May 9th, 2008 by emila

Marzie has tagged me with a new meme … the Stumble Upon Meme! I decided to try it out, here is the concept: Stumble the pages that link to you. In this way you drive more traffic to the page containing your link and thus you hope that some of that traffic comes back to you via the link on that page. Let’s modify things a bit and make our very own StumbleWorthy list. Why have a list, you say? A list is necessary for the participants to StumbleUpon . And also, it’s needed to check whether the participants are really Stumble-ing. Plus, it helps your Technorati authorities!

For this meme, I’m tagging Janice , Jean , Trinity , The Other Side of Emila , Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery and Nessa’s Mumblings .

–START COPYING HERE–

Here are the rules:

1. Copy from "START COPYING HERE" to "STOP COPYING HERE".
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post the "StumbleWorthy List" at each site you add.
3. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE . I will add you to the master list.
4. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This will allow the new comers to achieve equal benefit as the late comers do.
5. Register in StumbleUpon and install the toolbar.
6. Go to the sites found on the list and give them a thumb up (I like it!).
7. Add me as your friend in StumbleUpon: Blanne.

Note: Your url will be deleted in the Master List if you do not comply to the given rules.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE LIST. OR CLICK HERE TO GET A BANNER THAT YOU CAN PUT ON YOUR BLOG. THE MORE PARTICIPANTS, THE GREATER INCREASE IN TRAFFIC!

~StumbleWorthy List~

1. Hit-or-Miss 2. Mommy’s Little Corner 3.Unpredictable Life 4. The Journey 5. Sigh 6. Say Cheese 7. Make Every Day Your Lucky Day 8. Blessed Sanctuary 9. Hailey’s Beats and Bits 10. Photo Hook 11. A Sweet Taste Of Life 12. Nyumix’s Blog 13. Juliana’s Site 14. Juliana’s Lair 15. Juliana’s World 16. My Library 17. Fun.Fierce.Fab 18. When Silence Speaks 19. Etc Atbp 20. Mariuca - Wishing On A Falling Star 21. Dance of Motherhood 22. Emila’s Illustrated Blog 23. The Other Side of Emila 24. Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery 25. Read my Mind 26. Picturing of Life 28 27. Spirit of Bonoriau 28. My Careless Whispers 29. Coffee Cup Princess 30. betterthanEzraH 31. Just Another Day 32. Lifepassedby 33. Simple Life 34. A Housewife’s Journal 35. Life Together Starts 36. Scrap For Dollars 37. Jesie Blog Journey 38. My Drift 39. Pinay Mommy Online 40. Thesserie 41. Mirage as Usual 42. Photography on the Move 43. KitchenMaus 44. Vienna Daily 45. Days Of Our Life 46. YOUR BLOG/SITE HERE!

May 9th, 2008 by emila

Yassin made a card for me today. He was so concerned about the overly-glittered leaves. Said he wanted to take out some so that it would look good. I am so touched, he already has his opinion on how his art should be and I am so touched that he wanted it to look good for me!

Thank you Baby Ibu, I love you! Macam baru semalam saya melahirkan dia…

May 8th, 2008 by emila

This week I am featuring musician bloggers.

I have been listening to Az’s music for quite sometimes now. Discovered a link to his blog from his brother’s blog, Helmy. Az is a great musician and one of a kind! He started blogging Guitar Harmony in May 2006 and recently has launched a new blog: A Chord a Day. You can learn more about him through his website: AzSamad.com. You can listen to his audio samplings in there but alternatively you can also check out his myspace page. Personally, I love Echoes in Bangsar, Senja Mula Menangis and Royalti Belum Datang (dedicated to his father, A. Samad Said). You can buy his CD at CDBaby: Az Samad.

Randomyork or John Randall York has always been my favourite fantasy artist but when I learned that he plays the guitar as well, I quickly went and listen. He is a great musician! You too can listen or watch him playing at myspace: Random York Music. You can buy his CD at his website. John teaches guitar at American Band Instrument Co. on Shelly Drive in Tyler, Texas and currently plays in a jazz trio. John played guitar since age 11 and was introduced to jazz by his uncle.

