We could not be there..........

Today, our eldest niece, Kuya, got married. It was held in Kota Bharu. 

Despite the flood crisis and all, the ceremony itself went on smoothly. We wanted to be there to lend support to her. Her own mum could not be there. We wanted to surprise her (our niece). 

We have been performing the “Sembahyang Hajat” every day, ever since we made plans to fly up to Kota Bharu for the wedding. We prayed that the floods will subside, and the rain will stop, so that my niece can go through with her akad nikah, and we can fly up for the ceremony. 

My sister Adura has been keeping us informed of the flood situation daily, and as the flood worsens, we kept praying for a miracle. 

Our flight was supposed to be at 3.30pm today, 28th December. Her original date for the akad nikah was supposed to be on the 29th morning. But due to unpredictable weather conditions and rising flood water levels, they decided to have the ceremony earlier, throwing our plans to surprise her off tangent. 

Even as late as 11.00am today, we were all (hubby, son and I) still set and ready to catch the 3.30pm flight with the hope that the akad nikah will be held after 5.00pm so that we can still make it on time, even if we have to take the lorry to the ceremony, like my mum did. 

But at 12.00noon, my niece told me that the akad nikah will take place before Zohor, which means that it will take place before 1.00pm. She said that it is starting to rain again, and she doesn't want to take any chances. She has every right to be worried. The weather is so unpredictable.

My heart sank. I am going to miss my niece's wedding. My very first niece’s wedding. It felt like it was only yesterday that I was bringing her and her sister Kuyana around to family gatherings. Now she is getting married. 

I do so want to be there for her, but how? I have no private jet... 

It was too late to change our tickets to an earlier flight. 

By then, she had already known of my plans to fly up to KB for her ceremony. I told her about it the night before to give her moral support. I told her that I will try my very best to be there. 

I felt restless all afternoon today, during the time that I assumed was the time the ceremony took place. 

I feel sad that I could not be there for my niece. I so wanted to be there for her, but the worsening flood, and unconfirmed time of akad nikah due to unpredictable weather conditions just wasn't working in our favour to make the trip. 

So it was nice to finally see photos of the ceremony my sister posted. I cried.... 

Congratulations, Kuya, and Felix. You look so very pretty today. 

Sorry we could not be there on your big day. We tried...... 

May you have a long and happy marriage with lots of kids. Big hugs!

I finally got it!

Well, sort of! *grin*

I still have to perfect it further, but at least it is getting rounder.....

What is getting rounder, you might ask?

My cake pops are getting rounder and more...err.....well...ok....almost perfect....

After 3 attempts, I finally managed to get the right batter that would rise up to the top of the cake pop maker and making the top rounded.

Why this sudden craze for cake pops, you ask?

Well, blame it on my sister, Adura, or more fondly known as Chik, for getting me into this craze! LOL!

It all started with her attempting to make cake pops for our mum’s 75th birthday celebration (yeah! Still need to blog on that!) just over a month ago.

It was a 1st time for both of us trying to make cake pops. It looked easy enough. She shared videos on YouTube with me a few days earlier in preparation to make the cake pops just the day before the celebration.

Trust my sister to come up with such madness timing when we have 1001 other things to do! LOL! 

It wasn't as easy as in the video, I tell you! My sister ended up sleeping early out of sheer tiredness, stress and frustration from not getting the cake pop to turn out the way it should, leaving me and my niece to finish making them late into the night. 

We slept at 2.00am that night before the celebration, trying to finish up everything and get things organised!

After the birthday celebration, I could not help but feel that there must be some easier ways to make cake pops instead of baking the cake beforehand, crumbling a perfectly nice cake, adding butter cream frosting to act as glue to the cake to make them easy to form balls.

The butter cream ended up making the cake too sweet, and that’s even before you dip them in chocolate!

When you dip the cake pops into chocolate to coat them, it was like you just got a huge dose of adrenaline! LOL! 

Forming the balls was easy once you have the right amount (or shall I say, huge amount) of butter cream added to the cake crumbs. Making the ball stay in that form was the difficult part.

When we tried sticking the lollipop sticks into the balls, we sometimes ended up with the balls breaking apart.

When we succeeded in getting the stick into the ball without breaking it, the ball would still end up breaking apart or crumbling the minute we dipped them into the melted chocolate. 

So, not willing to give up on this new found craze, I googgled cake pops for days, watching video after video on YouTube (goes to show you how much time I spend at the airport waiting for my flights! LOL!).

That’s when I discovered the cake pop maker!

