My first yard sale...

So I had my very first yard sale today....unfortunately the turnout wasn't great...but at least the weather was okay and it actually felt really comfortable sitting under the shade of the huge tent...so much so that I was falling asleep on the rocking chair =P

So that was my little spot over there with my clothes, pillows, photos, sewn stuffs and other nick-nacks.

I sold several of my framed pictures as well as numerous loose pieces. The lighthouse photos were the favorites. A cranberry bog owner bought both of my cranberry photos...and requested that I autograph the photos =)
I also sold some tops, bags, purses, pillows, coasters, fabrics etc....a bit of everything. A lady who bought a bagful of my handmade stuffs had asked me to participate in her farmer's market event to sell some of my stuffs. I might do just that sometime in Sep-Oct when I'm back from Singapore and if I've made enough stuffs to sell again.
I met some really nice people and we talked about antiques, crafts, sewing, photography and lighthouses. I learnt a lot through the conversations....and it's wonderful how different people with their different experiences/knowledge have different things to teach.

The yard sale was supposed to be 9-6pm.....but we all got pretty restless by noon time 'cos of the lack of human traffic. So by 2-ish....all the ladies had decided to close shop for the day.

My revenue for today's yard sale -- USD170. Not great....but it's a start.

The photos have arrived in the mail....

I ordered some 8R prints from SmugMug and they turned out great. I chose to pay more to print the photos on Kodak Professional Endura Paper which is a heavier premium paper. The colors on the photos look vibrant like in glossy prints but they have a matt finish which is fingerprint resistant and reduces the glare that's common in gloss prints. The quality of the prints is so much better than the ones from Walgreen or Target. I'm a SmugMug fan now!

RG bought me several nice wooden frames from Michael's so that I can display some of the prints to give people an idea of how the photos will look like when framed. I'm quite happy with how they turned out. Thanks baby!

Will place the rest of my prints individually in clear resealable plastic pockets for my yard sale.

Peter the rabbit...

We were out in the yard on Sunday...enjoying the sun and the blooms when this little itsy-bitsy snucked up on us. My neighbor has a name for him/her - Peter (I sure hope it's a him). RG managed to take a nice shot of Peter.....isn't he a darling precious?!

Young Peter wasn't afraid of us....he came very close and just sat there and watched us for awhile. Most of the older bunnies would dart away real fast the minute they spot us in a distance. I guess Young Peter has not learned to feel threatened by human beings yet.

Same thing applies to human babies. When you are a newborn...you don't know anything and do not fear anything. Give a baby a hot kettle and the baby will probably touch it with his/her bare hands. That's when conditioning/learning takes place. The baby cries in pain and the next time you give him/her a hot kettle again, he/she would probably be more cautious.

Over many years of conditioning and learning....we've grown to be very cautious and afraid of many things. While most of the things that we've learnt to be afraid of would probably save our lives....there are also many other fears that may be unfounded....and have turned us into cowards.

And for many of us, one of the greatest gifts that we've lost is the ability to trust with no inhibitions 'cos we've learnt and seen the dark sides of human nature and as such, turned us into very cynical beings. While this distrust might serve to protect us....it also prevents us from forming deep meaningful relationships that are build on great trust and faith.

So all these learning and conditioning.....whether it's actually good or bad for us, I really don't know.

All I know is that we should enjoy the company of Young Peter for now....'cos sooner or later, he'd no longer be sitting from a feet away from us and looking at us with those inquisitive eyes. Have fun while it lasts. He's really such a darling!

Look what I dug out from the trash.....

My landlord was going to throw this plastic tray out. I believe she had used it to carry her potted plants back from the nursery. It seems like such a waste so I reclaimed it from the trash and gave it a good scrub and rinse to get rid of all the dirt.

I cut out a small fabric piece from a reclaimed flat sheet and sewed a recycled piece of elastic band (cut out from an old fitted sheet previously) all around to turn it into a fabric liner. Took me like a couple of minutes to sew it. I fitted it over the plastic tray and I've got myself a pretty display tray for my yard sale this weekend! Everything from this project has been recycled....isn't that great?

