goodbye 2012...

 

Hello! Hope you had a lovely Christmas holiday and apologies for not blogging for the past few weeks. Again I was busy with work, final project for the course and I had a friend visiting me during Christmas. As 2013 is around the corner, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you; Happy New Year! Hope you will have a good and prosperous 2013. World peace too.

vintage xmas cards

photos taken from: www.etsy.com - the vintage greeting

I have been checking out Etsy for a while. But just now, I stopped by to check out some vintage Christmas cards. Guess, I came across few cute and not so Christmas-y vintage cards. No Santa Claus and snowman. 

Have you started to send Christmas cards to loved ones already? Were these physical cards or e-cards? 

christmas wish list

 

Have you thought of your Christmas wish list? Well, I have given it a little thought. Most of the items are vintage if not, vintage inspired. Vintage Chanel bag and earrings have been on my wish list for a while now. Not sure when I can materialise this but it is good to have a little hope...

it's december

It's December! (followed by gasp or shriek?...) How time flies. The year 2012 is coming to an end and 2013 is approaching. How is everyone? Hope everyone is well and is in the mood for Christmas and New Year. But before that, did it cross your mind to set new year resolutions? I believe I have written about this few times and I am quite a believer in new year resolutions. Maybe I am a goal-orientated person. I need to set goals and try to work hard to achieve them. Without goals, I would loose direction in life. Although, setting realistic goals sounds like an easy task, working hard to achieve these goals is challenging and can be stressful. Reviewing how you have fared so far is not easy too.

So, would you set new year resolutions even though you have doubts that you might achieve some of them? Would you stop believing in new year resolutions?

striped vintage skirt

the look: top, vintage skirt, thrifted vintage belt, tights, heels, cardigan

Happy Friday! Hope everyone had a great week and is looking forward to the weekend. Well, I had an ok week and can't wait till tomorrow comes. Besides chilling out, I need to work on final project. I have decided to go for Victorian inspired as the theme for my design. Next step, I need to sketch some designs. Wish me luck!

victorian or structural inspired?

Mood board 1 - Victorian inspired

Mood board 2 - structural inspired

Four more weeks to go before the footwear design course ends. Final project for the course is designing two pairs of ladies shoes and present the designs together with mood board on a A3 cardboard. I have given this a thought and came up with two different spectrum of ideas - a romantic Victorian theme and the other one is structural or architecture inspired. 

What do you think? Which idea or theme appeals to you?

a touch of red

the look: thrifted vintage top, thrift long sleeves top, thrifted vintage belt, shorts, tights, canvas sneakers

Although it is autumn, I have decided to add a bit colour into my outfit today. Red.Without the long sleeves top and tights, this ensemble can be worn in summer. Today, I planned to check a magazine shop that sells fashion or art / design magazines for upcoming final project for footwear design. But when I got there, it was closed. Sigh. So, I ended up walking around and checking out second hand branded stores. Discovered two second hand branded stores in Tsim Sha Tsui area.Will share soon. 

Have a good weekend!

winter is coming

 

The weather is slowly changing. Lately it has been cloudy with patches of rains. It is getting cold too; the lowest is about 19 or 20 degrees Celsius and the highest can reach 25 or 26 degrees Celsius. I have started to wear my trench coat and tights. Winter is around the corner, I guess. Better be prepared - taking winter clothes out from my luggage.

resale / second hand branded stores

Hello everyone and apologies for missing in action. Was slightly busy at work but this week should be manageable. 

In this post, I would like to share with you on some resale or second hand branded or luxury items stores - hope this is how these stores are called. When I am exploring Hong Kong on weekends, I do come across few of these stores. However, I never take any photos of them. 

I am still looking for an affordable vintage Chanel bag, brooch or earrings. So far, the prices seem to be out of my budget. Sigh.... 

Here are some of these resale or second hand branded or luxury items stores:

 

 http://www.vipgroup.com.hk/default.htm

http://www.voguestation.com.hk/en/index.php

 

http://www.secondhandshop.com/english/main.html

     

http://tokyohk.brandoff.com.hk/

http://www.milanmall.net/hk/index.php/

I have not made any comparison to any Malaysian second hand branded stores; just to see which has the most competitive or affordable prices. This is would be an interesting task. If anyone aware of the pricing in Malaysian, please feel free to drop me a note or comment on this post. Let me know what do you think of the pricing in Hong Kong or Malaysia. 

new (old/vintage) sewing machine

I can sewing again, yay, yay! I bought a second hand SINGER sewing machine two weeks ago. Last weekend, I went to purchase additional accessories such as additional bobbins, zipper foot and all-purpose oil. 

Here are some tips for those who are looking into buying a second hand sewing machine:

1. Communication with the seller is important. Ask questions. Questions that I asked - Is there a manual? How long has the seller used the machine? Does the machine come with accessories? etc. 

