So Cute It Hurts

Decision making

Sorry things have been a little quiet around here.. Things are hectic and i've been feeling a little on the quiet side. If anything, one big decision is out of the way and there is now some room to plan things out with the mister. During the decision making process. i realized that i wasted so much time worrying about the decision i am about to make and made myself so anxious from thinking too much (really silly). What i ended up doing was to feed my brain with all the information i have on the decision and stop thinking about it for days. Miraculous the answer to my big decision came to me ~ yes, i am going to take this big leap in my life. The decision felt right. It wasn't acted selfishly and it wasn't acted selflessly but rather It was acted purely based on US (the mister and i). It wasn't acted when i was feeling negative but rather it was acted when i felt calm and quiet. It wasn't acted out of stupidity but rather I fed as much information as i can to my brain and forget about it. Lastly, it wasn't acted out of fear. Fear is such an interesting emotion as it has the potential to control our life and stop us from being adventurous in life and from making interesting decision.

The other thing i learned during this decision making process is ~ understanding what is a right decision and what is a wrong decision. Whatever decision i make, is not right and is not wrong. It's just a decision. What is important is what i do after. You make it a right decision by commitment, by putting in effort, love and time in your decision. You cam make you decision work. You can make your decision a right one. Often times, a lot of us go back in the pass thinking maybe we should have made the other decision or we should have done it differently. Don't IF your pass, there is no way of knowing what might have happen if you make a different choice. When you made a decision, it is made and finished. Focus your energy in making your decision work and stop doubting it. And that is exactly what i will do.

My little Vera illustrated this with her beautiful bouquet of roses in her hand and said "Whatever decision you make, as long as you nurture it with effort, time. kindness, love and care after, it will bloom into one of the best decision you ever made in your life. Just like this beautiful bouquet of roses. " Hope the weekend treats you well.

Happy Thursday. Love to you and yours.

Happy 2016

Hope 2016 is off to a great start for you and the people you love. So far so good here.

2015 was quite a wild tide but it was an excellent year. As with all years, it has it's ups and downs but most of the time it was damn enjoyable. There were hard days thrown in ~ the ones with tears and ugliness, the ones with words slipping out of my mouth i wish i had never said. Good thing we can ask for do-overs. I think i'm gonna try better at saying, "mind if i have a do-over on that?".

I've done some thinking about goals for this year. Would my list be qualified as goals if they were the same each year? Honestly, all i really want to do is work to be kinder, tactful, mindful and be as open and positive as possible to what comes. That, and love my people and myself with everything i've got each and every moment.

Now would be a good time to say thank you for reading all these years, and of course for every one of the kind comments and likes you've taken the time to send my way. I am excited to share this year with you as there is quite a lot in store. I look forward to seeing it all unfold.

As always, thanks for following along.
Happy New Year! May this year be exactly what you hope for.
Onward and forward.
Love to you and yours.

 

 

on the mend.

A quick hello today. I'm feeling much better and in catch up mode after i spent my days sick on bed in hospital with one of the nastiest viruses in recent memory, dengue fever. It was the pits. Feeling very grateful to be on the mend.

The above photo is one i shot recently. It has been quite a while since i receive something in the mail, so i'm pretty pleased with Noodle's new lounge dress. I've been eyeing on this adorable kitty dress for Noodle for quite a while. The lovely ladies at BlytheAndTheCity, a female-owned company based in New York that creates well-made and extremely fashionable dresses for Blythe dolls.

Thanks for all the kind words during my sick days (and always), too. I really appreciate it.
Be well.
Love to you.

Cuddle Up

Sorry for the silence. Let's just say, i've been feeling sick on and off for the last three weeks and today, i'm feeling sad. I'm not going into any details here, because it's complicated and because this is the place where i prefer to share the fun parts, and the bright shiny moments in my days. The good news, sewing and photographing my girl help me to feel better, and as with everything - this too will pass.

I created this particular photo for a number of reasons. First, this is Kuroo, with her beloved new friend Ranunculus. I love this photo, and it especially speaks to me and here's why.

When i was little this is how i felt about my doll, named Charlotte. Nothing made me feel safer in this world than Charlotte. Of course my parents did, but yet as a child, i could always count on her. Being a little sad and down today, i can honestly tell you, to have Charlotte to snuggle would've been lovely ~ to once again feel the security that i felt back then, like the feeling in this photo.

In the midst of gloominess, i found grace and i found security, yet it wasn't from anything outside of me, it was something i already have. This is also one of those time that i've felt what it really means to have a blog, to have a community of people, people that you have never even met in person, who are there for you. So as silly as it sounds, thanks for your comments, thanks for being here, thanks for following this blog, thanks for your emails.

Here's wishing you a happy week ahead.
I'm reminded again, that everything is always working out just as it should and if you need a Charlotte ~ she comes in many forms.
Love to you and yours.

a tradition...

I don't know how i managed to get sick, but i am and all i can hope for is to be healthy and back to normal pronto. Being sick is not my idea of a good way to spend the exciting holiday season. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my self-prescribed combination of warm tea, movies and many long naps taken will contribute to a speedy recovery.

