Wedding Photobooth and a Carrot

I loved doing projects for Joni, my eldest daughter's wedding recently. She was toying with some ideas and I happily volunteered to make this.

As you recall, I collect scrap wood from this furniture shop that throws them out.  (I always feel like a little squirrel storing nuts for the winter :)  I also made my white privacy screens on rollers this way - you can see them when you click on the grey words.  

These are bed slats.

I knocked them off their frames, sawed some to get more-or-less the same lengths, then nailed them together to make three columns.  I was hoping to get them all in their natural wood colour (see how the last few pieces are a different shade?)..

 
..and waited and waited for the shop to throw some more out.  Then I couldn't wait anymore, and so had to paint them with a very, very diluted grey paint to even out the shade, yet leave it still rustic-looking.  My husband helped me with making the back supports.

  

Then I used masking tape to help me figure out the positioning of the different lines of words (words were chosen by bride and groom).

Joni had given me an A4 size picture of the font etc that she had arranged.  I do not know how to do fonts, word arrangements, or stencilling.  Heck, I don't even know how to put the words into a thumbdrive and have them enlarged at a photocopying shop! (where's everybody when you need them?) So I just winged it - I drew the words on, free-hand, using pieces of blackboard chalk.

Then I painted over the chalk using white gloss paint and a fine brush. (It was like drawing eye-liner on for ten thousand 700 ladies).

And here's where the carrot makes it debut.  I am an amateur DIYer.  I do not have the proper tools or machines or fancy equipment for my projects.  I grab whatEVER works. No kidding. So... see the dots in the picture below?

 Yep, I cut off the tip of a carrot and dipped it in paint.  Worked fine.

On days when the haze situation was bad or it got too hot out at the back of our house, I just hauled that whole column in and painted it in my sitting room.  With the air-conditioning on.  Like a boss.  :)

Here are my models.  The words for this column were taken from their pre-marital course.

The words for this column are part quotation from a writer, and if someone is dying to know, I'll find out from the groom for you as soon as they get back from their honeymoon :)

My husband and I having a little fun.

Our long-time family friend's daughter in a beautiful saree, totally outshining my photobooth :)

 Oh.  And the carrot?  Well, here's a story for you!  A long time ago I was teaching Sunday School to a group of village children in Kuching, East Malaysia.  I was teaching them a vegetable printing (okra, potato) craft.  One of the children had exclaimed, "Eeyer, Cikgu -  membazir...." (Malay for, "Oh no, Teacher, what a waste..."). 

Some things we'd never bat an eye at, like using store-bought vegetables for a simple craft.  Yet for some, they see it as using produce from months of hard work on a farm.  Boy, I never forgot that remark...

I cut off the painted tip of the carrot.  And put the rest of it in a stew..  :)

DIY Ampersand

An ampersand.  It represents so much to me personally, as far as a marriage goes.  It means "AND".  It means no more solo-flying.  It means everything is done with the other person in mind.  Major decisions on family, children, money, future plans, career direction, are discussed with your spouse.

How very close to my heart this symbol is.  How very painful when what it represents is not remembered.  How very painful when one or both decide to 'do their own thing'.

We had a wedding in the family couple of days ago. I was helping with the decorations and wanted an ampersand because I loved the ones I saw on Pinterest.  But they don't sell large ones around these parts.  The ones I've seen are a mere 6 inches high.  So...again...I'd just have to make one then!

I bought a piece of plywood about three-eighths of an inch thick. Then, I drew an ampersand free-hand, about 21 inches high on a piece of paper, then traced it out on the wood. (As you can see, I'd already started sawing the bottom before I remembered I hadn't taken a picture!)

 Since I don't have a lot of tools to my name and usually use whatever I have on hand, I used this borer to make a hole at the top.  This is the same boring (hole-making, not in anyway meaning ho-hum boring) bit I used for the birdhouse I made before.

 Then I used my electric saw to saw around the shape (see kids, I TOLD you I'd rather have a saw as a birthday present than some flowers.  Thank you again and again!).  I had to be careful especially around the narrower parts which could've snapped off - maybe a thicker piece of wood might have been better.

 Then I painted it with a grey base coat and a yellow top coat (grey and yellow being the theme colours of the wedding) and sanded that baby for a rustic look.

 

 

It's not perfect, but I love it!

 

And now for some modelling....by these two who are not perfect, who sometimes take 'solo flights', who sometimes forget to consider the other, who sometimes need a simple reminder.  Like a wooden ampersand.

Royalty and Commoner

I think I have pretty good resistance when I go shopping. Very rarely do I find something that I have to have. Today was one of the rare occasions I succumbed.
How pretty is this set? A darling teapot with a matching cup. Only 10 ringgit. The last set.
(or I would've bought you one, right? Righhhhhttt...)

See the details?


So I brewed some tea for it (tea is such an English thing, don't you think?)

Then it had to be placed on my cupboard, Lady Victoria. (You can read about Lady Victoria when you click on the purple)



Now that's royalty. English tea with a Lady.

