fluff & stuff

(post-a-tale) OF MY FIRST MORNING WALK...

2012-01-29T23:30:00.000+08:00

(post-a-tale) OF A BOUNCY CASTLE & POOL...

2012-01-28T23:30:00.000+08:00

(post-a-tale) OF A TRIP TO PET SAFARI...

2012-01-26T23:26:00.001+08:00

(post-a-tale) OF ENGLISH FISH & CHIPS...

2012-01-25T23:07:00.000+08:00

(post-a-tale) OF ILAIKA'S FIRST SWIMMING CLASS...

2012-01-25T19:30:00.000+08:00

(post-a-tale) OF GET TOGETHERS...

2012-01-24T22:55:00.000+08:00

(post-a-tale) OF LION DANCES AND (the year of) DRAGONS...

2012-01-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

FRAMING (our live stories)...

2012-01-15T23:36:00.000+08:00

FAIRY FAIRY LIGHTS...

2012-01-10T10:34:00.000+08:00

* ordered from Pam's online etsy store, PamelaAngus. definitely worthwhile checking out the items sold in this store. Pam has so many gorgeous fairy lights and other whimsical pieces. these fairy lights arrived so beautifully wrapped that we even kept the box it came in ;)

BAY WINDOW...

2012-01-08T23:00:00.000+08:00

ME DAY...

2012-01-05T23:15:00.000+08:00

NEW YEAR, NEW HOME...

2012-01-01T10:30:00.000+08:00

* pictured here is the aftermath of our small new year's eve gathering at the new serene home, the first of our house parties with hopefully many more to come...

MONOGRAMS IN PLACE!

2011-12-13T10:46:00.000+08:00

ILAIKA'S CUPBOARDS...

2011-11-29T22:00:00.000+08:00

* these are the pretty knobs i referred to in my previous post ;)

HERITAGE FAN...

2011-11-25T20:30:00.000+08:00

JAZZING UP SUBWAY TILES, VOLAKAS STYLE...

2011-11-24T19:01:00.000+08:00

MONOGRAMS ARRIVED!

2011-11-22T22:30:00.000+08:00

HANDMADE KNOBS...

2011-11-03T22:30:00.000+08:00

* knobs are handmade by Rose and can be found at her online etsy store, DaRosa. she can customise the knobs to suit your preferences but these were listed just perfectly so i didn't change much.

THE PLAYROOM...

2011-10-16T19:49:00.000+08:00

the new house was obviously designed to have the basement as a family living area with a spare room for a study or a guest room. however, since hubs and i have decided to utilise the whole basement for our individual quirks, we've decided to convert the top floor living space to ilaika's own playroom...

at our current house, her toys are everywhere - the living room, her room, our room and even on and under the dining table. so one thing's for certain - we both want a space where she could make as much mess as possible (because that's what kids do naturally well) yet one where she could easily learn how to keep and organise her toys. for this, lots of clear boxes are necessary for storage and easy access. and since children tend to break things and outgrow their toys and interests so quickly, i decided that this was one room that i wasn't going to spend on very much. ikea stuff will do ;p

i really love this tufted sofa...i could imagine ilaika dozing off after a day of play. oh ok, fine...i can imagine myself dozing off for afternoon naps!

THE DINING ROOM...

2011-10-14T01:02:00.000+08:00

a month to go til our big move!

we've torn down the kitchen wall so there is no longer a wet and dry kitchen. instead, there will be a slightly larger square-ish one. the kitchen door will be a full height glass french door that opens up to the dining area.

my idea of separating the formal living room and the dining area was vetoed out by the darling hubs in the last minute; hence that space is now a large open plan living/dining area...which means the decor of the dining area has to somewhat complement that of the living room.

so here's how i imagine the dining room will look like...

...another polyvore masterpiece ;)

as expected, there's been a fair share of "domestic dispute" (amongst many others, hubby's veto above!) and sadly, there's been unexpected drama involving our contractor and interior designer. the utmost unprofessional attitude and lack of interest where the latter was concerned so am glad they're out of the picture now. that's the good news...

the bad news is having terminated their services so late in the day means i have to start from scratch. thank goodness i started planned from early this year so i do roughly know what i want and now i just have to source for all the necessary furnishing. not sure if i'll be any good at putting all of them together though. there's still tons to do and not much time left. oh well, on the bright side, i can spend this next month doing what i so love...shop-shop-shopping!

THE MASTER BEDROOM...

2011-10-11T10:20:00.000+08:00

the moodboard for the master bedroom had to be less feminine and a little masculine but with hints of romance and yet still be in colours which were soothing. this, believe you me, was not an easy task!

here's what i came up with...

i still think it needs a little bit of tweaking but it'll do for now. i'm pretty sure we'll improve it as we go along...

THE WORKSHOP...

2011-10-09T01:39:00.000+08:00

the hubs decided earlier on to use the basement as a studio-office-media room, some sort of a man cave that i've begun referring to as the bachelor pad he never had (minus the supermodels of course!)...so it was only fair that i convert the small guest room adjoining his into to my own girly space. not that i really need one but i reckon it'll be my sanctuary cum workshop to read, blog, plan parties, scrapbook etc.

ilaika's room aside, this was to be the only space in the house which i could do up in florals, pinks and pastels...

in one corner of the room, i'll have my desk with an ideas board which i'm going to attempt making once we move in. another corner will have a bench against the wall and a white-washed table for arts, craft and scrapbooking. at the other end of the room will be a book shelf and small lounge area with french doors that lead to a wooden outdoor patio.

surprisingly, the final moodboard above didn't have as many floral prints as i'd originally envisioned...but the pinks are definitely there ;)

am not too sure what kind of decor this is called...perhaps something along the lines of shabby chic, romantic french parisian and bohemian chic...whatever it's called, i have a feeling this is going to be a really fun room to do up!

THE FORMAL LIVING ROOM...

2011-09-14T00:50:00.003+08:00

i've spent the last few months endlessly googling for ideas for our new house and going through magazine after magazine for decor inspiration. oddly enough, i haven't come across a single picture of a formal living room that really appealed to me. i've seen bits and pieces of items that i've liked but never really the whole picture. i'm really running out of time as we have to move by end of october so i put together a sort of moodboard using polyvore...took a lil bit of time to find some items but check this out...i love it ;)

CONVERSATIONS WITH ILAIKA...re: leaving the tv on...

2011-07-09T13:47:00.007+08:00

ilaika : mummy, you keep telling me to switch off the tv when i'm not watching it...why is your tv on?

me : oh i just stepped out of my room to get my cup of coffee...

ilaika : weeeeelllll, i just got up to poo and I switched off my tv!

me : oh, SOR-REEEEE....(with a silent ARRRGHHHH!!)

THE PERFECT KITCHEN...still loving white...

2011-07-06T12:12:00.001+08:00

here's another white kitchen i really love, designed by Molly Frey and featured in Traditional Home.

the almost purely white kitchen looks so inviting, spacious and airy, and is brought to life with accents of soft colour from the flowers, dishes, vases and most importantly, food.

i love the symmetrical mirrored french doors, the gray tiled backsplash and the stainless steel one in the centre, and the open shelves with dishes for easy accessibility. it's the kind of kitchen that's the hub of the home and one where friends could hang about in whilst helping out with setting the table ;)

CONVERSATIONS WITH ILAIKA...in the car park...

2011-07-02T13:39:00.002+08:00

cinomonyet sees the reserved lot with the wheelchair symbol and asks, "what's this picture for?" to which i answered, "it's a special parking lot just for people with wheelchairs, like your great grandmother."

she gives me a puzzled look and says, "oh but what if someone comes by and steals the wheelchair...??"

THE PERFECT KITCHEN...

2011-07-01T01:35:00.015+08:00

and so the search has begun ;)

one would have thought with all the baking i've done, i'd already have an idea of what my perfect kitchen would look like. ironically, i don't. well, i kinda do but the more i look online and the more interior decor magazines i read, the more i'm undecided. there are SOOO many different looks, appliances, finishes, styles etc out there and it's just too difficult to choose just one look!

after all my research, i have however decided that the ultra-modern and super minimalist looks are just too sterile for my taste. i admire them and i'd oooh and aahhh over them but they're just not homely enough. they're the kind of spaces where i'd be afraid to touch anything for fear that i'd mess it up.

i've also decided that i'd like a kitchen with white cabinets, touches of black and bits of gray.

surprisingly, the kitchen design that appealed to me the most was one by ikea. boring, you might say? but wait...have a look before you judge and you might just share the same sentiments as me...

i love the cleanliness of the white wooden cabinets in contrast to the black countertops and dark wooden floorboards, the fully utilised open shelving against the whitewashed brick wall and the organised yet purposeful mess captured in these pictures. oh and i absolutely adore the industrial vintage feel of the pendant lights and the stainless steel trolley.

from all the cakes and bowl of icing on the island counters, i'm guessing that this kitchen was designed with a baker in mind. isn't it just perfect? now, if only i can squeeze all these lovely elements into my new kitchen, which i reckon is about half the size of this one....sigh...i love it, i love it ;)

EMPIRE AVENUE, ANYONE...?

2011-06-29T00:23:00.000+08:00

{EAV_BLOG_VER:26a0e4ce76cfe2a9}

zain just introduced me to this website, Empire Avenue, a social stock market where one can grow their social capital online! need to verify my blog by posting the first line above so do ignore it if it isn't your cuppa tea hehe. if you happen to be "investing" in this, do click here for more info ;)

THE SIMPLEST OF ARRANGEMENTS...

