Monday, September 20, 2010

Baby photos!



Photos by Albert Gunawan (as always!)

At last, he's finally here! Well actually he was born on the 08th September 2010 (that's 08-09-10 in case you didn't notice =D). What a wonderful date! It's easy to remember and it is also the birthday of Our Mother Mary :)

I can't really describe how I feel just using words. I think words can't really express the emotion that rush inside me once I saw my baby boy for the first time. I feel SOOOOO HAPPY! He is such a cute bundle of joy :) 

Aldrik is almost 2 weeks old now ^^ and I'm enjoying every minute of being his mom (yes, including the late and sleepless nights). I was surprised that motherhood comes quite naturally to me =D never thought I am the motherly kind of girl ^_^ 

Hubby is very wonderful! He changes the nappy, give his bottles (containing breastmilk of course!), bath him and rock him whenever little baby couldn't sleep :) Such a wonderful husband I've got. My in laws are also very supportive. Mom-in-law cooks for us and both grandparents always enjoying time with Aldrik and willing to take care of him whenever we need some time off (so we can sneak some sleep). 

Can't thank God enough for what He has given us :)


Friday, August 13, 2010

Retro ^^


I'm not too sure whether this is what you called a retro design? But I sure love it :) Got inspiration while reading 'Real Living' magazine and how they display retro poster as part of the home decoration. I'm not too sure whether this kind of picture will fit into my house scheme since the theme is modern french with a bit of modern touch (the kitchen is ultra modern). 

Anyway, I made this pic from the photo that I took of my dog Molly (again). I was learning photography back then from my hubby and he lent me his trusty first camera Nikon D70 :) It was a wonderful camera that produces beautiful photographs. Well, he doesn't use it anymore, he upgrade to Nikon D700 and he's loving it. I edited the photo with Photoshop, added some effect and that was the end result. 

Haven't been able to write anything on the blog since I got to Perth. Tummy is getting bigger and there's only 1 month to go! Can't believe how time really flies and within a month I will see my dear baby boy ^^ Excited but scared at the same time :) I guess first time mom always experience the same kind of anxiety. Hopefully things will be fine. 

I tried to sew a stuffed toy here but doesn't look good T_____T I'll post the pic as soon as I take picture of the little stuffed toy :)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Baby Elephant Embroidery for my best friend :)




I created this Baby Elephant illustration especially for my bestfriend's baby J. I asked her if she has any preference for baby animal and she mentioned elephant so I tried to draw one for her. I was thinking how can I use this particular pic and had the idea to turn it into embroidery. 

I have a cousin who make Baby Clothing as a business called Banana (it's quite a popular brand in Jakarta) and I asked her a favor to create a custom embroidery for me ^^ The pics shows how the illustration turned out and I love it! I hope C will like it too ^^


Thursday, July 8, 2010

Baby Shower!







Photographs by : Albert Gunawan (Hubby)

My bestfriend C and my cousin from my hubby's family L organized this whole thing for me. They choose the theme, the decor, invite the guests, choose the place, etc. It was quite a surprise for me since I had no idea they organized it until 3 days before. I found it the printed stuff at my store and I asked hubby if he knows anything about it. He admitted that they're creating a surprise baby shower =D So, even though it wasn't entirely a surprise as they hoped it would be but it's still such a nice surprise for me ^^

The place is called Pand'or which is a nice restaurant and cafe located at Wijaya, South Jakarta. Their menu consisted of Western and some Asian food including Indonesian food. The decor is pretty and combined with the balloons, gifts and additional decorations done by C and L, it was simply beautiful and stunning. 

So it was such a beautiful day for me and hubby. We enjoyed the food, the time we had with our friends and families and of course... the pressies! All of them gave us pressies for the coming baby! I feel that we're so lucky to be surrounded by so many thoughtful and caring friends and families. Not many people are as lucky as we are and we appreciate everything and thank God for everything. Such a lucky baby too :) He's not even here yet and already got so many presents! 

XOXO

Angela, Hubby & Baby 

Friday, July 2, 2010

So many things to do yet so little time...

I feel that I'm chased by so many things at the moment. Since there's only a week left before the time we fly to Perth, I feel there's sooo many things to be done for work and home. I haven't done my packing too which is unusual. I like to pack 2 weeks before my departure ^^ this is to ensure I have everything ready and since I don't like like being rushed so I always do my packing real early. But this time, all the baby stuff are still scattered around and I have no idea how to pack those hehehe... 

We just visited my Jakarta doctor for one last time and he said the baby is great, he's about 1.5kg now which is normal and healthy. He also said the baby has lots of hair hmm.. hehehe.. something that he gets from his dad definitely ^^ But he's healthy and that's what matters the most. 

I can't wait to go to Perth but at the same time thinking about work makes me feel rather guilty. But well, there's priority in life sometimes we just have to make the choice. 

