Gratuitous Fabulous Jewelry Pic

Aren't these just GORGEOUS?  Lovingly handmade by a talented lady named Tsu Yinn.

Me and Tsu Yinn go way back.  She wears a lot of MAYA & RUHI, and even gave me the honour of working on her bridal pieces.

Tsu Yinn's been itching to design and craft for a long time now, and finally her creativity has come to fabulous fruition.  Do check out her spanking new shop at www.tsuyinn.etsy.com!

The Big Move In Pics

 The Packing ~  Three words: Oh. My. Gawd.  Things I never knew I had made their timely appearance.  It was a major opportunity to purge.  But I'm not sure if I really made full use of it... -___-

The Goodbye ~ An entourage of Maya's friends made their way to the airport specially to give gifts and plenty hugs.  Too sweet! :)

 The Plane Ride ~  Thank gawd it was on Business Class!  After the harrowing experience with the organising and packing, this was a holiday in itself.  All 13 hours of it. :S

 The Slumming It ~ The initial weeks with the bare essentials.  Not fun, I must tell you.  Especially when it's cold out.  Slowly, but surely, furniture got bought, school started, routines got made...

... and finally, I had time and opportunity to set up the old workspace.  Now, I have a whole room to myself.  All 2.5m X 2.5m of it.  Yes, everytime I stretch my arms, I hit one of the many boxes filled with yarn... But I'm not complaining. :)

Happy Monday!

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. 

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. 

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. 

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. 

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

~ Audrey Hepburn 





(pic via Ileana Hunter Fine Art)

Here We Go! Round One...

For weeks now, my house has not been running as per normal.  I have been preoccupied with winding things down here, having to organize, de-clutter and pack, and setting up things over there, from here, as much as I can.  Seriously, what would we do without the Internet??

So Them Two's schools are sorted out, the rental house is finalized, and the furniture pretty much shopped for at Ikea online.  The first round of Stuff Going Over There is done.  These are stuff we pretty much need as soon as we get there - bedsheets, towels, pots and pans, bowls and plates, forks and spoons, etc.  And yes, of course, some yarn, to keep me sane.

Happy Monday!

(pic via littlethingsstudio)

Afternoon Antics

Gratuitous Fabulous Jewelry Pic

The Fairfax necklace

by Jaclyn Mayer

This is really exciting, coz it goes to show jewelry is so much more than prettily placed precious stones...

Fingers Crossed...

According to plan and floorplan, I might just be able to acquire myself my very own craft room when we move. Yes, triple-yay!

Admittedly, it will be a box-room. By "box-room", I mean approximately 2m X 2m. But, hey, I'm not complaining.

In it will be my worktable, my supplies and materials, my boxes of yarn. And of course, I hope to squeeze in a chair... :)

(pic via 1st Unique Gifts)

On My Lust List

This is entitled Undress by artist Clare Elsaesser, and is available at her Etsy shop Tastes of Orangey.

I'm loving this for to hang in the bathroom. So serene, so innocent, so apt.

Happy Monday!

And let me tell you, it is a relief that the school holidays are over, and Those Two are back at school. I have had to put on hold my Driver's Refresher Course, crucial dental appointments and exercising the usual housecleaning regime, over the week-long mid-term break.

Instead, I have had to spend an entire day at Universal Studios with family, launch into 2 blanket projects (one for each of Them Two), spend an entire day at Ikea with Them Two planning for the house in Wimbledon, attend a Hari Raya party with old buddies, star in a homemade Star Wars spoof, have a reunion lunch with my brother's ex-wife, police Maya with her revision, and deal with the dramatics of Ruhi's front tooth falling out.

You're right. It weren't all that bad... :)

Happy Simpliciti Customer #1

This is Georgia. See how she smiles... and how fabulous she's looking in a Simpliciti heartwarmer with matching beanie?

In fact, she's so happy with it, she shares it with her favourite Unicorn....

Thanks Khia May! :)

Reading Into It

I have a little bookshelf in the bathroom, filled with useful little reads to while the time away. This is one of them.

And last week, I found it had been vigorously thumbed through, complete with dog-eared bookmarks and penciled ticks.

I said: "What happened to my book?"

And Ruhi says: "Oh, Mum, I meant to tell you: That's a VERY GOOD BOOK."

Happy Monday!

It's been too many weeks since I blogged. Moving countries is, seriously, no joke. But a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do...

(pic via Barn Owl Primitives)

Makes Me Think

(pic via icanread)

The Big Move

I am in the throes of readying us all up to relocate to London. And it's proving to involve gargantuan amounts of filing, sorting, organizing... skills at which I seriously suck.

