Updates!

I'm typing this as I'm drinking a concoction of Green tea, lemon juice, orange juice, ginger, and honey. Quite vile, yet endearing at the same time. Oh, did I forget to mention, I put a whole lemon in, which explains the sourness.

It's been awhile since I've updated here, and I do feel guilty when I miss out on stuff like that.
I've been taking things slowly again. That's the problem with me, I suck at motivating myself. I've also been reading some books, currently reading Eat, pray love. I thought the starting was quite boring at first, what with all the explanations... but as I trudged on, some of her experiences really appealed to me. Like what I'm/I've experienced. Sometimes it does you good to slow down your pace, and enjoy life as it is, appreciate what you have.

I used to think that train rides were shit. Now I listen to my songs during those long train rides, and I kind of enjoy it because that's the only time where I can focus on listening music (because there's nothing else left to do...I can't read/play games on moving vehicles because I have severe motion sickness).

"Don't stop believin', hold on to that feelin'" - Been watching Glee, and I love this song! I sing that to myself very often. And may I mention, I really love Emma's necklaces! All of them! Chunky, beaded, vintage inspired pieces that are to die for. And the colours! LOVE the colour combination of her clothes & accessories! I'm contemplating replicating them necklaces for myself, or i might upload them in my shop... I do have lots of beads!

In particular, this one. I'm obsessed with breaking the monotony of a necklace with accents on the side.

I've been singing again, twice a week. Which keeps me quite occupied, because it's been such a long time since I sang covers. Plus my repertoire of english oldies... is not that vast. Half the time during my set, the old songs sang by the other vocalist are new to me. But it's a good learning experience, I'm building up my repertoire this way!

I'm not making any sense now am I? Very incoherent. But I do have alot of thoughts lately. Need to straighten them out!

Anyway, here's a picture of a custom piece I made recently. Dreamy?

Meantime, some shop updates: New arrivals in store now! Accessories, and jewelry.

I've also made a luxe range: Blossom Pompon, with my signature floral neckpieces - more luscious than previous ones. They are exclusively available in my etsy shop.

For the latest updates, do join our facebook page!

Coming Soon - by Once Upon a Time

I have been badgering my brother to do a video for me... and during our photoshoot for new clothing, he had a sudden inspiration to do a "behind the scenes" video!

It's always a mad rush during these photo taking sessions, as we only have weekends to work on! I looked like a mess so naturally my face didn't appear in the video. Haha!

All in all, I like how he slowed down the pace of the photoshoot, showing subtle details on the clothing, our actions, and the abstract view of the street lights from our apartment on a cool Friday night.

We do hope you will like this video! I think there will be more coming soon! (If you would like to watch it in high definition, you can visit our facebook page here)

Till then, enjoy!

New clothing (Coming Soon!)

These (and more) will be coming after the weekend! (Pretty stuff to chase away your Monday Blues!)

New stuff

It's been such a long time since I last posted here! GAH!

Been so busy that I've neglected this space. Well here are some updates!

Sometimes when I need to relax, I bake or cook (it actually keeps me sane!)... But there's one particular pastry that has been making me insane! That is *Drumroll*... the macaron. I've tried it 4 times, and still unsuccessful :( my failure rate for baking cakes/pastries/cookies is usually very low!

The first time, they rose in the oven, (I was anxiously squatting at the oven door waiting for feet to sprout) but after taking them out, they fell flat...

The second time, they rose nicely (still no feet)! I was so sad!

The third time, I thought something good would come out of it.. I put them in an air conditioned room to make the skin form faster, and to my horror, those stupid macarons cracked in the oven. (Ok.. I should be the stupid one for getting it wrong... but I really don't know where I went wrong)

The fourth time was worse than the third time... they cracked and looked like volcanoes!

After failing on my 4th time, I've decided to NOT TRY baking these devils anymore. Not for the time being. They're such ego crushers! My chocolate macarons look better unbaked. LOL.

On a side note, here are some new pictures... I've always loved the combination of pink and black! Something about it that's sweet, yet sexy at the same time.

I've just posted new jewelry in my website too! Accessories that are simple, and unique for daily wear.
New clothing will be out very soon! Do email me at enquiry@onceuponatime-shop.com to be updated with the latest products and news! :)

Noise Market Square Art Bazaar

Once Upon a Time will be one of the stalls in this bazaar, at Marina Square this weekend (that's tomorrow)! Come join the fun! There'll be some new items that I have not listed online, so do come and check them out too!

Date: Saturday 21st Aug - Sunday 22nd Aug
Time: 12pm - 10pm

We'll be at stall number 26, see you there!

New Floral Pieces

It's been a really busy busy week...I'm physically and mentally tired. but I have some really good things going on, so all the hard work has been worth it. Sometimes, just a little support or some little words of encouragement brings my motivation to another level. With all the preparation done so far, I'm hoping for some good news!

On another note, I have some new floral pieces (more waiting to be photographed), but I just can't seem to take nice pictures of them...
I think that they look best worn on a human body... to exude that soft, romantic feeling that you can't picture on a mannequin...I'll post new (and better) pictures up soon...

Thoughts

That's what my magic 8 ball says...

Our shop's signboard!

Vintage Effects

Came across this japanese website that ages your pictures! I used some of my personal pictures, and I'm loving the cool vintage effects!

I love peonies...we bought these when we were in London from a flower market (bad strat...cos I had to lug it around the whole day while we went sight-seeing), and I don't remember the price, but I know it would have costed a bomb in Singapore...

This looks 1920s? It was 7th November 2009.

We were in Cambridge. It was a beautiful day for punting.

He loves to bake in the sun when it shines into the apartment. I always have to make some funny sound or action to make him cock his head to the side.

