harmony in a wreath

pa-rum-pa-pum-pum!

i have been busy with work and have not found the time to post more but this Christmas, I just couldn't resist making a wreath to usher in my favorite holiday.

i've seen a tutorial of this wreath somewhere and I had the musical sheets for some time since I found them at the thrift store (it is the Mikado no less!). Don't know how that is related to Christmas but the musical sheets sure add a quiet elegance to it.  The blue bauble is from Christmases past.

in case I don't see you on Christmas day, have a Happy Christmas everyone!

reupholstering 101

i have been away for too long!  I guess life happened and I got caught up with all the hullabaloo. Well, now I'm back and I will try my very best to post something more regularly.  I have plenty of stuff to post since then.

well, the other month I happen to stare at our dining chairs long enough to realize that it was the odd one out in the room.

this was how our little dining corner looked with the dated emerald green velvet covering the chairs

up close, the chip board underneath was almost falling apart

so, I decided to upgrade it and without any experience at all in chairs or reupholstering, I dove right in and was very, very pleased with the results!

the painting of the Rock under Van Gogh's starry night is made by hubby; the African mask is a souvenir when we met for the first time in Morocco; i sewed the yellow curtains myself; I DIY'ed the white tissue paper pom-poms/hanging decor and of course, the black dining room table and chairs we inherited from the former owners of the house.

if you want to do some reupholstering of your own, there are plenty of tutorials online and even if you don't have any experience at all, never fret!  All you need is some elbow grease, a staple gun, your fabric of choice and you are good to go!

written in the stars

inspired by the color yellow and a dark-blue polyester skirt found in a charity shop, i tried my hand at embroidering Taurus and Gemini, two of the constellations of the zodiac that me and the mister were born under.

Taurus is known as "the bull" and Gemini, "the twins".  They are both very near each other up in the skies.

i also came across these personalized crafty projects all over the net so it was just easy to get started.  All I needed apart from the navy blue cloth were yellow embroidery threads, a 12cm embroidery hoop, a needle and a pattern that i traced over the front part.

they are both now hung in our hallway.  Now, gotta get meself ready to repaint the hallway.  and that is another post altogether :)

ring the curtain up

once again, busy as a bee with the house.  found the perfect fabric for curtains but my poor tiny sewing machine couldn't take it anymore so i had to borrow a friend's to finish them.

the simple curtain rod i found at a chinese shop for half the price what the home decor shops were offering.  the rings and alligator clips we bought in ikea.

this is my first time sewing curtains by the way so couldnt tell you enough how much this tutorial from Domestic Imperfection helped me! it took me 3 weeks (because i had to borrow a sewing machine) to finish the two panels but here is the final product:

another project that i finished sewing in only about an hour but took two weeks to find the near-perfect fabric is this one below.  the fabric is dark green (because i couldnt find black).  i used this tutorial from Shelterness as a guide.

here's how it looks now:  

i gotta do something about the colours! they're everywhere!

flea market finds: dansk love

i have been coveting (any) dansk product ever since i saw them on other blogs and in pinterest.  their designs are just so different and unusual and interesting.  i've never thought i'd see them in Gib but lo and behold one day in my favorite shops, i see this...

the lady in the store didn't know what it was so she gave it to me for next to nothing! it took me awhile to find the very slim candlesticks though.  they weren't available here in Gib and no one has heard of tall, slim, tapered ones. i was about to ask for it on my birthday from a friend living in the States when I saw a pack of Chanuka candles in our local grocery store with just the perfect diameter but way shorter (about 9.5 cms only).  YES!

i also found this oh so beautiful hand-blown pale turquoise vase with an amber base.  Another one to add to my turquoise glass collection :)

just look at the details!

tickity-tock-tock

moving house has been so stressful but the thought of decorating and adding all the good things i've always wanted in our very own house made me get up every morning with the hugest smile on my face.

one of the very first things i made was a sunburst clock (i noticed that when we initially moved into the new house we habitually looked towards the empty walls whenever somebody asked what time it is!).  so i bought a cheap second hand clock in a local buy-and-sell Facebook page here in Gib, glue-gunned a few skewer sticks, spray-painted it in bronze (i wanted copper but couldn't find any in the stores here) aaaaaaaand voila!

my new DIY bronz-y sunburst clock

prepping my clock by glue-gunning barbecue skewers at the back of the clock and covering the hands with painter's tape

the cheap second-hand clock I bought from a Facebook page 

i enjoyed doing this project because the mister and i had to find an open space to spray paint.  he said he knew of a place. and then he took me up the Rock!  and while waiting for the paint to dry (fairly quickly!) we had fun counting our blessings and enjoying the glorious view :)

we've moved!

Hi guys!  First of all, Happy New Year to all of you, very late I know but its only been just now that I got a breather from moving houses.  The pre-planning, the actual move in itself and not to mention the preparation of the new house was really very tiring, both mentally and physically for both me and the mister.

