DIY: I Carry Your Heart on a Kraft Card

Perhaps like us, you are already carrying around photos or polaroids of you and your loved one. How else could you be carrying a lil piece of your loved one around, to remind you of their ever assuring presence and your ever lasting longing? I took a little hint from one of our favourite poems [i carry your heart with me (i carry it in] by E. E Cummings, and created a lil something for Galen and I.

DIY: Kraft Card Love Message

Supplies:
1. Kraft Card
2. Stamps
3. Ink
4. A loved one (prefably one who likes craft too)

Steps:
1. Cut the kraft cut into the desired size and shape (85.60 × 53.98 mm for credit card size)
2. Stamp your favourite message in your favourite ink colour
3. Sit your loved one down (blindfold optional but highly advisable)
4. Stamp your thumbprints, overlapping to form a heart shape

Galen and I have this thing for materialising poems and quotes into something tangible. I certainly think this is such a poignant visualization of the poem, ain't it? And a pleasant surprise too, when you removed the blindfold from your loved on. Warmness oozing from within the heart is almost a guarantee.

DIY: I Freeze my Love for You

I had been hearing so much about this amazing material that allows all sorts of stencils to be done on any surface. Of course I had to hunt it down, and I was so happy to find the freezer paper at Cold Storage.

The freezer paper came in really handy- I was obsessed with this 'LOVE' symbol by Dirk Bell. And I knew that I had to DIY something for Galen based on it.

The original Dirk Bell LOVE symbol is a little thin and so I thickened it. I then traced it onto a sheet of freezer paper.

You can easily cut the freezer paper using a normal scissors or penknife. It took a little patience and effort to straighten the lines and the curves.

Iron the freezer paper with the adhesive side of the freezer paper facing down (the paper side facing up) on whatever material that you'll like your stencil to be on. I chose to have my LOVE stencil on a rectangular cork board. Iron on low heat setting.

I chose white as I wanted to retain the neutral tone of the cork bone. I used a sponge to sponge in the colour to mimic the cork texture.

As tempted as you may be, it is best to leave the stencil to dry overnight before removing the freezer paper. I waited (impatiently) and slowly savoured the moment of peeling the freezer paper off.

DIY: Freezer Paper Stencil on Cork Board

Supplies:

1. Freezer paper (size dependent on the design)

2. Cork Board

3. Iron

4. Poster paint (colour of your choice)

5. Sponge

Steps:

1. Trace your design onto the freezer paper

2. Cut out your design from the freezer paper

3. Iron the freezer paper (adhesive side down) using low heat

4. Paint the corkboard using the sponge

5. Wait (patiently) for it to dry overnight

6. Peel and present to your love!

I was pleased with the result, and I know that Galen would love it too. Such poignant rendition of the visual poetry, ain't it?

Astons Steak & Salad at Centrepoint

Astons Steak & Salad is a life-saver for 80's kids who miss stuffing yourself silly with baked potatoes, potato wedges and other awesome what-nots at the free-flow salad bar of the now defunct Ponderosa. Each main course at Astons Steak & Salad comes with a salad buffet consisting of cold salads, soups, appetizers, sides, fruits, drinks, ice-cream and the list goes on!

My favourite at the cold salad section is the potato salad and the pasta salad. Both are creamy and rich, and yet not too heavy. I would mix tons of romaine lettuce in, in a bid to just be a little healthy. I just love my potato and pasta carbs.

I could never resist soups, and with 4 choices of soup (2 clear and 2 cream), I had to try them all. My favourite soup at Astons Steak & Salad would be the onion soup- sweet and peppery- very hearty and homely.

The hot salad section offers tons and tons of side dishes, including mac and cheese! The must-eat for this section at Astons Steak & Salad has got to be the sauteed mushrooms with onions. The mushrooms were well-seasoned and very juicy. I must have eaten millions of these!

The ribeye steak ($31.90) was tender and chewy, and to the liking of Galen. The baked potato had this huge slab of butter that was to the liking of me. Baked potatoes are not available at the salad bar so do order it with your mains if you're a major fan!

Astons Steak & Salad not only does their steak right, their fish was perfect too. I liked the bread crumbs batter fish dinner ($23.90) and the cajun seasoning which worked really well with the lemon and tartare sauce.

To sweeten the meal at Astons Steak & Salad are fruits and soft-serve ice cream. If you hadn't already stuffed yourself silly at the other sections of the salad buffet. Though the selection of the salad buffet at Astons Steak & Salad is wide, each dish is of excellent quality. Astons Steak & Salad is well-executed, and I hope that this expansion by the Astons group could avoid the destiny of Ponderosa.

Singapore Food Blog Review by Kumory

☁☁☁☁☁/☁☁☁☁☁

Astons Steak & Salad

The CentrePoint #03-45 Singapore

62350556

1130am-10pm daily

www.astons.com.sg/

DIY: Coffee Bean & Tealight Candle (Coffee-scent Your Room!)

Galen loves the smell of cafés. The aroma of coffee, cakes, and wood perks him up and keeps him energetic. I had been looking for ways to recreate the scent for him, to create a little café in his room for him to work in. We went shopping at Ikea, and spent the longest time finding the perfect bowl to hold the coffee beans and tealight candles.

Galen wanted a clear one so that the coffee beans and tealight candles can be seen from all angles. He also wanted it medium sized (not too big, not too small) such that it will sit elegantly on the wooden shelf. We finally found the one, a salad bowl but nonetheless the perfect one for our coffee scent project.

DIY: Aromatic Coffee Bean Tealight Candle

Supplies:

1. Bowl (the perfect one)

2. Coffee Beans (whole beans)

3. Tealight candles (vanilla flavour would be yums!)

Steps:

1. Wash and dry the bowl

2. Fill half the bowl with coffee beans

3. Place one tealight candle in the middle of the beans

4. Light it up and enjoy- you've a café in your room!

As the tealight candle burns, the metal holder gets heated up slightly. This will warm the coffee beans, producing a slight coffee fragrance. Place the coffee bean filled bowl in a well-ventilated place, and soon the fragrance would fill your room. Now, get a hot cup of coffee, a good movie, and snuggle up with your loved one.