~ Perfect Glossy Reflections Using Nintendo DS ~

When I was shopping for a lightbox, I looked at the EZCube. They had a tutorial about taking pictures to create a glossy reflection using a plastic raised platform.



I have one. It's plexiglass, but it certainly didn't give me a reflection like that. Granted, I probably don't have the right lighting. So, I gave up on that. One day, I took out my white Nintendo DS to use as a prop for my gadget charms pictures. Looks nice.


Being the busy (ok, more like lazy) person that I am, I left the DS in my mini photo studio. One day, it occurred to me that it's very glossy! So I started experimenting with taking pictures using the DS as the background. Look at these reflections!



Lighting is, of course, very important though. In the following 2 pictures, I took the picture from an angle such that the shadow of the window frame was over the earrings. The reflections are very muted.



I shifted my angle so the light from the window is directly shining on the DS and voila! Clear reflections! Now, I did this on a cloudy day, with increased exposure. The tV setting in my DSLR was set to 20 or 30, if I remember correctly. My brother would be proud that I learned how to set something on the DSLR, finally after all these months of using the automatic settings. But of course, these pictures are still going to be crappy to him.


Here's a picture after I am done cropping. I am going to work on the angle some more so that I can get a pure white background. You are seeing the window sill behind the DS from this angle.


I know a few of you are cringing at the thought that I use such a fabulous gadget as a background for pictures. But, hey, better a background then a forgotten gadget in the drawer right? I still love to play games and I will play once I get my R4 fixed or get a new one :)

What do you reuse as background or props for your pictures? Do share!

~ It's Harvest Time ~

Well, the harvest has just begun! We have 2 tomato plants and they are thriving this year! We have so much that we are giving them away to everyone who wants them and still have enough for soups, snacks and various dishes.




We also have like 20 pepper plants, some green bell peppers, some jalapenos, and some chili peppers. We call these "Pointing to the Sky peppers". They are super spicy.


These are supposed to turn purple. I am still waiting...


Isn't it huge??


Of course we have a lot of flowers too! Check out this lily. They were blooming 10-20 flowers at a time and it was just beautiful.


These grew out of the grounds on their own, probably from seeds left by last year's flowers.


Our new jasmine plant! I love it!!!

My dad not only has a green thumb, his whole hand is green. My mom too, but she plants more flowers and succulents than food. So, my dad's secret fertilizer is ... powdered egg shells and peanut shells. He saves these shells and blends them in a blender into powder and mix it in the soil. It's as organic as it gets!

Can't wait till all the peppers are ready! He's going to make his awesome home made hot sauce. I don't really eat it because it just burns and I can't handle it. But, my fiance and my dad look like they enjoy it alot. :)

~ 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?

~ 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 Very Own Chain Stand ~

A while ago, I browsing through stores and came across a Chain Sta. It looks like this:


Wow! I want one! It would help me so much when I make necklaces and bracelets, even long dangly earrings! For example, when I make Stardust and Moondust bracelets, I have to make sure that they are hanging from the same side of the chain.


Same with the Sakura Mist earrings.


I read the reviews for the Chain Sta and people said that it tips over a lot. That's not good. So, I talked to my dad and after some discussion, we came up with a design.


Please excuse the messy table. We made it so that it can be clip to the table. It will never tip over. The two poles look like huge screws. I forgot what they are called, but we got them at home depot for $3. We screwed on the washer and the thing that looks like wings (ok, can you tell I don't know what those things are? Good thing my dad knows. >.< ). So, the height is totally adustable. Here's a close up of the pole and hook. The hook is a nail. It is a little thick for small chains. So, I put smaller hook on it. It was a scrap piece of sterling silver from when I messed up some wirewrapping.

The base is totally my dad's idea. I guess I can put beads in the groove. And it's heavy enough to be used without the clip. I just like the clip because I know I will just knock it over.


Using this thing, it's much easier for me to quickly place beads in to see what they look like and easier to attach the beads on the right side of the chain. I love it. I love my dad for turning ideas into reality!

The chain sta is $20. I spent $3 on the poles and washers. My dad just happened to have the clips, the scrap wood, scrap metal pieces and nails hanging around. So, the grand total for this awesome chain stand? $3!!

See what you have lying around in your house. Maybe you can come up with your own version. Feel free to contact me if you need help making one!

~ World Ocean Day ~

Today (ok...I am a little bit late, sorry) is the first official World Ocean Day! According to Wikipedia,

World Oceans Day was officially declared by the United Nations as June 8th each year beginning in 2009.^[1] The concept was proposed on 8 June 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and it had been unofficially celebrated every year since then as World Ocean Day.^[2]

On the first World Oceans Day the Secretary-General of the United Nations gave the following message:

The first observance of World Oceans Day allows us to highlight the many ways in which oceans contribute to society. It is also an opportunity to recognize the considerable challenges we face in maintaining their capacity to regulate the global climate, supply essential ecosystem services and provide sustainable livelihoods and safe recreation.

Indeed, human activities are taking a terrible toll on the world’s oceans and seas. Vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as corals, and important fisheries are being damaged by over-exploitation, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing practices, invasive alien species and marine pollution, especially from land-based sources. Increased sea temperatures, sea-level rise and ocean acidification caused by climate change pose a further threat to marine life, coastal and island communities and national economies.

