GewwyBeans!

happy birthday xiao jia!

2012-02-06T10:58:00.000+08:00

Today, the boss of gewwybeans turns 7! yayy!! :]

This little timid, naughty and extremely silly doggie has given us much joy and laughter for the past 7 years, I still can't believe she is already 7, how time flies! Here's to xj, the best doggie I have ever known. :D

7 years ago

xj with her siblings. Lovingly taken care of by their owner who is coincidentally named grace too. But because she already had a few dogs, she had to give the puppies away. :(

hullo, I was initially referred to as "pui pui" (fatty).

alright, back to work, have a great new week! :)

public garden! :)

2012-02-05T22:46:00.001+08:00

hullo to all readers of the almost-dead gewwy blog, we will be participating in the next Public Garden flea on the 18th of Feb (sat)! :) Really excited because we will definitely have some new stuff and I heard that this is going to be a reallllyyy cool event, with it being in conjunction with the National Arts Council and Noise Singapore. :D

okay, update the blog again haha. xiaojia the dog (and boss of gewwybeans) just had a pre-birthday celebration! she ate some fruit cake (ops). woff woff yum!

why hello dragons

2012-01-24T13:52:00.001+08:00

おげんきですか？
some peeks to liven up the gewwy blog :]

a big BIG happy CNY to all! It feels like just yesterday, when we bided goodbye to 2011, and now it's almost February. The next thing we know, it'll be christmas again! yay! I love Christmas. :>
I don't know if I should feel extra special because this is supposed to be "my" year, having being born in the year of the Dragon and all. So far, I feel ... okay. I guess no one gives a hoot about this, haha!

I've been so slow and lazy lately, it's really time to come out with something new for gewwybeans! We might be having another arty market booth next month (Maad was quite a disappointment, but still a good experience nonetheless!), and I promise promise PROMISE to come up with new goodies!

Back to a bad headache and tired eyes now. :(

Happy New Year!!!

gewwybeans at the next MAAD event!

2012-01-09T11:42:00.001+08:00

Firstly, happy 2012! This is officially our first blog 'post' for 2012. So, happy new year! A bit late but oh well, better late than never! :> So, we will be having a booth at the first MAAD flea for 2012 (new year new beginnings!). it's on the 13th of Jan, which is... this Friday! I'm a little stressed now because I'm not prepared yet haha. But I'll definitely rush to make our booth an interesting one! So do pop by our booth if you're planning to head down to the Red Dot Museum on Friday the 13th! :D It's just a 3 min walk away from Tanjong Pagar Mrt! (5pm - 12am)

hope to see you there!

have a roffy christmas and a gewwy new year!

2011-12-24T11:54:00.000+08:00

(i know this illustration is slightly overused... but haha roff roff roff away!)

this space has been duper dead - christmas is a busy period indeedy. I just wanted to do a quick shout-out to everyone! Have a merry merry christmas!!! May your christmas be filled with lots of joy, pressies and satisfied tummies! :D

Scarlet Carlson's 1st anniversary event :)

2011-12-08T01:48:00.001+08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know of this event that is happening on the 11th of December, from 4.30pm to 9.30pm at Circa (Parco Millennia Walk)! It’s the 1st anniversary for local label,Scarlet Carlson. Gewwybeans will be playing a small part in this exclusive event too! We will be preparing nautical themed handmade pouches and mini sling totes which will only be unveiled on that day itself. Local apparel label, Noël Caleb will also be part of the event. There will also be a line-up of promotions and giveaways! Do come by and lend your support for our local designers (there will be food and drinks served too, yummy!). :)

SEE YA!

a small little hi

2011-11-24T10:30:00.000+08:00

my heart is yours by stacie swift :)

one more paper tomorrow and I'll be freeee (albeit temporarily)... exciting stuff coming up soon at gewwybeans so do stay tuneddd! :D

11.11.11 - our first MAAD flea! :D

2011-11-13T22:45:00.003+08:00

Hulloo!

So, we had our first MAAD experience on Friday the 11th! :D It was awesome! I dare-say it was the best "flea" gewwybeans had. :) There were many lovely handmade independent stalls (support local & handmade!), which kinda made it feel like we were in a handmade market, akin to Melbourne's Rose Street Artist Market (sigghhh, loveee) just a little darker, colder and modern haHA. A pity xiaojia couldn't come.. I mean it would have been realllyyy troublesome since she's a dog, but still, she would have been a good gewwybeans promoter as compared to me. :D

here are some peeks! Courtesy of Jo! :>

really love the suitcase! and the lamp!

little booth :)

xj in the middle

our illustrated necklaces show themselves for the very first time!

makeshift 'storeroom'. :> i made about 2-3 bags for each design and it almost killed me! because I didn't plan my time well AGAIN. :( But still, glad I sewed them all haha..

my two lovelies who stayed all the way for me, wayy past 12AM! <3

Roszaimy & Naddd who came to support! :D

too short for the booth haha

gallery 2! heineken booth right at the back heh

live sketching! :)

red dot museum is a cool place indeeeeed

moustache neatly trimmed for the day

yippee!

hehe! Before I forget, a big BIG BIG THANK YOU to all who dropped by our booth and an even bigger THANK YOU to those who bought a little gewwy item!

Have a great new week! :)

GIVEAWAY, roff roff roff

2011-11-12T12:04:00.000+08:00

HI!!! We're having a giveaway at our facebook page right now! All you need to do is to "share" the giveaway post and 2 people will stand a chance to win a set of 3 "roff roff roff" postcards! :D

roff away!

sneak peeks for our first MAAD flea!

2011-11-10T15:28:00.001+08:00

hullo! Before I bury myself into the books for the upcoming examinations (typed with intended sarcasm), I just wanted to do a quick shout-out about our art flea tomorrow! :)

I'm quite excited myself because I've never been to a MAAD event before, and I heard it's always quite vibrant! I'm still a bit stressed now though because I'm not prepared yet!! Sigh, it is really quite hard to balance 'work' with school. :(

ANYHOW, I promise (i hope!) a booth filled with tons of handmade gewwybeans goooodies. :D Stuff that you can't find anywhere yet! Yep, not even on our etsy site! Also, in conjunction with the "11.11.11 MAAD promotion", the first 11 to purchase our handmade pouches will be able to get them at only $11 each! (up $13.50). :)

here are a few sneak peeks of what you can expect to find at our booth! taken via instagram with my new second-hand 3GS iphone. :(

4 designs of sticky notes!

handmade postcards :)

christmas cards! :>

our new 'namecard' haha

illustrated necklaces, resin filled.
THIS, has caused me a lot a lot of trouble and pain, and till now, it's still not a 100% perfect, so I'll most probably sell them off as 'sample' pieces, meaning they'll be 'sample priced" too!

handmade illustrated pouches! :>

and of course, we have totebags too, I forgot to take pictures of them haha. But yeah, do drop by our booth! :D

see ya tomorrow!

gewwy press

2011-11-06T16:05:00.003+08:00

こんにちわ！

a happy selamat hari raya haji! (i hope i spelt all of that right ha)

so!! before I get started, I just wanted to let everyone know that we have a new stocklist!

It's this really cool place at Millennia Walk called Circa that features many local emerging designers and brands. Dropped off some pouches, cards, sticky notes and tote-bags (first time at a physical shop!) so do drop by and say a little hi when you're in the vicinity! :)

If you're been following us, you would know that just last week we had our first press feature(s)! :D
Grace Chew from sph decided to do a little "career" feature on gewwybeans and we were really excited about it!

Sunday Times
30th oct'11 :)

The New Paper
27 Oct'11 :>

Many thanks to Grace for the lovely article and Jun Liang for the pictures! They were both duper nice and friendly, which made our first "press" experience a really fun one!

Okay, to spice things up around here (haha), we have some "behind the scenes" pictures to share!

It still feels pretty surreal thinking about the whole thing!
A big thank you to everybody who checked our little shop out and especially those who supported us with purchases! :)

We'll be having a small hiatus for tote-bags and pouches due to the exam period. :( But guess what! We'll be having our first MAAD flea at the Red Dot Museum so do drop by because we'll be selling lots of pouches, tote-bags, paper goodies and ACCESSORIES(illustrated resin necklaces & rings)! I will be selling them at MAAD first before anywhere else so do drop by!

Oh! and do check out our new christmas cards here yay!

hehe, roff! roff! roff! (ho ho ho!) is courtesy of my talented friend vanessie :>

Okay, back to studying, have a great Sunday!!!

rumble

2011-11-02T10:28:00.000+08:00

Hullo!

