Bread tag earrings

We
engaged a cleaner recently – to help us maintain our abode. As she
cleared and surfaced stuff – I tried to clear my bags of rubbish and
found my eyelet punch!!! So I tried punching holes in the bread tags
which I sporadically collect. I actually had this idea of making bracelets from them, but for now – they make conversation-piece earrings

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P.s check out my new tape-measure brooches – with the help of the eyelet punch of course

Cheers to normalcy!

It’s less than a week before I return to normalcy, well almost… The doc says by the beginning of May things should be A-oK (ie. I can visit Sushi-tei again and indulge in soft-shell-crab & sashimi salad AND I can do BC, BP, BJ again – yipeeee!)

So far the recovery is going well – I’m more mobile – tho’ I’m definitely not the speed-walker I use to be yet! I’m counting down to Aqua-Fit – doc says I can do that for the next few weeks. Anyone wanna join me???

Anyways, to think that a month has speedily passed by already…. And no I wasn’t bored AT ALL!! O-K, maybe I was a little after my mum left – or rather missing her, but really – it has been a good time for getting back to the ‘artsy’ roots – as you can see in my spate of blog entries…

This period has also been a great opportunity for a catchin up with people… I don’t think Nav & I have caught up with sooo many people in such a short space of time – not since our wedding hehe… Seriously, thanks for dropping by the CT- hood Oh yeah – and of course the msn-ers will have noticed my increased online presence hehe…. Nice catching up with you people too!

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Anyways, some recent pics from the weekend…

T: Cousin Linda & I chowing down xiao-long-baos @ Sago Lane

M: (top L-R) JW, Jeff, Andrew (bot L-R) Alice, Jennifer, Vivian (b’day gal), me, Faye

B: Claudia & Darius (my ol’ uni pal) & I…. Nice seeing you guys, look forward to seeing you soon in HK!

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P.s a lovely quote from Dalai Lama…

"Without the human community, one single human being cannot survive."

Kaya toast @ Keong Saik Rd

Come weekends & public hol’s – we normally have brekkie at the corner of Keong Saik and Teck Lim Rd. Good ol’ Nick recommended it to us and we’ve been regulars since shifting to the CT hood

Nav will order Kopi-O (thick dark coffee) with 3 slices of toast with kaya and 2 eggs. I’ll order milo-beng peng (milo with ice) 2 slices of toast sans kaya & 1 egg. Don’t get me wrong I like kaya – but my taste buds dun really like to confuse ’sweet’ with ’savory’ if you know what I mean! It’s an Aussie thing!

Anyways their toast is normally always crispy and in-between are thick generous slabs of butter! Terribly sinful I know – so I always remove at least half the amount!

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Anyways being home-bound and all, I’ve been buying lotsa magazines and you know occasionally they’ll throw in freebies – (bags mostly!) So after talking to Joycie & getting inspired by this local illustrator’s link  she recommended, I decided to refer to my doodles of kaya toast etc. and transferred them to the orange bag. Perhaps it’s something you can do too to jazz up those cheapo freebie bags you may have accumulated & give it away as gifts or something?

P.s… dear Nav cooked steam fish, veges & rice last night – which was very sweet of him But….. when I entered the kitchen I was steaming-mad – the boy used like almost ALL the crockery we own!!! 2 woks, 6 plates, 4 bowls, a salad bowl, the crock pot etc etc just for 1 fish, veges and rice?????? Sigh….. I told him plssss don’t cook steam fish again!!!! Too much effort for the ‘dish-washer’ *sigh*………

Seinfeld in the 21st Century

(inspired by auntiep).

Been watching Seinfeld (1990-1998) on DVD, the sitcom about nothing & everyday ordinary-ness.. Kramer is such a crack-up – he’s crazy cool, Elaine is cocky & quirky, George is a loser, paranoid & pathetic & Seinfeld – a pure comedic-genius.

Despite the fact that Seinfeld is now merely a classic, if it were still showing today I think he’d probably tackle how narcissistic today’s society’s become – especially the x + y ers. 

These are some topics he’d probably feature in his episodes:

1. Friendster – a gauge of how few friends or hundreds we may have…On what basis does one add a ‘friend’? And how do we define a ‘friend’?
2. Blogs – for instance does anyone really care about what we had for dinner? Aren’t journals suppose to be locked away – kept under the bed not exposed for the whole wide world???
3. Msn – a better way to communicate… with key features like away, offline, busy, block etc – but when one’s away – are they really??? And block – how many people do we block/unblock??? How is it that we can communicate so fluidly via msn as oppose to face to face???
4. IRC – overly false identities/monikers – e.g. 20/M/attractive/tall – 45/M/bald & wrinkly/5ft
5. The overflux of Reality TV programmes – Surivivor, Extreme Make Over, Amazing Race, American Idol. The credibility of the ‘reality,’??
6. Handphones – do we love it or hate it? We love the convenience of it; it’s a great companion when we’re sometimes bored/lonely (at weddings, family functions). The bane of it when we accidently sms the WRONG person an all ‘important/secretive’ message; when one loses the phone and loses their face!!! Or the fact that we can be so easily contacted/tracked down!!!!

The Tape-measure Project

I finally got around to experimenting with tape measures today. I actually bought a few brooches made from tape measure in Bangkok and I’ve seen bags made of it too.

So here are the end-products of the 3 tape measures… 4 brooches, a cuff with corsage option & a ‘Tiffany’s’ inspired hairclip.

