Kawaii Luck

I'm back in KL. At good ol' Vista. Spent 4 hours cleaning my room, from top to bottom, everything... sweeping the ceiling, wiping the fan, window panes, thousands of rungs on the window grills, wiping all shelves and drawers, tables, sweeping the floor, mopping it twice, scrubbing down my bathroom walls, tub, toilet, sink with Kiwi's multipurpose cleaner. I so love this cleaner. Spray it on anything and that anything will just melt away. I swept and mopped the apartment too. :P

This is a routine for every start of semester. Changing bedsheets and washing my comforter is also a must, although I do that once every semester running too.

After taking a shower, I headed down to get my mails. And what a bunch of mails it was. It stretched and stuffed itself full in the mailbox. And more then 90% were adverts. T-T The rest were bills. But one mail made me smile. :)

Super sweet uber kawaii pony tail holders from pfang! :D

Thank you pfang! I'm going to wear one in my hair every day. :)

You can check out her Etsy shop for more kawaii, amigurumi, sassy felt pins, and totally cute plushes! Yay for Malaysian crafters! :D

Flying...

In 3 hours time, I'll be on a flight going to KL. I'm going to miss home a lot. This feeling pops up every time I leave home. Every time. This is about the sixth time I'm flying out, and I still have homesickness. I guess it's not much of that. But rather, I'll miss my little sis.

Little is perhaps a misleading adjective. She's almost fully grown, 166cm and all. More knowledgable when it comes to cosmetics and cellphones. Imagine her explaining what 'mascara' is to me last year. T-T Oh, and most importantly, she's the life of my family. Her infectious laughter is on and to be heard all about the house 24/7.

I'm going to miss her a lot. She's just finished SPM and went in for National Service yesterday. I guess I never thought about her going away from home to study or anything. I've always taken her 'at-home-ness' for granted. Taken her presence for granted. My coming home is never complete without her 'greeting'. :P The semester breaks to come will be dull.

Geekery on Etsy

I present you the ultimate list of must-have geeky accessories for you to be a fully qualified geek. :P Of course, geeks have a way with words.

This old-school name tag pin is either a heaven-sent guardian for your new Tokidoki, or provoking tool to green-eyed monsters. :D A brilliant creation by Singapore-based Evod.

This piece below here is a beautiful accessory for a sweet girl. :) How I wish I'm worthy of it. :P An awesome idea hatched by DorisWorks, also a Singaporean. I absolutely love that she used old dictionaries for her line of resin necklaces.

Luv4sams also makes eye-catching dictionary definition necklaces using clear glass marbles. This craft is one of many which I'm planning to learn and try. I particularly dig this piece.

There's a rising trend on Etsy to use maps in accessories and jewelry. But none of them can compare with bettydeath's transit map cuffs. I absolutely c-o-v-e-t this London Underground Transit Map Cuff.

I love that you can put words on your wrists with this metal tag leather bracelet by aPassionForFashion. :D

I'm having my eye on all these pieces so hurry and buy before I lose control and splurge some more. :P

Just bought two lovely necklaces from pendantflair a few days ago. Can't wait for them to receive them. :) I intended to buy only one initially, but then simply couldn't resist this gem of a treasure.

This pendant is actually two pieces of glass with a sheet of paper in between. It is sealed with silver solder to keep the paper intact and prevent moisture from damaging it. This craft is another one which I plan to try... somehow... :P It is very popular, and people normally use microscopic slides for making pendants like this.

Happy Poo Friends Comeback + Rainbow Kitsch Fries

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Here I am... after midnight... officially on 'Christmas Day'... Blogging away.... T-T And my sis is a few feet away... watching Big Bang's documentary.... T-T We are so the 'yeh mau'....

So today, I tried making some keychain/charm clips. They turned out ok I suppose... Compiled another set of Happy Poo Friends with a new member : Baby Cream Blob Poo. :D

Listed on Etsy. You can view the listing and buy HERE.

