June 8 : An animal

For our friend's bachelorette party, we threw her a surprise painting party. There is a place in Charlotte called Painting with a Twist, where they hold painting classes. You pick a painting you like and they teach you how to paint it step by step. Our bride-to-be Jessica, loves peacocks, and her wedding colors are peacock-inspired hues of blues and purples. So this painting was perfect!



I can't wait for her wedding in August! It'll be in Binghamton, so J & I will head on down to NYC after! If you have places to see or restaurants to recommend, send them my way pretty please!

June 3 : On my Table...

My co-worker brought us some flowers from her daughter's wedding over the weekend! It was a small but colorful wedding with a tropical theme. They filled mini vases with gerbera daisies dyed in different colors as their table centerpieces. It was a small wedding so we didn't get to attend, but I can only imagine what fun it was! These flowers brightened my morning, and I was able to take on the rest of the hectic day!

Celebrations : Travel-themed Wedding

My sister and her husband had a travel-themed wedding. She had asked me to help her with some decor ideas, so I went and did some research. I shared them with her and now I'll share them with you too!




Via




Via




Via




Via



For their wedding, I made a travel scrapbook for their guestbook, and also a garland made from maps. I was too busy that day, so I didn't take any pictures of them (!!) but I will share a real simple garland DIY with you in my next post, so keep an eye out!

Have a great weekend!

Crafting: DIY Tissue Paper Pomanders

Alright here's the low-down on the tissue paper pomanders : they are super easy to make, but they are very time consuming. Especially if you are making them in large quantities, or making a huge-ass pomander.




Materials:

An 8" or 10" styrofoam ball
White tissue paper
Gauge wire
Acrylic paint
Spray bottle
Scissors
Wire cutter
Hot Glue gun and glue sticks



First, get ready to make a gazillion tissue paper flowers before we even try to make a pomander. So:



(1) You will need tons of tissue paper cut into rectangles measuring 5" by 10". Each flower is made up of 4 layers of 5"x10" rectangles. I stack 4 pieces of tissue paper at once before cutting them into the rectangles.

(2) Then you need to accordion fold each stack of 4 rectangles. Each fold measures about
1/2" - 5/8" depending on how you like your flowers.
Experiment with a few to help you decide!


(3) I use clothes pegs to keep my accordion folded stacks neat and tidy while I continue to fold more rectangles.




(4) Cut a piece of 6" gauge wire, wrap it around the middle of the folded tissue paper, before twisting the two ends together, like in the picture above.

(5) Rounding the edges of both sides of the tissue paper will give your flower a softer look.






(6) Carefully peel the layers away from the wire, towards the middle, one layer at a time.

(7) When all four layers are peeled and fluffed up, trim the gauge wire to about 1.5" - 2" long. You really don't need a very long stem!



I used white tissue paper because I couldn't find pink / coral tissue paper in large quantities. But the good thing about using white tissue is that you can virtually make ANY color pomanders to suit your needs.




(8) I mixed some pink acrylic paints with water in a spray bottle, shake to mix well, then proceeded to spray ALL my flowers individually. I kept my flowers in the bathroom, next to a space heater so they can dry more quickly!


When you have all your flowers ready, you can start to make your pomanders. I bought my 8" and 10" styrofoam balls from Michaels (a craft store). Here, a glue gun will be very useful!

For demo purposes, I have used a spare tiny styrofoam ball for show because I forgot to take pictures while making the real thing.



(9) To make the ribbon loop for hanging the pomander, cut another piece of wire about 6" again. Cut your desired length of ribbon, knot in the middle to the wire. Again, trim the wire to about 1.5"-2".

(10) Push the wire into the styrofoam ball and hot glue around the wire (and knot, if desired)


Now you can start sticking the tissue flowers into the styrofoam ball. An 8" ball will take about 40-45 flowers, and a 10" ball takes 60-65 flowers. For additional security, with every flower i push into the ball, i hot glue around the base to make sure the flower stays.




Here are the results of the blood, sweat and tears! Ta-daaa!!! It took me a week to make four 8" pomanders and two 10" pomanders. Hope this was useful!

Celebrations: Wedding at the Alexander Homestead

Congratulations to my brother-and-sister-in-law!!!

J's brother got married over the weekend. And the reason I went MIA was because I was busy making pomanders for their wedding!!

As usual, I waited till the very last minute (nobody but myself to blame!). But i have also reconciled with the fact that although a procrastinator, I get the job done! And pretty darn well!!

So yes, I did finish my wedding gift to the couple! Here are some pictures of the beautiful wedding at the Alexander Homestead in Charlotte!



Note the pretty pomanders that flank the sides ! *lol*



The cosy barn where we had the reception, and all that dancing!



R for Russell!
Cupcakes galore!!




Exchanging vows that are FOR-EH-VUH! Love you both!


Will share with you the (tedious) process of pomander making in the next post!