2011-06-28T15:30:00.066+08:00

a few months ago, we helped out with the flower arrangements for my cousin's engagement party. i never thought arranging flowers would be so simple but it really was!

all we did were put together a bunch of pretty flowers, tied them together with a ribbon and chucked them in a plain glass vase filled with white pebbles and water....and ta-daaaa....

aren't these simply beautiful? my favourite and the simplest of the arrangements however, were the leftovers...

surprisingly, the flowers we chose lasted a week after the party, before they started to wilt. here's a sweet tip...add sugar to the water; sugar not only makes the flowers bloom gorgeously, it also keeps them fresh longer. sweet water for sweet flowers...who'd have made the connection eh?

now i know how simple it is, i'm inspired to have fresh flowers in the house all the time!

HELLOOOO...ANYBODY THERE?

2011-06-27T23:03:00.005+08:00

surprise surprise, look who's back? ;p

well, i didn't go anywhere, really. i've just been bogged down with all sorts. not that it's a valid excuse but it's scary how life just passes by and before one knows it, it's been five months since the last blog post! honestly, if you were to ask me what i've been up too, i wouldn't even know how to respond and that's the scary part because i haven't been up to much and yet i have. does that make any sense whatsoever? sigh...let me attempt to fill you in...if you're still up for reading my blog...

having recently left the pr world of kl's hospitality industry, izreen is now on a soul searching mission to uncover her life purpose and rediscover her passions.

and that's how the fancy-schmancy official statement would have read if there ever was one! as mentioned here and here, i finally took the plunge and tendered my resignation. it's been five months since my last day of work and i've loved every minute of it. the honest truth is i've just been going with the flow; taking in one day at a time, enjoying the simple pleasures of my life as it is right now. when i say simple, i really mean simple ie school runs, long lunches, mindless reading, afternoon naps, week day shopping etc etc etc ;)

before i resigned however, i did promise to spend the first few months of unemployment figuring out what was next for me. i vowed to work out a proper business plan to make sure i was headed in the right direction as at that time, mel and i were just taking in any order that came along, whether it was for parties, cookies, cupcakes, party packs and so on. but alas, things don't always go as planned. in my defense, i did a wee bit of research here and there but before i had made any real progress, zain & i made an even bigger commitment...we bought our very first property!

and so we agreed that from now until we make the big move, my main focus was to be our brand new home. as excited as i was to take up a new project, it was with a heavy heart that i decided to stop taking orders for both parties and baking. it just wasn't fair to commit to others when i myself was uncertain of my direction in life. of course, being in between a half packed-up home and an empty one, wasn't exactly the most conducive and convenient environment to work in ;O

ironically, the moment i announce to the universe that i'm taking a break, i get enquiries every other day! i sincerely do apologise to every single person who's request and orders i've had to turn down but really, it is for the best given the circumstances...

so now, i have two to three months to design, renovate, decorate and move...daunting! but oh so exciting ;)

i'll keep you posted on our house project as we go along and i'll also bring this blog up to date with the last few parties we organised. so do stick around...i promise you i will...

{fluff and stuff} presents : ALICE IN WONDERLAND

2011-01-26T00:55:00.006+08:00

yes, this post is waaaaaaaaaaay over due! the party was back in august 2010 and you might recall a sneak peek, as posted here. drawing inspiration from the movie as well as from the links mentioned in a much earlier alice feature, we came up with a whimsical theme, playing with the colours orange, turquoise and fuschia.

the party was for tunku alana's 25th birthday and the original "order" was for an alice themed dessert buffet. however, dear alana loved the moodboard we presented and so with much glee, we ended up decorating the whole venue!

here are some pics we snapped amidst the chaos...

- registration at the entrance -

- the tables -

- the dessert buffet -

- the bar counter -

credits: 1. the party took place at the pink sage diner, which i've mentioned before here. 2. we baked all the desserts ourselves except for the birthday cake and macarons. we already had a design in mind for the cake but we had a dessert buffet for a wedding of 600 pax to set up just hours prior to the alice party. with the mad hatter rush we knew we were in for, the cake was the last thing we wanted to take a risk with. hence, we commissioned satira diana to execute the cake-making for us. 3. as for the gorgeous macarons, we just haven't gotten round to mastering this particular art of baking, so we ordered them from whisk ;)

the overall night was named "alana in wonderland" and of course, we labelled the tags eat me and drink me. just for laughs, the biscuits were labelled bite me and the lollipops, lick me! we got a lil carried away, bought extra props and flowers for decor and most likely spent more than our budget...did i also mention we were mad hatters setting up two events back to back? yes, it was most definitely a mad day for us but it was oh so worth it!

MR MEN & LITTLE MISS...

2011-01-22T02:36:00.005+08:00

amongst my favourite books whilst growing up was the mr men and little miss series...

i loved how the cute characters were so well illustrated based on their names and i always fancied myself being little miss sunshine ;)

of course, many would differ and probably say i was little miss chatterbox, more than anything else! but...i digress. the whole point of this post was to share pics of the bollipops we made for a friend's son and daughter. we matched the artwork to make them look like the cover of the story books...they turned out super cute!

square bollipops for all the mr men...

and rounds ones for the little misses...

happy belated birthday, mr rayyan and little miss ranya!

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW...

2011-01-19T03:45:00.008+08:00

at the end of every year, zain and i put ourselves and the entire household through an exercise of abundance...out with the old, to make space for the new. half way through, my sinus was acting up and the house was upside down, but with every bit of clutter and junk i threw out, i felt a sense of relief and oddly, mental clarity...

and so it was this exercise of abundance that inspired me to revamp this blog. with the new year and promises of an exciting (and hopefully rewarding!) future ahead, what better time than now ;)

i've decided that minimalist is the way to go so i deleted the pink background and changed the header to reflect my current mood and perhaps reflection of my life (click here for the original header design by my style backgrounds...lots of other lovely freebies too!) and this is the new 2011 look...

a lil more grown up, a lil bit rustic, a lil bit prettier...not too clean yet not too bare and splashes of the colours i love...

BAMBINI, ANYONE...?

2011-01-12T00:43:00.024+08:00

in my bimbo moments of weakness, i sometimes justify purchases for ilaika by telling myself that just like me, most mums are suckers for cuteness and it's just beyond our control when we splurge on our lil princesses ;) and like most mums that fall in this category, i immediately fell in love with these bambini shoes, recently launched by shoes shoes shoes...

*aspiring feet model - ilaika & yours truly ;p

hers & hers! aren't these just absolutely adorable...?

when yiu lin, the mastermind behind this local brand, invited me to the launch of bambini, i popped by her store the very next day to purchase these two pairs ahead of the launch! i also jumped at the chance to offer our biscuits as a gift for all the other young mums who were to attend the launch.

we prepared boxes of customised vanilla butter biscuits that bore the bambini logo as well as the names of each child & mum. we also threw in some polka dots, inspired by the brand's shoe boxes...these are the pics i snapped and edited using the iphone. will post more later ;)

yiu lin tells me these were a great big hit...both the shoes and the biscuits...but of course, you can never have enough ;)

PRETTY DARN PRETTY...

2011-01-09T23:19:00.016+08:00

it's been a while since i've posted anything on my baking projects.

to be honest, i haven't baked much as year-ends are always hectic and true enough, it was mad this year with the festivities as well as my handing over of work at the office. i'll get around to updating more on sweet stuff but for now, here's a cake i'd like to share...

i seldom take orders for whole cakes as my icing skills are no where near perfect...but my mum insisted i made a cake for her good friend and so i could not say no. with the d.i.y. banner as a contributing factor to its prettiness, am happy to say that this cake turned our pretty darn pretty...!

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM...

2011-01-05T23:39:00.011+08:00

as i count the days towards the end of an era (well, my days in full time employment to be precise), i find myself looking fwd to the simplest in things like taking ilaika to ballet classes, baking in the day, reading a book and cooking family dinners...(god knows it's been ages since i did the last two!)

for someone who has had her whole life planned out every step of the way, this is an odd and unfamiliar territory and a lil daunting too, these emotions i'm experiencing...and yet i welcome them with open arms. for the first time in my life, i have nothing concrete planned for the near future. the only plan that's certain is the impending last day at work. beyond that, only time will tell...

the world is my oyster i suppose. am looking forward to doing nothing and everything ;) there's so much that i'd like to do and there's no better time than now.

perhaps tho, in the first month of unemployment, i might just indulge in being a taitai...!

for those close to me, they know only too well that i've been dreaming of this little dream for a long long time, years even! hence it was fitting that zain gave me this lovely tiffany notes pendant for my birthday...yes, it's my birthday ;)

dream a little dream? yes, perhaps it is time to live MY little dream...

YAY ME...

2011-01-03T00:18:00.013+08:00

i came across a facebook app that puts together a person's status updates for the past year and summarises them in a word cloud. here's mine...

no surprises that ilaika came up a lot in most of my updates. monday morning blues and work had more than their fair share too.

well, i have a good feeling that those dreaded work blues will stay behind in 2010 and not tag along to haunt me in 2011....because...yes, i have good news! i finally did it - i finally turned in that letter i drafted years ago...

yes peeps, i finally resigned! and what's next, i hear you ask? well, that's another story altogether ;)

for now, all i can say is - yay me!

OUR WISH FOR YOU...

2011-01-01T09:39:00.002+08:00

did you know...?

(click here or the para below for the original webpage)

" Origami was invented in China around 100AD. The word origami simply means "paper folding". Japan was in the habit of adopting interesting parts of the Chinese culture, and took on the craft of origami around 600AD. It is Japanese origami which has become a world famous cultural emblem.

As in many societies, paper was a luxury item, created by hand and used only for important, long lasting purposes. When origami was first brought to Japan, only the rich practiced the art of folding paper into shapes. The shape creation was a way of adding special meaning to what the paper held on it or in it.

