I Surrender All

This is a very slow song. Close your eyes and listen to it. Take time to do it.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus - Alan Jackson

Let's us give thanks to our God for being with us at all times.

Alan Jackson - Blessed Assurance ( LIVE )

I would like share another song with you, hoping you too will draw inspiration from it like I always do when I am down.

How Great Thou Art by Alan Jackson

The greatness of God. Almost impossible to understand how great He is.

The Old Rugged Cross - Alan Jackson

Hah.....one of my favourites.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Alan Jackson

This is a beautiful hymn.

Christian Hymns: "This is my Father's world"

The same hymn but I thought I would like to share with you so that you can listen clearly to this hymn.

This is my Father's World

Whenever I hear this song, my tears will fall. It really touches me. And this is also my father's favourite. He often tells me not to worry or feel sad because this is my Father's world and He will protect me. I hope you too find strength from this song.

Hymns - Rock Of Ages - Kelly Huddleston

I have moved away from Christmas songs and hymns but gone to songs and hymns that are inspirational. Listen to the words and draw strength from there.

von Trapp Children on Oprah

A little diversion but listen to the way they sing their National Song.

Julie Andrews - In The Bleak Midwinter

So calming........

Julie Andrews "Ding Dong Merrily on High" & "Some Children See Him" Chri...

Superb singing

AWAY IN A MANGER by Hayley Westenra

So touching. Enjoy dear friends and perhaps you too could draw strength from this song.

White Christmas - Hayley Westenra ( ヘイリー 海莉 )

In Malaysia we don't have White Christmas but this song is beautiful.

Little Drummer Boy - Hayley Westenra ヘイリー 海莉

Enjoy dear friends

Hayley Westenra - Silent Night

Just want you to hear Hayley Westerna singing this Christmas Song. Simply beauitful. One of the best contemporary singer of Christmas songs.

GIVE THEM ALL TO JESUS EVIE

Enjoy the song

"I Know Who Holds Tomorrow" By George Younce & Larry Ford

Hi dear friends, for now my blog is a about songs and hymns that are inspirational. We are stepping into a New Year with a path long and sometimes quite frightening but there is nothing to fear. There is always a God who holds our hands and a Christmas to celebrate. For those who are not Christians, you too can look forward to your celebrations and know that God always holds your hands. So dear friends, don't worry. Keep the light in front of you.

Do You Hear What I Hear? - Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood's rendition of this Christmas song. Lovely, right?

Katharine McPhee singing O Come All Ye Faithful

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!

Bob Dylan - Little Drummer Boy

Bob Dylan is not exactly my kind of singer but he sang this song beautifully. From his voice, we know he is enjoying it. Hah! The beat of the drum...........

Silent Night - Sarah McLachlan

Silent night and Holy night, yes, we are reminded of Christ's birth, a birth that signifies so much joy and so much pain.

Sarah McLachlan "O Little Town Of Bethlehem"

Yes, I am making a small collection of Christmas songs and hymns to share with you.

"O Holy Night" By Larry Ford & The Homecoming Friends

It is Christmas and it is at this time we are reminded of who we are, frail humans who have nothing but by the grace of God. He gives more than we deserve.

Whispering Hope - Hayley Westenra

Some of my old classmates from Form 3 in 1977 would remember this song. We sang this song. I can't remember the name of the music teacher but the song touched me and it still does!

Hayley Westenra - Ave Maria

Hi folks, another of my favourite. Just close your eyes and listen to it. It is really emotionally profound.

Hayley Westenra - Amazing Grace (Live)

The hymn is sang by Halyey Westenra but the hymn is not sung fully here but I just want to introduce her to you and to share with you a great singer rendering this hymn so, so beautifully. Do check her out in the YouTube. She brought out the true essence and meaning of Amazing Grace.

Merry Christmas to all my friends and readers.

Native American Flute Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is being played on a flute. Oh, please take time to listen to it.

Native American - Amazing Grace (in Cherokee)

Please take time to listen to this lovely hymn, made really meaningful by the Cherokees. I find it so, so beautiful.