Celebrations : My sister's wedding

This is the reason I went home. My little sister is all grown up! Check out her lovely cheongsam, a traditional Chinese dress typically worn during Chinese weddings. The dress belongs to my mother, who wore it to her wedding! Best of all, my sister didn't have to alter anything , it was a perfect fit! Amazing, right?





Here is one of my favorite bits of Chinese weddings : the suckling pig. It is one of the groom's gifts to the bride. This, and the gatecrashing in the morning, before the tea ceremony. The groom has to overcome a series of obstacles / games before he can enter the bride's home to pick her up. My sister and her bridesmaids were very lenient towards the groom and his groomsmen. They only played ONE game - the groom and his groomsmen had to drink glasses of (really sour) lemonade, before the girls would open gate to let the guys in.




Not that easy, as it would seem...




Here is another picture of the lovely couple.

Congrats, my little sis! May you two share a blissful blessed life together!

Busy as a bee!

So the J-man is home, but he's been so jet-lagged and anti-social because of it, i had to busy myself with lots of other things.

I accompanied my friend to pick up her wedding dress from a store two hours away from Charlotte. Not gonna post any spoiler pics so here is Jess right outside the huge Burlington Bridal Mart to pick up her beautifully beaded gown. She was one lil' excited bunny! And the dress was so gorgeous!!!!



Also visited Gwen whose dog just had 3 little puppies. The puppies are boston terrier and miniature schnauzer mix -- mini boz(es?) Too cute!! I have such a soft spot for boston terriers and their black and white adorableness!! This is my favorite. He slept in my arms the whole time I was there. They are all spoken for so I was a little sad. But I don't think we need another pet in the house...


And then I helped my friend Shey with her little boy's baptism party today. It was a beautiful breezy day and everything went smoothly!


Phew! It's been a whirlwind week! Hope you all had a beautiful weekend, and a good week ahead!

To my dearest friend...

To my dearest friend, Deaf Knee, it was but two years ago when you were my maid-of-honour. I wish i could be there on your big day today, but i can only send my love and best wishes from 10000 miles away.
Thank you for being a wonderful friend for the last twenty something years, through TSD, the squashed fairies and MustardSeed and magic8ball!!!! I love you so much!!!!!

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Cordeiro!

♥ A Valentine's Day special! ♥

My fellow crafter/blogger Joyce of Chic Noir Design sent me a link one day and said

"Hi Chewy, I was searching for weddings at Singapore Zoo and I saw yours here :D"

She sent me a link to a blog post that had pictures of my wedding in 2010! How random is that, but what a splendid surprise!

I guess this is a good time for me to recount my wedding day, I don't think I ever posted about it, not on this blog anyway!

Well, our wedding was in two parts. The first was a traditional Chinese tea ceremony (not so traditional, we had to make a few accommodations, since J's family wasn't in town) and that was held in the morning. The second part, was the evening dinner reception, which I will share with you in this post.

For those who don't know, J and I celebrated our union at the Singapore Zoo. We are both crazy about animals and having it at the zoo seemed like a natural first choice. So couples who have their weddings at the zoo will be offered two choices - to arrive on a horse-drawn carriage in a classic white Victorian wedding, or atop an elephant, Indian Maharaja style! No prizes for guessing which entrance we chose!

On the morning of our rehearsal, my family and friends who were coordinating the wedding were invited to a special breakfast with the orangutans at the zoo! While we were having our breakfast buffet at the dining area, the zookeepers brought out four orangutans who were perched atop a branch the entire time we were eating. Guests could walk up to the apes and take a picture (or five) with them. I loved how they were all so human-like. One of the apes was more intent on grooming my sister's hair then posing for the picture.






We had a theme for our wedding - Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"...



We had about 200 guests on our list seated in an elongated dining hall, complete with ceiling drapes and fairy lights! We were going for a whimsical, rustic, woodland feel. In terms of decor, we decided on more greenery than blooms.





Our seating cards that led our guests to their tables....





...which were named after the characters of the Shakespearean play...





In the play, the fairy Puck anoints queen Titania with a love potion to make her fall in love with the first living creature she sees. Following the playful prank, we decided to give the gift of lavender buds for all guests to concoct their own love brew...




In place of a guestbook, we had the guests sign on these beautifully illustrated botanical cards instead of a guestbook. We wanted to frame these pretty cards after the wedding, but have yet gotten down to it!!


Also, our guests were invited to the zoo on the morning of our wedding, so out-of-town guests could have the time and leisure to visit one of the most popular tourist spots in Singapore and still have time to freshen up for the dinner reception in the evening. 
One of the perks of the zoo wedding was having to spend the night inside the zoo! We were given a room next to the reception area, that was complete with a bed and shower. We were very amused when we awoke to the howling of monkeys in the morning. 



It was such an amazing and unforgettable day, J and I were very grateful to be able to share it with our loved ones. We've been married four years now, (I consider us married the day we signed the papers in Shanghai) and our love for each other grows stronger with each day. I'm glad I listened to my heart instead of my head when I chose this man, I love him with all my heart.

♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day, my penguin! ♥♥

If you drop by, I hope you'll share a love story too!

Here' s an Expository Writing Topic for you.

The J-man signed up for an English Expository Writing class this summer. Naturally, he needed my help. Inspiration, grammar and spell check all rolled into one, we were working on his first assignment over the Memorial Weekend.

He has chosen to write about 5-8 paragraphs about his bachelor party in Malaysia, seeing how Hangover 2 just hit the screens.

Listening to his horror story all over again made me crack up. In retrospect, it's hilarious, but it sure wasn't funny at all when it had happened, especially when all your friends don't show up the very first 24 hours because they were hungover. Or when you and your best man get lost in the jungle for five hours, near nightfall; almost drowning in the sea trying to swim around a cliff.

Anyway, that's what you get for picking such a motley crew of boys for your groomsmen - 2 party-crazy Frenchies, 1 oddball Australian, 2 preppy Swedes and 1 hippie childhood best friend.

Presenting the groom and his groomsmen.



I'm having a ball with this written assignment.

Movie Wedding Dress top picks!

I just pinned a whole bunch of wedding gowns on my Pinterest! It's always fun to daydream about flouncy dresses and wedding gowns. And plain simple white gowns are always the prettiest and most elegant.

I may not have watched a whole bunch of movies, but here are some of my all time faves!



Beautiful Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face


Vivian Leigh in Gone with the Wind -- Scarlett O'Hara's wedding dress


Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice


Claire Danes in Romeo and Juliet in her masquerade dress! Love the elegance in its simplicity!



And finally, Amanda Seyfried in Mama Mia. Her dress was so ethereal and fairy-like. LOVED it!

Don't they make you just want to pull out a white dress and prance around in it? What is your favourite movie wedding dress?

Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

Via

So my work mates have planned an outing to the Hiddenite Gem Mines on a Monday when we all don't have to go to work. This place is an emerald mine that is open to the public for prospecting. One of my friends have been there several times and she's shown me her pictures of some of the crystals she's found. Granted, they're not huge crystals, but she said that the whole process of sluicing and digging and finding gems is really the exciting part.

I've since read up on some crystals and their healing properties. I wear a jade pendant that my mother gave me since I was a child, and so, I thought I'd read up on that first.

In the Chinese culture, jade has been considered a lucky stone that brings health, wealth and longevity. Jade comes in many different colours, and it is said that the colours of crystals are to be matched with the the colours of our chakras - the main energy centers of our body - to be most effective. The colours of the chakras consist of the seven colours of the spectrum, starting with red for the root chakra located at the base of our spine, all the up to violet, the crown chakra at the top of our head.

My piece of jade is green which is the colour of the heart chakra, relating to balance and harmony and love. Wearing it around my neck feels like such an apt thing to do. The jade pendant hangs upon my chest, which helps open up the heart chakra to communication and self expression. Incidentally, my chinese name means "bright jade". Ain't that cool?

My mother bought a pair of citrine earrings as a wedding gift to me. The citrine crystal is connected to the yellow Sacral or navel chakra. Citrine is a stone of happiness, bringing joy and optimism into one's life. And apparently it is one of only two crystals on the planet that does not hold negative energy, but dispels and transforms it. With most crystals, you have to cleanse them of the negative energy accumulated, but I guess it is said to be such an energizing and positive crystal, that cleansing is not necessary.

I must remember to put them on more often, if not for the benefits, at least it makes me feel pretty! Can't wait for the trip!!

Happiness abound!

J and I had received an invitation to a friend's wedding next month at Myrtle Beach, but had to shelve it when we realised we also had to pay for J's school fees right about the same time. We decided to send them a wedding gift instead, and do it traditional Chinese style - a red packet gift of money and this!



This character is traditionally used in Chinese weddings. It is made up of two "xi" which means happiness, so two of them makes "double happiness"!

When I finished the first one, I enjoyed it so much I made another for the Etsy store!



I had to cover up the threads at the back even though i've been the neatest I've ever been. Then again, I could have been a little tidier snipping off the edges peeking out of the hoop. Any other ideas how i can finish off the back? (See photo above)

Here's one method that I found online at Maximum RABBIT designs

I love embroidery now! It's so much fun! And I've got a few more designs up my sleeve. I hope I find a better way to finish off the edges by my next project!

Dream a little dream of tulle...

and chiffon and silk and whatever else...


Who says you can't dream about wedding gowns even after your wedding?




Tulle in wedding gowns can NEVER go wrong! I ♥ Vera Wang!





This is for all my favourite-ladies-potential-brides out there. Elisa!! Priscilla you're next! wheee whee wheee!!! Gilt Groupe is currently doing Wedding specials! Makes me happy just looking at pretty dresses and shoes!

All pictures via Gilt Groupe

Love at first sight!

Via Strictly Vintage

Can you believe it?

We will be married TWO years tomorrow!