A Home at Last

My friend (for privacy reasons, let's call her "A") is one of those fiercely independent ladies I know and truly admire, who has tons of interesting hobbies and is wholly her own person.  She is also one of the feistiest, scrappiest, most hilarious girl to ever grow up in New York City Chinatown.

A's family story is epic:  A's father was from a small village in the province of Canton in mainland China.  When he was a strapping, idealistic young man, Hong Kong was still ceded to the United Kingdom in 1898, and was regarded as the land of better opportunities.  Her father was determined to learn how to swim; he and a group of friends secretly trained in a community swimming pool for a year to strengthen their swimming skills and endurance.

One night, the group made a daring break for freedom.  Under the cover of darkness, they slipped into the choppy waters, and began their swim in the ocean from China to the island of Hong Kong.  In danger of being shot by Communists, eaten alive by vicious sharks, being dragged out to open sea by the undertow or simply drowning from exhaustion, A's father and the group knew that it would be their only chance.

The sole woman in the group had insisted on joining the group over the protests of the men.  The men objected because it was too dangerous and they did not think she would make it.  Still, she demanded to be included.

Sure enough, halfway during that harrowing night of the swim, the woman's strength gave out.  She floundered in the waves, but the men saved her life.  They made it across the strait, taking turns swimming with her on their backs.

A's father was happy in his new life in Hong Kong.  He was a family man - enterprising and ever on the lookout to improve the opportunities for his family, which included a wife and two young daughters.  One day, he saw on tv a documentary about Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk.  From that moment, he was determined to find a way to take his family to America, "the land where they actually sent a guy to the moon!"

A's family has been living in New York City for decades now.  It has been tough trying to survive in the United States, but they are all the stronger and closer-knit because of it.

Although A's father has since passed away, he lives on through A and her resourcefulness and desire to succeed.  She recently bought an apartment in Harlem, and she told me that it was the proudest moment in her life.  She is the first person in her family to own real estate.

I was honored to be invited to A's housewarming party this past weekend.  I made a card especially for her to celebrate the momentous achievement.

The apartment is tremendous and has a perfect layout.  A's good taste was displayed in the beautiful colors she chose for her walls and her interesting pieces of furniture (some of which she designed, and some which she found at various places in Brooklyn).  

A's party was wonderful.  She and her mom and sister prepared a HUGE spread of tasty foods, both Western and from Chinatown.  So unexpectedly, in addition to crispy-skin roast pork, I got to eat tea eggs and dragonfruit!!  Real estate plus my favorite foods?  I was in heaven!

Congratulations, A!  May your rafters ring with shouts of laughter, may your roof provide shelter for many loved ones, and may your walls brim over with much happiness for years to come.

Wedding Card, and an Exciting Photoshop Breakthrough!

Here's a card that I'm extremely excited about that I made for my very good friends, Louise and Jeremy, for their happy wedding day.

I'm really proud of this card for a couple of reasons:  

I've never had much success combining rubber-stamped images with paper punch cut-outs.  Sure, I've had some triumphs such as my heart apple tree card that combined a rubber-stamped tree with a punch-out fence, and my cute kissing goldfish card that had two little fish punch-outs in a huge fishbowl rubber stamp.  But for the most part, whenever I tried to combine the two elements, it was a flop.  (I don't have any examples to show you since I tended to discard - pun totally intended - the cards I wouldn't give to anyone.)

I'm not sure why the two don't work well together.  Perhaps the textures are too different and just don't meld?  In any case, I used a number of stamped and punched images in this card - the hearts and grass were done with paper punches, and the neat tandem bike as well as the tree branch are stamped images.

I especially like how I used mostly pink hearts for the leaves (or, I suppose they could be apples), and two shiny red ones for contrast.

The other major reason I am thrilled is because I finally found a relatively simple and effective way to edit my photographs in Photoshop so that the background is pure white!

