Enchanted By Scraps

What up?!

2011-03-11T10:09:00.003+08:00

I just love this photos of Brianna. She's only 2half and she poses like a pro! I don't really like taking photos of myself alot and I have no idea where she learns all this posing things. From the tv programs she watches I think. So here's one with a "Smile for Me!"
This one here is a little sneak of a private class that I'll be teaching end of April. Any of you interested in a private class for yourself and friends, your company, do feel free to come on down to Laines and ask for more info. The classes can be tailored for your preference and we will come down to your prefered place at no extra cost for manpower! Good deal huh?!

Am I playing with my phone too much?! What's up?!? Heeheehee! Okie, here's what I've been up to recently. There's this really lovely Melissa Frances album that I'm doing for a kit for sale at Laines. It works this way. I create the album, pack a kit full of goodies that will go into the making of this album and sell it for this really fantastic price! Good deal right?! Hey! I seem to be making alot of good deals recently! Hahaha! Enjoy!

Even the inside of the albums are decorated! There are enough goodies in the pack for you to do this too! Especially if you need a project urgently and you don't have enough time to do it! Like for a special anniversary, Mother's Day, etc. This is something that can be completed in a snap! You can take pics too if you buy the kit!

A little something using MME

2011-02-17T09:05:00.004+08:00

Promised a blog post on MME and new CHA stuff. I actually got off my lazy butt and came up with a layout!! (Okok, that's coz MME had this competition and promised 3 complete sets of their newest line helped moved that butt!!)

CHA Goodies!

2011-02-10T07:36:00.005+08:00

I know I know! Not supposed to tempt anyone anymore right?! But I really am so happy with what I've been given that I really cannot resist it anymore! Check out the sneekies!These MME stuff are just gorgeous! I have always loved MME's papers and bellies. I am still hoarding their things from like 3 years ago!

Glitz has some really nice stickers and even though the colours are not some of my favourite (too bright pink liao!) they are still lovely for making cards and layouts for little girls!
There's actually more stuff in my pack but my camera died out on me coz I didnt charge it for 2 weeks! So there! I'll post up more stuff once I get the camera charged and by then, I may have come up with a layout and some cards too! (not likely but I'll try hard!)

My loot from Australia!

2011-01-28T11:04:00.003+08:00

This post is waaaay overdue! I finally told myself that I MUST take pics and post this. I'm more restrained this time around. I decided that I would only buy stuff that I cannot get in SG and not stuff that I imagine is cheaper! Hahahaha!
This pack of flowers were not even bought at a scrapbook store! I was in this bargain place called Red Dot when I picked this up.
Even though I never wanted to get papers, I could not resist these Kaiser papers and this exclusive Australian brand from Woolworths.

Stamps are one of my weakness and these were cheap and cannot be found in SG.

This whole stack of mags were cheap cheap cheap!! They were all 3 @ $9.95AUD! But unfortunately, some of the mags were duplicated. I decided to give them away as pressies from my Aussie trip!

Albums are always super cheap there! I bought 3 albums at only about $9AUD each! And check out the wooden 12x12 multi frame display by Kaiser! It wasn't very cheap but I can never find this type of thing here! Yeah!! I love that frame and I'm really glad it didn't break in my luggage! In fact, nothing broke, only a bar of chocolates!

So here's the sum of my loot and I promise that I didn't leave anything out!

Life goes on... Much faster!!

2011-01-26T08:45:00.004+08:00

Sigh... I'm back from dream holiday... Even though I was throughly convinced by this trip that I'm a born and bred city gal, I still miss Perth and it's serenity and utterly slow pace of life. I would love to holiday there once in a while for a week or so... but I now know that I'll never be able to live there or anywhere too quiet long term. (Which was once my dream. Not Perth, but maybe somewhere nice and quiet)
I don't like the fact that I've gotta drive 10mins to get food. Or that all shopping malls close at 5pm even in summer. Or that there's utterly no one around you. Or that every morning, there's the sound of birds chirping instead of cars rumbling.
I love the city and I love Singapore. Yes, it's so crowded here. There's always people and they are mostly annoying. But Singapore has LIFE!! Perth seems sleepy and kinda... errrr... dead... The people here rush everywhere and I've gotten used to the rushing. When not rushing in Perth, it felt odd and I was quite discomfitted by it. Even the CBD area in Perth felt relaxing, like one of our more sleepy suburb area like maybe Ponggol. The whole of Western Australia is larger than the whole of Western Europe but it has only 2million people!!! Singapore can fit into one of their lakes and we have 4.5million people!! I know I said this before but I'm totally amazed by this! How I wish it were the other way around!

This is a typical busy busy day at the Fremantle Market. It will barely clasify as traffic in Singapore.

This is how crowded the beaches will get in summer! This is considered very very crowded by the locals! I can't imagine how the Aussies feel when they come here and see the horrendous crowds on weekends!!

I tried to find more pics of "crowded" places in Perth. I realized that only a couple had more than 20 people in it and our small family of 6 filled up most of the pics!!

Hey! Here's some pics!

2011-01-22T06:19:00.004+08:00

Font View of the House

I'm not quite sure if this is considered the front or back view of the house! The car is parked at the front door though and when we walk around back, this was what we saw! Amazing right??!! We absolutely love this place! The bungalow is huge, kitchen well equipped, rooms clean, toilets large.... Wow is all I can say!!
This is what happens every morning. The sprinkler switches on at 5am every morning and waters the grass around the greens. This light here is 5.45am! I can't really sleep and I wake up promptly at 5.30am every day! I'm getting a bit tired already!
Here's the rest of what the neighbourhood looks like!

