Something Made

A birthday card for a friend's 21st bday... it's quite a challenge to make a card for a guy without making it end up too girly.


A try at cream puffs... Yum...


Not so Red Velvet cupcakes. I really like the cream cheese frosting!

A Friend-ly Gifts

First of all,

I received a package from my friend from singapore for my bday but she sent it by seamail which took almost a month to reach. Another friend sent me a letter which I can now declare lost! It has been more than a month and I still haven't received it >.<

Apparently, the seamail was not only slow (but it arrived a little earlier than I expected) but it also smashed the box!

My roommate and I had a good laughed from the state of the box and also from the "memos" that my friend wrote below my address. I wondered if the postmen read it and laughed. If they did, good for them!

Read the "NOTE:..."
I finally have the alphabet stamp set!



She gave me some punches and adhesive sheets, which I'm still thinking of what to use them for.
I made this out of a recycled box to store the stamps and the punches.

Secondly,

A friend who I have known for quite long, and also who I have not met for quite some time, sent me something all the way from LONDON! I was guessing if he's going to send me something when he asked for my address out of the blue, and also because he visited ANFIELD!!! i'm sooo jealous! I will visit the home of Liverpool Football Team one day.... some day...hopefully... before they move to a new stadium.

Yes, I'm a liverpool fan and no, I don't want to comment anything about their performance this season.

I quickly framed the signed picture of steven gerrard as soon as I got it! hehe...

everything is beautiful in His time

I came across this. I'm not sure what's the source as the author didn't put it, but I find it real meaningful.

everything is beautiful in His time

I asked God to take away my pride and God said “No”. He said it was not for Him to take away, but for me to give up.

I asked God to grant me patience and God said “No”. He said patience is a by product of tribulations. It isn’t granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness and God said “No”. He said He gives me blessings, happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain and God said “No”. He said suffering draws me apart from worldly cares and brings me closer to Him.

I asked God to make my spirit grow and God said “No”. He said I must grow on my own, but He will prune me to make me fruitful.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy in life and God said “No”. He said He will give me life, that I may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me love others as much as He loves me and God said “finally you have the idea!”

Embellsihed Magazine and Mojo Monday 133 Challenges

A month has passed again and we're almost 3/4 away from 2011... The last weekend has been HECTIC!!! To get rid off all the fatigue, I visited the Embellish Magazine and Mojo Monday and decided to combine these 2 challenges again!




I decided to use my new japanese masking tape instead of ribbon. Yay! Finally I'm able to use it!


I used Stampin' Up stamps Short & Sweet stamps and polymer clay button...

Mirrored texts invitation

My braces are scheduled to be taken off this Thursday! It's a month shy of the initial date! Yay! So excited!

Yesterday, I got this from my ortho! I guess I won't be the only one who's going to get my braces off so there'll be a party and the invitation is real cool as the texts are backwards!

Here's what it reads after I hold it to the mirror

My cousin saw it and was surprised that this actually came from my ortho! haha... Fun people they are! I told her that I can try to make one for her bday later in October (if i remember :P) and she couldn't wait for it!

Doilies and Lace

Traveling Mama

I have this new crush on doilies and lace! I used to think of laces as old, you know like it's what only your granny will like... But now, I'm looking at them with a different perspective. There's a vintage (not old) feel to them. The intricate lines forming unique and in some symmetrical patterns make them look so delicate. This I think is what attracts me to them.

If you're wondering what is the difference between lace and doily, you're not alone. I've been thinking of the same thing. These are what I found from Wikipedia:

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. On the other hand, A doily (or doilie) is an ornamental mat, originally the name of a fabric made by Doiley, a 17th-century London draper.

There are so many pretty and inspiring pictures on how doilies and lace can be used, from clothes to necklace to packaging! Check them out yourself!

Diane Von Furstenberg's Crocheted Lace Wedding Dress
via NIBS

MadameMortalitas

andfurthermore

the gilded bee
via ohhellofriend


ohhellofriend

Much Ado About Nothing
Pinky even posted a video on how you can make your own paper dolies!

IttyBittyPrettyShop

Card & Color Challenge

It's Monday... Monday after Spring Break for me, with exam coming and homework due, my procrastinating mode is ON >.< style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFC0sQ-K7IkKljaEBTs3D0hTG3V3rZHYdYDrySPeOqXOy_t8NlXj5OWDnwhM61z3mNHf0CB40MTUjGTIdQm2yFb72_2znsvmJ9pua9GcO-97qkabuHoNsUr-2Cg5m28qupShS/s320/Mojo131Sketch.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451680060185037890" border="0">
In addition, I found out about this blog, Embellish Magaize and like the colors for the Fabric Color Challenge, so I decided to incorporate the colors and the mojo monday card template together!

Here's what I came up with...


The flower papers are from K&C Company which I bought during my visit to CA. The lace ribbon and the pink stone embellishment were also the "CA souvenirs" for myself!

Although Mother's Day is still a couple of months, there's no harm in making Mother's Day card early, is there? hehe...

bye...California

Just when I thought the weather in OK will be as nice as that in CA (it's March already after all), another snow storm hit oklahoma again! I'm glad i'm home and not stuck at the airport!

After a week in California, I left my heart there >.< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBOsMTUqQK7ztQIMC1C8kIrf5Qxmhvfy2rPS-shBMfk0413eFgzVe19rf8jucQjksx4tQcoIK5cqQzke1J6cL3zJE3tmQRVCSE1TsaxCKbsCTuCTC6ZyoyACQ4ULEIHpj_iS86/s1600-h/handmade+presents.jpg">
I made the match box for easter goodies using this template

Mirkwood Designs

I actually used the "card template" on Mojo Monday challenge and then made it into a box.

And I decided to make her a headband for her bday.

A trip to hobby lobby for my very first fabric shopping left struggling in choosing which type of fabric I should use. In the end, I managed to buy 3 types of fabrics in 3 different shades of pink. I have to say I'm really pleased with my first try!

I followed the tutorial from life's little embellishment to make the roses.
I bought a headband from Wal-Mart and wrapped it with pink ribbon. I urged Celeste to open the presents despite her mom's initial disapproval. I forgot how rough 6 yrs old (girl) can be when opening presents. Anyway, she seemed to like it and wore it right away ^.^

cupcakes...in a jar!

I'm currently in san jose, ca for spring break! It's really refreshing to get away from arid stillwater,ok. One of the things that I look forward to is the FOOD!!! Asian food to be exact and Kara's Cupcake... I love the chocolate velvet. In addition, I look forward to visiting the paper source store. So, I pestered my bf to bring me to santana row for cupcakes and to peek into Paper Source store. He becomes a fan of the chocolate velvet too! hehe...

I found this interesting "red velvet cupcake in a jar" idea when I visited the ohhellofriend blog this morning. Check it out!

It made me want to try out this idea too... It'll make a unique party favor!

image from jem jemmy

via ohhellofriend

driftwood Crate & Barrel

My dad's creation- driftwood table- is selling at Crate&Barrel. It has been sold there quite sometime... perhaps a couple of years or may be a year. I forgot but I have been wanting to check out the table and most importantly the price tag that they put on it. Indeed, I went "waaah" when I saw the price.



My dad's doing more of living room accessories now as opposed to rattan furniture like he used to. Well when business wasn't peaking, you have to think of something. Here's one of his first creation. My dad asked my aunt to bring it here when she visited her son. There's no coating on so I guess u can see the natural color of it. I don't dare to put candle on it. But he puts glass on the candle holder now so it's safer.


I also found some cute stuffs at Crate and Barrel. I heard of and kinna knew what Crate & Barrel is- a store selling good(expensive) stuffs from furniture to kitchen stuffs. So, I didn't really bother checking out the website and the store(well, I don't think they have a store here in OK). But I came across this cute cupcake spatula at Bakerella


I kinna want this cupcake book too. It's in pink. No matter how much I tried to deny it, pink is still my favorite color.

japanese masking tape

Just finished my exam and took a long nap! O.o

Well, I'm jumping in the bandwagon for JAPANESE MASKING TAPE!!!
Here's from Uguisu

And here're from happy tape

There are also some suggestions on how you can use the tape in the blog. Here're are a couple of my fav.
As much as I want to buy them, i think i still have to hold that temptation. I'll definitely buy those later. hehe....but till i'm done paying off flight expenses, i should refrain from spending too much money!

Bible study

I really want to share about this. I went for my first Bible study group just now. I have just started to read the bible and what we went through in the Bible study just now really help me in knowing what I should be doing when I do my own reading or personal Bible study. I realize that i have not been doing it the "fruitful" way.

One of the questions from the study guide asks about how God's words have made me aware of an area in my life that needs to be brought into closer obedience to God. The most obvious area for me will be my "anxiety attacks". I'm a worried freak. I got-get- worked up over big and small issues. I know I have been dealing with this psychological issues for a long time. I think I take after my dad. I wished I could use past tense here, but I know i still haven't gotten over it yet. Well, I will freak out unnecessarily. I always think make a mountain out of a mole hill. I will make a small issue seems like a big disaster. My bf always asks me why I think too much over such a small thing, why i am filled with so much negative thoughts. My answers would be that i was thinking of the worst case scenario, I wanted to be prepared for the worst as I don't deal with "bad" surprises well. He would get angry with my over the top anxiety and I would get angry at him for getting angry at me and not understanding me.

