13 Days of Surprises Project - Full Credit =P

Just want to say thank you to everyone involved in 13 Days of Surprises project and to give credit to the websites that gave me the idea for the gifts :)

So, big big thank you to my 2 sisters, Fei and Han for their effort, hard work, and sleepless nights when helping me with this project. *hugssss and kissesss*. Fei for her effort and Han for her effort as well plus her googling experience :) Most of the images used were found by her on Google.

Thank you to my cousin too who came all the way from Manly to help with Final day gift :) I know you love me very much :P

And here are the full credit for all those days :)

Day 1: The bouquet was my idea :P I did google how to make the flowers, but none actually right to my liking, so I ended up just did it myself. The note background was found on Internet using google. Didn't keep the actual source, but it has Cyworld on it.

Day 2: I think I got the idea from 100 homemade gift idea, but the exact place is here. I modified it though, I used the spare mirror from my broken compact powder and bought the tin box at Lincraft. Shoebox is way too big :p The piggy balloon photo came from here.

Day 3: To be honest, I can't remember where I saw those turkeys the first time :/ I think I was just googling for gift ideas for this project and somehow came across it. I think this was what I ended up using as a guide. I quickly googled the image just before my lunch break, so I didn't keep the url :(

Day 4: I really thought I saw the recipe for the first time from Kevin and Amanda's newsletter.. but when I checked again, the date was December 29, 2010 :/ Oh, I think I found it when looking through some blogs and got redirected to Babbling Brooke's blog. Here's the recipe :) And here's the image :) Thank's to Riot for the scrapbook paper I used to make the cone (My sister bought it there).

Day 5: This voucher has been my catch phrase for so long lol :P Everytime someone asks me what I'd give them for their birthday, I would say "Voucher for hugs and kisses!!" lol :P FINALLY I got the chance to do it hahahahhahaha ^^ soo happy hahahhaha ^^ The box, ribbon and giftbag were really from Tiffany & Co. (In fact, I've still got like about 15 of them at home due to the vouchers I needed to pick up for my work ;P). The images I used for the voucher were from Google image. FYI, it wasn't already made up as a voucher. I combined them myself. Didn't keep the link though :( Sorry :(

Day 6: Got the idea from Craftbits.com. I modified the poem a bit though ehhehe.... my bestfriend couldn't really say if the poem was written by me or off the internet :p The cookie mix was from Coles Bondi Junction, special thanks for my sister to buy it for me :D

Day 7: The idea is from here :) I found it so sweet, so I decided to make it part of my project. The concept of band aid mending your heart is just so sweet and warm (to me ;P). We googled the quotes and most of them came from Disney, Confucius and Hellen Keller. We also used some quotes from book of homilies featured in Can't Buy Me Love (TVB Drama). The images were from google. The box was recycled from heat plaster box :P The instruction at the back was written by me, though i might copy the way it was written from the koyo box :P but everything was straight from my mind (I put all my heart writing it :P).

Day 8: My idea. Ok confession, I was kinda running out of ideas, this was the back up plan. But since I couldn't find anything better than this, than it was used :p So again, my original idea!!! ;p

Day 9: My idea again, triggered by my best friend's comment "Mirror mirror on the wall... just like sleeping beauty" lol :P The facts were from different places. Mostly wikipedia I think. I believe the envelope was from Sunhat Hut :p and the paper from Lincraft (I paid for it ;p When i bought it, I had bad stomachache -_-" I had to run all the way to Myer foodcourt bcoz of it -_-)

Day 10: My idea again, but it's just cookies. So, ordinary idea. It was 1 of my original plan (before it went out of hand and became a big project rather than really really little surprise everyday :p). The recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens that I saw longggggggggg time ago. I found it again on Better Homes and Gardens website. I like the concept of old time chinese wine jar, so I wrapped the paper on the lid, looks nice huh? The paper came from..... Japan City recycled wrapping paper :P The tag was from here with text removed.

Day 11: It was movie ticket, so really no special idea there, but it was my sisters who suggested it. The envelope was actually the real event cinema gift card/voucher's envelope.

