The Sketchbook Project

So glad to meet up with super duper nice/sweet & creative friends Melly and her sister Isabel last Friday. They introduced me to 'The Sketchbook Project' which is very inspiring. They are inspiring people and so happy/thankful that we made a pact to inspire each other. Thought of participating - it could be very interesting to do something like this, this year (or next year) and I shall make it as my major project for 2011/2012 (I say wow to myself if I did this!). However, participation is not free, there will be a fee of USD25.

I could never get tired of watching this video over & over again - crazy inspiration I so so LIKE! My mind is full of artsy ideas right now - gives me all kinds of imaginations!

2011 Sketchbook Project Tour Seattle from mightymoss on Vimeo.

I hope the Brooklyn Art Library is okay for they will be closing due to the Hurricane Irene that's currently hitting the US East Coast.

To be inspired more - click here.

By the way, Melly also gave me another very cool & inspiring site/link called Pinterest - I got addicted instantly! (luv ya Melly for that)

Being in my 30s

I'm in my 30s right now and am happy and proud to reach this awesome stage - talking about being married with two kids and having a stable job...I said YEAH it's cool to be 30 (something)! Although being in my 30s - I'm still very much young at heart:P

And I totally agree with this:
"If you are in your teens, get ready for your 20′s. If you’re in your 20′s you’ll totally know what I mean! They are definitely the HARDEST years for sure. You are still figuring out who you are, trying to get jobs, freaking out about your life! Everything just seems so unknown!

Then you turn 30 and everything seems so much easier!! True, you start getting grey hairs and wrinkles (ack!) and people start bugging you about having babies, asking you how “business” is and other grown-up stuff. But if you know who you are, and you’re not afraid to be different, the 30′s can be amazing!! Gone is the worry about what to do with your life (you’re already doing it!) and you just are so much more comfortable with who you are!" - Extracted from Shana Logic blog (one of my daily inspiration & fav blog)


A 30 year old something girl in the mirror - I look forward to a better and happy life ahead!

Secrets of the Self Employed

Someday soon I would like to be a business woman - as in own a shop and be enterprising. I think that it's great to be my own boss and thats my ultimate dream! In my teens when I was still in high school, I was already creating stuffs like doing handmade greeting cards & bookmarks, designing simple jewelleries and hair accessories and then selling them to friends. I was a 'wannabe' business woman and I even printed out my business cards (see pic - ha!). It's sure is great to dream something like this..I'll keep my dreams high and will work hard to reach out for it!



I recently digged out some of my old art materials from the closet and found these handmade stuffs (see pics below) I did few years ago....made me giggled and say did I really did this? I'm sure it was fun when I use to have lots of those art-times and for the sake of trying to be a creative person.

These are my handmade necklaces/chokers, bracelet and hairclips (I know they are ugly & childish designs but I made them when I was in my teens & early 20s okay):









Well..anyways just for sharing to those business minded people....

I got this great info 'Secrets of the Self Employed' from my favourite author & illustrator, Keri Smith via her blog, Wish Jar Journal. She's inspirational - love her!

Secrets of the Self Employed (or How to be an Amazing [insert profession here])

1. Don’t worry about marks while you are in school. No one will ever ask you what school you went to or what your marks were when you leave it.

2. You are always working for yourself, even when you work for others. Sometimes it feels like you are just the hired hand (and some clients can be really challenging to work with).

3. There are no actual rules for how to become a successful [insert profession here]. Make your own path.

4. It will help you to create a social network of other self-employed people.

5. Move your body every day. There are many health reasons for this, but it also helps you to work on ideas subconsciously. Ideas and solutions will come in when you least expect them but (almost always after a minimum of one hour of walking). There are new studies that suggest increased oxygen to the brain is a greater source for creativity than “creative brain exercises”.

6. Goof off on a regular basis.

7. If you want to work on your art, work on your life. All those personality traits that aren’t working for you will come back to haunt you in your career (i.e. assertiveness, fear of conflict, fear of confrontation.) It’s all connected.

8. What you think becomes your reality. I always had a belief that if I cleaned out my recycling bin in my studio I would get new work. And guess what, it always happened. If you think the industry is screwed and there is no work to be had, guess what you will find out there?

9. Focus on ideas instead of tools (technology). Anyone can learn to use the tools, but it is the thinkers who really impact the culture in important ways. In the end the tools don’t offer anything interesting.

10. Worrying about the competition does very little to help your career. I know it’s hard sometimes to ignore what other people are doing (we all think that others are doing better than us), but every one of us is on a different life path. We are all here to accomplish different things and even though it would seem like one person’s path is similar to yours, it is not.