Go look in your trash today....keep an open mind and you may be pleasantly surprised at what you can turn your "trash" into!

What's up with us

(I'm so pissed with myself!!! I wrote a whole long blogpost and the next minute I accidentally pressed the DELETE button......gaaaawdddd!)

Hey Everybody,

Sorry I've been very tardy with my blog posts lately. Even mom was asking me why I haven't been updating my blog =P

So what have we been up to?

Well, for one, the weather is getting better. We are getting warmer and sunnier days. I've started to pack away our thick winter clothes to make way for lighter and breezier clothings. So little shorts, flirty skirts and flip-flops...here they come!!

The bunnies in our yard had disappeared for the whole of winter but they are finally back again - we have been seeing them merrily hopping around in the garden. There are the little itsy-bitsy baby bunnies too....oh, you can't believe how cute they are! Sometimes, I'd just sit by the bay window to watch them.

The towns around here are bustling with activities as many people (i.e. summer residents/tourists) are starting to arrive for the summer. We see people riding around in their bikes, vehicles towing their boats out to the pier for launching, little kids selling lemonades in their Little Tykes stands, yard sales....ohhh, it's gonna be so much fun.

Marion and Mattapoisett are known to be places where many of the rich and famous would spend their summer vacations...so we are hoping to spot some ourselves. I just found out that my MOST FAVORITE ACTOR - JAMES SPADER is a regular in Marion!!! And he's actually an acquaintance of my neighbour....so I BEGGED BEGGED BEGGED her to get a photograph/autograph of him if she sees him around this summer.

I'll also be having my first yard sale at the end of this month. So right now, I've been sewing up little stuffs....gathering some of our lightly used/new stuffs for resale and pricing/tagging all the items. My sale inventory is approximately 5 big bags full as of now....and still counting.

I made 8R prints out of a whole bunch of my photographs - scenes of around here that I'll be selling too. They are pretty costly but I figured that even if they don't sell, I can use them to decorate our house....and I might also bring some back to Singapore to decorate our little flat with.

We've been going down to the Cape A LOT lately. The bridge traffic has been pretty good maybe 'cos the summer crowds aren't back in full force yet...and they've finally completed the renovation works on the Sagamore Bridge so the lanes are all opened. There are so many interesting things to see and do on the Cape as each town is different and has different things to offer - beaches, ponds, dunes, shopping, restaurants, galleries, museums or just people-watch! We are hoping to visit Martha's Vineyard sometime soon too.

We are currently toying with the idea of moving to the Cape.....'cos it seems like such a fun and vibrant place to be at. But the flip side is that we'll have to put up with the tourist crowd and bad traffic during summertime. Well, we'll see how that pans out.....so stay tuned!

We will be returning to Singapore briefly...probably sometime in July. We are in the process of booking our airtixs....and the prices have jumped quite abit since a couple weeks back...darn! Anyway, we'll be most happy to catch up with families and friends over some roti pratas, mee siam and hokkien mee when we are back......we are definitely looking forward to that!

Take care and we'll see you soon!

Love,
TT & RG

ROCK on.....

What can you do with a piece of rock, scrap fabrics and some imagination?

A pretty yet useful paper weight!

Project CUTE.....

Trust the Japanese and Koreans to come out with ultra kawaii fabrics. Having bought them online and shipped all the way from Japan/Korea, I have used them to make these little purses for my yard sale. Not sure if they'd go down well with the more elderly residents in my town....but I just want to bring a little cuteness and cheer to the people here. If I've got time, I'd probably turn these cute fabrics into little totes too.

Anyway, our yard sale has been scheduled to take place on the 30 & 31 May (Sunday & Memorial Day Monday). If you happen to be around our little town in Marion, MA.....do drop by Harriet's @ 7 Cottage Street for our Yard-Sale-Under-the-Tent event, 9am-6pm (or while stocks last). There'll be at least 4-5 of us selling our handmade stuffs, artwork, bric-a-brac and many other value buys....so it's guaranteed to be an interesting & eclectic selection of stuffs that you'll find a good bargain for....or just come browse, have a chat & a few good laughs with the friendly ladies while having some cookies & lemonade!

