Holly and Tree - Christmas is Coming!

During the Nov ATC session in Bishan Library earlier on, we were introduced to the book "Ed Emberly's Picture Pie". It is a book for juniors, but such ingenuity! All the pictures are formed using only circles, or using parts of a circle. The top ATC was done during the session, but I added a bit more colours to the background at home.

It has been some months I have not taken part in doll ATC swaps, so I'm back for the Nov swap "Trees, Leaves". I realise I'm hooked on haiku, can't believe I actually came up with 3 in a row (including The Peacocks in the ATCs above)! The haiku I composed may not be fantastic, but I enjoyed creating them. A pair of the boy and girl went to Riitta in Finland.

Tatted little berries for the holly inchies I created for the Nov Mingle. I orginally wanted to tat the hollies too, but they would have to be pretty small to fit into inchies! I still find inchies amazing and challenging as I try to crack my brain hard to squeeze details into the 1 inch square!

It was time to upgrade my Celestial ring (hurray)! Is there anyone who doesn't like diamonds? I love these little stones. This is a dream for me - sure wish these were all mine but each would cost S$10,000 upwards, so I was only trying them and begging the sales person to let me snap a photo. Didn't quite fancy the extreme left one with the thick band, so selection was down to the 4-claw piece on the extreme right, the 5-claw and 6-claw pieces.

Eventually, I decided to go for the one with 5 claws. It's my lucky number, and the biggest and best graded stone among the few too. Thank you, DH!!!!

Christmas is around the corner, ok, not quite yet, but time does fly. Here's one Christmas tree that really tickles me!

The Phantom Of The Opera 25th Anniversary Musical Concert On Big Screen

Do you fancy catching a musical theatre performance on the screen of a cinema? I certainly don’t mind, especially when it is only staged in another continent. Since the very first time when Golden Village screened the Metropolitan Opera productions of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor and Mozart’s The Magic Flute in high definition digital format on the cinema screen in Aug/Sep 2007 on the 22.4m wide screen of GVmax, most of us would have hope for more to come.

Last Sunday, I brought my 2 girls to catch the latest exclusive GV’s screening of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Cameron Mackintosh’s The Phantom of the Opera, a live recording of a fully staged, lavish production of the timeless classic romantic musical of the haunted stage of the Paris Opera based on Gaston Leroux’s gothic novel of life beneath the stage of the Paris Opera where a mysterious masked man tutored an unknown to become the leading lady and fell in love with her. Set in the sumptuous Victorian splendor of the Royal Albert Hall and directed by Laurence Connor, this is the first staged version of the musical to be screened in cinemas.

This theatrical performance, a celebration of The Phantom of the Opera’s 25th Anniversary at the London’s Royal Albert Hall on 2 Oct, starred Iranian-born Canadian actor, Ramin Karimloo as “The Phantom” and American prima donna, Sierra Boggess as “Christine”. The 201-minute screening included special guest appearances by Sarah Brightman, the original Christine, and 4 Phamtoms of previous productions. Personally, I felt that this particular segment brought the spine-tingling melodies to the highest level! Certainly well-worth the $25 ticket, but a pity my boy is not in Singapore now, he would have enjoyed it too.

First time I did something for the Halloween theme. Can you spot the ghosts in the “Halloween” inchies? The other sets are the “Fall Colours”. 1 of each set is going to Marjorie Grace-Sayers (USA).

These tatted motifs were finally sewed up to complete the hairclips. Joey doesn’t use such stuff, but Kristine will be happy to put them on her hair. Looks so lovely on her :)

Besides looking at the creativity aspect, I love making ATCs with educational value too. Learn idioms the fun way! I collected all those idioms that are related to music and songs and slipped them into a pocket in the ATCs. Hope my children and other recipients learn something from them! These were done for the Nov ATC session in Bishan Library to the theme "Music".

Kristine drew the 3 ATCs on the left below. I love her drawings, they are always so cute! Joey doddled the one on the right "Happy Treble Clef", adding confetti and yarn. Looks like it is having a goood time with a triple ice-cream treat!

I traded for 3 quilled ATCs with Au Siah Huay. Aren't they lovely? The "Cats In Love" looks so romantic! The first piece I received from Jennie Tan - "I Love My iPod" - her series of Music ATCs comprised of doddled heads and limbs with cut-out fashion.

Another Tatted Cross and Update on Swaps Received

I tatted another cross for Faith. This is The Yarnplayer's Eternal Rose Cross, a sweet and petite pattern. I tatted a few more of the roses, perhaps I should tat another cross or two, it sure looks so lovely.

For Lenna's Haiku ATC swap, I received a hummingbird from Rena Matus (USA), flowers from Siri Hauge Opdal (Finland) and autumn wind from Sabrina Hoeke (USA). Lovely poems everyone has composed! I think they are some of the more meaningful ATCs I have swapped.
Debbie H's inchies for Aug and Sep Mingles have also arrived.

Rae Ann's Sep Bees too.

Things are moving slowly for the last few of the Alphabet ATC swaps, but here are the latest received from Sherry Dreier (UK) - R is for Robin and S is for Sunbonnet Sue.

Spent last Sat with my girls at a craft shop doing some quick Christmas projects, they sure concentrated hard! We had a long day in the shop with all the make-and-take projects, giveaways sales and auctions.

I have not tatted paper clips for quite a while. Joey is having a sale in the school, so I tatted some old patterns for her.

In fact, Joey did much more herself. She tatted flowers and glued them on her doodled cards - 81 cards in all.

Finally, the children's exams are all over! More time for crafts!!