Being a busy person who works from home, I need a clock in every room to keep me on track. Yup, that means one clock in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, one in the living room, etc. I need clocks everywhere! I know wearing a watch could easily solve the problem but as I craft for a living, a watch usually gets in the way so I've fostered a fixation on clocks. Here's my little wishlist of clocks I found on Etsy…
I’ve lots of things in store these next couple of weeks folks! Helping a friend/soon-to-be cousin-in-law (if there is such a thing) with a small part of her wedding receptions, another exciting collaboration, an event or two & lots lots more! I really wish there were two of me but as the poster above bravely emblazons, I’m going to make it (all) happen!
”For too long, people have viewed themselves as separate and I wanted to represent a multitude of individuals using the nails, and then coloured string to show how we are all interconnected, and that together, we can make something beautiful.” I’m in awe.
If you’ve been following me on twitter, you would’ve heard by now that my husband & I are on a house hunt. We’ve been renting the same apartment for the last couple of years & although it’s in the perfect location (close to his office & closer still to my mother) & we’re very comfortable, I’ve had enough of living with the furniture that came with the house & having no freedom to decorate as I want. I really can not wait to create our HOME & these pictures of a very lucky lady’s craft room has just fueled my desire to move. I have admit though that the room is a little too frou frou for my taste but I really like all the vintage knick knacks & overall shabby chicness.
Remember I blogged about animated gifs or better known as cinemagraphs by photographer Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg? Well, looks like they now have a website filled with lots of cinemgraphs for you to marvel at. Go have a look!
Do you ever wonder how your Web looks like visually? Well, quite honestly I've never really thought about it until Mozilla Firefox created this fun quiz called Webify Me. It's just a simple 20 question quiz about your online habits & once answered, it will create a custom mosaic of your web life. You can then click on the items of your mosaic to reveal the pop-up results for a little in-depth look of your web habits.
My webified life is the mosaic pictured above. It's pretty accurate except for one or two little things (I’m not based in USA & I’m only half Chinese) but all in all, I still say take the quiz because it’s fun!
Here’s a little breakdown of what some of the items in my mosaic represent:
Sock Monkey - Everything's better with a monkey in it. Monkeys are fun, smart, and optimistic. You got this crafty monkey because it reflects your own delightful optimism and playfulness. Or maybe you like bananas?
Friendship Bracelet - Your buddies will be overjoyed to learn that you've drawn the Friendship Bracelet. It stands for sociability and your talent for making each friend, online and off, feel special. So very special.
Crayons - The symbol of unpretentious creativity and art. You are almost certainly imbued with a child-like curiosity and an unfettered imagination, enjoy self expression and bright colors. You are child-like, or may actually be a child.
Paintbox - A symbol of risk and reward! You're no stranger to chance, to taking a walk on the 20-sided dark side. In the game of life, you're +10 Geekiness.
Mahjong - You make your own luck, for you know fortune favors the fun loving! To you a day without a quick game is a day wasted. Life's too short to sulk, when you bear the colorful mark of The Player. (You're also possibly Chinese or a Grandmother)
Tarot card - Aha, The Magician! You possess unusual powers, and can conjure up the truth from any situation. Also, you can turn the world on with your smile.
Friendship Pin - an unbreakable bond between you and your BFF. It shows you are loyal, willing to wear your love on your sleeve (or sneaker).
Memory Card - Behold, The Memory — life is your field of study. You hunger for new thinking, knowledge and information. You know how get it, and how to hold on to it.
Letter Game Tiles - You like your fun and games on a cerebral level. Stretching your mind and beating your friends is as enjoyable to you as zoning out in front of the TV is to the hoi polloi.
Carabiner - You have drawn the Mark of the Connection; Active, strong and reliable — that's you. People count on you to keep grounded at all times, even up in the air.
Transit Pass - The symbol of travel, of paths taken and untaken, of sleeping upright in a middle seat. You are The Traveler.
Perfume - Appearances are not limited to the visible sphere — you are well aware of that, for you are The Aesthete. Beauty in every sense is your lofty goal, and no detail of that is too small to escape your scrutiny.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that our cat Hassan doesn’t have a proper bed & these adorable upcycled creations by Miles & Aimee really put me to shame. Turning vintage suitcases, televisions & computer monitors into these awesome little beds, Miles & Aimee’s “army of cats” (as they describe their pets) must be the luckiest little “army”! I want that beige tv for Hassan btw.
Have you heard of Booktrack yet? Being the bookworm that I am, I’m really excited & while I type this, I’m downloading a copy of Sherlock Holmes that comes complete with a Hollywood score, synchronised music, sound effects & the best thing of all? It’s paced to your own reading speed while constantly changing to match the plot in real-time! Tell me that doesn’t amazing, I dare you.