Everyone needs food ya! There is a huge shopping mall nearby and best of all?? There are TWO! Not one, TWO scrapbook shops nearby!! Yipeeeeeee!

The two kiddies playing on the XBox. Yup! There're plenty of games too!

Perth is really beautiful!

2011-01-21T06:28:00.003+08:00

I have been to Australia quite a number of times, but never thought of Perth till now. My brother rented a huge bungalow and invited us along. Naturally, we thought that was a good deal coz we were saving alot on accommodation.
"But.... Perth???!!! That's a really boring place!!"
However, we still thought that we should just go along because of the free accommodation.....
Today.... our 5th day in Perth......
I am utterly bowled over by the serenity and stark beauty of the place. Western Australia is larger that the whole of Western Europe and yet there are only 2 million people living here! Amazing ain't it?! There's 4 million people in Singapore and we fit just nicely into one of their lakes here!! Oh gosh! Even on days that are supposedly "crowded", to us, it seems like a nice stroll through Singapore malls on a really super quiet weekday morning! The only gripe I have is that the shops close really early even in summer.
The sun here is super duper HOT! Humidity is so low here that it's not uncomfortable. But the sun is so hot that the moment you are in it, you start to burn! However, the interesting thing is that the moment you find shade, the wind that blows is actually cooling! Unlike in SG, the weather is hot, sticky, humid and the wind is hot, sticky and humid too! Morning and evening gets quite cold. About 18 to 20 deg cel.
There are actually quite alot of things to do here. We have been to the beautiful and famed Swan Valley (I always want to say Swan Lake!!) and had chocolates, nuts, wine and bought the whole works too!! There's the Caversham Wildlife park where the kids ran wild and petted kangaroos, koalas, ducks (yes ducks too!), fed them and chased them all over the place! They watched the mandatory sheep shearing show and watched the dogs herd sheep. They even fed bottles of milk to newborn lamb! (Silly little things!) Brandon milked the cow and fed the donkey and llama and declared that they felt soft and had no teeth!! (They have! They just used their lips to pick the food and not their teeth!)
Then we went to Hillary's boat harbour and visited the famed (AGAIN!) AQWA aquarium. It was comparable to the one in SG, Sentosa. In fact, I think we had more fun here coz it was super interactive and there were outdoor and indoor exhibits. The undersea creatures were quite different from those that are in Underwater World in Sentosa. We saw creatures unique to the Australian sealife. Brandon was fascinated and Brianna was, for once, stunned to silence. She was so excited about all the exhibits and wanted to touch everything and anything! After that wonderful experience, we went to Adventure Park and let Brandon bounce on a huge trampoline for 20 over minutes!! His thigh was so sore that he could not walk the next day! Hahahaha!
We have also been to MacNuts Australia and Milbrooks Winery in Rockingham. MacNuts was where we all went NUTS!! Literally! My sister in law went nuts and bought $300 plus AUD in Maccadamia nuts! I was saner and grabbed only a modest $150AUD. Hee hee hee! Then, we proceeded to this beautiful winery cally Millbrooks Winery. It was the most gorgeous place! The surrounding was peaceful, the vineyard was lovely, the lake was crystal... What more? One thing spoilt our experience though. The staff there was not very friendly and they didn't bother to entertain us. They gave the other Australians (or other ang mos) free wine and friendly service but ignored us totally! So we ignored them too and took lots of pictures, used their toilets and left without spending a single cent! Hahahaha!
Then there was Mandurah where the rich lived! We took a ferry ride, ostensiously to watch dolphins. But it turned out to be a trip to see how the rich lived by the lake/riverway/water/sea. There were hundreds of gorgeous homes built by the lake/riverway/water/sea and they all faced the water. It was mouthwatering to see but impossible to afford. There was even a Singaporean couple who have a holiday home there and the pilot pointed it out to us! After the ride, we walked along the broadwalk and watched the seagulls and ducks. The wind that blew in was cold and we were all shivering even though the sun was beating down relentlessly. It was so confusing for our bodies that we finally decided the shopping strip was more suitable for our city adapted bodies and mind.
We have yet to visit all the other places we have planned. We are planning to go Fremantle to see the markets, prision. We want to go Scarbourough to walk along the beach and eat ice lollies. There's also Rottnest Island where the wild creatures there roam free. And not forgetting the big Perth city center where shopping and dining abounds!
Well, that's the gist of the first 4 days of our Perth trip. There'll be more to come!
Hey hey! Not forgetting that there are countless scrapbook shops here and their shopping malls like Target and Kmart have scrapbook stuff too! I have already bought so many clear stamps and punches I'm not sure how to bring it back! Some things are cheaper here and some things are unique only to Australia. I tell myself not to be greedy and buy only stuff that's available only here in Australia......................... Urghhhh! The mind is willing................... But the heart is soooooooo weak...............

Christmas Countdown @ Laines & Papermarket!!

2010-12-21T08:00:00.002+08:00

Today's my "day" of the Christmas Blog Post at Laines & Papermarket. There's only 6 of the beautiful post it notes today so be the first to rush down and get your free gift! And do some Christmas shopping too with our fabulous deals and fantastic products!
Come on down now! What are you waiting for??

