Excited, nervous, but I guess mostly excited! Ok maybe more of nervous.

Check out the new collection @ L.A.R.K

Hello new followers! Thank you for following my blog! \ :D /

I've been keeping busy with the Etsy shop. Am going to send off something to France tomorrow, how exciting it is to be writing an authentic French address on an envelope! (cheap thrills haha) I haven't been getting a lot of sales online (some of the sales are offline sales)-- if anyone has any tips for promoting and marketing an Etsy shop, do leave a comment, I'd appreciate it heaps.

Listed some new faux leather jewelry today. Had so much fun making them. I really do love the burst of colours and shapes!

Speaking of jewelry, I have an appointment coming up to meet with a retailer. It's my first time meeting a retailer and letting them have a look at my jewelry, and frankly I am quite nervous. I will be bringing key pieces from the faux leather collection, as well as my portfolio (photographs of other jewelry that I've done throughout the years). It did cross my mind to cancel the appointment and chicken out because of the fear of rejection, but HEY! Why am I being such a wuss? So I shook myself a bit (mentally) and slapped myself (mentally) and vowed to put my best foot forward and just DO IT. After all, if anything, it would be nice to have that experience of meeting with a retailer-- another new thing to learn in my lifetime.

I recently bought a domain (I think it happened at 4am, and no I wasn't drunk lol) and am going to start my own online store in the next few months. First, I've got to continue building the inventory... The current plan is to sell a mix of ready-to-wear, digital sewing patterns, as well as handmade jewelry and possibly some items for the home too.

Meanwhile, the husband and I are also planning for our home renovation. Been putting it off for way too long :-S  My mom and I are going to embark on some reupholstery projects, SO EXCITED! We have a lot of great old sturdy furniture in this house that have been here for 25 years... My late mom-in-law picked them and she's got good taste. (Sidetrack: My father-in-law said when they both got married and bought this house, they only had enough money for one sofa, so the house was pretty empty for quite some time. That story still makes me smile because it's pretty romantic.) I've never really worked with furniture before, so this chance to refurbish some pieces is terribly exciting that I keep using the word excited. Heh.

I will be posting up a tutorial soon, and this time it's something for the home! Come back soon ok! :D

/waves


p/s: Oh! I'm having a giveaway again :D Superrrr easy. Just "Like" L.A.R.K on Facebook and you'll be automatically entered into the lucky draw for this Mini Monolith ring inspired by the ancient pyramids. Ends March 15, 2012, so do spread the word!

Just do it!

When I don't know something, I read up about it. If reading doesn't help me, there's really no way around it except to JUST DO IT.

Which is what drove me to work on the following sewing projects-- a pencil skirt with a back vent, and a pair of loose capris. 

Looking at one of my favourite skirts I thrifted from a shop, I was deeply enthralled by the back vent. Okay maybe deeply enthralled is too strong a term HAHA, but yeah isn't the back vent of a skirt an amazing thing? It allows the skirt shape to taper down the thighs to create curves while still allowing you to walk like a stomping giant, ie Godzilla.

Picture from examiner.com
Gojirra in search of the perfect pencil skirt for outings such as today's.

Hence I drafted this pencil skirt, and used a tutorial on Burdastyle to add the vent:

I'm also super happy this skirt turned out well because it was my husband who took my measurements :-) Before this I took my own measurements, but I think it's better to have someone else take it for you so the posture isn't compromised.

Thanks husband for taking such accurate measurements! <3

And as for the loose capris, if there's one thing that I'm deeply terrified of (other than cockroaches), it's probably sewing a zipper fly. It got me to thinking that most of the time we are terrified of things that we don't understand. Whilst I am not really looking forward to understand cockroaches, I decided maybe it's time I suck it up and learn how to assemble this zipper fly thingamajig. 

Deep thinker pose

And what better way to learn than to use a pattern from a magazine, right? Well sorta right, unless the magazine is in a language you don't understand.

........ erm... konichiwa... ?

Anyway, I adore almost everything Japanese, and one of the things I love most about their craft and sewing books is that when they get down to the step-by-step er, steps, their illustrations and photographs are so detailed you almost do not need the accompanying words to understand. Almost. Hehe.

