44th Montreux Jazz Festival

Here is the poster for the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival, happening this 2-17 July in Vaud, Switzerland.

It's so cute, I just had to park it here to be printed out later to be hung somewhere in my house!

Perfect Make-Up Corner

I have fallen in love with this image:-

Yes, this is from the home of actual people, Erin and Chris, who were featured on Apartment Therapy. I don't have a spot for a make-up table like this in my room, but I just love this whole look and maybe I can incorporate any part of this in my little "getting ready" crany. The best thing about Erin's make-up table above? It's DIY-ed by the both of them! 

Here's an amateur rendition of my version (done on good ol' MS Paint), featuring some finds from Etsy, that might be a better fit for my room:-

Driftwood mirror by WaveAndTide; Shelf with hooks by OldNewAgain; Stool by BrandMojoInteriors; Bag by BonspielCreations; all from Etsy.com.

Etsy Shop Promo

Here's the latest item in my Etsy shop.

Since it's my Etsy-versary this month (it's been a year since I started my Etsy shop), I'm offering Free Shipping anywhere in the world, until the end of the month of May 2010. Do check out my items :)

Planning Is Everything!

2011 Planner by Letter C Design

My sister, Syafinaz, will be joining me on my Europe trip! Yay!

So now we're actively and excitedly planning our trip. It's still about a year away, but early planning is essential to us financially-challenged folks. We need to know just how far we can stretch all this money we're dilligently saving.

Here are some places of interest that we hope to be able to visit:-

1. Paris (bien sur!)
Staples are, of course, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, and hip store Colette. Also looking to shop vintage. And H&M!

Colette a 213 Rue Saint Honore, Paris

2. Cannes
If we can't attend one of the (very) few screenings open to the general public, at least to soak up the glamourous indie cinema atmosphere.

Aishwarya Rai at an Emilio Pucci event in during the 2010 Cannes Film Festival

3. St Tropez
We saw pics of our cousin on a trip there and fell in love with the ambience of this chic resort town. Apparently, it's Musee Annonciade is the best art museum this side of the Riviera.

Photo of St Tropez by Arian Schoen

4. Monaco
Hoping to stop by the Football Walk of Fame and just laze at a sidewalk cafe observing all the rich folks driving by in their gazillion-bucks sports cars. Being able to watch the Monaco Grand Prix would be a bonus!

Photo of Monte Carlo, Monaco by Andrea De Stefani

5. London
I don't really care much for the staple tourists traps of London, but shopping at Picadilly Circus is a must, no? Also, if convenient enough, perhaps a snap with one of the Berlin Wall monuments.

Photo of London by Agata Urbaniak

6. Liverpool
If we're fortunate enough to have our dates coincide with my cousin Zura's trip, we may make a trip to Liverpool and get acquianted with the cool indie arts scene.

Photo of Liverpool by Alasdair Ferguson

Can't wait!

Pretty Packaging Poser

I was over the moon yesterday when I saw that I had made another 2 sales at my Etsy shop! The same person ordered two necklaces and the amount came up to quite a bit, especially after converted to the Malaysian Ringgit. Because of that, I had to really make sure that the receiver will be very happy and satisfied with the package. Since I was on an ongoing mission to revamp my Etsy shop anyway, I decided to make some jewellery backing cards to sew the necklaces to so that hopefully they wouldn’t be all tangled up in the package. I had also included complimentary felt rosette pins in previous orders, so I included them here, too. Plus, I think the rosettes give some much-needed flair to the basic packaging.

What do you think?

I have a crush on Frankie!

Wow, I never realised that I had been living under a rock all this time! I only just discovered Frankie magazine, an indie-artsy-crafty-all-kinds-of-things-I-love magazine in Australia, and it’s been around since 2004! Where the heck had I been?

Look at the pretty covers...

Vive La Francaise

As mentioned before, I am looking forward to a trip to England and France, and possibly another European country, about a year from now. I may be going with my band of cousins, or may be going alone. Taking into account the possible outlook, a girl’s gotta have a sound backup plan, so I’m researching French language centres in Paris that offer 1- or 2-week courses where I can study the language while also have time to go sightseeing on my own in case the cousins are not coming along.


Some finds from the Internet are looking quite good, but I will most probably go with L’Atelier 9 as they offer an intensive 20-hours week-long course for €225 (RM955), the cheapest thus far. Of course, the testimonial from former students sound good, too - I especially like the part where they're very flexible with dates and time, and how they "shock" you into speaking French by not using any books during lessons. Bring it on!

About this trip with the cousins, I’ve been planning so far with a cousin of mine, Zura, and we’re hoping the other cousins will join us on this Euro Trip so that we can relive our “Jaffar Kazens Trip ‘04” when we went to Phuket – our first holiday trip with no chaperones (well, we already were adults at that time, ages ranging from 19-24, but we’d never gone anywhere without parental units before).


However, it is still a long way away, and some factors may not be too supportive of this dream of ours. Zura is pregnant with her firstborn, (CONGRATS!), so when March 2011 rolls around, the baby would only be around 4 months old, and may not be ready for travel yet (although my mother thought nothing of hauling my brother and me to New Zealand when he was just one month old – this is a story I keep telling Zura heheh). Another cousin will be going to the UK in May, while another is going to Germany, so they may not be so ready to go back to Europe so soon. Meanwhile another cousin just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl two months ago, (CONGRATS, too!), so baby-logistics may prove a problem to the new parents (but I keep telling them how we brought Nada to Bandung at 8 months old, and it’s way easier handling a baby than a toddler).

Well, we can plan, so we'll see how it all will turn out! 

Photo: Orsolya Ganzler