Day 12: As I said in previous post, this came from a dare. I couldn't knit, so I had to ask my friend Pipit to teach me how to knit. I was a very bad student -_- knitting was hard for me to get used to, it just didn't make sense to me :p AND, I bought the wrong type of yarn for a beginner :P The button was a spare button from one of my clothes (See how nice I am?? Sacrificing my own clothes? :P) The box was actually ferrero rocher box. MY idea :P Looks nice huh? :))

Finally, Day 13: The original plan was just to give a small cake, and I mean small, like 7x7 cm. I ended up baking a whole cake :S Recipe came from here. Ingredients from Coles :P and the big box was bought from Hot Dollar from across my apartment :p And again, thanks to my sisters and cousin who helped me baking it :) We started in the afternoon and finished at around 8 or 9 PM :p

So that's all!!! I think blogspot will date this post as at when it started to be written, but today is actually 9 Apr 2011 3:16 AM. It did take a long time to finish this post lol :p

Now, bed time.

Good night all :)

13 Days of Surprises - Day 13 - The Finale

Here comes the final gift!!!!!

I know it's Xmas box, but what can I do? It was the prettiest box I could find that fit!

What's inside???? *drumroll*

It's a cake!!! ^^

It's green tea cake with green tea creamed cheese icing :) It was handmade by me, my sisters and my cousin. My cousin specially came from Manly to help out when I told her I'll be busy all day making birthday cake for the final gift. What a nice cousin *huggggg* :)) Recipe source was from internet. Would be posting all resources later :)

My best friend, me and my sisters had lunch together on the day. My sisters came to North Sydney for lunch and brought the cake. Lucky me, so I didn't have to bring that big box on the bus in the morning heehhehe :P My best friend didn't know they were coming, so it was a surprise too :) But because she didn't know, she only brought 2 boxes of juice :( Note: she always brings me juice, breakfast bar or fruit from her office :P

She liked the cake!!! *phewww* well... it wasn't like she LOVEDDDD the cake. I know how to read expression lah, I guess it was just a decent cake. I can't ask for more, can I? Afterall, it was first try and I never tried the recipe too :/ so as long as it didn't taste that bad and she didn't throw up after, then great :P At least she didn't complain about it, unlike someone else -_-"

So yeah, that's the final gift. Wanna see the preparation? See below :)

My kitchen is so small, so I had to do it on my coffee table :P

Picture of the cake indoor :p

So, that's the end of 13 Days of Surprises. My friend looked happy getting all of them, and I didn't regret spending so much effort and time doing all of them.
1. Well.. she looked happy :P
2. My english and wordings improved :P
3. My crafting improved -> now I can knit.
4. My cooking improved -> I baked a birthday cake!!! And decorated it too!! I never wrote using that icing piping (if that's what it's called). AND, my pecans and cookies were great success and those pecans became this year Xmas goodies for my friends :)
5. My creativity improved too :) I'm always not great in creativity department, but after this, I think my brain is more creative :P

So... can't really regret it, can I? :)

I'll do the full credit a bit later okay? My sis is asleep already, need to wake her up coz I wanna watch something :P

13 Days of Surprises - Day 11 & 12

Been delaying posting for a week, been very busy or tired lately. 13 Dec was my best friend's birthday, so went to her apartment to cut cake etc, and then went home at about 11, and then had to make some jellies for her surprise bbq the following day. The following day was busy with BBQ, got home at 10 and went straight to bed due to very tired and it was my first day period -_- I couldn't handle it -_- That was tuesday... wednesday... oh, stayed back at work as I left work early for BBQ on Tuesday. Thursday I stayed back a bit and went to doctor... Friday was work Xmas party. Arrived home past midnight and had to order some Xmas gifts. I only managed to go to bed at 4 in the morning T_T I'm still sleepy until now :( Saturday I went to Royal National Park, again part of my bestfriend's birthday. Honestly, it reminded me of Indian wedding that usually takes place for days lol :P Arrived home at 12 and went straight to bed. It was a very tiring day, I woke up at 7 AM (meaning only 3 hours sleep max) and got home past midnight. Sunday... slept till 10 ditching church lol hehhehe... my body was sore and in pain all over >.<>

Oops... I was blabbering :P Sorry :P Here is Day 11 gift!

What is it??? :P
My friend's comment on fb: "Day 11 - Experience gift??????? Air Ballooning?!?!?!?!?!??!!"

She could see through what was inside -_-"""


It's Due Date ticket!!!! ^^

No unique reason whatsoever actually for this present. My sisters just happen to buy 4 Due Date tickets on eBay, so we had 1 spare ticket and I needed 1 present :P Well.. it's been years since we went to movie together without bringing the whole kampung with us -_-" so I thought hmm.. okay just give this to her :)) I just hope it's a good movie. It's from the director of Hangover, and Hangover was GREAT. Hope this is also good :)

Note: My friend's initial comment "Gratisan ya??????????????" -_-" and my other friend's comment on fb: "is this to watch @home or @Event Cinema?" -_-" I guess my stinginess has been too widely known *sigh... lol =P

Now.... presenting Day 12!!!! :)

Pretty huh? Never wrapped present this way and it turned out nicely :)

It's an iPhone case, knitted by myself with my other good friend's help.

