Chi's Weekend Adventure: Making Heat Pads

Okay~ I know many of you can do a LOT better job then I can at sewing~ but I thought I'd share with you some crafting that I had done a while back when it was really cold~ X3 HEAT PADS!! Yes! the good old chuck into the microwave for a minute and instant warmth!! :D I loved it~ 

The one that I made for myself is the one with the doggy paw-prints~ (I love dogs!) and the other I made for my friend~ :)

Protocol:

1. Iron pretty fabric on some fleece interface
2. Fold fabric right sides together... and sew around the edge (I did this three times.... as my cheap little sewing machine doesn't hold stitches very well sometimes... :T)
3. Flip the pouch inside out!
4. Pour rice into the bag (you can use beans too I think... but I only had rice at home... :T)
5. Hand stitch the hole shut~ 

TaaDaa~ X3 Heat Pads~ Easy Peasy~ I heat mine for 1.5mins on high in the microwave and put in in the blanket before sleeping~ but because I used rice Bon says it smells like food after heating it... and he said he can't sleep as he gets too hungry.... :T so maybe you could add some essential oils to your's or use beans instead.... to prevent getting hungry while using the heat pads.... lol~ 

Feature Friday: Exercise With Miss Couch Potato Series

For this week's Feature Friday I'd like to introduce the new series at Bon&Chi's Etsy Store~ :D

Exercise with Miss Couch Potato

There's 3 different "exercises" that Miss Couch Potato is involved in at the moment:

No. 1: Yoga~ 
Stretch that arm~ Reach for that snack!! X3

No. 2: Swimming~
Relax in the bathtube, put your feet up!

No. 3: Marathon~
Movie marathons are the ultimate challenge in couch potato-ness!!

Enjoy~ :D

Tuesday Pounce Some Treasures: Cuttlefish Press

Woops~ Running late today~ (>.<;) Hope I'm still in time to put my post on the linky~

Today's Pounce some Treasures features Cuttlefishpress~ :D Which JUST opened their Etsy shop for business on Jan 23!!! So it's a really really fresh fresh shop~ X3 And I did find them through pounce function too~ :)

Behind Cuttlefish Press is the designer, illustrator AND printmaker Erica~ :) Erica is from Tampa, Florida~ Every thing in her shop are designed and hand drawn by her~ And all letterpress paper goods are also printed by hand on her 19th century C&P Pilot Old Style press!!! You can't get anymore handmade than that!! X3


Her illustrations are just soooo adorable~ with little animals and creatures gathered together celebrating a particular theme like hibernation, garden party or a sea cruise~ :3 She can also personalize these with your names~ Perfect as a gift for special occasion! :)

I LOVE CUTE STUFF~ X3 and Erica's illustrations are just beyond cuuuute~ !!! 
Please visit her Etsy shop and admire some more of her illustrations cuteness!! X3


Also the treasury that I made for the Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge "Wildlife and Wilderness", which also includes Ericas illustration~ :)

Chi's Adventure Weekend: Meet the Apprentice! (Jelly)

Hi everyone~ :)
It's time to share what Chi's been up to lately! Today!! I'd like everyone to meet my FIRST apprentice~ Mr. Jelly!!! He is the Jelly in Peanutbutter&Jelly duo that had collaborated with Bon&Chi in the Chinese New Years Bunny! :)

Anyways, Jelly came over Friday and we worked on our first collaborative piece together~ Peanutbutter&Jelly custom order Family Tree photo stand featuring the Jelly bunny~ :) Jelly also made a couple more bunny memo holders, one as present for his grandma and the other for himself~ X3 Yes! he loves bunnies~ (me too!)

And here is the finished products~ :) A JellyxChi production~

Also I'd like to do one last shout out for the Pay-It-Forward that I'm participating it! I've already sent out the free gift to 4 lovely people that had participated! (Thanks Libby, Lorie, Mari and Monique~) THERE IS STILL ONE MORE PAY-IT-FORWARD gift available!! Please comment at the Pay-It-Forward Blog Post to get this last gift!!! It's waiting for you and is ready to be mailed off!! (I don't think I'll be up for another freebie giveaway for at least a few months! so get in while you can!)

