Green Issues

Greeny Crafter 3 - Chic Envelopements

2012-01-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Gosh, January is coming to an end already! Where did all that time go to? This week's Greeny Crafter is Beth of Chic Envelopements.

Beth is a mom, a grandma, AND a Kindergarten teacher! With such a hectic schedule, she still finds time to create things be it sewing, crafting or cooking - Beth is definitely the ultimate multi-tasker! According to Beth, "all is right with the world when I'm making something....and it's even more satisfying if I'm making it for someone else."

How did Beth get into refashioning/upcycling? Here's what she said:

I was lucky enough to have a very creative mom who fostered my love of making things.... Our house was filled with my creations. I was refinishing furniture, sewing, making pottery, decorating, cooking and dyeing wool with natural elements at ten years old. I guess it's always been a part of my life. Then, more recently, when I was introduced to Pinterest, I saw so many talented and creative people out there refashioning, I thought, "Hey, I could do that, too." So I headed down to my local thrift shop, bought a few things and started cutting and sewing. My first projects were outfits for my 3 year old granddaughter. It was so liberating to sew without patterns and since I didn't spend much money on what I was cutting up, it was easy to take risks and just try things.

A few of my favourite projects from Beth are the Old 80s leather jacket to twenty twelve bag and the sweater to mittens and gloves. I love the design of the bag - it looks like it was just bought from the high street!

Can you believe that this was once a jacket?

Cute cap !

It's good to share! If you hop over to her blog, you'll find that Beth also shares her refashioning tips. So, if you live in her neighborhood (which unfortunately, I don't) drop her an email to say you're attending!!

So where does Beth get her inspiration? If Beth sees something she likes but would rather not spend the money on it she will look for items at the thrift store that could be refashioned to make something similar. Beth says " I saw a leather bag at a department store that I loved, so I took a picture of it with my phone. I knew I had an old $4 black leather jacket at home from the thrift store that was just waiting to be cut up and made into something else. I bought some leather needles and just gave it a try. I didn't know if my basic sewing machine would sew leather, but it did just fine. I love how the bag turned out and it only cost $5.00 instead of $50.00"

We look forward to seeing more of your creations, Beth! If you would like to be featured on the Greeny Crafters every Monday, do drop me a line at greenissuessg@gmail.com :-)

What's Wrong with My Veggies?

2012-01-27T04:30:00.000-08:00

We were planning on having a little garden of our own but I think I fail as a gardener. The tomatoes and chillies I planted in August have just shrivelled up. First they started to sprout up really quickly and then the leaves turned a little light green and a bit furry. And now, all the leaves have gone. I have no idea what's happened. My neighbour thinks that the seeds weren't old enough to be planted. But it can't be the same reason for both the chillies and the tomatoes!!! Any ideas?

Rustic Decorations

2012-01-25T05:08:00.000-08:00

This is a great craft for kids. My son (who's 6) enjoyed helping out with the cutting, rolling and sticking, and eventually he was really happy to see the decoration go up in the hallway. All you need is an old cardboard box, cookie cutters, scissors, pencil, a biro that's not working, a roller with spikes (the ones for clothes making - sorry, I just can't remember the name!!), ribbon or string, glue and aluminium foil.

What you need. Forgot to include the string/ribbon and glue!

Trace and cut.
You'll probably have to do the the cutting
if the cardboard is tough.

Stick the cardboard pieces onto the foil and cut.

Use the roller or biro and trace onto the foil
for rustic patterns.

Stick pieces onto ribbon or string and voila!

Linking up to creativeprincess.blogspot.com

The CNY Celebrations!

2012-01-24T04:26:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share the Chinese New Year pics I took today. We were invited to a friend's place for lunch and it was an opportunity to wear our finest! Even wore the snowflake dress I made during the Christmas hols! :-) Not sure why we're looking so serious here...

Goodies galore - yum.

Watermelon seeds snack - tough on the teeth
but yummy once you've got rid of the shell!

Nuts & figs!

Pineapple tarts - pineapple paste
wrapped with buttery pastry.

My friend preparing the raw fish salad.

Greeny Crafter - Charity Shop Chic

2012-01-23T01:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! It's bye bye to the year of the Rabbit, and hello year of the Dragon!!! I'm ushering in the year with our second Greeny Crafter, Sally from Charity Shop Chic. Sally is from London and she has a flair for creating new clothes from old. What I love is that she's able to find pre-loved items at charity shops, chops them up and has creates something chic. Sally says "I got into refashioning as an easier way of making new clothes than starting from scratch. It's so easy to buy something with the buttonholes and zip and sleeves already made and just tweak it to get it the way you want! Since then I have been doing more 'extreme' refashions, cutting things up so they are totally unrecognisable from the original. I started a blog because I had been reading a lot of other blogs and found them inspirational, and had the idea that maybe my work could inspire others in the same way."

Sally of Charity Shop Chic in her snood & mitts!
Photo : Charity Shop Chic

I love the snood and mittens that she refashioned from an old jumper from a charity shop. It may be hot over here in Singapore, but if I have to fly over to a cold country for a holiday or for a business trip, buying a new pair of mits and a snood would be very wasteful indeed!!!

I'm also a fan of her refashion of a skirt into this classy dress:

Photo: Charity Shop Chic

Sally has had lots of compliments and the nicest one she got was when she made a dress from old T-shirts based on a Stella McCartney design recently and a lot of commenters said it looked like the original! Find out how Sally does it over at her blog, Charity Shop Chic!!!

If you would like to be featured in the Greeny Crafters, drop me an email @ greenissuessg@gmail.com.

Happy crafting!

Belt or necklace?

2012-01-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hellooooo!!! Chinese New Year is in 4 days!!! It's a Chinese tradition to buy new clothes and wear them on the first day of Chinese New Year (this Sunday). This time, we've decided that we won't be buying anything new so long as what we will wear is not dark and dreary but bright and cheerful!!

So can you guess what I have made to compliment my clothes? Is it a belt? A necklace? It's made from the seams of old jeans and it's easy as pie! Best of all, no sewing machine is needed!!!

Cut out all the seams!

Cut out your strips - any size.
They can be randomly sized too!

Get your hooks & eyes ready..

Insert the hooks & eyes into the seam and
sew on.

Take your hammer and hammer away!!!
This is to ensure the hooks & eyes don't loosen. Don't
hammer the hook & eye at the end
of the your train of jean seams

Add on any embellishments!

My belt! I wore it like this to work yesterday!

My necklace?

Maybe... if I had made it shorter!

Or maybe?

If you are a green crafter and enjoy making new things out of old, I would love to feature your blog !! Please click on Are You a Greeny Crafter? for more details. Look forward to hearing from you!!

Linking up to:

Are You a Greeny Crafter?

2012-01-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

Do you love recycling old things into something new?
Do you jump at the chance to refashion your old clothes?
Do you think twice before you purchase something from the shop?

If you answered "yes" to all of the above, then I would love to feature you on my blog. I'll be featuring greeny crafters every week so if you're interested in sharing your ideas, please drop me a line at greenissuessg@gmail.com . I'm looking for originality and creativity!! My first feature was Jill from Jembellish

Remember to grab one of my buttons on the side bar!!

Some rules:
a) Only blogs with a greeny element to it (upcycling, recycling, refashioning etc) with easy to follow tutorials will be featured. No commercial sites please.

b) I love honest greeny crafters. Sorry, I don't feature crafters who pass off crafts as being theirs. I think it is only fair that we acknowledge the rightful creators!

c) I love clear and colourful photos but I won't feature those that are copyrighted. Please ensure that the photos that you would like me to use are yours and not someone else's :-)

Jean Pocket Pot Holders

2012-01-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

I've finally decided to venture into featuring greeny and crafty people! Spent this evening coming up with my buttons!!!

Since I've been recrafting my hubby's jeans into almost anything, I was excited when I saw that Jill from Creating my way to Success come up with a lovely way of reusing old jeans. I've turned mine into a wristlet but pot holders can brighten up a kitchen and are way more useful than wristlets!!! To add extra padding to the potholders, I'm planning to add in old towels - don't want to burn our crafty fingers!

Jill's jean pocket pot holders!!

