Rose Porcelain Jars

Alhamdulillah, I'm having a wonderful weekend :o). My husband is on his way home after being away for a week (missed you :o)) and I managed to finish another craft project today. Hooray!!:o)

Found these on clearance at a local rejects store for RM5 each. It was a steal! White porcelain jars just waiting to be decorated. Although it was all dusty, dirty and stained when I saw it, I knew it had potential :o).

I spent quite some time working off the glue from the tape and all the stains and dirt and 5 hours later (is my nose getting longer? well, it FELT like 5 hours!) tadaaa..

.. all nice and clean. It was practically gleaming :o).

I had some rose decals that I bought online earlier in the year which I have not gotten around to using so I thought this would be the perfect project for it. I cut up some of the decals and followed the instructions on how to apply it. And finished it with a layer of varnish. Voila!

All done. Don't you just love the cabbage roses?

These would look wonderful in the kitchen. My asam, garam and serbuk kunyit would be so honoured! hehe.. It can also be used to fill in tea, coffee and sugar. Jars like these are so useful, I'm so glad I found them. The decals are about RM1.50-2.00 each. So, calculating it roughly, it all came to only about RM10 per jar. How's that for a good bargain?

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Napkin Rings

I went out shopping the other day to purchase some household items and found these sitting on a shelf just calling out to me! :o) These napkin rings were on sale for about RM10 per set of four. Figured it was a pretty good deal and a very good base to work on, I grabbed a couple of them. I just could not wait to work on them so I spent the whole afternoon yesterday (babies were napping and hubby is away.. perfect timing :o)) decorating them..

I decided on a green theme. I used some pretty cream coloured trimmings and laced it with a green ribbon to wrap around the ring. I also found some mini apples and berries that I bought ages ago, more green ribbon and some baby roses (ehem.. but of course! :o)) to add to them.

Try comparing this..

to these..

Don't they look more festive now? The merrier the better :o) I made a whole set of eight napkin rings. By the time I got to taking this picture below, a couple of tiny little hands got to one of them and held it ransom (no worries, nothing that some wicked tickles at some strategic places can't handle :o))

And to top it all off, I found a nice little green box that could fit all eight rings perfectly! How wonderful!

There.. all safe and sound, away from meddling little fingers :o). Would you like to come over for tea so we get to use these? :o)

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Scented Pillows

What is it about pillows, whether big or small, round or square, that makes you feel all cozy and nice just looking at them? Because it's fluffy perhaps? or soft to the touch? Beats me! All I know is that I love them! I love them on my sofa, on my bed, scattered on the floor, everywhere! And what more if they are scented? Heaven!

An order came in for these from an office-mate. Colours were not specified. Which helps give me the freedom to craft and create. Sometimes I get "crafter's block" (ehem.. equivalent to a writer's block?) when I'm requested to create something using colours that I find difficulty working with, like deep purple or grey or corporate blue.. I'm a pastel-colours girl when it comes to crafting! Left up to me, there will always be baby pink and mint green somewhere.. oh and did I mention roses??

I added some rose scented oil to it before tying them up in pairs with a matching ribbon. Can you smell it? It smells soooo sweet :o) and to top it off, I added some pink and cream baby roses to the ribbon! Voila! Sweetness to the point of having cavities! hah :o)

Thank you for the orders. It was a pleasure making them. Enjoy!

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Felt Cupcakes

I went to the local craft store a couple of months back and bought some felt, embroidery floss (that's some fancy words for thick threads :o)) and beads to make some felt cupcakes (yes, still in that "crazy-about-cupcakes" phase). I never got round to making it until last week. This is my very first attempt, I've never worked with felt before, so please be kind :o). After cutting and pasting and sewing and adjusting this is what it looks like:

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Don't they look delicious? Now that I made these, what do I do with them? I would be content to just sit and stare at them (no calories!) but that just won't do..

So I turned some into message board magnets..

And I also used some to decorate a box..

It compliments the cupcake printed ribbon perfectly..

What else can I do with it? Any ideas please? Maybe a set of napkins? placemats? tea-towels? potholders? That could keep me busy well into next year! Not that next year is that too far away :o) However, I'm already working on another project. I'll give you a hint.. it smells wonderful! Please come back soon to take a sneak peek!

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Kitchen Craft

Let me let you in to a little secret of mine. I have always had this dream of having a beautiful English Country kitchen :o) with roses everywhere :o) but... it has yet to become a reality.. sometime in the near future I hope (hint,hint, sayang..). InsyaAllah.

Meanwhile, I will just have to make do with creating all the stuff needed to create that dream kitchen of mine :o) and what kitchen would be complete without a potholder..

.. a matching kitchen towel..

and a matching floor mat (the one to the right)..

I made all these with the beautiful Durham roses fabric I found on the internet. Isn't it just the sweetest? It's a pinky peach shade in real life and looks so yummilicious with the cabbage roses on it! Hope you like them.

I'm off to put my babies down for a nap, maybe I too can catch some snoozies and continue dreaming about my kitchen.. see you there.. don't forget the scones, dahhrrlinggg..

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Lovely Cards

It's been a while since my last post.. it feels really good to be back! Hey, I actually miss Blogville :o). Hmm.. I was even having withdrawal symptoms. Am I addicted? Anyone has the toll free number for Blogsaholic Anonymous??? :o) heh..

