perfect outfit

I was thinking about ,my perfect outfit, that i would love to wear/ create whilst looking at the wonderful site of definatalie. (http://www.definatalie.com/) A fellow Aussie blogger. She has a competition right now open for australian residents to create am ultimate NYE outfit! WOO! so here is my entry:

spanish chic!

credits:
Mcqueen cardigan (via polyvore)
Ezi Buy: Sara Harem
flamenco lady portrait:
hair band of red flowers
earrings (via polyvore)
bracelet 1 (via polyvore)
bracelet stack (via polyvore)
gorgeous ‘ginger’ heels

Yay! Thanks to Natalie for hosting such a lovely give away!

happenings

I have recently made my first 'zine'! a mini craft booklet choc full of happy surprises! find issue one at various places around Benders. For example at the Uni, Allens walk run space, and so on.

At the end of a 'year' of magazines ( every 4th issue) i would like to collect them all together to make a happy little book to sell!

In other News, It is official that I will be returning to China soon. Now I just need to find a job for six months to tide me over until I can go!
I am very excited about this, and have already begun to plan my lessons in advance!
However, I Have applied for a few jobs around town, but as of yet no biting on the line... perseverance will win out!wish me luck!

p.s I f you know anyone who is hiring give me a heads up!~

things that inspire

here is an awesome list of things that inspire me to craft, things that i love and things that are just plain awesome. done in an old time favourite format of an A-Z

A architecture,Animals,Art,archetypes,adventure

B Birds, Bees, books, babies, Buddhism, brass

C craftMag, creativity, crayons, china

D drawing, dremel, driftwood,dolls, dirigible

E encyclopaedias, eating,earrings,eccentrics

F Fashion, fantasy, friends, family, forests

G grunge,gold, glass, Goth,gods

H hot air balloons, hugs, homes, Holmes :)

I imagination, intaglio,impressions,

J jewellery,Japan,Jungian theory,

K kitchens,kawaii,keys

L leather, lace, love

M models, make up,masks, metal, military,moon

N Naoto.h,nature,names,nautical,nesting dolls

O old people,organs,opulence,opera,octopii

P paper,pottery,pokemon,perfume,photos,peonies

Q queens, quinces, quirky.

R rabbits, rain, rarities, recycle,recipes

S steam-punk,sci-fi, starwars

T tea tins, toys,theatre, tea,tulle,tutus

U university,universalism, unique-ness

V Victoriana,vinyl toys, vegetables

W wonderkammer,wood,writing,wool,world making.

X Xtreme sports, Xmas, (cheating i know)

Y youth, Yule,

Z zoos, zodiac, zombies

Ni Hao!

Well the gym is still going well. this week is the first week I have deviated from my normal routine... but I do plan to make up for it. Soon enough I will be a bridesmaid, so I really need to start moving my body to be as healthy as I can be on the day :)


A new colour scheme for the Yokai masks. This one was made for my friend Dominique's birthday. Dominique will be travelling to China with me next year. Speaking of China, my introduction letter, and my 'job application' have been sent off to China, now I just await my reply! I have a few back up plans, but some may require my friend and I working at two different places within the same city... we will crack that egg when it comes to it!

Lets learn some Chinese!

A bee in your bonnet!

Hello!
I have been back at uni for a while now, it is all pretty crazy, must.. stay.. ahead of the game.

I am working on a few steamy steam-punk inspired pieces at the moment, and i am gearing up to do a market stall some time in the near future. The weather is starting to clear up- two weeks until beautiful spring!

So with this idea i was thinking of doing some scientific like drawings with pen on to leather, then making them look as if they were sepia and labelling them with their scientific genus- eg: the magpie would be Cracticus tibicen, of the corvid family-


and the bee would be Apis mellifera.