After finishing that, I had more drive to make stuff... Hence this rainbow keychain. :) The vintage mock fries is the kitschiest thing ever. :D

This piece is loaded with all sorts of treasures; little sparkly acrylic beads, colourful seed beads, vintage buttons, a glass bead and embellished felt charms. Up for grabs HERE.

Rainbow Bejewelled Altered Tin

Hmm.... I was inspired to make this yesterday, due to my desperate desire to use up the felt scraps. I cut out circles from different coloured felt scraps, sewed them onto a piece of black felt. Then, I embellished the piece with beads, sequins, a vintage button and a plastic monkey. :D

The whole embellished piece of felt was then glued to the tin with sepcial fabric-metal glue. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before here. I got this glue from Kinokuniya at RM13+. It's a large tube, around 100-150g. Made in Japan. Works wonders. :D

The back-side of the tin where the ends of the black felt piece meets is covered with red velvety fabric tape, the same one which I used for the recycled bags. Kept it simple, because I want it to be able to be personalised - you can stick on a name-tag, laminated photo, the like. It is intended as a keepsake box. :) Put in la whatever is dear to you. :)

Reconstructed Old Pants and Shirts

I typed this entry a while ago, before there was an electricity trip-off. T-T I lazy to type the whole thing again. T-T So, I just let the pictures do the talking.

Pair of soft cotton knitted stretchable pants and a t-shirt. The pants more than 8 years old and shirt more than 5 years old. I have a LOT of clothes I don't wear anymore. I'm taking a cue from Japanese craft magazines to make bags from cotton materials. But they normally use linen.

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The lace and velvety red fabric tape are for covering the unsightly stitches. :P I got the fabric tape from a swap. :)

And I made another bag from a sleeveless knitted top from my mum's teenage years. Her size sadly does not fit me.... T-T Red pom-poms are part of a swap package too. :)

{The unsightly stitches}

More Promos for February 2008 Sampler

Made a few more promo 'cards' for The Sampler. These are made from old chinese calendar sheets. :) Lightweight, yet with attractive prints on them, they're perfect for mailing. I think they'll be helpful in increasing shop traffic. :)

Did some packaging for the necklaces and bracelets in my shop this afternoon. Throughout this one year of selling and buying handmade, I've come to realise that packaging is really important for any product. A good impression of a handmade product will be boosted if its outlook and presentation is carefully designed and perfected with love. :D Throughout my whole handmade experience and up till now, I'm constantly trying to make my packaging look appealing and pretty. It has improved somewhat... I guess... :P

KL/Penang/Langkawi Trip + Sampler Peeks

Looong break away from blogging. :P Arrived home yesterday night after that one-week 'holiday'. As feared, I've gained 2 more kilos. T-T

Didn't take nice photos during the trip.... Cos the camera lens was damaged on the first night. T-T Had to use my sis's camera phone to take pics. T-T Though with its 3.2 megapixels, the quality of the photos still aren't that good lo.

In KL, we went to Pavillion. The rumours I heard about the place are true. Jangan harap want to buy anything if you don't have at least RM100 at hand or a credit card. T-T And we saw something really bizarre.... People queuing up for donuts. @_@

I mean, yeah, donuts in general are nice - soft and sugary. But do you really have to queue up and wait for 30 minutes to get a lame donut? Do you? Huh?

Well, curiosity got the better of me. Back at Sunway Piramid (we were staying at the hotel), we bump into another one of the donut outlet. J.Co Donuts & Coffee. Apu..... What ish dish?

Since the queue has only around 5-8 people, comparing to about 30 people at the other outlet we saw at Pavillion, we thought hey, why not try some of them donuts and judge for ourselves the nicenest?

We bought half a dozen to try. And we were totally blown away.

At last, we knew why people sanggup queue up for these donuts. They are just sooo soft and nice! :D I take back my mentioning of 'a lame donut'.

