merry christmas...

a quick post to wish you a merry christmas ;)

- diy gift tags for our pressies this yr...will update post tmrw on link click here for this freebie, yes freebie! and such a pretty freebie too ;) -

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

spreading a lil cheer cos christmas time is near...

ho ho ho, we trimmed the tree ;)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

blog press, anyone...?

trying out this app on my phone. hope it works!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

sugar scrubs & bath salts, anyone...?

i'm looking forward to...

yes, another craft party organised by handmade kl! yay!

at the first handmade kl craft party a few months back, ilaika & i made a tea light decoupage. this sunday, we'll be getting our hands dirty for sugar scrubs and bath salts...

craftily sweet, aye?

breakfast, anyone...?

i'm freezing here in the office with the aircond on full blast...am trying really hard to concentrate on getting things done but all i can think about is breakfast which i didn't have time for this morning. i could SO do with this, right now...

eggs benedict & smoked salmon on toast with a side of hash browns,
devoured a few weeks ago at la bodega, bangsar shopping centre ;) 

love rings, anyone...?

i bought these from accessorize last wk...


absolutely love them ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

(fluff and stuff} presents : SSSHHHHH....IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!

we celebrated mel's birthday last night. it was a surprise party organised by her boyfriend and he asked us to help with him with minimal decor. minimal, because he didn't want us to go overboard  - it was a small do but it was a {fluff and stuff} birthday so that really was asking for the impossible! teehee...

but respectfully, we honoured his wishes and decided to put together all of mel's favourite snacks which literally meant a whole load of junk (food) ;)

the theme was a catchy play of words - it's all about ME - with ME being mel's initials...

here's the unassuming staircase with the balloons posing as a dead giveaway!





the modest "dessert spread" filled with cupcakes (baked by yours truly) and mel's favourite snacks...

who'd have thought local junk food (these are fish sticks) could look so pretty!

do excuse the not-so-perfect pics. i snapped these using my new iphone 4 (yes, hubby dearest was ever so kind!) and edited them using a few new apps i just recently discovered - instagram & diptic.  considering it's a phone, technology really is marvellous that way, huh?

sneak peek...going mad on our alice shopping spree...

we've been working on an alice in wonderland theme for a 25th birthday party. it's been lots of fun putting together the decor and planning a dessert buffet fit for a (white) queen! i previously blogged about alice tea parties and so i was thrilled to be given a chance to work on one. no surprises that my mind went mad as a mad hatter whilst on our shopping spree for decor. the best part of course was that anything and everything was suitable - the more mismatched meant the more whimsical!

here's a lil sneak peek of the items we've put together so far...

no alice tea party would be complete without rabbits so that was the first on our shopping list! 

i love the garden buckets in the foreground as well as the white clock standing tall amidst the feathers and grass balls. its rustic paint gives it an antique finish. so so so alice, don't you agree?

we made it a point to include modern touches to our shopping cart - check out the large tea cups decorated with bright & cheerful stripes & polka dots...those will look so lovely stacked up as a centrepiece!

ribbons to suit the chosen colour theme of fuschia, orange & turquoise...

sheer polka dots, checked cross grain & luscious velvet...how much more more mismatched could we be? ;)

...and this isn't all of it...but will save the rest for after the event! wish us mad mad luck!

a weekend of parties w {fluffandstuff}, handmadekl & girls...

had a great weekend, which began with a {fluffandstuff} toy story 3 party on saturday morning. will be posting the pics up as soon as we get them together, but here's a sneak peek for now...

the boys are back in town!
our gift was a framed poster of the three birthday boys with their toy story friends ;)

on sunday, ilaika & i attended the handmadeKL craft party which i mentioned here. kudos to murni for the amazing effort to get us all together and for putting in so much thought to the lil things that made so much difference...

 this was our little corner. darling murni placed us at a comfy table, with enough space for us (ie ilaika) to make a mess and not bother anyone else ;) murni also took the trouble to print out everyone's names and personally chose images that she thought we might want to use. above were my "equipment" - mini curved scissors and a brush which were both provided by murni. ilaika was well-prepared...

