On My Window

Just a quick post before i hit the sack. it's past midnight and i'm feeling a little bit under the weather today. but despite it all, i managed to finish a few projects (hurray!) Will reply comments soon, promise. Just to share what i currently have on my window, next to my table, where i craft - my favourite flower.

I love ranunculus. i love every single colour of them. i normally get them fresh from the market every saturdays. they belong to the buttercup family. originally they come from the middle east, hence their alternative name is "turban buttercup". they have hollow stems, so if you have problem keeping them straight, you can either cut the stems short or insert a wire to keep them upright.

Everytime i look at them i'd go "awww.." and having them near my table makes me want to sit right next to it and craft even more! perhaps i should put it in my kitchen too since i havent been doing much of it lately!

If you're planning to send me presents for my birthday (yea right zaza!), well, a bag of buttons or a bunch of these beauties will do perfectly fine! hehe..

Good night, everybody.. i'm off to bed!

Enjoyable Weekend!

Hope your weekend was as good as mine! we had quite a relaxing weekend, we wrestled on the bed, the 3 of us, we had good breakfasts, we took our time, went to town with no hurry, no agendas, just browsing and walking, we laughed a lot this weekend, we pretty much enjoyed ourselves!




Aidan's been cheerful lately, laughing and blabbering away in his own language. and i didnt want to miss a single moment. and when he's satisfied and content, he sleeps slightly longer during the day. his average nap time is about an hour and a half to two hours. that's when i sit down and get my hands to work.

I love the colours - very spring! oh, and by the way, daffodils and crocus are out! they're absolutely pretty! spring's in the air, i can almost smell it!

I've been working on a few cards lately but i didnt have the time to snap some photos. and everytime when i tell myself, i have to sell them, this sentimental me emerges and thought, nah.. i might just keep this one. well, i guess i can make more.. besides, i enjoy making them anyway! ;)

Hope you guys will enjoy the rest of the week!

Beaddazzled

I have been missing my mum terribly since she left back to Malaysia. and everytime i look at her boxes of beads, upstairs in her room i miss her even more. she LOVES beads. she makes her own necklaces, earings, bracelets and now her own watches. she sells them and i'm ever so proud of her. we would go to the local craft shops every week and come home full of excitement! we can spend hours and hours there. she'll head straight to the beads section, while i go to the paper and embellishments section!

Mum's got lots of talent and beading is definitely one of them. it takes a lot of patience to actually turn them beads into necklaces, combining the colours and layering them, not to mention threading them. tried making my own but sadly, i dont have the skill. so what i did was instead of stringing them, i gathered a few types of beads (some i got from her box), arranged them into a bouquet of flowers and pasted them.

This needs patience too cause some beads simply wont stick! and the ones i used were rather small. but that's the thrilling bit, you see! i'm gonna do a few more of these, in a different colour and frame it up. hopefully by next time she's here, it'll be on her craft table, upstairs in her room.

My mum's definitely a gem. this one's for you mum. missing you so so much. come back soon. i love you loads!

xoxoxox

Buttonly Brilliant!

Hardy got back from his 5 day training last Friday, and as usual, whenever he comes home after a long trip, we would spend some good quality family time. unfortunately this time he came back with a flu. he's resting and recovering.

I thought i might give my cricut a little bit of a rest too. i've made him work hard lately. will share his photos soon, oh and i've decided its a him! hehe. now all my 3 boys are well rested, thus giving me time to blog about my recent card.



My dad once commented that my cards are quite girlish. i must admit that they are. so now i'm challenging myself to make cards less girlish. but do men buy cards? they buy for their girlfriends, wives, mums, but do they buy one for their mates? i think women buy most of the cards on behalf of them - invitations, birthdays for families, moving away, new home etc. making a card with no flowers, not even a petal is definitely hard, but my buttons saved the day!

I gathered all the browns, the blacks, the off whites of most of the stuff on the table and sat down to work. and this was what i came up with. no bungas, no bows, no butterflies... just buttons and a brads.




Do you think they're man-ly? and what do you think of this one dad? like it?! (p.s: we miss you loads!)

Simply Special

My new cricut is simply special and very close to me. the first week i received my new toy, i felt like hugging it to sleep! but, i hugged the person who gave it to me instead! hehe. and so i hugged him tight, extra tight and went to bed with a big grin on my face for almost one week! both cricut and Hardy are simply special... i still cant believe its mine! sorry, lemme rephrase that, i still cant believe they are mine!

Anyway, i cut out the word special on a teal coloured paper and combined it with a deep dark purple paper. added a white ribbon across and scattered some daisies (yes, again! see, i told you i love daisies!)

Bought a box of dimensional two sided embellishments tags and used one of them for this particular card. Most people use these embellishments for scrapbooking. i'm still studying the art of scrapbooking, but i simply cant wait to see how it looks like on a finished product. so i decided to use one of them for this card. (sayang, simpan, tapi tak guna buat apa kan?! and sampai bila!)

Happy Chinese New Year

Here's wishing all our chinese friends, readers of ours a very

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

To our blog friends, Rita Ho, Gert, Zara&Zaria's mama, Cat, U.Lee, Rose, sending you guys tonnes of love and wishing all of you everything good for this year!