For love notes, origami was doubly special. First, the origami shape itself could represent a message. The selection of color and shape help conveyed the true emotions of the writer. Second, origami is an intricate art. If the love note was intercepted, it would be unlikely that the reader could perfectly refold the shape. So the origami love note was very secure - it could not be read by the wrong person without the recipient knowing it.

From its inception, origami has held an honored place in ceremonies that were of great importance. Origami was used at births, weddings, and funerals to help commemorate the occasion in a unique, hand-crafted manner. The origami figures would be treasured by participants for years afterwards. "

(click here or the para below for the original webpage)

" One of the first books published on Origami was "How to Fold 1,000 Cranes", released in the late 1700s. It is no coincidence that the crane was chosen as the subject for the book. For thousands of years the Japanese culture has treasured the crane as a symbol of honor and loyalty. The crane symbol is used on many Japanese heraldic devices and is a theme in many famous works of art.

The crane is a majestic bird which mates for life and is extremely loyal to its partner. The bird is strong, graceful and beautiful. Because of the great importance of the crane, the Japanese people feel that a person who folds 1,000 cranes will be granted his or her greatest wish. "

as a child, i loved origami...i can't quite recall if it was the pretty paper that our japanese friends used or just the art itself that attracted me. whatever the reason, i fondly recall my mum folding lil bits of paper followed by my excitement in discovering the figure that unfolded...or folded, so to speak! i also recall asking her to unfold the paper just so i could try and fold it back into the figure she had folded just moments earlier.

a few weeks ago, i chanced upon an origami set at a local bookstore. it reminded me of my childhood days and so i bought a set for ilaika, thinking that i could introduce the art to her, just as my mum did for me.

and she loved it!

the crane was and still is my favourite. so it was no surprise that the crane was also the first piece i chose to fold for ilaika.

we didn't fold a thousand cranes but hey, we don't ask for very much ;) our dreams are of love and happiness (and perhaps in ilaika's case, a year's supply of froyo!)

we hope these two will be enough to grant us our little but meaningful dreams and wishes for this coming year and we wish the same for you...

merry christmas...

2010-12-25T01:43:00.006+08:00

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 ;) -

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

2010-12-16T01:53:00.009+08:00

ho ho ho, we trimmed the tree ;)

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blog press, anyone...?

2010-12-15T09:45:00.005+08:00

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

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sugar scrubs & bath salts, anyone...?

2010-12-15T00:50:00.004+08:00

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...?

2010-12-14T11:38:00.008+08:00

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...?

2010-11-29T11:50:00.001+08:00

i bought these from accessorize last wk...

absolutely love them ;)

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(fluff and stuff} presents : ssshhhhh....it's all about ME!

2010-11-28T16:01:00.096+08:00

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...

2010-08-01T23:46:00.007+08:00

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...

2010-07-19T01:38:00.011+08:00

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...?

2010-07-16T23:04:00.020+08:00

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...

2010-07-14T22:45:00.008+08:00

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...?

2010-07-12T15:57:00.001+08:00

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...

2010-06-27T04:46:00.007+08:00

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!

2010-06-26T01:46:00.003+08:00

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...

2010-06-25T01:28:00.002+08:00

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...

2010-05-10T01:22:00.004+08:00

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...

2010-05-09T01:44:00.007+08:00

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...

2010-05-08T23:16:00.003+08:00

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...

2010-05-07T23:16:00.005+08:00

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}

2010-05-03T01:49:00.004+08:00

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...?

2010-04-22T00:30:00.005+08:00

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 ;)

an afternoon with play-doh!

2010-04-15T01:31:00.048+08:00

i wrote this post in february but couldn't upload the pics at that time so i saved it as a draft. it completely slipped my mind until yesterday, when ilaika asked for her play-doh...

....d'oh!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

after writing the previous post on my countdown to ilaika's 3rd birthday, i was reminded of the many lovely presents she received from our family & friends for her 2nd birthday. i wanted her to appreciate each and every one, so i didn't allow her to play with them all at once...

hence, every few weekends for the past few months, she's been allowed one new gift. there were a few however, which i kept aside as i felt she was still too young to play with them. some of these were play-doh sets. i think she had three in total!

as a child, i loved playing with plasticine and play-doh but now that i've a child of my own, i dread the mess it would leave behind! nevertheless, i reminded myself today that i shouldn't let this selfishness deny her of some play-doh fun.

much to her delight, i finally opened the huge set that she's been eyeing since her 2nd birthday...

...i was amazed at how complete the set was...

...i don't recall having these fancy schmancy "play-doh gadgets" when i was growing up!

...ta-daaa! ice-cream for mummy, apparently...

...from ice-cream to brolly...

...hard at work...

...i made her scrape every lil bit out ;p

...the lil artist contemplating what to do next...

i'm glad i took the play-doh out for ilaika to play with cos she loves it SO much. now, if only i can figure out how too keep all the different colours apart....

princess katrina's 6th birthday...

2010-04-09T01:30:00.008+08:00

i've just completed making these simple cupcakes and toppers for a friend's daughter...her theme was disney princesses - i matched these with her name in the walt disney font and her age in a plain font. i really like fuschia pink and bright orange. honestly, orange isn't usually a colour of my choice but together, they make such a good combination.

the pics above were taken at night so the lighting's pretty bad. i couldn't quite fix them using photobucket but i played around with other effects that are kinda cool...

- pop art -

- invert -

- cartoon -

- fresco -

- colour sketch -

sorry to bore you with the same pics over and over again but i'm obviously very easily amused! hopefully you'll find these as fascinating as i do ;p

pink and yellow, anyone...?

2010-04-08T01:00:00.018+08:00

following my previous post on a rubber duckie party, i realised that most rubber duckie parties tend to be yellow and blue, most likely due to the water element that comes with rubber duckies. well, my friend wants to incorporate pink into the colour palette for her lil girl's first birthday.

so yours truly needed inspiration and went googling again ;) here are some ideas we could play with...

fuschia & yellow spring party

- as compiled by the party dress -

click here for credits and more info

wouldn't this fuschia and yellow set up be great? just imagine combining these bits of fuschia and yellow with cheerful rubber duckies!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

pretty in pink party

- by stem parties -

i also found this pink 80's-style* baby shower inspired by the movie pretty in pink. it's the first duckie party i've come across to have pink as part of the colour theme and it was pretty!

* going a wee bit off track now but check out those pink cassettes - perfect for an 80's party!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

paper rosettes

- by creature comforts -

aren't these paper rosettes so pretty? the pic above was a simple diy project by creature comforts for a circus party. if you'd like to try it out, you can use this tutorial by martha stewart.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

whilst you're at martha stewart's site, also look up this tutorial for tissue pompoms...

these yellow and pink pom poms could represent bath sponges!

i wanted to do these for ilaika's butterfly party just because they're oh-so-pretty but i already had so many other lovely ideas that i really didn't have enough time to put these together. oh well, hopefully i'll get to make them at her next party!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

just imagine all these pretty pink elements put together with yellow rubber duckies.....sweet rubber duck!

a floral cupcake bouquet...

2010-04-07T00:49:00.028+08:00

mother's day is a month and a few days away. it's time to start planning what to bake!

last year, i tried being a lil bit adventurous and played around with candy melts. inspired by bakerella, i went on a shopping spree but could only find the wilton candy melts here in kl. unfortunately, those didn't taste too good. as it turns out, candy melts are not entirely easy to work with either. i have a feeling it's due to our hot and humid malaysian weather :(

i followed bakerella's instructions carefully right down to the exact colours (cos they were so pretty) and i even used the microwaveable bottles as she did. it initially seemed so simple but i found it tough getting the candy to melt to the desired consistency. then the ones that did set, started melting as soon as i took them out of the freezer. i had soooo many broken hearts (!) and flowers but i managed to salvage a few and thankfully, they survived the deliveries to nearby friends and relatives.

here are some pictures captured by nurul, my sister-in-law...i cropped these for a close-up of the candy melts so do click here for the original pics and more.

mine aren't as perfect as bakerella's but i do think this floral cupcake bouquet turned out pretty adorable ;)

rubber duckie, anyone...?

2010-04-06T23:38:00.012+08:00

rubber duckie, you're the one,

you make bathtime lots of fun,

rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you;

woo woo be doo

rubber duckie, joy of joys,

when i squeeze you, you make noise!

rubber duckie, you're my very best friend, it's true!

doo doo doo doo, doo doo

i love this sesame street song...don't you? i've been humming it over and over again since i had a conversation with my friend regarding her daughter's first birthday...

she originally planned on a mermaid swimming party but wasn't too sure if it'd be suitable especially since her daughter doesn't even know what a mermaid is...i jumped at the opportunity to plan/propose yet another party ;)

i know it's been done to death as a theme for baby showers but i think a 1st rubber duckie birthday. would be so fun! if i hadn't done bears & blocks for ilaika's first, i would have gone with ducks. alas, a kid can only have one first birthday so i had to kiv that theme. but don't you think it's a great idea? at that age, the child will most likely recognise a yellow rubber duck and since he/she can't do much else yet, a mini wading pool filled with ducks would make an excellent party activity!

here are a few rubber duckie parties i love...

bubbly ducky brunch

- by hostess with the mostess -

this bubbly ducky brunch was gorgeous...from the colour-coordinated plates and placemats and the bubbles in the cutlery to the table centrepiece with the ducks and those blue and yellow m&m's (in the right pic just above this para).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

quack quack little duck

- by alannah rose -

this birthday party for ella looked so doubly duckly fun! the bright colour palette of yellow and red made a cheerful impact on the overall decor. i especially love the cupcake wrap and flag toppers in the top collage as well as the duckie twist to two classic party games (in the middle collage) - pin the beak on the duckie and the duckie pinnata!

if you love this theme and would like to get your hands on the invites, (as below) visit the alannah rose wesbite (or click here) to order.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

here are other great ideas to consider..

cake & candles

how adorably cute is this? a few cupcakes and duckie candles put together to make a bubbly bath for the duckies!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

duckie party packs

- by my party file -

a great idea to cut a duck out on an otherwise plain paper bag. fill it up with sweets and colourful goodies to tempt the kids!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

duckie soap dish

- by my party file -

another great themed idea is to get soap boxes and fill them up with sweets and candies or even crayons etc. i'm thinking it'd also be great to fill them up with bubble bath salts or capsules but just make sure you label and seal them carefully, just in case the kids think they're sweet stuff to munch on!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

oooo...can you tell? i'm really looking forward to planning this party!

girls just wanna have fun...