Check out my scribblings. Why I even tried to re-write the Japanese words is beyond me. LOL

I traced the pattern in M size, and made some adjustments after sewing the legs up (love the crotch curve on the pattern btw). I sewed in the waistband, and realized it was too high for my liking, so I changed it into a thin waistband. It was very frustrating and fiddly, and obviously so because straight waistbands are usually meant for garments that sat on the natural waist, but these pants didn't! Ha, what am I doing!! Lol. Anyway after wrestling with the waistband I got it to (somewhat) behave. Austin Powers would be proud of me.

Pic from videogamecentral.com

Also finally got to learn how to use the buttonhole function on my machine! Ah the machine manual, it's a keeper isn't it (I usually throw manuals into the abyss of a cardboard box).

 Think it goes well with my necklace too, soon to be added to my Etsy shop!

Sans tuck in for a slouchy look

Overall the capris turned out okay, and as my goal was to learn how to assemble a zipper fly and buttonholes, as Ethan Hunt would say, "Mission.... ACCOMPLISHED!" 

And with that... おやすみ :-)

p/s: Fine fine, I used Google Translate for those Japanese words. 

Vintage-themed sewing

Funny thing happened last week. A few days before attending a wedding of my husband's colleague, I suddenly find out that it's a vintage-themed wedding. Naturally like any other woman, I panicked and growled like a gorilla in heat: "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!!!" Except that I was serious because I looked through my closet, and the vintagey stuff were mostly casual wear, not dinnerware (har har).

GREAT.

In panic mode, I decided to make accessories to go with a dress that I made earlier this year for Chinese New Year. I absolutely adore peter pan collars, what more the beaded ones which hypnotized me on Pinterest. 

Megan Nielsen has a really pretty pattern of a scalloped peter pan collar up for downloads, which you can find at her awesome blog here. Unfortunately for me the pattern did not really fit me, maybe due to my stumpy small neck hehehe... so I ended up drafting my own pattern. After a few trials and errors and correction of the curves, I finally got a pattern that sat properly around my neck.

So I started beading the collar while watching Criminal Minds and NCIS and Bones on Fox. Then I watched the reruns of the same criminal investigation episodes again. Nothing like a good murder mystery and gruesome motives to motivate me to keep on and carry on beading. After a whole day of beading, I finally finished it! Yahuuuuu!

The next day I made a quick petal fascinator some felt pieces. I've made fascinators before, but somehow they never really sat properly on my head... I looked through more pictures on Google and realised that what I need was a little base that's almost like a bra cup to sit properly on top. Rather than putting an actual bra cup on my head (I've seen that on DIY blogs, ermm, interesting, but errr not something I'd wanna do in case people ask me "Oh you made that yourself? What did you use for the base?"; "My old bra. I totally washed it before using it though."), I shaped a base out of felt and started gluing petals to it. You can't see how the based is curved like a bra cup here, but it is, and trust me.. it sits sooo much better on your head and your embellishments will look beyootiful.

The wedding was at The Banker's Club, and I really like the venue because it's so apt for a vintage-themed wedding. Many of the guests supported the request of the bride and groom to dress up in vintage styles, and you gotta love fun guests like that at your wedding ;-) Saw some really fabulous vintage dresses and hairstyles that the ladies were sporting, and I was sincerely flattered when some fashionable girls said they liked my dress and asked me if it was real vintage. Naw geeee.. 

Some of the men were sporting bow ties, which were nice, but you know, nothing beats the real bow ties that are really tied by hand (not the clip-on types). I used to think that clip-on ones were good enough, but ever since I saw a real one on Vincent (he tied it himself, like WHOA) and we had that chat about bow ties, I'm a convert. I BELIEVE IN REAL BOW TIES NOW.

My husband wore his argyle vest. I LOVE THIS VEST, doesn't he look dashing in it! Nothing beats a good looking argyle vest, except a good looking husband in a good looking argyle vest. Hahaha. All he needs is a cigar in his hand :P

<3

Summer song

It's always "summer" here in Malaysia, but lately it's been raining a lot.

I'm not a big fan of the sun, but this song was written while thinking of the roadtrip my husband and I went on to Melaka. Somehow this is what it felt like sitting in the passenger seat on a long journey while the person you love is driving the car... having snacks, getting the sun on your shoulders, laughing, feeling sleepy, keeping each other awake, stretching your legs, singing to songs on the radio.

