Friday, December 2
AFA
AFA is finally over!! I honestly have so many feels about it I haven't really had a chance to rest SIGHS!!
I'm an exhibitor! this is my corner~
Eating ice cream
We had an awesome corner booth next to a large empty space~
Me with my bf (rilakkuma)
He's the best, posed for all of us!!
My A1 poster
OBJECTION
I was so tired as if I died 1923843 times like Subaru
NANASHIMA!!!
PPAP guy came to perform!
I have an apple~ I have a pen~
I sold stamps and people were just stamping it on each others' skin at my booth. Little do they know that the ink will fuzz-explode and look uber scary!!!
Viktor stamp (Yuri on ice) sold out first. I was really shocked because when I posted the stamps on my art page, there was literally no response so I thought it was a failed venture.
I'm so glad I jumped into it. All the new forms of interactions that stamps have created! It feels nice to see people having fun stamping what I've drawn on their stuff ahmg!!
Jesmond has really cool cosplay. he made the Zapdos himself!!
Me holding one of my
shirts. I was very heartened by their reception omg T_T There was a customer who lifted up another customer to grab a shirt i hung high up LOL.
When I sold out of Snorlax-Gudetama shirts on the second day, some people came by 3-4 times to check for new stock.!!
THIS. GIRL. sold everything for us I'm so grateful for her existence
Packing up after! Good bye AFA!
Unarrived merch
The days leading up to AFA were filled with anxiety, stress and sadness. I cried a lot. I spent the bulk of my time and remaining savings making charm designs...
I worked so hard on them. I sent them in early because they were the most important..
But, the seller put the wrong address and
they never arrived. So, I prepared for the worst by printing paper versions of my charms as placeholders.
All of these did not come.
I was serving a customer on the first day when
it was confirmed that my important merch was still stuck in China. I was about to burst into tears. But I made myself carry on and I started a pre-order form. My boothmates were very supportive throughout.
At the end of the event, I had
120 pre-orders, which I'm still trying to settle. Even now, as I'm leaving for Taiwan,
they are still lost and I feel very worried. My folders/new stickers/packaging never came as well.
At least I'm learning how to execute a pre-order/mass mailing system. I hope my Excel skills do not fail me and I manage to deliver on all my orders. :(
However...!!
The most memorable thing that happened was THIS.
My idol
Namie actually dropped by my booth and bought my stuff.
I repeat.
my!
fucking!!
FAVOUR!!ITE!!!
ARTIST
CAME BY ON HER OWN AND
BOUGHT MY ARTWORK!!!!
Holy shit I still can't believe it - and she even bought badges that no one else cared to buy from me!!! From a series she doesn't even know. So it was for the artwork??!!! I DON'T KNOW HOLY SHIT
SHE ALSO LET ME HOLD HER ROWLET
ASHJGHASJFSFKAL
I was just SO HAPPY and still am. She's been my inspiration for years. She probably doesn't know but
she is a huge influence on me and I learnt a lot from her. Obviously I'm still a small fry right now but I'm going to use this as motivation to work harder!!!
And not to forget...
The most important people -
MY CUSTOMERS.
I saw kids
spend the last of their allowance on my merch. A kid wanted to buy more things but had no money left. He asked if he could bank me the money when he reached home - I simply gave him the item and said I trust him. He returned an hour later with borrowed money to pay me back.
I saw kids
pull out money their angbao they saved from Feb, just to spend it on things I made.
It means so much to me that
people appreciate my work enough to buy them - honestly, I thought with my stuff not arriving, my shirts/stamps would be a flop. I thought no one would want to pre-order from me. I thought it was a mistake spending all my earnings on this.
But I managed to break even!!! I feel that the sacrifice is worth the excitement/smiles I got :')
And of course,
my boothmates!!! I love that we all try to help and support each other while suffering together!! ;w; We know exactly what each other is going through and try to encourage each other to push on!! I'm seriously so thankful for them and they are so nice sometimes that I feel that I'm taking advantage of them aaaah!!! Thank you girlss!!!
And one last shout-out to the
AFA organizing committee!! I truly think they did a great job setting up this event for us to have a great time at.
Afterthoughts
At my lowest point, I asked my boyfriend whether this was all a mistake. All the time, money, blood, sweat and tears I was sacrificing to make this happen. Would it be worth it in the end?
He said "
This is your dream, so it's not a mistake." And he was right. AFA is what I wanted to do, and I'm glad I did it.
