Melissa's new bag

July Bag Ladies Swap Received from Lyn
Originally uploaded by craftersbagsandmosaics.

I sent her this for the july bag ladies swap. Than I realised I forgot to take a photo. LOL She wanted a medium-sized bag with stronger interfacing for her own stuff and hubby's things too. Just glad to hear she liked it! ^___^

400

Happy mid-autumn, mooncake festival chinese people. I had my mooncake with the folks and watched primetime local crap on tv. The mooncake was good, though it wasn't the snow skin types I preferred. I had to resist walking past Haagen Dazs coz I know I would jump in for the ice cream version. Dang those chocolate birthday cakes! (OK, I admit I loved them) :P The moon looked great tonight though. I stopped to stare for a while during my evening walk.



Celebrating meaningless milestones again. I have reached 400 feedbacks! I know, I sold more than that, but I guess we don't always get feedbacks from everyone. Nonetheless, I never reached this much in my ebay accounts ever since 1995. LOL I think etsy's almost the best thing since sliced bread and chocolate milk. I guess I can live with those hiccups at their site earlier. One etsyer asked me a while ago about why do I not hang around the etsy forum to gain exposure. I told her, if I did that, I'll never leave the computer and get sewing done and actually have stuff in my shop! But yeah, you win some, you lose some I guess. I'm more about the sewing than the talking. Thanks SO much, from the bottomless bottom of my little heart to everyone who has contributed to that number. It really means so much to me and I smile everytime I read your feedbacks. Sometimes its the only time I smile all day. :+)

I saw the skin doc today. Despite my snooze button being pressed twice (its my mortal enemy now!), I managed to keep the 9.25am appointment at the skin centre. The morning traffic however wasn't so nice. I decided to walk the distance. 2 bus-stops didn't seem that daunting til I actually walked it. LOL Turns out I have eczema like I predicted. And according to the doc, I've always had it. The environment was the trigger for the outbreak. I had fever and shingles when I first came back for good from Sydney 2 years ago. No angry skin in Sydney. The environment and stress in Singapore makes my skin hypersensitive and angry. Kinda like the Sensory Disorder I also have. I think thats 2 more good reasons to stay home and bolt my door and switch on the AC. LOL I did get a new set of skincare from the pharmacy though. Hopefully it goes away and I stop feeling and looking like Ronald McDonalds. :P



Just to share this gorgeous gorgeous box I received from Clarice. She kindly swapped with me after we did a smaller swap before coz she wanted a MiniZ from me and I wanted some stuff from her shop. We proceeded to have a bigger swap so here it is! She sent me all the good stuff, especially that super cute luggage I've been craving for, forever.



See? Good stuff doesn't need to be in numbers. Its always in the quality. ;+) Thanks Clarice, you made my whole swap year! LOL

Oh, one swap ethic I really wanna share coz its been bugging me. Its really not about the stuff you can receive from a swap, but the stuff you can share with someone and make that person smile. Choose a swap that you can provide the best stuff to your partner!

Crabby & Lumpy

I wanted to eat this just now but realised I haven't taken a pic of it coz it came in a bag from my good friend, Angela. She included a really cute mushie strap. Way to add to my country!



Anyways, here they are. I've been feeling really crabby lately. Screaming at everyone and everything in sight. I thought it was the heat, then I realised its PMS time. LOL Not to be disgusting or anything, but I have irregular flow. So it doesn't really come to town often. Its not a bad thing coz I have one less problem. Only thing is, it gets me worse when it comes. I can handle the pain, but not the crabbyness and lumpyness. Yeah, I created that word, "lumpy". DH said he learnt it from me, so I'm pretty sure I'm the only one. No? ok, whatever. I feel lumpy. There, I said it.

