Vintage Look with a Vibe

I have created a few jewelleries with the strand of coin pearls that I have bought from Hong Kong during my trip. 🙂 I always have had a liking for pearls and was really excited when I found them in the shape of coins. These are fresh water pearls and is about 12mm in size. I love the lusters and shine and could not wait to work on these pearls. 🙂 Since the pearls are the center of attention, I am just going to make them simple and will be not using too many other charms or materials to outshine them.

To me, coin pearls are best to made to necklace. With only a pearl, it could already bring out the charm itself. Simple and classy.

How about adding some charms to the coin pearl. I think it would look pretty nice as well. Oh my, the coin pearls are so versatile. 🙂 I have added a matt bird charm (imported from korea) and an amethyst briolette to this necklace.

This time round, I also ventured out to use more expensive findings such as 925 silver. I have always like thread earrings. Simple and classy with the coin freshwater pearl. 🙂 All metal parts for this pair of earrings are made with 925 silver.

Something new that I have tried below 🙂  and is very satisfied with the results. Basically, I used a wire, twirled it round a pearl bead and finished off with it as a stud. Rubber backing is used in this stud. It seems easy but the twirling of the hard wire added much strain to my fingers. LOL

I will be showcasing these handmade jewelleries in ‘Where I Party’.

Family is….

Source: infarrantlycreative.net via Anna on Pinterest

 

I am so glad that I have my family all so near to me. My parents are just staying a few levels above us. Jonathan’s parents are just living about 10 mins drive away from us.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we, together with other siblings of Jonathan’s make an effort to be back in my in laws’ place for dinner. Every Saturdays and Sundays would be lazing days at my parent’s place.

Help is readily available from everyone in baby sitting. Both of our siblings are so willing to fork out their precious time to help take care of my two children when Jonathan and I needed time out. The best thing is that they never say no and would be most happy to do it. 🙂

What triggered me to write this blog was the day before, Kaiden came back home, asked for a paper and said that he wanted to draw a family. After trying for some time, he gave up and he drew this.

I was really amazed what a three year old could imagine and drew.

He tried again on another paper. Drawings became smaller but still could not be able to draw a family. I could feel his effort on wanting to complete the task. So in the night, I told Kaitlyn about what his brother wanted to do and she decided to help him. He sat beside his sister and watched. I did not know what she would draw until she told me she completed the picture of a family. I was amazed and touched when she included members of the extended family instead of just the four of us. She patiently explained to us who the people in the picture represented.

The only part I was curious about was the weather. I asked her why was it a rainy day? She just smiled. I then asked why were other members not included?

The next day, she invited me to her room again before she sleeps.

Bottom row (L to R): Jamie, Victor, Jonthan (Daddy), Anna (myself), Kaitlyn, Kaiden

Middle row (L to R): Granny, Grandpa, Gerald, Xueli carrying Karyn

Top row (L to R): Grandmother, Grandfather, Anne, Andrew, Angie (hiding in the house)

 

She smiled to me and said this time round, she drew everyone into the picture including Hazel (Jamie’s dog which is hiding in the little kennel on the bottom right hand corner). It was a sunny day and everyone was enjoying ice-cream.

 

Source: tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

 

Though Jonathan and I are brought up differently, we have learnt to accept and accomodate to our families’ differences and personalities to keep our families together cos we know that at the end of the day, those who will not leave us in the lurch are our families. 🙂

Source: printable.tipjunkie.com via Anna on Pinterest

Crafting and Beading Thirst!!!

I want to satisfy my thirst. I want more creative juices.

Wonder when my ideas will be running out?

I want to organise my ideas. Too many thoughts and ideas make me want to try everyone of it.

I want more pairs of hands to explore different types of crafting and beading techniques.

I want more time so that I can put my ideas into reality.

Source: http://designeditor.typepad.com

 What did I create this time round? This time round, a few of my friends expressed interests in stuff for the little ones. I was so happy to extend my love to younger generation. 🙂

Candy told me that Victoria likes the pink flower very much from my previous blog on Flower Galore. I was really happy and can’t wait to share my product with her.

It was Karyn’s baby showers over the weekend. To match the hot pink dress we bought for her as a gift, I created the headband as shown above. Just too bad that the headband was a little too loose on her. Got to re-adjust the circumference to fit her head. 🙂

Jamie’s friend, Gina, wanted something for her two little nieces. Something different from my past creation, I added vibrant and colours to these two pairs of earrings. Hoping that they will be more suited to children of ages 7-15. 🙂

Extremely Overdue Post: Kaitlyn’s Birthday

This is an extremely overdue post. I was browsing through my pictures folders only to find out that I have not done a blog on Kaitlyn’s birthday celebration. 😦

Without further ado, I shall do a short one on Kaitlyn’s birthday which happened in the month of March.

