hanging gardens

Poketo A-Frame Plant Hanger via heart charlie  

my ma's the one who likes growing plants, not me. i suck at plant-sitting when she's away on holiday. even desert plants would perish under my charge.   

having one of these hangers in the nest would be lovely. but what a waste to just hang one lone plant, don't you think? a few DIY ideas come to mind. what can you think of?    

eat air

What is ice cream?

Ice cream is simply a frozen dessert made from

• milk and/or cream
• sweeteners (like sugar)
• combined with flavoursome ingredients (like vanilla beans, nuts or fruits).

Besides the ingredients above, one of the most important components of ice cream is _____ ?

source

we learnt to make ice cream today. it's very easy indeed, but i doubt i'd try to make my own again. unless it's a group thing, that'd be more fun.

recipe for coconut ice cream (enough for two):

200ml milk

200ml coconut milk

50g sugar

me and my partner chose to do coconut since most chose vanilla and chocolate. for vanilla, the added ingredient is of course vanilla beans. did you know that vanilla pods are from an orchid plant? and where does one buy vanilla pods ah?

for chocolate, we're given hershey's. there's no fixed recipe since it's really up to the ice cream 'maker' how he or she wants it to turn out. apparently, pouring all the contents of the syrup into the mix isn't the way to go, since more sugars means the mix becomes harder to freeze. so it's the same if you want to add alcohol into the mix.

many seemed to find our ice cream salty. i suspect it's cos they ate it after trying out the sweeter vanilla and chocolate.

do you know the answer to the above question?

似模似样

速食

迷你

i'm currently in this phase.

i'd wanted to try french manicure but i couldn't find those nail stencils. a colleague said she'd pass me some. she said they didn't work for her. i betcha they won't work for me, then. i'm an utter disaster around such girlie things. i tried to do the tips on a larger surface area (such as my big toe nail) and i ended up painting half the nail. yes, please go ahead and laugh at me. 

stiljkind

my digits look something like the above now -- except they're just the length of the darker nail colour. my nail colour's a bronzey shade. i have a picture of my painted digits but i shall spare you. or deny you of another chance to laugh at me. 

photographed from Oct's L'Official Singapore

which combination do you like? i like the fucshia/red.

多此一举

In Vogue

 You can trust a turban to do some screaming. - NYT

i blogged about something similar not too long ago. i just couldn't wrap it around my head, though, over something. 

i get and approve the looks featured in the news article. because to me that's what these things are meant to do. now i do like how the turban looked on The Glamourai. but it's not practical. if scarves were of the kind of material that i think i'm familiar with, then how did they stay in place like that? surely they got some help there?

it's the same with other head gear like hairbands, etc. if they don't serve their function, (of keeping hair in place, what else?) then they're useless. to me. pretty, but useless. 

so's the case for accessorising. so i guess that's why i'm more a collector than a wearer. which is just as 多此一举, lor. once, when i was still really young and daring, i did a bareback with a scarf. i got a scarf from GDO from one of sales, in the hope of making it and the buckle useful. i don't think it really worked.  leather would look better aesthetically. the idea on GDO's blog is certainly more idiot-proof. 

无

no outerwear? of course i wore one. i wore no makeup -- this was an easier feat. the only thing vintage: the glasses. granny shoes (sourced by the guru) to complete the look.  

how the top looked originally --> click

shape-shifter

this is one of the garments i destroyed - or saved. depending on how one looks at it. i have this piece of outerwear i got from kuala lumpur to thank. it's one of the most versatile item in my wardrobe. i like the batwings of the blue top but the whole garment doesn't flatter. so i clipped off most of the wings and retained the flabby bits. it's better on me now, but i think long tunic tops are just not so flattering on my frame.

剪刀 | 十头 | 布

just can't insert pictures directly | just can't move the image to the centre | just can't seem to do the brutal thing brutally enuf. i managed to 'salvage' some of the items from the store. the easiest way is to simply snip off some parts of a garment to convert its functionality. since vintage cropped tops are hard to come by, what better time to start cutting away. i did however get past the urge to continue to hog some same items i've been hogging and moved them to the "bin it" category. i think i have a sickness. i didn't use to be like this. or maybe i was all along this way, except it's more pronounced now. i don't know if the 'deconstructed' pieces will work or not. maybe they'll end up in the bin as well.

marshmellow-waiter

GDO

i got the belt buckle. at half price. i dunno yet if my DIY idea would work. it should be really ez. but it's just in my head, and the cost of the experiment has been halved. i didn't see the top Ben Yeo's holding up for the shooting crew. Hsiao Ying said that stock would be replenished regularly (so clever). happy national month at GDO, Singapore.

must wear polka dot tuesday

dotted cropped jacket from nicolethen.com

the girls at work decided to revive the fun of thematic dressing yesterday. just nice for me. incidentally, a colleague got for me a dotty umbrella and a pair of dotty tights from her taipei trip. they jokingly challenged me to wear them all at once. i might wear the tights if the weather weren't so mad hot these past days following the storm. ironically, the jacket, the brolly and the tights are all not very me. i did like the jacket when i first saw it online but just never got to buying it. then it was on clearance sale. sweet. i understood from colleagues that the jacket's from city plaza. i've never been there, i don't know why. i don't think it's due to my irrational opinions about blogshop clothes. obviously there are some nice stuff to be found. 

and i'm once again looking at shoes. 