Cheers!
Shirley

You're the Light of My Life

2010-12-02T09:07:00.002+08:00

I have actually been scrapping alot. I just didn't have the time to put up pics!
Here's one that I did quite recently and it's now displaying at Laines.
I took the idea from one of Sharon's recent layouts where she used the shaped paper and made it flip by using washi tape as the hinge. It was a brilliant idea where we can put many photos on just one layout!
And just yesterday, a Japanese lady asked to take photos of it so she could do a similar layout of her own. Hee hee! And I managed to convince her that she needed quite a number of things in order to complete that layout!

When is work not work??

2010-11-24T23:26:00.004+08:00

Answer : When work is your hobby!
But still..... I'm so very tired after so much work and deadlines, packing, teaching, retail and I can't even remember what not! Hopefully this is just for the busy months of November and December. We're still having very packed classes. Maybe coz it's holidays and mothers are no longer so stressed out over exams! Our classes these 2 months are really good and I'm having fun teaching them even though all my classes are full and cannot complete type of classes!
Just yesterday I had 2 fully packed classes that cannot be finished in the 3 hours. I was actually quite stresses out the day before. Brought Red Bull to give me the energy and the brain boost! Towards the end of the night class, I was seeing stars and my brain was buzzing. Finally when most of the customers left, I kinda collapsed onto the chair and stoned! Could not even bring myself to stand up and go home! Lucky hubby not working and came to pick me. Otherwise I'd probably sleep at work! Hahaha!!
Well, you have heard my story and know that our classes are stunning! Come come and see for yourself!

More stuff for an already overcrowded space!!

2010-11-02T06:18:00.002+08:00

I know that I've already posted most of these on Shopping Saturday but I still feel the need to post it on my own blog simply cos I really really love the recent stuff that came in!!! I went totally bonkers and bought sooooo much stuff. AGAIN!! Even the rest of the retail staff are shaking their heads at me. They probably think I need to have my head checked!! Wahahahaha!
Lookie here! Who in the world can resist THIS??!! It's a mini Peek-A-Book album by Melissa Frances. I'm not a huge fan but this time round, her stuff made me want to scream and tear out my hair!
This is the mini onesies from GLitz Design. Many many many pieces came in. But 2 days later, many many many pieces also went out!! Lovely aren't they?!

Again, I could not resist the stickers by K&Co. They are pretty reasonably priced and so as usual, I let my heart rule my wallet. Isn't it a beauty?!

Don't even ask how many I bought!!! So many that when I paid, I used cash so that there will be NO TRACE!! I sacrificed my lunch for several days for this leh!!

I just hope the husband is not reading this. He sometimes does...

Ok, will go play more mahjong and hope that I will win enough money for more stuff!!!!!!! (hopelessly addicted)

A very Interesting Candle/Flower Holder

2010-10-23T08:17:00.003+08:00

Have not been blogging for some time. AGAIN! Well, been super busy at work and now's the time for exams and so on and so forth...
Here's a new project that I came up with some time ago. I used alot of Tattered Angels products for this. Using the Glam, take a brush and paint it all around a sheet of transparency. (the ones that you can get at any stationery shop) It will dry quite fast. I was surprised that it actually could dry and not peel off too. So with that pretty sheet of painted transparency sitting around, I thought for a long time before I hit upon the idea of making a candle or flower holder. Then I selected some flowers, from Prima and Daiso (hee hee!!) and used the Glimmer Glaze and painted the white ones. See the shimmer in the last picture? I love love love that effect!!
I also sprayed Glimmer Mist over the doillie to make it less stark white. End result! Hope you like it!
Do come on down to Laines Papeterie if you wish to know more of how to make this very pretty candle/flower stand!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2010-10-15T08:47:00.003+08:00

Woopeeee!!! We've got more and more people on our team! (Does that mean less work for me??!! Wahahahaha!) Here's the newly updated list for our new Creative Team members! Congrats ladies!
Most of them I know. The new faces for me are Janice and Justina. Hope to get to know you gals better!!
Welcome Susan! Love your work for the longest time! Michelle has already been with us for some time, teaching part time at PMKT PS. Happy to have you on board!
And not forgetting Betty! Our all time fav!! Yeah yeah Betty! July is another of my fav person! She's such a talent and a dear dear friend!
The rest of them all have their blogs on my blog list! Be sure to visit all of them to leave many many love love! Muacks!
Happy Friday! It's a long long day/night for me!!

Lazy lazy me!!

2010-09-13T10:22:00.003+08:00

I keep telling myself that I need to maintain my blog cos I've got really nice customers who keep telling me that they visit my blog but find that I've not updated for a long time and then they dont come back anymore!! Sob Sob! I really really try hard. Even my facebook account remains quite dormant until I remember that I've got an account that I need to maintain!

I'm actually quite ashamed of myself really. There are so many of my friends out there too who are working mothers and yet they find time to update their blog, keep people informed on their facebook and still find time to scrap and spend time with their kids!! I really need to watch less TV! Seems that when I should be blogging or scrapping or doing some sorta more useful stuff (like save the world!!) I'm facing the box. It is always easier to press that little "on" button, kick back on my comfy sofa, have a nice little drink in my hands and watch my favourite cooking programs! (Yeap, me looooooove cooking shows!) Especially when I know that if I start scrapping, my little toddler with the itchy, greedy little fingers would be all over my work and stuff.

