MAAD alert!

Hellooo!!! Yes I know, everyone must be wondering where on earth I've been since Japan. Well, the truth is I've not been feeling great, physically that is, and I simply couldn't work as much as I hoped to. You know it's bad if just being awake and working on the computer is tiring enough to warrant an afternoon nap. That said, I still have tonnes of photos to share! But all in good time, in good time. The hubster is now the official dictator of my dietary and rest schedule and he's awfully strict about it. Quite annoying at times but I must say I do relish all that attention (but only sometimes!) heh.

I'm still far from perky perfect but I've managed to finish some new creations somehow (yay!). My dear friend Jiaying from Fabric Diary will be making her debut appearance at MAAD this weekend (5th & 6th July) and she has generously offered to put some of my new pieces at her booth. So yeah, I know this is last minute notice but if you happen to be at MAAD this weekend, please do keep a lookout for her pretty bags (and my trinkets of cos)! I am hoping to be around for a while as long as I can hold out, though I do need to scoot off after lunch. So there, the latest update in a long while. Thank you for bearing with me and I'll be back with more interesting titbits to share soon! :)

April MAAD mosaics

I have had so much to catch up on post-MAAD, so many errands and what-nots that I've not really even rested yet. And it's Thursday already! Before I end up all high and dry, I'm gonna try and take it slow while valiantly attempting to finish all the orders I have on hand before taking on more. Thank you so much for all the referrals and support! It's been overwhelming :)

Meanwhile I've finally gotten down to uploading most of the recent new creations that were sold at MAAD ~

Inclement weather and weariness has seen me reclusing for a bit but i will be up and running real soon! Most outstanding packages are already on their way while more recent orders will be sent out by tomorrow. Phew! Logistics can be a real time-consuming affair. Doesn't help that the weather's all gloomy and sad. Where has all the sunshine gone?

Starburst (antiqued) - SGD 22 - Sold

Part of my meteor starburst earring series for Christmas, this is a soft neutral colour to go with those vintage frocks ~ Drop is a petite 3cm.

the tuesday after

Oops! I was meant to upload more photos yesterday, especially the brooch pins, but I was so utterly exhausted that I dozed off after lunch and did not wake up till the hubster came home early from work cos he was feeling peaky. One invalid and one very tired post-Maad moi could not drag themselves out of bed until it was dinnertime. But I've finally loaded the pics of the sold brooches! Got some orders on hand to finish but I'll be trying to make more so if there are any colours you seriously like, drop me a line and I'll try to come up with sth for you!

This was an experimental piece but I really liked the burst of colours! Not very wintry christmasy i know but still beautiful on the eyes :) The vibrant colours are not very obvious cos I should have chosen a lighter background but I was quite taken with it still and it took a lot of self-convincing to part with it .

More parting shots include these 2 customised pieces:

More pieces coming up real soon!

time for a breather!

So glad Dec's Maad is finally over! I brought more stock this time but the good stuff were swept up within the first half hour so I'm sorry to have disappointed those who made the time to come by but missed seeing the loot. Thank you so much for your wonderful support, really appreciate seeing you guys! :) I always feel so blessed after each Maad, cos friends always pop by to support me so it becomes like a mini gathering. Plus of cos, I get to befriend new vendors and catch up with old friends! Poor Matt ended up being stuck at the booth for ages while i went-a-gallivating haha... wouldn't know what i'll do without him - he packs my stuff for each event, carries everything, prepares the change, sets up the displays, buys me food and basically puts up with my high-strung state during the stressful days. (Note to self: Be nicer to hubby this week!!)

Here are some of the picks:

Starving now so i'm off to get some grub but I'll be back to list stuff still available after Maad ~ meanwhile pics of most sold items can be seen on my Flickr. I've not uploaded the brooches yet but will do so in the afternoon. They went really quick! Have to do more cos they're fun to work with and easy to give! Which reminds me I have to start sorting out those christmas pressies soon :p Have you started your shopping yet?!! There's gonna be a Fancy Faire at Orchard Hotel this tuesday and wednesday so i'll be doing some shopping there for the family while supporting some Maad friends (Elaine fr Pisces Passion, Vivienne fr Fuchsia Lane, Sabrina fr Sabbiew etc.)~ do check them out if you're free!

