Wednesday, July 28, 2010

FOTD-My Birthday make up

I turned a year older on the 23rd of July. I know it's late but here is the FOTD. Had a great day with my darling husband. We went to the Swedish museum of national history. It was all fun and very informative. Later in the evening it was dinner with the in laws. Even though I had a good day, I miss my family and friends very much. I wish they were closer to me and not oceans away!

Anyway, here are the pictures of my makeup and the products used.










Products used:-

FACE
Mac - Studio fix powder in NC45
Mac - Studio moisture cover concealer in NW35

EYES
Mac - Fresco paint pot (pink eyeshadow base)
Mac - Threesome mineralized eyeshadow light pink (inner half of the eyelid)
Mac - Interview mineralized eyeshadow navy blue ( outer crease)
Mac - Mineralized skin finish in medium dark as my highlight and blending colour

CHEEKS
Mac - Vintage grape blush ombre (darker shade as contour and the lighter purple pink on the cheeks)

LIPS
Mac - Fastplay lipstick 
Lakme - Brown lip pencil
Mac - clear lip glass


Moving on to some snapshots from the Museum.

It's a huge building. We only went to three exhibits (I think).




Fish from millions of years ago!


Dolphin like creature that was in the ocean millions of years ago! I can't believe it!


Beautiful butterflies!


Different types of crystals from all over the world


Yes, there are lynx in Sweden and wolves too!


Hope you guys like it. Off to Croatia! Will be back in August. Few projects at hand to be done (eg, video tutorial on throw pillows, makeup tutorial,etc...)

Love Love

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Throw Pillows (DIY home deco)

My mind has been in the thinking and designing mode. I have been decorating my home and the theme I am going for is something with Moroccan/indian decor. I have been making throw pillows for my sofa. It's an easy project and it's always nice to sketch and visualize the end result. I do not want to spend too much money on the decor either so DIY projects are the only option now. Use what I have at home.

Here is my sketch and planning process.



Old sarees that I have been saving for many years in my stash.

Made 3 throw pillows (20''x 12'')



The back side of all 3 looks like this.


I am very happy with the results. It was worth the 5 hours spent on this project. Do let me know if you would like to see a tutorial on this.

Till next time, I am off to do more sewing before I go for a mini holiday to Croatia.

Love Love

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Sewing with Nancy Zieman

OMG, I wish I had seen these videos much earlier in my sewing journey (I meant 10 years ago!).

 Nancy Zieman is a well known person in the sewing world. She has written quite a number of books such as Sewing with confidence, Serge with confidence, etc...'. I do not own any of her books yet. However, I am so thrilled to have found this site. Very informational and it makes you think ' hmm why didn't I think of that'. 



I am a visual learner and get very bored when I have to read garment construction tips which are word lengthy. Sometimes, I simply can't understand. I feel there are many who are like me. So if you are, I am sure you will enjoy Nancy's videos. 

Update : I am fixing my sewing/makeup/creative room now, can't wait to get the sewing machines started! Too many wonderful patterns just sitting in my drawer untouched. My head is over loaded with creative things (sewing and designing wise! LOL!). Here are some pictures of work in progress and an idea for sorting sewing notions and accessories (things to keep close by the machines).

As you can see, it is a complete mess!

My awesome sewing and serger machines out and ready to be used. I can't wait.


Got this great cabinet from ikea to sort my sewing stuff. Not very expensive, it will last and can take a beating if you move around (like me).

I just love it when things are organized.


Till next time, have a wonderful day!


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Mid summer festival in Sweden

Recently I was at my in laws country place to celebrate mid summer festival. This day involves eating pickled herrings and drinking snaps (alcohol) and hopping around a maypole like a frog. This day is celebrated between 19 june till 26 june which marks the longest day of the year. Since Sweden experiences long dark winters and short summers, this is how they appreciate the warmth and the light of the sun. 

You can read more about it here.

