100 Creative Items VI

After creating Pötkö with its dreamy smile, the DDA had to create a girlfriend for it, and its name is Pätkä.

These stuffed soft toys were created within less than 3 hours each. Their shapes and looks were inspired by the left over fabric that gave life to them!

The Finn gave names to them as they took shape. Pötkö and Pätkä, and so the DDA gave them their Chinese names too so they correspond as such = Pötkö "一枝" and Pätkä "一段".

The DDA just can't help but want to share these as they mark the rounding up of 100 creative items for 2009! Not sure if she did achieve 100, but hey, she enjoyed every single one of them.











These fun loving creature creation was inspired by a project the DDA found online whilst surfing Julochka's blog. Here are links to strings the DDA found, and she's very thankful to these ladies for the inspiration.
1) Julochka
2) Tollipop
3) Molly

And to round it up, the DDA presents the photo album that captures all the creations for 2009.

100 Creative Items V

Up to this point, the DDA is thinking that she'll just cheat and count each and every cupcake and cookie she's made for the year (not by batch as one item, but by piece) to get the total number of creative items made in 2009!


2009 has been a very challenging year to start. Yet it is filled with bursts of creative madness. There was the fun and exciting summer holiday with the parents, no doubt tiring but it was worth all the time spent.

The DDA is very thankful for all the lucky stars and angels that watch over her and her family!

Joulu 2009

After a whole week of holiday, the Finn and the DDA are only finding it a slower pace today. They are really feeling the holiday now, taking things EASY. 4 days to go and it will be a brand new year!

100 Creative Items IV

In the elenventh hour, the DDA works up a storm... still thinking she can achieve 100 items...

100 Creative Items III

Home crafted from November up till last week. The DDA is working on more Christmas decoration too!

100 Creative Items II

Haven't posted much in a long long long long while... but the DDA has been rather busy, keeping up with creative things! Whether she can achieve number 100... that's a challenge as the year winds down in about 62 days...

Below are a few the DDA has created in the past couple of weeks.






There is a larger pool of items posted in an album.

The DDA wonders if she can create 62 items in the remainder 62 days?

100 Creative Items

The DDA has decided she'll take the challenge of making (if she can achieve it before end of year) 100 creative items.

She read about this idea from Moments of Perfect Clarity, who read about it from Oh for the Love of Blog, who read about it from Tollipop!

Yes, they are all creative people!

She'd like to share a few pictures of the most recent items created. And she's got a couple already posted earlier this year (below is a small list). These projects are keeping the DDA very very busy indeed.

Other creative items created early 2009:
1. Floral Greeting Cards
2. Chinese New Year Cards
3. Make Up Purse 1

Living the London Life

The Finn came home yesterday with a huge sulk on his face. He is usually a cheerful sunshiny kind of guy, who is always eager to find out what's cooking the moment he gets home. Yet yesterday, he returned with a sulk.

Poor man. He actually received two nasty surprises as he went to collect his bike after work.
1) The bike had a horrible dent on the tank, and awful scratches on the sides. Some irresponsible biker who used the same parking bay had decided to rush his/her way out of the bay and knocked the Finn's bike over, and feeling guilty for causing such terrible damage picked up the bike but was in so much fear he/she hurriedly put the bike half in the bay half outside the allocated line. Which resulted in the next nasty surprise.
2) There was a parking ticket from the Hammersmith and Fulham council on the bike.

It's not very pleasant a thing to be honest to receive two bad news in a row.

This leads the DDA to reflect on other bike incidents the Finn has had so far. Week two of owning the bike, the Finn came home sulking. He was carrying a broken mirror in his hand. You've probably guessed it now, the incident happened at the same parking bay near work. The Finn went to collect his bike after work, to find his one of his mirror sitting on the seat. Well, it appears that some biker was in so much hurry to get out of the parking bay that he/she had to push his way out and break some other bike's mirror! Of course since it's broken, why not put it on the bike seat eh?

These incidents brings the DDA to think that Londoners are a bunch of inconsiderate lot. Why do they have to be so hateful?