As it is the last year Kaitlyn would be in her Kindergarten life before moving to Primary 1 next year, Kaitlyn wanted to invite some of her best friends to the celebration. Kaitlyn herself is a shy and introvert child thus not many good friends. There were only 4 people on her list whom only 2 could make it. Nevertheless, Kaitlyn enjoyed herself tremendously. 🙂

Before the party started, we had some time to camwhore.

‘Yiyi’ arrived really early to help out with Kaitlyn’s hairdo. 🙂 Simple and nice for the celebration. 🙂

The birthday girl. She is like a princess. Oh maybe to all mummy’s eyes, their daughters are a princess. 🙂

Thanks to Justin and Anne for putting up the balloons. The balloons totally brightened up the whole corridor. 🙂

That is Kaitlyn’s birthday cake. As Kaitlyn wanted a princess cake, we seeked Aunty Yochana’s help again this year to create her one. The princesses on the top of the cake could be washed and kept as toys. 🙂 Thanks to Jamie and Victor for picking the cake up on our behalf. 🙂

Now the phototaking before cutting up the cake. 🙂

The night ended with a round of kid champagne pouring and opening of presents.

Best of all, Kaitlyn got to open her presents with her best friend, Ulrica. Both were really happy. 🙂

I know this is a bit late. LOL On behalf of Kaitlyn, I would like thank all guests for your presents. Your presence are greatly appreciated and our apologies if we have not been a good hosts. 🙂

Also, this is the time Jonathan celebrated Kaitlyn’s birthday after missing it for fours years due to his work. We are really glad to have him with us this year and thus making it a more memorable one. 🙂

 

Fabric Flower: Tutorial 1

 Wanna do up a fabric flower accessories for your daughter or gals? Right now, I will be sharing one of the few fabric flowers tutorials.

Simple sewing is required for this fabric flower. Let us look at the supplies first. 🙂

What We Need:

• fabric (5 pieces of 2 inch circles using the circle cut outs)
• felt (1 piece 2inch circle using the circle cut out. This will be used as the backing)
• scissor
• thread
• needle
• embellishment or vintage buttons

The Steps:

After cutting out 5 pieces of circle fabric using the cut out templates. We will work on just 1 piece at a time.

Step 1: Fold the circle fabric into half.

Step 2: Take the one end of the semi-circle, fold towards the middle of the semi-circle as shown in picture 2.

Step 3: Sew the folded fabric onto the black circle felt.

Step 4: Repeat the process from step 1 to 3. Always sew the new folded circle on top of the previous one. Complete the process till all folded circles fill up the black felt cloth as shown below.

We can now add in the embellishment or button. You can either sew or glue the embellishment or button onto the center of the flower as shown below.

Tada…. the fabric flower is completed. We can use the flower to make it into headbands, hairbands, bobby bins or a brooch. 🙂

I will be making them into headbands for Kaitlyn and Karyn. How about you?

Relationship or Marriage? Ain’t not expert!!! Part 2

Continuing from previous’ post. Too many quotes for me to share and comment. Do you like the quotes? More to come. 🙂

第十二集　感恩她把我們的婚姻變成不完美。Episode 12 – So thankful that ‘she’ has made our marriage not perfect.

Sometimes when a marriage is too perfect, something is bound to happen. Therefore, when a rock hits the marriage, the couple will reflect on a lot of things, their love for each other, are they still the same as before? Then it will be another learning process for each.

挽回老公的心，保護我的家，我要忘記，全部都忘記，為了萌萌、為了我的家。To retrieve husband’s heart and protect my home, I chose to forget everything for the sake of the child and the family.

So typical of a housewife. I think if it were in my case, that would be the first thing to do, to pretend nothing happens as long as the husband comes home. But is that really what I will do and what will most woman do? When a needle is in the heart, it must be removed to ease the pain, isn’t it? Moreover with the high qualifications of a woman lately, supporting a family is no longer an issue. :). The issue would be how well can the child take it.

第十三集　比外遇更可惡的，是欺騙！Episode 13 – What is scarier than marital affairs, it is cheating!

Come to think of it, if the man just has an affair, return home, nothing happens, it’s cool. If the man has an affair, comes home, create more and more lies to cover the affair. That’s so not cool. Totally unforgiving!

如果我們兩個之間，只剩下責任、尊重，那也許就不是愛了。If the marriage / relationship is only left with responsibility and respect, then it’s probably no longer love.

I am totally in love with this statement and I think is true to some point. It is a lot of responsiblities and respect, to the family, to children, to friends and to each other. I am sure a lot of the marriages are only held on by these two aspects. Sad but I totally agreed that many marriages are moving along this line. When was the last time your husband showed you the concern? When was the last time your husband bought you something? When was the last time your husband spent quality time with you? When was the last time your husband has showered a compliment? Lastly, when was the last time your husband has tried to ease your load? Oh my… I am moving into the five languages of love. Hmmm wonder what my language of love is?

 Quotes from Episode 14

也許我並不是那麼失敗，也許再苦的生活中，還是會有甜美的時刻。也許甜美的時刻，我不需要等別人給我，我能自己去創造。I may not be such a failure, no matter how bitter life is, there will still be some sweet memories. These sweet memories, I do not need someone to give me for I can create it myself.