My best friend's comment on fb: "Owwww!! More than half a year ago i dare her to knit an iPhone sock as my bday present since she's so good with hand crafting but never did any kniting!
As Elis said, you are indeed have a good memory!!!

Arigatou!! :) ".

Good that she liked it :) I knitted it everyday since Day 1. I went to other friend's place and asked her to teach me how to knit. And then everyday up to day 12, I had been knitting few rows every day to make sure it's ready on day 12 heheheh :D Bad thing was, I bought the cotton candy yarn, and it turned out to be the hard type of yarn to knit -_-" My friend was complaining while she was teaching me lol :p She said, "It's for advanced level!!!! Not beginner!!!!!" =P *phew.. I finished it lol :D and on Day 12, I forced my friend to finish up the lining haahhahahha... Now I know how to knit, but I already forgot how to start for the first time XD and I still don't like knitting hahahahhaha

Oh, and I'm pretty sure my best friend didn't ask me to knit it for her 6 months ago, I think it was only 1-2 months ago :p

13 Days of Surprises - Day 9 and 10

Another 2 days posts :P

Today (yesterday, as it's 12:16 AM already) is my best friend's birthday, so I was busy making day 13 present yesterday hehehe...

So, here's Day 9 pressie!! :)

Nice envelope, isn't it?

It's a Mini Fairy Tales Encyclopedia!!

We searched for photos and stick them with some bits of the fairy tales that my friend should know and some bits that not many people may know. Both sides of each card have content.

And this is why I gave her this :P

The idea actually came from herself. When she received day 2 present, she emailed me and said something like "Mirror mirror on the wall... just like sleeping beauty" LOLLLLLLLLL :P then I thought, hm... I better give her this and get her to memorise them all :P She doesn't know yet, but she will be tested soon huahahahha *evil laughter*


And here is Day 10 Present :)

Peanut and Chocolate Oat Cookies

I actually wanted to make her Peanut biscuits, she likes those, but I have never baked biscuits before, so I thought cookies would be safer :P This was featured on Better Homes and Gardens long time ago, could be years ago and they looked good. So I looked for the recipe again and decided to bake them. They taste pretty good. My only mistake was the nuts were big, should have chopped them a bit :P Oh, I gave them to her on the day when she had toothache LOLLLL She could only eat one :p But she likes them ^^ She can eat them a bit later, she was planning to keep everything and take photo of them all together anyway :P I wrapped it nicely, didn't I?? :))

13 Days of Surprises - Day 7 and 8

Okay okay... I know I owe you 2 days of my 13 days project, so here you are,

Day 7

Quite pretty wrapping huh? it's only newspaper though :D to be exact, mX!

It's a box of Band Aids!!

It's not any normal Band Aids, it's a box of band aids for your heart. They are filled with inspirational notes in the shape of Band Aids :) Again, I found this idea from internet. I think it was a gift from children to their mom. The mom put this on her work desk, so every time she's feeling down, she reads those and she feels much better. I thought it was so sweet. I always believe inspirational notes do lift people's mood and motivate them. I never knew my bestie is this type of person, but I want her to have this. I know she won't buy this kind of stuffs, so I'd just make them myself :)

I made all these myself (I mean together with my sis :P) from scratch, and the result is pretty impressive I'd say *wide smile* I'm very proud with this one :)) The notes are taken from internet e.g. Walt Disney, Helen Keller, and Confucius's words. Some were taken from Homilies in Can't Buy Me Love - TVB Drama :D

This is the instruction on the back of the box. I MADE THEM ALL myself *big proud smile* =P

See my friend's comments below :P
"It's a fake band aid!! Full of life supporting quotations
Cost of paper printing - none.. Print @work
Cost of quotation - none.. Thx to google
Cost of the box - none.. unused Pain Relieve Patch box
Day 7 cost - PRICELESS! ;p"

I made delivery to her apartment as she was having toothache that day heheehhe :D


Day 8!!

