DIY Lifestyle Challenge 2012

Evon from NTU School of Art, Design and Media in Singapore has started the DIY Lifestyle Challenge as her final year project.   Choose which challenge you want to take on, be it food, making, green commuting or mindful consumption, and email her at hello@diy-lifestyle.org.


According to her website, there are prizes, but I think the best prize of all is changing & sustaining our own behaviour....

Wonderbags

Image from Wonderbag


You've probably read about it in the papers or heard about it on the radio. It's the Wonderbag that cooks down on cooking time on a stove and cuts down on using fossil fuels for cooking.  Less use of fossil fuels means less pollution and less carbon emissions. For developing countries, where a lot of women need to gather wood and spend a lot of time in front of the stove, it will mean less exposure to indoor air pollution generated from burning stoves.


I like the idea of this Wonderbag. It reminds me of the Thermos pot I blogged about 3 years ago. My only concern is that although the Wonderbag is labelled as environmentally friendly, it uses polystyrene as the insulator. Okay, granted they use recycled polystyrene, but where will users in less developed nations go to recycle their polystyrene beads in the Wonderbag once it breaks? Polystyrene is not biodegradable. And if the manufacturers have run out of recycled polystyrene, are they going to make it from scratch? At least for my Thermos pot, it's made out metal and that can be recycled....   Will take some pics of my Thermos soon......

Creating Success Around the World - Khadjia's Creative Mind

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This week's interview is with Khadjia of Creative Mind.  Remember to hop over to the other hosts to check out the creative people they have interviewed :-)  Don't forget to link up!!!!It's my last interview as the Asian host for Creating Success Around the World. I had so much fun going through the blogs and interviewing the four lovely ladies.  Check them out again at the links below.   Next month's host will be Deepthi, so remember to visit her next week!

  

  

Onto the interview with the lovely Khadija!

Greeny Crafters 11 - Queenlicy

 

I always get excited when I find other refashionistas in Singapore.  It was really difficult at first (or maybe I wasn't looking in the right places, hee), but the first was the adorable Mongs of My Thrifty Closet which I featured recently, and now it's Amanda of Queenlicy!


Amanda is a housewife who hails from Indonesia but has been in Singapore for 3 years with her hubby. Amanda loves Singapore and says that she is "happy to stay here. Here is much better than my country, more clean, comfortable, organized and no traffic jam." [Here, here! I definitely agree with you on that :-) ]


What else do we know about Amanda? On most days I stay at home to take care my baby and doing housework. I have a son who is 18 month old. My hobbies are swimming, reading books, cooking, shopping and making things. I love to buy a novel and shopping for clothes, shoes ang bags. I also love to sing but only in the bathroom, my sisters said my voice make them headache lol  [Amanda, just wait until they hear my son sing ! :-p]

Amanda has no formal sewing training but learnt it on Youtube as soon as she could get hold of a sewing machine. She started with resizing clothes and the progressed to making new ones. Amanda admits that things were difficult at first, often resulting in failures, but she ended up successfully making a dress.

  

How did she start refashioning? It all started with a lot of her hubby's old clothes that were still in good condition. She refashioned them into nice clothes for herself and her son, saving money in the process.  Her hubby was very supportive (I like supportive partners!) and said she was creative.  Amanda says "I mostly work with t-shirt, cotton, polyester, chiffon, felt, lace, ribbon. Sometimes I like buy a few pieces of plain T-shirt then turn it into a more beautiful. Sometimes I make it a dress, or add details such as flowers, lace, button, ribbon, ruffle and ribbons.  Every time I go back to Indonesia, I always buy yards of fabric because the price is very cheap. In addition, I also like vintage clotches. My grandmother had a lot of vintage clothes and I did refashion with these clothes."  Amanda gets her ideas from blogs, stores and magazines.

Let's take a look at her refashions!

Tank top to dress! I'm loving the colours and the detail on the tank!

 

Amanda's always vintage dress refashioned from her granny's :-)  It's great to have something passed down to you from someone you love dearly.

 

Thank you for taking part! We look forward to seeing more of your creations, Amanda!! 

World Water Day 2012

It's been raining a LOT over here, mostly in the afternoons. I saw this man trying to collect the rainwater - maybe to flush the toilet (about 6L per flush), or may be just to wash his hands, or wash the floor. But he's trying to save water. Today is World Water Day.

 

15/30 The Capsule Wardrobe

 

You may know, you may not know, but there have been lots of initiatives by bloggers to wear one dress for the whole year with the aim of raising awareness on sustainability. I'm not sure who was the pioneer but there have been a lot of one dress a year projects. I do remember Sheena Matheiken coming to Singapore to give a talk about her's.