 ...and brought her own tools...!

 my wondermilk cupcake which ilaika gladly devoured! 
murni made the toppers for everyone too.

 this was the end result - our lovely tea light decoupage!

ilaika & i had such a great morning getting crafty together ;) too bad we had to rush off before everyone else as i had a waffles & pancake date at 1pm. from what i understand, the craft party went on for another hour or so with games and a treasure hunt too! oh well, hopefully, we'll get to stay longer at the next craft party.

after such a busy morning with ilaika, i was so ready to drop her off at home and meet up with the girls, which is exactly what i did ;) 

i was off to the pink sage to have my waffles...

...and then to damansara heights for what turned out to be a lovely sunday afternoon vino party with three girlfriends and two bottles of prosecco...

at home later that nite, i lit the vanilla scented tea light and showed ilaika what it was for. here's how it looked...

it was a great weekend indeed!

kinder soaps, anyone...?

i had a lil bit of trouble with my skin for a few months until quite recently. it wasn't exactly chronic eczema but it was most annoying to have zits popping up one by one...and my tolerance for breakouts reminiscent of my teen years was just wearing thin (at least back then, i could rely on trusty old mr roaccutane but alas, my dermatologist forced me to end that relationship the day i got engaged).

i tried all sorts of zit-zapping ointments but none seemed to really work. i'm not exactly sure why my skin starting acting up the way it did...it could have been due to numerous factors - lack of sleep, stress, that time of month (or it's effect on my skin lasting way longer than the actual time of month itself!)...could have been all of the above, really. whatever it was, i needed a solution and i needed it pronto.

by a stroke of luck, i'd recently befriended michelle, also known as @salameander of the kinder soap company via twitter. intrigued by her soap-making, i decided to order some soaps from her. 

honestly, my original intention was to find a rich and moisturising soap for use in the shower but when i visited her site, i was really surprised to find that she actually recommends certain soaps for not just the body but also for the face and hair. for someone who has been very particular with facial products, i was surprisingly sold!

so i ordered whatever she had in stock (she'd just been blessed with a darling baby boy so her stock was running pretty low) - dark chocolate soap, clarity soap and spiced coffee soap. here's a lil promise to be delivered with usage of each soap, as found on michelle's site....

dark chocolate soap: contains generous lashings of cocoa butter and anti-oxidant rich cocoa powder that will leave you with soft, silky-smooth skin after each shower.

clarity soap: formulated to include the sharp, mentholated scent of eucalyptus essential oil, along with the purifying properties of french green clay and activated carbon. all of them work together for the purpose of decongesting — be it your skin, your nose, or your mental state.

spiced coffee soap: laden with ground coffee beans for a light scrub in the shower. the combination of ginger, lemongrass and lime essential oils serve not only to lift your spirits out of the doldrums or sluggishness, but also to impart warmth to tired muscles and calm redness on the skin.

don't they sound wonderful?! having placed my order, i excitedly waited for the package to arrive. in fact, i wasn't home when it did and i actually drove to the post office after work to collect it!  both the wait and the drive was absolutely worth it!

i can't quite explain the mixture of scents that touched my senses as i unwrapped the package but it was really pleasant and calming...and ummm clean! michelle not only gave me her own homemade rescue salve to soothe ilaika's mozzie bites, but she also threw in a lovely wooden soap dish and a surprise bar of summer fizz, a blend of sweet orange, rosemary and peppermint essential oils that serve to beat back depression and encourage mental clarity.

the soaps were so pretty that i just had to snap a pic of the first bar i unwrapped. here's introducing clarity soap...

can you guess what i did next? heheh i jumped into the shower, of course!

though i was still a little apprehensive at the thought of using the soaps for my face, i thought - what the hell, it can't get any worse. well, it's been exactly a week now that i've religiously used clarity in place of my usual facial wash and oh boy, it's done wonders! i have not had a single zit on my face for a week...absolutely zilch! isn't that amazing? it could still be too early to tell  for sure but for now, i'm definitely a happy bunny ;)

according to michelle, these pretty black swirls are charcoal, "activated carbon, to be more precise and ironically it gets your skin unbelievably cleansed from impurities"...and cleanse it certainly did. i've never felt my skin feel so squeaky clean! i am so very glad i ordered them. 