Well, I have always been asked where I find all the pretty materials that I use for my craft projects, home decorating items, etc. Well, honestly, I always have something craft related going on in my head. 24/7. Seriously. Whenever I'm awake that is :o) (well, I even have craft dreams sometimes!). Whenever I'm out shopping, running errands, etc. I always keep a lookout for simple everyday items that has the potential to be made into something nice and pretty. And I loooove getting a good bargain on top of that (well, who doesn't?). Actually treasures are everywhere, you just have to keep a look out for it. And It's such a thrill when you find it!

It happened just last night, my husband and I went for our usual weekly grocery shopping at one of the hypermarkets and guess what I found? These beautiful cards:

The printed paper (some had pretty scrolls on them) is of a very good quality and the embellishments are all handmade.. some even had beads and charms on them..

.. this one is for a new baby..

.. and this is for a wedding..

..this pink birthday card even comes with a butterfly charm.. how sweet is that? :o)

If you need them a bit fancier (is there such a word?), just add some lace trimmings or buttons or beads or ribbons.. the possibilities are endless!

So what's so fantastic I hear you say? Well, it was in the clearance section and they were selling it for.. get this.. 99sen each! Forget the embellishments, I cannot even get a piece of decent printed cardstock at that price at the local stationers. And what is the price for a good quality greeting card nowadays? Between RM7-RM12 I believe. A treasure found at a good price. It made my day! :o)

Now, can someone please get married or have a baby so I get to use these?? :o)

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Amira's First Birthday

When your sweet little baby turns one, it's a myriad of feelings.. for me, mostly it's bittersweet. Happy that she's growing up beautifully, but sad that it's all going too fast.. waaayyy too fast. I could have sworn that I just turned away for a few seconds and my pink wrinkly newborn has turned into a sweet babbling toddler.. this despite me telling her "Adik, please don't grow too fast, mama's gonna miss your baby smell..".There are days when I would just close my eyes, bury my nose in her curly hair and take a deep, deep breath, wishing I could memorize the smell forever.. sighhh..

Well, the Strawberry Shortcake Party turned out to be a lot of fun. I was very happy with how all the decor came together and surprise, surprise, most of the guests came dressed up in the theme colours (thanks for being such a good sport!).

The birthday banner..
.. part of the decor.. balloons, balloons and more balloons!

.. a special placecard for the birthday girl!

what's a birthday without a birthday cake.. or two :o) (thank you to the sponsors :o))

.. and here is the sweetest, most beautiful birthday girl on earth (hehe.. please excuse this biased mama again :o)) wearing her strawberry shortcake hairbow..

It was such a pleasure to be able to celebrate her birthday with our family and close friends. Thank you to everyone who made time to join us and brought all sorts of lovely presents, it's very much appreciated. Amira may not remember much (I think Abang Aiman enjoyed it more!:o)) but I'm sure she felt really special and could sense all the love surrounding her..

Today we celebrate her first birthday.. this sweet little girl of ours.. please join us in our prayers for her, for Allah to grant her a healthy, happy and fulfilling life always in His faith.. Amin..

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Goodie Bags

I really have not been crafting much lately as this has been a busy busy month for me. First it was all the festivities, and then the hospital episode and then since my baby girl, Amira’s first birthday fell during Ramadhan, we decided to postpone the celebration and have a small party, only family and close friends, during this raya month.

With me, parties are serious business (little miss perfectionist!) :o), I loooove planning them. And kids' parties are so fun, fun, fun! From the theme to the décor to the food to the goodie bags to the party games and prizes.. I love preparing for it all.. especially the goodie bags.. it gives me such pleasure being able to shop around for the cute little stuff to be put into the goodie bags and seeing the look of excitement on the little kids' faces when they receive them.

This time around we have decided on a Strawberry Shortcake Theme for my girl (or is it for mama? :o) well, I AM from the first generation Strawberry Shortcake era!). And this is a sneak peak at the stuff going into the goodie bag :o)..

The theme colours are pink, red and green and the flavour is strawberry of course, so I've done my best to stick to that. There are strawberry jellies, strawberry flavoured chocolates, red ladybug chocolates and egg shaped chocolates in the theme colours..

There are also cute strawberry shortcake pencils that I found in Singapore (that's part of the advantage of living down south :o)) and some party blowouts too..

I've also added some strawberry cream biscuits.. yummy!
And these are the bags all those yummilicious stuff are going into.. I personalised it with a Strawberry Shortcake sticker with my daughter's name on it.. (see, I told you it's serious business :o) hehe)

The goodie bags are all packed and ready to be given away.. Oh, wait! How could we forget.. a little something for the parents too..

Some relaxing and calming strawberry flavoured tea to sip after all the running around at the party :o)..

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Bears & Trucks..

..things little boys love. As promised earlier (sorry for the delay), here are the baby boy stuff handy for travelling..

First up, a diaper wipes case in boy bear prints. I've personalised this one for my son. I used fabric paint to write his name.

I also made one in trucks/excavators/diggers prints. Aiman just loves looking at all the variety of vehicles on this one.

And the towels to match.. If you have an active little one like my son, these will definitely come into handy many, many times..

I've also added a diaper case for the boy bear print set..

I have not been crafting for quite some time now and my fingers are itching to start. I actually miss my sewing machine :o) hehe.. Till next craft, take care..

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