SuGaRpAcS's Xanga

It's in the Bag! .. Or should I say Bagsssss??

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:50:25 GMT

Just when I thought my pre-holiday season would be craftless, I received two bag orders, woot!!! .. Observe, my second diaper bag (this time made with black piping and pewter nylon lining)...

I love it .. the colors go so well with one another. It's a shame I had to give it up. It will be missed dearly

Observe again, the second bag I whipped up ... a smaller, zipper version of the marble pound cake bag selling in my BagBakery Etsy shop.

This smaller version is so cute .. love how the red buttons just "pop" .. like cherries on top of a sundae .. mmmm!!

It took me longer than usual to make the bags .. maybe cause I'm still all crafted out since completing my forecast sweater (which, btw, I like but not enough so I will frog it and start over again .. maybe turn it into another sweater ... we'll see!)

Anyhoo .. just as I was about to change into my PJs, my sneaky hubby decided to surprise me by hidding my belated bday present in my PJ pants ... needless to say, I was complete shocked when 4 of these babies came bouncing from my pant legs the second I reached for them ...

They were all folded up so I had no idea what they were .. stress balls?? .. was hubby gonna teach me to juggle?? .. lol, didn't take me long to figure out they were reusable bags that can be packed into balls!!! .. .. I love them, love them, love them, love him

Tonight is massive baking night. Chocolate chip cookies .. maybe some cranberries and white chocolate ones too ... ooh, and some peppermint chocolate bark .. yum! .. we'll be seeing relatives tomorrow night and all throughout next week, so we wanna be prepared with yummy gifts!!

One more day until my vacation officially starts .. woot! Wasn't looking that much to it but now I really really can't wait! .. but before I go, here are just some of the pics I took of the Olympic torch relay that played out at lunch by my work place ... it was all a matter of being at the right place at the right time

Now that's what I call a fun lunch! ... go Team Canada!!!

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Currently Listening: my typing on this noisy keyboard
Currently Wanting: to be at home so I can clean up the huge mess I made in the dining room... dining room tables are always best for crafts ... dun you think?

Year of Crafting?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:33:03 GMT

dunno why, but it never feels like I do much crafting anymore, so before I forget what they are, I'm gonna list out my completed craft projects this year .. here goes

Needle and Thread:
9 purses/totes - 2 sold on etsy, 4 made as gifts, 2 in my shop, 1 in storage
3 packable shopping totes - 2 as gifts, 1 for myself which I ended up giving to my mom, 1 tote still on order
1 extra large diaper bag - made as a gift with tons of pockets!
3 patchwork baby quilts - all gifts, 2 with batting, 1 with fleece backing
1 paper cut wallart - most tedious thing EVER to make
3 tshirt collar refittings - converted too-small collars into wide boatneck collars .. love 'em!
2 tshirt surgeries - converted 2XL tees to cute small sized tees complete with ruffles, pintucks, and bellybands!
1 wrap cardi - fully reversible super soft cotton jersey cardi, inspired by one of my banana republic knit cardis ... completely reversible .. black on one side, black with gold specks!
1 star trek tee - a totally spontaneous project made for hubby .. lol! .. now he has his own captain picard shirt!

Needle and Yarn:
1 cowl neck cap sleeve sweater - crocheted, inspired by a deep V neck cardi pattern
1 super bulky cowl - knitted, long enough to be wrapped twice around the neck .. super warm!
1 forecast sweater - knitted, 1/3 done.. woot!

Mixing Bowl and Spatula:
Rice krispy squares - lots and lots of them .. regular and chocolate drizzled
Bagels - for valentine's day .. sesame, onion, poppy seed
Chocolate chip cookies - lots and lots of these too! ... mini m&ms, white chocolate and cranberries
Egg knot bread - so much fun to make and so worth the wait! .. sweet egg bread how I love you!
Smore brownies - hubby's first baking initiative! .. turned out awesome!
Roasted pumpking seeds - lol, this doesn't really count but they should since they were soooooo good!!!

Hmmm ... okay .. so after going through the list, I have completed quite a number of craft stuff ... bleh, still doesn't feel like it though maybe cause none of them were jewellry related? ... Let's hope I can keep the crafting up especially since I'm on ravelry!!!

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Currently Listening: Kay Tse concert
Currently Wanting: To go home and knit all day and all night until I'm done my forecast sweater!!

Bobbles and Bubbles..