Feeling very meowdy moody right now because I've got a physiology exam later on at 3.45 :(

I'm extremely tired too... I've just got so much to do! Aim, to sew 8 pouches later... and if I'm feeling ambitious (which I pretty much know is a might as well say no thing) I'll start revision for the next exam.

Felt my blog was getting rather dull so here's a pic of a black cat named meow who loiters around the park downstairs. :> we had him on 2 pouches at cat socrates and he just kinda disappeared and didn't want to come back. He says hi might be back soon.. if his goodbye note means that.

meow i'm an ugly kitty kat. :3

wish me luck! blog soon!

our new bags! :D

2011-10-28T23:31:00.002+08:00

Hi there!

okay, this is the first non-tgif for me. I'm extremely tired and stressed up right now because I pretty much studied the whole day! And despite "prioritizing", I feel I didn't have a fruitful day. Oh well, at least I tried!! It's gonna be another long weekend for me. :(

So anyway, gonna make this fast but I really wanted to blog about this!

I finally, FINALLY uploaded and updated our totebags on etsy!!! :D (on a sidenote, when I refer to gewwybeans as 'our', it refers to xj the doggie and i!)

here are some peeks! They are made up of a 100% sturdy cotton canvas fabric, with gussets! So, much much bigger and sturdier than our previous calico totes. :)

first time as a totebag! :D

you can check them out here!

many thanks to my sister, Christine, who posed patiently for me. (even though she pushed me roughly back into the house when our neighbours walked towards us mid-phototaking haha)

OH! and I wanted to show off this :D

check this out! hehe I finally created an excel sheet to note down all my gewwybeans expenses so I can keep track properly once and for all!

and... :D if you happened to read the New Paper yesterday, 27th Oct, you might have seen this!

our first 'press' article!

(can't stress this enough but MANY MANY THANKS to Grace Chew for the article and Jun Liang for the pictures!)

still feeling really surreal about this. :D we (gewwybeans, which refers to xj and I haha) will also be featured in the Recruit section of the Sunday Times this well, Sunday! so yay! :) Will do a quick update on that when it comes out and blog about the "behind the scenes" hahaha. I really have nothing better to do huh!

ohh!! and before I forget, we will most probably be stocking our items at a new place next month! update soon. :>!

Alright, time to rest now!
Have a great weekend everyone!!

inspiration, to say the least

2011-10-25T23:26:00.005+08:00

bundle of hisssssssss (physiology related pun intended)

oh, hahahahahahaha

rotfl!
(only knew what this meant maybe early last year :/)

hAhAhAhA

Gemma Correll cracks me up, in the happiest way possible.
How she inspires me is a method really simple - she makes me want to not stop drawing, and that, is enough motivation for me. :>

p.s: of course my gewwybeans motivation also includes the never ending support from family&friends plus every single one of you lovelies! hehe

Time for a little humble "marketing" for myself :D --> Do check out the Newpaper on thursday and the recruit section of the Sunday Times on Sunday! Little features on Gewwybeans! :D

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

ohayooo

2011-10-17T13:50:00.001+08:00

Hi there,
how time flies, once again we're in the middle of a "new" month. I've been really busy (sometimes with what, I don't quite know) and I think, I think I've caught a permanent gastric flu bug. It's really weird, because recently I've been eating lots of greens and have started running again as well (snorts) so by right I should be feeling less sick more often, isn't it? I shall maybe go to the doctor's for a medical checkup. :(

here are some peeks behind gewwybeans' lens!

bun the bunny for miss yee cheng :>

tried making "to do lists". (which reminds me, I gotta go print more sticky notes!)

it didn't really work for me though. :/ but it'll definitely help me to organize my etsy orders! I always scribble things all over the place!

say hi to a newly born xiaojia.
she looks kinda grumpy doesn't she, without her full body of fur. :D

my new vintage clock! I really really love it! (yes, more than my totoro clock haha). It's duper quiet, I can't even really hear the second hand tick at all. Perfect for a light sleeper. :>

got it from this shop on the second level at chinatown! (the place that sells all sorts of fabrics) funny how i've probably walked passed like a million times and only noticed it then. Lots of little vintage boxes, clocks, telephones, etc. The old uncle is really cute too, he will definitely give a discount plus he tends to mumble on and on to himself (in a cute not freaky way!)

We also have 2 new pouch designs! :)
They can be found at both dulcetfig & cat socrates (etsy too!)

Meow and her little meowlings decided to go for a nice long walk. Say hi if you see them! They would love to have a good chat. :)

Bob finally got to meet his duper posh and fancy cousin, Nancy. When he met her, he finally realized what his mom meant by very very VERY distant relatives.

australia day 7!

2011-10-05T12:47:00.000+08:00

Hi there!
after more than a month, I'm back to blog about my last day in Melbourne. haha

21st May!

After dropping off my luggage at the Hotel Pensione (and saying goodbye to xinyi), ros and I set off for a city day trip! Here are some peeks :) I took a huge chunk of photos with just my phone, because sometimes it's just really easier to snap and go hehe.

I think we took a train and embarked on a shopping spree at Chapel Street!

It was quite a long walk I think!

I remember checking google maps from our phones. Once we reached, it was really shopping haven, which explains the lack of photos of Chapel Street. But of course, considering my tight budget I left many shops feeling disappointed because I stopped myself from buying.

as you can see, ros and I took a long long long walk :D

we walked past this little photo taking booth and tried it out!
let's just say it was really really old and we waited for almost 7 mins or so waiting for the photos to be developed haha.


Went to Prahran market! It's like a little market place, with stalls selling cheese, poultry, nuts, etc. A bit like Singapore's wet market but much much much cleaner. :D

nuts!


stumbled across this lovely lovely stall! KinokoFry by Rebecca Clements. :) Her illustrated goodies are duper cute and funny.

Essential - the place for all your kitchen needs. very impressive, I wanted to buy everything but ended up buying nothing hah.


Ros and I were craving for some Chinese food so we dropped by Hu Tong. It's quite similar to Singapore's Crystal Jade. Was nice having Chinese food after the many fishnchips, steaks and fries hah.


yums!

Forgot what this was called but I think Crystal Jade has something like this! Dumplings in spicy sauce or something. :)

siew mai!


A very disappointing zha jiang mian. :(

Then we were off to Brunswick Street (BEST!!!)

we stopped for ice cream after our train ride. THIS, IS THE BEST ICE CREAM I HAVE EVER TRIED. I'm not kidding. I bought another one at night because it was my last night in Australia and this ice cream is not available anywhere else (maybe New Zealand but i mean it's not anywhere nearer). It's called Golden Gaytime because you'll totally have one hell of a good time when you're eating it. haha! It has this yummy toffee and vanilla ice cream, coated with crunchy honeycomb biscuits. Sighhhhh

yum yum yum yum

saw horseys along the street! You can pay to have a carriage ride. They were a little bit smelly though hehe.

Then we reached Brunswick!!

many many quirky cute shops plus a whole wide selection of vintage stores!

read about this fabric store in Frankie and popped in to have a look!

Douglas & Hope

Many cute things like illustrated totes, pillows, boxes and clothes. Here's Ros taking a peek. :D

vintage shop with loads and loads of shoes and clothes

Zetta Florence!

It's a really nice paper goods store. Tons of cute stationary, cards, paper, and boxes, ahhhhh! We wanted to buy everything too.

We wandered into this cosmetics shop that sells soaps, shampoos, perfumes, candles blah blah and saw this little cat! He works at the shop too. :> (please pardon my finger!)

another pic with less of my finger in it. :>

managed to catch a glimpse of the awesome Rose Street Market before it closed!

It's like a little mini etsy market haha

some ceramics for ros? :D

A pity it closed quite early, like 6 or something so we didn't get to spend much time browsing. Had some pretty good buys though!

The sky turns dark really fast in Australia, so, it was time for dinner again!

Had some Thai. Most of the Asian eateries there are opened by Asians so I guess the taste and quality doesn't differ much!

woof woof!

Lovely shop! I bought a dress (then saw a similar print of it at Haji Lane so I was a bit like hmm...), and saw pretty stuff by Sarah McNeil too!

hot green tea at a Dessert place

3 people shared this little macaroon :]

Desserts to end the day!