My wristlet

Jill was kind enough to let me feature the pics from her blog, but why don't you pop over directly to check out her wonderful tutorial?

Jill has a collection of tutorials on how to refashion and recycle old pieces of clothing into useful items. Here's the shorts to bag that I particularly like. :-)

Courtesy: Jill from Creating my way to Success

Thanks, Jill and remember to grab one of my buttons on the right hand bar!!

Sheng Shiong - no ban on sharks fin?

2012-01-12T03:58:00.000-08:00

So, after NTUC Fairprice decided to stop selling sharks fin, most of us were wondering whether the other supermarket players would join in too. Cold Storage was the first to implement a "no sharks fin" policy (well, it was in Oct 2011) but Giant and Shop N Save, which are under the same parent company still sell sharks fin products.

This was what was on Sheng Shiong's Facebook page:

"Hi All,

Thanks for your patience with regards to the sales of shark's fin at Sheng Siong.

We've reviewed the matter extensively and decided that there is no plans currently to stop selling shark's fin.

However Sheng Siong will scrutinize its future supplies of shark's fin products to ensure that the sources are not from inappropriate shark finning.

With regards to some concerns about the sales of mola mola meat, Sheng Siong is currently not selling this item and do not plan to do so in future.

We appreciate all the feedback that has been given."

I honestly don't understand what "ensure that the sources are not from in appropriate shark finning" is? Do you?

Chinese New Year - Poon Choy 盆菜

2012-01-12T03:42:00.000-08:00

What's poon choy 盆菜 (or pen cai in hanyu pinyin)? It's a traditional Hong Kong Northern Territories village dish that has now become very popular and is eaten on special occasions such as the Winter Solstice, and now Chinese New Year. In fact, it's become so popular that we even have it here in Singapore. It contains layer upon layer of precooked ingredients like roast pork, steamed chicken, fish maw, ducks feet, vegetables, oysters, prawns, abalone etc etc. Everyone digs in with their chopsticks!!

So, you can imagine how big (not to mention how expensive) that pot is going to be.

I've tried it before in Hong Kong and it's very yummy. But, there are a few things to watch out for for:

Does it have sharks fin? Because it's such a big dish, it's highly likely you're going to be buying this from a restaurant. Ask if you can have it without the sharks fin.

Fat choy or fa cai

Does it have 髮菜 fat choy (fa cai in hanyu pinyin)? It's a type of moss which is found in the Gobi desert. It is eaten during Chinese New Year because it is a homonym in Chinese for "get rich". Over harvesting has intensified erosion and desertification. In fact, Chinese desertification experts say facai harvesting is the chief cause of desertification in Inner Mongolia (Source: Beijing US Embassy report 1998).

Do you really need such a big pot of poon choy? If you know you're not going to finish it on the first day, plan ahead before buying so that you know it won't end up in your bin!!Yes, we all know that with the Chinese it's always about face, but Mum always says not to waste food!!!

Make sure you cook it thoroughly - yes, seriously, get a food thermometer and stick it into the poon choy to ensure that it is piping hot before serving it. But do ensure that you get it from a reputable restaurant - poon choy dishes should be cooled quickly and kept below 4C (to minimise bacterial growth) if it is not served immediately. Did you know that you can get Bacillus cereus food poisoning leading to vomiting and diarrhoea if the poon choy is not handled properly?

So, if you're going to buy poon cai for your Chinese New Year reunion dinner, keep these 4 things in mind!!

Natural Disasters

2012-01-11T04:14:00.000-08:00

What will Mother Nature (or man) give us this year?

To name just a few, in 2011, we saw:

Photo: Tim Musson

Earthquakes in Argentina, Chile, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tonga, Burma, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Sulawesi, Fiji, Turkey, New Zealand, with the one in Japan resulting in a catastrophic tsunami.

Floods in the US, Australia, Philippines, Thailand and even in Singapore.

Droughts in East Africa, Texas (US) and the Danube River being at its lowest levels in 60 years!

According to an article in Nature, the 2011 natural disasters around the world caused a record US$380 billion in economic losses. This is double that of 2010! Furthermore, weather (causing floods & droughts) "accounted for about 90% of the year’s 820 recorded natural disasters, which caused at least 27,000 deaths". Based on IPCC's report in Nov last year, I think we can expect even more weird and extreme weather in the future - "It is “virtually certain” — meaning 99–100% probability in IPCC terminology — that the twenty-first century will see an increase in the frequency and magnitude of warm temperature extremes and a decrease in cold extremes."

Getting things in order!

2012-01-06T07:10:00.001-08:00

Phew! Finally found the time to sort my blog out and group my refashions and recyclable crafts together. Hope it is easier to navigate around now! :-)

NTUC FairPrice Takes Sharks Fin Off the Shelves

2012-01-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

Our largest supermarket chain, NTUC FairPrice, has decided to pull sharks fin products off its shelves within the first quarter of 2012, but this was only after public outcry towards a supplier who announced its sharks fin product launch at NTUC with the words "screw the divers". I think it would have been better of NTUC FairPrice had been more pro-active about the issue.

Jeans into Reversible Bag

2012-01-05T01:04:00.000-08:00

Taking a whole week off to spend time with family .... and also do some crafts! This time I did a reversible bag from an old pair of jeans and two old belts. I love it - 2 bags in one! :-)
There aren't any measurements in the tute below as I feel everyone's preference for the size of bag is different!

Good old jeans - hubby's again.

My old belts from teens - one white, one grey!
Can't wear them any more -
I'm no longer 70cm!

Cut the panels of jean fabric
from the bottom of the legs. Cut away the thick
seams. You can save it for other crafts (see my jean bangles tutorial!).

You will now have 4 panels.
Sew all of them together - sides & bottom

Create some space!

Now add on the belts - one for each side.
Use anything to put them on - sew it, glue it
and embellish it!!!

I sewed on the belt through its
holes - make sure it's secure!!
I eventually used my hot glue gun to
secure this part.

Do the same to the other side. A trick
I learnt from my mum is to stick a pin through
the fabric....

... and mark the point where the pin sticks out
on the other side! Easy peasy! :-)

With the bag straps secured, it's now time
to do the bag lining. As this also serves as the
reversible part of the jean bag, add on any
embellishments! I added a strip of jean material.

Once you have measured and cut your lining
fabric, sew to the opening of the jean bag
RIGHT sides facing each other.
Remember to leave a gap (about a hands width)
at the bottom of the lining and also remember
to keep the straps away from the opening
while you sew!

Turn the lining inside out over the jean bag.

Now to make the ribbon part for the reversible portion of the bag!

I secured a loop with hot glue. Actually, I could
have sewn it on - silly me forgot :-(

Tie a nice ribbon and pass it through the loop!

Back

Front

The reverse!

Linking up to:

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net
http://brandyscrafts.blogspot.com
http://www.theartsygirlconnection.com

Happy New Year !!!

2012-01-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

Time flies by so quickly! My little boy will now be going to big boy school on Tuesday. It's been very exciting and hubs has been trying to pack his holidays with lots of activities but I was rather dismayed that one of them was playing computer games - ugh, it's my nightmare! They're hooked ...... why can't we stick to board games? Reminds me of the time when we created our own board game from an old calendar ..... hope we can get to do it again before school starts!

"Snowflake" Dress

2011-12-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

Here it is!! I embellished my old jean dress with the material from my orangey red maternity top. I gave it a Christmas feel with snowflake patterns, well, sort of!

The originals.... just love the orangey red colour!!

Cut some circle templates!

Circle, circle, circles!

Make your snowflakes - I didn't use the traditional method of folding squares here.
Oh, remember to fold one more time between 3 and 4 before putting the pin and cutting it!

I cut the collar off the dress and laid down my snowflakes!
Sew, sew, sew!

Done! The Back!

Done! The Front!

Hmmm... hang on a minute, I may even wear this for Chinese New Year!!

Wishing all my lovely crafty and green friends a peaceful and healthy Christmas!!!

Linking up to:

Can you guess?

