the big 2-1

i seem to have neglected my blog. many apologies.

today is the big 2-1 but celebrations will have to wait as i have three papers and one quiz for this week. and spring break was too short.

i've been crafting still and will show pictures soon.

so how is your week going?

in the sketchbook...

vintage flowers by shirley lei (C) 2008

not long ago i purchased a discounted hardcover moleskine accordion page sketchbook of sorts. from half price books (my fave local used and discounted bookseller).

it was the best investment i could ever make with my $1.95 (i'm still aghast that i managed to get a hold of it and that no one else had purchased it as it is easily $10+ in retailers.) but hey, no complaints here.

so here i share with you a few of the sketches that adorn this wonderful little keepsake.


by shirley lei (c) 2008

by shirley lei (c) 2008

by shirley lei (c) 2008

wouldn't some of these images make nice stationery designs? i am obsessed with stationery! :D

tell me how your day went. i'd love to hear. and i'd love to meet new people.

a week in my life...

As a student, I spend about ten minutes a day thinking about school work and then I shove it aside for better, more interesting subjects. My mind is quite picky about the contents that swirl in my memory bank and, quite frankly, I really don't care about education or intelligence. *GASP* Did I really say that? Hmm....

Meanwhile, a typical week involves some bit of shopping, crafting, putting things in
neat little arrangements and finding cute things, for as very little money as possible!

Here's a sampling:

above is a hairclip i turned into a pendant. wasn't so hard at all! and next to it is a bright satin flower i made with a button in the middle for added effect. i'm in the process of sewing on a pin to attach it to the purse below as a brooch. lovely!


here's the purse. i found an easy little tutorial (will have to find it again for linkage). took me two hours at most. the cutting and thinking took long. the sewing, maybe 15-30 mins tops! am thinking of making more... and fyi, the blue/brown fabric came from an urban outfitter's curtain i bought on sale.


there were a bunch of jam jars going old and modly in the back of our refridgerator (this is what ensues in a house of 40 women with 6 fridges! things get lost and forgotten!) and i thought it'd be neat to put my pretty (and random) things inside it. the left holds my bits of pretty ribbon and the left holds my spool of raffia as well as a couple of necklaces. prettiness.... *drool*


fortunately for me, the nearest paper source (www.paper-source.com) in berkeley has a little box containing samples of letterpress invites, stationery, etc. from their projects. so, ever since i made this discovery, i visit every so often (it is across town, no where near the university campus) and collect quite a bunch! they're free after all and make great inspiration. sometimes i also re-use them in my projects (e.g. the vintage boxes in a previous post, matchbook notebooks in a very, very old post). i might use some of them as end papers/inside covers in futuer notebooks. i need to use up the pretty papers i've bought so i can buy more! :)


and lucky for me, near paper source is a crate and barrel outlet that sells really nice kitchen and home things for a lot less than their retail store. and i was able to pick up a couple scrap pieces of marimekko fabric for 25 cents each! would've bought more... not sure why i didn't. i'm thinking the red cherry blossom print will make a nice purse (using same design/technique as purse above).


forgive me but i just had to post about these condom wrappers. they look so modern and lovely. i'm sure it's a gimmick to get us young folks to purchase them. i've never heard of the brand but i guess i'll have to check them out. hee hee hee.


and finally, another picture of me. it's a bit blurry but i rather like the pose and the outfit i wore. the black free people sweater came from our house's free pile (a free pile in the cooperative sense is essentially a pile full of things you don't want anymore but don't want to throw away and am willing to give away for free). the green cashmere sweater came from a discounter called jeremy's department store (it's j.crew and i got it for $15! love the feel of cashmere - i've since added more cashmere pieces to my wardrobe). and the dress (not a skirt) is an ella moss piece also from jeremy's. love that dress. one of my fave. can dress up or dress down easily. and of course, i'm not a college student if i'm not in my flip flops! :)

take care folks. up soon will be pictures of my lastest endeavors in art. just quick watercolors and a sketch in my sketchbook. i would show them to you now but i'd run out of things to share with you, now wouldn't i? (although i am really excited about one of the designs and i hope i can do something with it - turn it into stationery or something - I LOVE STATIONERY!)

i love writing letters too! would you be my penpal?

toodles!