Christmas

Hi everyone! I know I have been absent for quite a while. You must be thinking that I am taking a real long break. I didn't really take a break. I was busy, yes really busy marking SPM English essay papers. For some of you who are unfamiliar with this examination, SPM is actually a government oriented exam where every 17-year olds sit for it at the end of the year. So for every 17-year olds, this is their final year in the school bench and therefore a very crucial year. This exam sort of dictates their life after school, whether they go on to further their studies in the colleges or university or go out to work.

I had to be very disciplined when I was marking the papers. Dare not take too many or too long breaks and had to be really careful. Can't afford to mess with the marking rules. So this is the reason for my long absence.

Well, this is Christmas season and although I was busy, I took some to prepare for Christmas too. I had to get ready gifts and, of course, doing things I like helped me manage my stress level. I did not sleep well for two weeks. Each night I went to bed like around 2 and I got up at 7. Wow! That bad for me! But now I am fine.

Below are some photos of things that I have done for this Christmas season. I would like to share them with you.

The above are flowers for a principal who had retired. He loves blue so I made him a basket of blue flowers. And I added two dragonflies simply to signify him and his wife having a wonderful time. Ha! Ha! Ha!

These 3 photos show different angles of a floral arrangement I made for an aunt to cheer her up for this Christmas. She is taking care of her husband who is down with Parkinson disease. The old man has been afflicted for 10 years now and his condition is deteriorating. He falls down often and is moody. He shouts at her and throws a huge tantrum. None of us could blame him as we understand his predicament and his extreme frustration. He doesn't want to depend on others but he has no choice as he is losing control of his bodily functions while his mind is absolutely active. So dear friends, if you have a father or a mother who is taking care of their other half, please do step in to help in anyway you can to relieve the care taker. You can do so many things and it would do a world of wonders for the care taker.




These are Christmas wreaths that I did for a church. I didn't want the usual Christmas wreath arrangement so I used lilies and a snowman. Actually I can add a bell at the top. If you want you can add tiny presents next to the snowman or bells or even cones. It is all up to your imagination. They look lovely right? Well, I will stop here for now. I will share more photos of what I have done for this Christmas with you later.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND READERS!!!

Cold Porcelain flowers: How to make a CP paste/ dough By Rubina Abid

Cold Porcelain flowers: How to make a CP paste/ dough By Rubina Abid

This is one beautiful site that I would like to share with you. The recipe is here.

Cold Porcelain flowers: Morning glory

Cold Porcelain flowers: Morning glory

Do look at the video and enjoy the way morning glory is created using cold porcelain. I love this video and waiting to try my hands at cold porcelain.

Multi-Talents

It is the end of the year now and my principal (the person in the photo) who is 56 is retiring in December 2010 and that sparks off a whole load of work for everyone. But it was not just work, talents were discovered as everyone tried to think of something beautiful to give him. And so in my blog this time, I would like to share with you teachers whose talents were discovered and it was a joy to see the beautiful creations of different people.

Different gifts were made and shown and shared among us. And some of us also took the opportunity to make gifts for one another. It was at this time that we knew the different talents that each possesses. It was a wonderful time of sharing and exchanging ideas.

Our principal: Mr. Ooi Guan Kok. He is very formal because he always wears a coat for important functions. Here he is giving a speech to a group of girls who are graduating from their "make-up course." I will share the photos with you in my next blog.

This is the stage for him. The floral decoration is by a wedding studio of a teacher and coincidentally it was also my Principal's retirement so we imported the whole deco from the teacher for him. We had a good laugh because we teased him of a second wedding.

Earrings - Yes, a teacher took this opportunity to make earrings as year end gifts for us. They are beautiful, right? They look as if they are bought, right? This is an expensive hobby because you really need to buy a lot of stuffs to just make a simple pair as shown above.

These are soft boards where we put for hot teapots. I have converted them into message boards for my teachers as year end thank-you gifts.

Magnets were made too like this lady bird.

