Gangnam Style flashmob + Artifacts from YHA The Big Dig

Had an interesting day yesterday...

Did some shopping for part of my cosplay accessories... hopefully I get around to making the bag XD

Then I went to my very first flashmob for this video!


It didn't really turn out to be flashmobby, where you pretend you're a member of the public, do your thing and become members of the public again but it was quite fun. I didn't go to the training session but some people taught me the easier moves right before it and I had to find  a dance partner last minute! He was actually a journalist from a Korean community newspaper who was told "go to this flash mob, right now!!" haha XD

I can't really be seen in the videos but this is what it was like! :)



I can only be seen at 0:11 where I'm running into place (out of the camera's view lol) XD

I then went to the YHA Big Dig at The Rocks and we took learnt about the history of the area, took a closer look at the digs and also handled some artifacts! (I didn't actually go all archaeology on it but it was fun ^^)

I was intending to buy a certain topcoat, last week I just missed a buy-one-get-one free Revlon nail polish sale :( and the newest sale was buy any two products and get the third free which was better for getting other cosmetics... I couldn't really decide on a third colour and didn't want to get something else yet so I ended just getting some other nail polishes using a voucher I had XD

original mani

Just swatched on top of it to try out the colours

Essence: 95 wanna be your sunshine
Essence: 67 make it golden
Rimmel London 60 secs: 805 grey matter

The Essence was only 5ml but quite cheap... just under $3! For the yellow I figured I could get a cheaper or smaller polish since I'd use it less and the gold I just picked up as it looks nice ^^ Hopefully I can do some nail art with the grey, I saw a cool youtube tute on Totoro :3

I also found the cutest ever origami paper at Daiso :3

Oh yeah, there was also a parade for the returning Olympians a few clocks away but I was still at the flash mob!

Book Depository UK - affiliate =D

Yay, I just created an affiliate link with Book Depository UK so expect some garmified book reviews ^^

As BookDepo followers will already know, there's a 10% off sale (off their rad prices) until 14th May, 2012 (Noon BST) :)

Here's a peek at my last BookDepo order

+ I also pre-ordered 'The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi' which will arrive in two months =D

Some quick 5-second reviews :)

Anne of Green Gables Series books 3-7 (L.M. Montgomery)
I adore this series which I read when I was younger. Coming-of-age, keeping dreams alive, rememebering life is a balance of positive and negative.
*Already own #1-2 and will be ordering #8 soon

Ranger's Apprentice #7 (John Flanagan)
Great series for teens. About a boy in a medieval like world with knights, kings, strange creatures and an elite force called rangers.
*Just finished collecting the series.

Homecoming; Dicey's Song (Cynthia Voigt)
Great coming of age story that has won quite a few awards, basically a 14 year old girl who takes her three younger siblings across many (many many) miles (not sure of my US geography) after their mother disappears. They hope to find her at a cousin's home (original destination) but have to walk the distance as they don't have enough for a bus fare.
*Already own a previous release of 3 books and missing 2 of the series

Suzumiya Haruhi; The Rampage of & The Wavering of (Nagaru Tanigawa)
I first read this quirky series online as it was translated from Japanese by a fangroup called Baka-Tsuki, after it was licensed they took it down but I enjoyed reading it so decided to purchase the series. Each novel is quite short but light novels are popular in Japan and many have become animes or dramas such as this one!
*Collecting as they come out

Don't forget: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/?a_aid=garmidesign ^^

Pretty pieces and cards (and my bad drawing skills)

Just wanted to show a little prize I received from another blog called Khatsii's Adventures, she does some great pieces on make-up (which she purchases herself), happenings in her life and other things she recommends such as iPhone apps, food in Melbourne, quick and stylish outfits! Sorry, did I mention sunglasses!!!
 

The unveiling...

A little note & cute erasers

lip gloss and eye shadow

phone charms, the cat and fish are actually separate charms but I have a feeling they were put in together on purpose ^^

 It was a competition that you did with a friend so afterwards, Frejya and I also made a card together (after two hours sleep might I add).

And here are some DrawSomethings XD My phone doesn't support screenshots ('cause of that root thing) so that's why you can see the lines on the screen lol! What a funky app lol XD

Couldn't resist writing egg lol... one of the games I played actually spelt out my name =D but the answer to that one was marine -_-

close up of the drawing, can't remember the answer but I thought it was a good drawing for a phone :P

my drawing for tumblr lol!

Twinkies and such!

Have you heard of Twinkie Chan?? She's an amazing crocheter (is that a word?) who makes very cute food related crocheted items, though she is known for making some delicious eye candy scarves! She started an online store around 2005 and has gathered a following, probably from a first glance at her products!

