persevere

Sweet friends,

I have taken a short break since the day I ruined my blog header, LOL. So I made these self-soothe pages;

I'm using washi tapes and old page from a storybook as background. Didn't use paint, just yellow wax crayon, red glimmer  mist and black india ink for colors. Scribbled a little bit with blue pen & black sharpie.

I hope you could see the ink-soaked paper doily there :).

Tomorrow, I'll announce two lucky new owners of my watercolor postcards. Good luck everyone :). See you then!.

Hugs.

over the rainbow

Hello,

This rainbow quote from G.K Chesterton is brightly true, and I was inspired to capture its essence in my journal.

I realized that when things get tough, I just have to smile and take a deep breath for a while, and then I begin to feel slightly better :). Better enough to stop me from self-pity. Better enough to make me think of only goodness in a bad situation and start to work making it better. This is the WILL that we all posses. Blessed with. 

The ideas flow freely when I was making this :). I want the quote to be the focus while the rainbow background gives off a cheery mood. I started with aligning masking tapes on the pages as the base to write the quote. Then drawing over the pages with rainbow colored soft pastels. Finger-smudged with water to blend all the colors and let dry. Then peeled off the masking tapes and wrote the quote on the white spaces with sharpie pens. Added masking tapes here and there and outlined the alphabets with glitter gel pen for some variety.

This is surely a fun, simple journal :). The most important thing is the message I like to share with all you, dear ones.

Hugs.

inspiration : alice in wonderland

Sweet friends,
There are a lot to celebrate for during the harvest season, yes?. 
How about a whimsical 'Alice In Wonderland' theme party for a change?. Or simply enjoy a cup of tea with some friends. Enjoy the treats, dear ones.


tea party from Country Living

girl from Mary Jane's Farm


invitation cards from Anista Designs


garden party by Funky Photography 9

key boutonniere by Emily Zych


treats from Better Homes and Garden


potion from Strange Wonderland


eat-me cupcake by Joanne


mad hatter pocket watch by Carry Tales


teacup from Country Style

it's all about blue

Dear friends;

my art journal pages today was inspired by my previous robin-egg blue post. One photo in particular, that cute postcard pouch ... really talking to me :).

So I decided to create a rather romantic looking pages. Tried to limit to a few blue shades and a light yellow colors. Save the pink roses, I must have them :). I used soft pastel sticks, wax crayons and aqua acrylic paint for the background and circles.

 

A collage of decoupaged tissue paper hearts & roses, paper doily postage stamp and typewriter number rub-ons. And a random rambling on the color blue :). Added number leather thickers for dimension.

This was a quick page since I did minimum painting & drying. I should try play with mediums next. Enjoy the rest of Monday!. 

Hugs.

200th blog post and a giveaway!

Dear ones,
I was thinking about how much I appreciate each one of you, sweet friends. Who had shared with me love and and your time, leaving heartfelt comments or just sharing how your days have been :). I'm forever grateful for such joy and inspirations!

Recently, I've been making blank watercolor postcards (A6 size). These are all painted with Daler-Rowney Georgian pan watercolor with various happy encouraging words.

I made them in two sets, 

Set #1

Set #2

I would love for you to have these blank watercolor postcards!! 

So please leave just one comment so I could enter you in the giveaway draw. They are a little token of my gratitude :).

Here are some close-up shots;

To enter this giveaway, just leave one comment on this post, before 12.00 pm (Malaysian Time) on Sunday, September 30th. I'll pick two winners to receive these candies and announce them on Monday, Oct 1st.

So thank you my sweet friends,
I think you are awesome!!!.

All the best!.

Hugs.    

bittersweet september

Sweet friends,

how is September treating you?. I imagine the colors are rapidly changing and the air is cooler. Not too cold perhaps to enjoy fire camp outside at nights, grilling S'mores and marshmallow on fire and stargazing under warm blankets. Only, I'm on the other side of the world enjoying hot & humid weather all year :). And I must create a spread to celebrate Fall and all it's glory. 

These pages are inspired from a stroll with Dawn in her beautiful pumpkin patch and garden!. You can come visit too, HERE. 

Yup, pumpkin pages!. And gold glitters. Comforting orange & black colors.

I used shredded orange tissue papers as background. Glued them down, layer by layer to give that pumpkin ridges look. Then sketched a pumpkin silhouette on a paper and secured down to the page. Dabbed black gesso over alphabet stencil & pumpkin mask. Finger-smudged a wee bit of green acrylic paint on the ridges while spritzing some water.

I dressed the pumpkin pages with gold glitters, some doodling (with blue sharpie), linen cloth, gold leaves and a few strings of fibers. And lastly, wrote a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge along the perimeter of the pages. It says;

" The one red leaf, the last of the clan,

that dances as often as dance it can,

hanging so light and hanging so high,

on top most twig,

that looks up at the sky "

So that's it. My reminiscence of beautiful Fall days. I feel comforted just thinking about the season :). 
Hugs.

tear those washi

Hello,

I saw Donna Downey torn pattern papers for her beautiful journal pages on Collage Monday earlier this week. Inspired, but I like to use washi tapes and circles instead. Here is my interpretation;

It feels like I'm under a Christmas tree, looking up at those happy decorations and berry twigs!. I didn't use paint for the background at all. The pages were covered in masking tapes, various torn washi tapes and colorful cupcake wrappers. I used plastic alphabets for a change. And drew circles with wax crayons over cupcake wrappers.

