palette of colours

XIN NIAN KUAI LE, HAPPY NEW YEAR

2012-01-22T10:00:00.000+08:00

GONG XI GONG XI, GONG XI FA CAI
Wishing you a happy & prosperous New Year

WAN SZE RU YEE
May all your good wishes come true

LOONG MA JING SHEN
May there be good health and good energy

CAI YUAN GUANG JIN
Wealth pours in from all directions

NIAN NIAN YOU YU
A wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year

These are a few of the unique Chinese auspicious greetings one would friendly greet one another during the new year.

Time have wings, time flies! It seem like only yesterday we celebrated the year of the rabbit and now comes the dragon.......... Wow!

True and behold, a few of my overseas non-Chinese friends were ahead of me, they have sent me email blessings, images of Dragon and other New Year charms of all kinds back in early January. Not only that they enquired what are the traditions, what type of food, delicacies etc... This prompted me to share what Chinese New Year is all about, not everything but some of the main images, charms and symbols thru my art and craft.

Having said that, I have very much earlier given 50 packets of Lei-si ( red packets) to my son for all his boarding mates in Britain in conjunction with the International Cultural Day on 15 Jan. The boys were thrilled and full of curiosity to receive a red packet each with a dragon embossment and lucky money inside. Well, I left it to Jing, to do the explanation.

This Lunar New Year will be celebrated on Jan 23rd. This year marks the 4709th Chinese year and it's the year of the Dragon, the 5th sign of the Chinese zodiac. So the year of the dragon returns with all its might and power after every 12 years. I have a 'dragon' at home, do you?

To welcome this Spring Festival, I have created a "FOOK' Configurative box showcasing some of the New Year images, charms and symbols, all my precious lil finds during my last trip to Hong Kong and Japan.
Take a peek......

It's so apt to find from one of our collectibles, a jade colored porcelain stool with the image of a dragon at the front and it nicely compliments my "FOOK" Configuration box.

Standing tall supported by 'dragons'......

The main auspicious charm here is the dragon which brings success and "Fook"

The back of the box so dragonish....

In the Chinese culture, the dragon usually symbolize wisdom, power and good luck.

Dragon charms are used as a popular feng shui cure. A golden dragon can be a great feng shui cure for wealth and abundance while a green dragon is more for giving good health.

Dragons are made a part of the Chinese astrology where importance is given to the blue dragon. The Chinese believe that the blue dragon is full of power and strength and the Creator of division in the sky.
Blue dragon is also the symbol of spring and so it has been taken as a Chinese animal zodiac sign.

Another dragon charm found in Hong Kong

The dragon charms are regarded as auspicious symbols which stands for power, good luck, success, happiness and is meant to be inspiring for society.

Chinese New Year is a time to welcome wealth, good fortune and prosperity, all symbolized by the gold ingots, big ones and smaller ones...

By placing gold ingots in your house, it is believe you will attract wealth and prosperity.

The character ' Fook' which is 'Good Fortune' symbolize bliss and endurance to the wish. This Jade Good Luck charm will bring money luck wherever you go.

This is another lovely "Fook"

It is only during the Chinese New Year that the character 'Fook" is turned upside down.

Vases are symbolic of peace. When the form of the vase is elongated the wish is for an enduring peace. A rounded vase suggest the wish for a complete peace!

Chinese coins are symbolic of wealth. A rounded coin suggest the wish for a complete wealth.

There's my miniature 'God of Wealth". People honor the " God of Wealth", hoping he will bring great fortune to the family in the coming months.

Chinese New Year is a time to welcome not only wealth and prosperity but more so longevity. The crane is auspicious in both Chinese and Japanese cultures., it's a symbol of longevity. What I have here, is a Japanese origami crane made of ceramic.

The Chinese adopted the dragon as a symbol of nobility and some consider it as a God, one to be worshipped. Thus dragons appear in every area of Chinese culture. There are dragons in the mahjong game. Each of the 3 dragons - green, white and red represent the Universe Extreme forces. Green for earth, white for Heaven and red for Man. Those in the picture are not dragon tiles, there is the circle tile (Tong Zi) ranked 5, the season tiles (Ji Pai) and the character tiles (Wan Zi) ranked 8. Mahjong is played often by many during the Chinese new year. Shall we have a round of mahjong, any kaki?

The Chinese new year holiday spirit is on, let's get ready to Bainian! As Chinese would stay up on the New Year's eve till the early morning of the first day of the New Year, when the very moment of new year arrives, people would say Bainian, Bainian (Happy New Year) to everyone around and say some auspicious phrases like 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'. Children should go Bainian to their grandparents, parents and everyone.

With this, here's wishing you

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Shen Ti Jian Kang (Wishing good health)

May the New Year be filled with a life full of energy and positivity

May the doors of fortune, plenty and abundance stay open to you

May you look forward to a year of great wealth and excellent health

May the opportunities that come your way be fruitful and prosperous

May noble thoughts and values govern your life in the year of the dragon!

And to my non-Chinese friends,

May you have a great year filled with love, joy, peace, happiness, success and good health!

GIVE AWAY BIRTHDAYS

2011-10-28T23:20:00.001+08:00

Having given a thought on the reminiscence of the past birthday celebrations of our ladies group, I truly feel so touched and proud that we still keep the tradition of celebrating each others' birthdays but yet we fill this tradition with a unique and creative meaning.

The birthday girl is not seen as someone who merely receives gifts but more of a person who gives gifts, dinners and shares what she finds meaningful and valuable. To gather with frens on our birthdays in order to give and share is much more beautiful than just the old way of birthday celebrations where one is showered with gifts and more gifts.

Last year was a great GIVING event for our October birthday celebrations. With the help from the other ladies and Ti-Ratana, we gave to the Sri Sayang Home at Ulu Yam what was needed and what they value. It was indeed a BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF GIVING !!

In view of time constraint, a big giving event was not possible this year. Instead I had a desire to give a lil gift to all my dear buddies as a present on my birthday. A brilliant idea struck me about putting my old CDs to good use by recycling them into adorable craft items for sharing.

I loved what I have created and every piece is a joy for me to have it painstakingly handmade with lots of love. This I found it very meaningful to do, SO I GAVE AWAY & CELEBRATED IT ON MY BIRTHDAY !

Introducing the One Big Happy Buddy Family

We are a family of very good and close frens. You may see us at gatherings, having a cuppa, enjoying musicals together, scrapping lessons, yoga classes and even on overseas trips. We come from all walks of life and status and yet we remain close knitted frens, full of understanding, loving kindness and compassion.
This is what I called 'the power of friendship' which heals, nurture good mental as well as emotional health.
Apart from our own families, I think everyone needs to have emotional attachments to people around us, our frens as it gives us a sense of belonging, purpose and self worth.

I'd love to share...take a look, enjoy the pieces and let me know what you think.......

A total of 22 old and unused CDs, scrapped into beautiful works of art for my beautiful frens ......
I 've given them away to my dear buddies after a round of games which we played for more of interaction and fellowship but I did capture the images of these fabulous pieces with the intention to keep them digitally in my blog.

One side of every CD had the same pix like the one above but in different pattern papers to make it unique.

This is kind of special for a dear fren full of love, care, charisma and charm that can inspire others. I gave her the beautiful peach rosy laces we both shopped at the Melbourne Craft Fair last year.
I am proud to quote Wendy from FB, "It's prominently displayed to give me inspiration. Now collecting old recycled CDs for projects'. Thank you Wendy for the encouragement!

Another elegant piece scrapped with care and affection for Cat, my artistic Sifu ,who is full of loving kindness & compassion.
Knowing she is a fashionista, I used everything stylo, from lace pattern paper to black lace trimmings, lacy ribbons and a final touch of a pretty peach lacy flower which I did a tiny bit of stitching at the end to hold it together. Viola ! This is one of my fave number !

A stylish Granny of 3 grand kids, what more could I thought of but those soft, colourful, velvety & tiny like rounded buttons which I am very sure will catch the attention of Lay Hwa's lil grand daughters.

Betty reminded me of our meet up not at a shopping mall or a cinema but at the Kensington Park, my fave green sanctuary where I go for daily walks. Those are genuine dried flowers for her, did I pick up from the bushes around the garden ???

Just lurved the lovely green zig zag trimmings for Gee to dangle the CD on her Xmas tree. The green & white colour combo made it so refreshing like our dear fren from Down Under - Melbourne.
Wonderful to know you and have a good spring!

After toying around with the picture and the rounded CD, I'd say the right picture was selected and nicely cut to fit into the curvy bit of the CD making it kind of special in design. Hope you like it dear Wendy.

My intention was to make Gerry a sweet & pretty rossette, a perfect award for our ex-beauty Queen !

The word ' Thank You' means more than just an appreciation of kindness'. Just like 'Terima Kasih' which means 'Received With Love', I thank Pat, my dear Kedahan, for her wonderful friendship, love, laughter and the happy days we had together.

Orange colour evokes feelings of sunshine and joy. This colour is so Cecilia, a cheerful, kind, helpful and loving fren. Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes you gave us. God Bless You!

Pearls symbolize the best within us. With her good business acumen, I embellished it with lots of tiny pearls and I believe these 2 combinations will bring a great effect, lots of prosperity and good luck for Jean in all her endeavours.

A stunning Oriental make specially for Siew Chea. The red pattern paper is of Oriental design but what surprised me was the red, frilly chiffon like ribbon which made it sooooo Chinese feel. Loved this a lot. Kong Xi Kong Xi in advance !

The pink fabric flower was chosen for Amy with the intention to add her expression of feelings, her feeling of kindness, tenderness and caring, all from her personality traits.Thank you for fulfilling your game draw of bringing us for afternoon tea. More cuppa when you're back?

For Mui Lan, I chose hot pink which symbolizes her in high spirits and with stronger 'pink energy'.
It was her birthday after all.... Happy Birthday!

The vibrant pink, red and the itsy bitsy polka dotted paper is interesting to have and I gave it to dear Maureen whom I find a fun loving, spontaneous and has an outgoing look on life.Cheers!

Yellow and green so sunshine and fresh is what Sylvia is, an easy going, delightful, a lady with lots of team spirit and makes a wonderful company to be with. Bravo that's our Diva !!

The picture was selected with the intention to fit the curvature of the CD and I did it, looked cool!
Janet is always full of everlasting smile and blessed with a jovial & happy personality.Stay well !

Simply in love with the red frilly ribbon again, so attractive and feminine! It conjures a playful Dorisa peeking behind the drapes looking at
who?? LOL

Did you realize the colour, the photo, the blue roses and the stripes pattern paper were all intentionally selected to remind Li May of her sweet pregnancy of our cute lil Benjamin! Happy Parenting!

This is so gorgeous just like Teng, filled with vibrant colours, the shocking pink and red makes the whole piece lively and playful. Enjoy life to the fullest!

I chose pink for Serene as it suits her personality. She is loving, kind, calm, sweet and have a youthful appearance.

Betty Wong, another birthday buddy of mine, is a lady with a warm heart, soft and sweet.
Happy Birthday!

As a keepsake to evoke memories of this birthday event, I made one for myself too. You can see what I am hot about - laces, bling bling and oh yes you may catch me in those pearls.....when I am short of 'embellishments' to adorn my outfit, LOL.

Lil miniature Dior perfume were given away as gifts, a token of appreciation and to express our heartfelt thanks to all our buddies for joining us to celebrate our birthdays. I quote Cecilia " the best birthday party!" Thank you Thank you!

We are the happy threesome

I often wonder why birthdays are celebrated with cake cutting.Not that I anti-cake but I am just curious if there's any symbolic meaning perhaps. Whatever it may be, we close our eyes, make a wish, blow out the candles and cut that piece of cake !!

At Chinese birthday celebrations we do have 'Sou tou' to express the blessings of living a long and healthy life. What a lovely and auspicious Chinese delicacy.

It was fun trying out our skills of lifting the cover of the big 'Sou tou'. OK OK we're blessed with 'Fu Sou' meaning longevity life and good fortune.

Having a good and wonderful evening party......

Ladies did you know that we were having laughter therapy or should I put it as doing laughter yoga subconsciously? This group laughs a lot! I like laughing, it's the best medicine and the best way to release all the stress that has built up inside us. If it is something very funny don't just smile or chuckle but laugh out loud, hahaha! hahaha!

A picture tells a thousand words, there was a TON OF FUN filled with laughter and MERRYMAKING. Everyone was taking part gaily. Wow! What a celebration !!

~ VALUE FRIENDSHIP FOR WHAT THERE IS IN IT, NOT FOR WHAT CAN BE GOTTEN OUT OF IT.

If you would like to make any comments or add on, feel free to click " 0 Lovely people said' at the bottom of this post. Thank you for visiting!

MY CONFIGURATION BOX

2011-04-30T05:13:00.003+08:00

Oh I just luv Configuration boxes! They're dimensional shadow boxes which are inakable, paintable, collagable and best of all configurable.

I still remembered how disappointed I was when I had to miss the Masterclass by Tim Holtz in UK last Feb 2011 when I actually was lucky enough to get hold of the ticket (demand for tickets was more than supply). And....it was during this special class that Tim was teaching the techniques of making Configuration box. Not to despair if there's a will there's a way.......to learn the techniques. And I did.

Knowing me as soon as i got hold of the box, I could not wait to get my hands on it and to start creating.
I have done it and wish to share.......

Look how fun to store your tiny collectibles/ treasures inside these small boxes.

Prior to placing all the lil things,each box is covered with pattern papers. For the seams between each inner box it is covered with Tim's tissue tape to bind all boxes together. To make the box stand upright, I have the dimensional elements - the Foundation feet, cool yes?

Can you see my tinnie winnie Japanese doll and the spool that i made recently?

I like the Buddha image behind, I had it made from alluminium (metal art piece) while the 3-D figure is moulded out from dough (dough art)

As always my fascination for shoes even tho how big or tiny they are, LOL!

