~ Etsy Jewelry Sampler Team Giveaway: June ~

So, yesterday, I was going to blog about the necklace I picked out for the weekly special. But, before I got to it, it's been sold! There's only one at that price so, just a reminder that next time, you gotta be quick!

Anyways, I am part of the Etsy Jewelry Sampler Team, which proudly represent a sample of jewelry mediums and techniques: metalsmithing, wire-wrapping, bead-weaving, beading, clay, glass, and felting/fiber. Each month, we are going to do a give-away and you have just a few days to enter this one! And, yes, I am a little bit late in telling you this. I will be on time for July, promise.

This month, we have a great giveaway from Riverside Jewelry. She is a very talentred metalsmith and made these beautiful rings for the giveaway.

You can have a total of 6 entries! It's easy. Just go to the team blog post and get started!

By the way, this is my absolute favorite from Riverside Jewelry

~ DIY Ribbon Organizer ~

I recently got a bunch of ribbons to package my precious jewelry for my Etsy shop. My dad saw the rolls of ribbons scattered on my craft table and said, "I got something for you!" and grabbed all my ribbons and disappeared into his "lab". A half an hour later...


Isn't my dad awesome??? So basically, he took one of the bamboo sticks that we have to prop up our tomatoes and other plants in the hard (available at Walmart/Home Depot), cut it in half and attached it to a wheel. Then, attach a rubber band to hold everything in. Just awesome.


You may be wondering....wheel?!?! Yes, it is a wheel.


It's from my brother's ab slider roller. I think he used it twice. He probably forgot he even got this thing. My dad even used the blue cover for something else, but I will save that for another post. Can you guess what he made with the round cover?


This ribbon organizer is awesome. I just take it out, hold it with one hand and pull on the ribbon I want with the other hand. For a casual ribbon user like myself, this is perfect. An avid ribbon user may want to have this hang horizontally somewhere so she doesn't have to hold it.

In summary, total cost of this ribbon organizer is less than a dollar if you want to count the bamboo stick and rubber band. And it took only 30 mins to make! You can use other stuff as base I guess. I think you can also use blank CD holders as is to hold the ribbons. I can even imagine installing a toilet paper holder or a paper towel holder in your craft rooms for your ribbons. What do you use to organize your ribbons?

~ I Recommend: Fated to Love You ~

One of my all time favorite TV show is this Taiwanese show called Fated to Love You (命中注定我愛你) that aired in Taiwan last year. It is in Mandarin and my Mandarin is not that great. But, I still love it so much!


So, basically, the story is about a girl who's very ordinary, a regular office lady, a doormat. Due to a misunderstanding (or fate, depending on how you look at it), she slept with this tall, rich and handsome guy. Yeah, the scene when they turned on the lights and realized they didn't sleep with their significant other was pretty funny.


That isn't too bad. Right?? Except, she got pregnant. And he's the only son of the big, rich family so his grandma forced them to get married. He thought she was only with him for money and he was still in love with his girlfriend who was working overseas. So, they came to an agreement that they will divorce after the baby is born. She's super nice and even helped him sneak off to be with his girlfriend. So, of course, they fall in love.


So, eventually, he was forced to choose between her and his girlfriend. Through an unfortunate accident caused by the girlfriend, she was in the hospital and he had to make the decision to between her life or the baby's life. He chose hers, but she blamed him for everything. It was so sad!!!!


So, what happens now? Will they get back together? I don't want to spoil the story for you, just in case you decide to watch it. But, I must say, this show has an awesome mix of humor, drama, and romance. I watched it with my fiance and there were lots of laughs and I almost cried in a lot of scenes. I also love the songs, and use one of them as my ring tone.

I also fell in love with this actor, Ethan Ruan (阮經天), who plays the main character. He's about 6 ft 1 in and I love tall guys. Did I mention that Ethan is one of my favorite names for a guy? I just love characters like the one he played in this show: rich, handsome, tall, who loves someone for who she is and genuinely cares for that person. I just love Cinderella stories too.



