Perfume Stories
by tarlia on July 14, 2010
in decluttering diary, make up
A few months ago, I bagged the last gift pack for Lancome’s Magnifique at Riverside Majestic’s Lancome counter. It contained a 30ml bottle, a 5ml vial and a glittery pink lip gloss.
The blurb for the perfume is as follows:
At the beginning of this year, I picked up The Body Shop’s Love Etc, which had top and middle notes that I liked. But once it stayed on the skin all day and mingled with sweat, it started to smell like one of my last perfumes which I fell out of love with. I found my current perfume not long after and found a buyer for Love Etc.
The reason why I’m even blogging about this is because I found the gift box while cleaning out my makeshift dressing table. What is it about product boxes that make us girls hang on to them even if they’re no more use to us?
I decided to toss it out, but I didn’t want to do that before getting a photo of it first. One of those little decluttering tips for things that you have no real use for, apart from unearthing every now and then and thinking, “Oh yeah, I bought that.”
A photo of it will do the same thing. I certainly takes up less physical space!
Crafterday: Jewellery Display
by tarlia on December 12, 2009
in decluttering diary
My craft project last Sunday was a jewellery holder, which took me about a half an hour to make. Most of the material is already lying around the house somewhere, and the only thing I had to buy was the embroidery hoop. RM3.40 at the craft supply shop.
I didn’t shoot the process because I was so intent on working on the project. Anyway it should be fairly easy to figure out.
What you need is to stretch a piece of porous or loose-weave cloth over the hoop. Cross-stitch fabric will probably work well. I used a piece of leftover curtain from one of our first projects. Instant earring hanger!
The necklace hooks are made from wire thick enough to hold its shape but skinny enough to be manipulated by hand. I used a pair of pliers to speed things along, twisting it into a wavy shape, then turning the ends up. I reinforced the upper part with another strip of wire and used a ribbon to hold them together.
Then I just tied it to the embroidery hoop, made loop on top with the ribbon, hung it up and piled my jewellery on.
The necklace rack is subjected to gravity so I made the hooks deep enough for my necklaces to stay in if the thing tilts a reasonable amount.
Easy afternoon project!
The Dresshack Toolbox
by tarlia on October 24, 2008
in decluttering diary
Oue definition of ‘dresshack’:
The original meaning of “hack” was a quick, elaborate and/or bodged solution (Wikipedia). At dresshack, our clothing and costuming solutions come in all shapes and forms – quick and clever, elegant facades hiding messy interiors, liberal use of safety pins and glue guns, and lot of experimentation.
Being part of a dresshack group with two base of operations that isn’t at my house (no space) means we have to keep our equipment mobile. Peggy has an electric sewing machine which she totes with her when needed, so she is our chief sewing machine ninja. (I have a 29-year old Butterfly Sewing Machine which required both mum and myself to move from her room to mine.)
Whether or not our sewing machines are mobile, we dresshackers sure accumulate a lot of bits and bobs. I have all my things neatly stored in a drawer somewhere, easily accessible when I need a spool or ribbon or some embroidery thread. Since I can’t lug the entire chest of drawers with me, I bought a plastic toolbox and moved my things over.
Dresshacking also means there are a lot of on-site alterations or fixes, as we learned from the ‘Trash It‘ project. It’s handy to be able to pack everything we might need into our toolbox and bring it along.
Since I’ve come to the point where I need a toolbox, I suspect I’ve achieved the status of apprentice needle pusher.
