Glass Love Lost

I broke my favourite glass pitcher, by stupidly using it as a flower vase and putting stones in it to hold the blooms. The beautiful dark green glass pitcher was handmade and I don't recall where I bought it so I can't replace it.

I have to find a new pitcher and saw these beautiful designer pitchers from iitalia. I like the simplicity of this Kartio pitcher, it comes in a haunting cobalt blue too.

This jewel toned Orbix range from Cal Breed is quite stunning. I wouldn't know which colour to pick, they are all so gorgeous.

  

These are also from Orbix and I really like the burnt orange one in the front.

 

Aside from ptichers, I strayed and saw some beautiful serving bowls from Iitalia. They come in 12 colours.

 

 

 Sigh. Such beauty.

Black and Gold

I am hosting an early CNY dinner party tonight and it was all last minute. Half of the guys I know are not in town so I was going to postpone it then decided to do it anyway.

The CNY card I sent out this year looked like this.

 

The chinese character is pronounced as { jiu } and it is the number 9. The word also sounds like word - a long time, and the number 9 is the largest of the single digits so as a whole, it stands for longevity and power. 

 I liked the gold pattern so have repeated the design for this party.

  

I got some storebought BBQ pork and stuffed them in chinese flower buns with some fresh cucumber, it was ridiculously yummy. The wontons were black pepper prawn-filled and were not as great as the wrappers got bit soggy after sitting on the counter for a few hours. The rest of the items were purchased at Hakka restaurant, a really nice seafood joint nearby. 

We did the lou-hei tossing and people were gettng really into it and the salad just got tossed everywhere. After filling up with food and wine, the serious business of gambling started. I learnt tonight that S. Africans are just like the Chinese, they love a gamble. 

We were up most of the night drinking and shouting insults as each other as bad cards or good cards were dealt. It was a whole lotta fun.

 

Dutch love

Decor8's blog introduced a cute Dutch label Nooosugar. I love the colours and the resort feel to their collection. Our future beach house could do with a few of the colour threads.

I am in love with that bedspread and these bronze leather slippers.

 

Movie Night In

Over the weekend while I was my lonesome self, D came over with pizza offering and movie. We sat on the rug and dug into some crispy thin margerita pizzas while I talked about my ambitions in the designworld. She was enthusiatic about the stuff I have produced already and was full of ideas of how I can expand.

Nice to have so many supportive friends. She even asked that I help her create a personalized CD label for her and here are my preliminary designs. Which one do you think is better?

 

Or this one? 

 

D's niece has a birthday coming up and I offered to plan the party. The girl's turning 3 and wouldn't it fabulous if I could try out all the ideas I gathered in the past? D's keen and I am going to try and draft a proposal for her. The birthday would be in April and set in HK. Wouldn't it be just fabulous?!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Another round of celebrations coming up and I am looking forward to it, especially the food. Glorious food ! Our immediate family will have the reunion dinner at Mum's and baby G will be making her appearance but probably  will be asleep and oblivious to the din.

Chinese New Year is now celebrated everywhere, in Sydney, they are going to be displaying these giant Origami Tiger lanterns that look pretty awesome.

 

They are being displayed in front of the Customs House in Sydney from Feb 14th for a month.

Fantasy Cake Project

For class tomorrow, we are due to bring an iced cake of any colour and 6-8 sugar roses. We tried making the roses in the last class and I admit, I haven't practiced it at all since then.

Today I will attempt to make the cake and roses  but first I need some inspiration. The idea of having a totally white frosting cake is appealing and maybe white flowers as well so it will more or less look like a wedding cake.

Photos from the Martha Stewart and Party Dress websites are making me wonder if I shouldn't try something more colourful though.

 

 

Decisions decisions.
Well anyway whatever I make today will NOT be anywhere close, but let's give it a shot.
Will post some photos for laughs later.

Today I am loving...

These delicate handmade necklaces from some very talented designers in Etsy.

 

I like these vintage wings from Trystkerry. 

She also made this beautiful antler pendant in silver or gold.

This rose piece with double chains is very chanel like.

Elephantine Designs was the other chance find, with a range of sweet discreet creations.

 

  

 

I think retail therapy is the prescription for this weekend. what do you think ?

Eating Out in Margaret River

D is off to M.River in a few weeks, lucky girl and she is a real foodie. I am recalling some of my best meals there from my own trip 4 years ago. I got my tips from Z who was there even longer ago and her recommendations were too spot on.