Excuses, excuses! But hey, I've got some scrapping done though.

Here's one with my all time favourite.... Tattered Angels glimmers and glazes! I've used them all here! The background has shimmery white and transparent misted and splattered all over it. The white dollie has red misted all over it and I went a little nutz and misted the gold transparent shimmer over the whole layout! (I covered up the photo of course!)

Dreams

Hee hee! I actually "stole" the flower clustered with pin idea from Jaz's class! It's so nice, how to resist??!! Sorry Jaz!!

Here's a close up of the crazy glimmer, glaze spraying and splattering stage that I went through! I'm now all splattered and misted out. Till the next splatter session then!

New CHA stuff to play with!!

2010-08-12T14:04:00.006+08:00

Heeeeyy!! When the gals came back from CHA, they didn't forget us folks who didn't have the chance to go. Mer Mer brought back for us some really "solid" goodies from CHA and I'm now finally allowed to post cos the stuff have arrived at Laines! Yipeeee!!

Here's the fantastic Studio Calico, Documentary. I love love love the papers with the cameras and the scooters and the map and the aeroplanes and the.... well, I love 'em all!!

I also did up a layout with it but it isn't quite ready yet so I'm only showing part of it. Hee hee!

AND there's my all time favourite brand, My Mind's Eye. I've got so many of their papers that I can devote a whole rack just to them. Now that I've got my grubby little hands on their newest range, I can't help but squeak in delight! I have already done up quite a few stuff with their generous packs and I can't wait to show it off!

My favourite too!! *Squeak squeak*!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Tattered Angels glimmers, glazes, mists!! And what's more, I actually found out that I could use the built in brush in the Glaze and splatter it onto paper and make beautiful splotches and splats. WooooHooo!!

Here's the splotchy splotchy splats. Oooooo! Me lovey lovey them! So nice so nice! Try it out, don't be afraid to splatter it all over your art work.

It's August already!!

2010-08-05T14:19:00.003+08:00

I thought that I had been quite regular in updating my blog. Apparently not, as I discovered when I saw that last date that I posted. Hee hee! How can time fly by sooooo fast??!!

I think I know though. When you are enjoying yourself, you have stuff to do, places to go and people to meet, time does have a way of speeding through!

I have been teaching at Laines for the past 8months already. I still find it hard to believe that so much time has flown by. It sometimes feels as if I've only just joined them. But for the simple fact that I know/have almost everything at my fingertips just proves to myself how far I have come from the super blur and confused person when I 1st joined!

There are times when I wish I could stay at home and be with my kids. I miss them terribly and I want to spend all my time with them instead of letting the maid be my stand in. However, I know that if I had to stay home full time, I'd probably go stark raving MAD! So, I have my hands very full balancing my kids, work and scrapping. When I say scrapping, I mean my own stuff and nothing to do with work. Oh, I love work and teaching and designing and stuff. But nothing beats digging out my own stash and having a blast of a time with close friends and fellow scrappers!

Oh well! I need to go now! Need to dig out that little bit of time in between my little girl's nap and my boy's tuition time to have a bit of scrapping done!

Leaving you with a Webster's challenge page!

More craze! Wow!

2010-07-12T08:36:00.007+08:00

For an Instant, Love can change the World

I recently dug out my wedding photos to do my August class project and I went on a "wedding" binge! Hee hee! I thought that I should try to make as many layouts as I could cos they're probably the only photos I have that I actually look good in. I'm not terribly photogenic and nowadays, I dont really have alot of nice shots of me and hubby.

In Dreams & in Love

I got my lovely title ideas from a Fiskars stamp set on love. The quotes were beautiful and since I've got crappy title skills, I decided to hijack other more skillful poets! This trio of gorgeous beads are from a large pack of beads that I bought from Spotlight upteen years ago and never used. Papers are from Basic Grey and are about 2 years old. Still lovely and very relavant to the occasion.

My Hollywood Walk of Fame
This is Bri pretending to be a Hollywood star as she puts her hand onto the floor of the cruise ship. Bran has almost the exact pose when we went to the Hong Kong Walk of Fame and had his hands on the real walk. Will develop both photos again and do another layout.

Here's 2 transparency butterflies that I hijacked from Jaz's Envelope class in June. Hehehehe!

Sudden scrapbook craze!!

2010-06-30T07:53:00.006+08:00

Went a little scrap crazy recently!! I had this really strong urge to complete all my older projects as well as do up new ones!! Hahahahaha! I'm using really old MME, 7 Gypsies papers. Thought they still look so good. I also made some flowers from strips of paper twirled round and round using my all time favourite adhesive, Beacons! Yeah!!

Double the Joy

Here's one for my cousin's twin girls. They are so so so adorable and lovable! They are now in Primary One already and this was taken like umpteen years ago!

Dare To Dream

This was a shot taken in Japan. It was in summer and the heat was so bad, we were wondering if anytime someone was going to get heatstroke! Brandon's cheek was so red! It was a picture perfect moment!

Hug Me Tight

We were in the car and Brother and Sister suddenly became very loving and kept hugging each other! It was really amusing to watch them. I just wish they were like this more often!

I'm Applying for the ROLE ......

This is Brianna being cheeky and adorable! She loves to pose and make funny faces so I made this layout seem as if she was applying for an acting job at TCS! Hahaha!