Lil doll house and a glass covered with utee - 'Home Sweet Home"

Let's gamble and drink.....

Bottles and pearls, they are my all time faves!

You can have a special theme for the configuration box and Iam now thinking of my next box.......all about flowers or birds or............

AGED TO PERFECTION

2011-04-09T00:56:00.007+08:00

After a day's flight delay at Heathrow London which really fired me up and upon arrival in KL feeling groggy and jet lag, I was asked by my dear friend a few days later if I could make a birthday card for Doris, I could not say no coz she put to me in such a sweet manner. Hard to say no, LOL!

Well, I procrastinated and waited till the eleventh hour before I started creating. Being a milestone birthday for Doris, I felt that she deserved not a birthday card but something better. I decided to give her a canvas board layout to display our sentiments for her. I went thru past CDs to look for her photos.

This creation will be a beautiful birthday keepsake which will let her remember us..........

Materials used: pattern papers, metal sheets, foam board, Inka Gold , embellishments......etc...etc...

With the milestone birthday comes years of happy memories.
Rubbed each square pieces of silver metal sheet with some 'rose' Inka Gold. To make it more shiny rubbed longer and the effect was simply stunning.

For a classy and elegant look, I opt for silver and pink. Birthday celebration colours should be bold and bright to create a feeling of excitement.

Some of the bright pink colours on the metal sheet had been given a brass brushed effect and then dabbed & rubbed with silver Inka Gold paint to create silver roses and further embellished with shimmering stickles & pink pearls.
A bouquet of paper roses added on to honour Doris making her splendid day more special!!

It is believed that little things in life that make one happy should not be ignored, like a birthday celebration.
Happy Birthday dear Doris....

A little gift from yours truly, an occasion that needs to be celebrated in a way that it is remembered.

An opportunity to get together to show our love, care and support to commemorate such a milestone. So lets make her birthday the best!
HAPPY SWEET BIRTHDAY DORIS AND MAY MANY MORE TO COME!!

CHARM BOX AND CHARMS TO BRING GOOD LUCK

2011-02-20T15:08:00.004+08:00

For the past 4 months, there was a lot going on in my life. During the course of playing the role of a mom and wife, my travels and creating my artworks, I found out that I had a bicep tendon tear on my left arm. The onset of severe pain just came without any warning when I was still in London in Nov '10. In fact, I regretted for having took things for granted. I had some pain on my left arm much earlier but with a few sessions of massages I was healed, never knew that my body was actually telling me that there was something not right about my left arm and I did not listen............' Just too late now to feel remorse'.

So, needless to say it was a tumultuous time in my life. All my travels, yoga, blogging and art creation had to put to a standstill. Life was miserable for me.......sigh! I did not take heed of my Doctor's advice to have the op after CNY, instead I had my Rotator cuff repair done earlier on 12th Jan and yes ! it's already past 5 coming to 6th weeks since my op. Thank God I made the right decision tho I felt uncomfortable during the CNY festive period. My main concern now is to mobilize my left arm and there's my physio exercises I look forward to daily.

Gosh! for the past 4 months my Art Studio which is my 'hideout' whenever I am back in KL, was quiet with no sound of music nor sign of a soul in there. It was only a few days ago on 11 Feb that I decided to express my emotions and work thru my problem knowing that art making has some therapeutic effects. Yes, it helped!

This time it was a revelation to me that I was not too lucky with my health.
Everyone in the world believes in good luck or good destiny.
Tho invisible,destiny has its impact on individuals either in positive or negative way.

Well, as I was going thru my art stuff a piece of charm caught my attention. I knew this object can bring good luck. Lucky charms are objects kept for good luck. I wanna blindly believe it will bring happiness, good health, love, strength and protection. These lucky charms are usually put in a bag or hang on to a mannequin dress form or kept in a box to be more effective. Having quite a collection of charms, I decided to create a box, actually have it altered from a plain wooden box with the purpose to store my precious charms. Here's how I did the transformation......Viola.!

Painted a coat of gesso on the wooden box prior applying Tim Holtz Distress reinker 'faded jeans' to add some colour to the box. The colour was quite intense at first but I had it softened with baby wipes.

Oops! How to clean my hand that looked like this and I was having a fine dining that very evening, oh dear oh dear! Thank God, my hair stylist came to my rescue with his bottle of stain remover for hair colour and it worked, ha ha!

Now all done and I thought I would share a sneaky peek of my charm box......

Had the front of drawers decorated with metal art. Here I need to be honest, I was unable to run the metal thru the Cuttlebug coz I didn't want to overstress my left shoulder, so I brought in a helper, guess who? My maid, LOL.

Sides of box embellished with Tim Holtz translucent tissue tape adhesive backed paper and metal corners that can be positioned for adornment.

Why memories? This artwork will in later years reminds me of the period of time when my left arm is immobilized and this piece of box was created most of the time with my right hand.

A closer view of the metal art designs.

The gold colour of the metal has been lightly lifted off using a small sponge with some Adirondack Butterscotch alcohol ink.

Tim Holtz's idea-ology curio knobs used as handles. What a perfect embellishment to add sophistication and charm to my box.

From my collection of charms, I actually liked a few pieces which I believe can make lucky charms. Some people may carry a lucky coin. As the saying goes, ' Find a penny, pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck'. All it takes is your imagination to select the objects for making good luck charms.

Here's a one-of-a-kind good luck charm necklace I have created......hope you like it too

All the objects have a significance to me. For instance the 3 keys worn together symbolise the unlocking of the doors to health, love and abundance. The prominent Buddha icon is also treated as a lucky charm for protection and can you see the little palette of colours, it's my hope and inspiration to go on creating lovely artworks..........etc...etc...

During my recent travels, I picked up a few pieces of pendants and trinkets and they remain important things in my life. I surely believe they'll bring me good fortune and luck in the coming years.....have a look...

My Tree Of Life pendant.The tree becomes a symbol of love, wisdom, rebirth, strength, friendship and encouragement. Knowing that I 'm loved and not alone can give me strength to do things I did not know I am capable of doing. The tree branches gives me protection. This pendant is in sterling silver and it shall be my 'Wishing Tree' as well.

A ceramic clock. Being a circle, it is a symbol that represents the psyche center of personality. It is symbolic of wholeness, completeness and unity of the self. The passage of time indicates it is time to use my brain and come up with more things.

I simply adore this artwork, the lovely imprint of floral design on the ceramic is so gorgeous and I like horses. A white horse in the olden days have been mythologised as possessing exceptional properties, a sacred animal. This is my lucky charm and it shall remain so.....

3 tube of colours, signifying my flair for creating art. Somehow this gives me inspirations and I wanna express my life and my art in vivid living colours.

This is my creative way to store lucky charms.......

Lucky charms are believed to bring happiness, love, good health, strength and prosperity.
Visualize them to make your wishes come true!

HEALTH I BRING YOU, HAPPINESS TOO, WEALTH HEREIN, AND ALL FOR YOU!

PAPER ARTSY MEETS METAL

2010-11-15T00:27:00.000+08:00

It was by chance when sourcing to purchase some metal art materials that I was introduced to Lin Brown, a pleasant, friendly artist who is the owner of LB Crafts, located in Olney, a pretty lil town in Buckinghamshire. Lin is very experienced , creative and is the designer for Tim Hotlz. Many of her art pieces have inspired and encouraged me to go on creating something different.......Woooo so many on my to do list!!

Being one of the top designer/artist in UK, Lin's classes are difficult to book, very popular indeed but yesterday I was lucky to take over a cancellation place for a class called, " Paper Artsy Meets Metal". I had a terrific time, met new scrappers and picked up wonderful new techniques. I adored what I have made and wish to share.....

Here's today's sneaky peek for all you artsy crafters...........what else...metal stuff of course!!

This was my 1st metal art class with Lin. A mixed media art piece using Paper Artsy stamps, corrugated papers, metal aluminum and .........

A closer peek on this piece - metal were rubber stamped/put thru BigShot to get the image/embossed designs.......then followed by detailed touchup.

Corrugated card boards/papers give a lovely rough texture. Here they were given a coat of Kaiser paint rubbed with the beautiful colours of the Inka Gold. So thrilled with this!

Layering technique gives depth....

The frame of the butterfly has a design created using a decorative wheel.

Never knew why bird's cage always attracts me! Here I have it painted and inked with Inka Gold with hues of yellow, gold and purple. Pretty??

Lin must be commended for her 'tape sandwich' technique which is so fantastic when working with metal, so cleverly thought of and practical. Thx Lin your are a genius.

This is an interesting piece with a few layers of metal and every piece created from a blank sheet of colored aluminum.

Just loved this, the image stamped with StazOn and painted. Woh.... the colour turned out to be awesome!!

A tip from Lin, instead of having to fill up each alphabet of the word 'Dream' from the back with filler, we can opt to deboss it...

Another stunning metal flower made from copper metal. Thanks to Leandra from PaperArtsy
who was so innovative to come out with stamps and matching dies .....how cool is that!! I am addicted to
making metallic and grunge board flowers nowadays....wanna join me??

Lin Brown and me......Thanks Lin for sharing and I certainly enjoyed creating at yesterday's workshop.
Look forward to Tim Holtz Master class in Feb 2011, the Organizers are Lin and Leandra and I'll be there!!

EVERYDAY IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR ME.

SPOOLS, SPOOLS AND MORE SPOOLS

2010-11-11T03:14:00.011+08:00

Spools making is the in thing. I have purchased a few wooden spools from the Craft Show at Alexandra Place, London, but never had the time to get them done up.
By the courtesy of Julie Van Oosten, she shared with us a MAKE & TAKE, actually constructing a spool just from a plain cardboard and then embellishing it. Thank you Julie, I lurved making spools and to create them in different sizes is so fun!
These are my collection..................

Are they not pretty?

Enjoyed adding the embellishments....

An eyelet added on....

Simply stylish!!

MY HEART 2 HEART SPOOL....
This is made in my garden room in the midst of the cold autumn temperatures to inspire and uplift lives......

Oh so pretty and made with whatever I have in store here.....

Elegant pearls and little flowers made the difference........

JOIN ME TO CREATE MORE SPOOLS TO RELAX AND DE-STRESS

WHITE VINTAGE BY COLLECTIONS

2010-11-10T18:10:00.233+08:00

Never regretted but felt very happy indeed for attending Julie Van Oosten's classes for 2 consecutive days, each day creating a different project. Wow!! scroll down and have a peek on what I have created, 2 lovely and gorgeous pieces, A Triple Fold Frame and A Triple Layered Tile Frame. Both creations really blown me away !!
Initially I thought it would not be easy to get them done but phew..! I 've got the 2 pieces up and they were not that difficult after all, yeah !!

Allow me to present my creations, both in White Vintage theme....

TRIPLE FOLD FRAME.....

What do you think, pretty ya? Everything was constructed from scratch, plain card boards painted with fabulous damask texture techniques or covered with beautiful pattern paper, edges sanded, inked and distressed to give the vintage style. Transparency fitted to both side frames creating a see thru effect, simply stunning!!

Frame A, a real sweetie - looked at the double hearts, one covered with writing paper while the smaller heart is covered with a coffee stained muslin. Embellishments like a beaded pin, lace and words are added. Come to think of it, the whole piece was very easy to create. Give it a try and you'll agree with me.

Frame B had more to do and here I picked up 2 new techniques - damask textured stamping all around the sides of the frame and Dry brush painting on the Angel's wings. Putting together the chipboard mannequin and the angel wings, the top and bottom plaques were rather tedious but once fixed, felt a sense of achievement.

The beautiful pattern papers, the antique linen distress ink and the sanded edges, produced a shabby chic and vintage effect. I am loving it a lot every time I view them.

Creating layers after layers.......the layering technique

Frame C not complicated to construct. Involved painting on the fleur de lis, sanding and inking the edges, fitting a transparency to the back of the frame, covering the frame with pattern paper and adding words using the layering technique..

What a beautiful transparency from Collections Element by Julie Van Oosten.

To complete, the 3 frames were glued to the supplied joined frames, clamped till dry and viola all done!!

TRIPLE LAYERED TILE FRAME.....

This is another awesome and fine piece of art work created in Julie's class.
Don't be surprised to know that the framework were constructed with 8 pieces of cardboard cut to size, glued two together, one on top of the other and repeated with the other three sides. Next another smaller frame glued on top of the main frame for all sides again eventually making a triple layered frame sides.

The frame is painted with warm white paint, then sanded to give the aged look. To give texture to the frames, a rubber stamp is sponged with paint and stamped on top of frames making a pretty effect. Liked this technique a lot!.
A back board is glued to the frame from behind and the front covered with a beautiful pattern paper.

Next...working on the tiles, the one inch, the two inch and the three inch was exciting, creating various designs on each tile.

This three inch tile is so haberdashery influenced, covered with fabric, flat spools in pattern paper and embellished with eyelets and threads twined round. The chipboard buttons are covered with muslin and twine added.

A lovely dry brushed embossed two inch tile with a painted white key and words added on.

This is so artsy! The fleur de lis is painted and rubber stamped to get the damask look, then glued on top of the muslin which had been trimmed and inked with paint.

Three tiny mannequins covered with pattern paper and tied with linen thread glued on the two inch tile.

The one inch tiles are quite simple to create, they were just covered with pattern paper or muslin and embellished with some German scrap or a letter added on.

A large painted and distressed flourish with some linen thread and muslin tied around the center piece are then glued onto the main frame. More words added to tell a story.
At last, a gorgeous white vintage frame with a number of beautiful tiles were created and I simply adore it, don't you?

For remembrance a few pics were taken with Julie and fellow scrappers.....

Julie and me.......................

A great 2 days Art Retreat, though very exhausted by the end of the second day but very fulfilling and satisfying indeed. A word of thanks to Julie and not forgetting Sharon of ScrappingVille!