Here's our nice big bed at the Hotel Pensione

It's actually really tiny but the cleanliness and cosiness made up for it!

and then it was waking up crazy early at 5-ish to catch our respective buses. (mine to the airport and Ros' back to Canberra) :( I hate this part the most. I think I would really prefer not to take planes alone. Especially on budget airlines! But oh well, it wasn't toooo bad I guess, cos i slept. :(

Alright, and this concludes my 2nd trip to Australia. haha. Ros is coming back soon (albeit for awhile), so I think I'm good not going back to Aus for quite some time! Here are all my entries for my Australia trip in case you want to have a little peek. :) Okay, I'm glad I'm finally done with this! I wanted to blog about it so I can remember and reminiscence, so, yay, okay I'm done!

By the way, we finally have some new designs coming up! And new printed totes and all! So, stay tuned. :)

きれい

2011-09-22T22:06:00.000+08:00

hullo!

I had a pretty fruitful day today! Sewed pouches and restocked them at Cat Socrates (we have two larger sized moley pouches!), dropped by dulcetfig, went for a facial (haha), passed some things to a friend, and added a new design to the shop. I'm usually an incredibly lazy person so here I am, giving myself a pat on the back. HAHA

So anyway, I stumbled across this amazing Japanese artist named Kanazawa Mariko (金沢まりこ) from cookie cutter's blog! I really really love her paintings. They really bring out the delicate charms of Japan. Makes me want to go to Japan again. I enjoyed every single minute of my time when I visited Tokyo. Sighhhh hahaha.

I especially like the second painting, probably because I've only been to Tokyo and this really brings back memories of walking along shinjuku at night and sipping warm corn soup from Mos Burger. :)

So, back to gewwybeans, we have a new item up on our etsy! It's also available at Dulcetfig, Haji Lane.

This is a mini illustration of my dog's favourite clothes!
She really prefers to stay naked actually, but dressing up once in a while for special occasions makes her feel pretty for the day. :>

sewed on mini moustaches for my 'moustache friends' tote some time back!
(we are officially out of this tote, which is actually my favourite design :( . But I might be silkscreening them onto our new totebags if time permits!)

Speaking of new totebags, here are the new totebags that we will be using! They are of better canvas material and have gussets and a base! so yay!!! will update will the new bags really soon. :) (bags on sale at $15 will still be of calico material as they have already been printed and made.)

gussseeet!

Alrighty, it's time for me to get off the computer!

Have a great week! 1.5 more days to the WEEKEND!

your love is a

2011-09-21T13:33:00.003+08:00

symphony.
The next time switchfoot comes, I will make sure I go.

Anyway hullo!! I've been really busy these few days, with restocking items, sewing, school and work, and it is still ongoing! Plus my contact lenses are not working very well, okay make that NOT working for me at all so I'm really suffering. grrrrr. Anyhow, I just wanted to say that we will be stocking illustrated jewellery in the shop soon! Do stay tuned haha :>

my friend vanessie suggested that I try making a zine so here's a sneak peek of my first attempt.
I'm stuck now because I don't have many great ideas :( Shall see how it goes!

kinda feel like going dancing but i simply don't have the extra time (and strength) to spare. i shall go jump around with xj instead hehe. ohohoh! and i'm going to have an "about us" page soon, just trying to draw something funny but .. no time - sad, but still, quite excited about it haha. ok byebye!

Have a great week!

soooooo tired

2011-09-14T22:38:00.000+08:00

lousy sketch of someone falling asleep whilst talking to xj the dog.
zzzzzz

can't wait for christmas.
I like to make useless things for people.
lovely lovely illustration by watercolorqueen. :>

Okay, GOODNIGHT!

ps: we are in the midst of making illustrated simple accessories, yay!

something was amiss

2011-09-13T17:19:00.001+08:00

This is a sleuth of bears by cordialkitten.

hehe, all the whispering pondering over a jar of broken honey.

Gonna restock my pouches at Cat Socrates & Dulcetfig this week!

I'll be placing our stickpads at dulcetfig too, so stay tuned! :D

p.s: new designs coming up sooooon!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Maps

2011-09-08T21:56:00.000+08:00

hullo!
this is going to be a pictures post :]

friendship bunnies
(inspired by some handmade bunnies i spotted on etsy)

Baked by Lace

birthday
(peeks stolen from xiangs!)

door gifts (the friendship bunnies)

only picture of xiangs :(

zuba and pillow

fwens

with xj, boss of gewwybeans

secret follower of my favourites

shhh, sneak a buy :>

an order from Australia :)

hopday!

boooks

I'm duper blessed indeed, to be surround by close friends and family. :)

special thanks to z (who coloured the sky blue), cups (is it ever gonna be enough?), xiangy (the one who zouked).

hola

2011-09-08T00:16:00.002+08:00

how have you been!

I had a good birthday on the 5th of sep, spent it with ryan gosling and steve carrell - ha

Think I shall do a blog update soon! In the meantime, here's a pic of xj with her favourite ball. :)

Oh! and we're having a 23% storewide bday sale at gewwybeans!

Feeling a bit ill now, so cya later! :D

a quick little post!

2011-08-27T22:13:00.002+08:00

Hi there!
I'm really really tired right now because I had a late (but duper fun!) night out yesterday but I just wanted to update my blog a little. :D
If you've been following gewwybeans' facebook you would have noticed the new additions we have to the shop! Yup, our sticky notes have arrived! I thought rather long about it because the cost price isn't cheap and there's a risk of it not being able to sell. But still, when the box containing all the little notes arrived, I was duper happy. :) Here are some peeks!

you can find our sticky notes here!

I've also been 'stalking' this super cute etsy shop from Singapore for quite some time already! Cookie Cutter has the cutest little plushies! And totally original and one of a kind. I'm kind of pissed with myself for not buying this real funny and pretty owl pouch that she had. hmmm..

anyway, here are some of her items that I really like!

Wolly! Love love LOVE his expression

Skunk! very very tempted to get this :x

baby pillow. :D

Aren't they all so adorable! Wished I had the talent to make plushies from scratch! Hmmm..
Alright, the atmosphere in the house now is a bit stiff because of the presidential election. Results are coming out soon I suppose. May the best man win!

Have a great Sunday!

week 3

2011-08-20T00:45:00.004+08:00

hullo!
and now, we are moving on to the weekend of August's week 3. How time flies. Have been wanting to start painting more but it seems like there are just tons of insecurity-related themes pondering in my mind. So, waiting for the right happy thoughts first! :]

some happy pictures!

had a great catch up with the friends at House's Barracks Cafe.
This is a picture of one of their desserts! Forgot what it's called, but isn't it a delight to look at. :D

coordinated yellows & blues
(nope, it wasn't planned!)

adorable pocket mirror by Gemma Correll
lovingly stocked at Dulcetfig!

Have been eyeing them for the longest time. Now I finally can

have a handy mirror to bring around. (Nope, phones do not work the same way.)

Took some pictures of the places that I consign my items at!

cat socrates at bras basah!

Dulcetfig at Haji Lane!
(saw estee the cat that day, cutie cutie cat)

Our poorly taken National Day dinner.
Was a good day. :)

made a customized pouch for Vanessa :)
but unfortunately it was too small!

New item in the shop!
Sleeping pals :) Notice little chick napping on top of Molly the cat?

Yoshi & Taro!
They are actually both Ashton's doggies. Yoshi is the dopey little silly golden retriever and Taro is the extremely greedy but smart beagle. :) I have yet to meet them though, but have seen tons of pictures! But really get Ashton to bring them out someday. hehe

Both pouches are up on our etsy store! :)

Almost forgot to say this but gewwybeans is having a totebags clearance sale! All totes (except Moley & mr moustache) are going at $15 each. :) Here's the link to check them out. We are trying to clear our current totebags to make way for newer designs and styles!

I can't wait for my little sticky pads to arrive! When it does, I'll update our etsy shop straightaway! :) It will be nice to have something different other than totes and pouches huh. Have been thinking of making simple illustrated necklaces too! Will see how that goes.

Alright, have a great 3rd weekend!!

my wants for this week

2011-08-17T12:59:00.000+08:00

dinner looks good

window friends

your bed is my bed

All illustrations by PainterNik (Nicole Wong) from etsy!
I think there's just something about her paintings, they make me feel happy, weirdly, like a kid again. :D Maybe it's just like how I love reading kids' books to just look at the illustrations. They bring you away to another world. How I wish I can paint like her! Then I can paint the illustrated world I want to be in. :]

Not to be discouraged

2011-08-10T23:29:00.002+08:00

Hi there!
I just had the most discouraging day. :( First, a shop (that I shall not name, but I'm so very tempted to) dragged on a reply to me even though I tried emailing them a couple of times for 2 months and finally resorted to calling, which only resulted in more delay and unpleasantries. I know that they wouldn't care less since they decided to reject placing gewwybeans at their shop, but they could at least have had the courtesy to let me know and also return me the samples I placed with them. Argh, but I shall not let it get to me, will not and shall not! And I've been having really discouraging thoughts about gewwybeans so I'm trying really really hard to not let it get to me. Hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Moodiness aside, yesterday was Singapore's 46th birthday so HAPPY BELATED NATIONAL DAY SINGAPORE!!!

