We have DSLR y'all!!

At last.

After two years of contemplation and after two broken compact digital cameras - one AT KLIA and another one in the flight TO KLIA - we bought a DSLR.

(there must be something very wrong with the chemistry between digital camera and KLIA....) (...and me).

Now I can take fine photos. I have more reason to blog.

Lazy Sunday : Lazy pants

Remember that evergreen musical film about this pretty postulant - the governess of the good-looking Captain's children – who dressed all seven of them in beautifully-sewn play-clothes made of old drapes? They sang and run happily on the mountainside, climbed trees along the roadside (still singing) and got kantoi by their dad afterwards? Ok ok... here is the clue :


I came across a stack of old cushion covers in the cabinet last weekend. They are so adorable and I couldnt stop myself to make these for my child :o)

Skill : Basic. Duration : 10 minutes/pair (I skip the edging part). Edging would took less than 5 minutes per pair, but to take it out from the cabinet... clear the table...look for extension wire... adjust the threads while holding Nazran - who will be jumping in joy and try to climb up the table when he see new things....that would take some times.

I believe there is nothing wrong with turning old stuff into something wearables.

Little Book of HowTos

In (this post), I wrote "As usual, I jot down the process in my Little Book of HowTos. I'll post some snapshots of the lil book later".

So, here you go (read without prejudice ye). I better publish it quickly before I feel stupid showing these to others.

(EDITED)
I've deleted my cookie recipe.

HOTEL REVIEW 03 : PULLMAN, Kuching

I went to Kuching, Sarawak in January 2010 and stayed at Pullman Hotel. A newly-launched 5-star hotel located on the hill, near to Hilton. The overall colour scheme is nicely-coordinated = a good combination of silver and white, with a dash of orange, and red. Since the furniture are very ZEN-like, it is good to be extra careful because they have sharp edges. I knocked my toe on Day Two and it bleeds like crazy. I knocked the same spot with the VERY SAME TOE again on Day 3. Ugh.

The food was GREAT. I had a little chat with the chef and he informed me that the food (and its preparation) are HALAL. A good point for those halal-conscious people like me!

Furoshiki

I always volunteered to be the one to scout around for the best farewell (or newborn) gifts for my officemates / club / circle of friends (a very good reason to go shopping with my family!!).

And I always end up wrapping [most of] them in fabric, instead of wrapping papers. Since I really love to sew, so I have tons of fabric (fat square, scraps, designers') at home. I like fabric because it is very dynamic, flexible and reusable. You can always use it or turn it into something else. (or you can give it back to me – to wrap other gifts). It is also the best way to go green. So, let's furoshiki!!

Habitat fever is here!!

I am pretty occupied with photo editing and compiling old documents for Habitat Blog - a blog about Malaysia's programmes and activities for the World Habitat Day (WHD) celebration every year since my office is the National Focal Point for United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) in Malaysia.

In 2010, we going to have 10 programmes/activities (and we only left with FOUR people after July!). You can read it in the blog after it being launched in July 2010. This is the slide I designed for the recent Habitat committee meeting. You can see the official WHD theme/logo for 2010 - Better City, Better Life.

Sneak peak - Habitat Blog (http://habitat.kpkt.gov.my/) - Click after 15th July 2010!

To : M A M A

beautifully-designed cushions for my pins

I just found out about Sis Mutia Azura's passion towards sewing and designers' fabrics. I heart both but I found it difficult to squeeze between career, study, family and business (trying..trying..)

We worked in the same field and she owns a Sew Retro Chic! blogshop. These are what she made me. Pin cushions. Yippie. If you like to sew, then u know how crucial it is to have pin cushions.

Nabil is into matryoshka nowadays. If the one with matryoshka gone missing, I know who's drawer to dig in! *lol*


And they have themes! Black and White Wonky Love, Bright Retro Sewing and Kawaii Japanese Matryoshka in Linen.

Her entry on these (here).

I won! I won!

No, it is not the UNESCO's Culture Count poster competition. It is a Logo Design Competition for our Corporate Club. It was held since February until 15 March 2010. The public voting for the logo and club's motto was held on the 19th.

This is my winning design. I designed this in two minutes while waiting for a document file to be transferred to my thumbdrive. Next thing I know, I turned on my laptop and email the design to the committee. Unplanned.

The winning Motto is - 1 Korporat, 1 Keluarga by Miss Irane Wiguna Idral.

KUDOS to all Corporate Club committee member for a smooth public voting and last public speaking session! With that, I pass the baton to Miss Kristin for the Emcee speech recitation session everyday.

