Marina Barrage

Recently had a family outing at Marina Barrage. This is a dam built across the Marina CHannel forming Singapore's first reservoir in the city. There are nine steel crest gates which separate seawater from freshwater. It also serves as a tidal barrier to keep out high tides. Kids can have a good time splashing themselves wet at the water playground.

There is an interesting gadget at the Sustainable Singapore Gallery which wowed me. There is a screen which shows a book where you flip the pages via a touch screen - the image really shows the page being flipped quite realistically.

It was a scorching hot day while we were there and kids and mummy had indeed gained some understanding about the purpose of the barrage.

Crystals

Crystals are very versatile to use in jewelry making. I particularly like to use Swarovski crystals because of its high quality cut. They come in various colours, shapes and sizes.

I've newly created a necklace using only crystals - the flower-shaped and bicone ones in contrasting colours of black and chilli red. This is a two-in-one necklace that can be worn together or separately. Took some time to complete it as I'd strung the black crystal ball by hand. Liked the final output. Do take a peek at my etsy shop for more pics.

White Grapes

Had previously bought 2 strands of white howlite beads and have not done much with them. One night, I was starring at these beads and suddenly the idea of draping them as a bunch of grapes came to my mind. Yes, I could use the leaf charm that was placed beside these beads too in my new creation. It took me some time to get the right and nice drape. Here's the grapes-earring that I've newly created.

Sowing the Seed of Love

2 weeks back, my boy brought a bean back from school - it looked like a broad bean. What is unique and cute about this seed is that on one side of the bean was printed the name of the school while the picture of a puppy was printed on the other side. Unlike the green bean, the bean is to be grown on soil.

So the following Sat after the seed has been brought back, mummy went to buy some soil. Soon, mummy and son were at the corridor planting the seed. We split the job. I poured the soil in a recycled container and my boy buried the seed in the soil. We then happily watered the seed and declared the seed planted. There was definitely some bonding between mummy and son during the process.

It was during the night when we were revising his Science that it suddenly struck us that maybe the seed should not be buried - based on the theory that a seed needs air, water and warmth to germinate. Yes, air - we reckoned that the seed will not get air if it is buried in the soil! So poor mummy got back to the corridor, in the night, dug out the seed and placed it gingerly on the soil instead.

It took quite a long while for it to germinate - almost a week. And this is how it looked like after 2 weeks. Cute!

Necklace Inspiration

Had recently sold a necklace at my etsy shop and inspired to do more necklaces. Have come up with the 'Donut Dangle' comprising of a vintage flower, leaf charm and a donut bead. I liked the dainty ensemble! Do take a peek at my etsy shop via the link on the right. Enjoy :)!

My Little Girlie

My little girl (actually not little anymore - she's 8 this year)went for her ballet exam recently. As I'm currently taking a break from work, I'd the luxury of bringing my girl for the exam and stayed by her side to calm her nerves. She looked very sweet with her bun professionally done up and with a pretty scrunchie.

She had a practice just before her exam. That was the first time I've seen her danced the full dance for exam. Oh my, it was a really a long one and there're definitely many steps to remember. I'm impressed that my girl can actually remembered them all! I really enjoyed myself watching my little one danced.

My First Etsy Sale!

Yay, my first sale at my etsy shop has finally materialised on 27 Feb 09! Was naturally very excited and happy over this first sale, months after I've listed the items.

So far, competition in handcrafted jewelry has been very very keen at Etsy. Got to work harder to list more unique,OOAK items.

Do take a peek at my etsy shop at www.Prettybeadz.etsy.com (see link on the right of the page).