Best Buddies or Lovers?

I was reading Somerset Memories magazine one day and got inspired with a simple layout by Louise Nelson from Australia. Her scrapbooking style is considered as ‘minimalist’. So, I liked to try making a layout with the least embellishments as possible. This is the result.

Paws and Fuji remains the best of friends since they first met, 8 years ago. I hope for many more years to come.

Ice Queen Fuji

This is a busy 12” X 12” layout I made for Fuji. 

Her name suits her personality well. Unlike Paws and Arthur, she is not a very warm cat. However, there were countless times she purrs happily when I pet her chin. She was in bliss.

A Dragon Cloud

On sunny days, I like to look at the clouds. Sometimes hoping I’m lucky enough to spot an angel cloud or good photo subjects. One day, I was about to board the LRT at Pasar Seni Station. It was a great morning, sunny and I brought my DSLR camera along for a walk.

Then suddenly, I saw this cool cloud formation. 

It definitely looked like a dragon. It has ears, a coiled body, a tail…and maybe a tongue. Wow. That’s the best dragon cloud I’ve ever seen. Has anyone seen angel clouds?  

Funky New Fonts by Kevin & Amanda

Dear all,


If you love funky fonts, and wants to grab some into your blogs, please visit this website by Kevin & Amanda.


I still can't figure out how to create a badge to this website. Haha! But, I'm learning as I go. In time, you'll see their badge in my blog. In their blogs, you can go find many great tutorials and COOL fonts to grab. 
Have Fun!

Twilight Comes

This is another Twilight scrapbook that I made for the first movie. All Twilight fans know that Edward Cullen, the reluctant vampire keeps journal for his never ending soul searching. So, this scrapbook was my attempt at guessing what Edward Cullen might have written about Bella and his forbidden love in one of his many journals.

I used many clippings of the movie from various magazines, as well as the director’s notes for each scene. Then I tweaked a little bit, to summarize the story line.  And here are some of the pages that I came up with …

Page 1: The overall look of the scrapbook entitled “Twilight Comes”.

Page 2: Edward’s scribbles, “I had lived a fairly uneventful life … until the day I met her. I thought she’d be like any other human. She was an exception to the rule”.

Page 3: Edward’s note, “When I first saw Isabella Swan, I was intrigued. I couldn’t read her mind”.

Page 4: Edward described how he felt when he was to partner Bella for science lab. “When I smell her for the first time I was nearly mad with thirst. It was the longest hour of my life. To love her is almost a sin. She is my forbidden apple”

Page 5: “Bella, I think we shouldn’t be friends” – Edward.

“I think you should have said that much earlier” – Bella.

Page 7: This is the scene when Edward took Bella jumping from tree to tree. That’s what vampires do, really. Edward warned Bella to hold on to him.

“Hold on tight … spider monkey”

Page 10: Here I cheated a bit. Edward only proposed to Bella in the second movie (New Moon), but I can’t wait so I married a picture from the first movie (Twilight) where Edward took Bella to dance at prom with the words Edward said when he proposed to Bella in the second movie (New Moon).

And of course, Bella didn’t scream “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”. That was just me.

I hope you like my version of Twilight.

XO,

Shahrul

Salvaging Old Cupboard

This is a sad little old cupboard, one of my many flea-market finds. It is still a work-in-progress.

Initially, I thought of painting it all white and maybe sand-paper it a little bit, just to make it look well-used. But I left it bare because I’m not sure if I’m going to do a good job at it.

The cupboard came with a very intricate wooden lattice on both of the front door panels, but they were badly damaged. So, I took them all out.

Next, I plan to install metal chicken-coop wire as a replacement to the lost wooden lattice. Do you think this is such a good idea?.

Skeleton Keys

I love skeleton keys. In Kuala Lumpur, it’s hard to find vintage skeleton keys … so I make do with necklaces with ornamental keys as pendant. Yes, like those GIGANTIC pendants that rappers really love. 

So, I have collected a box full of skeleton keys already.

Skeleton keys are great for mixed-media assemblage or unique accents for cards or scrapbook albums. 

