the lion city II: the flowers

And now we come to the real jewels of Singapore. I've already chronicled my lengthy journey to Singapore, and all the mouthwatering food that I partook of, but now we get to the really good stuff.

Singapore is a tropical country (it's located a smidge above the equator), and its climate tends to bring out the most beautiful and enchanting treasures of all. I'm speaking of course, of my family (cue "awww").

We traipsed all over Singapore, and it was great to see my family laugh and ride buses and subways and eat food.

I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures of some of my favorite people. For those of you who thought this post was actually about flowers, never fear, I'll sprinkle some of those in as well. If you have walked a mile with me, then you know I have always loved taking pictures of the flora and fauna that I happen to find myself surrounded by.

We'll start this party off with a real looker, shall we?






My mommy. She makes me happy!

The Ian. He's usually walking a couple steps behind us, so I really had to be patient to end up behind him! (I love you, little man!)

Who doesn't like a good head rub? Dad does!

She has a great laugh. I like capturing laughter.

I just love vibrant colors.

We love nap time. An ancient and venerable tradition. Brought to you on the metro.

Sentosa's Flower Festival:

I convinced my family to go with me to Sentosa's flower festival so I could play with my camera.  The following are from this outing. It was already later in the day, so lighting wasn't ideal, but I think the pictures turned out ok. At this point, Ian didn't want to have any part of it, so he sat in a KFC and read a book or played a game. All this to say, he isn't in the flower shots.

There was a dragon built from pink flowers at the entrance. I didn't take a picture. Sorry, it seemed a little too oxymoronic for me, if only for its lack of fierce-ness. I just wanted to mention it. In case you were interested. It made me a little wary of what other flower creations they had in store. But they didn't disappoint, don't worry.

Allow me to open with some pretty yellow

My aunt. She doesn't like to smile with her teeth because she's self conscious, but I think she beats those flowers any day.

Mom. She's laughing because I asked her to squat, and she's not sure if she can get back up. I knew you could do it Mom!

This was in the "Lover's Lane" section of the festival. There was a heart pattern in front of the swing, but this looked better.

I got a tooth smile! Guess I surprised her enough with the hug that she let a real one out. Don't mind my whiteness. I know I throw off color in most photos.

:)

I was trying to get some bokeh, but it wasn't dark enough outside yet, so I just kind of made my parents lean out awkwardly. Oh well. It's still cute.

Finally got me some bokeh!

To show our appreciation, Singapore (I'm super mature. Though in fairness, Dad played along!)!

Orchids are the national flower of Singapore.

Ian Pian. With his sulky, emo, teenager look. Rocking the muscle shirt, to maximize the impact of those guns.

Clearly, it was delicious. What'd I tell you? Food. Is. Awesome.

This is my big sister skeptical, patronizing look. How's it doing?

Oh, I just couldn't resist. This is when he is most agreeable. Since he's on the other side of the world, I think I'm safe. I'll at least have a 24 hr head start if I have to run for my life. But I don't think I will because I don't know that this blog makes a bleep on his teenage radar. Sigh.

We're all about making new friends.

Especially Ian. Very friendly.

We had a little surprise partay for my mom since her birthday was right after they got back to China and of course I wanted to get in on the festivities. And throw in another surprise. Why not?

Awwwwww

And on that note, I will bring this post to an end. I hope you enjoyed a little peek into my family and our adventures. I'm planning on one more post in Singapore, so stay tuned, and thanks for being patient!

Any surprise parties or funny pictures to share?

craft: headband

Tis the season to be crafting! Falalalala Lalalala

I'm not entirely sure what's gotten into me, but I suppose I am in a crafting frenzy. I have been browsing different websites and little lightbulbs of inspiration have been going off in my head (enter: Gru from Despicable Me saying "liiightbulb", and yes, in exactly that voice).

So, after browsing, I came across the inspiration for my headband. I hardly wear headbands, yes, but I decided to give this a try since it looks kid-friendly/comfortable so I should be able to deal with it. Plus, I wanted something festive yet re-wearable. Meaning, I wanted not only to be able to wear it to a Christmas party but wear it at another time of year as well.

