Brick and peyote pendants.

With the thousands of tutorials that you can find on the internet these days, it is easy to keep yourself busy with some form of crafty activity. The above was made with TOHO beads using a brick stitch and below was done with DELICA beads using the peyote stitch. They look almost the same but it really is different and both are equally fun to do. 

*photos taken with the iphone in shitty light.

Delica

I made these last night when I couldn't sleep as I watched Life of Pi. I used Miyuki Delica seed beads that I got a couple of days ago. I'm really glad that there are so many colors of beads available locally now compared to when I started beading in the mid 90s and could only find primary colors. Beading is addictive, I have to say. So much so that I started ordering more beads from Czech Republic/Latvia sellers on Etsy cos they had nice range of pinks and different hues of blues. I'm so excited, I really can't wait for them to arrive!

Nuts and floss.

I seem to be in a accessories phase. The making of them, mostly. Especially, since I'm more accustomed to buying solids instead of prints when it comes to blouses and tops which would make necklaces the cherry topping to my ice cream. But then, I don't like cherries, so let's make it NUTS instead. Appropriate though, cos the above necklace was made with hex nuts and embroidery floss. And I found out that tassles are super fun to make!!

My pinterest is always filled with craft ideas, and I've had this tutorial for awhile but never got around to making this til now especially since I found the receipt with the hex nuts dated February 2012. You can find the tutorials here and here. 

I went over the Spotlight last night to get me some more floss and grabbed them in themes cos a friend of mine requested I make one for her. I thought I'd be spending over $35 on floss alone and was a little apprehensive about it while walking to the counter. The cashier counted 43 colors and then asked if I had the 30% discount voucher sent via sms, to which I looked at her blankly and said no, but then remembering receiving an email from Spotlight but was cursing myself for not reading it, but she gave me the discount anyhow, and I only paid about $25 and wished I had bought even more cos now looking at the above spectrum, I missed out on reds and browns. 

I later found the discount voucher in my email. It was a secret 2 day sale and boy, am I glad I decided to go yesterday. Note to self - always read emails from Spotlight.

Get Crafty - Straits Times.

Last week, I was featured in the Life Section of Straits Times, giving a demo on making your own greeting cards using lino. It was a choice between this or fabric printing using freezer paper, but I chose this cos I figured I could use some Thank you cards in the end. Did the interview at RSCLS Studio (thanks, Sam) cos they had good natural light and mostly for the space. Thanks to Lisabel Ting for the article and to the three good people who recommended me for this feature (Trisha of The Little Threads, Katrina Alana and Mike Mindflyer).

If you click on the image, you should be able to read the article and view the instructions. I rearranged the newspaper cutout cos it would've been too long(lengthwise).

Lino print cards

Worked on some lino cuts to print out some greeting cards which I have put up for sale in my Etsy store. 

Bead it.

Ever felt like you just couldn't find any accessories that you liked, or were close to what you wanted but not quite the right color or design? I had been keeping an eye on some faceted bead necklaces on etsy, but the colors were always not to my liking. So I made my own necklaces with beads I had laying around. I'm so happy with my pigeon necklace. :)

I can never go to an art or craft store and NOT buy anything. It could be something small and to just have that power to purchase something, will always feel good. I also have a tendency to hoard supplies and materials but then, what's new, right? I have an old biscuit tin filled with beads that I've purchased when I was 15. At that age, I spent my allowance in bead bars and went through a hippie phase wearing those long hippie multi-colored beads which I guess I should revive and wear out again. 

Necklaces are still being made and  should be available in my Etsy store by end of July. :)

Instagram giveaway.

I've always been in the habit of making things for friends, ever since I was a little girl, which was what got me back into crafting in the first place. Few months back, I created a giveaway for my non-singapore living followers on instagram. I made these paper garlands and added pompoms and had them packaged in mailing tubes which I had to order online cos they didn't have short tubes anywhere in Singapore, unless you cut them yourself.

Valentines.

