DreaDIYs -- Watercolour World Map

Recently, a very important event took place. LILING GOT OLDERRRRRRRR~ 

♥ HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILING ♥

For those who've read my previous entries, you'd know that Liling is a very special happy jelly that plopped into my life only 3 years ago, and her presence has since become an immovable jelly rock. In case you couldn't tell, I mean that in the best possible way. I love my jelly. CUE JELLY DANCE! (~*v*)~  (~*v*)~

tadaaaa~ look at that smile!
Above: Merryl
L-R: Jen, LILING, Me

For her birthday this year, we FINALLY managed to surprise her successfully, after years of trying. \o/ WE DID IT! It took 3 years and even more tries, but we did it! Other than a meal, I also wanted to give her something extra special, so I went the DIY route, especially since I've been feeling rather crafty. Heh heh heh... What i came up with at the end was a watercolour world map! Liling really enjoys travelling, but I didn't want to just get her a plain old map. In fact, she already has one of those cool scratch maps, where you scratch of places where you've been to, and the colour below the gold scratch layer varies. Mine was meant to be more of an ornamental piece. Like those boards with inspirational quotes on 'em in those pinterest rooms? This map has a personal touch, okay. I decided on the quote "the joy is in the journey" after pestering Jen a TONNE. So... ... JJA JJANGGGG!

check out that watercolour ombre -proud-

The space/small markings at the bottom left (depending on how good your vision is) are indications for her to put a nice Polaroid of the two of us (#^u^#) It's definitely not perfect, and there definitely are mistakes, but I'm still pretty proud of it! First time working with watercolours outside of primary school art class, so I enlisted Joey's help (she's one of my best friends from secondary school, seriously artsy and had a watercolour phase). Here's how we did it! ;D

*disclaimer: Not really to scale. If you're great at geography, be prepared to cough up a little blood. You have been warned.*

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

MATERIALS

Photo Frame -- unless you don't want to frame it. I used a standing one, not a hanging one.

Printed out world map -- get a pic from Google images, and scale it down to the size you want.

Watercolour paper -- I stole a page from Joey.

Watercolours/cups of water/brushes -- Again, stolen from Joey.

Markers -- If you wish to outline the map in ink and for any words/quotes.

Scissors/pencils/erasers -- To trace out the map onto watercolour paper.

A HELL LOTTA PATIENCE

#1

Make sure your map fits within the area of the frame. Remember to leave allowance for the sides of the frame. Don't want to offend anyone by cutting off their beloved country. Then cut out each chunk of land, and trace them out on the watercolour paper before you lose the tiny cut out pieces. I did mine by continents.

this is the one I used (I think)

Tip: Try to make your map as huge as possible. Seriously. And don't worry thaaat much about accuracy, I free handed some parts and left out some islands because they were just too much work. (Sorry Indonesia...) Just include what's important. Eg. The map I printed out had so many tiny islands, but not Singapore. So I drew it in. I don't care if it's not to scale, or if its a negligible dot, IT WILL BE THERE.

#2

Once you've got your general map down, go back in with the reference picture to check for any glaring mistakes and correct them. You can't really erase pencil marks after painting without taking the paint of and stripping the paper too, so this is important!

Tip: I wouldn't outline it too darkly, because the watercolours will bleed out and will most probably go out of the lines, forcing you to reshape the geographical boundaries of the countries like you're Genghis Khan.

#3

It was my first time painting like this too, so pardon the clumsy explanation... First, decide on your colour scheme, and in what order/direction the ombre would go.

7+ hours later... thanks again, Joey ♥

The colours are kinda washed out in the picture, but as (I hope) you can see, we did a vertical ombre. The colours went from cool to warm: blue > purple > pink > red > orange > yellow!

clearer pic of the colours~

#4

Basically, take your watercolour paper and dampen small sections at a time.

Type I: If you like the effect of the paint spreading out, just dot small drops of paint onto the wet paper and watch it diffuse. SCIENCE. However, if your paper isn't wet enough, or you use too much paint, you end up with polka dots, basically.

Type II: Just paint it normally, pushing the paint to where you want it to go. Same with the above, too little water and/or too much paint is bad, only you get streaks/stripes instead of dots.

