Toothpick Architecture

Remember back in school teachers had us bring toothpicks to school and asked us to make houses and buildings with them.  Equipped with a small cardboard as base, UHU glue and clumsy fingers, I attempted a tiny village hut which never saw the light of day.  Admittedly, I had patience issues.  Haha.

Here are a couple of huge toothpick sculptures I came across at 9GAG.com:

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The elaborate piece above is full of intricate designs made by one man with a 100,000 toothpicks over a span of 35 years.  The dedication of that man is beyond words.  This sculpture took longer to make than I have lived!

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Ode to Potter fans.  An obscene amount of toothpicks and glue later, voila, the masterpiece as seen above is born.  How the artist behind this grand piece figured out the layout of Hogwarts to fully replicate it with toothpicks no less is nothing short of amazing.

Subtle Tattoos

Personally, I'm not a big fan of tattoos especially on myself (although technically, I have tattoo restrictions) but I do understand that to most people, each piece of art on their bodies represents a part of their life.  Having something permanently penned to your own skin is a huge commitment and you don't want to be 60 and have to live with a garish ink art of a mistake you wish would just go away or had never happened.  Of course there's laser removal but that's said to be more painful than the initial tattoo.

Anyways, enough about personal preferences and thoughts, I stumbled upon this photo and felt this particular body art to be... beautiful.

pinterest Link

It looks like skin but embossed.  From what I gather from the discussion they had going on on the page, they might have used white ink for this tatt.  I wonder how this would work on darker skin tones?  Or would they use a tinted version so it'll blend with the skin better?

From The Olympics To Water Park

From being the 2008 Olympics venue to a full blown water park?  The Beijing Water Cube has been transformed into a family destination.  (CNNGo link)

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This looks magical!  The building itself is already perfectly themed from the get go and having all these Avatar-inspired, fantasy underwater world themed water park is perfect.  Apparently entrance is RMB200 (adults) and RMB160 (children) and operating hours are 10am to 9.30pm daily.  Has anyone been there yet?

Flower Art

With a drop of creativity, anything is possible.  I love how beautiful these flower arts are!!

pinterest Link

This is so beautiful.  I love the idea behind the photos.  Flower skirts.  Doesn't art like this just make you wonder how someone got this idea and the amount of time it took to execute it?

pinterest Link

I've seen these before and they are gorgeous!  However, this particular piece of decoration I feel is only suitable for temporary events.  I can imagine that water looking gross over time what with dust, insects and larvae swimming about.  *Way to ruin a beautiful picture, self. Haha*  Glass vases similar to the above are sold in Kaison and IKEA (they should also be available elsewhere but those are the 2 places I'm confident of.  Parkson and Metrojaya might have them too).  Personally, I'll omit the water and put a lid up top to prevent the flowers from getting dirty and deter insects falling in.

That Space Under The Stairs

Most homes have it.  That space under the stairs.  A rather awkward shape and space.  Aren't these designs (specifically for those part of the house) just genius?

pinterest Link

Pull out panels are common designs in kitchens these days.  Why not have them done like this then and utilize the are under the stairs for more storage?  I love how everything can be tucked away neatly out of sight yet incredibly accesible.  I wonder if we could get a contractor to get this done for my brother's upcoming work space.  *taking notes*

pinterest Link

If there's an adjacent wall, this office nook is also a nice idea.  This looks like it can be a DIY project too.  With a little measuring here and there, there just might be a table and some drawers that can be made to fit as pictured above and put up some shelves (that are readily available from IKEA, Parkson or even Giant) to finish it off.

Compact Solutions for Small Spaces

The online community has been abuzz on the tumblr-esque site, pinterest, and I can understand why.  If you're looking inspiration on just about anything, I strongly suggest you give the site a look.

Here are a couple things that I thought was interesting to begin with (yes, this might be my blogging inspiration for the moment):

This idea probably isn't anything new but it's still a pretty neat idea.  The original post is from the Martha Stewart website (link here) which is where I borrowed the images for the above image for the purpose of this post.  I love how the bookcase is neatly tucked away into a corner and opens up revealing a functional office (or as pictured above -- a craft area and storage).  Those are 2 individual same size bookcases joined together with hinges kind of like vintage wooden gift boxes.

I'm not too sure if this piece of furniture is an actual product but wouldn't it be cool? (link here)  Definitely not your conventional sofa bed though.  This would be nice to have in a guest room and spiced up with some bright coloured cushions too.