Dream

Skype pop sound*

It was my purple (We are purploh-holics.) twin, Zed Dabaliew.

We were talking about what we were going to do in university again (Actually there has only been 2 times.)..
Fashion designing (Crazy fashion designing I mean. Like Gaga styled clothing.), design and  arts was what she wanted to do and mine was THAT + Culinary arts, we have both always wanted to do those things ever since I knew her, I am pretty sure.

After the drawing I completed yesterday I decided that the type of "art" (And fashion. Well I have always loved sewing and designing clothes since I was able to cut out paper dolls and I just got back from the craft store again! Now I have a ton of felt, thread, embellishments and more sequins for my next clothing art project!) I wanted to pursue in was more on the modern/abstract art side.

I find traditional arts are a bit too boring for me since I like well... NEON colored things more than anything else in the world.
She found it the same too! Smiley face*  

Then we were talking about continuing our studies further in Paris (Or something like that but I like the sound of Paris though..) then opening up our own boutiques in Paris, London, New York and Milan. (And my cake boutique would be next to the fashion one of course.) called ZaZa.

And we would only be making clothings (And CAKES!) for filthy rich people..

Sigh, I love people who dream as big as me and try to make it their reality.
Oh and I hate the opposite.

~K  

Skritchy Sketchy

It all started yesterday at noon when Mommy decided that in between what-ever-time-you-woke-up-6PM was no laptop-ing or Teevee time, YIKES!

And... Eu Fai (That's my 7 yr old brother, if you are a newbie to my blog.) got me re-addicted (I was a crazy neopet addict until.. I got occupied with cake decorating. It was either cake decorating that stopped me from playing or that my billionth account got frozen because I hacked too many times, hmm I wonder.) to Neopets again! Starts crying*

So yeah, not checking my FaceBook and my Neopets account for 30 minutes was PRETTY tough.

It was once of those rest-doing-nothing days and I was pretty much going insane and while restlessly walking up and down the room I found my sketch books a box of colorful ink pens piled on top!
Yippee!

It wasn't very hard think about what I wanted to draw, I always draw things that is well, ME.
Well let's see I like things CHIC, colorful and with a glimpse of black everything pops, a touch of goth, swirly and it HAS to be UNIQUE and when you add them all up together you get my style!

I started of by drawing some lines with a light yellow pen to give the plain blanko paper a bit of color at the same time not too much, just enough to make the background of what ever I was going to draw more interesting than a piece of white paper and also it had the graffiti/techo look which I wanted.
And I stopped half way because I was getting rather sick of drawing lines with a rather crooked ruler!

I decided to split the paper into 2 parts after that because I only intended to use one half actually, the graffiti name writing thing came up when I was half way through the fantasy flowers. (Love them fantasy flowers! You can just let your imagination go loose with them!)

I am not too sure what the divider looks like to you, it was supposed to be lace (Gothic lace actually, inspired by Raven Madison but black made the lace look very un-delicate so it turn into white-old-grandma-lace, hooray.) and it was VERY time consuming!
The lace alone look a little plain so I added some interesting looking circle/ball thingies. (Have you ever seen those "Me" tees? Like there are say black teddy bears all over the shirt and there is one very bright colored teddy that has a me in it. Basically something that stands out from the crowd. I was inspired by that t-shirt. The red heart ball is the "Me" in my drawing. Check out the random balls at the upper left side of the A4 size paper as well.), I think they did a good job of brightening up the lace!
And the only tool I wanted to use for this master piece (Coughs*) was a ruler so perfect circle balls were pretty hard to draw. Blinks*

After drawing the fantasy flowers (Inspired by some felt flowers and folk art, I LOVE being Innnssspppaaaayyyyeeerrrddd!) and monochrome vines and some crazy lookin' leaves.. I realized I improved quite a lot since the first time I did my lollipop (That't what I call my drawings with the swirly vines for a reason you shall never find out. Evil laughter*) land drawing, soo.. proud.

It took a total of 4 hours or so to complete and I the boredom disappeared, hooray!

~K

Fish net

I know, I know! It has been ages since I posted!
Well I actually have a half done Twitter bird origami tutorial I "filmed" (I mean "pictured" in PD.) but I got rather sick of posting the instructions since it was SUPER long AND no one commented on it so I am guessing you guys don't like origami, huh?

So anyways..

Like my fishnet (You know.. as in those tights/stocking thingies.) royal icing piping?!
I am working on a Polar Express train cake and the train is well.. On a icy mountain and the snow/ice is RI!
And.. I had extras!