2011-12-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

It's been raining over the weekend again!!! We made some Christmas cookies....But can you guess what I have been making out of an old jean dress and a orangey red maternity top? I love the colour of the top and couldn't part with it, and I really like the shape of the dress.... will reveal all before Christmas! ;-)

Public Survey on Smoking Ban

2011-12-18T08:08:00.000-08:00

Are you irritated by the cigarette smoke that wafts along the common areas of your housing estate? Are you keen on getting certain areas in Singapore included in the smoking prohibition? You can have your views heard. Go to the survey at REACH.

How to use your egg crates....

2011-12-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

Apart from using egg crates in your kid's DIY samuri costume, try out this great idea that was posted in the NY Times yesterday! The only issue I have is where can I get so many of the egg crates? I'll probably have to fight it out with my "karanguni" (that's rag & bone man in English) neighbour!!!

Reduce, Reuse, UPcycle!

2011-12-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

I found a lovely blog Reduce, Reuse, UPcycle! which posts great ideas on how to do the 3Rs with all the stuff in your home. Go and take a look and you just might create a lovely Christmas wreath out of socks or sweaters or even a paper Christmas tree! :-)

Innovation without being high-tech

2011-12-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

We're always being told that innovation is always about being high-tech (think big, think lots of money, think sophisticated) but it doesn't always have to be this way.

I read about three things about how simple ideas can get things done with less and probably at a fraction of the cost. It's time we dealt with environmental and social issues in developing countries this way - what works in our country might not work in others ....

Photo: Fabio Medda

a) Sheep Lawn Mowers - I L-O-V-E this idea. Not only is Eddie Miller of Ohio helping himself get through the economic downturn, but he's helping the environment. It puts a smile to my face :-)

Photo: Vasantdave

b) Use of a sari to filter cholera contaminated water - According to the article, Bangladeshi village women would use their saris to filter sweetened drinks to get rid of leaves, insects and other visible debris. Researchers found that water filtered through a clean sari cloth folded four times could filter out the cholera.

c) Attaching a tiny microscope to a mobile phone (look @ the bkgrd story when you access the link) to take photos of mosquito larvae instead of taking live samples and sending them back to the lab! I like this idea from Singapore!!!

Nappies & Pads

2011-12-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

Ever since I blogged about not having an addition to the family, I can't believe that it took me this long to take out all my son's old cloth nappies and make them into something else! I decided that they would become:

a) hand towels for the bathroom (I folded them in half and went crazy with the sewing machine. See pic above)
b) cleaning cloths for the kitchen
c) rags (the really yellow looking ones!)

I also "discovered" my bra pads from breast feeding days. I couldn't find any takers for them, but I then realised that they make really good makeup removers!!! They're soft, made out of cotton, durable and all you have to do is pop them in the wash after each use, or like me, just hand wash them with Dr. Bronner's!! No more cotton pads for me :-)

Happenings

2011-12-09T04:56:00.000-08:00

Hee.... forgot to post these pics until today. We had fun cycling to Admiralty Park last Saturday, and I spotted some recycling activities at City Square Mall at Farrer Park on Sunday. Unfortunately it was too early in the morning (7.30am!) for me to be part of the action at the mall but I did find out there is a new SLS-free product on the market by IDOCARE. I am a bit hesitant to try out any new laundry detergent now though (except for maybe soapnuts) as my hubby might break out in rashes again. If anyone with eczema has tried their products, pls email me!! Would love to find out from you :-)

DIY Snowflakes

2011-12-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

The weather here has been terrible these past few days. One minute it's raining cats and dogs, and the next it's bright and sunny. Not sure whether I should remain indoor or out! We decided to stay indoors yesterday and I raided my hubby's CD-ROM stack. He had lots of CD-ROMS that had not been used for over 10 years. In the end, my little boy and I made snowflakes which we hung just outside the hallway. It's a great addition to our Christmas decorations!

I think everyone knows how to make paper snowflakes
so I won't go into it in detail. I used old magazines to get
the different details & colours - no need to buy paper!

My son pondering over what part of the
magazine to cut out the snowflakes!

Old CD-ROMS - thanks hubby!!

The CD-ROMS add sparkle and provide a hard backing
to the paper snowflakes. Use craft glue or a glue stick
to stick the snowflakes on!

String them together...
Hanging outside our hallway.

Linking to:

Featured on:

Community action against litter

2011-12-02T07:03:00.000-08:00

Photo: www.sxc.hu

I came across the Ugly Indian website and was amazed at how total strangers come together and get into action to clean their local neighborhood of for example litter, open dumps etc, for free. I'm not sure why they called their group the Ugly Indian but judging from their website, they put the blame of dirty streets mainly on the lack of civic standards. It reminds me of how we call ourselves the "ugly Singaporeans" when we have really bad etiquette. Perhaps we should stop blaming others for the litter problem in Singapore, stop relying on others to pick up our mess (I do see youngsters in my estate chucking their empty cans non-nonchalantly and let the migrant worker sweep it up!!!!) and act together to solve it. This way we set an example to those who come here to stay.

DIY Blue Angel for Christmas

2011-11-30T22:13:00.000-08:00

When I made my 3D Christmas angel earlier on, I thought that it would be better to crochet the wings on rather than have them attached to another hanger. So I made another angel, this time out of an old blue t-shirt, one clothes hanger and wires. You still need the wires to stiffen the wings. Apart from the gold glitter glue, everything else was recycled from something.

This time my hand went on overdrive and crocheted the clothes hanger from top to bottom.

I crocheted the wings into the body of the angel before inserting the wire and shaping it until they looked like angel's wings. I then tied the wings down to the body. It's a bit of a tangle at the back but if anyone know of a neater way of doing it, I would be happy to know from you!! Drop me a line in the comments section :-)

I added gold glitter glue and beads to the angel.

Sorry Mickey, but I had to cut you up!

This t-shirt was from Disney Paris when it was first open so it's lasted a pretty long time.

Will be keeping the diving Mickey for another project.

Linking up with
http://todayscreativeblog.net/

Green Issues in Hong Kong

2011-11-28T21:14:00.000-08:00

I was missing for a week in Hong Kong and I was on the lookout for green things. Here are a few things that struck me:

a) Plastic bag levy - I was at ParkNShop (a supermarket chain in HK) and the cashiers don't give you a plastic bag unless you say you want one and you're willing to pay 50 HK cents for EACH plastic bag. 50 HK cents is roughly 6 US cents or 8 SGD cents. Doesn't sound like a lot does it? But my mum use to bring home roughly 10 plastic bags from the supermarket every week so that adds up to HKD5 savings every week.

b) Used clothes collection points were available. According to the organiser, Friends of the Earth, "The collected clothes will be sorted, and exported to neighbouring countries as second hand goods while those worn out ones will be turned into wipers for industrial use."

c) Initiatives to recycle glass. In the area I was staying at the building management had decided to try out glass collection for recycling. That's very proactive!

3D Christmas Angel

2011-11-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas is just round the corner - I can't believe it. It seems like only yesterday when I did my coat hanger Christmas tree. I've decided to add a 3D Christmas Angel to my Christmas decoration collection, and it's made out of 2 coat hangers (same size), wire, an old T-shirt (thanks to hubby) and old beads (thanks to hosy!). I wanted an angel with wings that would move - I think I was a bit too ambitious! OK, the how to is below!!

The tools! I didn't use the ribbon in the end.
The ball on the left is basically old
T-shirt strips cut against the grain.

Bend hanger into shape

Stretch the t-shirt strips so that they
look like the one at the bottom of this pic!
For tute on how to join those strips together,
you can look at my Chinese New Year Decor tute!

Wrap the hanger with the strips.
Hope over to the
Chinese New Year Decor post for the tute!

Crochet the arms - remember not to do any knots
but to tuck the remaining bits of strips.
We don't want a "lumpy" angel ;-)

Now for the pretty garment !

Tadaah - this was the next day...

Crocheted strips for the wings.
Inserted the wire into the strips.
These would be attached to the
2nd coat hanger.

Bend your other coat hanger to this shape.
Remove plastic coating. Paint white.

I stuck beads onto and old sheer fabric.
Alternatively, you could crochet everything!

If you're wondering what the
back looks like.....

As I only had 1 t-shirt, I didn't have enough material to crochet the whole angel and ended up sticking scraps of fabric on it. It would have turned out a lot prettier (I think).

This was featured on :

Rash is back!