During our stay in KL, I was very 'guai'. I only bought these :

... and two shirts. :P

The next day, we flew to Penang. Visited mostly tourist spots there. Penang has a lot of temples. Oh, and my dad's friend brought us to this Jalan Macalister or something for the hawker food. I'd never eaten so much. T-T The Penang char kuey teow is just the B-E-S-T. If I had to chose only one dish to eat for the rest of my life, it'll be Penang char kuey teow! :D *piggy snorts*

Ahh... after those gastronomic experiences in Penang (hawker food was not all we ate), we were excited by Langkawi's many duty-free outlets. I just drooled over the chocolate selections. Bought quite a lot, but not as much as we'd have liked to because we scared later our luggage overweight. T-T

We stayed overnight in Langkawi and had to fly back to KL then Sibu the next day. Haih. There are sooo much more to see there. T-T

Well, back in Sibu, I caught up with preparations for The Sampler. Here are the finished samples :

The flowery brown card-bases for the packaging are actually Hari Raya envelopes my parents got from Parkson Ria. I cut each in half, glued the insides together, ironed them to flatten and straighten them. They look really attractive -perfect for the samples. :)

I made a few promotional cards too. :)

Any item that contains a logo, URL or business name as an integral feature of its design will be considered a PROMO and not a SAMPLE. Promos are items sent in addition to samples.

Now, I fear for the postage for all this. T-T

Contributing for February 2008's Smpler

Hokay... I've been occupying myself with some last minute crafting for The Sampler. Not surprisingly, I fumbled the neccessities for contributing. Actually, I have to email the person-in-charge (Alison) informing her about my planning to contribute. I totally forgot about it and went on to make all the things. Until I finished everything and realised that I haven't printed out the contribution form. And further realising that I need to email Alison for confirmation and to get the form. T-T

Why do I always do that? T-T

Well, for the samples, I decided to recycle my mounting felt scraps....

into

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... embellished felt charms!

The larger ones measure about 2cmx2cm or so. The tiny ones measure around 1cmx1cm or so. What are charms you ask? Actually I oso not very sure. :P But I guess they're like charms on charm bracelets? Ahaha.... Not a very clear explanation.. :P Little eye-catchers to hang on your jewelry? Whatever lah. These ones I made can be strung on a necklace as pendants, or used in making bracelets or earrings. :P

Hmm... Since I've just emailed The Sampler, I'm not going to get a reply immediately. I intended to post off the samples on Monday (today - though it's still night) in the first place. But I need the form and moreover, I haven't finished packing them. So it'll have to wait till the next next week. T-T

I'll be going to KL with my family tomorrow. We'll be visiting Penang too, within that one week trip. I can't say I'm too excited about it. T-T Haha.... Smack me if you will, but... KL mah.... T-T I jelak and muak already with the place. :P If not for its life-saving shopping malls, I'd have happily decide on staying back in Sibu. :P The swamps need my clean happy feet. :D And ignore what I just said....

Mr & Miss Burnt Treacle Poo

Been dabbling around with different materials. I'm in a confused state right now. I don't know my own goals. Maybe I do know. But I'm afraid I won't be able to reach them. I want my shop stock to be down to at most 10 when December ends. That's what I want.

Well. I'm also having a dilema as to whether I should contribute to The Sampler again for February. Since December 2007 and January 2008 samplers are combined into one (The Holiday Sampler), February is my next choice.

I've made a couple of pin brooches, featuring Kawaii~neh!'s Burnt Treacle Poo (with an additional 'Mr'). The pom-poms are just so fun to make, and my mum found a bag of vintage Christmas decorative sparkly strings. So, I got the idea to assemble everything into a brooch.

I'm really sure that these are the perfect Sampler contributions. But the problem is, sending off 25 of these will cost me a bom in terms of shipping. T-T

So then, I listed two of them on Etsy to see if they're sellable. So far, they're not bought yet. But I'm keeping my hopes up.

