A gleaming red apple.

It's 3am right now.

It was one of those unproductive days where you start out preparing to check things off your to-do list, and end up checking out every single youtube link, updating every friend's statuses on facebook, reading every available blog.

And getting nothing else done. :(

 

 It's a constant love-hate affair with the internet.

Although I must share that one of the few good things that came out of this unproductive day, was this pair of beautiful Korean singing birds. And no, they're not really birds.

Before I let myself sink into total unproductiveness, I decided I needed to check at least one item off the list. 

Thus, I have here, (if you're familiar with the old adage) a very affordable and adorable health charm, which doubles up as a pendant. 

The apple is 1cm in height and will come with a jump-ring, perfect for necklaces or bracelets. 

For the ill-informed, I meant 'An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.' Do remember to eat your recommended portion of fruits today! :)

Also in my Etsy store now.

P.S As with all other accessories in my stores, for hygiene reasons, the pendant is the model's own. You will be purchasing a never-worn piece. :)

My new shop (and fish burger again.)

Firstly, thank you for all the compliments on my miniature Mcdonald's meal, I never expected the feedback to be that huge! I received more Flickr and blog hits than ever, and I must thank you for all the kind words you've showered. :) 

I get all warm and fuzzy inside everytime I wake up and see a new comment.

And not because I want to dig for more compliments, but I've been hard at work designing AiClay packaging, and now the fish burger meal is AiClay-fied and ready to be bought! I dressed it in shades of ochre and red.

And since I don't think anyone would want to hear me ramble on about fast food for 2 entries straight, I would like to explain more about my new shop.

 

The shop is independent of Etsy, which means you do not have to be an Etsy member to purchase any items. The store takes Paypal, or credit/debit cards, so you don't even have to be a Paypal member! 

Everything would be conducted via Paypal, so it remains an entirely secure process. I'm always for reducing hassles of online shopping. :) This deserves a good HOORAY!

I have always absorbed all Paypal and Etsy charges, so prices would remain the same between the Etsy and independent shops. I'm still deciding if I should keep my Etsy store, maybe I should move the higher-priced items to my independent shop. Advice, anyone?

 Please pardon the shop for now, if it looks incomplete. I am not good with coding and this is my best effort before I can hire someone to give the shop a make-over. -coughs and mumbles incoherently about lack of funds.

Please let me know if you spot any glitches in the store, whether it be navigation or during payment. :)

A customary photo. The tray measures 4cm by 2.5cm, or 1.6inches by 1inches.

It's the weekend here, and it looks like a really lovely day with heaps of sunshine. :) I'm off to enjoy it!

P.S You can contact me straight through the store, without having to open up your mail! Try it, ask me questions, talk miniatures, tell me about your day! :)

My high school fast food tradition.

In my secondary/high school days, fast food was on the menu from Monday to Friday.

There was an entertainment centre near the school, so me and my friends will troop over after lessons, and happily choose our guilty pick of the day. Long John Silver, KFC, Mcdonald's..

We had the tradition of bagging our food, and bringing it to one of the secluded corners of the entertainment centre (our favourite was near the noisy arcade, who knows why!), and everyone will sit down in a circle and set their heavy schoolbags at the side.

 Bags of food would be hastily torn apart, chilli packets and fries shared, tall cups of Coke passed around the circle. Passer-bys often gave us weird stares, this whole group of school girls sitting cross-legged on the floor. 

But we didn't really care, we were too busy indulging in our gossip for the day.

Once, the security guard of the building walked past and gave us a stern look. "Hey, behave like a girl and sit properly!" It was quite a shock to us, and we hurriedly got to our feet.

But once he was out of sight, we were back sitting down and ranting about that man who would later be known as the-guard-who-had-too-much-time.

That was back then, a little less than ten years ago. -recovers from slight shock after calculating how long it's been since high school.

Today, the media is constantly bombarding us with nutritional facts about fast food - calorie-filled soft drinks, oil-dripping fries, unhealthy burger patties. Even pre-packaged chilli sauce wasn't spared! 

So, the fast-food binging had to stop, and my waistline got a bit happier. :)

Once in a while, I still enjoy dunking fries in sauces, and downing them down with an icy Coke. Especially at Mcdonald's, there's just something about the heavenly scent of their freshly fried potato strips. I'll like to know, what's your favourite fast food? :)

P.S The miniature Mcdonald's set was handmade as a gift, but I will recreate a new one with AiClay's own fast food packaging due to copyright concerns. :)

Happy Labour Day!

I can't believe I actually wrote "Yes, I work all year round." on AiClay's facebook page on Saturday. And guess what, I totally played the weekend away. Pretty ironic that it's Labour Day hur.

Oh wait,I did sneak in a bit of work. I made a colour chart by mixing up fixed amounts of clay. This will come in handy especially when I make colorful food like macarons and cupcake frostings.

I've always found Labour Day to be a rather interesting public holiday, do you celebrate it in other countries as well? And do share about other unique public holidays your country celebrates! :)

Crunchy apples.

Remember those apples in the last post? They have their stems attached now. :)

The name of this bear is Pinkerton, made lovingly by The Magic Hour. It came along with the BJD (Ai) I won at a fair in 2009, and it is adorable, ain't it?

Speaking of fairs, I have just registered for a booth at TDA 2011(The Doll's Affair). For all those who will be in the country, I really hope to see you all there on 18th June! :)

A little apple for Ai (that's her basking in the sun). The apple's about 1cm in height, not counting the stem.