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:20:26 GMT

The weather's been GREAT these past 17 days .. sunny skies, warm weather, cool breeze, no rain .. woot! .. and although it's still summer, fall is not far away. In honour of this, I decided to pick up the largest crochet needles I have at home and a ball of super soft chunky gray yarn (made from miscellaneous fibres) that I bought from a street vendor in HK last year while on my honeymoon. I was planning to make a scarf out of it but decided that a bag would be more fitting for the fall weather

Since it's been a while since I've crocheted, I wanted smthg fun to make. Smthg that would keep me interested until the end of the project. I remembered seeing a knitted bobble cluth a while back on the internet so I thought I'd do smthg similar. I started my research on google images, which eventually lead me to this:

And while this bag is super cute, it's not quite what I'm looking for so I've decided to use it as my inspiration for my own bobble bag instead of following the pattern. I managed to get 3 rows of bobbles completed last night while vegging in from of the tv but I'm starting to worry that I might not have enough yarn to finish my bag .. it's still a little too early in the game to know for sure so I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed and keep at it .. hopefully I won't have to tear it all apart in the end.

Pics of my ongoing bobble bag to be posted when I get around to taking pics .. I'm still recovering from my cold ... arms are numb, sinuses are still clogged, and now my ears are plugged too .. ugh

And if my bag turns out to be a hit, I just might pick up my crochet needles again and join the wonderful world of The Counterfeit Crochet Project, which I stumbled upon just now!!! ... some of this stuff is absolutely awesome!!

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Currently Listening: Random people talking around me
Currently Wanting: To be well again and my numbness to go away and my plugged ears to be clear again!!!

Another Successful T-Shirt Recon!

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:45:24 GMT

Woot! .. so I had so much fun the other day reconstructing tees that I decide to do another. I wanted to do smthg a little different this time. Smthg a bit more challenging. Again, I had no idea where to start so I just picked up my "template" tee and started cutting again.

The sleeves for the panda tee worked out great but I wanted smthg a little funkier this time so I decided to make the sleeves shorter and add ruffles to them .. woot! .. I then worked on creating a "belly band" since I wanted a looser fitting tee but without the "ventilation" that comes with it .. After that was done, the tee still fit a tad looser than what I had wanted so I decided to take a chance add some pintucks to bring in the width of the body in a bit. 3 for the back and 5 for the front. Next I increased the V neck and sewed everything together.. and voila! .. that's how my men's XL tee was transformed into a funky, slouchy, V neck, ruffle sleeve, and pintucked shirt fitted just for me .. woot!

While I had loads of fun reconning this tee, all the sneezing and coughing and breathing through my mouth that came with it was not fun at all ... argh to being sick with a cold... I was hoping my cold would all go away within a day or two but boy was I wrong cause I'm still sick as a puppy ... oh welly ... guess that means no more crafting for me until I get all better again .. not my first choice but a definitely a wise one! Hubby would be proud!

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Currently Listening: My heavy breathing due to my clogged up sinuses ... booo!!!
Currently Wanting: To be all better so I can go out and play .. it's such a beautiful day outside!!!

Operation T-Shirt Surgery...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:42:16 GMT

So, when Threadless.com was having one of their fab sales a while back, I stocked up on a ton of tees. They all look awesome but none of them fit quite the way I had hoped. A couple of them fit but were NOT flattering .. the rest of them I bought were men's XL, 2XL, and 3XL .. unfortunately the tees were selling so quickly I couldn't get my hands on the ones I wanted in my size so I went a "few" sizes up .. if I can't wear them, then at least I can use them as fabric to make other stuff .. what exactly, I don't know, but $5 tees ... who can resist that??? Anyhoo, ever since I bought them, I've stashed them away in my craft box not knowing what to do with them. Then it all changed yesterday...

I was going through my morning routine of checking my mail and lo and behold, threadless was having another sale .. $9 tees to commemorate 09/09/09 .. woot! Usually, I would go crazy and order a ton of tees, but I was wiser this time around .. smart shopper (my alter ego) says if you already have tees from before and haven't done anything with them then you're not allowed to buy any new tees ... I knew smart shopper was right so I dug into my stash and pulled out 3 tees ... 2 of which fits but weirdly so I reshaped the collar to smthg more to my liking and now my tees fit just right! .. not at all restrictive like it was before ..

The next one I worked on was the white panda tee. It was a men's XL so I was practically swimming in it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before and after pics, but it pretty much fit like the pink one .. bleh! I didn't know how to begin so I picked another tee that I like and used that as my "pattern". I ended up having to sew the shirt from scratch but I was able to reuse the hem of the sleeves and the body .. woot!! .. I quite like it now ..