11. Only work for free if you are passionate about the cause or receive something of value in return. (Be wary of people who offer your name in lights in lieu of money. Many people will tell you something is good promotion for you, often it is not and there are no guarantees when it comes to promotional value). If you are not getting something of a measurable value (i.e. printed pieces, or money) ask for something else, creative freedom. If they refuse then they may not be a good client to work for anyway.

12. Take some small risks on a regular basis. Some ideas: write some places/companies you would really like to work and let them know why you think they are great.

13. Don’t worry about whether or not you are good (good is subjective and most people are not great judges of their own work), just keep making work.

14. Ignore cool. Successful people do not try to be hip, they just do work that excites them.

15. Always come back to work that excites you. Even if you get off track for a while. Do personal work on a regular basis, show it to others. You can reinvent yourself at any time.

Art & Ghost

I drooled like a fool when I stumbled on this awesome blog ' Art & Ghosts' by Louise Robinson via decor8. I really heart her works - her art prints is one of the cutest ever! And I loved how different, eccentric, cool and SO creative she is - she's like the modern day Salvador Dali that her arts has some forms of surrealism touch. I really liked how she described herself - so unique! (Hi Ms Louise, I hope you don't mind me blogging about you & your beautiful works in here - I'm your biggest fan!).

If ever I want to write a children story book, I would love her to be my illustrator. My propose titles for my children book will be like 'The little girl who's afraid of the moon' and 'The girl and the mannequin' - sounds a lil weird too huh (?) and it's related to my lil girl, Carmen. Well, this is just a dream away.

Her lovely working space - I liked!

Two of her many cutest prints that I adores:

Just looked at what she reads - interesting books (see her reading list here)....no wonder her works of arts is different, so one-of-a-kind, strange & mysterious, beautiful, etc (I could go on and on just praising her works).

Notebooks from India

My sister, Debbie just got back from her India Trip yesterday and I think she will brag about it very soon in her blog. She actually asked me to blog about her trip on her behalf while she was still in India and gave me permission to use her pictures from FB but I didn't have the time to post about it in here yet. But I liked the fact that she got the chance of lifetime to meet HH The Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in Dharamsala, India and is one of the world's most influential religious figure - and I'm a lil bit jeolous (hehe)! Deb is so kind to buy me a few souvenirs from India such as this pretty unique notebooks - thanks Deb! We both love to collect notebooks. By the way (just for your info) we are fraternal twins. I bought 2 pretty notebooks recently as well - will show those addition later in here.

Well, here's to share some of her photos from her trip.....just love those creative art & craft stuffs and the Himalayan mountain range (to Deb, thanks again for allowing me to use your lovely photos):

More later from Mama Rock:-)

New Update: My Baby Chardon's Birth Story is up

Hi people, just to let you know that I have posted my baby Chardon's birth story...in other words share up about my antenatal and postnatal experiences for the last 2 months in May & June - if interested, click here to read.


Just to add...during my hospitalization for 2 weeks before Chardon's birth in April, since I was too bored and had lots of time to kill - I doodled this on my notebook. I've got nothing else to do except read mags my husby brought from home and doodling - as to prevent myself from losing my sanity (ha!)

I'm gonna doodle more like this - it's fun!

Charming Treat

Suria Sabah Shopping Mall was officially opened by the Mayor of KK City yesterday. Since both of us are quite flexible with our working hours, my boss and I went to Suria Sabah to check out the also newly opened Metrojaya, the anchor tenant of Suria Sabah (one of my fav retail store)...lots of pretty stuffs there (households, clothes, children section, etc) with some good prices too. The mall is still 70% empty, with only a few stores started operating and it was still bit humid and dusty everywhere. I didn't get to really shop at Metrojaya cos looking at the long que at the cashier made me think twice...oh well I did buy a piece of jewellery, a charming bracelet for about RM23...suppose to be a bday gift for a friend but I think I'm falling for it too - so cute (just look at the pic). I will definitely come back to shop there again sometime soon - need more time to choose & try on some of those pretty dresses (just loved the Somerset Bay Children clothes - for my CJ).


Anyways, my weekend will be - to go see the Charity Christmas Program at Sutera Harbour Resort on Saturday nite, I was given a RM20 voucher - there will be bazaar going on and then on Sunday - singing for my cousin's wedding at the Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort's Wedding Pavilion, and IF I have time - to transform these plain notebooks to a creative & unique look. My sis, Debbie done hers.



Have a blast this weekend people:)

Havin a lil break....

Illustration by Clare Owen

Still busy but will be back here SOON...just havin a break for awhile ya.