Note: If you use too much water the paper WILL crinkle a little. You may also get some blotches of very pale colour. Going over it again will make the colour darker, but the water marks and crinkling will remain, which is what happened to Russia...

sorry... /:

See the folds of the paper? My frame is actually already exerting some pressure on the paper to keep it flatter... Moral of the story? Be careful and don't make mistakes. If you do, just start printing, cutting, tracing and colouring all over again. No pressure or anything. That was pretty much my thought process during the entire painting session. That and "My neck/shoulders/back ache".

#5

Darken the outlines and add any wordings you may want on your map. As mentioned earlier, I left a gap at the bottom left for a Polaroid picture. DONE!

my masterpiece, in all it's (limited) glory

I bought these wooden letters from Spotlight, but was unsure if I should use them...

To Liling, blessed birthday, lovie! EYE LUBB CHOO MANY MANY. -huuuug- I'm sorry this post basically showed you what was wrong with the map, which will probably bother you for years to come... You are gonna keep this for at least that long, aren't you? Anyhoo, if you ever doubt my friendship, just look at the stupid super awesome completely perfectly drawn beautiful work of art that is this map.

Signing off throwing sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals at Liling,

Andrea (♥v♥)

DIGITAL PERM @ NUMBER76

I'm backkkkkk~ Again, please forgive the lack of posts! Been pretty busy running around doing stuff, and recently started a new part time job. Hopefully I can save up a lot! ... And maybe spend less, heh.

Anyway, if you follow me on instagram (@slantedalmonds), you'll have seen a picture of me with curly hair! Namely, this one:

not sure if I should call it "curly" or "curled". oh well.

Yup. Basically, I went for a "hot" perm, or digital perm at Number76. My stylist was Shaun, same at last time. However, this time, I was at the Publika branch, with my cousin Kimberly, in fact. It had only just opened that month and all chemical servicces were on 20% off! -happy dance- I originally wanted to colour my hair again as well, but was advised against it. Sigh, the pains of having dead grass for hair (T^T)

It was quite challenging to find the salon, even with GPS, and we wound up kinda lost. We reached on time, but I think we made my father kinda late for his work appointment... Oops? Either way, this branch is as aesthetically pleasing as the Bangsar 2 branch I went to before it, if only in a different way. The space was very open and had a garden-like concept. It was also very... white? Yet warm? Minimalist and clean? Insta-friendly? Along those lines la. I'll let the pics do the talking...

after the long drive, I went to the toilet first. Heh <_<
their hand soap is from AESOP. AESOP. #atas

the view from my seat

the view on the other side of my seat.

mini hanging garden reception area!

I love the look of the textured/ white brick walls, as well as the wood and slightly warm toned lights. It makes it look super clean and well put together, but still inviting. I find some places go overboard with the minimalist thing and it ends up looking very cold and impersonal, like a showroom. On to the perming process!

STEP 1: some solution was applied to my dry hair to prepare it.

Note: I washed my hair the night before so they didn't wash it for me. My cousin didn't so they washed hers.

it was left on (with cling warp over it) for 10 minutes

after washing it out. turban time~

Step 2: They see me rollin', they hatin'

They then plugged me to the heating system. Can't remember for how long, though. The sponge protected my head from the heat pretty well! Just felt a pleasant warmth. The unpleasantness came from the fact that my head felt SO FREAKING HEAVY. Had a slight neck cramp afterwards... Shaun applied the perm solution and rollers to my hair, before letting the trainee take over the heating bit.

really thick hair, so they used every roller they had on me, heh heh

go ahead. laugh. I know you want to.

Step 3: Removing and realxing

Yes, I look like Chinese Goldilocks gone wrong. I know. But according to Shaun, if they don't do this, the perm essentially becomes flat once they apply the relaxant. This way it stays curlier and longer.

again, go ahead. laugh. I know you still want to.

after applying the relaxant... progressed from Goldilocks to Chinese pin-up model wannabe.
WHEEEE~

POST-WASH/BLOW DRY

#glamorous

This was before I separated the curls, because I wanted to let it set before I brushed it out too much. If you want to hear more details about their really great service, you can read my post on getting ombre hair  from back in January. Different branch, same service (: To be honest, I was a tad disappointed because the curls weren't as defined as I wanted. However, it still looks pretty and I like the subtle, more natural look as well. It's lasted pretty well so far... More pics:

You can see the difference when I twirl and blow dry my hair before bed and when I just don't do anything to it. Sometimes, especially if it's hot, I laze around in my poofy alibaba pyjama pants with my hair in buns! I just twist the buns in the direction of the curls. OH! Also, my hair is curled from my chin / jaw area onward, and it curls inward, not out.

