Toiletries for all you Mummies out there!

I never knew that toiletries could be so much fun, but sure enough they are. It’s time to grab a few rolls of toilet paper and buy that oval box of Kleenex tissues and get started with Halloween party planning.

I have a few Funday Freebies I want to share to start October off with a bang. It’s not too early to start thinking of the games and activities you will want to have at your halloween party and I have just the thing to get that party started. I have a Kleenex box label and toilet paper wrap for you to decorate your tissues for those little gobblins who come to the party.

Here is the mummy toilet paper label you can download (or go to the U-Pick button at the right) for the toilet tissue wraps. I have three wraps on an 11" x 17" format and you can print it, cut each one out and simply tape to the back of the rolls. Use the decorated mummy T.P. wrap for each of the teams when you play the wrap-a-mummy game. Here are a few mummy game ideas. You might even have a few wrapped and ready in the bathroom just in case the roll gets low. :)

And don’t let your party get a bad “wrap” with ordinary tissue boxes that can’t keep up with the fun. This adorable little mummy has you covered, or at least it will when you wrap those oval Kleenex tissue boxes in the label provided. There are two labels on an 8.5" x 11" format and you will need both to cover the box. Simply print it, cut each out along the edges, and tape one to each side of the oval box. I use double-stick tape, as it won’t show on the sides.

This is only the first layer of fun ideas and decorating tips I am unwrapping throughout the month of October. You and your mummy will want to check in every day to see what else Sheri-Boo-Berry has in store, and remember to get yourself and your peeps on FB and join the fun by “liking” my Sheri McCulley Studio page. There will be constant updates you won’t want to miss.

Okay, time to start planning your Halloween party. I think that about wraps it up. ;)

Ticking away

So many things, so little time.


From Google Search

OMG! It is already end of September???! 3 more months to go before we bid 2011 goodbye. There are so many things in hands, and I frantically trying to divide my time (and myself if can) between works and family. The last quarter of the year would be a very busy time, as festive season is around the corner and not forgetting our new house. Just could not help but to whip those contractors to do the works faster around the house so I can choose a good day and time to move in, and have my stuff really move in and unpack them.

Time is never enough!

Weekend Menu #15: Food to warm your soul

What a great dish to kick start my day non other than a nice bowl of mihun soup. I love my soup to be sour, so some kiam chai and tomato do the trick. Fresh fish meat is a good protein source. I can finish 2 bowls but I got to watch my weight at the same time.



Another great soup is chicken soup. Funny thing is that when I am not well, I always crave for either porridge or warm chicken soup. As hubby and I were not feeling well last week, we have some ginseng chicken soup. I can have many bowls of these soups and dip my chicken meat in light soy sauce. Yummy! What do you have when you are not feeling well?




This dish is mostly cooked during confinement. I ate a lot of these kacang ma during my 2 confinements. It is a Hakka heritage dish. To read more, go here. It is flavourish with lots of herbs, old ginger and wine. On normal days I will crave for it but of course with less white wine. I do not need too much of wine, but it does good to cleanse the body when you have your monthly menstrual.

Sisterly meeting

I have few good friends from previous company. We are no longer working there and we ended up as ladies of leisure (more or less). Once a while we tried to find times to meet up. May it be breakfast or lunch, we try to get together once a week or at least twice a month. You can see we grew close since the old days when we were in same company that we feel like we are sisters. I find it is good get-away time as I hardly have time to meet up with old friends. Most of my days I am stuck in the shop or busy with family matters. And when we did meet up, we talk like no body business. Sometimes I feel other people from other tables are looking at us. Must be we talking or laughing too loud. You know girls. When we meet up, we love to gossip!

A Balancing Act for Freebie Funday!

This week I am giving away a card on the U-pick freebies that I designed last year with my daughter in mind. While away at college I thought it would be fun to send her and her besties a weekly postcard to have something in their snail mail to look forward to at the end of each week.

