Handmade Journal with old Enid Blyton book cover

I’ve been on a creative high lately, not just with the ideas but with the actual hands-on work as well. Rather than buying lots of materials and then letting them sit silently in the cupboard, I’ve actually been making things out of them!

My latest creation is a handmade journal made from an old hard cover Enid Blyton book! I’ve had the idea swimming around in my head for the longest time and I’m glad I finally pushed myself to see it materialize!

I scoured various places for old copies of Enid Blyton books. It made me sweat a little because they not only had to be in decent condition, I also refused to use the newer versions with modern cover designs. My benchmark was that the cover designs had to be the ones I remember from my days of reading the books or older. I chose Enid Blyton books because they offered me an alternative life when I was a kid coped up in a little apartment. They transported me to a land of adventures and mysteries, magic trees, wishing chairs, afternoon teas and ginger beers, boarding schools and midnight feasts… The blank pages in the journal are interspersed with a few pages from the original book. I thought these let us remember what it was like reading these books. Lastly, I spiral bound the journal in antique brass which I thought adds to the vintage vibe.

Personally, I’m happy with this journal and I hope you do too. It’s now listed in my little Etsy shop! Click over to see more pictures and get more details.

Food Affair

Hello there, did you have a nice weekend? I did! I played Scrabble, packed an item I sold and also caught the Very Short International Film Festival (each was not more than 3 minutes long. Really cool!).

And back to the food-related bit on my Hong Kong trip which I promised. Everytime we visited, T and I make it a point to go to this local Hong Kong style café. We love it for how unpretentious it is. It has stayed the same all these years despite the recent increase in number of tourists because of word of mouth marketing.

Love the retro titled wall and little booth seats!

Sinfully delicious French toasts.

I tend to be more adventurous when I travel, in general as well as for my palate. We had street food under make shifts tent. It’s nice when the weather is cool.

Hong Kong style desserts is also one of the must eats.

For some reason, we really like the sushi restaurants in Hong Kong!

I’m delighted my Japanese stitch bound journal was sold and I will be listing another item soon! Keep your eyes peeled on this space for updates :)

Hello for a Little While, Hong Kong

Hi there, I'm back for my little trip! Did you miss me? I did feel a little weird at times not tweeting, blogging, checking out Facebook or even emails. I wondered every now and then what’s happening in the new media social networking world, the news and updates I was missing out on… But I realised that it’s important to disconnect for a while and in turn connect with the real world around us. Once that sunk in, I actually felt quite liberated. The only time I sneaked online was when T was checking us in for the return flight. I was on for a whole of 5 minutes.

It wasn’t T and my first time to Hong Kong. In fact, it’s one of our favourite places for short trips. We love Hong Kong for its vitality and vibrancy! Shops and food places stay open till late, so you never have to think too hard about what to do when the sky turns dark. I think that makes an awful lot of sense for a city full of working folks. But we’ll save the food stories for the next post, shall we?

In between all the gastronomical affairs, we found time during this trip to visit a multi-media art exhibition “Hope & Glory” by Hong Kong-based Simon Birch.

(above) This was my favourite installation. Cool, isn’t it?

We also spotted a series of 13 hand carved and painted wooden sculptures by Kevin Fung, titled “The Real Me”. (above) This was titled “The Real Me: Review meeting at 9am”. I smiled at how true the depictions are.

On one of our wanderings, we saw this narrow semi-dark flight of stairs but with a lovely door at the top. Being in a foreign land offers more audacity so we opened the door on the right. We saw a lady talking at a table with a couple. Of course, this is a bridal shop! That explains the name-- “ Les bisous” (Kisses in French). We attempted our most innocent, ignorant, lost tourist look and hastily closed the door. I did linger for a few seconds more after that because the door knob caught my eye.

Everyday old things always fascinates me too.

For our trips to Hong Kong, T and I always choose to stay at Langham Place, Mong Kong. Great location but more than that, I appreciate that they pay attention to the little things.

