Saturday, January 30, 2010

Show and Tell Monday : 1:12 Scale Miniature Purple Hydrangeas


Spent the Saturday evening and night making 1:12 scale miniature purple hydrangeas. I don't really have a better word to describe it other than painstaking, because 3 stalks is all I can manage to make in a night. Flowers are so much more difficult to make, but they are so important to complement home decor items. These hydrangeas are entirely made with air dry clay. There are actually some paper kits in the market that you can assemble paper hydrangeas together, but I personally still prefer to use air dry clay. It's just a personal preference. I'm not that disciplined when it comes to flowers- I need to be in a particular mood. Give me lots of soothing music, a cup of tea and a cool environment. Currently, since I'm crazy about them, I'll try to make as many as possible....

I had a deeper understanding and learning of oil colours when I made these flowers because I seldom touch purple or blues. Some colours need to be mix by hand. Depending on which brand and grade you use, there are different levels of opacity, translucency. I am glad I pushed myself a little out of the comfort zone.

These will be made available in March, since I'm waiting for the silver pots to arrive. I tried other pots, but they still look best in these charming silver pots.

As for this particular completed piece, I'm using it to display on the shabby chic cupboard and the entire set will be showcase in the talk in March'10.




Thursday, January 28, 2010

Calling all Crafters!

Have you been affected by the daily news about Haiti, and wished you could help, but yet don't have a lot of cash to send? If you are a crafter, there is a way you can help!

I came across a wonderful blog and etsy shop today.

They are looking for art pieces, handcrafted items, original patterns, kits or downloadable instructions that you are willing to contribute to Haiti By Hand.

Haiti By Hand is an artisan group forming in Despinos, Haiti. Donations to this group of women (many single moms) will go directly to empowering these women to bring in their own income to provide for their children and families. You are helping in a very tangible way to transform a life when you contribute.

If you want to contribute items for the HBH etsy shop, just simply send an email to haitibyhand at att.net Of course to prevent spamming, please add in the @ to replace at.

You can also visit the etsy shop here : http://www.etsy.com/shop/haitibyhand

Blog can be found here : http://haitibyhand.typepad.com/

Please spread the word around. I think this is a really meaningful.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Scale Strawberry theme breakfast in bed tray

Ran some errands on Saturday. I didn't get what I wanted, which I ended up being quite disappointed right then, but all's well after I bought 2 books instead and treated myself to my favourite meal at the japanese restaurant. Didn't regret getting the books because I think it fuelled my imagination and inspiration. My bedside table is getting filled with more books lately...

I'm currently still working on multiple custom work, but I pace myself by switching when I'm waiting for something to dry.

I also had some time to experiment making something new this week. I'm particularly pleased with this strawberry theme shabby chic breakfast in bed tray. It can also be used as a kitchen tray to display your tea set, just like mine.


This tray can be purchased at my etsy shop: http://www.miniaturepatisserie.etsy.com/


Sunday, January 17, 2010

Show and Tell Monday ~ Work in progress

Had a nice weekend. Went tea on Saturday, and also worked on my new work in progress, on top of many others.

It involves quite a bit of woodwork, and seems scary to most people when I tell them the woodwork is done by myself too.

Can you guess what it is??

Now, back to more work for me............................





Saturday, January 16, 2010

Tea at TWG

I spent last weekend with Tracy and Ekeziel. We went to Tea at TWG. I love drinking tea, and googled upon this place when looking for new places in town to have tea at. This was something very different from the usual cafe, it has an old English feel to it. It was not surprising to see a long queue since it was a Saturday. But I have fun absorbing and looking at their beautiful displays (photography of their products in their store is not allowed!), and had fun looking at the endless list of teas to choose from. What really stood out was there was a large rotating cylindrical cabinet that holds possibly a hundred or more canisters of tea leaves.

Unfortunately, most shops (including this) don't allow photography of their interior decor, so I don't have a photo to show you, but you can go to their website: http://www.twgtea.com/

I want to show you a photo of the cakes we chose. We picked something from their pastry trolley instead. It was a slice of white chocolate cake and for me, a chocolate cake. I think I actually like the white chocolate cake better. The chocolate cake tasted a little too sweet for my liking after a while....and I didn't finish it :P



Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Found myself in 2 Treasuries

Thank you to yaelfran and mitchellanddent, I found myself in 2 treasuries today. I'm so honored to be part of these beautiful treasuries!

Both has beautiful soft colours! Enjoy the visual treat!








Featured on Lian He Zao Bao today!

Thanks to Snowfern who actually referred me to the local reporter, I was also featured in today's Lian He Zao Bao.




For those who are interested to see the online article, it is available here at http://www.zaobao.com/fk/fk100113_001.shtml in Mandarin.


You can easily run babelfish to translate it to English or whichever language you want to read it in.
My friend Ryan has actually tested it and he did understand what it was about in English :)
Snowfern has also did a translation, so you can head over to her site to read it.




If this was your first time here because of the newspaper report, hi! :)

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Show and Tell Monday ~ Shades of Beige, Yellow, Orange, Ochre

It is really coincidental that my recent craft pieces are of the same colour tone. I am rather liking it, especially how white goes well with it, giving it a clean soft look. I am aiming to start the new year by going back to the basics, let's see how long I can keep it up (probably not too long!), knowing I do like so many colours. I don't remember being a great fan of orange colour, but in recent years, I'm liking it alot. It is a cheerful colour, and looking at it makes me smile. I think it is also because I have been complimented many times by friends that I should wear more Orange coloured clothes as it brings out my skin tone.

I did a lookup on the internet to see if there were any orange coloured breads. Indeed there was. In fact, I think Martha Stewart had a ginger carrot bread recipe.

So below are a few latest pictures of my creations : macarons, carrot bread breakfast tray, tarte profiteroles. Enjoy!