Balik Kampung!

Balik Kampung means Back to Hometown in Malay…

I’ll be going home to visit my family, especially my dear granny this coming Thursday! It’s just for the weekends and will be back on 4th of April… I’ve not been home for 2 years! The last time I was home was 2008 Chinese New Year… :(  Longing to go home for very very long! Miss my granny and miss the food there too!!

This is also the first time I’m bringing Joel back… :) I hope he’ll have great time there… So excited!!

Where is my hometown?? Well, I came from Sibu, Sarawak. It’s locate on the East of Malaysia, Borneo Island… A lot of my friends don’t really know where is this place and always thought I could go back by coach.. However, I can’t… I need to go back by plane. That’s why, I can’t go home regularly like some of my Malaysian friends who are staying at the west.

 

Images extracted from www.mapquest.com

Wedding Couple for Jun

Jun wanted a pair of wedding couple for her friend who is getting married on 1st of APRIL… :) It’s an easy date to remember… ;)

Her friend’s wedding theme is oriental theme and requested the bride doll to wear cheongsam… Previously, I had a few buyers requested for cheongsam bride doll, but due to time, I couldn’t do it for them. This  month is a quiet month for me, hence, I have plenty of time to try…

It’s not easy to sew the cheongsam though… Took me awhile to complete this set of wedding couple.  Jun hasn’t seen the real pair. I hope she’ll like them…. ;)

Due to the costume, I have to make this pair in standing position. But the dolls are soft and can’t stand well by itself, so, I have to make a base for them to stand on.

I’m using lace to sew the cheongsam. It’s really not easy. Pricked my fingers couple of time while sewing… :( But I love the result!!!

Wedding Couple for Feona

Feona wanted a pair of wedding couple for her friends. I’ve completed this couple quite sometime back; not knowing when she’ll be collecting from me. Unfortunately, when she wanted to collect them, I wasn’t at home. :( Thankfully, my DH drove me to the hotel where the wedding was held and drop the dolls with the concierge. Sigh, what a pity, I didn’t get to meet my long-time friend…

 

I've received two sms from her later in the evening:

“… I like them so much. Some of my friends were really amazed. Thanks for sending it all the way. Really appreciate.”

“My friend and her hubby like it very much…”

Wedding couple for CF & BS

Their wedding theme are pink and white. CF wanted her bride to have a bum on the side with flowers and her groom to hold a heart shape pillow with their name sewn on it… :)

I’ve noticed that this is a popular style that most of the brides will like to have: simple and sweet….

Heart-shape Birth Mark

I didn’t notice it until Betsy told me during our lunch the other day. We know that Joel has a birthmark on his left wrist, but we never notice it’s a heart-shape.

From Han and Seng….

I’m glad that Han’s and Seng’s wedding dolls brought them joy and happiness…

They brought their pair for photo shoot… It’s it lovely??

Wedding Photo from Han

On wedding day, their dolls were place on their bed. Han told me that the dolls had stolen their limelight. Instead of taking their picture; her friends, photographer, videographer, xiaodi, xiaomei, were taking pictures of their dolls!!!

Wedding Photo from Han

Knitted Wig!

OH GOSH!!! This is sooo weird but very very cute!

I chanced upon this blog while looking for DIY’s materials… I find it’s very interesting and will like to share…

http://www.pompomemporium.com/content/megan-reardons-knitted-wig

Wedding Dolls and Personalized Dolls for Paul and Ting

Honestly, I’ve been rushing this order for the past one week! I’ve under-estimated the amount of work to be done. THANK GOD, I have a great great helper, YL to help me to complete this order. Without her, I don’t think I could make it on time! Tiring but full of satisfaction!

Ting’s wedding is on 28th of Feb, the 15th day of Lunar New Year, also Chinese Valentine day….

 

If you notice, the groom’s hairstyle is different from the usual ones. She actually drew the hairstyle she wanted, and I just tried to make accordingly… Turn out pretty well… ;) Besides that, she wanted her groom to hold a heart with their initial on top.

As for her bride, she wanted an ivory/gold gown. Took me awhile to find the suitable yarn and also lining for the gown. Then she wanted a long veil… This is the first time I did my own lace, by attaching one onto the other one. YL said the outcome is good! If I didn’t mention, she’ll never notice it…

Then she wanted exaggerate hair’s accessories with blings. Honestly, I’m taking my risk on this. I found these 3 flowers that had glass diamond in the middle from a small tailor shop near my place. I though it would suit the theme, which is Gold, very much… So, I decided to use them, then I added crystals as leaves.

Then, she also asked me to make 8 personalized dolls for her sisters that helped out on the day of her wedding! These 8 personalized dolls are made according to their HAIRSTYLES! Wah, very challenging at first… I hope I have delivered the results….

These dolls are angels and they are holding hearts that have their name on top! This is also the first time I sewn so many characters… Practice really makes Perfect!

All the angels are wearing champagne color dress. I’m using Egyptian cotton, Yellow (#235) from Knotty Bicsie. This is the nearest color to champagne color. Then I’ve made ribbons for all the angels.

 

Grace: She has brown shoulder-length hair with long fringe that combed to the side.

Shann: She has black shoulder-length hair with long fringe that combed to the side

Hui: She has long brown hairs

Bina: She has short black hair

Claire: She has short brown hair with short fringe.

Wen: She has short black hair with short fringe that combed to the side.

