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".

Just Some Events During the Nov/Dec Holidays

Let's see, what did I do in the holidays besides another overseas trip?

We went around the museums and other locations for the exhibits in the Singapore Biennale.

Cycling around Punngol Park and the Promenade. 

Braving the cold to view 30-odd pieces of ice art in Singapore in an enclosed area at -15°C. And a playground with ice slides! 

A pantomime "Jack & The Bean-Sprout!" We would not miss these year-end pantomimes!

Another musical "Lightseeker" at the Resorts World on New Year's Eve.

And another round of grand course at the Forest Adventure in Bedok Reservoir on the last weekend of the year with my sis and brother-in-law.

Finally, My Computer Is Back!

My computer has been down for so long, and just get it up and running.  So much to catch up...


After the dress form swap in Aug, the ATC-ArtDolls group had dress swaps going. Sep Dress Swap was "Back to School". I did the uniform of Nanyang Primary School, where my girl is, for Barb Glasier (USA).  A plain but neat uniform, just what school uniforms in Singapore are like.

And Cindy Whiddon (USA) sent me a blue dress (with red, white & blue) for Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for those who have died in the nation’s service.

(The pair of flip-flops is actually a card - so cute!)

I read that the association of red with Memorial Day goes beyond just being part of the red, white and blue of the American flag.  The color red and the poppy symbolize “remembrance of those that died in war”.  This association came out of one of the most memorable poems ever written about war.  It is a poem called “In Flanders Fields” written by Lt. Col. John McCrae.  The poppies referred to in the poem grew in profusion in Flanders in the disturbed earth of the battlefields and cemeteries where war casualties were buried.

Oct Dress Swap was "Halloween". I did a "skeleton" dress and felt quite please with it! One went to Cindy Whiddon (USA), together with my ghost for the Oct Paper Doll swap.

I have enough papers to make another 2 smaller ghosts for myself!

Cindy Whiddon did a witch for me ...

and Barbara Glasier (USA) sent me a fall dress.

Dec Paper Doll swap was Santa and Reindeer doll. And Christmas dress. Both went to  Laureta Linett (USA). 

A 2nd set I made to keep.

A gorgeous Christmas Holiday Button Fairy from Kim Miles (USA), but still waiting for the fairy from Lisa Alff.

I did these 2 fairy girls - the blue wing one went for Lisa and the other one on the right for Kim.



I'm left with 2 more for keep.

Diane from the NEEDLESnCRAFTS group hosted a thimble holder swap in Nov. I have never attempt a tatted thimble holder and couldn't understand the pattern I have.  Attempted a few tries before I could tat up something decent and with a snap fastener.  Starched it too to hold a metal Singapore thimble.

In exchange, Usha (Malaysia) sent me crocheted thimble pouch, in fact 2 pouches with 1 in a heart shape!

Just before I went for holidays in New York, I had a basic shuttle tatting class in Hwa Chong Institution for their sabbatical programme. 10 girls and a boy who was almost too shy to stay for the class. Ok, I convinced him and they were sure creative, these 17-years old, turning mistakes into creative doodles!

More to come, and so many photos from my holidays too!!!

Swap, Swap and More Swaps

I'm really behind showing all the gorgeous swaps I have received, I hope I didn't miss out anyone.

1 of the reasons why I like doing ATCs - besides learning new art and craft techniques when creating all ATCs and whatnot, I also learn new things as I research on techniques and themes. I found out about Found Poetry from this particular swap hosted by Kate Robinson (USA) in the artisttradingcards group.  

Found poetry is the literary version of a collage - take existing words of text from a book or article and reform the words and ideas in interesting ways.  The following are what I managed from specific pages of “The Empty Chair” by Jeffery Deaver, as specified by Kate.  I cut out words from the text and re-arranged everything to come up with these. 

Starting from top-left going clock-wise: (1) The Dance, (2) Her Garden, (3) I Can, (4) The Lover. I did 3 similar sets of 4 cards, all with painted water-colour background and die-cuts, except (3) was drawn with markers. I felt quite pleased with myself and almost think I could be a poet!  

See what others did. From left to right: (1) “She would never know” by Kathy Haynes (USA), "Three men shrugged" by Valerie Orner (USA), (3) "She was utterly exhausted" by Stephanie B Aliberti (USA).  Possibilities are just endless!  Try it!  You may discover the literacy side of yourself in the process! 

I also tried using the erasure method on 1 of the pages to compose a similar poem to "Her Garden" mentioned earlier.  The selected words and phrases when read in order, compose the poem.  However, I didn't "erase" the majority unused text, but circled the selected words.

For the Paper_Traders group, I participated in another 2 ATC swaps in the last 2 months.  For "Wings and Things", I folded flat origami roses for the Little Butterfly Fairy's Rose Affair, and added a pair of tatted ring butterflies at the back of the ATCs.  Ok, let us see what other participants did.  Going clock-wise from top-left:

(1) Pattie McClimans - "Nature", (2) Valerie Thrift, Greece - "Let the FAIRY in you fly!", (3) Nydia Dominguez - "Baby Fairy", (4) Bevlea Ross, Australia' - "We don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents", (5) Pam Prosser, Australia - Butterfly Fairy, (6) Carolyn Albro, USA - "Transform".

