So Cute It Hurts

Nice to meet you

Finally...after six and a half months, one airplane ride, and a boatload of excitement, my twin girls and i met. Seeing the two babies together was sweeter than the candied yams i had!

My twins, Charlotte and Nichole, got a huge kick out of dressing up this morning in their Hello Kitty outfits. Every little girl needs a Hello Kitty dress and shoes, right?

I've also recently scored some new shoes while hanging out on Facebook. These adorable animal shoes have been on my mind and now i have some on my girls' feet. Exactly how many pairs of shoes is too many? I'm not sure, but as far as i can tell i haven't gotten there yet.

Hope you and yours have fun wherever you are.
Weekends are for supreme laziness.
Sending some love out to you and yours.
More soon.

Everything goes with Ice Cream

Happy Sunday, friends.

After almost a year of waiting for it, my "Everything goes with Ice cream" by Koralee Teichroeb book arrived this week! I'm very proud to have gotten the chance to be part of such a great project and equally excited about how freakin' cool the completed book turned out. The book is wonderful and filled with yumilicious ice cream receipts and adorable little craft projects.

I was contacted by Koralee Teichroeb about participating in her new book she was set to publish completely dedicated to everything ice cream. It was such an honor to be asked and i of course said YES. The fun part was making one of my all time favorite childhood Red Bean Ice Cream Bars (one of my papa's specialities) and setting them out for a photoshoot with creating directions telling others how to make this recipe of their own.

The recipes in this book are roughly seasonal and very simple, yet so inspiring and clever. There is a recipe for Peach Cream Ice Cream that i am definitely planning to try. I am also excited about the Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Cubes. The Rich Hot Cocoa Mix is calling my name, as it would make such a perfect little gift. Doesn't that sound perfect?

The little crafts projects are such fun too! I would love to make Kari's adorable apron and Torie's pretty cone wrappers are definitely fun for a party.

To celebrate this ice cream occasion, i made a felted ice cream cone. If you are interested in making one of this adorable felted ice cream cone, the tutorial will be available at sweet Koralee's blog soon.

Blogging never ceases to amaze me ~ i've made great friends all over the world and now one of my childhood ice cream recipe is published in a neat book. How cool is that.

Have an ice cream today.
THANK YOU so much sweet Koralee. I love you.
Love to you and yours.

there's a first time for everything

Woot! Somebody got a new blouse and skirt this weekend! This bakery french maid uniform project is for a dear crafty friend and it has been in my head since this little one arrived home. So...over the holidays, i found time to turn my fabric into a blouse and skirt using simple patterns i created last December 2011. And let me be honest, i had so much trouble. The patterns were not the problem. Nope. The problem was me. It was my first time designing and making tinny wearables.

There was a learning curve and some uncertainty at times. This book and this tutorial were both very helpful when it came time to do the sleeves and collar. There is definitely a bit of wonkiness here and there, but i actually really love those parts. The best part though is seeing the whole look slowly come together.

The next thing to work on will be the apron. I'm thinking ruffles and gathers. :) We will see....

Today is the seventh day of Chinese New Year and it's also Renri (人日, literally Human Day). According to Chinese customs, renri was the day human beings were created.
Once again, Happy Dragon Year. I'm so lucky to be here.
Love to you.

corners of my creative space : a place for my books

Sorry i've been very sporadic with my posts lately. I was soaking up on all the nice feelings that came from all rest and no late-nights work week before the father's day weekend. 

I hope your weekend was full of good times. Mine was filled with serious cleaning and organizing ~ i'm still trying to get my little studio space set up. The space is quite sunny and pretty spacious, which will keep me sane since i spend so much time in there.

I finally painstakingly put together a 3-tier white bookcase with my new mini craft hammer. A little cozy place for my books and it sits happily right next to my little sewing table.

It was really good to finally un-box my books and realized that i have quite a few prints waiting to be framed and up on the wall. Not sure why this sort of thing always takes so long. Is it just me or is this a common occurrence? 

I'm settling in nicely and love my little corner(s). Here's also a little glimpse of what's sitting on my sewing table. A portion of my inspiration board. It's just a regular magnetic board with various letters, photographs, clippings, cards, drawings and widgets that inspire me on a daily basis ~ things that have come to me in many different ways which i've decided to hang on to ~ special things.

I made a trip to the nursery yesterday and left with ordering a lavender plant. Can't wait for it to arrive and have it perch in my little creative space.

Hope you have yourself a lovely week.
Take care.
Love to you.

Happy Monday

I've been slacking on saying hello since last Saturday. Sorry about that. The very warm weather outside is not so good for my overall mood and Mr Headache frequent visits isn't helping much. Bummer.