HAPPY CREATING

METAL ART AND COPIC AIR BRUSH

2010-11-04T23:03:00.010+08:00

With two of my friends' birthday celebration in November, I was expected to create a canvas art each.

Having more time to spare while I was in London in mid October '10 I started to explore the air brushing technique using copic pens. The end finish of copic air brushing is brilliant with no messy blots of inks unlike some paint sprays.

With this new technique in hand plus my favourite metal art, I decided to create a canvas mixed media for one of the birthday lady, Puan Sri Teng Teng. Here it is.....................

Wow! Never expected a stunning piece !
The canvas is first gesso-ed to create a thin layer of texture with 2 of Tim Holtz Masks, the large swirls and the crown.
When the canvas is dried, I air brushed it with different shades of copic pens to create an earthy tone.
Several different colour hues of Inka Gold paint like copper, green, blue and gold are dabbed on the canvas to give it more colours. The photo is raised using artist foam board.
The words CHERISH are handmade from copper metal .

Paper flowers, leaves, glitters and crystals are added on as final embellishments.

This 2nd canvas creation is awesome and I loved it a lot! My inspiration for this piece came from my morning walks in the Kensington Gardens where I was surrounded with rich autumn colours, the autumn leaves........This is made for my dear fren, Puan Sri Wendy Ong ..........

I started out with a blank canvas then I air brushed it with different colours of copic pens. Paper dollies are used as stencils to create the masks on the sides of canvas. Copper hues of Inka Gold is dabbed on the corners and sides.

The autumn leaves are made from metal aluminum of rich beautiful autumn colours using the tape sandwich technique, put thru cuttle bug with a selection of Tim Holtz texture fades and then gently swiped the top of the embossed design with alcohol ink. This will lift off the coloured paint from the metal and mingles with the alcohol ink. The leaves are sorted, arranged and glued at different levels

The leaves turned out to be simply gorgeous!! I went on to decorate the autumn leaves with various Idea-o-logy treasures from Tim Holtz like birds, flowers, butterflies......etc...etc to make it more interesting.

Oh I just loved the lovely lace framed round the sides of the photo.

Two aged vintage chains dangled with lovely beads, Tim's key and a few other bits are affixed at the top and hanged down to add some final embellishments.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR LADIES, MAY JOY, HAPPINESS AND GOOD HEALTH BE WITH YOU ALWAYS!

BIRTHDAYS, CHARITY, MEALS-ON-WHEELS

2010-10-30T00:31:00.858+08:00

Having heard about the Meals-On-Wheels programme organized by Ti-Ratana Penchala Community Center, I knew it would be a great opportunity for me to celebrate my birthday by feeding the poor and needy via this programme. With my two other buddies who normally celebrate birthdays with me, I decided to convince them to join forces for this charitable cause. We invited all the other ladies in our group to come along to feed and give, the act of dana which is universally recognized as one of the most basic human virtues.

Being a Buddhist myself, I fully understand that giving (dana) is one of the essential preliminary steps of Buddhist practice. Like all good deeds, an act of giving will bring us happiness and yields benefits in the present life and in lives to come.

A suitable date, 25th Oct, was chosen to bring our home cooked food plus material gifts like diapers, rice, oats, toothpaste, towels etc..etc.. on the Ti-Ratana Wheelie and head for the Sri Sayang Home out in Ulu Yam.

To make it more of a team effort, we printed white T-shirts for all while the 3 birthday girls were in pink.

It was fun designing the logo. I used the swirls from my Art Studio (Tim Holtz swirls) and gave the words, ' the act of giving' a twist and changed to ' The Art Of Giving'. So delighted that the T-shirts looked very good on everyone.

Came the morning of 25th Oct, all assembled at the Ti-Ratana Center....

A feeling of bliss that morning knowing that Lord Buddha is around to guide me and my friends.

Dana is Lord Buddha's practical strategy to encourage us to let go, loving kindness and compassion..

The Oct birthdays girls ....Betty, Mui Lan and yours truly.

Betty's birth date was 6th Oct, yours truly 7th Oct and Mui Lan's on 13th Oct.

Happy Birthday to you, you and me! Never felt more happy to be.........

We are the well balanced Librans....Ahem!!

The best of friends.....

Always laughing and happy.....ha ha ha ha ha!!

Visiting the art and craft room of the Ti-Ratana Center. These were the craft work done by some of the handicap children and single mothers.

Gorgeous baskets handmade from old magazines... how creative and innovative !!

Listening to Honey, a dedicated and compassionate member of the Center...

So much to see and understand....

I just loved the basket....imagine handmade by a less fortunate person, certainly worth a lot of value..

Wendy and me liked the picture....or was it an excuse to have another shot, what say you Wendy?

Listening to instructions from Honey about our trip to the Sri Sayang home

Getting ready to pray...

Given a copy of the manual for the Daily Buddha Devotions, written in Pali with English translations..

To purify one's mind through prayers....

Betty praying....

I was indeed happy, an auspicious day for all...

Friends praying guided by our dear Wendy Goh...

I felt so touched to see all my buddies praying and deep in my heart I knew they are filled with loving kindness. Sadu Sadu!

Group pic before we pushed off to Ulu Yam......All beautiful and blessed!

All foodstuff and gifts loaded and ready to wheel off...A Fun and cheerful wheelie!

Could not resist to have a shot...

Then the other girls rushed to join in for another pic.

A fish eye sneak peek of 5 MPVs plus mine that made 6, all heading towards Ulu Yam...

An hour's ride to arrive destination, so had some pictures taken, photographer Hong was with us...

Upon arrival, we found out that part of the Home was under renovation....

The Head of the Home was there to receive us and a briefing was given about the home....and inmates...

Everyone was attentive and we came to know that the home was for all ages from child to elderly, male & female and for all races.....

This lady deserved to be commended for she runs the home besides having to manage her own business...

Unloading and preparing to serve...

Yes Wendy, Tqvm, I know its your sengkuang tofu and you personally cooked it with love...

Laying out the many dishes on the Wheelie itself...... how practical!

Serving now and telling each other must rationed coz many more to feed...

No problem we have done it many times before as we have been good wives and Moms, always serving at home...remember charity starts from home...LOL

Birthday girls hands on serving the needy. Tqvm dear Betty and Mui Lan for joining me in this good cause...

These are the male inmates and they lived separately from the female inmates. Eating at their dining hall. Some ate on their own while a few has to be fed...

This Malay boy who has mental problem has to be fed by this kind Indian uncle daily..Thumbs up to you uncle !!

This inmate has been fed by uncle for 5 years and so used to his way of feeding that nobody else could do the job. Poor boy unable to chew, every mouthful was swallowed in.

Honey tried feeding him but he did not swallow as we then realized one must know how much to give on each spoon and the method of putting the food in his mouth matters...Good try dear Honey!

I was trying to cheer him up but looked like no response... my heart went out to him for being chucked in the home by his parents..

The youngest inmate, apparently the Mom is here with his other siblings....

This inmate ate half of his food and insisted that he must keep the balance despite us telling we have more for him. He showed us all his belongings like angpows and so forth which he kept inside his T shirt, afraid they will be stolen....he is definitely a hoarder and it is a type of mental illness.
Look at his nails, he refused to cut them too....Wonder what will become of him if he did not get treated ?

This home prefers donations in kind, so here are our gifts....rice, oats, diapers, towels tooth paste.....etc....etc..

A rather touching moment for I felt I should be the one to express our heartfelt thanks to her for spending time and effort to run the home....not an easy task.

After visiting the home, all my buddies including the volunteers from Ti-Ratana were invited to our birthday lunch at this old village restaurant, famous for its Loh Mee.....I am sure you must have heard of this specialty......

This was the first time a birthday lunch was held at a kopi tiam style Restaurant out in the quaint village in Ulu Yam.....I liked the atmosphere, brought back memories of nostalgia, returned to the good ole days and it reminded me of my childhood days, always wanted to tag behind my Dad when he went for his bowl of noodles and a cuppa of local coffee.

Very glad that my buddies did not mind at all having basic but delicious food at a village restaurant. Everything was yummy for us, the fish cakes, the cockles, the Fu Chok and of course the Loh Mee - very special indeed. It ended up many of us 'ta pau' the noodles home...

Yum Yum...its hot Pat! Go slow......LOL

Simple meal but satisfying....

Tqvm Alex for taking a day off to lend us a helping hand...

Having our birthday lunch at this village restaurant was another bonus for me because all the shots taken were retro. I do appreciate retro photography which has a nostalgic value and charm.
So I had photographer Hong to create a vintage look effect on the images, I am sure you like them too, yes? If not no worries I have the coloured ones for your album.

Our dear Cat, a lady full of loving kindness. Tqvm for your guidance and assistance.

When I recalled the day out in Ulu Yam, it gave me the feeling of happiness to see all my buddies and friends helping and sharing, eating and laughing and they all looked so neat and smart in similar white T shirts.....once again thank you friends for taking time off to join us on this meaningful day.

Wow what a nice candid shot!

This group of ladies are real 'notorious', wherever they go they shop and mind you they'll buy everything... This round they bought not handbags or shoes but kampung eggs, fruits.....

Hei Cat, please spare some for us....

Oh Gosh! both of them have never seen a star fruit !!!

Scrutinizing the bottle before buying.....Not to worry it is edible Cat!

The owner of the shop was smiling all the time coz everything was purchased by us!!

This was my best birthday present,a beautiful and stunning mixed media art created by our Sifu Cat, love it love it very much indeed! Thank you ladies!

Another gorgeous canvas art for Mui Lan.

A lovely piece of art for Betty. I really liked the way the canvases were displayed, against an old wooden wall, a combination of retro with modern design, evoked a feeling of old and modern, so charming!!

Time for showing off our presents and the cake cutting ceremony...yeah..!!!
What tickled me..??

I wished for.........

A group picture for remembrance....

A happy me and all my buddies...... woo hoo!!

Why did I cry?? My tears of joy, an expression of my subconscious!!

Thank you for the loving hug, it certainly made me feel loved and an emotional boost.

Tqvm Ti-Ratana for the precious manual ,the Daily Buddha Devotions! This was the book I was eyeing at while at the Center and yes, I have it now!!

Happy and laughing, after having received what they were waiting for....our door gifts, nothing expensive but something practical which I purchased all the way from Shanghai....

Awesome and happy bunch of ladies.......keep smiling...!

Yes yes my dear buddies, hope you liked our door gifts, if not will get you better ones next year..

This is what I think of you, 'simple beauty with a loving and compassionate heart' !

Lovely retro & vintage looking images, will make beautiful Wall Art.

Never said no to having a picture taken at this scenic spot....a lake with a dam in the vicinity.

Once again wish to express our sincere thanks to all for everything. A superb day out in the country!!

COUNTRY ROAD TAKE ME HOME, TO THE PLACE I BELONG..............

EAT, CRAFT & LAUGH

2010-10-27T22:06:00.023+08:00

With our 3 ladies' decision of having their Nov/Dec birthdays do earlier as unexpected, we the Oct group was kind of rushed to create 3 canvas pieces for the three Dec ladies. It was so sweet of our Sifu Cat whom we managed to rope her in to give direction as she is a brilliant designer, a lot of techniques to pick up from her, right Mui Lan and Betty??

This time around, the venue was at my art studio which one day earlier I was frantically pressured to unpack my bags and bags full of newly purchased stuff flown in from London and Melbourne and put them into the respective boxes and shelves ready for today's crafting session. Thank God everything was neat and tidy before the gang came this morning.

As the saying goes, ' a hungry man is an angry man', I had to feed the ladies with some yummy steam buns and pretzels specially bought accompanied by a cuppa of coffee/tea before we actually start exploring, creating and playing in between.......have a sneak peek at what we did....

Look at us, happily dabbing, inking, spraying, rubbing ......chit chatting at the same time and having lots & lots of fun creating and oops...mind you these ladies have the privilege to put on my new branded aprons purchased from Melbourne and London....Besides, they had the opportunity to try out the new inks, paints and embellishments which I had recently picked up from the Melbourne and London Craft Fair!! So my other buddies please don't be 'green-eyed' for missing all the goodie stuff and fun!

What a fabulous technique Cat demo to us - the copic air brush using her enormous compressor which initially gave me a fright coz my air brush compressor was just a small canister, LOL. But.... I was very impressed by her compressor which emitted a rather gentle sound and worked the air brush beautifully. You know what, I immediately stood up and ordered the same machine before it runs out of stock....ha ha 'kia su' me !!
Emmmm....nice ya!! sitting comfortably outdoor facing my pool and my garden greens!!

Watch clearly... Sifu Cat was real serious, using a ruler to supervise the work done, OMG.... what went wrong
with her...LOL

There I told you, she was angry.......now I know why...coz my lunch was not yet ready....

Last nite I had to crack my head to think of a yummy lunch for my buddies, something they have not eaten before. I was right, they loved my special pan mee from Jln TAR, KL. They even 'take away' the mee home, that was so wonderful.....not becos we could not finish eating but it was my intention to buy extra for my ladies...pampered lot!!

Had to continue working after lunch....no choice...but we managed to finish only 2 pieces and our dear Sifu Cat had to bring work home, her ' homework' as we had some issue concerning the picture for the 3rd canvas.
I am indeed very glad that we had accomplished creating 2 beautiful and gorgeous mixed media art pieces.
Sorry..unable to reveal now as the presentation will be on 3rd Nov during the birthday celebration. I will blog the 3 canvas creations after 3rd Nov, so if you wanna view our artsy work, visit my blog then.
Yeay.......I am looking forward to the party...with my new cocktail dress.!!

CREATING WITH FRIENDS BRING SO MUCH FUN!

...