For a project at school I am doing some research on the history of perfume in the middle east. With this I have discovered a love for perfume, and the art of blending your own signature smell. It is because of this that I have spent a fair bit of money on obtaining beautiful essential oils from around Australia, and even looked into producing some of my own!
My project focuses around a piece of literature from a Muslim perfumer, and it is his words I have taken as inspiration for an exotic perfume I am working on.( that sounds so pretentious. ha!) The writing is called Attars Exordium, and is one of the most beautiful praises to a god I have read.- I will keep you up to date with this work in progress as time goes on.

gym II

... I have yet another gym membership. this time for Fernwood. lets see how long this one lasts!

*New* to my collection

Newest things!

for Tegans birthday:


For me: (please dont mind my crazy eyes)- i call this one 'Yokai'


one of my more recent trials- scrap fabric collar, inspired by my beautiful friend Casey and her extreme fashionable self.


and finally, this wonderful tie which will have pride of place in a project i am going to be making soon! ( if you can't tell its pattern is of little golfing men!)
My good friend Ellie bought it for me after i had refused to pay $4 for it at a local expensive opp-shop! ($4 for a second hand tie..sheeeesh!)

a short one... ( Racism is Christi's pet hate)

I came to the conclusion i spend much to much time doing nothing on the internet but looking at awesome crafts, and not enough time actually making stuff!

I have a few new things that i have done on the spur of the moment, so i will upload these in the next few days! but really i spend a goood portion of time just sitting here looking at the pretty pictures that flit past my computer monitor.

Though this new art spurt has made me want to have a masquerade ball for my birthday this year. How old do you get before your supposed to not celebrate with themed/ fun birthdays?

2 things:
Today i witnessed the cruelty of teenagers. At the bus stop a group of three local college girls were verbally abusing a young Asian girl from another college, and spurting such racially vile things from their mouths that i thought had been wiped from our collective consciousness. To see the younger generation repeating the verbal abuse of previous generations is saddening. I sent a letter.

I have just finished reading this really good book! its called "Monster blood tattoo" by D.M. Cornish. really a glorious work of art. If you liked Phillip Pullmans 'his dark materials' trilogy, or Garth Nixx' Sabriel, Lireal and Abhorsen- then you would love this! great stuff!

Naga mermaid: Free Pattern to Download!

Hello all, I know I said a while ago I would upload this free pattern, but it took me much longer than I anticipated!


click here for the large line art version!

She is finally here, The Naga-mermaid who will steal your soul and lead unwary sailors to an untimely demise!( Just change her snake rattle at the end of her tail into a fish tail and she is a mermaid!)
Nāga: (Sanskrit: नाग, IAST: nāgá, Indonesian: naga, Javanese: någå,) is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very great snake—specifically the King Cobra, found in Hinduism and Buddhism.


This pattern/ picture can be used by anyone for anything, I give you free reign to use it- of course, I will play with it myself in coming weeks and we can see what I can come up with.
( I have some printable fabric I am dying to play with)

here are some ideas:

1. embroider this design on some lovely dishcloths or other materials.
2. play with it in photoshop and make it personally coloured or patterned.
3. print it on to some leather and carve it.
4. colour it in with some pencils.
5. make it into a card...

The possibilities are limited only to your imagination!

please enjoy, and link back any projects ideas that you have thought of for miss Naga!

The stress Monster has struketh!

It is a very stressful week for me, Uni wise. i have over seven assessments in the space of seven days, most of them falling on tomorrow!Aaaaarggghhhhh

but!

As a sweet procrastination tool, I have been designing something sweet for all of my delightful blog readers!
Come back next week to receive a free image, which you can use as a pattern for some serious embroidery madness! I will be doing a series of these little images which I will upload here for your using pleasure. The series will be called "Naga sisters" and it all ties in to my essay due this week about Lilith, the supposed first wife of Adam!
here is a sneak preview:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

-Max Ehrmann

random ramblings just coz...

grrr some ugly car is revving over my back fence and it annoys me!