Shortly after the year got started I sent this card as a bit of encouragement. I thought many of you might have someone, whether away at school, or right at home who might be ready for a little pick-me-up message. So, just pick up the card from the U-pick button and share it with all your favorite students, or just click on this linky-dink and download away!

Print the card out on an 8.5" x 11 cardstock or index stock and trim into a postcard, or if you like a folded card to write inside, follow the trim and fold marks and put it in an A6 envelope (4.75" x 6.5").

As we all know, a little encouragement can go a long way!

Boh Eng

I do not know what I am busy about, but the works in my new house make me more excited. Why not? It means in two or three months time I will be moving to my new house. Before Christmas we must move into the house! *wink*

Update on the new house works. Now contractor is doing some touch up on the wet kitchen (windows & door fixed, painting, building the cabinet and stove top). At same time, the built in wardrobe for the bedrooms. Next would be the installation of air cons, lightings, heaters and ceiling fan(s). Follow by tiles on car porch and back of the house. Last but not least, before all the furniture and stuff moving in, the cleaning part!

More cleaning works to be done, but luckily hubby said he will get a cleaning company to do the cleaning. Debris and dust everywhere and no matter how much I sweep and mop, the floor will be covered in white dust in few minute. So I guess I leave the cleaning job to the professionals who has the right tools and equipment to do it.

I have already packed my room and I can see that it is pretty empty with all those stuff sealed in boxes. As I were doing the packing, I realised we have so many rubbish and unused items. So same time I took times to clear all those overdue bills, magazines and unnecessary things.

More boxes and packing needed, but I wonder where to keep those boxes for time being before we are moving in. Some more there will be a new member of the family arriving next month so need to clear one of the bedrooms for the confinement lady. Oh boy......really boh eng (busy)!

Prickly Porcupine

I made this cute lunch for Eliana the other day.  I wanted to try something different, other than her favorite and routine ham and cheese sandwich for this creative lunch.  So I raided the fridge and the pantry and this is what I came up with...

...a porcupine sandwich!

The porcupine is a piece of whole wheat bread cut with a porcupine shaped cookie cutter. I spread Nutella over the bread and placed sliced almond "quills" all over.  His eye is a confetti sprinkle that I used a food safe marker to make the pupil and used a chocolate sprinkle for the mouth.

The tree is a pretzel rod with celery tops (which surprisingly she ate some! Eliana isn't a fan of celery all together)

The grass is cut up cucumber

The sun is a Nilla wafer.

Eliana enjoyed this lunch.  She didn't finish all the celery or the almonds and nor did I expect her too but she did have fun using the almonds like a spoon to scoop up the Nutella off the bread :)

*now that we know her peanut and nut allergy (June 2012) we would steer away from nut products. Eliana is not allergic to almonds or hazelnuts but we are trying to avoid all nuts to be safe.*

Go bare

My beautician advised me to minimise on make up and wash my face more thorough as I have a lot of white heads and make up residues. I have oily skin with big pores, so I have to take care of my skin well, otherwise pimples will "visit" me. So I decided to go "naked" on my face with no make up.

It has been a week since I went to my last facial wash. My complexion is better as less pinching and not so red. I always hate going for a facial, because they tend to pinch my face till it so red and take long time to heal. Unlike the previous one, my redness gone in after 2 days while this last trip, it gone in a day. Since then I have not put any make up on my face. At first I am not used to it. As you see, my usual morning routine would include make up in front of the mirror but since then, I have more time to spare with my kids. And I feel relax in the morning too. I spent about 5 - 10 minutes (depend on how extensive my make up is) but now that extra minutes are spent on chatting and playing with my 2 kids. *wink*

My skin feel great and smooth too. But still, I need to wash and blot my face often as I do not want to clog my pores with my already-oily-combination. I think I will spend less money on cosmetic especially those foundations and compact powders, but I still love to get myself a new eye shadow palette. You should try it out too. Go naked on your face.

Taco "Cupcakes"

Sometimes for dinner you just want something fun and creative and not necessarily in the shape of an animal. And no I don't make animal shaped sandwiches for dinner. I know you were wondering..