INSPIRATIONS FROM THE OLD SILK ROAD

2010-10-23T13:32:00.101+08:00

Last summer my family was game for adventure, so we packed our bags and went on a historical journey tracing part of the routes of The Old Silk Road in China to recall its splendor and to appreciate its present charm.

Just to give a short brief to those who have not heard of The Old Silk Road, it is the world's earliest land communication line for trade. Merchants brought spices etc in exchange for silk from China It started from central China at the present city called Xi'an (old name was Chang An) then it goes westwards to Xinjiang, crossed Pamir via Kirghistan, Tajikistan,Uzbekistan, Afghanistan,Iran, Iraq, Syria and reach the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The many historical sites, cultural relics, colourful folklore along The Old Silk Road, has attracted thousands of tourists from around the world.

I am inspired from this trip and it led me on to create 2 mixed media pieces using metal which is the present media I am learning and liking it a lot. Here it is.....

This is a combo art piece comprising of textured paste + metal.... The grid design on the metal aluminum sheet represents the many ancient walls of China mainly the "Great Wall".
The other half which has been filled with textured paste has been inked with a distressed look and together with the stamped image of a clock, both indicate the 'olden days of China'.
The smaller Buddha embellishment is handmade from polymer clay and dabbed with some gold paint while the rest of the embellishment are some of my metal creations.

My creation of the fabulous ' Terra Cota Warriors' inspired after visiting the World Heritage Site in Xi'an China.
It is a mixed of textured paste and metal warriors +tags. What I liked about this art work is the textured paste called terra which under high heat bubbled and formed a very rough texture. With added Lumiere paint and touches of the precious metal colours in hues of copper and turquoise, a very earthy background is created.
The warriors and tags are handmade from metal aluminum and painted with some colours.

METAL TILE ART

2010-09-21T05:40:00.015+08:00

There is so much to experiment and play with metal art that it eventually brought me to create these six lovely art pieces which I quite like them actually. Had so much fun and enjoyment cutting, rubbing, designing, buffing, spraying, colouring and so forth........phew!! lots of detailed work but just loved creating..... Hope you like them as much as I do....

Oops !! my baby elephant should not be there but I simply adore it! Wanted jumbo to accompany my new creations, please don't be distracted, LOL.
Each metal tile is folded over a small canvas board and rubbed with paper stump to smooth out the edges. The main canvas board is dabbed with a first layer of acrylic paint followed by glimmer mists in bright red and orange.

The harlequin design is gorgeous, love it, love it!! Sprayed hues of red glimmer mists and embellished with Tim Holtz fragment encasing an image of yours truly.

Created a 'puffed' look on some of the diamond shaped harlequin and I am amazed at how the metal stretched to my desired effect. Had to fill up the design on the back by glossy ascent so that it won't flatten.

I called this 'Spoty'. Used the ball & cup to puff the design.

Incorporated an aluminum embellishment which has been ink pad with copper and buffed with some copper rub-on.

I have a great passion for flowers, just couldn't resist looking at them anywhere anytime. Having learned the art of making paper and fabric flowers, now it takes me to a level higher, creating metallic flowers! And you know what, I am head over heels in love making these awesome flowers!!
Wait till I get hold of my CuttleBug , I would go cracy 'manufacturing' flowers using Leandra"s Paper Artsy flower stamps with the matching die cut and Oooooo ! just cannot imagine how sweet and lovely my flowers will be!!

Die cut the metal sheets, rubber stamped on it then folded it and Viola! You get the lovely flower!

This is one of my favourite piece, I named it 'Flutter' with 3 different designs, checked in the center (dabbed with alcohol ink), part harlequin on top and swirly at the bottom ( Glimmer mist with some hues of red)

What do you think of my fluttering butterflies? Rubber stamped the image of butterfly on metal sheet, traced with embossing tool and glimmer mist it.

Well, well, a beautiful rubber stamp from Paper Artsy, its the stunning bird's cage!! Can you see the little tweety birdie on top? As usual traced around the image after stamping, added more designs at the sides using the decorative wheel. Dabbed some alcohol ink to bring out the colour of metal.

The cage certainly looked exclusive!! Do I need to add on another bird? Hmmm... rather empty, but right here in London I have limited resources, my cute bird rubber stamp is in KL. More decor to come....

Love this too, a combo of image from rubber stamp and hand drawn pattern using decorative wheel.
Beautiful words, "time of my life", Yes, make full use of my time to create and enjoy creating for happiness, relaxation, stimulation of my brain for more ideas and enthusiasm....... etc.... etc.....

Added some alcohol ink to brighten the metal and put touches of red colour to the flowers.

Thanks for viewing, I do welcome feedback for improvement and I am sure I have a lot more to learn.
Well, look out for more of my creations, this time I wanna try larger metal artworks, WISH ME LUCK!

MY METAL DIARY FOR 2011

2010-09-15T06:44:00.006+08:00

Though I keep my calendar of events in my Black Berry and Ipad, I still would like to have a diary with me. With the year coming to an end soon, I have purchased my diary for 2011 and I decided to give it a 'face-lift' by altering the front and back covers to make it more interesting and glamorous!

Guess what? I transformed a store-bought spiral diary into an object de art! Take a sneak peek, only the covers not the inside please!

Instead of using molds like the kabukas and 'big mamas', I opt for rubber stamping on the metal sheet.
Using black archival ink the image is stamped on the coloured metal and traced with an embossing tool.

A ball & cup tool used to create the design and further dimension added using the decorative wheels.

To hold the shape of the words and figures and to fill in the overall design, I used glossy ascent instead of spackle which can be rather heavy. To give the metal surface an antique finish, alcohol ink is dabbed on it and the excess wiped off.

A stylish pattern paper glued on the inside of cover to give the book its elegance.

The back cover is given the similar 'face-lift'. The spiral binding wire is replaced by a bigger one and to a more classic copper color. To give my diary a more feminine look, I had it decorated with black and lilac laces.

This metal art has certainly made my diary more attractive and into a cherished keepsake even after it has been used.

MY FIRST METAL ART CREATION

2010-09-07T18:22:00.175+08:00

Using metal to create works of art is another interesting media for crafters and metal artisans.
Since mixed media is my cup of tea, I am so excited to explore metal art with the aim of incorporating into scrapbook pages or altered projects or simply as a wall hanging or decor.

In the world of metal art, different types of metals are used like brass, aluminum, copper,pewter, art metal foils and metal tapes etc...etc..

Designs can be created using stencil, molds, die cuts with cuttlebug or sizzix, rubber stamps, hand drawn,, sketch or even photos can be translated into metal. Wow really cool!!

The basic materials and the tools for metal art were waiting for me when I arrived in London.
Ever so eager to try new things I started to play with it the minute I had time to spare. Well, would like to share with you what I had churned out..... take a peek....

This is a piece of aluminum foil with a colour on one side. I hand drawn on the metal by dividing into sections.
Using several types of molds I had the foil embossed with 4 kinds of designs. Each design is refined using a teflon tip tool.. For extra texture, a brass brush is applied in a circular motion with the aim of removing some of the colour on the foil giving the metal a brushed finish. Love this wonderful effect!
Colours are then applied. Here the first layer is a coat of gold/copper Daler & Rowney acrylic paint,
followed by mustard seed - Tim Holts Rangers Distress ink and finally I used different colours of Staz On ink pad. Before each coat of ink, I will lightly wiped off excess ink and the effect is beautiful as the ink gets into the crevices.

I intend to use these pieces of metal art for my scrapbooking or altered stuff or notebook covers or as a metal art wall hanging, cigar box, jewlry box .. etc...etc... Here are more pieces ...

I tried using alcohol ink and stamped with 'Staz On' ink pad.

These are borders and I experimented by applying Lumiere acrylic ink and it worked. Ready to frame a picture for my scrapbook album or for card making.

Applied 3 types of coloured medium, alcohol ink, stamped with Versa Mark ink pad and buffed with copper acrylic paint.

There are many antiquing finishes that can be used on metal like goldfinger for buffing, acrylic paints
etc...These will give the aluminum and copper sheets a rusty finish. Various products like utee, wax and even gold leaf can be experimented with to achieve the desired effect.

When I was in Tokyo last year I bought 2 wooden blocks cut in the shape of a dress form from a craft shop. It was meant for creating 'Japanese Folk Art', a simple painting on the block. However I decided to dress up the block using metal aluminum sheet. I think the dress I made is gorgeous......yes?

Embossed design on a turquoise aluminum sheet, gave it a brass brushed effect and painted with platinum ink. Embellished with beads and ribbon to make it dressy.

To make it more interesting, the metallic outfit on the other side of the block is finished in a different coat of medium.

The design are refined with pointed erasers for a better detail. Paper stumps are used to flatten edges.

To cover the joints at the sides, another piece of metal sheet is glued on.

After brass brushing, stamped with 'Staz On' ink direct from ink pad, wiped off the excess ink then buffed with final coat of gold acrylic paint to give the dress a rich appearance.

To achieve a rich texturity and an overall stunning effect, the composition of molds, mediums and embellishments are necessary.

MY COLLECTION OF CHINESE AUSPICIOUS KNOTS

2010-08-27T22:38:00.045+08:00

Our recent Silk Road adventure took us on a tracing route to a few of the important towns/cities in China. The last stop brought us to the mega city of Xi'an. Xi'an is the birthplace of the Chinese civilization, a famous historical and cultural city and was the starting point of the Old Silk Road. It was once the hub of the Silk Road during the olden days where traders/merchants meet.

It was at the Museum in Xi'an that I was introduced to the ancient traditional auspicious knots. The Chinese knot was a decorative handicraft art that began as a form of Chinese folk art in the Tang and Song Dynasty (960-1279AD) in China. It subsequently gained popularity in the Ming and Qing Dynasty.

The word knot in Chinese is " Jie" which means harmony,unification, vigour,reunion,peace,warmth,marriage, love etc....

I love these Chinese knots for its characteristic form, its colours, the ornaments of semi precious / precious stones attaching to it, the skillful art of knot-tying and the profound connotation each art piece represents.
I do have a few pieces of auspicious Chinese knots but the ones I came across in the shop at Shangri-la Hotel were so awesome, exquisite and extremely colourful . I could not resist and decided to purchase them to add on to my collection.

Love to share with you my auspicious hangings.......

These knots were handmade and they are used to express good wishes.

The Chinese knots are based on about a dozen basic knots named according to their distinctive shapes, usages or origins. They are usually symmetrical and the skill of crafting the knot involves 3 step process that is, tying knots, tightening them and adding the finishing touches.

By combining different knots with some auspicious adornments, a special and unique Chinese knot hanging is formed. There is the happiness knot, longevity knot, luck knot ...etc...

With my love for these exquisitely beautiful works of art that come in so many varying types, I could not resist to create a canvas piece using one of the Chinese knot as an embellishment.
Have a look...........

The knot is one of 'happiness' with a flower jade ornament and great colour combination.

White paper dollies are glued using gesso and mat gel medium to give a texture to canvas frame.

To raise the depth of the canvas front, an artist foam is laid below the pattern paper and the white dollies prior to gluing the photos.

Well, look at the Chinese knot, with its classic elegance it fully reflects the grace and richness of Chinese culture. Love it ! Love it !

PHOTO FRAME ALTERED FROM A BOOK

2010-08-22T01:54:00.003+08:00

This is my 2nd altered artwork . I created this piece for my dear husband to commemorate our 25th wedding anniversary. What a better gift to let him know how proud I am of him and how much I care for him.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DEAR HUBBY!

I decided to transform an old book into a photo frame to hold our personal pictures. Love to share this precious altered art with you.........Here it is...

Did a lot of cutting into the thick pages. Tedious preparation work..........but creating with love..

White,my intended colour scheme as it is the colour for anything relating to weddings and wedding anniversaries and it also connotes purity, love ...etc...etc....
Since this is our silver anniversary, I had the frame of the photos embellished with silver German scrap toned down by some gesso.

The whole frame is painted with white gesso for the colour and to cover any text to create a blank slate. It also gives extra paper weight and durability.
Small pieces of white dollies are adhered to the frame as well as on the birds to add textures.

I love the feel of hanging things off the edges of altered books, give viewers something interesting to look at and also something to touch and feel.

Perfect found, this lovely white laces from John Lewis and it goes well with the theme and matches with the rest of the embellishments.

This is the rear view. Had it covered with pattern paper and attached 2 hooks, ready to hang up for sharing and this will become a memorabilia for us over the years.

I am happy I have taken my recent artworks to a more personal level, journaling my true feelings and documenting my life story. I believe in using art to express my feelings and passion for something though it takes strength and courage to be self-expressive. But the end result is always incredibly satisfying,

" ARTWORK IS THE WINDOW TO YOUR SOUL"

MY FIRST ALTERED BOOK - VINTAGE FASHION

2010-08-04T01:45:01.532+08:00

I like the idea of altering books, it is actually recycling old ones and transforming them into entirely new books with works of art on every page possible. These old books which would otherwise have been thrown away have been saved and then altered to become an object of beauty and desire. Isn't that wonderful?

To my understanding, altered book is a very new art form and there are numerous definitions as what constitutes an altered book. To many artists in the craft world, it simply means to transform existing old books into works of art, using the book as a substrate/support for new ideas, techniques, images and to communicate messages.

Old books are altered by adding pictures, cards, etc..., removing pages, tearing, cutting, stitching, painting pages and so forth...They can be created to serve as journals, scrapbooks, keepsakes etc... We can do what we like because we are creating an altered book!

This old book with a hardback was given to me to alter. What intrigued me is the shape - already cut to the shape of a 'body form'. My my....rather challenging to work on this book!! But I love it.. What other better theme can I develop for this book than ' Vintage Fashion' which is rather interesting.

In this age of designer awareness, it's easy to get lost in the sea of sameness. It is only thru vintage clothings that we can step apart from the crowd and be noticed. Hear hear, there is a trend now to wear vintage. We can wear originals or reproductions or mix vintage style with modern and look gorgeous. The possibilities are unlimited really and its nice to make your own style and it can be fun.

