Painting an Old Frame

I went to my Mom house's the other day and found a few unwanted old frames collecting dusts on the book shelf. You know, the IKEA ones.. wooden small frames. I bet so many of us have them because they're very affordable and so nice for any room's decoration. But what I like best about them is that they're almost like ready canvases... I can paint anything on them.. :).

So, last night I painted one of them.. inspired by the year of Rabbit!

Hmm.. it's quite simple.. just the rabbit's shapes.. I'm still thinking of whether I should add more details on the rabbits or just leave it like that.

A Breastfeeding Event!

Yes, there'll be an event not only for Moms but Dads too...or Parents-to-be... by ScriptoryBox and it's called " ScriptoryBox Breastfeeding Day"!!

When? 13 MARCH 2011. So, mark your calendar & check out what's happening on the day, alright?

Owh.. by the way, here's the flyer I've created for my lovely client's event :) :

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My lovely client, Mommy Lyna definitely knows how to make money online. She has so many tips and secrets to share in her coming workshop in Puchong. Please go to her site to know more about it. Hurry because it's this coming weekend (26-27 Februari, 2011)!

In the meanwhile, I'm finishing up her order of ECO BAGs for the workshop after coming up with a fun logo she wanted :)! Thanks Mommy Lyna... All the Best to you!

A Fun Alphabets Project!

Well, I did this about 9 years ago with my younger brother who was then 10 years old when I saw he had nothing better to do other than watching the TV. Haha!


I asked him to write down a list of things/ animals in Bahasa and English for each alphabets A-Z. It took him quite a while to come up with the list.. and then, he showed it to me. Here's the original copy of the list that he made. Glad I still keep it with me as a remembrance :)

From the list, I asked him to pick up the Alphabets from his nickname, "IM" and choose which animal/ things he liked.

And then I made a small illustration for him.

"I" for Ikan (fish) and "M" for Manggis (Mangosteen)

He really loved it and asked me to do one for his best friend, Zul.

"Z"- Zirafah, "U"- Ular, "L"- Loceng

From the illustrations, I made his name stickers which he later put on many of his properties. A week later, he came to me with a list of his friends' names.. who would like to have such stickers too! My brother said he's charging his friends RM1.00 for one fun name sticker.  Haha.. I was quite surprise.. Was this a businessman in the making? Well, I don't know.. but one thing for sure, he was happy to earn a little extra pocket money!

So.. if you have a kid, why don't you try this little project at home? He or she could learn the alphabets and draw+color too! Put the final product on his bedroom door or decorate her room with it.

But if you want me to do one for you, juz let me know... alrite? 

More sample of Fun Alphabets!

Enjoy :)

A Gorgeous B-Day Lady!

A Custom-made Birthday Card I made recently for my client's gorgeous sister :).

Mixed Media. A5. Folded. Blank Inside.

You can't really tell here.. but I used Metallic Silver for "Happy", Yellow Gold paint for the 'Bench' and Metallic Violet for "Birthday". They look gorgeous under the Light! Perfect for the elegant Birthday Lady :).

Have a Nice Weekend, everyone!

A Mud-Skipping Clown!

So.. I saw many happy mud skippers when I went to the beach in Kuala Selangor. You can read more about my trip and encounter here.

For me, they looked and acted funny. Thinking about it..  quite bizarre to see a fish being able to breathe, alive and kicking even on the land! Makes me appreciate more about Him who creates us all. But more importantly, now I have this crazy whimsical image of them in my mind! Haha!

Ok- that was my initial pencil sketch. But not whimsical enough, I think.

Much better :P.

Enjoy!

My Butterfly ATCs!

Yeah.. ok.. while I was sick the other day, I only had the mood to create my new ATCs for another swap session at Mangosteen's, the host.

The theme was Butterfly.

But it was not Butterfly the insect that came to my mind. Instead, I thought about my nightwear, kaftan which my mom used to call.. baju Rama-Rama (Butterfly clothing). Here's a sample of a kaftan.

