-An order to Malaysia-

I received a nice email from one lady a few months back. she asked me if i could make her a card for her husband. i struggled to get some kind of an inspiration the first 2 weeks. i didnt know where to start and had no idea on what to do. i fiddled with most of the things i had but i wasnt pleased.

I went to my local craft shop one day, got some stuff, and then came a few stuff in my mailbox and voila! as soon as i held that paper from the journaling book, i just knew what wanted to do with it!

Its always a challenge (for me at least) to make cards for guys, the male gender! i'm very much influenced by flowers and frills, bows and butterflies. i am very pleased with how this one turned out. not only that i'm pleased with the card, but i'm very pleased to get to know the person who ordered it. its nice to make new friends!

Here's to K.Ina for ordering. thanks ever so much for giving me ample time to work on it! glad the parcel arrived safe. hope your dear husband likes the card, and most importantly, hope he likes what's written IN the card ;) kan, kan?

{Tag & Envelope}

A good friend of mine Shila, asked if i could make something for her. she has a part time business selling health and fitness products. she wants me to come up with something for her gift vouchers (a cadeaubon we call it here). and i was playing around with my new punch, i saw some tags i've cut out a few months back just lying there on the table. and so decided to play around with it.

I honestly cant stay away too long from pink! they are the sweetest colour to work with! add a splash of green, and there we have it, a perfect match. i love the combination!

and buttons... i just cant stay away from them... dont you just love the quote?!

Will be showing this to Shila later this evening and see what she thinks of the idea. we run together twice a week now that it's spring. hopefully i could lose some weight, and hopefully it's gonna be a green light from her!

Thanks for visiting guys. i'm off to run some errands before i fetch Aidan from school at 1. have a fantastic day! best wishes, always...

Oo ~amore~ oO

How was your weekend? mine was pretty much ok. went to the saturday market to get some fresh fish, taugeh and tauhu, then went to Sittard town, Hardy wanted to get some computer stuff, and that was it. Hardy left for Sweden yesterday afternoon, so Aidan and i spent our remaining Sunday together, outside, playing dirt and sand.

Remember i mentioned about my new toy? well, this is it. it's MS border punch that can create scallops, just like doilies! i am so loving this precious little thing i cant seem to put it down. been playing with it since i first got them and this was my first try using the punch. not up to my level of satisfaction but still ok.

Have a good week ahead guys. thanks for visiting! will post another one tomorrow when Aidan's at playschool!

{A Post on Friday}

I've been making cards every day for the past one week. and i've been playing with my new toy lately! my table's a mess! i should embark on a new little project soon. i'm relieved the cards i sent to Malaysia have arrived safely. will write about them, and the 2 beautiful people who ordered them next week.

As usual, it's Friday, and Aidan is at playschool. this is the time when i create and i blog (once the cleaning and washing are all done!). just to share with you one of the thank you cards i made for salina. i've got a few more orders to make, i hope i wont dissappoint you all!

Thanks for having a little faith in me. and honestly, the reward is just that reaction you get from them. it makes me smile and smile from ear to ear. so thank you, thank you so very much!

I'm off for my run later today, and hopefully gonna do some cycling with the boys this weekend. have a fantastic weekend everyone! enjoy it!

Oranje Fever

Ok, i think i have had quite enough of pink.. so, here's one with not a single dot of pink! although the ribbons on the side might look pink to you but i can assure you that it is a shade of purple, they belong to the purple family, rest assured!

It's gonna be the Euro cup for football (or something like that) this summer, and orange is Holland's colour. if you go to most shops, they have orange flags, orange flowers, orange tshirts sold, everything orange! Hardy got Aidan his oranje football tshirt all ready! we even bought one for my nephew Ferran and my good, dear friend Lenny's son - baby Mika, their Holland oranje tshirt!

So after coming back from town, after seeing all those oranje stuff... i was then inspired to make an oranje card! used one of the papers from my journaling book, inked some stamps, stamped it up, added some embellishments, flowes and ribbons and.. klar!

Now, after Manchester United's UEFA win at Moscow, i think i should do a red card! my husband Hardy, my brother in law Redza, my dad and my die hard MU fan nephew Faizal will surely smile to sleep tonight (or this morning for some!)

But anyway, for June.... Hup Hup Holland! hehe....

{Friendship}

My circle of friends in the blogworld is now getting bigger and bigger. and quite frankly, bigger than the one i currently have in real life! it is an absolute joy to have established new friendships, new relationships. most are very warm and honest people, some are trully inspirational, simply special. sometimes you can just tell from the way they write (and in some cases, chat!)

To those whom i havent had the chance to leave comments at your blogs, i'm terribly sorry. dont have much time to be infront of the computer these days. but that doesnt mean that i've forgotten all about you, i do take a peek sometimes., just to see how you guys are doing. how i wish i could have 30 hours a day, instead of 24! i'd spent an extra 2 hours for reading and commenting on your blogs, and the other 4 on crafting!!


You bunch of friends that i have in here have been trully amazing! with all your kind words, i am trully touched and blusshed! and to my new friends who have bought my cards (will write on them soon), thank you for having such faith in me! i did not know that blogging could create such an impact and good friendships in my life. here's to each and every one of you - thank you! your friendship means so much to me!