Simple, but not bad for my first tshirt recon! .. hmm ... wonder what I should do with my next tee... oh the possibilities!!! ... Having a rotatary cutter really helps .. I just have to remember not to cut pieces of my finger off next time

Now that I've actually done smthg with my past tees, I can get more .. woot! .. thanks smart shopper!!

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Currently Listening: Right now - Akon
Currently Wanting: Hubby's root canal to be all healed and my sore throat to disappear!! *kazaam!!!

Champagne Supernova....

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:12:28 GMT

Woot! .. Shehnaz got her diaper bag and Aliana got her quilt. Both are rocking it like only they can

I haven't done anything crafty since then .. well, that's if you don't count house painting and kitchen backsplash tiling with hubby but while sorting through my craft stuff, I did find a pair of chandelier earrings that I made a while ago. And while I absolutely love them, I thought I'd put them up for sale on Etsy instead of keeping them for myself. After all, it's always better to share

Woot! ... presenting my sparkling champagne earrings!

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Currently Listening: Richardo on food tv walk us through making some yummy soup!!
Currently Wanting: To finishing grouting our kitchen tiles with hubby .. ttyl!!

Yay for Baby Crafts!!!!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:51:08 GMT

Hubby was on call this weekend so I decided to seize the opportunity to sew .. woot! My first project was Shehnaz's diaper bag. Didn't quite know how to start since I've never made one before but I think it turned out just fine ... The exterior's made of oilcoth so it's completely water resistent and wipeable, which was one of my main design points. The interior is super roomy with slip and zipped pockets bringing the number of pockets to a grand total of 13! .... Straps are adjustable as well so the bag can be worn as a shoulder bag or messenger bag. It's also chic enough so that it looks more like a fashion tote than diaper bag .. or at least I would like to think ... Looking back, this was definitely the most challenging project I've ever taken on ... oilcloth is NOT easy to sew .. it gives great structure though and doesn't fray but there are definitely a few tricks to getting it sewn properly which I learned the hard way. Having a pattern helps too but as usual, I decided to just go with the flow

Got around to finishing the bag on Saturday night so I decided to tackle the baby quilts ... The first (and hardest) task was deciding which fabric combinations to use. After pulling out my etsy fabric stash, I decided on some lovely floral and polka dot prints. Thank goodness I picked up a rotary cutter the last time I was shopping for fabric otherwise I would still be cutting all those squares! ... Here are some before and after pics ... I think they turned out to be quite lovely ... not bad for a first timer... now who's next in line to have a baby? ... This quilt making thing is quite addictive and gratifying!

So as I was going crazy on the sewing machine, hubby was clearing out the basement .. oh my, have we got a TON of empty boxes and styrofoam lying around, not to mention my other crap that's spread all over the basement floor. Hubby was nice enough to get it all out the door for recyling and to stack my stuff neatly to the side .. thanks hubby! .. maybe my next project should be to purge everything I don't need .. but crafting is just so much more fun especially when it leads to a sale on etsy!!!

The blue meringue tote is now officially SOLD! ... woot!!!! ... So unexpected yet so exciting!!! .. The perfect ending to the perfect crafting weekend!

Okie all this ramabling about crafting is starting to make me feel a bit light-headed .. though that could just be that my laptop monitor is just wayyyyy too bright for me at the moment... time to head to bed!

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Currently Listening: Hubby putting together our new file cabinet from ikea ... lots of banging, power drilling, and well ... power drilling
Currently Wanting: A good night's rest and short trip at the post office tomorrow!!

Shopping totes are sew cool!!!

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:58:51 GMT

So at first, summer was unusually cool, which works out great for me cause I melt in the hot weather. But now the tables are totally flipped cause it's so hot and sunny and humid lately ... having said that, what better way to beat the heat than by staying in the shade (aka indoors ) and with something as cool as ice (aka lots of ice-cream)!

Since there was nothing particularly engaging on TV last night, hubby and I vegged out on the couch and ate junk food for dinner ... not exactly smthg I'm proud of but everyone's allowed a bleh day once in a while .. what I am proud of, however, are my new shopping totes!! .. actually, I made them to give away but still, I love them either way!

Aren't they just the perfect excuse for shopping??? I think they are ... they're super light weight but super durable (I double sewed all the seams so they can carry tons and tons of jeans without giving way .. yep, I'm a gal talking from experience) .. and best of all, they're packable!!! ... ooh, and they're super pretty and they match any summer outfit too!

Anyhoo, so that was my fun for the night... next up, the diaper bag ... I just have to make sure I have all the required notions and things before I start on it! ... woot!