Towel cake. Interesting combination right? I gave this to my friend after marking a major exam. Everyone needs something beautiful to relax and to feel appreciated. We are all compensated for marking exam papers but it is always nice to be appreciated.

A card. It was for another teacher who was retiring too. Butterflies are a symbol to me to say goodbye and to have a wonderful and blessed life.

A photo album and two baskets decorated by one of the teachers for our principal.

A cookie jar decorated by another teacher. I am sure this will entice you to dig into the jar for a cookie even though you may want to go on a diet. Ha! Ha! Ha!

A bag tied with a ribbon, giving it a class of its own. Don't you think so? So the next time when you want to personalize your bag, this is one elegant method. Simple and elegant.

Another photo album painstakingly done by yet another teacher. Beautiful and of course a lot of work.

Look at this tissue box. It was done using corrugated paper. This tissue box was done by the same teacher who did the photo album above.

Gifts from the Garden

Hello, everyone. It has been quite a while since I am able to come to my blog. Had been extremely busy with marking exam papers and writing year end reports. Now, as the term for the year draws to a close, I am taking a breather. How are all of you? Doing fine? I certainly hope you are.

In my previous blog, I promise that the moment the jasmine plant flowers in my garden, I will take some photos and share with you. Well, I have some to share with you now although the bloom isn't so big but the fragrance of this small bloom is simply wonderful........

This is a wild jasmine plant. I really don't know its real name but I call it while jasmine. It can grow quite tall and big and the leaves are big.

The huge bloom is a cluster of flowers and each flower is fragrant. Here the bloom is in its bud stage

Look, how beautiful is the flower. It looks like a rose, right?

Beautiful?

Below are some photos I took of a gift I gave to a friend's brithday. I always love to give gifts that have dual purpose : useful and beautiful.


The lady birds are made from jumping clay. My friend used this to keep all her glue bottles.

Lisa Yuen and Martha Make Flowers (PART 1)

I was browsing the net when I came upon this flower making by Lisa Yuen. It is another interesting method of making flowers and this time it is using papers. Please do lock in and watch the video and perhaps try your hands at it when you are free.

ParenThots - Features

ParenThots - Features

Dear friends and readers, I came upon this feature and I like it so I thought I will link it to my blog for you to read. These parents are really encouraging. Sometimes, we don't even know for certain how good our plan is. Sometimes we feel discourage too because the result is not immediately seen but only in the future. But these parents are motivating and encouraging and they too face struggles and tribulations like us all and today some of them can testify that what they have set out to do, the result is wonderful.

As parents we all fear if we are doing the right thing or not. Sometimes our in-laws and even our own parents will frown at us, wondering if we have gone crazy. Right? I feel encouraged by what I have read and I feel more assured that what I am doing for my own children, I am not wrong. Just be optimistic and do what you think is right. With love and passion in our hearts, I doubt we will go wrong.

Happy Deepavali

Hi to all my Hindu friends and readers. I want to wish you all a Happy Deepavali. I hope you will have a wonderful time with your family and friends. If you are far away from home, then just do something to invite your friends over to celebrate this festive season together. The future needs memory so that during rough times, the happy moments help to sustain us. So go and enjoy yourself, cook the best and dress your best.


Below are some cards I have made for my Hindu friends and I would like to share them with you.

HAPPY DEEPAVALI!

In Erika's Kitchen: Apple cornbread recipe

Come and try the interesting recipes from this blog

Jumping Clay

Hi everyone. A very good morning to all of you. Today I would like to share with you another of my crazy ventures - making stuffs out of jumping clay. This hobby was introduced through my intense curiosity about polymer clay. I was watching Youtube after Youtube on flowers and stuffs being made from polymer clay and so after weeks of watching how things are being created from polymer clay, I went to my friend and asked her if she sold any polymer clay and she told me yes but the catch was, 'Very Expensive' and so she introduced me to jumping clay.