On genes and a sneak-of-the-day

Do you wonder sometimes how much stuff runs in the family? I never thought i'd end up doing jewellery someday, heck i never really passed art in my school!! Wasn't particularly well-known for any creativity to be honest. But what if genes did have a part to play in it...

If you'd caught Home Decor 3 on Channel 8 last night, you would have seen many of my cousins and even my gran on TV! They were on Mark Lee's team and since I'm not a frequent viewer of the show, I heard from the grapevine that his team hadn't won for a while so naturally they were kinda worried. Nevertheless they put in lotsa thought and effort, most of my cousins and aunts and even my lil bro went down to help with the renovation and they deservedly won, at least to me! Loved the way they revamped my gran's old furniture and came up with a east-meets-west-contemporary style :)

My gran even got to show off her crafting prowess in making butterflies fr used cans (so green right), which by the way, is not the only thing she does. She also makes little beaded animals like doggies, kitties, sheep, snakes... you name it, she jolly well can make it! I'm so proud of my gran!! Maybe my mom managed to sneak some creative gene from gran to me after all! Ok enough of showing off my gran.... ain't Athena a pretty lady! I'm very pleased with the way she turned out and can't wait to show her at Maad this weekend. Very vintage, very green... just the way i like them :) I have to get back to preparing logistics for the fair... you really gotta check out Dec's Maad cos there'll be so many cool stalls way perfect for some handmade indie shopping!! (maybe i should display some of my gran's butterflies too)

Dec Maad sneaks!

Some pieces for Maad next weekend...

there's lots more where these came from, and even more in the works!

Maad next weekend

Sorry things have been quiet here lately cos I've been hibernating and working on stuff for Maad next weekend. Usually stock runs out after the 1st day so I'm trying my darnest to have more and if possible 2 pieces of each design so I can stagger the display for the 2-day affair. I'd hate to disappoint the folks who can only pop by on Sunday!

This time round, apart from the usual repurposed vintage goodies, there will be petite lovelies and glam danglies, as well as special ooak italian charm necklaces (from the stash I acquired in the Philippines) and unique little quaint brooches perfect as stocking stuffers! I'm more pysched than stressed which is quite strange for moi, but hey i'm not gonna complain about that heh

I've got to go run errands now, but I'll get back to answering those emails and posting more sneaks. Thanks for sticking around! :)

December Maad
Time: 11 am - 7 pm
Address: Red Dot Design Museum on Maxwell Road

Another Maad sneak!

Ooh look at what came out yesterday! A quaint purply eye-catcher that's bound to be a keeper! I'm hoarding this for Dec's Maad, which by the way, is on for sure! So keep the 1st & 2nd of Dec free if you can and come do some major christmas shopping! (hopefully at my booth so i can do some christmas shopping too haaa)

Miss Holly - SGD 55 - Sold

Sorry everyone for being tardy in replying mails but I've been stuck in bed with a bad cold since Deepavali and today's my first good day although I still sound like darth vader. The last few days have been an absolute nightmare! Not being able to do anything at all except finish season 2 of Grey's Anatomy and plough thru half of OC season 4. Thanks to the hubster (who is a much better nurse than I am and was fabulous in looking after me despite catching the bug as well), I felt well enough today to try working for a bit. This is one of the perks of working from home, I get to fall back to bed if I don't feel well enough to carry on without having to commute heh.

Miss Holly is made from vintage holly-like bracelet links with clear quartz roses, green garnet briolette, lotsa mystic grey swarovskis as well as freshwater pearls, swarovskis and gold-filled extras. Drop is a lovely 8cm from goldfilled hooks ~

I wore a pair to meet my gal pal Val last week and we stumbled upon this lovely shop called L'Escalier in Takashimaya. It really is a treasure trove that carries local brands like the dear Makisquarepatch, Fuchsia Lane and Saltplay. Miss Holly caught the eye of the pleasantly polite (a rarity for local customer service) shop staff who suggested I bring in my portfolio and some sample creations for the manager to explore the possibility of stocking my pieces there! I think it'll be a great stockist so hopefully I can do up something to show them soon (if i don't tear my hair out amidst preparations for Maad and all). Exciting times ahead!!

