it's red, everywhere I look

Dear friends,
I walked to Chinatown (Petaling Street) yesterday, and all I saw was red. Four more days to Chinese New Year, the old little shops are full to the brim with the brightest decorations!. Flowers, oranges and lanterns, you name it. I got a few shots from the street :).

I wished that these flowers were real.

And I saw handsome birds in wooden cages. I feel bad for them though, but they sang so beautifully :).

This guy moved so much, I couldn't get a good picture of him. 

Then I went into an old book shop and bought me a receipt book, a Chinese calligraphy manual and some kind of Chinese payment cards. I shall like to turn them into sketchbooks!. 

My kind of treasures :).

I bind the loose green cards into a book and embellished the cover with tissue paper, some stamping and decoupage. 

I decoupaged tissue paper roses, added word strips from old storybook and used 1" coil binder (Zutter) to hold the cards together. Trying to make the cover looks oriental :).

I sponged some gold acrylic paint to the sides to make it look like the yellow tussles I often see on Chinese lanterns.

Drew Chinese wooden clogs on the very first page;

As for the receipt book; I applied gesso to the very thin cover, distressed the edges with brown Stazon, stitched pieces of fabrics and added a button. 

A fabric heart for February :).

Then made a sketch with pencil and later finished it off in watercolor.

The thin papers didn't take watercolor so well and my page crumpled so badly. Oh well, life goes on :).

I love the scenery/painting on the cover of the Chinese Calligraphy book, so I didn't do anything to it. Shown here is a lotus flower sketch I did on the first page.

Not too crumpled, good news. I shall paint on them more.

I feel good that my walk yesterday made me pick up some brush & paint again :). At the moment, I'm having too much fun making small fabric-paper collage, which I will share soon :). HUGS.

what do cookie cutters and buttons have in common?

I am forever inspired by Amy from Plucking Daisies' many flower creations. She make beautiful bouquet of flowers from anything and inks. [She is the Queen of altered flowers!]. I can't make flowers and can't seemed to grow them either, LOL. 

Until recently. Inspired by Amy's button flowers here and here, I tried making mine from buttons and cookie cutters. AND, I added little chains with charms at the tip. Lo and behold, they became bookmarks!. A happy accident, actually :).

Sitting in a glass jar, they are flowers indeed. 

In a book, they become fun bookmarks :).

I  gesso'ed the cookie cutters and distressed them with inks. If you use alcohol inks to add colors to cookie cutters, skip the gesso. The wires were slightly rusty, so I gessoed them too :).

I used ribbons, laces and washi tape for leaves. 

Love these charms, dangling from the pages.

All in all, cookie cutters and buttons make great bookmarks. Thanks, Amy for the inspiration!. 

Do you have favorite ways of using cookie cutters in your art too?. Do share :). Until next, take care!. HUGS.

inspiration : oriental

Sweet ones,

My fellow Malaysian Chinese friends are celebrating the Lunar New Year soon. The town is already painted in red, what with all the lanterns, vibrant peonies and pretty umbrellas!. My heart is blooming with all these cheerful colors. But, my cats won't be too happy with the loud firecrackers :). With this, have some prettiness today. Hugs.

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more sketches of Life Art Journal

Dear friends,
Today I'm sharing a few drawings I did at the end of last year. I first sketched/drew them in pencil, sitting alone at cafes. Yeah I did most of the sketches while sipping coffee (or tea) and sometimes, people-watching!. I colored them all at home :).

Yeah, that was Arthur questioning :).

This one symbolizes me, breaking free from my ever-so-serious-scientific-world into a colorful, happier of the art-heaven. Butterfly wings simply mean the changes I'm enjoying now :).

This one inspired by a paint advertisement I saw in a magazine and a quote from Beatrix Potter.

Can you spot a pair of eyes and a nose here?. Hard to see because I got them all too smudgy & runny :).

I LOVE to draw plants since I'm not good at gardening:).

A reminder to myself that I don't need to be heard. I do things because I'm having fun doing them :).

I saw a wall decor of porcelain plates on Pinterest, that triggered me drawing these fun frames :).

I'm sharing the ideas behind my drawings, hope they gives you inspiration on how you can create yours. Don't hesitate putting a small idea on paper. It's okay to start small :). I too, carry a tiny notebookwhenever I go out doing my daily things outside. Try it :). HUGS.

P/S : If you like to learn how to do watercolor sketches in your journal, come visit us @ Scrappingville for one of the 'Life Art Journal' classes :). 

a fun way to use your fabric scraps

Dear friends,
I was cleaning out my small cupboard full of fabric what nots. I found a piece of old lace that I'd painted with rose acrylic , unwashed, harden [and forgotten] tucked in the back. This little lace, inspired me to create a tiny fabric love notebook which I like to share here. Armed with 4th-grade sewing, I set to work :).

The lace, painted in acrylic and left dried for maybe months :). It feels hard like a 'crepe' or a 'soft' taco shell. Perfect as book/journal covers.

This tiny fabric book measures about 4" X 3" in size.

I hand-stitched everything, each page, every little hearts and all pages to the lace cover. I think it's more organic & romantic that way, with frays and all. [Yeah, need to get that sewing machine fixed!]. 

I took two small rectangle fabrics, stitched them two-by-two on the corners for extra thickness. I made seven sets of these, so I would have 28 pages in total. [28 days of February?]. Arranged them like pancakes onto the lace cover (on far left end of the lace). Sewed in the middle [with running stitch) so that they would open like a book. Then sewed & tied a ribbon for closure. You can opt this out, and use buttons or velcro instead.

Here are some pages in the fabric book;

It's fun to add beads or button on the hearts too :).

I have yet to add little notes to these pages;

Key to my heart :).

I can't help to make the letter 'S' kissing!.

I crochet a circle and add to a heart.

The last page.

I have to show the edges. Does this not look like the yummiest lasagna? LOL. 

I guess, LOVE is in the air :). My first Valentine project for the year!. This should be a cheap project, since you may already have all the materials handy :). Hope you'll try this too. HUGS.