.....

Too bluish to find a title for today..

Both my daughters are sick yesterday, got a case of throwing up whatever they ate...
Went to the doctor and whatdaya know? He said there's been cases like these for 2 months in his practice.
So we got them some medicine and oralit.. and thankfully today there's no throwing up..
But my biggest is very clingy and moody and not active at all.. doesn't feel like eating, but only wanting to drink, so that's still good, I suppose..

Feeling sad and blue...
Isn't it weird that if they're both so energetic and running around I'm like, "hey, quit it you guys! be careful!" and when they're like tired and not moving at all... I'm like, "what's happening? where does it hurt? are you okay? you sure you don't wanna eat this cookie?" ha ha ha.. being a mom.... :)

So here's a layout of happy times, the running around times...

rilakuma washi tapes! very cute....

Hope you guys are in a perfect health!

Handwritten layout

Second post of the day... hm....

Now I just want to share for the scrapbookers out there, to not be afraid of journaling your layout with your own handwriting. If you hand down your albums for the next generations, they would love it so much to see handwritten notes. They would see your personality, your handwriting, your story, and it added extra touch.
I also want to encourage you to not be afraid of making mistakes or crossing out words that you spelled wrong.

Scrapbooking is not all about perfection, not about making the best and greatest layout (although that would be fun to do as well). But the heart of it, it should be about your photos, and your stories behind the photos. To record what you remember about the day you take the photos, and that your sons/daughters/loved one would see a glimpse of your world, of how you live your life. It's memories and stories passed down from generations to generations. I think that's the main point of scrapbooking.

So now I'm sharing a layout, and noticed that I made a misspelled words and I crossed them out. I'm not re-doing it, and I'm leaving it just as it is. It's my prayers for my daughter Ariel, the blessings and hopes that I have for her future. I just want to record my prayer, and when she's older, she can remember the heart of a mother who wants the best for her. And that God answered prayers. That God is faithful. That God is with her, always.

If you care about products (ha ha ha.. as I do) I'm using Sassafras sunshine broadcast as the background, and My Little Shoebox for the girls embelishment. I also use Tattered Angels glimmer mist for the drops of ink (love love love using it, it added more 'oomph' to my layouts), and sassafras alphabet stickers for title. The rest is little bit of scraps paper to add dimensions.
The top strip of the layout is washi tapes that I have on my store, and the bottom strip I'm using Crate Paper emma's shop.

That's all, and I'll be showing my birthday layout soon..

daily life

Hi all..

time goes by so fast, now it's the end of september. Soon it's going to be December, Christmas! yay..
and I should have some Christmas art journal: December Daily for sale on the mid November.. wait for those....

Today I'm posting another layout, Claire took the photos and I love it so much, it shows our daily life, and she captured it with perfect camera setting from iphone..
I'm using Sassafras papers, Sunshine Broadcast. I do not love it the first time I saw it, but now I'm loving it so much! It's so perfect for background layouts, and I used them like 4 times already!

Hope you have a good day!

Laskar Pelangi Musical Layout

Hi all..

so today I'm sharing the layout when we went to the Laskar Pelangi Musical. I believe I already blog about them, and rave about them as well.. it's the most exquisite little darling musical, it fits with the intimate theater as well. If you haven't seen them, you should.. IF.. that's a big if... they wanted to do another showing... because it's not running anymore now.

Here I'm showing you that you can also put your tickets, stubs, restaurant's name card, and incorporate them into your scrapbook layout.

And this is the edited photos... ha ha.. so happy to know how to edit my photos properly..

This base paper is using new Crate Paper collections..(which is available at my store, www.akikostore.com)  and also October afternoon papers for the black white star paper, and the peeping blue doily up there. The scalloped edge is also using the October Afternoon paper: five and dime.

Claire's classmate is having a birthday today, at school. So wait for a boy's birthday layout sometime in the future! In the meantime, have a great weekend, y'all!

Claire's layout and photoshop

Good morning y'all!!

Last night I was browsing pinterest, and I come across this really cool super easy tutorial on how to edit your photos in PS. I tried it, and it worked! That's why I say super easy because even I can understand them. I'm usually hopeless in the technical computer stuff, editing, figuring out how to do stuff, I need someone to instruct me step by step. And I don't bother experimenting because for me, it's a waste of my time. Let other people experiment, when they're done, they can tell me about it! ha ha ha..
So it was in pinterest that someone was sharing how they edit their photos, how to make them sharper and give them more light.
It's true that all the bloggers out there always edit their photos before they post them. I don't. Ergo, it's not as sharp or as beautiful as I want them to be. Now I know how to edit! Yay! So happy!!