Project people in school have been behaving badly and well, I have been behaving badly by not doing consistent work on it. But hey, there were tests and stuff the last 2 weeks. Now I'm sorta trapped with a little too much to do in between. I'm tired and crabby. The weather was crazy hot at 33degC, the skin on my face is exceedingly angry at the cheap foundation I insisted on using to save cash, loads of stuff to make but not enough time. That pretty much explains why I was whipping out the cookies & cream rocky road bar tonight. I closed all the MSword windows and decided, that was it. I wasn't going to kill myself over a year 1 project.

Then I got sick halfway thru the bar, which is why I'm typing now. LOL
I'm feeling a lot like this guy.

Now I want blue potato chips. Or a burger. Or a potpie. Or 7.

Purple Mushrooms in the Night

One of the most coveted fabrics from Japan!

Little cute mushrooms with little purple dots sprouts in the night. Little yellow squirrels, almost glowing, stands proudly atop intermittent mushrooms.

You won't wanna miss this!

Le Sac Lin Rayures

Le Sac Lin Rayures
Originally uploaded by florspace.

and I realised I haven't raved about this yet.... LOL

French mangle, all the way from its fair city from a very very nice girl who finds me the best. I was so inspired to work it when it came. The beauty of the combination of stripes speaks volumes more in person than on screen. Only 2 are ever made and the stripes on the sides are perfectly aligned, that I can proudly say!

Much like the meticulous Japanese ladies who lunch at home-turned-zakka-cafe, this would be prefect for someone who longs for home but not the traditional gingham and apples kind.

Simple, chic, fabulous.

Birthday comes once a year

Happy birthday to me. Another year older, another year closer to the six feet under. A tad morbid, but hey, its my day, I can mope if I want to. Its been a good year, especially with florspace. Though, looking back, I must say I'm better off without school and just being by myself, at home with my sewing machine and mountains of fabric. How fun. Inject school into my life, with the boppin' young en's I can't handle and travelling in the afternoon heat, causes my body to react in funny ways. Firstly, I get charred, which I really dislike. I much prefer to stay white, thank you very much. And now, I'm getting weird swells around my lips, like lip ezecma or something. Its annoying me quite a bit especially when I look much like Ronald McDonald. Sigh.



Anyways, mum and dad bought me dinner on wednesday and this cake yesterday. Its pretty yummy boston choco with um, a thick layer of cream inbetween. I went out with my posses tonight to Balcony for dinner and they bought a chocolate cake too. I think I ate 1/3 of that thing. Must.Go.Exercise.



I took a stroll down Orchard road after I left them. It must have been 11.30pm at night but it was still exceedingly hot. Kinda felt like being in a sauna, steaming in my own icky juices. Took a pit stop at Borders and picked up a Paperchase laptop tote in the traveller's print coz it looked interesting enough and I didn't have one. Also, a little late but, the Buble album and the Moleskine 2008 schedule book coz it always run out and I was determined to get one asap. I was reading "The World Is Flat" but they chased us out coz they were closing. The buses have ended service so I took the Night rider home. It wasn't surprising anymore when the bus was relatively full. 4million on a tiny island means its crowded everywhere, forest included, said my insightful friend at dinner tonight.



I share the same secret shame with Homer Simpson. We both eat flowers. I was at the supermarket the other day and found these. I needed an excuse to put them in the cart so I told my folks its my birthday.

There you go. Now you know everything about me.

Stuff that's bothering me lately...

Not sure if its all part of getting older, but there's some things bothering me these days.

1) Incident at a local PO. A lady was mailing a luggage full of various things. Whilst she was packing her stuff into boxes at a corner, 2 men in the queue in front of me was staring back at her doing stuff. It was a 180deg direction for them since the queue was facing the other way but they continued doing that. I'm pretty sure its not "looking" coz they were not blinking while staring and not looking elsewhere at all. I was curious if they knew the lady so I stared at them blankly. One guy looked away for 2 seconds and went back to staring at the lady. I found this rather offensive and yet amusing at the same time. I'm not sure if it happens elsewhere, but I'm pretty sure in my 4 years in Sydney, I've seen nothing like that. In fact, I've noticed many other such instances in Singapore. Are Singaporeans plagued with a necessity to stare?