Just an update on the cookie ring, a friend of mine just bought one for his wife. After so long, I'm still thrilled everytime a friend appreciates what I do. :)

My mom who loves to bake.

I love my mom. I also love baked goods.

Coincidentally and fortunately, I've got a mom who's very much into baking. :) 

We are nearing the end of April now, and with May comes Mothers' Day. 

I'll like to thank my mom for teaching me how to whip up a dough mixture ("move your mixer one way, never in both"), cracking eggs the right way ("always crack it in a bowl first, you don't want a bad egg to spoil your entire mix"), and providing me with countless baked goodies all these years.

And I've found the perfect way to show my appreciation, and to remind her of our shared memories in the kitchen. It's this cookie ring.

Our mothers deserve a sweet gift. The ring is in the shop, so get shopping already! :)

The cookie is perched on an adjustable, surgical stainless steel ring.

The Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookie - Ring

{SGD$9 or approximately USD$7.50}
 

Prematurely wrinkled hands.

and they are not what I want you to focus on, ahem. These are my hands, really. 

Actually I'm looking at them (the hands) right now, and they don't look half as wrinkled as the one in the photo. I guess the many lines and creases just show up a lot clearer on these close-ups, how unflattering for them haha.

 

So now that we've got it all cleared up that I didn't coerce a grandparent to model my products, how was your Good Friday weekend? 

Friday was a public holiday here, so hooray for those on salary and it's just another usual week for the non-salaried (aka me).

I did get busy though, and here are some miniature apples (without stalks yet). Those of you who've been asking for apple earrings, watch this space!

The background (below) is of blocks of flats which are right across my building, so close I can totally see into each of their houses. That is how it is in land-scarce Singapore, we make use of our land by building upwards (tall flats!) and as packed as architecturally possible.

 

I am so fond of wearing my cookie ring everywhere now. I never used to be a fan of rings, but the wide ring band makes wearing this totally comfortable. Sometimes I even forget I have it on, until I look down and see the chocolate chips smiling up at me. :)

I also have some matching cookie earrings to show, but that shall wait till I get better photos. Shoo dark skies! 

Wow, I just saw the posts for April and hey ho, this is actually my 4th post, a drastic improvement from my singular post a month statistic before! Now, that deserves a real pat on my back. -twists arm round to perform the feat. :)

a cookie and a yellow brolly.

For the past few weeks, it's been crazy weather in Singapore. It would swing from extremes, from cheerful (sometimes too cheery) sun rays beating down , to dark skies and booming thunder a few minutes later. 

Since I'm mostly home working on AiClay, I can't say I've been affected much, except that grey skies equals bad lighting which equals to no product photoshoots. Oh, and that I amuse myself by watching from my dry abode on the 12th storey, at how unfortunate umbrella-less people behave when the thunderstorm hits.

There's the smartly-dressed executive performing a brisk rain-walk in her newest heels, the teenager who's just reached the awkward age where he feels everyone's staring at him and decides to suavely strut in the rain with head bowed, the aunty carrying her daily haul of groceries and running clumsily to the nearest shelter. 

 

But once in a while, I'll have to head out myself. And then I'll remember the  above-mentioned people and reach out for a brolly. Today, I was feeling all HIMYM and chose a yellow umbrella.

And I put on my freshly-made cookie ring, I love how they exude warmth paired together. Much needed from all that gloomy rain.

 

May the skies be clear in your side of the world. :)

P.S I'll be back to post more on that cookie.

Little red ruby raspberry tartlets.

They do resemble little clusters of ruby gems, don't they. 

Especially when the heap of raspberries are drizzled with some sugar glaze, the red simply glows.

I'm often wondering where should I place the photos where my finger makes its grand appearance. 

Not in a crude manner of course, ahem. I used to leave it till the last, but decided to put it in the middle now instead. Do let me know if I should revert to the old positions, or maybe they make no difference at all.

These miniature tartlets measure around 0.9cm, or 0.35" at its widest.

Somehow these photos are hauntingly familiar, although I swear I just took them this afternoon. If I've already blogged about this or posted similar photos, do let me know so I can dig a hole and shove my head in there.

This entire set of tartlets and cake stand is available here in my Etsy store, or at the sidebar. :)

A celebration with candles.

When I see candles, I think - birthday wishes, pretty cakes, party hats, celebrations.

Which is exactly what this post is about.

If you've been following me on twitter/facebook, you would already have known this. But for the rest, remember this post, my longest rant on the site ever?

Fast forward a year later.

Yesterday, I bade my lovely colleagues at work goodbye, as I decided to leave the working world and return to AiClay, full-time. Instead of  writing a novel about it, this time I'll keep my thoughts short. :)

So I've said this entry's a celebration.

To celebrate me returning to what I love most, where I know best, and for having the courage to give up on what I've grown to get used to in the past year. The last part has me shamelessly clapping myself on the back.

Of course there are still times when I've let worry got to me, or gotten discouraged by careless words, or allowed doubt to obscure my dreams. But for every hurtful remark, there are twice as many supportive comments, twice as many do-us-prouds, twice as many inspiring stories. :)

So for now, I'll make an earnest wish for all good things, and blow out the candle in one big puff.

Please stay and share the cake, won't you? :)