Here you are, take a sneak peek at my vintage ensembles and at the same time wish to share with you the various techniques created for expression of my art work.

How old is vintage? People normally reckon anything older than 25 to 30 years old. Vintage now probably dates back 1980's and before.

Collage/pattern papers are abundant nowadays. I adore papers and must admit an impulse buyer. Got this piece of red floral paper from a craft store in Kensington High Street. It certainly resembled a piece of stunning material for the body form. I rubber stamped some images and had some journaling done. The string of seaquins placed along the spine is added as an ascent to the spread.

The resurgence of interest in vintage clothings is partly due to the fact that they have been worn by celebrities. There has also been an interest in environmental concern, so reusing, recycling and repairing rather than throwing things away is something we all should be doing.

I covered the whole spread with a beautiful red napkin tissue. The effect is stylish.. Did some rubber stamping and embellished with black lace as though it is a waist band. A layer of wax is ironed on the images to evoke vintage or old feeling.

Retro from the word retrospective usually refers to clothing that imitates the style of a previous era.
If you take a look at the images on your right, I am sure you will agree that these styles are retro, particularly the flare skirt which is popular almost every summer. There may be some modifications to the length or type of fabric used but the style remains.

I have covered part of the pages with pretty pink floral tissue while the rest of the areas have been dabbed with Versamark teardrop ink pad in soft hues of pink and yellow. Embellished with a fabric tape measure and creamy lace at the spine of the pages.

Recently there was an exhibit of the works of Bill Travilla, ' the man who dressed Hollywood' at Harods. He was an Academy Award winning fashion and costume designer and became a Hollywood star because he dressed many top celebrities and one of his most premier client was the late Marilyn Monroe. Her most famous costume was the white dress from the film ' The Seven year Itch'. This vintage dress was hung up for everyone to view while his other designs were depicted on cards which were for sale. I was attracted to one, the glamorous dress designed for a renowned singer.

To draw your attention to this fabulous dress, I created a window for you to look through. Making a window is fun as your view is immediate and you can see thru both sides. These 2 pages were painted with silver metallic acrylic paint and I dabbled some pinkish paint around the sides of window to highlight the focal point.

Well well...what do you think of the dress, isn't it elegant? And this vintage design was for Connie Francis. Oh yes, I think I do have a dress something like that hanging in my wardrobe as well. What about you?

I love to experiment with new inks and paints because it keeps the style and look of my book fresh.
Here I used a new found acrylic product called Lumiere paint, the range has very nice colours particularly the Halo ones. Ever so eager to try new stuff, I covered the pages with Halo Burgundy then rubber stamped with metallic silver paint. Wow!! the effect is stunning, like a piece of rich fabric!

This was a typical Malaysian Wedding of my Mom & Dad back in the 1940's. Everything from bridal gown to wedding suit to bridal bouquet, hairdo and even the car are considered vintage now.
The look of some of our modern wedding gowns are more or less similar as before, they must be vintage inspired!

The background pasted with a pretty floral napkin tissue. The beige lace is vintage, picked up from Portobello flea market. More embellishments added on to make the page look good.

My parent's dressing style back in the 1940's and 50's were rather simple. Dad was always in white shirt while Mom after marriage kept to wearing pants and a Chinese top. I like her vintage blouse with a small mandarin collar and some smocking at the front, pretty sweet.

Collaged floral napkin tissue only on certain parts of the pages with the intention to allow some of the text to show. Embellished the page with tags, charms, beads and vintage lace.

Shoes, shoes and more shoes. Vintage shoes are unique and one of a kind. Unless they are of good quality and made with the intention to pass on to other family members these old shoes can be saved for recycling. Most of the time the vintage fashion shoes that are sold now are retro style.

Another effective way to add dimension is to fold the pages. I have folded 2 pages vertically on each side to form pockets to hold embellishments like tags, an altered CD fan and a whole altered CD. This is an interesting way to make the page look attractive.
The folded pages are painted with acrylic paint while the rest are covered with tissue napkin printed with images of vintage shoes. The top and bottom of the pockets are secured with a ribbon weaved through and knots tied at each end.

The above 1950's fashion are so elegant and glamorous . We can wear them today and still look exclusive or you combine the then with the now and look a million dollar.

To cover the pages more fully I used acrylic paint for the base and gesso on top using a stipple brush to create the texture. Then I rubber stamped with black Brilliance ink.
Transferring images from a photocopy to cellophane tape give a transparent feel. and provides a wonderful layering effect on the pages.
3 dimensional embellishments like the black buttons gave a contrast to the flat image while the fibres and the beads in the center added texture and interest to the altered book.

Oh no oh no! even my fashion style in the 1980's are considered vintage now.

Here again I folded the top end of both pages to form pockets for holding embellished tags. I dabbed the spread with ink pad and then rubber stamped the pages using two colour tones, black and brown. To create a dress look I lined the sides of the pocket with black lace making it very feminine indeed.

Look how fabulous the style was back in the 40's and 50's. Imagine the aura that dressing in such vintage clothings and jewelry can create.

Glazes are amazing for altered books because glazes are translucent and allows text and images underneath to show through. After glazing the pages with red and blue I used bubble wrap to move the glazes around forming a pattern, giving a subtle effect. Next I folded the pages and did stitching to sew the edges of the pockets shut using fibres, adding an interest to the altered book. However there are still 2 small side pockets left open to enclose a tag or some other thing.

There are various ways of folding pages and they are fun to play with. Here I experimented with vertical folding. It may looked complicated but not really so.

Prior to folding, I glued a few pages together to make it thicker otherwise the papers are too flimsy. Next I pasted floral tissue over the first 2 pages. Covered the underneath of the top spread with old sewing paper, painted the top with a coat of purplish acrylic paint and stamped with black ink pad to add some design.
To hold the 2 small vintage images, 2 pop-ups are created. The center spread are folded vertically and embellished with purple lace at the sides.

Adding pop-ups to highlight the vintage swimwear gave a different meaning to this page. I like pop-ups, it surprises the viewer as the book opens to reveal something interesting.

I coloured the spread direct from ink pad in different tones and stamped along the sides.
The card is folded to form creases before they are positioned and glued.
I really love the colour combination of the spread and the pop-up pictures including the fabric tape measure which all portrayed a warm sunny afternoon by the pool/beach back in the good old days!

My mom again and look how she wore her Chinese mandarin collar blouse with a white overall on top, quite stylish indeed during her younger days. That reminded me of a few precious pieces of vintage nyonya tops with beautiful works of embroidery, on fine cotton fabric, passed down to me, one from my mom and a few from my deceased aunty. Those are really priceless hand-downs, they are one of a kind and evokes lots of memories whenever I wear them, a feeling of nostalgia and a story to tell. The styles that are coming back are what our parents wore. Its retro styles and its the in trend.

Used an oriental napkin tissue to cover the whole spread. Altered a square slide holder, had it wrapped with pattern paper and stamped before using it as a frame for my face to highlight a focal point.
Other embellishments to add ascent to the pages.

Are you curious what is on the other side of the window? Well, my intention is to excite you by creating a peek-a-boo layout, looking through a string of 'webs' !

Tore the pages to make an irregular window, had the whole spread glazed in golden orangy colour, next had it textured by moving wax paper on the glaze.
Stamped some images and weaved an orange organza ribbon on top and bottom for some pretty effect. The black and white image behind the window contrasts with the bright colour of the spread in front.

Now you can see me clearly, my teen fashion style and my shades, very vain indeed. Yearned to wear shades so ended up pretty maids in a row, all blinded, LOL.

Here I covered the pages with a beautiful piece of oriental tissue that matched well with the black and white photo. To give a softer edge to the look I tore the collage papers before layering and scratched parts of the image, making it even more vintage.

A 'spider web' is created by threading some beads and stitched criss-cross around the window creating an inviting page.

I have chosen to collage a symbolic picture inside to illustrate the 'moments' in the olden days, everything vintage.

There are a few variations of adding folded pages to the book giving excitement to the viewer.
The one above has dual techniques, folding pages and cutting a window to look inside.
A pattern paper in the shape of the book cut out and folded. A hole in the shape of a heart is cut out from the center. The image is collaged prior to adhering the pattern paper on top.

Victorian vintage fashion images on a pull-out tag embellished with vintage lace and German scrap.
Painted the pages with a coat of Lumiere paint with the text showing through, making the spread so artistic.
To add the final touch, I rubber stamped directly on the page adding some interesting elements.

Why do women love perfume?
I posted this question on Facebook and received 2 interesting and sensible answers. Wanna know what the 2 replies are, go on reading....
I quote "it smells nice, makes me feel 'dressed up' and the bottles are so pretty."
2nd reply "to attract opposite sex !" And " smell is a character, it tells one's personality and mood.."
Thank you and well said ladies!!

Yes it has been proven by many scientific studies - women wear perfume 'to attract men', LOL. There is no doubt that scents attract people. Catching a whiff of a woman's perfume should turn heads and its true.
I believe a woman that wears beautiful clothes, pretty makeup and smelling good will feel better and more confident.

I covered the spread with musical pattern paper and collaged on top with another small piece of black & white floral paper. Pasted images of exquisite vintage perfume bottles and added words to supplement the pages.

I am now a keen collector of old perfume and perfume bottles, preferably vintage. I found 2 beautiful ones from Portobello flea market. Old perfume bottles are so pretty, decorative and some embellished with precious stones. They are true authentic antique collectibles like jewelery. The style of bottle is normally consistent with the era.

Love to share with you one of my favourite piece, its an art deco style vintage bottle by Cacheral.
I have kept it in the shadowbox created on this book. Its hand painted on the front and back and the cap is rounded and made of some kind of semi precious stone.
Wanna have a sneak peak, just pull..... the string attached and Viola!! now you see....my colourful collectible!

Shadowboxes in altered books are a wonderful place to put souvenirs and collectibles. To create a shadowbox, I made a deep cut into the block of pages which have been glued together. Then I cut a door to close the niche which holds my vintage bottle. Adore this, so lovely!

Its amazing to add drawers to a book. This is not only a fun way to add embellishments and to hold some charms etc.... but they really do add a new dimension to the altered book.
This technique involves a lot of cutting and here I used a match box. Like it??

There are no rules to say that the book cover has to be altered but if you feel like doing it, leave the cover to the last. Luckily, I was given a hardback book because it seemed sturdier and able to stand up to the altering process. There are many ways of altering book covers but here I chose to paint it with acrylic paint pre-mixed with gel medium and did a resist using vaseline. Next I stitched a skirt to the fabric body form to bring into prominence the theme of my altered book - VINTAGE FASHION

Though I said I have finished altering but yet I have a few more pages still not done. The good thing is, not every page needs to be altered and as at when I feel inspired, I can always revisit and add something more.

If you have never tried to alter a book before, I hope this book of mine inspires your entry to a whole new form of art.

ENJOY !

SEARCHING FOR FOUNDS AT PORTOBELLO FLEA MARKET

2010-07-04T05:56:00.177+08:00

My curiosity and interests in old things has brought me to flea markets like Lille in France and recently to Portobello Market in Nottinghill London. The Portobello market is the world's largest antique market. This lively market brings people from all over the world and boasts some of the finest bars and restaurants in London as well.

It is certainly the best place to find antiques. People like to get rid of their old things and make a few extra money. We could actually do the same. Remember, your trash is another person's treasure!

This morning after my walk, I decided to try my luck to search for some good bargains, so to Portobello I went............

A stream of people moving continously towards the stalls located more towards the inner section of the Portobello Road

Best time to go in the morning because by mid afternoon, it gets very crowded and you'll have to wind your way through the crowds.

A lot of people will mill around browsing the goods. If you have the patience to search, there are some fantastic bargains.

There are about 2000 stalls selling everything from books to bric-a-brac and beautiful vintage laces to the finest Limoges.

These are metal stamps, there are some antique ones but majority newly made.

Portobello is always bustling and well worth a visit. Very amusing, entertainers drumming and playing funny instruments showing their talents.
Oh yes, I did spot some lovely vintage founds and you know what.... I succeeded to purchase them with some good price reduction. The stall holders here are experts so don't expect too many bargains but I did!! Can't wait to share with you some of my favourite finds.
Here they are... have a good look....

I am into collecting vintage perfume bottles. Happy to find a beautiful handmade porcelaine bottle dated back to Victorian times...

Another Victorian made perfume bottle with art deco design...

What a lovely antique photo frame made in the 1930s. Imagine having my present pics in this old old frame, what a contrast, simply breathtaking....

This amazing tray made in England sometime during the early 19th century is my top favourite find of the day.
It is normally put on the dressing table for placing jeweleries . I was drawn to this piece of antique by the gorgeous vintage laces, very very pretty..... yes?

I simply fell in love with the metal design at both ends of the tray and with the white vintage lace added on, it is indeed another fabulous collectibles

Vintage laces made in the early 1920's. I bought them with the intention to use them as embellishments for my scrapbooking and altered books...

Vintage buttons, a woody type with a flower made of fabric in the center. Dated back to the 18th century..
Never knew collecting vintage buttons is a lucrative business. Apart from that researching the history of the buttons and how these little treasures are made , are all part of vintage buttons collecting.

A collage of vintage wooden printers' block letters from the Old Printing Shop London. Each block is carved of wood and they are vintage used pieces and they were stock from the period between 1890 to 1990. The letter block has obviously been used, some more than others, as the blocks are varying shades of ink stained and some still have a little ink dust on them. They have an aged patina and some may have a few scratches and hairline cracks in the blocks adding to their vintage charm. I intend to hang it up on my wall as a piece of art.

Letterpress printing with wooden block is nearly a lost handcraft work due to modern technology. A lot of this carved block originates from India. Some in floral or other designs. We can use these vintage print blocks as a decorative piece of art or to imprint on paper.

