Thursday, August 23, 2007

In Stash Heaven!

Yup, that’s how I felt on my recent trip to Singapore. LOL! *grin*

It was supposed to be a holiday for my son, because we were supposed to go during the last school holidays, but, due to both mine and my hubby’s new position, we were not allowed to take leave within the first 28 days of taking up the positions. So, this school holiday, we decided to fulfill our promise to our son, and I took the opportunity to meet up with Jean, at the same time, pick up my stash from her which I had ordered much earlier online.

Heheheh..I did not just pick up my stash I had ordered earlier, but instead, I bought more charts from her upon seeing more lovely charts she had up for sale at the Art House where she opened up a stall for two days. Look at the stash! Lovely, aren’t they? *wink* OOhh! Stash Heaven! *grin*

I am so glad to have finally had a chance to meet up with Jean, and finally be able to put a face to the name I have been `talking’ to over at NNC. It’s so nice to meet you, Jean. Though not much chatting was done because my son was already getting restless and hungry, I did however managed to try out the lap stand Jean brought along as a demo piece which she hope to be able to bring them in soon.

BTW, I also picked up my flexilens on base from Jean, for the old eyes to use when stitching! *grin*

Earlier in the day, after checking into the hotel, I made my way to Singapore Plaza to check out the much talked about Spotlight, with my son in tow. Yeah, hubby wanted to visit Refections at Bukit Chandu, which according to him, wouldn’t interest Aiman at all.

So, with Aiman in tow, I wasn’t expecting to be able to stay long at Spotlight, knowing how restless my son can easily get. There goes my plan to spend a longer time browsing at Spotlight, which probably turned out fine really, come to think of it. If not, I would probably have done more damage to my purse had I gone alone and stayed longer! LOL! As it is, I think my purse is already heavily damaged by the whole Singapore trip! *grin* Here’s proof of the damage done at Spotlight….

It was a big shop with so many craft items that caters to almost all types of crafts or hobbyist. I stayed close to an hour before Aiman begged to go home. But, I still wanted to visit the scrapbook shop Margaret mentioned to me which was also located at Singapore Plaza. It was easy to find since Margaret said that it was near the escalator.

Made with Love, that’s the name of the shop, was packed to the brim with so many lovely scrapbook goodies, I just had to browse, but, my son was getting restless. He just wanted to go back to the hotel for a swim. OK, how do I persuade a 7 year old kid that mummy still wants to shop? LOL!

Made with Love gave me the answer to that almost immediately, like they knew what parents who have kids in tow go through when going shopping. They had a small café at the end of the shop, and they serve chocolate cakes and hot chocolate! My son’s favorite! What more could I ask for! LOL! What else? I got my son settled in with a slice of chocolate cake, and hot chocolate with marshmallows, and I was in stash heaven again as I browse the shop. LOL! However, I did not stay long, because as soon as the cake and hot chocolate were downed, Aiman was bored again. *grin* I only managed to get two clear alphabet stamps, but, I was satisfied with the buys anyway. It cost a little bit more here in Malaysia. More stash for my stamping collection! *grin*

The second day was spent at Sentosa Island, from morning to late afternoon. When we got back into town, as my hubby had promised my son a dip in the pool before dinner, I decided to hop over to Ngee Ann City as Margaret mentioned that there is a craft shop there, and it wasn’t far from where we stayed at Orchard Parade Hotel along Orchard Road. It was also just behind the MRT Station we got off, after coming back from Sentosa.

Art Friend is another huge craft shop, covering almost 4 lots of shop. More organized than Spotlight, but it did not have as many things since it did not carry any fabrics as Spotlight did. However, for a first time visitor, it was stash heaven again for me! LOL!

However, I was a little wary with my purse this time and bought only two items – a rubber stamp and a punch. Could it be because I was already tired out from spending a whole day at Sentosa?

Art Friends had a lot of things which probably I wouldn’t be able to find back home in Malaysia, but, buying the things I wanted would create luggage problems going home because we only brought with us one big suitcase and one small one. Already I had the stash which I picked up from Jean, stash from Spotlight, and Made with Love. My bag would burst at the seams if I proceeded to buy any of the bulky things I fancied. So, the sensible part of me took over and my purse remains safe with me for the trip to Art Friends….for now LOL!

For dinner, my hubby suggested that we have it at Scotts Plaza which he use to frequent when he was working in Singapore some 17 years back. However, we couldn’t find it, which we later found out that it was knocked down for new developments. Just my luck, as if it was meant to be, my hubby took us to Far East Plaza along Scotts Road for dinner, which, coincidentally happen to have another cross stitch shop! LOL! I chanced upon it after dinner as we were just walking around looking at the shops.

Margaret never mentioned this shop to me before this though I remembered someone did mention it at NNC some time back, but it slipped my mind until I saw the shop after dinner. Unfortunately it was closed already at 8.30pm when we got there. *sigh*

However, not wanting to leave Singapore without at least satisfying my curiosity about the shop, I made a quick hop over to The Knotty Shop the next day as it opened at 11.00am, just before I had to rush back to the hotel to check out and leave for our evening flight back.

Again, with my son in tow, even though it was only a 30 minute visit, I still managed to spend quite a sum at the shop. They were books on hardanger which I find hard to find here in Malaysia. I have not been successful at getting them online as they were either too expensive, or, I couldn’t find the patterns I like, but the books at Knotty Shop fulfilled both my criteria of a reasonable price and lovely patterns. I grabbed them, together with charts by Serendipity Designs & M Designs, two fat quarters of 28ct evenweaves and a ready to stitch string bag.

Oooohhhh! I am in Stash Heaven! LOL! See all my stash! *grin*

Because of my recent craze of buying stash during this trip to Singapore, I have just banned myself from going anywhere within a 2m radius of any craft shop for the next 12 months! LOL! Err………but, there are still those online shops! *wink*

OK, no more stash shopping for me till the end of the year, except for necessities like flosses and that sort of things to complete a project. Dare I make myself promise? *grin*

3 comments:

Barbara J said...

Oh my, oh my, what lovely stash! Glad you had a wonderful time stashing to your hearts content! :)

Shanny Khoo said...

My goodness! You mentioned you stashed in S'pore, I didn't know it was a MAD shopping spree! hehehehe... We ALWAYS promised oursleves NOT to stash again but we'll always do online shop! *wink *wink

Anonymous said...

Wowwiee..nice stash!!..