2) While on the bus home, 2 junior school girls (in uniform) with their mum hurried their ice cream in yellow plastic cups, left them on the stone seat and boarded the bus. The dustbin was clearly 2 steps away, literally, and they prefer to leave the cups on the seat? This baffles me, a lot.

3) The new elevator nearer to my apartment is up. While trying to go for my evening walk/jog, I unwittingly rode that elevator down. It was filled with cigarette smoke. I'm not sure why coz there's a sign that says no smoking, both in graphic and words, in case people can't read. Maybe the smoker was blind. And in case you didn't know, I'm allergic to lighted cigarettes.

4) Since I mentioned cigarettes, I just wanna say how fabulous when I go to school each day and be greeted by the infamous scent of cigarettes at the main entrance. These kids are presumably younger than me. Some of them are girls. I understand people like to kill themselves, but STOP RECRUITING. Thanks.

That's all.

Public apology

I made a terrible mistake. I didn't use bcc for the recent florspace update email. I'm terribly terribly sorry to everyone who's on that list. I know how annoying that is and I hate for it to happen to me too. I didn't want to annoy people further by sending another email so I'm putting up an apology here. I'm sincerely and truly sorry for the boo-boo. I'd totally understand if you decide to hate me. :~(

For everyone who's on that list, please don't share those emails coz its really unethical to do that. It was my mistake so please don't make it criminal on my count!

Jez, must be the late night.


**On the other note, the florspace anniversary sale is ending this friday, on my birthday. More cool stuff coming up! Keep your eyes peeled while I go rest mine.

New mag & tote, mushies + Surprises!

Its been a pretty busy week, making stuff, sending them off, going to school, dealing with people.... I didn't do as well as I wanted to for the ecnonomics test last wednesday. I think it was anxiety. I haven't done a test, a real one in a pretty long time. I studied for it, got hints from a student who did the test on Monday, still, it turned out pretty unexpected, like it always does. Nonetheless, I figured out the excel functions for the biz comp class on Thursday which was a great relief coz I was literally panicking wed night. The geeky lecturer had the cheek to tell me that I was "not bad", coz I managed, despite him leaving for a lunch appointment last week than to tell me how to do it when I asked. Jez, no thanks to you, dude. :+(



A shopping mag I bought last week. I thought I had to give up mags when I'm back here but out pops Smitten. I'm not sure if I want a subscription yet since I'm more inclined towards Cotton Time right now. Though I miss the STYD days. Shopping was a sport in Sydney, sniffing out bargains and looking good in school. With my etsy shop and the thrill of making new stuff leaves shopping for clothes out for now. I still shop, albeit for fabrics. And my ever growing collection is not only annoying my mum, its annoying me too - not being able to make as fast and many as I want to as my inspiration comes, not just because of the money, but I get off on sewing. Freaky, I know. Nonetheless, I spent a couple of quite moments in the loo with this mag last weekend. *eye roll* Its not what you think, I spent time in the loo, coz its about the only place when people have to leave you alone, when you're in there.



My new crochet tote, & messy bed behind. Try your bestest to ignore it. Anyways, I'm feeling pretty satisfied. LOL I know, I hardly say that but this time I would. It took me a while to crochet up the mauve part, actually I was doing it in April or May I think. I didn't know what I was going to do with it yet. A couple of days ago I took it out, finished a couple more rows, made it up into a bag, did the cream trimming on top. Just this afternoon, I made the inside and handles and its done! Inside & handles with decorator weight light cream cotton. Handles are extra thick for fun. So, what made me do this? I wanted a knit-esque bag since last year when Ferragamo came up with a fancy-knit version with leather trimmings. Only thing was, I had trouble with the fancy style and finding decent leather trimmings. Wish I was in Japan. Their simple treatment of leather handles are so divine. I'm determined to actually use this tote, and maybe turn a few heads while I'm at it.