2010-04-04T10:14:00.129+08:00

i find that when something edible looks too realistic, i am rather hesitant to eat it. so when it comes to icing biscuits without my standard sugar sheets, my style of icing is minimal and somewhat whimsical ;)

rather than focus on making them look as realistically close to the real thing, i prefer to enhance a particular shape with lines, dots and minimal accents. at a glance, you can still tell what they're supposed to be but they also look fanciful & simply playful.

therefore, when an ex-school mate presented the opportunity to come up with a biscuit set for her best mate janice, i was really excited. she was really cool too cos she let me have free rein over the biscuits, as long as they were purple and red. these were janice's fav colours. i also found out that janice, like most girls our age, loves to shop, party and have a good time. i immediately thought, "girls just wanna have fun"...

here's what i delivered: a birthday cake, shoes, handbags, bikini top & hot pants, champagne and hearts...all edible of course ;)

i packed and sealed all of these individually in mini plastic bags (so they'd stay fresh longer) and popped them all in a tin. since the tin itself was very plain, i tied an XXL bollie with a purple ribbon on the top and stuck a heart biscuit there too...

it was only after taking this pic that i realised these two look like wedding favors!

i had actually gone overboard cos we originally decided on six to eight biscuits but i ended up with fifteen! i was having so much fun that i even continued with other colours and designs (like the ones below) as freebies for my other orders ;)

sorry about the blurry pics. my camera battery was low after i took the first pic above so i had to resort to my iphone for the rest!

alice tea party, anyone...?

2010-04-03T13:59:00.019+08:00

a few weeks ago, we took ilaika to watch alice in wonderland. it was her first trip to the movies and boy, did she love it!

with all the hype on alice these days, i really wish i could have a whimsical tea party for ilaika but since her birthday is way over and i'm still recovering from the party havoc (!) i'll have to settle with just admiring these lovely parties and inspirations...

alice in wonderland

- as hosted & captured by gwendolyn grace photography -

gwendolyn used bright and fun colours for her party decor and they came together so well. i just love this element of arts & craft! they decorated their first initials - perfect for a smaller group of young girls. and it makes a great gift to take home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

annabelle in wonderland!

- as captured by jessica claire -

check out the special chairs for the three birthday girls...this party was so beautifully decorated and i bet the kids had so much fun - there was a petting zoo AND alice herself to help with the face-painting!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

alice in wonderland tea party

- as captured by loreta -

simple ideas on how to decorate the table with the antique looking clock and cards scattered on the table. oh also equally simple idea but oh-so-pretty cupcake sprinkles...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

alice in wonderlandia

- as featured by hostess with the mostess and organised by lollipop events & designs -

everything about this party is gorgeous and perfect..from the tablecloth to the chair covers (which are actually aprons! click here for the diy) and from the flowers to the tea & saucer set and the whimsical stacked cups! the champagne bottles in the watering cans are a great idea too but perhaps for kids, we ought to replace the bubbly with bubbles ;)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

party inspiration : alice in wonderland tea party

- as compiled by becca of birthday girl blog -

becca puts together lovely inspiration boards for all sorts of parties and this is one of the many that i really love. visit her blog for more party inspiration and some tips on putting this whimsical party together.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

message-in-a-cookie cutters

- product by williams-sonoma -

imagine having these coloured biscuits with E A T M E on them! i can't wait to get my hands on these cutters. i just got an email from them saying they're "no longer available" :( but am keeping my fingers crossed til they stock up on these cute lil things! in the meantime, i've got some bollipops leftover from my latest order of vespa goodies so i'll play around with these to soothe my (ahem) "creative soul" ;p more to come soon...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

i'm late - resin alice in wonderland necklace

- handmade by stoopidgerl -

this handmade pendant would make a cool party pack item for the girls to take home...i know ilaika would SO love this!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

alice in wonderland party collection

- as found on polyvore & compiled by rayban love, portia & julieta -

oh i love these polyvores! it just proves how this theme is so easy to work with - there's so much you can do and you can hardly ever go wrong cos in a quirky & whimsical way, nothing really matches yet everything does match ;)

from SE1 to W11...my london affair...part 1

2010-04-02T00:05:00.010+08:00

i fell in love with london when i was ten and again when i was fifteen; both times i was there on a family holiday. i decided at that young age that i would return when i was older to really experience life as a londoner. a few years later, just before my 18th birthday, that dream became a reality and that's when the love affair with london really began. i only lived there for four years but it felt much much longer and even until today, a part of me wishes i never left. i can't quite explain it nor do i really know why.

of course, i had my fair share of ups and downs (for which student doesn't) and yet i always look back at those student days with such fond memories. i snapped like a million pictures whilst i lived there and sadly, i can't find any of them now.

note: those days, we used film more than digital...perhaps one day, i'll gather up the courage to go through the unopened tea crates in my mum's house and dig up all those pics. that would really be a trip down memory lane...

i have forlorn moments every now and then, when that lil part of me misses london really badly. so i thought it'd be therapeutic to blog about the city of london...my city of london, as i remember it.

for starters, here are some pics* that capture the london i fell in love with...

* beautifully captured by peter visontay...click here for more pics or to purchase.

- the river thames -

the red bridge in this picture is the blackfriars bridge. we stayed just south of this bridge at my aunt's flat during my first trip to london.

- the tower bridge -

often mistakenly referred to as the london bridge, this iconic symbol of london is breathtaking and majestic. in my first year as a student in london, i lived in the lse student residence in butler's wharf, located south of the river. i walked across this bridge daily to get to the tower hill tube station and back home. i remember instances when i had to wait in the bitter cold rain for boats to pass (not my fondest memory of the bridge, for sure)...i also remember the time i crossed the bridge, as i made my way to class for the very first day of uni. my, what a glorious feeling that was - excitement and exhiliration, mixed with nervous anticipation of the unexpected with a tinge of a new found independence! everytime i see a picture of the tower bridge, i think of sam, my first flatmate and one of my closest friends in london.

- an old warehouse -

built in the 1870's, butler's wharf was a shipping wharf and warehouse complex. in the 20th century, many of the warehouses, such as the one in the pic above, fell into disuse. in the 1980s the area was transformed from a derelict site into luxury flats with restaurants and shops on the ground floor. this was my so-called playground in 1997-1998 ;)

- curlew street; "the results of the docklands regeneration (decaying old warehouses turned into flats and offices)" as remarked by the photographer -

the cobbled streets of butler's wharf like curlew street above was up and coming then. not too sure about now but back then, it housed several conran restaurants such as chop house, le pont de la tour and cantina del ponte. we used to save up our measly student allowances just so we could experience dining in these fancy restaurants. and if we were lucky, we'd be able to buy set meals on offer via lastminute.com!

...to be continued...

vespa update...

2010-03-29T00:31:00.066+08:00

as mentioned in a previous post, i was working on a vespa order. here's an update on how that turned out...

working on the artwork was much simpler than i originally imagined as my lovely clients had arranged to have carricatures made for each of their friends (and where not possible, they found similar ones online). so all i had to do was minimal touch up of the artwork.

i also found the vespa font and included a website address: www.sky-zoom-38.com/ folowed by each person's name. it's not an actual website of course...sky's the birthday girl & they were celebrating her 38th birthday...so sky-zoom-38 in vespa font, get it?

the tricky part was making XXL-sized bollipops. i usually make them about five to six cm in diametre but this time, i was asked to make them double the size! i had a few trial runs on these, prior to the actual delivery date, just to make sure the sticks were stable enough to hold the gigantic biccies...here's what it looked like:

i couldn't resist placing the watermark right in the centre of the bollie ;)

thankfully, after a few trials, the bollies passed "my confidence test"...here are some of them, decorated & packed...check out the cool carricatures!

this last one is a carricature of the birthday girl...how adorable! guests at the party loved the bollies so much that i received two repeat orders the very next day ;)

baby zara's onesies & prams...

2010-03-24T00:06:00.006+08:00

a couple of weeks ago, our close friends, naz & sheahnee, held a potong jambul ceremony (like the one i posted here) to welcome their newborn baby, zara aaliyah, into this world. i couldn't join them but i managed to bake them a lil gift as my contribution to welcoming lil zara into our lives.

here's what i got from spare biscuit dough, sugar paste and icing...

this was my first attempt at using both sugar paste & royal icing as decor for my cookies so i was surprised to find that they were actually quite easy to work with. i'm definitely going to try using more of these again real soon!

only problem i faced was trying to keep ilaika away from my work table...she kept wanting to steal the biscuits...i don't blame her - these onesies & prams were just SO adorably cute ;)

share the love, grab a button...and a few other links too!