Vintage blocks are nailed together to create the word 'Love' as a piece of art deco. Each of the letter block can still be detached and used for imprint.

These are 3 pieces of antique letter stamps, the center and left made of wood while the right made of metal.
I bought them to stamp my initial on artworks created.

There are people who collect old keys or fobs. I am sure you have noticed that keys have the name of the company that made them on the head of the key or some may have pictures on it. I understand that antique collectors are looking for keys made in the 1850s because they are most likely to bring great prices.
The one above was made in the 1900s for a small trunk. I am drawn to its shape and I will use it for my artwork.

This is a key fob for winding a clock watch made in the 1900s. It is made of brass and has the name 'WATCHMAKER & JEWELLERS' on one side while the other is printed with ' PIDDUCK HANLEY'
Intend to use it for my altered book.

Looking for antiques is what I love now, most any time when I am traveling I seem to find where there is an antique shop. My admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old but of the craftsmanship and design.

HOPE YOU LIKE WHAT I FOUND.

MY YOGA EXPERIENCE WITH NATURE

2010-06-05T20:42:00.171+08:00

Woke up 5am this morning, walked towards Kensington Park and straight on to Hyde Park. I must praise the city of London for having such beautiful parks to compliment it and for the locals and visitors to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of overcrowded London. The lush green trees, plants, open fields and gardens are the lungs of the city .

I am very fortunate to be staying around the vicinity of both parks and so to ignore the greens and not to breathe in the fresh air in the park is a great shame.

There I was this morning and as I walked interacting with the beautiful greens, flowers, birds, ducks wading in the lake, I felt so so good to be part of nature. You know I discovered that connecting yoga with nature is a gratifying extension of my current practice. Since my last yoga retreat, I began to realize my enjoyment and connection with the outdoors having in mind that yoga emphasizes on creating a more mindful existence.

MOUNTAIN POSE (TADASANA)
I stood still ,secured and steady as a mountain. I focused and listened to my breathing, expanding my lungs as I breathed in.

STANDING TALL
I stood tall interacting with the tree behind me

TO DISRESS

CHAIRPOSE

VARIATIONS OF WARRIOR POSES

FORWARD EXTENSION LEG WIDE APART
I breathed in and looked forward..

I bend with palm flat and head relaxed towards ground..

DOWNWARD DOG
Nowadays I feel at ease practising this asana...

CONNECTING WITH ANIMALS
Hyde Park, if you have been there you would have seen the little tiny furry squirrel- like animals.
Well, I had a surprise companion this morning who joined me for my yoga practice.....who ??? only this cute little squirrel ( its not squirrel , not sure of its name) who was totally so unafraid of humans and welcomed my presence...have a look...perhaps it was watching me all the time and not wanting to lose out my little companion performed 2 poses with pride to show off.......LOL
STANDING POSE

DOWNWARD CLIMBING POSE ??? LOL
Is there such a posture haha!

Fusing yoga with nature is one great way to escape stress, invigorates the body and nurture the soul.

LET NATURE BE YOUR TEACHER
~ by William Wordsworth

MY YOGA EXPERIENCE - 1ST SERIES

2010-05-31T16:55:00.045+08:00

My yoga path started 2 years ago. The initial one and a half years I attended classes irregularly due to my many travels. It was the beginning of this year, Jan 2010, that I finally decided to have private yoga sessions on a one-to-one basis at least thrice a week. These private lessons are good in the way that they are taylored to fit my life experiences and my personal yoga instructor's approach to teaching, allows me to develop a practice that is relevant to my body.

I believe in yoga and its wonderful benefits. The testimonies of self realisation and seeing the physical transformation of friends who are serious yogis have inspired me to learn about, practise and understand more the art of yoga. I must say that yoga did help to reduce my body aches, stress and tensions, increases my awareness, calms my mind and liberate my pains and miseries.

As I practise and makes progress I feel my flexibility, my arms and legs strength increasing. Some days I feel supple and other days as stiff as a stick. I have been advised to choose my poses or sequence with sensibility to my needs and abilities.

Is yoga an art?
Yoga is not merely an ancient science which leads to healthy body, peaceful mind, joyous heart and liberated soul. It is an art and I like to relate it to the art of sculpture. My body is the support - the stone, the marble, the clay, the wood etc... and I the sculptor who passionately and joyfully, slowly and steadily, sculpts and transform the support/body through the various asanas to a beautiful toned body, to realisation and happiness, to a positive attitude towards life and to an overall wellbeing both physical and mental. Sounds beautiful yes?

So I decided to share the first blog post on my yoga experience via this art blog while the rest will be in my holistic blog ( in the making !!)

Recently I was flattered indeed to be offered a suggestion by my instructor that some of my poses can be photographed not only for my blog but more importantly to review the achievements I have perfected to a certain extent ( quite a good standard that was what she told me, I guess only an A grade no distinction, LOL
These pics were taken during my lessons by Janet ...

TREE POSE (VRKSASANA)
This is a standing pose that improves balance. It is indeed challenging to stand on one leg. Helps to stretch inner thighs, groins, shoulders and strengthens thighs and calves.

TRIANGLE POSE (TRIKONASANA)
This pose helps to tone, slim and shape the waist and legs. It also builds strength and flexibility in the legs.

HALF MOON
Very often I do use props like cushions, blocks, straps, chairs, blankets etc... to practise some movements.

DOWNWARD FACING DOG
This is an exhilarating posture that firms, tones and strengthens the arms, shoulders, spine and abdominal areas. It relieves fatique, stimulates the flow of vital energy and slows the heartbeat.
I do this pose daily as it takes away the stiffness in my ankles, heels, the back of the legs and the shoulders. If you do not have the time, do this pose and its good enough, better than not doing at all.

FORWARD EXTENSION LEGS WIDE APART
This posture will assist to stretch the legs and to expand, extend and rejuvenate. I bend at my hips, reach forward and relax downwards with head towards the floor. Breathing is important and the stretch is at the back of both legs.
I do this pose almost daily as it increases the flow of blood to the brain thus relieving my headaches,
anxiety, irritability and my sleepness nights . It also firms the back of legs and thighs. So ladies take note, if you still wanna go for short skirts/shorts do this pose. LOL.

BRIDGE POSE
This asana gives youthful body ' the fountain of youth'. It is beneficial for spine, improves flexibility and strength. Relieves tension in the shoulders and lower back and it opens the chest.

SHOULDER STAND
Being a beginner, the best way to do this pose safely is to practise supported shoulder stand initially. This posture improves the circulation of blood and stretches the shoulders, tones and strengthens the buttocks, thighs and back of legs. It also strengthens the spine and can help to prevent varicose veins. These 2 pictures are for behind the scene to review my progress. I certainly need to work harder to strengthen my back to lift my body upright for the perfect shoulder stand.

During the past 3 to 4 months, the emphasis was planned on my posture alignment and stability and building up my strength and suppleness. It certainly entailed lots of effort and willpower to get my asanas right. For instance my downward dog pose is an inverted 'V' now but not before. Though I have mastered some of the postures fairly well but there is still a need to do over and over again to perfect them and practise with ease. Nowadays I make it a point to practise daily, 20 mins in the morning and in the evening before bed 5 to 10 mins, only light stretches like the forward bend to ease tensions.

My ladies, please do not worry how we look in our yoga gears or how unfit we are , we just have to roll down our mats and get moving. And never rushed, better to do less and practise with grace and ease.

A word of thanks to Janet my personal instructor for her effort, dedication and patience.

Namaste!

YOGA - THE SYMPHONY OF LIFE

MY DRESSING STYLE

2010-05-24T21:47:00.015+08:00

Like most ladies, I love dressing up and I see the importance to dress well, the right clothes for the right occasions. Dressing up is something I enjoy. When I select my clothes, I feel good about them.
I certainly do not brush aside dressing for individuality because how I dress will reflect my personality, age and fashion sense.I would consider my dressing as fashionable but not to the extent of being labeled as a ' fashion freak' meaning to wear only what is new, what is in style and what is trendy. What is not in should be out and should be trashed.
Dressing for individuality can boost my self-confidence.

I recalled when I was around age 10, I was so vain, wanted to wear a can- can , that is, a petticoat underneath my skirt but Mom did not buy for me so what I did was I secretly took one that belonged to my sis and had it cut short to fit my length, haha how naughty I was and so you see since at an early age I had the desire to be trendy and fashionable.

As I grew up, what to wear is always my focus. During my days working in the office, I am proud to say that I was one of the well dressed Manager. Every time I was at the front giving a training session, whether they were my staff or field force , I never failed to get compliments and glances from head to toe, especially from the ladies - they were admiring my clothes haha vain again! My hubby's comment at that time was ' your pay not enough to buy clothes' and well..it could be the truth..LOL

I love mini albums and I created one to share my style of dressing, here it is....

Formal long evening gowns can be hard to shop so I had it coutured to my specific requirements and measurements by a local designer. I have it in pink and design is flowy, seldom wear body hugging dresses, don't feel comfy.

This butterfly image is created using Tattered Angels gliimmer mist over stencil on muslin cloth.

Laces particularly French laces really thrills me each time I touch them. It is always a sight to behold!

The brand Pucci attracts me a lot probably due to its vibrant colours and designs. Never failed to drop by its boutique whenever I am at Sloane Street.
OMG why is the Hermes Birkin so difficult to purchase even if you have the $!!! Some people think its crazy to pay a hefty sum just for a bag, but please do not forget that this bag appreciates in value and its evergreen, can be handed down to your daughters and granddaughters as vintage items. Lucky me, I got my orange Birkin from Bordeaux , France during my wine tour.

Black is always in for the evenings. Did you know it was Coco Chanel who started the trend of wearing black to all other occasions despite knowing that this colour was reserved mainly for mourning? Thanks Coco, now black is worn for all events...

I love colours and orangy to tangerine shade is one of my favourite too. It enhances my complexion and evokes the feeling of happiness, joy and lifts up my spirit.

Little black dress is a must for me and for most of us. Whether you're heading off to a class reunion or walking the deck of a cruise ship, the LBD is a no-fail option. Again it was Coco Chanel who introduced the LBD. It was meant as the fashion ideal, a perfectly simple, yet sexy dress..

'Aodai' is the traditional Vietnamese costume. I love it - its a very graceful attire and if you have it made from chiffon with beautiful shades like turquoise colour, I assure you, you will look fabulous!

Not to forget that handbags is part of dressing up as well. Shall we say an accessory.
Another 'die-for' hand carry - the Hermes Kelly, named after Grace Kelly. Got this from Hermes store at Harods one early morning just when the store was opened. If I had walked in later, it would not be there waiting for me, LOL.

It is always a good idea to do some research on the dress code of the formal daytime event you are visiting so you can adhere to it. Here I was attending the listing of our Company and I felt I should be in a suit - a short jacket and a matching skirt. Hmmm......I did look good with lots of confidence, yes?

Diamonds are a girl's best friend but this bling bling and sparkling accessory is not suitable to wear them to walk down the streets. Pearls are most ideal and a sensible jewelery item to bring along for vacations. Its most practical and matches anything even with jeans and T-shirts.

Very flare and not so flare pants are found in my wardrobe. I yearn to wear them most of the time. Nowadays pants can be worn to formal events, usually daytime and even for evenings. One can dress down with pants or match with a nice jacket top and this will conjure a presentable and contemporary look for a semi-formal occasion.

Had the privileged to have lunch with our present Queen, the beautiful and attractive Permaisuri Agung.
It was a casual atmosphere and look how Her Majesty dressed down in a casual outfit yet she appeared elegant. So dressing casually does not mean one cannot be stunning. By the way, I was in a linen flare pants and a short tweed jacket top.

Remember the novelty song ' Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini ' ? Polka dots are so evergreen, little babies to toddlers to teens and to senior citizens, both gender male and female, all can go for polka dots.
I wore this for my polka dot theme birthday party, we had lots of fun!!

Image of dragonfly like the butterfly connotes free choice of clothes but select them wisely!

Being a nature lover, green is my colour, its so fresh and vivid and never monotonous. The green of the emerald is the colour of life and springtime. Once again my cocktail dress is designed with emerald green French lace and a matching silk fabric.

The Cheongsam or Qipao is a dress which has a distinctive Chinese feature. It can be made from different materials of varying lengths and worn on casual or formal occasions. Its a must for me to have a few pieces of this outfit every Chinese New Year. It creates an impression of simple and quiet charm, elegance and neatness. Its exotic and can be sexy too!!
My shocking pink Qipao for the last CNY...with white French lace at the top...

My sleek Thai silk Qipao, still new and hanging in my wardrobe..

Midnight blue is close to black. It remains the only acceptable alternative to black colour. Due to deepness of colour, a midnight blue evening gown or cocktail dress would really look dramatic and nice and makes one look irresistible... Here my midnight blue cocktail dress seemed to have a slenderizing effect, LOL

An image of a bird flying high created on muslin cloth..

A wonderful evening at a musical charity concert up at Genting Highlands started with the right choice of colour and design of my dressy outfit....

As long as you are not going beyond ethics, not causing indignity to yourself and if you like how it feels, you like how you look, go ahead - dress yourself up the way you think you should! This is my dressing philosophy.

Materials used for my album:
Tattered Angels Glimmer mists - colour is latte
Metallic Bronze glace
7 Gypsy Pattern paper, ribbons, French laces, muslin, beads, fabric and paper flowers etc..

FASHION FADES, ONLY STYLE REMAINS THE SAME.
~ by Coco Chanel

GROWING UP, MY TIME PASSAGE...........

2010-05-16T17:05:00.009+08:00

Never throw away your old and faded photos, they can be used for creating vintage works of art. I found a few pics of mine and decided to scrap a mini vintage album of my younger days to present now!
Here it is......