PYJAMAAAAAS~

When I go out it's either just hanging around freely or I tie it into a simple ponytail. Here's a pic of when it's tied up:

for those wondering, L-R: me, sher nah, joey, sher koh
my best friends from secondary school! ♥

here's what it looks like today (:

Welp, that's basically it! For those wondering, yes I have gotten lazy. I bathe at night, and with this much hair, it's a total hassle to blow dry, so I usually blow dry it about half way and then sleep with my hair in 4 sections, 2 on each side, curling each section with my hands. I usually flip my hair up when I sleep, so instead of a mass of hair, there are 4 "rolls". Yes, it is as weird as it sounds.

Signing of with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals around my beautifully curled tresses,

Andrea *cough cough* shameless *cough*  °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

MANI MONDAY -- MERMAID NAILS

It's been a while, huh? More than a month, in fact... My apologies! I guess the consolation would be that I've at least managed a minimum of 2 posts a month, though they're irregular. I WILL IMPROVE!

Anyhoo, I've always been a person that coos over the perfectly manicured nails of others, especially of they didn't go to a salon. My hands suddenly become super shaky whenever I want to apply nail polish, sigh... The other day, I watched a Youtube video by Jenn Im, or clothesencounters, who I have been following for several years and have loved for just as long, showcasing her favourite polishes. One of them was For The Twill Of It by Essie, which totally blew my socks off. It's one of those iridescent ones that change depending on the angle you're looking at it from. There are purple, metallic silver and green hues. Basically, super awesome. It was also super problematic because I couldn't get it in Singapore! BURDENNNNNNN. So on my recent trip to Hawaii, I looked for and found it! YAY ME! -applause-

insta just doesn't do it any justice

told you I sucked at painting my nails...

Since my nail painting and photo taking skills leave much to be desired, here are some photos from Google images to supplement the grainy mental image you now have of this polish.

from essie's site

from www.alllacqueredup.com

Can you see the awesome mermaid-ness of this colour?? Though to be honest, I don't think the singular form is appropriate here... It applied pretty well and the lasting power was pretty average. I'm a kinda "rough" person, and seriously careless, but these lasted a pretty well over a week. When it started chipping it actually peeled off in medium sized pieces, though. I wore it for my cousin's wedding, because my dresses were all black and white. #monochrome, eh? I wanted something with a bit of edge, but more uplifting (?) than a plain black, so TADAAA~

"subtly" showing off my new bag hahahaha

For those who want to get it, there are online sources you can get it from, I believe. Essie polishes are generally quite reasonably priced, and for this colour?? JUST TAKE AND RUN.

Signing off with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals on my nails,

Andrea (#OvO#)

DreaDrabbles -- GATES

GATES

A tiny face,

An outstretched arm,

A smile freely given,

Innocence out in the

Open.

Paper plate faces,

Coloured walls of hand prints,

Chewed up toys and crayons,

Mischief from minds that are

Open.

Uniform cuts framing faces,

Green ink following red,

Voices restrained for perfect harmony,

Slowly learning to

Close.

Fine lines that bracket,

Veins protruding without strain,

Blocked ears and painted lips,

Guarded eyes that see only rain.

White walls in glass ones,

Only squares to be seen,

No roundness or softness permitted,

No trace of the laughter that had been.

It always happens eventually,

They supposed,

The gates are finally

Closed.

BEACH HOLI @ SENTOSA

A while back, a bunch of us celebrated the Indian festival of colours, or Holi, at Sentosa. We went to Azura dressed in white tops, hoping to get nice splatters of colour on them, but the people around us had other plans... I wore denim shorts there and brought fbts along, and THANK GOD I DID, because the event was a lot less dry than I expected. I guess I kinda assumed it would be like the Colour Run thing that people do, but like a... colour dance?? Since we were technically at a club.

I'm really starting to like the headless ootd thing
for some reason...

