DIY maternity photos at home

Throughout my pregnancy, I had toyed with the idea of getting some maternity photos done. Partly for fun (I was itching to plan/ be involved in a shoot again) and partly for memory’s sake.

When the third trimester rolled around however, water retention and general tiredness just seemed to take over. The thought of frolicking in a field while sweating buckets really didn’t appeal to me. What’s more, purchasing all our baby necessities also increased our expenditure greatly and paying for maternity photos just seemed to take the backseat in terms of priority.

So what better to do than to do it yourself! We aren’t too picky and like things being simple, so random photos at home suited us just fine.

p/s I’ll be sharing some tips at the end of this post!

maternity2 … 

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Our wedding photos

It has been forever since I last posted and I’ll explain why in the next few posts coming up… Thank you for those of you who have messaged me to ask for updates and to check up on me! Your love has been very encouraging the past few months :)

In the meantime, I’d like to share some of our favorite wedding photos taken by our talented (and now friend), Amelia from mela de gypsie in Singapore.

To kick it off, a focus on some of the DIY handmade items I created for the wedding:

paper flower handmade DIY wedding bouquet | micheleng.com … 

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DIY wedding tea pot and cups

For our traditional wedding tea ceremony coming up, I’ve been finding it hard to find suitable Chinese wedding tea pots and cups. Most are very red and overly decorated, and definitely ones that I would never use again. Anyone else with this problem?

For my sister’s wedding, I managed to find simple flower tea cups from Taiwan but they didn’t have the double happiness sign which I thought was more meaningful and relevant.

And as the mantra of most DIY projects goes: If you can’t find it (or afford it), MAKE IT!

This was a relatively quick transformation as I wanted to keep things simple. All that was needed: a plain set of tea cups and teapot, some Chinese double happiness stickers, and gold gilding liquid for an extra touch. The stickers are easily removable to use as a regular tea set in the future.

Stick on double happiness stickers for a DIY chinese wedding tea cup and pot set | micheleng.com

To my readers who aren’t too familiar with the traditional Chinese wedding tea ceremony, it is a ceremony to introduce and recognize the bride as part of the groom’s family and vice versa and to show respect to bride’s and groom’s elders. These elders include parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings and cousins, and the list goes on.

Red date tea is usually served to signify fertility in the marriage. The couple kneels while serving the elders seated on a chair (usually seated as couples).  After the tea, the elders give the bride and groom a red packet in return.

I’m definitely not an expert in Chinese wedding culture, but this is a brief overview and generally what I’ve known so far. Feel free to add on and share if you know more! ;)

To make the Chinese wedding tea pots and cups:

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Turn old zippers into a new necklace

Do you remember the craze when random zippers were placed all over clothes and bags? Now that the trend is over, you may not be feeling so hot for this look. Why not use those zippers and turn them into something else!

Here’s an idea for the weekend – a simple yet classic zipper necklace:

zipper necklace diy tutorial

Here’s how:

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Make a necklace out of paper clips

I’ve been mega excited about this post and have been waiting for a non rainy day to do up the finishing touches. Finally! A gorgeous necklace made out of paper clips.

paperclip necklace with spray paint and nail polish

Here’s a simple tutorial on how to make one for yourself!

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