The original called for satin fabric but I didn't have any, so I got some black satin ribbon because I figured I could use the ribbon for other things. It wasn't as wide as the original, but I disregarded this. I also got some red tulle-like ribbon. There's probably an accurate name for it, but I can't recall it at the moment. I wanted to get red satin ribbon, but what do you know, it's Christmas time and ALL the red wide ribbon was gone. So this would have to do. The important thing is that the ribbon edges can be melted so that fraying is prevented.

So, Ingredients:
Satin/tulle-like ribbon (colors of your choosing. I used red and black)
Crystal beading
Needle and thread (helpful to have the colors of your ribbon)
Scissors
Candle (and a method to light it)
Felt
Hot glue gun (and glue)
Head band (I used a scunci elastic one that was recommended from the website above)

Ready, Set, Create!



Most of my ingredients. See the hidden smiley?
 Totally unplanned.

First, I cut out concentric circles from the black ribbon. They really don't have to be exact (it'll be prettier if they're not), but they do need to be progressively smaller. The red ribbon was quite a bit smaller than the black (read: less wide), so I had an idea to just leave them in squares. I cut out six squares, two of each size (also progressively smaller). You can cut as many circles and squares as you like, I cut as many as the width of the black ribbon would allow (5) and an even number of shrinking squares.

Next. Fire. Please be careful. If you decide to try this, I am not responsible for burned fingers (or anything else, for that matter.) I used a candle because I didn't want to constantly hold a lighter. But you can use a lighter if you prefer. Take your squares and circles and carefully melt the edges. It will prevent fraying and cause the fabric to turn upwards a little bit.

The back. Supa exciting.

Next, I chose how many crystals I wanted and in what fashion and then I sewed them on to the ribbons which were laid over each other with the largest piece on the bottom.

I got a bit of red felt and cut a leaf shape because my two flowers were looking a trifle lonely. I also melted its edges to give it a bit of an aged look. I used a small strip of felt as the base and hot glued the flowers and the leaf to the felt.

To finish, I turned my flowers over so that the felt base was facing up, then I put hot glue on and laid the headband over the glue. I put more glue over top of the headband to seal it in. This hotglue doesn't need to be covered over with anything because a) it won't be seen and b) the hardened glue actually helps hold it in place in your hair.

Rocking it in my bathroom mirror. Before Bed.

Let it dry. Put it on. Rock it. :)



What do you think? Good evening project?

Any way. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas weekend!

flowers

It's been a while. I must say, the transition to the "real world" has been less than smooth and more than difficult. It is also incomplete. I am still struggling (more like flailing) to figure out where I am and what I am doing. But that is a story still in the making.

On to why I have suddenly decided to write today.

For a long time now, I have had a near obsession with flowers. Not in the sense that I have to know everything about them (I still don't know the pistil from the stamen), but I am fascinated by them.

They are simple, and temporary. If you don't pay any attention to them, they don't care. If you leave them alone, they can spread like wildfire and cover an entire stretch of highway median (I often wish I could pull over and just look. Take some pictures. Maybe pick one or two.). Yet, in their simple-ness is great complexity. Perhaps I just contradicted myself, but here is my reasoning. A daisy. If you were to just walk by, it would be nothing more than a cheery spot of color. But if you look at it for a couple minutes (yes, I do this), the intricacy is beautiful. How the petals grow just next to each other. Not in a jumble but beautifully and smoothly arranged next to each other. How the color is uniform and for some reason, evokes a happy feeling.

Sorry about the grainy-ness; this was taken with
my phone. This dahlia had me in awe of its
Creator. Maybe there will be a reminder
for you today.

Maybe this is just my girliness showing itself, but flowers make me happy. Simple, yet intricate displays of color and God's ingenuity and design. There is such a range. From friendly daisies to exotic orchids.

If God has put so much thought and beauty into a little flower, then so much more into you and me and into our lives. And if the flowers give praise and glory unto His name, then so much more should we... right? I forget this a lot. I can stand and admire a flower for what seems like ages, but do I give the same consideration to the people around me? Or do I pass them by, like pleasant additions to the landscape?

I was reminded this morning that we were created to give God glory. That is our primary purpose. Hopefully I will be continually reminded to get out of my own head and focus on Him, and all that is for His glory... and give Him praise and thanksgiving for it.