Now set the stage:

1. One ladder picked up off a roadside, where it was dumped with other scrap pieces of wood and junk. Yes, I should get a job with Alam Flora.Dry-brushed the ladder a little here and there with white emulsion paint to make it (me) happier. (shown in later picture)

2. One antique-looking clock, bought at Mydin (Mydin! Yes, that massive wholesale place where you can sometimes actually find something interesting.)


3. One metal teapot, bought at a used-thingy place for a miserable 3 ringgit! (US$1 something).
Planted an ivy in it.






























4. One scruffy, badly-painted-in-green hurricane lamp rescued from mother-in-law's (who is moving house soon). Repainted it with black streaks and a pop of red.



5. One crochet piece made by a Thai dentist friend (miss you, Moh Toom!)


6. One wooden crate found by roadside probably used for mandarin oranges during Chinese New Year.
Now using it, as is, for magazines...






















Now put that together...



7. Two leftover scraps of laminate flooring. Hammered together, then painted it red and black, with a white bird design.





























Now put it all together under the stairs.



There.

Royalty and Commoner make a beautiful sight.

And yes, happy for you too, Prince William and Katherine.


Oh, oh. Look at the words on the teapot....




Hope that every time you have tea together, you'll remember to be thankful for each other. I know that'll sure help keep one royal couple together. Ummm...that'll help keep any couple together, royal or not. Don't you think?






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And Here's Part 2 of How to Find Your Life Partner

This post is otherwise titled, "A bird's eyeview of bird idioms and sayings".

In my previous post, I gave a few pointers on how to find your life partner . Really, for
a rare number some of you, it seems like you're surrounded by so many potential ones. It's like they come to you like a duck takes to water!





But for others, it seems like you're hitting a wall in this area.



And maybe you feel like you've been left out of the action altogether.




You wish you could have just one, just one, eating out of your hands. And you wrongly think that that will make you happy as a lark.


(OK, that guy looks as happy as a lark but that's not the point I'm trying to make here)

Before you start having thoughts like:

a. but...but...the early bird catches the worm!
b. and..and...a bird in hand is worth two in the bush!
c. and I shouldn't be picky cos what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander! or worse,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. lady, I ain't no spring chicken!

Here are some more things you may want to consider:

1. Be very suspicious cautious of who you date. Watch him/her like a hawk!

(Ok, so that's not a hawk but I like the way he's watching you)

Watch out for the fancy talkers, those who give their sales pitches - time will tell if they deliver.





2. Please! - learn some body language skills. Here are just two examples.

a. - do they have a glint in their eye?

b. - are they hiding behind a mask?





3. What kind of friends do they hang out with? You know how they say birds of a feather flock together, right?

4. Watch out for the boastful ones, the show-offs. After all, a peacock has fair feathers but fowl (foul?) feet.



5. On the other hand, do not think that if they dare not look you in the eye, or if they're quiet and don't say much, that they're

-dumb

-aloof

-boring

They could be just... shy, you know?

I kinda like those a little shy, the kind who'd blush easily...

(and this is where you go, "awwwwwww.....")

It makes them more....

....more

....edible readable.

OR maybe they're not shy! Maybe, just maybe, they're

wise?

"A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?" - Edward Hersey Richards

6. Really, does it matter if they're ugly plain?

Well, does it?

7. Personally, I'd be wary of the regal-looking ones. The ones that drive flashy cars and are dressed to the T (for all you know, they may only be the chauffeur of some Big Shot who gets to use the car inbetween trips for abovementioned Big Shot)....

... I'd be afraid of those who are so groomed, y'know, every strand of feather hair in place - lest they have deep insecurites. Or, OCD tendencies ("You're so vain - you probably think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?")

(and why are your eyes red anyway? wait-a-minute-are-you-drunk?)

8. Maybe you'd even want to avoid those who have nicer hairdos than yours? (I would -_- sheesh!)

9. Do not, I repeat, do not, go near those who try to play footsie with you!

Immediately show them the door out!

9. Do look for someone with a good head on his shoulders. And his feet on the ground.

I know. Finding that life partner is beginning to sound scarcer than a hen's teeth, right?

But would you rather a short-term, fly-by-night relationship only to find after some time, he/she has flown the coop?

And even if the fish got away (oops...I'd better stick to bird idioms), please remember that just one swallow does not make a summer.

In summary (cos I'm a stickler for order):

1. Be cautious who you date

2. Learn some body language

3. Who are their friends?

4. Watch out for the show-offs

5. Why are they quiet? shy? wise? dumb?

6. How much do looks matter to you?

7. Are they too flashy?

8. Look at their hairdo (!)

9. Do they try to get physical

10. Are they down-to-earth?


Photos were taken at the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, Malaysia, and the Jurong Bird Park, Singapore, some by the writer (and her lousy camera) and some by the writer's daughter (with the borrowed fancyschmancy camera).

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