And so.. I drew these little girls who went to sleep and dreamed of flying like little butterflies under the beautiful night sky... over some sleepy flowers and dancing leaves.. in their beautifully painted kaftans!

So there.., the theme has inspired me to create this little series of watercolor and ink paintings which I named
"Butterfly-Dream-Girls".

I love these ATCs.. I hope who ever got to keep them, will love them too :).

Enjoy!

A Trip to the Muddy River- Part 3 (last!)

Yes.. the evening was a lovely sight at the Jeram's beach.. and I had a high expectation came the morning after.

But before that.. let me tell you a bit about the night. My bee and I had dinner at our friend's apartment.. so, we didn't really experience the night out watching the fireflies at Kelip-kelip Park or tasting the ikan bakar and other sea food. Next time, perhaps. Both of us were quite tired.. and then, my bee heard the news that his uncle passed away that very night.. well, there was nothing much for us to do other than praying for him from far.

The fishing pond was actually open for 24hours... but it was quiet.. well, you don't make much noise while fishing, right?

As it was the Chinese New Year's night, we caught some fireworks display here and there around the area.

After that, we got ready to sleep.. but I don't know why.. it was so difficult to sleep. The apartment became quite creepy at night. Was it just my feeling or was I sensing something else out there...? The next morning, my bee told me that he saw a white flash of 'being' suddenly jumped from the floor and vanished through the ceiling.. while he was praying for his late uncle last night. Phew! I was quite glad he didn't tell me right there and then or else i would freaked out.. but I managed to get a good sleep after all. God has taken a good care of us through the night.

As the morning rolled by.. I realized the sky was not as bright as yesterday... it was quite solemn.. nevertheless, beautiful.

The water became so shallow.. till we could walk to the middle of the sea. But just be careful as you feet/ slippers might get stuck in the mud! I saw many families enjoying themselves.. walking and looking for some mussels. I even saw a family of monkey playing near the beach (see, there was one perching on the stone)!

My mind was thinking..  this called for a 'family trip'! I would gather my parents, my grandmother, my siblings and nephews and nieces.. to experience Nature, right here in the State we are living in. We should come for a picnic or pitch a tent or rent the apartments and have some adventures (or misadventures) once in a while! Hmmm.. I wonder if they would be interested at all..?

One sure thing my bee had surely gathered from this trip was...

Enjoy!

A Trip to the Muddy River- Part 2

I haven't been that well, lately.. but I'm feeling much better today and would really like to finish about my trip that day to Kuala Selangor.

You see, while my bee & I went up the Melawati Hill, monkey-watching.. we saw a row of houses by the river and decided we should take a look there. Not sure which road we should take, we came upon a little village at the foot of the hill and saw a beautiful lake behind a mysterious house... and even greeted by a huge biawak before we left the place.

Oh well, then we moved on to a little old town and finally saw a bridge lead to the village over the river. The first thing we stumbled upon was this beautiful Chinese temple. For a moment, I thought I was visiting Beijing again.

After a little drive around the village, we came to know that the place was named Permatang Pasir. I think the population was mainly Chinese.. and they have a little town with seafood restaurants and shops selling dried and wet goods! We ended buying some dried goodies such as sotong gula and asam. Yummy junk foods! Across the shop, we saw a few people fishing and caught a couple of catfishes!

On the way back to Jeram, where we wanted to spend the night,.. if there was any room.. (yup, this was No Reservations trip).. we stopped by the paddy field and after looking at the site.. we would really love to come another time... when the paddy has grown! Yes, over here they have Homestay with interesting activities.. with the villagers.. Owh! I really look forward for the experience :)

As we reached a resort called the Seaview Apartment Resort to spend the night.. they told us that the apartment rooms of RM100 per nite were full.. but we could still rent apartments with the rate of RM160 per nite, facing the sea. I thought it was ridiculously expensive for just one night but after a long thought.. my bee said, ".. we don't always have this opportunity.. and why don't we make the best of our short time here..?". So, as he was being very gracious and tired after driving the whole day.. I agreed. 