PS : I was the coordinator for Public Speaking Session for the Corporate Club for the past 3 months. I called up two person every morning to talk on anything, for 3 minutes. Oh yes, they hated me. haha.

Arin was on Untalented Dreamer

I havent visit Nabila's blog for a while. Not until my sister told me about Arin is one of his entries (here).

Nabila is my uncle. A very young uncle perhaps. And at the age of 24, he is already a grandpa for my kids. They called him Atuk. LOL. Nabila (well, he prefer to be called Nabil now) was a chef and he is VERY GOOD in drawing cartoon characters. Thanks for the entry, pakcik!

UNESCO poster competition - I need popularity votes!!!!

Remember my post about Design 21?

There was a competition last time for one of UNESCO's programme : 2010, International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. I joined the competition. You know I can't say NO to any design competition....

This is the design brief : Participants of the competition are invited to express their vision and understanding of the “Rapprochement of Cultures” by designing posters that creatively emphasize the importance of exchange and dialogue among and between cultures in ensuring social cohesion and harmonious coexistence. Entrants must keep in mind the international nature of UNESCO and the celebration of the Year and avoid any reference to a particular country, region, culture or religion. (owh, you will see the element A LOT).

Public voting for this competition is now open until 22nd March 2010. There will be a prize for popular poster. However, the winner will be chosen by professional judges. You can vote for me. But you need to register first. The placement of the poster is constantly changing to give equal chance for every entry to be viewed. So, at 10am, my poster might be at page 20. But, i was told at 10.43am, mine was at page 33 and at 11.10am, it moved to page 31. I dont know where it will be next. So, KEEP SEARCHING!!!

All you need to do is search for my poster below and click [VOTE]. THANK YOU!!!























*Thanks Hazwani for being the second person to vote for me :o) And thanks Cik Ida Ilyana for spending a very LOOOOOONG time looking for my design among other 1186 entries. And finally be able to click [vote] *wink*

I done my part. If it wasn't meant for me (the prize), then it is OKAY..

My first animated A

Font : Return of Relayscript

Thanks to Naji for trusting me in creating a multimedia presentation for Dr. Aimi's wedding. If it was not for him, I wouldn't have a chance to explore animation work using Photoshop. (Surprisingly Photoshop can do animation! I didnt know that before. But I am sure you do)
















I have a very limited resources since my design desktop (worth nearly RM10k) was in "coma" for nearly 3 years. She is the best PC so far. I can construct 3D, render animation and edit videos in a very short period. But now... I just have to make do with my laptop and Photoshop unless I can get RM500 to bring the CPU back to life. (Yes, ONLY RM500).

SMS me for my account number if you want to donate RM500. tq.

(TO VIEW THE ANIMATION : Right click > Open Link in New Tab. You have to click F5 every time you want to see the animation). I didnt set it to LOOP or else the page will be too heavy to load because the animation will go on and on, non-stop.

7 March - International Children's Day of Broadcasting

Hey all!! U know I am actively involved in UNICEF. I have some UNICEF announcements to make here.

This coming Sunday (7 March 2010) is International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB). The ICDB was initiated in 1991 to give exposure to the issue of children's rights. Over the years, the ICDB has become a day of celebrating young people in the media. By giving children media skills and putting their voices on air, other young people will know that they, too, can have a voice.

I, on behalf of UNICEF Malaysia, am proud to announce that to celebrate ICDB this year, a host of Malaysian TV and radio stations are standing united to honour children by way of highlighting programming by, for and about children. The theme for 2010 is "All Rights, All Children", and I have news that young people will be co-hosting some of the programmes.

I would like to invite you to tune in to these special programmes which will be aired the weekend of 6th-7th March.

As you tune in to these stations, I hope you are also reminded to tune in, and listen to the young people around you. (Yes MUMMIES and DADDIES, I am talking you)

To find out more, and for a complete list of programmes and schedules, please visit www.unicef.org/malaysia

SPECIAL HIGHLIGHT

"Jom Bersama 3R"... 3R and UNICEF celebrate International Women's Day Women's Rights: Stand up, Speak out, Take action.

Join the 3R TV hosts - Tini, Celina, Rafidah - and UNICEF for a fun action-oriented day on Saturday, 13 March to celebrate International Women’s Day 2010. This year’s theme is "Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all". Register today >here<. Its free!

Hope I can make it (if we are not going to Cameron Highlands that weekend).