I met up with Jun at Beach Station where she was spending some happy time WITH A FREAKING GIANT SNAKE. I'm not actually that opposed to snakes, but letting one around your neck just doesn't seem like a good idea to me...

presentingggg... Jun! THE SNAKE WHISPERER

BEACH TIME! plus, nice legs XD
L-R: jen, me, steph, liling, jun

We proceeded to join Jen, Liling and Steph, who actually met up in the morning, cause Jun and I had church. Well... I had church, but seeing that I'd got back from Hawaii the morning before, I was massively jet lagged and missed it. Oops. Oh well. We met up and stashed our stuff in the lockers. We wound up not having enough space in 2 lockers for our slippers, so we literally just chucked them onto the lockers, out of sight, hoping no one would take them.

We danced together and met a couple of really nice, funny people who would literally shake around like boneless jellyfish to the music. It was HILARIOUS. I also got really tired really quickly and even got a freaking stitch in my side. From dancing. Not even legit dancing. So unfit. All in all, it was super fun and I was thankful that I could catch up with the girls again. It was especially strange going from seeing Jen and Liling every day to just somewhat regularly, so having this "girl time" was great! -insert warm fuzzy feelings here-

We got mostly purple powdered dye, hence the explosion of that single colour all over us. I was a bit disappointed because the back of my shirt turned out nicer than the front hahaha, it had red and yellow and more pink on it. Also, we were told there would be food, and did expect it to be more expensive, since hello, Sentosa and all, but it was freaking outrageous. Can't remember exactly, but I do remember we decided to just go hungry and go get food outside. We also weren't allowed out until we'd gotten clean, but then saw tourists who were covered in what is best described as rainbow unicorn poop get on to the monorail. Oh well. Oh yeah, another thing, THIS SHIT DOES NOT COME OFF. I was stained pruple for DAYS. geez.

vid is courtesy of steph, who hopefully is ok with me posting it. THANK YOU ^v^ 

Excuse the fat arms haha, as I said, UNFIT. Also, the Japan/Hawaii posts are coming, but my dad cleared the SD card after uploading the pics to his com, and proceeded to leave the country (=____=) I'm also going to Malaysia again, this time with one of my cousins as well, so yeah, more delays... Sorry! Heh heh...

Signing off with sunshine, sparkles, sakura petals and purple skin,

Andrea (~^v^)~

Of Celebration And Mourning -- Mr Lee Kuan Yew

MR LEE KUAN YEW
16.09.1923 - 23.03.2015

Today our country mourns the loss of one of our greatest leaders and founding fathers, a loss that I believe reverberates through the world. Mr Lee Kuan Yew, may he rest in peace, shaped Singapore into the country it is today. Imperfect, as is anything and everything else, but home all the same. He understood the circumstances we were in when we first became independent in 1965, and his world view and resultant policies enabled us to thrive and achieve beyond anybody's expectations. Sure, we are sometimes called a benevolent dictatorship (thanks wiki), but he had enough benevolence and leadership to make it work. Order was kept, progress was achieved, and our people were one. For those who scoff at the concept of racial harmony, I urge you to look around, and to look closely. As mentioned previously, the JC friends and I are essentially the poster children for racial harmony. I have friends from pretty much all walks of life, all income brackets, all races, all religions, all nationalities. Today, as we mourn the passing of Mr Lee, I would like to encourage every Singaporean to also celebrate him, his life and the "little" things that would not have come to pass without him.

Perhaps I am too young to see all the imperfections of his policies, but there is no doubt in my mind that we've done pretty damn well for ourselves in a short 50 years, and that we have Mr Lee, among others, to thank for that. We made it to SG50 a peaceful and prosperous nation, and that's something to be proud of.

In some ways I think of Mr Lee as Singapore's Dumbledore. A great leader who did indeed make mistakes, but always held the interests of his people at heart. A man who's mark upon the history of those he led will never be forgotten or erased, indelible.

Thus, in true Potterhead fashion, I'll end this short post with a quote from the wizard himself:
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light".

Let us all remember the light he gave, and strive to keep it burning.

Signing off appreciating the sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals,
Andrea

HOLIDAY HAPPINESS o(*V*o)

WELP, the results are out, and it's time to apply for univeristy! Before that, however, I'm gonna do a throwback to the last 2 weeks of February, where my family took a vacay to Japan and... HAWAII. Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhh~ It was a well-deserved holiday for my parents, as well as an opportunity for my dad to take his mum and sister on a trip. It was also supposedly a reward for my having studied hard for my A levels, but this was before the results came out, so I suspect it was more like a convenient distraction so I wouldn't have a nervous breakdown leading up to 2nd March, being pretty much alone at home and all...