For over a year now, I've read tutorials, watched YouTube videos and discussed with friends, to no avail.  I tried a variety of methods, which were all complicated and none very effective.  I have had had near-victories such as with my washi tape birthday cake card and bunny Easter card, but if you look closely towards the bottom fourth of the card, you can still see purple-grayish outlines of the background that I was unable to completely eliminate.

More frequently, however, I didn't even succeed a tiny bit.  For instance, I adored my Thanksgiving card from last year, but I couldn't for the life of me white out the background.  Even worse was the Jeweled Blooms Get Well card - the card was gorgeous, but the background of the photograph of it was atrocious!

I finally found a technique that works and is easy to boot!  I am behind on video tutorials, but consider this a placeholder for one that shows how I do it, coming soon(ish)!

Here is another picture, just because I'm in a show off-y kinda mood!  : )

Louise and Jeremy's wedding was wonderful.  We kick started the celebrations with a Napa Valley wine tour, which was amazing.  I have gone to vineyards in Long Island and in the Finger Lakes area many times before; it was always fun, but the wines were subpar.  But Napa Valley was really somethin' else - I wanted to buy a case of every single wine I tasted!  As it were, I only managed to carry back a Pinot Grigio and Zinfandel.

Louise and Jeremy planned every detail of their wedding with a thought towards making their guests welcome and comfortable.  The food was Paleo style, and I have to admit I was a bit surprised that it was some of the most delicious food I've ever had!  There were also food and wine pairings that were marvelous:  fresh-shucked oysters with champagne, and walnuts and Stilton cheese paired with an amazing port wine.  You can read all about it - Louise blogged about the wedding food at her site, Ancestral Chef.

Although I've gotten close with Louise (and later on, Jeremy) only this past year or so, we totally get each other on many levels.  Louise used to work at my prior law firm, but she quit right before her wedding, and is on to bigger and better business and personal ventures.  (So jealous!)  She and Jeremy moved to San Francisco after their wedding, and I miss her dearly.  I can't wait to join them for parts of their planned global-trotting adventures throughout the next few years!

First Commissioned Card!!!!!!!!!!

After working at a top New York law firm for many years, I finally decided to reach for the holy grail of law firm associates everywhere - a job in the in house legal department of a company (in my case, a financial services firm).  It took a lot of soul-searching on my part, and I didn't make the jump until I was absolutely sure that that was the direction where I wanted to take my career.  

I seriously considered a number of offers, and a few months ago, chose the one that I felt had the best combination of substance of work, career advancement opportunities and - last but definitely not least - a nice culture.  

Boy, was I ever wrong.  

But sometimes karma works in wonderful ways.  I was having a particularly difficult day one Monday a few weeks ago when Lauren (my friend who rescued me from the effects of Hurricane Sandy and for whom I made The Jar of Southern Boiled Peanuts card) texted me to commission a card from me!!!

My very first commission!  Lauren told me she was going to a wedding in a couple of weeks, and she hoped that I could make a card for her to give to the bride and groom.  Of course I was ecstatic to do it!

I spent days doodling and sketching designs on scraps of paper, and came up with the below idea.  How do you like it?  : ) 

I'll let you in on a little secret:  I used to tie my bows with nothing but my fingers (sometimes with help from my feet - really!), but I found that it took me half an hour and plenty of wasted ribbon to get one bow that was a keeper.  Also, I couldn't tie tiny ones, as dexterous as I like to think of my dainty little digits.

So I bought the below nifty gadget:

It's deceptively simple - just a piece of plastic with funny cutouts - but the Bow-Easy makes tying bows fail proof.  Learning how to use the Bow-Easy is a little difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will spend your days trying to incorporate bows into your creations.  I'll make a video tutorial soon to show you how!

See?  The bow comes out beautifully every single time, without any trouble at all.

A final - wholly gratuitous - picture of the card, since I like it so much.