I went for a job interview yesterday at good old k-mart. Hopefully i will get a job! then the dough will come rolling in and i will be able to afford a wonderful trip to the motherland. sigh * now that i am on the verge of getting a job, i don't really know if i want one!

essays have been driving me wild these last few weeks, i was supposed to hand one in today but that didnt get done either. we have one more week of uni left, then its time for holidays and merry making..or essays and work haha

well i don't have much more to say, save that dave and i are once again health kicking it up, we go for jogs and walks most nights, and dont eat as much crap. wish us luck with that!

I <3 China

I have made a big change to my five year plan, its funny how these things happen.



Up until very recently Dave and I were going to be buying a house in the next few months, however, that has all changed!
I was talking to a good friend of mine at uni, someone, who, like me has a love for Chinese culture, and also wanted to one day go over seas and teach.
we got to talking about China, and travel in general, and she was saying she wanted to go over relatively soon, but not alone- and I wanted to go over before I got heavily into life (e.g a mortgage, and kiddies) but didn't think it was possible, as Dave doesn't really want to go over there and teach at all! (I think he is scared) - I also wanted to go with someone ( coz china can get very boring by yourself)
I got to talking to Dave, and we decided we both didn't want to jump in to a mortgage too soon and he wanted to spend a bit of time actually looking for a house and not making a crazy spur of the moment decision. As for the babies, they will be put off for an extra six months until I return, Dave will hopefully have bought a house in the mean time and life will be grand! hopefully living a frugal and peaceful life in china will help me to save a fair bit of money.

All of this is still a year away yet, and I still have to graduate, do a T.E.F.L course, and save money for the trip.

I am so excited you cannot believe it!
Now I will leave you with a photo of me from last time I was there!

the book

I think I finally decided what it is I want to be when I grow up-

I am currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree here at my local uni, and when asked what it is that I would do with my degree at the end of three years- I had to have a good hard think. I hate how in our modern society one is defined by their job, As if most of us have a choice. We as humans are all in this constant state of flux, especially in my age group where I often here a sentence along the lines of "oh, I am only doing this until something better comes along" or the old "...but I want to be a..." it is a sad state of mind that carries on for months, years, even lifetimes, this feeling of having to just make do with your lot in life.

Basically what I want to say is to not just dream of your dream job- DO your dream job! Don't be a carpenter if you want to be a footballer- be your dream, and that goes for those of you who really want to be plumbers instead of writers, students instead of secretaries! Don't be afraid to just try!

For me, I had always wanted to be an archaeologist- to be digging around, seeking out new and exciting things- unveiling history and travelling, but I didn't want the responsibility, the cataloguing- the years spent begging for grant money to follow a whim- I wanted to dig, to be in that moment when that rare and valuable treasure is dug up- whether it was a fortune in old coins, or an ancient bead from a forgotten temple, I wanted that moment- in perpetuity. I wanted to be a treasure hunter.

It wasn't until I came to uni to study philosophy that I realised that treasures of histoy and culture do not lie solely beneath our earth but in the myriad folds of our internal histories- the modge podge of cultural identity, the myths and legends and folk-tales that make up our world- both in terms of beliefs and religion, but also in what defines US. Whether it is culture or social understanding of our ancestors or of our selves. Every single day we are creating treasures in our stories and movies, and we are collecting and re formatting stories of our shared past.
These verbal, literary, and hereditary treasures are where my interest now lies, my one goal is to collect and correlate these stories as they have appeared and reappeared throughout various modes in our culture, whether it be through written media, song, story, poem, or movies.

so- my proposed future "job," the one thing I really want to be- something I could spend my life doing, is... ( drum roll please)

Christiane Ferguson,
MYTHOLOGIST
collector and correlator of myths and legends!
With the first order of business being to write a book on some of my personal research into the field of symbolism and archetypes.
( I bought a really crappy book called the encyclopaedia of signs and symbols and was extremely disappointed with the content- so I propose I will be able to do a much better job!)

would you like to help me with my research?
In the comments, tell me what your personal interpretation of the symbolism of a tree is- is there any myths, legends or ideas that come to your head when you think of a mighty oak, or a sapling pushing from the ground?

