My Work: Save The Date Card Design

Hi guys, how's your week so far? I have to admit that I have been really flat out at work and I honestly didn't have much time/brain cells to update this tiny little space, and I truly feel bad about myself. But, I also want to defend for myself for one reason: I have tried very hard for my very own design of the save the cards.

If you are/used to be a bride-to-be, you would definitely understand why I am so stressful, especially if you want to design everything yourself. As a creative amateur, with very little knowledge of printing, finding a proper and affordable printer was hard, deciding a certain style was fairly hard, not to procrastinate  from Pinterest was super duper hard, then I was insanely panic by all these time pressures.

Now, voila! Here I represent you my imperfect yet special save the date card, and it wasn't easy for a first timer, hopefully you can learn something from me without costing you too much time and stress. Or you can just have a laugh if you understand what I am talking about:-)

So, here comes my design below:

Why it took so long to make them? Aren't they just printed on paper with foil? Let me tell you why and there are so many factors to be aware of if you want to do your own invitations from sketch, plus  things like wax seal and gold foil stamping. Of course, the basic one would be excepting the colour difference even you have printed out on your home printer million times, it varies on what kind of paper stock and printing companies, try to imagine the worse scenarios. Now here are my tips before you send the files to your printer:


Gold foil:

Every printing company has different standard, but most of them have restrictions of the edges, don't design your design too close to edges otherwise you have to pay extra or compromise the design like me. I have changed my original design( the texts around the borders) and I absolutely hated afterwards, sometimes you shouldn't compromise your own ideas just for saving some extra bucks, it's not worthy saving that money to make you pinch you legs afterwards.


Make sure you ask for the sample first. I didn't so that because I was under the pressure and I realised it would make the whole production way better when you know what kind of material that you are dealing with. Even you thought you are late, the more you try to push it through the more likely you might miss the details.

Wax seal:

To be honestly, wax seal is not like what you saw in the show" Game of Thrones". It's way more trickier than you expected. If you just want to seal the envelopes with a bit significant touch, then don't mind what I said. BUT if you wish to use if as logo, or you actually hate unpredictable designs, then follow up my tips. Plus I will post an ultimate guide about making wax seal yourself without a nerve breakdown, just stay tuned. My general tips for wax seal below:

1. Try to purchase different colours of wax sticks before you decide, sometimes the colour might not look the same in real life.

 2. If you have substantial amount of invitations to do, I will recommend you to purchase the peel-and-stick wax seals. It's easy and save you a lot of hassles and time without tears and broker nails. The only drawback is you normally have to order around 250-500 ones, but you can always use them in the future events. 

Allow dramas: 

Well, besides the usual difficulties of card making, there are always something can go wrong, such as wax seal handle broken when I finally got the right hot glue gun, or burning my thumb by pealing too much wax seals and so on. It took a lot of deep breathes to keep calm, otherwise I don't know how to move on... Anyway, what I want to say is allow imperfections happened while you trying to make every thing perfect and meaningful for your big day, unless you really started very early or really experienced, otherwise there's no need for a breakdown. And if you do have one like me, then it's your other half''s job to calm you down, isn't it? Let him do his job!

Finally, I want to share the quote that I made from the bottom of my heart, I hope all of you like it. And if you think I disappear again, you can always find me on my Pinterest or my Instagram, I will be super happy to see you there!

{ Little Talk } Hear Us

Quote and graphic by me.

Beside the headlines of the missing Malaysian plane and the conflicts between Ukraine and Russia, there are some things happening in my homeland, Taiwan. Taiwan, is where I come from and its national identity is always lot of debates involved.