Last but not least, check out Chedd Eddie Yusoff. Look for the sidebar on the right and scroll down a bit. Click on the audios and listen. Cool innit? I like them all especially CIntaku Punya Jiwa. CPJ was his 1st jazz single. He wrote the song and lyrics in 2005.

~~~~***~~~~

I took a pledge with BodyShop to help save the environment by not using plastic bag last month and walked out with the the items that I bought in my tote. I felt good.

Recently, after reading the AMBP’s Editor’s blog, I signed up (Participant #2550!) for ‘No Plastic Bags Pledge’ over at Leonardo DiCaprio’s Eco Site.

Come and join me, let’s make the world a better place to stay.

May 8th, 2008 by emila

A montage storyboard illustration I did for a local children’s program: Anak Siapa Ni Eh? dated back early 2006. Graphic was done in vectors and my husband did all the animations. Besides the montage, I also did the logo, super bar and segment breakers. I think my name was on the end credit as graphic designer

The black area was chromakeyed for video clips/animated stills.

May 8th, 2008 by emila

If the earth laughs at flowers, then it will definitely winks at Jill-able Fill Me Up vases! They are simply stunning and I love how the mechanism works; simply fill with water, put your flowers in and enjoy! When done, empty water, store flat and keep them in your drawer!

Jill-able Fill Me Up unique vases are made from plastic; a modern, compact solution for displaying flowers. After being filled water, it could stand still to support itself. With Jill-able’s unique vases you’ll never again have to worry about where to put flowers. If you are taking flowers to someone at their office, to a teacher in her classroom, to someone in the hospital, giving them to a loved one, or to your hostess in her home - take one of these vases with you!

A Jill-able vase makes a great gift for mom! Buy one before Mother’s Day and you’ll get 2 free vases. That is 3 for the price of 1! The beautiful vases come in a variety of great colors and can be ordered online. There are 6 designs you can choose from; Flower Power, Murano, Facets, Blue, Crosshatch and Damask. The price for one is only$8.00.

Now I can picture laughter everywhere.

May 7th, 2008 by emila

And this one is dated back in 2004. Raya and Gongxi cards; made for my then employer. The windows are die-cut, so it can be opened like real window. They’re the Malay and Chinese windows.

Yeah, I’m diggin old files. Feeling a bit nostalgic.

May 7th, 2008 by emila

Ha ha, found girls I drew dated back in 2006. They are all sleepy.

May 7th, 2008 by emila

It’s scary, uncut, uncensored and unrated; it was my entire fault for being so curious! There was a buzz all over the net about Frontier(s) and I practically went and look for the trailers. Boy! It sent shivers right down my spine! This movie is so scary and I still shiver as we speak. I never have seen such movie like that before. I am a horror movie fan but not a ‘horror’ fan, in its true word so I doubt that I will ever watch the movie. But I know few friends who would go for a movie like that.

So friends, you know who you are; Frontier(s) is about a girl named Jasmine who is looking for a way out of deadly race riots in Paris. Together with her ex-boyfriend and his two friends, they pull off a bold heist and head for the border. With the police tailing them, they took refuge in a seemingly peaceful inn. The story begins in there. The rest, you go figure or you go watch the Trailer.

The much controversial movie will be showing in theaters starting May 9th for only a week in the US. You can check the full listing in the website.

Ready for the real horror? Enter Frontier(s).

May 7th, 2008 by emila

I am the kind of friend who always fill my head with all those memories from the yester years. Those were the days that I cherished so much. You probably have read about how I longed to meet my Standard One friends. I haven’t found any of them yet. Last year, I searched for few friends from the Kampung Pandan school, I found two of them, they replied but none remembered me. I guess it was more than 20 years and nobody will remember me from the past. I felt sad but that didn’t stopped me from looking for other friends. Thanks to the internet, a friend found me through this blog and I found two from Linked In and Facebook. It’s great how blogs and networking sites connected us.

