Public Garden Christmas Market Final Weekend!

Rhinestic's Knick Knacks will be back at the Public Garden Christmas Market this weekend! Expect to see a new batch of Almost-a-cube coin pouches with my new designs (the previous batch was a sell-out last weekend!) and perhaps a few more cuff links designs.

Dates: 19th and 20th Dec
Venue: F1 Pit Building, 1 Republic Boulevard, Level 3, #03-04
Timing: 1pm - 7pm

See you there!

Pameran Poskad 2015!

Hello, my lovelies!

Pameran Poskad will be here again in Singapore this year! I am one of the many artists who will be exhibiting our postcard-sized artworks. All artworks will be for sale and if you are keen in purchasing any of my original artworks, do pop by the exhibition and look out for my artist name 'Christine R. Bay'!

Event: Pameran Poskad 2015
Location: Gillman Barracks Blk 7 #01-13 Lock Road
Opening party: 19th Nov, 6 - 9 pm
Exhibition dates and Opening hours: 20th - 22nd Nov, 12 noon - 7pm

An Enriching Letterpress Workshop with Papypress!

I had an amazing 4-hour session today immersing myself in the world of letterpress at Papypress. The sight of the antique machines really tickled my vintage-love and steampunk fancies.

Ian gave us a short history about his company and a rather comprehensive introduction to letterpress. There were 5 of us in the workshop, and since I came alone, I had one of the three tabletop letterpress machines to myself! But, of course, we did eventually take turns to try the different machines in the end. =) 

The Adana tabletop letterpress - Printing with my custom photopolymer plate

If you remember, I did a cat illustration 2 posts back. Well, I redrew it digitally and sent the artwork to Papypress so that they could get the custom printing plate made. Using this printing plate, I did a number of postcard-sized prints with 3 different colors.

Prints from these tabletop presses will not show much or any 'de-bossing' if the image covers a wider area like my printing plate. To get visible indentation, a much smaller design is more suitable like so.

However, Ian was generous enough to demonstrate the use of a commercial letterpress machine which is able to deliver a big punch of force when printing.

The beautiful Heidelberg Windmill

Ian used my printing plate for demonstration, and all of us were awed by the machine's prowess. It was able to give the most delicate imprint and indentation!

Look at the level of details of the indentation!

I might add more details to the hand-printed letter pressed cards and hopefully, list them on my Etsy shop! 

Feeling Under the Weather x A Visit to the 'The Made in Singapore Market'

Hi guys~~ Sorry for this late posting. Had wanted to post this earlier but I was sick for most part of the week thus far and I'm still sounding pretty nasal. (plus there's something I'm not too sure of and it's still too early to check.. if you know what I'm talking about.. =P)

Anyways, Ed (or XB aka the hubby) and I went down to the 'The Made in Singapore Market' last Saturday. Organized by the Makers of Singapore, this 2-day event showcased some of our local independent crafters, including 3D printing designers, rubber stamp carver, ceramic pottery artists, leather crafters, tie makers, letterpressing designers and etc!

The first thing I did when I reached there was to make a visit to Jo's (of Lovesprout) booth. Jo's an avid rubber stamp carver and she's quite an artist too. I got to learn the proper way of carving a rubber stamp first from her during a craft session almost 2 years ago. I learnt a great deal from her and although rubber stamp carving is not my main hobby, it's really therapeutic when I'm at it.

Jo and her booth. You could design and stamp your own tote bag!

Jo was selling some rubber blocks and ink pads; and I was so tempted to get more rubber blocks. But I held back my temptation (just because I still have some in my stash) and got 3 packs of Tsukineko's Soramame ink pad sets instead. Yes, I just couldn't get enough of inks....

Inks that I got

After hanging around Jo's wonderful world of rubber stamp carving and stamping, Ed and I roamed about the different booths, fascinated by some of the works.

Liberty Coffee had a make-shift cafe there too and I wondered why Ed was contemplating so hard whether to get a cuppa. He didn't in the end, but he could have. There were also demonstrations held throughout the day, and we managed to catch the Ceramic Pottery demonstration by Weekend Worker.

The processes charted

Wheel throwing demonstration

Making a vase

Recently, I have an obsession with ceramic/porcelain type of things and I am really interested in learning the art. Earlier this month, I was already planning to take up some classes this coming June but.. we'll see..

Back and Jet-lagged + MT Tape Demo

I'm finally back from my Arctic Circle trip! Touched down on Friday evening, had a rude shock from the hot and humid weather and I'm not fully recovered from being jet-lagged yet..

My Finnish Lapland trip has been very eventful. I tried loads of winter activities and managed to catch that "elusive" Northern Lights during our relatively short trip. Love the vast and unpolluted nature there. I'm really going to miss that place! This time round, I'll try my best to sort of give a short report of what happened daily during my trip, as there were so many memorable things that happened.

