Assalamualaikum!
My friend Amnah over at This Little Life of Mine has done a review on a couple of my prints and in conjuction with this, in my studio is giving away an art print of your choice – free shipping worldwide! Please read her review here on her blog for your chance to be in the winning. All the best!
Assalamualaikum!
A few weeks ago I was contacted by the lovely Aida, owner of The 114, who wanted to do a feature on us! She teamed up with her hubby, Karim, and has recently launched the 114 all the way from Dubai! Their work is absolutely amazing. Aida and I are currently collaborating for a cool project due to launch before Ramadan/Eid inshallah, so watch this space! In the meantime, do check out the feature published on her blog, The 114 daily.
Every December my parents would be in Malaysia for their annual holiday except for last years December 2012. So my sister and I decided to throw a family getaway. We went to Bright.
What makes a perfect getaway for you? For us its, FOOD! Glorious food!
I decided to surprise my parents with this wonderful hamper, ‘Simply Delicious’ from Interflora. It is packed full of goodies to munch on; on our way there, during our stay and on the way back. We had honey coated peanuts to keep us entertained in the car on our 3 hour journey; for our afternoon teas we had those soft melting moments (which are to die for); for our movie night we had chocolate coated honeycomb and caramel popcorn; as for our picnic in the park…we enjoyed chilli & garlic marinated olives with some savoury cheese biscuit straws, wafer crackers dipped in mild chunky salsa and apricot & macadamia dip. This had us pretty much covered for the entire trip. Except of course one hamper wasn’t enough, it was more of a tasting platter for the 7 of us. I did mention that this hamper was originally for my parents, right? Of course it was too good to resist so we all digged in!
There were a few things that I loved about Interflora online. One, their website is very user friendly. The theme is so easy on the eye, navigating through categories and browsing at my own pace was very relaxing and enjoyable. As a designer myself, I find this point really important. The first look is what matters the most – to attact your customers, not push them away from being overwhelmed by products.
Secondly, I liked how they incorporated a few ‘extras’ to complement your purchase to make it even special. I added an extra teddy bear so I could hand it to my daughter during our trip. You can add a flower, balloon etc.
And lastly,Interflora delivers internationally! By a click of a button, its on its way to being delivered without having to worry. This is a big bonus for us as we have a lot of relatives overseas.
Unfortunately I am not able to share any personal photos of the hamper content as my camera phone was stolen! *sigh*
However, hop on over to Interflora and be amazed by what they have to offer. You will surely find something that will suit your needs and budget.
I swear every Eid is a rush. For some reason, all my raya(eid) grocery shopping, cooking and decorating happens the night before. Its strange considering I am quite an organised person. Must be all the excitement I guess. And as a Malay, I follow the way we celebrate Eid. We don’t only bake various cookies, we do a whole feast. Lontong, rendang, chicken curry etc… though I have to admit, this time I didnt do the whole shebang. One: I just don’t have much time with a 3 month old and a 2 year old and two: my aunty brought us heaps of raya cookies all the way from Malaysia. Yayness!
So it was around 10pm the eve of Eid that I went searching for a chocolate cupcake recipe online and found this. Its pretty similar to the ones I’ve made before and it tasted good. Suffice to say I slept at 3am after all the cooking and baking. But it was such a rewarding feeling knowing that you’ll be celebrating a beautiful occasion with your loved ones.
The tags are also DIY. And yes, I was up designing, printing, cutting and gluing these tags for the cupcakes and goodie bags. You can find them here, printable DIY cupcake flags and gift tags. For these specific ones (in this post), you’ll need to wait until I find time to upload them ;)
These cupcakes are for Aliya’s class. We celebrated with her little friends at Kinda. Oh it was so cute seeing them eat in mess.
RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE CUPAKES
Adapted from My Baking Addiction with slight modificationsYields: 24 cupcakes
Prep time: 20 mins
Bake time: 20 mins approxIngredients
1 3/4 cups plain flour
2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffeeMethod
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees fan forced. Line 2 standard dozen muffin trays with paper liners; set aside.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Fold in slowly the dry ingredients into the wet. Then add in the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
3. Using a large scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin cases, filling each up to 2/3 full. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.