Description from the iTunes Store: “Unlike traditional audio books, Booktrack is a soundtrack that will match what you are reading, AS YOU READ (Note: no one is reading the story to you). You can now truly hear what it’s like to be back in Holmes time with the suspense of Dr. Watson helping Holmes solve a case, horse’s hooves beating against the pavement while the tension rises in the air & when they site before a fire you will hear the wood crinkling in the background as Holmes & Watson solve another mystery. The personalised sound effects & composition makes the story more powerful & immersive than it has even been heard before!” I can’t wait to try out my free copy of Sherlock Holmes but I’m most especially excited about the upcoming release of Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre & Romeo & Juliet! I also can’t help feeling that Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart would be awesome for this app & would download it in a heartbeat (excuse the pun) if it were made. In the meantime, have a look at the Sherlock Holmes preview below.
This is a blog I just discovered & I just love the blogger’s eye for design & detail but most especially, I just love the little corners of her & her sister's home captured in these shots above. I’m such a sucker for a clean white palette with little shots of whimsy & pretty. I honestly can’t wait to buy our own home & to start decorating!
When I saw this tutorial by Mai of Okinokiyo, I knew I HAD to share. When I was in primary school, my classmates of all races (yup, all the girls & some of the boys) & I would play this every chance we could get & made our own “batu-batu” to our individual preferences. We even had a little championship league going so yeah, you can imagine we took it a tad more serious than most but it was all in good fun.
In case you don’t know what it is, Batu Seremban or five stones is a game originally played by girls of all races in Malaysia. You only need five stones or five small objects to play with & the objective of the game is to throw one of the stones one at a time and sweeping another on the flat surface simultaneously catching the one you threw earlier on. The game continues to advance in stages & gets complicated. Here’s a video by I Heart Malaysia on how to play it:
I’m so happy that Mai shared this tutorial. It brought back lots of great memories & I really hope batu seremban is still played in schools. I’m going to make a few using Mai’s simple tutorial using fabric scraps & give them out to my friends’ kiddies.
EDIT: Mai is making the Batu Seremban for sale! They're a mere RM5 (not inclusive of postage) & all proceeds will go to charity. How cool is that? Drop Mai an email if you want to get a set (or several).
This gives me a warm fuzzy feeling & it’s such a great habit to foster. So here’s my little contribution: You’re all wonderful & kind people. Now, go spread the habit folks… Say something nice!
I love a good scrap fabric craft & this bowl is something that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you good folks before, but I collect all sorts of unique containers (bowls, boxes, etc.) so this would be an awesome addition to my ever-growing collection. Here’s the full tutorial from Prudent Baby if you want to give this a go along with me.
How dreamy are these installations by Norwegian artist Rune Guneriussen? “As an artist I believe strongly that art itself should be questioning and bewildering as opposed to patronising and restricting. As opposed to the current fashion I do not want to dictate a way to the understanding of my art, but rather indicate a path to understanding a story.” Well Mr. Guneriussen, I believe you’ve achieved just that as I could spin a thousand magical tales just looking at these photographs…
It’s been awhile since I did a freebie post so here’s one that I’ve been meaning to share. Perfect for a fancy brunch or tea with the girlfriends, print this freebie on crisp white paper or pastel hues or better yet, go shocking pink or neon yellow for a quirky look! As suggested on The Pretty Blog, I’m going to print these onto fabric transfer paper & make a couple of placemats for my home. Click here to download the files now.
Thank God that my Mama & Bapak made sure I grew up with a pool at our disposal & I swam almost everyday as a kid for the pure fun & freedom I felt once I hit the water. So now whenever I’m feeling especially stressed out or worried, I find a good swim helps to clear my head. What do you do when you’re feeling down?
First of all, let me wish all my readers Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir & batin and Happy belated 54th Merdeka. This last Ramadhan was a busy one for me & over the week-long holidays I took a nice extended break to recharge my batteries & to catch up with my loved ones over yummy lemang & rendang. I was really looking forward to start blogging & crafting again.
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to kick off my return to blogging with an issue that deeply saddens & infuriates me at the same time. If you’re on Facebook & Twitter, your timeline would’ve been flooded since Sunday with the news of what happened at Petknode, which is a somewhat popular cat boarding center in Damansara Damai. Over 170 cats were rescued in deplorable condition from the center & a bungalow used by the company; the cats were starving, severely dehydrated, filthy & traumatized. About 16 cats & kittens were also found dead, with some so badly decomposed, they were stuck to the floor. There are also an estimated 100 cats still missing that the operators of Petknode are not disclosing. I’m not going through all the details but more info of the story can be found here & here (be warned that there are some very disturbing pictures). You can also do a simple Google search & you’ll get countless hits. On Monday the various animal welfare NGOs teamed up for a press conference at Hotel Armada. I went with some fellow cat avengers I met through Twitter; Aishah (@aimizubouken), Suen (@suzannajuwita) & later on met up with Aida (@aidaazwar). It was very heart warming to walk up to the conference room to see so many animal lovers there & many more arriving by the minute. So much so, that the hotel staff had to open up another room so that everyone could fit in. Even then, there were a lot more people outside. In total, an estimated 400 people showed up; media, affected cat owners, animal rights activists & supporters like me.