2011-11-09T05:52:00.000-08:00

Remember the rash that my hubby had back in May this year? It's back!!! Well, it's actually my fault because I forgot to stock up on the SLS-free laundry detergent from EarthChoice, and they ran out at the NTUC supermarket. I saw another similar product under the EarthChoice line and decided to buy that instead - I forgot to read the label!!!

Wool & Delicates from Earth Choice
- bought this instead of the Pure Clean range

There it is ! Sodium Laureth Sulfate!!!

The label on the Pure Clean Range - no SLS!

Well, it does say plant based formula on the
one I normally use.

It doesn't say the same on the Wool & Delicates
- it pays to read the label!!!

Walk out at Harvard University

2011-11-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

The only time I touched an economics book was as a post grad. It was one of those non-core topics, and I found it very dry. All those GRAPHS and equations. It just drove me nuts! :-) Some 70 students walked out of their economics class at Harvard University. Apparently, they believe that Professor Greg Mankiw's teachings have "driven the inequalities in today’s society". With the on-going Occupy Wall Street, I'm sure a lot of people are fired about the state of the world economy. Have any of you watched "Inside Job"? It's a brilliant docu-movie about the economic meltdown in 2008. Look out for the interviews with the academics, who somehow seem to have some dealings with it too. I loved it when they interviewed Professor Mishkin of Columbia University - he just looked bad. Anyways, I would like to say that maybe the students could try and get the professors to include some green economics, where governments actually account and price natural resources & pollution, into their classes. I wonder whether it is in the syllabus.....

GM Mozzies

2011-11-03T06:33:00.000-07:00

Photo: Rhythm (www.sxc.hu)

We've heard of genetically modified crops, but what about mosquitoes? Scientists are modifying the genes of mozzies so that their progeny do not live, or they are sterile. Many are hoping that the research will be successful enough to control insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. Some tests have been done as already reported in the NY Times. I do hope that those who decide to use this technique will remember that once you've released the GM mozzies, there's no turning back plus they don't have boundaries - remember the cane toads that were used to eradicate sugar cane pests in Australia? What may seem like a natural solution could wreak havoc on your ecosystem!

Photo: KS (www.sxc.hu)

Would we use them in Singapore? I don't know, but my first reaction was 1) wouldn't releasing GM mozzies lead to complacency among the public on dengue prevention, 2) the cost of dengue in Singapore (over SG$220 million in 2007), is GM worth it? 3) in the long-term, what if this led to resistant mozzies? What do we do then?

Halloween Costume Completed!

2011-10-31T03:18:00.000-07:00

Well, after spending time collecting, cutting, paper mache and colouring the loo rolls, my son ended up going to the halloween party as some sort of super hero with a booster jet on his back. I'm glad he loved it! The big ones really came in handy as the boosters! Thanks to all my friends who contributed a loo roll, or two ! :-)

All smiles!

Fun at the party! Hubby fixed an old bike light onto the front :-)

Air drying the loo roll after using
paper mache to stick them together.

Dear 7 Billion

2011-10-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

Dear 7 Billion,

Welcome to this world! Your mummy and daddy must be proud of you. I don't know your name yet, or whether you're a boy or a girl, but I think there is a huge chance that you were born in a developing country.

Things are looking bleak now. The global economy is in turmoil and it hasn't been fixed since 2008. For some strange reason, the culprits are still out there making ridiculous amounts of money. Neither you nor I will even have a chance to make that amount in our entire working lives. I'm sure I'll have to work until 65, and maybe you will have to work until 80 before you can retire, or maybe retiring will be a thing of the past. Hang on, will you be able to get a shot at tertiary education?

You'll have it tough. According to the experts, if you're in a developing country, you will be worse off. By the time you're older, you will have probably experienced droughts, floods, heat waves - all affecting your family's livelihood. Maybe your country would be submerged too, and perhaps your parents will decide to migrate to a city for a better life, but I doubt that will be so if you're living cheek by jowl in a polluted and unsanitary city.

7 Billion, sorry for disappointing you, but that's the way things are. Maybe by the time you're older, the governments will have decided that our natural resources should be accounted, invested heavily in environmental solutions (and not just technology) and stopped being so greedy. Maybe, little 7 Billion, you will be part of the solution too.

With love,
Agy

ps. don't give your parents a hard time!

From dull black dress to....

2011-10-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

a black dress with a bit more colour!

The after!!

The before....

Do you recognise the before? It's actually from another reconstruction where I added lace trimming and made a v-neck out of a boat-necked dress. Gosh, that was a while back. I've now sewn on teal and black ribbon. I was thinking of doing a "fake" bandeau dress that you see on television using the black ribbon, but I've had enough just a black dress and I need some colour!!

I wish I had a fabric glue stick because it took an awfully long time to sew the ribbon on and make sure it wasn't wonky!!

Hubby said any further to the right and
the cross would make me a moving target!
The things men say!!!

Also featured on craftgossip.com!

Bra strap revamp!

2011-10-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

OK, this is for the ladies! Do you ever find it annoying when your bra strap takes a peek every now and then when you wear a tank top? I'm always fidgeting! :-)

This is what I did with bits of scrap lace. You can sew on it directly to the bra strap. Mine is the type where you can unhook the straps, so I could interchange between straps with or without the lace. If you're not comfortable sewing it on, you can create a small tube at the edge of the lace to insert the strap.

So, here's the outcome. The strap will still take a peek, but I think this looks a lot fancier, and cute too!! Enjoy the rest of the weekend :-)

Coconut!

2011-10-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

We had coconut and chicken soup yesterday, and my son was eyeing the coconut we had bought from the wet market. The aunty had already taken off most of the husk and we had to make sure that we didn't break it into bits to get to the flesh - "Make sure you don't break it, mummy!" He was looking forward to making an instrument out of the coconut, or horsey sounds - clip, clop! Other than being a musical instrument, I think they make great bowls!

Getting the Halloween Costume Ready

2011-10-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming and my son's kindergarten will be having another party. I think this will be the last one as he'll be in primary school and I don't think they "celebrate" it then. Anyway, he came home asking whether he could be a skeleton for the party. I decided to use the inside tubing from toilet roll and kitchen towel rolls. Got my friends and colleagues to "donate" them to me!!

Then my little one said "Mummy, I want to be a monster instead!!!"

So, now I need more tubes!!!

Project in progress.....

Creating Success Around the World

2011-10-12T05:12:00.000-07:00

Janelle of "Of Pinks and Fairy Tales" interviewed me for her blog. Hop over to her blog to find out!! She has some great crafts too :-)

Social Informatics

2011-10-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Two great things happened to me this week that the rest of the stuff seemed like noise :-)

Firstly, I was one of the winners of Michele Made Me's Drop Dead Denim Giveaway. I've never entered a give away, let alone win something, so it was really surprising to find out that I had won. When I got Michele's email, I reflected on how a group of people from different countries, who have never met before but share a passion (such as making things from recycleables) can link up, exchange ideas and even engage in communication via Facebook, Twitter, email and their blogs. Isn't it amazing? Someone should do a study on this! It won't be me because I don't work in the social informatics field. It does lead me to my second point.....

.......drum rooooollll I did actually attend the 3rd International Social Informatics Conference this week, and in fact tomorrow is the last day of the conference. So, me being the non-IT and non-sociologist I attended (expenses paid by my employer) and I found it to be an eye opener. You might be wondering what this has to do with green issues. In fact, there are linkages. I met a researcher from the Japanese NEC team that has developed Ecology-MAME (I hope I got the site right). Their on-line platform motivates activities with mutual effect and lets people start environmentally conscious actions (in this example energy saving actions) or continue them in local communities. Users would feed their energy savings into the programme and the site would update the data with the rest of the communities. You can visualise this information, and in some ways it's like a game, seeing who can have the most energy savings in the community. The researchers will use the model to "explain the factors of intention for the behaviours, and focus on people who don't carry them out even though they understand their importance". NEC have already done a trial run in Japan and plan to expand it in size and to other behaviours e.g. recycling. I can see this being used as part of an energy smart grid and smart meters. It could provide consumers the additional incentive to save energy.

OK, have to sleep. I need to wake up at 7am tomorrow for the 3rd day! Good night all!