RECIPE FOR VANILLA BUTTERCREAM ICING/FROSTING
Adapted from Sweetapolita with slight modificationsMakes: Enough to decorate 24 cupcakes
Prep time: 5 minsIngredients
340 grams unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
600 grams icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extractMethod
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip butter for 5 minutes on medium speed. Butter will become very pale & creamy.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 5 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.
3. Use to decorate right away before it hardens.
Assalamualaikum and greetings!
This is Eid giveaway #2- Blank Eid Card. You can either print it off in colour or black and white. These printables are available in 2 font formats, one in a fancy font and the other in a plain font. It is a square singlefold card so you can print it on a normal A4 sized cardstock paper of 200+gsm.
**The printables come in PDF format.
**Card measures 14cm x 14cm (5.5inch).
**The download link is at the bottom of this post.
**’Use as is’ – only for personal use. Please do not alter the artwork or distribute commercially.
**If you need something personalized or customised, please contact me or you may see what is available in my online store at Etsy.
Eid Freebie # 2:
Free printable “EID MUBARAK” Blank Cards. Print, cut, write and post to your loved ones. Enjoy!
Assalamualaikum and greetings!
Inshallah I’ll will be running weekly “FREE EID PRINTABLES” until Eid (thats 3 weeks away,so 3 printables YaY!) to help make your celebration as joyous as it can be! So don’t forget to bookmark this blog and come back next week to see what we have in store for you. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with me.
**The printables come in JPG format.
**Each flag measures 6cm x 1.5cm
**The download link is at the bottom of this post.
**’Use as is’ – only for personal use. Please do not alter the artwork or distribute commercially.
**If you need something personalized or customised, please contact me or you may see what is available in my online store at Etsy.
Eid Freebie # 1:
Free printable “EID MUBARAK”straw flags/tags or cupcake toppers or gift bags,or anything else your imagination takes you. Make your Eid special and decorate your home for your loved ones. Enjoy!
Tips: Ideally the theme for your party should also be within the same colour range. For example, you can purchase red plastic cups, orange table cloths, blue (teal) balloons, yellow carnation flowers etc. Your imagination is endless. If you need help, ask away!
(Image above shows Aliya playing with her ‘VTech My Laptop’)
When we’re at my sister-in-law’s house, all the cousins would often fight over access to that one and only toy laptop. So when my daughter recently unwrapped a present we had gotten her, she was very excited that she now had her very own laptop. She started clicking the mouse and pressing the buttons on the keyboard. It is something she is vey familiar with, as any 2 year old toddler would do, disturb mum when mum is on the laptop!
The Vtech laptop is fun, interactive and educational. It can keep an active toddler busy for a while well beyond their usual 2 minute attention span! It has various well-designed alphabetical and numerical based games.
As parents, my husband and I have always liked the idea of ‘educational toys’. Be it books, puzzles, play dough or anything else that involves hand and brain coordination. Obviously, kids will still need some physical playtime activities and games but the Vtech goes a long way to giving my children a head start in their development.
We got this laptop from www.oo.com.au and they have a variety of games and toys to choose from for different ages and gender. Their website is user friendly and if you browse through the kids section, not only have they categorised their toys into boy/girl sections, they have also made categories for doll toys, electronic toys, educational toys, wooden toys, stuffed toys etc. This is something that I found extremely useful when navigating as a first time user. Unlike some other websites, I knew exactly where I was going rather than being overwhelmed by hundreds of products all at once. The best part about www.oo.com.au is that once you place an order and pay, your order is instantly delivered to your doorstep within 2-3 days.
I love online shopping! The best part is that I can conveniently sit on my couch sipping my tea whilst browsing stock, all at my own convenience. So do check out the kids section at www.oo.com.au and I hope you have as much of an enjoyable browsing/shopping experience as I did.
Wishing my readers and everyone around the world a Happy Eid Al-Adha and Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha! Taqqaballahu minna wa minkum. May Allah accept from us and you.
