Getting picked for the first time!

I have a bad habit. Every morning, I wake up and before I even get out of bed, I reach for my iPod Touch and check my email and other interesting blogs I follow. This morning, I was in for a nice surprise. :)

Those in the scrapbooking or paper crafting world would know who Tim Holtz is. He is like the guru for all scrappers and his ideas and products are amazing. He was running this giveaway on his blog and the people chosen would receive a tag that he had made personally and also an extra freebie to be added to the package. I could not believe that I had been chosen! Click here for the link to his blog post. Needless to say I was super excited.

However, sometimes, these giveaways are not applicable to people who live outside of the United States so I won't be surprised to be notified as such. Anyway, no news yet so I'm hoping that I will get my freebie and when I do, I will show you a picture of what he sent!

I am writing this from one of the computers at the airport since my flight to Hong Kong has been delayed. Adios for now!

Sharing more cards that I made

I just wanted to share that I am currently selling my handmade greeting cards over at Serenity Gemz. You can also view the cards if you're on Facebook by looking up the Serenity Gemz page.

Here are some photos of what I did to my craft room door and also some recent cards and a bookmark I made for myself!

I made the alphabets by adhering patterned paper onto chipboard. I then added some chipboard butterflies which are painted over with shimmer ink. What do you think? Nice? :)

This is a card I made for my elder sister's birthday. I like the idea of pink and black colours together. I did not make her a bookmark (like I did my friend below) but gave her tickets to the Adam Lambert concert (recently held) instead. :))

This is a card I made for a dear friend in Japan. I made her a matching bookmark too, as seen below.

This picture is blurry because it was taken with my mobile phone as I was in a hurry to post it to my friend.

The two pictures above are a bookmark I made for myself. :)

I made this card for a friend who wanted to give a congratulatory wedding card to a close friend of hers. Red and black was the colour theme for the wedding so I custom made this card with that in mind.

Anyhow, hope this post did not bore you all. Please do feel free to comment, feedback or ask questions. :) Have a great rest of the week!

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

During the Hari Raya holidays, I had the good fortune of having a weekend getaway and staying at the newly opened Marina Bay Sands ("MBS"). MBS hotel consists of three main towers. I was staying at Tower 3. Upon arrival at the lobby of Tower 3, I kept asking my hubby, where IS the lobby? You mean this is it?? It was not very impressive at all, in my opinion. There were so many people walking around, I felt like I was in a marketplace! Anyhow, we had to wait until 3 p.m. before we were given our rooms!

We stayed in the Horizon Rooms, I believe, as we were on the 47th floor. The highest floor which is also where the skypark and swimming pool is, is the 57th floor. The rooms I will admit are VERY spacious. It is very long and has a separate living area. I did not really like the toilet as there was no separate door to the toilet seat area! Some of you will be able to guess why I prefer there to be a door in that particular area. Haha.

The view from the room was very good and our room was facing the Esplanade area. However, I noticed that the sound proofing was not done well. I could hear our parents next door coughing and although the shower area is supposed to have marble tiling, when I knocked against it with my fist, you hear a hollow sound! Go figure..

Many people are looking forward to experience staying at MBS mainly due to the skypark pool on the 57th floor. The 150m pool is the world's largest largest infinity and outdoor pool. We were disappointed because none of the restaurants or bars at the skypark were open. Hence, we did not venture up at night. Actually, I wanted to but I forgot! Hahaha, because by the time we came back to the hotel every night, I was dead tired and just wanted to sleep!

The infinity pool is at the skypark level on the 57th floor, which is also the level where the observatory deck for tourists and visitors are. My hubby and I decided to go for a swim in the morning and when we reached the 57th floor, I was kind of stunned for a moment. There were SOOOOOOOOOO many people there. Deck chairs were all placed in a row on separate levels (much like the seats at stadiums). Although the swim area is off limits to visitors, they can stand on the platform directly behind said deck chairs and stare at all the hotel guests in their flattering or unflattering swimwear. I felt like I was in a zoo being watched by visitors!

There were too many people in the pool to actually have a swim. I was observing people and saw that alot of them were merely donning their swimsuits so that they could get into the pool, close to the edge, and take a photo!!! It was dark and gloomy on the day we decided to go up there so forgive the pictures. :)

The MBS casino is located across from the three hotel towers. It can be accessed via 2 underground walkways that lead up to the shopping centre and the casino. Singaporean citizens have to pay SGD100 per 24 hour entry to the casino while foreign visitors have to show their passports in order to get entry. You have to show your passport again on exit. Not sure why that is because they don't even open it to look inside upon exit, only when you enter.

The shopping centre attached to the casino is huge with all the branded stores that you can think of. There was a La Perla store there and for all those who do not know, La Perla is like the epitome of lingerie and I was telling my husband that. I was not going to enter the store but he made me! The cheapest bra that I saw cost around SGD400 (bra only!) . A simple lacy nightie cost something like SGD700!!! To be honest, it did not even look that fancy to me. Hahaha.

On a last note, there is a a smallish cafe at the lobby of Tower 3 called Sweet Spot (i think). In the morning, they serve pastries and specialty cakes. In the afternoon, you get those macaroons with different types of cream filling and lovely big soft cookies! Yum Yum!

On the overall, I think it was a good experience but I would not stay at MBS again. Too far from everything else and there are no MRT stations nearby. On the upside, it is very close to the Singapore flyer and you could actually walk there if you wanted to.

Cards, cards, cards

This is just a posting to share some of the cards that I have made recently. Feel free to leave your comments. I hope to come up with more soon soon soon!

