{Sweet Treats}

We're still in czech! we're leaving for Sittard tomorrow and what a week it has been! weather's been awesome and the sights are simply breathtaking. its a totally different feeling, to be in this part of the world! i almost forgot i promised you lot that i'd blog from here... but anyway... better late than never!

Just before i left, i managed to make a few cupcake designs on a few stuff. this was a couple of them - a notebook and a few tags, or some can use it as bookmarks. before i could even publish it on the blog, Ninie (whom i met recently during her balik kampung to the netherlands!) swept everything! i showed it to her and she wanted to have them all.. and more!


She wanted 20 of the bookmarks. i then rushed to make more of the bookmarks so that she could have it before i leave for czech. hopefully they are now safe and in good condition in Dubai, in Ninie's creative hands! will be making more cupcake stuff...


Anyway, this is it for this time. will write again once i'm back in Sittard! i'm now gonna enjoy the rest of my summer holidays here! wish us a safe drive back to NL! take care everyone!

{BerrySweet}

I've always loved materials, textiles. we used to get them rolls and rolls from a factory in JB. mum turned them into curtains and cushions. back in school (during my years), most people label those in science stream as 'smart kids' and those in the home sciences/art or ERT as they call it in Malaysia as 'less smarter kids'. (which is totally not true by the way!). but i was always proud of being in the non sciences, happily swinging my bag on the way to sewing classes and always thrilled to go for cooking lessons and see what we're going to bake and cook that day. somehow or rather, i feel that whatever we did in the past had helped me into this person that i am today, every bit of it has its relevance!

I have been working with a lot of textures lately. i've decided to put my papers and cards for a rest (but just for a little while) and venture out on other related crafts. made quite a few already but i think i'll showcase this one first. my craze now is fabrics!


Turned this one into magnets so that i can put them up on our magnet wall (or should i say radiator!)

Well, i'm sure glad i wasnt in the science stream! at least i've learned some basic sewing and cooking!

I'm off for another short holiday. will be away for a week-ish. but i'll try and blog from Hardy's new toy (lets see what the big fuss is all about!). till my next post, have a wonderful weekend everyone. wish us a safe trip!

[CubeBox]

It is almost 2 in the morning, and both Hardy and i are still awake! i've been doing some work and Hardy's busy with his new toy, a htv? htc? gosh, i am so not a gadget person. oh well.. let's just say we both are busy, been busy and will be busy till christmas! haha..


Before i call it a day, i might as well put up a post of my recent craft. i quite like how it turned out. snapped the photos earlier today, and very pleased with them too!

It's a photo cube. i have yet to include a photo of me on it but i've saved a space for one tiny little picture. the rest of the space i decorated them with chipboards, letters, pressed flowers and other bits and pieces.
If you ask me what is my favourite colour, i wouldnt actually say pink. but i dont know how and why it turned out pink! but i kindda like it anyhow! the cube now rests in my crafting room, on my shelf. did one for my nephew Ferran for his 1st birthday last july. we put a ferrari car inside! it was Ferran's First Ferrari!


Ok guys, it's 2am! i really should hit the sack! i've cracked my head since morning on so many things... it's about time to rest...

Welterusten...

Love Honour Cherish

Schools are closed for summer holidays here. this is the final week. if we're back in Malaysia, we'd probably be attending weddings, weddings and more weddings! we tend to have weddings every week of the entire school holiday duration back home! do i miss it? well, sort of.. i miss making weddings and engagements (i did quite a lot of them back when i was in malaysia).


But what i miss most is the food that they have on weddings! i am now looking at our nikah wedding photos right infront of me. mine was very simple, with just the necessary elements. i had the best time during the build up of our wedding. we were surrounded by a beautiful bunch of people who came everyday to help us. the solemnization was a very special day for us, it was simple but yet very meaningful, witnessed by our closest of the closest family and friends. it doesnt matter if you had a big one or a small wedding, the main thing, and the most important thing is that we live happily ever after....


... and of course, love, honour and cherish each other forever! dont you all agree?

Much Love,

Crabcakes

Gosh! i havent put up a cooking post for so long! sorry guys... ok, ok.. here's one. over here, we get the english satelite channels. this means that we get to see british programmes! i was watching this one cooking programme (i believe it was indian food made easy), and saw this really cool recipe. it requires a lot of things but it is really simple. you can modify it to your taste i'm sure it'll be good too!