2010-03-23T01:32:00.005+08:00

just for fun, i created my own blog button. i have no knowledge on html etc but i really wanted to attempt putting up my own blog button. every blog seemed to have one so i figured it probably wasn't rocket science...hence, i did a lil googling and found this tutorial by A Heart for Home. it's simple & straightforward...and i was right, it really isn't rocket science! click here for the tutorial and you'll know what i mean...

i placed the fluff & stuff button on the right column of this blog (right after everything else i've plonked there). scroll down thru and you'll see the button as well as the html script...but since you were nice enough to read this post, i've placed it here too...

you probably know how to do this already but if you don't, just copy and paste this html script to the add gadget function of your layout page....that's, of course, if you'd like to add it to your blog.! let me know if you do so i can see for myself if it works on another blog ;)

oh have you noticed some other things i did? yup, i added a signature followed by a linkwithin widget after each post (see the bottom of this post where you can see "you might like" followed by three related posts...) ...

fantastic! well it's fantastic to me anyways heheh. i'm just so excited that i did all this. i mean, i still hv no idea what all the html stuff mean but i know they definitely work cos they appear fine on the blog ;) so yay me!

visit the linkwithin site if you'd like to have this widget on your blog too.

if you're keen on adding a signature to your blog, follow this great tutorial by www.kevinandamanda.com (sound familiar? i mentioned this site on a previous post ). it's a great site and amanda's tutorials are SO easy to follow. the next one i'm gonna read up is on how to convert my own handwriting into a font...now, how cool is that?! will keep you posted when i get around to doing it...

oh one last thing - if like me, after having succesfully put up both, your signature appears after the linkwithin widget as opposed to before the widget, let me know...i'll put up a separate post on this. it took me a while and a bit of trial & error to figure it out; i had to look up a few different sites and put them together! but it was really simple - a matter of copy & paste...i just need to backtrack and take note of what i did...!

a lil insight on what i do...

2010-03-22T00:43:00.001+08:00

just after i posted the pics of ilaika's butterfly party, someone said on twitter that i should start a party planning business and my response was...this IS the start ;) so i guess perhaps i should elaborate more on what i do do and where all this is headed...

i actually have a full-time job, like a nine to five day job (though the hours are more like nine to seven and on some occasions, it goes on til much much later). i work in the hospitality industry where i handle pr & marketing for a convention centre and its two f&b outlets.

however, as some of you may know, i've always loved baking and since i've had ilaika, i've especially enjoyed it even more cos i've had an excuse to indulge in her parties. i discovered that not only was i not too bad a baker, but i was also quite a closet party planner!

so just after ilaika's second birthday bash, a friend of mine insisted i take up an order for biscuits for her own daughter's party & that's where it all began. i slowly received orders every now and then. it's come to a point where now, i have an order or two a week. somewhere in between, i've also helped plan a few parties and indulged in more of ilaika's parties, as well as designed invitations.

so what started as a hobby & passion is now slowly evolving to a business.

thinking big picture, i named the brand, fluff & stuff.

fluff could be defined as frivolous things and stuff as the essence or substantial element of something. these definitions seemed apt for the things i planned to do. the positioning was whilst all my party decor & goodies, intricate attention to detail & insistence on having every single thing go with the theme are merely fluff & stuff, they are items that i've just got to have. i therefore can totally relate to the temptation of wanting to have everything simply perfect. so my role is assisting my clients in indulging those tempting desires ;)

from there, i decided to name the party planning portion, party fluff and the baking portion, sweet stuff.

incidently, this weekend, i spent a lil bit of time trying to come up with a few logos and so far, these were the few i came up with...

any thoughts on these?

i still need to fine tune the logos, branding and taglines and am also in the process of setting up a proper website, so for now, this blog and these logos should suffice....

in the meantime, drop me a line or two if you have a party you'd like to indulge in. with another year to ilaika's next birthday, the closet party planner in me is simply itching to plan another party ;)

vespa, anyone...?

2010-03-21T15:59:00.005+08:00

am currently working on an order with a vespa theme.

now, i'm no motor-expert...in fact, the only thing i ever do to my car is fill up petrol so when i think of vespa, a few things & images come to mind - vintage, rome & audrey hepburn...

- scenes from roman holiday -

needing more fuel for inspiration, i started surfing for other pics...here are a few i really like...

- awww how cute is this battery-operated peg perego vespa gt for kids? can't decide which is cuter : the mini vespa or the mini love birds! -

(pic courtesy of vespa obsession)

- fancy a bubblegum vespa? ok, it's actually called a vespa rosa but it's so bubblegummy pink! -

- and how about a gap designed versa splash? -

if only malaysian weather wasn't so hot & humid and more importantly if only our motorists weren't so crazy...i might just be tempted to buy me one of these! perhaps i'll look for one of the mini ones for ilaika to zoom around in!

ice cream, anyone...?

2010-03-20T00:47:00.004+08:00

i've just stumbled on this lovely party post by becca of birthday girl. it's a great party organised by catherine clay for her daughter's 4th birthday. i just love the colours and articulate attention to detail. and of course, what a fabulous idea for a child's party - a tempting ice cream buffet AND a fun photo booth!

these party pics from catherine's blog were shared on becca's post...

i know it's a little pre-mature but i think i've found my inspiration for ilaika's next party ;p

a baby's welcome...

2010-03-18T00:34:00.002+08:00

i was spring cleaning my iphoto pics and came across these from three years ago. i just remembered i actually had a draft blog post which i had started but never completed!

these are pics of ilaika's "potong jambul" ceremony*. the theme was anything baby and the colours were yellow, orange and pink...

* in the malay culture, the "potong jambul" ceremony is traditionally a ceremony whereby a baby's head is shaven to "cleanse" him or her. nowadays the ceremony, held forty days after the baby is born, seems to signify a thanksgiving ritual and a baby's welcome. literally translated, "potong jambul" means "cut hair" which is exactly what the ceremony is about. in my family, the ritual also includes giving the baby its first taste of "sweet" and "salty" and a "merenjis" ceremony (perhaps a malay version of the baptism ceremony) as well as placing the baby's feet on a tray of sand somewhat similar to marking its footprint in the sand...possibly to signify its first step? am afraid i am no expert in the malay culture so perhaps i should find out more from my mum...!

- the venue -

- the lovely teak cradle, a present from my mum -

- the "equipment" -

top row from L to R :

1. the "equipment" laid out on the table; 2. a decorated coconut to place the hair once it's cut.

bottom row from L to R :

1. a tray of sand for the "footprint" part of the ceremony; 2. mini scissors to cut the baby's hair.

- the "equipment" -

top row from L to R :

1. the sweet & salty "porridge"; 2. the leaf to "merenjis" the baby.

bottom row from L to R :

1. the "bunga rampai" for "merenjis" - it's a malay-style potpourri made of thinly sliced fresh leaves, fresh rose petals and rose scented fragrance; 2. silver cradles, the favours for the vip guests.

- the decor & gifts -

top row from L to R :

1. baby mittens sewn with ribbons and buttons, which we used to place the "bunga rampai" as favours for the guests; 2. mini pink cradles for the table decor.

bottom row from L to R :

1. more table decor; 2. pink balloons were placed all around the patio.

- sweet stuff -

top row from L to R :

1. pink, yellow & orange ribbons for the baskets that held the cupcake favours; 2. mini cupcakes with frosting to match the colour theme.

bottom row from L to R :

1. jelly in shapes of baby things; 2. cupcakes topped with frosting and fondant in shapes of safety pins, rocking horses, rattles and bibs.

oh and here's a pic of us as proud first-time parents...

time sure flies...a part of me still can't believe that it's been three years since i first held ilaika in my arms...and looking at her now, it's hard to believe that she was ever that tiny!

a prettier look & a collage how-to...

2010-03-16T23:08:00.004+08:00

you may have noticed a slight difference in the style of pics that i posted in my last couple of posts (here & here) compared to the pics in the posts prior to these. can you spot the difference...?

- older posts -

- newer post -

i've decided to stick to this newer style..looks cleaner, simpler and prettier too. any thoughts on these?

oh, i've also discovered a collage function on photobucket - the perfect answer for when i have too many lovely pics to share ;) like the pics from ilaika's party...

it's rather hidden though so i didn't even know it existed! so i thought you might appreciate this lil collage how-to:

1. of course, you have to start with a photobucket account with pics uploaded to an album (if you don't, it's simple and free so click here for the photobucket site)...

2. choose an album to view & look at the top. there should be an option for "edit images" as circled below:

3. then click on the button that says "create a collage"...

4. you'll see this page...just choose the type of collage you'd like (on the left) & click "load photo" to select the pics...

5. once you're happy with the pics & proportions, choose "customise" for the final step...

6. here, you can resize, edit, add text etc.

7. once you're happy with the whole collage, just click "save a copy"....

...and then sit back and admire ;)

d.i.y. butterfly frames...up close & personal...

2010-03-14T23:51:00.008+08:00

i shared some of these pics in my previous post but they were kinda small there. i'm posting them again so you can see a close up of the personalised frames. this was the first time i tried out d.i.y. gifts and they were so pretty, they do deserve a post just on them ;)

i originally wanted to frame a 3-D butterfly cut out which meant the frame needed depth. this is the one i made for the cake table decor:

unfortunately, this frame was a lil too pricey as i had to buy and make sixty frames for the sixty kids that were coming to the party so i had to settle for a simpler frame...

these plain solid pine frames from ikea were perfect as they came with durable plastic instead of glass - definitely more child friendly!

i love the antique white stain effect that gives wood a really romantic look so i decided to have these frames stained white. i chose white stain instead of paint so that the stain dries clear and the wood grains can still be seen. you may have read about my "staining" work-in-progress here but in case you missed it, here's a pic of the frames drying after the second coat of stain.

i would really have preferred having done an extra coat or two but after the second coat, i thought they were pretty as is and i had to wait 4 - 5 hours between each coat so you can imagine, it was time consuming to add on more coats. and really, the kids might not be able to tell the difference between two or three coats anyways!

then i printed their names in a pretty font. for the girls, it was their full first name and the boys, their name without the first letter. here's why:

- for the girls -

- for the boys -

as you can see, the girls' frames had a larger butterfly cut out so it looked more girly and the boys' ones had a tiny butterfly but their first initial was a huge cut out letter which looked less girly and way cooler ;)

i made a special one for ilaika too without the plastic cover so the butterfly had the 3-D effect...(i didn't want to do this for the other girls cos i was worried they'd tear off the butterfly!)...

i fell in love with this idea and felt it was perfect for gifts*. i figured the kids may not cherish it so much right now but i'd like to think they might when they're a little older. i also imagined the parents hanging these on the wall of the hallway and for the ones with siblings, they'd have a few frames in a row with all their names. how absolutely lovely!

