Romantic

I've spent the last 3 months just getting the basics up for my new abode.
And because hubby and I are d-i-y-ing practically everything, we're STILL not done yet.
I've yet to finish wallpapering my master bedroom and the guest room.

But now that we're safely beyond our eighty percenth mark getting all the basics in place, 

I'm now in my decorating and accessorizing elements!

I've planned for the different areas of our house to elicit different moods and characters. 

So I've to really take time searching and purchasing the right furnishing and decorative pieces. 

I have a habit of with holding purchases of furnitures and even chairs and tables
until I can find the "right one".
I certainly do not believe in buying just for the sake of having one...even if everyone else wants it.
I prefer taking time to get something that suits me, my family and my home well...even if it requires more waiting.
Good things are always worth the wait.

So today I did some brainstorming for our spare room.
I want it to be romantic and dreamy, yet chic and  minimal...nothing too flowery.

The room has a nice small balcony that looks out into a row of other small balconies...reminding me of the quaint and romantic streets of Europe. So this room will do just that...bring us back there. 

A perfect mini Europe getaway.

But while I scour the globe for the right pieces to come by, here's a look at some romantic spaces...

Image via This is Glamorous

Accessories and arrangement by  Powder Blue

By This is Glamorous

Hotel Can Isabel, Spain

The upheaval part deux

Still reorganizing....

Moving

So we're finally getting our keys!
Hope to get things organized real fast.

Time to blow our trumpets?

Of late, we've been nudged by friends and fans alike, to have our biz advertised and promoted. I so can understand the necessity, especially cos most of our works have been under recognized and under marketed.

But the thing is, our biz is really a hobby for us, in every sense of the word. Inadvertently however, we have been pulled into the playing field, and now expectations are mounting.

All this while, we have only been leveraging solely off our blog, FB and word-of-mouth for publicity, and we have been politely putting off interviews and publicity offers for fear of not being able to meet demands for our services and products. It was supposed to keep our orders under control. Despite that control however, our orders are beyond us now...

Yup so maybe we now have to consider investing in this business and actually run it like a real business?...complete with marketing strategies (that word makes me giddy) and all. That way, we can meet precious demands.

We also want to be recognized for our passion....cos many a time, we have been out-smarted by the bigger players. Our works and ideas, no matter how original and fine, have also been dwarfed and out-marketed by the bigger fanfare these other players get to enjoy, from the marketing they have done and the reputation they have subsequently gained.

Alas, we shall not dwell on this cos we believe in moving on and improving for the better, but now at least we know that talent alone is not enough...

But if and when we finally decide to spread our wings, it will do us good to remember that contentment and true beauty lie within...and so we will continue playing the game with dignity and honour.

Just a bit on Mum

Mariah & Sham has always been synonymous with sis and myself. Understandably so...cos apart from the obvious biz name, we sisters are the ones always updating our FBs and blogsite, keeping in touch with fans and friends alike.

It is not superfluous however, for me to introduce the real unknown talent behind our family biz. Our Mum.
She finds content in just doing things together as a family, and is possibly unbothered about recognition. Well, I can respect that wish, but once a while I think it's ok to showcase her talent just a bit, especially cos I've recently found a beautiful picture of sis in her wedding gown. Mum sewed it of course.

I love the design. It was simple, classy and most importantly, created with TLC.

Probably just right for a naturally gorgeous bride :)

Deep Purple & Blue by Samia

This is entirely long overdue.
We'd like to thank Samia of Deep Purple & Blue for featuring our Pink Black Dessert Isle on her journal blog.
It's an honour really ,and likewise, your blog is worthy of mention too!
Love your stories, eloquence, inspirations and dedication to all things creative and beautiful.
Do keep in touch, and stay inspired! :)

New! Wedding Car Decoration

Ok so just before i really sign off for the week, here's just another small announcement.

We're itching to do wedding car decoration, complete with its "Just Married" signage. The ideas are floating around in our head, so you can't ask us for the catalog yet. But then again, if you trust us enough and would love to be surprised with something chic, classy and utterly gorgeous (and especially if you're getting a vintage car for your wedding!), do drop us a mail soon.

We're booked up for other projects, but we're opening up only 2 slots in between (and at promotional price too), for this new project design.

So email us today at mariahnsham@hotmail.com

A new archive

Here're just some minor updates for our site.

Apart from the new topbar icons, our sidebar now bears our Archive of Fine Details.
Just a collection of our past works, designs, posters and even unpublished ideas.

Much time and effort have been invested into this part time family business / hobby, and we'd just love to share these works and ideas, right from their conceptualization to their production, with like-minded individuals sharing the same passion and panache for design, styling and all moments beautiful.