^still looking for the perfect western cowgirl ankle boots. i don't really fancy the soles but i love the colour. the justin roper boots on etsy are either too big or too expensive.

^bridal ballet flats. i like that the front covers more. cleavage is nice but a change is good. these don't come cheap. maybe i could try to DIY.

胡须佬

not me but a colleague wearing a DIY necklace using a dunnowhatitis... finger puppet? the moustache is not my idea but hers. so clever. lol. i'd have hung a noose around the fella's neck. or maybe wind the 'rope' round the end of his 'legs' --> bungee!

the grass is always greener on the inside

i finally met with Walter today (i'd mistakenly named him Wallace").

Walter and his playground

Another enchanting showcase at the Art Garden is by Dawn Ng whose debut solo collage exhibition, Singapore Cuts was held in 2009. Her work, Massive Attack, was exhibited as part of the Singapore Arts Show 2009 at the Singapore Art Museum. 

Drawing inspiration from her personal childhood memories, Ng created Walter, a curious colossal rabbit. The incongruence of Walter's presence at SAM creates a sense of wonder and surprise to all who chance upon him.

Walter is the artist's celebration of the ordinary and everyday in Singapore as wonderful and unique. Ng has also created Walter's Grass Playground, where toddlers could play with conical grass cushions of different shapes and texture. This creative playground encourages toddlers to learn about colours and shapes, as well as develop psychomotor skills as they have fun.

source of text

my lunches had been indulgence compared to my dinners. i usually went for fft's "basic works". now see what my version of basic works had been these past days. 

^instant noodles and salmon again, this time in wasabi and soy sauce. i really think i won't tire of sashimi.

shuddup

finally got to taking off the long sleeves of this girl-sized corduroy jacket. i've had it for a long time now. i always found it a little off on me even though it did fit me overall. i've been wearing it until one day i just decided that i no longer liked it with the long sleeves. i've since kept in this bag in which i put in clothes that i was reluctant to part with. most times they simply sat inside for a season or two and they'd end up in the bag for salvation army. this one's overstayed. and it's missing a button. i'd thought about making it totally sleeveless but my scissors just veered on their own, resulting in these cap sleeves. pleased with the outcome.   

i still mourned the loss of this jacket every now and again. 

i dunno why it's still so hard for me to let go of things. it's not like i haven't done it before. i have been doing quite ok in the shoes department, in that i haven't added on more to the inventory and have since retired a few pairs. but yes there're those that i have yet to wear at all... 

i haven't told you about the makeup department. the best part? i don't even wear much of it anymore.

i dunno what's with the sudden dislike for long-sleeved outerwear. but i think it's more a case of me liking jackets or coats in softer material for better comfort. anyway, i'm going to add to my outerwear collection a short-sleeved coat. 

aBRAcadaBRA

okayyy. this is weird for me. hope i don't scare anyone. lol. 

such posts are probably nothing new at all anyway. just that i never imagined myself to be posting about such things, is all.  

white deerskin lingerie set from MississippiTom

i was mostly inspired by this entry. i like leather but have never ventured into leather lingerie. i'm really curious how leather thongs wear. there's also the concern about hygiene, especially in this year-round heat. or are they strictly for play only? lol. these items look easy to make, eh? just 3 leather triangles. 

 *tassels* from IllusionCrafts

(the things you can find on the internet. now i can't look at bags the same again :P)

anyway, it's not like i'll ever wear these. i'll die first if i were asked to wear bikini as swimwear. i imagine a leather bra could be great for layering with other soft textures. also, it doesn't look like lingerie right away, so i think it's big on versatility.

ok. that's it for my few cents worth of fashiony stuff, if it can be called that at all.

shoe lasts

no, this is not a post on english grammar. i just learnt that shoe lasts are these things:

credit: luxirare

i've always had this crazy dream of learning to make shoes but as always it'd remained unrealised. i'm quite sure somebody teaches shoe-making, yes? who? where? it took this blogger 3 months to "figure out everything" she needed to. wait. in fact, she took only half the time. no wonder Shini calls her a wizard.

earlier today, i was at CC's other blog and my interest (if one can actually call it that!) in sewing was rekindled. does anyone know how to make these spats? it shouldn't be hard, eh? i've seen some sold on etsy but i don't want the cutesy ones. the one on the left looks simple to do...

via CC loves

but of course i'm just talking through my backside again. my idea of DIY is this:

laughable. i'd wanted to reshape the silhouette of this jacket. i really did want to try DIY'g but i wasn't confident and so entrusted it to my ma. i told her i'd wanted the sleeves like one of her top's. the plan was to go find out if a tailor could do it (w/o charging too much). and if not, she could help do it for me. so one day, i asked her how it went. she told me right away that she's thrown the jacket away. i was so mad. i'd loved the jacket so much. the colour's so nice but it was getting a bit tight where the shoulders were; i couldn't move my arms at ease. that's why i thought to have it reshaped like a semi-vest or a thicker top that i could layer over my clothes. sigh. i'm still quite bummed by the loss. i found it in shanghai. there were many jackets and only this one really caught my fancy. i didn't spare my tongue when my ma dispensed the bad news. but for the life of me i couldn't recall if she'd told me she'd be throwing the jacket away. maybe she did and i said okay? which is more worrying? losing my memory or losing the jacket?