Firstly, I disgust to spoil my little space with this horrible matter, but gosh, I really hate Taiwanese politics and under this circumstance, things are getting a little bit too hot to handle. Last couple days, my friends went silence protest, and the tension was just off the grid. I won't say anything about the details of the protest and how government transforms the truth and slaughter people's right alive because I don't wish to mislead anyone.  But if you are a little bit curious about what's happening, please check on some news about Taiwan. I know Taiwan is a small island, most people don't even know it is one hour flight from Hong Kong, and South Korea, but it's a place you can find people with cultures, characters and respects. Sometimes I do act like a kid who doesn't give a damn and live my own life chasing fairies in my own world. I never really watch news and this just brought me tears. We Taiwanese have tried so hard to have a place to stand in the world and we never stop contributing to this world. It's real life not hanger games!!Maybe I am being a bit emotional but who doesn't want to live in a healthy society and work hard together to make the world better?

Secondly, I would love to address that hypocrite is hypocrite and there's no alternatives to change the fact. I can't believe that democracy now is democrazy and people's voice are being ignored in front of every one. If this ignorance is not crazy, what is? I am very proud of those civilians who have strong will to go on the streets and fight for the freedom. Wisdom includes the ability of distinguishing right and wrong, and there's big difference between riot and rebel. However, the government's response to people was just simply absurd. I feel in pain because my country is in pain, I know we are just the easiest prey in front of the giant. I know a country like us is hard to raise international attention worldwide and it is controversy. But hello world, we are humans and we live hard too, we definitely need your supports and notice! Don't look the other way because we are not so familiar/ far away to you, every little help helps.

Anyways, too much anger and sorrow in this post and I wish the situation will change very soon. Share you a few quotes that I found on Pinterest. I found them cheering and hopefully you can always stand for your right and what you fight for in life.



Related news you can check:
The fact of the conflicts here,
University and college professors offer supports here.
Protestors have been supported here.
Thank you for listening/ reading, and this is what we really need.

Enjoy your day

xxx Aka

{ Little Talk } Pain

Photo found Flickr, edited by me.

How's your weekend guys? Just like I mentioned before I went for a 30k ride last Sunday and I took so much muscle pain as souvenir!!! This unpleasant feeling also inspires me to post about "pain" today.

There are so many different kinds of pain around. Some hurt you, some changes you and made you a different/better person. It can be really petty and trivial and still made you rather hang yourself, like my big fat curly hair in traditional Asian eyes while I was a kid. It can be very heavy and tragic but you learnt so much about it and appreciate what you already have in life. Pain normally also comes along with un-acceptance which we human always dream for. but I leant to accept it. I always try to keep this in mind:" Without pain, there's nothing comparative happiness." And I want to taste this world, and I want to experience as much as I can, so I open my arms to it, with a shout ( with a smile would be a lie because I still hate the pain) and maybe I did swear a little bit.
But I am really proud of myself this morning when I woke up, then I sang the "happy" of Pharrell Williams with my moves. I feel like I am on the top of the world. That's the pain we want to embrace and that's the sensation we need.

I said that to myself in the gym today when I couldn't move my arms anymore. Also, todays is the Academy Award, Dallas Buyers Club is another good example about pain. It's not just as simple as no pain no gain. We have all kind of strength to do anything, it's more about commitment and determination. I still have a lot to learn but I will keep it in mind. Matthew Mcconaughey and Jared Leto have shared such inspiring story and mental strength and I believe that they definitely deserve to win.

Hope you all fight your pain with an awesome attitude


xxx Aka


p.s: Original photo from here.

{ Freebie } I bloody love Fridays Print!

TGIF!! TGIF!! TGIF!! I just love Fridays so much, it is not like I have a miserable week but I get to have an excuse to do nothing, and of course, I can spend more time with Andrew. Friday always make me feel like something worthwhile is about to begin somewhere, so no matter how tired or irritated I am, I always got this mantra: It's Friday, it's Friday, it Friday...Nothing can beat me today. No one can ruin my Friday. Creepy, I know. hahah.

