Upcycle Living

Forgive me God, for I have been lazy... I started making my very first DIY Advent calendar in April, thinking that I have all the time in the world to finish it. But I was wrong. As I'm using 100% reused and recycled material from everything readily existing in the house, it means that all forms and shapes are made from scratch. And my plan is to make 24 individual little bags with hand stitched numbers on! The moment I started, I encountered a problem: my embroidery skills are nothing to shout about so stitching the numbers on with threads is out of the question. Thankfully, a solution came soon enough, which is to shape the numbers with colourful ribbons or strings then stitch them onto each bag. Phew... the plan went on... During the first few weeks of its production, I was gung-ho and adamant about it, watching Hallmark Christmas movies while stitching away; then I got tired because it took way longer and more complicated than I expected it to be 😭 ! Then I got busy...

Merry Christmas! Haven't been active lately due to living situation, which is why there's no Christmas tree this year ☹️ However a friend's Facebook post caught my eye and cheered me up. She found an old "Congkak" (a Malay traditional wooden game) someone threw away, and turned it into a beautiful candle stand centrepiece for Christmas. So I've asked her permission to share the recycling joy here: Photos courtesy of Miss Liew Siew Eng.

Ang Pao envelopes  a.k.a. the red packets , a must have's for Lunar New Year but also a thing that will become clutter over time. We can never get the right amount of a certain design, and we'll often be left with too many unused/odd ones. Although I've handmade some this year but there is still a stack too many from previous years and some of them have specific year or zodiac design on which can't be used for the following year. Growing up, we used to lots of fun making little lanterns with old red packets as festive decoration, and I think it's time to relive that sentiment. Instead of the usual squarish designs, this is one in a spheric form, using just 1 basic modular shape: Cut red packets (ang pao packets) into equal circles (about 8cm diameter) and draw an equal triangle on the reverse side. Fold on the triangle outlines, then glue the shapes together to get these: The 2 round shapes are for the top and the bottom, whilst the long strip goe...

Walking through the Lunar New Year decorations in the shopping mall yesterday, reminded me that we'll need to get hold of some Ang Pow packets (little red envelopes for new year money). We usually get them free with purchase from departmental stores and supermarkets, but you'll often end up with too many or too few of certain designs/sizes. I'm not entirely keen on making unnecessary purchases just for those red packets, let alone advertising for corporations who are already making money out of us. That's when these pretty backing papers springs to mind: I got these lovey looking backing papers from the Diamond Jubilee issue of Crafts Beautiful (UK magazine). One of the many perks of buying crafts magazines is the little craft-making tools or craft materials that came with the magazines. But the downside is: they can become a clutter too. I had used them to wrap quite a few presents and made a couple of gift bags; yet several years on I'm still having p...

Since the last bunch of beaded napkin rings , I've gone a little obsessed with napkin rings and have made another set with different coloured beads and design. I managed to make 5 with the leftover beads from making my choker necklace and a beaded belt. I think they look really good with my mostly white table setting and crockeries. Unlike the turquoise napkin rings , these ones have a slightly more complicated design so it took me almost 2 evenings to complete. Here is the step-by-step process in illustration: 1. I use a 0.35 nylon fishing thread (that's what I have in my drawer), but you can use a thinner one as the napkin rings are only small. I measure it to about 1.1m for each napkin ring. It's always best to use 1 whole thread for each, to save rejoining work halfway through. Start with the beads in the middle of the thread and criss-cross to make shapes: 2. Here's to complete the first circle and move on to the next row (then repeat for t...

We made a Christmas tree with some tinsels and a broken tripod in both 2015 and 2016 , with a little change in the trimmings. But the tripod has finally given way to even more wear and tear over time and humidity - all the plastic parts are falling off. It's time to have a renewed theme for our Christmas tree this year! After a few nights thinking over it and several sketches later, I've decided to make use of an existing hook on the wall and make a tree hanging down from it, and wrapping a table lamp within. I found a cardboard lid for an A4 paper box that's been tossed in the office (so that it can get one more use before going for its recycle round), and cut holes around it: Putting it through the table lamp that will be the light source: Then I tied 2 separate loops using some ribbons (out of my craft box collection) through the tree top star and hang it onto the hook: What I did next is just to poke each strip of tinsel through 2 h...

We're going to have a family dinner right before Halloween so we gotta have something special for the kiddies. I've always wanted to let them have a little trick or treat for fun but I'm really skeptic about buying the ready made ones and make some rich business owners even richer by producing more plastic stuff. So a DIY paper maché Jack o Lantern is an obvious choice. Here are the material used: 2 old unused balloons from last Christmas, blew them up and wrapped each up with a layer of cling film (for easy removal when the glue is dry), and these are the base mould for the pumpkins. Old newspaper and old receipts, torn into tiny strips. Glue made from tapioca flour Leftover white base coat paint Acrylic colours String from an old wrecked drawstring bag First layer for the shape.  Few more layers to shape the ridges. Punched holes for the handle. Base coat done, in and out. Getting the right colour, bit by bit. Once the colour'...