It's a peach candy!!! Can you tell it's peach?? My bestie couldn't see it as peach at all :(

Momotaro!!! :D It's racoon inside Peach Candy :)

The reason I gave this to her was because she won't buy Hello Kitty herself, and I think every girl should has a Hello Kitty, so I gave 1 of my Hello Kitties to her :)) Cute huh?? :) I think she was just okay getting it. She still finds this hello kitty cute though :)

Sleep time!!! I'll update day 9 tomorrow morning okay? 1:58 AM now, and I have big project tomorrow hehehe... :P

Nite!!!!!!!! :)

13 Days of Surprises - Day 6

Here's day 6 present!

I did good job wrapping it, didn't I? Tell you the truth, I've never tried wrapping gift this way, and it turned out alright!! Yayyy ^^ My bestie said it looked so Christmassy though.. but it's good Xmas way :)

And the content is....

Hehehe... I saw this kind of gift on the internet and again thought it was pretty cool gift. Both giving and pranking ahahhahahahaa.. the poem comes from them too, but I did change the wordings here and there just to make it sound more like me. I didn't have all gifts prepared in my mind when I started this project, so when I found this idea, I took it :D Plus, I don't have to make anything except the poem ehhehehe :D

I think my friend seemed kind of believing that the poem was actually real. The fact is, it wasn't. It was planned. But I chose day 6 so I could rest a bit and preparing for the next few days gifts hehehe.. will tell you later which one I had to prepare few days before.

My bestie looked alright receiving it. Obviously she didn't think I would give her this present :P She wasn't sure if she would be able to make it, I then said to her "See the spoon on the top of the box? There's only one spoon there, meaning it's very easy, kids should be able to make it, so if you can't, you're worse than kids" =P

PS: My bestie told me, her flatmate was hungry after she got home and went to her room asking for snacks. Then he saw my gift and laughed saying that I ran out of ideas and creativity. But after that, he asked my bestie if he could open it as he was hungry. My friend said no, she wanted to keep it till day 13 to take photo of all the gifts together, also she didn't want to make it that night. Her flatmate was confused, and asked what to make? Apparently, he thought it was real cookies, not cookie mix LOLLLLLLLLLLL =P Now you tell me, did I not have any more ideas and creativity???? =PP

13 Days of Surprises - Day 5

See my Day 5 gift! ^^

Tiffany & Co.!!!!

*Gasp...

Sorry, this is the real voucher LOL =P Gotcha... :P

I've been wanting to give this kind of voucher to my family and friends, finally I can do it LOL! My bestie knows my character very well. She knows that there was 0% chance of me giving her a real tiffany voucher, and this must be some kind of hugs and kisses voucher and she was sooo right :P

She was okay at the beginning, then she startd reading the terms and condition: "However, in the event where either hug or kiss is not redeemed by 31 Dec 2010, the giver will activate this voucher by using it." LOLLLLL =P she was like T_________________T hahahahahahha :D

but she likes the voucher though :D I mean the colour and design. So, great! I did this voucher from about 2 AM - 3.30 AM so if she didn't like it, I wasted my time. I had to wake up at 8 the next day too to go to church. I was so sleepy that Sunday. I went to Tiffany & Co after church to pick up a real (=P)voucher for work, so good timing, I got the bag and tied ribbon. I don't have any more spare at home. And then, I delivered the voucher myself to her apartment. At 12:30, she was just waken up a while before :P as my colleague would say, "what a pig" ;P

Stayed at her place eating 2 boxes of Sara Lea mini cheesecakes which were very nice, and then went home doing Day 12 gift while watching my sis playing Harvest Moon. I wanted to sleep, but felt so "sayang" to waste my Sunday just to sleep.

I'm still sleepy until now T_T

Bed... bed... I'm coming....

13 Days of Surprises - Day 4

Now Day 4 gift!!!!! ^^

Day 4 I dare you eat one!
Cinnamon Sugared Pecans. Cute huh??? ^^

They taste great and didn't take long to make. They did take long to bake though. But the taste is GOOD :D The wrapping took me ages though. I didn't remember the time required correctly, so my sisters and I had to fan all those nuts and put on aircond lol (They can't be wrapped if they are still hot). Plus, I didn't realise I ran out of plastic wrap and had to use cling wrap instead. Still ok though. My friend was planning to keep all my presents till day 13 to take photo of all together, but after she tried one, then there was no turning back lol. They were all gone in seconds hahahhaah :D I'm planning to make this for Christmas too ^^ I'll post the recipe after day 13 :D

I was actually upset at Day 4. It was Saturday. The reason was, she promised she'll pick me up after work after she hung out with her colleagues. However, she was late, and long story short, I ended up have to go to Max B and "ngetem tempat" (hold a table) for 6 people. Seriously I was pissed! Max B is always crowded, and imagine how many people I have to turn around???? HUh -_- so I was pissed off. Then I just walked slowly from Circular Quay to Wynyard, and even went to Four Seasons Hotel toilet -_-

It seems that bad luck comes to you when you're pissed. I bang my fingers with the toilet door when I was closing it. Lucky it wasn't that bad though still hurt. And then, apparently I didn't lock the toilet door properly, and someone pushed my door and it opened -_-"""" lucky i was already standing up and could push it back. *sigh..

