Loloko

Alright, so it's my turn to flood the blog now =p But this isn't a long post, honest! Just some cute Japanese stationary from Loloko. Most of their stuff (including what I'm posting here) are card holders and magnets, but they have a few other things too.Mini-bench card holder. Serves as a coin holder tooEgg and mayo card holder! I really like this one! I even use the exact same Jap mayo, with the red criss-crosses and all! Electronics magnets
Shower magnet and cardholder. The showerhead and the bottom of the bear is magnetic, hence the blue paperclips.Cute sticky notepads!Wooden egg with blue beret cardholder =D
These are the cutest! They're ring-holders! I mean, just how cute is that! An apple, a pear, a mushroom and a cactus!

Okay, that's it =)

Origami Night

We had big plans, such big plans for Origami Night. Which was the same day as Chan's wall-painting by the way. There were minor little disappointments, like Chan not getting the invite, and well, not doing much origami after all, haha. But all in all, I think it was pretty fun, don't you? =D And we finished (okay, I finished) most of the food! The food turned out not too bad, especially the sushi rice. And the green tea cookies were surprisingly nice =) Surprising because they weren't as pretty as we expected, haha. Oh! Which reminds me, I don't have any pictures of the cookies (possibly because they weren't pretty), Maddy, do you?
Discussions for the big day at TCC, where we tried a bit of origami between coffee and wedges. We wanted to make a little surprise for you guys, Chan, Chee, but it didn't quite work out =p I won't go into details, but you can see the stuff below. On the other hand, the chopsticks weren't wasted, haha. Maddy, I still think we can try again another day, haha. I see what you mean about chains being a better option now.

Prodding the green tea cookie dough (which Maddy claims is really delicious) to make sure it's firm enough to roll out. Well, it wasn't for very long, the mini cookie cutters were hell to use because the cookie dough was so soft and sticky. In the end we gave up and made ball/spiral cookies. The cookies expanded anyway, but they looked really chinese.
The ingredients for our sushi.
The whole spread! Looks quite nice yes? Soba noodles, sushi, green tea shortbread cookies, japanese snacks, miso soup, green tea and cherries. And japanese themed cutlery too =)

I think all the origami that happened were the boxes that chee folded to hold the cookies and snacks, and the frogs and waterlilies that Maddy and Chan made. Oh well, haha. Another time then.

DIY Home Makeovers!

Chan invited me over yesterday for a cool DIY project: to give Chan's boring white wall an exciting new younger look! Haircut, funky highlights, a new wardrobe, the whole shenanigan. Our hats remind me of Bad Hat Harry productions. "That's some bad hat, Harry."
There! The first coat of paint finished, and very well done if I do say so myself! Chan's mom said we did good corners and edges =D This shade of pink, Posh Pink, is like, THE colour of 2007. And you know what, they weren't kidding when they named it Posh Pink. It really does look quite posh! So now you know who's the hippest wall shade on the block.
Taping the masking tape on to form the tree, cos it's, you know, professional. And we're very keen on straight lines. But halfway through the taping, we realised it look really good simply taped, as in, a tree drawn with double lines rather than a single line as planned. So, we decided to go for a double-lined tree. Hard work yes, but since walls last so long, we felt it was worth the extra effort.
At this point in time, we realised the tree looked REALLY fantastic like this, a triple lined tree. But the idea of a fourth row of masking tape was just too crazy to contemplate, since it meant starting all over again, rather than just adding an extra row. It was also already 6pm in the evening. We'd started painting at 2pm. Anyway, we also figured that single-lined, double-lined, triple-lined, it all looked so good. Which means that no matter which one we pick, we can't screw up =D
Painting the tree!Waiting for the paint to dry...
Voila! Not bad eh! We're not really done yet, we're gonna add more stuff to the wall to make a full scene. Maybe a couple of birds, fruits, some leaves on the ground, maybe another tree. We'll see how it goes. To be continued!! When Chan comes back from archi camp!

Alex Monroe

It's Friday, I'm in love, Alex Monroe has the most gorgeous stuff in nature related jewellery. Beautiful and elegant, and with really fine details, it's positively drool-worthy! And if you can't wear gold without looking like some chinese/indian auntie, most of these come in silver too, for a slightly lower price (the difference isn't very significant though, still highly unaffordable =p). Unlikely that we'll be able to buy any anytime soon, the prices are typical of gold jewellery, in the hundreds =p Someone, anyone! Quick, fall in love with me and buy me some of these!Feather ring, I really like this one, it's very unusual.Feather hoop earrings. Okay, I don't know how likely I'm gonna wear these, but they're so cool. Especially cos you stick the end of the feather through your ear.Hoop earrings. These are my favourite i think, i really really love them! They're so simple but so beautiful. Even the name is so simple! I covet them very much! Where to get £108!! Entwined Heart Bangle. Pretty huh. I like how the bangles are slightly textured, which gives them a slightly more modern look. Not your typical chinese auntie gold bangle.Swallow earrings.Hummingbird hoop earrings.
Tiny leaf studs. The detail on this is really quite amazing, cos it's really small!Filigree Lace Fern Locket, with a tiny gold bird inside. Isn't that so cool! He makes such tiny stuff, and well, for a guy, he makes really pretty and delicate stuff!Two birds on a ring, with a little nest and a pearl egg. The twigs of the nest look so fragile balanced on the branch, it's really fantastic.Circle bird and diamond necklace. If you look closely, you'll realise the circle has twiggy details.Rose ring. This is so pretty and girly right! Heck, even my mom loves this. For all romantics. Nori rose ring. I like the pretty rose gold colour. The stem of the rose goes all the way round to form the ring.Rose heart necklace. This one has a lot of detail, the heart is formed by entwined twigs, it has two tiny birds (i think) on the top left corner, and leaves on the right of the rose-gold, well, rose.
Leaf ring. I like this one too, very simple and pretty. A bit like Julius Caeser's laurel wreath actually, haha. Mummy likes this too =)

I just picked out the few that I liked best, lots more to see at the website. Go browse and feel wistful!

