Bilingual Roses

Freshly cut from my Secret Garden, are my Bilingual Roses.
These roses speak 2 languages - English and Chinese.
Everything is translated so that everything is understood.

These Bilingual Roses started to grow in my garden
when a Chinese visitor fell in love with
one of the local flowers. It was difficult for them
to understand each other at first, but in time,
they figured out a way to communicate properly.

These flowers make perfect little surprises...say hello,
congratulations, i love you or thank you.
Or if you can't say anything at all,
let the Bilingual Roses do the talking :)
It makes a perfect gift for/between
English and Chinese speaking couples.

•••

These Bilingual Roses are made out vintage paper.
Cut from pages of an old Chinese-English dictionary.
I cut each petal myself. Then glued them on
to form these paper flowers.
All the petals have been carefully glued on to twigs
that I've gathered from my garden. These flowers are ideal
for displaying on a table, either just laying on its side or in a vase.

They will wilt if you water them! So remember not to water them!

Manikako Children's Day at SAM

Children's Day Weekend
Singapore Art Museum
October 2009

(That's me in black.)

First, we draw how we want the doll to turn out.
Then we create it.

It was a very busy first workshop at
Singapore Art Museum
but we all had so much fun with the children!

Manikako's Second Workshop at SAM

30 and 31 January 2010
Manikako's 3rd doll making workshop.
(This is our second workshop at Singapore Art Museum.)

The museum celebrated 40 years of Singapore-Philippine ties
and Manikako was thrilled to have been a part of the celebration :-)

MAAD Doll Making Workshop

5 and 6 September 2009
Red Dot Museum
MAAD Doll Making Workshop with Manikako

The handmade banner.

A Manikako doll made for one of MAAD's organizers.

That's her! With her dogs and her man.

Her doll has a dog, too!

Their dolls look like them!

The guests that wanted to make their own dolls.

Coffee Table

Those aren't tiles on the table top.
Those are print outs of tiles.

Collage

Memorable things that were lying around my apartment
but I wouldn't dare let go of any of them.
So I made this.

A Map to Nowhere

A daydreaming tool...

Felt Mice

My latest obsession ~ sewing lab rats.

Painting on Vintage Pages

Meet Mooshoo Lini.
The woman that says what's on her mind.

Waiting No More

Acrylic on canvas.
40 inches X 30 inches

Milly

Oil on canvas.
12 inches X 9 inches

February Girl

Oil on canvas.
30 inches X 30 inches

Plaster of Paris Exercise 1

Doodling

Wishing Star

This was a gift to my nephew.
I made it for him so that he would learn
how to wish upon a star.

An Ecosystem

This is an ecosystem on a ring, by the way.

Three Sock Doll Stories

The daily race to the hydrant between Rufus and Birkin...
"I must get there first! I must get there first!"

At Montemarte, while taking a night stroll,
Francine is unaware of Monsieur Croque
and Ludovic walking behind her. Little did
they know that by tailing her, they were
off to a place where they would all
live together...

The Henpecked Mister Hammond.

The Bird Bath

Welcome to my Secret Garden.
This is a place where things grow and bloom & flutter & fly!

Yesterday afternoon, something very rare happened...humans entered the Secret Garden!
They spent tea time on the Secret Garden grounds because they finally found a place that is more beautiful than their parks. The plants, birds, bugs and flowers got very curious and slowly made their way to where the humans were having their picnic. The humans have never seen a garden so alive! They got scared of the approaching plants so they ran away as fast as they could!

The plants were wondering what happened.
The plants didn't know why the humans ran away.

The birds and the bugs and the leaves and the vines found tea cups and saucers left by the humans on the ground. So the birds made it their bird bath.
It was a fun afternoon for the birds and the creepy crawling plants.
They kept filling the cup with green nectar
then the birds would dive into their new little bird bath :-)

Many things happen in this secret garden.
And this occurrence is the happiest thing for the little birds
that have just come out of their shells.
The best thing about my gardens is that you can take them with you
anywhere and anytime!

You can watch these birds play in the cup all day :-)

A Few More Birds

Paper Roses. Coffee Filters.

The flowers don't smell like roses.
They don't smell like coffee.

The Enchanted Pink Rose Ring

Imagine a garden that never needs watering.
Yet everything in it still shines and blooms.
Glass, crystal, freshwater pearls, clay and
semiprecious stone -
always alive,
always so colorful!

There are no weeds in these gardens, I assure you.
A worm or two may pop up in some of them once
in a while though :-)

Butterflies and Roses Ring

The Russian Ballet

Meet Natasha, Anya and Erika.
They don't stop dancing.

Suspended from ceilings, lamps or shelves,
they'll perform for you anywhere!
In your bedroom, your study, your kitchen or in your living room.

Watch them dance in pretty tutus.
They have the attention of their audience with her every turn.

Like all ballerinas, Isabelle stands tall and keeps fit.

The Ballerina's body and tutu area measure around 3 inches X 3 inches.
Each ballerina may differ minimally in size.
The ballerina's legs and arms extend from 3 inches to 5 inches