I’m sorry for not posting a blog yesterday I wasn’t feeling too well (I’m still not). Today is Saturday February 27th, 2010. I sat on the couch all day, because I didn’t feel too well. As I was flipping through the channels I saw that my favorite fashion channel, Project Runway, was on so I watched the about 1 & 1/2 episodes. One thing that really caught my eye was the challenge to create a look for little girls, then later on in the episode they threw in a little twist to create another look for their original models that matches the little girls look. I love watching Project Runway because I look closely at each designer & try to figure out their signature style element. Additionally, how they work & the colors and patterns they put together. I really admire all the designers. There was this one guy that made his little girl a black & white checkered hoodie mixed in with cool pink pockets & on the back it had the little girls initials. While the little girl was walking down the runway I thought to myself ”Even now that I’m fifteen I would love to wear that its so stylish & chic for just a hoodie!” He paired that with a cute black skirt & then even made his own pink and black handbag. His older model had this asymmetrical black & white fitted jacket on, it was pretty cool. He also paired that with black pants that matched the little girls skirt. Without a doubt, he won the challenge. I love project runway, I hope my designs will be as structured and unique as some of those designers some day!
Being pregnant means This Girl has been forced to slow down. She has pretty much stopped training completely with Brunei Princess and The Pud taking over all the training duties, meetings and everything else in between. She manages everything by proxy, via email and pretty much has been relegated to paperwork duty. The company’s schedule has been toned down with only two and a half trainers and they have become more selective as to the projects they take on.
All this supposed slowing down also means that This Girl has a little more time to indulge herself in “less stressful” things like getting back to crafting. Since entering the third trimester, she’s completed:
1 Kisslock purse- handsewn with beading
3 Baby record books/albums
4 glass fusion accessory pieces
2 mini albums
1 scrapbook kisslock bag
1 complicated lace layout that became a baby name plate
1 copper accessory piece (butterfly)
1 stacked frame
40 over cards (to tide her through the next few months)
8 layouts (4 from class + 4 following)
She’s also had the luxury to steal away to attend random craft classes, usually when The Boy is packed off to bowling or golf. She’s had the chance to go check out these three craft/art places: Creative Escape, Made With Love and Laine’s Papeterie.
Creative Escape @ Kim Yam Road
This little hole in the wall gem of a studio is run by one Arden William from Canada who moved to Singapore some six years ago and is a trained glass jeweler/artist and self taught all-other-craftist. This girl has known of this place a while back chancing upon it when she sent her sheets to the laundry; the studio (used to be) in the upper floor of the then River Valley locale. They’ve since moved to the Mohamed Sultan area; mighty convenient for This Girl, really, since she lives 5 mins away.
This Girl took two classes there: Copper work and Glass fusion. Both classes went rather well- and quickly- the former mainly working through a design sawing through copper sheets. The latter was a little more fun as she got to design her own set of glass jewellery (she made The Boy a pair of cufflinks amongst the lot), scour through the studio’s trove of glass, and learn about working with glass at the same time.
Made With Love @ Plaza Singapura
The self touted largest scrapbooking store in Singapore and Southeast Asia is conveniently located across the street from where This Girl lives! To the exasperation of The Boy, This Girl has always found the need to wander into the bowels of the black-walled store to browse through their (indeed) rather large collection of paper, tools and other scrapbooking/craft paraphernalia. Truth is, given she’s got a generally large stash of stuff, she rarely buys anything from there (she said rarely, not never) but the browsing and prodding at goods always makes her happy.
At the recommendation of Scrapbook Queen and Golden Skull, both of whom are big fans of the store, This Girl took a layout class there recently. Truth is, she wasn’t THAT impressed at the class seeing as she’d rather do more technic based learning rather than plough through layout after layout. Up side: she came away from the class with loads of goodies that she’s used in her own craft pieces. Also, its good to know that the designer of the class/project usually takes the class; which is a huge plus.
Laine’s Papeterie @ Wheelock
Most familiar to This Girl is Laine’s Papeterie, mainly because she’s bought stuff from them before; like when she made The Parents three shadowboxes of stuff for their 25th wedding anniversary years back. Like when she comes across most craft stores, This Girl loves browsing the aisles of this store, in particular, their bargain bin though she rarely picks anything up. Seeing as she’s got most of the tools and instruments (buying from different places and even overseas), This Girl has stayed off the “classic” scrapbooking bandwagon as she prefers “projects” to “picture frames.” As a result, her craft stash has been more than enough for her.
Anyway, whilst at Wheelock a while back, This Girl decided to sign up for classes there seeing as they offer mainly project classes: scrapbooking kisslock bag class, mini album class… While their “lesson take home stash” is not as robust as Made With Love, they do more technique work (at least from the classes This Girl has attended) and she’s had fun playing with glimmer mists, stamps, glossy accents, embossing inks and heating tools. She doesn’t use such techniques or mediums at home simply cos they create a huge mess with stuff flying and spritzing all over the place.
One big downside to this place though, the project designers don’t usually take the class. In This Girl’s last class, which she took with The Princess, the teacher (a part-timer) wasn’t that good, really, so they ended up goofing off and doing their own thing. Not that they didn’t have fun, but they both felt that they didn’t really learn anything new. In fact, This Girl was so unimpressed with the mini album concept, she ripped the whole thing apart to retrofit into other totally-different craft projects.
