Hi! I've decided that my blog needed a new facelift when I stumbled upon this beautiful blog by
Lena, she's a 26 year old mother of two most adorable kids. She's a talented photographer and blog designer too! So I asked her if she could design my blog for me and in less than 2 weeks and little hassle she installed it in professionaly!! I'm doubly happy with my blog right now and would love to share with you her blog and her Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates Website
here.
Lena's website offers a range of templates, some are free for you to use, some premades and if you want something special, you can have her design it with your preferences. E-mail her for a quote and she'll do the rest. Have fun! and Thanks Lena!
The decoupage tea coaster. A shoe lace bow with one of my favourite button cards!
My favourite pattern paper of choice was this napkin print I found at Jusco. Napkin decoupage will appear textured on a smooth surface. You can even try this method on a plain candle block. Measure and cut to size. Circular cutters don't work on napkins! So use your sharpest pair of scissors.
To cover the print of the original tin coaster, I apply a layer of modge podge and place a blank piece of paper on top. Don't try to rub off the motif on the top with chemicals, you may ruin the surface.
Decoupage is fun and easy, but it is actually time consuming because you have to wait for each layer to completely dry first before you can do the second layer. Apply another layer of varnish on top of the white base now.
Place the pattern paper on top of the white and apply another layer of varnish. Careful you don't tear the napkin. Do this in a singular stroke or direction. See the texture forming. Don't worry if the varnish seems white at the moment, it will dry clear.
Set aside to dry. And re-apply varnish and set aside to dry for a day or two. Keep fingers away from the surface!
The completed set. I used only 2 napkins and I picked all the birds perched on the branches from the pattern.
I used my circular cutter to cut freezer paper to individually line the stack so that it'll protect the coasters when I deliver them stacked tight in a box.
Lena's website offers a range of templates, some are free for you to use, some premades and if you want something special, you can have her design it with your preferences. E-mail her for a quote and she'll do the rest. Have fun! and Thanks Lena!
Look at these coasters Usha made for me for the Tea Coaster Exchange. Instead of 6, I received a dozen! All in my favourite colours. Don't think I'll ever place a cup on these lovely doilies.
A special set, just for me too!
A coffee table cover in a dark maroon colour.
Don't they all look gorgeous! Thanks Usha!!! The Queen of Crochet!!!!
An apron I made for an international exchange organised by 
Hope 
This baby set I completed last week is now on its way to Malacca! It's a special order from WL to her friend who just gave birth to a baby girl. 
The set consists of a pair of booties, a soft headband and onesie for the baby & a matching flower pin for the proud mommie!
Look at the colours! I bought these yarns without even thinking about the colour combinations. I just had to buy 2 of each colour on the shelf and ended up with over 60 balls of yarn. I saw the combination of the Funky Monkey colour scheme at Purlsoho and fell in love with the tones.
Some frantic crocheting. You get a 'rush' doing the colours and can't wait to complete each row just to see how the next colour will match.
I love the results of the double yarn overlapping each other and how it increases in rows. Thanks to Usha - I think I'm going to try 3-yarns at one time or more for a thicket and more colourful effect! Here, I'm just weaving in a row of matching ribbons for a nice finish.
My brother gave me his stash of buttons, I suspect it was for his clown vest that he didn't use and he was doing a major clean up in his room. Lucky me. I love how the orange of the buttons contrast with the blues and greens.
The completed tote bag. I think this will be my etsy launching piece. What do you think?
I also completed the booties WL ordered. Will be sending these and a couple of brooches to her as well.
Booties for a boy!
Booties for a girl!
The flower brooches she ordered with the booties. Look at the ribbons. Must show you my ribbon stash one day!!!
Some books I bought from Popular Book store. The knit cafe book on the top right row is for Paul for an exchange! (Paul, if you're reading this - do let me know if you already have this book, I will have to look for another one. This has patterns for scarfs and for both knitting and crocheting.)
More books from Popular Book store. I like browsing through the chinese craft section of this store. The best place to look for cheap crafting books and so far, the branches at Leisure Mall and Sunway has not let me down yet with their huge selection of crafting books. Kinokuniya is still the biggest store to house Japanese crafting books in KL, but prices are just a bit too expensive. With the huge petrol hike - I think I'll do ok with Popular. LOL!
That's Nigel with his first set of chalks! The mural on the floor is done by Stan. Nigel was doodling all over and showing off his boots - Aunty Melie bought him a pair 2 years ago and it now fits him just nice. 
Doodling, doodling the blues away! It's the school holidays and we've no where to go until the 2nd week. We've planned for a short holiday at Sunway Lagoon.
I love sewing ring pillows. It'll take only an hour and it's really lots of fun, digging out precious fabric and stash I've stored for special occasions and embellishing it is really something easy to do.
Handsome Men in a row! Nigel the ring bearer!!
Most of the deco are DIY. We bought the glasses from TESCO for only RM1.10 and the rest is just ribbons, cherry blossoms and some paper roses, tealight candles and a card wishing everyone bon appetite! I'm beginning to think the puncher I bought from Spotlight is really worth every dollar!!! It's a FISKARS dual puncher that comes with an embossing puncher as well.
My candlestands and my Christmas deco actually! People are quite amazed at what I have in my storeroom. I belong to a stash-aholic anonymous group!!
More candlestands and look how gorgeous the petals are strewn across. Thanks to Victoria's special professional touch!
The wedding cake. We had a little drama with the cake. We ordered two square cake bases and it turned out to be round on the top and square at the bottom. But it turned out quite nice. Will show more pictures later. The photos I have now are a little dark.
Here, I wanted to show you the base with the candles all lit. Look at the love birds at the cake cutting ceremony!
The morning before it all started. Everyone played an important role!
Look at us! I have that worried look as we were assembling the bride's bouquet. None of us have ever done it. Haha! But we did it!
We did the backdrop on our own as well. Thank goodness Jessica and Daniel were up to it. Although last minute - we did it quite well, thanks to my dad and mom. My dad was practically the one who made sure we had all the sequins in the right places. Yep, I said sequins and not gold dusts! I'm personally glad we did the backdrop, it would have been really plain at the back.
Naturally, my mom was the supervisor! She made sure everything was done accordingly and superefficiently too!
My brother and Victoria doing the touch-ups. I'm amazed at Grace too. She did her hair and make up on her own too! What a DIY bunch we were!!
The special seats for the tea ceremony.
Congratulations Grace and Spencer! May you cross rivers and conquer mountains together and forever!!!