Glass With a Personal Touch.

Art. What is art? Art can be defined as the product of human creativity. Nowadays, there are various kinds of art but there was one particular type which caught my eye. Glass painting. Two sisters have taken glass painting to a different level. Rebecca Lawrence and Bernadette Lawrence believe in gifts with personal touches. They have built their own business called Painted Things.

From left: Vanessa (helper), Nicole (helper), Rebecca, Anna Lourdes (mother) and Bernadette.
Photography Credits : Errol De Cruz.
The sisters along with her family showing off some of their works. They specialize in glass painting where they paint on almost everything, from little shooter glasses to big slabs of glass. Their products are sold for as low as RM5.

These are some of the personalized orders by their customers. They have customers who give a design or idea of what they want. Painted Things then proposes a few designs to the customer after which the customer chooses a design and they then come up with the product. The picture shows some of the personalized items.

This is a tea-lite holder. This is one of Bernadette's project. She said, "I like experimenting with various glass objects. I express my creativity this way and I find it relaxing." Many of her detailed works are done in her spare time where she sketches some designs and paints them on glassware.

Last Christmas, Painted Things came up with some items for Christmas. One of the items were prayer candles (top picture) which can be used as cups once the candle wax has finished. Other items include DIY nativity sets for children, lamps (second picture), and photo frames.

This lamp was one of Painted Things toughest order. One of Rebecca's friend's asked for something that would remind her of her home in Malaysia as she was studying overseas. Rebecca then came up with a henna tattoo design and modified it as she started painting it. "I have never taken this long to finish a lamp! Its crazy!" said Rebecca. She had taken 3 continuous working days to finish it because of the details

This is one of their "special" orders. Someone ordered this as a gift to a Manchester United fan. I think the picture speaks for itself, right? ;)

This is where Rebecca and Bernadette's glass painting go to a whole new level. The picture is one of the ornaments on their Christmas Tree. It is actually a Jesse Tree symbol. They got the glass custom made in that shape, painted them and gave it to their mother as a Christmas present.

This is one of the many art pieces Bernadette has created. It was one of her projects. She finished this piece over a period of a month. She finished it little by little, doing one section one day. When asked about this piece she said, "This is one of my best work. I myself can't believe I actually finished it..and it turned out so well! I thank God for all His graces in my art and in the business."

If you have any inquiries on their products, they have a Facebook business page.

Prevention is better than cure!

“Prevention is better than cure.” Thank god that there is a cure for meningitis. There are different types of meningitis across the world. This bacterial infection attacks the covering of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include fever, sore throat, stiff neck, muscle and joint pain, headache, and possibly seizures. This article caught my eye because of my interest in medicine (I blame House for this!) it is said that children are routinely vaccine against meningitis but adults are not. Why? I think adults need to make the extra effort and get this vaccination, especially if they are travelers. I think it is important that most people get this vaccination as it can save your life. I have seen cases on House where patients are diagnosed with meningitis and it looks pretty scary. Maybe it is fictional, but the symptoms, such as seizures, can be pretty fatal. I think it is good that Linda Glennie, the head of research at the Meningitis Research Foundation, is encouraging further research on the vaccine so that it will be available to all. Remember, when it comes to health, prevention is better than cure!

P.S. I'm sorry for the excessive references to House :)

Article : click HERE

Lightning, A Natural Hazzard.

This article was very eye-opening. I never knew that our country rated one of the highest numbers of thunderstorms in the world. More actions should be taken to aware the public of this as not many people may know this piece of information. I think the public should be warned and educated on the hazards of lightning and thunderstorms as well as what to do in order to keep themselves safe when there is a thunderstorm.

According to the article, lightning and thunderstorms are one of the worst natural killers, killing over 25,000 people each year. The government should take more effort in educating the public about this. Maybe even introduce it as part of the school curriculums. More safety measures should be taken to ensure that people are safe whenever a thunderstorm hits.

I certainly learnt that only large building and fully enclosed vehicles can protect people from these situations. Again I would like to stress that more people should be more aware about this!

My Cousin's Wedding :)

Last month, I went for my cousin’s wedding in PanPacific Hotel, KLIA. The rooms were great; they had a huge bath tub. The scenery was interesting because we could see the planes taking off from the room. The food at the reception was bad for a place that fancy. The drinking, fabulous. :)

By : Vanessa Ee-Lyn Gomes.

Abuse...by a WOMAN?

A man in Malacca has accused his wife and two sons of beating him up. The man, Sham, was kicked in the groin by his wife and she asked her two teenage sons to beat him up with a hanger after that. He has bruises and marks all over his body to prove it.

This incident, I have to say, is a little shameful. What has become of women these days? Not all women are like this but it is a little scary when we read about things like this. Imagine one day you get married, in your eyes, to the most wonderful person you have ever met. Then, a few years down the road, the girl of your dreams beats you up.

In the article, Sham mentioned that he made a mistake by letting this issue carry on like this with his family. As his children are teenagers, I am presuming it went on for quite a while. I wonder why he did not do anything earlier, before things got this bad.

If I was him, I would have reported this issue after it happened the first time. Abuse is something that should not be tolerated, regardless or race or gender. Some may say it is out of love they do not repot the case, but love does not mean abuse and suffering like what happened to him.

Our country has a set of rules and laws, which include the rights of the people. I think the people are not very aware of it, though I may be wrong here. A person’s safety and physical being can be protected if issues are immediately reported and it is important that this kind of issue gets to the authorities so that issues like this do not repeat itself.

Article : click here!

Written by : Vanessa Ee-Lyn Gomes.