This Girl will probably start a new category for her craft work seeing as how she’s headed to half a year of maternity leave. At least. No less, she’s got some glass tile supplies on the way and a spanking new letterpress set that The Boy bought her for Christmas beckoning to be broken into. She’s also received requests for her to run classes; a throwback to her uni days when she used to teach parchment lace craft part time. We’ll see.
Hi everyone, I haven’t written here for a year! I have moved to Colorado from MA, had minor surgery and a root canal. Talk about health! It’s all going the right direction. Cleaning out the body and heed its messages. I will write more later, but I really want to preserve my Lesportsac bag reviews. That’s my other talent besides buying books at discount. I LOVE bags and why they are compelling, and telling people about it!
Here they are. 2 large bag reviews:
Product: The Dana Bag in Black Patent by LeSportsac
Submitted at: Karmaloop
Just what I was looking for!
by The book and bag lady from Boulder, CO on 2/27/2010
Pros:
High Quality, Good Organization, Good Strap Length, Attractive, Great Color, Easy Access, Enough Compartments
I use this expandable bag to hold everything I need for the day: pc netbook, several books, water bottle. Its two zip pockets on both sides provide some organization, saving the middle large section for my purse. Why do I need a bag for my purse? I like going to and from my car with one large bag to collect my jacket, mail and what shopping I did (plus the items I listed above). The black patent provides pizazz but it’s not attention-catching when I leave it in my car. I wish Lesportsac included a make-up pouch like they do with the Classic styles, which would help with organization. **The Dana Bag handles are longer and softer than the Leigh I just got. The Dana also has a “frame” and the sides stand up, which is great for papers, files, unlike the Leigh (shapeless). Got it at a great price at Karmaloop!
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Product: The Leigh Bag in Moonflower by LeSportsac
Submitted at: Karmaloop
4 Stars: Fun Print and Holds a lot of Stuff
by Book and Bag Lady from Boulder, CO on 2/19/2010
Well, I love the fun prints, quality, and lightweight of Lesportsac. This Moonflower pattern really caught my eye – for me it warms up the cold winter in CO! I often run many errands at once or spend a long day in a book store, and appreciate the size of this bag. It can hold a lot -almost like Mary Poppins’ bag.(5 books and 2 magazine, water bottle and a light jacket) Although what happens when you stuff all these in the bag? It gets HEAVY, and the handles get uncomfortable at the end of the day with the load, after I walked 10 blocks both ways. It would be a nice bag for traveling over the weekend. Also I’d have liked the pouches Lesportsac includes with other bags for organization. This bag is soft and unstructured. Lastly, the price at Karmaloop was great for this item -I couldn’t find a better price in this neat pattern elsewhere.
The winner of the Bags! Mini Challenge is: ! Send me an email at: mabreu[at]wondermommy(dot)net; include the email address where you would like me to send your copy of Sidney Skants! Congrats! Thanks to all of those who participated. To see more great bags visit: .
I am aware that my dear old simple Singer has its failings, but I do find inchies tricky.
The zig-zag on my machine is a bit hit and miss and the throat plate has something about it that encourages the edges of fabric to get pulled down into the needle hole……., so the corners of the inchies are especially difficult to perfect.
What I have learnt is that fusing top, middle and bottom works for me and, using quilting needles, I have no trouble with gumming-up. I have only used wadding as a middle, but would like to try other fibres.
Also tricky is free-motion quilting. I was heartened in some ways to learn from a comment elsewhere that ‘not all machines are capable of FMQ’. I know I need to practise a lot more, but I have a feeling my machine may fall in to that category. Rather than have a dropped feed, you cover the teeth with a plate and I wonder if the distance between that and the darning foot is too tight to allow free movement. I feel I am fighting the fabric sandwich! I haven’t found a hopping foot to fit. I say ’some ways’ as I can’t change my machine. I might dig out my first electric, a cheap Brother that does have a dropping dog facility.
Have you checked out the bags from Mulberry’s latest collection? It was featured at New York Fashion Week and the London Fashion Week which just wrapped up February 24th, 2010. Photos below:
For most women, a bag is definitely a portable office. A treasured accessory that follows a lady everywhere and it’s used to stash all the essentials right from the time-manager and stationery to make-up. Bags are fun, trendy and classic because their long life span; also mainly because they hardly go out of fashion the way clothes do especially if it’s made of real leather.You just have to give it to the ladies and their bags; there’s a variety of them. They come in different shapes, sizes and colours, each for different purposes and occassions. Bags are made of nylon, leather, patent leather, exotic skins, canvas or even fabrics, using decorative embellishments like crystals, precious tones and buckles, studs, rings or chains in gold, silver or copper finishes.
A sure way to switch up your look is to change you bad and there’s always a style for any look you’re looking to achieve. Here are a few style options below:
Structured - I call it the “firm,” well because it looks firm. It’s firm shape comes from the reinforced leather its made with. It can come with short straps enable you hold from your arm or long straps to wear over the shulder.
Clutch – People often refer to the clutch as a purse but its the same; being a type of bag. When worn appropiately, it can turn any outfit is a stunner.
Hobo – A hobo always has one strap, which goes on the shoulder and looks bohemian.
Satchel – it has a firm flat base with short double straps; often rectangular shaped.
Messenger - a rectangular bag with an adjustable strap that can be worn over the shoulder but mostly diagonally across the body. It’s mostly worn by men but the ladies can rock it just as good.
Finally, a great sense of style comes mostly from confidence and comfort in your creative appearance and the skin you’re in. That’s what being in “the spotlight” is all about.