Instead of dumping them away in the bin I decided to practice a bit of string work (Not sure if this is considered string work or not..) today and I have ALWAYS wanted to try out this technique (Nope, sadly it isn't an original Karen Cuppy Cake creation, it is a David Cakin' Crazy one! Man, I love the cakin" crazy team! They are pure awesomeness!) and it has been AGES since I last did so called "String work"!

The last string work and actually the first (I just realized!) string work cake was "India's Lace"!
The cake (Or master piece, starts laughing*) I made for the ICCA cake competition last year!
I am glad I didn't loose my RI piping touch!
I guess it is like riding a bicycle, you can never forgot it! (After you torture your hand piping with a #00 tip for 1000000000 hours on a cake I bet you won't forget!)

The fishnet is 13" long and it is piped with a #1 tip.

~K

Something orange 2

Am playing with my food again!

And is starting to LOVE eating oranges! Just for the peel!

Wanted to make something that look EXACTLY/Egg Zac Lee (I remember once I actually forgot how to spell "Exactly" because I was so used to writing/typing in my own "Language"!) like the the wooden wall decoration mask thingy I saw in a craft shop in Miri town!

I think I succeeded! Except for the painting part (And the fact that it is only 4 inches in length and the one in Miri was.. 1 meter tall!.. Or maybe taller.)! (The mask I saw was black and it was covered with rainbow colored polka dots that had an interesting pattern. Love that mask SO much! Too bad it was like a thousand or something, would have loved to hang it in my room!)    

Couldn't make anymore today because Fai (That's my 7 year old brother.) took the rest of the peel to carve them into a castle, a grumpy face and a skull.

I have to admit they look pretty good! I am VERY impressed.. And embarrassed because there is no way I could carve something like that (Out of orange peel!) when I was 7. 

And he did mention he wanted to decorate cakes with me in my bakery next time, so I guess I will hire him for cake carving since I am completely useless in that!

Can't wait to take up wood carving!

~K

Sand Castles

This post has been slightly delayed since I haven't been in the mood for blogging much lately since I got hooked to making origami cranes! (My caking table is currently over flowing with them! They... Are... SO... Super... Addictive! Plus Machika, the Japanese youth exchange student we were hosting, remember? Said that if you make a THOUSAND you will get to make a wish that will come true. So gonna try to make a thousand to see how true it is! Oh and I am running out of pretty very square origami paper, buy me more?)

Oh right, sand castles!
We spent out (Last) weekend in our soon-to-be-home in Port Dickson as usual with Machika and yeah, I had a pretty good (More to the awesome side.) weekend since.. I found a new art project that I could work on for like only 4 hours a day!

I have never really ENJOYED the beach much.. It's relaxing and... boring sometimes since I do NOT like swimming in sea water (Unless there are visitors then I do not mind.) and getting anymore then my feet sandy.
So last week when we visited the beach with Machika the tide went down pretty low and it un-covered a MUDDY bank (Just imagine a sand bank that is well mud not sand.) that was FILLED with tiny holes dug up by miniature crabs. (I love running over them since they roll the mud/sand they dig out of their tunnels into little balls, it makes the texture of the ground really nice to run on, I am so evil.)

Then I remembered the sand castle book I was reading...

I was reading a random book I found on one of our book shelves in P.D about 5 months ago (I like remembering un-important random things.) and it happened to be about "How to build sand castles" (I love "How to" books, especially if it is about something random and I happen to like it!), I was pretty hooked (Wait, dazzled!) on how they could make BEAUTIFUL sculptures out of sand!  

And... The way they described the mud/sand thingy they used to make their sand castles was EXACTLY the same as the mud/sand I found on my beach!
I felt VERY hyper.

The only thing/technique I REALLY remembered  (Because my mind was blown away by that technique.) was "How to make an ARCH".
So, yeah. I tried and succeeded in... And hour!
It collapsed many, many, many times! (Even when it was ALMOST perfect! As in done smoothing and shaping! Loved the fact that our only tools were our hands and that the people in the book used a couple of tools, LOL! I get pleased too easily.)
(Oops! The photo of my first arch was in Machika's camera! Nooo! I was SO proud of it!)

Anyways, we were only at the beach when the low tide was well.. Half way through and it came up REAL quick, well to me it did! 1 Hour building that arch felt like 10 minutes!! And I could actually see the tide coming up SUPER fast, it was scary!
So we actually waited for the tide to go down the next day since we wanted to spend a longer time on our castles!

Above:

Machika and me with her sand castle, castle and my Nessie!

Below:

I have never really enjoyed making (I hate getting anymore than my feet sandy, remember?) sand castles as much as I enjoyed making Nessie!