Here are some photos that I wanted to share for quite some time. (i realized i have not completed my australia entries too!)

'customized' a pouch for Susan :)

apparently her little doggie resembles my illustration of Supi! So now, this is Charlie and not Supi. :D

After gifting two of this to friends, I finally got one for myself hur hur hur.
This is Stacey Swift's Brighter days will come again card. hmm, yeah, i shall tell myself that.

a newspaper comic cutout from Baby Blues! It's so endearing! And yup, I'm a big BIG fan of Baby Blues.
and on the right is my new displayed print from Nicole Wong, titled 'friends by the front door'. Her illustrations are really adorable, especially if you like cats and dogs. :)

Alright, I'd better get some rest because it's a long long day for me tomorrow. :(
Have a great week!

my first attempt at sewing a zippered pillow. :D

2011-07-28T23:30:00.001+08:00

Hullo,
so i'm back again. :]
I had a really really bad week, and in fact, had a bad day as well. So, I decided to finally sew my new dishtowel into a pillow in a bid to make myself feel better. Despite the hastiness and imperfect end product, I actually feel very much better. Perhaps it's the feeling of having accomplishing something (despite it being something not very significant ha) that made me feel better. It seems like the tension headache has faded a bit too!

Anyway, here are some photos to share.
My "pillowcase making process" hehe. :)

dishtowel that I bought from brookish.
Isn't the proposal just so duper romantic?

first, fold the towel, print facing inwards.
my pillowcase is about 14x13 inches, so i sewed the rough ends (at which the zipper would go) of each side of the towel.

after sewing, i flipped a small amount of cloth towards me and pinned it.

Then I sewed the flipped part down.

tada.
the flipped part is properly sewed "inwards"

I then add the zipper to the printed part of the towel.
I know my pictures & captions are super messy and perhaps rather unnecessary since I don't seem to be making much progress "explaining" my pillow making process.. but ANYWAY.. haha it's really pretty easy to make. Just google like "pillow case making" and you can very easily find perfect instructions to making one!

oh yeah, i forgot that I flipped the towel outside in after sewing the folded part. This is how i pin the zipper onto the towel to ready it for sewing.

sew!

so as you can see, the "behind" part of the zipper has been attached to the towel. Now, unzip the zipper and pin the un-sewed side to the other part.

Okay, I think I'm really not making much sense huh.. shall I just stop captioning my pictures? :/

pinned and ready to be sewed!

both ends sewed, so now i snip off the excess zipper!

tada
zipper sewed on haha

sew the sides
(i didn't bother to cut off the excess cloth cos i was far too lazy and wanted to get my pillow asap. anyway it's for meself so... hehe)

before sewing all 3 sides of the pillow, remember to leave a bit of unzipped allowance so you can flip the pillowcase out.

yay,
done!

this is a hastily sewed (thus super distorted) pillow that I sewed prior to making the pillowcase.

yay! Can't believe it fits haha

I'm just hugging the pillow right now.
The fabric of the dishtowel is super soft, since it's a towel I guess, and I pre-washed it with fabric softener so it smells all lovely and nice. :>

Alright, thanks for listening to my rambles. I do hope I haven't confused you with all my lousy explanations, google is really the way to go!

Gonna go hug my pillow now, goodnight!

Australia day 6!

2011-07-24T20:49:00.000+08:00

hullo!

after almost a month, I'm finally back to blogging about my Australia trip.

Here's the link to the previous entries of my aus trip! :)

20th May

first meal in Melbourne,
breakfast at Qeleven, a cosy little cafe at Coventry Street.

Xinyi's recommendation.
The "Mexican Extravaganza" - mushroom and cheese quesadilla, fried eggs, pumpkin and coriander roesti, roasted salsa, chipotle mayo.
haha, yeah, once again I very obviously copied the description from its website. It was a hearty hearty breakfast. :>

Then we started on our mini "roadtrip" to the suburbs.
First stop, Yarra Valley's dairy farm.

you can taste the many different kinds and multi-flavoured cheese they have.
Super freshly made!

yummy yummy ice cream. It was so yummy!
but still, the golden gay time ice cream wins hands-down haha (picture in next entry!)

we found this duper cute tree with yellow leaves and went a bit crazy snapping pictures.

the girl & the tree, as interpreted by xinyi.

such lovely, never-ending greens.

my reflection in Xinyi's sunnies!

boots & granny shoes

Love love love the autumn leaves

just so peaceful and quiet

went to punt road for some wine tasting :>

drove around the mountain

BEST sorbet I have ever tasted.
It's the moscato sorbet from Innocent Bystander.
Best moscato too, I brought home a bottle.

super soft and buttery chocolate croissant

flour-less chocolate cake.
melts in your mouth.

Felt a little bloated at night and had a craving for soup, so xinyi brought me to this chinese restaurant (i don't remember where and what its name was!) for authentic chinese food.
I never liked drinking chinese soup, but trust me, having soup in a cold cold weather really makes a ton of a difference.

claypot rice. :)

lovely melbourne lights.

Then it was back to xinyi's humble abode. :)
The beautiful & peaceful pictures (yarra valley's credit, not mine), really makes me want to go somewhere calm and quiet, and just lie down in peace. mmmmmm....

edart

2011-07-24T19:19:00.001+08:00

I'm just loving the new illustrations and photographs from edart.

I think I have two of his illustrations..

But I'm pretty sure I have misplaced them because I'm just uber messy.

isn't this the cutest little butt?

un deux trois

2011-07-13T13:37:00.000+08:00

Hullo, hope you have had a good week so far!
I've been.. just really busy and yet unproductive at times.
Hopefully I'll pull myself up fast and get ready for my exams next week!

In the meantime, here are some doggie pics haha.

xj caught in mid-yawn.
she looks like she was just licking her "lips" though right?

Looking at my dad
ps. she's wearing a shirt haha because she got an insect bite and the shirt helps her to not lick and scratch her wound!

ashton & princess dumbo :)

Have a good week!

oh by the way we have new items up at gewwybeans.etsy.com! Do take a look!! :D

bye!!

The bravest little girl, princess dumbo

2011-07-06T22:21:00.002+08:00

Today is a solemn day because we lost a friend.
Princess is a stray dog 'adopted' by the factory next to my dad's at Tuas. Last year, her kidneys were found to be failing and being a non-housed dog, I guess it was really hard for her to recover. :( Still, she never ever let it affect her. The vet said that she was an extremely strong fighter and despite being severely ill, she could still stand up and walk around, determined to not become a burden to others. Her best friend is Ashton, who is like a sister to her. :) Princess wagged her tail and stood up in the vet's cage when Ashton came by to see her. As I'm typing this, I still feel really sad that I can no longer see her welcoming people at the factories, and waiting patiently outside for treats.. Still, it wasn't right to let her suffer anymore and worse still to die a slow painful death.

Sadness aside, here's to the bravest and strongest dog I have ever known. :)

meet princess dumbo :)
also known as girly and girl.

balancing her treat on her paw :D

looking at my dad

do you want the greenie bone?

oh yes i do!

showing off for ashton
'look! i can eat my treat like this!'

We brought dumbo back to Tuas for a final goodbye before bringing her back to the vet. :( There are many people who love and care about her! I don't know.. I honestly never knew that the people working in the factories near my dad's were capable of such love. I mean I guess they were all manly men, it's just heartwarming to know that they really do care about dumbo and they literally all came out to sorta say bye to her. Especially this kind hearted man called David, who isn't even from the factory that adopted Dumbo. He was really sad but knew that dumbo was suffering and that she deserved to go to a better place.

Dumbo
Weak but still lovely and pretty

Best gal-pals forever. :)

We will never forget you Princess

I really believe that all animals go to heaven and I know that dumbo is out there somewhere, being silly and lovely, playing with her siblings and enjoying her nibbles and treats. :)

We will never ever forget you dumbo!

exam period boo

2011-07-02T10:16:00.000+08:00

Hullo!!
Sorry I've been missing this space for quite a few days. My exams are coming up and I just simply don't have the time for anything else :(
I do have some time for etsy surfing and eating haha. Retail therapy and a satisfied stomach helps aid the studying stress a bit.

