Decoupage

I stumbled across this technique from a blogger's page. Fell for it immediately and decided to give it a try since it looks simple enough. The tools required is also very easy to get by. Paint, glue and paper cuttings is all you need.



White paint and glue.

And so last Sunday afternoon,  I pulled out this stool from my storeroom. The stool was once belongs to my late mother-in-law which is her wedding gift from her father. It comes in a set of 2 with backs and 1 stool plus a round table. I took the chairs and stool but left the table in her bedroom in the ancestors' home. There's simply no room for the table even though I like it very much.
   

The stool's original color. This is another chair which comes in a pair.

Painted it with 2 coatings of white paint. 

 






Cut out the tiny flowers from the paper napkin I bought
earlier.

 

 

Started with the rim of the stool.

 

According to the instruction, I brush a thin layer of glue on the surface first. Carefully place the super thin paper on and coat it with glue again.

Hoorah! It was so simple. The result is encouraging!

And so I went on and on with my creativity until I was satisfied with the outcome.

The transformation is amazing and the finished work is really very beautiful!






I did not have any plan at all. I just worked along as the outcome changed.

The finished work has yet to add the varnish.  There's still lots of rooms for improvement though.

Closer look showing the roughness. Need improvement definitely. 

Felt so contented and happy with the first attempt, immediately I set my mind on the second project, a black shelf which I display my perfume miniature collections.

Courtesy from Wikipedia:-

 Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured papers. Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay work. The traditional technique used 30 to 40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish.

今夜不

已经陈旧不堪的书皮。

在沉闷的日子里， 翻出一本亦舒的旧作来调剂身心，让庸俗的尘世远离，让心灵暂时得到安慰。。。。

-  有着高尚情操的男人，在这世上肯定是不存在的，只能在小说中缅怀一番。

-  少男的情怀清澈如水，俏俏的爱慕着优雅的女房东，现今那有如此单纯的男孩。

-  "生活是这么令人失望":    一个新婚的丈夫无奈的在心里的话。

-  "不过这都是很久很久以前的事了。那年我才廿岁。"  夜深人静的时候，在心灵深处的某 个 小角落。。。。

-  "是的，大家都不称意，不相信到街上去问问，有谁是活得特别称心乐意的。我与小平有一种默契。咱们积极地活下去，消极地过日了。积极地做事，消极地做人，有很多事是不能控制的，凡事只好看开一点。" , 不是不“灰”的。。。

最喜欢的是 ： “做人是不可以想太多的，想来无益。"  的确是如此。

亦舒的笔调，一向都去到平淡的脱俗境界，却使我深深感动，是我心灵的歇脚处。




看了几十年的书，从来不觉得厌。

Online Shopping

I remember when I was young ("many many" years ago), a school teacher told us about online shopping. He was saying that in future we do not have to go out to shop, things can be purchased online (it didn't exist then) and delivered to our door step. Even groceries, we could just chose what we want to buy and I remembered thinking that sounds quite ridiculous. Many years went by, what he said is finally happening now. Not only merchants from locals but across the whole world! Our living style is changing rapidly.

I started purchasing clothes online locally at first. Most of the time, what I received is not what I expected. But of course when the price is too good to be true, one can't expect much. The pictures they showed are the originals, probably from Japan and Korea, and what they sell online is the replicas from China and the quality is no doubt very poor. So I gave up after a few purchases. 

 

I ended up trying out taobao when I saw advertisement placed by some agents saying that everyone can now "taobao" everywhere. But how?? I was thinking how to pay them in RMB? Then I went into the site and learned that one has to have some money in the "wallet" to start buying. This is how, you decide the amount which is in USD, then you can pay with Visa or Master and also some local banks. It's simple.

Then I browsed taobao.com and found that the stocks are not so appealing. It's only when I saw "天猫" on top of the page and clicked under 天猫原创, I realised I finally found what I like. These are fashions by original China designers. They are not the typical contemporary and trendy designs, some of them are classified as "temperament" and these are the ones I like. I started out by selected 2 blouses and copy the URL in tmall.com and paste it to the agent's page as instructed. Bingo! The item appeared and I made the purchase.  The page is The China designers.

 

The express fees and the agent's fees of 10% was added but not the courier. Then I was informed of the courier fees which I have to pay with the "wallet money". Then the status became shipped. 

So I received the items after about 10 days. For the price I paid, I am quite happy with the quality of the product.

Other than clothes, I also purchased jigsaw puzzles online with the stores in Europe. Just can't get them locally. I have no choice but to pay a lot for the shipping cost.

15.7.2014:-

I found the direct way to shop now. You can pay with your credit cards directly to the shop. They will send it to a courier company in China. When the items reach the hub, they will inform you the cost of courier to your destination. They will send it to you after you made the payment.

And so, I bought this "sweetie night dress" for my girl and 2 others for myself.

Also, this double-sided Sherlock pillow which sent her flying the moment she saw it.