~Reaching For Your Dreams~

Dad tells me everyday to reach for my goals, dream big and think of the nicest things. i am doing it every day. its nice to be reminded of them, it lets your imagination run and just be in your own world for a little while. it's nice and comforting to know that someone else have faith in what you do. dad's been always supportive of me and mum with our crafts. we're the luckiest! 

This board is a special one for me. i created it for myself but decided to let Aishah have it instead. this young soft hearted girl emailed me one day, asking me to make a gift for her precious sister before she leaves for UK to further her studies. the way she wrote captured me and all her emails always make me smile!

It's always a nice feeling to create for someone who appreciates, let alone if you have established a 'special bond' (even virtual!). we exchanged emails along the way (she was very patient with me in replying!) and later we found out that our parents and grandparents know of each other! what a small world indeed!

Ribbons, ribbons and ribbons. i have lots of them. they are every papercrafters essential embellishement! you can never have enough of them, you can never know when they might come handy one day! make full use of them! 

Aishah will be off to the UK soon and i wish her all the luck in the world (not that she'll need it!). dream big girls! reach for your goals!

I'm off for our spring vacation! will try and see if i can post another one before i leave this weekend! till then... love always!

{Fluttering By}

I thought i'd flutter by and post a couple of cards i made over the last 3 days. i was at our friend Piet's house over the weekend for some good dutch meal prepared by him and his beautiful girlfriend Clara. he had just been to Malaysia last month and showed us some brilliant shots of the places he visited.. and one of them was the butterfly park in KL!

Every shot of his photos was a brilliant one and we enjoyed our night tremendously! the next day i worked with these two cards for Mother's Day in May, with one theme in mind - Butterflies! i just love them!

Quite a few of layers here, a stamped image of a polka dot flower, accetate and a few cardstock papers. every mother is beautiful in their own special way, just like butterflies!

I think the world of my mom, and i bet you do too. i adore the strength and courage of my mom in law and love her dearly. their love is the greatest to us and simply special beyond words.

Loving every minute of spring and loving every butterfly (and wasps!) that passes by!!

Hugs,

~Spring Has Sprung~

Spring has definitely sprung here in holland! the first signs of spring are daffodils! then comes magnolias, tulips, blossoms and every other colourful plant! i love april, not just because its my birthday but april's the month for new beginings, buds are out, leaves and shrubs are appearing and they become alive! april's the month of colourful sights, april here is not too cold and not too warm.. april's just nice! every season has its charms but i adore spring!

We brought my parents to Keukenhof, the largest tulip garden last weekend. we had a wonderful time and snapped hundreds and hundreds of colourful photos! this is the time to visit holland! you will see a sea of colours! there were at least 2ooo species of tulips there! it's pretty amazing! 

Here are some embellishments i made to celebrate spring! i particularly love the daffodils! i still havent decided how i should use them... but once i do, i will surely share them with you! :)

Happy Spring everyone! Enjoy the colours, the smell, the sun and enjoy yourselves!

~Girly Stuff~

Although i am a year older, i am still very much a girl! i love girly stuff and girly things and girly colours! I recently fell in love with bright lime green. it's time to brighten out my table with such glorious colours! it's spring anyway!

We've been getting quite a lot of sunshine lately! leaves are almost out, flowers are blooming and soon butterflies will fly in our garden! how exciting! we've planted some herbs and soon start on our vege plot. aidan's been playing gardening a lot lately with his spade and wheelbarrow! i simply love spring!

It's time to pack up all our woolies and put them away for the next 6 months (at least!) and out comes all our summer dresses and sandals! yeayheyy!

I should get going now guys, it's way past midninght. hardy and i have been busy planning our holidays lately! we've been infront of the computer every single day looking for places to go and where to stay! its going to be fun and there'll be lots of food to eat, that's for sure! anyway....

Here's to all you girls, for wishing me those lovely wishes! here's a bunch of hugs and kisses, from me to you! have a lovely weekend everyone! i shall hunt for some eggs in the garden with Aidan, just for the fun of it!

Welterusten, love always,

{Thirty-Two}

My 4th of April was special. besides my two boys, my parents were here to celebrate my 32nd. i am not a big fan of celebrating my own birthday, but i'd go all out for others! 

Woke up with my son singing "lang zal ze leven" and hugs from everybody. went downstairs and saw banners and baloons! the house was filled with flowers almost everywhere! 

I had decided to take some time off things and made myself a present! something i normally do every year! i made myself a special board with powerful, beautiful words and sayings.