See the card that reads “Dream Big”? It lists the range of pillows they have. Instead of the default pillows, you can choose what type of pillows you want! I was SO bought over! At the end of the next day when we returned to our cozy room, there was another little card on the bed also with “Dream Big” printed on it. Enclosed was a bag of chamomile tea leaves.

I really like their collaterals too!

Come by again soon for a food-related post :).

Of Strawberries & Girls

I bought a cutting mat recently and was so excited to use it. I’m ashamed to say that all these while, I’ve been cutting without it and making do with other padding. Psss, I also scratched the table. Finally decided that it was time to have proper tools and boy am I glad I got it! Cutting became such a breeze! So folks, invest in your tools. You’ll be well-rewarded.

I had fun crafting the past few days. Fussing over measurements, cutting, sewing, getting my fingers dirty with glue... I enjoyed every part of the process. Some of you may have heard it from my tweets.

I’m glad to say I’ve listed a journal in my little shop. It’s covered with Japanese linen fabric (I really love these) with cute strawberries print. The pages are blank inside and it’s all hand bound using Japanese stitch. As with all my other listings, I've also included a little story about myself in relation to the item. Here’s a preview of the journal. Click here to see more.

For local folks, if you are interested and prefer to transact off Etsy. Just drop me a note!

Happy Friday, lovelies! I'll be going to Hong Kong for a short trip so I'll see you back here on Wednesday :)

Of Buntings and Garlands

I did a post awhile back on fairy lights and was pretty inspired. There are fairy lights in my bedroom for a couple of months now :). Along with fairy lights, my love for hanging objects also includes buntings/garlands. I mean, you have to love them! They automatically add cheer to a room and secretly, I think they make me feel like I’m always having a party.

I hope these brightened your day a little. Have you got them in your house? I’m thinking of making some for mine.

On a separate note, I’ve been getting my hands dirty making some journals and will be listing them soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

[images: dottie angel, annaleahart, Holland Fabric House, Livingetc, ohdeedoh, Saidos da Choncha, Simply Lovely, Veronica TM]

Uniquely Yours

Homes from different countries have developed distinctive styles of their own. Currently, there is much love and respect all over the world for Scandinavian style homes (hands up those of you who are supporters). The designs are modern, simple, functional and also good-looking. What’s not to love? Very palatable, I would say. Just look at the success of Ikea! And thanks to their motto “affordable solutions for comfortable living”, they’ve brought Scandinavian designs to the masses.

It’s no secret that I’m also partial towards Japanese homes-- their use of natural materials and all that zakka love! Can you blame me? Like us in Singapore, many city Japanese homes are also small spaces. With some basic furniture pieces and some decor items, they’ve managed to make it homely and attractive. I think there’s alot of inspiration we can draw from there.

I’m not sure if there’s such a thing as Singapore style homes. What do you think? Personally, I don’t think we’ve developed a distinctive style yet. Interior decor is not high on many people’s list, as opposed to other more practical things like location of apartment etc. Perhaps it’s just the pragmatic nature of Singaporeans. But I do hope that someday things will change, we’ll see more local interior magazines, blogs, unique furniture stores...

[images: Abille]

Fresh, Clean & White

Welcome to a new week! I thought we’ll start this week fresh and clean with some beautiful white pieces for the home.

Loving these gorgeous items! Poetry in a bowl for the literary ones, vessels with spouts are so cute (perfect for soy sauce when I have my soba), the roller has me really smitten... I like having interesting kitchenware, decor pieces around the house. They are perfect conversation starters because guests often ask a few questions when something catches their eye (and what better time to share about supporting handmade products!).

Happy Monday, lovelies and have a great week ahead!

[images: 1Paper Boat Press, 2 & 3 Paige Russell Design, 4 Dovetail, 5 Kathleen Hills (via Decor8), 6 BROOKLYNrehab, 7 & 8 Wapa]