Lauren's opportune request turned my frustrating day around.  I had been feeling stressed to the max with the work situation, but Lauren's request gave me hope and reminded me that I am much more than my job.  At the very least, I almost never work past 6:30 p.m. now, and I have all the time in the world to pursue my (numerous) interests.

As long as I can contain my stresses to the workday and let it all go at 6:30, I will be fine.  My evenings and weekends are, at long last, my own.  I'm hoping to be able to make Christmas cards for everyone this year!

Good Excuse

About nine months ago, my cousin Andrew and his wife Sharon, who live out in Singapore, had a beautiful baby girl.  Andrew is the brother of Sharren, my gorgeous and hilarious cousin whose twin girls I made a double stroller card to celebrate.  Although with time and distance constraints, I haven't met either Sharon or Baby G, I was so happy to hear of Baby G's birth.

I don't have many (rather, any) excuses to buy adorable kiddie outfits, so I reveled in browsing the baby girl section at the clothing store.  I was surrounded by dozens of the cutest miniature dresses ever - I wanted to buy them all!  At first, I picked up a little pink dress and some cunning socks that had Mary Janes printed on them, but I dropped them both when I caught sight of the most beautiful baby girl dress I had ever seen...

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It was unmistakably The One.  

The exact shade of blue-green... more of a sea-green... that seems to invoke some sort of subconscious joyous memory in me.  It makes me think of the shade of the ocean in Greece, in the Caribbean, in Miami, in my dreams.  I think some people refer to the color as seafoam, which captures the essence of it exactly. 

The overlay of white eyelet lace was a lovely complement to the satin, as was the big satin bow at the waist.  It may be the Virgo in me, but I glory in a perfect bow, haha. 

Sharon specially took a picture of Baby Geneve wearing the dress for me, and I was really happy to spot the dress on her in Facebook pictures on other occasions.  That's the best compliment I could have had to my taste - I'm glad my cousins like the pretty party dress as much as I do!  

For the card I sent to them along with the dress, I used the elephant paper punch that I've used a number of times (it's so surprisingly versatile!), and rubber-stamped a big red bow on a separate piece of paper.  I cut out the stamped bow image, and perched it jauntily on the little pink elephant's head.  

As always, the little cutout flappy ear makes me smile.  That was a truly genius design, Martha!  

Once my parents retire and move to Taipei, I really hope to visit Andrew, Sharon and Baby G.  In years past, every time I visited my parents in Taiwan, I could never make a trip to Singapore since I can only take off so many days and my main priority is to maximize my (infrequent) time with my mom and dad.  But there are many more direct flights there from Taipei, so once my parents move to Taipei, I can zip over for a few days, no problem!

I haven't been to Singapore in years.  Looking forward!

Elegant Embossed Chandelier

I made this card a long time ago, but was saving it for a special occasion because I loved it too much to let go.  I can only think of maybe once I made the same exact card twice, so when something comes out beautifully, I never want to send it off into the world.

But what better occasion than my wonderful mother's birthday?  I mailed the card, along with a thoughtful present, to my mom for her special day a month ago.    

I also made sure to call her and wish her a happy, happy birthday, too.  My parents used to make a lot of my and my brother's birthdays when we were kids.  We had wonderful parties at home, skating rink parties... everything we could have wanted.  After I grew up - and especially now after I moved back to the United States - I don't even get a phone call for my birthday.  I do get an email acknowledgement from each of them, though, and I have more or less gotten over the sting.  I know it's not that they don't care; it's just hard for them to manage the time difference (they don't want to bother me if I'm busy).  I also accept that they don't think birthdays are as important as I do.  Me, on the other hand - I really enjoy making a big show of appreciation of a loved one once a year.  : )

I used the heat embossing technique that I used for my friend Roochita and for which I prepared a tutorial.  As you can see in the tutorial, this chandelier rubber stamp is one of my favorite stamps for embossing, mainly because the bold lines make the embossed image come out sharp and clear.  You can see the raised, shiny texture of the embossed image below, but I really wish you could run a finger across it!