Lots of love,

Talented Hearts

Someone once asked me who first taught me to craft? my dad taught me to draw. i can still remember his sketches of houses and people. he can honestly draw from buildings to landscapes. to craft? the answer would be my mum. she didnt actually teach me, but it was more of an observation. i observed how she does things and then started to combine my own things. it grew from then on. and throughout the years, a lot has inspired me, i've been most fortunate to get to know another lady who is absolutely dear to us - Auntie Rubi.



Mum told me she managed to meet up with her recently before she took off to Aussie. she left some goodies for me, and a book! i've just finished writing a very long email to her, to thank and to tell her how much i miss her alongside some other stuff. apart from my mum, she's one of the most creative people i know. by this, i really mean creative, from icing a cake to ice carvings, from flower arrangments to fabric dyings, from painting to piping, from beading to baking, you name it! she is my Martha Stewart, someone i look up to.

And to top it off, she has a very big heart. she helped us a lot throughout the years. we've embarked ourselves on lots of projects together, and she can come up with brilliant out of this world ideas! we love her dearly. i honestly miss her and wish we could meet up soon (hopefully she'll come and visit us in holland!)

So here's to both you wonderful talented ladies, Auntie Rubi Tawfik and mum! you both inspire me! i honestly miss working with you both! here's sending you a huge big heart, and everything wonderful in life! cepat la datang so we can craft the 3 of us all day!!

Its a Girl!

A cousin of mine (not really cousins but a relative cousin... oh well... almost all Johorians are related!) just gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Amy and i were in the same class back in high school. we have a good friendship and we still keep in touch till today.

She gave birth to her 4th, a beautiful baby girl, Marissa last month. some people are on the express train huh! they now reside in Thailand and from the look and sound of it, they're really enjoying themselves there! who wouldnt!!! look at the yummilicious food and places to shop!

Amy & Zaiful, Congratulations on the birth of baby Marissa. take care of each other and enjoy each other's company. here's sending you all our best wishes, love, always to all of you!

Beyond Words

I have just had a wonderful weekend. Mother's Day Sunday was brilliant - it started off with Hardy making me breakfast! i came downstairs, and everything was ready (yes, frozen food takes a lot of effort too!). then he asked me if i'm ready to ride on my present! we've been planning to go on a short cycling practise since he got me the bike.

Yes, he got me a bicycle for Mother's Day. i've always love riding the bike since i was small, there's this one photo of me and my sister racing on our driveway back in those years.. that picture will always be in my head (partly because that was the only picture that i like with her i.e i looked better than her coz she had these funny short hair with super thick glasses!) so soon after breakfast, a quick check on the bikes, helmet on for Aidan and off we were! it was hillarious coz the last time i was on a bike was probably when i was 10 or 12. and the bikes here are really different. they are much MUCH higher! will blog about it soon here.

Anyway, i did this card a couple of days before mother's day. the tag on the card says "Beyond Words". that's exactly how i feel right now. happy beyond words!

Sending all you wonderful, beautiful people lots of love, always! how was your weekend? hope your weekend was as good, if not better! have a great week ahead!

{To Mum with Love}

Its sunday, and as i'm writing this, i could smell a wonderful smell coming from the kitchen. and i'm not standing behind the stove! Hardy must be making breakfast for me downstairs!

Its sunday, and its Moeder Dag. short tribute for my mum here. I want her to know that she's one in a million, and how lucky and proud i am to be her daughter.

Here's to all mothers and soon to be mothers, i wish you all the love in the world. it is honestly a reward, a joy and such an amazing experience to be one.

Here's to you Mum, just for being you!

Happy Mother's Day!

With love!

Moist Walnut Cupcakes

I honestly suck at baking. the only cake i can bake, and bake very well (and earn money out of it once) is prune cake. the craze about cupcakes these days are just beyond words! there are so so many people doing it these days, a lot of telanted people who can pipe and decorate to the tiniest detail of a petal!


This was what was wrong with this particular cupcake. i was so excited to put the frosting on and look at what had happened! i'm suppose to wait for the cupcake to cool off at least, then only add the frosting for it to FROST! too anxious, it then melted :( oh well, they all go to the same place i suppose! heheh...

Here's wishing all you lot a jolly bright weekend! thanks for dropping by. will blog again soon!

Moist Walnut Cupcakes

85g walnuts

4tbsp butter, softened

100g castor sugar

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

70g self rising flour

2 eggs

12 walnuts to decorate

For frosting:

4 tbsp butter, softened

85g icing sugar

grated lime of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp of lemon juice

1. Put paper baking cases in a muffin pan.
2. Put the walnus in a food processor and blend until finely ground, careful not to overgrind which will turn them to oil.
3. Add butter, cut into small pieces along with the sugar, lemon rind, flour and eggs. then blend until evenly mixed.
4. Spoon mixture into paper cases and bake cupcakes in a preheated oven 190 degrees c for apprx 20 mins or until well risen and golden brown.
5. To make frosting, put the butter in a bowl and beat until fluffy. sift the icing sugar, add the lemon rind and juice and mix well.
6. (this was where i went wrong!) When cupakes are cold, spread a little frosting on top of each cake and top with a walnut.

{Butterfly Kisses}

Aidan's taking a nap and this was what i came up with. pollen, flies and butterflies are out! weather's been really really nice lately, 25c to 29c. so you can imagine how eveyone feels at this moment after a long winter! we're chirpy, happy and sweaty!

Somehow this one lacks creativity, but i still like it! here's to all you butterfly lovers/collectors! there'll be more butterflies and flowery cards coming!! thanks for visiting, butterfly kisses to all!