I once had a dream. little that i know of, it all came into place one by one, after hardships and some sacrifices... it all came true. i now have a bigger dream, and as they say it, the sky is the limit! i hope it will come true and along the way, there would be plenty of love, laughter and joy..

They say the best way to predict your future is to create it. i create my future every single day. i am living life, in my own way. i am doing it, my own way, creating it, my own way and at my own pace and i am most grateful for everything, all the blessings! the journey's been pretty amazing with ups and downs and i shall treasure what i have now, always.


Believe is a strong word. i believe in a lot of things. and most importantly, i believe in the beauty of my dreams! go on girls, dream!

Thanks ever so much for the birthday wishes from calls to emails and texts! from the bottom of my heart, i'm sending you all the best wishes and love always! 

~Romantic & Nostalgic~

I am most inspired by the things around me. whenever i'm in town, i'd always look at the shop windows and how they'd arrange their products. most tiny boutiques here have lovely paper bags, they'd wrap the stuff in lovely tissues and bows... and now that it's spring, flowers! i love fabrics, i love ribbons and laces, i love buttons and i love love love pearls! i bet you can tell those by now!

My collection of boxes are ever increasing! and so are my collection of buttons and laces. i have a lot of things in my room, and i get inspired by them most of the time - let it be shapes or colours.


These are just some of the things lying on my table today. soft colours makes me feel romantic! now, something nostalgic.

I created this board a couple of weeks back. i use a lot of post-it-notes. you know.. those yellow ones... it works for me! i'm sure most of you would agree that some craft papers are just way too nice to be cut and sliced. what do you do with them? well, back when i was in school, i use to wrap shoe boxes with them, but most of the times, i'd put them up piece by piece on my bedroom wall! almost like my very own wall paper! you can also make a post-it-note board like i did!

The best thing about those yellow notes is you wont spoil your lovely beautiful papers! you can stick them up or peel them off without having to worry if they'd tear! i used the crochets i bought at one of the markets last year and turned it into a flower. added stings and strings of laces and ribbons and attached them at a corner.

I love it! feeling very romantic and nostalgic right now *awwww*....

Hope the sun's shining where you are cause it certainly is over here! finally spring is here! will write again soon..

love always!

The Sweetest Thing

We're back from our early spring break. River Mosel was brilliant! view was spactacular! definitely one of the places to visit for those wine drinkers. for non wine drinkers (like us), well, you'll be in with a huge treat as well! you'll be amazed to see long, very long stretches of vineyards along the entire stretch of river and you'll enjoy the charms of little German villages! and if you're into roman history, well, make sure you go for the tours! lovely!

We went from Trier to Koblenz! wonderful experience!!

Anyway, Aidan's not well since monday. i have only a few mins to spare today before i nurse him. here are a few cards i made just before i left for your German trip.

Made this card for Shannen. a friend of mine who lives up north in den haag. i met her once at a friend's place in Eindhoven. this was made for her mum in law. i am so pleased and happy she and Arthur liked the card! i knew i had to use mild pastel colours and i wanted to add the lace i bought at Czech Repupblic. nice contrast. i hope our birthday girl will like it too!

This second card i made out of scraps. i have pilles and pilles of scrap papers and it will be such a waste to throw them all. you can make a lot out of them. i hardly throw anything! and before you know it, you'll ended up having boxes and boxes of left over papers and ribbons!!

But i can assure you that they will come handy one day!



Last but not least, one special card i made last week for a dear dear friend of mine. a very special person in my life, my very best friend Yoyo. it was her birthday last monday. we were still in Germany at that time, and as soon as Aidan woke up, the first thing he mentioned was "tante yoyo"!

We rushed for my phone and quickly called her. we sang her a couple of birthday songs (one's in dutch and one's in english!) and it was just joyful!

I can never stop telling people about this one special person in my life. she's trully a remarkable person. we share a lot of things together, we've been through quite a life, a journey together, she listens to me whining (she's a really patient!), hardy, well maybe never complaints... she's so encouraging and supportive. we had lots of fun together, we share some common dreams and i will always, always be thankful and remember what she did for me. she stood by me and was really strong for me through the years. all those words on the card meant so so much to me.

She's ever so sweet and a lovely person and i cant wait for us to catch up and meet again. i miss her and i think of her always!

Happy Birthday Yo!

You know what i wish for you... always the best, the very best cause you trully deserve each and every bit of it! love you loads!

Ok girls, i should be off now. most unpacking are almost done, a few laundry to do and a few projects to finish. thanks ever so much for hopping by. thanks for all those lovely comments as always, you brighten out my day! till next time....