It'd be my very first yard sale and I'm looking forward to it =)

New Bedford Whaling Museum

Last Sunday after brunch at the Kinsale Inn, we decided to check out the Whaling Museum in New Bedford as a friend had given us 2 free museum passes.

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/

New Bedford is also known as The Whaling City...in the 19th century, it was one of the most important whaling ports in the world. Hence, it's most apt that the Whaling Museum is located there. It's unfortunate that New Bedford is now infamous for being a crime-ridden city and a dangerous place to live in...when it used to be one of the richest cities in USA at the peak of the whaling industry.

We were greeted by 3 huge whale skeletons hanging from above the ceiling when we entered the museum. It isn't a very big museum but there are many interesting exhibits on whales, the whaling industry, lives of the whalers etc.

If you are wondering how big/heavy is a Blue Whale......
That's supposedly a bunk bed on a whaling ship....the space is so tight...can you imagine if you've to sleep on one of these beds for months in a row? *shudder* I kinda regreted not taking some photos of the artworks of whalers. Many of them were so bored on the ship that they started carving/painting on whale bones/teeth.
There's a great view of downtown New Bedford from the top floor of the museum.
It makes me feel kinda sad how the whales were hunted on such a large scale for their meat and oil. I'm glad that such whaling activities aren't that common these days. Can you imagine that back in the 19th century, the whales were literally the ones driving the world's economy - providing fuel that was so essential for industrial developments!!?? If not for the over-hunting, whales may be a much more common sight now.

Everything deserves a second chance....

I found this sad looking piece of bedding at the thrift store....it was actually very pretty as it had all these different flower prints on it. I brought it home for a mere $2.99 and seeing that the flower prints were approximately 4"x4"....I decided to hand cut the flower prints into small square pieces and made them into coasters (I probably can make at least 50+ coasters out of the single piece of bedding!).

I thought the coasters turned out really sweet....kinda vintage looking too! The prints are different so each coaster is unique.

Stack them up....add a ribbon and a tag.....it'd make a great gift too!
So before you toss something out.....give it some thought as to whether or not it's possible to turn it into something else that can be of some use. Everything deserves a second chance!

Psychedelic crocs....

I'm known for my love for Crocs. I used to have a whole shoe rack full of them (back in Singapore) - in all the different styles - clogs, flats, sandals, slip-ons, wedges, flip-flops....you name it, I probably had it. And I was also crazy enough to have the same designs in various different colors =P

Mary Jane is one of my most favorite crocs style....and I had many pairs of them in different colors....but never had I seen a pair in Psychedelic blue (actually, the color is "blueberry swirl") until yesterday at Job Lot! Somehow, the shoe reminds me of FA soap (you know, the blue aqua one?)...I can almost smell the fresh scent of the soap in my head.

RG helped me go through the entire rack and found one pair in my size....YEAY! So I grabbed it. And the price - $10!!! Back in Singapore, every single pair of Crocs that I bought was at least USD35 or more. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my size for the Psychedelic pink pair....otherwise, I'd have bought that too.

Think when I finally have a proper place for shoe storage (instead of hanging my Crocs up on the tool rack! hee hee)....I'd start my Crocs collection again. I hope RG is alright with that =)

Before I forget....on why I love Crocs so much...'cos they are quirky and they are the most comfortable footwear ever!! I used to have problems like knee pains, aching soles....but not ever since I started wearing Crocs. That's the only reason why I'm willing to spend money on them. They are really something...those rubbery weird shoes! My current neighbor swears by them too...she has chronic back pains and she said her Crocs have helped ease the pain when walking in them. So forget about those Orthopedic shoes that cost a bomb....just head down to Job Lot for your $10 pair of Crocs that'd work as well (if not better) than those shoes recommended by your podiatrists!