I took down the recipes and only managed to do it probably a year after i saw the show! this dish is simply refreshing. serve with lime and yoghurt and add loads of corriander for the dip, it's a summer treat indeed!



Ingredients

4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
thumb sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
¼-½ tsp red chilli powder
salt, to taste
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp lemon juice
25g/1oz fresh coriander leaves and stalks, chopped
400g/14oz prepared crab meat
1 large free-range egg
2½ tbsp mayonnaise
9-10 pieces of thick bread, made into crumbs in a food processor


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

2. Heat half the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the onion for about four minutes, or until soft. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another 40 seconds. Stir in the coriander, red chilli powder, salt and garam masala and cook for another 20 seconds then take off the heat. Place into a large bowl.

3. Add the lemon juice, fresh coriander, crab, egg and mayonnaise to the onion mixture in the bowl. Stir well and add the breadcrumbs. Divide into eight equal portions and form each into a circular shape.

4. Heat one tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan and cook the crab cakes in batches over a low moderate heat for about two minutes on each side, or until golden brown adding more oil as needed.

5. Place the cooked crab cakes on a baking tray and place them into the oven to stay warm while you cook the others.

6. For the tamarind mayonnaise, place all the tamarind mayonnaise ingredients into a bowl and whisk together. Season to taste.

la~La~ laa~ LA~la......

It's friday its friday its friday! i have been working hard lately on different projects apart from cardmaking. i've just finished snapping the photos and will later upload them to share soon. tomorrow the british x factor will be on air and boy am i excited! the x factor is a uk version of american idol where they've produced stars like leona and lat year's winner leon. i LOVE the x factor! cant wait for tomorrow!



Before i go and fetch aidan, here's one to share. did this a while ago just to celebrate the x factor coming back on screen this year! haha. i'm so excited on the projects i've embarked on! i am also considering to embark on supplying some scrapbooking items (but we'll see... still an idea as one of my suppliers had just proposed to me..)


You guys have a great saturday and sunday. i'll be cooking this weekend! will put it up here! till my next post, thanks for dropping by!

Decoupage Dutch

I've always been a fan of decoupage. it is quite tidious but the results can be quite rewarding (depending on your effort!). my first one was a cheap ikea vase i did last year. i then did another oval box but that one turned out quite a disaster. i didnt have much time to prepare this for a good. good friend of mine. we met after 3 years during her transit at schiphol airport few months ago. i prepared loads of dutch souvenirs for her to bring home but it simply wouldnt be complete without a handmade item for me.

Found these lovely dutch paper napkins at one of the shops in town long long time ago. i knew i could turn it into something. kept it for way too long on my shelf before i put it into good use. what i did was i got myself a plain oval wooden box and painted it white (thank God it's summer! otherwise it would take ages to really dry!) then i carefuly cut out the motifs and applied a special decoupage glue on the box. lay the paper on it carefully. they're quite fragile. once dried, apply another layer of varnish to secure and make it shine. let it dry for a day or more.

Bought her a very pretty holland porcelain magnet. it fits perfectly well! i should make more of these for us to bring back to malaysia later! (i just hope i have plenty of time to do them! not that we're going back anytime soon anyway... so i'm safe!). a very inexpensive gift (minus labour!) but it comes straight from the heart!

Till my next post!

Sweet Tooth

If i'm back in Malaysia now i'd probably busy making real ones for Eid. well, maybe not as elaborate as this one on the card, but i have made quite a few to sell over the years. and if i'm not busy making real ones, i'd probably be busy scouting for some cakes and cookies for my Hari Raya hampers (gosh, its that time of the year again, and i so miss it!)


But nonetheless, i still do get a lot of satisfaction making 'cakes' out of papers! this was what i came up with couple of nights ago, 20 mins before going to bed. some days i'm lucky, some not so lucky to achieve such results! i have quite a lot of scrap and i dont normally throw them away. you can do so much with them, even the teeniest, tiniest bit of paper!


I'll be updating more.. and for you sweet bunch of girls who always pop by and leave comments, thanks a bunch! enjoy the cake! i'll put the kettle on and go make us some tea... ;)

*Blue Bayou*

What a blue and gloomy sunday it is today! we woke up with drizzles of rain and the grass wet. weather like this reminded me of a song called Blue Bayou (wonder who sang it?!). we planned to visit our friends up north and head to the beach but i dont think we can. perhaps the weather next week would be better (surely hope so!).