Sad and certainly full of regrets for not snapping more pictures during our younger days. I supposed Dad and Mum were too involved to run our refreshment business that taking pictures was considered trivial matters. This is the only group photo. Very precious keepsake!!

My teenage years.... I was rather trendy and vain. There was the period of miniskirts, hotpants, baby dolls, flare pants, you name it, I have wore them all.

'Happy go lucky' days. Tried learning to play guitar but gave up simply because it hardened my fingers.This was shot at Kedah Peak, the highest point in Kedah.

Loved to laugh and giggle! I recalled, there was this Chemistry teacher of mine who told me that I could die of giggling, he must be very annoyed with me then, oops!!

A group of us, Rotaract members had an outing at Batu Feringgi Penang. Looking back at this pic I wondered how it would be like if I knew my hubby today is the charming gentleman behind me....LOL

Life in my early twenties was full of excitement. There was always an event every weekend- community projects, parties, Rotaract meetings and conferences besides the many regular outstation trips. This was my most enjoyable time because I was unattached !!

Here, already in relationship.....he was the Rotaract Club President and I was the International Club Director. Working together is always risky!!!

Fast forward, at this stage, already married with two lovely girls. Holiday in Vancouver. Goodness gracious, I looked big...reason - just delivered my second daughter!!

Our family travels a lot during those days and even till today. Traveling is a good hobby though it can be expensive but nevertheless a great eye opener!! Pictures shot in China.

What a wonderful and memorable trip to Glasgow Scotland to attend Rohani's wedding at Inverlochy Castle. Was invited by Ro's mum, Toh Puan Aishah Ong who pampered us a lot. Imagine, we were allowed to borrow the bride's hair stylist and masseur at the castle, toured the area around Glasgow etc.....etc.. That was where I became a friend of Jimmy Choo.
Could not resist to have a shot with the daffodils blooming all around in early spring.

My love for nature woke me up early for a walk in the garden and woods of Inverlochy Castle.

Time has taken me to this point...... looking back... how I have grown older, wiser and more importantly have successfully nurtured my 4 children, Joanne, Cindy, Krystine and Jing to what they are today with no regrets. My family has also been my top priority and it will always be! Picture taken during my last birthday lunch (Oct 2009)

Materials used:

Vintage photo distress ink
7 Gypsy pattern papers
Cardstock
Transparencies
paper and canvas tags
Embellishments- flowers, ribbons, clips etc...

" EVERY ACT OF CREATION, IS FIRST AN ACT OF DESTRUCTION"
~ by Pablo Picasso

ALL ABOUT JING

2010-04-16T00:06:00.010+08:00

Art is so fun, you can create on various kinds of supports. This round, a few of us attended a class conducted by Sharon Yong from Scrappingville. The excitement was , we learnt a new technique, that is creating on small pieces of unstretched canvas using the 'iron-on " embellishments. Coupled with a few other techniques I created a mini album comprising of 12 pieces of layouts for my bubbly son, Jing.

Love to share with you, so here it is.....

The story is about Jing, an eleven year old boy and his passion for various activities as well as life in school.

Well, well, the drawing seemed to resemble Jing, don't you think so? His best friend, Tim,drew a portrait of Jing during one of the school art lesson. I love it, very original and it captured my attention. Thanks Tim.

At Alice Smith International School, the children are required to dress up in traditional attire for main festivals like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Deepavali and Xmas. And not forgetting that the whole day they will be doing activities pertaining to that festive day. What a great way to promote cross culture in a multiracial country and among international children from many many countries in the world. I like that!! Well done Alice Smith and please keep the tradition!!

Jing like the other kids love school trips, they can be historical, geographical or science trips ....etc.. I always believe that students should not be confined to only classroom teaching, field trips and outdoor exposures are equally essential.

Boys are boys, most of them are into sports and that goes for Jing as well. Basketball, Football, Lawn tennis, golf, Taekwando are his favourites and he plays table tennis, cricket and others too. The good thing is, he is exposed to various games and sports in school.

Pictures shows young talented Jing teeing off during the launch of Kurnia-Saujana Amateur Golf Championship in May 2009. He has been playing golf for three years and is still under the coaching of Pro Lawrence at Tropicana Golf Club.
The blue design below is the iron -on embellishment. The background for all the layouts are colour washed with watercolours and FW acrylic fluid paint . Spray mist plays an important role to blend the colours Once the canvas is dried , embellishing the support takes place.

Wow! Look at Jing's flying kick and his sparring movement! Whenever he prepares for his grading exams,
will very often use me as his partner, quite scarry for me, lol. Taekwando is a good sport not only for self defense but calls for discipline too. Jing is short of one more grade to attain his black belt. Keep it up Jing!

Whenever he goes traveling, he holds his own camera and shoots whatever interests him. I recalled we used to buy him the automatic disposable Kodak camera when he was a little boy but now he has been pampered with a Leica by his Dad. Jing is a keen photography enthusiast. Picture shows his best friend Tim and him capturing some shots in our garden and I took a pix of them in action.

Jing's Dad is a Connoisseur and avid collector of Chinese tea. Like father like son, his Dad teaches him the art of tea making. Sometimes, we get Jing to serve us tea to brush up his tea making skills. Yes, I now recalled he used to play tea making with his miniature tea set made from porcelaine.
Since we are on the subject of Chinese tea, I hope and look forward to writing a book on Chinese tea and its culture, look out for it.....but not in the near future!
For this layout, no iron-on technique, instead I did a resist using UTEE ( Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) followed by a colourwash - watercolour medium plus some glimmer spray mist.

A close shot of the lovely red flower. Gorgeous ? I handmade it out of fabric. The craze is on, will be making more flowers now but prior to that need to call up my dressmaker for left over fabrics. I can hand make paper flowers too and I adore the ones made from papers tore out from vintage books. What a fabulous and easy flower making technique - love it a lot.

NO SKI NO LIFE - that's what Jing will sing to us towards end of year. He and his siblings are into ski-ing. Every winter they go on the slopes. Certainly a no no for his Dad and Mom, LOL
To create the snowy effect I put some UTEE on the background and did an image of the snow using stencil and glimmer mist. Like it or how can I enhance it further?

Traveling is one of Jing's passion. Photos taken in Turkey, he swam in the Mediterranean Sea,brought home pebbles and small rocks from the beach.

Jing and his 3rd sister, Krystine, are very close. He learns and picks up a lot of stuff from her. What thrills me most is, he aspires to do well in his studies like Krys and his 2 other sisters, Jo and Cindy. What great role models for Jing, Thanks girls!!

The most recent happening was .... Jing celebrated his 11th birthday with his classmates, close friends and relatives. He called it ' the best birthday party ever'. Well....simply because I arranged for an event most parties never did before ( as far as I know) ...... a Survival Challenge event!! Glad all children had a marvelous and enjoyable time. ONCE AGAIN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JING, YOU ARE A BIG BOY NOW.

This album will be a keepsake for Jing. Though he may not appreciate the album now being just an eleven year old boy but I believe he will thank Mom 20 or 30 years down the road.

MY FAMILY TREE OF LIFE

2010-04-11T17:44:00.038+08:00

I was learning to create a tree using textured paste and the result was so amazing that it led me on to transform the tree into my family tree. A family tree is a chart representing family relationship in a tree structure. There are many themes, you may have a tree that includes all members of a particular surname or to trace roots of families from ancestors to present generations.
Well... mine is simple, just within my present family..

The technique is easy. Just put the paste into a plastic bag, snip off the end and pipe the paste into a tree shape. Once texture is dry apply copper acrylic paint over all areas. Paint textured area with Rich Gold and Green acrylic paint. To give it a lighter and antiqued appearance, mix Burnt Amber with Magic Mix, paint over the tree covering the whole background as well. Wipe off with cloth.

As for the pictures, I place each image into a bottle cap with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) poured over it. Interesting? The final step is to embellish it with dried Prima flowers and using the same piping method to write the words.

I called it FAMILY TREE OF LIFE, adapted from Gustav KLIMT"s fabulous "TREE OF LIFE".

THE ROOTS OF A FAMILY TREE BEGIN WITH THE LOVE OF TWO HEARTS !

ART IS EVERYWHERE

2010-04-11T16:24:00.002+08:00

Intrigued by an old brown map of Florence detailing the hillspot where some artists display their artworks, I thought it would make a good background for a collage. I am drawn to mixed media collages and so I decided to explore further this time on a sheet of 12 x 12 inch unstretched canvas.

Next comes the collage elements, where I thumbed through the piles of stash and scraps in my studio, like some old stamps, vintage papers from books, pieces of pattern papers etc. It is best to use acid free papers where possible but some found papers are not but they add character and charm to my artwork.

I started to assemble the materials by using soft gel medium. After gluing the various papers, I let it dry. To give it an antiqued look, I painted the parts with white acrylic paint. I lift off some of the white paints using tissue, this will give a slightly transparent look.

Here it is........this collage tells a story ... .....art is all around us!

The beauty of collage - anything and everything is up for grabs as collage materials. It is an original and delightful approach to making art . Don't forget, it can be an eye catching result!

SHOES MAKE THE OUTFIT

2010-04-10T18:57:00.019+08:00

Shoes, shoes and more shoes......
Why do so many of us women love shoes so much?
Well...shoes definitely make me feel more beautiful, confident and they complete my outfit.
You just can't wear the same shoes for each outfit? Shoes make all the difference to me.

My Jimmy Choos, Christian Louboutin, Chloe., Manolo Blanik.....etc.. mean a lot to me. I just simply love them.
High heels of three and half to four inches stilleto pumps or evening sandals are my favourites, give me a sense of confidence and they lift my mood when I am wearing them. I enjoy wearing flats though some find it mundane.
As far as I am concerned shoes is the ultimate accessory!

If you have noticed I am on a journey expressing my life by putting them in my artwork
So here it is.........my love for shoes.

"I don't know who invented high heels but all women owe him a lot."
~ by Marilyn Monroe

LIVING THE CREATIVE LIFE

2010-04-09T22:13:00.004+08:00

There are all kinds of ways to live a creative life, from arranging flowers, painting walls to scrapbooking etc.etc....
Ever since I started to indulge in this interests, it is unbelievable to acknowledge that my life has changed. It is without doubt that I began to realise I am creative to a certain extent and I seem to have more and more ideas. Obviously I have become very observant and have changed my way of appreciating art works. I look for details like colours, would never fail to touch and to feel its texture and looking for dimension as well. Funny, nowadays you can say I have become quite a hoarder, every single thing I come across I will ask myself can this be altered to create a new piece of art?

Having the space and freedom to do what I love to do and a life that is filled with inspiration, joy, energy to create and discovery is just too good. Happy I have found the hobby that truly truly interests me.   Why don't the rest of the people do to get a little but more of that creativity in their lives?

To spread the joy of creativity, I am always more than willing to share what I have learned with my friends with the hope of inspiring them.

To echo my belief of    SHARING IS CARING .... I have created a 12 x 12 canvas layout again using watercolours and sketching.   It is amazing how the colours can blend together beautifully with the help of water spray mist.

Here it is, I like cool tones.....do you?

I applied washes of red hue with a touch of orange over the partial heart I sketched. The top area is washed with pale tones of transparent yellow and the bottom with light green. While the surface is wet I lift out the watercolour of certain regions to create different tones.

MY LOVE FOR FLOWERS

2010-04-09T17:57:00.003+08:00

"Roses are red, Violets are blue....." I have always love flowers. Wherever I am, if there are flowers they never failed to attract my attention before anything else. Flowers are used for expressing our deepest feelings of love and warmth for beloveds who mean the world to us.

As any flower lover knows, flowers have a language of their own in which they talk to us. But then again, a gift of them for a special someone will always create its own personal meaning too.

Here are some of the meaning of flowers:

Roses (red) - Love, I love you
Violets (Blue) - I'll always be true
Ivy - Friendship
Mistletoe - Kiss me
Camellia (pink) - Longing for you
Carnation - Woman Love
For-Get-Me-Nots - True Love, memories

Having learnt the basic of how to sketch, I decided to practise on my canvas tag . I sketched a flower using watercolour pencil on the primed side of the canvas piece. Water is sprayed lightly on the flower allowing the colours to bleed and expand. More colour washes are applied to the other areas. The tag is then embellished as shown below:

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~ by Terri Guillemets

THE MAGIC OF COLLAGE ON CANVAS TAGS

2010-04-04T16:22:00.001+08:00

I am drawn to collages on support surfaces like stretched canvass or simply plain canvas sheets. You do not have to be an artist or to know how to draw to create collages. You only need to open your imagination and let yourself be free to experiment new things, play with it and soon you will be having a lot of fun. A collage is an artist composition of several materials like paper, cloth or wood, all glued on a surface to create a piece of artwork.

Recently I got hold of a ring of 6 pieces large canvas tags. It is exciting as I have never tried creating on canvas sheets what more a tag !. With a theme in mind I desired to do a collage incorporating one or two other techniques.
Here it is..............................
INSPIRED BY MY GARDEN

Started with a light turquoise blue colour wash using drops of FW acrylic paint sprayed with lots of water. Allow to dry and then did an image transfer using masking tape on a vintage paper as it will allow the background to show through. I think transfer is a great way to create more depth and interest in collages.More layers are glued to embellish the layout.

"GARDENS ARE TO BE SHARED".

~ anonymous

WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

2010-03-31T22:48:00.067+08:00

A watercolour is a medium and it is an important tool in watercolour techniques and to blend them with water.
Watercolour is wonderful in the sense that it allows all types of expression.
There are a variety of watercolour techniques. I did an abstract style, where after sketching, I dropped diluted watercolour paints on a specific area , sprayed water over the paint and then watch it spread, drip and blend to create a beautiful medley of colours and shapes.
My first and second art pieces below are from my sketch book while the 3rd is done on canvas board.