* p.s. - they're also perfect cos they're so simple to make and won't burn a hole in your pocket ;) let me know if you try this d.i.y....would love to see how it turns out...

party fluff presents....butterflies...everywhere!

2010-03-13T01:00:00.155+08:00

last weekend, my social butterfly turned three and as you may have read here and here, i'd spent the last couple of weeks just focused on getting her butterfly-themed party together. despite the last minute planning*, i had SO much fun ;) butterflies are a lovely theme to work with as the possibilities are endless...

*as always...! this seems to be the story of my personal life...i so need to shift and get organised...

unfortunately, i was so tied up and didn't take any pics with my own camera so i had to wait a week to get the pics from shafiq, our photographer. i was so excited to share with you details of the party but it was pointless sharing without the pics. so i could hardly contain my excitement this past week and had to refrain from blogging but it was well worth the wait. do give shafiq a tinkle or check out his site if you're in kl and looking for a photographer who's reliable and doesn't overcharge. aaaanyways, how easily i digress....so back to the party ;)

i'll let the pics tell you the story...

- the garage entrance leading to the garden & patio -

top row from L to R :

1. signages were placed along the road leading to the house with a background to match the invites; 2. butterfly cut outs were placed at nearly every corner.

bottom row from L to R :

1. more butterfly cut outs; 2. the garage entrance.

- garden fun...reminiscent of my childhood parties -

top row from L to R :

1. toys for the toddlers to play "house" in the garden; 2. pin wheels decorated the "field"; 3. a colourful pin wheel upclose.

middle row from L to R :

1. old fashioned "pop pops" for the mischievious boys; 2. bubbles galore; 3. bottles of bubble potion with butterfly caps.

bottom row from L to R :

1. old fashioned propeller toys; 2. bubble machine for added oomph; 3. simple glider planes.

- the patio set up -

top row from L to R :

1. butterfly lanterns and balloons; 2. grown up dining tables.

bottom row from L to R:

1. mini dining; 2. more lanterns.

- all around -

top row from L to R :

1. butterfly banner with ilaika's name; 2. butterflies on sheer curtain drapes; 3. a framed butterfly cut out with ilaika's name.

middle row from L to R :

1. butterfly lantern upclose; 2. the cut outs for the banner; 3. butterfly banner with cut outs held to a ribbon using mini clothes pegs.

bottom row from L to R :

1. a d.i.y. of a framed butterfly cut out for table decor; 2. more butterfly banners; 3. lil gifts (glow-in-the-dark butterflies & tattoos) for the games.

- the topsy turvy butterfly cake & the table decor -

- more cake * -

* sorry for the overdose of cake pics...this was my first attempt at a topsy turvy cake & i had spent 8 hours with just the cake decor, so i just can't get enough of it ;p

- part of the kiddies' buffet line with a "sweet stuff" display -

- the invites & thank you butterfly bollipops for the parents -

- the party packs -

top row :

white stained wooden frames personalised with each child's name.

middle row from L to R :

1. water fun for the older boys; 2. thank you tags; 3. caterpillar soft toys for the younger boys.

bottom row from L to R :

1. a vanity kit consisting of a fluffy fan, butterfly embossed pink mirror and butterfly hair ties for the older girls; 2. butterfly soft toys for the younger girls; 3. the fluffy feathery fan.

i saved the best for last - for the cake cutting, we decided to take the cake out into the garden. i love how pretty it looks here...

i'm extremely pleased with how everything came together and i'm thankful for all our family and friends that came to help out. at the end of the party, i was quite hesitant to tear down the decor and a part of me wished i could throw exactly the same pretty party just for myself ;)

a feature and a party...oh i've been so so busy...

2010-03-01T12:34:00.002+08:00

oh dear. time sure flies. it's march already. sorry for the extended silence...

can't blog much right now but i have a few things to share...firstly, (drum roll please*) the bears & blocks party has been featured by creative party place...omg! thanks, shannon for spreading the fluff & stuff love ;)

*i know, i know - it may be a small thing for most experienced bloggers but for me, it's a big deal so yay me ;p scroll down the right column to see this "i've been featured" button proudly displayed hehe

secondly, here's a lil sneak peak on what's been keeping me busy...

- ilaika's butterfly party invites, scrapbooking style...after a few sleepless nights, i finally managed to complete 60 of these...serves me right for leaving it til the last minute...nevertheless, i'm happy with how the invites turned out -

- these white-stained wooden frames are still work-in-progress...these are for ilaika's party packs...i'm planning to frame a pretty butterfly cut out in each. will keep you posted on the end result -

so there you go...i've been extremely busy these last two weeks...planning, shopping, surfing etc and i have only 5 days left to finalise everything, from decor to party packs to cakes. so much to do and so little time. am keeping my fingers crossed so please please please, wish me the best of luck...

of fairies and parties...

2010-02-19T00:55:00.007+08:00

fairies must be the latest trend where parties are concerned. i've noticed a few blog posts on fairy parties and just recently, i was asked to make a cake and matching party favor biscuits, based on tina wenke's garden fairy illustrations. the illustration is of three magical fairies flying in a pretty garden of flowers and butterflies....

the mother of the lil one yr old had bought pretty hanging cut outs and wanted matching items for the party...

based on this, i iced the cake with pink and purple butter icing, topped with flowers and cupcakes with pink stripes. i made flag toppers of the pretty fairies and placed them on top to make them look like they were floating just above the cake...

as for the biscuits, i just used the actual illustration and added the birthday girl's name on it. each biscuit was wrapped in clear plastic with pink and purple ribbons...

i was so charmed by these pretty fairies that i was hoping ilaika would be too. she was...for all of two minutes so i guess there wasn't enough pulling power to have a fairy themed party so we're defnitely sticking to butterflies!

butterflies aside, a fairy party is a lovely theme to use if you have a little girl. it's about all things pretty and mystical including enchanted gardens, butterflies, puffy lace, flowers, ribbons, delicate wings and magic wands...the possibilities are endless ;)

if you're planning a fairy party from scratch and not using any particular illustration as above, follow kim's posts on the tomkat studio blog where she too is searching to be inspired by fairies!

these are some other fairy parties to be inspired by:

- here, a wooden backyard is transformed into an enchanted forest -

- fairies in the garden...click here to find out more about the enchanted "fairy mouse" -

- a pixie birthday party -

- an enchanted fairy birthday -

also check out mrixiepixie's fairy invite. i love it!

photobucket slideshow!

2010-02-18T00:41:00.001+08:00

i've just discovered how to put together a slideshow using photobucket!

i was updating a backdated post on ilaika's second birthday party - her elmo fiesta, and found this cute lil school-like chalk & blackboard template for a slideshow:

it took me all of two minutes* to set up ;)

*note: i'd already uploaded the pics prior to this....

butterflies in my tummy...two wks to the party!

2010-02-17T01:04:00.005+08:00

a couple of weeks ago, i put up a post on having to plan ilaika's upcoming party...here's a lil update.

if you can recall, she wanted a dora-turns-princess-goes-swimming party...so you can imagine how preoccupied i've been, trying to come up with party ideas which met my party fluff criteria of fun, pretty and definitely not tacky. needless to say, with a jumbled up theme like that, i wasn't very succesful. luckily for me, over the weekend, i decided to source for inspiration and what better way to be inspired (apart from surfing the net) than to go shopping!

so there we were, ilaika & i, at the gardens mall. as we walked into the centre concourse area, the lil one's face lit up with excitement and glee as she saw their chinese new year decorations...the theme was "properous flutters at the gardens mall"...

what a brilliant idea! whilst most other places had standard lanterns for their decor, this mall had butterfly cut outs in many colours, hanging from their high ceiling and perched on the side boards. i took a few pics with my iphone but believe you me, the pics don't do them much justice. even though they were just paper, the butterflies beautifully coloured the empty and otherwise void space...

ilaika was mesmerised! she kept saying how pretty they were. i did the opportunist thing and asked her if she'd prefer these for her party and to my relief, she excitedly said, "yes!"

so i went home, did more inspiration searching online and came across christina williams' blog where she shared this pic from pottery barn kids...such a simple idea - butterfly cut outs of pretty patterned papers using a single template to use as wall decor...a perfect and almost fool-proof d.i.y. project ;)

also pretty and simple-ish-looking decor d.i.y. are pictured in the pics below from martha stewart...

how about a butterfly garden chair to sit on?

as for the dessert spread, i absolutely love these pretty cupcake wrappers from king arthur flour...pity they don't sell these in kl and there's not much time to have them delivered...

and look at these too-pretty-to-eat biscuits from the little rose bakery...

yes...i've stayed away from posting up child-like butterfly party decor...not due to lack of them (there were so many online) but just cos these ones are way prettier ;)

i'm all fluttery from butterfly activity now and with just two weeks to the party, i've got em butterflies in my tummy! i can't wait to get started with the cut out d.i.y. wall decor. think i'm gonna try to draw out my own template...if it's nice, i'll share it with you...so wish me luck!

catchin up on old updates...tweet tweet!