thank you, michelle...yours is truly a kinder soap company ;)

introducing...{fluffandstuff} studio...

as you may have read here, we kicked off {fluffandstuff} a while back. i've finally gotten around to setting up a separate blog to share with you our {fluffandstuff} updates. yay! 

here's introducing...our very own {fluffandstuff} studio...

for now, it has more pics than text but i figured that'll be nice as it's a  (blog) studio to showcase our work. of course, we'll be dressing it up as we go along but in the meantime, do pop by and have a look...as always, feel free to comment and share your thoughts with us....

handmadeKL, anyone...?

i have a really really busy week ahead of me...am working on my first corporate order for bollipops (yay me!) and fluff & stuff is putting together party packs for a toy story party for three lil brothers.

so i do hope you wouldn't mind me redirecting you to another blog...trust me, if you love handmade stuff and fiddling about with arty crafty fluff, you'll absolutely love handmadeKL...

it is "home to KL's very first craft party organised by Mimpi Murni. this is where you'll find all the info regarding the upcoming craft party & future craft related events."

don't get toooo excited though as it's still in its very early days so the blog content is still somewhat limited (if you go there & you're still craving for more, go to the Mimpi Murni site instead)...you could however, look forward to the very first craft party and then get all excited cos it'll be held this sunday...

and decoupage is the first on the list for handmadeKL's craft project...

did you just go...decou-what? hehe...are you intrigued yet? 

well, seats are limited and the lovely murni of Mimpi Murni, says there are only 5 precious places left so scoot over to handmadeKL asap and start getting crafty!

pssst - it's only rm30, materials are provided and you get one free drink AND a free cupcake! yours truly has already booked a seat ;) see you there!

mr me to you...

have you met this scruffy grey teddy bear? i'm sure you've seen him around...this adorable "me to you" bear is the cutest lil soft toy, ever! well, maybe not the cutest ever...my ilaikabear is my cutest soft toy ever but hey, i'm a biased mummy ;p

aaanyways, back to mr "me to you"....

* picture courtesy of jaime tan

a few months ago, i was asked to bake a cake for baby aston's first birthday. inspired by ilaika's first party, aston's mum, jaime wanted a boyish version of the bears & blocks cake using the "me to you" bear. with the colour theme of blue and grey, here's aston's first birthday cake...

* picture courtesy of jaime tan

i plonked the actual soft toy on the top of the cake so aston could keep the cuddly bear for himself.

* picture courtesy of jaime tan

to match the bear's scruffiness, i made the vanilla buttercream frosting really messy and mixed it with crushed oreos...this vanilla oreo frosting was really divine. eaten cold, it tasted like choc chip ice cream!

i played around with different shades of blue to make the fondant stars and circles that decorated the rest of the cake. this was the fun part as fondant is very much like play doh ;)

oh i also made these cute cupcakes with matching stars and circles...

my personal favourite is the XOX cupcake...from me to you, lil aston ;)

my first wedding cake!

one of my closest friends, ayu tied the knot in may.

when she announced that she was getting married, i was all up for helping out in any way i could...until she asked me to bake her wedding cake! it wasn't that i didn't want to. of course i did...i was definitely flattered and very very honoured that she would even consider me to bake her cake. but boy was my answer a nervous yes! i mean, i've baked birthday cakes and all but a wedding cake? now that's a once in a lifetime reception...(well, for most, anyways!) 

then of course, there's that lil added pressure that's involved with working on a wedding...it is after all, the fairy tale party that every little girl dreams of. but ayu and i go way back to our days in boarding school so i really couldn't say no, could i?

inspired by the lovely peggy porschen, i initially wanted to put together a three tiered cake. alas, as much as ayu was ever so confident of my baking skills, i just couldn't conjure up enough courage to attempt such a masterpiece.

so i took the easy way out and chose cupcakes instead! 

i found a simple seven tier stand and called upon the help of another classmate of ours. after a brief discussion, we had a rough idea in mind and got together for a "testing" the week before the reception...

we started off with these lovely china roses...

and these delectably moist vanilla butter cupcakes...

and played around with classic buttercream and gold dragees...

i'm so darn proud of our not-so-little project that i just couldn't wait any longer for the official wedding photographer's pics...so here's my blurry iphone snapshot ;)

not bad for a first timer huh?  ;)

a whole load of fluff and even more stuff...

hello peeps...

sorry!

sorry sorry sorry sorry...

i feel terrible cos i haven't been here for close to two months!

sorry...