Madeleine's Chocolate Chip Muffins

I bought these adorable muffin paper cups a few months ago from Daiso ($2 store) and finally got down to using them! Notice how they have my name (give and take a vowel) on them!

Decided to make these crispy-topped chocolate chip muffins using the recipe from the birthday baking book, which promised "simple, fool-proof recipes"...which was heartening to know.


True to the book's claims, the recipe was simple and foolproof...

Here they are, cooling on the wire rack.

A closer shot...
Bottom's up! I need someone to translate the japanese characters for me...


I went a bit overboard with the chocolate chips. I think there might have been more chocolate than muffin.

Fumbling through my dresser drawer

I’ve been the needle and the thread
Weaving figure eights and circles round your head
I try to laugh but cry instead
Patiently wait to hear the words you’ve never said


Fumbling through your dresser drawer forgot
what I was looking for
Try to guide me in the right direction
Making use of all this time
Keeping everything inside
Close my eyes and listen to you crying


I'm lifting you up
I'm letting you down
I'm dancing til dawn
I'm fooling around
I'm not giving up
I'm making your love
This city's made us crazy and we must get out

Eggy, remember the stamps we bought from Artfriend? They have finally found their calling.

I love patterns! And Maroon 5!

*p.s. I recently found out from Evelyn that GG<5 is pronounced "G, G, five", rather than the "G, G, less than, five" that I have become so accustomed to.

Heroes in Singapore!

I can't believe it! The cast of NBC's Heroes is coming to Singapore as part of their world tour! We'll get to see hottie Santiago Cabrera (Isaac the hot heroin-induced-trance-painter-of-the-future), Jack Coleman (horn-rimmed Guy/Noah (haha), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah the cutie), Greg Grunberg (also the cutie, but in a different way from Micah), Masi Oka & James Kyson Lee(Hiro & Ando!!!! ^_^), Sendhil Ramamurthy (ahhh Mohinder the sexy geneticist), Ali Larter (the kick-ass bipolar stripper), Milo Ventimiglia (i loved him as Zach the badboy in Gilmore girls), Hayden Panettiere (clairebear the cheerleader), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan petrelli who I know saves the day because I read the spoilers), and Zachary Quinto (Sylar, of the canopener-style-murder fame). Pinch me.

"After it was said and done, they wheeled out an enormous cake shaped like the globe, with cookies stuck in the seven cities they'll be visiting. Tim Kring chopped it up with Hiro's sword, and secured himself a good photo-op in the process in case he goes for global domination of the non-pastry type."

I know it's not Christmas, but...

this is a genius video.


from here.

Check out AnniePoon.com for more short clips from "The Paper Theatre".

Origami - The Art of Paper Folding

Today's theme is origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. :) I'm really getting very excited about the whole origami thing. I even went all the way to the dusty bookshelf downstairs to search for my ancient origami guidebooks. And guess what? I found them! Those babies are still around! I found "Amazing Origami For Children" by Steve and Megumi Biddle and "Animal Origami" by Yoshio Sato. The latter even comes with "Folding paper included"!

And I quote from the summary on the back of the book by the Biddles...

"Origami is the exciting and easy way to make toys decorations and all kinds of things from folded paper.

Use leftover gift paper to make a party hat and a fancy box. Or create a colourful lorry, a pretty rose and a zoo full of origami animals. There are 50 fun projects in this book - to make for gifts or for yourself"

Fancy boxes!! And colourful lorries!! *faints*

I came across Handmade by Hapa on Etsy. She (or he, I'm not sure) calls her creations "Handfolded Metalgami Jewelry and Sculpture" and they're made of 99.9% pure silver! o_O The ones you see below are the Cootie Catcher/Fortune Teller Dangle Earrings, Double Ninja Throwing Star Drop Earrings, and Origami Crane Dangle Earrings respectively.


TarkaArt's etsy store offers origami jewellery. Basically, she folds tiny origami 'beads' then applies layers of satin finish varnish to make the beads stronger and water resistant. (My origami balls always get moist and flimsy around the blowhole :p haha) After coating them with varnish, she uses the beads to make interesting necklaces and bracelets. I love how the green necklace blends the origami beads with the gemstones so effortlessly. As for the string of red beads, I just happen to like the Japanese floral paper design. It reminds me of the stacks of authentic origami paper that my mom's Japanese colleagues used to give me when I was younger.



Here's some food-for-thought for your inner mathgeek -- Mathematics of Paper Folding.

And some eyecandy for the chanster -- Origamic Architecture Models, Spanish Buildings and Architect Antoni Gaudi Buildings.

The beautiful models you see below are from the Antoni Gaudi website.