Anyway, here are some random pictures to share!

new print from Gemma Correll :D

was a gift hehe.

Bought this handpainted illustration at Melbourne's street art market or something like that. It's new Brunswick if I'm not wrong! He has the cutest paintings! Here, check his website out!

When I was younger (alright, when i was a kid haha), I used to read Sweet Valley Twins religously. I know, what was I thinking? Except I totally knew what I was thinking! I love love love the books. In fact, I'm trying to collect them now haha. But it's duper difficult because you can't find them anywhere. :( I had to go on ebay and buy some second hand castoffs off someone from Msia. But still, at least I have more than 5 books now yay!

Here's xj signing off,

hate exams!!

Have a great week :)

cloud strongman

2011-06-25T13:40:00.002+08:00

Hullo! I've had a really really tough week and when I logged into Etsy today, I saw this. Hahaha, isn't is so funnily brilliant! He reminds me a bit of my physical education teacher in secondary school. Good times.. not haha.

Have a good weekend :)

Finally!

2011-06-21T01:09:00.003+08:00

Hehe, lookie everyone, I've finally decided to change gewwybeans' namecard! :D

I shall get it printed tomorrow!

yippee

alright, time to sleep, nights!

ps. I actually spelt illustrations wrongly and happily printed 100 pieces of name cards before realizing my bad bad mistake (I spelt it as illustraitions). Wish me luck for my next printing!

advert

2011-06-20T14:50:00.003+08:00

erm, this is an "advert" for meself and my friend vanessa. :D

FLEA!!!

we'll be selling tons of pre-loved clothes (we really REALLY loved them, no kidding), to make space for more clothes hehehe. Alright, but really, I have too many impulse purchases that I'll need to clear, and I'll sell them CHEAP! :D I'm sure there will be really good stuff at the flea too so come come come.

We will be there on the 26th of June 2-8PM! yayyyy

Okay, I don't make a good advertiser.

have a good day!

Aus day 5! :D

2011-06-20T13:15:00.006+08:00

Hello!

I'm feeling rather sick right now, and miserable and duper tired. :( I hope I didn't catch the flu or nausea bug ha that's circulating around right now. I'm also taking the time to blog since there's no one in the shop now! I've been wanting to finish up with my Aussie trip on this blog but it seems like I have just been taking forever and ever.

Anyway, here's a short one!

19th May :>

Lovely Ros and generous Tim (the perfect duo haha) brought me to The Flute. A cosy little bakery/cafe somewhere in the Suburbs.

Red Wine Beef Pie :]

After that, I think I died because I was too tired, and with all the food and all, I slept like a pig and missed out much of the day haha.

(Country Road was having a sale that day though, I remember!)

Guess who wore socks with pumps

Finally got to go to the lovely Handmade shop!

I'm really harboring thoughts of placing my pouches there because it's such a lovely LOVELY little store. :) The owner was very sweet too, it must be nice to be surrounded by so many pretty handmade stuff.

slurrps

Fried potato!

Super duper sinful but worth the sacrifice haha.

Instant noodles from Taiwan!

I know right, what's with eating Asian food when you're in Australia.

It was the last time for me to be able to sit in Ros' room, watch MasterChef Australia, pig out and all..

Lovely Ros who kept the postcard I sent her!

Goodbye Ros' room :(

and then I was off to Melbourne.

Took an 8 hours bus ride! I thought I would never make it because frankly 8 hours in a plane is horrible enough for me but I surprisingly slept through the whole journey so it was like nothing at all. Hmm, good job Grace, you are growing up. Ha ha :/

Alright, off to print labels! Busy busy school, sewing, consignment week for me!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!

hup!

2011-06-09T16:16:00.002+08:00

Hullo!
I've been so lazy lately when it comes to Gewwybeans. So, that's really not a good thing. :/ I'm trying to get more motivated! But I want to enjoy to process (with xj the doggie boss) as well. :)
Anyway, I'm so loving these illustrations by cordialkitten!

Sigh, so cute. I wish I could draw and paint like that. Her prints are very affordable too! Hmm :>

Have a great week! I shall update with the remainder of my mini Australia trip haha.

Australia day 4!

2011-06-01T18:06:00.008+08:00

18th May'11 :D

On wednesday, we woke up bright and early because Ros had to send Tim to work. :D
But was good for us because then we could start the day bright and early!

we visited the lovely Golden Creek. Yet another lovely suburb in Canberra.

Lovely weather!

had breakfast at Cafe Injoy. :>

Ros' Fish & Chips with loads of greens!

My second time ever, having Eggs Benedict.
It was a tad too sour for my liking but perhaps that was how an authentic Eggs Benedict should taste like?

Lovely fabric store just next to Injoy!

They had many homeware stores, I think very much catered to tourists like me?
But wonderful range of items to browse and coo over. :)

Adore tea sells all things related to tea!

Roasted green tea, perfect for an afternoon break. :)

The Style Emporium is an awesome awesome shop!

It has tons of cool knick knacks!
From handmade goodies to kids clothes, notebooks, cupcake molds, tapes, ... rarh! The list can go on and on. I think it's Ros' favourite shop at Golden Creek too haha.

I think Frankie is giving away Mae's raindrop wall stickers!

Then it was off for some second hand shopping :]

Vinnie's is quite an awesome place to dig through racks and racks of clothes and shelves of books, bags, etc.

And then it was food again!
Ros & Tim decided to bring me to their favourite Japanese place in Canberra. Iori is opened by a Japanese so you can expect nice wholesome and authentic Japanese food to be served. :D

ooh, I had the Chicken Lil'. Scrumptious meal that was.

Once again, we ended the night with Masterchef haha. I'm still harping on the fact that I can't even pay to watch it in Singapore sighhh.

Oh well. :/

Have a great week!

australia day 2 & 3 :D

2011-05-30T14:24:00.003+08:00

Hi I'm back haha. I can't believe it has been a week since my Aus trip to visit Ros (and xinyi)!
Anyway, as much as I detest Singapore's hot & humid weather, it is a bit of a relief to not lug a huge-ass jacket where-ever I go and to not worry about being cold.

ANYWAY, here are more pics to share! :D

17th of May :)

my trusty companion, kukumo.

I didn't do much on the third day, just walked around the civic centre and popped into shops like Forever New, Valley Girl, Sport girl, etc. Australia has got tons of Havianas, and they are much cheaper! But then again, given Australia's exchange rate, I'm better off buying them in Singapore. :]

Ros and I! With our huge steaks.
We ate at El Dorado's. If you happen to be in Canberra on a Tuesday, DO go there, because they have got steaks going at half price! Really good deal just that I felt a bit bad eating so much steak.

I love how they're not stingy with their salads!

After dinner, being the fatty girls we are (haha), we went to Tosolini's for authentic Tiramisu!
It was super soft and the bitter-sweetness that accompanied each bite was really heavenly. Mmmm wish I could have a piece right now.

Yet again being the fatty girls we are, we ended off the night with apple cider and chips while watching Aus's Masterchef. Speaking of which, I'm duper upset that I can't watch it here in Singapore. :(

16th May
(some pictures that I forgot to include in the previous entry!)

window shopping at Manuka (a suburb in Canberra)

Drove up the black mountains to the Testra Tower!

Was COLD :>

Yippee! :> Okay busy now blog again later!

Aus day two!

2011-05-26T13:36:00.009+08:00

Hullo! I'm back again haha to blog about my 2nd day in Aus. :D

16 May'11

I had a really short day on day two because I woke up really really late. In fact I didn't even notice Ros going off for her class in the morning hah.

Lovely aussie sky!

Ros' mom's handmade pineapple tarts all the way from Singapore. :)

yummy looking tarts which I forgot to try in the end :/

We had lunch at Cream, a rather modern looking cafe & bar just at the side of Canberra's Civic centre.

Pan Seared Scallops

set on a cauliflower puree with basil oil & micro herbs

Beef Burger

premium beef pattie, capsicum jam, roquette, caramelized onion & mustard aioli

both dishes were top notch! and I very obviously copied the descriptions from the website haha.

Nice hot chocolate to accompany our walk back to Ros' place

I wished Singapore had Autumn!

Decided to give Nando's a try even though we have it here in Singapore.

It wasn't too bad!

Comparable to Singapore's but eating spicy food in a cold weather is just different. :D

Dessert at Rubee's!