Note: You'll be receiving just one of these packages... the other 4 are for other PIF participants... ;p

Feature Friday: Chi's LACMA Adventures (Part 2)

Continuing last week's LACMA (LA County Museum of Art) Adventures~ I'd like to share some of the pictures from the Japanese and Latin America section~ :D This is a continuation of the same day as in Part 1... as I didn't manage to drag Bon to going with me again on Martin Luthur King Jr Day... :T

The Japanese art displayed at LACMA is hosted in an architecturally magnificent building- The Pavilion. Thought from the outside I couldn't see much as it was getting dark by the time we got to this building.... but the inside is like a maze which spirals and turns while leading you on a adventure through the exhibit. There were no steps in the main part of the exhibit areas.. and each little alcove is slightly sheltered... so that you can enjoy your art semi-privately... yet the space is open, if you look through the gaps you can see people in the other floors~ X3 It was really fun area to explore! They have so many lovely items, which are of great inspiration (e.g. the pots that were decorated by cloisonné, thanks Chi's friend! X3)

A side exhibit in the Pavilion is the Bushell Netsuke Collection: Carvings of the Nagoya Region. Netsuke's are little wooden counterbalances which Japanese people used as a weight on the cord to which they hang small containers (for carrying small personal items). I was quite shocked by the design of many of these Netsuke, as some were pretty scary looking! (o.O;) many had the look of monsters, but there were also ones of lucky Gods or animals like lions~ In fact many Netsuke had a very modern "Nightmare before Christmas" look to it~ X3

Last but not least, we went to the Latin American section which was above where the Lucknow exhibition was held~ we didn't have much time to go through the works as it was getting late and the museum was nearly closing~ but there were so many items that were so adorable and I would draw inspiration for my own work (like the little figures and pots!)~ X3 I especially liked the way that the Ancient Latin America Arts section, which had this Amazon feel to the layout and decor~ even the lights had leaves as lamp shades... the only bad thing about the feel was the lighting was quite dim and it was difficult to read the words on the tags....

So that was my adventures at LACMA~ :D (Thanks goes to Chi's lovely friend for taking her~ X3) There may be a Part 3 to this if I can ever drag Bon along with me! X3

Wednesday Stroll Around Etsyland #1

Following Laura from Sahara's Heart and Lelanie from To Sew With Love's examples~ I'm going to try and do some window shopping and stroll around Etsyland every Wednesday~ :)

So for this morning's fantasy Etsyland stroll~

It was a relatively mild and warm winter morning (this is fantasy Etsyland~ ;p) so I put on this cute "Be a Gift" dress (from tidabeads)

And carry this "Knitted bag" (by NzLbags)~

which shall contain this little "mini purse" with cute little flowers (by michellechan1010) 

I pick up my neighbor's little "french bulldog enid" (by everyeskimo), whom I adore and had offered to take for a walk today~ 

We headed for the local park~ which has this magnificent "Splendid sunburst" tree (by LarryCarlsonStudio), which enid loved to run circles around~ :)

Here at the park, we met my friend "Emma" who was on vacation (by okapiknits), and asked if she wanted to go have some lunch together. 

We agreed on having some "California Sushi Roll" (by Cornstarch) but they were too cute to eat... so we set them free... ;p

And instead, we had some "Cherry Marshmallows" (by OhYum)

and some "Homemade Chocolate Fudge" (by Shopadoodledo)

The End~ 

(lol~ X3)

Tuesday Pounce Some Treasures: SylviaCPhotography

It's Tuesday again! X3 (Feels like a Monday 'coz of Martin Luthur King Jr Day yesterday~) Hope you all had a great weekend~ :) Today's Featured Pounce is SylviaCPhotography!

So I stumbled across Sylvia's Etsy shop this morning while putting together today's treasury... and she had 19 sales... so I was all "yay! better do the pounce on her before she gets more sales" (I think one of the pounce rules was to feature shops with 20 sales or less)....  but then after I finished the treasury.... she had had three more sales, which put her shop over the 20 sale limit...but I'm just going to count that I "discovered" her while she was still under 20 sales! X3

Congrats on your sales Syvia! :D

Sylvia is a Military wife and mom from Utah, who is creative and loves taking, editing and looking at pictures~ She has a philosophy of "If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life." and I very much aspire to that kind of thinking~ :)

Let me share with you the photo that really blew my mind away~

This bokeh photo is simply elegant!! It makes me reminisce on a childhood dreamy day looking up at the ferris wheel through teary eyes. This picture is sombre yet has the lively feel of the fair.

Syvia also have heaps of other photos that does similar effect~ telling untold stories through a picture that portrays so many emotions. What's the story that comes to mind for you?

Please visit Sylvia's Etsy shop when you get the chance~ she also has a blog and flickr where she shares more of her lovely photos~ :)


This is the treasury which I had built for the Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge that includes Sylvia's photo~ :3

What Chi had been up to Weekend: French Apple Crusted Pie

I've decided to change the name for "Work in Progress" to "What Chi has been up to Weekend" instead, 'coz today I'd like to share my attempt in pie making endeavor. :) 