Anyways,  Maybe some of you do exactly same just like my silly mantra, I still want to share you some thing made from my heart. (or my mantra) I made this print for you who wants to look at something cheering rather than staring at the clock every 5 minutes. Remember, nothing can beat you today and no one can ruin your Friday. TGIF!!!

Hope you have a great Friday and even better weekend!! Oh, also, happy Mardi Gras, Sydney!!!

xx Aka

{ Colour Palette } Orangy Frenzy

Images from Pinterest // Graphic design by me

Hello guys, Had a good day so far? Some of you might have noticed that I have a thing in orange colour and the truth is I always have soft spots in bold colours. My mom always teased me that I always dress like Christmas tree and I really don't care. Seriously I have no idea why I dressed like depressed old lady when I was 14 and I guess I didn't like too much attention back then. I was always afraid of people's opinions so I always follow other kids' fashion. Until high school, I decided to stand for myself a bit more and than a little bit more and I never go back. Bold colours are not just statements, they are elements of happiness, well, at least it is to me. The history of my colour crush from hot red, neon pink, turquoise...and so on, now it's this happy orange.

Also, nother fan of this colour is Frank Sinatra and I can't agree more! What do you think? Do you like orange just like me or you think it's confronting? 

Anyways, if this colour is not your happy colour, there is something else can make you happy. It's Friday tomorrow!!! heheh!

Wish you have a nice night tonight and great tomorrow ahead:)

xxx Aka

{ Little talks } The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Original image// Unsplash, graphic//me

I know it's a bit late to talk about this move, I am sure that the related articles might be everywhere already but I still want to talk about this because my love to this move was crazy enough to make me dream about those quotes and images since I sat on the cinema chair with tons inspirations few weeks back. Not to mention the humongous screen dragged me into the ocean, the mountains and the air with Walter Mitty and his fear. I guess you might know what I actually want to talk about. I would like to talk about my own fear.

 I grew up in a small city packed with concrete jungles and horrible traffic and I viewed the world from the bottom of the well because that's what every one think around me. Then I firstly walked up to somewhere near top of  Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, the pathetic me firstly realised that I seriously am afraid of height and I was totally crushed. No matter how much Andrew was trying to comfort me, I felt injured like something smacked out my soul of me, no kidding. If I have not been to that lookout, I wouldn't know how scary it is but same if I've never been there then I wouldn't know my view of the world still very naive. I hate that feeling of thinking about how high it was and I did some research, the best ways to overcome this problem is go back and face it. Really?

The other fear of mine is I couldn't really focus on what I really want. I've always hoped that I can do something more true to myself and live to the fullest and I did make changes like trying to learn scuba diving or different languages. I did feel better when I am motivated to do something different and here comes those days I was stuck with heaps so-called inspirations and still achieved nothing. Sometimes I couldn't help thinking about maybe dreams are cursed when you open eyes and they only appear when you close your eyes. Or they are just very naughty? I guess It is not just about being bold and taking risks, for me, it's about not to overthink. That's one of the reasons to create this blog and I also believe this is a good way to connect my inner self with others.

 Anyways, these are my fears and how about you? Do you have any fear to overcome?

p.s. I played around some photos with the quote in the move'' To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw close, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life". I find it absolutely beautiful and the original photos you can find it from COFFEE IN THE MOUNTAINS and Unsplash.


xxx Aka

{ Inspiration } Oh, Blue Monday....again.

Monday, what else can I say? After glorious weekend and now piles of work awaiting ahead, there's no such thing can stop my itchy hands jumping between random site from another. Apart from lunch menu, nothing really caught my attention, and then,  a little quote within cute typos came across my screen(Don't ask, you know it's procrastination), somehow it did light me up a bit.

Of course, inspiring quotes sound a bit tacky, a bit...well, too healthy. But just to know the fact that quotes are from smart and great people, so bare with me, my friend. I want to share a few nice quotes with you all, to kill blue Monday this witch. And hopefully everyone will have a wonderful monday as well!