dance of the dragonflies . . .

New designs to be turned into wall art for Baby Z's corner.

They (the design motif) remind me of dragonflies for some reason. Would Baby Z be having a bugs-themed corner of a room then? Hmm...

the 'psychedelic' one ...

:: framed art for a dude who recently turned 3 ::

:: 'psychedelic ' to reflect the true boy character that is the birthday boy - full of energy, full of character, colourful too, if you like :-) ::

:: Happy 3rd Birthday, Adam!! ::

a tale of 2 nieces . . .

:: birthday card for niece who turned 2 last week ::

:: the said-niece, Raja Alaina Leilani - equal parts funny and cute, she is! ::

:: framed art for newborn niece - born 1st December '07 ::

:: welcome to the world, Mas Kirina Dewi Pian!! ::

:: art to match her yellow-and-green room ::

:: calling this piece "Stepping Stones: Citrus" - baby's first chapters/steps in her life ::

'tis the season to be ...

crafty? creative? industrious? one can always hope, right? ;-)

Anyway, I made these Xmas party invites for Big Z's school. Just over 40 pieces.

:: part of the lot ::

Kept design very simple and somewhat plain even, with only design motif being my interpretation of Xmas tree decorative ornaments/lights.

note: date and RSVP details ommited for privacy purposes

his bedtime reminders ...

... from the Mummy.

Got these framed yesterday. They now stand neatly in a row on his bed. I plan to hang them up on the wall though, but was petrified to make holes in the wall. Hehe ... Settled for the next best thing then - lined them up on this picture shelf thingy. For now, that'll be home for these frames. The story part of the actual "bedtime routine' story rests behind each of the four frames shown below.

:: before sleep, toothbrush, storytime, goodnight & i love you ::

some stitching was done in between this and that ...

What I worked on some days back. Pillowcases for Big Z and Baby Z. Not proud of how the circles didn't come out in a good curve of a line. And how the 'leaves' came too close to the edge. But they'll do for now - not like am selling them anyway. These shall remain in the house, in the family.

Let's just hope Big Z won't have so much of an opinion on his pillowcases though - I somehow can already hear him say something like, "but I want trains, Mummy ... not funny balls". Haha ...

one(sie) at a time ...

Restless, impatient, itchy-fingers me decided to start stocking up on baby things. All the while, still being the good wife, I'd say. ;-) Mr Husband said not to start buying things for baby. Not just yet he says. But what did the wifey do yesterday?? Bought some pretty cheap baby onesies. Plain white ones. And then some basic items to add to my newly-opened sewing kit. (anyone who REALLY knows me will know that I sew even worse than I cook ... and I'm nowhere near a great cook!) Pregnancy does funny things to you, I think. Opens up different sides of you, makes you interested and curious about things you wouldn't look twice at before. In this case, it's sewing. What AM I thinking really?


So. Below are photos on what 'flourished' from those plain white onesies. I sat myself down and in three hours (yea, i know! 3 hours just for that teeny bit of work? haha) completed them designs. I just wanted to have some personalized touch to my baby's clothes. Result ain't great, but I have to say, it's such a refreshing change of work. I'm usually drowning myself in papers printing this and that, but yesterday it was just soft fabric and colourful threads. I could just get used to this new interest of mine. Hmmm... we'll see.

:: the BARCODE onesies ::

OK. Now quickly go look at something else. Something less shabby than my sewing. *LOL*

the homemade story . . .

"Tell Me A Story, Mummy" written by Carl Norac and beautifully illustrated by Mei Matsuoka. This is Big Z's current favourite bedtime read. The main character though, the Mummy's child here is a girl. So, for obvious reasons, when I read the book to him, I replace the said-character to Big Z's name and change the character's friend, to Big Z's pick-of-the-night friend. He gives me the name, I'll just insert it in the story.


After reading this book, he'll ask for the other current favourite. This other one has no book though. It really can't be found anywhere in print for that matter. It's a purely made-up one by yours truly. It's called "The Cereal, The Pasta & The Biscuit". *LOL* This story has many different episodes and takes on it. ;-)


It all started with Big Z not satisfied after reading some 3 or more books to him one night. With the lights off, he insisted I tell him another story. For short of idea and mind you, I was extremely tired by then, I came up with this spur-of-the-moment take on a bedtime story. (no guesses what's on my mind most nights - naming characters after food .. haha!) Most nights, it gets pretty ridiculous a storyline, but I always try my best to include some good moral behind the created story. The most common one is how in life, no two characters or people are the same, yet they can still live together (in the case of the cereal, pasta and biscuit - they all live harmoniously in the kitchen cupboard) and be friends with one another. I've also gone down the also-very-true route that not everyone can get along well with each other, but you'll always need to be nice to people regardless of their differences. Be nice to others, and they'll be nice to you. Or so I'd like to believe and have been brought up to have such a mindset. And what better way to introduce this than through such important characters as the cereal, the pasta and the biscuit, ey? ;-)


After a round of the story (each night is a different storyline, and I really don't know what I've gotten myself into now ... eeek!!), Big Z gives me one of his made-up stories too. A fair trade, I suppose. Haha. And only after that, will he finally agree to go to sleep. Tiring? You don't say!


.............................


I was scribbling about in my notebook (as I normally do) one fine day when I came up with some lines. Read them and it sounded like a good (for my kids at the very least) enough piece of short story. This was some months back. Today, I finally had them printed out. I attached a piece of Big Z's earlier paintings to each of the story's 'page'. My next step is to get these framed up and then have them displayed in Big Z's room. It's another made-up story, another homemade story, if you like. Instead of binding the pages together into a mini book, I thought I'd have them framed up and thus will double up as some unconventional artwork in his room. More home-projects on my end then.