Anyway, weeks before the trip, I volunteered myself to be an MT tape demonstrator for a small MT tape fair at Takashimaya which was held last Saturday. You heard me right. The event was last Saturday.. Just barely a day from when I returned from my trip. Stupid me thought that I'd reach Singapore early in the morning, but I forgot to take into account the time difference..... == 

And so... I hadn't had much rest that Friday night and the Saturday morning. I was busy finishing up all the preparations and getting all my sample projects ready. By noon, I started to get my usual nervous-before-a-big-thing bug and I totally had no appetite for lunch..

However, things went smoothly, although everything didn't go according to my schedule. I had planned quite a number of projects to demo, but I ended up spending more than 1 hour teaching enthusiastic kids and ladies the pretty origami ribbon made from MT tapes. I then spent the next 45 minutes taping a DIY mason jar lamp and teaching a kid how to make a really simple but bold greeting card.

I am not entirely sure if I had done a good job demonstrating, but to see Kelly's (the organizer) face beaming with happiness from the endless crowd coming in to select rolls and rolls of MT tapes made me happy too. =) It's also satisfying to hear the audience giving good comments about my sample pieces and I am glad to be able to give these crafters more ideas about what they can do with MT tapes. :)

Forgot to display my brown paper bags!

I wore my Uniqlo x MT T-shirt :)

Had fun decorating my mini tea-cup and saucer set. Mint-green and gray are still one of my fave combo colors!

My brown paper bags! (Grabbed the photo taken by one of the MT guys)

Something that I brought there half-finished, but didn't have the time to demo on the spot. I took it back home to finish it up. A DIY canvas clock. =)

Teddy for Charity

And so, last Saturday, I went down to my friend, Hemdi's, church to celebrate her birthday in the most amazing way. She had organized a "Hand-sew a teddy bear" workshop with OneTwoFreeTeddy for a good cause. But first, another friend, April, had a mission on hand. To decorate the wall. And I joined in a little for fun...

Oops, blurry photo... I contributed the banner greeting, the heart deco on the cup and the spool of thread.. Hehe

The workshop was supposed to begin at 2 pm, but we only got to start after 3. Each of us selected our kit and with guidance from Cindy of OneTwoFreeTeddy, we embarked on our sewing journey.

The kit I had chosen..

The 4-hour session was a little too short for us to complete the bear, but Cindy was awesome enough to stay on to give us the rest of the instructions even though she had a concert to attend. 

I managed to finish sewing 70% of the bear when the session ended, but I soon realized the ears were too close to the edge of the cheek pieces and there was no way I could sew the top piece properly. The perfectionist in me kicked in again, and I had to unpick and re-sew the face pieces. 

The original instructions did not include clipping and notching the curves, but knowing how the seams will not flip out cleanly, I trimmed all the seams with my pinking shears. It was pretty fun stuffing the parts and seeing the bear taking shape. I made a mini tie for him too!

I've got a polka-dot tie!

Handmade Movement Singapore 2013

When we thought the (overly mild) December monsoon was over, the inconspicuous rain pounded relentlessly over the weekends. 

It didn't help that despite checking Google map, XB and I went the wrong route and walked up the stretch of stairs up Fort Canning Hill in the heavy downpour, only to realise that Fort Canning Green was just right behind the National Museum, and that my fixed shoe had come apart again. ==

When we finally got to the field, what was planned to be a picnic-filled craft fest ended up looking like make-shift rain shelters. With a slightly dampened spirit and feeling a little overwhelmed by the crowd in the main tent, we made our way to the smaller tents.

The crowd in the main tent, taken from the smaller tent.

In one of the smaller tents, they were having a workshop on screen-printing. If I had brought enough cash, I would have tried printing a tote bag!

Screen-printing workshop

In another small tent, a small group of participants were busy sewing what looked like quilted/collaged bags and some children making some kind of papercraft. (After checking up on their site, it was actually a papercraft mood lamp workshop. I should have stayed on for the sweet macarons charm workshop!!)

We eventually made our way to the main tent as that was where the booths were. We were almost constantly squeezing our way through the narrow aisles while browsing through the booths of handmade crafts (which also explains the non-existence of photos here =P). The thing about fans of handmade crafts is that everyone's friendly. No shoving, no shouting, no ugly behaviors. *thumbs up* Having nice live music was a plus too. Their rendition of On My Own was pretty good. =)

I was attracted to a few of the booths and would love to support the sellers, but silly me only had 10 bucks in my wallet... I ended up getting a temporary tattoo from Dottinghill..

Hourglass..

If not for my shoe and the rain, I would have stayed longer. But nonetheless, I find it encouraging to see more and more efforts being put in to make people here more aware of the DIY and handmade world. Cheers!

A little back in time: Christmas Craft Party 2012

Ahem.. Yeah, I know, I totally forgot about these photos in my point-n-shoot cam until I brought it out again last Saturday.