TEA, anyone?

I've been back from Manila for a while now but haven't had the time to blog much cos there was quite a bit on the plate but I'm here again! :) There was so much shopping and eating ~ so wickedlicious! Imagine a Spoiled Diva mani and pedi combi coupled with a complimentary martini at Dashing Divas for just SGD 30! We lived like queens haha. Think the epitome of the trip was all that fabulous food we had, just check out the crepe and shrimp below to get what I mean. As food-crazy singaporeans, the first thing we did upon arrival was to make reservations at all the "right" restaurants haha.

Security was amazingly tight for us used to such safety in Singapore, imagine bag-checking/metal detectors/sniff dogs and sometimes a quick pat-down (of cos in separate lanes for women and men) just to enter a shopping centre, or any building for that matter. We knew there was unrest in other parts of Manila so we thank God that nothing happened where we were. Not only that, we arrived just as a typhoon ended and left just before another started so weather was clear for the duration we were there! :)

Amazingly we stumbled upon a designer shop that sold the most beautiful italian charms with finishings that looked like those on some of my own charms from Japan so I couldn't resist a bunch! It burnt a hole in my pocket though and I had to forego this gorgeous pair of deep red ballet pumps in the comfiest leather ever ~ I even dreamt abt them! Such is the depth of my obsession. Sniff.

Still I was glad to be home (esp. since i've signed too much haa) and perhaps it was excellent timing that the hubster had the craziest schedule ever while I was away so he didn't have to worry about me complaining abt his long hours heh. So now it's back to the daily grind! I'm still stuck with a bit of a creative block, it seems to plague me for most of those pre-maad months. Hopefully this nasty phase will pass as Enqi from makisquarepatch and I are trying to work out a tea party for Sept! Though the original plan was to be at Sept's Maad, I was hoping to do sth a little different this time round cos it's abt a year since OR started and it's my birthday month too! :) Also, we will be hosting a friend of the hubster who's visiting fr UK on the same weekend as Sep's Maad so it's just bad timing. We're still in the midst of sorting out details but I'll release more news once it's firmed up!

Really psyched abt the tea party and a possible workshop at their quaint shop (yep you read it right), hopefully I will have good news to share real soon! Meanwhile here're little sneaks of some new pieces for the next showcase, there are birdie stuff (and non-birdie stuff of cos) and lots of vintage flowers from my current fixation. I'm into both miriam haskell-inspired nature-evoking old glam and contemporary organic looks at the moment, which is making me kinda schizo right now but great for me to work on for future ranges. Ooh yeah. Fun times ahead.

xoxoxoxo

Pictures coming up!

Ok I'm starting to upload pictures of sold items onto my Flickr album so you can check them out there. Matt helped to take pictures of some of the earrings, see if you can tell which haha... Apart from the vintage and my familiar "collaged" necklaces and mismatched cloisonne earrings, I also did up a few polymer rose & briolette combi earrings to go with the necklaces. It was fun mixing and matching colours! There were also simpler charm necklaces for those who like whimsicality. Some of my fave pieces from this series are:

Helena

SecretsHummingbirdCitrus Secrets

Sentimental Reasons

Dream of the ButterfliesLilly FaerieStardustand Mary, Mary quite contrary!

Will be posting some items still available after Maad as well, oh man it's back to work already! I've got some new private orders too so that should keep me busy for a bit. Will definitely be taking it easy though, need to recharge for new inspiration. Right now I'm thinking: birdies!!

maad madness!