Anyway, my bestie read my voice and knew i wasn't happy and text me "you are not happy yah..." I'm an honest person so I said "Nah... not really". I arrived at Max B at the same time as my bestie and her cousin (I didn't realize I walked that slow @_@).

My mood got better soon. And she liked the 4th gift. She said it was cute which is good :) And she did feel guilty for not keeping her promise which is very good lol :P She said "I'll make it up to you!! I'll pick you up next week!!.......... if I don't stay out of city" -_-" I bet you, out of city or not, she won't pick me up this week. She won't even remember :P

13 Days of Surprises - Day 3

Another quick post as it's 1:35 am already (I've just finished doing my Day 7 gift. Yeah... sorry for the delay >.<)

Here's my 3rd day gift :)

Turkey Oreo!!!!! ^^

Close up view

I saw this recipe online, and thought they were so cute. Oreo is my best friend's favourite cookie. She's been eating them since she was really small (Compared to me who tried them the first time when they were introduced in Indonesia, she's been getting them as gifts when her relatives travelled overseas -_- how lucky of her -_-). I remember I once bought her a pack of oreo when she was upset during lunch time :P

About the note, she said she doesn't mind artificial colour and sugar. But I said yeah.. but your dad didn't let you eat them. And I actually knew those corn candies are very sweet. She thought I brought 2 turkeys for our lunch's dessert and wanted to bring the box back, so she ate a whole turkey lol =P While they were actually hers and I had no intention bringing the box back home that day ahhahaha :p I could see she was trying hard to finish it :P Even I won't be able to finish a turkey at one go :P *still laughing* She complained when I told her all these LOL

Anyway, she liked them though. She said she liked these best compared to the other 2 gifts. So, yay!! My 1 hour effort finding the ingredients, making them and taking train and then bus just to make sure I didn't ruin them on my way to work didn't go to waste :)

Good night all :)

13 Days of Surprises - Day 2

It's 2:35 AM in Sydney so I'll just do a quick post *hoahm..* This is my Day 2 present for my best friend :)

It's a cute box! :P

And guess guess, what's inside????

Tadaaaa!!! It's a mirror!! With some notes underneath saying "The person pictured above is in fact one of the most special gifts in my life*. I do think this way.

When I read this idea online, I thought it's a sweet cute little prank. So I took it as one of my pressies. The pig balloons image was taken online too by my sister. I will post the details after 13 Days ends :)

My friend likes the box (I think I got better and better in understanding her difficult taste ;P) and the pig balloons (She loves pigs, that's why we chose this image. So at least if she doesn't like the gift idea, she must like the image lol).

So all good!!!

Time for bed :)

13 Days of Surprises - Day 1!

I had so much fun on my birthday last month. My best friend invited our friends over for dinner and cooked all the meals for me! There were 4 different dishes. She actually started preparing the dishes 3 days before my birthday. I didn't have to do anything for the dinner! She also came up with all those sweet ideas for the party. And, she ordered a personalised birthday cake which was really pretty ^^ It was a red velvet mud cake covered with cream cheese, decorated with butterflies and little pink and purple flowers :) The cake was combination of me and my other friend who's having same birthday as me. Purple is my favourite color, while red is her favourite. Her original plan was red flowers with purple butterflies (I love butterflies), but she left it to the cake maker and it turned out really nice. I'm not putting it up here coz I want it to only be mine :P

Because I was so happy that day, and I do appreciate her effort very much, I came up with this idea to celebrate her birthday this month :) I'm not a party type of girl, so I can't arrange a party for her. I'm also not creative to come up with such a surprise pretty looking cake for her. So, I came up with this. See below, I think it explains better :)


I hope that's readable?

So, on the first day, I had lunch with her and gave her that note and the first day gift :)


Ferrero Rocher is her favourite chocolate. I remember she said once, she preferred to get Ferrero bouquet than rose bouquet, so I thought, okay, I'll just make one for her then :) She's never received a bouquet before too. And thank god she loved it :) and just to clarify, I did make the bouquet myself, not from the florist :P

Stay tuned for Day 2 gift! :)