Then again, if you do not experience all these stupid things, you do not interact with the culture, the people, the country, the life in London... suppose this is it? It's called living it?

Out of all these stupid bike incidents, the only consolation is that the Finn had decided on a second hand bike instead of a brand new one. Thus less painful in a way. Lesson for the day:
1) do not own a brand new vehicle in London, be prepared for reckless vehicle owners that harm others.
2) if you own a brand spanking new vehicle, make sure you have a nice gated front yard to park, and make sure when out and about you park in a secure and safe place where people are considerate. (if only it's that's easy!)

PayPal Demo Video

PayPal has rolled out a new demo video to further promote the use of PayPal for online shopping and payment. After watching it, the DDA is rather impressed at how well PayPal is doing on the online shopping arena. Converting many online shoppers into PayPal users. The DDA imagines PayPal is running a very profitable business.

The video has even answered the DDA's question on data security. There is a section that says PayPal secures users' financial details and keeps it safe. It then goes on to say it is even safer than shopping individually on merchant's website where you have to enter your card details everytime you make payment. And... you only need to keep it in one place, you don't need to carry it with you everywhere.

True, it is much convenient to keep all things in one place. Suppose if you only restrict one channel of use of your card details, then the lesser the risk of financial fraud?

One moment... the next question then is how strong is PayPal's data security mechanism??? Mind you, the DDA is a PayPal user herself, but for this instance perhaps she is being somewhat critical. She'd like to know how PayPal secures all that data.

No fear, no surprise, no hesitation, no doubt

The DDA was left waiting for 30minutes due to a delayed appointment. So she went wandering into Waterstones, and picked up a book that caught her eye. It's called The Rules of Life by Richard Templar. She thought she'd capture one of the rule that she really liked - No fear, no surprise, no hesitation, no doubt^*. That's how she would want to live her life indeed.

*apparently a quote by Miyamoto Musashi (1584 - 1645)

Make Up Purse Project

This is the DDA's latest craft project, following a tutorial from U-handbag. The purse pattern is from a slightly different styled purse. Blend two together, you get a beautiful purse!

Honestly, the DDA is just pleasantly surprised at the outcome. She has her friend to thank for making this request. The request was specifically for a purse frame make up purse. Initially the DDA thought "eek!!! how to go about it?"??? Then... she found this super cool website with a super cool pattern, and easy to follow tutorial.

Here are some shots of the purse.

Chinese New Year Cards

These are the prints of the Chinese New Year cards designed recently. The DDA is so happy they arrived on time, she now needs to work on the messages and putting in the post!

New Floral Cards

The DDA is really excited about her newly pressed floral design cards! They arrived in the post today. These are limited prints to investigate the market. Please do spread the word about her designs. You can purchase these cards from her craft shop.

Generating Designs

It's been a while now the DDA has been day dreaming. Day dreaming about setting up her own design company. A company that does different types of design in different forms and medium. Now that it is the new year, she's decided that she should do even more.

All her spare time has been spent generating the DDA's own ideas and design. The only thing that she can think of doing, and so want to do. DDA has been talking too much about doing more design and generating more ideas. Now, suppose is the best time to do it.

There is a gradual upload of some of the more recent things the DDA's done:





Yes, the economy is in extreme bad shape, however the DDA sees it an opportunity. She just need to do it!

Inclusive Accessibility

Accessibility is designing products and services so it can be used by people with disabilities.

"Accessibility makes user interfaces perceivable, operable, and understandable by people with a wide range of abilities, and people in a wide range of circumstances, environments, and conditions."
- Shawn Lawton Henry

The above statement by accessibility expert Shawn Lawton Henry indicates accessibility is an extensive area of study and work for web design and development.

In May 2008, I was invited to attend a 2 day web accessibility workshop organized by the Inclusive New Media Design team. The INMD is a research project that aims to investigate best practices of accessible web design methods for people with learning disabilities.

The workshop participants were first introduced to the different types of intellectual disabilities, after that we looked at assistive technologies followed by testing with a group of users with learning disabilities.