He's so hot! *drool*

~ Japanese Nail Art ~

The first time I remember seeing crazy nail art from Japan more than 5 years ago, from this video of Final Fantasy X2's theme song, Real Emotion by Kumi Koda. I was in love with the way she danced, and how they showed that they used motion capture for the dance moves for the game and her makeup and her nails. Yes, the first time I watched this video, I noticed her nails. This one's resolution is not good enough to see the nails well though. I had a good one at home and I watched it many times.

I don't really do my nails often. I love doing them and I look at them all day while i type and such, but I don't have time to do crazy stuff with them. Then, one day, I saw this on Etsy from chibiaiboutique's shop:

I was so in love! I was screaming out "I want! I want! I want!" in my head. But, I .... don't think I can wear them every day. Momo will probably bite off something when I play with him. So, I just admire them from afar now. I will probably get a set for my wedding though. Here are some of my favorites on Etsy right now. Click on the pictures to go to the listing.

I saw a lot of these when I was in Hong Kong last year too. Next time I go, I am definitely going to try it.

~ Baby Giraffes and More ~

Mr Giraffe and Mrs Giraffe had lots of kids! This is Mr. Giraffe. He is an African Cichlids from Lake Malawi. Ok, he was probably born in Maryland, but his ancestors are from Lake Malawi.

The baby Giraffes like to hide underneath the shell. They are cute when they come out! They have little spots already, just like their mommy and daddy.

Can you see them?

Here are more babies.

Can you spot the baby fish?? So, baby fish live in their mommy's mouth for about 3 weeks while they go from egg to fish. My dad sometimes squeeze the babies out a little early to give the mommy a break. You can tell it's a little early because the baby still has part of the egg as its tummy.

Don't worry, they like to hide in the rocks. They won't get hurt.

These are the toddler zebras. I like them. They have a good pattern and they are yellow!

Ok, I don't know who this guy is, but he's hansome.

Here's our pregnant fish tank. Pregnant fish can't eat 'cause they have the eggs/babies in their mouth. We have to separate them from regular fish so they don't get tempted when we feed them and accidentally eat their eggs.

So, a few weeks ago, my fiance found this good deal for a 125 gallon tank plus 2 other tanks and equipment on craigslist. He and my dad drove for an hour to grab everything. Now, it took a while for them to set it up but it's finally done!

Isn't the castle awesome? It's framed by those fibre optics thingies with LED lights underneath it that rotate in color.

That red thing is a nylon rope toy that Momo destroyed. It sure looks nice in the fish tank!

See the little sparkle next to the yellow flower? Those are some of my broken cubic zirconia beads. Sometimes, I get real tough with the beads and they crack. Oops. It's ok. They look great in the fish tanks!

In total, we have 9 tanks. I think only 6 of them are occupied right now. I think our house is turning into an aquarium. We are selling the toddler and teen fishes and some of the tanks. We actually sold like 70 fish these past couple of days on craigslist. After all that, we still have like 250 fishes, mostly African Cichlids.

~ My Treasury: The Avatar ~

I loved Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is an American cartoon (anime to me) series that was aired on Nickelodeon between 2005 and 2008. It is funny, cute, and well drawn. I love the cute little animals in there too. So, this week's spotlight is dedicated to the Avatar.

Can you master all four elements? :)

Side note: They are making a movie! I can't wait for it to come out! Here's the official teaser trailer!

~ Weekly Special: Princess Mori's Necklace ~

This week, I picked out one of my favorite pieces at the moment. This necklace is part of the Princess series becaues they look like a crown to me. Each pendant is made out of 7 Swarovski bicones strung on a thin sterling silver wire with Swarovski rhinestone rondelles in between. Then, I close the circle of sparkliness with a pink crystal rondelle. I love how the pink constrast with the different shades of green.

Then, I close the necklace with a matching pink rondelle and added an extender with a green crystal. I love extenders. It makes it easier to match different necklines by adjusting the length.


I love it with a polo shirt or a dress shirt.


I also made simple earrings to match the necklace.


Here are the other colors.


A little bit about the name now... Mori is Japanese for forest. When I was writing the description, this little story just came into my head:
Princess Mori, the princess of the forests, hops along hidden trails, in and out of rays of sunlight. Everywhere she goes, she leaves behind droplets of sparkling green crystals of life, forever dripping from her magical pendant.

