Excellence

I remember a few years ago, when my sister was my age, that she always had troubles closing her wardrobe. Here I am on the other hand, having troubles finding places for my books and pens instead. I'll admit it - I'm a serious hoarder where it comes to stationery.  And where stationery is concerned, Kikki.K is my favourite.

Kikki.K can be a bit pricier where stationery goods are concerned, which is a downside seeing how most of my money ends up being spent there where cheaper alternatives can be found elsewhere. It does help though that Kikki K gives out vouchers twice a year to its members - $10 vouchers, which does not sound like much, but it did give me the free polka-dot tote bag shown below that was $9.95. They also do have good sales, which I always look out for.

Their products are definitely pricey, but they do come with the promise of quality. I tell myself this all the time as I line up to pay at the registers, sure to get another berating from mum when she sees that I’ve bought yet again more stationery.

Aside from stationery most of the money I have, that is supposed to be redirected into my savings account, is often spent on useless products as these. To be honest, I wonder why I buy these things sometimes. The $2.80 solar sunflower bobble below unfortunately does not work.  However, it is cute as it is, so it now sits on my tabletop as a little decoration piece.

On a side note, Melbourne's going through another heat wave again. This is by far the worst summer ever, with over five days of 40 degree weather. It's been a total killer. Frankly speaking I can't wait for autumn and winter!

Bloo.

[WIP] DIY Aquatic Terrarium - "Buddy"

Okay, so I just made some changes to my little terrarium, so this post is a tad bit outdated, but it still includes the essentials so here's the post anyhow!

My first post featured my excitement and initial steps in preparing to make my very own aquatic terrarium. I was able to acquire the little glass jar, the pebbles, as well as the plant that I purchased online from a domestic seller. Although I expected to wait about a week for the plant to arrive, it came in about four days, which was a huge plus! You could imagine my excitement when it arrived.

I didn't specify which plant I purchased in the last post, but it's this. Commonly known as the moss ball, but in reality is a unique form of algae. I bought one around about 4-5cm, favouring this smaller one over the other one the seller had that was 7-8cm in diameter.

I must add firstly, that they're extremely adorable. This one here, which I call 'Buddy', was slightly flattened in transit, but still holds a round shape. I expected it to feel a bit softer and perhaps a bit slimier (I don't quite know why I had such an expectation) but although it's still squishy, it's also fairly solid and very nice to hold.

When I saw it in all it's glory, I realised one thing - I miscalculated! It definitely fits the jar I bought, but there's little room for decor to go in. I might look for another jar, but in the meantime, I am still very happy with it. The decor of little dinosaurs I bought from Hong Kong hasn't arrived yet, but this is how it is right now.

The budget was $30, and I spent $32 in total. If you take out the dinosaur figurines which aren't here yet, then the total comes to about $23-24.

Is it worth it? Well, the aquatic terrariums I found online, many which are only half the size of the one I made were going for $50 in total. The plants within it are also much smaller and in my opinion, not as fun to look at than this larger one. Even normal terrariums (as in, non-aquatic) ones go for around the same price. Even smaller ones are $30, some even $50. Don't even think about larger ones! I've seen a few in the hundreds even!

I did look into prices of succulents for normal terrariums, and you can get the smaller plants for just a few dollars be it online or at your local store. Adding the other components of a normal terrarium, your total would be far less than that.

So if you're looking to get a terrarium, here's a piece of advice - you'll likely be much better off financially if you made one yourself! Not to mention, you get to customise it the way you want, and it feels much better that way when you complete it, like an achievement of sorts!

See you next post!
Bloo

All The Wiser

After putting it off for months on end, I finally had one of my wisdom tooth removed. I've never known somebody else having to remove it when they're just 20 - most people I know, like cousins, only had theirs removed in their early 30s.

The entire process made me nervous, especially since stitches were involved and while I'm not scared of needles, I am scared of stitches! Nevertheless it was done, the extraction took about half an hour, which was much quicker than expected. Recovery however took longer and it was more the inconvenience that was annoying to deal with than the pain.

In fact, I'm still 'recovering' from it now, it's been exactly one week, and the self-dissolving stitches are still there but will be gone in another half a week or so!

My mood had been fairly down because of it, since I couldn't eat as much as I wanted as quick as I wanted because of the healing gum. It was lifted though when these came in the mail, which I snagged for $8 on eBay. It's a snug fit, since I purchased a size 39 under the Asian standards rather than US one. It does fit very well though, and I am very pleased with it!

The shoes and the cute little cartoon-like faces are supposed to be of Boston Terriers. They also come in a cute cat version. Being a dog-lover though, I picked the Boston Terriers.

On the note of dogs, mine is next on the list for dental surgery. He needs to have two of his teeth extracted, since it's been put off for too long. He's a bit of a scaredy-cat, so hopefully he'll do fine!

On a side note, I'm just writing up the continuation of the terrarium post. My plant arrived early (and in very good condition!) so I'll be posting that soon!

See you in the next post!

Bloo

[WIP] DIY Terrarium

I know I'm a fair bit late into the game, but after spying several cool terrariums out and about, be in online or in funky stores down in the city, I was determined to have one too. But I came across a problem. On their own, terrarium cases that I eyed (geometric ones in particular) were easily over $40. So I looked at the set of the case and plants together, where they were plenty available on Etsy, but they often cost more than $50. Additionally, most were US-based, which was another problem, as you can't bring live plants into Australia.

Interestingly enough, I did ask around some sellers just to verify. Many said they could ship to Australia, but look upon checking their feedbacks on eBay or Etsy, I saw that many buyers had their live plants claimed and destroyed by customs. The sellers don't return the money, claiming the buyer should have known better. Basically, check for your customs policy before ordering plants online!  Some whose packages aren't check still receive their plants, but beware, you don't want to end up spending money and risk not receiving your package!

Back on track to my DIY Terrarium Project, I decided to make my own terrarium by sourcing my 'supplies', so to speak, from different places at the best possible price. My budget for my DIY terrarium is $30. (Also, I plan to make mine into an aquatic terrarium.)

Firstly, a terrarium needs a container or case of sorts. While I initially thought of a mason jar, I found that it would likely be a bit on the small side. I ended up in The Reject Shop and snagging this glass jar case for $7. It is meant to be a candleholder of sorts, but since it's empty inside, it's ideal to be used for this purpose. In fact, I spotted a Melbourne eBay seller selling a small and simple terrarium for $30 using one of these jars. They also come in different inspirational quotes, but I chose the one above.

Next up, you need stones or pebbles. You can get them in  heaps of colours, but I was eyeing the brown stones. They proved to be more difficult to find - I initially wanted rainbow stones, but they ranged from $3 to $15, with the $3 ones looking really horrible. I ended up getting these for $2, which I think matches the case well - especially with the handle.

For normal terrariums (as in, non-aquatic ones), the stones are needed for drainage for the plants. For mine, it's more for decoration, though I suppose they do serve for both function and fashion no matter which terrarium one makes!

As for additional decorations... I purchased them online so they've yet to arrive, but the package included five ceramic figurines of adorable dinosaurs. They'll arrive in two to four weeks since they're from Hong Kong, but I believe they're worth the wait. They were $9 for the pack of five dinosaurs.

Current total is therefore $18.

The plant I purchase was $14, which puts me $2 over my budget at $32, but I don't consider that I've 'blown' my budget with that $2 to be honest! I only purchased it recently so it's yet to arrive, but I will post again when it does, and when my aquatic terrarium is complete!

See you in the next post!
Bloo