One day I was browsing on Pinterest and I found a few pins with recipes using won ton wrappers in a cupcake pans. One of the many recipes was a taco "cupcake".  I love tacos and I love cupcakes so this was a win-win situation! So I thought I would try out some of the recipes and then of course tweak it to my own liking.
(Before we go any further if you don't know what Pinterest is by now then you don't need to know. I'm warning you.. its highly addictive.)

Taco Cupcakes

Taco "Cupcakes" Ingredients
1 package won ton wrappers (you can find them in the produce section)
about 1 lb of ground beef (or say around 1.23 lbs. if you really want an exact number)
1 can (15.5oz) of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8.5oz) whole kernel golden corn, drained and rinsed
1 packet of taco seasoning (or your own seasonings..whatever you prefer)
1 1/2 to 2 cups of shredded cheese (use cheddar or Mexican blend, or your favorite blend)
desired taco toppings (for example: lettuce, tomato, sour cream)


*Preheat the oven to 375
*Cook ground beef in a skillet until no pink shows (if desired drain fat... I personally don't always drain the fat since I use very lean ground beef already)
*After fully cooked add Taco seasoning packet and 2/3 cup water OR add your own taco seasonings and water/liquid
*Add rinsed and drained beans and corn
*Mix meat, bean and corn mixture and cook for 5 to 10 minutes
*Spray cupcake pan with any kind of cooking spray
*Gently push one won ton wrapper into each cupcake cup
*Next spoon 1Tbsp of meat mixture in the won ton wrapper
*Sprinkle cheese over the meat mixture
*Make a second layer of won ton wrappers.  Gently push the won ton wrapper, in the opposite direction, and repeat with 1Tbsp of meat mixture and some cheese.
*Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, really depending on what you like best.  I enjoy my taco "cupcakes" to be brown and crispy on the edges.


*Leave the taco "cupcakes" in the cupcake pan for a few minutes before trying to remove them so you let them settle, but more importantly so you don't burn your fingers.
*Then add all your favorite taco toppings.  In my family's case we take a buffet style approach to serving these.  I serve cut up tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, cheese, and salsa verde all in different bowls and everyone makes their own taco.


(This recipe makes so many taco cupcakes so be prepared.  Each time I make a different amount but last time I made 24 and I still had leftover meat mixture.  Just put your leftover meat mixture in the fridge and use in another dinner or to make more taco cupcakes later!)


I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does!


and p.s. I told you! I warned you! Pinterest IS addictive and amazing. Especially for us visual folks ;)


Until Next Time... :)

Cracked nails

Not exactly cracked nails, but nail colours. Tried out the new Cosway Crackle Nail Lacquer. Not so sure how much to put in first place but after trying on few nails, I decided that more is better. Bring out the colours in them. And with Gloss coating to finish them, it sure stands out.


Used my own gold and gloss coating, and used Purplish Brown Crackle Nail Lacquer.



Crackle in seconds!!!


Beautiful or not? First experiment so I do not think it is that smooth. Will try other colours.

Who-o-o’s ready for some freebies?

It finally feels like autumn, at least where I live, and with this new season comes a long-needed new addition to my blog. It comes in the form of FREE stuff. You will see a new button to the right reading “U-Pick, Free downloadables,” and once you click on it you will become a crazed berry-picking maniac, or at least in time you will get into the spirit of filling your basket with lots-o-Sheri Berry creations.

Since autumn is upon us I thought a good little giveaway starter would come in the form of these festive little owl treat tent cards. You can download either design or both and use them as holders for treats or even sized down as little placecards for guests at your harvest or Halloween parties.

Here are some previews of the projects. Use the link below to get the full-size images, ready for printing on an 8.5 x 14 sheet, complete with directions.

I have made two different styles--one for those who-o-o love autumn and harvest time, the other for you Halloween lovers. They are easy to print, cut, fold and glue, and come with a couple of tags to personalize for your recipients. I have included directions for each, and the only thing still needed is you . . . so get your crafting on and get into this crisp new season with a Sheri Berry owl card and “Sher” them with your peeps.

