Miniature Garden - The Zen Retreat Centre

This is another of my miniature retreat garden - mind retreat. I took my time arranging and rearranging them. These monks were bought at a jumble sale - RM2.00 for 10. I almost clapped my hands with glee when I paid the money. In fact I could not believe my ears when the lady who sold them to me told me that the tiny monks caused only RM2.00.

I imagine what my monks were up to when I arranged them. One could be meditating, another resting, yet another praying. Setting up such gardens are really not only challenging but invigorating. Such hobby draws you in.

See the tiny guy on the rock? Adorable right? I wonder what he is thinking about.

And this little fellow is sound asleep on a cool rock.

This is another angle

You can have a better look at the monk village - their retreat

A close up look



The name of the village is displayed.

You can imagine what each is up to. Each position will denote a different act.

I found myself 'there'

The retreat is near the sea. And do take notice of the tiny monk on the high rock. Wouldn't you want to be in his shoes? Sitting high up there, meditating and enjoying the cool breeze of the sea.

A monk crossing the bridge to go somewhere. Perhaps to wait for the boat to cross to another country?

Miniature Garden - The Shanghai Village

Hello everyone! I am back. The other day I shared with you simple set-ups of miniature gardens. Those simple ones are a joy to a stressful day. They somehow soothe away the aches and the confusion and make struggles easier.

Today I will share with you more complicated and time consuming set-ups. I use aquariums. My husband who loves rearing fish gave the hobby up so I use the aquariums to set up miniature gardens. Each set-up takes time and money and careful planning. I have two set-ups in my garden and take great delight imagining myself to be in that setting. Ha! Ha! Ha!

This is a village scene

It even has a name : Shanghai Village. I am sorry. The shot is not too good.

You can have a better view here. I almost imagine myself in the village. Look at the bridge. I made it using just twigs and a hard cupboard.

The top view of the village scene

I have a sea scene too. It completes the scene of a village near the sea.

Hari Raya Cards

Today is the first day of school after a long Hari Raya break. Some schools took the entire two weeks off while many schools reopen on today and that is Friday. The mood of celebration was still there among my Muslim colleagues and they brought food to share with us. It was a joyous occasion.

And today I visited a colleague who had to go through an operation just before Hari Raya. It was quite a tough time for the family especially since it was the first time she returned home to her village after 4 years to celebrate Hari Raya with her own siblings. Nevertheless her sons (4 heroes) had a fine time and the eldest boy made some cookies.

Well, dear friends. since it is still a time of joy and happiness, I will take this opportunity to share another three Hari Raya Cards I made. Yes, a group of us got together gave each of our Malay colleague a handmade Raya card.

Miniature Retreat Gardens

Miniature Retreat Centre - a simple one.

In this blog, I will share some simple assembled miniature retreat gardens. I will come to the more complicated ones later.

One of my greatest joy was setting up a miniature retreat garden. I would actually want to name it 'Mind Retreat Garden'. It is therapeutic for a stressed mind apart from having a real wonderful and joyous time setting it.

I know gardening is therapeutic but if you just try what I am going to show you here, you will be just as enthusiastic and obsessive as I am. It took me some time to set it because it wasn't easy hunting for the right things at the right price. I always believe in saving cost and setting up a miniature retreat can be quite costly if you are not careful. You know you can simply walk into a pet shop to get all your things and then start assembling. But I don't want and actually, I can't afford it because every item is expensive there and if I splash unwisely, I will end up burning a big hole in my pocket. So I space out my buying.

When this happens, I am hooked. It means I am kept on an alert for things (go for jumble sales, look out for sales and discounts). I get all excited and full of anticipation as well as frustration (that I can't buy everything in one go) Ha! Ha! Ha!

When you set up your miniature retreat garden, plan before hand. Don't walk blindly into a pet shop (yeah, that's where I get all my stuffs) and start buying. Not only will you end up burning a hole in your pocket but you will end up buying too many which will overcrowd the place.

I use aquariums to set up my miniature retreat garden. I can assure you that by the time you finished setting up the place, you will be so satisfied and rejuvenated to handle another onslaught of stress and unreasonable workload.

A pond garden. I have mixed real plants with artificial ones.

These two photos are of the same miniature garden. The plant in the pot is a real plant.

I put this in the house, using all artificial plants. This was done some time back and I have disassembled it. It was my first trial and error piece.

CD Love

Hello everyone. It is the Raya hols now. It is a long break for me, a really welcome break but after the break, it will be work and work till the end of the year. I guess this is life, right? We can't complain. The only way to break the humdrum of work and stress is to indulge in a hobby. And I certainly hope you have one.

O.K. It is time for sharing now

CDs if you brow the net have a lot of users. They can be made into toys like cute Santa Claus, interesting sun catches and many other things. As for me, I have used CDs as the base for my pencil holders as shown in my stylish stationery holders. Today, I will share with you another use of CD.

Yes, this is made from a spoilt CD and gave it to a friend's sister who herself is an avid hobbyist. It of course took a little of my time but I love the result. I hope you will also like it and will try to do it too. Your friends this year I am certain will receive many from you, a unique style of sending across a message.

About a month back, I converted a CD into a birthday greeting 'card'. It was hung over a fruit basket. Let me show it to you.

Lovely?

You notice the little gift box at the edge? Yap, I made that too. I will advise you that if you don't have the time, go and buy a small one from a gift shop. This took me roughly an hour and a half. Don't forget, my dear friends, the smaller an object, the tougher it is. But if you are as crazy as me, then I wish you 'Happy time!'

There you have a closer view of the tiny weeny gift box I have made. It is made from thick cardboard and rubber form.

Let me share two more with you.

God loves me and He loves you.
Have a nice day! Bye..........