Oceans are also affected by criminal activity. Piracy and armed robbery against ships threaten the lives of seafarers and the safety of international shipping, which transports 90 per cent of the world’s goods. Smuggling of illegal drugs and the trafficking of persons by sea are further examples of how criminal activities threaten lives and the peace and security of the oceans.

Several international instruments drawn up under the auspices of the United Nations address these numerous challenges. At their centre lies the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It provides the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, and is the basis for international cooperation at all levels. In addition to aiming at universal participation, the world must do more to implement this Convention and to uphold the rule of law on the seas and oceans.

So, I just want to take this opportunity to share with you how I conserve water and resources in my life to minimize my carbon footprint. I think I mentioned some of these for Earth Day already.

• My family has a lot of fish tanks. Every time we change water, we don't just drain it in the sink. We use it to water our garden.
• We save egg shells, peanut shells and other organic food byproducts, powder them and use them as fertilizer.
  
• I take short showers.
  
• When I wash my hands, I turn off the faucet when I am lathering up with soap.
• I reuse and recycle as much as I can. Check out my posts about things my dad and I have reused.
• I don't print anything I don't absolutely need.
• I used to only carry a small purse. But, now, I carry a big purse. So, if I need to buy anything (except groceries), I can just stick it in my purse and tell them to save the plastic bags.
• I don't use pee pads for Momo. I use newspaper.
• I work 8 miles away from home. I like to minimize the amount I have to drive.
• I turn off all the lights when I am the last one to leave my office.
  
• I reuse bubble mailers for my Etsy shop.

What did you do for our oceans lately?

~ Upcycled Some Sticks ~

I peeked at my dad's tool table yesterday to see what treasures he's hiding in there. This is what I saw lying on the table.


What is that?? Why are there sticks on the table? Well...my dad has these metal files that he uses to smooth out miscellaneous things and they don't have a handle. So, my dad found some sticks lying on the ground and thought that they would make great handles. A little bit of sawing, sanding and drilling later...




I was thinking of making this into a tutorial, but I think if you have one of these things, you are crafty enough to know how to make it by looking at it. Please let me know if you need more detailed instructions and I'll ask my dad.

My dad never ceases to amaze me. Now, I feel better about the big tree in front of my house. It does more than shed bags and bags of leaves of my lawn and provide a home for birds to poop on my car. It gives my dad inspiration and materials for his creations.

~ My Treasury: Save the Earth ~

It's Earth Day! What have you done for the earth lately? Let me share a little bit of what I do to help the earth:

• My office doesn't recycle. So, I take things home to recycle, including drinks and granola bar boxes in the kitchen.
• I used to plastic forks and spoons at work because...it's there and it's convenient. I was bad. Now, I use real silverware and wash it myself.
• I reuse bubble envelops that I get from my supplies orders for my shop. Of course I ensure they are clean and in good working condition.

Etsy has a lot of awesome green products! Reusable cloth bags to replace ziplock bags, hot coffee cozies, crochet scrubbies for the cotton pads/balls, and even mentral pads. Here are some of my favorite things. They are green and yellow! Don't forget to click on the items to visit the shops!

~ Upcycled Containers for Fish Food ~

What a beautiful sunday~!  Finally some sunshine!  I am busy making lots and lots of jewelry today, but I want to post a short note here.  A lot of people liked the Ocean Spray Bottle Fish Nursery that my dad created.  I just thought, I would show you what else he reused for the fishies.

We have three active fish tanks, and one waiting to be filled up.  We.....have a lot of fish and being the economical person that he is, my dad buys the food in bulk and divides the food into different containers for each tank.  Makes feeding a lot easier.

He just grabbed my contact solutions bottle from the recycle bin one day.  and cut off the tip a little bit.  He put the pebble fish food in it.  This one is great 'cause it snaps close, so even if it gets knocked off the top of the tank, nothing will spill out.  Also, it's so easy to control proportions.  Five shakes of this baby and the fishies are good :)

This one used to hold sprinkles that I got for cupcakes.  This has the flaky fish food.  Also snaps close and easily controls proportions.  He has a few of these with different food in them and they stack up nicely for the baby fishies.

Not as cool as the fish nursery, but I hope you guys like it!

~ Ocean Spray Bottle as Fish Nursery ~

I am all about reuse and upcycle.  I thought I was cool for reusing baby food containers as bead storage.  Then, I came home one day and saw this:

Hmm... what is it??  Well, my dad's fishies had babies.  He can't just leave them in the tank though.  It's hard to feed them in such a big area and the big fishes will eat them and it's just hard to see how they are doing.  So, he took a cranberry juice bottle, cleaned it, drilled holes in it and hung in in the fish tank.  Now, the little fishies are safe and comfy!

Here it is outside of the tank.  This one is a little bit different.  It has a compartment on top and the bottom can be opened.  I forgot what the compartment is for though.

My dad is awesome!  Look at these neatly drilled holes!

Here's a close up.  It's hard to take pictures of little fishies!  I actually went to a session about fish photography, but it's just easier said than done.

Cool right?  My dad has a lot more reuse/upcycle ideas.  Stay tuned for more!