i made these some time back.. omg! almost 3 years ago. anyway i gave one to kk and gave another to sabrina.

was delighted to know when kk told me she loved it and was using it but the delight turned into"ewww feeling" when she showed me earlier this week that she IS still using it 2years down the road....yes! the craftsmanship is soo good that its still useable till now but but but... couldnt resist it and had to take a picture of the current state of pouch.

maybe the picture above aint that bad yet. so i put another one beside it for comparison. the little flowers strips used to be in white or slight yellow tinge , it has now turned into a consistent shade of greyish-ness.

kk said the square size's perfect for her little knick knacks. and she cant bear to throw it away cuz its still use-able.

and so i decided - kk, if you are reading this, i love it that you love my handcrafted goodies. But all good things must come to an end. I am going to make a new one for you this weekend and force you to change out of it and throw it away or wash it!!

Round bendy purse

ooo...i made this round bendy purse - patchwork with lace!its so prettily sweet and the shape's really unique. made it on sunday night while watching one of those 80's movie on cable. only thing - what can it be used for or fit nicely?

did a close up view of the patchwork. love the texture of the fabrics especially the white one and the lace. it all blends so nicely. thanks to brother for 'approving' the combination again! :D

handmade pretty tote bag

After failed attempts at pouches earlier this week, i decided to stop crafting pouches for the moment. Wanna try something different - a bag, a coaster etc. So here's my freshly crafted tote bag. Haven crafted this kinda bag in a long while. The last time i did something similar was in August 2008 . Its in similar shape except this time, its smaller. Its really sweet looking!

It measures about 22cm by 20cm (LxB) and that's about a stretched out palm size. It aint too big but it is very roomy. I think this makes a good lunch bag for office ladies (OL) to bring out. I've put in some commonly used items for illustration. It comfortably fits my small metal clasp purse, tissue paper, handphone, umbrella and my kawaii small camera. :D

And the interior is pretty enough to use inside out too as there are no raw edges. Have also sewn a small pocket with lace.

So sweet looking i can melt.. hahahah. I think i will do a few more with different fabrics.

handmade coasters

lately, i got into the habit of using coasters. likely cuz of influence from ms k.. she has pretty coasters at home. so i bought some plus ms k's mother-in-law did some for ms k's new place and gave me some.. haha ok ok.... i took them myself, she did not give it to me.

perhaps i should have started using coasters long time back. look at all the cup stains on my table. i think it has to be a mix of me not wiping my table properly and lousy ikea table quality. anyway, the stains are here to stay for as long as i use this table.

and so , i made some coasters over the weekend. bought this piece of fabric with large squares of prints in japan 2 years ago but never got around to using it. now, it comes in handy for this coasters for its regular shape and ideal size (about 13cm by 13cm). i have used linen for the base (not shown in picture).

And since there are four different prints on the fabric, i made a set of 4 which looks like this! pretty!

next time, i will make some patchwork coasters :D

peek into my bag today!

My bag's usually in a mess despite all the pouches/compartments i have. I never seem to be able to keep stuffs in the respective pouches properly. Haw used to look thru my bag and helped me pack my stuffs and it irked her that its so messy. She's a 'compartmentalization freak'.

Anyway, today in office, as i was rummaging thru my bag looking for some stuffs, i realised - hey.. i actually do segregate my stuffs into pouches, just not in the neat & conscious way. So i neaten up my stuffs and took a picture of it. It will probably remain this neat for today only. and i also realised - i am the greatest fan of "handmade by yiwan" goodies cuz all my pouches are handmade! *roll eyes* i have to be cuz i crafted them myself :P here's what is in my bag ...

out of those pouches above, 3 of them are new crafts items for this week! picture below shows 2 different version of pouches i was trying to create - both are of commercially common shape & size. i normally dont craft such items cuz its i feel there's nothing special about these and some of those commercially produced ones are even better. anyway, i have custom order from brother's girlfriend fren and she gave me specific measurements and so i am trying it out. love the kawaii look & cheerful colors but maybe i have to accesorize it for a more complete and unique touch. The first pouch has a rectangle base and its stiff enough to stand on its own. As for the second one, its a flat pouch with rounded edges.

The round metal clasp pouch below is a craft gone wrong! :( the entire feel & look came out way below expectations. its not symmentrical, the shape's not pretty and it looks like a wreck. the only thing pretty about this is the fabrics used but what a waste of good fabric :*(

anyway, weekend's here! happy weekend to whoever's reading this! :D

Cheese from Russia!

Ms G gave me some cheese which came all the way from russia. Eating them bring back fond memories of my russian days. The first time i tried this type of cheese was in some restaurant eating russian food and having ice cold beer! Yumz! This type of cheese goes very well with beer & vodka! I didnt believe it was cheese initially - Its stringy in texture (somewhat like those dried octupus) , very salty and has a smoky taste & smell. Its totally unlike what I am used to having in this part of the world.

It would be too induglent and lonely to have beer in the afternoon, so I made myself a cuppa tea and had my fill of cheese! :D

(the cheese dont look too appetising in the pictures but it sure it!)

Thanks Ms G! :D

More large clasp purses

Ok. Finally done after a week long of crafting. Here are sneaks of the large clasp purses - all pretty 10 of them.

Here's a closer look of the kawaii range for the kid in you.

And here's the flora raange for the feminine side of you

and these dont belong to the above ranges :P. First time i am using iron-on patch for craft. Have bought this kawaii elephant iron on patchy during my last japan trip quite some time back and finally got to use it. its matchy with denim.

For prettier pictures including the interior, check out the shoppe :D