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Pressie for my best friend :)




I made this illustration for my best friend's C birthday 2 months ago in April. She loves pink to death and she loves organizer/diary and stationery too. So I thought I gave her something very personalized and something that can be useful for her. She's working in marketing and she often needs to meet clients. I thought I gave her a small working folder that she can write in all the work stuff :)

Silly me, I forgot to photograph the end products T_____T But the Cover looks like the 3rd pic, the content is the 1st and 2nd pic. I printed all the stuff using Digital Printing on a normal HVS paper and the cover is printed as well using HP Inkjet Machine on a Brillianta Paper (this material is just SOOO LOVELY... it has a textures like a linen cotton and you can print anything on it and the color just comes out lovely). It's my favourite covering material so far. 

I gave the present to C already and she loves it! That what makes me very happy whenever I give something to my friends/families. Their happiness when they got it. I did ask her a month ago whether she has used it and she said she's preserving it first before she wants to use it >

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

St. Peter's Basilica


PHOTO TAKEN BY ALBERT GUNAWAN 

This is a photo that my husband took of St. Peter's Basilica when we went to Rome 2 years ago. I was just looking through my photos in the computer and found this wonderful shot. For me the photo is very beautiful. I like the angle, the fact that the sun shine through the glass into the Basilica and it shows the magnificence of the place. Truly, I was stunned when I entered the place. It was the MOST WONDERFUL place I've ever been. 

Before we went to St Peter's Basilica, we went around to Innsbruck, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Venice and a few other churches in Rome and all of them are wonderful too. But this one, is just so special. First, the size of the place its self was HUGE. Then if you look at all the little pieces of details that make up the place, you'll be awed too. From all the sculptures, the floor, the ceiling.... *speechless*.... 

Anyway, I just want to share this shot with you guys ^^ I hope you like it as much as I do. 

Saturday, June 26, 2010

A new look for my blog :)

I choose a new template and new color theme for my blog. I hope you guys like it too ^^ Thanks to Blogspot who offers so many good templates that we can just choose from ^^ I think this template is more suitable for me and it's a good refreshment for the blog.

The changes in the blog design also reflect the changes in blog content. When I first made this blog I thought I was going to use it to share my Personalized Stationery design and products Forget Me Not Stationery only. But then I thought I would like to share more things that I like as well so I decided to add more stuff : House and Living, Photography, Sewing and Forget Me Not Stationery & Illustration. These things matter to me and I really enjoy them. Not saying that I'm an expert in those field (definitely FAR FROM IT) but I just love them =) 

XOXO
Angela 

More of my puppies!






These are some photographs of my puppies (well technically, they're not puppies anymore. Tomorrow they will be 1 year old! How time flies really!). They have grown up but honestly, they still behave like wriggly puppies ^^ It's so fun to watch them play with each other and with my husband. Since I'm still pregnant and can't engage with them too close because I'm afraid one of them will give me a good sharp kick on my stomach, watching them play together is almost as fun. Almost! 

The dogs are very active and really, corgi is a very fun breed to have. They're so playful and a good companion too. I got my Molly from a breeder called Parkway (owner is Marjorie and Alan Smith) from this particular website. You can just e-mail them at : parkways@people.net.au. They will be more than happy to help you and really, they love their puppies very much and that what makes them different from the usual breeder. 

These photographs are taken by my husband. He did a photography major in University of Edith Cowan and I've always loved his work ^^ (well, am probably a bit biased here due to the LUV factor ^^). But I do think he takes good photographs and what I love is the fact he's able to also capture the character of his subjects. He's not doing photography as his work (a pity I know) but he enjoys it occasionally by taking photos of our friends and families during wedding and birthday parties. We both working at his parent's professional Photo Labs at Jakarta called Adorama. We specializes in printing photos for both the professional and retail customers and we also do a digital printing services. 

My favourite picture from all those photographs are the one where Muffin shows off her teeth! That's hilarious! Her face is just so cute (I hope you don't find her looking too scary here). She was playing around with her sis Moxy and when the "Corgi Fight" got more intense she shows off that face ^^ They're so funny. 




Where Forget Me Not came from :)


Wondering where did I get my inspiration for the name of my personalized stationery line? This is it...! This is Molly my beloved dog ^^

Her formal name is Parkway Forget Me Not. A very cute name indeed! This is a bit of introduction to the breed :
"The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is a long, low to the ground dog. The skull is wide and flat between the ears. The stop is moderate. The topline is level. The nose is black and the jaw meets in a scissors bite. The oval eyes are shades of brown depending on the dogs coat color. The eye rims are black. The erect ears are medium in size tapering slightly to a rounded point. The legs are very short. The feet are oval in shape. Dewclaws are usually removed. The dog is sometimes born with no tail, and is docked as short as possible when they do have a tail. Note: it is illegal to dock tails in most parts of Europe. The double coat has a short, thick, weather resistant undercoat with a longer, coarser outer coat. Coat colors include red, sable, fawn, black and tan with or without white markings. There are often white markings on the legs, chest, neck and parts of the muzzle.

