Brown thumbs

After 1.5 weeks in my house, all the blooms on my plant have died. Most of the new buds browned before they had even gotten close to full size. :( Truly have brown thumbs here.

 
I was forced to trim off all the droopy heads. It is rather crushing having to snip off all those tired blooms, but also rather liberating given that this is expected practice. I feel vaguely like Edward Scissorhands going at a topiary, but without the finesse. Partially because trimming is slightly addictive, and partly because I really want the plant to pull through and be all pretty and healthy (and symmetrical), I keep turning the pot around looking for extra leaves and tight spots to trim.

The plant as of yesterday afternoon. Here is the plant a couple of days after purchase. Today, most of these flowers have also been removed, having deteriorated. It is a sad day. Please pull through plant!

Garden Festival II

More things I loved. I have always had a huge appetite for the crazily colorful, but I'm not a very big "flowers" person. As gifts go, I'd much rather get chocolates. Or something edible and suitably delicious. Or just something that won't die on me within 3 days and attract flies. In my house, potted plants might as well be cut bouquets. I do still like looking at them though.

These medallion-decked beauties reminded me of the talking flowers in Alice.

Woah.

White cardboard filigree frame

Source: The Selby - Herve Pierre at home in New York City

This made me do a double take. All cardboard. All awesome.

Polaroids

When I have enough spoiled interesting shots, I'm going to make this perpetual calender. And it will be awesome :)

Garden Festival I

SG has the strange tradition of an indoor, air-conditioned garden festival. No sunlight, minimal soil. It's all kind of surreal when you walk into the exhibition hall. Given the setting, complete with dim mood lighting and recorded soundtracks of insects and wildlife, we couldn't help questioning whether what we saw was actually organic or plastic (all the plants we saw were the real deal, but almost unbelievably verdant and bountiful).

 Anthuriums always look like plastic to me. 

So did the birds of paradise & uh.. everything. But they were REAL.

Small Part 3

Shrink plastic and oil-based marker

I can never get shrink plastic to turn out nicely. 

O the many problems that doth plague thy plastic:

- uneven shrinkage (this bugs me to no end)

- discoloration (my frosted plastic has yellowed)

- bleeding ink (I use an oil-based marker)

For some reason, this piece also happens to be slightly pock-marked. Being the smart-ass I am, I tried to apply some top coat to it to try and smooth out the surface. Bad Idea. Ink bled like crazy and the whole piece acquired its depressingly dull gray hue which I can no longer wipe off.

Like any doting mother, I still love this piece. Pock-marked and off color it may be, but I still think it is adorable and would probably wear it out. (At least until people start calling me out on it.. like "what is that thing?" then I'll just keep it in my pocket) Even though I've never had success with it, I'm half tempted to get the glow-in-the-dark plastic just because I am slightly in love with anything that glows-in-the-dark.

Framed

Finally got this paper-cut out of its plastic packet. :) A nice, cheap $2 frame from Daiso fit it perfectly!

This is the first piece of framed art/craft I own and it is such a great feeling holding it in my hands and looking around the house for somewhere to hang it. In fact, it is the only framed anything I own (except for one time in secondary school when I stuck my timetable in a photo frame).

While I understand the visual logic behind framing things (pictures, face, views, etc) in principle, I still find it amazing how this most simple frame can transform and lend a sense of tangible weight, of being, of thing-ness to the thing inside. Such a simple gesture can completely change its physical reality.

I think this must be the best part of having things framed up - it really changes your perception of your things, things you might have had sitting around in front of you for forever. Like this paper-cut. Which I'm glad is no longer part of the clutter on my desk.

Practical clothes are invading my head

This is such a brilliant idea! I like the apron that I own, a simple rectangle round the waist, but this would be so fantastic. Too bad it's not on sale yet.. I may have to find some way to wrangle up my own.

Things I'd want on mine (for later reference):
- cooking times for eggs, meats etc
- conversion tables
- effect of certain ingredients (e.g. corn starch, baking soda, etc) & substitutes
- cuts of beef
- basic sauce recipes
- pocket slot for current recipe (mine are scribbled on post-its that get lost in the kitchen)

I first saw it on Notcot.

Work wear

This is such a cute idea :) Although I would probably end up impaling my thigh with an Olfa if I did that. I have a soft spot for pockets and tool belts... <3

The pattern is here if you're handy.

I love green

Half-finished green dress, remodeled from a man's cotton shirt

Leather bracelet, bought.

When I was 7, green was my favorite color. I dreamed of my own home where all the walls would be painted green and everything would be draped with great swathes of dark green fabric. Kind of like Ms. Havisham's house, but green.

I would have made an excellent interior decorator.

Burning Up

The sun is burning up the newspapers in my balcony. Well not yet, but I'm pretty sure that the whole lot is going up in blazes very Very soon. Having no clouds and no curtains has to be some kind of recipe for disaster.

Family response to scorching mid-July sun:

1: Out jogging
2: Ironing clothes
3: Baking cookies

Just the typical average approach to cooling off. 心静自然凉

Because I have no $ to buy real things.

So nice. leather + canvas = luv forever

This is also lovely. Leather leather leather...

Scissors, Paper, Stone

Still addicted to making small things

Cotton embroidery thread + 1mm crochet hook

I am addicted to making small things.

copper sheet + scissors