Tagged

So I've been tagged twice now but have not had the time to respond to it. (I've also been sick recently and busy with projects and papers for school -- sorry about neglecting the blog community).

So, let's see... 7 things about myself...

1. I LOVE girly panties! I have enough to last me at least 2-3 months. Never worry about doing laundry! haha.

2. I do not like change. I abhor change. Any tiny thing that changes that is not to my liking irks me to the point of death. It just bugs me. I like my comfort zone and change sometimes goes against my comfort.

3. I've secretly always wanted a career doing something public. Crafting, painting, possibly being a social worker are all great careers and all, but I've spent the majority of my life doing work that people cannot see (unless you are there at every moment). And it's nice to have people see what you do, in such fields as the entertainment industry (always wanted to be a singer despite my tone-death voice), theatre/performance art, activist (does that even count as a career? haha), etc etc.

4. I am a simple eater. Although I do enjoy the occasional "fancy" meal, I much prefer eating simple everyday items. I love a great deli sandwich. I love sweetened oatmeal. I love orange juice (passion fruit, mango, guava too!). I love plain white rice (yes it's empty carbs but it's heavily rooted in my Asian upbringing) with my meal. I like scrambled eggs, bacon/ham, and toast with jam for breakfast (none of that fancy schmancy "ethnic" breakfast that my co-op house used to serve). I take so much joy in eating really simple meals. Having food that is comprised of few ingredients. If I'm eating eggs, I'm eating eggs. If I'm drinking orange juice, I'm drinking orange juice. If I'm eating rice and tofu, I'm eating rice and tofu. Not too many other ingredients or spices or garnish. (Now I'm getting hungry)

5. I collect postcards. Not a traveler myself due to financial reasons, so it's a simple joy to add a postcard to my collection. It's more enjoyable when there's meaning to it and not just a pretty picture so often times I ask people who contribute to pick something that means something to them. At least indirectly I can garner meaning and sentiment from the postcard, some way to relating to it I guess.

6. SHOES! SHOES! SHOES! Need I say more? I cannot relate to Carrie Bradshaw's (Sex and the City) character too much, but I have an obsession for shoes, just not the money for it and I cannot justify supporting an already overrated big-profit industry. (But I love how shoes look on my feet -- you may think of yourself as butt ugly in the face or a little chubby in the hips, but shoes always make a pair of feet look gorgeous!)

7. I am currently obsessed about the color robin's egg blue. Or Tiffany's blue. Whatever. I love pale shades of blue (and green to some extent) right now. It's so serene, so elegant, timeless and classic. Oh... I can just imagine a strand of bluish-ivory pearls. Do they even exist???

I'll get back on the 7 I am to tag. But if you read this and have not been tagged yet, consider yourself tagged and write on your blog 7 things (that we do not know) about yourself.

Happy Week!

scrumptious crafting

this is me...


and this is my room... (excuse the mess - i'm too young and busy to clean! :))




and these are the valentines i made for friends. tiny little pocket-size notebooks. and below it are the latest books made. this time using raffia as binding. such a simple thing to make and yet so pretty. paper from papersource.



and these are my latest sewn goods with my newest fabric purchase. one's a wallet, the other's a messenger type tote bag. teal fabric from urban outfitters curtain. printed fabric from auntycookie and cheekybeaks.




including a notebook with cheekybeak fabric!



and what have I been up to this past week? making beautiful vintage-y, victorian-y boxes of course! inspiration from martha stewart living magazine, feb 2008 issue. can find the article on her website. the materials used: lovely quotes from martha's templates printed on thrifted paper, repurposed wedding invitation cards from papersource (the berkeley store has a box full of free printed samples, from which i help myself), papyrus cards and envelopes (who says i need to use it for letterwriting?), cheapo and reused ribbons. the velvet ribbon monogram can be achieved using velvet scraps (preferably on some thickness), rubber stamps and an iron without steam.





and i know we all love to journal so i thought i'd show snapshots of my latest one. i've been using my lovely journal from paperiarre as a visual diary for inspirational purposes. taking scraps of fabrics i've purchased, business cards, pieces of stationery, mailing labels, etc. anything that's visually inspiring is glued into this journal! :)





and finally... i've decided on this particular sketch for possible stationery or cards or whatever. not sure yet. and i kind of like the squared graph paper in the background. what do you think? what uses could i have with this design?