Hoo Are You Time

2011-09-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Just love this! It's Hoo Are You time!

1. What is your Zodiac sign?

Not really sure. I'm between Saggitarius and Scorpio cos my birthday is on 22 November!!!

2. Name 3 things that are always in your purse besides your wallet.

Let's see. I'll have my mobile phone, lipstick and my little notebook to write things in. Usually I'll have an idea and quickly write it down so that I won't forget. These ideas are either work or crafty related :-)

3. Which magazines do you look at the most?

Hmmm..... crafty magazines at the library but no particular one I look at the most.

4. Do you pluck or get your eyebrows waxed?

I used to pluck them but I would tear. My friend introduced me to shaving them! So far so good!

5. How often do you go grocery shopping?

We go once a week at our local wet market and the supermarket. My hubby shops for fish, because he's good at choosing the fresh fish and he knows which fish is what and whether it is from the sea or it is freshwater fish - I just know the difference between salmon (pink) and non-pink fish!! I shop for the other stuff :-)

Inspired by an abalone shell

2011-09-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

We need more innovative people like Angela Belcher :-)

What's the air quality in your city?

2011-09-27T03:32:00.000-07:00

WHO has collated air quality data from nearly 1100 cities across 91 countries, including capital cities and cities with more than 100 000 residents. As you can see from the diagram most of South America, Africa and Asia have to bare with high particulate matter, or PM 10. These are fine particles that are emitted from sources such as power plants, industry and vehicles, and get trapped in our lungs.

Jeans to wristlet!

2011-09-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

I think I have managed to use every part of my hubby's jeans!! I converted the back pockets into a wristlet. Had some difficulty with the zip. Somehow it ended up very bulky at the ends and I had so much trouble sewing it up!! Any advice? Not sure whether my zip was too long....

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the top part of my hubby's jeans :-)

Legless jeans or hotpants? :-)

Cut out the bits for the wristlet. Zipper is also recycled!

Any sewing experts to advise me how to get rid
of the bulk at the end? Had difficulty sewing through it too.

Jeans to chair cover!

2011-09-18T06:12:00.000-07:00

Been very lazy! Haven't blogged about environmental stuff. This project took me quite a while to do - let's say, I just procrastinated. Again from an old pair of jeans (I now know what to do with all the shorts/trousers that no longer fit me after I got pregnant - okay, I don't have number 2, but they've just been in my wardrobe for ages!)

Actually, this pair was bought a year after I gave birth and the muffin just grew and grew that I can no longer button up the top :-(

Anyways, here are the befores, durings and after photo! Thanks for popping by!

The chair before. Hubby was thinking of chucking it but crafty me
knew what to do!

The after - these are washable covers. I was
going to try and get the original covers off
but I couldn't find how the manufacturers had
got it all together in the first place.

Tear up my old jeans - this one had nice embellishments.
Must take advantage of them!!

Use pins to pin the material in place and cut out a shape
larger than the original. Create tubing with extra jean material
and put in elastic band.

Added some rick-rack!

Awesome Upcycling Crafty Blog

2011-09-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

I stumbled on Michele Made Me blog. It has lovely ideas for crafts and projects using things around the house. Take a look! Michele is super duper creative. This month it's all about crafts from old jeans!!!

Here are the made-from-jeans projects I have made :-) Click on the pics for the link to the how-to!!

Update on 20 Sep 2011 - I used some scraps from what is remaining of my hubby's jeans to make part of a office chair seat cover. Check out this post!

Litter in Space!

2011-09-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

This is so sad. Not only are we polluting Earth with our litter, but we're also littering space as well!!!

Cars, cars and more cars....

2011-09-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

So, there are now 1 billion cars on the road, or rather that mark was passed last year. I'm not sure whether this figure includes green vehicles but 1 billion is a lot. I just took a look at our Singapore car stats. We've jumped from 392,961 to 597,746 in 10 years.
Got some other stats below. What is scarey is that China has the second largest population of cars and the country contributed to this explosion in car ownership in the past year or so. I bet there are many more Chinese who aspire to have a car - the middle-class dream - it's all about face. I think it is definitely the goal of many Indians too. Apparently, the Indian MNC, Tata Group has built the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano. The story goes that Ratan Tata, chairman of the Group, noticed a lower middle-class man riding a scooter with 2 children and his wife in the rain. You heard right, that's one family on one scooter. To Mr Tata, he thought "Why can't this family own a car and avoid the rain?". In other words, his solution was creating a car that was affordable to the masses. Shouldn't the solution be about creating an enhanced public transport system? Why should we create another product that will encourage more car ownership? Do you own a car?

Ratio of cars to people (Source- WardsAuto.com):
U.S - 1:1.3 (pop. 310 million). My goodness that probably is one car per family!!
Italy - 1:1.45.
France, Japan, and the U.K. - fall in the 1:1.7 range.

China - 1:17.2 (pop. 1.3 billion people)
India - 1:56.3 (pop. 1.17 billion people)

City in a Garden

2011-08-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

NParks wants to hear from us!

At the National Day Rally 2011, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke about “building to keep Singapore special and exceptional”. He said, “We’re going to have parks and gardens in the heartlands. And we’ll link them all up to create a City in a Garden”. What are your views? How would your City in a Garden be like? Hop on over to NParks' website and share your views!

Revamping your old belt!

2011-08-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

After finally getting my sewing machine to work I got down to some serious business with my reconstruction. I've taken an old belt that has lost its life and encased it in the jeans material from my hubby's old pair of jeans (the one that became jeans bangles and a tissue case too).

It's an easy project. I think this could work with any type of old material. I was thinking of scrunching up the material but because the jeans material was too thick it ended up really bulky. I guess T-shirt material or some sort of satin material would have been better. In the end, I sewed on lots of old buttons and beads. Happy sewing!

Old belt - this was an elasticated belt and so it was easy to sew through.

The last leg of my hubby's pair of old jeans!

Preparing the jeans material to encase the old belt!

Material sewn up! Remember to turn it inside out!

Inserting my old belt and then sewing up the ends.

Tried scrunching it up. Rather disappointed that it was too bulky. Should
have used a material other than jeans!!

Added buttons and beads instead. Made sure
I went through all the layers of fabric to make it
all steady.

Added a clasp from an old pair of shorts to the belt :-)
At the moment I'm thinking the buttons are a bit too much :-p

Another monkey?

2011-08-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

What's up with the monkeys? We spotted one in the playground this afternoon. How did he or she manage to cross the highway a few blocks away? Or did the monkey from Marsiling Lane? That's quite a distance. Hope no one fed it. Anyway, I called ACRES. Apparently they don't have the equipment to catch a monkey and release it back to the forest. The guy said that if we are located near a nature park we could call NParks. Only problem was we don't live near a nature park, so who do we call?

Injured Monkey

2011-08-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

We went cycling to Woodlands Waterfront on Saturday. On our way back home, we passed by an injured monkey (monkey on the right of photo). His leg was bloody and we suspected he had been hit by traffic along Marsiling Lane. Apparently, a bunch of them were trying to cross the road. I quickly got in touch with my friend J for ACRES Wildlife Rescue Hotline (24-hour), which I now know is 97837782. Actually, I was wondering whether it would be NParks but ACRES would probably respond a lot quicker! Anyway, as we approached the injured monkey, a mother and baby (see left of the photo) came out from the forest, and suddenly we heard shrieking and rustling. My son got pretty scared, and then we realised that there was a whole pack of them in the forest waiting to cross the road. In the end, the whole pack, including the injured the monkey dashed across the road (again almost getting knocked over by traffic) to do I don't know what. So, in the end we didn't call ACRES. I think we should have traffic signs saying "SLOW, Monkeys on the Road". Hope the little fellow is okay.

CSR - Helping the community

2011-08-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Having been and brought up the in the UK, it was very sad to see the riots and the looting happen. Over 70% of those that have been arrested are in the 11 to 24 age group and there is speculation that the majority of those involved are unemployed. I don't want to start an argument on why this rioting happened, but I have been wondering:

(1) why the youth did not care for their actions. I actually heard on the BBC radio that teenagers weren't worried about going to jail and there weren't any place in jail for them anyway. Some even said that their parents would just scold them for their actions!