I tried to change my mindset, but it always comes back. My bf suggested looking for "self-help" sections in the internet on how to think positively and/or learn about Lord's words. He gave me his extra Bible so that I can read it. I kept it in the drawer and didn't read it till a month ago.

I believe in Jesus. But I didn't made any effort to learn about His teachings and only seek Him in times of trouble. I made excuses into not getting "help". And then, some things happened and made me look at things from a different perspective.

There's a saying about how other people are the reflections of yourself? I think it's true. I saw what I was like to other people and I did not like what I saw. I did not like what has been happening. I have to take action and I started to take out the Bible from the drawer. I wanted to learn more and I started going to church with my friend.

" Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path" ~ Psalm 119.105.

Why should I worry so much? I just need to have faith in Him and He will guide me. As I learn to put my faith in His words, I feel like the big burden on my shoulder is being lifted up little by little.

birthday!

I haven't been blogging lately. Nothing much has been happening except that I was buried in homework, exams, and searching for data. School...

I just turned a year older on Friday... Unlike the previous 2 years, my best buddy- my bf- was not by my side. He suggested this idea. Each of us will have a cake and we will use the video call function on msn to celebrate! (i know some people will suggest Skype. For some reason, we haven't gotten around opening Skype account. I guess we're satisfied with msn messenger). I wanted a chocolate cake. My fav! I thought of buying a piece from walmart or food pyramid but ended up making my own cake. I saw a Ferrero rocher cake and wanted something like that. I don't think I can find that here. So, I decided to make my own bday cake. Sad huh? haha... . Although the cake looked terrible, I actually had some fun making it. It has destressing effect.

I made my very first dark chocolate nutella ganache and bought a cake mix to make the cake (picture below).


That's what you do when ur bf was not here and all your friends were busy. But, my "busy" friends decided to pay me a "last minute" surprise visit. I was immersing myself in data and a few minutes before my birthday ended, someone rang the bell. My first thought was who could that be, but after a few rings, I had a pretty good guess on who he- THEY- could be. The first person I saw when I opened the door was DoongEe (he's actually a Yorkie, not really a person). He was sitting there looking at the door and ran into the apt once I opened the door. And the rest just showed up from their hiding place. haha...

My cousins haven't sent me the photos yet.

Mojo Monday 124

It's February! My favorite month! It's not just because it's the month of my birthday, but it's also the "month of love",and this year, Chinese New Year falls on February too, exactly the same day as Valentine's Day. How cool is that!

Anyway, my hands are itching to make something. So, I visited Mojo Monday blog to get some inspiration and my mojo's kicking once I say this week's sketch (below). This will be my second Mojo Monday card.


I decided to make a Valentine's day card with Penny Black stamp of 2 cute hedgehogs... Love is in the air... Ta da... Here's what I came up with.

I was watching the 2010 S. Africa World Cup group draws... I felt so detached from soccer now. I remembered how I fell in love with this sport and the suave, athletic players. I became such a fanatic that I would wake up in the wee hours in the morning just to catch my favorite team in action, that their performance would affect my mood, how it would become the only topic I talked about for the day, how my english essays would be inspired by it, and how it took up much of my life for the majority of my teenage years.

Since I came to US, the passion grew lesser and lesser. Not only my passion for soccer, but for sports. I used to be rather sporty, playing badminton, skipping rope ( i remembered how I would skip with the rope made with loops of rubber bands everyday before tuition, during class breaks and after school in the garage), and try some other sports. Now, I prefer to stay at home, cuddle on my bed watching unrealistic dramas...

But lately, I discovered or may be rediscovered other passion--- crafting. I always like to make things be it personal handmade cards for my friends or family or other decorative crafts. I enjoyed arts classes (except when the teachers were trying to pressure me to come up somethings that I didn't know how and the hours it took to complete something). I would spent hours and even forgoing dinner working on my arts project or exams. I decided to let arts go during my upper sec. years and for that 2 years, I felt rather lost.My only encounter with arts was being a member of the Art Club but I didn't enjoy it very much. The stress of exams and "o" level blinded me of the joy I once had with arts and crafts.

Nowadays, cross-stitching and making cards help me relax. I wished I have better drawing skills or even apt with graphic design software then I can make more beautiful things easily. The sudden urge to take up drawing and designing classes.