Sasa: She has long brown curly hair with long fringe that combed to the side

Mok: She has long brown curly hair with fringe that split at the middle

Personalized Doll for Mary

Mary wanted a bigger doll for her friend. So, I decided to make a 6” tall doll, which is similar to the size of the wedding dolls… Mary told me that her friend has long hair. Her favorite color is Pink. Besides that, she loved Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The moment I heard Mickey and Minnie Mouse, 2 big Mouse ears came to my mind. Besides that, Minnie LOVES to wear short mini skirt, so tutu skirt came into my mind too…

Mary loves the doll and she said her friend would too… Hope so….

Personalized Dolls for JW

I’ve made these 3 lovely dolls for JW’s sisters that helped out on her wedding day. JW wanted me to personalize the dolls according to their favorite colors and hairstyles! She loves them a lot. Hope her sisters too….

I was trying to create a Chinese New Year mood for this shot, because we are still celebrating Chinese New Year… LOL

Sister 1: JW wanted a hair-band for her. I was using the Gold Spark yarn I got from Knotty Bicsie.

Sister 2: She loves Pink and White and she will like to have a halo of flowers on her head…. :)

Sister 3: Is my favorite! She has curly hair… I really like to do curly hair dolls, they look so cute! Then her favorite color is purple, so I added 2 purple ribbons at the side to make her cuter!!!

Happy Prosperous Lunar New Year

“Gong Xi Gong Xi” Joel wishes all of you 恭喜发财，万事如意

  by offering a mandarin orange that signifies good fortune….

May the year of the Tiger brings joy, prosperity and love to all of you and your loved ones….

Wedding Couple for Su See’s friend

I’ve been busy lately. CNY is just around the corner, I’ve been busy cleaning up and preparing for CNY. Besides that, my little rascal is getting naughtier and wanting my attention all the time… :( I can only craft when he’s asleep…. Thanks to my good friend and also good helper for helping me to do some parts of the doll. Otherwise, I don’t think I can complete all of them on time!

PHEW! I’ve managed to complete Su See’s dolls on time! She asked me to make this pair for her good friends in Malaysia. She loves the paper flowers and lace, so, I had made the classic wedding dolls…

I didn’t use my usual background for the photo shoot cos I was running out of time.

She came over my place this afternoon to collect them. Oh yea, the groom was suppose to wear a spec. She said after putting on the specs, it looks exactly like her friend. LOL! Glad she likes it…

Wedding Couple for BJ & Ivan

The world is very small, or shall I say, Singapore is very small…. =P

BJ is Betsy’s friend, Ivan is my ex colleague, and both of them saw the wedding dolls that I showcased with Knotty Bicsie @ Gift Fair 2009! Though they already married, but they would like to have a pair that made according to one of their wedding photos.

Another coincident, BJ’s parents are staying a few blocks away from mine! LOL! The dolls were personally delivered to her parents’ place. So far, this lovely couple have not seen the dolls, due to their busy schedule. I really hope both of them will like it…

Wedding Couple for Cheryl

Cheryl’s wedding is today! Congrats, Cheryl… ;) May God bless you and your husband with abundant LOVES, PEACE and JOY…

Her wedding couple is very similar to SH’s… Tiara and flowers… However, I’ve made her a halter neck wedding gown…

23rd of Jan – Auspicious Day

These were the two wedding couples for two lovely newly-weds who were married on 23rd of Jan 2010. Seems like 23rd of Jan was an auspicious day to get married….

Wedding couple for JacKh

The bride doll was wearing bling bling hair-band… As for the groom, she wanted him to hold a basketball… Hmm, guess the groom loves to play basketball… The wedding theme was gold in color…

“Hey Jullie, I saw the dolls. Very very nice! Thank you so much!…. Can’t stop looking at them…

SMS from JacKh

Wedding Couple for JS & SH

Their ROM (Registration of Marriage) was held on 23rd of Jan 2010 too… Their ROM’s theme was blue. SH loves to have tiara and flowers. So, I’ve decided to sew the bum at the lower left side of the hair and add little flowers there… She loves it very much…

Joel’s 1st Birthday Party

Last Saturday, 23rd of Jan, we celebrated Joel’s 1st Birthday at Goldkist Beach Resort, East Coast Park. We had invited our very close relatives and friends. My parents came all day from my hometown, Sarawak to attend this party. Coincidently my aunt and her family were here too. It has been awhile since we had such a gathering and was really fun!!

Thanks to May Ling and Jin for decorating the place for us. Honestly, the chalet was quite old and ‘run-down’ and both my DH and I were very very disappointed with the condition. But after decorating, the whole place looked quite nice… ;) But still, we are disappointed… :( It’s not worth the money we’ve paid…

Before the party, Joel went for a swim! It was his first swim.

Rei has made this wonderful cake for Joel… ;) It was yam cake and super delicious… If you look carefully, the bear is in 3D! I’m sure Rei had spend quite sometimes to ‘draw’ and ‘color’ this bear!

We were so reluctant to cut the cake. Anyway, we finished everything!! ;)

More shots on my Flickr album.

Family Portrait

My family members

My parents and my parents in law

My in laws

Cake cutting

Friends and relatives that we’ve invited…

On the actual day, which is 25th of Jan, I’ve cooked Joel mee sua… Since we’re kids, we would had a bowl of mee sua on our birthday… Mee sua symbolizes longevity. I’ve cooked mee sua with a chunk of meat, carrots and potatoes. Joel loves it!