I was pretty much in a rush to finish her because the tide was coming up! Please excuse the rough detailing! Can't wait for my next chance to make another sand sculpture!

Can't wait to move to Port Dickson to do more sand sculpturing!

I may be a good sand artist as well, who know?!

Below:

A part of Nessie before she was completed or an arch!

I just love the sand and sky as the background! 

~K

How to: Origami Crane

Sorry about me being MIA in my blog! 

I (I mean we, the Leong family.) have been hosting a Japanese youth exchange student, Machika since last Thursday and everyday has been REALLY exciting and drop dead tiring (Lets see... We went to Batu caves, Orang Asli museum, Genting Highlands, Broga Hill, Shopping @ KLCC, Port Dickson, Ice Skating, More shopping @ Sunway Pyramid. Super fun week!)! 

So glad I finally have the time to blog again today!

So anyways, Machika thought me and my brothers some origami when we were feeling a bit bored after coming back from one of our shopping trips.

I was rather hooked to the crane (I remember making it when I was schooling in Singapore but I have long forgotten how to make it!) and found it VERY addictive! (I have about 20 cranes on my caking table now! Ha ha ha!)

Okay let's start!

All you need is a piece of square origami paper.

Machika bought this REALLY pretty pack of 3 origami colored paper for me all the way from Tokyo!

(I hate the green but it's the only color that is visible on my table cloth!)

And...

Both your hands of course, I have yet to learn how to do it with my feet.

Step 1:

Fold the paper into a triangle. 

Repeat "Step 1".

Step 2:

Lift up one part the triangle with your finger.

And fold it down into a square.

Turn it around and do the same.

It should look like this once it is done.

Step 3:

Fold the sides of the square towards the middle.

The should be a faint line in the middle of the square so it should be easy to estimate.

Turn it around and do the same.

Step 4:

Fold down that little triangle on the top, turn it around and do the same to the other side. 

Open it up!

Step 5:

Oh dear, a tough to explain part..

Open one side of the square till the folded triangle on top part.

Fold the sides into the middle.

Turn it around and do the same.

It should look like a diamond now.

Step 6:

You should be able to see that one half of the diamond has a split through it

You are going to fold the sides in again.

The pointy part of the folded triangle should be at the split.

Turn it around and do the same. 

Step 7:

Now... Flip it to the 'clean' unfolded side.

(If you open up your "Step 6" origami piece slightly you should see that there are 4 sides so just flip it to the other 2 sides.) 

Step 8:

Fold the bottom up to meet the slightly split top.

It should look like a rather squashed tulip once you are done with "Step 8"!

Now...

Pull the 2 tulip petals that had the split before.

Yay! It's starting to look bird-y!

Step 10:

The other 2 rather long triangles are the head and tail.

Choose the longer one (If one is longer than the other, never mind if they are both the same length!)

for the head and bend it down slightly then squash it the other way.

TAH-DAAAAAH!

~K

P.S

Hope you enjoyed my first Arts N Craft (Just for fun!) tutorial!

Comments are more than welcome as usual.

Something orange

Was just feeling rather bored/lazy/tired this afternoon and I had just eaten an orange and there was the peel left over so...

I was just thinking about the wooden carvings (More on the wooden decorative masks and shields.) I saw in the craft shops in Miri/Mulu and decided to carve the orange peel just for the fun of it.

My only tool was my one and only craft knife, love that thingy-ma-jig it's so handy.

For some reason it turned out to be an alien like mask thing... I was pretty proud of it and it was fun playing around with the knife and peel (Even though there are a few holes in my fingers now, thanks to my clumsy-ness.)!

Maybe, I would just take up wood carving one of these days, sounds petty fun and enjoyable as a hobby to me!

Now the orange peel body-less alien is made some sort of wondering spirit and boat (Don't laugh, they have a WILD imagination.) by my brothers, it's nice to know that I am not the only one who likes it!

~K


P.S I have a feeling that I haven't blogged about Mulu yet so I guess I would just do it right now... 


10 seconds later* Or maybe not... The laziness it taking over my body, bit by bit. NOOO!

Miri 2011

Woah... What a (Super dee duper) FUN day today was!

My morning started when I woke up suddenly after a really loud thunder clap went BOOOM outside my bedroom door..! It was storming.. after covering my ears with my comforter (I can't sleep with the sound of a storm and the thunder, it creeps me out but I love the sound of a mild drizzle. Yeah, I am weird.) I realized it was already 4.30AM and our leaving-the-house-time was at 5.00AM, so I decided to stay awake.

There was only one thought in my mind at that time.. How in the world are we going to load our luggage and 3 sleepy boys into the car during a freak storm?! (It wasn't really a freak storm.. Just very heavy rain but I like exaggerating.)  