They serve homemade frozen custard with your choice of toppings from a wide range of selections. It's a bit like Mcflurry, just heathier and erm.. heartier in a way. (they are very generous with their toppings!)

shopping at woolworth's for asian food haha.

I spotted indomie going at about 1.50aud per pack. :]

Alright, here's dora saying bye for now!

day 3 coming up! :D

Aus day one! :D

2011-05-25T11:37:00.005+08:00

Hullo, thanks for dropping by haha, I've finally decided to blog about my 2nd trip to Australia!

15 may'11

australia day one! From Singapore, to Melboune, to canberra, then to Sydney! :D All in a day. (okay, my flight was overnight so it's not really considered a day haha)

took virgin airlines to canberra.

was an interesting experience heh

my first meal when I reached Australia. It wasn't very nice. :(

So, Tim and Ros picked me up from Canberra's airport, we ordered mackers, and started our journey to Sydney!

hi sydney!

we dropped by the fish market for lunch! :D

yummersss!

the weather in Sydney was nice!

about 18 deg and ros kindly demonstrated how un-cold the weather was. :D

orange chocolate cake from Lindt!

off to shopping at paddington street!

we passed by this hotel place on the way and I thought it looked really nice and cosy. Something that is not commonly seen in Singapore.

Rodeo Show!

ros and I really loved Rodeo show. It was too bad I was on a budget so no more clothes for me. :(

a tiny little shop with lots of little knick knacks. super nice. a pity it's closing soon. :(

it's a shopping haven for aussie labels!

lots of totoros for vanessie! :>

Then we went to Sydney's chinatown and tried these little puffs called emperor's puff. Haha, they are served hot, with warm custard oozing out when you bite into them. Perfect for the cold weather!

yummmsss

(sorry for the bad colour!)

tim&ros brought me to this little sushi place called sushi rio. Surprisingly affordable prices for sushi in the city! They had a special dish called.. something cheese baked rice with salmon or something like that haha. I thought it was really creative.. was pretty nice too. :]

Then, it was a long drive back to canberra.

was super funny when ros started telling me about how they closed the road to the highway back to ACT and they had to turn a huge big round just to get to an alternate exit. In the end when we reached the exit, it was closed! So, an extra 30 mins to get back then. And the roads in Australia are so super dark! Even worse than Msia's roads at night when it's pitch black. In Aus, it's pitch pitch pitch black. My eyes were glued to the roads the whole time! Also, it started to get cold as we neared Canberra and turning on the heater would mean fogging the windscreens so, we had to endure a temperature of less than 10 deg in the car the whole way back.

Was a good experience though hehe! Slept like a pig when I got back to Ros' room.

Alright, day two and three tomorrow! :>

last night in Aus!

2011-05-21T20:43:00.004+08:00

Harlow! So, tonight's my last night in Australia and even though I can't wait to get back home to doggie family and friends, I feel a bit sad because I'll have to say goodbye to my best friend Ros again. :( But then we'll be meeting each other again and pretty soon I'm sure! I brought my laptop in a bid to blog about my aussie trip everyday, but I got too lazyyy and too tired so.. hahaha.

Here's a picture of a couple of fabrics that I bought in Canberra for Gewwybeans! :D I'm rather excited about it! So, it's 8:47pm now, oh wait, 10:47 Aus time, Ros and I are trying to decide if we should make a short trip down to Melbourne's casino! (I have never been to one before!) It's rather late though, and a bunch of youngsters just "ching chong ching chong"ed us so ... I'm frankly a bit scared. Rarh, I shall not get affected by such insignificant things.

HELLO SINGAPORE n GOODBYE TO MY WINTER WEAR AGAIN!

ps: I think Brunswick is one hell of an awesome street!

a nice getaway

2011-05-09T13:01:00.006+08:00

Port Dickson's Avillion Port looks like the perfect place for a getaway, away from the hustle and bustle and air pollution. :|

The weather here has been horrendously HOT.. I feel like a torpid slug everyday. Getting off bed is a tedious task because that means leaving my air conditioned room. Sigh, I wish the weather would get better! I'm actually missing the rain.

5 more days to Canberra and Rossie, but that means saying a temporary bye to my family, friends and doggie xj. Guess xj will have to take care of Gewwybeans while I'm gone. heh.

Alright, have a great week! It's really so hot even though I'm in an air conditioned place.

"Bunny Dog" Giveaway!

2011-05-07T22:53:00.005+08:00

Thank you to all who have participated in the gewwybeans giveaway!

Xj and I have selected our winner:

Congratulations to Christine!!! :D

Once again, a big thank you for all your tweets as well as joining our facebook page. :)

Sewn

2011-05-06T14:23:00.006+08:00

Hi there!
Hope your day has been great :>
I did quite a few custom work and sewing for the past 2 weeks. I'm frankly a little tired of listening to the "tut tut tut" sound from my sewing machine. But nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing the finished product when you're done.

Here are some random (unedited thus rather dark) pictures to share!

Here's a sneak preview for the new totebags that I'm going to make!
Very excited about how it might turn out when I silkscreen it.. It takes a really long time to dry though so I think it'll be a very longgg process.

Stay tuned for the results to the giveaway! :)

Have a great week!

Handmade Canberra :)

2011-05-02T17:38:00.003+08:00

Hi there!

It truly feels good to be home on a rainy and chilly day. :) So, I'll be heading over to Canberra next weekend to visit my friend Ros! The last time I went there, they had their handmade market fair and it was duper awesome. Unfortunately, my trip is not going to coincide with their fair this time round. :( The good news is, after googling and all, I found out that they now have a handmade Canberra physical shop! So yippe, this will be a must go for me. hehe.

Check out the pretty pictures from their blog!

xj says hi!

May day!

2011-05-01T18:36:00.002+08:00

Hi there!

Happy Labour Day! It's rather ironic how I have to be stuck here at work when everyone (okay, almost everyone) is out chilling or having the time of their lives. :/ Hmm, I ought to make May a month of less complaints, you think? SO anyway, I've decided to share with you some of my favourite things from Etsy. :) I'm very very tempted to get everyone of them but I know I mustn't be a spendthrift. Rarh.

And here, I created a little treasury of all these things because I was far too lazy to tag every single one of the pictures haha. So click here if you're interested in any of them!

By the way, if you haven't noticed, we now have a sale items section in the shop! It consists mainly of totebags that I want to sell away so I can have more space for newer and better totes! Be prepared for new designs (as well as better quality!).

Have an awesome MAY. :)

Post Easter Giveaway!

2011-04-25T18:30:00.004+08:00

hullo there! Guess what, we're having a giveaway!!! :)

This month, we'll be giving away a "Bunny dog" handsewn pouch.

"Meet Robbie the little dog! He was given faux clip on bunny ears for Easter and he likes it so much he now refuses to take them off! He insists that he's a bunny and now has a newly proclaimed love for carrots. Let's see how long he will last! :] What a silly doggie!"

To qualify for this giveaway, just follow these few easy steps!

1) Follow Gewwybeans on Facebook

2) Tweet "Gewwybeans giveaway! - http://gewwybeans.blogspot.com/2011/04/post-easter-giveaway.html"

3) Leave your name, email address as well as your facebook & Twitter name under the comments tab(so that I know who you are! :D).

I'll get xj the doggie to pick a winner on the 7th of May and will email the winner.

Good luck!!!

and have a great week! :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:56:00.006+08:00

Hullo!!!

Happy Happy EASTER! :D I hope you had an awesome day with lots of chocolate bunnies and easter eggies! I spent my day with homemade pancakes, had a long walk with the dog and j, and now I'm having a good me-time. :) Today I'll be updating gewwybeans with 2 new pouches so do stay tuned! I'm feeling a little lethargic though, probably cos of the horrendous weather in Singapore. :( Can't wait for the cold cold weather in Aus!

By the way, I have an awesome new addition to my room and I just wanted to share it with you!

I got it from ASOS.com (thanks to free worldwide shipping!) and it has been a tremendous help for the organizing of my accessories. I'm an incredibly messy person and now I don't have any more missing rings. :]

oh man, it's raining now.. makes the day more.. lethargic.. ha

necklaces!

I love how the words are twisted from the same wire.

Okay, I shall stop showing off my new accessories holder. But i'm just so pleased with it hehe!

Alright, I shall embrace the rain and scoot off to Chinatown to buy more fabrics and zippers. yawwwnnn. Have a great Sunday yup!

Behind the "scenes"

2011-04-20T14:47:00.005+08:00

Hullo!