Here are some of my observations and thoughts at the end of day 2 as we sat down to discuss our experiences.

• Disabled people feel connected using the web & technology. They feel they can be independent to a certain degree.
  
• The web can be a useful alternative channel for users with learning disabilities to attain information/news, entertainment, learn, and socialize.
  
• Many disabled participants who were testers had mobile phones, digital cameras, and email accounts.
  
• We generally think that web users with learning disabilities might seem like a minority group – think again! There are nearly 30million (14%) of UK population with a registered disability.
  
• There are varied types of learning disabilities, and there are different degrees of disabilities.
  
• Users with learning disabilities use technology the same way all other users do – in individually adapted ways. Users with same disability might use different modes & methods of access.
  
• Carrying out user testing with the target audience reveals invaluable insight to their real needs!
  
• Users with no access to the technology you design for, think about what other methods or channels you can reach them with?
  
• Web accessibility knowledge should be much more widely shared & practiced, not only within the web design & development circle, also to a wider public.
  

The audiences INMD look at in their research are a rather specific user group (with varied levels of learning disability – mild, moderate, severe, profound). When designing with these users in mind, we have to consider the below:

• Assistive technologies that users would employ to browse
  
  • screen readers, screen magnifiers, switches, concept keyboards, specialised pointing devices
    
  
  
• Structure & Navigation
  
  • different navigational methods for varying levels of disability – e.g. simplified, reduced nesting structure; 2 item choice based structure; linear structure
    
  
  
• Content
  
  
  
  • use of clear, simple, concise language
    
  • use of visuals/symbols as alternative to text
    
  • use clear concise headings
    
  • group text into blocks under each heading
    
  • use lists where appropriate
    
  • use descriptive link text
    
  • front load content
    
  here are some reference to usable and accessible content writing
  
  
• Images
  
  
  
  • only use image where it is adding value to the content
    
  • alternative attributes should succinctly describe content of the image
    
  • if images are for decorative purposes, they should be coded in the cascading style sheets
    
  
  
• User testing
  
  
  
  • it is crucial when developing a website, as it makes a better web product when you are testing with real audience
    
  
  

You might be thinking... "what if I’m not designing for people with intellectual disabilities alone?". When designing for a wider audience, the accessibility concerns will need to cover the above considerations and also general user needs. The BBC websites have accessibility as their core design principal. Perhaps we can take a closer look and discuss in another post.

It would be good practice to have accessibility in mind when setting out planning a web project. It will make project planning a much thorough exercise, maximizing the usability outcome, and minimizing the possibility of usability failures during launch, thus giving it a better ROI.

Marvelous After Sales Service

The delivery of a replacement mattress was the second highlight of the day for the DDA. Yes, a replacement mattress. You must think it sounds really silly an item to be blogging about? Well, it is not about the mattress, it is more about the exemplary after sales service that is worth talking about.

This mattress was a purchase made 1 year ago from the Futon Company. It started to compress in certain areas and sinks. Initially it was not that bad, then it became rather annoying as the body when on the bed can feel very obvious difference of levels in the mattress.

One day, the DDA decided that she'd give the Futon Company a call. She described the condition, and the sales assistant over the phone just recommended some photos to be taken and sent across by email. Both the DDA and the Finn didn't think much of it after that, but was wondering what the outcome would be.

A couple of weeks later, there was a call from the Futon Company to say that their company director had decided that they'd replace the mattress. That was news indeed for the DDA who always complains about the non-existent customer services and lack of efficiency that occurs in this country! So she has decided that this is in fact a matter that deserves a post.

Thank you Futon Company!!!

Christmas Approach

The winding down of work. The start of the Christmas holiday. The end of year approaches.

Today, the DDA officially wrapped up at work to go on holiday. Not a holiday away from London, but just away from work. This year's Christmas will be spent in London, quiet and simple, possibly a nice dinner with a few close friends on Christmas day too.