MOVING ON:

celebrating my maternal grandma's birthday before we leave (:
yes, that is a mahjong tile.

We spent a week in Tokyo and another in Honolulu. This is gonna be a sorta overview-slash-trip prep type post, I'll probably go more in-depth into the stuff we did/saw/bought/ate in later posts. But yeah, fun times ;D

I'd introduced my parents to the wonders of airbnb, and so we decided to book an apartment in Tokyo. We would be staying there as a group of 5, comprising my parents, aunt, grandma and I. Yep, the average age of people on this trip was waaay high. That meant that we needed an apartment building with a lift, or the space had to be on the first floor (my grandma's 80+). We also looked for one where essentials would be provided and there had to be 2 rooms. We also needed a place with a washer, because there was no way we could//would pack 2 weeks worth of clothing, including winter jackets. We found one that met our requirements, so we booked it and were set!

For those who want to book airbnb, feel free to use my "discount" personal referral code: atan65 to get $34 off! It's not exactly a lot, but it's still something!

mandatory passport shot
featuring my airport breakfast ^^

Packing would also prove challenging, since the temperature in Tokyo was about 10 degrees (Celsius) and Honolulu was supposed to be about 25 degrees and above. So this is how I packed for 1 trip with 2 climates!

SOLUTION 1: A UNIQLO HEAT TECH NINJA BODYSUIT

Nope, no joke. Everyday, I wore out what essentially was a full length ninja bodysuit of warmth. Let us thank the Japanese technology gods for the wonders of heat tech clothing. My mum bought us 5 sets to share. Hers were a size bigger, but I didn't really care.

NINJAHHHHH

Yup. Totally stealth assassin wear. The heat tech tights are actually really good at keeping your legs a good temperature, and the same goes for the top. I can't really say warm, as in hot/warm, but my legs felt... pleasantly cool the entire time, even at night. I was wearing another layer of normal tights over them, of course. I'm from Singapore, I can't do what the Japanese girls do and go out bare-legged, or with tights so thin they're sheer. I could definitely feel (and curse) the difference on days I didn't wear it. 

SOLUTION 2: LAYER LIKE KUEH LAPIS (layered cake)

practice at home, heh heh...

So this would be the type of outfit I wore the entire week, with the aforementioned ninja suit inside, and with the shorts substituted for by jeans/tights. Apart from the ninja suit, I also wore the thick knitted grey sweater almost every day. It's also from Uniqlo! ... Lotsa Uniqlo clothing because we visited Japan a while back and bought a tonne of winter stuff since we didn't bring enough. Anyhoo, I affectionately refer to this as my Doctor Who outfit, as I feel it's vaguely reminiscent of his style. It's probably also pretty blasphemous to Whovians all around the world, considering that I don't actually watch Doctor Who. Oops. Sorry /:

Day 1! And mummy's first ootd :'D

I also added a men's beanie because I have a ginormous head and a tonne of hair and normal female ones just DO NOT FIT. Even this big one from my dad kept sliding up and exposing my ears to the cold! All the same, hassle aside, it kept my head fairly warm and headache-free whenever I could be bothered to wear it. The happy scarf is my mum's, from Desigual, along with her embroidered black coat.

happy waterfall of colours, courtesy of my mum

As for my coat, I borrowed it from Joey! Thank God for friends who travel and have extras to lend you.My own coat is kinda old, and I was seriously doubting it's ability to keep me warm in those kinds of temperatures, so I got this from her literally DAYS before we were due to leave. I had ordered one online a few weeks before, but was informed scarcely a week before departure that it was out of stock and could only be delivered after another 2-3 WEEKS. -insert raging Andrea face here- So yes, borrowing! It's a really nice, warm coat from Stradivarius. A tad small after all the layering, but that was expected, since Joey's much tinier than me, hence the trial layering at home. Anyway, everything worked out for the best in the end, YAY.

Layering also meant that when I got to Hawaii, I could wear most of the things I brought, so not much wasted luggage space. YAY again!

egg chair adventures @ midnight

Hawaii did turn out much colder than we expected, though, but I'll get into that in later posts. That's it for now, I guess. See you in my next post, all about Japaaaannnnnn <3

Signing off in a ninja suit with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals,

Andrea <3