I'm so excited for my parents - they are mere months away from retirement!  Especially my mom, who rarely gets the opportunity to travel anywhere due to her job and other considerations, she will finally have some leisure time to see the world.  I have seen her work so hard my entire life, and she really deserves to spend the rest of her life doing what she pleases.  We've tentatively discussed going on a trip to Shanghai together next year (neither of us has been, and it looks like a lot of fun).  I think late spring would be a good time, yes?

I also hope to take her to Paris sometime.

Happy (belated blogging) birthday, mommy!  Hope you are beautiful and healthy and happy forever and ever and ever!!!!!

Birthday Changes...

The title of this post sounds like a euphemism for menopause, LOL.

Although, it WAS my thirty-fifth birthday about a month-and-a-half ago, so The Change is somewhat on my mind.  So much so that I've been knocking about in my head the idea of freezing my eggs.  No joke.  I see nothing wrong with a modern woman taking charge of her fertility and doing something about the fact that she wants kids but... just not now.  Life is moving too quickly (as evidenced by my lack of blogging!) and I'm relishing my friends, fun and freedom.  More importantly, I'm not in a long-term relationship (yet!), and much as I respect single moms, I'm definitely not prepared to join their ranks.

Things might be looking up on the relationship front, though.  Although it's only been a few months, there is someone new.  I'm keeping this one close to the vest for now since for some reason, my relationships always seem to go south soon after I "go public" with it.  (My brother jokes that if I want to break up with someone, just arrange a first meeting between him and the guy in question - we'll break up within three weeks of the meeting, guaranteed!  Haha)  But I WILL share with you the card for his birthday, which was just a week or so before mine.  

I planned a day of fun for him, and he reciprocated it all - and more beyond belief - when my day arrived.  The weekend before my actual birthday, he told me that he was taking me to a surprise... which turned out to be a Broadway show called First Date.  I hadn't seen a show in so long, and the one he picked was hilarious; it poked fun of all the modern and traditional dating do's and don'ts in original and theatrical ways.  We laughed a lot at seeing all the awful things that have happened to the both of us in the course of our dating lives comically dramatized on stage.

We then went back to his apartment, where he surprised me further with one of my big passions (besides cardmaking, of course!) - homemade cocktails!  He was so cute and tried to make his own saffron infused gin with real saffron threads.  It didn't turn out like he thought it would, but he also bought a Gabriel Boudier Saffron Infused Gin and made me an amazing gin and tonic with it.  I was so impressed!  And here I thought I was the cocktail guru!

While we were sipping our scrumptious drinks, he gave me a surprise present - an amazing piece of shiny that I love to bits!  I had been looking for something like what he gave me for the longest time, and the one that he gave me is SO my taste.  It really couldn't have been more perfect than if I had it made to order.  It's my lucky bracelet now - I make sure to wear it on plane flights and when I have important meetings at work.

   

And then, as I was still prancing around waving my arm wildly to see my new pretty sparkle, it was time to get cleaned up.  He didn't let on until we arrived that he had made reservations at Asiate, the gorgeous restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental.  

We snagged the best table in the restaurant, and thoroughly enjoyed a memorable tasting menu and each other's company (as we always do) while gazing out at the astounding sunset view of Columbus Circle and Central Park:

And as if all that weren't enough, I was floored on the actual day of my birthday.  I took the day off work for my birthday last year, and wanted to do so again this year, but I just started a new job and didn't feel like I could.  I was immeasurably cheered by a surprise delivery of the best bouquet I've ever received:

It was so amazing (and humongous!) that it created an unintended benefit of making people at work do double-takes when they walked past my office.  I was still new at the job and trying to get to know people, and I got to chat with a lot of people who are on my floor but who I had never spoken to because they all came in to admire the flowers and tell me that it was more like a small tree than a bouquet of flowers!

