Time = Stamps (to me)

Yes. Sometimes my stamps design randomly featured as wallpaper on my phone. Making a design is the best part of all.. it makes me happy.

Maybe to some my handmade stamps are just stamps. Rubbers. Erasers. But to me they are more than that. Far more than what you can imagine. At one point, I even make a pledge to myself. I will keep creating stamps and I will never going to stop. One day, when I'm gone, I hope my stamps will stay longer. Within each and every stamp that I make, there are pieces of peacefulness, hope and happiness that I felt all throughout the process. Everytime I send a stamp away to their owner, I am sending away a little piece of me. A little piece of love.

Why? because to me life means the time we have in this world. The time is the chance for us to do what we want to do or what we are destined to do in this world. And I use my time to make stamps. So that means, every piece of my stamp are pieces of my life. They are the extension of my passion towards art.

So to those who have my handmade stamps, please take good care of them (sorry I've said this before). Time flies, and they never go back...you know that, don't you? Same with my stamps... I can make new ones... but it will never be the same. What if I fall ill? or cut my fingers? or my eyes can't see the tiny details anymore? or what if I die. What you have in your hands now is one of a kind. I'm sure all handmade crafters will agree with me.

Ok, sorry2...not only crafters laa...whoever you are. Whatever your proffesion is. What you do consumes your life.

My carver has broken!!

Some things are just irresplaceable. We can only try to make them stay with us as long as we can.

Latest Work

I managed to produce a couple more stamps during the weekend. Enjoy looking at the pictures!

Rosy Stamp

Aaaaahhhh...I'm so happy that it turned out well, because I was carving this around 4-7 am. I got up at 1 am after only 2 hours of sleep. The floor was cold and I was very sleepy! Both my eyes were actually dah start melekat-lekat, pedih-pedih dan kabur-kabur. Kejap-kejap I need to kedip-kedip or buka besar-besar but I was also unable to stop carving!

Do you like the roses? Actually I made few sketches to find the best way to make roses on stamp. Well, nak lukis tiga kuntum ros saja pun perlu bekerja begitu keraskah? I like doing something my own style. They look simple kan...but I really perah otak on it, you know! I really hope kak Fiza will love this stamp, she requested it to be English style (menjadikah?). But to tell you the truth, she actually ordered this since last year! Oh sori kak Fiza...lama sangat nak siap! Kalau tanam padi agaknya dah 3 kali tuai dah!

Facebooking and Stamp-making

Lack of updates lately huh?

Who needs blog when Facebooking is so damn alive and much more fun? ~~~ well, I almost think that way. But no way! I love my blog!

But friends, if you are on Facebook (or not yet)~~Come! Come! Let's get connected! Just look for Mysara Mangosteenskin. We sure gonna have lots of good times there. Come on darling...add me!

I'm trying to upload all photos of my handmade stamps there! You are more than welcomed to view the album.

For the mean time, enjoy some photos of my latest comissioned handmade stamps.

Tagged

by Veda of Kai Kriye

1. What is your current obsession?
Making stamps.

2. What are you wearing today?
Jeans (I have been wearing jeans almost everyday for the past 9 years!)

3. What’s for dinner?
Something hot and soupy would be nice!

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Groceries.

5. What are you listening to right now?
Just the blowing fan and my fingers hitting the keyboard.

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Veda: Talented, love decorating and cooking.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Anywhere will do. My husband is where my home is.

8. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Just stay at home.

9. Which language do you want to learn?
Sign Language

10. What’s your favourite quote?
Everything got somewhere to start.

11. Who do you want to meet right now?
Hmm... I just walked him to the door this morning and now I miss him already.

12. What is your favourite colour?
Black and white of coz, but I love all other colors too!

13. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?
Jeans.

14. What is your dream job?
Succesful dreamer.

15. What’s your favourite magazine?
Digital Photography, Dream Zakka (eventhough I can't read "chinese")...and recipe magazines. Frankly...I seldom buy magazines.

16. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Magnets and clear varnish.

17. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Wearing something that makes you look ugly.

18. Describe your personal style?
Simple.

19. What are you going to do after this?
Chores and prepare some stamp design for carving.

20. What are your favourite movies?
I don't remember titles.

21. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?
Can't live without? Of coz deodorant, shower gel/soap,facial cleanser, toothbrush...make-ups is not compulsory to me.

22. What inspires you?
Nature and people, but generally it could be anything, even a dream.

23. Give us three styling tips that always work for you
Wear something that looks great on you!

24. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Mix and match.

25. Coffee or tea?
Tea to relax and coffee to wake up.

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Sleep.

27. What is the meaning of your name?
My Muslim name means kind and rich.

28. Which other blogs you love visiting?
Too many to mention, but I visit Geninne's Art Blog and Emila's Illustrated Blog almost everyday.