I first came across her when I was looking at the Shana Logic store (amazing site, btw), I used to find super cute wallpapers off her other site and knew she also sold items on the side, but one time I looked at the store again, it had really grown from its humble roots and then I came across the most beautiful watermelon scarf, though I didn't really look into it's creator Twinkie Chan until later.

Pic from kaboodle.com

 Anyway, yesterday I found she was holding a competition to win some really cute crocheted goodies, so this is really just another entry for me (to tell the truth)! But also an introduction to her very (very very veRRYYY) cool online store.

The funny thing is... I also bought her book today!!! XD I wasn't sure if I would, since I'm not really good at crochet yet, actually, I can't crochet, but couldn't pass up on the cuteness of the book. Which is the same thing that happened when I bought Gourmet Crochet lol!!

And here's the book with Gourmet Crochet and a selection of my other knitting/crochet books in the background.

 I also bought a book called "DK: The Ultimate book of cooking hints and tips" by Christine France, seems like a pretty cool book though my camera batteries felt like dying before I could take a photo!

Some random egg-related crochet finds, since this is a crochet post lol!

http://photobucket.com/images/cute%20egg/

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76298530/green-yoshi-egg-cute-amigurumi-plush?ref=cat1_gallery_2

P.S. You should enter her competition too ;) - Closes Friday 20th January!

Harry Potter Exhibition

The Harry Potter exhibition is about to open at the Powerhouse Museum and I was able to go to the special staff preview (they called it a dress rehearsal, lol, because they hired new staff to work on the exhibition, a spot of tea if you know what I mean...)

I went in and my group didn't have too many kids so I volunteered to be the third to be sorted by the Sorting Hat, into Gryffindor no less (I should have said I wanted to be Slytherin - or she could have at least pressed the Ravenclaw button, don't I look like Cho Chang, the asian guy before me with glasses, she said looked like he could be a Ravenclaw, I mustn't look smart enough *sigh*)

Inside, we're treated to a lovely montage of clips from the movies and then are ushered past the Hogwarts Express into the main gallery area with all the super cool props.

I was a bit rushed for time but got a bit distracted inside the store, although I ended up exiting with some Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Jelly Beans! Managed to get almost all the gross flavours lol.

And in other news, aren't eggs great? I just bought this mega cute egg holder set from Morning Glory. I found one of them, and then another, and then another and was going through the painstaking process of deciding which one to buy when I saw the set of six and couldn't help myself XD I think I got it for about $8 as they were selling for $1.50 each anyway. Although it was a good thing I looked at both boxes, as one said $8 and mine scanned at $12 XD.

Paper Craft 2011

About two weeks ago I went to Paper Crafts festival which was in Penrith. I arrive on the Friday at around 11 (the show opens at 10) and there's a line!!! Anyway, it's not too long a wait and then I head inside and get a sheep stamp (craft clubbing!)

First off I did a round, remembering the items I liked, comparing prices (of course there's an upside and a downside to that) and I did miss out on an edge punch and sheet music I wanted *Disappointed face* =(

I started off with "Scrapware's Make 'n' Take by Angela Connoly", held by the store Scrapware who were selling chipboard products. The class was led by a mixed media artist mamed Linda Baldock and we made this lovely brooch. I was gonig to put gold paint over the top of the red but she told me to try the gold gilded wax and it was pretty cool!!! You can also see the gilded wax on the bottom layer with the embossed chipboard!

I started making my purchases and since I wanted some Christmas stamps I looked at all the stores and was quite tempted to buy a large tree stamp with "Merry Christmas" written in several languages in the tree/triangle shape but ended up with these cute ones ^^ I also bought two mini stamps which were quite detailed... I know I have a dandelion stamp already but this one was just so cute!!!

As I've recently bought a Sizzix BigShot (which was the biggest pain to open and also missing the washer!!) I needed to scout out some nice embossing dies. I chose these two Sizzix ones since they were on sale and since I had to keep within budget it was a choice between dots and baroque... and baroque won!

Practical Publishing Australia were giving out free bone folders (used for scoring/folding cardstock) so I gave them some patronage too... though I got 3 magazines for $15 because it was supposed to be 2 for $10, so seems like they wanted to clear some stock!

Went back to the craft table and made the other one they too!

Also bought a heat gun (finally) so I can put away the toaster, some cardstock, a corner punch (I know I can just cut it with scissors but it was in the sale bin -_-), some cute chipboards and liquid pearls (bought snow colours for Christmas cards!)

Afterwards I went in search of a book and caught a glimpse of Nicholas Sparks on the way (A Walk To Remember, Notebook, Dear John) but did wait in line for his autograph.

Dropped my new stash off at home and then I went to a Christmas card workshop hosted by the Stampin' Up consultant whom my family friend has parties with and some some really nice cards while sipping on tea!