Anyways, the week before Christmas, Miss Xzz and I attended the Christmas Craft Party organized by The Little Happyshop.

Everyone's craftin' at the parteee

We had signed up for the Christmas ornament sewing session and it's almost awkward to be with kids younger than 1/3 our age who were also attending the same session... 

Sewing with Irene, the sewing instructor. She makes amazing bags!

I don't know which was more awkward though.. Just by being there with these enthusiastic kids or the fact that I already know how to sew, and I was there for fun (well, partly to support Ruth and the amazing crafters there) But all was well for we, the adults (made a new friend, Ailyn, that day!), were enjoying our sewing at our very own table. Hehehe~~

There were a number of ornaments to choose from, ranging from the simplest fish to the most intricate tiny squirrel. Miss Xzz and I both settled on the bunny and the squirrel, the hardest 2 of the lot.. Who would have thought the kids were equally ambitious.. 

As the session only allowed us to make 1 ornament (the other was a take-home kit), Irene advised us to start with the easier bunny. Ailyn had a go with the fish first.

Ailyn's fish

My bunny

Sample squirrel from Irene

The great thing about having workshops with The Little Happyshop at The Daily Scoop is of course the free ice-cream!

Ice-cream voucher!

Lovely mint ice-cream + rum ice-cream

Also bought an alpaca rubber stamp designed and carved by the young but talented Rachel Ma (same surname, what a coincidence!)

Alpaca 20 cent stamp rubber stamp (quite a mouthful..)

The stamp backing looks like a mini suitcase! Adorable!

Christmas Pop-up Store @ The 3rd Space

Went to the Christmas Pop-up Store at The 3rd Space last Saturday evening. What can I say? Everything was just lovely. From the cozy space to the colorful booths adorning it. My friends' booths (Jotter x Jotter and The little dröm store) were there and they had amazingly cool and cute knick knacks for sale. I'm loving everything with clouds that they have! (Do check out their online stores!)

There were so many goodies at the Pop-up store but in the end, I only got 4 beautiful postcards from SYSM Studios (looks like the blog is still under construction..), 2 of which will eventually be gifted.

Preparation for Arts Open House: Packing the Kits!

My friend, Miss Xzz, came over in the late afternoon so that we could start packing the 50 paper craft kits, which will eventually be  given out to the senior citizens at our paper crafting booth @ the Arts Open House.

Well, we had some unfinished business before the actual packing.. There were paper templates still needed to be scored, materials to be divided, doilies to be stamped.... And we pretty much turned my spare bedroom into a "Christmas decoration" galore.... =P After getting all these things done, we sorta formed an assembly line for the kit packing.

But as you can see, the room was still as messy as before.  We eventually managed to pack 13 kits before the sky turned dark, and our natural dinner bells started ringing. 

Sorry for the glare...! ><

Erm, we did clean up the room a bit before heading out for dinner...

Looking forward to a crafty holiday season~

Singapore Holiday Craft Workshops Roundup

1) MT Everyday: Exhibition and Craft @ National Library (24th Nov to 2nd Dec, 10 am to 9pm)
Sadly, the slots for the craft sessions are mostly filled up, but you can still treat yourself to the strips of eye candy. Yum.

Knotty Biscie:
2) Finger Knitting - Knitting with just yarn and fingers! (11th Dec, Tues, 10 am to 11:30 am)
Perfect for the young ones who wish to venture into yarn crafting. Trust your fingers! =P

3) Decoupage Tile Coasters (14th Dec, Fri, 10 am to 12 noon)
Suitable for anyone who wishes to learn a new craft and make something that can be gifted for this holiday season!

The Little Happy Shop
4) Crafty Party - Christmas Special
There are a number of mini craft sessions to choose from, ranging from making a Christmas Doll ornament to  creating Christmas typography stencil art. If you are interested in any session, do make register at the Little Happy Shop. And of course, a Christmas crafty party is not complete without Christmas goodies! Every registered participant is entitled to a goody bag filled with discount coupons and freebies. =)

A Crafty Saturday

For someone like me who usually sleep in on a Saturday morning, it's a feat to wake up at my usual workday timing this morning to attend the Crafty Party organised by Ruth (The Little Happy Shop) and a group of crafters.

(Photo courtesy of The Little Happyshop)

I had pre-registered for the rubber stamp making session and got to learn some basic rubber stamp making techniques from Jo of Lovesprouts.

(Photo courtesy of The Little Happyshop)

Haha, my stamps are messy.. Also bought some mt tapes in the blue, green and turquoise palette!

In the evening, the husband and I made our way down to the Singapore Art Festival Night Market @ Esplanade Bridge.

There were some other music and arts events in conjunction with the festival nearby, so we also went to take a look. What caught my eye was this event:

And so this Popin Birdie is born to be brought to some other parts of the world:

The ivory fabric frayed too much!