So here's my layout and I want to compare them, before editing and after editing... I'm really curious as to whether it makes any difference or not when I post them on my blog.... and if it does, boy, am gonna edit all of them everytime before I post!

before

after

before

after

before

after

my oh my! I can see the difference! Much sharper and clearer! More color pop!! Oh wow! ha ha ha..
This is also my first time trying it and posting it on the blog! wow.. so excited!!

So, are you interested in editing photos as well? If you are, I can post it on my blog next time.. If not, then I just let it go... you can comment and ask me for the link for the super simple photo editing.

Have a great day friends!

Layout share

The third entries for the day...

I wanted to share a layout that I made before the Idul Fitri holiday that I didn't post before...

This layout is about my second daughter, Ariel. It's using the latest MME paper, aren't they gorgeous?? I also do some layering and baker's twine... this is the first time I'm using the twine.. and it has some good effects, yes??

The paper itself has the perfect title for this photo, and I didn't do any journaling because I didn't need to... It's just Ariel, she's very adorable to me. I will use these photos over and over again, for different layout.. I love her expression on the photos.. :)

That's really all for today, and I will blog again tomorrow for sure....

Birthdays

Hello there..

2 days ago was my birthday, and I receive so many birthday wishes and prayers... it's all greatly appreciated. Downside is, my husband is not here, he has to go to Thailand for job stuff.. so I can't have our birthday dinner on my birthday....
Instead, I took Claire out to buy me a birthday cake, and some donuts!

The cake is not what I wanted it to be, because I forgot to order them the day before, and I just remember that morning that it's actually my birthday and we didn't have a cupcake to blow the candle in the morning (our little family tradition). So I just bought whatever the bakery had...

But today, a box of goodies arrived for me! I just wish that it arrived 2 days earlier, not today.... but it's still okay, because it's here!! ha ha.... It's like I'm giving myself a birthday gift, I order some of their kits 2 weeks earlier, and by chance it's here now!

Studio Calico kits!!! yayy!!

Full of goodies, papers, stickers, alpha chips, stamps, buttons, and Mr. Hueys!! Very very eager to try Mr. Huey's to my layout.. since Kelly Purkey talks about it so much!

Who else have a birthday on September? How do you celebrate???

La Duree

Hi friends!!

On the Idul Fitri holiday, one of my friend's sister went to Paris. And of course, I can't stop the urge to ask her to bring me back a box of macaroons from La Duree!! And I asked, and she said yes!
So after she got back from Paris, my friend dropped by to my house and voila! 2 boxes of La Duree macaroons!! More than what I've asked for, which is soo greattt!! ha ha ha...

I totally appreciated her kindness of bringing me these. You know it has to be hand carried, so that all the macaroons won't get crumbled along the plane ride! So, dear friend, if you're reading this, many many thanks even after all those yummy macaroons are eaten.

The texture of the La Duree macaroons are very crumbly, and tasted so great! It has green tea, black sesame (my favorite, who knew??) dark chocolate, caramel, lychee, coconut, raspberry, lemon, green tea, and who know what else?? Next time I'll go to Paris, totally going to visit the store myself!

Happy wednesday, y'all!

Pre made first year baby album

Hi all..

since it's been a long time since I've posted about my scrapbooking, so I think today is the perfect time to do it.

I've made another pre made album, comes with embelishment. All you need to do is just add photos and journaling to it, as I say, the fun stuff.

This pre made baby album (for first, second or third year, made from all scrapbooking paper, acid free) priced at Rp. 350,000 in limited quantity.

Here's the photos:

What's included in this baby mini album?

24 scrapbooking papers (made into 12 months, 2 spread per month)
4 tags
1 doily customized paper
4 custom made tags (punched lace tags)
8 embelishment/stickers (round ones)
4 washi tapes
4 various ribbons
4 various punched paper border
4 punched hearts

and I will custom made the cover for you...

And as to ideas once you buy this mini album? Just check out here...

You can also get this on my store at:
www.akikostore.com

Happy shopping!

Ocha Bella

This is a continuation of restaurant blogs that we went to during the Lebaran.

After so many months listening about Ocha Bella, how hip it is, how it's the newest place where the Jakarta's celebrities go to, cool place to hang out, pretty good food, we decided to visit and dine there.
What a perfect time to go because all of Jakartanians are out of town, so we thought it shouldn't be too hard to get into without a reservation. We got there at 6, and it's not that crowded, so we got a seat right away. But when we leave, all the seats are full, and there's waiting list. So lucky to come earlier...

The place is good, friendly, open to a small garden, and there are tents on the garden where they transformed them into tables for eating. The garden is filled with twinkling lights and my daughters specially loved the rocking chair and hammock.