See ya next week (after the kids finish their exams yea!)
Meanwhile, take care and have a great week with family and friends ya all!

Ignition On!

We're back! and fiercer than ever :)

Good news to all our great great great fans and clients who have done way too much to encourage us over and over again with kind words, recommendations, referrals, repeated orders and most importantly, friendship...
(No I'm not kidding! And this is not a marketing gimmick either)

We're back with more ideas for the upcoming projects we have promised to undertake, in the months ahead. Things got a bit delayed, what with all my moving and house searching. But I've FINALLY found a new place, and so things are getting back on track. Our soft launch and retail launch have also been delayed, but we'd rather have proper impactful launches than mediocre rushed ones.

It'll be early next year, and we're keeping our lips sealed -where our new ideas and concepts are concerned- cos we dont want the ideas copied and then modified BEFORE we get tired of them. Heh.

I'm still waiting for the new house keys though. Come december, we'll get some work done to spruce the house up, and only then...will we announce our soft launch. So please wait for us.

In the meantime, do enjoy our upcoming projects and blog updates....

11th June 2010

It was a significant date. We handed over our keys to the new home owners. It was an emotional experience I must say, and I surely didn't expect the kids to cry...but they did. Too many fond memories we had there, in our small and humble but cosy and fun white castle.

"We're moving into a bigger and more comfortable home" I explained to them.

"But I love this home....." Fazli retorted wailingly.

"I love this home too. But this is a happy home because we love and cherish one another. So no matter where we go, even if it's a mud hut, we'll always be happy as long as we share and care for one another k....we'll remember what we had here, but move on and make new fond memories together" I promised the kids.

It was quite painful, but their innocence gave me comfort...cos maybe we've brought them up right after all...

So anyway, we're currently recuperating from all the house moving hassle and rush, and despite the lack of updates, we're still doing business as usual.

We had the pleasure of preparing the wedding hantaran for a beautiful couple - Norhafizah and Khairul Anwar on 12th June.

It was understandably rushed, what with all the moving and birthing happening at Mariah & Sham, but Mum was admirably well-composed as always. And we're glad we took Fiza's order in too, cos she's just warm, nice, happy and gorgeous like that.

So here, with a For Him hantaran, we did a more masculine design. No doubt, our clients love our fresh floral arrangements, but used inappropriately, the type and colour of the flowers may negate the mood and purpose of the presentation. So after meeting up with them and understanding their preferences, I suggested using only dashes of purplish light pink and white hydrangea instead of having the whole hantaran in white and purple ...since most of the items come in black, brown and maroon anyway. Then to add in more dashes of purple to the design, we added in personalised tags in that shade...amidst the maroon velvet ribbon, champaigne velvet covers, black roman vases and green masculine pine leaves. We've never seen hantarans with personalised tags before, but the idea was welcomed by Fiza. So we're glad for that. Let's see if our idea catches on.

 

Wishing Khairul Anwar & Norhafizah a blessed life together.

Six In Between

Sometimes one needs to bring the house down in order to dig the treasure hidden beneath and build a better house.We're at this stage of upheavel, rediscovering and upgrading now. Hence our silence these last couple of weeks. But hey, silence equates not to apathy and inactivity. Infact, the reverse is true. We've been extremely busy!

My house moving and searching, for one, have been riddled with plenty of challenges...maybe some things are finally falling into place, but I can vouch the journey is still quite long ahead.

Plenty of business plans and improvements are also being worked on...but we're keeping the publicity and marketing on hold until we're truly ready.

For now, we're just glad to announce that Mariah will be delivering her little princess really soon. Do pray for her and her baby's safe delivery. And so come June, there'll be 6 kids in between us. Naturally we're overjoyed, and we've psyched ourselves to remain positive and passionate about our families, biz and profession. But we know more than well the importance of being realistic...of knowing our priorities, strengths, limitations and contingencies...

Admittedly, Mariah & Sham is not just a business adventure for us. It's a passion. We started off this biz on our salaried incomes, and we saw things through with our own blood, sweat and tears...just the 3 of us - sis, myself and mum - with some spousal support perhaps, kids in tow (who can pretty much be our stress inducers as well as relievers!), full time jobs and plenty of courage, I hope. Case in point, we're taking matters seriously. Do not let our silence make you think otherwise cos even with six in between, we're still very much a Martha Stewart at heart.

Take care and best wishes...

Of Friends and Inspiration

They say there's a lot you can tell about someone by looking at his / her friends. Well, cliched or not, I can agree no less.

I've got friends who've influenced me to study (yes this lazybone had to be influenced indeed!) , friends who've taught me to laugh at myself, and friends who've inspired me to follow my dreams...