(2) why has society broken down and the individual become so engrossed in consumerism. Did yo notice that those looting were targeting certain stores?

In the aftermath, it was good to see the community rallying to clean up the mess and fight against the "scum". But perhaps they should also reflect on how to get the youth busy and engaged; make them feel part of the community. Government can only do so much. Why not get the business community to be part of the community. It could be starting a programme to get underprivileged teens into activities they choose to like, rather than what we think they like, volunteering, or offering work placements to disadvantaged groups. I think this is what we should do in Singapore as well :-)

Plants all grown up!!

2011-08-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Bitter gourd!

Tomatoes on the left. Peppers on the right.

Spring onions

My sewing machine jammed!

2011-08-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

Have no fear! For the "unjammer" is here. Okay, that was rather corny, but when your sewing machine jams for the second time in the year, you get a bit desparate and not having a working sewing machine is like cold turkey! I thought about getting the repair man to fix it (that would cost about SGD50 inclusive of transport) and even getting a new one which would cost me at least SGD400.

The important thing about sewing machines is that they must be CLEANED and OILED regularly. I think that means every six months for someone like me. If you don't clean it, all the fluff from your sewing will jam the machine. Sometimes you can't see the fluff, but it's there.

All sewing machines come with a little brush and a small tube of oil. Use can also use a soft cloth or tooth pick (don't use a cotton bud as it leaves fluff) to clean out gunk too. Faithfully follow the instructions in the maintenance section of your instruction manual. I must stress the word faithfully because I missed a step and I still couldn't unjam my machine. I only cleaned and oiled the bobbin and bobbin case, and was lazy to do the same with the feed-dog. Turns out there was fluff in the teeth of the feed-dog. Don't sew immediately or else you'll end up with oil patches on your fabric. Also, change your needle to a new one as the needle may have been damaged when your machine jammed! Anyway, I hope you find the pics useful :-) Happy sewing!

1. Unscrew & remove platform 2. Use brush to defluff teeth
3. Remove bobbin; dismantle bobbin case (to dismantle turn the levers at arrow 3)
[use brush to defluff all parts, use a soft cloth too! Oil at arrow 7 and 6.]

The platform and teeth

Bobbin case

Bobbin parts

Oh behave!

2011-08-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a long 2 weeks since I last blogged, mainly because of work and secondly my poor sewing machine jammed again as I was doing another reconstruction (will blog about that later!).

I did come across some interesting sites about behaviour though. Nowadays, governments are trying to come up with schemes/programmes that will help "nudge" the public in the desired direction. A good example is the gruesome pictures on the cigarette packs to deter people from smoking, or placing recycling bins below our housing estates to get people to recycle. It is difficult though - have you ever tried changing the behaviour of your loved ones? hee hee.

Here's someone who's actually stealing from a recycling bin instead of actually using it correctly - is there something wrong with the way the bin is designed, or are we sending the wrong message?

This is a picture of the recycling bins just outside our neighbourhood shopping centre. I think the reason why they're used incorrectly is that it's more convenient for the shoppers who've finished their food and drinks to pop their waste there instead of the general waste bin !

Have you ever noticed that although people come up with green inventions with intentions of helping the environment, we have not seen them on the market? Look at the pics below:

Would you use this washing machine?
Designed for developing countries, just pop in
the clothes and roll it back home
when you've added the water

Almost waterless washing machine.
Having used water to do the laundry
some of us may be uncomfortable
with using such an invention.

Pictures from DesignWoo.com and Maglevus.

Even if an appliance, say a refrigerator, has been designed to be energy efficient, the end-user (ie me or you) has actually made its life-cycle energy inefficient if we always leave the fridge door open or taking forever to find that last slice of cheese in the fridge!

What we design is going to affect how users behave.......
Behaviour is not just about rolling out a new programme or waving a stick or a carrot at us. It can also mean changing the things that we use or the environment that we live in to push us in the right direction. All you designers out there - take note!!

Dan Lockton of Design with Intent does a great job in explaining the different ways we can change behaviour. He has designed a toolkit book that gets your brain ticking on what to look out for. He has grouped the different ways you can influence behaviour into 8 lenses. Here are some of my favourites....

World Leadership Conference 2011 Pics

2011-07-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

It was fun, and we had a blast! More importantly, we completed the youth position paper for Rio +20. We had a couple of speakers in town too. Here are some pics of the ones I enjoyed.

Director, Road to Rio+20, Peace Child International

He said that when he first googled Rio, the first thing
that came up was Rio the cartoon! Goes to show
how important Rio is to everyone! :-)

Dr. Stefanos Fotiou, UNEP

He spoke of the importance of a green economy....

...how the less developed nations rely on natural resources
for their livelihood, and therefore it is
important to create a Green Economy.

Khairoon Abbas of UNEP spoke about sustainable
lifestyles.
She had a really good presentation and connected
well with the audience.

Unfortunately (largely due to bad time mgt),
she only got 5 mins to speak! The audience went a bit unruly
when she was told her time was up!

World Leadership Conference 2011 for Rio+20

2011-07-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

Now at the World Leadership Conference 2011. Youth from the Asia Pacific region have flown into Singapore and over the next 5 days will be discussing the policy paper to be sent to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio +20 (June 4-6, 2012). Main themes will cover

a) Green Economy to Eradicate Poverty
b) Environmental Law & Governance
c) Energy for a Low Carbon Future

Reusing ......

2011-07-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

I'm actually not sure what you call those things that are used to tie the bread bags. This is not a new idea, but I thought I'd show everyone how great it is !

myENV App

2011-07-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Totally and absolutely busy with work! That's why I haven't blogged in a while. A few interesting things that I saw and wanted to blog about, and then there were things I wanted to refashion but just got pushed to the bottom of my to do list :-(

Yesterday, NEA launched its myENV App. You can use it to find info on the weather, air quality, hawker centres etc on the go. You can even give environmental feedback using it - snap a pic an send your feedback! Only thing is I don't have an iPhone (yes, monopoly!!!) so I wonder when NEA will be doing other smart phone versions. I think there is a computer script called myENV too, so will there be confusion?

Noise barriers - finally!

2011-06-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

LTA is finally doing something about the noise from MRT trains. Noise barriers will be installed along a certain stretch at Bishan Station. I wonder when they will tackle the noise from the highways. Some residential flats are extremely close to the highway, and with the road-widening, I'm sure complaints will increase.

"For now, the LTA said the train noise is within 80dB to 85dB, which is like listening to loud music in a room. The barriers are expected to reduce noise by at least 5dB - to within 75dB to 80dB- which would be like listening to someone practising on the piano, said LTA.

The 2m tall barriers will stretch 180m and are insulated with materials such as rockwool, which absorbs noise. They will extend at least 25m into the tunnel." Extracted from Today paper

My concern with the noise barriers is why only reduce 5dB? Why not more? Why such a low barrier? I recall seeing barriers in other countries which are a lot taller than 2m and some are enclosures.

Toy gun from cardboard

2011-06-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

Homemade rubber band gun using
cardboard boxes and popsicle sticks.

The mechanism - use popsicle sticks

Use cardboard boxes for the casing...

It's ready to fire rubber bands - becareful. We've
warned him not to shoot at people.

Recycling Flashmob!

2011-06-12T01:40:00.000-07:00

I met someone who took part in this. I wonder how long it took for the bottle to get into the recycling bin! Great idea. :-)

Recycling my bag to....

2011-06-11T04:44:00.000-07:00

I have, or rather had a bag and the straps snapped. I couldn't fix it. Decided to take everything apart, straps, zips and all. The first thing I made was a belt from the straps. Happy with the result and wore it today!

The bag

The torn bit

The handy tool to pick all the seams!

The bag taken apart!

Making a bow out of the zip. The zip wasn't long
enough so I had to make 2 rings out of each half of the zip

Put the straps through the loops and
tied the straps at the back.

:-)

OpenNet

2011-06-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

The contractor came to install the cables at our flat as part of Singapore's all-fibre ultra-high-speed broadband network. Everyone is supposed to get it installed. It's up for free now, so, why not? Well, I was thinking why I would want to have a 1Gig/sec data transfer when my current broadband speed is sufficient? More movies? More music? I'm not sure....

