The Making of Felt Flower Corsage

Sketches and References of Flower Corsage

A dear friend of mine has recently wed and she has requested me to make her a few sets of flower corsage for the Jimuis during Jip San Leong (a traditional challenge for the groom to get to the bride). A few important details to acquire when creating corsage;

• Colors: Best to limit down to 3 or 4 colors. Keep the colors to minimum.
• Flowers type: There are quite a lot of types out there, this is up to you. Peony is the one I am referring to.
• Added details: Pearls? Ribbons? Netting? Glitters?
• Overral style: Bohemian? Polka 50's? Bright 70's?

Where can you get felts in KL? Look no further, head to Art Friend, Garden's Midvalley. It's RM1.50 per piece, but if you have a membership, then it's another 5%. Yay!

There are a few types of felt. The ones that I bought is called Eco Felt. Apparently its made from acrylic and it cannot be dyed like the normal wool type.

Next, we go to step-by-step tutorial. I got to give credit to iCandy handmade tutorial. You can find out more precise tutorial here.

Print and cut your choices of stencil. You can print the image below and print it on a thicker paper, say 80 gsm and above?

Use a sharpie and trace away!

The rest of the folding process, again, you can refer at iCandy handmade

Neat, huh? I have stitched the flower with beaded bracelet, which is made from copper colored beads wrapped using thin elastic thread. Since its made from rubber, the bracelet can be expanded a little.

Here's the final look. You can also make this as a hairpin, clothing badge...anything!

Fly High, Hitam

Hitam at her favorite window spot. Taken July last year.

My cat of 16 years passed away last month. Hitam took her last breath just about 15 mins after I reached home after a phone call from my mom. When I got home, I found her lying in her bed, her breath was heavy, blank and dark stare in her eyes...the signs I knew so well from previous experience with a friend's cat who took his last breath right before my eyes.

After the burial, my sis and I sat at the back porch and had a moment of silent. Shortly after that, came a butterfly with a hint of black and white flying across the burial spot.

Hitam is a tortie (with black, white and orange fur), coincidence or plain miracle? :)

Love you, Hitam. Thanks for being a great part of the family and for spicing up our life.

Kiwi Motorhome Adventure

It's been more than 1 week since I recovered from a quick trip journey with my family of 4 to New Zealand last October. Last year, I managed to get a steal AirAsia flight tickets for RM813 per person (inclusive of tax, meal and luggage). It was cheap, but not cheapest which is at around RM6xx if I were fast enough.

My last overseas travel with my family was 20 years ago! We have no idea what's in store for us when we decided to pumped up the journey, KIWI style - traveling in a motorhome. To sum up how it feels like, it sorta reminds me of The Survivor reality show, haha! But thank god, we've made it!

Here are the summary of our journey destination...compiled using Halftone apps from iPhone.

Day 1: Airport Birches Motel

Our flight arrived at Christchurch airport about 20 minutes early than the expected arrival at 11.55 pm. This motel provides free pickup from airport till 1 am, but we've kinda anticipated that we couldn't settle everything before the last call. So eventually we managed to grab a shuttle van at around 1.15 am. If I'm not mistaken, its about $7 per person. We wished we could pick up the motorhome at this hour, but it is highly recommended to get a proper rest before driving.

Day 2: Lake Tekapo Holiday Park

After the whole process with the motorhome, groceries shopping, we made our way to the famous Lake Tekapo. It was a 3 hour journey technically minus the photo op stops, hehe.

We paid $18 per person ($90 for family of 5) for a powered site. We've chosen the closest camp site to the lake, too bad the pine trees stand on our way. Throughout our journey, we've noticed that most of the private camping sites are not that blessed with kick ass view compared to the DOC sites. I'll explain more on DOC sites further on the next post.

Day 3: Twelve Mile Delta, Glenorchy

We made it here by accident, or rather a serendipitous incident after finding out that Moke Lake couldn't take big camper. After a long winding, wet journey up the hill from Queenstown, we've found this place which happens to be one of the filming location of Lord of the Rings...little that I know. We were quite miserable to find out the gloomy, wet site, only to discover a total OPPOSITE the next day. The view was spectacular, private and we met some friendly locals camping there...and not to forget the warden (aka Tokwan or Yoda) that helped us on our route ahead. Basic facilities here (pit toilet and water) but hey, for $7 per person and the view, this was a steal! FYI, this is a DOC sites.

Day 4: Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel

A local lady selling fish and chips happens to recommend this place, which is not a smart move...not because she didn't eat fish (we were mentioned this when we've asked what's the best fish in the shop) but basically cos this is the worst version of our Day 2 campsite. It's slightly cheaper but we couldn't get any close view of the lake...plus this seems to be a lot of permanent campers here. FYI, Lake Ruataniwha is a man made lake, which explains the lake color. We've got a bit of a discount for $70 ($14 per person), but frankly, it's not worth the money even if it's half the price.

Day 5: Peel Forest, Geraldine

"Geraldine is one of the best place to visit on your way back to Christchurch", said the warden we met at Twelve Mile Delta and blimey, he's right. For starter, we've enjoyed strolling at this quiet and friendly town where the locals smile at you as you passed them. The same goes to the ladies in the information counter who recommend us to camp here at Peel Forest. This is one of a few serviced DOC sites, which means they have extra facilities like kitchen, laundry, powered sites and the best thing of all HOT shower.