So, yesterday I restocked my pouches at Cat Socrates. I sewed 19 pouches and I almost died. But I guess it's all worth it because it means that more gewwybeans creations will be displayed at the store. :) It has been doing not too bad! Sold at least 7 pieces and I was still quite worried that I might not even sell one. Thank you to all who have purchased a pouch of gewwybeans' at cat socrates!

Whilst sewing the pouches, I decided to snap pictures so that I can show how I make the pouches! At least a little bit here and there. :]

Freshly printed illustrations on callico cloth!

They're all laser printed in case you were wondering. I apply a varnish over the illustrations to prevent them from fading.

Hello, xj is here to observe!

Sewing the fabric onto the zipper

measuring the length of fabric to cut. I hate this part the most because sometimes the illustrations come out crooked on the pouch because I did not measure correctly. :(

stamping "handmade by gewwybeans" with silkscreen ink. :>

Almost done!

Phew, all 19 pouches completed!

tags!

hand-stamping the packaging for the pouches

a customized pouch for Ruth from the US!

A handmade pouch for nad hatty's bday :>

Shall embark on another top sewing project!

Have an awesome week (2 more days to the weekend)!!!

Happy birthday xin xian :)

2011-04-20T13:41:00.005+08:00

my oldest (longest friendship I mean!) friend Xin Xian turned 23 on the 18th of April!!!

I really can't believe we are all turning 23.. i mean, secondary school was 10 years ago! My sister isn't even 21 yet. :/

I met xinxian in primary school and we were in the same secondary school class for 4 years. And I would think that we have both changed quite a lot. :) So anyway, I brought xinxian to Dan Ryan's at Tanglin Road. It's a really nice and cosy restaurant, with its dimmed lights, vintage english posters and overall comfortable ambience.

Here are some pictures to share! I do apologize for the bad tones and blurriness of some, because the restaurant was simply too dark to take any clear pictures. :<

Caesar salad! :)

Potato skins

(introduced by andrea who also was the one who brought me to dan ryan's)

The chicken and ribs combo set.

It comes with homemade coleslaw which was really yummy!

Their signature Molten cake. You must really try this if you were to go to Dan Ryan's. However, they actually forgot about the birthday candle when I secretly ordered it without xinxian knowing. :( It was kinda sad.. but oh well, when I checked the receipt I realised that the cake was free of charge because it was a birthday order. :)

It's warm and chocolaty on the inside.

It's a definite must try!

bday girl!

12 years of friendship :]

Less than a month to Aussie aus to see Ros! Yippee!

Project 101

2011-04-15T00:39:00.006+08:00

Hello!
Yayy it's Friday!!!
I've had an incredibly busy week and I'm just super glad the weekend is here (even though I've got work on Sunday). Anyhow, I finally manged to sneak in some photos during one of my "handmaking" sessions. Not very detailed though because I realized I'm not a good multi-tasker. :/

The "materials".
I ended up not using the lining cloth because I didn't really know how to add it in hah. The top that I sewed was inspired by a limedrop top at the shop. My friend liked it a lot so i thought it looked easy enought to sew (but that was not true hah). I simply traced the shape of the top onto tissue paper and cut the fabric accordingly (which was not true yet again because I got lazy and did not cut the fabric well - it wasn't traced well too ha).

The "front" part haha

sewing the cut pieces together

sew sew sew..

sew sew sew!

Tadaa!
I was quite happy when I hung it up because it looks good on the hanger (not so good when worn haha). I guess it wasn't too bad because it's at least wearable even though I would suggest wearing it at home or at the beach like ness suggested. So here it is, my first attempt to sew a top from scratch. :>

bad seams :[

The drawstring!

Hopefully I'll get to sew more things when I get less busy with work, school and gewwybeans. Xiaojia is not being very helpful these days, she has no cool ideas to share. and ooohh, I'm gonna put up new items soon! At Etsy and Cat Socrates so stay tuned :D

Rusty Haloooo

2011-04-15T00:13:00.004+08:00

The Script on the 12 of April was fantastic!

So the crowd was was horrendous, the queue was crazy, the muddy grounds were like quicksand, but they made it all worth it. :] Has been a while since I last went for a concert, and I used to be so crazy and wanted to go for every single concert even if I might not like the band/artist (arhem.. kanye west..). So.. maybe James Blunt in Canberra? :D

I don't know why but Rusty Halo keeps echoing in my head as I'm typing this, I mean.. it's actually my least favourite song of theirs. :/ But it was fun when they sang this at Fort Canning hahaha.

Here are some lousy pics to share.

His expressions were so utterly heartbreaking especially when he sang the super duper sang songs. It was like ....!!!! oh man, you would feel like giving him a pat on the back :(

A result of an open field and a whole afternoon of rain.

I almost lost my slippers.

Thanks to Jo who dug through the mud. :>

Over the weekend

2011-04-10T17:43:00.004+08:00

Hullo!

I had a pretty busy week.. with school starting and with work, plus sewing, friend's convocation. Plus, I started on a one week detox and that made me pretty lethargic and irritable, so I'm really glad this week is over soon! haha

here are some phone pics to share. :D

xj the boss got a haircuit :>

meow

I'm going to Aus to see my lovely friend Ros! :D

Super exicited even though it's going to be a short one week.

My friend Xiang Yuan's silly doggie, Joey. :]

Jo and I went to Kichn (180 King Albert Court) because we have never been there. It's a really cool little place because they serve blended drinks in a different way ha. You can choose the ingredients for your blend like literally. For example, you can have an oreo and strawberry shake.

Unfortunately, it started to rain very heavily, and the cafe's pseudo alfresco place couldn't really accommodate us so we had to have our meals packed and move off to the chairs at the taxi waiting area. The words on the takeaway bag were pretty ironic haha.

chicken chop with pasta!

portobello mushroom with homemade noodles (instant noodles actually!).

It wasn't too bad, not the best but yummy enough. :]

ooh and guess what I bought at lil old bras basah!

Sweet valley twins books! I used to be such a kid and read sweet valley (i only liked the twins' series) in primary school. It's so sad that I can't find them anywhere anymore. :( But I was really happy to buy them ($2 each!) even though the shopkeeper kinda laughed at me, but still! It brought back good memories. :)

Alright, gotta head back to work (yup that's right I'm at Antipodean now, but there's no one right now :( ) and perhaps explore etsy hehe.

Have a great new week!!!

Gewwybeans' first move out! :)

2011-04-06T22:14:00.006+08:00

Hullo!

Today marks an important day for us (xj and I!) because we can finally be found physically in a shop! We were really lucky that Cat Socrates agreed to let us display our handmade pouches in their quaint little store. :) Cat Socrates is a lifestyle store tucked away at a cosy little corner on the 3rd floor of Bras Basah Complex. You can find all sorts of delightful items like vintage-y postcards, stamp stickers, notebooks, magazines, bags, cotton ribbons, baskets, I can go on. Thank goodness for my friend Vanessa who introduced this shop to me. :D

So anyway, I'm very excited about this because gewwybeans is finally not a sole online shop! We will be crossing our fingers/paws!

Below are pictures that I took from the cat socrates website! Just to show you how pretty the shop is. :>

So, Cat Socrates can be found at

#03-39B bras Basah Complex, 231 Bain Street!

If you drop by, do help to say a little hullo to my pouches for me :D

-- Behind the scenes --

haha

Tag cutting

Tadaa! Displayed in the shop

Have a great week everyone!

Easter Cards!

2011-03-30T19:16:00.002+08:00

Hi there!

We will soon reach the lovely month of April and thus I decided to make special Easter postcards! Since this is the first time I'm embarking on a "festive" themed project, I decided to just make a few cards because I'm not really sure how they will turn out! Anyhow, here are my four new designs in gewwybeans! :)

Doggy Bunny says Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Competition - who has the nicest eggy!

Here is your Easter eggy!

Three Easter Eggy Eggs for you :)

xj is beat after all the sketching, colouring printing, etc etc

See you soon!

Bonne Nuit! hehe

Hullo Jaeger and Anna!

2011-03-30T00:59:00.003+08:00

Hello hello. It's officially 1:01AM now and I'm rather pleased because I'm finally done with my easter cards!
I will get them printed tomorrow (or should I say, today hah) and put them up on etsy! Super excited because I haven't had new items up for a rather long time. I'm also rather excited for Easter because that would mean no school on that day! Though, not so sure about work. :( With my increasing school workload, I'm starting to doubt whether I have the time to commit to my part time job. Oh well.