- over and out
Christi Ferguson
Mythologist extrordinare.

Lilitu, katsudon and the quest for the perfect abs.

It has been another long hiatus from the blogging sphere but here is your favourite author back with her chilling repertoire of moral conduct and outlandishly witty statements on world politics..errr... umm maybe not.

I am officially back at uni this week, sounds like fun doesn't it kids?
i have started most of my projects, created already my own essay topics for this semester
( one is based on the myth of Lilith) God, i love my course so much, i can tailor it to study pagan, esoteric and anciently historic things so well!

All the old faces are still there, yet they have changed somewhat. Our course has been chopped and changed so much over the last few months, it doesn't resemble the vibrant and happy place it used to be, but there is still hope. We have a new lecturer, who brings a fresh and vibrant feel to the material, and with myself picking up a subject from the education department, I have a chance to experience the learning styles of other departments. I must say that Genres of Childrens literature has to be one of my most favourite classes so far this semester. We get to study children's books and Neil Gaimen features heavily in our texts!

I have been doing some Aquasize for the last couple of weeks, it has been a fun and easy workout, with my muscles being sore at the time, but no residual pain afterwards. i cant really tell if i am doing a good work out or not- apparently it is common to feel no muscle tiredness or aches after a hard session in which you have worked hard and sweated...also, as of next week i will be doing an awesome personal training session on Tuesday nights- which involves half an hour of some serious cardio and strength training... to tell you the truth i am a little scared as i know my fitness level is not up to scratch, though i have a tread mill now, i have only used it once, but its quite a work out.

I have been taking a packed lunch to uni on Wednesday and Thursdays, in my little bento box! it involves me putting some of the food i cook at night into my little lunch box, but its good fun and sometimes i even make sushi, but i would love to always make Katsudon! :)

So for a blogging first i am going to share a recipe :)
Chicken Katsudon

( this photo looks nice but mine doesn't come out so neat :)
ingrediants :
short grain rice one cup
2 fillets of chicken breast, cleaned
panko crumbs > available in the Asian isle of Safeway or Coles)
3 eggs
one onion
mirin seasoning > safeway,coles, bendigo wholefoods
Dashi soup stock ( aka dashino moto > coles, bendigo whole foods
soy sauce
tomato sauce >
Worcestershire sauce >

method :
1. boil rice in one and half cups of water or as per instructions
2. cut any yuk bits off the chiken then flatten ( beat it up) until its thin
3. set up two bowls, one with an egg in it, and one with the crumbs- dip the flattened chicken first in the egg, coating it wholely, then in the crumbs covering it completly. heat up a pan with a bit of oil in the bottom and then fry the chicken.
4. while this is cooking mix up 2 packets of dashi with about a cup and a half of boiling water. add one TBSP of mirin, one TBSP tomato sauce, ONE tbsp soy sauce, and one tbsp Worcestershire sauce. stir, then set aside.
5. cut up one onion into rings while keeping an eye on the chicken.
when you have done this, take the now fully cooked through chicken out and cut into strips about 2 centimeters in width, place this back in the pan with the onions and the soup stock. keep an eye on your rice.
6. when this mixture comes to the boil, crack in the remaining two eggs over the top and let cook. you will start to notice the liquid will start to get thicker, and soaked into the meat- this is good!
7. serve the rice into a bowl, then add the katsudon over the top and voila! you are done!

it tastes just as good cold too :)
Here is a link to a fabulous website specialising in cooking for bento if you too are interested http://www.cookingcute.com/recipes.htm

enjoy!

The Toy Society: FOUND: Drop # 120

just like to share this with you.
its a project i am getting in to, but this post just blew my mind.