WoW. That's the only thing I can say post-Maad. WoW! It's been such an insane, adrenalin-packed weekend that we were left mong-ing at times from exhaustion, and we were so tired by the time we got home yesterday that we broke my sacred rule of not eating in the bedroom! We couldn't even bring ourselves to pack dinner home so we ordered sushi in, put CSI on and chilled the night away. Oh did i mention i didn't wake till 10 this morning? :p

I thought I was doing fine till the Friday before Maad when I completely lost it and went mental. Poor matt had to bear the brunt of my pms-ey nonsense!!! I regained sanity at approximately 10pm which meant we continued packing and working till 4am, before waking again at 730 to continue where we left off the night before. We had lots of caffeine the next day.

Thank God for my lovely helpers, Chel and Weilin! I'm glad I have wonderful friends to help during the busiest period. The 2 babes were at Maad bright and early, got us an excellent spot so you guys could see us easily and they were so good in taking care of the stall while I was away at the wedding (i'm glad we didn't nod off cos we were sitting pretty near the front), so bummed I missed a bunch of you! They called me at intervals to check out stuff, and each time they rang, they sounded so stressed and were like, ok can't talk now, pple waiting to pay, must go NOW!! I so owe them a treat. Lee En and David were such an excellent help too, what would I do without selfless friends?

Thank you guys for being so supportive and taking the time to come by the booth. I hope you had fun at Maad's 1st birthday celebration too! I was really nervous about response to the new necklaces, esp. cos the limited materials meant higher prices. I was nearly emotional when weilin called at 1230 to say they were sold out!! Wow. I mean, wow. I didn't expect this overwhelming support, thank you thank you thank you so much. This means a lot.

Even though I'm someone else's problem now, my parents are still ever so concerned about my choice of career, and every sunday when we're home for dinner, they keep advising me to have a proper stable office job and do Oriental Rose as a sideline. They'll go on and on about how good the market is now, and how much my peers are earning, blah blah .....i feel like i never left home at all. (P.S. You know i can write this because my parents don't read my blog! haha)

Still the truth is Oriental Rose has been a very rewarding experience for me. I get to meet lots of amazing people whom I'll otherwise never know, and they make the experience all the worthwhile. We'll never be filthy rich, but more importantly I get that satisfaction from doing something that I chose to do. It is a luxury I know, and I'm thankful for all the blessings I don't deserve. Your support really affirms me. Thank you to my friends who popped by to say hi too! Mummy brought the 2 lovely girls with their pretty pink frocks. They always make my day :) I esp. love that picture of nana doing her precious moments puppy-eyed look... aww...
The most amazing moment was meeting Belinda and Simone and Cindy!! Who doesn't know Belinda of Belleebeadz yea? I mentioned before how I used to get my jewellery fix years ago from her before I started dabbling in it myself. She finally got to meet Matt in person after hearing abt him from me. I remember asking her for advice about giving up my job for him before we decided to go official (work issues). And then there's Simone of Blingalicious with her yummy mummy bump! I first met her at the Hilton fair and she's always been such a chirpy, colourful friend! They introduced me to Cindy of Starry Designs who has a sort of cult celebrity status for her "bird nest" rings on etsy. What a blast meeting all 3 amazing women!! I'm so upset I didn't get a snapshot tgt with them.

Of cos the usual gang, Sabrina of Sabbiew Designs, Joanne of Baileysvodka and Wenya of Wenya Designs were there as well... our tables were near each other and I spent lots of my time chatting with them and disturbing them. Also caught up with Amy who does the gorgeous japanese zen-like pottery and Elaine of Pisces Passion who makes beautiful bags like these:
Bought yesterday at MAAD, I love the butterfly print on this huge bag perfect for dumping my books and A4 files in . It's so padded and cushy that I can use it as a pillow in class hee. She was so sweet to throw in a matching tissue holder for free too!This bag was so cool I thought I'll share it anway. Funky red with prints of vintage shanghai ladies. Elaine sells her bags at The Esplanade Shop (where I got mine from), Design in Singapore, Eggtree and The Chinatown Heritage Centre. I like that her bags come in funky oriental chic fabric like my shanghai ladies, and sushi prints, and little chinese children with pigtails among others. Cool stuff! I simply had to get this greenish orchid hair band cos it looks just like the flowers in my bridal bouquet!! Yup my bouquet was green and not the white I always thought I would have. These flowers bands were handmade by Elaine as well and are beautiful against our dark asian hair. I also have to share these hand-crocheted necklaces under the line La Maria. I forgot to get the designer's name but it was her first time at Maad. Her stuff's really interesting!

