Spotlight Haul

This week Spotlight, an Australian bed, bath and craft superstore, opened their first store in Malaysia. No biggie... just 50% discounts on sewing machines that's all. 

Needless to say, I shopped. The place is amazing for craft supplies especially for those into sewing. I bought two types of scuba (neoprene?) fabric that I've been seeing everywhere and hopefully will make these into something wearable. I don't know how to sew but I've been thinking about learning and getting a simple sewing machine for a while now.This sewing machine normally costs over RM800; I purchased it for RM549 :O

I'm thinking though that some things are pretty pricey maybe because they bring in aussie brands. Thank goodness for the SALE! 

Things I would get here: 

Fabric (they have a more modern prints and fabric selection than places like Kamdar)

Party supplies (they have a bigger selection of cute things like chinese takeout boxes and cheap things like paper straws for RM8/20pc)

Assorted washi tape, ribbon, twine packs 

Things I would not get here:

Certain basic art supplies (some things like Mod Podge and Stretched Canvases are cheaper at Art Friend*)

Bed and Bath supplies (mainly because I think IKEA is cheaper and I don't mind their quality)

*I saw a sign that said they would match the price of any item found to be cheaper elsewhere. Need to check if this is true for all items or just the fabric.

I have so much hope for this fabric. Please be wonderful.

Assorted ribbon packs with all the mandatory colours and patterns.

Washi tape! Really good price I think.

More ribbon and baker's twine packs. 

My 1.5 metre cut of Scuba Knit in a bright aqua blue.

Iron-on patches. Probably the most adorable and overpriced thing we bought. 

DIY: Canvas Art

A friend of mine is moving into a new apartment so I made her a housewarming gift! Her job requires a lot of creativity so I thought this would be a nice addition to her room. This project was super easy and took only one night to complete (with the help of my sister). It looks so good against my blackboard wall :( Must make one for myself too.

First things first, off to the craft store! We bought a 18x18 inch stretched canvas, Mod Podge, a bottle of regular craft glue, and a sponge applicator. I think we paid around...RM50 total? Mod Podge is a little expensive and I couldn't find my last bottle so I had to get a new one. If you have glue and Mod Podge already though then the canvases are a fair price. Our large one cost probably RM26 +-.

I was paranoid about using pencil on the canvas in case it wouldn't rub off so I drew out my letters on artblock first, cut them out and then arranged them on the canvas. When I was happy with the positions I stuck each letter down with a layer of Mod Podge. Somehow I still wasn't careful enough and if you look closely you'll see that it's slightly off-center and tilted. Boo. Next time I'll use a ruler.

Once the artblock guides are stuck down its just a matter of sticking layer upon layer of newspaper (or whatever filler you have around) until you get to the thickness desired. You can also just start with the book shreds but I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to use book pages or magazine pages so I did something neutral to fill it out. 

At this stage, I use the cheaper regular craft glue. Shred - Glue - Stick - Repeat.

How many layers of paper you do depends on the thickness you want. I wanted a little 3-D effect but got lazy after a while so I think we ended up doing three layers of newspaper and two layers of book shreds. If you want a more embossed look then more layers, MORE LAYERRRRSSS I SAY!

Once the last layer of book shreds was done, I covered everything in a layer of Mod Podge using the sponge applicator. The photo above was taken just after and you can see that it's glossy and the pages have a white-ish coat over them. I made sure to coat the edges too so that all the letters are extra secure and sealed in. 

Overnight, the whole thing hardens and dries clear.

My sister says that there's no order in decoupage but I disagree. Certain words or fonts you can pick out and place strategically for effect. Also, I found that it looked much more cohesive when I worked from one corner to another instead of randomly pasting all over and then going to patch the holes later.

Pretty...

This project was not only easy to do, it can be made so many different ways. My sister and I had so many ideas, like using our old Archie comics and Harry Potter books. In the end we decided against ripping apart good books though so we used some old old cheesy horror/sci fi books instead. Next time.

We bought our supplies at Art Friend. They have one of the largest craft supplies selections in KL.

Art Friend
Lot T-213, Level 3
The Gardens, Mid Valley
Opening Hours: 10am - 10pm
Tel: 03- 2284 7777

Earl Grey & Caramel Macarons

My third try making macarons. The first time - total disaster. The second time was better but I was so tired I didn't fill them. This time was okaaay. They're no TWG Macarons but after all that hard work I thought I should at least take some photos.

