miss dahl

As in Sophie Dahl the granddaughter of the Roald Dahl. She has a cookbook! Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights. I'm out of date I know, cause the book has been published this year (and the year is about to change), but I want one! Better late than never, right? I'm weak when it comes to nice book covers. I mean just look, the girl is pretty, the setting is pretty, and not to mention the photos inside. That's enough thought put in to grab the book, don't you think? Hihi...

pages of 2010

'Flicking through' the new year would be much more exciting with this downloadable calender by mibo i found via mixed plate. Oooh, I can't wait to jot down my agendas here! 

the superhero party

I spent the day of Christmas at my nephews birthday party. The final theme? Not circus, not alphabets, but superhero! The little guy would not negotiate no more. Now, I know that superhero and pennant flags have nothing in common, but I made them anyway for the decoration. My sister was so pleased with them. I hung them outside and all around the house. Quite festive, eh?

The party was a success. Optimus Prime even made time to come - a big surprise for Alif the Spiderman birthday boy. As for Fabian, he came as Jack-Jack of The Incredibles without the mask. It was a really fun day, and all the superheroes were really tired by the end of the party. As you know, being a superhero isn't an easy job...

Left: Optimus Prime with all superheroes. Right: Jack-Jack aka Fabian. 

going green

... means you should sip out of these eco cups. It's a great way to support the campaign and you'll be doing it with style. They make a great christmas and holiday present too! 

shades of cyan

Lately, I'm loving the cyan family. Especially aqua marine, pale turquoise, electric blue, and alice blue. I never thought I'd fall for this color on anything let alone for furniture. But gee... look how cool it looks. I want, I need, I love! 

The chairs in this picture taken by Trevor Dixon via desire to inspire to me looks simply flawless. With this color, who would want to cover it up with cushions? 

Now, I'd love to paint a cabinet or table this color. This photo is by vardagsrum via madebygirl.

I want this exact single couch seen at madebygirl, the exact color with the black accents too. I think pale turquoise and black go just perfect!

I don't know if I would paint my wall with this color family, but it sure goes swell with the perfect shade door at delikatissen.

stitch it up

Once upon a log, I came happily home from a shop that sells craft goods near my house. I bought the material to make more yo-yo's and try out if I can make some patchwork stuff. But I had to buy the embroidery hoop too. Just because.

Here's how its destiny turned out. Hmm... I hope Fabian is proud of what I made him :)

I only learnt how to do the blanket stitch before I began this project via a short course over the internet. And now, I think I'm in love with it. I can imagine sewing bits and pieces of material everywhere using this stitch. Ha ha. Sorry, this is as exciting my life gets :P

onion rings or tomato hand pies?

or both? I do hope to get the time to experiment in the kitchen this weekend. Both recipes from martha stewart are simple and I have the material already. So I guess there is no reason why I couldn't.  Hmm... maybe when the baby has his morning nap? Hope you have a yummy weekend:)

 

photo courtesy: martha stewart.com

flintstone fever

photo courtesy: blog.media-freaks.com

I remember being a loyal viewer of this cartoon series. When I was a child, I always pretended to be Betty Rubble because of the dark hair and the bob haircut she had, which was like mine then. Anyway, being a fan of the characters, I came across a baby bodysuit with a picture of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm on it. It was simple and cute, so I had to buy it. I then gave it to my sister as a present for her new born. Two and a half years later, what dya know... the bodysuit now has been handed down to Fabian. Ha..ha.. it's still in good shape and color as when I bought it. Now, this isn't gonna be a 'hit' or 'miss' review. They both look cute is this piece :)

               left: Alifta Flintstone at 3 months, right: Fabian Flintstone at 4 months

the art of photo tracing

This is one of the mister's work. Well, I don't know if you can actually call it work as he photo traced our picture using CorelDraw using four simple steps. Anyhow, it's nice. I like how it turned out. I already got the simple tutorials from him and I'm ready to play around with my other pictures. This is gonna be fun!

yo-yo addict

I was so eager to try what Laura via Design*Sponge did with her leftover fabric. Once I tried, I couldn't stop. And I didn't even use a yo-yo maker (yes, there are ones!) that they have out there.

Nevertheless, without it is just as easy. I can't wait to make a cushion cover with all of these yo-yo's I made. This is definitely a solution for all leftover fabric.

super fudge

Here goes another recipe of my Icip-icip collection. This was published for CosmoGIRL! Indonesia in the December 2005 edition.

photo by Rici Linde

Ingredients for 24 pieces of Super Fudge:

400 ml condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoons butter

1 pack of chocolate chips

1 bar of cooking chocolate

¾ cup of nuts (chopped and grilled)

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in to a pan and add the chocolate chips, cooking chocolate, and vanilla. Stir steadily over the stove for about 5 minutes. Poor in the chopped nuts and stir all together then leave to chill. Prepare a 30 cm X 20 cm baking tray and smother with margarine. Poor batter into tray and make sure surface is even. Wrap the tray with alumunium foil and store in the fridge until the fudge is hard enough (not too hard). Cut fudge in to square pieces and store in a cookie jar. Et voila!

hanky lovin'

I'm rather a tissue person than a hanky person, but this collection is an exception. I accidentally found these pretty girls years back at a flea market at Pasar Baru. And I got them for almost nothing - super cheapo! Some of them are branded too, or so that's what is printed on the fabric that is. I found an Yves Saint Laurent, a Laura Ashley, a Wedgwood, and a Kenzo. The question whether they are genuine remains a mystery. But that doesn't matter. They're so pretty, don't you think? Here are my three favorites.