After further research, I decided that I am going to get one of this awesome gadgets that will once and for all, take away the stress of making cake pops! LOL!

I thought only my job was stressful! LOL!

I ordered my cake pop maker from an online shop called BarangOverseas. You can find them on Facebook.

My cake pop maker finally arrived after some initial disappointment of not being able to play with it over an extended weekend when the courier service closed for the weekend due to the public holiday. 

Anyway, as soon as the package arrived, I immediately opened it and wanted to immediately try making some cake pops. But when I checked the gadget, I noticed that the top cover was swaying from side to side. Thinking that it might be a faulty appliance and not wanting to have the warranty forfeited if I start using it, I consulted with the supplier I bought the gadget from.

Unfortunately the supplier has never used the gadget before but has never had any complaints from customers regarding it. She suggested that I give it a go first and if it causes problems, to have it returned. However, she no longer has the 12 hole cake pop maker. She only has the 7 hole maker. Bummer!

Anyway, as suggested, the following weekend, I decided to give the cake pop maker a go.

At the 1st attempt, I had some that were round, some that were flat. 

I tried the recipe that came with the cake pop maker.

The taste was nice though. 

Despite all the lopsidedness, I ended up eating everything up over a span of a few days. No wonder I have gained so much weight! LOL!

Not satisfied, a week later, I made a 2nd attempt using the same recipe which came with the pop maker which I had used in my 1st attempt, but this time I tried using self-rising flour instead. 

So much for self-rising flour, instead of rising high, I ended up with all my cake pops turning out flat! Only one or two pieces rise. I just don’t get it!

Since the taste was nice, though it did not look good, I decided not to waste it and instead went ahead to dip them in chocolate, put them into small gold coloured paper cups, which made them look really nice, and have some of them wrapped up in lollipop wraps.

I think no one noticed that they were supposed to be round like a ball. 

I gave them all away to friends and relatives as taste test. 

No one can complain when they are free, right? LOL! *wink* 

Not willing to give up on making the cake pops, I posted on FB asking for some advice. I also spent whatever spare times I had, again, waiting at the airport for my flight, googgling for other cake pop recipes.

I came across 2 sites and they have the same recipe. One even had a step by step photo, which really helped.

You can find the recipes here and here.

Not all the balls came out all nice and rounded. Quite a few did not rise high enough to reach the top of the cover, causing the balls to crack slightly at the top.

At the 1st round of this 3rd attempt, I only filled up 5 holes. I did not want to waste my batter if the attempt fails again.

I did a few tests by either adding more or lesser batter into the holes with each try, and also adjusting the timing. By the time I got the amount and timing right, I ran out of batter! LOL!

Anyway, I am quite satisfied with this 3rd attempt. Although not all of them turned out perfectly round, I like the taste from this recipe. It is very nice. Not too sweet. 

The texture is also just right. Not too light. Not too dense.

I guess this is a true and tried recipe. Even my son who usually does not eat much of any of my baking, except my Carrot Cakes, loves them.

He finished 4 sticks in just one sitting! Now that’s what I call being appreciative! LOL!

I went ahead to dip the cake pops into melted chocolate, and even went further ahead to add some decorations to the cake pops for this photo session taking just to show you that at least I have found the right recipe to make these cake pops.

I think I prefer the cake pops in a cupcake rather than just on a stick. It makes decorating easier. It is easier to serve too. I don’t need any special plate or Styrofoam box to serve them. 

Don’t you think these cake pops look lovely and yummy?

You can order them from me if you want to *wink*, but just don’t expect 100% perfectly round balls. But I assure you the taste is nice. ;)

Next, I am going to try other recipes like chocolate cake pops, red velvet and others.

I am also going to try other forms of decorations. Keep checking back!

Finally got my ribbons organised!

I have loads of ribbons!

I think many of my crafting friends know that. Heheh.....

Each time I need a certain colour ribbon, I'd be looking high and low for them. They are upstairs in my craft room, or downstairs in the dining room cum craft area.

When I can't find the colour I need, I would go out a buy a new roll only to come back and find that I already have one in that colour! LOL! *grin*

So, a few months back, I chance upon this Tilda ribbon rack at Kelvin's when I went over  to get some supplies for a quilt I am doing.

I just can't resist buying it and immediately came back to organize my stash of ribbons! 

Don't they all look neat all organized?

But this is only 1/3rd of my ribbon collection!

I need to go and get maybe another one or maybe 2 more in order to have all my ribbons neatly organized! *grin*

For now, I will just have to be satisfied with this one rack. 

Zippered pouch by Uniquely Aznique!

Need a pouch for all those little things you carry around? 

