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!)

Tuesday Pounce Some Treasures: UnderTheStairsStudio

Hello hello~ :3 Okay so I've only done like one Tuesday Treasures so far... but have decided to modify the name slightly to combine Tuesday Treasures with the Pounce a New Shop~ So the idea is to pounce and introduce a new shop while making a treasury, killing 2 birds with 1 stone! :D (aren't I a smart cookie now~ teehee~)

So today's Pounce a Fresh Shop that I'd like to introduce is: UnderTheStairsStudio

UnderTheStairsStudio is run by Morgan K, who is from sunny Brisbane Australia~ (Gooday mate~ :D). She is a really creative person and graduated with a BA of Interior Designs and also does painting on top of making beautiful zippy brooches and accessories for her shop~

Her Zippy flowers on heart brooches are just soooo adorable~ They're so pretty and girly, they make me feel like a young girl again~ (*goes off to twirl in the flower garden*)

She has more pictures of her work on her flickr page and you can see what she's been up to creatively on her blog~ :)

And here is the Tuesday Treasures treasury that I put together (including Morgan's lovely heart brooch) for the Team Discovery Treasury Challenge~ :)

Work in Progress Weekend: O.B.1 polymer clay figure

Hope everyone has recovered from all the partying in the New Years~ :)

For today's Work in Progress Weekend, I'd like to share the photos of the little Obi-Wan Kenobi figure that I made for my little cousin's Christmas present! :)

1. Heads~ Shoulders~ Knees, NO toes.... yet! :O 
2. Getting the clothing on.
3. Trying out the robe for size
4. Styling and gelling his hair~ 
5. Gotta love the beard! :3 Robe (with hood) ON!
6. Arms and light saber~ :)

And then after baking, painting the eyes and glazing~ the finished product~ :3

May the force be with you~ X3

Stylish Blogger Award~

Happy New Years everyone! :D

Heather from CrazyAdorable (http://crazyadorable.blogspot.com/ and http://heatherandmileyegley.blogspot.com/) gave me the Stylish Blogger Award!! XD Thanks so much Heather~ I'm so excited!! Thank you, thank you, thank you~ 

Okay~ so what I have to do for this award is:

• Thank and link back to the person that awarded you this award. (Check!)
• Share 7 things about yourself. 
• Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered bloggers. (I'm guessing only newish bloggers?)
• Contact those bloggers and tell them about the award.

7 Things about Bon&Chi:

1. Bon and Chi are Asian~ :)
2. Bon and Chi are the last letters from our Chinese names! :D (The nickname I use for him is Bonbon, but he doesn't call me Chichi... ;p lol)
3. Bon grew up in Australia (Gooday mate!)
4. Chi grew up in New Zealand, land of the long white clouds~ 
5. Bon is madly in love with soccer/football (we are Barca supporters!)
6. Chi is madly in love with volleyball and has dragged Bon into playing also~
7. You've probably seen Chi's avatar running all over the place, especially in the Newbie and Undiscovered Teams' discussion on Etsy.... have you ever wondered what Bon looks like?? Well.... HERE HE IS!!! XD lol~ he has spiky hair and thick eyebrows! The figures are from our wedding cake topper~ ;)

Here are the 15 awesome blogs that I've recently found (I've only recently started blogging so I guess most blogs I've found are new to me! XD). Round of applause to these Stylish Blogger Award winners! :D 

1. Joey's Dream Garden: I first found Joey through flickr when I commented on her awesome tiger embroidery. She's really friendly and is really really good at embroidery! (she's inspired me to pick up my needle and thread X3)
2. WheelChair Decor: I think I first met Becky at the newbie Virtual Labs on Etsy~ Becky is a lovely lady and I love her attitude towards life~ :) Her second blog is My Eleven Reasons.
3. Dreamaginarius: Charlot is so lovely and helpful~ I met her through the Newbie Team on Etsy~ She's also helping out fellow Etsians with banners~ contact her if you need some banner help! :D
4. 30 Days Etsy Challenge: Blog written by EarthyHabitat for beginner Etsy shop owners. Really well written detailed info on how to set up an Etsy shop!
5. Beansprouts Childrens Wear: Blog run by fellow Newbie Etsian member Cinda~ :) Lovely lady~ 
6. Chavaneth: lovely lady also a fellow Newbie Etsian member~ :)
7. Creativity Bug: Fellow Newbie Etsian member~ 
8. From Laura With Love: Fellow Newbie Etsian member from England~ sells cool pendants and jewelry :D
9. reFinds: lovely lady also from the Newbie Etsian team~ sells lots of cool vintage items~ 
10. LibbysGirlyThings: Fellow Newbie Etsian, sells cute girly dolls and ribbons~ :)
11. Petite Hermine: Also a fellow Newbie Etsian (i think!? I'm losing track here~) her blog and etsy items are really cute~ 
12. Oh Yum!: I remember first seeing Kathy at Virtual Labs and just seeing her avatar and shop items (mushmellows) made me hungry during the lab... X3
13. Pop Mosaic: Fellow Newbie Etsian~ She blogs about cool feature artists/jewelry artist~ 
14. Mollys Muses: I found her blog through the Lab Rats~ her blog style is lovely and she often gets featured on the Etsy front page~ :3
15. WTF Etsy: Okay... WTF Etsy isn't a newish blog and I may get a WTF stamp from her for putting her here... but her Etsy shop critiques are really funny and candid! I'm still not brave enough to put myself on her chopping block yet! (>.<;) 