And these are the flowers made from paper strips. I was scrapping at my MIL's place (yes yes, I bring my scrap stuff EVERYWHERE!!) and I didnt bring along any flowers. So I thought that it really has been a long time since I actually MADE anything! There are so many many ready made stuff out there nowadays! These flowers are really easy to make and look so shabby. Hmmmmm.... I might just use this for the next class!

Laines Sneak Peaks for July Classes!

2010-06-24T23:20:00.002+08:00

This month at Laines, we have 6 classes. But 2 classes will only be conducted once. They are the very special projects done by Merdrey! One gorgeous project is a Hambly album made from scratch and contains so much stuff that it's a miracle that it has not burst with all the goodies!! The other project is a 2 page layout which is very pink and cute! If you love having interactive stuff on your page, you should really do this class!
There are 2 albums this month from Sharon, Stamping and Bowlin. Beautifully done (as usual) and so touchy feely!! I'm very tempted to take them home myself! Arghhhh!!
And last but not least, our all time favourite layering queen, Jaz! She has outdone herself this month by having a 2 page layout class and a 1 page layout class. All the beautiful layering and special vintage stuff that is used.... Hmmmmm! Yummylicious!

Have you seen such pretty flowers??!!

2010-06-17T11:02:00.004+08:00

Recently, an old friend asked if I have any crochet flowers. I do have quite a few actually. I dug out some and realized that they were way too pretty to be kept hidden! They were crochetted by my mum some time back when I began the craze for scrapbooking. I wanted flowers that no one else had and "stole" some of my mums crochet flowers to put onto my layouts!
So here's a collection of crochet stuff that my mum did for me! Enjoy!

What inspires you?

2010-06-17T10:34:00.003+08:00

I often ask my scrapping pals what inspires them. But whenever I'm scrapping, I don't consciously think of what inspires me. Do I really need inspiration? Or do I need a bolt of lightning? Hahahaha!

I am often stuck when doing layouts or altered art. It gets worse when I need to design for class and I have a deadline hanging over my head. Then I walk away from my project and flip through magazines, turn on the computer, browse other talented scrappers, check out the latest products. I am very inspired by what I see online and in magazines. THEN I GO TO SLEEP AND EVERYTHING IS LOST!!!! Arghhhhh!!!

Then how? Like that? Die la!!

So, day after day, I plod on, wondering what inspires me... More importantly, what inspires those talents out there?

Sneaks of my June class at Laines!

2010-05-26T08:03:00.003+08:00

Here're some sneaks of my upcoming layout in June at Laines Paperterie. There's quite a number of fun Tim Holtz teachniques to be learnt here. Me thinks it might have been a little too many!! Hee hee! Hope can finish on time!!
Shiny shiny shiny!! Wanna know how to create this effect? It's a part Tim Holtz and part "Shirley does not know where else to get materials" effort! Hahahaha!
This is a really interesting texture using Tim Holtz resist idea. Lucky I managed to snag a really good stamp to use for this!

I love the 7Gypsies transparent layer. It's just gorgeous! The colours, text and look go so well with the overall look. Doesn't everyone love music notes? Especially when it's on a sheer ribbon!

Okie, hope the sneaks look tempting enough for you! Do come down to Laines to register for your classes before they run out!!
There will be a whole lot of classes (10, I think!!) this month at Laines and Papermarket @ PS. Coz Papermarket @ RC is undergoing a change in address and renovation! Yep, we're moving to a better, brighter and even BIGGER location at the basement of Raffles City!

Wintage box at a steal!

2010-05-16T17:05:00.003+08:00

I know that this is not an original nor is it a true antique. It's just that as I was walking through the streets of Chinatown after dim sum, this gorgeous box caught my eye. It wasn't expensive at all and I could even bargain with the owner! So, I quickly slashed the price as much as 30% and the guy gave it to me!

Isn't is just gorgeous?! But ermmm.... I just noticed that the inside of the box seems quite gruesome... I can't really read all the words but the pic... Hmmmm... Never mind la, I likey!

Sneak Peeks at Laine's!!

2010-04-27T23:55:00.003+08:00

This month I designed 2 interactive layouts that Sharon fittingly called "Push and Pull"! Hee hee! Coz I made it such that one of the layouts has a hidden mechanism that seems able to move rather mysteriously! All you have to do is pull on one of the tags and the other end moves too! Fun huh?! I enjoyed making it so much that I made a few of them for my mum and aunt so they could put my kids pictures in them and show off to their friends! These tags can be made on their own and put on cards, mini albums, or simply used on its own.
The other layout is a pinky and romantic one. It also has a hidden part where more photos can go into. Again there is a push and pull technique but this one is simpler. But no less fun as you can put in hidden pics of boyfriends, kissing scenes (hee hee!) etc!
So come on down to Laine's and book a space before they're all gone!!

Me & Yanni at the new store at Plaza Singapura

2010-04-19T18:18:00.003+08:00

Those lovely flowers that look good enough to eat are created by Yanni, our super talented lady at the new Papermarket. I could not help taking a pic with her and those flowers! Yeeeeeee! Love 'em!

I love the new Papermarket store at PS!!

2010-04-19T07:16:00.002+08:00

I just love the new store!! Arghhhhh!!! Even though it's similar to the one at RC, I just love love love this mini version of it. Maybe its coz of the new concept of "fast food" scrapbooking. Or maybe its coz of the cozy layout of the store. Or maybe its coz of the beautiful chalking done by Merdrey. Or maybe its coz of the bar top counter. Or maybe its coz of the paper butcher that can cut all sorts of fantastic stuff. Or maybe its coz it has all those cutesey pens that I love. Arghhhhh!!!! How I love the new store!

