Flagship From The Past...

Made a pretty string of buntings yesterday! I messed up the first time; the little triangles whizzed about independently on the line. I did it properly the next time, using vintage-ad inspired wrapping paper. I like looking at the companies and recognizing the names, and looking at where they stand now.

It matches the old girls on the postcards very well, albeit they are a bit monochromatic. Maybe I'll do something more fluorescent next time round :). Have a happy Toosday everybody!

Cork Board : Fish scales float my boat!

Ta-daaaa~!!! Check you out my gorjas corky cork boards :D.

I made only one grave mistake (and maybe a few little ones). I should have cut out each row of fish scales, and not just alternate rows. But what the heck, the end result still makes my heart flutter so it doesn't quite matter :P. 

I like fishy scales! Can't you tell? I will never get over my lost love for a certain pair of fishy shoes, never. My heart still bleeds when it's not fluttering over the nice-ness of my cork boards. 

Anyway, a lot of DIY tutorials I've looked at on customizing cork boards (or just painting repetitive patterns in general) called for stencils and/or templates. There aren't fancy things like stencils and/or templates here in Melaka, and anyway I was doing this with whatever I had on hand. So I stole got this fishy scale design from (shh!!) depositphotos. It didn't really matter if it was slightly pixelated or in black and white.

My cork boards were about A4-sized each, so I printed the designs out on normal A4 papers, then arranged them on the cork boards and taped them up. I then proceeded to cut the scales out with my happy knife, then stapled the makeshift stencil onto the boards and taped up the borders. I then mixed a mint green and pink (I wanted a more coral pink, but it turned out more cherry blossom. Still looked pretty though :D) in my cupcake-tin-palette and got straight to painting.

And when it all dried I decided to add one more last touch...

Gold paint! I dithered over stripes and dots, but in the end I decided I didn't want to overdo it and just went for a mock 'distressed' look. This I achieved by simply dabbing a corner of a dry rag and 'wiping' the gold paint onto the painted scales, removing any excess with another rag. I think the result came out just peachy :).

The edges of the boards were a bit flaky, so I painted some gloss varnish over them and it's worked a treat. Mounting it was easy: foam tape attached to the four corners of each, and aligned to the wall. Perfection!

Haven't quite pinned anything nice up, as I am still appreciating the shiny scales. But soon enough only a hint of sherbet and gold will peek from under the inspiration overload, I'm sure. For now I've just pinned up two postcards, bought from my uncle's antique shop. 

Did you notice just how lovely the glitter pushpins look on the board? Make some for yourself- or for a corky friend today!! :D.

Glittery Push Pins~!

I wanted to clean out my cupcake-tin-palette from the glitter animals, when I took one look at the leftover glitter and thought, 'I should use them for something if I'm too lazy to pour it back into the bottles...'. So I did exactly that.

I got a box of large-headed push pins, and slathered them with Modge Podge then spooned glitter liberally over them. I spread newspaper out on the lawn, then poked the pins through the paper before going over them all with clear lacquer spray. Easy, delightful, and perfect for your daily dose of glitter ;). These are going to look perfect on that cork board of mine, pictures of that coming real soon!

Happy Sunday everybody! Tis the last Sunday of January so go crazy! :D

Quirky Corks

madiganmade.com

Been mooching about the internet in search of decor ideas for my bedroom. I don't intend to have many ornaments, because I'm going to be away most of the time in uni and dust settles faster than an upset stomach (whatever that meant). I do want a good framed picture or two, and after some thought, a cork board wouldn't be such a bad idea. And maybe one or two little terrariums...and bookends for some books...and maybe a pinball machine with matching jukebox and retro popcorn maker...

Okay, maybe a few of those ideas are a bit too far fetched. But I was pretty serious about the cork board. I am honestly not at all keen with blu-tacking pictures and notes all over the wall (bad experience in my old place). The classic cork board is functional and can actually be a pretty interesting focal point, as many crafters over the net have proven.

I particularly liked the idea of painting cork boards. Some crafters opted for wrapping the boards in scrapbook paper, but I can't imagine how awful it'll look like after several pokes. 

the happy home blog

Look at this! Talk about cute! It looks like a pretty doable equation: 1 exacto knife + 1 piece of cork board + 1 tube of white acrylic = a very adorable cloud cork board! 

seejanework

 This one is pretty interesting, because it's a rectangular board instead of the usual square. It leaves enough wall space underneath for hanging notes and whatnot. This one is supposed to be a weekly planner. I like the little metal name plaques!

pottery barn kids

Right about now I'm imagining an incredible neon colour that takes one's breath away, but first! A pattern! A design! Tune in to next time folks! Who knows what Joanne's next quirk will be? ;D.

Magical Menagerie~!

I've been itching to do some crafty projects for a long time, but assignments and competitions and moving house kept me away from it all. Now that I've settled down a bit more I finally got the chance to go ga-ga over glitter!

I found this wonderful idea of glittering plastic animals awhile ago, and I knew it'd give my new bedroom a good splash of colour. I would have liked to have elephants and giraffes as well, but for some ungodly reason nobody seems to want to play with toy animals anymore. You know, the plastic-rubbery kind that comes in packets and doesn't include any fancy electronic stuff. Just inanimate objects and wild imagination that kept the children of long ago occupied for hours, batteries not included.

 It took me ages to find the right kind and size, and even these ones were a gift from Esmond. In the packet were curious animals: tapirs, pangolins, anteaters, kiwi birds. Not your everyday wildlife, to say the least. Haha.

