One of the Bazaars of Sarawak - Siniawan Bazaar

As usual, I am a bit behind in posting. We stopped by this place known as Siniawan Bazaar last March.

There are many similar Bazaars in Sarawak. Siniawan is an example of the early Sarawak towns where time seems to stand still.

I find it very interesting to explore these Bazaars. Interesting because sometimes, you'd find some very interesting items in the shops which you wouldn't find in the city or other places :).

Unfortunately, most shops were closed when we were there.

Anyway, do enjoy the pics.

Made up of two rows of two storeys wooden shophouses.

The main street decorated with red lanterns and flowers.

Siniawan Homestay, coffee shop on the groundfloor.

Only few shops were open that day, including this vegetable shop.

Well kept and decorated five foot way - pretty.

Just an interesting nostalgic little wooden shop.

Siniawan is located at the bank of Sarawak Kanan River.
On the opposite side is a village.
Pay the boatman to bring you across - there is no bridge.

Other than that, you can reach Siniawan by road.

Kuching - Bau Road

Every Friday and Saturday night, Siniawan Night Market would be on.
We were there during the day,
so I only managed to snap picture of the advertisement...hehe

Looking forward to explore more of these bazaars in future.

Wire Jewelry - Sparkly Swarovski Crystal Bracelets

The last four weeks were craaaazy pack.
Firstly, I was "forced" to attend a two weeks audit training and exam which actually was a 3 weeks program because the one week "off" in between was actually spent compiling the audit report.
My hesitation (that's why felt "forced") about attending the training was because of the "exam" at the end of the training.
I am soooooo terrified of "exam"!!!
In the end, I actually enjoyed the training, learned lots of things and made some friends.

Now, waiting for the exam result - I am hoping for the best.
Also, busy catching up with the last 3 weeks work.
Duh!!

That aside, I hope to embark on more wire jewelry projects this weekend - finishing off commissioned pieces and maybe write a new tutorial....mmmmm.....if I have the time.
Anyway, here's sharing my most recent sparkly Swarovski Crystal (4 mm - yeah tiny) bracelets completed early April but only managed to post now.
All wire wrapped with 24 gauge wire.

Looks good with lots of them together.
Have a great weekend and happy wrapping.

Wire Jewelry - Wire Wrapped Pearl Studs

Made a couple of these simple wire wrapped studs the other day. All of them are pearl studs of different sizes, shapes and colors.

If you'd like to make them yourself, which would take about 30 minutes or less of your time (for a pair), you can find the tutorial here:
At Etsy, click *here*
At Craftsy, click *here*

The oblong/teardrop shape pearls really look pretty with this wrap.

A bit of modification to the top of the earring - added a small loop.

On the DIY Earring Cards.

Another look before going into the box.

Ready to ship :) - Actually already shipped

DIY Earring Cards

The idea started long time ago but it didn't materialise until recently. I kind of procrastinated over it and just can't decide on the design. Same as my DIY Light Box previously.

Was thinking if I keep doing this (the procrastinating part - I do this a lot!), it will never going to happen. The other day I got a bunch of order for stud earrings (post about them later) and decided to create this earring cards once and for all. It is not final as I am forever changing the layout and design in my head but good enough for now.

What do you think of my DIY Earring Cards?

WireBliss logo in front together with websites and email address.
The white patch at the center of the purple card is double sided tape.
You can use stapler as well.

Here is the process involved.
I use Microsoft Word to create my cards as I am most familiar with it - use it everyday!

Alternatively, you can also use Power Point, Excel, Google doc, etc. etc. whichever you are familiar with. 

So, here goes:

• Create an image/design (jpeg file or any picture file) that you'd like to place at the front of your earring card. If you don't have one, you can leave it blank - which means you can skip this step.
• Since I have my logo in jpeg, I use that and added my website address below it.
• In a new Word document, create a table (or insert table). 
• If you do not know how to create table in Word, google or check it out here - create table 
• Depending on the card size you want, determine the number of column for the table. 
• Mine is 5 columns and 4 rows (1 column x 4 rows represent 1 card). The purpose of multiple rows is for ease of adjusting the height.
• In the table, place the cursor at the spot where you would like to insert the image. Click on insert image, and look for the image you'd like to insert.
• Make adjustment to the column width and row height till you have your desired earring card size, print it out on a piece of thick paper (100 gm).
• I make the table borders visible so that I know where to cut and fold later on.
• Cut the cards along the borders as shown below.
• Use a needle to make 2 holes on each card and you are done.

Here is how my earring cards looks like + the measurement just to give you the idea - click on the pic to enlarge.

If you have other ways of making earring cards, do share or leave me a comment.

If you have suggestions or questions, do email or leave your comment here too.

Side view

That's all for today.

DIY Light Box (Easy)

I finally decided to make my own light box.

A very simple light box and you only need these three material:

• A rectangular white plastic storage container which is available at the supermarket. This one cost me RM40.
• A piece of A2 white paper (thats 8 times the size of A4 paper) folded into half and
• Sellotape

This is how my light box look like.

It is very easy to set up really.

Side view

Tried it out under natural light in the kitchen

and here is the result - unedited except added the water mark.

Not bad yeah?

The picture is brighter on the top left compared to the bottom right though.

Will do better next time.

After all the light box is very mobile and light.

Hope you are inspired to make your own light box and have a great weekend :)

Yearly Event - Tomb Sweeping Day

Its the time of the year again. We celebrate this in early April every year.
This year's Ching Ming Festival or Chingming or Tomb Sweeping Day or Ancestors Day or Cheng Beng falls on the 5th of April. Wow! So many names to it ya.

Anyway, this is the day/time where we visit our ancestors grave sites, sweep, wash, clean, clear (grasses) and offer food, fruits, drinks (tea and wine) and paper money, paper clothing, paper bags, paper shoes, paper jewelries, paper handphone, etc. etc.

Like previous years, we always celebrate it a week earlier to avoid the traffic jam. As usual we came the day before to do the clearing and cleaning. The next day we brought the food and praying materials which will be burnt for the ancestors just before we leave. Here are some pics to give you some ideas of this celebration.

We left early morning around 7:00 am but still got caught in the jam.
Smoke in the background from burning of joss sticks and paper offerings.

Still caught in the jam.
Can't tell the difference between rows of cars and rows of tombs :)

This is our "outing" spot.

Food, fruits, rice, soup, wine, tea, kuih, noodles.
All the favorite of the dear departed. 

This year we decided to bring the boys along.
Their first time and its like a picnic.

Hot hot day!

While waiting for the dear departed to finished their meal.

Panoramic view - about half of the cemetery.
Click to enlarge.

This is at Nirvana Memorial Park, near Bau.
Looks like a park/garden.

Click here for more on Ching Ming.