But perhaps the environment would benefit? Maybe video streaming so we'll know real-time which parts of the island are flooded (tongue in cheek).

Check out the pics of the heavy storm on Sunday. It was literally a downpour from 730am til noon. Football was a no no - poor hubby!

Beginning of the storm

It got heavier....

.... and the men got bored....

Food additives

2011-06-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

So, we had another food recall in Asia. This time it was products from Taiwan, including the fruit concentrates used in bubble tea, and the really nice jellies. I was rather surprised because I had the impression that they had high standards, and the Taiwanese products I buy have ISO and HACCP certification labels on them. Anyway, a plasticizer DEHP was added to the products . Why add this ingredient when it's for industrial use? WHO says that it is not immediately threatening even though it does cause cancer and damage to the reproductive systems. My thoughts is try to stick to products that are wholesome and haven't been processed. Even if the remove the plasticizer, is another additive going to take its place?

PS - additives are everywhere. Take a look at this video on the "blueberries" that are in our cereals and muffins.

Recycle but not reduce :-(

2011-06-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - the 3Rs. That's what our kids learn at school. I was trying to reinforce it to my little boy and he was very excited about it. He was so eager to put things into our recycling bag. Then I said that it's good to get hand me downs too - toys, clothes and books. And that's when he frowned and said "Mummy, I don't like reuse or reduce. I only like to recycle". Maybe we should emphasise a bit more on the reduce and reuse, especially when the UN has announced that the Earth's population is growing faster than they had expected - 6.9 billion to 9.3 billion by 2050!!

Recycled Scrabble Tiles

2011-06-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

Jubilantwares collects old Scrabble tiles from garage sales and thrift stores. I'm not sure how many she has to go through to get all the letters of the alphabet, but she sure is creative! She made some great bracelets out of them! Check out her site!

Save the World's Saddest Dolphins Campaign.

2011-05-30T05:17:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the dolphins I blogged about last year? They are still in captivity and will be brought to Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.

Support ACRES Save the World's Saddest Dolphins campaign. Like them on their Facebook site, or send a message directly to Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore.

From the http://www.saddestdolphins.com/ : 25 bottlenose dolphins that once roamed free and wild in the vast Pacific Ocean, are now facing a life of captivity, boredom, stress, claustrophobia, frustration and slow death, thanks to Resorts World, which plans to keep them in its spa at Sentosa, Singapore. Two of their family have already died during the ordeal. Please help save these remaining animals.

Love the campaign song!

No SLS Soap

2011-05-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

SLS - that's Sodium Lauryth Sulphate - the chemical that makes your soap and shampoo go frothy, and your skin get itchy. I've been buying Dr. Bronner's on a regular basis now and I was the only one in the family using it for the shower until my hubby came down with a rash in January. It was terrible. We really didn't know what had happened. It slowly spread from his legs and then it was everywhere (save his face!). It got worse when he used his normal soap. We tried calamine lotion and even the ayurvedic remedy of tumeric powder with water. Eventually, it got really bad and he had to go to the doctor's for antihistamine. He had to take triple the dosage that I take for my peanut allergy - it was THAT bad. All's well now, and we've changed all our shower gel to Dr. Bronner's and now our laundry detergent and washing up liquid is Australia's Earth Choice, which you can buy from NTUC Fairprice [Note: Earth Choice washing up liquid does have SLS but it's not the first item on their ingredient list].

Sharon from The Naturally Better Company sent me samples to try out their Eco Choice range after I blogged about it last year. I liked their products but I couldn't really tell how effective the laundry powder and whitener are as it was only one sample. The hand wash smelt lovely though! Verdict - I think I would still stick to my Dr Bronner's and the Earth Choice only because they are more economical than the Eco Choice range.

Only click below if you're not squeemish as there's a pic of the rash!

Treetop Walk

2011-05-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

SimplyPeaceable suggested that we try out the Treetop Walk. I think we were a little hesitant because we were going to bring our two kids along. The thought of having to walk AND carry my son for 3hrs wasn't very enticing. In the end we still went. We started off at Venus Drive at 7.30am and completed the walk by 10.30am. The kids loved it. They were chatter boxes and literally hit it off, while us old folks were the s-l-o-w (or so my son complained!).

The very last samurai

2011-05-22T05:29:00.000-07:00

We're nearing the end of the school term here and my son's preschool is going to hold an International Day party to celebrate. Kids have to come in a costume representing any nation on the map. The last two times, he went as a panda (China) and as an Italian chef, and we made the costumes together. This time round, he wants to be a samurai! I was a little stumped and was worried about what to use as I did want it to be partly from recycled materials.

Here's what I came up with. Even daddy helped with the samurai hat. I think that bit turned out a little too big!! :-p

The fierce samurai with sword!

So how was it made? Click below for more info!

Go to the supermarket and look for egg crates!

Paint black and let dry - it looks silver here
because of the strong sun!

Cut 2 pieces for the body,
4 pieces for the shoulder pads.

Use a white or silver marker to
add "embellishments"

Use an orange crayon to give the armour
a rusty look.

String the shoulder pieces to each side of the
body piece with a thick needle.

If you want, you can add some red cardboard at the back of the egg crates for a little colour too. My son said that this is his favourite costume so far! :-) I'm glad he likes it....

An Alternative Meat Loaf

2011-05-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

Yummy alternative meat loaf served with brown rice and brocolli!

My friends tell me that meat loaf is this American thing. I actually have no idea of its origins or whether it's American, European or from the other side of the planet. All I know is that it's meaty and it TASTES GOOD! Yummy. I had never eaten meat loaf until I was trying to think of meals that could be made in advance for my ravenous toddler when he was 3 - 4 years old. I came across a meat loaf car recipe in First Foods by DK Healthcare.

Anyway, I've been trying to cut down on meat intake but I don't want to lose out on protein intake either. So, I halved the amt of meat in the recipe and substituted that half with 1 cup of cooked quinoa. It still has the meaty taste that guys love, but it's a lot more healthy thanks to quinoa!

Tomatoes & Chillies - Easy Does It!

2011-05-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes and Chilies.
I now need to find some
natural pesticide. I read you can use
neem and Dr. Bronner's in water. Would love to
read fellow bloggers' tips :-)

Found this cool book in the library....
Considering it's SO HOT here, don't
think many of us in Singapore wear socks
(except for maybe sports & work) but great ideas!

Cute dragon & mouse! Any kid would love them!

Sweet!

Best Friends - awww!

Even the froggies are cute!

What happened?

2011-05-14T06:13:00.000-07:00

Was locked out of my account from Thursday to Friday!!! I have no idea why, but Blogger said they were trying to fix some sort of bug. In any case, I noticed that a lot of your comments have disappeared. I try my best to reply to everyone's comments, and now I'm not able to respond to those that had commented on Wed - Friday. I'm annoyed!!! Hope Blogger puts them back. But if they don't, I'm glad you all popped over to my blog :-)

Scarf from T-shirt

2011-05-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

Haven't been sewing since the last refashion. Was very busy at work and had to take it home too - ouch! Hubby has a couple of T-shirts where the neck line is distorted. It's from when my son would tear at them when he was a toddler. He passed them to me - well, he said "Here you go!" - a silent agreement between the two of us!!!

Here's the after, worn over a white tee. :-)

I think it would look great with a white tee paired with jeans, chinos and jacket. Nice for spring....

Do you like it? Check out the tute below :-)

Original tees - decided to use the grey one :-) Not sure what
to do with the white one though....

Measure two 6 inch strips from the bottom.
Make sure the tee is laid on a flat surface.

Cut, cut, cut! You will have two rings of fabric.
You can adjust the size of the rings - it's all up to you :-)

You can add other rings of fabric too. Here I added some
non tee material from an old "doesn't fit me anymore" skirt.

Add patterns - I used my sewing machine.
Don't over do it though!

I used the J setting!!

Gotta have some buttons - I like vintage style!
I used the buttons to hold the layers together. I don't want
to be constantly adjusting the rings while I'm wearing it.

More buttons!!

Final one!
This one's at the back and holds all the layers of material together.

First shoots!