I made this card for a friend who wanted to give her special someone a different type of card for their 3rd anniversary

All the pictures of the dolls were coloured in with Copic Sketch markers.

More cards to share...

Since it's going to be Hari Raya, I decided to make some cards for my friends who will be celebrating this festivity. I just sent them in the mail yesterday, so hope they will like it! Here they are :

I also made some birthday cards for two lovely gals whom I have not seen for a long time and hope they are both doing well....

And here is a random card that I made and am thinking of listing it for sale. Do you think there will be any buyers if I were to say sell it for RM10? Bear in mind that all materials and inks used are imported and the item will come with an envelope also, of course. Let me know what you think!

Why do people steal?

I recently made an online purchase of some craft items from the United States ("USA"). This is the second time I have made this purchase from the same seller and the first time, I received the package in less than a week. This time, it has been more than 2 weeks and suffice to say, I am getting worried. The package could have been lost in transit or stolen. As the seller sent the package via US International Mail, the tracking number of the package is only useful for when the package is still located IN USA. Once the package reaches Malaysia, it is treated as normal mail and you will not be able to locate it. I must say I should have been smarter and opted to purchase insurance for the package. Alas, I did not but I will be smarter next round if indeed the package has been stolen or lost. I will keep you updated.

Update : I got both of my packages this week! Am super happy and nothing was broken!!! Yippee! Just don't know what took the Malaysian side so long to deliver the package. It was stamped cleared in August! Anyway, better late than never!

The above reminded me of something that happened a long time ago. I had just graduated from university and was packing and boxing up the stuff I wanted to get sent back home. I used a third party carrier (as it was cheaper at the time) and proceeded to send my stuff back to Malaysia. The stuff arrived a few days after I came back home and was delivered directly to my house. To my horror, I found that the boxes had been ransacked and that precious things have been stolen!!!

The thieves had gone through all my boxes and stole my entire collection of CDs. They did not want the CDs with chinese songs though. Anyone who knows me, knows I am attached to my music CDs so I was devastated. They also took other items of sentimental value and once done ransacking, they taped up the box again. I must say they didn't do a good job out of it either!

This is just a warning for the young ones who are about to graduate and come back to Malaysia. Buy insurance on the products you are shipping back through these carriers unless you are paying a hefty sum for carriers like DHL, FedEx, UPS and etc. However, a point to note is that friends who used the same carrier but lived in Singapore, had no problems whatsoever. Go figure.....

On a happier note, I have taken pictures of more cards that I have made and hope to post it on the blog soon. Am also thinking of selling these cards on my other website at Serenity Gemz but not sure if I should. Any thoughts?

New hobby!

I have not been updating my blog recently because I am suddenly caught up in all my craft hobbies! I started an ambitious cross stitch project about 7 months ago and still have about 35% to go before I'm finished! It's a picture of a fairy. There is supposed to be a pair of them but I don't know if I'll be able to start on the new one after I am exhausted with this one! Hahaha. Here is a picture of the fairy that I am stitching and what I have done so far...

Completed Picture

Picture is split up into 6 parts. I have finished 3.5 parts!

I forgot to take a picture of the other fairy that I would like to complete but you can sort of see it on the top right hand corner of the completed picture. So wish me luck! I am hoping to finish it by the end of the year! Hahaha. If anyone is interested in cross stitch, I get my materials and threads from this craft shop in SS2 called Yee Button House located at No.33, Jalan SS2/55, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. They can be contacted at 03 - 78770049.

The second and newest hobby I have picked up is cardmaking! I swore I would not pick this hobby up or even scrapbooking for that matter as I know a friend who got into scrapbooking and LOADS of money was spent on materials and tools. I do not remember what was the catalyst that brought me into the craft shop but I was doomed from there on! I thought I could control myself and only buy enough materials and tools to make simple cards. I have always been in love with greeting cards and whenever I go overseas, I would pick up lots of beautiful cards because let's face it, greeting card variety or options in Malaysia SUCK and I see the same cards being sold over and over again every single year!

For those who are interested in scrapbooking or craft material, there are only 3 retail stores that I know of that sells these materials and tools. They are Scrap Book Memories (previously located in the Old Wing at 1 Utama but moving to Tropicana City Mall, located next to Toys R Us), Papier Love located at The Curve and Craft Haven located in 1 Utama. My advice is to shop around before you make any purchases. This is because each store sells relatively different items and prices can vary quite significantly. For example, if you want to buy those Martha Stewart punches, get them from Papier Love as it is much cheaper compared to Scrap Book Memories.

There is also an online store where I find prices are quite reasonable and that is Scrap n Crop. However, I order a lot of my materials and stamps from overseas because even with delivery costs and the conversion, it ends up much cheaper than what I would get here. For example, for those who know, Hero Arts stamps sell for about say RM80 for a set of acrylic stamps. When I order direct from USA, it probably ends up being about RM20 cheaper, and that is including delivery cost!

For those who are interested to purchase items overseas or just to get ideas on scrapbook layouts and card ideas, these are some of my favorite sites to visit:

• Two Peas In A Bucket - You can get design ideas plus it is an online store
• Kristina Werner Blog - I love her cards as they are simple yet interesting

You can go to YouTube and search for their videos as well. Or maybe you shouldn't because then you'll be hooked and spend loads of money you don't have like me!

Anyway, the post is getting too long, so here are some of the cards that I've made. I will not say they're fantastic because I am still trying to experiment with different materials and techniques. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions!!