I’ve been putting off going on swaps because well, I didn’t have the time and I always knew about it too late (mostly the latter). So it was by sheer luck that I went to Heather’s website and found out that Lesley was doing a Pay It Forward: Craft Edition.

So I signed up!

And in honour of the tradition, I am now offering 3 readers something handmade by me — which will be secretly mailed out to you within the year.

Here are the rules:

1. anyone with a blog can join.
2. the first three people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me.
3. I will send your gift within 365 days.
4. in return, you have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

And in other news, I’ve something exciting coming up soon, and I hope to blog more about it next week. I feel terrible about not doing any new illustrations for a few weeks now, but I think it will be worth the wait. :)

Hang in there with me, will you?

——-UPDATE——
Thanks everyone for the great response! :) Now I’ll be emailing you individually to get your addresses!

Laura Jane still has 2 spots over at her blog if you’re interested. Hurry, hurry!

After a few restful days, my urge to sew came about again. Since my tissue is almost always gone to shreds whenever I leave them in my bag for extended periods of time (no thanks to its flimsy plastic encasing), I thought it would be a good bet to make a tissue holder — a simple project that takes me around an hour to make.

I used the Green Ducks Linen and the Brown Lace from my shop, while the striped green fabric is from my fabric stash.

A close up of the button and inside fabric detail. The buttons are a vintage buy — I love how matte it is.

It’s rather simple to make. If anyone is interested, here’s a brief round-up:

1. Measure out your travel tissue case (mine is a thin plastic that measures approximately 12cm x 7.5cm.)
2. Double the width of the pattern, so that both sides can fold into the center.
3. Cut out two fabric squares from the pattern, and allow 1cm seam allowance on all sides.
4. Sew on the trim of your choice, and any other embellishments.
5. Sew around the edges, leaving about a 5 cm gap in the middle edges of the width of the fabric. Turn inside out and press.
6. Fold the tissue holder in half and press in the middle to mark it (you can choose not to, but it’s more accurate this way). Fold both edges into the middle. Sew on wrong side (You should be sewing on the inside fabric).
7. Turn inside out. Press again.
8. I sewed the edges where the two covers meet to make it extra sturdy, and voila all done!

Lynda of littleoddforest sent some lovelies my way! :)

She made a wee bigger love-bird wristlet, an unreleased before brooch (I hope it’s okay if I posted it up…) and a crochet shroom (now you know why I can’t do that thing we wanted to do before babe, haha!), plus her lovely bag handles to boot!

I even have what looks like a vintage piece of pretty cloth too! My desk is going to be so crowded I’ll probably work on the floor now. *cough*

Everything came in a big box, and everyone crowded around it because they’ve never heard of people receiving stuff just for the heck of it— thanks so much for the lovely weekday picker-upper babe— I love everything! :D

Everything has been shipped, thanks to everyone for their patience!

I gocco’ed the tags— and it’s the first time I ever did it. It was surprisingly simple although the bulbs crackling was a little unnerving!

I couldn’t estimate the paint that went through, so sometimes patches of white shows through the tags — or even some mix of colours, but it’s still lovely (I think). What I did was to peel away the plastic and add more paint, and using a cotton pick, gently nudge away the mixed colours (after you peel the flap, things are bound to get mixed up a little) and then add in the original paint on it. I’m still learning though, so I expect to be better the next time round.

I’m definitely going to experiment more with it, and probably come out with prints of my yarntree illustration if anyone is interested. :)

On another note, the shop will be updated on Sunday 15 July, so hop on over then to see some lovely handmade beads and new fabrics!

I’ve been meaning to put these babies up on my shop, but the light during the weekend was rather bad, even in the morning. I couldn’t take good enough shots for individual sets to list them up, so I’ll have to do it up again sometime later in the week.

They’re handmade one by one, and handpainted and fired batch by batch, bringing new meaning to handmade supplies! They are most lovely, and expect them to be listed soon!

And of other lovely news, re:makeables was featured on Creature Comforts, Bloesom, and on Lynda’s Little Odd Forest!

Thank you Ez, Irene and Lynda! :)

Pretty trims in a row!

My shop is live! :)

Built a new look to the blog as well to correspond with the shop, and now all is good. Have a look around, and I’ll leave you with my avatar from the Simpsons movie site. I love my hair!

Go to The Simpsons Movie site to get yours!

I’m due to launch something very dear and important to me in July, so you can understand the very late nights and non-existent weekends I’ve been having. Of course, this is no reason to not write, so I’ll just tease away. But I’m always here, listening and reading, but bear with me. It will be worth the wait, I promise!

It’s a day off for me after a flight home from China last night. I arrived at 1230am, and boy was I beat.

So here’s what I’ll be looking at this June for lots of expected late nights — thanks to everyone who visited, and sorry if I haven’t been replying sooner, but if you did email me or left a comment, I’ll be getting back to you soon!

I made my first tote bag from some materials I bought on the fly from Japan — they’re mostly scraps that are bundled all together in one bin and I had to rummage them for good stuff that’s a little cheaper than what’s on their shelves.

And so I made this tote! Chutchut™ was thrown in the mix for good measure.

The straps are longer, because I want them to hang over my shoulders and I can stick my arm in them to look for stuff without contorting my hand, and then make an ass out of myself if I had to hold it out at arms length to search for stuff.

The flap was handstitched to the bag, and it was a good start for a zigzag stitch too. My needle broke twice (thank goodness it did not fly into my eye — I didn’t have any bigger needles anyway).

I made a pocket for it as well, and I like how it turned out.
I didn’t make a lining for it since the fabric already had batting and a back fabric made out of cotton muslin. I just did some overlock seams for the side and it was good enough to go.

I loved the huge button, and these small matte ones at the back of the bag. Before you know it, I would have finished up my supplies in a few weeks!

But I’ll be going to China for an exhibition for work, so no fun and games for next few days. I’ll be back only on Sunday night, so that leaves me plenty of time alone in my hotel room with my laptop. My sketchbook will keep me company too, so it isn’t all that bad. That’s all I need, really.

On to my next adventure!

I am painfully aware that I am not making much stuff lately, and I feel guilty of it because the name of this blog should be forcing me to do something about it, but things will change, I promise. Now, lest you think that I made that lovely measuring tape cover up there, the bad news is, is that I didn’t. I bought it from a stall at Kyoto’s craft market from a very lovely lady.

I really like how it hangs up there on my board—so pretty—but of course I’ll use it! So stay tuned for actual making of stuff… showing in a blog near you. (that was cheesy, but what the hey.)

EDIT Oh, and my second post on Whip Up is up. In case you can’t see it, the direct link is here. It’s an interview with Nest Studio’s Carly Schwerdt on her latest range of textiles and how she manages to cram everything into a very impossible 24-hour day.