FREEBIE!!! - Long Acrylic Bead Necklace

(well, at least I think it is acrylic). LOL.

Again, bought this in Sarawak. A plastic full. But now it is half full (positive...positive...). I am giving away one long necklace to one lucky Garlic & Butter reader. So, if you REALLY want this, email me your cutest photo. Just the photo. You don't need to paste any poster, be my follower, publish my link, write any story, etc etc like other [lame] blog contest giveaways.

Leave your blog address in my comment box. My fashionista cousin, Cuna, will choose the winner. Yes, she knows what she's doing. (btw, how often you came across people with the name C.U.N.A?)

Just to give you the idea on its length :
(Thanks to the sexy model, Miss Kristin Shamini)

I have a lot to give : DESIGN 21 + UNESCO

(Fakri email me asking for updates)
One and only thing that keeps me occupied during lunch hour is Design 21. It is a social [DESIGN] network. Unlike any other social networks that people solely joined for networking *duh*, Design 21 is a social design network. We strongly believe social change can happen through design.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a partner of Design 21, together with Fellisimo. Being a social design network that has been endorsed by the UN for quite sometimes makes me truly confident that my effort and time spent for Design 21 everyday, worth it....

I learned a lot from others (I met a couple of good industrial designers there *wink*). That's the main reason WHY i haven't post anything for a while :o) LOL. Every time I logged in, I will be busy getting inspired.. until 2.00pm. Well... I will participate more in the future.

So, come on my designer friends, join Design 21! And start designing for a cause! We can make a difference.

I am also on these..

WINDOWS 7

I am using Windows 7 and it is TOTALLY COOL!! I love the sticky notes... the snipping tool... just to name a few (too few, eh?). Still exploring. Very blogging-friendly.

AM I LUCKY OR WHAT??

Last year I entered online contest by Emmagem.com + OSIM and Clarins. One on beauty-related stuff and another on green living. Both are my fortes. I don't think I stand a chance (OK, a very slim chance) because there are thousands (if not millions) people online every second and they will at least came across one of the contests by chance.

After two internetless weeks @ Borneo, I have the reason to be happy checking my emails. I won both contests. I will collect Clarins hamper after publishing this post (Yippie!) and will attend the Emmagem.com + OSIM prize giving ceremony on Friday. Alhamdulillah...

To sustain or not to sustain?

I am a member of The Designers Accord. An good organisation that gathers do gooders / good doers from all over the world :o)
I want to share some simple and witty (yet very TRUE) responses from TDA's online survey. Of course there are other great [and technical] ideas but these are the one that grabbed my attention :
WHAT 'S YOUR GREATEST SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE?
- Removing plastic from my life.
- Cost.
- Food packaging. In the supermarket, everything I eat is packed at least twice.
- Not using the latest material just because it is sustainable. Just use less.
- Getting middle America to actually get it!
- Depression over how much there is to do — I’m tired!
- Quoting Daniel Hebert-Moto: “it’s complicated stuff”
- Eco-friendly materials are too expensive!
- Affording it. Sustainable solutions needs to be the most economical in order to be adopted (and should be eventually).
- Training people to design and make furniture while questioning whether the world really needs any more furniture.
- Convincing people that we have spent the past 50 years making a mess, and should now spend 50 years cleaning it up.

Speaking of which, I would like to present the latest addition to toil's family - GO GWEEN!!

I am currently on these ..

The decade that was ....

...

Another idea materialised! : SYAZWAN CHAIR

I love sketching. I love designing cloth, furniture and practical solution for daily life. I always wanted to study industrial design but I guess it wasn't that famous in the 90s (or I have limited resources back then), so I just settled for architecture.

Beside my lil book of howtos, I also have an "Idea Book" that I keep in my drawer at the office. It is full of sketches and of course, ideas. One day, my dad browsed through the sketches and he saw "Syazwan chair". It actually an S-shaped chair [and the S is for Shamrizal - my dearest husband), but later I changed it to Syazwan, name of my kids.

5ive of us went to my in-laws house on Saturday and when we came back, my dad said,"Come here, I want to show you something". To my surprise.... I saw Syazwan chair at the corner of the porch. THE Syazwan chair. Yes, he hired a carpenter to build THE chair. They bought two types of wood, cengal emas and meranti. My dad chose cengal emas (it is a very solid wood and the chair is sooooo heavy!). They made the chair within a few hours.

I love it. I love it. I love it.
I can look at my hubby (OK, or my kids) whenever we spend our lazy Sundays - reading or chatting - on THE chair. It is easier to teach my kids to read and write, and suap nasi there.