29. Food you can't resist?
Masak lemak (cooking with coconut milk broth) and nuts (hoho hantu kacang nih!).

30. Which taste you prefer for snacks. Sweet, sour or salty?
Salty.


**The rules are: Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Then tag your friends!

I am tagging Aneesah, Joyce, Ciyou, Fuzzy, Maya, Kak Tina, Rani! Really want to know more about you guys!

Inkpads for Sale 002

I love inkpads! If possible I want to keep all for my personal use but I also want my customers to enjoy their stamps as good quality inks do make all the difference!

Above photo for size comparison

1. COLORBOX - PAINTBOX PASTEL pigment ink (12 Colors: Heliotrope, Lilac, Orchid, Pink, Coral, Apricot, Canary, Lime, Apple Green, Aqua, Sky Blue, Lavender)

BOOKED BY BAIZURAH!!

2. COLORBOX - PAINTBOX EARTHLY ORES pigment ink (8 Colors: Dune, Cocoa, Brown, Merlot, Black, Gold, Copper, Bronze)....kotak inkpad ni saiz 6.5cm x 23 cm...besar ni. Warna Gold, Copper & Bronze tu metallic sket...

Only 1 unit available, price RM 95.00

3. COLORBOX QUEUE MISTY MEADOW chalk ink & RICH RUSTIC pigment ink (12 Colors altogether)

BOOKED BY KOKOA&FRIENDS!!

4. COLORBOX PIGMENT INK STAMP PAD - LARGE SIZE (5 separate units)

Green (without plastic wrapping but assured never been used) - AVAILABLE, Orange -BOOKED BY NJ!!, Moss Green B - BOOKED BY SYIMA!!, Canary - AVAILABLE, Chianti - BOOKED BY NJ!! (RM40 each)

Notes: Prices exclude Pos Ekspres RM2.50-4.oo depend on inkpads size and quantity

THANKS FOR LOOKING!!

Please leave comment to book your inkpads. First comment first serve.

New Fridge Magnet

I want to try painting on wood since long time ago, after I saw some photos of work by folkart artists. So this is my first try-out, but the size of the piece is just 1.25 inch square. At first, I used gesso primer, varnish and blunt end of a pin for this scgrafito technique. Then I used my stamps for the text.


But the scgrafito is just for fun! I sanded the whole surface, and painted it with this cute girl. Actually we went back to my hometown last weekend, and showed my mom this small piece of wood. She said, "Draw a cute girl".



Can you spot the difference in the girl's face in above and below picture?



I glued a magnet on the back ---and woohooo!!! I want to make more!

Made with Love

Just a mix collection of my own personal stamps and commisioned ones.

I paid my little brother to help me mount some of them. I'm sure he's happy to earn extra pocket money to school.

Thing is, I am always attached to each work that I do. Everytime I finished a stamp it feels so hard to let it go. This is the reason why I made a card printed with care and handling tips to go along with sold stamps.

To those who bought stamps from me, please take a really good care of your stamp k!

Orchids

I love orchids because it is a plant with unlimited varieties. Back in university, I learnt how to make orchid hybrids. I hybrided my mom's hybrid orchids with local wild orchid but I never manage to see how my invented hybrid's flowers looks like. You see, when you polinate a flower, it will produce a seed pod...but in case of orchids...the seed is microscopic and it can only be sow in special media. Back to these years, I have lots of seed pods of my own invented hybrids, and I made some experiments sowing them in damped moss, etc (don't want to bore you with scientific terms here) but none of these seeds manage to germinate. I don't know...maybe some of them manage to germinate but we can't see them with bare eyes. We need a microscope to see them. After I graduated i don't have access to microscope or culturing equipments anymore. That's why, once I was dreaming of having my own small lab dedicated to do these kinds of work...producing my own hybrid orchids and culturing them. But maybe one day, for the mean time, you guys know what I'm up to...stamp carving!

Hybrid orchid is originated from cross-polination of two wild orchids. It can also be achieved by cross-polinating hybrids to wild, or hybrids to hybrids. Most commercial orchid are hybrids as they are the success polination of selected species with fragrant and beautiful flowers. But to come up with a successful hybrid is not easy...for example it took 10 years to develop an Aranda hybrid which later be named after Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah, our former First Lady.

I think the orchid blooming season is still here, make a visit to any nature park or orchid garden, you'll know what I mean. Here's a few pictures of orchids that I manage to capture during my recent visit to Tenom Agriculture Park.

Timing

I start my morning by carving a new comissioned stamp. I want to practice "timing" the whole carving process. This one takes 1 hour and a half to finish...and about 2 hours including the tracing process.