I have been very busy working my hands off for the past week. i'm still trying out to make someone a card and an anniversary pressent which is probably impossible to make without photos! i then got lost somewhere along the way and got quite frustrated with myself cause it simply wouldnt turn out right! i then derailed and came to this on night -


- which is not to bad i reckon. a card with detachable tags which you can write your own message on! wish me luck today! oh, and i hope you're lucky with the weather wherever you are! (*still singing Blue Bayou in my head*)

Aidan's Favourite Summer Drink

If you have starbucks or coffee bean or any of the same kind in your town, count yourself lucky! we have none! the closest we have is those slurpee kind of drinks that you can get at 7eleven... with lots of artificial flavours and colourings.

With this kind of weather, we really need to cool down with those sort of drinks - smooties, ice blended, whichever you want to call it. i am very careful with what i give Aidan. NO sugar! (no sugar dah macam ni, tak tau la with sugar macam mana!). i give him plenty of plain water, but sometimes he gets juice (or diksap as wel call them here). they are with no artificial colourings and flavorings, and organic.

I invented my own ice blended, with just 3 ingredients - melon, ice and Albert Heijn's Biologische Diksap (perhaps you can add your own concentrate but if you're at this part of the world and can get hold of AH's Diksap, i strongly recommend you go and get it!) I will snap a photo of it tomorrow morning and upload it in here.

Even we cant get enough of it! let alone Aidan!

Did you enjoy that Aidan?

Lekker!!!

As usual, it's past midnight, and again, i havent had the chance to reply most comments, gosh.. time really flies this past one week! and it's already friday!!!! will write again soon guys... thanks for hopping by and thanks for all the comments! have a wonderful weekend!

{A Gift}

A relative of mine came for a visit last week. she's married to a dutch but they now reside in Kuala Lumpur. the last time (and the first time) i met them was 2 years ago. at that time i was heavily pregnant with Aidan. they were terribly kind, brought us loads of stuff, food stuff... took us out for tea, then went on to dinner, met a few of their friends and relatives (nice to be introduced to locals since we were new at that time) and the next day, she cooked us a good mean nasi tomato and brought them over to us!

This year, she dropped by and it was our turn to treat them! apart from a heavy tea consisting of fried mee hoon, the famous limburg vlaai, and a dutch dessert vla, i prepared Auntie Noni this gift.

Auntie Noni is a very simple person. i made her a simple card and i decided to stick to one main colour and add a little gem with a grey ribbon. my mum makes necklaces and such (watches, earings etc.), i picked one of mum's collection (which reminds me i have to pay her!) and put them in a matching box, tied a bow and voila!

We had a good time, catching up, Aidan spoke a lot of dutch and responded to some french (i'm quite surprised!). i'll always be grateful to Auntie Noni, she cares, she remembers, loving and too kind. hope she enjoyed her evening with all of us!


That's it for this time guys, it's past midnight... i'm gonna sleep smiling coz i managed to finish 3 cards today! which is very very rare! i'm lucky if i get to finish one! and i'm quite pleased on how it turned out too! will share soon and will reply comments soon k? thanks for dropping by!

Good night guys...

Home

As usual, on Tuesday mornings, Aidan's at his playschool. he cried this morning as Hardy was the one who sent him right to the playroom. i think for the past week or so, he's been reluctant to go to school, simply because oma and opa are here. i hope it gets better.



On some days, we go out right after sending Aidan. browsing.. window shopping.. perhaps to our local craft stores or lately to the garden centre. but on certain days, you just feel like you want to stay at home, especially when you have a hobby! it keeps you alive (if you know what i mean!). and to be honest, my best friends here are my scissors, my papers as well as my ribbons (and not to mention my son and my husband!).



We've been spending a lot of time outdoors these days, especially in our new garden. i'm sure gonna miss the sun when it gets to autumn and winter (it can get really depressing during winter, trust me!) so you guys who have sun all year round, be thankful! we hope to go up north to the beach and give our other 2 best friends Noreen and Daniel a visit this weekend! hope there'll be plenty of sun!

Love to all,