I had it sketched, followed by using watercolour pencil blended with water.

MY SECOND WATERCOLOUR PAINTING.....a mixture of watercolour pencil, acrylic paint and gesso.

MY THIRD MIXED MEDIA ......sketched using charcoal pencil, painted with watercolour pencil, drops of FW acrylic paint then sprayed with water, acrylic paste, gesso and gold leaf.

The light moldering paste is used to create the texture and the gesso as a glaze to allow the first colour to show through. So what do you think of my first try? Well... I certainly need to create more to be there.

THE WAY WATER AND PAINT WORK TOGETHER IS A BEAUTIFUL THING TO BEHOLD.

MY FIRST SKETCHES

2010-03-31T21:45:00.018+08:00

I don't recall learning how to sketch objects or portraits like the way I was taught recently by a good friend,Sam, who is a very talented artist, graduated from an Art School in Fine Arts in UK.

Sam's ' How to sketch techniques' is basic but I thoroughly enjoyed her class. I was reminded that sketching is about being loose and bold and not worrying about making mistakes, letting your real feelings come out. The important thing is to keep on looking at the object for its form as well as the different shades and tone.

I tried using charcoal pencil and graphite for my sketches but my preference is charcoal . It is a wonderful medium for large, bold and expressive works. I was constantly advised by Sam that the sketches must show subtle grays and fine lines with charcoal. The kneadable erasers given, works like a tool for lifting out highlights and for adjusting the tone of a shaded area. Gentle erasing and reshading can create subtle layers. I was astounded to find that my sketches slowly progressed with improvements and by the end of my fifth sketch, it was considered not bad !
Have a look at my progression of sketches using charcoal. All done in my sketch book.
MY FIRST.......

MY SECOND.......

MY THIRD ..... and this piece was commended by Sam that I did let loose, allow the flow.

MY FOURTH.....

It is advisable to fix our charcoal sketches using spray fixative e.g. hairspray
The purpose is to strengthen the drawing and prevent fine dust of charcoal from being lost.
My fifth sketch, I had it coloured, shown under watercolour effect.

My art teacher, Sam, deserves to be praised for her generosity in giving those in need. The fees collected from our recent art class was donated to T-Ratana Community Centre. My Sifu Cat who is the Head of the Centre received the cheque on behalf. THUMBS-UP FOR SAM!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

2010-03-30T00:17:00.020+08:00

Mother's Day is celebrated the world over and it is the sweetest events of the year. It is a day eagerly awaited by us and cherished by our mothers.

I know Mother's Day is two months away but I need to get my feelings across to my dearest mom now as I will not be in the country by then. I wish to express my love and say it with flowers. So I created a canvas piece out from my stash of serviettes. Here it is.....
"HUGS AND KISSES TO YOU MOM"

Sprayed with tattered angels glimmer mists, textured with glass beads and created roses with stencils using light moldering paste. Little bird in crackle paint.

There isn't a day of the year that you aren't special to me Mom!
~ your daughter, toh ee

THE ALTERED BOX

2010-03-29T22:36:00.007+08:00

What is it about boxes that appeals to us? Perhaps they remind us of the boxes as children to stash our previous finds. I can say that boxes are terrific canvases for assemblage and collage.

There is this wooden box I found when unwrapping the Chinese New Year hamper. I wanted to give a new life by altering it using entirely different mediums. I tore out the paper attached to the box, scrape the glue and using the sand paper to abrade the paint.

The hinges that join the lid to the box are removed. I decided to paint it in a loose brushy style using a mixed colour of gold and green acrylic paint. This was left to dry overnight.

From my collection of serviettes, I picked a flowery piece, cut out the flowers, peel off the bottom layer and adhere to the surface, the lower lid and the inside of the box using clear glaze medium.
In the hope that I might create something that looked like a used box, the cut out flowers are not flattened out but intentionally have it textured with crinkles.
When it is dry , the whole box is painted with decoupage varnish for protection.
Have a good look what I have recreated and this is my first altered piece.

If you are a collector who loves junks and believes in recycling as a lifestyle, you will
transform everyday objects into One-of-a-kind-art!!

QUAN YIN - GODDESS OF MERCY

2010-03-27T15:43:00.002+08:00

In Sanskrit, her name is Padma-pani or "Born of the Lotus".
Quan Yin is one of the most universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition. She is the
embodiment of compassionate loving kindness.
As the Bodhisattva of Compassion, she hears the cries of all beings. She is truly truly the Goddess of
Mercy. It is said that a single heartfelt cry of suffering asking for mercy, she will be there for you.
For those who pray to her will know and I am one of them and she has answered my prayers.

There is a sense of happiness and bliss as I created this piece of artwork of Quanshiyin Pusa. To have the creation taken in front of her figurine symbolizes my devotion and faith in Goddess of Mercy.

Materials used: Light moldering paste, FW acrylic paint, skeleton leaves, dried flowers, coarse pumice gel, levelling gel, swirls chipboard, Claudine Hellmuth semi gloss acrylic paint and the support is canvas.

"OM MANI PADMI HOM" - this is the mantra for Quan Yin .

A DAY OF GOOD FUN SCRAPPING

2010-03-24T00:11:00.201+08:00

A group of us were invited to scrap and crop at Wendy's newly refurnished craft room. Congrats Wendy for having a bright , cosy and practical room for making art. Thanks for allowing us to dirty your room and for kindly offering us the usage of your precious embellishments!

Among us, only a handful are regular scrappers while the rest are still not so into it. The three of us, Sifu Cat, Wendy and myself who are 3 artsy - craftsy dabblers are always trying to instill into the minds of our friends that they are as creative.

Dear buddies, all you need is to bring your curious mind and willing hands and allow that playful impulse to blossom.. We would like to encourage your creativity to flourish.From the several techniques that we have learnt we wish to share and nourish your creativity. We hope to inspire you to join us more often in our art/scrapping jam sessions. Do not be overwhelmed by the art pieces we shared . As long as you understood the techniques, you will be able to tweak creative pieces to suit the way your brain works.

Well, it was a fruitful event yesterday with eight pieces of stunning canvas art created (2 canvases need drying time so not ready as yet) by our quite new scrappers.
Hei, give yourself a pat on the back for your wonderful artwork you proudly brought home. As promised I will feature your works in my blog and here they are. I will not be spelling out what techniques used as A PICTURE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS!
Wendy's storage. Look how neat it can be!

Lovely participants except yours truly was photographer.
Emmm..smiling faces, beaming with pride!

Wendy Goh's master piece. Love the color combo!

Mui Lan's 3-D piece, love the play of colours! Chantek!

Lynda, a new comer, not realizing her potential to create.
Her precious photo depicts 5 generations, what a treasure!

Pat's life revolves around kiddo's education, so it was apt she created this cutie
graduation canvas.

Yes Maureen enjoy each moment of your life, explore your identity,
discover your answers and put them onto the canvas. So nice!

"Bonded together". A fabulous modern abstract canvas by Teng.
Stewart Gill's fantasy film put to use beautifully!

This is simply gorgeous, both mum and daughter,created by
Sylvia, our "Diva". She is certainly a convert now with her
sudden interest in our art classes. Good Sylvia, you'll
never regret but will be thankful!

'Smile and the world will smile with you'. This is Betty's creation. The theme is by the seashore, with textured sand mixed with acrylic paint and glimmer mist sprayed to fix the sky. 3-D seashell embellishments
ties up everything, 'by the sea'.

I HAVE NO SPECIAL TALENTS, I AM ONLY PASSIONATELY CURIOUS.
~ by Albert Einstein

FOLLOW YOUR DREAM

2010-03-12T21:25:00.009+08:00

Your dream is who you are, you should pursue it. Dream gives you a sense of meaning and purpose and drives you on into your chosen future. What you have always been dreaming about, visualize it, define it and then go for it. People say, your dream is the meaning of your life! Agree?

Well.. ..back to art. This technique to create a cracked surface is interesting as it adds a surprise element and unique quality. Here I used crackle paste of at least 6mm thickness. The thicker the paste the larger the cracks.
The surface of the canvas is painted to emphasize the cracks. Using the palette knife I applied crackle paste in a swirling manner to get crackling all over the surface. It is left overnight to dry.

The surface is very absorbent and I used a combination of FW Acrylic Artist ink, in different colours and applied the drop and spray wash techniques. My aim is to have it in soft pastel to whisper femininity and also to show the cracks clearly.

An altered image is pinned below a mica. The mica which gives a transparency image has been dripped with drops of alcohol ink. To focus and show more of the cracks, the surface is kept clear and simple. I can imagine painting on cracked surface will be stunning . Will surely give it a try next.

FOOD FOR THE HEART

2010-03-11T22:30:00.002+08:00

"IF YOU HAVE THE EYES OF LOVE, YOU JUST SEE LOVE WHEREVER YOU GO."
By Don Miguel Ruiz

Support is canvas.
Materials used - light moldering paste, coarse pumice gel, FW acrylic artist ink, stencils, crackle paste, glass beads, Claudine Hellmuth semi-gloss acrylic paint and metallic buff.

THE ENLIGHTENED ONE

2010-03-11T22:15:00.008+08:00

I have always yearned to instill devotion and faith apart from my daily prayers through my artworks. Serenity, happiness and peace are the words associated with when one gazes at images or figurines of Buddha. Image of Buddha on rubber stamp is a rare find. Very happy indeed I am able to create this piece and managed to get the colours right in particular the lights surrounding Buddha - Aura.

Support is canvas.
Materials used - light molding paste, coarse pumice gel, FW acrylic artist ink, dried flowers, image printed on acetate and Buddha charms.

MY FAMILY

2010-03-09T22:55:00.009+08:00

These are precious vintage photos which I shall treasure for years to come....

Mum and Dad's wedding photo, very vintage indeed, and I had it printed in sepia and all scrapped with flowersoft.

"Dad though you are not with us now, but you will always be in our hearts and memories!"

Mum is 85 years now, she is on wheel chair but still cheerful each time I visits her.

My siblings, a vintage photo in sepia.
Photo in UTEE. A scrap page for my mum on Mother's Day.

CHILDREN OF GAZA

2010-03-05T21:55:00.016+08:00

Last year I did a little bit of charity to make some cards for Bakti to cheer up the poor kids of Gaza. With my remaining scraps of papers etc... I did some fun stuff hoping that these simple cards will bring a smile on their faces... GOD BLESS THE CHILDREN OF GAZA !!

OUR 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

2010-03-04T23:09:00.000+08:00

To commemorate our 25 years of marriage bliss I created a canvass piece.

GONG XI FA CAI WAN XI RU YI

2010-02-14T10:48:00.007+08:00

GONG HEI GONG HEI FATT CHOY!!
Here's Wishing you a Happy Lunar Chinese New Year with good wishes throughout the year, good health, success and prosperity.

During the past and even till today there are people who shunned Tiger year but presently times have changed. In China, it is believed tiger is synonymous with fortune, representing the dawn of fortune and goodness. The mighty strong tiger is the manifestation of strength, harmony and generosity. Its roar stirs the wind. Many now perceived Year of Tiger as a roaring year, bringing not only wealth but good luck and overall it signifies greatness. Let us look forward to this grrrrr...reat year!!

Whilst I was rushing to prepare for the CNY, my dear friend Wendy who is artfully inclined gave me a beautiful 7 Gypsy's Art Tray and suggested that I create 12 pieces of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) on the Chinese New Year theme. I took the challenge as I was obviously in the mood for celebration and I had them completed one day prior to the eve of CNY despite my tight schedule.

Here they are........have a good look and with these 12 pieces of good wishes may you succeed in your life pursuits!!

INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS FROM THE 7 GYPSY'S TRAY

2010-02-14T10:00:00.373+08:00

It is always fun to take photos of our creations with some beautiful background or interesting artifacts or objects etc...next or behind them. Do enjoy these single shots....

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

2010-01-15T13:36:00.004+08:00

Hi there, A Very Happy New Year To You!

I understand nothing is worse then visiting a blog where the author has not posted nothing new for more than 2 months. I am truly sorry for being silent for a while. Truth to be told, I had a terrible migraine which needed to completely refrain from using computers in particular and to relax more. During that period of time I really missed making art and blogs.

Now I am back refreshed and with a new energy for my hobby having discovered that I can balance both aspects of my life in harmony.

Back to 15th Oct 2009....... I grasped the opportunity to organize a joint birthday craft party with Betty and Mui Lan at my residence . My aim was to encourage our dear friends to explore their creativity. From the many art techniques I have learned from locally and abroad, I shared with them, hoping to inspire and to help spread the joy of creativity. CONCLUSION: I SUCCEEDED!!

I actually owed my friends the blog posts of their art pieces created during the party which I had promised to post in my blog earlier but delayed due to unforeseen circumstances......thousand apologies!!
All the creations, though only small pieces of art work but deserved to be commended. I am astounded to discover many new talents whom they themselves could not believe of their creative abilities. Like I have said before, everyone is creative. It is deep within all of us. The only difference is some people 'allow' the flow more readily then others. Creativity to me is the ability to pull things out from one's self and give it shape and form.

The birthday girls!

So you are most welcome to feast your eyes to the fun we had...... remember to scroll down for more and click older posts...

CRAFT AND PARTY SETTING

2010-01-15T12:24:00.001+08:00

I was so excited and wanted to give my lovely friends delectable treats and good party favors.I brought my chef in and I must thank Siew Chea for adding on her very own recipe of black vinegar pork cutlets as well as fruit enzyme.The lunch table were set with pretty posies of flowers. I am certain that my friends who came would agree that we all need to set a little time to abandon oneself to childlike parties like having coloured balloons and a birthday banner. The work area were arranged with craft sheets, paints, papers etc... and even instructions on the craft techniques to be shared were set on the table. Someone commented ' very professional' - easy for me as I have the experience of being a trainer,now you know why!