2. If there is no manual, you can download from Singer website: http://www.singerco.com/accessories/instruction-manuals

3. Check with the service centre (Singer service centre: 2610 1611) whether they can fix and have spare parts of a particular model. Singer / Supreme Sewing Machine Co at Shop C, G/F, No. 385, Portland Street, Mongkok, Kowloon is one of Singer branches in Hong Kong (tel: 2771 3571). They sells accessories and also accept sewing machines for servicing.

4. Request to test the sewing machine. I would be wary if any seller would not allow this process. Check the light bulb, listen and pay attention to the sound of the machine when you sew. You can kind of guess from the sound if there is something wrong with the machine - intuition, I guess. Ask for any demonstration if there is any need. Do not be shy.

Once all the questions are answered and the sewing machine has been tested, you are now ready to make the decision; to buy or not to buy it.

Now, I can't wait to start altering some of the vintage tops I bought.

marc jacobs - look dress

the look: thrifted dress, thrifted vintage belt, cardigan, low heels shoes

Casual Friday at work is my V-day! This is my outfit for work today. I have waited for a long time to wear this dress.  Bought this lovely Marc Jacobs Look dress in a vintage/bundle festival. Click here to check out the label. What a lovely find and I was lucky. Hope I have more luck here. 

Have a good weekend!

sight-seeing: lamma island

Lamma Island is situated three kilometers off the south west coast of Hong Kong Island. This is island is Hong Kong's third largest island.

To get there, take a ferry from Central Pier 4 on Hong Kong Island or from Aberdeen on the south side of Hong Kong Island. From Central Pier 4, there are separate ferry services to both Yung Shue Wan (27 minutes journey) and Sok Kwu Wan (30/40 minutes journey). For this trip, I took a ferry from Central Pier 4 to Yung Shue Wan.  

I did the popular family trail across the island that connects the two largest villages; Yung Shue Wan in the north and Sok Kwu Wan in the south. This is a three kilometres trail which is along concrete paths all the way. 

From Yung Shue Wan, take the path around the harbour side and through the congested street lined with seafood restaurants and small shops. Let the journey begins...

Hung Sing Ye Beach

The trail..

The view..

Sok Kwu Wan

End the trip with a nice treat of seafood before departing the island. Enjoy scrumptious seafood whilst enjoy the nice seaview from water front seafood restaurants. What an enjoyable day, don't you think?

For more details of Lamma Island, please visit:
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/au/see-do/great-outdoors/outlying-islands/lamma-island/index.jsp
http://www.hongkongextras.com/lamma_island.html

can't stop once started...

Can't stop once started? I think so. I bought these vintage tops just two weeks after I purchased the first two tops; black and grey tops.Click here to check these two tops. Again, these two tops are from HK$5 racks. Great bargain, right? How can anyone resist such good deal?

500th post

the look: vintage dress, thrifted vintage belt, necklace and kitten heels shoes

500th post! Can you believe it? Well, it is kind of hard to believe. And I have been here for three months! Oh boy, how time flies so quickly. I am juggling between work, studies, 'me time' and of course blogging. I must admit I have not been a good blogger lately. Sorry for this and I hope I can manage my time better!

Anyway, hope you like my outfit for 500th post although it is not very autumn like outfit. It is more a summer like outfit, don't you think? Well, can't blame me as I am from a tropical climate country. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

taking a part time course in footwear design

Life has been a little hectic lately especially with work, thus I was unable to blog as frequently as I wish to. Anyway, one of the things to share with you which have mentioned in one of my entries is that I have signed up a part time course in footwear design. Class started three weeks ago. I am enjoying every moment of it. I am happy to be sketching, drawing and colouring again. The last time I hold a colour pencil was many years ago, about five years ago, if I am not mistaken.

How did it start? Well, before moving here, I have been looking for footwear design course in Malaysia but to no avail.I thought of enrolling in a summer course of footwear design in Italy but it is very, very expensive.So I put it on hold. Now, that I have moved here, perhaps I can try to find any part time course in footwear design.Next thing I know, I was searching online for footwear design part time course.

I came across ITS website and was quite excited that they offer shoe design course. I sent an enquiry but did not hear anything. Then, I searched again and came across with Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA) and sent an enquiry. And I received a response! I was flabbergasted and the rest was history. 

So far, I have attended three classes and last week I learnt colouring shoes using colour pencils and markers. For the first two classes, we were taught drawing techniques. Here are my homework;

Pencil drawing of shoes

Colouring using colour pencils

Colouring using markers

Ten more lessons to go and at the end of this course, students are required to prepare a presentation of shoes design which would be graded. Gasp... I have left school for a long time and the term grading kind of scares me. Keeping my fingers crossed.

sight-seeing: hong kong museum of history pt 2

The Hong Kong Museum of History houses a permanent exhibition of history of Hong Kong from prehistoric period to the reunification of Hong Kong to China.There is a section of natural environment and folk culture. It is worth to visit this museum if you are interested in history and of course to know more about Hong Kong.

From prehistoric section

From folk culture section - Chinese opera

From early growth of the city section

From modern metropolis section

What do you think? A trip to this museum is educational yet fun. There are few more museums on my to-visit list. Hhhmm... which is next?