2010-02-12T08:59:00.001+08:00

you may have noticed quite a lot of activity going on here this week. i'm getting into the hang of things now and really enjoying this whole blogging malarkey ;)

BUT there's only SO much i can blog about daily so i've decided to post up past events and backdate them...this way, i won't bore you to death and i get to polish up on my writing skills ;)

so you won't miss these backdated updates, i'll post an update every now and then on twitter so you get to read up on my catching up!

click here for my tweets:

xxx

izreen

a place for all things pretty...

2010-02-10T15:04:00.006+08:00

on monday, i shared some blinkin' love buttons that i'd found, in the spirit of valentine's day. today, i was surfing for party ideas for ilaika's third birthday and i came across this absolutely lovely site: The TomKat Studio, a place for all things pretty.

kim, the blogger, has a serious passion for parties and designs really really pretty stuff. check out her valentine printables:

- even the names of her collections, sweet love & french kiss, shout out romance -

you may purchase these at her shop or check out her latest post on how to get these free* ;)

*psst - it's as easy as 1-2-3....

1) click on the link to her blog

2) copy & paste her button to your blog

3) email her the link...

told ya it was simple! don't forget to indicate which collection you like.

i had a hard time deciding cos they're both so cute

but i went with sweet love

so i can bake some of my sweet stuff munchies

to give to my own valentine ;)

ok - so i've done 1, 2 and 3 so now i just have to wait for her to reply. yay!

whilst you're at her blog and shop, also check out these great party/invite d-i-y ideas...

- yummy lollipop collection -

- vintage surf collection -

- little ladybug collection -

true to her tagline, her blog is really a place for all things pretty!

a lil revamp but it's still work in progress...

2010-02-09T07:06:00.002+08:00

i couldn't sleep last night so i decided to toy around with this blog design, yet again...any thoughts on this?

* background by shabbyblogs. check it out. it's free!

i like the overall pink and brown theme with bits of greyish blue and greenish turquoise...am also loving the sweet scallops on the side. i forgot how to adjust the size of the header so i had to google it! it's actually really simple and i'll share this how-to in a future post.

i'm still such an IT bimbo and there's so much to learn so it's still work in progress...please stick around...perhaps we could learn a thing or two from each other ;)

xxx
izreen

blinkin' love buttons...

2010-02-08T23:16:00.005+08:00

- by shabby blogs -

with valentine's day just a few days away, i thought i'd share with you some lovely buttons and blinkies i found online. some are pretty and the others are just too darn cute ;) and best of all, they're free!

- by shabby blogs -

- by the cutest blog on the block -

- by my style backgrounds (this is actually a header but it's too cute, i couldn't resist adding it) -

i also found this shabby love letters freebie on shabby blogs' blog by megan. i just LOVE old school typewriters...they're classic and to me, kinda poetic...this one especially has such a romantic vintage feel to it with the discoloured paper and its crumpled edges. and the single red flower makes it perfect for a hopeless romantic like me ;)

you can use an editing software to add in a message or note on the paper but i just used powerpoint and added it to the sidebar on the right. i think i shall use this as a permanent feature of this blog...thank you, megan.

and in case i get too busy to blog this weekend, happy valentine's day to you, you and you...mwuahs ;x

xxx
izreen

ps - my dad had a similar typewriter when i was a kid. and i used to spend endless hours just playing around with it!

almost three going on thirty...

2010-02-06T23:37:00.104+08:00

i first used a lilypie ticker when i was expecting ilaika. it was exciting to keep track of the pregnancy and the lil quotes indicating development stages were fun to read. i remember eagerly looking forward to each weekly quote (or was it daily? i can't quite recall now...) and counting down to the day when our little angel would bless our lives.

a few years on and i'm still using lilypie as a milestone of our daughter's life. however, it's been sometime since i actually took notice of it...until this morning, when i briefly glanced at it and realised how quickly the days and months have gone by...

my baby is 2 years, 11 months and a day old...which means she'll be three in less than a month!

- look at how "grown up" my baby looks here -

oh dear.

oh dearie me indeed. i have less than a month to plan her birthday party. somehow, she's already talking about it and yet, i haven't gotten around to planning anything. so i thought...no problem - just choose a theme and then i can go about with the invites etc. as simple as that...

on the contrary, it was far from simple as i couldn't even come up with a theme. so i started putting together a list of things she loves which led to this post. here's some sharing on ilaika's recent and current obsessions...

- her picture phone...inherited when mummy dearest upgraded to the 3GS -

- her battered crocs -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- dora...the "flavour of the day" changes between dora, princesses, hi-five, barney & hello kitty -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- her daddy's xbox guitar...inherited when mummy bought daddy a logitech guitar for xmas -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- her mini drum set...my musically inclined baby takes after daddy & also loves singing & dancing -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- bubbles -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- more bubbles! and of course, swimming in our lovely pool...or any pool for that matter -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- jungle gym -

- play-doh -

- biscuits & baking with mummy -

when i asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday, she said dora.

and then the day after that, it was princess.

and then fairies.

and then swimming.

and then dora-turns-princess-goes-swimming!

oh-em-gee...help...!

as i'm editing this post, i realise how very lucky we are to be a part of ilaika's life. of course at times, she may be a spoilt annoying monster and lil cheeky monkey but she's also a very good girl, who's loving, chirpy, hilarious and smart. i'm proud of the milestones she has reached thus far and even though i think of her as my baby, there are times i forget that she's barely three...for she's very independent and just cannot stop talking...her nanny commented just the other day that ilaika's three going on 30 ;)

- her love for princesses, balloons & anything pink -

sugar for my honey...

2010-01-28T18:48:00.003+08:00

for valentine's day this year, i have no sweets for my sweet but i do have sugar for my honey ;) well....to be more precise...vanilla butter and dark chocolate biscuits topped with sugar icing!

i made these biscuits as a trial run for samplers and then came across this pic on wikipedia:

it's a valentine's day postcard crica 1910. doesn't she look like she's carrying a jumbo of my biscuits? ;)

the year of the tiger & edible cny gr-rrr-eetings...

2010-01-26T23:12:00.000+08:00

for me, chinese new year comes with fond memories of ang pow packets, crispy thin love letters in milo tins and the much dreaded lion dance. yes, as a child (and actually, even now!), i would freeze at the first gong indicating the start of a lion dance. i'm not exactly sure what it is that freaks me out so badly...perhaps it's the large blinking eyes and the loud drums, cymbals and gongs or perhaps just the possibility of the "lion" approaching me! odd, i know.

this fear aside, the chinese new year also brings to mind pink cherry blossoms, pretty lanterns, fire crackers and fortune cookies...all of which were the inspiration* behind these crunchy edible greetings which i'm giving out this year in place of an actual greeting card...

* click here for the original cherry blossom image that makes up the background of this biscuit's edible sheet. it's a lovely blog on everyday celebrations!

and of course, in conjunction with the year of the tiger, i just could not resist this cute lil thing...which really looks more like a cat to me but i'm told it's supposed to be a tiger ;)

* some of the background images of these edible sheets were images taken off the net...

bubble, bubble, toil & trouble...and a wee bit of park babble...

2009-12-28T01:13:00.003+08:00

* interesting fact to share: did you know that the quote "bubble, bubble, toil & trouble" is actually from duck tales, and not macbeth? the original quote from macbeth is "double, double toil and trouble!"

i'm not really a nature-loving person in the sense that i hate to be out in the sun and usually try to stay away from situations where i'm most likely to break into sweat! this sunday morning, however, was an exception. it was a lovely morning and the weather was absolutely gorgeous with clear blue skies made even brighter by warm rays of the morning sun.

in the spirit of christmas and the holiday season, i decided to join my aunt who had planned to take her kids and ilaika out to the park. i was also curious to see this park in particular as i'd driven past the area once and was very impressed with the development in general.

Desa ParkCity is a beautiful development with picturesque landscapes and broad, tree-lined pedestrian walkways; a simple luxury that is unfortunately rare in KL. each small "township" (residential neighbourhood) is a gated community of its own and in the heart of these townships is The Waterfront, the "town centre". it's not quite the town centre that onewould imagine by the given term. it's more of a small community shopping block which brought to mind the community areas found in smaller towns outside of Central London.

The Waterfront is complete with ample parking spaces, grocery store, atm facilities, pet shop, restaurants, cafes and some interesting looking shops. it even has a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet and a branch of one of my favourite japanese restaurants, Rakuzen - both of these overlook The Central Park which lies just behind the shopping block.

and this was where we spent a good part of the morning. The Central Park was not like any other park i've seen in KL. there were no brightly coloured slides and swings normally found at other playgrounds. instead, there were odd minimalist steel contraptions which looked futuristic and did not appear very inviting at first glance. of course, it didn't help that all the contraptions were of dull greys and blues. thankfully, looks can be deceiving...somehow the kids figured out how to use these contraptions; some were pretty straightforward and loads of fun...

...but others involved a little bit more trial and error!

this being said, i would assume that the target audience would be slightly older kids for ilaika wasn't too impress with the whole minimalist concept...

...and she was much happier playing with her bubbles...

our sunday park adventure was unfortunately cut short by some bubble trouble...ilaika, in her excitement, fell on her knees whilst trying to catch a bubble. lots of sad tears accompanied by shrieks of pain (mostly drama at the sight of a teeny weeny drop of blood) and a few cuts and bruises later, the poor thing didn't even squeak a protest when we decided to call it a day. all tired out, she fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the van! honestly, i did too, as soon as we got home!

i see stripes & polkadots everywhere...!