(did i already say i'm sorry?)

i don't know how it happened but as things usually do happen, i had my hands full with a whole load of fluff and even more stuff....i didn't even realise so much time had gone by since my last post on quack packs!

i really missed this space but i'm back now ;) did you miss me? i definitely missed you...

 

am looking forward to catching up with you and sharing all the stuff that's been happening and all  the fluff that i'm currently working on in my lil world of fluff & stuff. what about you...what's been baking in your oven?

ranya's duckie pack...

my friend, amee was inspired by the features i had posted for rubber duckie parties. ranya, her daughter turned one over the weekend and she put together a duckie party with these ideas in mind.

look at the ultra cute party pack she gave away (based on my party file's duckie soap dish):

this is definitely a month for quacky parties...my own niece's duckie luau is this coming saturday so i'm all quacked up for it ;)

happy mother's day...

a quick wish to all mums out there. it's not always easy being a mum and realistically, no one's perfect. god blessed your child with a mum like you, so it could only mean you're the perfect mum for your child ;)

happy mother's day!

baby hadran's bottles & prams...

my nephew, hadran, had his potong jambul ceremony this morning and as a gift, i made the boy version of zara's prams.

aren't these super cute?!

leya's quacky invites...

remember my recent posts on rubber duckies and pink/yellow themes? well, we are going to use several elements from those posts for my niece's 1st birthday. it's gonna be a luau with ducks and flowers....and here's a sneak peek of leya's quacky invites, a {fluff and stuff} work of art ;)

isn't she such an adorable baby? she has SO much hair that i fondly refer to her as a bundle of hair hehe

the party's next weekend so i'm getting rather quackily nervous...it'll be our first debut together as a team. the good news is - we have SO many lovely ideas and i can't wait to share them all with you ;) more updates to come...wish us luck!

{fluff and stuff}

it's been a busy few weeks and loads of exciting things are happening in my world of fluff and stuff ;)

as you may have read here, i've been putting quite a bit of thought into my lil hobby cum business (if i can call it that!) and still had quite a fair bit of work to do with regards to the overall setup, branding and logos. shortly after that post, opportunity came knocking on my door when  a friend, melissa asked if i'd like to team up with her and her cousin, audrey. melissa is an interior designer and audrey is a graphic designer. how perfect! 

now, i love decorating and have spent hours drooling over interior decorating magazines and party decor sites. i also love thinking up of designs for labels, invites and all sorts. sadly, i'm sure you've noticed my techy skills are still limited to power point (as mentioned here)...thus there's always this lil nagging feeling that i might not be able to put down on paper what i really have in my head ;p hence, teaming up with mel and audrey would really complement all my work.

so the three of us met one night and hit it off immediately. what's great is they also share my love for scrapbooking and are far far far more experienced at it than i am.

almost as if the universe sensed something great was in the making (!), we almost instantly had a few things lined up to work on. how wonderful!

here's our one of our first projects together. it's simple due to the time constraint but it's pretty and straight to the point:

we prepared this flyer for the upcoming ibu bazaar. karen, a loyal sweet stuff fan and  my dear new friend, kindly offered us the chance to contribute to their goody bags.  i really wanted to bake lil biscuits for each bag but was worried about baking and handling 500 biscuits, so we decided to just go with a simple flyer for a start. 

those of you in kl, do drop by bangsar village on 9 may 2010. it sounds like it'll be an absolutely fun-filled day. do click here for a feel of last year's bazaar...if you do go, remember to pick up a goody bag and our fluff and stuff flyer ;)

meri meri kits, anyone...?

if you're like me {ie a sucker for cuteness!}, you'll fall in love with these absolutely adorable kits by meri meri...i certainly did!

aren't these just oozing with cuteness? as you can see, i couldn't decide which i loved the most  (it was so difficult to choose just one!) so i picked a few of my personal favourites to share.  here are another two i love...if you look closely, the ballerinas even have tutus!

can't get enough? there's more cuteness here ;)