I am so glad that I finally met friends that remember me well; Christopher Andrew, JD and James Masacorale. Christopher Andrew or Kris was my penpal when I was in secondary school. We met each other back in 1986 and he lived in Setapak (still lives there!). I searched his name in Facebook and his picture popped in front of me! I jumped to joy and added him right away. He didn’t replied but after more than a month, he replied and asked me which Emila I was. Of course he jumped to joy after I refreshed his memory.

Then, a good friend from 1995, JD found me through this blog. It all started in my chatbox. JD said that his daughter, Jackie, likes my art. It is after I featured Jackie that he found out about me. JD found my retro pix and knew right away that this Emila was the Amy that he used to know. Of course I jumped to joy again and we called each other and laughed so hard and we never thought we found each other. My best buddy, Ella and me had good times partying around town whenever JD was around! We used to hang-out together singing the nights away, playing pools and what not. We lost touch a year after that, I dunno, we kinda went our separate ways.

Then, another good friend from the same year, James, e-mailed me recently. I added him in Linked-In more than a year ago and thought that I will never find him. Along with his cousin Don, James, my best Buddy Ella and me were the HardRock regulars and a scar mark ( a ciggy burn!) on my left hand will always remind me of them. We lost connection after he went away to study law in UK. In his e-mail he mentioned that Don past away two years ago. It was sad to learn that he died in a tragic incident. I pray that Don will rest in peace. James lives in UK now, is married and have a beautiful son.

I also managed to get in touch with Ella few years ago, we talked on the phone but never got a chance to meet again yet. We drifted apart after a big argument in 1996 and I only turned up for her wedding few years later. We have not been close after that. Lol, I was so emotional, maybe it is a good idea to call her tomorrow.

I am looking for more friends namely Anita Yusof, who got married to an Australian, living in New South Wales, Markus Weber her ex-husband who now lives in Germany (I lost his e-mail that a friend gave me due to hard-disk failure!) and Shereen Mohd Aris, a colleague while I was in Siemens AG. She studied in Indiana State University and I lost contact with her while she was studying there. I don’t know whether she’s back here or stayed there for good. I vaguely remember her house and hardly remember the road but I remember that it was located in Kajang. I don’t know where to look for her.

May 7th, 2008 by emila

I have been changing layouts for this blog for more than three times already and it was all because they’re slow loading or not showing certain things in certain browsers. I like this template better as it loads much faster than the previous ones. I’ve edited a bit of the CSS styles and PHP coding for this template to suit my likings. I’ve designed some simple websites (I’ve got a bit of the basics of this) to date and certainly is depending information and tips from the internet. I’ve subscribed to many great websites that offer great tips on web designs and technical stuff and recently subscribed to a great find on the net: Stylish design: The blog where web design and style have met . It covers just about anything that I am interested in. Stylishdesign.com is a blog about web designing and other stuff related to web design. On this blog you’ll find informations about search engine optimization, web directories, different tools/softwares, CSS, website templates and so on. The blog is founded and operated by Robert and Andrei, along with their team of well experienced writers, who has been in the art and advertising industry for over eight years now.

Besides the great information in Database Backup Solutions article, its Top Three Web Design Basics is a must read. The basics three are Contrast, Balance and Rhythm. Robert says that the most important tool to highlight areas of our site is contrast. By using the correct amount of contrast in your fonts, backgrounds, objects and styles you will incorporate a much more professional looking design.

May 6th, 2008 by emila

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I think it’s not too early to pass an award that I made myself, so that it will reach as many mommies as possible from all around the world by May 11th. Even if it’s not Mother’s Day, you can also pass this around in conjunction with special days like birthday, etc.