Eversince young, my sis and I have had the penchant for all things beautiful. Mom was our biggest influence. She would sew everything from clothes to curtains....and her cooking and baking have never been just ordinary. So at the risk of sounding pertinent, I would safely admit that our mum is one very capable and multi-talented woman :) But then again, maybe we're just being good daughters (so excuse us)....

We'd like to think we've picked up some of her creative talents....but whether we're just being heady or otherwise, one thing's for sure...we can't shake off that creative passion.

So with that kind of passion, growing up in Singapore during our times (which I hope was not too long ago), was a bit confusing and conflicting cos while our hearts were always leaning towards all things creative and artistic, we chose to let our heads be 'brain washed' to go the non-creative route, academic wise.

Don't get me wrong. Personally, I've never regretted being a science and maths geek cos I found those subjects intriguing...more so the out-of-textbook kind. And Mariah too, I believe, enjoyed doing psychology. But the problem was, with an education system that was very structured and rigid back then, there was not much room for creative pursuits unless you take the 'arts' route or if your parents are rich enough to send you for 'fine art' lessons.

As such, for sis and I, our artistic escapades were probably only revisited occassionally during birthdays, baby showers and family gatherings. Those were the times when we would put on our martha stewart hats and indulge in creative undertakings. It was purely hobby, nothing more...

But things changed after Sis's wedding.

I contacted my good friend Najihah to do up Sis's wedding decor. Back then, she and her family had just started up their now well known company - The Wedding Chateau. I've always appreciated her taste, and I was glad Sis trusted me cos the wedding was gorgeous.

Najihah partaking in this creative business, I thought, although not unlikely - given her obvious flair for artistry - was rather surprising because she had spent precious years studying pharmacy, and has the intelligence to do extremely well in this profession, but chose to immerse herself in this business instead. On top of that, being married to Faizal, her involvement in healthcare would have been a given convenience seeing that Faizal, as a doctor, would also be in the same field.

But she chose do something totally unrelated. She followed her dreams. She didn't simply bask in convenience. She took that leap of faith to immerse in something that was closer to her heart, and did it well. She's still practising though...but I'd think she's more 'The Wedding Chateau' than 'Pharmacy'.

Even back in Uni, she was always brimming with creative ideas...breaking the stigma that all science students are boring nerds, with not a creative bone in them, doomed to be behind-the-scenes brain-picked workers. And so, seeing her and her very-talented family succeed, my sis, mom and I were encouraged and inspired to dip our hands into this creative business...awakening those creative tendencies we've suppressed for ever so long.

In 2007, 'Mariah & Sham' was registered as a business hobby. We've gotten in too deep in our respective careers to go full time, business wise. But no less important, we strive to handle all our biz projects with utmost attention, putting in plenty of thoughts and care into all our works.

Two years on, we're finally gaining momentum and support...although we've still got a lot more to learn. We're still in our infant stage.

Along the way, we've made new friends too. Ayu from Simply Cupcakes is one such new friend who has been unselfishly encouraging. Very talented, and having produced plenty of gorgeous works herself, she's refreshingly sincere in her appreciation of our works, hence spurring us to do better. Rati, another talented friend who bakes the best-in-the-world Kueh Lapis, is yet another highly regarded biz acquaintance who has taught us a thing or two about great baking. We've also gotten to know the very dynamic Elvira from Made With Love, and many other great friends who've influenced and inspired us in one way or another.

These friends have helped us grow, and hopefully we've helped them too. Sometimes we share experiences and resources. Sometimes, our ideas overlap. Sometimes, we compete. Sometimes we collaborate. But at the end of the day, we all have our own unique strengths, and we're all just trying our best to do what we love...and with such common interests, the pie can only get bigger.

And then of course, it would be a great injustice not to mention our own good friends and cuzzens like Lina, Kak Tan, Tina, Raudhah, Shikin, Min, Syak, Falah, Mel, Nur, Lin, Hana and many others who've cheered us on right from the start. They believed in us even when everything was so uncertain back then. Kak Tan for one, even planned on going up Mount Dandenong to get us a new cake stand when she found out how sad we were to have had a customer lose our unique and beautiful $200 cake stand!

At the end of the day, wherever this biz takes us, we're just lucky to have been surrounded by great friends...and just as much, we're lucky to have been inspired.

CYCLE OF HOPE

Apologies for the lack of updates lately...will resume after this post...

I decided to take some time off to join the charity ride - Cycle of Hope - during the OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 event recently.

This cycling event was in support of cancer research funding for the cancer centre I'm working at.