And here's the proof of the stamps that I showed earlier.

What Tree

We went to Tenom Agricultural Park two weeks ago. It was my fourth visit to the park and never been there during fruit season. If you make a visit during these time, you can eat whatever edible fruits from the gardens, as much as you can. But you can only eat them in the park, they do not sell the fruits and you can never sneak them out. No tapau-tapau.

I made new findings anyway.

Beautiful flower isn't it? It came from this weird trees. The fruits look like buah kepayang but it's not. I know because we got pokok kepayang in our orchad. My hubby made a random guess and said it's buah kelapa laut (see coconut). Haimeh?

Anybody knows what tree is this?

Good Morning

Pancake anyone? My hubby asked me to make this for supper last night and I still have some batter in the fridge.

Ok. It's almost 5am and I'm still up in my apron. I haven't been able to online for days, so I feel obliged to update this blog and reply some mails. I am a night person and I love to work while other people enjoying their sweet dreams.

Aaaaahhh, I feel so good to be able to get back to stamp-making.

Those cute, small letters look so fragile and innocent, aren't they?

Hey, somebody from California bought my Airmail Birdy! I changed the tail because I think the former one looks like human's finger. Red birdy will fly to Arnold Schwarzenegger! Hihi. Just kidding.

Made a new Farm Stamp too! But then I decided to take it out of my Etsy listing to prevent anyone else from ordering it. I hope you guys understand that I won't be making any new copy of it for sale. Production of this Farm Stamp is so time-consuming because of its intricate details.

I don't feel sleepy but I know I just got to take lots of cafein today coz I caught myself fallen asleep twice while driving. I hate traffic jam, it makes me sleepy!

Shh...

Tunggu sejuk-sejuk dulu baru nak tunjuk! Haha!

Time

is flying so fast. I found a couple strands of white hair on top of my head and wondering whether it is already time for them to be there.

June is almost here isn't it? No matter how much I keep myself busy, there are still lots of things waiting to be done. Some of them already months old.

I was cleaning up the memory card by deleting unwanted photos one by one. Looking at these pictures of last year's ATCs and drawing makes me MISS drawing SO MUCH. I have not even produce a single ATC or drawing this year.

I really miss drawing.

SO SO MUCH.

Inkpads for Sale

DAH LICIN PUN!!! TERIMA KASIH SEMUA!

Recently, through a winning bid in eBay, I managed to get Cat's Eyes ColorBox inkpads at cheaper price. Not that cheap actually (after converted to Malaysian Ringgit plus the shipping fee), but I am grateful enough as it is still cheaper than the selling price at most craft shops in Malaysia. Last year, I bought my first two Cat's Eyes at RM 9.50 each!

Of course, I would love to have them all for myself, but since ramai yang tanya mana nak cari, so I decided to sell some of them. Memang, ink macam ni tak dijual di kedai2 stationary yang biasa. Kalau adapun dekat kedai art & craft, tapi jarang2 ada dan mahal pulak. Trust me, ink ini sangatlah best. Hasil chopnya cantik sangat!

Baca sebelum beli!

• Ink2 ini adalah original ColorBox, made in USA. Saiz? Kecik jer, sebesar ibu jari, bentuk mata.
• Harga 1 set RM40.00
• Dalam setiap set ada 6 warna. Jadi RM40/6=sebijik RM6.6666667 sahaja! Bayangkan dulu Mango beli 9.50 sebijik di Craft Haven!
• Ada 5 set yang available, Rain Forest, Rose Petal, Primary Elements, Baby's Breath dan Jelly Beans.
• Rose Petals dan Primary Elements adalah chalk ink...yang selebihnya pigment ink. Chalk ink menghasilkan kesan chop yang matte, biasalah macam kapur kan...sementara pigment ink...lebih kurang macam ink biasa.
• Bukan, ini bukan ink fabrik...tapi excellent untuk sebarang papercraft; boleh buat tag, kad, scrapbook, etc.
• Semua set adalah BARU. Masih berbungkus lagi, so sama2lah kita berharap kandungannya dalam keadaan baik. Will not be responsible to defect.
• Kalau berminat, sila tinggalkan komen dengan menaip CONFIRM<>NAMA SET yang dipilih. Sila check komen2 terdahulu, kalau dah ada orang booking set yang berkenan, ertinya dah melepas lah tu.
• Siapa cepat, dia dapat! Yeehaa!

RAIN FOREST - pigment ink sold to Rozila!

PRIMARY ELEMENTS - liquid chalk ink sold to Mimi!
ROSE PETALS - liquid chalk ink sold to Rozila!

BABY'S BREATH - pigment ink Sold to Bee & Zar!

JELLY BEANS - pigment ink sold to Bee & E-in!