Friday, December 22, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Christmas collection + news
I had another long day, creating, designing, going out, checking out places and Christmas shopping, jostling with the ridiculous crowds....
My Christmas collection is done. I've always wanted one and I pushed myself to the limits finding Christmas but non-cheesy prints for my minis. I intended to give them out as presents, stocking stuffers and maybe a bit of promotion for my little shop.
Requests for re-runs have come pouring in during my busiest time of the year but I swear I will complete them all. I just can't say no to people who proclaim they love my stuff. I know I rant about this all the time but I really do appreciate the time and love they give. ;+)
So I checked out The red dot museum for the Sunday Maad Market. Apparently they were having a holiday break. I was thinking of actually having a physical shop but I can't produce enough for an actual shop not to mention the whole idea was too cliche for me. Since I loved markets and often dragged DH around Sydney for the past couple of years through market after markets during the weekends, I might as well actually have a stall! It might be fun and perhaps see the response of my stuff actually, physically selling. Of course, there's the costs and time. Being the commitment-phobe, I'm more worried about me actually being there every Sunday than my stuff actually selling. :P The place was waaaay cool. Red building and great cafe. Oh did I mention I love old libraries and all sorts of museums?
Chapter 2 of the couple present was completed this morning. Cute Kinchaku (Japanese draw string purses) with embroided initials on felt. These look simple but they are surprisingly complicated to make. Or maybe it was I who chose the complicated design. sigh, but, I'm so fanatic about my work, I started working right after I wake. No monday blues for me. Oh wait, its sunday today. Nah....doesn't matter when I love what I do....
My fabulous friend, Annie, bought the Strawberry fields tote for work and 3 other Christmas minis. Thanks babe.
Its been a long day, and I had to have KFC with DH and family at 10pm. I understood its diet suicide so I might go hide under the covers now and pretend the fat will go away.
"My breath smells like chicken."
p/s, I found time to wander through the installation at the Esplanade and found LOF at the Esplanade shop, and wasted no time at all grabbing the fabulous clutch I was eyeing all along in her shop but was always sold out. I'm happy. Love LOF loads. Also grabbed a fab pair of Chris Lou lookalike patent platforms. Yeah I'm cheap. But why buy something exp when its going to be passe in 3 months?
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Couple card holders
I'm so sick of the usual card holders people make. Yeah, I used to make them too but I got tired of it. This one is a stem off the cute fold wallet, only simpler. They took a couple of hours to be done but they all turned out cute. Thats the thing I realised, everything I make seem to turn out cute. Don't know if thats a good thing though. I can't seem to make things look adult even though I so want to. :P
Anyways, I love this couple. They're DH's friends actually but I came to know them quite a while ago and they've been fab to us.
They form part of a basket of goodies....
Crap, am I supposed to post this before it goes out to them?!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Black Sheep & Mushroom Mania
Still I'm really happy to get custom orders! Not a day goes by where I thank god and those superbeings up there for sending me great customers who love my stuff. I can't ask for more than that! I actually get offers to mass-produce or have a real shop but I had to turn them down. I know its prolly really cliche to even be thinking this, but I really want to keep it small. Exclusive, ever-changing, and always fabulous. Only in this way, can I promise quality and great service. I really want to have time to package each order, dress them up, have nice conversations with the person who chose to browse my store and actually bought my stuff. Hope to really do this till I'm so old I can't sew!
Oh and there's my dream to own a massive white-washed gallery, filled with fabulous art of all kinds.
My brains are churning out ideas faster than I can realise them. :P Maybe that explains why the costing fomulas ain't getting absorbed into my brain.....
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Photos!
I'm so bored of costing (paper on wed) so I thought I'd be good and actually post something about stuff that happened in my life. There was a good sunset the other day so I took a picture. I live in an apartment block but there's this private apartment thing in front of my building that came up couple of years back. I've always hated that it blocked the view. The scarcity of land here has made us little more than chickens in a chicken coop. I'm constantly jealous of Christine and Hazel's homes. :P
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
I got ambitious....again
I got ambitious....again. Started uploading goodies & stuff, even one cute mini on etsy! Or maybe its the stress. I can't decide. My exams - this week, wed & thurs. Anyways, I started throwing up mucus these days. Don't worry, never on the purses I work on. My workplace is so sanitary. No pets, no smoke. Why? Coz' yours truly is allergic. Mum cleans the house ever so often coz I sneeze & wheeze when dust flys by.