First Bon&Chi sale! New Years celebration gift~

OMGOMGOMG~ X3

WE MADE OUR FIRST ETSY SALE TODAY!!! YAAAAY~ \(^o^)/

Thanks so much to Charlot from Dreamaginarius for making my day~ Such a great way to end the year 2010 and begin a new one~ :)  All this excitement happened during the Team Undiscovered Etsian BNR treasury today, hosted by FoggyMorningSundries~ :)

EDIT (5th Jan 2011): Thanks so much for the lovely Pounce a shop post Charlot! X3 I'm really glad that the ninjas are settling at your place really well and are making lots of friends already~ :D

Lalalalala~ was on cloud 9 ALLLLL day~ yayayay~
To celebrate the first sale of the Bon&Chi Etsy shop I decided to include a gift for Charlot's purchase~ ;) Behold! The Mokuzai Ninja Mini-memo holder! :D

And also to celebrate the New Years, I will also be including a Mokuzai Ninja Mini-memo holder to the first sale of 2011~ X3

EDIT (4th Jan 2011): Bon&Chi made our first 2011 sale today to FeltJellyBean~ Thank you so much and congratulations on winning the Mini-memo holder~ \(^o^)/

And on top of that we'll be having a sale for 10% discount for the first week of New Years (1st January to 8th January 2011)~ Please use the coupon 2011NEWYEARSLADIDA to get your discount~ :)

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!

Feature Friday: Happy New Years! :)

HAPPY NEW YEARS! :D


For this week's Feature Friday I thought that I would post some pictures from previous years' New Year fireworks for those (like me) that could not go out and party~ :'(

(Images from Life.com, environstats.wordpress.com, asaimsea.com, arbitntly,edu.ms, blog.asiahotel.com, dailymail.co.uk, ekagib.blogspot.com)  

Fireworks from around the world (up-down, left-right):

• Auckland, New Zealand
• Singapore
• Moscow, Russia
• London, England
• Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
• Greece
• Tokyo, Japan
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Sydney, Australia
• Paris, France
• New York, USA
• Hong Kong

Have a GREAT year~ :3

Pounce a Fresh Shop: Lofiphotography

Ahh~ I'm late with the Tuesday Pounce with the Etsian Newbie Team, but I guess late is better than never! 


For the first Pounce a Fresh Shop I'd like to introduce Jenni C from Lofiphotography~ :)
I discovered her through the Etsian Newbie group while I was making a treasury for the Wednesday Team Undiscovered treasury challenge.

Jenni started her love and talent for photography since six grade! She won second place back then with a black and white photo which she also developed herself~ :D I love the mood that her photos portray, it really takes my imagination on a journey! 


Here are some of her work that she is currently selling on her Etsy shop~ Please show her some love and let her photos take your mind away too~ 

I'd also like to share with you the treasury that I made for today's Team Undiscovered treasury challenge, which also features Jenni's item~ :)







Peace~ 

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Tuesday Treasures: New Year Plans

Where will you be to count down to 2011? :D


Get ready for the New Years with a selection of calendars from Etsy~ :)







I also made a treasury for the Team Discovery Challenge~ :)







Have fun! and stay safe~ :D




I had pre-wrote the above to be scheduled for posting today~ BUT there's some exciting news today!!~ Cinda from Beansprouts Childrens Wear  (also known as BSCW) has featured Bon&Chi on her blog!! X3 Yay~~~~ This is the first feature Bon&Chi has ever had! Thanks so much Cinda~ Really made our day~  

Work in Progress Weekend: Hermione polymer clay figure

Hope everyone had a great Christmas with your family and friends~ :)


For the first Work in Progress Feature, I'd like to share the making of Hermione which was my first custom order from a friend~ :) 

