Lilacmoon

I didn’t feel like doing the same kind of things.. Actually, I didn’t want to do anything. But I knew I had to go on, keep strong. So, I decided to try something I’ve always been thinking of doing. Drawing directly on my Polaroids! I have plenty of sucky ones, the ones I will never dare show you naked. So why not do something with them?

This is my tribute to the little pot, which I basically killed, because I forgot to water it. T_T

One of my very early Polaroid shots.. failed shot becomes a great canvas for me!

If you look very closely, there’s a BART train on the hill.. it’s travelling underwater! Bloop bloop..

I will admit, I felt like a five-year old drawing on the polaroids. Lots of giggling and laughing. It was so much fun!

There’s actually one more I did but I will show you on Valentine’s Day. ^_^;;

This was a soothing exercise… I really felt like just putting sharp spears at the top of the stems, instead of jolly, round balls of flowers. But I didn’t.

I think, next time, I’ll start varying the line weight. -_-;; Are you getting bored with these? I think I am.

Here is my creation of the day.

Ever since I visited Portland’s Chinese Garden, I’ve been thinking that lilypads are such interesting shapes to work with. I took plenty of pictures of them, too, but never did anything with them, until now!

This piece took more time than the previous two, and I used a lot more variety of patterns. Without the bold outlines, this composition would fall apart, for sure.

Continuing on with the theme of bold lines and shapes..

This time, it’s all about black-and-white. I got the patterns from various magazines and clothing catalogues. Good thing I saved them! I can’t help it.. I’m such a sucker for patterns. And I realized, I really love cutting papers! Something about it feels really satisfying. Should I be concerned?? *shrug*

My 2006 (and 2005, I think) resolution of creating something every day miserably failed. So I’m giving it another chance this year.

This time, I’m going to be bold! Bold shapes, bold lines! Nobody can stop me now! -_-;;

I finally got done what I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, ever since I started drinking lots of tea: decorating/labeling the tea containers. We (Matt and I) buy loose-leaf tea from Samovar a lot, and they come in very clean-looking, black-and-white containers. Nothing wrong with them but when we try to reuse them for other teas once we are done with them, things can get pretty confusing! So, I’ve been wanting to label them properly and, at the same time, decorate them a little more to my taste.

This is what I ended up doing with the containers:

I had some Japanese papers lying around, and you know how much I love all things patterned… I simply glued them on the tins, and stuck labels on them. Now, the labels took some time. I printed the borders and the tea names on 2″x4″ address labels and then added little icons with my hand-made rubber stamps. I admit, the whole project was an excuse to do rubber stamping. And boy, was it fun!

Here is a closer look at the labels:

I have way more tea but since they’re still in their original tins, I won’t re-label them just yet. I need more variety of Japanese papers, anyway. Sounds like another excuse to go shopping, no?

I love wrapping gifts. I have fun concealing the present and imagining what the person receiving it will think about it.. But I also like it because it is one of the things I think I’m good at. ^^;; Here is a pic of some small Christmas presents I wrapped for my coworkers:

I found that tissue papers can make a great wrapping paper, as long as I use them in multiple layers. The ones I used here are from Anthropologie.. you know they always pack away the stuff you buy in tissue papers.. I thought it’d be a waste to just toss them away, and I’m glad I saved them! I used some cream yarn strings to wrap around a few times and then attached a Cavallini & Co. holidays sticker in the center.

I’ve never wrapped presents like this before.. I don’t know how I ended up wrapping these like this. Anyway, a whole new world has opened up to me. Next time, I think I’ll try using thinner strings, maybe metallic? Maybe I can make my own labels, with rubber stamped images. Possibilities are endless.

It’s been awhile since I last posted anything.. Sorry!
I’ve been busy lately, with the holidays and whatnot. But I managed to do some craft projects. Here is one of them:

I made these for my friends, and the intials are for their first names. They are basically fabric-covered buttons glued onto a pice of grosgrain ribbon. Hot glue gun rocks. What do you think?

I have tons of stuff to blog about, so be sure to check back soon!

Yes! After some time wondering whether I should get them pierced, I finally decided to. Actually, I made that decision on a whim, when I happen to walk by the piercing parlor recommended by a friend of mine. I thought, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never get them done. ^_^;; The piercing didn’t take that long, and it wasn’t painful at all.
ちょっとお知らせです〜
二週間前、ピアシングをしました！両耳に一つずつです。
むかしから、ピアスを開けようかどうか迷っていたんですか、今やっと決定して、しまいました。
ピアシングの直前まではちょっと怖かったですけど、ぜんぜん痛くなかったです。
Here’s me, waiting for my turn!
I look a little timid, don’t I?

And this is my ear before I got them pierced. Never again!

記念で、ピアス前の耳です。^_^;;

Hopefully, they heal without much trouble..
I can’t wait to change these surgical-steel earrings to prettier ones! Hmm, I actually have two pairs of earrings that are waiting to get used.

Here are some of my recent Polaroid shots~
最近とったポラロイド写真です〜



Thanks to George, I got sucked into Polaroids and bought a Minolta Instant Pro on eBay. What do you think?
ジョージという友達のおかげで　ポラロイドにすごく気に入って、ebayでカメラを買ってしまうことになりました。どう思います。

I am very happy with the above one.. Thanks for letting me use the close-up kit, George!
この上のほうが今までのベストと思いますけど..

Ah, you may be wondering, what’s with the Japanese text? Well, I decided to practice my Japanese as well as expand my audience. By one person. Hopefully more. We shall see how well this goes.
これからは　時々本語で書こうと思っていますので、どうぞよろしくお願いします。
いい練習になるかも知れませんから、私、頑張ります！
あ、どこか、間違ってることがあったらぜひ教えてくださいね〜