In the meantime, I experimented with felt scraps I've collected over the months. :P Will be posting up the results soon. :P

Oh.... talking about results..... I got my sem 3 results in the mail a few days ago. I'm sooo disappointed with myself. I've always set myself to not let my GPA go below 3.5. But this sem 3 was like hell. Hence the go-below-3.5 phenomenon. T____T

Must fight hard next sem. Cannot let my CGPA go below 3.5. If not, I just go die can already la. T____T

Crystal Candy

Last few days, I was immersed in a beading bliss. Made a few bracelets, of which this is my fav.

All beads except the polymer clay flower and glass blue diamond beads were scavanged from childhood jewelry and accessories. I particularly love the acrylic purple crystal star.

I made a keychain thingy first. But it turned out quite bulky I think. T-T

This piece is also a treasure reconstructed from old jewelry and hair ties. Except for the two jade doughnuts, which were given to me by my Grandma a long long time ago. She gave all her daughters' daughters 3 jade doughnuts each. When I was in primary school, I wore them on a silver necklace every day. I never took them off, even when bathing. But I stopped wearing them when I started secondary school. Because I suddenly developed a 'geli' sensation whenever I put on a necklace.... I can't remember where the other doughnut had gone since.... T-T

Custom Order Onigiri + Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Seems like things are starting to take to a brighter side. :) I made this onigiri (rice ball) plush cell phone strap as requested by an Etsy customer. :P Hopefully, she's satisfied with it. Since she made my 50th sale, I've included a surprise gift for her. Don't cha just love freebies? :P

And today, I got another custom request from yet another Singapore girl. :P I'm so the Singapore fan already. :P

Well, this afternoon, I baked chocolate chip cookies. JUMBO chocolate chip cookies. T-T

1 ½ cups plain flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ cups soft brown sugar
180g butter
150g dark chocolate
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1. Melt butter and chocolate over simmering water.
2. Sift flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl. Add sugar.
3. Make a well in the center and add eggs and butter mixture. Mix well.
4. Drop tablespoonfuls of batter onto baking tray.
5. Bake in preheated oven (170 ºC) for 20 minutes.

Well, this is the recipe from the book. I did a few alterations though.... 250g dark chocolate instead of 150g, 100g butter instead of 100g, additional 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Was lazy to cut the block of chocolate, and there's only so much butter left. Adding the baking powder was a mistake because my mom said cookies normally don't require baking powder. T_T Maybe that's why they turned out to have soft centers. T-T Ah..... chewy cookies then....

Strawberry Dreams Necklace/Pins Set

Hah..... Been happily occupied yesterday. :P Remaking Rainbow Funk Necklace/Pins Set had given me an idea to make this Strawberry Dreams Necklace :

Um... Being inspired had me gotten a little carried away... I love the way it turned out though. You may dorn this funky kitschy bright schwagg of a necklace for that sweet lolita look. :)

Yup. This is another zipper necklace. The strawberries and yo-yos are actually pin brooches. They can be taken off to wear individually or rearranged on the necklace. I had fun making the poufy pink pom-pom. :D The pink acrylic yarn was from a swap. :)

I've listed it on Etsy. Click on the pictures or HERE to view and buy. :)

I'm feeling a bit better because I got a custom order request from a Singapore girl. :D I'm happy. :P Even though it's a small order. :P Well, I'm trying not to have more than 25 items on sale in the shop at this time. Gotta have 'em sold first before I stock up on more kawaii handmade.

Sho... Anyone curious to know what my work table looks like? :P

It's like a hill sloping up towards the left. T-T Oh, and that Famous Amos cookie tin does NOT contain any cookies. I like to collect tins - biscuits tins, mooncake tins, candy tins and macam-macam tins. They're great for storing/organizing stuff, and keeping your room/place neat and tidy. :)

Cookies + Re-made Rainbow Funk Necklace/Pins Set

Sho.... Today I baked some more.... :P Tried a cookie recipe from a cookie-book my mum bought. Here's the recipe :

150g butter
80g icing sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence
180g plain flour
60g almond powder
40g Hoen Kwe flour
½ tsp baking powder

1. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla essence and continue beating.