I stumbled upon the 15/30 The Capsule Wardrobe set up by T like Bubble Tea. Rather than take one year, let's take 30 days. It's started already, but what's to stop us from starting now?

You can wear:

1. Any 15 pieces from your wardrobe for 30 days
2. Accessories (incl. hats, scarves) /gym clothes/pyjamas/socks are NOT included in the 15 pieces
3. No shopping for 1 month
4. DIY on the existing 15 pieces is permitted
5. Be creative! Have fun! 

I think if you document the whole month, you'll see that you really DO have something to wear, and perhaps it will stop you from staring blankly at your wardrobe wondering what to put on! AND I think you'll realise that you don't need that many clothes after all :-)

A lot of refashionistas already DIY and don't shop (although I must admit I was nearly tempted into buying an Orla Kiely garment at Uniqlo), but I'm not sure about the 15 pieces restriction part :-)  If you're keen on starting, you might want to hop over to T like Bubble Tea's blog :-)

Creating Success Around the World - Neta of Doll Stories

 

 

Popped into the toy store and it was plastic this and plastic that, disproportionate dolls and weird  looking contraptions. Wouldn't it be good if we could made our own toys, or even make dolls out of scrap materials? Toys that we can actually keep?  I came across Neta of Doll Stories and was amazed by what she makes!

Amazing sock toy!

Survey on Waste Minimisation in Singapore

Singapore is a highly urbanised and industralised country. As a result of its rapid population and economic growth, the amount of waste that Singaporeans generate is on the rise. Today, each person produces about 0.86kg of waste per day. With continued population and economic growth, Singapore will need to keep building new incineration plants and sanitary landfills to deal with our waste. However, given our limited land area, this solution is not sustainable. The objective of this survey is to gauge Singaporeans' response towards the ongoing efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse waste as well as possible alternative approaches to managing Singapore's waste more sustainably. 



If you're staying in Singapore, please do hop over to my friend's survey on waste minimisation in Singapore.  She's now doing her post-graduate degree in environmental studies and needs feedback !!


Thanks in advance :-)

Green Hospital?

Was at the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital A&E ward and was pleasantly surprised to see how calming the hospital was. They had open concept toilets and a small stream with gold fish running through the ladies!  Apparently, they've been awarded the  Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Platinum Award. They have solar panels and rain sensors!


I spotted these things that the hospital put in place to get visitors to think about the environment:

Brightly coloured bins that want to be fed :-) 

If the bins are seeking attention, people will use them!

Well, that's what I think. This is better than a boring bin.

I also like it that their message starts with "Refuse".

I like this too.  

Do you really need that small plastic bag to contain your medicine?

You can just pop it into your handbag :-)

Greeny Crafter 10 - Made by Evyline

 

My parents came over last week and have been keeping my son entertained. Grandparents spoil kids rotten, which is a good thing and a bad thing all rolled into one! Well, we don't get to see them often so it's a nice thing for us :-)

This week's Greeny Crafter is Made by Evyline who is a sewing enthusiast and has always had an interest in sewing since she was a little girl.  Evyline enjoys her hobby and only started refashioning when she stumbled upon Wardrobe Refashion (which unfortunately, is now no longer in action). She was amazed with the idea of refashioning something old and boring to fabulously wearable again, rather than throwing or giving it away. Evyline joined the pledge to refashion (instead of buying new cloth) within a period of 2 months and she felt great doing it!. She's never stopped since :-)

Nominated for an Award!!

I've never been given an award but Caroline from Sewing for Utange, nominated me for the 7x7 Award - thank you, Caroline! Not sure what this means, but I thought I'd give it a try and pass it on to others! Okay, onto the questions - I have to share 7 things about myself, share 7 things about my blog and nominate 7 others ! 

Share 7 things about yourself:

1. I have a little boy who is growing up so fast that I really hope he stays cute and bubbly (although I doubt that will happen!)
2. I love to cook - my best dish (according to my hubby and son) is soya sauce chicken. Yum! 
3. I try to craft at least two things a month and it's only during the weekends that I get to do them as I work crazy hours (crazy meaning having to logon at home at night to do work stuff, or being called by the boss to do xyz) during the week.
4. Always dreaming about touring the European continent and the US - need to save up loads!
5. Love to read - faves are Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South, and J. Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Also the Chinese novel, Romance of the Sword & Book.
6. Really want to learn how to upcycle furniture but apprehensive about starting and not finishing it.
7. Always reminding myself not to be an impatient mum / wife :-p

Creating Success Around the World - Feathering a Nest

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It's week two! Have you done your world tour on Creating Success Around the World?  My next interview is with Ina from Jakarta, Indonesia! She blogs on Feathering a Nest and she's a mummy of twins.  She currently sells her clothing and accessories line called 'inaku' online.  