We ended the weekend with a cake-cutting session and sang Maad a birthday song.. haha.. that sounds funny eh? I had such great fun I'm almost sad it's over. Ok I have to dash now for a lunch appointment, will update again later with more photos of sold and unsold stuff yea? Thanks again for staying with me! xoxoxo

July Maad

Ok here are the details of the Maad bonanza this weekend again:

Date: 7-8 July Sat & Sun
Time: 11 am - 8pm
Venue: red dot design museum, red dot Traffic building on Maxwell Rd
Nearest mrt station: Tanjong Pagar

I will be located outside the entrance of the museum so watch out for the booth! Though credit facilities are available, I will strongly prefer cash payment or internet bank transfers due to commission charges involved. See you there!

Surprise!

Was in some sort of a pseudo panic mode last night which got the hubster off his butt to help me in preparing the stuff for the fair haha ~ we spent a very arty farty night dabbling with paints and ribbons and buttons and lotsa lotsa glue!! He was helping me to paint some tags and I must say he's definitely more experimental in colours than I am! You can check out his artwork when you drop by the booth :)

My job was to decorate some of the boxes that will be housing some of the more exclusive necklaces at the fair. I thought it will be a nice homely touch if I added some collage work on the boxes so that you'll not only be bringing home a trinket but a little piece of my heart as well! I've done only the small ones so far, still have the larger boxes to do up.

Here's a closer peek at the small boxes ~ just some simple old music scores and vintage stamps with paper flowers, organza ribbons, funky fibres, cool buttons (some vintage some not) and cool rhinestones!

Hope they'll bring a smile to your face!!

Tune in to Tuesday updates

I've been spending the last few days working out prices for the wares for Maad and boy, is my head spinning!! Almost finished with the necklaces and bracelets, so that leaves the other 50 sets of earrings to be done *faints* I'm looking forward to the event though, esp. when it's all over and I can go home to sleep the week away. The week leading up to it is always the hardest, cos you have to remember what you need to do beforehand, like tagging and packaging and displays and lists and stuff for handover to helper elves.... the workroom's messier than ever! Once my parents came over while we were out and thought we'd been robbed!! No kidding! That was quite a nervewreckingly funny moment though heh.

I've been thinking about what to give as perks during Maad to thank you guys for being so supportive - we had small jars of rosebud tea as giveaways the last round which made everyone very pleased - this time I'll be giving complimentary vintage-inspired notecards from The Paper Princess with each purchase! They come with pretty matching envies so it would be perfect for mailing to your gal pals as well. Working on another idea at the mo but it's not finished yet so I will update nearer Sat.
Meanwhile check out Becky above for Maad ~ aren't the colours vibrant?! Have a lovely Tuesday!

Hope is the sweet scent of flowers

Received the invitation in the mail yesterday for the wedding on the same day as Maad I mentioned earlier and oh boy, talk abt timing! The wedding's at 1130 which is when Maad starts and regulars usually come to get the choicest picks so oh yea, it's gonna be crazy busy. Not to mention I might miss meeting some nice folks whom I've been corresponding with!! Oh well a friend's wedding is still more important so chel and weilin will be my lovely elves at the booth for most of Saturday. Chel will be happy with the free erdinger but Weilin being the shrewd law practitioner that she is, is either going to charge me exorbitant hire rates, or pay herself with the best stuff haha...