It has been a great pleasure to get to know mommy bloggers from all around the world. I thank you to all who have made it here and read my blog. I humbly don’t know what to give except an award and a link love for each of you mommies. Please accept my humble gift below and if you like, you can pass this award to all mommies that you know.

You can get the code –> here <–
I can’t put the code directly in here coz it will clash with WP codings
(Rules: there are not rules, just enjoy Mother’s Day)

Please let me know if ‘m missing out on you as a mommy, I’ll add you in my list. The greatest mommies are:

1. Daliza
2. Elina
3. Rien Mais Tout
4. Almanac Queen
5. Apple of the Eyes
6. A Girl for All Status
7. And Life Goes on for a Filipino Mom
8. Annice
9. Bee Lee
10. Bless
11. Cheaper by the Half Dozen
12. Diane Duda
13. Eugeniagina
14. Janice Ng
15. Jones Family Circus
16. Kaytonite
17. KD Hamel
18. Khemy
19. Kim Cole
20. Laurel Gaylord
21. Love Angle
22. Lyna Usman Awang
23. Michelle Anne
24. Mom’s Journal
25. Moms Checknyo
26. Mommy’s Little Corner
27. Momemo
28. Nadia
29. Nessa’s Mumblings
30. Nisah Haron
31. Onde-Onde
32. Poppy Cat Saffron
33. Regina’s Family Seasons
34. RichyReens
35. Ruby Minoza
36. Sandy Styl
37. Shades of Life
38. Soap Bubble
39. That Grrl
40. The 3 Heroes
41. Trinity
42. Valeria La Casuni

May 5th, 2008 by emila

I’ve been up to so many things actually; and probably will never stop!

During the KLIBF 2008, Bapak asked me one day whether or not I could re-bind paperback books to hardcovers. I said I’d give it a try; so he brought two books the next day for me to try!

I like the ‘Dokter’ spelling!

It was only yesterday, I managed to get my hands on these books. The covers are still in good condition so I maintained the cover. Sayang nak potong. This is what I did next:

I mount another layer of thick paper so that the paperback cover won’t be mounted to the new hardcover. The new layer will. I have to sacrifice the spine titling instead! Takut!

Noticed the yellowish edges? My husband told me that it would be good if I could send them for trimming. I will go out in the afternoon to have them trimmed. At the meantime, look at the hardcovers that I made!

They were made out of chipboard, cotton cloth, PVA glue and printable fabric paper. I don’t know where to look for buckram , so I use cotton for the time being. As for the printable cotton, I use Avery’s. Here’s a closer look.

I’m happy with the outcome but I’ve gotta listen to what Bapak has to say. He is a person who looks for quality and I really hope that my work is up to his standard. Re-binding is very challenging and it takes a lot of patience. I re-did them twice yesterday and it took me more than 5 hours to complete.

Basically, Bapak’s books are still in good condition, I didn’t have to re-sew or anything. I will be experimenting on a badly damaged book that I owned and will be documenting the process for me to share with all of you later. Later, after I finished unsettled works (i.e. Elisha’s tote, AKPK’s books, Bella’s t-shirts, etc). Hehe!

Nota buat Helmy : Helmy, esok lusa saya telefon anda, nak hantar buku Bapak!

May 5th, 2008 by emila

I’ve been up to new designs for my Zazzle online store. Feel free to take a look. I am sorry that I cannot produce this locally due to high production cost, however if you have credit cards, you can buy directly and have them delivered to you! Cheers!

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

May 5th, 2008 by emila

My Technorati hasn’t been updating for few weeks now and my authority is going down like crazy due to the expiration of the 180 days old links. I’ve joined the Red Hot Drops Club last week and there were supposed to be 99 new links. Only today I’ve got one new link from Red Hot Drops, the one from Mariuca .

What is up la?

May 3rd, 2008 by emila

Kuaci | Prismacolor on Moleskine

It’s ‘Seed’ time over at Illustration Friday and this time I drew my favourite seeds; sunflower seeds! Birds love them; I love them! I can’t seem to stop whenever I get my hands on them. Dehulling them seem addictive. I binge on their edible kernels whenever I’m in front of the tv or just having chats with my husband. My husband loves them too!

They’re totally healthy, ok. *They are excellent source of dietary fiber, protein, Vitamin E, B Vitamins, and minerals such as magnesium, iron, phosphorus, selenium,calcium and zinc. Additionally, they are rich in cholesterol-lowering phytosterols and also a good source of calories. Try them now, the roasted ones are the best. All you have to do is crack them hull with your teeth, spit it out and keep the kernel in the mouth!

Oh, I always think that their patterns are great; every each of them are uniquely barcoded!