The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is highly intelligent, loyal, able and willing to please their owners. Corgis are extremely active and are good with children so long as the dog sees humans as above him in the pack order. Protective and sturdy, they make fine guards, and excellent show and obedience dogs. Wary of strangers, it should be properly socialized and trained when it is still young. They need their humans to have a determined, consistent loving approach, showing firm but calm leadership with proper human to canine communication to avoid over-protective behaviors as an adult. They sometimes try to herd people by nipping at their heels, although they can and should be trained not to do this. The Pembroke tends to bark a lot and makes a good watch dog. If you find your dog is barking at you in order to communicate you need to hush the dog and look into your leadership skills. A dog that is barking at you in that manner is showing signs of dominancy issues. The human handlers need to communicate to the dog that aggressiveness with other dogs is an unwanted behavior. Usually good with non-canine animals. Do not allow the Corgi to developed Small Dog Syndrome."

Quoted from : http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pembrokecorgi.htm 

Anyway, she's a beloved member of our family. I love her dearly even though she can be very annoying, naughty, lazy and constantly hungry ^^ When I was sick during the early stage of my pregnancy, she was the one who always stay around me and keep me companion :) 

So that's where the name comes from ^^ I believe the a name really means something unlike what Shakespeare said "What's in a name". It shapes you to be someone that you're now. I might be a different person (Although not entirely of course) if my name is not Angela. Anyway, I choose the name carefully and for me it really means something :) 


Friday, June 25, 2010

Baby Illustration


I've designed this illustration for my coming baby boy :) I plan to use this for his baby 1 month gifts (where we send cakes and candies to our close friends and relatives), his room decoration and I even ask my cousin who did custom embroidery on a T-shirt for him later :) 

I love giraffe, balloon and I thought in this particular illustration I was able to combine them all =D Sometimes you just have the inspiration to make something and sometimes it's just blank. That blank moment happens a lot to me especially during my pregnancy hehe... and it's hard to find the quite moment to gather your inspiration when you're working full time. Well at least for me ^^ But am glad that I can still work while am pregnant because otherwise it will be very boring. 

I hope you like this drawing as much as I do!

XOXO
Angela 

Thursday, June 24, 2010

My new hobby :)



I got a new hobby and that is SEWING! =D
Can't really believe it since I have no idea how to sew and I can't even do a proper simple hand stitch.. I've always loved looking through a sewing book because all the projects look so nice and beautiful. But I've always had problems following instruction because I can't understand them at all hehehe.. 

Anyway, I met a lovely person named Lia who's a friend of my brother-in-law. She own this cute blog called http://www.liaspace.com and she's an expert in sewing! Look at her website and all the projects she had done and I'm sure you have the same opinion. Her stuff is cute, simple but very nice. She taught me some basic stuff in stitching using machine, how to make a simple pattern and even lent me her sewing machine hoho.. talk about such a nice and generous person :) 

I did make a simple bag and a baby bib (that I plan to give to my bestfriend but cancelled it because the result was not very tidy). I did another 2 baby bibs at home and was having some problem with the sewing machine - told you I'm not good at following instruction. At last my husband read through the manual and fixed it up for me. Talk about embarrassing! But thank you honey! You're really my saviour ^^ 

I posted photos of the masterpieces ^^ Thanks to Lia (I couldn't have done it without her!)

I just bought a book from the amazon.com called Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan. The review sounds amazing and the pics from the book look very interesting and cute. I hope I can do a few projects from there. 

What I really wanted to do is to make something using an illustration that I did. I just designed a pattern for a tote bag with a bunny that I draw myself and plan to print it tomorrow on a Brillianta Paper (often used for book covering at my store). Hopefully I can really sew it to be a tote bag :) this is a try and error project hehehe... 

About 10 weeks to go on my pregnancy. Time REALLY FLIES! Suddenly it's the end of June 2010 already! I can't believe it. Within 2 weeks me and husband will fly to Perth because we're having the little boy there :) Looking forward to the trip although here I've got soo many things to do and so little time. Baby shopping really worn me out - how come such a tiny person needs to many things? I love buying baby clothes but I got warned that people will give him lots of clothes so I might be able to save a few dollars if I just try to be good and don't buy any clothes for him yet :) 

XOXO
Angela




Monday, May 10, 2010

10 May 2010

Oh God.. It's been ages since the last time I updated my blog. I feel kinda guilty deserting it =( Anyway, life has been exciting for me and my husband these pas few months ^^ We've been blessed with a baby boy! He's still in my tummy at the moment. I'm on my 5.5 months :) Half way to go!

It's exciting and scary at the same time. I'm quite a paranoid person although I always to think positively but I guess it's in my blood to be paranoid T____T But I've always pray so that the baby is healthy and he will be delivered safely. He'll be with us around mid September :)

Life has its up and down. There's always a happy occasion and a sad occasion. If you look behind and look at the sad occasion, it helps you to grow stronger and appreciate your life and what you have. That's how I always try to live my life so far. I know it's not always easy when you're faced with problems. Believe me I've experienced the one of the hardest time in my life with my mum being sick of cancer and until her death. But I always try to appreciate and remember the wonderful times that we've had during that time too. We're blessed with lots of love from God, family and friends who always care about us. That what kept me strong during that time I guess.

Anyway... things are good at the moment =) I've designed a few stuff for my niece and my close friend C. I will post the photograph of the end product here later when it's finished. I hope she'll like it ^^

XOXO
Angela