Mini Books and Tatted Bookmarks for Exchanges

I did a paper bag mini album swap in March with Shallale Figaro.  The mail took a whole month to arrive from Mexico

Shallale used very small brown paper bags of about 2" × 2.5" and bound them together with a ring from a keychain and another metal ring.

I did mine with envelopes instead - folded in half and altered the opening. About 4.5" × 4.5".

Tatted Sem's name on paperclips for his last day  of work in the office in Feb.

Designed another tatted name, this time on a bookmark.  In fact, both bookmarks are newly designed and tatted for Diane Merlock (USA) for the NeedlesnCrafts 2016 Bookmark Exchange.

Di Magical Bloom and Heart You.

Yet to Show Some Old Swaps

Pam Colosimo's (Canada) spring tag book is finally here, the one she graciously re-sent after the original one went missing in the mail.

We had a bookmark exchange in May over at NeedlesnCrafts. Swapped with Diane L. Merlock (USA). I sent tatted bookmarks.

Sweet hardanger bookmarks Diane sewed for me and tatting threads she enclosed.

My finished butterfly ATCS for the Futterby Butterfly swap which Nikki hosted over at Paper Traders.  Remember these stencilled-printed butterflies with stryofoam? I added die-cut flowers and a quote about butterfly.

ATCs received from (from left going clockwise) Sandra Dewling, Pam Prosser and Barb Adams.

I joined my first swap at Mini-books. Jill Filey (USA) sent me a spring theme mini book 5"×5". 

My first attempt at explosion books. It's done but I haven't heard from Michelle whom I'm supposed to send to. 

Nov 2013 - Feb 2014 ATC Sessions in Bishan Library

Back to our ATC sessions in Bishan Library. I brought the group through zentangles in the Nov session and Wee Yeh conducted a brick block printing in the Dec session.

The theme for Nov was"Fantasy". I traded my butterfly fairy for Richard's mouse deer. 

We started the year with Rita showing us the folding of an origami angelfish during the Jan session.

In line with the fish theme, I used plastic strap to weave some fish for my ATCs.

Here's what I managed for the angelfish during the session, and the ATCs I swapped for with Mdm Au and Jessica. 

We had a mini-book making session this last Thu with Maureen, Jessica and Serena. 

Here are my attempts, covers embellished with tatted flowers and butterflies.

The theme for Feb was "love".  I added a straw-weaved heart to some quotes I like.

I love this quilled heart ATC by Mdm Au. A melody of flowers within the heart!

We'll be meeting again next month on 13 Mar (Thu), 6.30 pm.  Rita will be doing stamping technique with us - masking and layering. The theme for the ATC is "My Wish For You".

Weekend Workshops. Great Swaps Received.

I had a great weekend last week, attending 2 workshops in our public libraries - a Seal Engraving Workshop on 13 Jul 13 (Sat) at the Queenstown Library, and a Chinese Painting Workshop on 14 Jul 14 (Sun) at the Bukit Merah Library.

We had a hand-on session to carve our own seal stone during the 2-hour workshop.  It was not that difficult to carve, yet just not easy either.  I have not seen such fanciful and colourful seal stones with carving on all faces which our instructor brought along!  Really an eye-opener and a good experience!  BTW, we didn't do that well on our own, we had had the instructor help to touch up all our carvings. 

The Chinese Painting Workshop was easier to handle, though I'm not used to painting without any sketch!  And just don't expect too much for 2 hours and in a big group like this.

DH bought an automatic mechanical Tissot Le Lode T41.1.183.33 watch for me 2 weeks ago when he was back.  I have not worn a watch for a number of years, it feels really heavy, or is it because of all the mechanism inside? 

The mails just came in, bringing the ATCs from the Intuitive Watercolour Technique swap hosted by Beckie Holso (USA). Going clockwise from top left are cards from Connie Holso, Letha Richardson, Beckie Holso and Pam Prosser. 

And the Gypsy Deco Book Swap, also hosted by Beckie. Beckie has done such a great job assembling the book.  Just the right purple for the background too, don't you think so?

Thanks gals and Beckie for 2 great swaps! 

Some New Swaps and Techniques to Me!!

The ATC-ArtDolls group hasn't been too active the past few months.  We managed to get the May swap going with the "Forest Fantasty" theme, the requirement was human heads with animal bodies!  Not a normal theme I would go for, but it was a mini-challenge.  I did my doll-ATCs with elephants and monkeys.  A rather fun theme to do actually.  One set went to Vanessa Soto in USA, and another set was traded at the ATC session in Bishan Library last Thu.

We met a week earlier this month as Moses will be busy with his preparation for his new job in Indonesia.  We'll miss him and all his coordination effort for these ATC sessions.  We decided that we will carry on with help from all the regulars.  Cheers to everyone!  Back to what we did on 6 Jun.  Based on Barbara Reid's illustration using plasticine, we came up with all these colourful, creative and picturesque ATCs within the hour.  Amazing, isn't it?

These are what Kristine and I did.  I wasn't in the mood to really create something, so I spent just a few minutes to shape a new merlion, at least everyone could tell with just a glance :)        

Sor Huan was so sweet to do this card for me after I commented in the last session on how pretty her set was.  Using the some girl, she used natural plant materials and fabric to create different look on each and every ATCs.   The origami bee was done by who else, but Rita, our origami guru.     