The hardest part - blending the almond pieces into almost powder consistency. WHY does no one sell Almond Flour in Malaysia??

Earl Grey tea leaves give the batter an interesting speckled look

I stopped shortly after this stage but I think I should have mixed more

Little blue pancakes resting before they get chucked into the oven

Yummy! Not too sweet thanks to the Earl Grey and salt in batter and caramel.

Results: Some of my macaron shells cracked and some did not develop feet. I think overall I was more successful using the Italian method. This time I wanted to try the French technique because it seemed easier but next time I'll definitely do the Italian. They weren't as temperature sensitive I guess. These macarons were baked at too low a temperature at first (around 125 celsius) and failed to develop much feet. The second batch I baked at 150 celsius and they were fine. By the last batch I'm thinking my oven had gotten too hot and almost all cracked.

Also, I suck at filling - gah! Next time I'm just going to pay for my favourite TWG macarons. 

I used a combination of these recipes:

Basic macaron recipe from The Macaron Diaries

Earl Grey Macaron recipe from Nasi Lemak Lover

Cuisinart ICE-21 Review

I got a new Ice Cream Maker!! About a year ago I bought a Kenwood IM280 Ice Cream Maker. It worked OKAAYY but it wasn't great. Almost every batch of ice cream came out looking like cold sludge instead of the soft-serve consistency promised on the manual. WHYYYYYY?! I concluded that the machine simply wasnt made for our weather and sought out a better one.

The Cuisinart is not available in Malaysia but I got my mum to bring one back with her from the U.S. 

It's amazing. Just amazing.

 

The machine is extremely simple. It has four parts: the base which houses the motor, a clear plastic cover, the plastic paddle and a freezer bowl. Basically the same as the Kenwood except that the freezer bowl on the Cuisinart seems to be made of a different material. The Cuisinart freezer bowl is filled with some kind of liquid that you can hear sloshing around when it's warm. The Kenwood on the other hand doesn't as far as I can tell. I don't hear any liquid sloshing around even when its been sitting out of the fridge all day. I suspect this is the crucial difference which allows the Cuisinart to freeze liquids quickly to an almost solid state versus sweet sludge.

The one problem with the machine is the need for a Step Down Transformer. Because American machines are made for 120 volts whereas our plug points discharge 240 volts (or something), I had to get a transformer from ACE Hardware which was expensive and looks completely hideous. Bah.

Anyway, I made a custard based ice cream beforehand. This is it after having been in the refrigerator over night. Its already very thick and has a mousse-y consistency. I dump this in the Cuisinart!

The ice cream is a dark chocolate malt flavour so I crush some Malteser balls and throw them into the machine too.

Scraping some frozen ice cream off the sides

15 minutes later-------Tadaa! Soft Serve ice cream that I had to scoop out with a spoon. YUMMM.

With the Kenwood, I almost always poured the soupy cream out directly into a bowl. I'm happy now.

Overall, the Cuisinart ICE-21 is a better ice cream maker for our K.L/Malaysian weather. 

Freezing

The freezer bowl is colder and can churn ice creams with low egg and fat content. The Kenwood worked well enough with custard style ice creams with loads of eggs and heavy cream but wasn't able to turn out a smooth ice cream which didn't have lots of heavy cream and eggs in it. The Kenwood also tended to melt very quickly and by the 20th minute, the bowl begins to sweat and if left any longer the ice cream actually starts to get softer rather than harder. The Cuisinart on the other hand stays frozen for much longer and may even be able to handle two batches back to back. 

Size & Capacity

Both machines have a 1.5 litre capacity which is more ice cream that my family can eat most of the time. But the Cuisinart bowl is actually more compact and so doesn't use up as much space in my freezer.

Speed

Because the bowl is colder (and maybe because the bowl and not the paddle turns) it actually freezes much faster than the Kenwood. My custard ice cream only took about 10 mins in the bowl. Using the Kenwood, it generally took at least 20mins to get to a stiff enough consistency.

DIY: Personalised Paper Bags

Test run!

This one was ridiculously easy. I read about how to do it on Oh Happy Day. 