Thank God, the 3 bedroom apartment wasn't a let down. It was on the 10th floor and a beautiful sight to behold as we stood there on the porch.

But the best thing was, we could also see on the other side of the apartment..where a fishing pond was located. 

So.. we rested for a while.. freshened up a bit.. and went to the beach to watch the sun set. 

Again.. I saw many people with fishing rods everywhere as I reached the sea shore.. but no one was swimming due to the muddy factor. There was also a nice swamp with greens nearby. The sea waves were pretty harsh that evening.. but then again.. it was contrasted by the lovely skies..

Oh yes, this is the picture of the Seaview Resort, Jeram.

It was fun watching some mudskippers on the beach. They looked like some clowns playing with the waves.. and it was quite hard to capture their pictures as they moved so fast!

"Din&Tee" Puppy Love on a Mug!

Before I slept last night, I was staring at this blank porcelain mug which I bought last year. Yes.. last year.

Then I picked up a permanent marker and wanted to doodle my little characters of "Din & Tee". The idea came as soon as I hold the 'magic' mug in my hand...

Hmm.. you see, for me.. it's not that easy to draw directly on a mug. The smooth surface and  its 'roundness' was a great challenge. You must have a "steady" hand.. otherwise the lines would be wobbly (oops!) and I was a little worried because I couldn't erase any mistakes made on it. But again.. it's a good drawing practice and I was really excited when the drawing was done.

At first, I was thinking of just leaving the doodle as it was- black & white.. but urmm.. I couldn't help myself.. 'MUST' color with plaka-lack! Haa.

So, here's the result :).
And so I slept around 2am.. huhu.. with a smile.

It's magical how little things could make your heart happy.

Enjoy!

A Trip to the Muddy River- Part 1

Have you ever been to Pantai Remis..? Jeram..? Bukit Malawati..? Kelip-kelip Park? These places are in the State of Selangor or more specific- Kuala Selangor. Thanks to my bee's brilliant idea, I went there with him during the Chinese new Year's holidays just to drive around, take pictures, discover new nooks and corners in my own country :). Both of us didn't know much about Kuala Selangor.. we didn't really know what to expect other than it's the nearest beach to drive to..but then it's quite muddy- thus, not advisable to sync nor swim, seafood such as ikan bakar was really good and less expensive (compared to in the city such as in Kuala Lumpur).. hmm.. what else..?

Well, suffice to say that this trip was to discover this sleepy coastal town and for us to unwind..

When we first arrived the Kuala Selangor area, we went to check out the beach.. somewhere near Pantai Remis. Well, as someone who used to grow up near the picture perfect beach of Kuala Terengganu... of course I found the beach here was quite hideous (sorry..hihi..). But then.. it has a beauty of its own. And I was so impressed by the weather that day which gave me beautiful cerulean sky to reflect upon this land of wander..

Then while walking along the beach... and this was about 10.30am.. I stumbled upon a few people raking and scratching the sand for remis. They said it was for their own consumption and not for sale.. but some people in this area do make a living by selling these mussels. Pantai Remis must be a popular eating area.. I saw many places to eat seafood here.

 A gasoline-lamp post near an eating area.. owh.. look at it upon the blue sky.. surrounded by the coconut trees.

Afterward, my bee drove us further and reached a hill called Bukit Malawati. There's a lighthouse up on the hill. 

It was noon already.. as you might as well can tell. The sun light right above the lighthouse made this picture so beautiful to me.. 

Right beside the lighthouse, there's a Historical Museum of Kuala Selangor. 

But what fascinated me the most on this very hill was that the wild and free roaming monkeys!

The Silverleaf Monkey mom and kid! Awww..

Soo...many of them!

A few 'other' monkeys..crossing the road.

Well, it was fun watching the monkeys and you can feed them too. Just be careful.. they could be quite impolite when they wanted the food in your hands. I didn't feed them because I was quite scared they might harm my beloved camera. huhuu..

Here's a picture of the man who sold some monkey-food. Can you see the Lion toys? The monkeys were actually scared of them lions. Hahaa! I thought that was funny!

To be continued..