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! 

Joy To The World

It's my birthday!

Merry Christmas everybody! I sincerely hope all of you are able to celebrate with your loved ones today. Even if you are not, I wish that you and your dearest will be healthy and happy so you can celebrate next Christmas together :).

It's a nice cool day today, and I'm truly glad I can be with my family members for Christmas. I've been in campus for too long this year. But, hey, I got a 3.83 for the semester so that's a great present too ;). 

My wish may not have came true again this year, neither am I sure if I want to renew my hopes for the next 365 days. But I will remain contented with what I have now, and live in the gift of the present while it lasts. 

Happy Happy Christmas and New Year everybody! And yay to the 400th post of this 'ere blog!

Today's Special: Heal The World

It's here!!!

This is my final assignment for Illustration. We had to do an A3 marker rendering on the theme 

'Heal The World'. I chose to focus more on the result of the actions of global warming, such as melting polar ice caps and habitat destruction. The melting caps was useful to lead into my concept, which was a melting sundae. The ice cream scoops was juxtaposed with endangered animals to symbolize the creatures suffering from the destruction, and the sundae glass was built out of cramped houses and narrow streets, a nuclear plant and a train spewing black smoke. 

I was greatly inspired by Mattias Adolfsson, a fantastic fantastic artist I've been following on deviantart for many years. You know the kind of artwork that just pulls at your heartstrings and makes you want to cry? Mattias' works gets to me that way. His incredible detailed imaginative drawings are explosive. You'd wish for extra hours in the day just so you can sit and pore over his works and drink down every last detail. Do pay his site or dA page a visit, I assure you it is very much worth it :) .

I used coffee to paint the sundae glass! Started with a weak one, then added more coffee to get stronger, darker shades. The even darker shades I added with markers. Oh, the best wake up smell ever is an orgasmic cocktail of coffee and Copic ink! :D. One could get high on it, not like I did, but, yeah. Haha.

To update, I have aced the final presentation of the semester! Now there is a final group compilation project that will headache me for the next few days, and the semester will be utterly, completely completed! I can't say I didn't enjoy the semester, though I thought it dragged on for a tad too long. I'm glad I did all that I did, and I'm just as glad that it's soon to be over so I may concentrate on some personal work and self-reflection :).

TGIF everybody! And have a great great weekend!