Terrariums and shelling

*WARNING* This is going to be a very long post with heaps of photos.

A few months ago I started shopping around online for nautilus shells as I remember someone in Brunei using them as planters for their orchids. Even though it was many years ago, it stayed stuck in my head. What I found online instead was a very addictive blog of a lady who lives in Sanibel, Florida.

www.iloveshelling.com
 

It brought back so many memories of when my family and I went to the beach and I would be stooping every few metres to pick up a rock or a shell. Since reading her blog posts I got tempted to visit beaches round here and started collecting shells again. I now have a decent stash :D

New and old shells I've collected over the years, all washed up and drying under the sun. As you can see in the far left, I've collected some drift wood as well. Green shells on the left are Turbans and shells on the far right are mostly cones. I was also lucky enough to find some sea urchin tests (skeleton) which are not shown here, I'll upload some photos of them in the next post.

 

 Laying out my shells to dry

 Mini tri coloured shells

I think these white ones are wentletraps but I could be wrong

 Look at the colour and pattern on this one!

I have since made some plywood boxes to arrange them all. Below are the shells I collected and some I bought from shops.

All neatly (sort of) arranged!

The pointy shells got dumped in here

Cowries, moon snails and other rounder shells

I think these are mostly turbans

Scallops and bi-valves

Cones and volutes!

The lack of recent posts is also because I've recently moved into a new house (hence the garage sale) and have been making new furniture and cleaning up and doing mini renovations here and there. In between those tasks I managed to find time to decorate the house with terrariums that I made.

Some small hanging globes filled with succulents and moss (sheet moss and coral moss used here)

Found a beautiful candy jar at a SALVOS shop last year but haven't had time to make a terrarium with it until yesterday. There was a lot of clean up required but so worth it! Filled it up with moss, lichen, ferns and a miniature totoro sculpture. Totoro sculpture courtesy of Jana and Lammi who bought it from HK ;) Thanks!

 

This set of silverware/pewter (no idea what material it is) were also salvaged from a SALVOS store. They are now perfect containers for some of my succulents.

More terrarium globes! Housewarming gifts from Soap (who is of course awesome). She knew I liked terrariums and got these for me when she saw them at a florist.

Close up of the big globe

 The bathroom gets a lot of filtered light so some terrariums go there too

 This one with an airplant in it goes next to the sink

The next post will have some artworks I've been working on as well as the photos of the sea urchin tests I found on the beach ;)

Garage Sale *UPDATED*

Manage to sell a lot of things for prior and during the garage sale. Many thanks to everyone who came to this site to visit. A lot of food containers, mugs, plates and bowls were donated to SALVOS as we were unable to sell them and they were all in very good condition.

Hybrid bike - $60 (photo to come): pick up at Dandenong North SOLD!!
Survived a road trip from Mulgrave to the city and back. In very good condition and has been very well maintained.

2 study chairs - $20 each: pick up at Clayton SOLD
One blue one shown below, and a black leather boss-like arm chair (photo to come)

IKEA bed (FJELLSE) + bed slats (mattress not provided) - $50 now $30: pick up at Clayton SOLD

It's only 5 months old so it's practically new. The original IKEA bed doesn't come with bed slats so this is a seriously good buy!

White steel bed frame (mattress not provided) - $60 now $40: pick up at Clayton SOLD

It's a very sturdy bed frame.

Other items we managed to sell. Thank you and we hope the items you purchased have found a good home and are treating you well!!!

White bedside chest of drawers - $5 or free with the bed:
TAKEN
Recycled chest of drawers. Has new handles and coat of paint.

Stationery set - $5: 
DONATED

Take the whole lot or any 10 items for $3. Two A4 sized ring binders, steel mesh stationery organisers, a small clock, a set of pens (blue) and assorted note pads and ruled paper.

Tall bookshelf - $15:
TAKEN

Small bookshelf - $10:

IKEA lack side table and IKEA Kautsby antique stain chair - $25:
TAKEN

Study table - $15:
One of the discontinued IKEA study tables. Features a glass top and glass pull-out drawer in a steel frame.

Vacuum cleaner - $30:
TAKEN
Very powerful Sanyo vacuum cleaner with retractable power cable and length adjustable rod. Very easy to dismantle for storage. Comes with 2 types of floor heads (flat as shown and small round brush).

Canon scanner - $20 negotiable (photo to come):
Very small and thin scanner with a verticle dock.
TAKEN

Speaker and subwoofer system - $10 (photo to come):
TAKEN
Cute as hell, 2 white speakers and a small white subwoofer all cubed shaped. Dont compare them to the highest quality sound systems but they work as well as these little things get and they have entertained me for many years. Very well looked after and comes in its original packaging.