I wanted to
diversity my merchandise this time. It was one of my rare chances to experiment. I went all out. In a month, I
drew 5 badge designs, 13 charm designs, 13 stamps, 3 folders, 1 bag, 3 shirts, 2 pouches. I planned the merch, sourced for suppliers on my own, made my orders in
CHINESE, marketed my work, hosted my first giveaway. All while speaking to several Google teams...
Some people probably worked harder than me. I admit I half-assed a lot of art in order to cover as much as possible; there are a lot of things I wish I did differently. But when I look at those numbers,
I think I did a lot and I'm satisfied!!!
I feel like I'm showing off right now BUT AFTER ALL THIS HARD WORK PLS LET ME BRAG A BIT ON MY BLOPG THANK U
Gimme all dis
These are so adorable!!!! I'm stocking up on winterwear!
2016 schedule
... is super packed!
Labels: AFA, art, taobao, travel
Monday, April 25
namecard
awwwyiss
The words are
letterpressed :D
I wanted the vintage look.
The paper is so thick
like my dick that I can only fit two in my wallet.
my favourite cake place
My favourite cake place is
Chateraise at WestGate B2 (inside Isetan). I've been recommending it to my friends. It's very good value for money and the staff are super nice. You can see them decorating the cakes too.
My favourite cake is the
legendary cream cake which is a very milky and fluffy strawberry shortcake.
Strawberry bar cake, $4.7
Crispy chocolate cake, $4.7
Chocolate Legendary Cream cake, $5.1
other foods
I also tried out
WaaCow inside shaw foundation alumni house in NUS. I really like the flavoured rice and the bowl is very fragrant.
My friends and I have been raving about this
Japanese Curry Rice inside Food Republic (Vivocity and Wisma). For only $7, you get amazing curry rice that is big enough for two people!
This is the waffles at
Sunday Folks in Holland Village. It's pretty nice. I like the gula melaka ice cream to go along with it. :)
The
honey truffle waffles at Butter My Buns in NUS Utown are to die for. It combines the powerful smoky flavour of truffle with crispy waffle drizzled with gooey sweet honey. Super unique. I bought many times :D
eyelash perm and haircut
So after submitting my FYP report I went to treat myself by getting an eyelash perm and haircut!
I got it for $15 at
Paris Beauty House at Holland Village. I bought the Groupon from
here! Apparently, a lash perm is supposed to last
4 weeks. I think mine will not last so long because my hair is naturally straight.
Curled lashes
Experience
Overall, the experience was pleasant :) I'm always too lazy to curl my lashes and this gives me some incentive to apply mascara which really makes a difference.
Process
First they pasted some glue on my lashes to stick to my eyelids. Then I lay there for
45 minutes listening to nature sounds and I fell asleep. It was painful at first, but later on while waiting for your lashes to perm, it felt
very relaxing, like going for a spa.
Staff
I also liked the staff there. They did not push me to do other beauty services, which is SO DAMN RARE OMG. Because of that I'll patronize them whenever I can.
I seriously need to treat myself more often. It felt so good!!
I bought another
groupon, this time for a haircut at
Hair Atelier at Scotts Rd. I just asked to thin my hair and my hairdresser,
Raen, did just that.
Told him i wanted something like this.
I like it. My hair is very light now.
He also blow-dried my hair around a barrel brush which made my hair curl slightly inwards. NOW I WANT A
HEATED ROUND STYLING BRUSH *o*
Of course, I am gonna destroy it with
bleach and rainbow hair once again LOL. After cutting my hair short a year ago, I don't want to do that again. I want the versatility of my long hair.
brows
Kate brow powder
I combine this with
kate brow pencil which I draw around the edges of my brows. I am really into the
korean thick straight eyebrows now although my fringe kinda covers 90% of my brows but I super love this!
It makes my brows defined.
As for
brow threading, I've always gone to this brow place in Clementi for ~20 times. I forgot the name but it's outside Clementi Mall, has a pink sign and near the Gong Cha. Each session cost me about $4 with the 12-times card and lasts me about a month. I've tried BrowHaus, neighbour hood threading shops, and I always go back to this one. It's good and cheap.
Brows + Lipstick + Eyeliner really change a person's face!
stuff
Like 95% of everything I own is from
Taobao now ever since Ezbuy made their shipping so cheap!!
Professional haircutting scissors
since I cut my fringe once a week :)
nekoatsume sweater
Cat leggings
Everything i own is cat themed what the fuck
Labels: beauty, cake, design, eyebrows, eyelash perm, food, hair, haircut, makeup, makeup reviews, namecard, reviews, Selfies, shopping, taobao, waffles
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