I got this recipe from my lovely colleague~ :3

French Apple Crusted Pie

1. Chop up some green apples (3 medium size ones would've probably been enough... I did 5 and had too much left over.. :() Mix the following in a separate bowl: ½ cup butter or shortening (cut into small blocks), 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt.
2. Mix the ingredients by using two knifes (one in each hand) and using the cutting motion~ so that the butter is chopped further into pea-sized chunks. Drizzle in 3-4 tablespoons of water while mixing until the mixture begins to form small balls.  Press down with a spatula to see if the balls stick together, if they do you have added enough water.  If they do not, add the rest of the water.  Press with your hands until the dough sticks together.  Press into a flat disk and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3. (pictures in the wrong way... ;p) Take out the dough and flatten using rolling pin, flip around and roll some more until the dough is big enough to fit over the pie tin. Press the dough in the pie tin, trimming or pasting in spare bits for the edges. Fill with previously chopped up apples that had been mixed with ½ cup sugar, 1/3 cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, Dash of salt. (The sugar makes the apple pieces water~)
4. see above.. ;p
5. Cover the pie with the crumbly crust which contains: 1 cup all purpose flour, ½ cup packed brown sugar, ½ cup firm margarine or butter.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl until crumbly.
6. Cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminium foil to prevent it from burning. 
7. Bake in pre-heated oven at 425 F for 50mins. (check the crust during the last 10mins just in case it burns)
8. Enjoy~ :3 (nom nom nom~)

Initially it didn't turn out the way it looked the first time I made it with my lovely colleague, but it ended up tasting pretty good! :D Give it a try sometime~ if I can do it, anyone can! X3

Pay It Forward~ Freebies for you!!

I've decided to join in on the fun of paying it forward! :D
I got my freebie from Rachel at Tatterbeans and will now pay in forward to 5 other bloggers~ :D

All you have to do is to be the first 5 people to comment below and please email me your snail mail address at bonandchi(at)gmail.com so that I can post some little handmade goodies out to you! :)

I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must re-post this message, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011.

GOGOGO!!! X3

Feature Friday: Chi's LACMA Adventures (Part 1)

This week I had the chance to visit the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) with my friend~  I haven't been to THAT many museums but I liked the feel of LACMA~ The Urban Lights outside by Chris Burden looks fantastic at night! ANY photographer can get a great arty picture of these lights just by point and click (See Chi's demonstration of this in the pic below~ X3) Another piece of bigger than life sculptural work is Smoke by Tony Smith, the massive painted aluminum sculpture greets the visitors as you walk into the main building of LACMA.

One of the special exhibitions that is currently on is the Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Deail, 1700-1915. It was interesting to see all the different styles that were in trend back in those times, from really exuberant French styled dresses to the more modest English styled ones. The exhibition also showed how one dressed to accentuation certain part of the body (e.g. the buttock as shown in one of the pictures below). I was quite shocked that in those days, a lady is still expected to wear a bustle pad or "light weight" wire cage even when they're playing tennis~ But I suppose if the ladies of those days saw what I wore on day-to-day basis they'd be pretty shocked also~  :T

Another exhibition that LACMA has going on at the moment is the India's Fabled City: Lucknow. This exhibition was very well laid out~ with lots of paintings and treasures pieced together in a way that makes you feel as if you're on an adventure exploring through their culture (with lovely Indian-themed chairs for you to sit on if you ever felt the need to rest during your adventure)~ The Lucknow paintings are so unbelievably detailed! The top left photo on the picture panel below is just a tiny tiny section (i used macro on my camera) depicting a parade on a painting of the royal castle (? sorry I didn't read the info tag beside the painting... ;p) But I do love all the tiny little elephants and little people dancing around~ I wonder how the artists did these detailed detailed paintings~ did they use magnifying glasses? o.O Another feature of this collection that I wanted to share and OMG about is the (nearly) 360 degree panoramic photo room of the city~ It's absolutely stunning! apparently it was taken after a war had taken place and that soon after this photo was taken, the ancient city was built on top of... (according to my friend... since I don't read the info tags.... hehe~ thanks Chi's friend for doing all the tag reading to explain to Chi about all the art~ ;p)~

I think LACMA has a free day on Martin Luther King Jnr Memorial day~ :) So if you have some time and is around the area, why not go check it out! (I might drag Bon along with me this time to finish all the other collections that my friend and I did not have time to go through~ X3)

Part 2 of Chi's LACMA Adventures on Japanese and Latin American arty stuff on next week's Feature Friday~ :)

Free Advertising with these lovely ladies~

I stumbled upon two lovely blogs recently To Sew with Love (by Lelanie) and Sweet November (by Sara). These lovely ladies have offered free advertising spaces on their website until they reach 300 blog followers! X3 Aren't they just the greatest!!?! Thank you both so much~~






I also made some buttons for the Bon&Chi website and Etsy shop~ :) They are on the sidebar now~
To make them I followed this very easy to follow post~ Hope this may help you if you're looking to make your own buttons too~

Chi~

Tuesday Pounce Me Some Treasuries: weeboogie

Arrrrghh maties~ It's that time of the week again to pounce me some treasuries~

Today's feature shop is for weeboogie, maker of the weeboogie Ride-On Toy~ :D

The owner behind weeboogie is Brad, who first made the weeboogie Ride-On Toy for his little girl Liana~ :) Brad has a fun sense of humor and shares on his profile that his family has a dog named Molly, Liana loves grapes, his wife love peanut butter and he himself loves Swedish fish ice cream~ X3 

The weeboogie is a perfect gift for your favorite toddler and has the ability to go in all directions. You can have it personalize to have your toddler's favorite color handle and also have your child's name stamped on the back to prevent weeboogie mix up's at weeboogie drive around parties. 

weeboogie in action!