I used to make a ton of friendship bracelets when i was in school. I vaguely remember but I think it was my mom who taught me the knots cos they had some tutorial in a magazine. My mom once made me a wax bracelet, it was really cool. She would light a candle and let the melted wax drop into a bowl of water, they'd mostly be the same size dots and then she'd sew them together to form a bracelet. I'm pretty sure I still have it considering we don't really throw things away, once I find it, I would post a picture up.

Anyway, back in school, I also used to make cards for my friends on Valentines day. I don't think I've ever given any to someone I admired, but I'd always given them to my close friends and classmates. I'm now 33 years old and I have a ton of art supplies at home and so upon seeing this DIY Heart Friendship Bracelet on HonestlyWTF, I knew I had to make them for my friends. Valentine's Day is a week away still though.

Handscreened finals.

I finally got around to silk screening with the screen I made a couple of weeks ago. It was all trial and error. I was still insistent on using Marabu Textil ink and that didnt work out after 2 bags. You would think I would have stopped after the first bag. It was just too watery to work with so it seeped. I really like the colors really and that in itself played a part in my stubborness. So i switched to silkscreen ink. And I did the mixing of primary colors just so I could achieve the colors of the Marabu ones.

But anyway, out of six bags, two came out perfect. One of which is already up on Etsy. I'll have more bags to make once I get the fabrics done and more colors mixed.

DIY - Silkscreening on a budget.

I decided to stay in on Saturday. I was out the whole of yesterday and my flu had developed into a cough and I was itching to craft and so I did. So, last night, I started drawing out a stencil on freezer paper. Going with my usual triangle patterns and then cutting it out. It's not as easy cutting  freezer paper as compared to thicker paper cos it was more delicate and had to be extra careful. And plus, I was watching Crazy, Sexy, Love and was very distracted by Ryan Gosling. DID YOU SEE THAT PIZZA SCENE?!!!! How can anyone make eating pizza so sexy?! He's just standing there waiting, and eating a pizza. IN FUCKEN SLO-MO!!! Okay, let me just get this out of the way. I know Ryan Gosling is hott(yes, double T)!! But this movie, seriously, when he first appeared on the screen, in his nicely fitted suit, charming grin, a few short seconds before he says, "Hi, who looks like a carrot?". I was like, "Oh, hellooooo...."

*and we now bring you back to the program*

I had the stencil cut out and continued the next day, which was earlier today. Now, this whole experiment was a combination of what I read in Avie Wampler's blog and Momstastic. I used an embroidery hoop, silk screen which I bought from Art Friend (I know you can buy ready made silk screen frames, but the smallest costing 8 bucks compared to 6.50 for a couple of yards of it is way cheaper.Well, and apprently, you can use pantyhose as well), a mini plastic squeegee (it's been said that you can even use a credit card), textile inks and the almighty freezer paper.

Don't be uptote!

Did a tote in fluro pink. I really like the color on this one. Its uploaded amongst all the other totes in my etsy store.

In other updates, am currently working on my new 21.5" imac. Good to be back a desktop although for a little while I felt so out of touch with Adobe CS, and it's typically abit of a distraction cos I havent been drawing as much cos I've been researching on more projects. I guess it still is productive. I also updated my logo and the site banner above. Well, I changed the colorway to colors I think would best represent me. They're colors I would wear or be drawn to. 

So buy a tote/

Good as gold.

Experimented with the gilding method using gold leaf. It isnt easy and a little messy, I might add. But however, it is fun. Just that I'd have to remember to have the fan off when doing so cos gold flakes would start flying over the place.

Personalised

Did a small run of my personal namecards. I liked how it turned out eventhough its just a digital print. :)

20 doll project.

April-May 2009

Fatimah x 20pcs (Ugly dolls not included.)

Felt and cotton : sewn by hand

Created for Fatima and Her Magic Socks Book by by Zizi Azah Abdul Majid

50 doll project.

July-August 2009

Qiqi dolls x 50pcs

Felt : sewn by hand

Created for Monster Little

Owl

Feb 2009

Owl pouch (made for a friend)

Felt and cotton fabric.