A Bright Thanks!

We just got back from Paris! thats why i've been quiet for the past 4 days! we had a really nice time. the night before we left for Paris, this was what i did. i used my new toy to cut out the word 'Thanks' on a bright striking pink paper.



What goes well with striking pink? lime green! i used tags to accessorize the card, followed by strings i found in hardy's drawers. i then punched a few butterflies using my punches and scattered them.

I'm still trying to work out a plan on how to sell them. and here's a big thanks to Rita Ho and Yaya, for all the information and help! and to all of you guys who have commented, my loyal friends. will get back to your comments tomorrow yea? for now, i'm gonna hit the sack and call it a day!

Good night everyone.. or perhaps good morning... (depends where you are!)

Hi Daisy!

I have been busy crafting with my new toy lately (thank you hardy!) and have forgotten all about blogging! the possibilities are now endles! i'm loving it. as soon as aidan is asleep, i quickly sit on my wooden chair in my craftroom and craft away! this was my first card i made after receiving my new toy.

I love flowers - let it be real, plastic or paper. i love pastel, i love daisys. i think they are fresh, i think they are sweet. i tend to create soemthing that i like receiving. and this, i wouldnt mind receiving in my mail!

I'm trying to work out on how to sell my cards as they are getting more and more now. i will have to have another space where i can display most of them. still considering to sell a kit so that you can make your own. still considering whether i should sell cut out motives and letters. i'm passionate about my craft. and i hope to share the joy and love i've put in with each and every card and such that i make.

Well, anyway, here's a "HI" to all you readers of my blog.

Beef with Lemongrass

When you have a 16 month old clingging on to your leg, when you're tight on time, when you're in a hurry but need to have something solid, or perhaps when you're lazy... this dish will fit you just fine!

I have been working extremely hard in making my crafty things. i havent had much time to blog nor reply to those who have commented (but i will try my outmost best, i just recently did!). and it doesnt help when hardy gave me a new toy to play (or should i say craft) with. but anyway, here's a simple dish that will work just fine with chicken, and it'll save you time coz you simply chuck everything in.


Simplicity sometimes works perfectly!




LEMONGRASS BEEF

beef rump steak - sliced thinly
2 lemongrass stalks - chopped
spring onions - sliced
salt
pepercorns - crushed
groundnut oil
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
2 fresh red chillies - seeded and chopped
1tsp light brown sugar
2tbsp thai fish sauce


Method:

1. cut meat and put them into a bowl together with lemongrass, spring onions, salt and black peppercorns. leave to marinade for at least 15 mins.

2.preheat your wok, add the beef mixture and stir fry for about 5 mins until beef changes colour to brown.

3. Add garlic and red chillies and stir fry for another 5 mins over a medium heat until beef is cooked and tender.

4. Add sugar and fish sauce.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves if you wish

In a World of my Own

Eversince i was small i've always loved papers, ribbons and such. i used to make cards for my family, and friends when i was in school. i took art for my SRP and SPM. i choose to set up my own tiny little business back in Malaysia, rather than persuing Law, and the love for crafty bits still continues, even more so now.

I cant describe to you how thereputic crafting is to me. my hands itch for those scissors. i'm always on the look out for papers, pens and punchers. i struggled to 'find myself' after giving birth to Aidan. refuse to simply a wife and a stay at home mum. i just had to do something.

The thing with me is, i'd rather be at home, than be out (especially in winter), i'd rather do my crafts than gossiping with friends. i'd give tv a miss while i string some beads or cut out some papers. but i was in need of a space of my own to do my own things and to store my bits and pieces. the house we are in right now had to go through some major renovation before we came in. we moved in with only the basic things. even the floors of our living and dining room were still concrete at that time.

Now, after a year, the house is ready, well, bijna (almost) the things left are just little little things like the edges of the floors and to fix our ceiling lights. and after we moved Aidan to the room next door, we have this little room all to ourselves.

What Hardy and i did for our 2nd wedding anniversary was to give each other a space. a space where we can work, a space where we can sit and do our things. this was what he gave me. my own little craft world (i gave him an office space behind me).

I've always had this picture in my mind on how i want my craft room to be. with rails for ribbons, with fabric covered boards to hang and paste. he did everything for me. he also wrote a beautiful piece for me as our anniversary card. i wept on every single line he wrote. i pasted it on the wall of the room. and the tiny little red shoe was Aidan's. i have it on my board to remind me this was once his room. we love our room, not only that we have our spaces attached to the master bedroom, now we have a tv in the room too! (but i'd prefer to have the radio on with my dutch channel radio 2 while crafting!)

This was the best present anyone could ever dreamed of. i'm now making more stuff cause i now have the space. i'm trying to come up with a range of things, cards and such to sell on the internet. no need to wait till april cause my birthday presnt came early this year! Hardy bought me a crafting machine and it arrived yesterday! i wish we have 30 hours a day, as the hours that i spent in this room feels extremely short! and i wish i have anoter set of hands too! he he!

Whenever i'm crafting, i'm simply in a world of my own. i love every minuite of it.

Anyway, that's my own little world.. do you have a little world of your own too?