And so like a child I took the packet home and started making stuffs. The first ones were the animals - the ones you are seeing below. And then I became adventurers. I made tiny winee pizza, cakes and etc. It was really exciting, exhilarating. I spent hours moulding the stuffs. Small objects require extreme patience. But I didn't mind. I disturb no one and no one disturbs me. My two girls happily left me on my own because they too wanted time to be at their computer! Well, I am sure you too face the same dilemma of whether to let your children spend hours after hours at the computer. But they find a whole load of information from the net so do I stop them or not? My husband and I sometimes give them tasks like searching for information from the net and they could come out with more than we expected so .........? Well, coming back to my craze.

Then I tried my hands on making flowers, like the ones I saw from the Youtube. Sigh..... let's put it this way, jumping clay is not as fine as polymer clay and therefore it has its limitations. For making flowers, you will need to use either polymer clay or cold porcelain. I will show you my works on cold porcelain later. This medium is versatile. Jumping clay is more for children and they are soft and can bounce and thus this medium is called "jumping" clay.

And so for the whole two weeks or so, I indulged myself in this hobby and now a dilemma begins - What do I do with all these wonderful creations that I have made? Yes, they can be made into key chains but they are not meant for rough use. Well...... another idea came into my mind. I use them for decoration. I will share one with you.

I created a birthday card using a CD (you can find this idea in one of my blogs - CD love) and stick a jumping clay pizza here. It was an abt creation because this friend was a coordinator for NIE magazine sponsered by Pizza Hut.

crab

snail

penguin

My favourite - an octopus


sandwich



hotdog



cupcake


strawberry cake



burger



pizza

Cold Porcelain flowers: Tutorials on making Orchid flower (Part 2)

Cold Porcelain flowers: Tutorials on making Orchid flower (Part 2)

A really wonderful blog. Do come and view it. It teaches the method of making flowers using cold porcelain and other things.

Tips on Floral Arrangement

Last month was my sister-in-law's birthday and it was tough trying to think of what to give her as a gift. Her house has everything. Finally I decided that I would give her a floral arrangement to put in her office. Fortunately it was a right move because her office was bear as compared to her house.

This was when I learned another tip. If you have read the earlier post on floral arrangement, you will understand what I am saying now. Well, I went to get my leaves and my flowers. And the presentation is here for you to see.

Tip No 1 : Always get extra blooms. Don't make the foolish step like me in saying "Yeah, I have enough" at the shop and then when you go home, you find yourself in a tight spot. Your arrangement does not come through as there are many big gaps in between the flowers that need to be filled up. Don't forget we don't own a shop that we can easily reach out to a stalk to fill the gap. So through painful lessons, I learn that after estimating the number of stalks I need, I always make sure I buy an extra. For example if you have estimated that you would only need three, don't just buy 3 but buy an extra stalk.

Tip No 2 : Always buy in odd numbers. Please don't ask me for the reason. The arrangement does not go well with even numbers.

Tip No 3 : You can more than 1 type of leaves but in this arrangement which is for a small space in the office, I have used only one type.

Tip No 4: Take note of the first photo, look at the leaves. They are long and overbearing. At first I couldn't understand why my arrangement looked awful. I got the right number of leaves and flowers stalks, the height was proper (flowers taller than vase : 3/4 higher) but..... what was wrong? Then I knew it, I had to trim the leaves to a shorter length. Bravo, the whole awful arrangement suddenly became so beautiful and mind you, I couldn't help admiring my own creation. Ha! Ha! Ha! You know, no one is so kind as to share their knowledge with you on how to arrange flowers. We all have to learn the hard way and spent tons of money but even if we pay to learn, we are still coming out with the money, right? It takes guts to learn on your own but the satisfaction is tremendous. So I would encourage you to take up this hobby.

Tip No 5 : Buy more fillers. I think my arrangement still lacks fillers but since I had come home and time was running short, I had to made do with what I had in hand. Now, do you understand what it means by buying extra? Sometimes the shop can be so far, it is really difficult to go back all the way to the shop to buy an extra stalk. So on the wise side, just buy extra. Well, another lesson learned.

I think I should add the pink fillers at the bottom. The top view of the arrangement is good but the side view has a slight imbalance, right?