Can you believe Boss came up with the fantastic idea of open concept scrapbooking? I love that idea! I love the fact that we can just scrap something on the spot even though we don't have photos on hand. Just so long as you have your handphone (who doesnt????!!!!) you can print your photos on the spot and just scrap!! It just takes an hour or more to come up with a fast and gorgeous project for that special someone. And every month, there are different projects that you can do. How cool is that??!!

One of these days, I'm so gonnna just go down and bother those lovely and lucky gals who are "parked" at that counter and do up a project of my own! Just for the fun of it!

Long overdue Layouts!

2010-04-15T19:47:00.005+08:00

My Scrapbook Journey

When I first got my job appointment at Laines, I was truly overwhelmed. I knew that it was not going to be easy and I had been out of the job market for 2 years. It was going to take lots of hard and heart work. So before I started work, I decided to scrap this completely photo free page and journalled my scrapbook journey.
I hope that at the end of the day, whenever I feel out of sorts and unhappy, this page would serve to remind me of my passion and the reason why I love scrapbooking so much!
I simply love this flower that I put together. Thought it looked really dimensional and cute and I got to use the pin that I was saving for a special layout! Hee hee!

Our Family Travelogue

This 7 Gypsies album has been in my cabinet for at least 3 years! It was time I did something about it. So I thought I was going to just use a couple of photos for each trip and then write a detailed description of the trip. BUUUUUT..... so far, I have only gotten to the stage whereby the cover has been decorated and nothing else! Hee hee hee! I WILL TRY very hard to make this album work coz I've really got alot of travel photos to complete.

Got this beautiful beaded flower from a "bunga" shop in Malaysia. They sell stuff meant for malay weddings and they always stock gorgeous and cheap beads, flowers and even sparkly butterflies!

This little birdy was from another flower shop but in Singapore. Just walk into any of those shops selling plastic flowers and you'll see quirky and fun stuff like the birdy. Flower is from Daiso and I inked with Vintage Photo.

Creative Escape Photos! Yeah!

2010-03-29T06:21:00.005+08:00

Giving out fantastic prizes! Elaine's really generous with those prizes. They had all sorts of delicious for the lucky participants! Doodlebug aprons, tote bags, Donna's bags, canvas album, scrap packs and so many many that I lost count!

Donna showing one of her many awesome techniques. Learnt so much from her.

Eager participants taking photos and getting autographs from the ever willing and patient Donna. (Me too pestered Donna for an autograph. Hee hee!)

My wonderful groups of "students" who were sooooo patient with me when I was not sure what to do. Thank ya all ladies! This group, Shireen, Sibyl, Tan Yen were fantastically independent workers who only asked me for stuff when absolutely necessary!

Another group of wonderful "students" who ended up "teaching" me more than me "teaching" them! Thanks Angeline and Karen! Florence and Amanda wowed me with their creative works of heART!
Here's sweet Amanda with her beautiful camera bag!

All of us just collasped and sat on the floor for lunch! Too tired to go anywhere or even sit on chairs and tables.

Boss and Iver and Zn having a rare free moment! They were so swamped with customers who wanted to buy anything and everything! Even our own staff wanted a piece of the action! Hahahaha! (Talking about myself la, who else??!!)

Creative Escape with Donna Downey was absolutely AWESOME!! Donna is such a lively and engaging person. Her classes were peppered with so much laughter and fun! I can't believe I got to meet her in person. Donna, YOU ROCK!

Thankx ya all!

2010-03-24T08:37:00.003+08:00

Just a simple word of thankx for all your support! Hey, you ladies moved me to tears! Heehee!!

Now on to funnier stuff. (Need to laugh after the rain!)

I signed up for Merdrey's Flutterink class at Papermarket last night coz a customer at Laines kept asking me to join her for the class. I thought it'd be really fun to go and got my aunt to come babysit. (What a terribly irresponsible mum!)

It was truly a BLAST!! So fun and so funny!!! Can you believe I was the slowest and blurest student in class??!! I was constantly asking Cecilia what was next and what was it that Teacher Merdrey was saying! Keep forgetting la! But in the end, I learnt so much about alcohol ink and how to use it in a fun and fairly dirty way! Wahahahaha!

Here's Teacher Merdrey and me after the class. Lucky she still wanted to take photos with me after the class and not just knock me over the head with the hammer!

It's been sooooooo long!!