1. Made the head and body. Trying to get the red and yellow stripy tie on
2. Managed to get the robe on, but had to take the hair off so that her hair don't get squashed. (Rethink hair strategy time... (>.<;)) also made her book here! arms not attached yet. Most of the tie got covered up... (why did i do all the stripes...(=.=;)) and added to her "roundness"
3. By this time the sun had set and I'm now working with the orangey lamp light :( Arms attached! Hair (took the looong route) attached! book attached! added shirt collar!
4. Back view of the curls~ oh sooo many curls~ lol
5. Painted eyes and mouth and drew the book cover features on after baking~ Oh and I also powdered her hair and wand with some sparkly PearlEx~  

And then TaDa~ the completed Hermione after glazing~ :)

Happy Boxing Day!! :)

Feature Friday: Merry Christmas!!

Being Christmas Eve, I thought I should dedicate this week's Feature Friday on (you guessed it!) Christmas! :3 Since I'm very much into cute stuff, combining cute + Christmas has never been so fun~ X3 (actually it turned out harder than I thought... but fun nonetheless)


The limited edition figure of Wallace and Gromit, apparently recreating the scene from the RadioTimes magazine Christmas cover from last year~ :D

(Image from Wallace and Gromit website)

Good old Mickey Mouse had a re-design this year~ Toy soldier Mickey is a limited edition Disney Event Vinylmation collectible figure and was sold at the Disney Store (but when I checked Mickey is sold out already :() 

(Image from Disney Store)

Something special for the Star Wars fans out there! :3 Mini Darth Vader Christmas figure~ awww... he's not so scary after all~ 

(Image from GadgetSin.com)

The green Android vinyl figure has been transformed into the limited snowman edition for this Christmas season! (can be bought at Dead Zebra Inc.)

(Image from Dead Zebra Inc.)

Now onto the shores of Japan, BearBrick's 2010 Christmas edition figures~ 

(Images from BearBrick.com)

Danbo, the corrugated cardboard box character from Revoltech (this one is amazon.com.jp one~) This picture is from Thumbnail of Life blogger dans.

(Image from Thumbnail of Life)

And of course Nintendo Super Mario's Yoshi, with his cute antlers~ X3 (Yoshi's my favorite Mario character~)

(Image from Mushroom Kingdom website)

Stepping into the girly cutness land of Blythe and Pullip~ Blythe's fluffy yellow Santa dress is so cute~ and the reindeer costume of Pullip is just so adorable! X3

(Images from Blythe and Guidetobuy websites)

And of course who can forget the Sanrio crew when we're talking about girly cuteness! Here's Miffy~ and Hello Kitty in bunny Christmas costumes~ (is she trying to pretend to be Miffy? (=.=;))

(Images from Sanrio)

And I found this from the LittleLady blog~ a Hello Kitty Christmas light decoration~ Imagine that! the owners must be real Hello Kitty fans.

(Image from LittleLady blog)

Last but not least, following on from Christmas decorations, Time Square (the one in Hong Kong) has turned its grounds into a "Crazy X'mas" wonderland showing works of the urban contemporary artist Micheal Lau. Bon really likes Micheal's figures, his new Kindergardener series is pretty cute~ :3

(Image from Cover Magazine.hk)

Phew~ That's it for now! 
Wish you all a very Merry Christmas~ :D

Tuesday Treasures: Kawaii Christmas~

Being soooo close to Christmas the first Tuesday Treasures of course had to be Christmas related! XD
Today's treasury features adorable items to cute up your Christmas season~ X3

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE~!!

Lets begin!

Okay~ stop the procrastination and start my blog already!! (>.<;) 


Hehe... so I've opened this account for more than a week (or two?) for my Etsy shop... and not being the brilliant writer that many of the bloggers out there are, I've been really stuck as to what I could write about for my shop. (=.=;) If I just post the most recent items in the store... then this would just be like the facebook page! So I decided to follow the examples of some nice Etsy blogs were they do different feature on different days of the week and have various focuses not just on my shop. :) this I hope will also be an incentive for me to write regularly~


Here's the plan (for now):


Tuesday Treasures
Shall show off the Bon&Chi compiled  treasury of the week
e.g. the most recent "I Heart Taste Test" treasury, which I used the newest Etsy Taste Test feature to find shops unbeknown to me~



Feature Friday
Feature "something" be it an Etsy shop, artist, music group, blog etc. 

Work in progress Weekend
Show the steps in the production of an item that I've been working on
e.g. Little Hermione and O.B.1 figurines that I have made recently as a gift for family and friends

And being more of a visual person myself... I'll try and add lots of nice pictures to each post~ X3