Trellis

Still in love with these little lemon quartz, this time wrapped in silver with lovely printed pewters to add zest to those lemons. All else in sterling silver.

Kel's painting

A good friend of mine from way back did this gorgeous water painting. Out of the many, I especially like this one as I can almost feel the wind rushing past me as they race. You can see more of her paintings on picasaweb.google.com/Kelly.Luk/WatercolorPaintings. I've known Kel since our university days and I still remembered how we first met at the living room of Madge one summer. She was curious about what I was going to cook for lunch and soon she was giving me the recipe for, if I recall correctly, spinich dip. We talked as if we were long lost friends and there was no turning back then. We are still very much in touch with each other's lives despite being continents apart. She is the bacon bits in my salad bowl of life.

Soft pastels

I decided to deviate from my usual simple designs and create a dressier pair. Pastel swarovski pearls in dusty blue, green, silver and primrose in a cluster with a playful non tarnish chain that ends with a teardrop. All else in sterling silver just under 7 cm from the top of the ear hooks. Also great with a simple T and a pair of jeans!

Madison

Gorgeous coin freshwater pearl with interesting pewters to add a little glamour. Simple and elegant enough for your board meeting tomorrow. All else sterling silver just about 5 cm.

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.
~ Vernon Howard

Lemon quartz

Lemon quartz that looks good enough to eat. Handforged hooks and all wrapped in 14k goldfilled wires .

I've been tagged

I've been tagged! - by Rae of Rae's creations to reveal 7 facts about myself. Rae is a very talented jewelry designer and if you don't know her already you can find her, 'raescreations', on etsy and her blog. She's at the top of my list of beautiful designer work together with some of favourites, Ginger of msbelle, Beakee, Starrydesigns. There, that's one fact about me. 6 more. Let's see

1. I meow when I see cats. 2. I've worked in a casino once and I mean once. One day is all it took for me to realize that if you can't count faster than you can punch the numbers on the calculator, you really shouldn't be there. 3. I don't put pictures up of myself or others here because I'm afraid that someone would cut the heads off and paste them on elephants and chimpanzees or worse, paris hilton. 4. Like Rae, I like soggy cereals except mine would be kellog's frosties in chocolate milk. I've had 6 bowls in a row before, enough sugar to last me that month. 5. As a kid I was terrified of plastic dolls and still am. 6. I am rather impatient sometimes and I think it's ok coz things get done.

That's about it. Lots of other things in my closet but maybe for another day. Thanks Rae, I had fun thinking about this exercise. I beat you in terms of think time, less than an hour :)

Mystery cube

Found these rare gorgeous tiny cube shaped labradorites yesterday and couldn't resist making a pair immediately much to everyone's amusement. I had topped it with a little pewter cap and decided to add a little twist to the ear hooks giving it a packaged look- much like a little present with ribbons on it. Available on etsy.

15th day

Today is the 15th day and also the last day of the New Year celebrations. Traditionally, in the evenings, people carried lanterns into the streets to take part in a great parade and the dragon dances all formed a fitting finish to the New Year festival. For me, it signifies the need to really start seriously and I mean seriously really shedding the pounds acquired from the past 14 days of feasting. Just call me Jabba.

The moon is down there

I love these lightbulbs that glow amongst the bushes. At night, they are pretty to look at and the soft glow kindles a sense of serenity even though many of us walk by them without really knowing that they're there. That is unless you're that 5 year old child -"Look grandpa, the moon is down there." "Yes dear, I did promise you a trip to the moon didn't I?"

Crash

I was in a frenzy in the last few days as my computer system crashed. I have no idea what caused it and have accepted that as far as computers are concerned, sudden death syndrome is not an uncommon one. I had managed to set it up again, grateful for whatever help I could get. But I did lose quite a bit of data and all my favourite websites I had so carefully kept! Ugh. Anyway, to retain some of my sanity, I just had to create something! This time, I've paired the gorgeous faceted chalcedony with a collar of sunset carnelians. All wires in sterling silver.

You are the sunshine of my life

This Valentine's. My husband. The caveman. He has his moments.

Happy birthday everyone

Today is the 7th day of the Chinese new year, also known as the common man's birthday which means everyone grows a year older. Great. Just what I need- to grow a year older in just 2 months.

Girl with butterflies

I can't quite put my finger on it but each time when I flip through the magazines, there she is again. I don't usually pause for more than a second on ads but this one I can for five. Perfectly waste of time. I don't know if its the primary colours of red, blue, and yellow (and what a stroke of genius to have the yellow on butterflies!) that catches my eye or the touch of lipstick on her to make it all sophisticated and yet childlike. It's just all very good. How come I never look this good with butterflies in my hair? Maybe I just need that bit of lipstick.

First step

My every new year's resolution. This year hopefully to be fulfilled and not abandoned.

