Getting Nailed.

This week after work, I made a pit stop at shoppers drug mart and found myself staring at a 11.99 nail polish with flecks of glitter. 

10 seconds later, my brain refocused and deemed all this nail polish is propaganda. I'll make my own. 

I live in New Westminster, where the skytrain station is now home to a bar, a sushi restaurant (love philly cream cheese roll), royal bank, starbucks, rocky mountain chocolate factory AND a one dollar store. 

I needed to get bubble wrap anyways to ship my girlfriend her shoe ring (read my previous blog), so why not see if the dollar store had some glitter? They did. Here it is stashed away in my backpack: 

I speeded home with my goods and plopped down on the floor with a bottle of clear nail polish, a piece of folded newspaper and three bottles of this glitter.  

To all you girls at home, this is how you do it. 

1. You have to fold the newspaper to create a linear crease. 
2. Sprinkle the glitter on newspaper. I took all three bottles and shook away. 
3. Aim the spout of newspaper towards opening of nail polish bottle. 

For all you visual learners (like me), here is a photo:

There you go. No more spending 11.99 on a bottle of glitter nail polish :) 

If the shoe fits, wear a shoe ring.

Hi Everyone! *waves* I haven't blogged for a while so I have all this pent up creative energy to share with you all today.

A few weeks ago, while wandering value village like a hobo, I stumbled upon a bag of barbie shoes. There were approximately 160 pairs in many styles. Current and flashback retro. I for sure knew that there would be a good use for these shoes so I took the bag and gallivanted towards the cashier.

0.50 cents later, I walked out of the door and an idea hit me like a fat man walking into a 99 pound girl-----I was going to make rings using the shoes.

Knowing I was not going to purchase these adjustable rings individually, I managed to find out who the wholesaler was for Granville Island's "Beadworks". Beazu, located near Main Street skytrain station, offered bags of rings, each containing 50 pieces at 18.00 per bag. I purchased three bags knowing that if it wasn't a hit with the public, it'd be a great creation for this year's goodie bags for the Cinderella Project (where I will be a stylist for this year's high school graduating class). Here are the rings:

In addition to the value village value pack of barbie shoes, I managed to find two unique pairs of heels from ebay. It is from these that I have created the rings that have garnered my first sale. Here are the shoes:

I wanted to make sure that the shoe was mounted on properly, so a hot glue gun would not do. For all of you who do not know this, crazy glue is available for purchase at the dollar store. This is what I used to adhere the shoe to the ring. These are the final products:

And I so happen to have a ring box lying around :) For those of you who are curious, the blue platform has been purchased by my friend Alice M and the pink one is still available. Message me if you are interested! 

About Me

My name is Clara Mai Yan. I am a 29 year old visual arts/math teacher, high school counsellor and flight attendant. Since graduating from university, I have relocated to various countries mainly in the pursuit of my teaching career.Both life and the hunger for an emotionally enriching lifestyle have forced me to uproot and move consistently since leaving high school.
I enjoy a challenge want to explore avenues that few people dare to consider. It is really my thirst for an emotionally, professonally and socially enriching lifestyle that drives me to look forward to more personal growth.
My artistic abilities were fostered as a child where I illustrated and created storylines for small books that I stapled together. Unfortunately, none of them survived as they were estastically thrown out by my parents. Creativity has played a fundamental part in my life as is demonstrated through my poetry, mug designs and jewelery.
I have been told that I am a deep thinker. I don't know if this means neurosis, but I take this to be a good thing. I'm not a big fan of being brain dead. I tend to do well in abstract thinking activities or careers that require problem solving. Hence, my career in counselling and teaching. If something is deemed routine, I tend not to do well in it.
I grew up with a conservative father and loving mother. My dad is from Hong Kong and my mom is from Singapore. Although I am not close with my father, one thing he has taught me is to value work ethic rather than couch potato culture. My mom is the best and has done as much as she could to ensure I never suffer from starvation. This means having sent food parcels to university and dropping off 6 boxes of almond milk when they went on sale at Superstore.
As for both within the education and flying careers, I was bitten by the travel bug during my overseas teaching contract in Hong Kong. Upon returning to Canada, I realize that this disease will probably never be cured. In order to continue exploring the world and various grocery products, I took a part time position as a flight attendant and have no regrets about it. My parents think that I have given up on my teaching/counselling career, but I like to say that it is because I like variety in life. Redundantcy and routine is boring and makes you brain dead.
Here's to leading an exciting and fruitful life everyone! *cheers!*

Cheese in Amsterdam, Gelato in Venice.

Hi everyone! This is my first post under 'blogger'. It's an honor, thank you very much *takes bow*. 

So I spent my entire Summer gallavanting around Europe and took some photos of random items. Cheese in Amsterdam, Gelato in Venice....flight attendant legs on the plane. In addition to documenting them in photographic evidence, I've also transferred these images onto a mug in painted format. 

This will be the 12th mug I have made since discovering my talent for having the ability to paint on circumference areas during the Summer of 2001. These mugs have been made as gifts and for sale. 

This one will accompany me on my flights overseas as I am not drinking out of any styrofoam cups inflight. If anyone is interested in these painted mugs, please send me a message :)

I'll be blogging on a variety of things including travels, beauty and relationships. Hope I garner a healthy group of followers :) 

Clara.