My mushies from Barbara arrived. I'm so in love with them, I took a bazillion photos and had fun arranging them on the picture table. I'm not sure how to arrange them yet but I'll figure it out later. I'm having waaaaaaaay too much fun just playing with them right now. Red mushrooms are my weakness. They just go right into my heart, just like that!



Surprise from Charlene. She buys a load of my stuff and she sends me a surprise! I went home, opened it and it says, "Happy Birthday, Lyn!" How sweet is that!? Out-of-this-world sweet, peeps! I mean, I hardly knew her and yet, she went all out and bought me the best stuff! Marks & Spencer mini animal biscuits & a big bar of choc, a super duper cute retro Hello Kitty radio and a yard of Hello Kitty fabric! Thanks soooooooo much, Charlene. You just made my whole year!

There are really nice people in the world who be nice just for being nice. And its amazing just saying that.

Etsy's misbehavin' - Cafe Magasin & Maison Jaune

2 design re-stocks. I'm putting them up here coz etsy's not co-operating with me these 2 days. Been trying to list but nothing's working yet. We're all stuck at either stage 2 or 4, the picture loading stage. The funny thing is my pics are all about 250kb and I've disabled firewall like the admins asked us to, but still nothing. Its immensely frustrating so you faithful blog readers, you get the news!

Super cute Maision Jaune, redesigned to be the sunniest MiniZ in the history of florspace, the yellowest of the yellow, the sweetest of the mango puddings! LOL Its got a lemon zipper and a lemon interior so, my yellow lovers, this one's for you! Fabric is used up, so these are the last ones. Grab them while they're yellow!

Very classy and understated Cafe Magasin, last 4 for grabs, made perfectly with chocolate zippers and insides. Old time France with chic, hat-box carrying ladies and the smell of lavender flowers and freshly brewed coffees fill the air. I'm unable to get the fabric unfortunately, so these are the only ones left in the world!

p/s: These are with my old tags, or like Deb says, "vintage" ;+)


Updates - etsy's working so they are all there! 3 left of each as I speak!

Ikea is going Pink

It was a pretty intense week, with projects and assignments lining up. This coming week, there's an economics MCQ test which I'm cramming for, hoping to squeeze some points before the finals. Project people are driving me nuts so I got pretty frustrated. We've got stuff straightened out a little so hope it'll be better from now, til the due date, 12th Oct. I've even pestered DH to proof-read our project, hopefully with his linguistics skills, we'll fare much better. Afterall, the project's gonna go over to Melb for marking. *fingers crossed* I know, I did Lingx too but he's much better. I won't sleep well without his help. :P

Etsy's not being very nice to us recently, with a whole bunch of people having problems listing new stuff so I'm gonna put them up here for a while til etsy gets back on track.

The gorgeous package you see up there's going to an awesome girl! I'm a camera nazi, snapping everything insight. LOL





These 2 cute drawstrings are going to 2 awesome people! Hope they like them. Its actually a complimentary for being so nice to me and buying my stuff by loads. LOL Thanks guys, you make me wanna go on and on!



Life's essentials. Ikea's sexy new color - PINK! Makes me wanna go and buy up everything. Why no pink fabric though? Damn. Though, I'm seriously in love with my new pink Trofast bin. Its got this really mesmerizing tone of pink. Its up on my shelf so I get to look at everyday. Whee!



Basket of new wallets. They are seriously tough to make, and I'm so nazi about it, I don't accept anything not decent. So comes the procrastinating, the busy schedules and all. Some of them are spoken for, some of them up on etsy, some of them still waiting on adoption....

life goes on!