Here's what we order:

 

I personally think the food is just so-so, not so good, and not so bad for the price range. The service is also a so-so. Maybe I need to order something else next time. Definitely going back there because of the ambience, not the food. But the ice tea though, it's the best ice tea that I've ever tasted. Almost the same with Social House grandma's ice tea, it's served with lemon gelato in the ice tea.

If you want to hang out with your friends,  to relax and chat and drink, this is a very good place for it. Especially at night time.

Yesterday....

Yesterday I learn a lot of things at once.

I learn that life itself is so fragile. Here we are busy walking through life, thinking about me, myself, us, my family, our future, that I was being reminded all over again. That in one second, anything can happen to us.  In the next minute, days, months, we don't know what's going to happen to us, but God knows. That all the things that we enjoy on earth, if we're taken away, don't matter anymore. Because then, what we have left is Jesus. What we store on earth, doesn't matter anymore. Gone. We can't take it with us. The question then, will be, do I have the storage in heaven? Have I done my best for Jesus on this earth? Have I done what I'm supposed to do in this earth?

Last night in our date (cellgroup) we sing this new song, Jesus be the centre (click the sentence, it will take you to the youtube video) by the very talented Israel Houghton, or you can listen here to see Sydney Mohede singing the same song. It's extremely very simple and yet very very powerful song for everyone who listen to it.

Jesus, be the centre of my life. My everyday boring life. My everyday routine daily life. In my special moments life, in my extraordinary moments life, in my quiet life, in my busy life. Be the centre of it all Jesus.....


On a lighter note, usually in date we take turns in bringing food. Since we tease our friends about it, suddenly the generous Michael and Johnson come through in bringing us the complete package of Whopper Jr. Burger King, with fries and coke. This truly sets the bar for all of us... ha ha ha... because some of us are big BK fans. It's like dream come true... ha ha ha..

Have a good lunch!

New Papers are arriving in my store!!

Hi all...

quick post to announce that I sell papers now!! Yay! Going out with a new venture, and braving myself to take risks to sell papers. So if you have friends who loves to scrapbook, refer them to my website:

www.akikostore.com

or, just visit the facebook here: www.facebook.com/akikostore

to order the papers, contact me at the number above: 0817.03330.687

I love Christmas papers, and love making Christmas daily album. So here are some of the selections that I have on the store for you:

Aren't these the yummiest?? The Christmast -est (is there such a word?) paper? This is from Crate Paper, and it's my favorite lines for this year. Get them while they are still available because they will be sold out pretty soon...

Well, that's really all for today.. gotta go working out (still hates them, and after 3 weeks of not working out, I'm not looking forward to it.. ) But we still have to do what we have to do. The only thing that'll keep me going is that I can have BK afterwards.. ha ha ha!!
I know I know it's cheating.. but it's kind of why I'm working out.. so I can eat whatever I want when I work out.. ha ha ha...

Have a great day, y'all!!

Back after (non) holiday....

Hi everyone..

After two weeks of Lebaran, my maid have finally come back, and now I have the time to blog again.
It's really a non holiday for me and husband, since we have no maid and have to do household things.
I'm doing fine when husband wasn't working yet, but when husband started to work, and I'm alone with two kids and housework.. nerves started to fray... emotions run high... ha ha ha...

I think now it's time for me to cool down and have some "me" time, eh??
I can't imagine all my friends who live in Vancouver, and for them it's daily life, doing housework, dealing with kids and all by themselves, without support from parents or relatives. It will get to you, I suppose, unless the person is the housewife and loves being a housewife.. to which I applaud loudly..... they're really brave and strong and patient kind of person housewives....

Anyway, since it's lebaran, we almost went out for lunch everyday, but I forgot to take photos of them. I take some, but not all.. This holiday is actually a great material for my food review blog.. ha ha... but I totally forgot to take some photos!! gahhh..

We went to Central Park for lunch, on one of those days... because the kids love feeding the koi fish.
And this time we went to Penang Village, one of my fave restaurant... I love the decor, it's like you're outside but you're inside... and as always, food is good...

This is my youngest sitting in a baby chair, eating her own food. She loves eating noodle with her hand, and she eats a lot!! I took the photos with leme leme cam in iphone. Too yellow for me I guess.

And these are what we order:

malaysian fried noodle. very good. kids eat them until they're gone and I just have to say 'wait!' to take pictures

the sweet fried milky prata. It's huge, and it's crunchy, sweet and salty.

very very good tofu with silver fish. love this very much.

nasi lemak.

ayam goreng terasi. it's good, but I prefer the one in the Soup Kitchen.

the deep fried soft shell crab.

That is all for today... I will blog more for the next days...