I was informed that a couple of our neighbours dropped by and captured some photographs of THE chair during the construction.

[smiling]

chocolate pudding

One boring evening, I surfed the web on any recipe that uses CHOCOLATE as the main ingredient. And I came across a very simple CHOCOLATE PUDDING recipe. I SMSed myself the recipe (going paperless now) and I gathered the ingredients in 5 minutes (I told u it is simple.. I have it all in the kitchen). I made the pudding twice for the whole family. They like it very much and the kids fought over it.

Thanks Kak Hana for ordering 300 cups of chocolate pudding for Irfan and Ifrah's aqiqah. I made it for fun. Experimenting on the possibility to start a chocolate pudding business. But, Naahhhh.... It is time consuming and we have a lack of fridge space. Plus, I am pretty occupied with works and 3 kids so NO, I dont take any order (*hint*hint* for Azah and Wana). LOL.

Hotel Review 02 : Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore

I have a chance to accompany a group of VVIPs to Singapore for an official visit in August 2009. It was a very fun trip although it involved protocols from the moment VVIPs arrived at KLIA until the moment they took off from KLIA after the trip.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore. One of Singapore hotels with Halal kitchen. So I was told. This 5-star hotel is located at the heart of Singapore. About 15 minutes from the airport.

The staff are very friendly and helpful. The food are great. I like the room. They have kiblat direction sign. The interior is very clean and neat. I have yet to post my review in TripAdvisor.

Hotel Review 01 : Imperial Boutec Hotel, KK, Sabah

I travel a lot to Borneo in 2009. And for every trip, I will make sure I stayed at different hotel. Don't ask me why. I just enjoyed doing it.

Imperial Boutec Hotel is a 4-star boutique hotel located at the 7th floor of the famous shopping complex - the Warisan Square - in the middle of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Only 10 minutes from the airport (RM30 for taxi). I reserved a court-room without knowing what it is (I guess that is the bad side of an online reservation). FYI, court room is a windowless room. RM170++/night. It is only a 5-10 minutes walking distance to Philipino Market (and seafood stalls at night).

Boutique hotel is a term popularised in the States and the UK to describe intimate, usually luxurious or quirky hotel environments. Boutique hotels differentiate themselves from larger chain/branded hotels by providing personalized accommodation and services / facilities. Sometimes known as "design hotels" or "lifestyle hotels". Typically boutique hotels are furnished in a themed, stylish and/or aspirational manner. They usually are considerably smaller than mainstream hotels, often ranging from 3 to 50 guest rooms.

You can surf the net for the detail on room prices, location and all. And you can [click here] for my honest review on this hotel via TripAdvisor. I am not putting it here, just sharing photographs.
I just love to experience the different ambiance, detailings and the hotel concept.

Nabil loves Bean

ohh... they are ONE and FOUR

It is hard to believe Nabil is already FOUR (Well, it is still hard to believe I already have 3 KIDS *wink* sungguh laju). It was all happened very fast. Two days prior, baby Nazran turned ONE. Yay! Two birthdays in one week. I have a greaatttttttttt ideas for their party decoration. But, we have yet to pick a date.

Corporate Club Annual Dinner : Retro Night

The preparation went smoothly. Be it for the costume for the whole family or the Retro hall itself. Kudos to all, esp the decoration team. I know you guys worked hard towards the end.
Now, let's talk about the baju. I've spent quite some times to search for the right retro cloth for my kids. To no avail. Since I decided to be a hippie myself, so, I bought two tie-n-dye mini dresses and transformed them to be a little hippie shirt for my boys. It only took a few hours. Skill : Basic.
Then, the dress for me. Tie-n-dye. I planned to make my own, but since I am pretty occupied with piles of work, so, I bought it. I have different [great] plan, but it turned out to be otherwise. The combination was actually disastrous, well, hippie to combine with the classic 70s granny look, but since people liked it, well, I dont mind bringing back the hamper :o) [thank you! thank you!] So, I assume I managed to pull it off, despite constant mumbling by my sister - "what is so retro about your dressing?", "how do you define retro by this?" and bla bla bla... It was actually amusing. HEHE.
I dont eat much because I am wearing a [very] high heels and my mom's sunglasses. Disoriented and pretty hard to balance. So a trip to the *yummy* stall outside the hall seems impossible. LOL.

Retro Night Aftermath : The queen is folding the vinyl floor cover. Permaisuri2kan selalu kena buat kerja amal...