2010-03-22T07:39:00.002+08:00

Hiiiyeee!! Hehehehe! It's been so long that I dont think so anyone visits my blog anymore. Even the author, ME, dont even come by! Jeeezzz!!
Ok, many updates!
First of all, I've been teaching at Laines for a grand total of 2 months! It's been a roller coaster journey and I've learnt sooo much. From my head designer, Sharon, (whom I've secretly admired for the last 5 years) to Nancy, Cynthia, Betty, Merdrey, Yanni, Zn, Elaine, (my boss)! Thank you all babes!
It's my dream come true to be able to teach and design at Laines. I've been trying out other stuff since I quit teaching. I've taught scrapbooking in schools, taught my friends and ex-colleagues in my own home.... I could not believe that Laines would want me!
There were lots of stuff to learn, to do, to achieve. There were also alot of things that I didn't expect to have to do and then I had to do it. Initially, I was pretty overwhelmed. I was constantly tired (that's coz I haven't been working for such a loooong time!) constantly battling my own insecurities ( how can I ever live up to Sharon's standards??!!) constantly feeling guilty that I'm not spending enough time with my kids.
Finally, after about 2.5 weeks into the job, hubby sat me down and talked to me. The tiring part will just have to be slowly overcome. The insecurity part, I needed to get over. I just will never be able to create like Sharon. Nobody can. She's in this whole fantastic sphere all by herself. (you can tell how much I admire her ya!) I needed to have my own identity and own expertise. No need to live up to anyone's standards, that was just crazy! Said my ever logical husband. It made sense. I adjusted, I lived through students who were just plain mean and said mean stuff. That was just one or two of them. The rest were so fantastically supportive and patient! I thank all of them for their patience and help! (Unlikely they'll ever read this though...)
As for the guilty part, husband was super supportive. He'd be there for the kids whenever I was not. When both of us were busy working, we worked out with my mum, my aunt and his mum to take the kids or come over to our house just to keep and eye on them and the maid.
Finally....... most of my problems solved. Not that everything is all rosy and happy now. There's more and more stuff I've got to do. More and more challenges I've got to face and more and more nasty customers I'll have to deal with in future.
But when Nancy asked me, "Do you have any regrets? Would you choose this all over again?" I confidently answered her, "No, I have no regrets and yes, I'd choose to do this all over again!"

Look at my new "wall hanging"!!

2010-01-17T17:37:00.003+08:00

Ooooo! I just love the DCWV wall decal. Not only is the sticker of very high quality, the design is simply superb. So here's a look at how it's like on my wall. Together with a pic of my friend who came back for a visit from UK. She and her husband, Paul, will only be here for 3 weeks. Sob sob! Will miss her terribly when she leaves!

I'm soooo far behind in my blogging!

2010-01-16T23:36:00.002+08:00

I'm still trying to get my life organized and myself in tune. Trying to get a maid, trying to adjust to going back to work full time and adjusting to a whole new different kind of job, trying to make time for the kids, trying so hard not to lose my temper at them, trying to make time to talk to husband, trying to , trying to smile and enjoy myself.... trying so hard......
I hope that at the end of the day, I'm not short changing my family...... This time, I have to make everything work. No more chances to screw up. Am I stressing myself? I think not yet. Sometimes writing it down makes the whole perspective clearer and my mind more settled. Yaaaawnnnn! Gonna go zzZZzzzZzZZ! Nitey nitey!

Shopping Saturdays with Shirley at Laines!

2010-01-08T23:02:00.005+08:00

Shopping is my passion. Scrapping is the product! Or could it be the other way around? Hmmmm...

Anyway, my penchant for shopping, especially for scrapbooking materials, seems to have landed me the "job" of updating bloggers about interesting and fun stuff to shop for at Laines! Not necessarily new, but definately interesting!

Do check out Laines and try out the Harmonie chipboard and try sprucing up the chipboard with various inks, paints, glitter, glimmer and many more!

Can you see the lovely bright pink tinsel by Martha Steward? And the Vintage Glass Glitter by Art Glitter? Oooooo! I really cant wait to get started on it myself!

Happy "Belated" New Year!

2010-01-05T08:55:00.002+08:00

I've been so busy these few days that blogging has taken a back seat. Brandon has just started primary 3 and in the morning session, no less! So, for the past couple days before school started, I've been trying to make him wake up at 7am. It was quite torturous and I was dispairing that he would ever make it to school on 4th Jan!!
To my huge surprise, he hopped right out of bed the moment I called him!!! Guess he was super excited and that made him spring up so quickly! Hahahaha! 1st day was good for him. He enjoyed himself and made many new friends. I am still trying to adjust and get used to the new schedule.
Another piece of news.... I am "officially" teaching at Laines Papeterie now! Heh heh! Officially cos I've been observing and doing some classes at LP since November. 2010 is my "reveal" date!
So, everyone out there, have a wonderful new year and here's wishing all of you happiness, peace and joy for the year to come and the years after!!

It's been a crazy, hectic couple weeks!

2009-12-31T06:38:00.002+08:00

It's been crazy for me and it started on Dec 23rd. It was a headlong rush towards the new year and I'm finally able to breathe a little and get some blogging in. It's 6.45am here in SG and I got woken up by Bri. Again. She's already 20 months and still whines and babbles in the middle of the night or early in the morning. Sometimes, she'll cry incessantly through the night and then my night's a bummer coz I cant sleep once I wake up too many times. Sigh......
Another bummer.....
Husb left his whole pouch outside the house couple days ago. Neighbour found it and knocked on my door to give it back. (so sweet!) I checked and found wallet still intact but with money curiously missing. Didn't think much of the missing $$ cos he forgets to replace his cash quite often. Chatted with neighbour who gently reminds me (repeatedly though) that I must not do this anymore and I must always remember to bring in my keys too. (Left my keys outside a couple times too!)
When I got back in, I searched for husb's handphone and came up ziltch. Low level panic starts and I wake the husb up. Shook him and asked his where his handphone was. I then rattled everything in the pouch out and guess what? Out dropped a SIM card, an SD card and his empty wallet! His handphone, camera and cash had been taken!!!!!!
I was hopping mad!! He was like so completely careless!! Almost $600 in value was gone just like that! And we could not even make a police report cos it was NOT STOLEN! MY HUSBAND HAD LEFT EVERYTHING OUTSIDE AND INVITED OTHERS TO COME AND PLEASE HELP THEMSELVES!!!!! Arghhhhhhh!!!
So I'm one camera, one handphone and $20 poorer!
Wont be able to post much of anything the next couple days unless I manage to snag a cheap cheap cheap camera over the post xmas sale. Husb was desperate for a new handphone though. Served him right! I'm still mad... ...
Thankx for reading out my ranting. Hopefully, by the next post, I'll be able to get a new camera. A DSLR this time... But... where to get the $$$!??!!