So if you'd like a toy that is FUN, something that lasts AND is earth friendly for your toddler~ this is the perfect gift for the little one you know! :)

And here is the treasury that I made (including the weeboogie) as part of the Team Discovery Treasury Challenge~ :)

Work in Progress Weekend: Karate Kid clay figure

For today's Work in Progress series~ I'd like to share the making of another little custom figure that I made for my friend's (second!) order~ This is in likeness of the little boy who's taken up karate recently! :3

1. Head and body~ 
2. Getting the karate gear on! (the feet are in the front)
3. Ears and mouth (in "Heeeya" position), arms ready to punch! Notice the black belt ;)
4. Oh no! bald spot!
5. Hair and eyebrows done. Ready to assemble~ 
6. Assembled and eyes on! Heeeyaaa!!!

Again, after baking, painting and glazing~ He's ready to go kicking! :)

Have a nice day~ ;)

Feature Friday: Movie Tetsuya Nakashima's "Confession"

Confession (告白, Kokuhaku)

Director: Tetsuya Nakashima

Official website (Japanese): http://kokuhaku-shimasu.jp/index.html

About a month ago hubby Bon found out about a free preview of the Japanese movie "Confession" by Tetsuya Nakashima at a local uni's film department. Not knowing what the story about and since the film starred the famous Takako Matsu (from Japanese series "Love Generation" and "Hero") as the leading actress, I had assumed that the movie would be a romantic drama  where two beautiful people meet and confess their love for each other. 

Takako as the teacher giving the students the lecture of their lives!
(image from http://www.chinapost.com.tw)

How wrong was I !?!! (>.<;) The story was about a junior high school teacher's (played by Takako) revenge against the select students in her class, who she believed, had murdered her daughter (played by the really talented child star Mana Ashida, who also starred in the Japanese drama "Mother"). The film is portrayed through the various characters' viewpoints as they "confess" their thoughts to the audience. I was totally shocked by the movie! It was chilling, psychotic and in many scenes outright disturbing. However, from the cinematography point of view it was shot beautifully and the story presented elegantly. The pace was rapid and engaging keeping the audience on the edge of the seat.  

Takako in front of her students (image from asianmediawiki.com)

Despite the dark backdrop, the films also had it's (relatively) light hearted moments which contrasted dramatically to the rest of the film. For example the scene where the passionate newbie teacher (played by Masaki Okada) that took over Takako's class gets the class dancing (and having fun!?) to "That's the way I like it" (by KC and the Sunshine band). 

Passionate newbie teacher(image from asianmediawiki.com)

The movie is actually based on the 2008 best-selling novel by Kanae Minato and the movie was also selected to represent Japan at the 83rd Academy Awards under the Best Foreign Language Film category. I highly recommend "Confessions" (if you're not too put off by scary movies)!! X3


Here's a trailer with English sub-titles

Handmadeology Break Out Series

Bon&Chi's Game vs. Gamer Memo holder was lucky enough today to get featured in the "Break Out Series" of the the brilliant Handmadeology blog. Yay~ Thank you so much Tim for this~ We really really appreciate it! X3

Through Handmadeology Tim shares his knowledge and tips on how to be successful in selling handmade items online. He also helps promote Etsy sellers by featuring them on his blog~ :3 It's a really helpful site and has a very stylish set up, please check it out if you have a chance~ :3

When I first stumbled across Handmadeology, Tim was featuring 10 fresh shop in his new Break Out series (1st Jan 2011). I would like to share with you four of which I really liked~ :3

• FlutterbyeNotes: has really really cute cards and notes, perfect gifts for teachers! They can also customize the notes to your needs~ X3
• LabyrinthHerbals: sells lovely and soothing looking soaps and lip balms~ (^o^)
• PoshPursesBoutique: has kawaii and chic bags that would be perfect for any girl~ ;3
• AisletoAlohaStudio: designs simplistic yet funky artwork~ Love it! :)

(yay~ I managed to get this blog posted before today ended~ as I had promised on my comment! X3 Though I don't think anyone would have noticed my comment anyways.... ;p Teehee~ can sleep guilt-free tonight!)