Hi, today I have posted some photos of paper weights that I have made from river stones. Creating paper weights using river stones is a versatile hobby because there are so many ways in which we can decorate a stone to convert it into a personalized paper weight.

You can add objects like what I have done, a tiny little ladybug and a message 'U are Great'.



A pair of lady birds here that can signify love between a couple or two good friends enjoying the company of each other. So your message can be 'I enjoy the time we spent together.' But you must remember not to make your message long because a river stone of this size may not be able to hold your entire message. And of course a short message will carry a stronger impact.

You can actually paint your river stone to look like lady bird like an example here.

Eh... this is not a stone but an eraser dust cleaner. This is just an example of how you can create an animal or an insect using the entire river stone. I do in fact have a river stone similar to the photo above but I don't have a photo shot of it as I have left it in my husband's office. I certainly hope that the photo above would give you an idea.

The other method is painting a scenery on it. I had painted a night thunder storm on a flat river stone. It was stunning. Again I am sorry that I don't have a photo here. The stone is in my husband's office too. Yeah, he is my greatest supporter of my art.

Beautiful Bookmarks

I did this bookmark at the 11th. hour for my daughter. Just around 9 at night, she suddenly remembered she had to make a bookmark to submit the next day. I had half a mind of ignoring her since it was a last minute thing but seeing her doleful appearance, I thought that I could not be so cold-hearted and perhaps the punishment should be carried out later so I told her that I would do it. As usual anything that was needed last minute always got my brain juice working and bravo there was this bookmark so elegantly made. Sorry that the photo is not so well taken but I assure you it was really beautiful.

The following days saw me feverishly making bookmarks and each bookmark was as elegant and beautiful as the other.

This bookmark was made using a beautiful 1/2 metre lace.

This bookmark was made using a simple 1/2 metre lace and ribbons to give the centre gold look. I have added a small cut out paper doily that softend the appearance of the sharp edges. Lovely right?

For this particular bookmark, I made it for a friend's birthday. She had wanted to laminate it but of course it was not possible because of the ribbon there. Unless the ribbon is removed and attached back after lamination.

Dear friends, a bookmark is a lovely gift to give especially to a reader. In fact it is truly very personal. The words on a bookmark and it being often used make the gift of a bookmark special. So care is especially taken when a bookmark is made.

Making bookmarks need careful handling because we do not want to show the edge of the ribbon sticking onto the bookmark so you need to do a bit of a folding like you are making a box from paper.

Take your time in making it for it is one of the most personal gift to a friend. Take your time to choose the words that befit either the person or the occasion. The receiver will appreciate the bookmark very much.

Making cards is my favourite pastime. I remember I spent the whole of my year end break just making cards. I went into quite a frenzy of buying coloured papers and the different types of papers to make my cards. After each card, I sat back with a huge satisfied smile. I really enjoyed myself. Here I want to share with you the different types of cards that I have made.

Cards that just made use of coloured papers. They are fast to make and simply lovely.

The edge of this card is attached with a ribbon and paper doily. The two accessories soften the sharp edges of the card.

Cards that have laces and ribbons

Cards that have stenciled patterns. These cards take time to make.

This is one of my favourite ones. It is simple and elegant. I made it to encourage my daughter for her mid-year exam. Yes, family members do appreciate a card from us. When I left the card on the table near where she was sitting, she did not read it until I told her that the card was for her. She felt so touched, telling me that she did not think that she would receive a card from me. It was my turn to feel so bad. I have been giving cards to others except my own. So friends and readers, do take time to do something for your loved ones. They see us doing something and giving it to others, they would love something from us too.

Trinket Boxes

Teachers’ Day was celebrated throughout Malaysia on the 17th. May 2010. My younger daughter told me that she needed 3 presents for 3 of her favourite teachers. I looked her aghast. Getting one was already a headache because it is never easy to choose a present that tells a teacher that he or she is much appreciated for her effort and of course without appearing to smother the teacher with the hope that he or she would be more lenient with marks the next time round. Now to come up with 3 was indeed terrifying for me. But I had to get her something otherwise I would appear uncooperative. Here I was telling her to appreciate her teachers and there I was moaning because I feared a hole in my pocket. Yes, gifts can be pretty expensive. Fortunately a brainwave hit me at the 11th hour. I ran to a nearby thread and bead shop and bought 2 small plain empty boxes and a basket with cover and then convert them into trinket boxes. By the time I finished putting a personalized touch to each of the trinket box I had half the mind to keep them for my own use.

This trinket box is made from a basket.

My daughter happily went to school with the presents and presented each of her teacher with a big, proud smile. Well, just to remind you dear readers, the trinket boxes although were meant for putting ear-rings and stuff were filled with expensive chocolates. Well, indeed a hole was burnt into my pocket but fortunately not too big a hole. Ha! Ha! But seeing the proud happy smile on my daughter’s face and the teachers’ delightful joy with the gifts were worth the effort. May you too enjoy the praises sang.