ANYWAY, I wanted to share with you a special doggie, all the way from Staten Island! :)

His lovely owner is Anna, who wanted to have a pouch to remind her of handsome Jaeger because she has to leave him with a friend due to certain reasons. However I'm positive their friendship will not falter because we all know that dogs are a girl's best friend (and vice versa!).

Here's Jaeger! :D

Chilling on the rug. :>

hello Jaeger!

This is the final product!

It wasn't too hard to do because it was highly inspired from the original "dog is a girl's best friend" illustration. I do hope that Anna (and Jaeger) will like it! Sometimes I wish xj had a longer tail haha.

Sent out 6 packages on Monday!

1 of which was to Greece and that made me super jealous because I really want to go Greece. :(

Sneak Peek of my Easter illustrations!

Really hope people will like them.

Alright, have a great week ahead!!!

おいしい？

2011-03-28T22:40:00.004+08:00

Hullo! Today I mailed out 6 packages and I'm really pleased about it. :D

So, Jo and I decided to embark on a cooking/making mission in the kitchen (a few weeks ago I reckon? hah) First, we tried making pancakes, and I think we flared pretty okay even though they weren't the prettiest looking pancakes we have seen.

This was a really huge pancake!

Yums with maple syrup. :D

Decided to make eggs as well - sunny side up!

After that, we decided to make blueberry muffins!

Well, it was rather easy because we used a pre-mix packet but.. good effort on our part hahahaha.

initial!

poof!

Say hello to our muffins!

I think I'm not good at cooking and baking hah hah.

Hope tomorrow will be a better day!!

Monday Blue

2011-03-28T13:35:00.003+08:00

Hello hello!
How has your week been? I had a really tough week, with exams, work and lots of exam related binge eating. :( I'm just really glad that it's over. BUT, a new module at school is gonna start next week (sigh) plus an important meeting with a school personnel. I feel this year is gonna be a tough one! But then again, I had quite a couple of sales this month for gewwybeans and that can be my blessing in disguise. :) Gonna upload a few pics when I get home because I forgot to being my thumbdrive for work which is a good thing too because I will end up cleaning the whole shop hah hah.

So, b and I went out for a walk a few days back and decided to try Fika out. Fika is this quaint little cosy Swedish cafe/restaurant at Beach road. I only managed to sneak a pic with my phone. I tried their Meatball Melt Sandwish and I must say it was really yummy! It tastes more homemade than Ikea's which says a lot. Though the service there is not exactly up to standard, we still had a pretty nice time. :>

I saw this Japanese cotten linen fabric on etsy. I think lots of fun things can be made out of this, don't you think! :D

Alright, back to doing nothing, hah hah. :(

I hope everyone is having a much better week!

Spring Fever

2011-03-19T10:57:00.000+08:00

Spring Fever by jamieshelman.

Cute or what?! :D

Exam distraction

2011-03-18T21:02:00.004+08:00

Just thought I could take a little break. :x

Guess what, I found this uk brand (Dahlia) through ASOS and I think I'm in love!

They have such such pretty dresses I feel like dyingggg.

Sigh, what to do what to do...

hello!!

2011-03-18T20:26:00.003+08:00

Oh man, I have been so super super super busy!

With work, with exams, with sewing and birthdays!!! (so many birthdays this month and none of them mine) I really want to brighten up my blog, and not make it a complete dead space. :(

So, my exams will end on the 25th (then it's school in April sigh), so I really wish myself all the luck in the world for this year! However, I'll try to balance things out and hopefully improve my etsy store. :)

Here are some wayy overdue lenka pics!

busy busy busy. Now I have a headache sighh.

I need a drink of strength.

Ah

2011-03-16T20:36:00.001+08:00

2011-03-10T14:54:00.000+08:00

Mini Stanley Haberdashery Fabric

2011-03-01T17:41:00.001+08:00

This is super duper cuteeee!!!

Should i get it? It's 14 pounds per metre and that does not include shipping. :( You know, i always want to buy things but I never really commit myself to making things happen. Rarh. I wish I had more money this month!!!

Should I?

Things I made!

2011-02-27T18:14:00.002+08:00

As the blog title suggests, this is a series of photos of things that I made. Haha. I initially wanted to take pictures of the "making process" but always forget to do so. :/

Here are some "handmade" photos to share! Support HANDMADE! :D

Moustache tee for sookyee!

(she's a BIG harry potter fan, hehe all the better. I like her shop a lot! google acciocrafts. :>)

A little pouch for Mado-san. I kept trying to make it less feminine as possible, but in the end, it still turned out to be rather girly, no?

A little bag for my friend vanessie! :D

Who loves ah wang (hong kong show) haha!

This is my first attempt at making a "waterproof" pouch.

I bought plastic (think table cloth plastic) and added it onto the fabric when I sewed. It wasn't easy at all!!! I almost died when I had to flip the pouch outside in. Rarh. But I guess it turned out okay? At least its new owner likes it! Hehehe :D

Tadaa! Toiletries bag or multi-purpose bag?

I hope everyone's having a good weekend. It's a bit sad that Monday's coming so soon, but well, this means that a brand new weekend will be knocking on our doors REALLY soon too!

Have fun! :D

むずかしい。。

2011-02-27T17:08:00.004+08:00

こんにちわ！

Hello hello! So, I have been super super busy lately plus I haven't been feeling creative (and duper happy I must say) for the past few weeks. :( I really do want to change and make 2011 a better year. Hopefully I will be able to solve all my problems and not create anymore similar ones for myself. One step at a time I guess. :)

Here are some photos that I have been wanting to share but couldn't find the time!

Special meal for the doggie on her birthday! :D

Yummies!

Resting time with two of her favourite bones to chew. :>

Pre-vday meetup with the super sweet girls from thejc. :D

I have more photos to share! Shall put them up on another post. Heehee!

see you later!

2011-02-17T13:51:00.003+08:00

I don't know what I've done
Or if I like what I've begun
But something told me to run
And honey you know me it's all or none

There were sounds in my head
LIttle voices whispering
That I should go and this should end
Oh and I found myself listening

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

See I thought love was black and white
That it was wrong or it was right
But you ain't leaving without a fight
And I think I am just as torn inside

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

And I won't be far from where you are if ever you should call
You meant more to me than anyone I ever loved at all
But you taught me how to trust myself and so I say to you
This is what I have to do

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood
Oh, she who dares to stand where I stood

Another Sweet Treasury :>

2011-02-10T21:35:00.007+08:00

Hullo!

Sorry I have been really busy lately. :( And worse, my nose keeps on threatening to die on me with its incessant inner swellings and ... you know what, I shan't gross you out with my nose woes. :]

Anyway, one of our pouches (our first ever pouch actually!) got featured in this sweet treasury by consentiodes. It's so xj (doggie!) because she is really of sweet.., okay not the sweetest but still, sweet innocence. :D

Here are a few of my favourite items from this treasury!

So cuttteee!

I can make them into brooches and pin them on my cardigan or totebag. Should I?!

I really REALLY like this too, because it's so country-like! You know, my future bedroom is going to resemble something that comes out of a country furniture catalog. At least I promise myself that! haha

In the meanwhile, I really REALLY need to pull myself up and do some justice to gewwybeans and stop acting.. I mean stop being a sloth.

Wish me luck!

disenchanted

2011-02-08T14:38:00.000+08:00

Well baby, I never did stop you from going out to explore
We can do it all together from the colds of the poles
to the tropics of Borneo

Happy 6th Birthday XiaoJia!

2011-02-06T23:02:00.002+08:00

xj turns 6 today! But she is still the little baby princess (cheesey but true!) that I first met.

Shall upload more pics from the camera, tomorrow!

HAPPY LOVELY BIRTHDAY JIA JIA. :D

Happy lunar new year!!

2011-02-06T15:12:00.001+08:00

Hullo hullo!!
How is your Chinese new year coming along? I haven't been getting many ang pows (heh) but it's okay, really. Met my cousin's dog, dumpling (I know haha) who is a completely changed dog! He used to be so utterly naughty and would nibble and bite people he wasn't familiar with (me). But now, he is such a cutie pile of fur! Like a baby boy :D
Not to mention my cousin's baby boy (real human bean of course), jayden! Or shoichi :) can you imagine a little boy of almost 3 fully equipped with the knowledge of three languages? So adorable!! But guess what, I'm tired. Haha, I guess I'm not much of a social butterfly, I need my sloth time. I swear to do up a new pouch by this week!!!
Here are some phone photos to share. Sorry for the crappiness of this entry, blame the phone!!!

Happy rabbit year!!!

- posted using blogpress from my blueberry