Need a quick gift that is small and cute but can pack in a lot of small items that is absolutely necessary to carry with you? 

Why not buy a pouch specially made by Uniquely Aznique! 

Check out our collection at

http://uniquelyaznique.blogspot.com/2014/09/zippered-pouch.html

New Little MIssy at my blogshop!

I have uploaded 2 new Little Missies at my Uniquely Aznique blogshop!

If purple and yellow is your favourite colour, then this adorable Little Missy is just perfect for you!

Made from 100% American cotton material in purple and yellow, this little bag will get your friends admiring it each time you go out slinging it over your shoulder or across your body!

The next one is a must buy to those who simply loves anything black and white and handbags!!

Made from 100% cotton material in black with white polka dots for the flap and side pockets and cotton linen for the rest of the bag.

Check them out at http://uniquelyaznique.blogspot.com/http://uniquelyaznique.blogspot.com/ for more details!

My first ever craft bazaar!

Yup! It was an exciting experience, albeit very tiring! *grin*

I joined my very first ever Craft Bazaar, organised by Azarine at Yee Button House at SS2, on Saturday, 6th September 2014. 

When Vivian first asked me if I’d be interested to join the bazaar, I immediately said YES! without giving it much thought. It was only like 2 weeks before the bazaar that I suddenly got all panicky when I realized that I don’t have much to sell and I was heavily travelling for work almost every week! I was even travelling right up to 2 days before the bazaar, coming home too tired to even pick up a needle!

There were also the weddings to attend at almost every weekend. So, how am I to work on the craft items to sell? 

I had plenty of WIPs (Work in Progress) which I started months ago but never fully completed any of them. I had started making Cross Body pouches, Little Missies, pincushions and other smalls, but they were all half done. 

So, 2 weeks before the bazaar, I forced myself to make a list of things I needed to make and complete for the bazaar. 

I came up with a quite a long list and it got me all nervous and anxious! LOL!

I was nervous because I don’t know what to expect. I was anxious because I wasn’t sure if I am ready for the bazaar. I am pretty much still very shy about selling my craft items publicly. But I told myself and hubby that I am just going to go ahead with the bazaar, at least to have some fun!

I was glad that my first ever bazaar was going to be held at an almost enclosed space where if I can’t get over my shyness, I can still hide in one of the rooms available at the shop! LOL! *wink* 

Anyway, in between heavy travelling for work, I managed to spend a few nights, late nights, I might add, before the bazaar to finish up all my craft items and to print labels and business cards as well as other things I think I would need for the bazaar. 

I wasn't sure what I would need to make and bring, and so I made plenty of assumptions. I kept telling myself that this is a learning process and I should not be expecting too much. 

Anyway, the day came, and despite planning to get there early so that I would have plenty of time to get the table, which I shared with Zarina, ready, I ended up getting there later than plan when my cat decided to spill his pooh bin that morning.

So we had to get that cleaned up first before we could have breakfast and I could make my way to SS2.

When I got there, Zarina had already set up her side of the table and Vivian was already halfway in getting her table ready.

I quickly set to work getting my side of the table ready, getting all hot and flustered in the process! LOL! 

I managed to get the table ready in the nick of time when the organizer announced that customers are starting to come in! 

I had my first customer an hour after the bazaar was opened to the public. She bought a pair of scissor pouch. My first sale!! Yippee!

Soon after that, my Cousin-in-law, Idah, dropped by. She has always been a strong supporter of my craft works and also a strong supporter of works by Artisans. 

She bought an Owl Sewing kit and a pouch which she said she was planning to gift it to her mum who does lovely cross stitch work. So sweet of her! So sweet of her too for coming over to lend me support! I really appreciate it, 

Idah, thank you so much for your support!

While I was entertaining Idah, hubby dropped by. Yes, another strong supporter of mine, always encouraging me to go for it! Thanks, Dia! Love ya! Hugs!

Both hubby and Idah stayed awhile. Idah went on to visit other stalls while hubby left to get some drinks.

Soon after, my mum, sister and niece dropped by. Despite getting lost finding their way to the shop, they made it!

My niece, Kuyana, is also a very talented and creative crafter. I think she is even more talented than me because she can come up with creative items just by looking at them in photographs.

In fact, after visiting my stall and the other stalls at the bazaar, she was so inspired that she went home and made herself a backpack using old jeans belonging to her ex-boyfriend. My mum said now my niece will always have her ex-boyfrined on her back! LOL!

My mum, sister and niece stayed awhile and my mum, after much hesitation and haggling (LOL! *wink*) finally bought a maroon cross body pouch from me!!