Later from Mama Rock

Art Project #3 & some inspiration

I've motivated my mood to be inspired and to work on some creative art projects these past two weeks such as these simple junkies. This is my real passion - I LOVE DOING THIS! Although I did this for fun and it feels great seeing & knowing what you have done after that - either its pretty or ugly...the most important is just being plain creative. Everyone can be creative!

No. 1 project: Handmade Notebooks

The 1st notebook I did is a "Love Urself Mini Book" (haha) (see pics: front, inside and back cover)...a little bit cincai because I memang cincai while doing it (ha)...so i guess it didn't turn out good....but good enough for scribbling and as 'buku rojak' lah.



Later...I did another two notebooks that looks better. I used recycled and leftover blank coloured papers from the office...instead of throwing, recycling is even better.



No. 2 Project: Mini art boxes / candy boxes (made out of matchbox/kotak macis)



I also love this so called tiny 'mint tin' which is very useful to keep little stuffs like paper clips, paper tacks and even staples. What a cutie!




I also adores this colourful paper tacks. I've got to buy more of this and they have few other cool designs. Got them from Mini Toons shop at 1Borneo Hypermall.



For my daily INSPIRATION, I got it from two of my fav creative blogs - decor8 & Creative Comfort. They just lashed out the creativity in me.

Inspired lately and will share some updates......

Been tight up with so much work recently. I've just got over and done with organising a Briefing on Goods & Services Tax by PricewaterhouseCoopers last Thursday and looking forward to our Branch's Committee Meeting followed by lunch hosted by one of Suria Group's company tomorrow. Afterthat...I'll go yeah and phew! Despite the busy-ness, I've been inspired to do a little bit of art projects lately (finally) and I've been working on them during the nights after my Carmen has gone to bed. I'll share something about it soon.

Well, some more later...but right now need to get back to my inspiration.

XoXoXo from Mama Rock

An awesome book

I came across an interesting blog through my fav creative site decor8 that I like...another creative one of a kind named Danielle Thompson. She also owns a shop called Tiny Bazaar selling cool and amazing crafts that I would die for...inspiring! Anything to do with arts and crafts...you name it...I'll just go all out for it...either I buy it (but of course depends on its cuteness and price)or try to do something like it. In one of Danielle's post, she featured about a talented author and illustrator named Dallas Clayton whom just published a children book called "An Awesome Book". I think this is really an awesome book and the author himself is crazy and funny....check out this video of him promoting the book. Funny and I laughed.


An Awesome Book from dallas clayton on Vimeo.
Here's some images about the book taken from Danielle's blog.


I hope this book will land in our local bookstore soon...I'll have to go find it already, if not then order it. It is for my Carmen...I want her to be imaginative and full of dreams.

Weekend Project

Did some art projects last weekend. So happy to finally have time to do artsy kind of stuffs...which is one of my real passion besides singing. I had fun but I only managed to do 4 handmade cards and a bookmark. If any of you people interested to buy these cards at RM3.50 each...just let me know. Sorry bookmark not for sale - just for display only.



Card #1 (showing front & inside of card with envelope)



Card #2 (showing front & inside of card)



Card #3 (showing front & inside of card with envelope)


A handmade bookmark (front only - not showing you the back, I feel it's too ugly)

Looking forward to have this kind of ME TIME again soon....feel free to leave some comments (for me to improve) if any.

My little Picasso

Took a one-day leave yesterday and spend some quality time with my little girl. We did finger painting which was truly fun. I noticed that she really loves playing with colours. You know simple art & craft activities like finger painting will nurture creativity while developing your child's motor skills. And I want my Carmen to be exposed as much as possible with arts and music. I was SO amazed to see that she at age only 2 years old really has the talent to paint...big talent actually and she loves every moment of it!

Here's some of her masterpieces which I consider abstract paintings (but of course with just a lil bit of help from her mama....to give each painting a title)





Title: Dream and Play by Carmen Jewel (10 July 2008)

Title: Hearts and Roses by Carmen Jewel (10 July 2008)

Title: Rainy Days by Carmen Jewel (10 July 2008 - because it rain heavily on this day)

We did another painting session on 13 July 2008, Sunday and here are two of my favourite finger paintings done by Carmen Jewel but of course again...with a lil guidance from me.

Title: Happy Thoughts by Carmen Jewel

Title: Flowers & Butterflies by Carmen Jewel

That's my little Picasso. One quote I like..."Creating colours is like making music; you create from an inspiration" I guess Carmen is inspired with painting after watching too much Barbie's Rapunzel "The artist in me".

Two videos I would like to share...about two young artists whom inspired me so much in being creative.