Know what these are? (Duh, the title gave it away.) Yes, these are Perler beads, otherwise know as Hama beads. These colourful plastic beads can be used to form collages and pictures. It gets so cute and addictive I tell you. My mum just can’t stop working on it.

So basically you arrange these beads on a board like this. Featured here is Anpan-Man. A Japanese cartoon character I liked as a child. It looks a little abstract (maybe). Let’s de-focus this and try again:

There. Better? So what happens after you’ve arranged the design?

Well, you need baking paper and an iron. Cover the beads with baking paper, and iron the design. The plastic will melt and fuse together (these are also called fuse beads). After it cools it becomes a unified design that you can lift up from the board.

This is another finished product, a Mario.

These are immense fun! FYI, I bought my perler beads online from the US. Apparently you can find them in Ikea too. The beads are rather small, so it is not recommended for children under [insert age when children stop being monkeys - I think 45] .

PASTEL FELT + FACE

Really. The idea is to put a face on felt in pastel colours and you get this incredibly cute whatever. Don’t believe me? Case in point:

See? 2 eyes a smile planted on baby pink felt and you get this insanely cute thing. Thing in question here is a brooch. I blatantly copied the design from this Etsy shop which I shall not list here because that ups the chances I get accused of copying. But I suppose since I’m not copying to sell I shouldn’t get into that much trouble. But just in case.

And if you’re still not convinced by this impossible pink cloud leaking pink rain, here’s another prime example:

Again, eyes and smile planted on a jellyfish and instantly it transforms into a benign non-poisonous creature you’d want to hang on a Christmas tree. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my own design. Although cute mouth design might or might not have come from some Pet Society creature. That’s not important.

Wait, may you think only a smiley face can look cute on felt. That’s wrong. Here’s the evidence:

This squid is not smiling; it’s wincing and still you can’t deny that it looks cute. It has only 3 tentacles but that’s not important. What’s important here is that you realize the potential in pastel felt + face being the cutest combination ever in this world.

And did I mention that even though these are not for sale they are allowed to follow worthy readers home? Comment below and you might find yourself come into possession of one of these incredibly cute critters! (More design might be released; TBA)

(1): I just love this incredibly egocentric (for me) expression – you know why. :P

Featuring (from left to right, top to bottom): A CNY couplet written by me, a red packet, two oranges, two pineapples, firecrackers, two fat kids (chicken legs contributed by Angela), a … clown(?) who looks like a hybrid of Michael Jackson and the mask from Saw, a man with a drum, a Qoo doll masquerading as a lion from the lion dance, a hermaphrodite cow and a  fire-breathing dragon.

All these were drawn by me, but at the request of some classmates who seemed to have fun seeing me tortured over trying to draw these things.

It’s interesting how mundane (and not-so mundane) objects are instilled with emotions based on the story told by the owner. A (Malay) teddy bear, a matchbox, a prosthetic foot, a towel. Out of all the exhibits, I have the strongest impression of the story of the (Malay) teddy bear, the axe, and the caterpillar soft toy. Let me attempt to tell the stories here:

The (Malay) teddy bear story belongs to this inter-racial love between a Chinese and a Malay in Singapore. Apparently the boyfriend bought them two bears from Polo Ralph Lauren, one white and one brown. The Chinese (girl?) took the brown bear and that was the only reminder her entire house that signified their inter-racial love. No pictures, no other momento.Eventually they broke up and that toy went into deep freeze.

The caterpillar toy belonged to this person who had an online relationship with someone and they promised to break a leg off the caterpillar each time they met in person, and they promised when all the legs were broken, they’d take their relationship to the next level (not sure which level though). However they parted before all the legs were torn off and so the caterpillar found way into the museum.

The axe belonged to this guy whose girlfriend left him but left a bunch of furniture in his house, to be collected when she comes back from a tour. The guy would hack one piece of furniture into pieces each day with the axe, and by the time the girlfriend came home, all was left was a pile of broken wood.

The museum was full of interesting (and not-so interesting) stories. I just find it a tad … boring? How they encode their stories into inanimate objects is not none of my business, and really, as much as I can love an inanimate object, I cannot empathize with them. Sure, without the stories these objects are crap, but it was quite a disappointing exhibition.

Anyway, admission is free and it runs till this Sunday. Photography is allowed.

From the left: a chocolate cake with caramel ganache, a strawberry ice-cream cone, a cup of coffee, a white cake with pink icing, and a red flower.

I designed all of them except the cup of coffee, which I adapted from this pattern.

Oh dear. I do think I am getting hooked. (Well, I should be considering how much yarn I still have left since I went crazy at the shop.)

Mr. Kancheong Penguin, a.k.a. KP (heh) for Xping. The penguin looks kancheong (i.e. flustered), doesn’t he?

On the left, Mr. Lionel Version 2 and on the right, Mr. Octopus. Mr. Lionel v2.0 goes to Angela. Mr. Lionel is sort of a custom design because she wanted an Ah Chek looking bear, so there – complete with Ah Chek striped shirt. I also made her a pair of cherry earrings, which I forgot to take a picture of. Fundamentally it’s a cherry on both sides of the ears. The octopus is for Sarah who loves marine inveterbrates.

Seems like I’m imposing my art and craft on people around me. I dunch care. One drawback of being my friends include having to endure my crafty moments (erm, pun intended). :D

I actually finished this amigurumi a couple of days before I left for Shanghai, while I was crocheting the hat. I got the pattern from KatCrochet. The pattern is Aiko the Amigurumi Bunny, but obviously it turned out so different! I got carried away while crocheting, and I forgot how the final product is supposed to look like so I just joined his hand and feet differently. The ears too. And he’s a HE because of the mouth. Looks very moustachy, no? But nontheless he’s cute. That oversized head is adorable and hence balances the ah-chek-ness. I’m having this insane urge to name him Lionel, but Lionel is obviously a lion. So I shall reserve that name when I crochet an ah-chek lion.

Side view.

Not the best handiwork around, but I think it’s plenty cute. The earflaps are cute, aren’t they? This hat really reminds me of Russian hats, minus the fur lining, haha. Actually it’s a cross between a Russian hat and a ski resort hat. Oh well, as long as it’s functional and one-in-the-world. :)

Action shot will come later in my vacation photos. Then you can see the hat in action in the cold pre-winter weather of Shanghai. Meanwhile try not to miss me too much. I send my love from Shanghai.

I made this pair of earrings for Sulz and I think it’s really nifty. Since I make trinkets and bind books, why not bring together these 2 crafts and create things befitting a bookworm? The books are real; they are hardbound with blank pages (prolly good for taking down phone numbers or something). I like them so much I nearly couldn’t bear to give them away. :P I’m so going to make myself a pair and wear them to school once the new semester starts. And I’m so happy Sulz loves them.