Well, I hope you will have a wonderful time learning up this beautiful and satisfying art.

Gifts Presentation

Hi everyone! I hope you had a pleasant week, the one that brought satisfaction and contentment because you had done your best and benefited from it. I had a tiring but indeed a fulfilling week although the outcome or rather what I hope to achieve did not materialize. So how could it be a fulfilling week, you may want to ask since the objective had not been achieved. Well, let's put it this way: in every project that we planned and carried out whether the project is a failure or a success, we learn a valuable lesson from the process. For me, the experience is my richness - a wealth of learning experience and information.

My school had planned months ahead to have a Hari Kokurikulum (Co-Curriculum Day) and the person whom we invited was the Menteri Besar (the highest person in authority in the state). We went through careful planning; ran everywhere to get proper feedback on protocols and spruced up the school, spending like crazy (of course the school looks bright and cheerful now). We got people to come to teach us and to guide us, and we also went to the relevant people for advice, careful that we would not miss a step or careless. We had meetings after meetings and phone calls after phone calls to one another to make sure that we would not miss out anything. We put our students to months of training for various presentations, organised the prefects over and over again and we even advertised the good news on the FACEBOOK. The response from our students was fantastic.

Alas, just a week from the day, we got the reply that he was unable to come and there was no representative too. It was confusing because a day before we received the faxed letter we received a call asking for the Menteri Besar's text (his speech) to be emailed over and when the very next day we received the faxed letter, it was a hard hit for all. We could not understand the dynamics behind this. We were all so disappointed and we consoled each other. For me, it was a great learning experience, something that no textbook would be able to teach.

I learn that whatever we have planned, there are many small holes to be plugged and these small holes can really sapped one's energy. I learn that many mistakes could be made and they have to be rectified with the help of your team mates. There should be no arrogance and that there must be team spirit. It was tough because my efficient partner fell ill just after the first round of running. It left just me and my Co-curriculum supervisor to do the running and we had to make sure the rest understood our plans and the need to do it well and to believe that we could pull it through. Well..... the rest is history. No tears spilled but a great lesson learned, not a negative lesson but a positive one.

I am taking a break now, although my heart is heavy because the objective is not achieved. If the objective has been met, the school will see some changes that will bring relief to the students. We would be able to build a sheltered walkway for the students to walk into the school and a large sheltered open hall for them to assemble. At present, the students walk in the rain and sun to come into the school and the worst part is; the afternoon session students have no place to assemble. They sit by the corridor in the hot and rain. School discipline is weak as no amount of canning and shouting could be gotten across as students are everywhere and it is impossible to reach out to them using the PA system because they assemble all over the school. The boys one side and the girls another side and the active ones.......... it is up to your imagination. Sigh.....

And so today I will like to share with you on how to present your gifts. What has gifts presentation got to do with what I have shared so far? Well, life is still beautiful despite a painful result. How could be it beautiful? It is beautiful through a positive thinking. Simple boring gifts can be 'make-up' to look wonderful if you put in effort and some money and of course careful planning. It brings cheer to the receiver.

Let me share with you on how I present some of my gifts. I plan carefully and I take the time to really sit down and do it. I want my receiver to know I care. I want my receiver to know that whatever I give, I give from my heart, not because of obligation, not because I want to please, not because I want a favour. No! Absolutely no.

This is a small basket, slightly bigger than a large man's palm. I spruced it up and put in 3 kiwi fruits for a friend. Of course the content might be a wee bit too little but the presentation is captivating. Would you not agree with me?

Look at the three lady birds, the two carrots and the cabbage. They are all made from jumping clay. It took time but the outcome is wonderful, right? I gave this away as a pencil holder.

Yeah, this is log cake but made from towel. If I were to just gave the towel log cake, the presentation would be plain, would you not agree with me?

I have used my friendship bear to present this gift to a birthday girl. Inside the basket were lots of chocolate bars. In this way, after the receiver has eaten all the chocolates, the basket could be used for other purposes.

We need to give gifts that not only carry a message of love but the gift must leave a lasting effect. It must give another purpose.