The Toy Society: FOUND: Drop # 120

update 13/2/09

so so tired. this morning i went for a two hour walk! yep! two whole hours!at 6am! how crazy is that! for the last week I have been very good and have walked or rode, or swim-ercized my body good. i sleep better at night, feel better in the day, and get more accomplished in my 'down time' I even feel slimmer ( which i know cant be true coz its only been a week, but I feel good) i can feel my fitness starting to increase too. I have 'thrown out' the scales, and i am just going to live. be healthy, and try my hardest! one thing that has really motivated me is my new collection of music on my mp3 player- when you have good music, it makes walking and stuff much easier. walk for four songs- walk back- easy!

I haven't posted a blog entry about the brushfires. I don't think I could. even though one was here.. not more than a few Ks from my house, I couldn't say much. for these last few weeks Victoria's outlook has been one of doom and gloom, and as much as I love to revel in tragedy like the rest of the morbidly curious human race, I couldn't take much more and have chosen to ignore the incoming reports of death and destruction. I had my fair share on the 7th.

been spending a lot of time with Katy lately. we made record bowls for our weekly craft day- it was super fun I must admit- superbly silly fun. we managed to lock ourselves out of the house and had to break in- then we got a bit tipsy mid afternoon, and messaged our boys. (in high school Katy and I used to be the only girls in a big group of boys)

I got my ears pierced a few weeks ago- that was a shocking experience. hehe
bought some earrings- with anchors! oh anchors I love you so! (see above)
from here http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5399336

made my first Etsy sale with some playboy magazines.

thats really as much of an update as i can give! love ya guts!
i will give an end of month tally total for my weight loss in kilograms lost- starting soon :)

Belief

Someone asked me- yes asked, politely, sincerely, and without prejudice what my beliefs were when I said I was pagan. i thank him for that. normally, this question is accompanied with a sneer, a disdainful look from my colleagues or friends sometimes a shrug, an "I don't want to ask" attitude- but this was nice, a simple request to philosophise about my ideals, my views, my soul.

I jumped at the opportunity to write it all down, and since i went to all that trouble, here I present to you my response- my first blog post on my religion!

firstly- there is a universal energy- this energy permeates all things, both animal, human vegetable, even the rocks beneath our boots, and the air we breath. from this energy everything is formed- the universe, humanity, society- all life and all of life's habits and cultures. in a way you could say i worship this energy- some call it god, the spirit, Buddha, the god head- nature. always there is a balance of the female energy and the male. none is more important than the other, both are equal. I basically choose to worship this energy, through a conduit- which would usually take the name of a god or goddess from a few different pantheons, depending on the situation. ( which is why i would classify myself as an eclectic pagan if anything)

festivals and esbats, sabbats and equinoxes are a way of recognising the primal energies of the earth, a way to celebrate the turning of the wheel, the natural harmonics and the songs of the earth. the timeless traditions of our ancestors who understood the cycles of nature and the universe, of time and the movement of the planets hold important lessons for our society who have become disillusioned and automated in a world they do not understand. i use paganism as a way to draw myself closer to the natural foundation of our earth- i don't do much, just have some wine with friends, maybe a home cooked feast on the greater festivals, and Beltane festival of course.

this energy that permeates all things can be borrowed ( and this is where i differ from most people) - good acts add to the energy, bad acts draw from your personal energy- spellcrafting or intention willing, ( i dont do spells, but will ask for assistance with something through a conduit by willing it) borrows energy from the universe to increase the odds of the willed action to happen - so before willing i may have had a fifty fifty chance of succeeding at something but depending on the amount of intent behind it, increases the likelihood of success.. does that make sense.. i am sure it does! I give thanks for good things that happen, and ask for guidance if things aren't going to plan.

i think because of these beliefs I have a love for natural elements, i am a texture-phile i love the roughness of tree bark, leaves and grass, i love to craft using leather and wool... I chose to go to uni and study religion and philosophy to better understand other religions, and to understand the myths and legends that make up my chosen path... I feel that the body is a temple of the soul- the everlasting aspect of a person. you must look after the temple to maintain your balance with your soul and the universe.