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Currently Listening: Eason's concert CD still ... has been on repeat for the past 6 months!!
Currently Wanting: Tomorrow to come so hubby and I can finally attend the Bryan Adam's concert!!! ... Big shout-out to Gin ... THX for the TIX!!!!!

Starfleet Summer Uniform Revealed...

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:16:45 GMT

So my friend Shehnaz is now a proud new mommy of a beautiful baby girl .. Congrats!!!!

As a "yay you're a mommy" gift, I'm making her a diaper bag ... requirements is that is must be large enough to hold everything needed for a day trip (aka .. it must hold a ton of diapers, lol) ... it's water resistent or at least wipeable cause new baby = lots of ummm .. how should we say... "diaper accidents"? .. and last but not least, it must be cute cute cute!!! ... lol .. afterall, who wants to carry around an ugly bag reminding you that you could be potentially walking about with many packages of poo? lol!

Needless to say, I needed fabric.... first stop, fabricland! .. Not my top choice (especially the one by my place), but you gotta start somewhere. Anyhoo, I dropped by fabricland on my way back home one day and couldn't find anything suitable or even something likable ... not even something good enough to make shopping totes with .. psh! .. what's up with that?? .. I knew I should have checked out the other fabricland before heading to this one but I digress... I ended up circling the store over and over again just cause I was determined to leave with something ... a zipper or new spool of thread at least .. argh .. so frustrating! .. Mike was away on business for the week which meant I could have the whole house to myself, leave my sewing stuff all around the place, and sew until the wee hours without interruption (or complaints)... it was the perfect time to start a new sewing project but alas, it just wasn't meant to be ... or so I thought!! ... Just as I was about to give up and leave the store (I had even put down my basket by that time), I decided to check the jersey section again ... it's a good thing I did cause that's when I spotted some fabulous black and red jersey with just enough sheen, weight, and stretchiness for ... wait for it .... a star trek next generation starfleet uniform!!! .. that's right! .. and not just anyone's uniform, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's uniform!! ... I had always threaten ..er... joked ... with hubby that I'd sew one for him ... We'd been watching all 7 seasons of STNG on DVD for the past 2 months (hubby's fav show), so why not? .. Without hesitation, I ripped the bolts of fabric from the shelf and sped home in time to catch So You Think You Can Dance on TV .. woot! ..

Once I got home, I grabbed a tshirt from hubby's dresser to use as a template and started cutting away .. before I knew it, I had already cut out all the pieces for a summer uniform, hehehe ... Hubby was due to come home the next day and I wanted it to be a surprise so I pushed myself to finish it within the night .. wasn't sure how to put together a shirt, but someone I managed to do it without having to redo any of it .. yay! .. guess good things do come to those who decide to make a starfleet uniform, lol!

Took me a while, but I finally whipped up the shirt .. printed out the necessary details on an iron-transfer and fused them onto the shirt ... woot! ... Voila! ... the latest trend in starfleet uniform! ...

Personally, I think it's pretty good for my first tshirt ever! .. lol! ... It's a bit ghetto ... okay, who am I kidding?? .. It's lots ghetto, but hubby got such a kick out of it when he saw it ... Fits him like a tee ... a tee-shirt, that is!! ... I've still got enough fabric left to make matching shorts ... lol!

And this is what happens when I don't find what I want at the fabric store ... horrible, horrible!

On a diaper bag note, I ended up ordering some lovely oilcloth on Etsy instead. Just arrived last night .. can't wait to get started!!! ... Now if only I could settle on a design

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Currently Listening: Eason Chan concert DVD .. what else? .. sigh .. I'm sad..
Currently Wanting: a nice long afternoon nap in the sun!

Mighty Mugg Revealed!!!

Fri, 29 May 2009 12:58:33 GMT

Okie doke .. so I lied just a bit ... a week has already passed since my mighty mugg tease ... oops ...

The secret mighty mugg is someone that's 100% recycled awesome.... 100% awesome, yes .. but recycled?? .. hmm ... I guess recycled from my parents .. lol!

Without further ado, here she is .... my sis!!... ack! ... a mini sis, how freaky is that??

Ain't she so purdy and cartoony? ... lol! .. I think hubby did a superb job, especially considering it was his first custom might mugg ... We handed it to Gin on her bday after dinner ... lol, she had no clue what to expect! I should really post of pic of the real gin for comparison purposes

One last pic with Gin and her new friends at Toys R Us .. lol!! .. hope I wasn't caught on camera sneaking her onto the shelf, lol!

So there you have it, the might reveal!

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Currently Listening: Kay Tse's 年度之歌
Currently Wanting: a vacation ... a real vacation... I'm pooped