Here's my list ( some of them came from Z)
1. Vasse Felix - for fine dining and superb wine
2. Vat 107 in town - I went twice for dinner because it was that good.
3. Sea Garden - out in the Prevelly Coast where I had amazing breakfast. The cafe has fabulous views of the ocean though it gets pretty windy out there. Seating is limited so call ahead. They also feature oven baked pizzas so one night, we bought some for takeaway and stayed in our hotel watching videos.

Found another fan of Sea Garden online and here are her pics.

It is a very casual cafe but quality of food is outstanding. The breakfast is not to be missed.

 

 

  

Go here to read her entire post and see more photos.

Prevelly is a tiny coastal town and I don't recall doing much there except soaking up expansive views of the ocean and being whipped around by the fierce winds. However I did see this property there and even blogger Chubby Hubby stayed there a while back. The Ron Roozen beach house is very modern and quite imposing but has uninterrupted views of the lively coastline.

Photos from Ron Roozen's website.

 

  

Chubby Hubby did a detailed blog about his MR trip and food experiences here. I only spent a few days there and did not manage to sample everything M. River had to offer but we hope to return one day and perhaps D, you can give me tips on where to dine then.

Wall Art

A friend was browsing on the project nursey website and spotted this wall of art prints in pretty pastels. She liked them and asked if I could help make a set for her own daughter's room.

 I tried to replicate similar patterns on my computer but did some different ones to make it slightly more personal.

Everybody needs thank you cards

Even if you are only 1. Although, who sends thank you cards anymore, who even writes letters or pen postcards in this digital age?

Still, I remember when I had penpals and the happy anticipation of letters from far away places. My box of yellowed notes once treasured now lost probably thrown away. Hopefully, with my new passion for stationery, this might change.

T's godson's birthday is coming up and it is never too young to have your own personal stationery, so I drew him some thank you cards that his lovely mum can use.

Same designs but in different colour themes. I am calling these Happy Zoo in Chocolate

And Happy Zoo in  Grape

Lizzie's Designs

I am toying with the idea of starting a small design business creating logos, stationery, wedding invitations etc.

3 years ago, when I first moved to KL, I made my own calling cards and that got me a job designing someone's corporate logo. It was my first assignment and I was paid a cool RM 1,000 for it. It was trying work and I must have drawn 40 odd designs but he picked one and we went on to create his website and company brochures.

Since then I have done more work for people and used the opportunities to pick up new design skills. I think now is the perfect time for me to start.

For now, the brand is called Lizzie Designs though I am thinking of other names. Chocolate Fox, Grass Fed Lamb, Three Minutes , are some of the names T suggested but what do you think ? I hope a great name will hit me at some point and then I will start creating my name cards and maybe a website.

In the meantime, I am working on a logo for my friend C, who wants to reinvent his website.

He wants a simple logo with his name in it and I have created 4 so far.




He likes the second and the last logo but still seeking for more options. I will go away to think about it somemore and show you what I come up. What do you guys think?

Stationery is my next experiment and I have designed some fun ones for D's kids. The prints came out well, the paper is about 200 gm and has a nice ribbed texture so it feels luxurious though inexpensive.

To package the stationery together, I found a darling shop that sells amazing ribbons and accessories. They sold hundred of designs in all colours and patterns by the metre and my mind was reeling from the possiblities.

Here's M's card with pale sand coloured envelopes.


She gets a party card theme with falling diamond confetti.

I packaged the cards with a delicious mango velvet ribbon and gold tassles.


A, her younger sister gets a retro red and orange design.


Packaged with the most adorable string of hot pink po-poms !


I created another for A this time with a pair periwinkle sparrows

And put a sequinned ribbon around it.



What do you guys think ? You like ? Is there a future ?

Holy Mother of ...

Turned on my computer this morning and was surprised to find an old old friend online. He was in NY working late and we had a terrific time catching up. I haven't seen C in over 5 years and he seems to be doing great. Back living in Singapore and working with a whole bunch of ol cronies from my broker days.

He has always been a daredevil and was into bikeracing and F1 cars but he was also my dive instructor back in the day. Last summer C was in Adelaide and took photos of their shark diving adventure. Be warned, it is not for the faint hearted.

Here is the first of the series I shall call - Holy Mother of ...

The beast decided that camera gear was more tasty than plain ol'bait.

The bugger was only inches from the cage ! Gulp !


Never for a million bucks would you find me in that thing.


That's him emerging with trembling legs.

What a rush eh ? See the whole set of pics here.