I have not been going to my favorite shops as well :(  but I've been busy DIY-ing around the new house :)  I love creating new stuff for the house.  Oh the things I would want to do but ...i feel its just limited because of the fact that its a flat (apartment) and not a house.  I can't even spray paint inside the house :(

Anyway,  my first DIY was this geometrical art work I put on a section of the living room with a faux brick wall.

I got this idea from this video found in YouTube.  I just used ordinary white A4 papers of differing sizes and stuck them on the wall with double-sided tape.  Voila!  No more drab walls!

Good to be back!

flea market finds: shoot em up

there was a carboot sale the other day and of course i was there early.  been anticipatin' this carboot for two weeks now and so i came prepared with my sturdy shopping bag and a pocket full of change ;)

here are my lovely finds:

(1) a tiny Delft stein buried under a mound of souvenir mugs from all over the world 

(2) a Canadian pewter whale "piggy" bank - isn't he just sooo cute?

(3) a functional 1960's Fujica 35 ee camera (my favorite find!  perfect for my collection plus i really, really like lomography)

(4) a vintage photo album with a brown leather cover - i bought this because of nostalgia really. when i was little i remember all our photographs were 

neatly arranged by my mom in a similar album

(5) a square monkey pod salad bowl and guess where they were made?  the Philippines!

*linking to The Penny Worthy Project @ hey what's for dinner Mom? :)

Roman Holiday: design inspirations

let me start with the hotel we stayed in.  

the Rome Times Hotel just opened a few months ago and we were among the first guests.  the amenities were very modern and the rooms have dark wood flooring, crisps sheets and pillows, spacious bath and the safes are free (we've never stayed in a hotel where the safes were free, ever!).  the mister is delighted at this because he can shove all his gadgets in there without fear of it being nicked in a foreign country.

it was one of the best hotels we've stayed by far!  here's a pic of their bar below.

inside the Vatican Museum, i also saw the contemporary art of Henri Matisse defined by "gouache cutouts" made of special paper in their designs.  i love the color palette that he used! 

as we were nearing the exit of the museum, we had to go down this beautiful spiral staircase and into the Vatican post office where i mailed ourselves a postcard back home :)

in the streets of Rome:

spotted a Space Invaders street art near the Vatican! i don't know if this is one of his but sure looks like it :)

they are big on Audrey H. there by the way :)  before going to Rome, i actually watched the movie "Roman Holiday" and now it is one of my favorites :)

ahhh who wouldn't want to sit under that bougainvillea portico and sip some capuccino, eh?  la vita bella!

don't miss the shop windows!  they have the most interesting displays!  like this sea-themed one with ceramic fishes galore :)

or this leather gloves shop in all the colors of the rainbow and then some!

a beautiful stained glass display that caught my eye just as when the light of day was about to fade...

 and who could ignore CoCo Chanel?

and so, as a result, i bought these:

i saw her quietly sketching away in a corner where i found all manner of Audrey Hepburn kitsch...  she was a true artist and i could not help but love her Underground System of Rabbits!

while waiting for our coffee, this little number occupied our weary minds... made of a few different kinds of beans and a pretty little cactus, we were heady with the scent of rose in the air... 

sip, sip, sip...

flea market finds: on a silver platter

recently, i just sold my Polaroid P.  it was just sitting on a shelf gathering dust and so I was happy i sold it to someone who needed it more than i did.

i must say i am loving selling my stuff!  with a tidy profit to boot!

the thrift shops have now closed for the summer so i am frequently imagining all the different new stuff they would have once they open again in September.  a billion things would fly through my mind at any given moment.  

but i never imagined this:

a French glass serving platter in a silverplate basket with a twisted handle

bought for a song in an online buy and sell page, this would make a lovely present to a hostess with the mostess ;)

*linking to The Penny Worthy Project @ hey what's for dinner Mom? and also to The Nifty Thrifty @ a living space :)

profile of a Gibbo

i've been meaning to do this custom paper silhouette project for the mister in time for his birthday but i got swept up by an unexpected workload and pre-birthday celebrations for him that its only now i got to finish it.

i got the frames from a friend's mother-in-law who was spring cleaning her house.  it was very dirty but i managed to clean it up.  i would have wanted to paint the frames white too but not now... maybe next time.

i've had the yellow and lime stripey paper for a time now ever since i bought a bunch of them from a shop that was closing down about 3 years ago.  

i used a Design Sponge tutorial for this which you can find here. 

the mister loves it, by the way :)

in search of sushi

that restlessness again... for something new, for something challenging, for something to rejuvenate the soul... and the palate...

i've been searching for a place like this for so long... with upside down yellow chairs nailed to a pink wall...

with giant Japanese parasols suspended in the ceiling... dappled in the afternoon sunlight...

with a shadowbox full of memories and mysteries...

with shadowboxes full of remembrances and secrets...

where they hide among big banana fronds...

and then, one mouthful of my rainbow sushi and everything is alright in the world...

nothing beats old school, though... food for the famished soul and the tired hippocampus...

banana tempura... with the toasted sesame chasing the blues away... best when shared with one teaspoon...

 Surla in my mind...

 i shall return.