Have a great weekend, y’all!

* Source - Wikipedia

May 3rd, 2008 by emila

And its name is Social Spark! And no, it’s not related to Jordin Spark, of course. Social Spark, like PayPerPost, is a marketing platform, where advertisers and bloggers meet. Social Spark is a bit different from PPP as bloggers will have the opportunity to know more about the advertisers and even interact directly with them. It’s even better as bloggers can socialize amongst themselves. They can message each other; add each other as favorites, not to mention giving thumbs up!

How do I know so much? Well, I’m one of them! I joined Social Spark last two weeks and life is great. I’ve taken some opps up to date (been approved, thank you!) and made friends with bloggers and advertisers. I’ve got the invite to join a week before I joined but silly me, I thought I was in without realizing that I have to register and add my blog! Lol!

I’m spreading the word to you, you, you and yes you, if you’re looking for a way to earn some money from your blog, you could do so by joining Social Spark . Social Spark can help you monetize your blog, build community and drive traffic.

Social Spark insists on a strict policy of full in-post disclosure for all sponsored posts and code of ethics includes:
-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

So, after you have registered and has been approved, all you gotta do is browse list of opportunities in the marketplace, make a blog posting, get your post approved, and get paid. It’s that simple.

If you’re worry about your PageRank, do not. The codes that they are asking you to put in your blog will contain the ‘no follow’ tag, you won’t get penalized by Googles.

May 3rd, 2008 by emila

I’ve registered as contributor member at Shutterstock and a step away before I can contribute my photos. They needed my ID and I submitted. I got the reply today, saying they need my passport.

I don’t have a passport.

Nevermind.

May 2nd, 2008 by emila

I have been looking for a way to promote my blog, not to mention my products in my online shops and thanks to the information technology, I found just the right tool that I needed; Zookoda!

For your information, Zookoda is a FREE email marketing application designed specifically for bloggers. Zookoda enables you to send a daily, weekly or monthly summary of your latest blog posts directly into your visitors inbox.

If you’re not a blogger, no worries. As a content provider, email offers you an effective way of pushing content and attracting visitors back to your site. Although positioned for bloggers, Zookoda offers great benefits to content providers with rss/atom feeds.

Zookoda enables you to:
- Manage your email newsletter subscribers.
- Enhance your blog with custom newsletter subscription forms.
- Design eye-catching newsletter to match your blog design.
- Schedule recurring broadcasts for each day, week or month.
- View real-time open, bounce, click and unsubscribe reports.
- Access mobile users by emailing blog content in text format.

I’ve registered with Zookoda, as we speak. I am at step 3 where the support team needs to authenticate my Sender Details before I can schedule a broadcast. The steps are simple really, all you got to do is:
1. create your mailing list
2. create the subscription form
3. create an e-mail
4. schedule a broadcast.

After all the four steps, you can proceed to step 5 and 6 where you can view your stats and add images.

Am a step of being a Zookodan now, heck I’m already one; so if you wanna join, let’s go to the Zookoda!

May 1st, 2008 by emila

I think of photography as a passion and I try to take good photos as possible. Truth is, I am just a dummie who is so used to the auto settings. But these are using manual setting. Though they are far from professional, I am all satisfied. I am struggling to focus as my eyes are not so good and my glasses are far-sighted. I think I can focus better with a new pair of short-sighted glasses.

Are you a spider?

Hello Tiny!

I often wonder what is it like to be so tiny, so I will take macro shots of tiny insects just to see how they look like and what they were doing. I really like to know at least their names/species so that I can look up about them in the web. Miss Bumblebee , my favourite Entomologist, would you help me pretty please?

Pumpkin’s Curl

This flower looks like an alien screaming!

Mom’s Rosebud. She has, I dunno, maybe more than 10 species of roses.

From my mom’s garden. She dedicated 1/3 for her vegetables; and the rest for her flowers.

Happy Labour Day to all!

May 1st, 2008 by emila

