DIY fringe shirt,

I've been meaning to post this up for a while because I did this last semester before the year end holidays, so here it is! I really love how fringe tees give out a refreshing yet playful element to an outfit ensemble ♥ Always wanted to get one of my own, but I didn't think it was worth shelling out 30 bucks for a shirt when I could easily transform an old blouse to have a customized fringe. Loved it so much that I bought some cheap tank tops for experimenting with this easy DIY! Had a lot of fun trying this out, and I'm so glad it turned out pretty well :) Here are 4 easy steps to jazz up any old shirt or blouse, which can definitely be achieved in the comfort of your room.

Materials needed:

An old blouse/shirt of your choice (preferably cotton)

Ruler

Pencil/chalk for marking out measurements

Good pair of scissors

Pins or clips

Step 1: Cut off the bottom hem of the shirt, you won't need it. It's okay if the snip is uneven, so don't be afraid to make a mess! I like to use pins to secure both ends down so it's easier to cut, but I didn't have them at hand then but I used these cute hair clips which also do the trick.

Step 2: Measure a suitable length for the fringe to start (preferably not too short if you don't like it to be a cropped top) and mark out equal spaces between each snip. I used intervals of 1.5 cm between each cut, also ensure that the eventual number of snips is an even amount as you will pair them up to tie design knots. A soft 2B pencil or chalk would be suitable for making marks on the cotton shirt, I used a soft watercolour pencil and it was perfect.

Step 3: Be confident and snip away! I took out a bigger pair of scissors for this so the job would be faster and my snips would be straighter. If you like your fringe to be longer strips, you may adjust accordingly and cut upwards.

Step 4: Here's my favourite part - tying the knots in any customized design that you like! For this DIY, I did a simple 2-tier diamond design and hence only had 2 knot tiers. It's easier to do this when the shirt is hanging on the hanger so you do not get confused. I started by pairing up the fringe strips and tying a simple dead end knot twice (don't put too tightly if the shirt material is fragile), this helps to conceal the raw cuts you made between each strip. After you are done with the first round of tying, you move down to the next tier of knots. Using 2 fringe strips which originated from neighbouring (and hence not the same) first-tier knot, create a diamond shape of desired size and tie a double knot. When you are done, you can readjust the size or fix any material frays with a dab of clear nail polish.

You can create different designs, such as creating a third tier and so on. Would definitely love to try this out on different materials and designs when I have more time on my hands ♥ 

Pictures don't really do this beautiful DIY any justice - it's gorgeous in real life and injects such a playful element to any outfit ♥ Was initially quite shy of wearing this out because it's quite a twist from my everyday wear, but wore it one day and it felt so mood-lifting even on a blue and rainy Monday!

Ciao and happy DIY-ing! Will be away at Bali for a short getaway with my friends, can't wait :)

Bastille - Pompeii

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like you've been here before
How am I gonna be an optimist about this
How am I gonna be an optimist about this

 If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all.

SEA aquarium

Barely 24 hours of me landing in Singapore, I was whisked away by my family for a day at the largest oceanarium in the world. It was my sister's birthday, and my dad got tickets for all of us to S.E.A. aquarium, located in Resorts World Sentosa and housed together with Adventure Cove waterpark in the 8 hectare park. Tickets are priced at 38 dollars per person. When we reached, there was a huge crowd for the ticketing booths and another massive crowd waiting to get in (amounting to an estimated of 2 hours of mere waiting) so we purchased express VIP passes at 10 dollars per person - really worth the upgrade!

I was pretty skeptical about the aquarium at first because I hadn't hear much rave about it being away for more than half the year....but family had been there before and they were telling me how amazing it was, and it truly was! The aquarium houses an impressive collection of Manta rays, Indo-pacific bottle nose dolphins, hammerhead sharks, Japanese spider crabs and many other rare species. It was underwater wanderlust at its best with the full length glass panels that plunges you right into the world of these aquatic beings. There was also a petting pool where you could gently pet some starfishes, sea cucumber and the membrane of a shark egg, the queue for this was extremely long but if you skip this and go back to it nearing to the closing time, the queues are short and fast! Plus, you get to have more in-depth explanations of the sea creatures.

My favourite exhibits were the moon sea jellyfishes, electric eels bobbing in and out of earthware, the bottle neck dolphins, hammerhead sharks (stayed at this exhibit for extremely extremely long), shark eggs and the feeding octopus - in fact, I'm in the midst of convincing R to make the trip down to visit the aquarium before he leaves for UK ♥  Pictures definitely speak louder than words - here's a visual walkthrough of the oceanarium, gotta love the bright colours!

Ciao!