POGOSHOP BY LAURA RAY

I went through the "This Handmade Life" Section in Etsy this morning and saw some pretty inspiring stories from a few Etstians. Life is so different here in my country where everything gets so restricted in the city but Laura Ray shared something about her life which made me think that getting a different life is possible!

"I wanted to lead children to experience and love the natural world. They might not live in the forest, but I wanted them to feel at home there. My hope was that someday, having loved the forest as children, they might not bulldoze it as adults." - Laura Ray

Laura is a retired first-grade teacher who believes that children should have their lessons in the nature and I had always imagine myself in those beautiful forest 'cause I know nothing about nature here in my country. All I know about nature here was moisture, creeky mosquitoes and humid weather, in fact I love nothing about nature here, but I believe children should get more contacts with the nature than having the habit of sitting at the computer most of the time (like what I'm always doing here.. *sad*).

Anyway, Laura is now working on her Etsy shop. She made little wooly toys called Pogos from upcycled materials to share with the children and I think they are really adorable!



(photo source from "A Visit to Pogo Forest" by Laura Ray)

THE BLACK AND WHITE BOOKS

Last night, I completed the rest of the books left undone last week. Life have been a busy one for me these weeks due to a freelance job and I was really tired, partly brain dead, but I will persevere for my Egham trip next year. =)







I'm all done with four of the Black & White Sketch Books Series and they will be on my Etsy shelves soon! The cover drawings were sketches I did for my daily school works and I thought it might look good on book covers. I've decided to put them in sets of four so I thought of doing a different packaging as of what I did to my Fabric Series Books..

MY FIRST DESIGN AWARD

I just received a really great news on facebook a while ago that I got myself a merit award for GOODEYEDEER t-shirt competition!! I felt as if I'm floating the moment I saw the news.. Though it's just a small award but it definitely do me some good for my future achievements. Here's the design for the theme "Singapore"..

MY FABRIC COVER BOOKS

I was looking for the right packaging for my Fabric Cover Sketchbooks and finally I found one! I have always love the colour and texture of Kraft Papers, so I made Pocket Sleeves with them and tied them like a parcel using the Natural Hemp Twine, attaching one of the tags printed yesterday.. and Voilà!

PERSONALISED TAGS

I had my new tags done last night which will go together with the packaging for the booklets that I will be selling in my Etsy shop.. and I was really glad that my high school classmate fork out some of her time this afternoon to accompany me for the printings and shopping at Fancy Paper (which happens to be the most boring shop for her! hah!) Thanks Snail~

She reminded me on Facebook tonight about a gift I gave her last Christmas.. "It's Santa!"
That was the first art I made for Christmas. She just love snails so much.. =)

GREYSON CHANCE

I was watching the television earlier on and saw the news about Greyson Chance which set me looking for his videos on youtube! For the first time, I never like the song Paparazzi but I love this version! Can't believe how these talents got into these kids.. He's only 12..

ILLUSTRATION - SILENCE

5 April 2010 / Ink + Kraft Paper

Sometimes I imagine myself in a huge hollow library, the silence of it amplified the "tacking" sound of the chess piece moved along the chess board by an old man, seated at a dimly lit corner of the library, just by himself.