2011-05-07T05:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, we planted the tomato and chilli seeds. Today, the seeds have sprouted!! Yay!

OK, not from the seeds but my other plant.
It's fully bloomed!!!

Tomato....slowly does it.

Chilli seed

Election time

2011-05-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

It's election time in Singapore, and although I'm not yet a citizen I must say that this election is the most exciting so far. The PAP (that's the ruling party) is contested in all but one constituency. I came across an interesting post at Asia is Green by Eugene Tay on the green issues that could be discussed at the elections:

a) Mandating Environmental Impact Assessments in Singapore.
b) Use of coal (There will be a coal and biomass plant operating in Singapore next year).

The issue of coal makes me cringe because I personally feel that it's taking a step backwards. You can't repackage coal and say it's clean!!!

Food prices

2011-05-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Are you concerned about food prices? It has been a hot topic for the past 2 years.

http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/

Some say that natural disasters (and maybe climate change) and the diversion of crops to make biofuel have caused food shortages, while others say that it's commodity speculation (finger pointing at Goldman Sachs - yup, one of the big ones that tipped things over in 2008). But what's scarey is that the food prices were one of the causes for the chaos & upheavals in North Africa, and land buying (I'm thinking of China). What may be just a 50 cents increase in my loaf of bread may amount to half of a person's daily salary being wiped out for the same purchase in a developing nation.

More reading:
Josh Weinstein does a great job of explaining the commodity speculation.
CNBC
Foreign Policy - has an article by Lester Brown

Mother's Day Hoo Are You

2011-05-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

Another exciting Hoo Are You!! Pop on over to the website to join. It's Mother's Day soon and I'm looking forward to spending it with hubs & son :-)

1. Are you a mom and if so how many kids do you have?

Yes! I have one son who's a cutie and a chatterbox. Think he's growing up too quickly for my liking as he's entering primary school next year!

2. List 3 qualities that you love about your mom!

Good cook, easy going, sense of humour

3. What is your favorite thing your mother cooks?

Steamed fish with soya sauce :-) It's one of the dishes she taught me too!

4. What do you love about being a mom?

I get lots of cuddles throughout the day and my son will come up to me and give me a kiss and say "I love you, mum!"

5. What are your plans for Mother's day?

I think they're planning a surprise (or so I think!)

The taxi driver

2011-05-03T05:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of nights back I was working late and had to take a taxi so that I could reach home in time for my son's bed time. It was a strange (not sure whether strange is the right word) encounter because the taxi driver was so knowledgeable especially on environmental issues. He was very passionate about it and even gave me a pamphlet on climate change and being a vegetarian! Here's part of the pamphlet.

Vegetarianism mentioned in religion

Planting our own veggies

2011-05-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

My neighbour shifted out and gave us her plants. I don't have a green thumb and I was rather worried about ending their lives, but she said that all I had to do was trim them now and then, and make sure they had enough water. Actually, she said I could use the rice water from cleaning the rice we have for dinner everyday.

Hubby decided that we should add tomatoes and chillies to our little garden. My son loves tomatoes, and hubby wants to make his own chilly oil to go with his noodles. Here are the seeds we planted on Saturday. My son had great fun with the potting and watering. Have to look out for the shoots!

Tomato

Chillies

My son trying to hide!

Saying goodbye to the nappies

2011-05-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Well, my cutie is now 5 going on 6, and I've decided to say goodbye to the nappies sitting in his drawer. I think I was hoping that we'd have a number 2, but after a few attempts, and considering the potentially huge age gap, and we're approaching the next big decade in our lives, we have decided to call it day..... We're very happy with just one, and thankful that he's in our lives :-)

So, the nappies (or prefolds) are going to be used elsewhere in the household. Here's my list of potential uses:

a) Wipes for the house

b) Face cloths to remove my makeup & cleansing cream

c) I could sew a couple of pads for my monthly "ahem" :-)

..... any new ideas?

Transparency

2011-04-26T05:34:00.000-07:00

When it was reported that the iPhone has a location tracker device (ie they could theoretically track you), I was wondering whether any of my friends would be nervous or may be even STOP using their phones all together. But nope, no one was bothered!!! Not that many people are bothered about being tracked on the internet either - which sites you go to, advertisements catered to your tastes suddenly popping up out of nowhere.

So, why is it that companies are apprehensive about being transparent? :-)

Terrarium Workshop - How To

2011-04-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

So, Ikea had this Terrarium Workshop last week and I didn't get the chance to attend. They were kind enough to send me a video and photos of the how to. I thought it would have been a bonus if they had mentioned that you can use old glass jars for the project. Actually, I didn't know what a Terrarium was until I saw their workshop advert!

Image from Ikea

Terrariums are great if you don't have green thumb, but that doesn't mean you can forget about it once you've finished making it! I saw some great tips at this H.Potter. There's no need to fertilise it but you do need to water your terrarium!

My last thought? It's a great project to do with the kids! :-)

Video: Ikea

The Waste Industry

2011-04-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

Do we take the people who work in the waste industry for granted? We probably think of them in a negative way especially when the rubbish truck comes to take our rubbish away. My son always says "eewwww" whenever we hear the truck at our block.

I just watched Boss Undercover and they featured Veolia in Australia. The boss went undercover to look at how his employees felt working for Veolia. You get to see how tough it is to work in the waste industry, and the safety issues they face.

Hoo Are You?

2011-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Another round of Hoo Are You! It's fun and you get to know about other crafters. Hop on over to Hoo Are You!!!

1. What are your plans for Easter?

We're taking a coach trip to Malaysia and spending 3 days there (although 4 hours will be on the coach going there and back).

2. Do you die eggs for Easter?

Um, not really, but I think my son does.

3. What is your favorite Easter candy?

It has to be the Cadbury Creme Egg but they are so expensive over here!! It's probably because they import them from the UK.

4. Do you celebrate the make believe part of Easter and/or the

religious part?

Both, but it seems like we're more into the make believe part.

5. What is your favorite part about the Easter holiday?

Spending time with family :-)

Easter eggs

2011-04-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

It's the Easter weekend! We'll be taking a short break over in Malaysia. Yay! My little one has an Easter Egg hunt at his kindergarten, and a friend reminded me of how she would make agar agar eggs with the egg shells still intact. No need to buy chocs and make the eggs with other material - just agar agar.

Agar agar is a natural alternative to the jellies you find in packets at the supermarket. It's also vegetable based. We use it a lot in our desserts in Asia :-) yum! Anyway, I thought it is a good alternative to using gelatin when making jelly Easter eggs. I won't be making them this year cos we're going on hols but here's a pic I found from Chef at Home:

Image from Chef at Home

Here's what you do. You might want to start collecting in advance though :-)

a) When you're using eggs for cooking, poke a hole about the size of your pinky with a needle.
b) Drain the contents; cook eggs!
c) Prepare agar agar as instructions on the packet. Pour into empty egg shells.
d) Place agar agar eggs into fridge on the egg tray (hole side up!)
e) Refrigerate overnight

Here's a pic of my friend's eggs. She added colouring and refrigerated EACH layer!!

Maritime Singapore Green Initiative

2011-04-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

This is extracted from the Maritime Port Authority's media release.

The Maritime Singapore Green Initiative seeks to further reduce the environmental impact of shipping and related activities and to promote clean and green shipping. It is a comprehensive initiative comprising three programmes -„Green Ship Programme‟, „Green Port Programme‟ and „Green Technology Programme‟.

Under the Green Ship Programme targeted at Singapore-flagged ships, MPA will provide incentives to ship owners who adopt energy efficient ship designs that reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Singapore-flagged ships which go beyond the requirements of IMO‟s Energy Efficiency Design Index will enjoy a 50% reduction of Initial Registration Fees (IRF) and a 20% rebate on Annual Tonnage Tax (ATT) payable. Ship owners will also be recognised through certificates and a new “SRS Green Ship of the Year” award starting from the next Singapore International Maritime Awards.

The Green Port Programme is aimed at encouraging ocean-going ships calling at the Port of Singapore to reduce the emission of pollutants like sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Ships that use type-approved abatement/scrubber technology or burn clean fuels with low sulphur content beyond MARPOL requirements within the port can enjoy a 15% reduction on port dues payable.