The other Paper_Traders’s swao was the Postage Stamp People ATC Swap. This is another new thing for me, using postage stamp with a face or head and combining with collage, drawing, etc. to create postage stamp people.  A challenge for me was finding the postage stamps.  Singapore hardly issues such stamps, perhaps there aren't enough famous people in Singapore!  I only managed to find a few miserable number of suitable stamps among the extras in my small stamp collection. 

My works aren't as creative as what I received.  Everyone else did extremely well!

(1) "The Older I Get, The Better I Was" by Bevlea Ross, Australia; (2) "She is not just an ordinary garden faerie" by Lilian Mederak, Canada; (3) "Ray Charles" by Eileen Kirban, USA; (4) "Have a purpose in life" by Beckie Holso; (5) "Embace Imperfection" by Lucy Leatham; (6) "Catch a Wave" by Amanda E.

Katja Joulak from Sweden contacted me for a private swap. As she was intending to use my ATCs for an article she would be writing and the deadline was tight, I didn't have time to make new pieces. I sent her a fabric ATC "K is for Koala", Ellen's Office Days (a self-portrait) and the "Bling Bling" Race - The Gemican (No.6).

Katja took time to make and sent me her fabulous works - (1) Stamped Wings, (2) Paper Doll - Queen of Art, (3)  Fabric ATC - "Blinged Green" 2/2.

And her article that was published (page 1 of 3).

ATC @ Bishan Library Oct 2013

The word collage originates from the French word “coller,” meaning to stick or to paste. You select any materials or found objects that you want and stick them right down to produce a piece of collage artwork. Collage may be the mix of bits of different things and media, for example magazines, fabric, package labels, paint pictures, into a single arrangement.

In a word collage, you would be using words and gluing them together on a surface area like a sheet of paper to express a feeling or thought with lots of words. You are making the collage more imaginative – more than a couple of words in writing – by utilizing different fonts and colors. But don't let your creativity stop with fonts and colours!

I made the above collage ATCs for the Oct ATC session in Bishan Library on 10 Oct, but had to miss it as I was catching the flight to New York that night.  Looked like everyone had a colourful night!

Well, the next ATC session would be on 14 Nov (Thu), 6.30 pm, at the Bishan Library.  The theme: Fantasy.

Colours of Fall in Stamford

13 Oct 2013 (Sun), sunny, 13 deg C.

DH managed to squeeze some time to come out from his course.  On recommendation from our cab driver,  we went to Stew Leonard's at Westport Avenue  Stew Leonard's is a chain of 4 supermarkets in Connecticut and New York which Ripley's Believe It or Not! deemed "The World's Largest Dairy" and Fortune magazine listing it as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For".

There were games in the market and lots of animatronic singing animals perched on top of shelves that would sing and dance, even running trains, which entertain customers of all ages. I have never seen so many fresh herbs and variety of cheeses too!  All those gourds and vegetables are such a sight, wow!  We haven't seen so many of these huge pumpkins in our life. Halloween is not widely celebrated in Singapore and definitely not in any big scale. The amount of food and fresh produces had me breathless.  Lobsters were relatively cheap so we bought whole steamed lobster and big tub of lobster salad and some very tempting fried chicken pieces for a simple lunch.

We spied hay rides in the car park, some Halloween photo corners and a small petting zoo too!

I didn't want to go but DH decided to make a trip to the SoNo Market Place at 314 Wilson Avenue. It was a disappointing trip, so quiet a place, with just some stores opened. We ended the day early as hubby had a night module back in the hotel - orchestral leadership.  I sat in as an observer.

14 Oct 2013 (Mon), sunny, 15 deg C.

14 Oct 2013 was Columbus Day, and a federal holiday since 1934.  The Stamford Museum & Nature Center (39 Scofieldtown Road, Stamford) had lined up special programmes for the day.

I first went for a guided hike through the SM&NC forest. It was a fine day for hiking and a great feeling to be out in the nature. Even felt magical to touch all those maple leaves, oak leaves and acorns that I have been tatting all these while!

There were quite a number of animals in the Heckscher farm and compound. Was it that I have not been to our local zoo for too long? I felt it was really up closer and personal here in this place.  So thrilling to admire all the different animals within close proximity.

Lots of fringe activities on the native American culture held on that day.  I also tried starting a fire spark and drilling a hole with simple hand-created tools.  And I found out about s'mores and had my first-ever piece done the bonfire way! A great treat for those who like marshmallow and chocolate! 

An exhibition, "By Her Hand: Art of Native American Women".  In the exhibition, one can "meet" the Native American women at the turn of the last century in the western United States, who transformed everyday objects such as basketry, pottery, textiles and beadwork, with personal expressions of artistic flair.  They were identified as true artisans and their highly-prized works are part of this exhibition.

 Awesome blooms and fall scenery.

Spent the evening with DH shopping at Best Buy, T.J. Max, Great Deals and Walmart along Connecticut Avenue and dinner at Red Bean Asian Bistro.  The food wasn't too bad, I almost wanted to go back a second time for more.