After work, I arrived at his apartment, and found that he had planned to cook dinner for me.  (You have no idea how much I love men who cook!)  And when I was still rubbing my fat and full tummy after dinner, he ordered me to the bedroom while he prepared "something" in the living room.  I happily complied, and it wasn't before long when tinny electronic notes of the birthday song floated into the air.  I walked into the living room to this spread:

Chocolate Grand Marnier fondue... and a singing candle atop a HOMEMADE BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!  No one except my mom has ever baked me a birthday cake in my life!  How did I get so lucky?  To have such a wonderful guy be so wonderful to me... I still can't believe he baked me a cake!!!  He ran out of white frosting before he was done, so the back third of the cake was iced with chocolate icing, which makes me chuckle and endeared me to the cake even more.  Over a month later, I still get warm fuzzy feelings whenever I think of the cake.  And everything else.  

As go the lyrics of the Sound of Music, "I must have done something, something good."

I was so anxious about reaching the milestone ripe old age of thirty-five, but with someone like him and my wonderful family and friends, I feel okay.  More than okay - I feel like this is the time of my life.  Each passing year gets sweeter and sweeter, and I'm so grateful for all that I have.  And now that thirty-five is over and done with, I find that I'm not gripped by anxiety any longer.  What will happen, will happen.  What won't, won't.  But I know that in any case, I will be happy, and I will live my life to the fullest.

Thank you, R.  

Happy Easter Spirits

I'm so happy - It's FINALLY getting warm!  I realized this when, for the past two nights, I haven't slept well because I was too warm in flannel pajamas under my big down comforter.  Hooray!!

I know people detest summers in NYC, but I love 'em!  I lived a third of my life in a tropical climate, so the heat and mugginess don't bother me.  In fact, I glory in it!  The sunniness of NYC summer days make my very soul feel freer.  Plus, there are so many fun things to do in the summer!  I can't wait to see what this year brings!

(I think next year, I'm going to get one of those happy lamps to combat the winter blues.)

Here's this year's Easter card!  I made it with one of my huge bunny stamps, which I love (almost) as much as the one I used for last year's Easter card.

Easter is a time of renewal and rejuvenation.  After a long, deary, dark winter, I see light at the end of the tunnel again, both career and romance-wise.  I don't want to give too much away for now, but I've regained my optimism!

I feel re-energized and have taken steps - a number of steps - to proactively better my life.  I've always staunchly believed that the universe helps those who help themselves.  The first steps are the hardest, but once taken, the karmic snowball effect helps nudge things along.

And, I've started exercising again after a long hiatus from the gym.*  Feeling stronger in body is already translating into feeling stronger in spirit!

Whew!  I was really getting kind of sick of my self-chosen wallowing.  : D

Happy Easter!

* I've lost five pounds already in two weeks, which doesn't seem like a lot, but it's not an insignificant percentage of my total body weight.  And I've toned up - I can see the outlines of my four-pack again!

Get Well Blooms

College was a good time.  Not, "Wooooohoooooo!! It was wiiiiiiiiiiiild!!!!!" kind of good, but good as in, I learned a lot, grew a lot and found a lot of good friends.  It was, in many ways, the time of my life.

(I pause here to note that the phrase "time of my life" is popularized to mean "the best time of my life", but in actuality, it is a completely neutral phrase, and can easily also mean the opposite extreme.  In many ways, my college days were indeed the best time of my life; in other ways, they were the worst.  But you know what?  I am a believer that one has to experience the bad in order to recognize the good.)

I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved my major.  I chose to study in the languages and literature department, which was one of the best decisions I've made in my life.  I've always been the bookworm, the child whose most scandalous behavior was to secretly speed read books in the young adult bookcases (when she was too young for them) after she read her way through the children's section of the library.  My mom recently found my old college textbooks when she was cleaning out a cabinet, and she remarked to me over the phone how amazingly dense my notes were all over the margins.  She exclaimed to my dad, "She really analyzed every single word!"  I laughed, remembering how much I enjoyed chewing on those glorious words and ideas.