I am not a huge fan of the pickled herrings and alcohol so of course my in laws prepared some other nice food. It is always nice to know and learn about my husband's culture. Here are some pictures from the day.

Folks putting up the maypole! 

This looks a little naughty! Go figure!

Folks dancing and singing. Kids love it!


Chilling out with my hubby and in laws


I know it's been almost two weeks since this event .The reason for this late post is because I was really busy with the house move and stuff. Anyway I have more to share with you guys from a trip to southern part of Sweden (Malmo) and Copenhagen (Denmark). Stay tuned! 
Please bare with me with regards to my sewing and make up posts. I am still trying to set up my work area/ studio.

Till next time, have a wonderful week! 

PS: It's always nice to blog and share things with you guys! Thanks for following my blog.

Hugs!


Thursday, July 1, 2010

What's keeping me from blogging less these days!

I really miss blogging but it seems like whenever I am getting into the blogging mode, something comes up and I get distracted.

Guess what?!  We are moving again. Moving to a better place within Sweden, Uppsala. The reason is that we have found out that our current Landlord is a clever yet crazy person. So the sane thing to do is to move out of here before things get ugly. Here are some examples of what he has done.

1) When we moved in, the apartment was in an unacceptable condition so my husband wrote down all the things that had to be fixed before we started the tenancy. So this way, when we end the lease, we will not be blamed for things that were not damaged by us. However to our surprise, we found out that the Landlord actually charges and accuses his tenants for the damage that was not done by them and does not return the security deposits. He does that to every tenant and obviously never fixes things in the apartment. To our shock, we also found out that he owns a few houses in Uppsala and carries on this scam.

2) In the contract/lease, he is to pay for the heating and water. So we were happy to know this, as heating can be very expensive as it can get cold quite often here in Sweden (at least for me). There were a couple of days when it was so cold (even for my Swedish hubby) so you can imagine how it was for me. The heaters in our apartment were not working. We told the Landlord about this and guess what he did, he gave us a portable heating element. Consequently, we have to pay for the heating instead. How smart! Till today, he has not fixed the apartment's heating elements. From what we gather from the other tenants in the house, he has been avoiding fixing the heater since last year. Do note that last year, the winter was one of the worst in Sweden in 120 years! Temperatures dipped down as low as -30. Poor guys! To be very honest, I am not looking forward to this winter. I get so depressed when it's cold and dark. Without heating, it's going to be torture!

3) In the attic, there were 3 students living. So we can hear them walk, jump, talk and all you can imagine. The floors are so darn creaky and in the middle of the night when the students come home, we wake up because of the noise. So since the time we moved in to this apartment, we have had no proper sleep. The Landlord lied to us about the number of people living up in the attic. He said it was only 1 student and that he was a 'good' boy. We don't care what kinda boy he is, we just want the jumping and banging to stop.

4) We found out from an organization that offers legal advise and aide to tenants that there were 10 complaints against him just this year and that he is the only Landlord in Uppsala with this kinda record. All the above incidences were confirmed by the organization as the other tenants have had similar complains. Their advise was for us to end our contract asap.

Fortunately for us, we got an apartment much closer to the city and my husband's work place. The price to pay for this upgrade is 3 months of double rent as the move in date for our new apartment is July 1st and we had to give 3 months notice to the crazy Landlord. However I think the new apartment was meant for us as 7 other people who were interested turned it down as they were not able to move in immediately. I really think God heard our prayers. Now I get my own sewing room just like I had in Singapore! I am so happy for that!

So now I am busy packing and I really hope I can get my sewing, beading and makeup mojo on soon. I am missing it so much. I miss dancing around in my room with groovy music on. Just want to get my life back together as I was back in Singapore, who was always motivated and full of creative energy.

Now who says moving across half of the world is easy? I have finally realized that it is not so! Now I really appreciate my spoiled life in Singapore. I miss my family and friends very much!

I hope to be back real soon and share with you guys my new sewing room and makeup set up!

Love Love!