Greeting Cards from the Past Part Deux

Well we've just come back from the penultimate Hari Raya open house at one of our housing blocks (just One more major open house to go next week) - it was a blast, considering they bought 30kg of frozen sea critters (read : udang!) to the party.

Trust me, having udang in Khartoum is _a big thing_, as it's really a luxury item here! One kg of frozen udang from the Red Sea easily costs USD 20; that's about RM67 (thank God the USD is slipping...). And we're not talking about udang galah - this is the normal medium sized white udang... (I did say having udang is big right?)

Anyway I didn't have any udang - I had Erica strapped on me tonight, so I decided to keep my mitts - and Erica's hair - clear of sea critter keratins (skin). But they had nasi impit and kuah kacang, which is a favourite of mine (sour grapes la...). So the party wasn't have bad...except them udang!! Note to self - remind Hamidi and Nadzifah's husband to send in pics of Erica strapped to baba!

So what better way then to spend the rest of the evening posting on my blog. Ah yes, continuing with my online greeting card portfolio...

bla bla bla, October 2004. I mouse-drew this on my computer, free hand. It was a birthday card for my brother Firhan; I forget the gift... I do admit in not having skills at drawing. I think I can manipulate images (remember this?) and I'm a wizard at scanning (who isn't?), but I suck at creating hand (or mouse) drawn images from scratch. Which is a perfect lead in to...

Cat on window sill Hari Raya card, November 2004. This was our first properly done Hari Raya card (..I have a nagging feeling that this _wasn't_ the first I created but since I no longer have the earlier files, this will have to do). Hand drawn to boot! I had just bought a handy Wacom art tablet - which uses a Stylus (read : non-working pen thingy) and was dabbling in art! I thought the image was nicely created, if I say so myself. I did bring the tablet to Sudan; but have yet to find the _time_ to use it (frankly speaking - I haven't used it in, oh...3 years)




Jemputan Rumah Terbuka, November 2005. Back to normal designing then. This was a simple invitation card created for our first open house with our lil' tyke Ehsan. The picture was of a tea plantation in Cameron Highlands. Notice the lame posing by moi!





Happy Birthday Amir, January 2006. I created this card (and one more) to put on presents for our friend's kids' birthdays. This one reads Amir, who is our dear friends Ramzul and Diana's eldest son. We couldn't attend the birthday party because...we were leaving for Sudan! So, even in the hustle and bustle of our mobilisation, I managed one more card ...for the road!








EidMubarak, October 2006. This is one of my favourite designs, especially for the use of green and brown as the base colours. That's it really...except that I should have put a star near the crescent, but then jadi macam flag Pakistan pulak...






Kadeer's Card, October 2007. My colleague Kader was commenting on the design of a presentation I made, and asked if I could design a card for him to send to his friends. I took the photo of the Masjid Besides the Nile (sorry I haven't a clue of its name!) last July when I was on the Nile cruise.








Mohon Ampun dan Maaf, October 2007. And we come full circle...our latest Hari Raya greeting card, and one that had all 4Es in. Earlier, I posted a teaser card to celebrate the arrival of Ramadan. I thought that this cut & paste design was nicely complemented with a collage for our family pictures - taken recently since Erica 'returned' to Sudan.




There you have it; bits of ERH, represented on greeting cards .... and here's to more cards to come!