What began as a ride for fun and exercise turned out to be much more meaningful than I ever expected.

We had students from MGS, fellow colleagues, our own spouses and friends joining in to support...but the most heartwarming support came from our own cancer survivors who joined in the ride, and were led by the highly inspirational Dr William Tan - a neuroscientist and a wheelchair ultramarathon champion best known for his fund raising efforts the world over.

Staff and students of National Cancer Centre Singapore seen here with Dr William Tan.

From left -Dr Tao, Dr Toh, students Sin Keong and Siauhui, Olive, myself and Dr Koong.

Rizal and hubby joined in the ride.

At the end of it all, I came out of the ride with a new resolve...and that is to help spread the word...that cancer research and funding are imperative in the development of new drugs and treatment modalities, which suffice it to say, require years of research and clinical trials, and are therefore very expensive.

We can all try to contribute, in whatever way we can, to fund such studies, and hopefully with every new drug or treatment being developed, a new hope is born and many more lives and families can be touched....

Ode White Castle

The last few weeks had been extraordinarily busy. We had local and overseas orders to meet. And like many times before, we couldn't find enough time to take pictures of those projects and creations to add into our portfolio.

It was even more inopportune these last few weeks cos we'd been busy opening up our white castle for viewing. The encroachment of our privacy, the prospect of losing something dear to us, the hope of getting a reasonable offer, and the excitement of realizing our dreams took us on a roller coaster ride.

Alas, our white castle has been sold...

While we were excited to change for the better, we were also totally unprepared for the emotional impact the sale actually had upon us. After all, we've shared many wonderful memories growing up here, together.

Thankfully though, we're finally moving on with a light heart. We'll just have to continue focusing on the tasks at hand, and go on ahead as planned. We're looking for a bigger place to stay....and hopefully with that, a bigger space to do our projects too.

Do pray for us.

We'll miss our white castle for sure, but it was home only because we made it so. We'll build a new home soon, but not before saying goodbye...

Out of the closet

Since we first started our biz 2 years ago, we've been slowly and quietly collecting props and decorative pieces from many parts of the world.

But many of these pieces have been stashed aside, unused and forgotten, only because we were not prepared to take on big projects back then.

They're out of the closet now, and we're getting them sorted out for new projects. One of the pieces we like, and which we decided to take a picture of, is our mini column.

Apart from being just a column, it makes for a beautiful centrepiece on our Dessert Isle...

Beautiful even on its own, I can only imagine how beautiful this dessert isle will look, all dressed up with beautiful treats, fresh flora, gorgeous tableware and matching favors.

More props are finally coming out of the closet, but we can't be displaying all of them here...lest it takes away all the elements of surprise :)

Nevertheless, we're just too excited to not display our new gorgeous 5-tier silver plated cake stand which we just bought a couple of days ago!

Tagged with a hefty price, we don't mind investing in it because we know we are paying for outstanding quality - very finely made, tasteful and the sort that will wear well through the years.

This kind of stand will make any cupcakes look good, say if we were to use it as a Wedding Cupcake Centrepiece, for example. We believe that delicious cupcakes shouldn't be 'overworked' with too much icing and such, cos sometimes all it needs is a good presentation.

These are just random ideas, and photos of which were taken just as randomly, in between the 'excavating' breaks.

So well, that's enough imagining and fooling around for now...plenty more excavating to be done...

New winds

The process has begun...

We're making changes...and though scary, it's the only way forward. We have solid plans for 2010, but execution wise, well let's just say they're being worked on :)

But somewhere along the line, we're looking into having a new space to meet our clients. Nope, not our very much dreamt of Rodeo Drive Boutique Shop, but something else...

I like the hexagonal white one, but it's to be determined by concensus...so more meetings.

Stay tuned and follow us on this journey.

The dream

We're dreaming of having our own boutique shop someday.

Granted, retail spaces in this lion city do not come in cheap...so that dream will have to be stretched a tad bit longer for now.

But if and when we finally decide to invest in that, we'd love to draw inspiration from these gorgeous flagship stores...

These are the shops along the popular Rodeo Drive at Beverly Hills. We may not be able to have something in that scale here, but its elements can be adopted and 'transplanted' just as beautifully.

And how we love Dior's store here in Paris. Simple, chic, modern, classy and grand all at once...love it!

Then this Ralph store had to tickle our fancy even more...

And ouh we love this one too!

Oh well...we'll just keep on dreaming for now. Someday perhaps, someday...

Welcome to our blog!

To all our ardent fans and kind visitors, here is our much awaited blog....

Thank you for all the patience and continued support...and so from now on, here is where we will showcase our projects and ideas.

Welcome....