Grin has been honoured with today’s best (April 29) over at Zazzle and I am so proud of him! Woohoo! You go Grin! As a proud master, I must capture the moment!

Grin: Happy Birthday Card | Vectors

Surely a boost to upload more cards from GCU to Zazzle !

April 30th, 2008 by emila

Michelle Anne Dying from Autralia made my name letters in return of the name letters that I made her. I wanted to post this earlier but I lost her e-mail; only to find that it’s in the archive folder!

Thank you Michelle, this is so sweet and lovely! I love it very much! For your information, Michelle is an illustrator and also a part-time primary teacher. Please take a look at her illustrations; they are amazing!

April 30th, 2008 by emila

It took me ages to update my link-love list and I am sorry for that. I found so many great blogs and here are my link-love #3. Will feature more in #4.

Blogs in Malay:
Seni Rupa Siti: Blog milik Professor Siti Zainon Ismail (atau lebih mesra, Bonda Siti Zai). Bonda Zai adalah seorang pengkaji seni budaya warisan Melayu, pelukis, penyair dan juga penulis. Saya sempat melihat lukisan Sita Dewi secara dekat sewaktu beliau hadir di gerai WiraBukit.

Pankreas ini punya misi: Milik Cik Daun. Blog ini berkisarkan kisah harian Cik Daun, si gadis manis yang akan melangsungkan perkahwinannya tak lama lagi. Amat menarik! Saya suka tajuk blognya!

Aku Pelukis: Blog ini berkisar perjalanan hidup seorang pelukis bernama Megat Eusofe. Lukisan Divanya menarik minat saya.

Blogs in English:
May’s Illustration & Pictures: May Chan is a Malaysian who lives in Calgary. Met her through Illustration Friday. Her cup cakes illustrations are super cute! See for yourself!

Singing Snowflakes: Met her through Ilustration Friday too. She’s a research student and also a self-taught illustrator who currently lives in UK. She has another illo blog: Sep’s Illustration. Love her snuggle illo!

A room of crazy scrapper: A blog runs by Ida Karim or RichyReens. Her Rapunzel caught my eyes and I totally love the embellisments she puts on a bag!

Somethin’ Light: Hani Ali loves writing poem. She featured my sketch and photo in Absence and As I Remember It. Her poems are all great!

Negative Negative Positive: A personal journal of a figure skater, Raising Mercury. You can take a peek of her skating on the ice rink and you gotta see her baby Heaven—>>!
(Photo by Raising Mercury)

April 30th, 2008 by emila

I’m not really a make-up person but Ecco Bella had me at ‘hello’.  I am totally a flower person and so glad to find that its make-ups are made from flower waxes! Ecco Bella offers a wide array of gluten free cosmetics that contain natural ingredients like earth minerals, herbs, aloe vera and cold-pressed vegetable oils. No animal testing.

And oh, take a look at their Health by Chocolate products. Finally, there are chocolate bars that make you beautiful! Am so loving it!

April 28th, 2008 by emila

I’ve been neglecting my online card store @ Greeting Card Universe for quite sometimes and yesterday I was in the mood to submit few new designs; 13 to be exact. Below are some of them. You can check out other cards here: Emila’s Card Store .

both are vectors

…and Grin is in the mood to celebrate Cinco De mayo!

GCU accept credit cards & paypal if you wish to buy.

April 27th, 2008 by emila

Yassin and his cousins were playing the computer games the whole day yesterday, so my husband thought it would be great to get them outdoor and enjoy nature. We went to Puncak Serambi located at the Bukit Langat not far from our house.

Puncak Serambi Look-out Point (photo by Zaim)

‘Drawings’ from some of the VERY creative Malaysians! (photo by Zaim)

From Puncak Serambi, you can see the KL City. The prominent buildings are visible from up there.

You can see KL Tower and KLCC clearly. (photo by Zaim)

Yassin almost got bitten by a monkey which went berserk when Yassin chased him. Luckily, we were fast enough to handle the situation.

I think it was this monkey but then again they all look the same! (photo by Zaim)

Later, with the request from Yassin who wanted to go to ‘Segah-Segah’ place, we went further down to Ulu Langat Batu 14½ (Sungai Semungkis) and stopped by the Agrotek Garden Resort . Yassin and his cousins, Fellani and Daniel were having a blast!

Note: Segah was a cartoon series which was aired in Astro Ceria. It’s about a boy with his animal friends, preserving the nature from the being torn down by irresponsible individuals. Though Segah is not showing anymore, Yassin still remembers the show and would always refer nature as "Segah-Segah".