Rock Royalty Collection

Here's just a few items from my new collection...Available here.

There are more items which I will add soon! Enjoy shopping!

Colour Inspiration

Shades of mauve, shades of pink...



















Shades of blue...

These will be available in my shop soon!

Under the Sea & Custom Orders for Wedding Ring Pillows

I have a new ring pillow up for sale!

I originally wanted to places the fishes and clam into a little goldfish bowl, but it just wasn't practical for taking the wedding rings in and out of it...

Well since I'm at the topic of ring pillows, I prefer custom orders - as they carry more meaning for the couple. I would love to hear about your engagement stories, how you met, and craft a pillow out of it!

This is available at my shop. Hope you like it!

This was a custom order, with hand embroidered details.

 

New shopfront

Hey guys!

I've been trying to get a more organized shopfront online, and voila! We have a new site at: http://www.onceuponatime-shop.com/

Any enquiries, do email me at enquiry@onceuponatime-shop.com

All my items are there - It's not fancy, but it's definitely more organized, and easier to navigate!

Happy shopping and do let me know what you think!

I'll continue to blog on my inspirations and daily thoughts though :)

CLEARANCE SALE UP TO 50% OFF!

Once Upon a Time will be having 15% off storewide for ALL Clothing for the month of June 2010!
IS HAVING CLEARANCE SALE FOR OFF SEASON CLOTHING OF UP TO 50% OFF!

Click on this link to buy!

Prices are realllly cheap, so buy them before they are gone :)

Happy Shopping!!

Polka Dotty Inspiration

Just let these pictures do the talking... I was really inspired by the tinytoadstool beret!

So I made a mushroom out of my dog...

Busy...

I’ve been realllllly busy, these few weeks have been a mad mad rush!


Rehearsals for my brother’s wedding, some last minute heartland gigs, and most hectic of all, preparations for the Hong Kong trip!!

Preparations for live for the mo\m/ent, doing the photoshoot, the rehearsals! We had a really fulfilling trip, each of us 3 bands had 3 gigs each during the duration of Music Matters, so we were there to root each other for the total of 9 gigs for 4 days! Here's a couple of Redpoll's last performance in HK...

Late nights, too much booze, too much food! But hell, it was a blast, a great experience, a real eye opener! Nothing beats travelling with good friends :) We also met some really awesome people, and saw some really really rockin’great acts that blew my mind.

We all came back sick and exhausted, but happy :D

I have tonnes of backlogs for my little shop, and I hope to post them all up very very soon!

Love came in a paper package on Monday morning.

I’ve been lusting over dadaya’s beret for the longest time. It’s all in the name of uniqueness, quirkiness! I always found that it’s too expensive, but one fine day I would eventually buy (when I’m feeling rich) it because I can never find anything similar elsewhere.

When I come across anything that I find unique/cute/amazing/lust-worthy, I always love to share it with my hubby. When I showed him the link to this beret a week before that Monday, he said I was crazy (being the pragmatic, sane man he is) mainly coz of the price…

I didn’t buy it in the end coz I will definitely be scolded for being so exorbitant, but I still thought to myself, I would eventually buy it one day!

Who knows, the silly hubby surprised me with this on Monday morning. It was a rush order, so I could wear it during the HK trip. The seller, Shan Shan is also a very lovely lady! I love her sense of style, her designs, her everything!

I was literally touched to tears.

Thank you.

Happy Friday

Feeling particularly chirpy today!

Will be shipping this off soon...

Been really busy lately... there are some new items that I'm itching to post up soon!!

This is one of the items I've been particularly busy with...

Custom made heart shaped ring pillow :)

I never mentioned that I'm a grossly impatient (and increasingly clumsy) fella. The embroidery work tested my patience to the max... It's my first time trying embroidery out on such a big scale (to me it's a big scale) threads entangling now and then, soft satin fabric, my index finger was rubbed raw from pushing the needle, i scratched myself on the thigh with the needle... and one mistake will meaning starting the work all over again *shudder*

I had to be in a "zen" mode, so i took my time and spread out the embroidery work to 3 days haha...and it all came out fine! It was all worth it.

Enjoy your Friday and weekend everyone!!!

Je Táime

This entire ensemble is too cute!

Red wool hat with handmade felt flowers - sold

Je Táime Necklace - sold

(Enquiries for custom orders for the above items are welcome)

Wear your heart on your skirt (with suspenders) - sold out

Click on picture to enlarge!

Cat Socrates

I just dropped my vintage items off at Cat Socrates today, do drop by to take a look!

Cat Socrates is a lifestyle concept shop, set in a corner of bras basah complex. A really nice place to chill out, relax and get some (not so mainstream) great finds :)

Weblink: http://www.catsocrates.com.sg/

The Princess and the Pea

This is a literal, yet abstract inspiration from the story “The Princess and the Pea”.


Fine, gold threaded bedding and… no prizes for guessing what the green jade bead represents!

Being on the topic of delicateness, I decided to explore with lace – which I think exudes femininity and of course, delicateness (these are really delicate pieces). Note that I used the same word thrice in a sentence!

I used a soft colour palette for this series…I’m also crazy in love about the idea of having lace draped over the shoulder. Some of them can be used as headpieces too! Just requires a few bobby pins to secure them in place :)

I didn’t want to spoil the aesthetics of these pretty accessories but there was no other alternative other than myself! So yes, I’ll be sourcing for a human-sized mannequin ASAP! And for the time being, I hope you do enjoy viewing!

Delicate Princess

A Dainty Summer

White Allure Series

Blushing Blooms

 
These items are now available in my etsy shop! Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Tongatwork