Glittering the animals was really fun to do, but glitter has a life and mind of its own. I am glad I did the whole project outdoors, despite the heat and the occasional gusts of wind that scattered the glitter about.  The tutorial mentioned putting the animals on tracing paper, but I knew doing that would be fatal with the wind conditions. Instead, I put the animals into a cupcake tin (which is now my palette) and sprinkled glitter all over them. After they dried, I simply used a measuring spoon (1/4 teaspoon!) and scooped the excess glitter over spots that needed touching up :).

I also did an extra step: going over the painted canvasses with clear gloss varnish. I thought it made it look a bit fancier :D. After the animals were thoroughly covered with their new glitter fur/skin, I gave them a quick spray with clear lacquer, which I found did not take away the magic of the sparkly glitter. 

 Sparkly, whimsical, and so much fun! It certainly added contrast to my bedroom. I plan to add lots more when I find more animals to add to my zoo :D.

By the way, to all who have voted for the Chevrolet Airbrush Competition, thank you very very much! Your support is greatly appreciated :)

Nylons and Peonies...

 Hello there! I'm afraid I've not been at all productive this first month. This won't do at all! I have been busy indeed with moving into my new home. It's very pretty, but my room is bare still, and I plan to take some photos after I've done a bit more decorating ;).

Anyway, Chinese New Year is around the corner! I have shopped for new clothes, and today I decided to try my hand at tattoo stockings to glam up an outfit or two. I decided to do a design that is oriental and festive, so I drew a cluster of peonies based on Peranakan porcelain ware:

I basically drew out the design the same size as the cardboard backing my stockings came in. I bought a pair at Daiso for RM5, a steal, really, because it's not too bad quality and very comfy. Also I wouldn't feel too bad a heartache if I messed up ;).

After I had my design, I just marked where I wanted it to be on the stocking, then slipped the cardboard into the stocking! I didn't have fabric markers or the right coloured Sharpies, as many DIY tutorials suggested to use. But surprise, surprise, Joanne just happened to have a box of rainbow-coloured Copics at her disposal and that was what she used! Of course, I don't intend to wash the pair out, and even if I did I don't believe the colour would run too bad as they are not washable (I've stained a shirt or two in my over-enthusiastic past, yes.). The myriad of shades I have meant that I could add some shadows and details, and not just settle for flat colours. Which was exactly what I did!

After a good long while dabbing, completion! I was very happy with how it turned out; it was exactly how I wanted it to be. I am glad of the Copic markers, particularly the brush nib. It made fine lines so much easier compared to the normal small nibs. The black outline was put on last, and I found that dabbing tiny dots with the brush nib is a lot easier compared to drawing long lines. 

I can tell this is not a very good show of my photography $k!lLz, but this will have to do for now. I was just too excited with how the design came out XD. It matches the flamingos swimmingly well! I was planning to make a matching phoenix on the left leg, but I'll need a bit more time to figure out how to simplify and position it. Try your hand out at tattoo stockings soon! It's really easy and fun! :)

By the way, have you voted 5 times for Limkokwing University today? Only 3 more days to vote! Thank you everyone for your support! Tune in to the next post when I unveil my next crafty project! ;D

Fun . Ride . NOW!

This has been put off for awhile, but now I must appeal to the general readers of this 'ere blog: I need HELP! My friends and I do, really. We've participated in the Chevrolet Sonic Inter-College Airbrush Competition, and we need help in voting for our design!

This is how it looks like on the left...

And this is how it looks like on the right!

The theme given to us was FUN RIDE NOW, and the concept is basically the Chevrolet Sonic driving into a piece of broad, yellow cloth. Cute, funky creatures are just trying to hang on or going all over the place because the car is going so fast ; ).

We really believe we deserve the grand prize, and if you feel the same, please drop by and vote! It's five times a day, all day everyday till the end of next week! That means five clicks for Limkokwing University every day! :)

Click here...


...Or here....


....Or even here!


Thank you for your support! :)

Re : Cycle

turkish lamps | dear world, you're pretty!

It's been such a busy busy last-month-of-2012 for me, to the point that I barely saw December passing me by. Before I knew it, it was suddenly my birthday and suddenly it's 2013 and it's another whole year to my birthday again! 2012 has been filled with so much activities, and yet I still have so many ends to knot before I can sit down and find time to collect my thoughts and look back over the year.

Well, it is the beginning of the new year, and, to quote from I Capture The Castle, 'beginnings are good times'. The year will begin very happily for me indeed, for it may be nice to know that I am moving house! It is obviously the main reason why I only have a single blog post in December, amongst other things. I'm very excited as I'm finally having a room to call my very own. I have much plans to spruce things up for it, but I can see that it will take a long time and determination and hard work for said plans to succeed. 

Anyway, for this new year, I hope that all undertakings will be safe and smooth-sailing for everybody! If there was something I learnt from 2012, it'd be to embrace the moments. Don't worry so much about the future until the present slips away from you. At the same time, plan ahead; do things now that your future self will thank you for later. And I suppose for me, a new year resolution is to earn money, and keep a tight leash on my short temper! It won't be easy, especially when my imagination and thoughts are apt to spiral completely out of control before I can even stop myself. But even so, I will try, and remembering how much I love those I care for will help me through, I'm sure :). What are your new year resolutions? Here's to hoping we will succeed in fulfilling all of them!

Reinitiating countdown! Happy New Year everybody!