Newly updated…

The eyelet punch makes life much easier!!! These are some of my new creations – I particularly like the brooches with the ribbons

Agnes & Van Gogh & Munch

I’ve always loved Vincent Van Gogh – his thick & vibrant brush strokes and his sensitivity to colours. Nevermind the fact that he was a tad mad – and sliced off the lower half of his left ear

Anyways I thought I’d play around with PS and apply his brush strokes in this recent photo. Am rather pleased with the end-result. Like the eye-make up? Haha…. And if you zoom in to my eyes – you’ll notice theyre ocean-blue If I wore coloured contacts – I’d definitely opt for ocean-blue!

Ok, this is freaky I admit. But the "Scream" by Edvard Munch is a disturbed – nightmarish painting! Like my orange eyes?!

Dressing Up! It’s a gurl thang!

Every once in a blue-moon I’ll sort through my plethora of accessories (rings, earrings, brooches, bracelets and chokers) – half of the stock is self-acquired, the rest kindly sponsored/donated by lovely friends, my siblings & Nav!

My accessories are arranged in various sized transparent plastic boxes – (the kind used for arranging sewing threads, fishing tackle, beads etc.). They’re great cos firstly they’re cheap, there’s lots of dividers and lastly it’s easy to clean & maintain!

So the sorting-process goes like this… I’ll empty out the boxes and ‘try’ culling them – (I’ve got toooooo many and really only wear a few or the same ones o’er & o’er again.)

So what’s a ’stayer’? And what’s a ‘goer’? Well obviously the dinosaur designs jewellery stay – they’re soooooo expensive and they’re awfully beautiful! Then there’s a few accessories which may have sentimental value – (e.g a bracelet I bought from Bali when I was 16 & this bracelet given to me for my 21st), then there’s the rest that you really need to try on in front of the mirror with certain clothes, mix & match to make the all important decisions – staying or going?

The revelations from yesterday’s fruitful process …

1. I managed to succesfully team-up a blue and red pair of beads my M.I.L gave me with these African blue & red earrings from Mrs Wok as well as these tomato earrings from Shan!
2. It’s ok to have accessories that are long and not choker-length
3. Accessories look great against solid-white and I guess solid-colours per se
4. Layering of bracelets, beads & even brooches can give a different look or edge! Like my idea of the brooches lined up on the white cami? Hee..
5. Finally… why aren’t I making full use of my colourful array of accessories??!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Anyways going back to the title of this blog…Dressing Up! It’s a gurl thang! Which gurl ain’t guilty of such a sin? I remember dressing up behind my locked bedroom door when I was in primary school, highschool and even during my uni days…. Donning a newly bought outfit or older clothes hidden at the very bottom of the pile or the very top of the closet…. Dressing it up with a little or too much make-up, accesorizing it.. Strutting silly poses infront of the mirror…..

And hey – it’s not necessarily a solo, private affair! Teenage sleep-overs, in the ladies department change rooms. Hee hee. It’s sooo fun being a gurl aint it?

Got any comments, tips/suggestions on Dressing up? Spill, share!!!

In the meantime watch out for this space…
Some of my gurlfrens – Anne, Jen, Milly & Sue-Ann are going to share their insights into Dressing Up!

For Jen :)

[DSB layout - Shabby Mommy]

Jen and I go as far as 1993… I was a uni student, she was a highschool student and we both worked part-time at the same drink stall at Spencer Village, Perth.

We were inseparable – we’d sleep over each other’s on the weekends, swap shoes; clothes; accessories, hangout at Freo – collecting glass pebbles along Bathers Bay .. Weza like 2 peas in a pod!

Today, dear Jen’s a successful web designer in England and though continents apart – we’re still buddies. Thanks too good ol’ msn

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P.s Do look out for Hazy’s debut into digi SB (DSB)! She came over this afternoon for some quick tips on Pshop – she’s a fast learner!!

P.p.s If you’re eager to try DSB – when you download the free digi layouts – look out for the ‘piece-of-cake’ layouts – sheesh they’re fantastico – truly great for the DSB novices!!

P.p.p.s Check out Nick & Pearl’s DSB debut!!!

Ok.. Im addicted!!!!

[DSB layout - Moody Blues]

Gawd… I’ve been too productive for my own good Within less than a day, I’ve churned out about 4 digi SB layouts inc. the Shabby Fall layout of Nav & I which I customised for T’s big day. JW says Nav needs to hide my ibook – I think so too!

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Anyways, Happy 1st Birthday dear Jovian!

Love Aunty Aggy & Uncle Nav xox
Ps. You really look like your daddy!!!!!

Debut into digital scrap-booking

Yup, I’ve finally sucummbed to SB – totally inspired by the SB sensais Brenda & Anne – and with time on my hands – these are my very first attempts – using the free Shabby Princess digital accessories – Sweet Princess & Shabby Fall. Please feel free to give me feedback on how to improve!!! I know there are a lot of SB principles – I referred to the Designer’s Eye book & of course the SB sensais for inspiriation – but I know theres heaps of room for improvement!

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Anyway the above layout is of Nat’s 1 yr old Skye – she’s sooo adorable isn’t she?? And of course below, is Nav & me – a recent shot of us at Des & Doreen’s wedding – aren’t we jus so lovey dovey?? Hehee…

p.s Anne – I think I’m getting addicted to digital SB – it’s so exciting opening up the various folders of accessories!