Anyways, I got a break on Sunday. Went on a fabric hunt! (again...) Its one of my heaviest days yet! Heavy Natural linen from japan, fabulous Cheap Monday type denim fabric (!!!), printed cottons, white denim twill, zippers (lousy guy overcharged me! but I needed them :O...), and the best yet? - Japanese linen canvas prints!! I didn't know I can ever ever find them here but voila! LOL Though its only like 2 different types, I was waaaay over the moon coz they are so freakin hard to find, even on the internet. I swear I would rob the bank just to buy me a ticket to Japan & steal my dad's credit dards! Yeah, so I grabbed them and a couple more fabulous cottons even though it seriously depleted my bank account and would render me meal-less for the next week or so. Sigh....I can seriously live on fabrics....
SO, the new Daiso store opened in Vivo City. I had to check it out. Lugging 7 yards of fabric around isn't funny. I was glad to have my dad's vehicle come pick me and mum up for the trip. It was cr-OW-ded! I got a cart and that's it. Lost in fantasy world for the next 3 hours! I really should be banned from going to Daiso. To think that I administer the Daiso group on Flickr. My dad shook his head in dispair when he spotted too much cute & pink factor in my cart when I emerged after 3 hours. Note - they did try to call my cell 5 times. I didn't pick up. Hey, it was noisy! :P So, more goodies, fabrics, stationeries, kitchen items, food.....
The nice thing about me? I'm sharing my goodies. Check my store! ^__^
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Everytime I hear that song (title), it reminds me of the hotel guy in that Home Alone movie. Funny and so heartwarming all at the same time. Christmas here isn't any fun. Its 32degC days and sweaty nights. Not exactly my idea of a white Christmas, but in the spirit of giving (presents) and expecting them, it might be a good holiday idea. Or maybe as a reward for being nice (69% of the time) in the year?
I'm usually indecently late for Christmas. This year, I swear on my own grave, it was going to be different. I've ordered my turkey, ham, pork ribs (?), complete with trimmings and even pineapples (This is what you get for Christmas in the Tropics) and even the log cake! I'm told I should just eat one slice. I begged that its the holidays but my mum won't listen. She's going to on a trip to the Dead Sea with dad so I'm left with DH in the house for Christmas. Oh, I'm also told not to burn the house down when I try to paint the town. :P Anyways, DH is in town for 3 months. He's on a Phd course & lecturing in Sydney and its the hols now. At least I'm not alone for Christmas. Wait...is that a good thing? Maybe I'm too used to being alone. Oh well.
Today DH put up the decorations while I tried (or pretended) to squeeze in more of what I'm suppose to squeeze into my already buldging head. Most people like to tell me I have a bigger head than usual. Well, duh. Thats what you get for studying too much. Anyways, DH had to play Christmas tunes while he danced & pranced about while decorating. It was more annoying than distracting. I never understood the stupidity of the UK system. We have courses all round the year, then its exams, followed by 1 week worth of break and the new course starts. If my exams end 13th dec this semester, would I have any Christmas left, I keep asking myself. Its utter crapola if you'd ask me. I can only sigh in disbelief while I try to memorise the Cash Flow Statements format and the list of never ending ratios. Who the hell cares about Creditors turnover days when its Christmas?! Hey, I already tried to be early this year. Last year, DH decorated 1 week before Christmas and we had a real crummy dinner at home. (read: Pasta with slices of turkey on top with $7 sparkling wine) We will have something good this year, I keep promising myself. The lights are up with the red theme ornaments and wooden zakka Christmas creatures around my black wrought iron bed. (I refrained from word-bashing!) I also have a tiny tree with the cute wooden creatures on it too. I put DH's sliver cufflinks beneath the tree. He hasn't asked what it is yet.
So, you already know how I can't keep my hands away from my sexy little white sewing machine? Yeah, I couldn't. Even under the watchful eyes of my mum, who threaten to break "us" up if I work on anything before my exams are over, I cheated. Hell, it felt good. It can only be described in Shakesphere,"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". He probably said that while he was having an affair and I can only nod enthusiastically in agreement.
I made my Christmas collection, up on etsy now. Only 2 sets of 3 minis, since I had some trouble finding fabric I actually like. I scour up tiny pieces and fight it off someone so you could have only the best, like I always intended. I have a strict policy not to offer anything to anyone if I don't already love it. Those 3 fabrics are fabulous together and they would be perfect for stocking stuffing and for peeps you don't know what else to get! Makes a good closure too, like if you're missing that something in your package.
Oh and, before I run off, I've finally started a shop with freewebs.com They are a fab bunch and I've gone premium with them too, which means less restrictions, no ads, more space and stuff. I'm so lousy with the DNS-type mumbo jumbo so please bear with me. If you're smarter and wish to critisize, please write me. But please promise you'd help.
Otherwise, SHOP @ florspace for fabulous handmade goodies and ultra adorable stuff from my shopping trips!
You know how much I love you guys... (apologies for the late update!)
Happy (late) Thanksgiving & early Christmas