It feels like a year that lacks much events, however it has been a year filled with anticipation - look out for a new career opportunity; look out for a possible mortgage which will not happen anymore now the credit crunch has become a buzz word; look out for the global financial situation that seems to be spiralling downwards; look out for a possible visit from the DDA's parents who reside in Malaysia...

The global financial crisis coupled with a recession is not a light matter. There have been many news reports of job losses, property repossession, weakening of the pound, and more job losses in the new year! Not a nice way to start the new year eh? Then again, different people will get affected in different ways. The DDA and the Finn are counting and appreciating their angels & lucky stars now they didn't land themselves a property with hefty mortgage last year.

In fact, it has been quite a smooth and good year overall. Not forgetting a little treat to Paris in the summer! And the first participation in a tree planting activity organised by the Woodland Trust out in Theydon Bois forest reserve.

















The DDA certainly hopes that the new year will bring fresh new inspiration to her craft efforts. New inspiration that will boost her creative output activities. There have been a few this year, so the DDA would like to keep it up or better the effort.

Early Snow

We get our first snow as winter sets in. Temperature drops hugely from beginning of the week. As the DDA headed home from work, she came out from the tube station to rain, and there was sign of slushy snow.

Now, at 21:57, it's started to snow again... October snow! It's kinda early I suppose in London?

First Lotto Winning!

:D :D :D

The DDA is pretty chuffed with her lotto winning. Small as it might be, it is still a win!

It was a Euro Lotto lucky dip ticket she bought on Friday. The snowball amount was meant to be 100 million euros. Since there wasn't a grand winner, the draw was divided by the 15 who had the draw numbers on their tickets. The DDA had 3 (the minimum to qualify for a win), so her winning came to a tiny sum of £7.40.

Good enough for this time. She's more than happy :)

Small Misfortune

The DDA met with a misfortune this morning just before breakfast. She was rather shocked when the footstool gave way, and her foot crashed through pieces of wood before landing on the ground. Her immediate response was a wail out of pain. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise she only put half her weight on the footstool, thus halving the damage.

The footstool was immediately thrown into the trash bin by the Finn. And a massage soon took place. When the DDA finally calmed down and manage to think back, she thought that the shock was more damaging to her soul than the bruises. Bruises recover, but the after shock stays in the mind for a while especially when it's something unexpected that happens, something that you rely on to reach higher places, and it has never failed...

Here's her battle scar after 12 hours and 2 massages later:


Massage is a very good healing process. Not only do you heal the bruise/scar or smooth out tired muscles, you also heal your thoughts and make your soul that much better... Massage is good for all. The DDA highly recommends a good massage!

Kesäkuu's Craft Shop

The DDA has recently been making an attempt at establishing a small craft making venture. It is a rather small start, however the DDA hopes to expand the effort gradually. At this moment the product range is limited. As the crafting skills is polished and further improved, the DDA hopes to come up with more interesting items.

Please drop by the online store at Etsy.com

Introducing Sammakko

Remember last Autumn the DDA introduced to you Rusakko? Today the DDA would like to introduce you to Sammakko, please meet Rusakko's little new friend Sammakko:

Frolicking Foxie

The Finn spotted our neighbour foxie frolicking in the back garden. It looked like foxie was having a good time just lazing on the grass.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

These were taken on Sunday 13th April around 16:45 as the Finn & DDA were walking from London Bridge tube station towards South of Tower Bridge. The sky was pissing down soon as we emerged from the tube station, we had to run for cover for a bit, then continued walking towards our friend's place. Before we reached our destination, the rain stopped, the sky cleared and there was sun on the other side of the sky. The DDA has seen big rainbows in HK, but double rainbows are rare!

April Snow

It's a lazy Sunday today. After all week of warmer weather, all of us are in the mindframe that Spring is finally arriving. Then today, we all receive a surprise!

Easter Weekend Snow

Snow arrives late this year in London. And it's not even good snow, it's more like slush. Yes, there are indeed different types of snow.

The DDA, the Finn & their flat mates were finishing their breakfast when it started to snow this morning. They manage to capture some videos of it. Yesterday it hailed, so there were small balls of ice scattered around the ground & on wind screens.