Hope you'll like it!

Sing another song by chiiiiing

Smartypants

Smartypants

While we were in Bangkok, the husband bought me this book because I was reading the summary on the back cover and burst out laughing at the reviews (one of them said "Totally worth it." --TREES). I also really love Liz Lemon btw.

With every book he gives me, I always insist he write a note in there, so I'll have an aid to remember the occasion or reason for the gift. I'm a sucker for books with messages.

So after paying for it he borrowed a pen from the cashier and wrote this:

Yes. I married a smartypants.

Her Treasure

The husband and I live alone in his family home, a place that is filled with quite a number of treasures left behind by his late mother when she passed away when he was a teenager. It was a sudden passing, something I imagine would be really difficult to live with. Because of that, the house still has furniture, dining ware, and decorative items that were handpicked by her.

These items all form a little window that allows me to sort of "get to know her". I know she has a soft spot for ducks, she's good at sewing, she's a bit of an English Rose and she loved cooking. Kinda think she and my mom would've got along well together :)
I found a beautiful deer ornament (very solid, fell in love with it at first glance), and also six brand new spice jars (the latter at the perfect timing when the husband and I started buying spices to make curry pastes).

I always wonder whether she would like me if she were still alive and we got to meet...

The husband's diorama


HEART!

He made a diorama for his 1:18 cars and mechanic station tools, and I totally love it! It was so fun going to Jasima to get the corrugated plastic boards, car brand stickers, and at the same time I also got some sewing supplies there heheh.

I made a simple large checkered floor on Illustrator and we printed it out on glossy sticker paper. He designed his own workshop logo and put the whole thing together. Even though the diorama isn't dramatically complicated with caves and moss and smoke machines, I am so proud that he finished the project :D Told him that next time he can help our son build his.

Here are some pictures taken with Sen Hon's camera (thank you for letting us use it!!). I love shallow DOF-- guess I'm just shallow like that. HAH!

My best friend

He's everything to me and I want to become a better person for us. 

Here are our pre-wedding photos. I hate the term pre-wedding because it sounds so 'mainstream' but I guess that's what it is hahaha. I made my own proper dress for the first time (more on that later), the fascinator, his tie, the headband, and even learnt how to tie a bun properly for the first time. *pats meself on the back ngohohoho*

I love looking at other people's wedding photos... it stirs up a warm feeling in me, a reminder that I, too, lucked out because I got to marry this dude whom I would find it extremely hard to live without.

Thank you, God. I don't deserve this, but, thank you very very much :-)

Photography by none other than Lobak & Vincent :-)

Oue Wehdeng: Part 1

Ok I have no idea why I spelled what was supposedly supposed to be "Our Wedding" like that. Maybe it's the unholey hour. Things just has to be spelled wonkily like Wonka gone wong.

So.... gosh. I really did marry this sakai huh?? :P

Well.. I don't know what I'd do without him. I'd probably just be a lost goat.

People who don't know him well usually think he's serious and solemn. He really cracks me up though. And when I crack him up, he laughs like a mad kid. And when I hear that laugh, it always feels like I unknowingly won a lottery.

Look at us appreciating art. We're so intellectual, aren't we? Hehehheehee

It's coming!

We've less than 2 months to go til our wedding thingamajig, so yeah we're scrambling to get stuff done. When it comes to invitations, clothing, accessories etc my husband always gives me a @_@ face whenever I tell him, "We'll make that ourselves!" I think I'm kinda stressing him out :P

One of the things we did recently was to get our engagement photos printed by Photobook Malaysia. Our photos were taken ages ago by our friend Lobak, and we really love them to bits. They were shot on film, which I think made my father in law nervous about whether the photos would turn out "professional" or not, but after he saw the photobook today, he was really impressed and said "Wah your friend very good at taking photos ah!". PHEW...

There's a bit of us in every photo setup-- Jiggles because Senkiat used her to get me, notebooks of doodles that we drew for each other, our hobbies, our favourite place to eat at, and we wanted a shot with the helmets because that's what we had to wear when he took me to track day at Sepang.

We're halfway through getting our invitations done. Yay! Now I gotta get me a shower coz me is stink.

p/s Photobook is having a 40% promotion all month this August 2010.