Ceramic knife set - $10:
TAKEN
Stays sharp, the small green one has a very small chip at the tip but everything else is in perfect condition.

Mini drawers - $8:
DONATED
Does not fir A4 sized stuff unfornately but has a pop up mirror and smooth drawers.

Bamboo chopping boards - $4:
TAKEN
3 sizes, very new.

2 wool rugs for sale - $60 each
TAKEN
about 2 x 3 metres
They are both clean and one is brand new (bought it, colour didn't match and ended up not using it!)
One of them is a discontinued IKEA rug with this pattern.

The other one (new) is all rolled up so I didn't get a photo =( Sorry... It's a dark brown and beige square checkered pattern.


IKEA coffee table (lack) - $20 (negotiable):
TAKEN
Dark brown colour.

Fridge - $130 (negotiable):
TAKEN
In good, working order. Has a new motor installed just recently so it will have a long lifespan.

Washing Machine - $100 (negotiable):
TAKEN
4.0kg, top loader with a middle column and stainless steel barrel.

Study chair - $5 or free with study table:
TAKEN
Steel frame study chair.

Microwave oven - $20:
TAKEN
We've had it for a few years and it's never failed us! Plus we keep it clean.

 Mini oven/toaster - $10:
TAKEN
You can make peanut butter toast on this. Enough said.

Rustic wooden bookshelf - $15:
TAKEN!

Solid wood. I would've taken it with me if I didn't have so many already.

Shopping cart - $5:
TAKEN
Clean, almost new. Has only been used 3 times.

An almost family reunion

It is most definitely winter now. Biting cold wind, dreary sky, light sheets of rain, fat rain, intermitent rain, not to mention the occassional hail storms ... ah Melbourne, your winter is much dreaded.

It's a shame my dad had to come down under in this kind of weather but if he hadn't he would have regretted it. Excitement was been building up over the welcoming of a new member of the family: my niece. Me, my older sis, jiman koko and mum have been gushing over her cuteness so much that it tempted my dad to book a last minute flight to come to Melbourne for a week. That was 2 weeks ago. It was worth it :D Younger sis came to visit from Perth too and what a lazy relaxing week that was for me. That was also the week that Diablo III was finally released to the dismay of many girlfriends, fiances and wives.

Oh, little brother had to study for exams so he was stuck in Malaysia. Family reunion? Almost, thanks webcam!

 How I imagined my bro really felt

 The whole family bunking at my sis's apartment living room. Jan and I on our own lappies.


Some sketches to finish off!

Random sketch of garden stuff

An overly colourful but supposedly white cockatoo

P.S. Happy birthday Janis!

Mid-fall

One of the hobbies that I've picked up (among many) since moving to Melbourne is gardening. And I've gone in pretty full force too! Renting a house means turning the backyard upside down, full on renovation style is a no go so I've opted for planting in pots; and spring bulbs thrive well in pots.

Last year I started out with a bag of giant freesia bulbs. They were planted a little too late so the flowers only bloomed for a short time and in small numbers. After more research I've decided to try planting more freesias; wild, giants and refracta albas, hyacinths (they smell nice!), jonquils, irises, tulips, crocuses and a few wild bulbs I found in parks. They've been planted since early fall so most of them have started rooting and some of the green shoots are starting to poke out. *exciting*

 

Giant freesias - white and yellows

 

Jonquil bulbs in pebbles and water

 

 The roots are growing well!

Green shoot sprouting out of one of the jonquil bulbs

Onion weed - small white bell shaped flowers, wild

 I also have an airplant collection

 

 Attempting a few mini terrariums of mosses as well - coriander seed got caught in one of them

Re-vamp attempt

This blog has been on hiatus for some time; I have been keeping myself busy but I feel it's time to set aside some time to do what I like most.

To start off, the completed peacock sketch which I started years ago as written in this post was finally finished in 2011:

I was glad to know that my aunt was very pleased with her commission!

Other random sketches worth showing in between then and now:

Nadal in the sweltering heat of the Aussie Open 2012


Drawing for the cover of our 1st year anniversary photobook



A sudden found fandom of the One Piece manga... truly AWESOME

Enough sketches for now. Next post might contain more photos =)

To a friend who's always been next to me since kindergarten

To a friend who've never judged me or my actions

To a friend who sets me back in the right direction when I've gone astray

To a friend who've always been by my side when I need her

To a friend who always lends an ear when I need someone to listen

To a friend who understands me more than I understand myself

To a friend who supports me no matter what I've chosen to do

To a friend who travels thousands of miles just to visit to me

To a friend who everyone deserves


I'm so glad to have someone like you in my life. Wish you all the happiness this new year. Happy birthday Angie =) Miss you and love you lots! *hugs*