Thanks, Ma, for your support! It means so much to me to have you support me in this other venture of mine. I really appreciate your trouble coming, despite getting lost!

Thanks, Lin and Kuyana, for driving over and bringing Ma along. 

I may not have made that much sale that day although I had some people interested in my items. Zarina had a lot of inquiries for her HDTs though.

Since I had prepared myself for this eventuality, I wasn't too disappointed. I may not have made that much that day, but enough to cover my overheads, but I gained a lot of new friends, crafty friends who were more than willing to impart their knowledge and advice when they found out that this was my first ever bazaar.

I made a lot of connections to widen my networking into the craft community. I also gained lots of experience and exposure by joining the bazaar. It was a very good experience and I am looking forward to the next one sometime in November!

This time, I hope I will be far better prepared for it! LOL!

The rest of the day, while waiting for customers, I went around chatting up with the other stall owners/crafters.

There was this sweet guy, Ali, who was selling bags made by his mum, sent all the way from Sri Lanka. He is working as a Lawyer here in Malaysia.

And then there were two stalls selling everything owls.

I bought a owl keychain from this stall.

There was also a stall selling art T-shirts or something and a stall selling hand-painted postcards.

There was also a stall selling Juki sewing machines.

This is Faridah. A very friendly lady selling some soaps.

I just love all her bags!

Vivian has a table next to ours...

Here's me with Nicole, a very nice and helpful lady.

She gave me lots of tips and advice and gave us ideas on how to make our table look more interesting.

She gave us the idea to put up Zarina's quilted table runner as a background for our stall to make it more attractive.

Thanks, Nicole!

I just love Nicole's table! So vibrant and colourful! I bought a pair of chicken pincushions!

Here are the rest of the stalls selling all things crafty, just to give you an idea as to what were being sold.

Overall, it was an exciting day! I truly enjoyed myself!

I had some flustered moments when I had people inquiring about my stuff all at the same time! I got so anxious that I was sweating all over! LOL! *blush*

Thanks, Vivian, for inviting and suggesting me to join the bazaar. Thanks to Zarina for willing to share a table with novice me when she could have taken a whole table to herself!

Thanks to Azarine for organising the bazaar. I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully I will be free to join the next one.

Thanks to cousin-in-law Idah, my sister Lin, my niece Kuyana and my mum for your support. 

Big hugs to hubby for his continuous understanding and support. Love ya! Muaah!

To Ma ....from the heart with lots of love..........

Ma, insyaAllah Yana will make it if she is determined and works hard to become an Architect.

I have realised Ba's dream of becoming an Architect. I have worked hard for 29 years to be what I wanted to become since I was 6 years old. It will be 36 years, insyaAllah, upon retirement.

I have gone through many stressful moments throughout that 29 years but Allah has given me guidance and strength each time to weather all those challenges, and your support and love have made me stronger. Alhamdullilah, Allah has blessed me with so much rezeki. I am truly blessed. Syukur.

But I have many other creative talents too and I also have other dreams, and to someday open up a craft shop cum cafe cum bakery is another dream I hope to realize even after I have retired. Doing Event Management, MC-ing at functions is another. That talent I got from you.

Work is tough. Life is even tougher. I don’t want to have to be constantly under pressure even when I am 80 years old or even older, God willing, umur panjang, chasing datelines.

After working so hard all these years, I want to enjoy and take advantage of the other parts of my creative talents.

I hope that I have not disappointed you too much that I did not have plans to open up an Architectural firm. I think I did initially.

I had many dreams when I first started working, but, I guess I stuck to serving the Government when job markets started going bad during the recession. After that, I just got comfortable and happy with what I was doing.

Serving in the public sector gave me the opportunity to learn many things and form good connections I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to form if I was working in the private sector.

I had opportunities to get involved with projects that gave me opportunities to make ‘pahala’ when I was doing religious related projects. Those involved in the religious projects were also the same people who gave me spiritual strength and support as I go through tough challenges I felt I have never gone through before in my entire career. It was a blessing from Allah.

InsyaAllah, if di murahkan rezeki, and I get promoted, things will get even tougher as I climb the ‘corporate ladder’ as some people call it, but I hope that no matter what challenges comes my way, Allah will guide me and give me strength. I hope that your love and support combined with the rest of the family’s support and love, will make me an even stronger and wiser person to be a good leader.   

So, Ma, you have given me support and love to pursue my dream of becoming an Architect. I hope you will also give me support and love to pursue my other dreams too.