With radio personality JFK acting as the emcee, the press conference kicked off with the representative of the group Kucing Terbiar Anjing Jalanan (pictured above, bottom left - receiving a round of applause) telling us what happened on Sunday; how they broke into Petknode with the Police’s permission, the condition of the cats (and one lone puppy) they found & their efforts to get all the cats fostered before owners could step up to claim them. She, along with many of us in the audience, broke down in tears. Picturing cats in tiny cages, stacked on one on top of another in a tiny room with no ventilation, starving, dehydrated, covered in feces & pee, some dead & some on the brink of death… It was very emotional to say the least (click on the video below to get an idea).
Along with representatives from SPCA, PAWS, Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, My Animal Care Organization, ROAR, Animal Society Penang, Rina Omar & Joe Lee (Klub Kid KL) who were instrumental to getting the info out & support from the public, also spoke up & gave their input. It wasn’t long though before some members of the audience started pinpointing the blame on the bigger organizations like SPCA for not preventing something like this from happening.
Little do they know that SPCA & the like are not regulatory bodies nor are they in any position of power to put those to blame (like the Petknode operators) into jail. They COULD however (especially in SPCA’s case) have offered man power & medical assistance or even cages & transportation to move the rescued cats from Petknode which I understand they didn’t do (except My Animal Care) & I find highly perplexing given that they have all of those things at their disposal. Limited though they may be but every little bit helps right? I now understand SPCA is taking a bigger role in the issue by offering legal advice & getting media attention which is an area they excel in but that’s just from my perspective as an outsider.
The press conference was highly charged with emotion with upset cat owners & animal lovers uniting in their anger towards the Petknode operators & lack of support from the authorities namely the police. It ended with the Chairman of SPCA, Christine, calling for all of those at the press conference to go to the police station at Damansara Damai to try to get the police to do something & to help locate the missing 100 cats.
Despite the numbers of people there, including more cat owners affected stepping forward to lodge police reports, the police remained nonchalant. We left feeling disappointed & I for one felt uneasy. Why are the scums of Petknode being (seemingly) protected? And why aren't the police investigating the fraud & theft aspect of the case? A day later I found out that the police had in fact passed the case over to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) whose main concern are livestock & poultry. Christine of SPCA disclosed that amongst the countless animal cruelty cases that DVS handles throughout the many years they were established, only ONE handful have ever made it to court & only in ONE case was a man convicted & he only paid a paltry sum & spent ONE night in jail. Where’s the justice in that??
All in all, I am angry. After the press conference, I took a step back from the drama unfolding on twitter to quell my anger, but oh it’s still there alright. The more I think of the operators of Petknode’s greed & neglect plus the nonchalant stance taken by the authorities, the more anger I feel. Malaysians are not uneducated. Malaysians are not barbarians. Yet why does our government let people like these scums of Petknode get away with such blatant cruelty?? Over 170 cats were found starved with another 100 still missing & countless cat owners who were cheated into believing that their cats would be in safe hands… Even if you are not an animal lover, I’m sure you can see the injustice in this.
I for one will not rest until I see justice served to the operators of Petknode. The fine for animal cruelty is a laughable RM200 but Christine suggested if we could push for RM200 PER CAT, then justice would be rightly served. An estimated 300 cats are said to have been in Petknode’s care during the Raya break so RM200 x 300 would equal RM60,000 but I say the scums should also serve time for at least a year at the very minimum for not only animal cruelty, but for fraud & theft. With that, I am going to write in to the Department of Veterinary Services, Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (to shut down Petknode), my local MP (Member of Parliament), the Prime Minister of Malaysia & anyone else I can think of. If you too are outraged & want your voice to be heard, here are the addresses:
Dato' Dr Abd. Aziz Jamaluddin Ketua Pengarah, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan, Wisma Tani, Blok Podium, Lot 4G1, Presint 4, Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, 62630 Putrajaya. Tel (main): 603-8870 1000 Fax: 603-88701792 Mobile: sms him at 0195136055
Tuan Haji Syed Abd. Malik Bin Syed A. Hamid Al Jafree Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya Jalan Yong Shook Lin 46675 Petaling Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan Tel : 03-79563544 Faks : 03-79581494
Here’s a list of all the MP’s addresses (look for your area & click to get the info)
YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak Office of the Prime Minister Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA Tel: 603 – 8888 8000 Fax: 603 – 8888 3444
YABhg Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA
Let's flood their mailboxes! Let's give voice to the voiceless! If you can think of another way, a more EFFECTIVE way, please leave a comment. My cat Hassan & all the other animals out there thank you.
For the toilet - Tiny Scallop clock by Uncommon
For the living/dining room - Modern Colonial clock by Uncommon
For the family room - Home Sweet Home clock by Iluxo