I love the yellow frame around the piece. So summery! Oh, this one is a Kenzo :)

Don't you love the retro flowers? This one is a Pierre Balmain.

I love Laura Ashley and maybe that's why I subjectively like this one. But you do agree that the detailed edges are nice, don't you?

I really don't know what I'll do with these lovelies. I think they are too pretty to be cut out for a project. But they are too nice to just be stacked away. Maybe I'll do something like this pillow project from fjspillows or maybe not. What I definitely want to do is go back to that flea market and get some more. Pasar Baru, anyone?

5 reasons i want to go back to deutschland in autumn

1. So I can stroll through the falling leaves of this park leading to the city

Bonn

2. So I can buy these flowers (and not only take a picture of them)

Bonn

3. So I can take more pictures of the lovely buildings with the accent of different color leaves on the trees nearby

                                           Berlin & Bonn

4. So I can dine at this particular warm and vintage restaurant 

Redbull Restaurant

5. So I can drown myself in layers and wear my boots again

Berlin

hey, birdy!

I wish I could make one of these blabla bird mobiles. I'm figuring it might do with the work of embroidery hoops, string, and felt. But how do you knit the birdies? How? How? 

selamat ulang bulan

Which means, happy month-birth-date. Today, my baby turns four months and is as cute as ever. Selamat ulang bulan, Fabian. Mama and papa wish you the best of health and happiness. Me heart you more than you can imagine! XOXO

little farmer...

...will be the name of my baby line that I am preparing to sell online. Now that I have more time on my hands, I thought that I might start to invest in the convection business. Why do I choose baby clothes? Because right now I love to dress and see babies in effortlessly cute and comfortable clothing. The line will be about dressing simple and comfy. A good friend who has been a long player in the business is kind enough to guide me through the production process and the mister is in charge of making and running the e-shop. I myself am in charge (and having lots of fun too) designing baby bodysuits, tees, and bottoms that will go in to production hopefully real soon. The illustration above was a sketch of mine for the header of Little Farmer online shop. I know, it looks like an infants drawing and so that's why I'm having it polished by my dear talented-illustrator-friend. I'll let you know how she transformed it. Meanwhile, this is your sneak peak of some designs I fancy.

clothes by: H&M and GAP

The Twits

Despite that Mr & Mrs Twit are mean, nasty, cruel, smelly and ugly (haha). I'm still a fan of this particular Roald Dahl title. I have this exact first edition published in 1980, when then I was only one year old. My brother and sisters must remember this book too since we grew to quarrel over it a lot. Thanks to my mum and dad who cherish our childhood stuff - including books, work sheets, toys, and drawings - The Twits we own is still in one good piece in our little library at my parents house.

alif's party plan

My nephews birthday is coming up this December. But so it seems, my working and pregnant sister doesn't have enough energy to plan for it. So, I asked if I could help her plan it all. Ofcourse she said yes immediately and I went all excited. Here are two themes I'm interested in. Still wondering which one will fit for Alif, my nephew, and his parents too. But I was thinking of a really festive and lots of outdoor activities, coz my sister has quite a big garden and a bamboo stage that can me made use of. Which theme do you think rocks more: alphabets or circus?

photo courtesy: corbisimages.com

serendipity

photo: doc. google images

You would probably have heard of this place if you are a fan of the film Serendipity and One Fine Day  – like I am. If you are, you would remember when Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) ate ice cream with Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) at Serendipity's and experienced “seredipitatiousness” throughout the film, or when Melanie Parker (Michelle Pfeiffer) took Sammy and Maggie for a treat at Serendipity's when not long after that lost Maggie and cried at the police station mentioning that she hasn't paid the bills at Serendipity. Yes, I watched the films a million times. 

how can you not want to dine here?

photo: doc serendipity.com

Anyway, thanks to both of those films,  Serendipity has found itself another fan. I've fallen for the atmosphere and interior I think, but checking out the menu and variety of ice cream on the website is certainly a bonus. Plus, I just love the meaning of Serendipity – fortunate discoveries by accident. This is a dream destination. Oh, could someone please fly me to Manhattan, New York, already?

eat pray love

I was so inspired by this book. I can't agree more with Elizabeth Gilbert that you HAVE to figure out yourself and what you want or need in life and just DO it – in order to make you HAPPY. Totally inspired! And though I finished this book last year, the euphoria of it continues once I knew that they've already started to film it. Julia Roberts is on the cast and I bet it's going to be great. Can't wait to see it! 

magnet display

Do you like to collect things? I do magnets. I collected these from my trips but many were also gifts from family & friends.

Instead of sticking them on to the fridge, I thought it would be nicer if they could be a part of wall decoration. Now, not having found the right stickable board, I came across this. 

This is actually the inside compartment of a pan steamer used to steam rice or potatoes. The great thing is, it's made from stainless steel so it draws magnets, it's sold separately (without the pan) in different sizes, and already has holes so that I needn't bother to ruin it by making a hole in it to hang up on the wall.

top: what about a B+?  bottom: my fav magnets from Indonesia