House WIP #3

I have to sweep once and mop three times in the family hall and 3 bedrooms, and clean 2 bathrooms upstair yesterday. It took me more than 2 hours and by the time I finished, I was exhausted to go for a swim.


My proposed new kitchen.

No more side and front landscape since we are lazy to maintain grass and plants. All cemented in the car porch to give more spaces to our cars.

Hubby is done with the coat painting to the kitchen. Now waiting for people to install the windows and door, and building wooden cabinet to the kitchen.


The backyard also cemented; more space.

TGIF

It is Friday and a holiday today. Not that it makes any difference to me. The kids are with baby sitter and my shop still have to operate as usual. Just that today I will do something extra.

Time to do some cleaning to my new house. Actually not a thorough cleaning, just only on the 3 bedrooms up stair. The workers will do the built in wardrobe to the bedrooms soon, so I would need to do some cleaning and mopping to the wooden floor before the wardrobe are in. Hubby is going to paint the wet kitchen today so maybe after the works, we will have a dip in the swimming pool. Long time did not go for a swim. We are paying the monthly service charge, so must fully use its facilities, right? Hopefully the weather is good later.

It has been raining almost this week and I even have to send my dirty clothing to laundry centre. My clean laundry is piling up and I have not have time to keep them. I have brought back some boxes for hubby since he wanted to pack his books and dvd. The room is going to be dusty again......

A Quick Update

I figured I needed to make a post just to say that I'm still here and I plan to start posting again regularly as soon as possible. A few things have set me back recently. I've dealt with a bunch of computer problems over the past month. First the internet got shut off for a few days, then the power cord to my laptop stopped working so I had to wait for a new one to come in the mail, then the cord for my laptop cooler died and I couldn't do much of anything without my computer shutting itself down. I just got the new cord for my cooler over the weekend and everything seems to be up and running ok now.

Even with my computer in working order I'm having a hard time getting together the posts I want to make because I've been very very sick the past few weeks. Pretty much all of my projects have been put on hold as of now and I'm just trying to rest and not stress too much. Hopefully I'll start feeling more like myself soon and posting will resume but until then you might not see much from me here. You can always find me on Twitter if you want to keep up with my day to day stuff. I have a lot of cool ideas I want to share with all of you and I'm positive that they will be realized in time, but for now I just have to sit and wait this out. Thank you for understanding.

Mummy's children

I had my first child at the age of 28. I think it is an ideal age to have children but at that point of time, I were ready and settling down to have kids. Some think that I was rushing things because I got pregnant after a month of marriage. Some said I should enjoy marriage life, maybe a year before settling for kids.

What ever it is, I have no regrets. At that moment of time, I just feel like having kids. And boy! I am in my 30s and I have a pair of kids. How beautiful my 2 kids are. I am truly blessed and grateful to have wonderful children, although sometimes they giving me headaches and heartbreaks. Nevertheless I am proud of them.




I love the feeling of waking up in the morning to the sound of my children either greeting me with "Good Morning" or asking for their milk. I love the idea of sharing ice cream cone with my girl, playing blocks with my boy and having a nice bucket of fried chicken with my kids. I am contented with 2, but hubby keeps persuading me for Baby No 3. See how thing goes after we move into the new house. *Wink*

House WIP #2

The wet kitchen is in progress, first coating has been laid down, and next work would be installing the windows and door, and building of bricked cabinet in there. More painting to be done by hubby after all those works are done.

Next would be our built-in wardrobe for the master bedroom and the kids' 2 bedrooms. Me and hubby gone for colour selection yesterday. We are pleased with the sketches of the wardrobe, so the work will start this week after the down payment of 30%. It will take about a month. Phew! Money and more money is pouring out for the house but it is good thing, as slowly our dream house is in progress.

Kids DIY Creative Lunch

♫Sometimes Kids just want to have fu-un ♫ Oh Kids just want to have FUN! 