I will still the same Architect you and Ba wanted me to become many years ago, and although I still love designing to this day, and doing Project Managements, I am not sure whether going through constant stress chasing datelines will be good for my health when I am years older.

Thanks for coming to the Artisan Bazaar yesterday. It meant a lot to me to have your support.

I don’t intend to make this a full time job just yet. It is still very much a hobby and something I love and am passionate about. I am still very shy. I am testing the waters and learning the ropes, but it was a fun experience.  

I love you!

NNC Stitching Bee 21st June 2014

OK, I am behind in reporting this, but, heck, at least I am reporting right? LOL! *wink*

Anyway, this time around, the turn up is much smaller – only 5 of us.

I arrived with Faizon and Rose at close to 10.00am. The Food Court at The Gardens Midvalley was just about to open its doors! That’s how early we were! LOL!

We took a corner of the Food Court and got ourselves settled in.

I had brought along the lovely Birthday gifts Margaret and Bee Ee had given me to show off to Faizon and Rose and who else were coming.

I got a lovely pink polka dot aluminium box which in it were a pink measuring tape, a piece of pink fabric and a lovely pincushion, also in pink!

Bee Ee sent to me a lovely coaster with a hexy in the center. She also included in the packet a pattern for a tote bag which she won at this year’s Anniversary Meet.

She said that I’d probably have more use for it than she since I am into bag making.

Thanks, Bee Ee! I just love the pattern and the coaster.

Thanks to Margaret too for all the lovely things all in pink! I can never get enough of pink! LOL!

Zarina arrived as we were about to order our brunch, and while Faizon was showing off her lovely tatted doilies.

I just love all her lovely doilies, especially the colourful one on the left.

I have always love the end product of tattings but could never get into the hang of tatting. 

Oh well. If ever I add tatting to my already long list of passion, my craft room would be overflowing with more stash, not that it isn’t already! LOL!

Zarina added more excitement to the tatting passion when she brought out her lovely hand overdyeds and colourful tatting shuttles to match!

In the midst of all the excitement of looking at Faizon’s tatted doilies and Zarina’s colourful overdyeds and shuttles, who should arrive to add more excitement? Anna! We have not seen her in ages!

Anna has not joined our Bees for a very long time. She has even missed 2 of our Anniversary Meets. So it was great to be able to meet up with her again.

As if the excitement of seeing her after such a long silence was not enough, Anna made it even more exciting when she pulled out from her bag a lovely colourful ripple shawl in progress which we squealed in excitement upon seeing it! LOL!

As some of us took the opportunity to have brunch, I, as usual, took out my hexies to work on.

Faizon, as always, took out her tatting to do.

Faizon also brought along a tatting book which I thought if ever I want to go into tatting SOME DAY, this would be the book to get as it has easy steps to follow for slow learners like me, when it comes to tatting! LOL! 

We sat and chat for a while as I work on my hexies, Faizon on her tatting and Anna on her ripple shawl.

Before it was time to leave, we had a small Lucky Draw to recycle door gifts received from previous Anniversary Meets.

Diane, Anna got your cute measuring tape house!

Seen here is me and Rose trying to show Anna how to put the measuring tape house together.

Soon it was time to leave when Rose’s son came over with her cute granddaughter to have lunch.

We left for home but not before we dropped by Art Friends as I wanted to get a bottle of Mod Podge. I want to try my hands at making some Mod Podge projects. 

I just love the Mod Podge bottle caps Vivian made for the Anniversary Sale. I snapped up all the small bottles! LOL!

As always, every time I go to the Stitching Bees or Anniversary Meet, I always come back inspired to work on a craft project. However, this time, I came back too tired to do anything.

After dropping off Faizon, I dropped by the fresh veggie mart to buy some veggies for dinner.

By the time I got home, it was close to 4.00pm already.

I had a quick lunch (bought Japanese at the Food Court before coming home) and after a short break (fell asleep on the couch from pure tiredness and the heat), I got up and got dinner ready.

After dinner I thought I'd do come crafting but the heat gave me a bad headache. I decided to stay cool in my air-conditioned room for a while, but fell asleep.

I only woke up at 5.30am the next morning! LOL!

After Subuh prayers, I decided to start working on my Apple Core Quilt Project while I wait for the weekly maid to arrive.

Yeay! I have completed putting all the apple cores together to the size I want it to be!

Now I just need to drop by Kelvin’s or Yee’s or even maybe the soon to be newly opened Spotlight at Ampang Point, to buy the backing material and the batting!

Can’t wait to get this quilt done! It’s coming to 2 years already since I started on the project!