Here, I simply display some of my favourite skeletal keys in a photo frame. I have it now hang on the wall of my art studio.

Accordion Album

I found this website called (Costumers Guide), which featured a very impressive description of the dresses that Keira Knightly worn as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice movie. I’m grateful to have found such website which described Elizabeth’s sense of hairstyles, detail design of the dresses, the accessories to go with each dress. These dresses are including the “Netherfield Ball Dress, the Opening Scene Brown Dress, the Night Gown and the list goes on. 

I have captured most of the great words and photos from the website in my scrapbook called “The Fashionable Elizabeth Bennet”. I have a lot of photos & descriptions for the book from the website, so I made a rather thick accordion book and fasten with a ribbon. Large ribbons mimic the ribbons on the 18^th century lady’s dress!.

I created envelopes out of pattern papers and used them as scrapbook pages, as well as pockets to keep a montage of each dress. Each montage shows an overview of a dress, detailed description of the dress’ design, the accessories and hairdos.

All the envelopes were glued to a paper, folded like an “accordion” which acts as the backbone of the book.

It took me about two weeks to complete the album. But I had great two weeks. Thank you for such an insight into Pride & Prejudice fashion!

Canvas Decor

My scrap room is far from looking like an art studio. It’s a spare room at the back of the house that I keep all my scrapbooks, art supplies, books, photos and a day bed. 

I like to decorate my scrap room with things that I make or paint from time to time.

Last night I just painted these block canvas, “LOVE'. These lime-green blocks matched the green lace of my little window-sill curtain, which I had sewed the day before.

Above my work table, I hang a mixed – media collage that was originally the back cover of my sketch book. It was supposed to be like a love-theme sketch book for all my mixed - media experiments but now, I re-use it as a wall décor. 

Decoupaged Switch Board

My scrap room is full of trial-and-error artsy stuff (aka junk!). This was an example of not-so-perfect decoupage work that I did before. It is a switch board that can be hang onto your regular switch boxes on the wall.

I bought a piece of ready - made switch board plywood from the art shop. Later I painted it with a few coats of acrylic paint, “crackled” it and decoupaged on some butterflies from paper napkins.The butterfly motives goes well with the original flower-patterned switch on my wall, don’t you think?.

Felt Flowers

I was browsing Molly Makes magazine and I saw how they make Felt Flowers. It looked easy enough, so I gave it a try. And these are my felt flowers! All you need is just a sharp pair of scissors, strong glue & a few pieces of felt in pretty colours. 

FURkids Brag Book

Another simple brag book made of paper tags. I made this brag book for Paws and Fuji when they were about 4 - 5 years old. 
I loved it so much because it had a shaker-box cat sticker on the front cover. The metal beads made lots of NOISE every time you move the book. Good enough to distract a sleeping cat! 

You could re-size your brag book to suit your needs. For instance, this brag book is about 2" X 1.5" in size (almost like a key-chain), so used to carry it around with my house keys. 

Arthur Brag Book

This was one of the first brag books that I made for Arthur, my grand-kitten. I used Kaisercraft tag wooden boards and just embellished each page with photos & scrapbook pattern papers. 

It has a 'minimalist' look since the brag book is pretty small and has little room for embellishment. 


I called the book "Sweet Lullaby" because almost all photos in it show Arthur sleeping. He was about a-month old.

The Darcy Code

At one time, I was so crazy of the Pride & Prejudice movie, so much so … that I started making all kinds of Pride & Prejudicey scrapbooks! Actually, I love Matthew McFadyen (as Mr. Darcy) so much MORE than the beautiful movie (I know...). And I love Keira Knightly too (as Elizabeth Bennet).

I made this scrapbook to capture my favourite scenes in the movie.  Since there were a lot of lovely scenes, I have to arrange the scrapbook pages like a cascading curtain (or a blind, rather).I made the front cover to open up like a door. You know, like “welcome to Pemberly” of some sort …

At the back of each page, I wrote what Mr. Darcy said to Elizabeth and vice versa. 