happy sunday!

new photos later today!

a much needed update. it's getting a bit drab in here. will update with some photos later today. just have to get around to taking pictures of my latest crafting habit. (it's becoming an addiction)

happy belated valentine's day

i hope you all had a great valentine's day. i'm not much of a mushy person and am no good at public displays of affection. i can only do it secretly through notes and emails and making things. expression is expression, right?

i for one had a lovely belated valentine's day. neither i nor my friend were available on v-day, so we celebrated it late instead. by far one of the most romantic nights of my life. candles. wine (hansen's soda for me since i detest the taste of wine). sushi and beef teriyaki (yum - i just love plain white rice). strawberries (how typical!). alicia keys in the background. dancing.

there's no better way to spend v-day than with my best friend, W.

hope you all have a great weekend. it's really sunny out today and i'm heading home for a family lunar new year celebration/reunion. i'm down to 100 smackeroos so i'm glad to refill my pockets with much-needed moolah! :)

toodles!

Still here, alive and well

I have not abandoned you my dear readers. Alas, my university life has taken over me.

I did not seriously think taking 18 units (5 more than my usual comfortable 13) would be such a strain on my schedule. But add that with 5 hours of workshift (chores, essentially) at the cooperative house I live in AND the few hours I put in babysitting and helping out a man with a disability is well, a bit over the edge. I have problems with time-management as it is. But who knew I'd be away from the comforts of my room so often?

I am really accustomed to a shorter class schedule that allows me many leisure hours to nap and watch tv and eat and just squander aimlessly. Today is a typical day for me now. Up at 8-ish, get dressed, do the dishes, get to class, quick lunch if there's time, work after, do dishes again (dinner dishes are the worst - house of 40 women, who like to cook!), too tired to do the reading necessary to keep up with the lectures and/or any homework assignments.

This week I have the pleasure of composing THREE papers. I have never had three papers due at once. Granted, they are of varying lengths from really short to somewhat long. So it's not like I have three term papers due. Haha. And this week I am helping out a mother whom I babysat for last semester. She just had a new baby and he is about 3 weeks old. Now I get to say the youngest child I've helped with was 3 weeks old. Though my previous record of 4 months was still not bad. Parents seem to trust their children in your care a lot more if you can say you've spent a substantial amount of time with a really small child. For some folks, 2 years is still quite small. Well, now, I think 3 weeks is even smaller! (er.. younger).

But I digress.

President's Day is coming up. No classes on Monday. And one professor unofficially (hush-hush) canceled our Friday lecture. So, I ought to have some time to do a proper crafty update. And maybe get around to opening shop. Very little to add though. Must find time to produce! craft! make!

:)

Have a happy week! And here's to an early Valentine's day. Not a believer myself but I do enjoy a day dedicated to love, not Hallmark.

to tide you over...

here is a glimpse of my WIP (work in progress)...


notebooks made with a type of japanese-inspired binding. been experimenting with softcover notebooks that contain fewer than normal page numbers and bind with silk ribbons. right now it's still in the "looks-like-a-kid-made-it" phase. until i perfect my technique, you won't be seeing these bad boys on sale... hee hee.

meanwhile, i am working on getting my shop started. so stay tuned for that. hopefully it'll be up later today. i've had a long day and am too darn tired to upload all those photos for each and every listing. haha.

visuals for the visually minded folks

Pictures! Just a few snapshots! Not of my room yet though. That'll have to be for another time. :)


notebooks made using repurposed tea boxes (a gift to the house from a previous resident who lives in london) and repurposed brown kraft packaging paper


pretty notebooks made with pretty papers
both kinds of notebooks will hopefully be in my shop (whenever I get around to creating it)


a silk flower brooch i just made today. used silk scraps mom got from the sewing factory. had a friend help me singe the ends (i hate fire). and added a few beads. might whip up a few to add to shop (again, once i get around to creating one - haha)


pouch: jo-ann's fabric and disney twill tape


my favorite julia rothman mug from urban outfitters. lovely house drawings.


a sketch enclosed in a valentine's card i wrote for a friend