E.L.: Boyfriend's Birthday, and Art Jewellery

It was my boyfriend's birthday 2 weeks ago, and he was in Japan, so I only managed to give him his present recently when he got back. The actual gift was CHANEL's Bleu Eu de Toilette [happiness is CHANEL], but I also wanted to make him something as I always do.

So, I knew that he had just gotten himself a brand new camera, the Olympus E PL2 - which is awesome by the way, and all photos in this post was taken with it - and he needed a camera case. And of course, I made him one!

I used some blue leather and greyish-blue canvas, for the interfacing I used 2 layers, felt and sponge, so that it gives added protection. When making camera or phone or laptop cases always use good thick interfacing so that it provides the needed protection. I also lined it with white satin so that it does not scratch the camera. I also added snap buttons to the sides so that the bag can extend itself.

Since this was a surprise gift, I had to seek out the measurements of the camera online, however I completely forgot about the giant lens, and I was soo lucky that I made the bag so oversized that the camera fits it snugly!

I also made for him another leather cuff, which he had requested before in these colours, beige and green - in the photo it's sitting ontop of the previous one I made for him too, see it here in this post.

All the leathers I used are scrap leather, and they are all hand-sewn [painstakingly as leather is sooo thick], and I leave them quite raw around the edges as firstly I think it suits the look, and secondly I can't seem to find leather Edge Kote in Singapore! If anyone knows where I can find them please let me know!!

So aside from my boyfriend's birthday presents, I've also been experimenting with making jewellery with my art - my drawings.. I wanted to see if I can use paper in my jewellery without ruining it when it gets wet, and how I can make them sturdy enough.

And this are 2 that I came up with!

This first one is a rough drawing of the Eiffel Tower, the drawing is on paper, and I used jewellery wires to create the circle frames and attached them to the sketch. Then I coated the drawing with glossy finishes on both sides, and it became sturdy and waterproof! So chaining it up with pale gold ropes, I have a charm bracelet!

My second one, I created more of a bead like charm. Using clay and my drawing, then also using glossy finishes, I got this! I also braided strips of red leather for it to hang from.

I love them both! And they look great worn together too!

So these art jewellery range are not perfect, they are quite raw as they are all made entirely from scrap pieces, so not too sure if it can be sold. And these 2, I'm keeping for myself anyway.

However, if this catches any of your fancy, let me know!

Cheers,

E.L.

Reebok's Wrist Weights

If you know me, you'll know that I've been committed to a jogging routine for about 8 months now, before I used to be lazy where I go off and on the routine. However, now I'm pretty good at maintaining it! Well, I don't really have a choice see, my dad and brother are avid fitness freaks, and my mom was obese with health problems contributed from it.

Anyway, jogging is usually my only form of exercise, besides my 2km walks everyday to and fro work, I don't go to a gym as it's a waste of money to me. So, with jogging and walking, my legs and core are the only part of my body that is getting most attention, and I am left with jiggly arms. Hence, I got these awesome wrist weights!

These are designed for strapping on and then you can carry on doing your core exercises, so for my case, I strap it on and go jogging! And it's basically weights that work on your arms while you do your core. Mine are 0.5Kg [on each weight, so both weigh 1kg together] as seen in the photo above, and honestly I thought it would have been much heavier, but because of the momentum when I'm jogging, my arms' swinging actually balances out the weights so it does not feel like it's a toll at all. There was a heavier option at the store where I bought it from, it was 1Kg for each weight. However, to get basic tone, you should use lighter weights, for building on muscle mass, heavier would be the option. Since I've already got 5 and 9 pounds hand weights at home, I got the lighter wrist weights - besides I wanted toned arms only, not huge guns!

So I love it, the design too is smart, it pretty much works like an arm guard [those we use as kids when we are learning to ride a bike or roller-blade], you just hook the hole to your thumb and then strap it around your wrist. This design is good as it holds the weights in place, instead of having it sliding up and down your arm, or having to strap it on so tight. It's also made with breathable cloth, and it is filled with beans to create the weight, so it's flexible and soft and comfortable. Plus the attachment is velcro, so it's easy for strapping on yourself.

If you're interested, this should be available at any big sports store that also sells other gym equipments. It wasn't crazy expensive, SGD$23, but I did wince abit considering it was like buying beanbags for my wrist..


Cheers,
E.L.

Kao Liese - Bubble Hair Colour - Natural Black

I've recently discovered that when life gives you a whole ton of lemons to suck on, the stress will give you grey hairs... And I got several sprouting on my too-young head! So I wanted to get rid of them, and was plucking them out, but I knew it was not a good way, as grey is when your normal black hair has lost its pigmentation so it will never go away and will always keep growing back grey. So instead of plucking them out and enduring balding patches [grey hair is always better than no hair!], I decided to dye it!

However, unlike most asian women these days, I did not want to have fake blonde/brown/red tones in my hair, I personally find it offensive - like the new age of colonisation. Why do we asians see the need to try and look like the westerners? We should just be glad with our own distinctive look :)

Anyway, I wanted to dye my hair, but I'm quite dumb at doing it myself at home, where most do-it-yourself hair dyes requires you to have eyes on the back of your head when you apply it on evenly, and it gets really messy, and I didn't want to go through all that, neither do I want to spend an extortionate amount in a salon. So I was super happy when Kao Liese came up with their dark colour hair dyes range!

Kao Liese hair bubble colours used to come in only light colours which does not even colour greys, but with this new dark colour range, it is specially for covering your unsightly aged hair!!!
And I used it, and it was successful!! It was also as simple to use as the product claims it to be! Well, the frothy bubbles that the ad keeps showing is semi-true, where it is only frothy when you squeeze it out of the bottle [after you've mixed the solutions as following the easy step-by-step instructions in the pack], but when applied to the hair it will all just dissolve and you will not be have nice bubbly frothy hair as the ad shows, but it will look like dark sticky paste. This is normal, but the best part is that it is so neat! As you spread the froth over your hair, the paste will gradually hold up your hair, so it does not drip and you can push up your hair like you're shampooing [as seen in the ads but without the bubbles], so it does not dangle and drip all over your back. It also spreads evenly all over your whole head of hair and easily all over your whole head of hair.

The results are very good too! My greys are completely covered and actually the entire length of my hair are evenly dyed! And my hair is blacker than before [actually my hair was natural brown before], but I would have prefered a darker black. Hopefully they can extend their black range to like blue-black and such. Also it did not dry out the hair very badly, I had to condition it quite heavily to get back the smooth softness, and the pack also gave a leave-on serum which softened the hair after wash too. So with continuous conditioning and I use my own serum and olive oil, my hair is shiny and soft as ever!

So check out more of it here if you are interested!

Cheers,
E.L.