Potting lesson

Today is May Day public holiday here in Hong Kong. Apart from spending time with my parents recently, I have been taking lessons from my mum about potting. I made the mistake of leaving my plants in the temporary pots for too long and in the process have killed some of them off ;-(
I suppose I did what most novice gardeners did - neglect them. Thinking that these succulents were like cacti, I didn't water them enough but now I know that they need a lot more nurturing.

Home comforts

It's so relaxing coming home after a long day's at work. We've been here almost a month now but it seems much longer. We live in a development called Liberté on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. I think it really helps that we have some new greenery and the fish tank really makes a BIG difference. In the concrete jungle that we live in, every bit of green helps!

The wallpaper that we picked up from Homebase on our trip back to the UK really makes the place much less sterile especially with our white walls and white ceramic tiles. Its easily, one of the best environments to get creative in!

Creative juices

I am quite excited about building my salon. Everything I record here in my blog really relates to my thoughts on how the salon will develop. Now that I am in Hong Kong, there are lots of things which I miss from the UK and in particular craft fairs – especially Spitalfields Market and Chelsea Craft Fair. But thank god for http://printpattern.blogspot.com if it wasn't for trendsetter, Bowiestye, I think I would be flying back on the first flight to the UK next week!

I also keep thinking about how I should really make use of my illustrations that I had been commissioned to produce over the past couple of years. These illustrations I've shown here are just a few that were commissioned by Macmillan for a couple of ELT books that were being sold to schools in the middle east. I must admit, I really made a big improvement with drawing characters when I did this job.

#3 Jellifish fever

On our one year anniversary yesterday, we went to celebrate it by taking a trip out to Ocean Park. It was 20 years ago since I last went so I had high expectations. There is much more to it there now, than just being a theme park. It's more like a nature reserve. This year, jellifish were high on the agenda. There was a massive queue to see them but we didn't really know what the fuss was all about so decided to queue up for the cable cars instead. Someone tell me that I didn't miss that much really...or did I? I was more disappointed we couldn't go and see the pandas.

#2 Urban Greenfingers

This easter break has been the most relaxing holiday I have had in Hong Kong ever! My boyfriend and I went to the flower market in Mong Kok to get a new plant for our new flat. But instead, I came back with a new hobby - I found a new love for cacti! I discovered cacti don't have to be prickly like the Saguaro cactus which are most commonly found in many western films.
In fact, I have been reading up about the plants that I bought and they are most likely to be succulents. In short, both cacti and succulent belong to the same family. Generally, succulents don't have prickly thorns but they are recognisable because their leaves are bloated in appearance. Aloe Vera is one of these. Now, my next step is to find out their names. Does anyone know what this plant is called?

#1 Fabric covered book jacket

I found this really cute patterned fabric from one of the many fabric shops in Sham Shui Po (the main area in Hong Kong for haberdashery and fabrics). I thought it was perfect to cover my hardback notepad. It's amazing what a difference a cover adds to a book. I don't believe that people shouldn't judge a book by its cover nonsense. I use it to write down all my notes and findings.