That thought faded and I went back into snooze land..

After 5 minutes (It felt that short. Oh, am exaggerating again. Oops!) I felt as though I was in some hospital ward (You know... How white and bright they are.), then I realized it was just Mommy and her usual putting-on-the-light-as-a-wake-up-call.  

 Ugh, it's time to leave already?! Nooooo*

No, no, it wasn't like that. 

I am ALWAYS hyper when I wake up and it is time to leave for the airport!

Love the morning 5:00AM weather? So nice, chilly and cold. FYI I am NOT a morning person, my usual wake up time is at noon! 

So waking up "early in the morning" must be for something very special or I would just go back to snooze mode..

After driving for 45 minutes we reached LCCT! My third home!

My first is my 'real' ones in PJ and PD, my second is ICCA (My "homes" are pretty much the places I feel most comfortable.) and my third is well... AIRPORTS! 

I love airports, it usually (95%) means I am going to be transported to some distant land that has a 5 star hotel and lots of new places to explore. And of course loads of "junk" to swallow during the flight and a beautiful cotton candy like scenery!  

Nothing extraordinary happened in the airport...

Check baggage in and out, walk all about...

Oh wait, I had the WORST chicken pie in the whole world from DeleFrance and it was RM7.50!

The puff pastry was ROCK hard, it was SUPER oily and... I could make better filling with my foot!

Yuck... 

Below: After an hour in the air I actually found SNOWFLAKES on the window! (Saw some during the flight to Perth and thought I could only find them there since it was colder.. I was wrong.)

I have always been fascinated by "snowy" stuff since I have never experienced winter before.. (Except ice cubes though... I see it daily in the freezer.) 

Above: 

I spy land cap't! 

Below:

Land ho! 

The clouds were prettier live.. 

Above: 

Finally! Touch down at Miri airport!

Below:

Welcome to Eastwood Golf and Country club Miri!

LOVE This place!

Above:

Oh, that's me!

Below:

First stop of the day!

Miri Public Park.

We didn't really plan on stopping because we were kinda starved to the bone hungry (We didn't have breakfast. Unless you count that yucky mucky chicken pie and KitKat I had...) but there was a SUSPENSION bridge right at the entrance and it had an amazing view and it was FREE!

So yeah, we stopped to have a look around the park.  

Above:

 Almost all the hills I saw in Miri had this layer thingy (Like Indonesian layer cake!), it was rather interesting...

Below:

Can you believe that the Miri Public Park had a WATER PLAY area and a suspension bridge that was longer than Sunway Lagoon's?! 

Oh, did I mention it was FREE?

Lucky Miri residence...

Above:

 Part of the suspension bridge.

Yes, it is THAT long!

(We happen to find the YUMMIEST Bak kut teh in Miri town! Lunch was GREAT! Looking forward to go there again...)

Below:

Next stop: Crocodile farm!

It was around noon-ish and I felt rather worn out from all that un-packing into the resort and moving around Miri.

The fact that we were stopping by at the crocodile farm didn't interest me much at that point..

In 10 minutes everything changed when...

WE COULD ACTUALLY FEED 10 ft LONG CROCS WITH A FISHING ROD AND THEY WOULD JUMP UP TO GET THE FOOD (Dead chicken.)!

Never had that much fun feeding an animal before.. Although I didn't really enjoy the part when the jumped up and MISSED, they splashed stagnant-dead-chicken-crocodile-water on me!

It was thrilling yet fun feeding a croc! 

Above and below:

Some shots of the lucky ones that got fed..!

(These were the bigger ones, around 15 ft in length. We used a flying fox like

 thing with a reel to feed them a whole chicken (Dead of course but it would have been a lot more fun to watch it if it was alive.. Just saying!) and we used bamboo poles with a wire and a chopped up part of a chicken for the 8-10 ft ones.)

Above:

A video of Papa feeding the smaller crocs with the bamboo rod. (Excuse my screaming, I was VERY excited.) 

Ahh... I never enjoyed myself THAT much in a mini zoo before!

After a long day exploring Miri we decided to relax by the jetty and beach to end the day...

The waves at this beach was scarily HUGE and choppy! Maybe I am too used to the ones in Port Dickson!

There were actually people SURFING (Imagine... In Malaysia!)!

Walking by shore, beside the the swaying trees, salty sea wind blowing in you hair, hearing the waves crash on to shore, watching the beautiful sun set...

The perfect way to end our day in Miri.

~K

P.S 

Stay tuned for Day 2 in Mulu! (Hopefully I would have time to do so!)