I've been swarmed with emails abt Mystical Fantasy and the Trixilini owl necklace since I posted about them and I'm sorry to say I'm not able to remake the necklace since it's made of limited quantity vintage parts that I sourced from abroad. I do have other vintage parts which I'm making into more jewellery for the Maad fair so come prepared to shop! The recent creations made of vintage parts are nearly impossible to recreate so my recommendation is to come early, be prepared to sweat it out and grab whatever catches your fancy before the person beside you gets to them first :) This is the sneak of the day ~ I have maybe 85 pieces so far ready for Maad so if all is good, the target of 100 is not going to be a problem! *fingers crossed* Still have loads to do, I'm hoping to do up more altered boards for displays, maybe some stitching as well, yes i'm learning to sew, even bought a new sewing machine!! Psyched about using it but did i mention i'm clueless abt sewing??!! That's what happens when you don't do home econs in school. Let's just say Matt had to spend a lot of time on me when we first got together haha. Later!

thoughts

It's been quite tough these few days cos of the orders I need to finish quickly and also the stock replenishing for maad. I've started a routine sometime back, waking up and reading the papers, doing my sudoku quota (yes I try to do one or two everyday to keep the left brain working), then doing whatever household stuff that needs to be done etc. etc. before finally settling down to start work. It's quite nice having some sort of system, cos the problem with me is once I start sth I find it hard to stop. Matt had to get me to remember to rest after every hour or so if not I get really bad backaches and headaches. The migraines can be a killer! Now I have to have paracetemol permanently by my bedside if not the pain just kills me when it hits. Anymore enough of my medical woes, it's really manageable, except the puking part. Makes me feel like i'm preggers or sth haha.

Serenity of Silence is another piece in my When Summer Comes series, which is really quite couture and absolutely exclusive and labour-intensive and quirky (used lotsa vintage parts) and quite possible my proudest collection to date. I can't wait for you guys to see them!! Brought them out to show viv yesterday and she was like, surprised at how much my style has evolved. She was the one who bought my very first few pieces, even before the name Oriental Rose was coined. And she's kinda like my business advisor cos she's really astute and has excellent business acumen so I turn to her for advice regarding pricing and marketing etc.
I'm looking now to adding a little final distinct mark to each piece in this series so that they can really stand out as an Oriental Rose creation, almost like a little trademark on them somewhere? Still not sure how but hopefully sth will work out soon! Packaging's another issue that's on my mind. How do i preserve the feel I want to capture in the packaging while taking cost & eco-friendliness into consideration? Ooh, brainstorm!!

hello monday!

What a nice cool morning! I had the most wonderfully rested weekend ever, didn't check my email or work at the desk. It was terrific!!! Although I did gravitate a little towards the room but the hubster managed to keep me out of it by taking me out hah. That's just the problem with doing your own biz, sometimes you feel so compelled to work just cos you're at home and you can. If you're sitting down and watching tv or reading a book, sometimes it makes you feel like you're not being productive and you really should be doing sth. It's taken me a while to overcome this mindset, to set aside a Sabbath day each week and really not work! We spent the whole afternoon till bedtime in bed watching movies and reading and chatting over wine. Really therapeutic ~ Now I feel super refreshed and ready to get down to work, which there's so much of today!!
Okies I'll be back with hopefully new stuff later (still have maybe 47 stuff to make for Maad and
another 25 private orders to fulfil, no kidding) but here's the sneak of a different kind of style I'm doing for Maad ~ Mary, mary quite contrary. Have a fab week ahead!

Sentimental Reasons sneak!

It's the end of the week and boy, am I looking forward to the weekend! I've been cooped up all day this week in the messy workroom - I eat there, sleep there, read there, I barely leave the room except to use the loo. Once I get into the swing of things, the ideas can come fast and furious and I can't stop myself. Sometimes I forget to eat and by the time matt comes home from work, my vision is blurred and my speech incoherent from not talking all day. Haha. That's how it is, really. Inspiration can come and go in an instant, so even if I'm exhausted, I make myself work. Drawing the ideas out is one way, but I can't draw for nuts so there wouldn't be any point.

Just completed another necklace for Maad so here's a peek ~ btw we're on for Maad! Received confirmation today.. jiggly dance.. It's always fun hanging out with other fellow crafters and doing major indie shopping, come join us on the weekend of 7th-8th july! I'm looking forward to meeting lotsa new friends who've said they would be coming down, will make sure to take lotsa pictures with them this time! It was crazy busy the last time so we were a bit flustered but we've learnt our lesson heh.

Ok back to work and answering those emails, enjoy your weekend!