I hope your weekend was beautiful and relaxing and all the things you needed it to be. Mine was full of tasty comfort food ~ yummie vegetarian banana leaf rice and homemade lotus root soup with pork ribs, a bit of socializing, as well as a few chapters of Danielle Laporte's The SPARK Kit thrown in for good measure.

I'll leave you with a few favorite photos from the yummie vegetarian banana leaf rice lunch with my two best girls, Adeline and Angela.

I'll be back soon with some new sewing projects i'm excited to share with you. My desire to sew this weekend had to do with sewing while listening to this beautiful voice. Her tracks have been on heavy rotation around here.

Today is also my sweet Mister's birthday. We are saving the birthday celebration till i'm there with him in Hamburg (planning and saving up for the long vacation) and i have a little surprise gift for him too.

Happy Birthday, my sweet!
Happy Monday.
Happy week.
Happy.

What could be prettier

...than your initials, artistically rendered on a beautiful personalize gift or item?

 
These days, i've been playing around with monograms and initials hand-embroidery. It makes me feel an appreciation for something tradition. According to the encyclopedia Britannica, it defines monogram as "a design or mark consisting of two or more letters intertwined". To me, a monogram can be a combination of initials, intertwined or otherwise just a single decorative letter.

Monogram and initials are one of the best ways to embellish items we cherish and would like to hand down from generation to generation. I really enjoy experimenting around with different mediums of monograms and initials from hand-embroidery to stamps. There is simply something magical about it, it expresses the mystique and the beauty of letters, the joy of fine design and and my enduring fascination with names. Such a romantic process and gesture.

My monograms and initials inspiration comes from all kinds of text ~ printed materials, computer fonts, friend's lovely handwriting, books, clip-arts or vintage samplers. It's really crazy fun, i tell you. Here are just a few of my monograms and initials source of inspiration to entice you.

Wishing you a wonderful merry happy weekend. And for those of you out there getting all that snow, I must admit I'm kind of jealous ~ teehee. Lots of love to you and yours!

The bones has landed…

Another weekend comes to a close, i hope you had a good one. I managed to make the best of mine even though it rained and rained and....is still raining here in the tropical city of love. I've some crafting done. I swam, played music and watched some DVDs. I've even time to cleaned and reorganized my crafting supplies and really tired to have as much fun as possible before the start of a new week.

Last night around 11pm. i managed to finally finished Bones the Bookmark! He turned out pretty cute once finished. I even added a cute monogram embroidery design on his back. This little bookmark project is definitely a great way to use up some wool fabric scarps, and i always like it when i find projects that work for that.

Bones is extremely harmless and not scary at all...in fact, a good companion as you cuddle up on your reading sofa enjoying a good book with a warm cup of tea. Thank you all for suggesting that bones will make a perfect gift for Halloween ~ which didn't even cross my mind when i was creating him.

Also thanks for all the sweetness about my new found fabrics. I really love finding inspirations from fabric shops and sharing it here with all of you! It's very satisfying. I'll be back soon! Have a lovely merry happy week and love to all of you!

enjoy it while it lasts

There's nothing like sewing to lift ones spirits. That's dramatic, my spirits weren't all that low expect it's been raining here at the wrong times... either too early in the morning when i have to be up to get ready for my day job or too late in the afternoon when i'm on my way home from day job. So, a little sewing boost was just the ticket to get the synapses firing and the mood stepped up.

I'm still working on the finishing touch on my gift bag #2 for dear Marisa with the help from my little sewing machine and i'm enjoying every minute of it. I will share it here with you when i'm completely done with it. Something else is slowly crawling up my mind lately, you see, the other day i dropped by a local bookstore here and picked up some sewing machine guide books and i've been loving them ever since. I'm so inspired by my new Japanese step by step sewing machine guide book and Bend the rules Sewing by Amy Karol (thank YOU Tracy for the recommendation) guide book that i've been thinking and dreaming about small little projects that i would like to own. hehe

Also, i'm super excited to share with you my little goodness treats i'm arranging to send to Leslie's very pregnant sister, Julie. A while ago, i was one of the lucky girls who won the fabric(s) giveaway from Leslie's blog. Thanks for your overwhelming generosity, Leslie! In return for the win, i'm sending Julie a little goodness treats package!

Here's the fabric i won! (The photo, courtesy of Leslie's Good-ness blog)

Here are some of the treats i'm sending to Julie! (I do have a few bits more items i would love to include)

 I love that weekend is just around the corner! I'm looking froward to nest at home in my creative space...trying to work that little sewing machine together with my new craft books. Here's wishing you a wonderful happy merry restful or creative weekend. Lots and lots of LOVE to you and yours!