mini giveaway!

Hee hee... Rebecca is having her own giveaway -- have a looksie here!

birthday fun!

Guess who had a birthday?

Yep, my number one baby :) She was full of excitement on her birthday morning -- I'd organised a little party for her at Build-A-Bear (more on this later)!

Satisfied customers! See more here :)

That evening, she opened all her presents. That one there was from a friend who had been invited, but couldn't show up because she'd fallen sick; another friend had brought the gift along with her. See that wrapping paper? It's Japanese, covered in bears and cats. I was struck by how sweet it was, and decided I'd make something out of it for the girl who had missed out on the party.

There wasn't a lot of it that wasn't folded or crumpled, but I decided to milk it for all it was worth -- hey, Earth Day should be every day right?

So I cut out what I could. And mounted them on thick reclaimed board. 

I embellished them with shiny stars, and made them into pins.

And since I'd gotten started, I made some more.

These ones got bought as party favours.

But I still have these, and I've decided to pop them into the shop. The Panda one has been sold, but the one in the top left corner -- with the (to me) intriguing phrase "days marked with a white stone" -- will go to the first reader who expresses an interest in having it (teeny giveaway here hee hee!).

Then I felt inspired to make these lol. They're crazy collages of multicoloured goodies, little OOAK pieces that could you could wear, or hang, or prop up on a shelf or door. I'll be getting them listed in the shop soon -- happy Wednesday everyone :)

nothing quite like...

... a little ballerina to make one smile :)

Happy week everyone!

nothing says tropical...

... quite like a parrot -- just look at the colours on this fellow! Did you know that parrots can see parts of the ultraviolet spectrum? This, and other cool animal facts here. All the pictures were taken by Rebecca (except the ones she's in of course); I think she shows promise, yes?

Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue -- the same genetics that show up in Ming!

B writes that "In just a hundred years, the world has lost 97% of wild tigers" -- a very sad fact indeed.  I'm glad there are people like her in this new generation who care, and want to do something about it.

weekend fun

We were super excited this past Sunday to check out the BBB Arts Flea Market, held at the National Museum. I was mainly interested in the crafting aspect of course, though there were also supposed to be vintage and edible goodies as well. Crafting is not as big here as one might hope, and I was curious to see how many non-Louis-Vuitton-addicted craftsters there were out there.

A kiss before starting anything is always good.

The market covered two floors of the museum; this was the entranceway to the second level. The red chandeliers overhead are engineered to keep swinging in a continuous wave-like pattern.

The floor space was large, but many of the displays were disappointingly small. I heard two ladies describe the crafts as "factory-made" and "commercialised"; I think they meant that quite a few of the tables were displaying things which simply looked like mass-produced stuff you could find at the mall.

We had more fun on the first floor. There were lots of edibles, baked goodies and such; here, the kids choose from some rainbow-coloured cupcakes.

Then we met this lady -- Tammy -- who runs Dottinghill, a project of her and her husband's company Dots Connection (more on this in my next post!). They had this huge table of temporary body tattoos, featuring some really cool and unusual designs; not the usual, run-of-the-mill roses and dagger stuff, if you know what I mean.

The kids, of course, were all over the pieces, because they're just into the whole temporary tattoo thing, so I let them choose a few. They had the sweetest designs -- adorable little characters and animals -- in lovely, soft shades and intricate, henna-like patterns.

The young lady who was helping us introduced me to Tammy, who explained the premise of Dottinghill (which is really pretty cool and which I'll go into in my next post). Then, quite unexpectedly, she asked if the kids could help model some of the tattoos! Well, of course the kids were jumping at the chance to have the things applied to them there and then -- Tammy gave them each a really cute bear standing under a polka-dot gumball shower.

There's Ro admiring Tammy's handiwork, and Becky looking pleased as pie. Tammy was so thoughtful as to give us the tattoos we'd chosen earlier too!

One neat thing about attending the flea market was the fact that the rest of the museum was open for free. Since the kids themselves were keen to explore the place, I let them.

While a lot of the museum's architecture has been modernised, much of its 19th-century features have been retained, like this old spiral staircase.

The girls were fascinated by this poor stuffed toddy cat, otherwise known as the Asian Palm Civet.

It is apparently a ferocious little thing.

Ro listening to information on island ecologies. 

Heading into the photography gallery.

Expatriate children with their amah.

What having two wives looks like.

That's a life-size cutout he's posing with.

Aren't they pretty -- the lady on the left especially exemplifies the look of the roaring 20s.

A puppet theatre in the wayang gallery. Wayang refers to a theatrical performance with puppets or human performers.

Detail of above. I have no idea what is going on.

Antique puppets.

The elaborate costumes of the wayang. 

Fantastic embroidery work.

Becky using the museum's audio-visual guide. It's a handheld thing you use in the history gallery. Every time you reach one of those numbers on the floor, you key it in and the thing tells you stuff. I was pretty tired by this point and didn't bother getting one; I just followed the kids mindlessly.

Those were simpler times back then.

A picture because we were suddenly surrounded by mirrors and some film. Like I said, I had no idea what was going on.

Escalators at the train station. The things man can build...

While the flea market was a bit of a let-down for me, the kids had a grand time, which was the main thing. Here they are sitting in a pretend living room, happy as always :)

Coppélia reprised

Well, on a happier note, here are some pictures from a recent performance of Coppélia the girls went to see (well, not from the ballet itself, since recording equipment is forbidden in the concert hall, but close enough). They're both taking ballet, and are very keen on it, so we go whenever we can.

B dancing during the intermission.

An art installation made up of circling paper birds.

It's not often they get to wear their silk dresses! Happily, no one spilled anything.

One half of the Esplanade Theatres.

Ballet -- and a serene night under the stars -- can make one feel quite dreamy (see B's post here).

Becky will be having her own ballet performance very soon; her next RAD exam is coming up in less than a week.

It's good to see young kids taking an active interest in the arts -- of their own accord, and not because they were forced into it (remember those piano lessons you had?).

My sweet :)