Came to think of it, the scrapbook was actually narrating all key scenes in the movie!. Yes, like a synopsis. I just realized that now.

At the time I completed the scrapbook, there was a big talk about The Da Vinci Code book. A lapse of judgement, I named my scrapbook “The DARCY Code”. 

... it seemed like a good idea then.

Heart of Stone

My new obsession. I collect heart-shaped pebbles. I love these beauties as much as I love geology field trips. I studied Geology at grad school and worked for many years after, as a geologist. I used to “oooh” and “aaah” over some trilobite fossils or some “sequence boundaries” I saw in the field. 

Lately, I have been collecting heart-shaped rocks. These pebbles could be of granite, marble, sandstones or concrete chunks. Most of the time I found these pebbles on the road-side while walking to work or home.

Shown up there is some of my "love"-ly treasures…

Did you see the pebble that has a hole in it? That is not really a rock. OK, Geology 101…. That, is a broken piece of an “Ophiomorpha” trace fossil that I found during a field trip in Texas (Brushy Canyon). “Ophiomorpha” is an ancient shrimp burrow or dwelling which had hardened over many millions of years.

I have eyes for the odd things. So when I bumped into these pebbles, I didn’t hesitate. A simple reminder that Love is All Around us. 

Little Books That Could ...

Ever since I started scrapbooking, I’ve got lots of paper scraps…leftover from making cards and mini albums. I have a stack of drawers full of paper scraps of all shapes & sizes. 

So I made these little notebooks with fancy dressings using leftover ribbons, pattern papers & old jeans. It’s time to experiment some other bookbinding methods that I have not tried before such as Coptic Binding. At least, if I make any mistakes it will be very tiny mistakes. 

These little books are quite small they all could fit nicely in a glass jar! Like leftover candies. The jar made a cute display on my desk, next to a row of books.

If you like to make them as fridge door notebooks, just attach magnet stickers on their back. Remember, not to make them too bulky or they won’t stay long on the fridge door. It’s good fun to make them, I promise.

Hand-painted Cards For SALE

I’m starting to sell cards that I had painted in watercolour. CYNA (saii…na), my pen-name was written on all cards. The paintings are all in a series of three cards of the same theme, but you are welcome to buy them individually. These are 4” X 4.5” cards.  

On the left is a theme that I called “The Old Paris”. I was inspired after pasting some pattern papers on an old suitcase.

These cards are called “Red & Blue British Icons”. These are the easiest one to paint.

When I paint people portraits, I can never get their “likeness”. So, I started to paint unanimous garden sculptures and baby angels. Shown here is the Little Angel Series.

I love the movie Alice In Wonderland so much that I captured the characters on cards. I called them “Alice & Friends”. Well, maybe not for the Red Queen certainly. 

These are my favourite ones such as McTwisp (the panicky rabbit), Absolem (the blue caterpillar), the Cheshire Cat (who evaporates), the Mad Hatter and of course Alice.

And lastly, here is my Christmas greeting cards collection. These are 5” X 7” cards.

At the moment, I have the cards displayed at my friend’s art shop, The Creative Cottage @ Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya. You may contact me also, if you like to know more details.

Clear Scalloped Mini Album

This is the engagement gift that I made for my former colleague Azlin and his then, fiancée Dilla.

I bought a clear scrapbook album kit when I visited Minneapolis, Minnesota two years ago. It had very beautiful scallop edge on each page. I thought it would make a good baby gift or wedding album.

Working on clear albums is very different from the normal paper albums. It’s very tricky to decorate each page because you could see all the embellishment in previous pages, all stacked up. So, you have to try to be super clever on how to arrange little ribbons, stickers, papers, laces, pearls or tags on every page so that they won’t be too crowded or flawed. I have to make this album very “glamorous” but still be a bit edgy and looked hand-made. (See the white twigs & heart-shaped I-Love-You badge on the cover? I made them from found objects). I stamped on the pages some intricate hearts and sprinkled with silver dusts, as if it was of Cupid’s work!

They are now HAPPILY married. I heard someone says honeymoon lasts for 3 years!