It's a miracle that i actually finished putting up Christmas decoration at my little creative space ~ i cut it very close ~ but  they are done, and the last ornament was hung on my little new Christmas tree. I love a nice tradition, and i'm getting quite skilled at creating my own ~ to add a little something each year to my Christmas decoration collection for my little space.

This year, besides this adorable Mr Nutcracker, i manged to find a tinny little tree for my space. I wanted the tree to have adorable macaron ornaments with traditional Christmas colors of red and green. So my dearest sweet friend, Pei Li, whipped up half a dozen of yummie macaron ornaments just for me!

My little creative space is starting to shimmer and twinkle.
Happy Fourth Sunday of Advent.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Happy merry Christmas with a little twinkle in it.
Happy happy!

learning as i go

Hello there.

I don't know how i managed to get a migraine attack on Saturday morning while i was out shopping for some photography accessories, but i am sick and all i can hope for is to be healthy and back to normal pronto. Being sick and stuck on bed is not my idea of a good way to spend the exciting weekend. No sir. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my self-prescribed combination of medications, movies and many long naps taken will contribute to a speedy recovery.

Today is day number two and i managed to will myself to get around and do some assignments from my Divas and Dreams workshop. One of my assignment is creating a fine art photo. I made a simple flower arrangement and i played with the light, the depth of field and the composition. I have also used a reflector and a white form board. This is what i came out with. I know they are not the best and i think they are not even close to being fine art photos. Nevertheless, i have some fun creating these photos and it was worth it.

Okay, back to bed.
Hope you are having a lovely time doing whatever you do.
Be well.
Love to you and yours.

on the mend and the secret garden

Hope your weekend was sweet. Mine hasn't turned out too awesome, i was visited by an annoying cold with all the bells and whistles (fever, congestion, sore throat, cough, sneezing). Today is day number four and i'm going to will myself to get around and do some reading, blogging and catch up. I'm always bummed when i get sick, but coming down with something before the weekend was brutal.

As promised, i have journal story and photos to share with you this week. Since my first journal creation, i've been very committed to come out with a few more. Here's another one and i called it "The secret garden".

A private garden growing your special blooms. This little piece of embroidery is a reminder of a sentiment to "Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe."

I write this as a believer. This embroidery is symbolic of all your conscious choices you make to allow your creativity to come out to play, you may watch your own personality blossoms as your bring new life to your secret neglected garden.

The butterfly of course is peacefully admiring it all and has it all figured out that it also takes trust that everything will all work out with your best interest at heart (i still need small reminders of this). It's all up to you if you want to take the key and unlock the door to your secret garden.

The best part for me was gathering some flowers, leaves and vines from my apartment yard (as inspiration) and sitting down to decide what i wanted to use in my secret garden. Of course, i made some mistakes during my drawing on the linen fabric (thank goodness for air dry fabric pan), but in the end everything came together just fine.

I've used natural linen for the outside layer and a sweet red Polka Dots linen for the inner layer. A sweet red grosgrain ribbon with a handmade fabric embroidered button attached to it as the bookmark is added for flair.

As soon as i'm 100% again, i'm planning a nice shop update with these journals as Made-to-order.

Thanks for all the kind words of my quietness, my interview over on Art, love and Joy and your enthusiasm in my new journal creations, too. I really appreciate it.

Stay Healthy.
Happy Tuesday.
Love to you.

eye candy

Happy weekend. It has been a really good one so far. Very proud to say that i've embarked on week number two of my weekend yoga challenge ~ it's been a really nice addition to my weekends. A good long stretch (and some deep breathing) will do wonders.

The above photo (a shot i took for sweet Elizabeth a couple of months ago) pretty much sum up my life for the next few days. A week long holiday to do the things i love ~ creating, sewing, lounging, taking it easy and creating a game plan for how i'm going to tackle all that needs to be done for all my sewing projects...Bliss.

Until then, have yourself some fun!
And stay safe, especially for East Coast friends in the States.
Selamat Hari Raya, fellow muslim friends.
Love to you and yours.

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.

Get on the move

The moving countdown is in full-swing. After a full week of packing and boxing, i think i can safely declared that i'm almost 99% done. It's amazing how much work moving can take. Really, it is amazing. But now i can see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, which is nice.

In the mixed of all these moving drama, i got distracted with this adorable project. A little while ago i had the pleasure to design and custom make a cozy camera case for a Fisheye Lomography camera. A fun project indeed {even though at times i spaced out a little trying to fight with time to finish this mini cozy case}. You might recognize parts of it from the previous post (here). I'm pleased as punch with the result.

This piece is inspired by my Fujifilm Instax Mini 7 camera cozy and my dorkiness for the love of dots. I couldn't resist adding 2 little adorable fishes to the design. A pocket was added for flair and finished it with some cute little pom-poms just because. Crossing my fingers and hoping she will love it.

I think it would be nice to have some pieces available at Pipit Wonderful Market 6 this year. I'm really excited about this and loving the idea of putting my work together with other talented artists in one roof this summer.

This weekend is dedicated to moving every single belonging i own. Lets hope everything goes smooth. I'm sure I'll have a story or two to share after it's all over. Wish me luck.