Feb's giveaway

Thank you everyone who had a go at Feb's giveaway! I have this box of folded papers with numbers written on them and then had my husband draw one out (the number drawn corresponds to who responded first, second, third etc). Feb's pair is going off to Sally T tomorrow! Thanks again everyone for dropping by and do look out for the next giveaway come March!

Gong xi mandarins

"Happy new year Aunty Janet, may you be happy, have good health and long life!" "What? Why would I want to have long life???" "Um ok, I'll just wish you happiness while you're still with us." "Thank you."

The Nokia Bus

I took the bus 156 yesterday to visit my aunt and was pleasantly surprised. First of all the bus driver chirped a "happy new year" when I boarded. This doesn't happen often but I must say, people in the 'service line' are much friendlier now. I remember the first time mr driver greeted me, I nearly fell off the steps and then I sat through my journey thinking hard about where I must have met him and how was it that he knew me.

The next pleasant thing was the bus. It was red and white in the interior and I call it the 'nokia bus'. There are only a few of these around. I think it is a brilliant way to advertise. The layout is quite different from that of the standard bus and the seats- they made them look like white leather. Cool. They even have a little bar with its own poster bartender. AND You can also download free music on your mobile phone. The video at the side of the bus tells you how. What was priceless were the expressions of those who boarded the bus. There were big smiles, quiet smiles and a sense of wonder as they looked around. A gentleman sat down quickly after boarding but kept his head down, perhaps pondering on the day's events. When he looked up, he stood up briefly probably thinking that he was on the wrong bus. Then he sat down and grinned. I wonder when the nokia bus will next appear.

Black and blue

Clusters of lolite and aquamarine dress this pair of faceted black onyx biolettes. All else in sterling silver. It's still early this morning to think of a creative name so black and blue it is.

This morning I just discovered the joys of using microsoft office picture manager and realize that you can do alot with it! The pic above was adjusted with a play with the brightness and contrasts spectrum. The original is what you see below.

Of course, I had to go a little crazy with picture taking and decided to change the look of my blog. The title background is a blue tile acquired from my aunt while the little bits of floral art work were what I had chanced upon at a market stall in Geylang Serai. I also discovered that I could put text on it without having to import my pictures on powerpoint and that I had a number of fancy fonts in this thing I have. It's amazing what you can do with photo editing. I thought I needed to be more sophisticated or do whatever real photographers do that thing they do. Cooool.

Happy Rat Year

It is known that the Rat is the First in the cycle of the 12 animal signs in the chinese zodiac symbolizing a time of renewal in many ways. Have a wonderful 2008, may you and your loved ones have many Gong Xi opportunities and Fa Cais in this year of renewals and new beginnings!

Today's news

Teacher charged with forgery, passport impounded. That's one of the news headlines today. The teacher had been accused of making corrections to the answer scripts of three of her tamil students in last year's PSLE exam. No doubt, it was the wrong thing to do. No doubt, she probably knew the consequences of her actions if caught. No doubt she has to face the judge come judgement day.

However, it does beg the question, why would someone do this? Is she of unsound mind? Not likely, as she would have lost her job early on. Was she desperate to look good in front of the school administrators for a promotion? Having friends in the teaching profession, they would laugh heartily at this. Or did the teacher, in all her 'stoicness', believed that she was trying to help her students?

Many I know join the teaching profession becasue they want to make a difference in the lives of children. They become a part of the children's lives and know their personal struggles and stories, sometimes much better than the parents themselves. If it is indeed true that this teacher was trying to 'help' her student, then we have larger problems at hand. When you have parents who care much more about their child's school results than their child's struggles with his or her own sense of self-worth and emotional identity; and you have a teacher who tries really hard, perhaps too hard, to give these children a sense of personal achievement; Then you know that the issues of the educational system are larger than that of the parents and the teacher.

Eve

Fresh water square shaped pearls with a crinkled texture swarovski pearls in tea green and primrose adorne this bracelet. 18 cm sterling chain ends with a pressed flower. All metal components in sterling silver.

Porcelain

Teardrop shaped fresh water pearls with swarovski pearls and faceted crystal rondelles in shades of blue and silver much like the blue and white porcelain wares. Fresh water pearl surface texture are crinkled and they match nicely with the smooth round swarovski pearls. All sterling silver.

Feb's free giveaway

I've had 5 requests for Jan's giveaway pair so far. PY, Zhen Hui, Suzie, Jennifer and Catherine, thanks for playing! I've decided to send a pair to all of you! Please email your address if I don't have it already. I'm ending Jan's giveaway earlier but if you're still interested, drop me a mail and I might still have one or two of them.

Feb's pair consists of pretty swarovski pearls and a faceted shell bead with non tarnish wires and they hang about 6 cm from the top. Drop me a note if you'd like Feb's pair, yes it's free and standard local shipping cost on me! Til 10 Feb.

Thanks everyone for dropping by.