2009-10-19T00:07:00.070+08:00

whilst i love eating cupcakes, i find them too troublesome to make, compared to biscuits...somehow, my cupcakes never rise to a nice "dome" and i always end up with cupcakes of different heights! i also admit that my decorating skills for cupcakes are rather embarrassingly limited to classic butter icing and flag toppers...shame on me, i know ;p

therefore, when my cousin, emi, asked if i could make cupcakes for her friend's birthday, i declared upfront that cupcakes are simply not my forte. i was also a wee bit nervous as emi is an amazing party planner. every party she organises, whether it's a small dinner party or a large do, turns out beautifully coordinated. so imagine the pressure on me to come up with something wow and even more pressure added when i found out the cupcakes were going to be the birthday cake. nevertheless, i was inclined to oblige when she said she liked my chocolatey-chocolate cupcakes and really didn't mind plain ol' flag toppers...

her theme was stripes and polka dots in any bright colours, so i came up with these two designs to work with:

with these, i made the flag toppers which are really easy to make:

pick a picture and edit (again, i used power point!),
print them out,
cut them out,
laminate them so they appear sturdier, and
stick them on the front & back of a toothpick

and in a stroke of pure luck, i managed to find cute lil cups with stripes and polka dots too. this was the end result...

stripes and polka dots - it's such a simple theme that actually turns out really fun for all ages. a word of caution though - for at least a couple of days, i was seeing stripes and polka dots everywhere i went ;)

it's a dino-star-ous party!

2009-10-18T00:26:00.149+08:00

i received a call from lina, zain's colleague. she was planning her son, isaac's 3rd birthday party and didn't have a specific theme. according to her, isaac likes: dino, little einsteins, rockets, safari animals, trains, trucks....!

me being me, i could not work with not having a theme so with this list of isaac's likes in mind, i went window-shopping and came up with a dino-star-ous theme!

isaac was turning three but his friends were between the ages of (barely) one to nine. so you can imagine my initial headache in coming up with the goodies to place in each bag...in the end, i managed to prepare each party pack customised to their respective ages (somewhat) whilst sticking to the theme. lina also asked for a lil snack box of dino-biscuits and i had these personalised with each child's name and isaac's name too.

check it out:

- dino-star-ous munchies waiting to be packed -

- the lil reusable snack box that had the dino-star-ous biscuits inside: half with the child's name and the other half with isaac's name -

- star-tags personalised with each child's name. i had extra star tags and dino tags with each child's name so i threw them in their respective bags too. hopefully they find some use for these! -

- the party packs had a star tag with isaac's name and age -

- each party pack had a dinosaur bubble gun (for the boys) and a pink bubble gun (for the girls)...for which kid does not like bubbles?! the packs also contained glow-in-the-dark stars to decorate their rooms, lil dinosaur figurines (the girls got a few of these too - in pink!) and a flying heli-propeller toy that kinda looked like star ;) the younger babies got a few mini soft toys instead of figurines -

- since the theme was generally boy-ish, i threw in a special present for the girls: a small pouch with a dino-tag personalised with their pretty names -

- each pouch had beaded bracelets, hair ties and hair clips with bling too -

- personalised name tags for each guest and a thank you note from isaac -

as you may have already guessed, the colour theme was a mix of purple, blue and green - fun dinosaur colours for a hyper three year old.

i had loads of fun preparing these dino-star-ous packs and i hope isaac and his friends had even more fun unpacking them!

thanks lina, for this great project!

hug me kiss me love me pinch me...

2009-10-11T09:03:00.060+08:00

about a month ago, i put up a post about invites that i had been asked to design...and now i'm finally getting around to posting the pics with the matching biscuits...

after a few minor tweaks here and there, this is how the final artwork turned out...

- the front of the invite had the angelic baby boy's picture and on the back of the invite, each corner said: hug me, kiss me, love me, pinch me -

using the same colours of blue and brown as well as beige and white, i designed matching biscuits to announce the name of the baby boy...

...with matching quotes from the invites...

...as well as sweet and funny quotes for laughs...

this is my personal favourite...

so true in my books...especially the smaller bankroll and shabbier clothes ;p

how to plan a dinner party in less than half a day...

2009-10-09T19:56:00.001+08:00

thought i'd share a few tips on putting together a last minute casual dinner party, in case you ever find yourself in the scenario i was in last wkend...

assuming you're having the party at a restaurant, remember to book the table first! it's always nicer to have your own private area so perhaps you could look for a place that can offer that.

if you're planning to have the party at home, and given it's a last minute party, you can always resort to takeaway from a nearby restaurant. nearby, to make life easier to pick up the food. if they deliver, that's even better...there are companies that call themselves room service deliveries - they pick up and deliver food from the restaurant of your choice straight to your doorstep. of course, if you are nigella lawson & can throw together an amazing feast in the last minute, that would be perfect. but alas, not all of us are domestic goddesses ;)

once time & venue are confirmed, do inform all your guests or remind them on the morning of the party.

with the food & invites sorted, you can plan the decor. start with a simple theme, or in the absence of a theme, start with a colour or two...if it's a birthday do, try to think of something recent or of significance that the birthday boy / girl can relate to.

buy a few balloons...you don't need many (you might want to avoid the party looking like a carnival, unless that's your actual theme!) - a balloon at every other chair will do ;)

visit a few party shops or even the local supermarket / toystore...you'll be surprised at the things you can get there.

buy confetti / shredded paper to fill up the table...if you have a lovely centrepiece, that'll be even nicer. depending on your theme, perhaps a candle stand or some flowers or even a large bowl filled up with sweets & candy.

buy serviettes or place mats to match the theme or colour. it's not necessary but it's the small details that make a difference to the ambiance.

party packs or gifts for the guests are great if you have the time to look for them.. it doesn't have to be anything fancy (unless you have a big budget) and when it's with close friends, it's usually just for laughs.

if you have no time to bake a cake (or don't know how), check with the restaurant if they have any readily available. if not, just buy a simple cake from the bakery or a few cupcakes to put together. then accessorise to your theme. candles or candies can jazz up a plain cake.

throughout all this, do remember - you only have two hands & can only be at one place at a time so it's a really good idea to have a friend or two to help out. or if all else fails, engage a party planner enthusiast like yours truly ;)

last but not least, if you miss out on any of the above, don't stress yourself over it. these frills are just fluff that complement the party. at the end of the night, it's really the company that makes the dinner party special. and i'm sure they'd forgive you if you missed out on a balloon or two ;)

sex, drugs and rock & roll...*

2009-10-05T02:19:00.329+08:00

* sorry folks, a disclaimer is necessary - this post doesn't contain sex and drugs and has very little rock & roll (though i bet the title certainly caught your attention!)...this post does however contain a certain rockstar's birthday do...read on for the latest goss on party fluff ;p

zain hates surprises so i've never bothered throwing him a surprise birthday bash. but this year was a little different. he's had a few rough patches here & there and several great big wins so i wanted him to feel special, especially on his birthday. we had planned an avillion pd get away with his childhood buddies but in the last minute, those plans were cancelled (long & dramatic story here so let's just leave it as that) and we had to celebrate zain's 31st in kl. with so little time to plan anything, we decided to just have dinner with close friends...but then my conscience got the better of me. i've been so gung-ho planning & coordinating parties for ilaika & other people that it didn't seem right to not even have balloons at my own husband's birthday do! he is after all, supposedly my better half (supposedly being the keyword here!)...

with less than 10 hours to put things together, this was how the day unfolded.

1100 hours
i sms-ed our friends to remind them about the dinner & at noon, reserved a table for ten pax at alexis bsc.

1400 hours

with no particular theme in mind, i headed to the party shop...admittedly, i had already made plans with a cousin to look for decor for her baby's potong jambul ceremony & that's when lil ms guilty sneaked up on me...so i bought a few balloons - some nice black ones with colourful birthday wishes mixed with elegant looking silver balloons. that was supposed to be it, as far as the decorating went...and then i stumbled upon this:

how cool and how completely fitting for the occasion! that's when i was inspired to theme the dinner "zain's a rockstar" party - it represents many things present; like how he loves guitar hero and rock band and "jams" with this bunch of friends attending the dinner and also "rockstar" is a term we use to signify one's ability to "be da man" and achieve great things!

so i bought the sunnies, lots of colourful shredded paper and some interesting candles that promised magical & colourful flames. i called a friend, asked her to keep the balloons & help set up the decor and delivered them to her house.

1600 hours
at this point, i realised i didn't have a cake! i would have loved to bake one but there wasn't much time. oddly enough, alexis didn't have any available but luckily for me, my mum had made her infamous carrot cake the day before. there were a few left over in the form of cupcakes so i stole them all!

1645 hours
once i start planning something, i get caught up and will keep wanting to do more. so not feeling quite satisfied with just balloons, i stopped by another party shop on the way home. there, i found a cool plate for the cupcakes, some letter stickers to make out his name and little gifts for our friends. ilaika was with me and was SO excited with the things at the shop that she started planning her next party! of course, she also realised that it was daddy's party and a party meant candles & cake! so she started whining that she wanted to tag along...

1800 hours
we got home & i locked myself in the study to work on the letters & gifts. i was done an hour later, just in time to get myself dressed & ready for dinner. i felt bad about leaving ilaika at home so i told her to get ready too...

1930 hours
zain was rushing us as he was hungry but i didn't want to arrive too early...just in case the decor had not been set up yet so i purposely took my own sweet time getting out the door! thankfully, when we got there just after 2030 hours, the decor was in place and zain was pleasantly surprised ;)

....and then the dinner & cam-whoring started...

- zain, the rockstar -

- ilaika, the mini rockstar -

- the rockstar & i -

- the lovely "assistant" -

- the balloon "thief" -

- the table decor -

- the last minute birthday cake -

- the special candles & their magical flames -

- the rockstar & his rockin cake -

- the lil gifts -

- the group pic -

many thanks to everyone who joined us and for those that couldn't, we certainly missed you...