2. Fold in the rest of the ingredients. Mix well to form a dough.


3. Roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters.


4. Bake cookies in a preheated oven (160ºC) for about 20 minutes, or until the cookies are nicely browned and crisp.

Cookies fresh out of the oven will have a soft center. So, they should be left to cool a little before testing their crisp-ness. If the center is still soft, bake for another 5-10 minutes. Don't bake too long, because you wouldn't want a liquorice cookie. :P

Updates on my crafty world. Well, I made a rainbow zipper necklace again yesterday. :P It's just so fun to make. :)

{Rainbow Funk Necklace/Pins Set - 12 squares}

Well, I made the necklace a little shorter than the first one, so it can be worn like a choker. Here's my lil sis modelling it :

{Caught her off-guard in this pic. I like it - she looks more like herself. :P}

{Demure! I like this pic too. But my case of shaking-hands is getting worse I see.}

The necklace is quite an attention-getter. :P Fun and funky, bright and rainbowy - I just L-O-V-E it! Pity I can't wear it - I'm just not suited for that style.

Classic Christmas Cake

Finally, yesterday, I did a spot of baking. Decided to try out the Classic Christmas Cake recipe by Sunbeam, which came in a small booklet attached to the December 2005 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine. There are all sorts of recipes for fruit cakes and puddings in this issue. :) Earlier this year, I tried out the Rum and Raisin Chocolate Pudding. It turned out absolutely fab, but was gone before I could take a photo of it. :P

Most classic christmas cakes and puddings call for a bazillion kinds of dried fruits and nuts. Well, as I really couldn't see the difference between sultanas and raisins, I cut off quite a lot from the jumble.

4 eggs
2 ½ cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
250g butter softened at room temperature
1 ½ cups soft brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla essense
1 Tbsp cinnamon powder
300g pitted prunes, chopped
300g raisins
250g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup white wine or any liquer
½ cup apple cider/vinegar

1. Soak prunes and raisins in the wine and apple cider for at least one hour.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla essense. Add eggs one by one and beat well.
3. Drain off excess liquid from the soaked fruits and add to the mixture. Add the chocolate too. Mix well.
4. Sift flour together with baking powder.
5. Fold in the flour mixture and cinnamon powder to the fruit mixture.
6. Pour into greased cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven (180ºC) for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a skewer 'cucuk'ed comes out clean.

Gosh...The cake is h-e-a-v-e-n. :P Super moist,rich and sweet and smells so nice! Surprisingly, it smelt like Amos' cookies when baking. :D

One thing I'd like to share. I'm strongly against dried mixed fruits people usually put in fruit cakes. Urgh!

A Kawaii Christmas in A Box

Phew...

The last few days had me going uncertain for some time.... Uncertain of the things I want to accomplish during this hols. Sales on Etsy is really going downhill. I'm truly at lost of planning how to save the situation. I did all promoting I usually did, but it seems that competition has never been this 'sengit'.

Well, sales will come when they do. I won't fret over that anymore... I hope. :P

So in the meantime, I'll just pass my time with crafting using patterns in Japanese craft books.

Yi Jie, here's the template for the meringue blob as promised. :)

Here's a tutorial in Japanese, but the pictures are quite self-explanatory. If still blur, this tutorial in English may clear some things. :) Make sure that the curved sides of the petals are always on the outside. :)

Well, yesterday, I made another set of plushes.... again. :P This is A Kawaii Christmas In A Box.

{Aren't they just keee-yooot?}

The box contains 2 gingergreadmen felt plush pin brooches, 2 teddy bear cookie felt plush pin brooches and a Christmas tree cookies felt plush garland/banner. :D Yummeh~

{Backsides really look delectabuhls...}

And I added a bonus free gift inside :

{Sweet meringue cookies}

Don't the colours remind you of the sweet mini cookies we usually had as a child? :D

I've listed it on Etsy. But I'm not getting my hopes up. T-T View it HERE. I'll love you if you take a look at it. :D Thanks so much for everyone who supported all this time. :) It makes me feel appreciated and happy. :)