Time and again, I will have mini-meltdowns regarding papers that are not fully in order, stuff that I can't quite decide to keep or dump, to stay in storage or to go with us. And if it does stay or go, where does it go(???). Godammit.

It's pretty overwhelming, for someone as organizationally-challenged as me. Bold and Noble's London type map, complete with the Thames cutting through, somewhat visually represents the stuff that's in my head right now. Though what's in my head is probably less organized... :S

Happy Monday!

(pic via icanread)

Simpliciti

That's the name of my new Etsy shop, where I am hawking the products of my crochet addiction. Do drop by and check it out at www.simpliciti.etsy.com.

Kiddy heartwarmers of various bright colour combos - all lovingly handmade, and nicely warm. I'm doing up a couple more colour combos, and also going to start doing matching beanies.

I really like how these are so useful for summer-cool days, as well as winter-cold ones. Worn like a wrap-shrug, it's easy to use and sufficiently cozy. And then when it gets bitterly cold, this can be wrapped around and around as a super-warm, burly scarf. Or tied over the head as a scoodie (scarf/hoodie).

Ruhi is the Simpliciti Poster Girl, so every new colour combo has to be done first in her size. I'm working on making available sizes aged 4/5, 6/7, and 8/9, although I will take on any custom orders of specific colour combos and/or size.

Maybe I should get her to pose in the heartwarmers a la bitter winter. Right now she's just all cutesy in Spring/Summer fashion...

New Commissioned Stuff

Since acquiring a small shipment of agate slices, I have had 2 commissions for these agate slice necklaces, and crafted up a few more for my new ArtFire shop.

This one above belongs to A.G., who chose this striking piece of dark chocolate agate because she wanted something in a more neutral colour so she could wear it with almost anything. She already owns a stunning purple piece.

This here is for A.R., who wanted a bamboo leaf shape with green stones. Dramatic and stunning, this one is of the greener shades of my strands of Indian agate. I love how this has turned out rustic, yet edgy. The shades of green give it a warm, natural feel, while the wirework lends it a contemporary edginess.

My First Lace Shawl

Ah, the satisfaction of completing a fairly intricate lace shawl!

I have been working on this (in between lots of other things) for almost a month. Pattern and instructions courtesy of BernioliesDesigns, the Etsy shop of Bernadette, whose day job is a costume designer for a circus in the Netherlands.

If you're into gorgeous shawls, shrugs and scarves, check out her crafted stuff at Berniolie.

Happy Monday!

(pic via icanread)

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse
(1983 - 2011)

Just Like JLo

Working It

Funny thing: the other day, someone asked me what do I do, and I said "Nothing". When actually I work my goddamned ass off all fricken day.

That's how bad it is. So deeply embedded in our heads that stay-at-home mums have it easy, that even myself as one, bow to that notion in passing conversation.

So yes, other than the laundry, the cooking, the washing up, the occasional cleaning, keeping house, chaperoning, mediating fights, cheerleading, disciplining, and making better little boo-boos, I also make pretty things. Which is what I should say, the next time someone asks.

I'll post proper pics of my pretty things another time. Coz in progress on the worktable is a seafoam green one, a rugged cobalt blue one, and a rawkin' deep purple one, and a few custom orders. Here's a sneak peek...

(pic via Yellow Heart Art)

Eye Candy Art

Are you into print art? I'm sort of learning. And I discovered the work of American artist/illustrator, Yellena James.

Her work has been described as "colorful arrangements of organic shapes and tangled lines (which) are at once floral and alien, organic and sci-fi, crafty and fantastic."

I say, "Hallelujah!"

Enjoy...

"Lush"

"Whisk"

"Relish"

"Season"

Click on the titles to go directly to Etsy links.

New Stuff

Turquoise sticks. Cute, aren't they? Such a striking look, I kept it simple. And I thought it'd be nice to juxtapose the clean, smooth lines of the turquoise with a "mess" of wire at the top. Which actually looks a lot easier than it seems. The random wiring requires a fair deal of judgement to get two sticks to pair off.

I love these. If only you could try them on, seriously. They'd be your every-day go-to.

These are at both my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

Happy Monday!

(pic via icanread)

Artfire

I started a new online platform. MAYA & RUHI at Artfire. Just trying out the things Artfire might be able to do for me.

The main difference from Etsy for buyers would be the fact that you don't have to sign up as a member of Etsy to be able to buy. In fact you can click on anything you see right now and be able to buy it! ;)

mayaruhi

Unique Gifts

Let's see how this goes. Wish me luck! :)