So life is sweet, future is sweet too if we learn how to create our own sweet memories. 🙂 I like it.

Quote from episode 15

對不起算什麼交代！Saying sorry is not a way to account matters.

Yea. I like this too. So what if I kept saying sorry. It does not make any difference and it does not solve the problem. It is only a way to end the problem hoping that it will not resurface.

Quote from Episode 16

最好的報復，就是成功！The best revenge is to be successful.

 How many of us can be successful? LOL!!

Quote from episode 17

嫉妒已經使你更醜了 Jealousy has already made you uglier.

Who has never been jealous? I feel that if being jealous and just let that bad feeling dies off, that’s fine. But if one is jealous and does things to hurt the person who is causing it, then it’s really ugly.

Quote from episode 18

我拼命在想，他還愛不愛我？他為什麼不愛我？為什麼離開我？可是我從來沒有想過，要問自己，我還愛他嗎？She kept thinking if her husband still loves her? Why he does not love her? Why he wants to leave her? But it has never occur to her if she still love him

Okay, at this point of time, the protagonist finally straightened out her thoughts. Totally, when something happens, why do we always want to put ourselves as the victims. Turn the table around, ask ourselves if we are the victims? Overly concerned about how people treat us, ask ourselves how we treat others.

Quote from episode 19

我為什麼要讓那些傷害我的人繼續控制我，讓他們影響我的心情，讓他們破壞我的快樂，甚至扭曲我的性格。Why do we want to let those people who hurt us control us, affect our mood and let them destroy our happiness and even changed our character?

The potagonist has changed her outlook hoping to seduce back her husband only then to realise that she is not the person she used to be. Stop sticking in the mud if you are one. The people who hurt us may be enjoying their good times; therefore, we must show them we can live our lives to fullest by being ourselves.

當我眼睛只有盯著目標的時候，通常會忽略身邊的人事物。When we are only focusing on one thing, we tend to neglect those things around us.

 Sometimes to reach the target, we would need to scarifice some things. Step back sometimes to see the big picture would be one way of meeting the target without hurting other people’s feeling. 🙂

Quote from Episode 21

當你對一個女人說你愛她的時候，她就是你的責任了！你就有那個責任保護她，不要讓她受傷。When a guy pledges to a woman that he loves her, she has inevidently became your responsiblity. It is therefore also your responsibility to protect her and make sure that she doesn’t get hurt.

 To all the men, think before you pledge. Telling a woman, ‘I Love You’ is definitely more than what it takes.

Quote from episode 22

是你老婆對你的愛，才讓你在外面風度翩翩；是你老婆對你的愛，才讓你在外面自信滿滿、走路有風。It is your wife’s love that let you looked handsome and swift. It is your wife’s love that let you filled with confidence that even when you walk, there would be breeze.

I am so in love with this quote even it may not be true. I just find it really hilarious. Nice compliment for all the wives.

Finally quotes from last episode and there are many nice ones that I like.

我希望妳一定要記住別人對你的好，不要記住別人對你的不好。I hope that you will remember the good way people treat you and not the bad.

Life is like that, we will always remember all the bad things that people do to us and usually deeply etched in our memories for many many years. Take time to recall the same person, I am sure he or she has also done many good things to us. 🙂

我們不是婚姻的附屬品，反而婚姻只是我們人生的一部份而已。We are not an accessories to our marriage. Instead, marriage is only part of our life.

Marriage is a process that most people will go through and for those who chose not to go through this process, they are also feeling happy and enjoying their lives to their fullest. 🙂

愛是什麼？其實愛就是願意許下承諾，而且決心一定要做到。What is love? Actually love is willing to make the vow (wedding vows) and commit to it.

Hmmm I can’t even remember my wedding vows. For those who can’t too. Let me do a recollection…

“Will you, __________________ take this woman/ man  ______________ to be your wedded wife / husband, to live together in the legal estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and keep her in sickness and in health and forsaking all others, be faithful to her, so long as you both shall live?”

I believe that during the vows, everyone pledged earnestly. I am glad I am going through the vows again. For those who have forgotten, look through once more and silently said ‘I will’ to rekindle your love. 🙂

With all the quotes, have your reflected on your relationships or marriage? I definitely have. Never take a wonderful marriage for granted. Even a good man will have a change of heart, may be the same case for woman. (All right, I sound dejected. LOL Of course, my man is not doing it.) However, from a failed marriage, each must have learnt or gained something. I remembered the protagonist said, “I am glad that I have left my husband now, imagine what would happen if when we are old and on his death bed, he is calling out the other girl’s name while holding my hands, then I would really be devastated.” 

So did the husband and wife in the show got together in the end? I thought they would when the ex-husband seeked for her forgiveness. Who knows, her statement was, “But, I can’t go back to the past” totally dashed the ex-husband’s hopes. So what exactly happened? 🙂 Another man has entered her life. 🙂