Pre-X'mas D.I.Y

My geomancer have been telling me to put up some nice food photos in my home, like dim sum, desserts or fruits.

Sounds great, since I can't imagine my home having photos right out of a menu say, from a seafood restaurant or a steak house.

It was then I realised it's quite tough to find nice and affordable food photos.

My first thought was Ikea. Naturally.

Never thought Ikea is terrible at food photos.

There isn't any appealing food photos!
No, doesn't include those on the menu board at Ikea cafeteria.
I don't fancy staring at deep fried chicken wings or saucy meatballs in the middle of the night at home either.

So I turned to food blogs out of desperation.

Guess where I found the photos that fit the criteria of my geomancer? =)

If there's anything that Ikea can be counted on, it's pretty X'mas gift wrapping at a great price tag.

All the frills and frou.

 I have tons and tons of these at home.

And that's the pair of scissors that has cut so many parcel papers to wrap bulky bags.

S$2 a pair from Daiso. Love that mint green!

 Honestly, I' m not good at reading instructions.

Like my Dad, I just figured things out.

But here's wishing the Husband was around when I did this.

I don't keep my nails long so that it's easier & faster to check bags for posting.

And that makes it tough to lift up those little black hooks!

The ribbons were an impromptu add-on.

I thought the wooden frames look bland with just the photos.

Was wondering how to stick the ribbon to the frame.

I didn't have superglue or double-sided tape.

Resorted to sticking scotchtape at the back.

Thankfully, it holds up and doesn't damage the frame.

Forgot to fix the metal bits and hanging wire.

Had to unhook the whole back board again.

The agony of not having nails.

Fixing teeny-weensy metal stuff is not my favourite thing to do.

Making sure that the ribbon at the side are in place.

I like how the ribbons lay over each other.

The sides resembled a very thick book, don't they?

Tied 3 ribbons, thinking that the frames will look prettier with top bows.

But it proved to be too much.

So there goes my effort.

Think I didn't fix the 3M hooks well.

Must get the Husband to do it again, so that everything looks straight.
I'm really bad at this.

Thank you to Noobcook.com for kindly sending me the high resolution photos!

Your photos are mad gorgeous! So much better than Ikea's!
I developed them as 6R or 8R photos, if I remember correctly.

I promised the blog owner to show her how it would look when I hang the photos up.

That's my X'mas morning brunch!

Macaroni with roasted chicken shreds in Minestrone soup, a recipe adapted from Noobcook.com.

It was yummilicious! =))

I must make it a habit to put fresh flowers on my dining table.

And that's the Ipad the Husband received from his boss as a X'mas present.

Now he's never going to quit his job to help TFL.

Oh well, hope you have had a great X'mas weekend!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu