What's Your Heart Made of?

A dear friend once forwarded this story to my email, knowing I'd love it (I'm such a sucker for stories like this LOL!). I thought I should share this one here. Enjoy!

The Girl With Clockwork Heart by C.L. Holland (from Everyday Fiction)

Once upon a time there was a girl whose heart had broken from grief. Such was the pain of her broken heart that she went to a kindly watchmaker and asked him to make her a new one out of clockwork.

“For if I had a clockwork heart, I need only replace the faulty cog or gear and never fear a broken heart again.”
“But hearts mend, with time,” he said. “I should know, for time is my business.”
“With a clockwork heart I needn’t wait,” the girl replied. “So I’d rather have a new heart, if you don’t mind.”

The watchmaker did mind, for secretly he loved the girl and if she had a clockwork heart she could never love him back. Still, he made her a new heart anyway, because it was what she wanted, although it saddened him to do so.

For a time the girl was happy. Her new heart worked better than the old one, and she could no longer feel the pain of her grief. But because her heart was clockwork she became cold and selfish, and all the people in her life began to drift away like clouds in the wind. Because her heart was made of clockwork, she didn’t care. After a time one of the cogs broke and she returned to the watchmaker.

“Will you replace the broken piece of my heart?” she asked him.
“Wouldn’t you rather have your old heart back?” he replied.
“Why would I want it?” the girl asked.

 So the watchmaker replaced the cog, although it broke his heart a little to do so.

The girl went back to her life, and after a time she began to miss the company of others. She tried to make new friends, but because her heart was made of clockwork they found her strange and distant, and drew away. When the spring in her heart broke, she returned to the watchmaker for him to fix it.

“Wouldn’t you rather have your own heart back?” he asked her again. “It must be nearly mended by now.”
“Nearly mended is still broken,” she replied. “And I have no need of a broken heart.”


So the watchmaker replaced the spring, although it broke his heart to do so.

Time passed, and the girl realised she was not content. Everyone around her had a life full of laughter and friendship and love. After a time she went to them and asked how it was they had these things and she didn’t.

“Why, because you have a clockwork heart,” they said. “How can you expect to feel love and joy when you won’t let yourself feel pain and sorrow? A coin must have two sides.”

The girl realised they were right and went back to the watchmaker.

“What do you want?” he asked coldly.
“I would like my old heart back, please,” she said. “It must be mended by now, and in any case it’s better than a heart made of clockwork.”

The watchmaker did as she asked, and when her old heart was in place she finally understood why he had been reluctant and yet done as she requested.

“Are you in love with me?” she asked, surprised.
“I was,” the watchmaker replied. “But doing as you asked broke my heart until finally it snapped in two. Now my heart is made of clockwork and I need never fear a broken heart again.”

The girl’s heart broke all over again, for now that she could finally love the watchmaker he couldn’t love her back.

Seeing her pain, he asked, “Do you want your clockwork heart back?”
“Broken hearts mend with time,” she said. “So I have no need of a clockwork heart.”
“As you wish,” the watchmaker replied. “For I am quite content with mine.”

Once upon a time there was a girl whose heart had broken from grief. She may not have lived happily ever after, but at least her heart was not made of clockwork.

Cheery Card for Cheery Lady

For my gorgeous lunch partner.

It's a very simple and quick-to-do card. It reminds me of the 70s. Not really sure why though. I simply love the retro look of the card, combined with the classic alphabet stamps.

Mustard yellow is a great colour, and it gives out that poppy, cheery feel to the card...

.... in which I think is perfect for the cheery Tania.

May you have a cheery day, okay Tania!

p/s: I've added few new pages on top of the blog!

Something new, something blue

This album was done ages ago, but only recently that I managed to snap pictures of it for the blog. You've probably seen this from the Star Kids' Fair pictures.

Here's the full blown on the album's details. It's another experiment of colour choices. The first album was done in greyish tone, but this time, I though blue could fit black perfectly. And it did! :)

I'm yet to make the box to keep the album, but I will, InsyaAllah... as soon as I can find the right time hehehehe. With so many projects and hectic daily life, I barely have time even for myself.  But hey, where there is a will, there is a way, right?

On Display

It wasn't a full blown patisserie, but it's a start hehe. It's very simple for a starter like me, but I'm happy with it anyway.



Each of the items were delicately arranged on the shelves, and I simply love the drapes the doilies made for the shelves. (The doilies were perfect, Saza!!!). It did take me a while to decide on the arrangement, and at first thought, I had this multiple ideas on how I should arrange everything. However, I thought I should edit some of the ideas and went for the simple one first. I didn't want to be too ambitious on my very first miniature project and ruined everything.

The wood-based panel frame was from IKEA, and the measurement of the frame is roughly 14cm x 14cm (I think).

I think I'm ready to venture into something more adventurous! :)

And one for the wedding

These simple bookmarks are made for a close cousin's wedding last November. She designed her own calligraphic wedding signature (it's the combination of her name and her husband's in Arabic), and sent it to the rubber stamp shop (told her she should have it hand-made, but it was too late for that).

The red butterfly bookmarks looked pretty simple, but they actually took about the same amount of time to be done as the green bookmarks.

As you probably know, the green bookmark design is a repeated design from the previous ones that I've done. (Sure is a popular design, eh?)

To Nihayah and Rezalman, CONGRATULATIONS on the wedding!

(that's the bride)

What is Quilling?

 

I decided to make this a day before Star Kids Fair started. I thought it would be a simple and nice way of introducing Quilling to everyone. I know it's tiring having to repeat yourself over and over again on what Quilling is all about, so I figured that this is a good way of achieving the same objective without tiring yourself. Heh.




I adapted and adopted the Wikipedia entry for the brief Quilling summary on the frame.

(As of Simple Rhyme as the model :P)

I was a bit nervous of putting the glass frame to overlap the quilling (they're 3mm quilling strips), but thank God it went ok. I'm going to use the frame for my upcoming workshops as well, so may it stand tall from the test of time! :)

Desserts, anyone?

 

*Sigh*

This must be the side effect of watching too much of food programmes on TV. I'm totally overloading with Top Chef Desserts right now! (I watch this online, not on TV)



I'm craving for some miniature desserts hehe. Tried my hand at making chocolates, but later diverted the attention to making the whole of desserts instead.

Let's see what we have here. There's the Melon puddings,  the Orange pudding, the Strawberry pie, the creamy cakes, the chocolate cake,s the Chocolate Chip Cookies, the Pineapple cake, some cupcakes and other little cakes I made without even thinking of the ingredients hehe!

 Should. stop. thinking. about. food.

Life is like a box of chocolates

...and you never know what you're going to get. Forrest's mama always said that. Yeah, run Forrest, run!

What my mum always said was when you get a box of chocolates, you should cherish them, and enjoy every single flavour of the chocs.

I'm a food lover. It's pretty obvious, really, since almost 80% of my fb statuses were always about food haha. I enjoy food, and believe that I should enjoy eating while I can. I eat when I'm stressed, I eat when I want to celebrate something, and I eat.. well, pretty much at all times. The only thing that could stop me from eating was quilling. Haha.

I pretty much enjoy desserts, either eating them, or making them. It's been a while since I last used my baking utensils, so I thought this, would be a good way to warm up to that. :)



So which one is your favourite chocolate? Dark chocolate? Milk chocolate? Or plain white chocolate? As for me, I love them all. ^_^

*Special thanks to Saza for the lovely doily!!! It arrived just at the right moment!