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