Remember the upcycle altered book project which I participated earlier this year? I took 6 photos with 6 soft toys to complete a double page of "Home is where the heart is". The collaborative books which we created are now exhibiting in Bishan Library for the month of June!        

I joined a new group, Paper_Traders, and learned a few new things in my first few swaps.  Have you heard of intuitive watercolour technique?  There are a number of  posts on various blogs: Zorana's, Beckie's, Carol's.  This is the first time I tried, and it was so rewarding and satisifying an experience.  I felt playful splashing watercolours around and at the same time, I was filled with anxiety. Curiosity crept in once the colours dried.  What do I visualise?  Can you see?  Can you not see?      

The first few pieces of ATCs I drew with this technique made me realised I'm not too bad an artist, LOL!   I sent in [from top left going clockwise] (1) My Toys, (2) Dinosaur, (3) Sewing by the Lamp, (4) Dance is the Hidden Language of the Soul, (5) Take a Moment to Admire.  

More done: (6) I Spotted a Fairy, (7) In The Pond, (8) Dancing, the child of Music and of Love. (9) A Walk in the Wood.  I'm doing more for our next ATC session in July :)    

Next was the Gypsy Deco Book swap.  I used a combination of stamping, die-cut and the same watercolour technique to create these "Gypsy Fortune Telling" pages on 3.5" square scrapbooking papers.  Fortunately, they are at least presentable as I was quite clueless on the gypsy theme.  I'm now trying another new technique (to me) for a third swap, still working on them, so more about it in my next post.

Before that, here's the tatted bookmark for Moses!  All the best to his new job!

I Love These Books!

After I sent out my 3 little books for the swap, I worked to make another set for myself. They are at least 90% similar to the Book 2 and 3 sent in for the Little Book swap.

This is the new book cut out using the QuicKutz's Sugarplum dies for the cover and inserts. To re-cap, thin oriental papers lie between cardstock, the papers and cards perked up with colour from different types of ink pads, and tatted flowers adjorned the pages. The other book, the fabric one, measuring about 5" by 4" in size. Words stamped on, laces and tatted motifs added.

The little books for the swap came back - 3 of them!! All so lovely! Thank you, Barbara, Sabine and Sue, for your fabulous creations, and Lenna too, for organising the swap!

(1) From #16 - Barbara DeLisle (USA) - A book of "Ovals", the red little one on the bottom left corner of the above photo - it's barely 1 1/2" x 1 1/8"! 15 words with corresponding pictures, just like a pictorial dictionary, complete with a yellow bookmarker! Barbara received my QuicKutz Sugarplum book.

(2) From #32 - Sabine Schneider (Germany) - A fabric accordion book- canvas painted with acrylic, and sanded down. Came wrapped with a most interesting German paper napkin. Sabine received my fabric book.

(3) From #33 - Sue Emmerson (Australia) - A tag book on "Friends". Came in a machined-sewed paper envelope.7 tags in all, full of Victorian graphics, quotes, ribbons and laces! Sue received my 3" by 3" book.

I finished my "P is for Penguin" fabric ATCs, and is now working to wrap up the sewing of my "O" ATCs.

Cute penguins! Martha Ess' little critter designs are sweet, just can't tat enough of them!

More on the China trip. Moving on to the 5th day (12 Jun, Sun), DH's colleague and his family drove us on a three-hour journey west from Guiyang to the Huangguoshu Waterfall (黄国树大瀑布). It is one of the biggest falls in China, reaching 74m high and spanning 81m in width.

According to local legend, in ancient times, the sky suddenly cracked open, causing part of the Milky Way to smash to pieces on the ground. The largest piece hung on the verge of a cliff and became the Huangguoshu Waterfalls, which, in the process of crashing down the cliff, broke into several dozen cascades. When the Milky Way fell, numerous stars came down with it, which were converted into stone forests, crystal-clear pools, bridges and caves. Water pours down the cliff into the Xiniu Pool sending up great spray and as sunlight is diffracted through the drops of water, glorious rainbows are produced. There is a natural cave behind the waterfall, 40m above Xiniu Pool, which regretfully, we didn't trek up due to time constraint. Around Huangguoshu are 18 smaller falls and 30 karst caves. Scenery is spectacular.

A long escalator (where I were pointing) will also bring tourists up & down to the waterfall area.

The other stop at the Tian Xian Landscape (天星景) was most interesting.

The Shu Sheng Bu (数生步) consists of steps of stone, each stone with a date starting from 1st Jan all the way to 31 Dec.

Here's the place (Gao's Mansion) where Pigsy of the Journey to the West, wanted to take a bride, and where he finally me the Buddhist monk Xuanzang.

On the 6th day (13 Jun, Mon), DH went back to his factory for a meeting. We went along to visit his office. It is big with numerous yards.

Then, it was a lunch with his big boss and the various deparment heads, together with 2 new Zealand guests, in a VIP room of a posh seafood restaurant (雅园大海螺海鲜酒楼) located at 南明区四方河路 within 山水黔城. It was more grand than any function I have attended.

We spent the rest of the day walking the Yang Ming Flowers and Birds Market and more streets at 市西路.

There are a number of stores selling Chinese herbs like this one here.

This last photo was at 市西路, taken in the evening (by the way, the sky was only dark at 8pm during this season). This area is just like Hong Kong's Women Street, selling clothings, towels, umbrellas, shoes, ...and lots of cross-stitch stores too! The walk was cut short when DH was informed last minute of a dinner appointment with the New Zealand guests. We left, but would be back another day!