Below, the 4 'pages' to the story. I'm calling this one, "The Bedtime Routine".

:: page 1 ::

:: page 2 ::

:: page 3 ::

:: page 4 ::

good things come in small packages...

Do you sometimes find yourself all ready to leave the house to some party, with gift in one hand, and then at the very last minute realise you forgot to include a card to the said-gift? Be it a birthday gift, a welcome-new-baby gift, mom's day, dad's day gift or any of the sort. Well, let's just say, it's happened to me on more than a couple occasions.


Often, it's the tiniest of detail you overlook and yet, in many instances it may well be the most meaningful and personal touch to your gift. After all, attaching a note and/or card to a gift, with your bits of words on it leaves your mark on the gift, yes?


So. I decided to make some very simple and teeny-weeny cards for this purpose. To not just adorn and complete the look of any one gift, present or parcel, but to give others a chance to read my best wishes to them and if they so wish to, to hang on to the piece of card. It's really small and so will not take up much space in their 'cards drawer' or 'cards box' or 'cards basket'. You get the picture ... ;-)


Here, some shots of them small gift tags and cards.

:: part of the gift tags range ::

:: part of the cards range ::

:: all packed in mini drawstring pouches ::

If interested to purchase some of these cards (am currently making more varied designs), feel free to drop me a line or two to enquire. :-)

:: SOLITUDE ::

being in a faraway place pretty much alone + finding one's self ...

these came to mind when working on this piece

halfway there ...

I thought I'd leave this blog exclusively to my 'patterned projects'. But, this morning, I just thought, why not ... let's throw in a lil bit of 'personal project update' in the blog as well. So here goes ... (if it gets too boring, lengthy, not-quite-patterned-enough, or all of the above, you might as well skip this entry).


So. I'm now halfway-through the 40-weeks journey. That's right. As of tomorrow, I enter my 6th month of pregnancy with baby number 2. Has to be said, this pregnancy has definitely been more challenging, both physically and emotionally, as compared to the first pregnancy. I tire more easily this time round, have a much bigger rear (much to my utter dislike!), have an almost addictive craving for all food spiced and/or heavily-drown in herbs, and dissing chocolates (this has GOT to be the biggest shock in terms of my appetite ... saying 'no' to chocs? hmmm... it's just unheard of if you're Mrika! haha).

On a lighter note, I'm terribly anxious and equally excited to welcome a second baby into our lives. The gap's quite big by what-seems-to-be-the-current-trend. Big brother's just turned 4 in August, and so in terms of years apart, he and lil one will be 5 years apart when baby arrives in late Feb/early March next year. For all the right reasons, I'd say the said-gap is pretty good.

I'm counting the weeks now to when I'm 'allowed' to start buying things for the baby. I've my eye on some rather pretty lil items to adorn baby with, but as the hubs has reminded me, it's still a bit early to start shopping for them things. And yes, he IS right. So, I've instead busied myself with some lil projects on my end. Just to distract me a bit, and well, to start a lil collection of things for baby. 'Home-made with much love from mother to child'. Hehe... if there was a tagline to go with these lil projects, that could well be it. :-)

Am actually running late now. Raya duties - read: open houses to fill our ever-ready-willing-to-swallow-them-food-spread tummies. So, I'll leave you all for now, and will continue this entry with photos of some completed projects.

(more of them) mini monograms

for a fairly newborn baby boy

for a newborn baby girl

- happy to note Ms Client has collected the 2 sets, and am now working on another 2 sets for a new client :-) -

happy fasting!

To all fellow Muslims, have a good and rewarding Ramadhan this year.

May our practice of fasting throughout the month aid in the self-control and cleansing of not just the body, but the mind and soul too.

Happy fasting and selamat berpuasa to all!

I may turn this design into cards and scrapbooking papers. Wish me luck! :-)

tea at Big Lime Street

Another late entry this is.

For short of new projects up on my end here (shame on me for lack of productivity!), I figured I'll post photos of these cards I made a while back for a tea get-together I hosted for a small group of friends.

Stuck to shades of brown and green, and specifically lime, simply coz it tied in with our address (or rather how the hubs has 'labelled' our street) - Big Lime St. Seeing as it was a small crowd, I indulged in seating placecards for each guest and made them guess which card belongs to them. Instead of their names, I printed 'titles', which in my opinion reflect their respective characters/personalities.

Each brought home their respective cards and a lil pouch of chocolates.

pyjamas in blues, reds, pinks and everything in btwn ...

we hosted a PYJAMA PARTY to celebrate Big Z's 4th birthday

the birthday banner

designed for kids (and their parents) to use for bedtime;

labels read "4 your bedtime ... thank you + goodnight from Zarif, the Daddy + the Mummy"

party packs; an extension on the party's invitation design theme

inside, were packed a toothbrush, a container of bedtime lotion, snacks and an activity book

blues for the boys, reds for the girls

individually-packed bedtime lotion for the kiddies

packets of chocolate cookies packed for guests; labels read "chocolate: indulge now, worry later"

photos of Big Z in his many sleeping positions from baby to age 3-plus strung together with selected book titles; books Big Z usually picks out as bedtime reads

plain butter mini cupcakes

adorned with party theme's number 4 mini flags

the birthday cake - specially made by Big Z's aunt, Mummy Z's sister