all in all I think I could say I am a very earthy person, I feel a connection with this planet that fosters us, I like to sit and listen to the roaring silence between its heartbeats, and even though my connection at this stage in my life is close to severed, I can still feel it like a backdrop of white noise in my head...

yep...i think that about covers it.
thanks for reading this far,
love christi

swap swap

it has been so so so hot here lately, and its compounded by the fact that our house has no air conditioning. thats the price you pay for living in an old house :) the floorboards are nice, but the insulation is crappy :(

i have been sitting in front of the fan in the lounge room in the semi dark just crocheting or drawing. the computer is in the hottest room in the house as well which deters me from blogging or being on the webs much.

onto some happy ness, i am participating in a craftster swap with the theme of my favourite books in the world- discworld, and have been crafting up and trying to think of some awesome crafts to go with this theme. so far i have made a little sculpture of the luggage:


and i havent really thought of what else i will do- maybe i will crochet a neck warmer thingy- i think i have some nice wool somewhere that has a purple theme to it... i would really love some wizard hats buttons :) maybe i will have to make some out of polymer clay? or shrinky dinks?? any ideas on what else i can make?

onto other crafts i have learnt to crochet and have finished one crazy crochet scarf to put in the etsy listings, and have one more delightfully red one i want to put in there- i have a nice idea for a blue one with white trim like waves !

here are some pics of red in progress:


and a close up of all the crazy stitches:

its a deeper red too- more like fresh blood
these are fun to do when you cant sleep- which for me has been quite often lately. the heat sucks :(

felting

Today I had a fun day with one of my good friends Katy, we both learnt a new craft, and felted!

firstly we started out doing some hats, I made a cone out of plastic and tried to shape the felt onto it



it didn't turn out to good as none of the fibres were bonding to each other :/



after that disaster, we tried to make some felt scarves


we made it a little thin...
part of the process..



mine..

then I tried to take the hat off the base.... big mistake...
it came out like some kind of squashed onion :(

but the scarf of felt turned out cool! bring on winter.. it was 42 here yesterday :(

ETSY LAUNCH!

well i have just launched my new store- The Piaochong Emporium!
www.piaochong.etsy.com

I have a few of my masks listed, soon i will put up my crazy crochet scarves, and a few other goodies- i have an idea for an awesome collection of different things: leather bracelets with the word crafty stamped into it, some more masks, some crochet, and some felted, stitched and sewn things!

all my money,(i hope) will be put towards saving for a little kiln- something small and new that i can play with! i have some fantastical ideas for some amazing things i would love to make.

here is my latest mask i have been working on:


i have been practicing my clay modelling, and have come up with a pretty fantastic looking sculpture from polymer clay- her face needs a lot of work, but i will try my hardest to get her just as i envision!


The Etsy store is one of my resolutions, so i can cross that one off for once! :)
wish me luck with my endevours! your support is all i need!

Resolutions!

The Christmas and new year period is finally over, my brother stayed with me for a week and played games most of the time he was here. I did however teach him to do some leather crafting, and he helped me to cook dinner on a few occasions. He is a well mannered boy, quiet but that suits me fine. took a few photos of the kiddos, one of which I will upload here-

(just after this she fell asleep)awwwwwwww

Dave and I are gunna get our selling on! yeah! he has some old games he wants to put up for auction, and I want to do Etsy stuff. (I keep saying it, and soon it will happen!)

I have a list of Resolutions I need to start working on

1. Tegans wedding is in 11 month (hyperventilates) and if I am going to be a hot bridesmaid I need to get cracking on the fitness!(ie: loose a stack of weight-CSIRO diet you better work!)

2.Get my P's- yep, I have been on my learners for almost 8 years now.....

3. Get my Etsy and production rates up!

hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!
oh... What's your resolutions?