I also really liked my peers in my department.  They were all such unbelievably smart and articulate and interesting people.  Some things get regrettably lost in my memory, but I clearly remember the first heady weeks of freshman year, which was when I became friends with Liz.  Liz was dynamic and articulate, a born leader.  Although we lost touch over the years, we reconnected via Facebook, where she often posts delectable photos of the meals that she cooks.  I also learned that she is dealing with some major health issues.  I always felt awful seeing her posts about yet another stint in the hospital or yet another medical test.

Liz is so supportive of my card-making even from long distance (she lives in Dublin while I'm in New York) that I wanted to make a special card for her.

I selected the brightest colors I had in my paper stash to infuse the card with as many good vibes as possible.  I layered the punch-outs from seven different flower punches to make up the blooms in the bouquet, and used little Swarovski crystals and glitter glue to bling them out.

After the card was finished, I looked at it, and it seemed so... Liz.  Vibrant, strong and gorgeous.  I also included in my package to Dublin an apron in a cheerful print, just in time for Easter.

I can't wait to see more culinary creations come out of Liz's kitchen, and I hope she gets completely well soon!

Popup Surprise

I'm full of new techniques lately!  After playing around with the quilling technique on my last card, I made this cutie for a friend's birthday recently.  

The simple cover belies the surprise inside...

It's only when you open up the card that you realize it is a cool popup card!

Here's how I made it:

I cut out short strips of coordinating stripe-y paper and glued them in layers in the middle of the inside of the plain white inner layer of the card...

I then used a paper blade knife to cut slits at the top and bottom of each layer...

I then folded the layers inwards so that the closed card looked like this...

And here is what the card looks like after I open it back up...

Then, I glued the entire white inner layer to the teal/green outer layer, and stamped and cut out little bows to stick on the tops of each present.

And here is the finished inside again, just because I love the popuppiness of the stacked gifts.  The cheerful colors make me happy, too.

Next time, I think I will use the same technique to make a tiered birthday cake!

A Whole Latte Love!

As usual, I'm late for this post, but I wanted to make sure that all the recipients got their cards before I gave anything away.  

I often bemoan the fact that I don't have enough people to give cards to.  I exhaust family and friends' birthdays, graduations, holidays, thank you's... etc. etc. etc., and I still have creativity overflowing to the point  of my forcing cards on family and friends to give to their family and friends - which was the case this past Valentine's Day.  

Although I, sadly, did not have a special someone on whom to bestow one of the most considered and carefully-made cards of the year, I made some for friends so that they could give them to the ones they cherish.  

The inspiration for this card came from a friend who loves coffee with whom I often shared a cuppa joe in the mornings in my spacious, sunny apartment.

The inside of the card (which I forgot to take a picture of) was stamped with the "A Whole Latte Love!" stamp from the below rubber stamp set.

I used the Stampin' Up set below called Treat Yourself.  I love this set because you can make so many different things with it such as popcorn containers, cupcakes, beer mugs, etc.  One Valentine's Day in years past, I made a cute candy dispenser card (see third card down in the link) using stamps from this set.

To make the two mugs of lattes, I used the below three stamps.  I thought it was a nice touch to use the popcorn kernel stamp as the froth foaming out of the tops of the mugs.  Afraid that someone might mistake the frothy mugs as beer mugs, I added little red stirrers.  : )

For the steam curling up from the mugs, I used a technique called "quilling".  Put simply, quilling (or paper filigree) is an art form popular in the 18th century involving creatively rolling strips of paper into decorative shapes.  I cut regular printing paper into two narrow strips and folded each of them up into even narrower strips of about 0.5 centimeters wide, and rolled them into opposite halves of a heart.

Come February 14 next year, I am optimistic that I will have someone in my life to bequeath a special card to!  : D