I went crazy drawing circles with black india ink. At this point I thought, man ... it's ruined!. I walked away, checked my email, had dinner and then came back to the pages. Then I added the aqua circles by stamping acrylic paint with a bottle lid and a wooden bead :). I think my pages are saved!.

Layers upon layers of washi tapes. Happiness.

It's really therapeutic to tear washi tapes!. Tear them very slowly and just enjoy the moment :). Hugs.

P/s: I'm sharing this journal spread over at Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Art Journal Everyday this week :). 

cupcakes aplenty - 1st tutorial ever!

source

Dear ones,

are these cupcakes delightful or what?. I thought I wanted to play a bit with the pastel colors in my journal today. And using cupcake wrappers. White ones.

Like these;

#1: Used some kite papers (or rice papers).

#2: Blank journal pages.

#3: Simply spread some gel medium over the pages.

Dabbed down crumpled kite papers. let dry. 

#4: Meanwhile, flattened a couple of cupcake wrappers together. Make 12 sets of these. you may use coffee filters too. 

#5: Finger-paint green acrylic on them.

#6: Repeat with pink acrylic paint. let dry.

#7: Now they are ready for stamping and embellishments.
#8: Decoupaged some roses from tissue papers.

#9: Keep paint gunk from bottle caps. They make cute roses.

#10: Now all the wrappers are properly dressed. They are ready to go on the journal pages.

So if you are stuck at some point ... just look around (or go pinning), you would see prettiness everywhere. And then start working :).

Hugs.

royal delights

Sweet friends,

Just last Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Catherine stopped by our city Kuala Lumpur, on their way to the Solomon Islands. They were on a week-long official far east visit to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.

I didn't go out to see them strolling at KLCC park, knowing well it was going to be too crowded and too hot!. LOL. However, they graciously greeted a crowd of 3000 fans and then made a quick visit to the little mosque at the corner of the beautiful park. And my friend, Lili who was out there to see them upclose and was incredibly lucky to get these amazing shots!. Check out her gallery HERE :).

#1: Photo from the newspapers,the royal couple taking off their shoes and Kate wearing a headscarf before entering the mosque :).

#2: Sweet speech from Prince Charming himself, it says;

"My grandmother told me that Malaysia would provide us with some unforgettable memories, and so indeed, it has proved ... thank you from the bottom of our hearts for welcoming us to Malaysia." - Prince William

With all these excitement, I have made a sketch of William & Kate. [Inspired from a photo of them taken on the morning after their wedding]. 

and my fat prince, Arthur. Keeping me a company while I finishing up. He's messy. Has not taken a bath for three weeks now!.

I have spent a few days over the long weekend making the sketch. Most joyful time when I can dream, relax and paint. 

Hugs.

follow me inside Central Market ...

Hello friends,

would you like to peek inside the Kuala Lumpur's craft center; Central Market?. [I must warn you that this post is picture heavy :)]. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and get comfortable. 

The tour starts here;

#1: The main entrance.

#2: View inside Central Market. Its main aisle lined with many small booths selling crafts and food. There are a few little lanes branching off this aisle which are full of goodies too, for examples;

#3: The Chinese Straits.

#4: The Malay Street.

There are many more lanes like these which I would share in the future. But for now, lets take a walk along the main aisle. Feast your eyes :).

#5: This shop is always so bright. 

Everyday is like Chinese New Year in here :).

#6: Chinese antique ceramic and wooden craft shop.

#7: Shop selling handmade glycerin soaps.

#8: Booth selling leather & silicon coin purses. 

#9: Decorative fans made of paper and silk.

#10: Plenty of shiny compact mirrors.

#11: Bohemian sling bags. LOVE.

#12: Wooden carved frames and clocks from the Malay Street.

#13: The lady is happy to know that I'm sharing her woven handicraft shop with the world :). Her goods are mostly made of rattan, pandan leaves and bamboo.

#14: Old Town Coffee shop. Love their spicy noodles. Sometimes I sit here sketching. Oh, that is an old chinese tri-shaw. The horses pull these cart around, as seen on the wall paper.

#15: Malay sweet snacks. Crunchy like the Chinese love letters.

#16: Snack attack!!. Sweet banana chips, spicy fish and prawn crackers to name a few.

#17: Malay decorative keris. Malay warriors of old (in the 1400s - 1900s) used them as weapon. Some families still have them as treasured heirloom. 

Lets go upstairs now.

#18: Kids LOVE this kite store. Our traditional kites are called 'WAU'. Wow, that is :).

#19: The big one is known as 'Wau Bulan' which means a moon kite. Yeah, it has a shape of a crescent moon.

#20: Shop selling handicraft from Sarawak, a state in the East Malaysia (part of the Borneo Island). Shown here are woven bags.

#21: Woven table runners. Looks much like 'Ikat' fabrics.

#22: A traditional kebaya (the shear top) worn with a batik sarong. The Malay and Chinese Baba Nyonya folks share very similar kebaya varieties. 

#23: Malay 'songket' table runners. The intricate woven embroidery are made of silver & gold threads. The cloth are made into elaborate wedding costumes for Malay brides & grooms.

#24: Lastly, a fun clock booth.

What a long walk. That was just from one place. 
I hope you had fun visiting :). And next time, I'll bring you to another part of the city :). 
Hugs.