Taco Purse ?!?

A cute trendy purse is every girl’s best friend. I made this little scrapbook album for my other cat, Princess Fuji (Arthur’s mother). A very girly purse suits my Little Miss Chubby (Fuji) very well. Initially, I was inspired by the artwork of my favourite scrapbook artist, Donna Downey.

I made this purse from a two-ring binder, cut up to resemble a Mexican “Taco”. The top cover was made from chipboards and decorated with a ribbon & a funky tag. Inside, the purse is filled with half-moon scrapbook pages. The pearls handle makes the purse look so delightful, I think. Much to the dismay the other she-cats in the neighbourhood!

Buckled-Me-Up Pencil box

Once upon a time, I tried oil-crayon paintings. I SUCK at it, extraordinarily. So, I threw all the crayons away but kept the box.

I turned it into a pencil box, or a little storage to keep some of my hand-made scrapbook embellishments. I totally overcome my earlier misadventure at crayon painting already.

This box opens and closes almost like a purse. I covered the crayon box with a stripe pattern paper and glued it to a bigger folded covers. I used a metal buckle secured with a ribbon, instead of a straight-forward clasp on the outside cover. Lastly, I stamped all over the exterior & interior of the cover.

So, think before you discard anything … 

XO,

Shahrul

Decoupaged Toolbox

A few years back, I genuinely thought I couldn’t draw or paint. Then, I learnt decoupage. I was hooked. I knew that it would allow me to “cheat”. This picture showed a toolbox that I decorated when I first learnt decoupage. 

I bought a blank wooden toolbox, painted it all white with Jo Sonja’s acrylic paint, then decoupaged the toolbox. I use the toolbox to keep my magazines instead.

Decoupage art is the most perfect art for busy mothers or professionals alike. Simply cut your favourite decorative tissue papers and glue them onto any sturdy surfaces like wood, tin, ceramics, tiles and even on papers! Apply a few coats of sealer and then dry the decoupaged surface thoroughly with a blow dryer. You could make beautiful art within an hour! 

Paper Bag Ideabook

 You must have known by now that I’m a flea market junkie. I saw at KINOKUNIYA a journal called something like “My Flea Market Finds”. It was way too expensive for my liking. Secretly, I promised myself to make one. 
This is my flea market idea-book. I made notes/reminder of things that I love & hope to find at flea markets such as old ribbons, suitcases, old books, skeletal keys, cigar boxes and unique jewellery.

 I made the covers from 2 pieces of Starbuck paper bags and bond them with several corrugated pages. I made a little plastic-covered shadow-box to display some tiny charms and glued it to the front cover, for fun. Finally, I added an elastic string to fasten the whole book, just like a journal would. Neat!

Inside the pages ...  I added some clippings from magazines, any ideas of what to look for in my next "junking" trips. 

I still have many more blank pages in there ...

My Grunge Suitcase

Only last week, I found this jewel at the flea market. It was probably a kid’s schoolbag from the ‘70s. It is still usable even with the rusty metal clasp. It just needed some TLC and a creative soul to adopt it. 

Paid RM40 for the handsome suitcase, I began imagining what to do with it on the ride home. I daresay that I carried it home on the train, just like that!

After some cleaning, I applied a neutral KIWI on all four sides to make it lustre a bit and pasted vintage Graphic 45 pattern papers  the inside. To finish it off, tied two skeletal keys with a leather string to it's handle.  In just 3 hours, I have a grungy bag to store my hand-made water-color cards & paintings.

XO,

Shahrul

Layouts for Arthur

 I can’t say that I like to create 12” X 12” scrapbook layout much. I have friends who own multiple scrapbook albums full of scrapbook layouts!. The truth is, when I see a piece of paper THAT big … I got scared and my mind goes blank.
It is much easier to make book-type scrapbook albums or mini books from scratch.  I have made special mini books to friends & colleagues as birthday presents, wedding gifts or baby shower goodies. 


Anyway, here are two layouts for Arthur, with pictures from when he was about 2-months old. I spoiled him rotten!