In my head, Princess Mori is like a fairy, barefoot, with a flowing short dress in shimmering shades of green. She also wears an anklet with a silver bell that chimes with her every step. Imagination running wild!

~ Entry for Makeup Contest: Gold Digga' ~

I recently started following this blog called Whitz World of Makeup & Beauty that's full of tips for makeup and lots of different product reviews. I actually don't wear make up very often, but I love makeup. I think I would wear it more if I actually have to see clients at work or if my fiance likes it. He dislikes makeup on me, says he likes the natural look. Right......

Anyway, there's this makeup contest on the blog and the theme is Gold Digga'. Immediately, I think of my Shiseido cream eye shadow in gold. I love that eyeshadow. So, I thought I would give this a try.

Who knew that taking pictures of myself is so hard? Here are the ones I am submitting...
Gotta love my gold shoe....ring holder :) This is where my engagement ring sleeps at night.


This is funny .... I think :)


Every gold digga has a toy dog right?


Do I look innocent?


Gold eye shadow, a little bit or turquoise and a little bit of purple. I couldn't find my falsies so excuse my tiny tiny eye lashes. Isn't it sad? That's with 3 coats of mascara!


This is fun! The deadline for the contest is 25th so you still have a couple of days to enter! Oh yeah, I am supposed to blog about the weekly special, but I am too excited about this and didn't want to wait :) Don't worry, I'll show you all the details about the special tomorrow!

~ Top 10 Reasons I Love My Dad ~

What are you doing for Father's Day? I am taking care of stuff for my Etsy shop while my fiance and my dad shop for aquarium supplies and mess around with the fish. I wanted to take my dad fishing, but it looked like it was going to rain earlier. Now, it's perfectly sunny, but way too late to go. Just going to take him to the one and only restaurant he thinks is good around here. He prefers his own cooking and so do I. But, can't have him cooking or me messing in his kitchen on Father's Day!

Here's a rare picture of us together. Even rarer is the fact that this is probably the first time I hugged him since I was a child. That's why he looks so shocked hehe. Our family is not into physical contact, which I think is part of the Asian upbringing.


Anyway, I can go on and on about how awesome my dad is. So, let's just do a top 10 list, in no particular order:

1. He understands more electrical stuff than the average college graduate with an Electrical Engineering degree, but he didn't even graduate high school.
   
2. He cooks so well and healthy.
   
3. He's funny and sarcastic. Who doesn't love his sense of humor? Oh yeah, the people he makes fun of :)
4. He is full of ideas. He thinks of all these cool things, both imaginative and practical. I can't tell you 'cause they are secrets and may one day be patented and sold for millions!
   
5. He is practical.
6. He is so very, very smart.
7. He is a man of action. One day, I talked to him about making a chain stand over dinner. I got a chain stand the next day. I know a lot of people who are full of dreams and talk a lot, but never actually finish anything. My dad talk the talk and walk the walk.
   
8. He is a classic bad boy, grown up to be a real man who loves and sacrifices for his family.
9. He is excited and enthusiastic about life and everything it has to offer.
10. A lot of times, I feel that his ideas and inventiveness come from his desire to make life better, his own and other people's. He probably won't admit it. He's a tough guy after all.

I didn't do a top 10 for my mom for Mother's day because I was getting ready for my brother's wedding. I know she reads my blog sometimes, so Mom, just that you know, I didn't forget you. I will write a Top 100 list for you for your birthday :)

~ IPhone + Hello Kitty = Fun? ~

I am 27. My friends are around the same age. But, we all still love Hello Kitty. Last night, my friend started taking pictures of us and then giggling to herself. Here's why:


He wasn't very willing to take this picture....but I think he secretly likes it.


Aren't we all cute together?


We are the "melon" couple:


These are my favorite ones :D


The grapes look like real hair!


I really want either banana or pineapple, but it's random and it keeps giving me watermelon. Oh well, gotta play with it more next time.

So, this is an app you can buy from your iPhone. It auto detects faces and attach fun things around them. A quick search on google brought up this one: Hello Kitty Camera App for $2.99. It's worth the hours of laughter this can bring. Fun stuff!