So let them make a fun lunch themselves :)

This is Eliana's masterpiece: "The Fish with Spots"

You can cut up whatever fruits, vegetables, and cold cuts you want your child to use (or if your child is old enough he/she can cut them with you).  Then let them assemble their fun lunch all by themselves! FUN! :)

Eliana was so proud of this lunch and had a lot of fun making it!  The only side note is that this bread was a lot of bread for her.  Eliana isn't the biggest fan of eating huge sandwiches, which is why my sandwich shapes work since she never eats a full sandwich.  So she didn't finish all the bread, but she had so much fun making her own lunch that she asked to do it again :)


I'm pretty darn proud that my little girl knows how to make a creative lunch at the age of three :) I've taught her well! *tear* ;)

Breakfast of Kueh Chap

I rarely take kueh chap, partly because I do not take internal organs of pigs. So after so many years of not tasting kueh chap, I finally decided to give the new stall in Sing Garden a try this morning.

Turned out good! I requested for those lean meats, tauhu puff, egg and "kueh". RM5 per bowl. Love the soup as it is not too overwhelming yet flavourish and not to mention the chunky lean meats. Hubby was even surprised that I finished up the whole bowl. Lol!

Save Criminal Records!

Criminal Records is set to go out of business on November 1st unless something can be done to help their financial position. Please like the Save Criminal Records Facebook page and help spread the word to anyone you know. If you know or are someone with a lot of followers on Twitter or who has a large blog following please use your platform to help get the word out there. I don't want to let Criminal Records go down without a fight.

People who have made appearances or are friends of Criminal Records that have Twitter accounts. Spread the word!

Edgar Wright- @edgarwright

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- @YYYs

TheWood Brothers- @theWoodBrothers

Meg Golding (The Damn Hipsters)- @thedamnhipsters

Gossip- @GossipMusic

Janell Monae- @JanelleMonae 

Mr. Lif- @therealMrLif 

El-P- @therealelp 


Rainn Wilson- @rainnwilson

Foster The People- @fosterthepeople 

Eddie Meeks- @CappuccinoMeeks

J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr)- @jmascis

Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr)- @LouBarlow 

British Sea Power- @BSPOfficial 

Ben Sollee- @BenSollee

Other Lives- @Otherlives

The Low Anthem- @thelowanthem

The Coathangers- @TheCoathangers

 Brett Dennen- @BrettDennen

Dawes The Band- @Dawestheband

Black Lips- @theblacklips 

Adam WarRock- @Eugewarrock

Tribe One Won- @Tribeonewon

Turf War-  @Turfwarusa

Orxy and Crake- @oryxncrake

AkuYou- @AkuYou

Jason Isbell- @JasonIsbell
 

Feel free to leave more in the comments! 

 

Down!

My Streamyx is not behaving well since yesterday. Hardly can get connected; so frustrating especially when there were some urgent matters to be e-mailed and updated. This morning the Streamys also down although my computer has the connection icon. However luckily I am able to get down to work now. Hope everything is smooth without any more interruption.

I am also down. Must be the virus from my boy that caught me. I have been sneezing since Sunday evening. I did not take any medicine, just sleep it off and taking more Vitamin C to boost my immune system. Only until it is serious, then I "die die" go see doctor or get medication from pharmacist. Lol!

Happy Trails for Woodland Tails

I’m so happy to announce the arrival of Woodland Tails to the fabric world! Riley Blake Designs and SBD (yours truly) created the collection in three different colorways (blue, pink and green). Their amazing sales reps are heading down the trails to all the happening fabric shops and showing off the woodland critters, as they are anxious to find a permanent home. Well, that is until you creative sewing geniuses get your hands on the goods.

I expect the collections will show up in your favorite fabric shops by March or April. I will keep you posted as I know more. You can always visit RBD’s site to find out when and where to locate the fabrics and also see previous collections we have done together.

Here are the pink and green colorways, below. The blue colorway is at the top of the posting.

Happy trails!