Step 1: Prepare your design on Photoshop/ GIMP/ MS Word (make sure the design fits the dimensions of the bag)

Step 2: Paste the flap of the paper bags down and the opening shut with tape (make sure its not so sticky that it'll tear your bag when you take it off. I used washi tape because it's a very weak adhesive)

Step 3: PRINT AWAYYY

We tested a couple fonts and designs until we settled on this one. My Christmas Treat bags are ready to go! This is going to save me hours and hours of wrapping time.

If you're wondering where to get these paper bags, I got them at Syarikat Perniagaan Wakim Sdn Bhd for RM11 for 100. I initially visited looking for paper bags with handles but came back with these instead. Thanks to Musings about a Mom for blogging about this place! According to Nieda who blogs at My Sweet Story... though Mydin sells these for an even lower price.  I'm not sure about the quality though.

Lawn Balcony Hack

We haven't been able to take Bubba out to the park lately so today we thought, why not bring the park to him! I have no idea whether this will actually work but it wasn't expensive so I think it's worth a try.

Presenting ... the Lawn Balcony Hack.

Bubba loves to pee on grass like this

I forgot to take a 'before' photo but we basically have a very large balcony with a shallow drain along the outside and sides. The family and I took a drive down to Sungai Buloh where all the best nurseries are and came back with a car full of dirt, trees, rocks and grass.

We lined the balcony floor with a two feet wide sheet of waterproof plastic (the kind they use for potting plants temporarily sometimes). Then, we filled the drain with pretty pebbles and lined the outside with pebbles too to keep the soil from spilling out onto the tiles. 

Why, hello topless Ang Moh!

Once the ground was ready, we poured on the soil!! These cost about about RM1.50 a bag I think. We got 10 and had three extra for our Limau tree and Ciku plant.

Once the soil was spread out evenly, we put on the pieces of grass on top. This is Filippino Grass and they cost RM1.80 a piece. We got 20 but only needed about 15.

Not as pretty as Japanese grass but way better than Malaysian grass which is as inviting as a pile of rusty nails

 Tadaaaaaa! So pretty. 

Our new Ciku plant blending right in

Topless men done sunbathing by now ... poo.

According to the boss-man at the nursery, this setup should work except that the grass will need a lot of sunlight to flourish. We usually do get a lot of light but lately the weather has been pretty blagh so it's possible this will all be dirt by next week. Oh well! I'm also a little bit worried about drainage for when it rains... 

The Hunt for Milk Bottles in Malaysia

My precious. Milo Ais has never been this fancy

I FOUND IT! If you live in Malaysia and you've been looking for milk bottles then you understand why this is a big deal. After endless "where to buy milk bottles in Malaysia?" google searches ... here it is. This is the closest I've been able to come so far to a classic glass milk bottle shape. 

This bottle is perfect! It looks just like a vintage bottle, it's just the right size (250ml), and most importantly it's affordable. You can buy a more vintage look milk bottle from TYPO but it'll cost you RM10 for ONE! Assuming you have a party for 20 that's RM200 just for bottles. I cannot.

TYPO's RM10 milk bottle 

http://shop.cottonon.com/shop/product/milk-bottles-clear/ 

The bottle I found costs RM1 with a gold lid (no photos of the lid because I chose not to buy it) or 80sen without. The only catch is you have to buy at least 20 at a time. I'm still searching for a cheaper bottle, but until then, I'm ecstatic I found this. Will use them for our Christmas party and my sister's sweet sixteen!

You can purchase this milk bottle from a supplier called Polyclass. They have a store under the name Glass and Plastic Packaging Sdn Bhd in Petaling Jaya. They sell many other glass and plastic containers as well but they are generally a lot more expensive and certain things can be bought elsewhere for much cheaper. This bottle though I haven't been able to find anywhere else.

Glass and Plastic Packaging Sdn Bhd 

I-83-G, Jalan Teknologi 3/9, Bistari De Kota,

Kota Damansara, PJU 5,

47810 Petaling Jaya.

03-6141 6856

Google Map

They've moved! I hope they still have these in stock. The new address:

3A OMNI Kota Damansara,
Lorong Teknologi C (Off Jalan Teknologi)
Taman Sains Selangor 1, PJU 5,
Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya.
03-6143 6942