More pressies! + Weekend....finally

Had dinner with my posses on Friday. We had a great time chatting away into the night. Can't believe its been a month already! Where does the time go, really? Yeah, I've also survived a month's worth of school by now. While looking at the units to be done, I'm actually having a good time this sem. The next one seems like hell - Biz Stats & Law?! Pray Mar 08 never comes. LOL My group people wanted a part of the project done by Friday so I had to stay up Thursday night to finish it. Its been a while since I'm up all night so I was really cranky the next day. I downed thick coffee all day to keep alive, since I was supposed to keep the dinner date that night too. I managed to get through it. *phew!* The project's tough, marketing, something I haven't really dabbled in before. I've always been more in the accounting and finance part of commerce. Marketing's killing me. Tsk.

Dinner at Ichiban Boshi at the Esplanade was fab. It was worth navigating through the impossible crowd at City Hall subway station & the City Link Mall. To my foreign friends, don't visit the city shopping areas Friday night, its pure hell. I was hardly walking. In fact, it kinda felt like India. No offence to anyone. Anyways, we had thickly sliced sashimi + sushi with the sunset behind. Its been a while since I've been to a good dinner place. I haven't bothered with aesthetics when I'm here coz the environment is so crummy, why bother? LOL It was all sunsets and dinnerwares in Sydney though.... I miss having coffee after dinner by the Darling Harbour. I guess I started really missing Sydney coz we headed to Max Brenner's after dinner. The Venezuela liquid choco was crazy thick but soooooooooo good. I needed that.



Yaaaay! More early pressies! Annie surprised us with gifts! Angela got her's late though. Awww....thanks for the great stuff! Those stationery are going to be so much help. I'm a klutz when it comes to organizing sometimes. It usually gets too organized & I eventually can't find my stuff or waaaaay messy, like my room right now. I've given up, mostly, coz I find it super tough to keep to a system, or at least a really rigid one. To think that I'm a virgoan! Jez, I'm a disgrace!



That box you see in the right corner is actually this! It popped out and it was squishy squishy! I'm not a fan of disney but this cube is super fun to squeeze! LOL It took me a while to realise the hole in the middle, its for my mobile phone. :P Anyways, it sits on my bed now coz I like to call DH in the middle of the night, not a la JD Salinger (Franny & Zoey, "I love you, I love you!" :P) but when I have a nightmare and I'm all alone in the room. It sounds stupid but I hate sleeping alone coz its kinda freaky. Blame all my friends who made me watch scary movies when I was younger. The spookyness spooked me, for life, dudes!



The cute blue flowers Annie used for the wrapping ended up as deco in my mushroom pot! It fits great and doesn't it add a little something extra? :+) ps, I'm in a Mushie swap!



Saturday. Busy Busy Busy! More wallets, more MiniZs on the way.... The whole morning and afternoon was cutting and cutting up fabrics for more purses! Sanrio ones was a good portion and some others! Including new and super cute ones too! Lookout people!
Yikes, I got yelled at by someone who said if I didn't stop creating cute stuff, she'll go broke! LOL Mum helped a great deal with the sewing in the evening. I think I won't get to make more stuff if I didn't have her help! She's awesome at sewing, more so than me so never worry about quality. ;+) More wallets coming, super soon! Check out the dragon fruit there! Mum bought them from Tampines and they are really juicy and yummy especially when they are cold! They are truly a bunch of weird looking but delicious fruit!



The new Ikea catalogue came. *gasp* I'm a great fan and I practically live on the scent of the new Ikea catalogues. I spent a ridiculous amount of time going through the year's catalogue throughout the year. Its literally my bible. I'm spending my weekend with this. DND!



I know, I know. Loads of mushie fans out there. I created this a couple of days back when I needed to make something. This super cute hippie retro fabric makes my heart race. LOL Flowers, strawberries, clovers, mushrooms. How can you ever say no?

Up on etsy. ;+) And its a one-of-a-kind.


p/s: Paypal's been naughty, again. They removed the "print packing slip" link for the transactions and its driving me nuts. Recent orders from Friday haven't been mailed yet. I've emailed them but nothing changed yet. I'm calling them Monday if the link isn't back yet. I need that to mail stuff to you guys! tsk.