Remember to hop over to the other hosts to discover more talented crafters, and link up below!

Bag into small purse

Ugh, I really don't like the humid weather in Singapore. It makes your bags go musty and disintegrate, discolour and the whole lot, basically. The lining of this bag was sticky and the leather and become spotty, but I really like this bag because of the contrasting materials and colours used.  So I decided to rip it apart, remove the lining and put some of it back together. I've managed a small purse for my chapstick and lipstick.

Greeny Crafter 9 - Sewing for Utange

How was everyone's weekend? I had a lovely time catching up with friends and relatives, and I felt that it was too short a time. Think they should make weekends last a little longer - maybe 3 days?  This week's Green Crafters features Caroline of Sewing for Utange from the UK and she does what I call a "social enterprise".  Some of you who have followed my blog for quite a while might remember a few posts (e.g. Social Innovation Park) on social enterprise. It's basically a business that has philanthropic goals and can run on a non-profit or profit model. For Caroline, she sells her bags from recycled jeans and fabric. The proceeds of her sales go to the charity she supports. So, this project benefits not only the environment, but the charity too! So, you can see why I had to feature her!

Oh no!

It's a really, really big OH NO! Remember the nautical inspired top refashion I did ?  Well, let's just say that from now on, I will never ever use a hot glue gun on clothing. To say that I regret doing it is an understatement :-(    I have been wearing this top and I love it to bits but somehow (maybe because of the heat) these brown streaks started to appear and run through the garment. Then, the scientist in me realised that it must be the solvents in the glue I used  - oh boo hoo. So, you have all been warned!!! If you have embellishments you would like to put on your favourite clothes try to find the correct glue to use, or even better use the trusty old needle and thread even if it takes you forever.

Can you see the streaks in the picture ? :-(

Any ideas on how to save it (I don't want to use bleach), or may be reuse the embellishments?

Creating Success Around the World - My Thrifty Closet

Welcome to the March edition of Creating Success Around the World, and thanks again to Jill from Creating My Way to Success for inviting me to be the Asian host this month! There will be features from all corners of the globe.  Just click on the buttons below to see who is being interviewed, and don't forget to link-up and grab a button!







My first interview is with fellow Singaporean, Mongs from My Thrifty Closet! 

MEWR Budget Day 2012

It was the Ministry of the Environment & Water Resources budget session this afternoon. Check out their FaceBook page for the announcements.


My faves:
a) Smoking ban will be extended to more public areas
b) From 2013, energy management practices will become mandatory for large energy users in the industry and transport sectors under the Energy Conservation Act. 
c) From 2014, large commercial premises such as hotels and shopping centres will be required to report on their waste management data.

Choosing your veggies & fruits

Eat 2 fruit and 2 veggies every day.  A little bit of green, a bit of red and a bit of orange. That's what my son's school has been teaching them about eating veggies and fruits.  I'm sure it's the same in any school.

But (did you know the but was coming ? :-)), did you know that there is the danger of pesticides from the fruits & veggies you ingest?

According to the Environmental Working Group, if you follow this shopper's guide, you can lower your exposure to the chemicals. According to the Group, you can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables "the dirty dozen" and eating the least contaminated produce.

I took at the list and I was disappointed that most of my faves are on the avoid list :-(

Greeny Crafters 8 - Dumped & Discovered

Over the past 5 years, I've observed that I've had a new set of neighbours twice over!! And everytime there's a new neighbour, there's a massive overhaul of the decor and furniture in the flat - new bed, wardrobe, dining table ..... Somehow, the scrimp and save culture that once existed in our grandparents' time doesn't seem to exist in Asia anymore. The only person  I know who has never thrown out furniture is my husband's high school teacher. Apparently, her hubby designed the furniture to last - they still have the set (which is now 23 years old). And he was so forward looking that he designed the furniture without corners - so that they wouldn't get hurt in old age - yup, that's how forward looking he is!!!

So, why can't we be like them? I think we should take a leaf from upcyclers across the Pacific like "Dumped & Discovered".  Actually, I've searched and I've asked, and I don't think we have anyone in Singapore who upcycles furniture. (okay, if we do, please email me!) 

Sarah & Jon aka Mr & Mrs "Dump"