A New Scrapbook Store!!! The Art Republic
Ok, back to happier news. I discovered a new scrapbook stall was opening when I went to Novena Square to have lunch. Incredibly, there was a scrapbook cart at the front door when I walked in and lunch was promptly forgotten! Hahahahaha! I browsed and chatted and found out that they were opening on New Year's day! 1st Jan 2010, 1pm. How cool was that, I thought!? Another SB store for me to blow my $$ on! Yeah!!
So for our local scrappers in SG, head on down to Novena Square on 1st Jan, 2010 at 1pm to see what goodies they unveil!

MME's Challenge

2009-12-19T00:39:00.007+08:00

I loved this My Mind's Eye challenge cos I got to stick flowers everywhere!! Heh heh heh! I got so busy sticking flowers, I had no time to post this until now. Here's the sketch and flowery LO!

MME Sketch

LOOK

I cut out flowers from the Bloom & Grow collection and used a Breaking Free collection paper as the frame. I first propped up the frame using really thick, unbleached (it's acid free if its unbleached) cardboard.

Then I crushed up the backgound paper (Signature Collection) and used that as a 3D effect for the photo. All background papers are from the old Signature Collection range that I still had. (I loved it soooo much!!)

Then I cut out the flowers and propped them up, again using unbleached cardboard, large glue dots, small, medium and large foam dots. The various sizes creates the different layers and makes the flowers look like they're in motion.

I curled the edges of the flowers and leaves from the outside in, instead of from inside out in the usual way. This makes the flowers curl gently. Finally, I layered the flowers over each other and under the frame.

The title "LOOK" has a special meaning. Brianna was holding a little flower in her hand and staring very hard at it. At the moment that the photo was snapped, she said, "Look!" It was the 1st time she said that word and coincidentally I snapped the photo at that time. It was one of those serendipity moments and I knew I had to scrap this in a most special way!!

Here's another challenge from Scrap & Stamp Saturday!

2009-12-13T10:14:00.003+08:00

Hi folks! Hope your weekend was good! I had a lovely time yesterday coz my mum decided she could cope with both my son and daughter with her. I switched on the air conditioning in my scrap room, sat on my son's ergonomic table and chair and scrapped the day away! It was just the opposite feeling of the past couple days! Ms Mojo came back with a swirl and swish of her pretty skirts and I was ... OOOOOHHHHH!!!

So here's the challenge this week and I hope as many of you as possible can join as there's a really fantabulous prize up for grabs!!

Thanks for joining us for another Scrap and Stamp challenge! It is hard to believe we are so close to Christmas! I am not even close to being ready...what about you? So I am going to get right to it...lol!
Since this is the season of family and gatherings that is what we want to see. All you need to do is scrap a gathering (any type will do) and use at least one stamp!
Creations by Penny is our fabulous sponsor this week! If you haven't been by Penny's shop you should stop by and see her adorable designs!
Here are the fabulous design teams "gatherings" layouts! They amaze me each and every week with their beautiful creations!

Here's mine! I decided to go with a vintage gathering LO as this is a season for celebrations, remembering and forgiving, love and sharing, gathering of memories old and new!

Has Ms Mojo gone on a holiday?

2009-12-11T12:56:00.002+08:00

Where did my mojo go? Holiday? If its even possible! Hahahaha! I'm just not in a scrapping mood. I seem to have lost Ms Mojo to a holiday hiatus. Hmmmm how did that happen? Does anyone of you scrappers out there face this problem?
I tried. I really did. And I actually scrapped my LO. As in threw it out.
Sigh......................... :(

It's all about you! Or me! Or you??!

2009-12-07T21:04:00.005+08:00

Right! Here's an all new challenge from Scrap & Stamp Challenge for a whole new challenge this week!

Thank you for another fabulous Scrap and Stamp challenge! Now that the Christmas Holiday season is in full swing and we are hustling and bustling about to find the perfect gift for that someone special, we thought we would take a moment to share a little about what makes us special! And we definitely have a team full of special gals right here!
The challenge this week is "All About Me: With at least one stamp." If you are like me most of my scrapbook pages hold pictures of other people and their triumphs and stories. Very seldom do we get to see the person behind the camera and the face of all that special handwritten journaling. Now is your chance. We want you to do a page totally about you. It can be when you were little or big, about what makes you tick, heck we'll even take what makes you sick LOL We just want to know you and what better way than for you to take the opportunity to leave a little bit of you on a page.Our sponsor this week is the fabulous Say It With Letters! If you haven't been to the store be sure to stop by and check out all the wood letters, chipboard and more. Be sure to stop by the craft blog and say Hi!!One lucky participant will receive an 8 inch Mixed letter spelling "Jolly" in our chunky and cute Swedish Fish lettering style. PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL RECEIVE UNFINISHED LETTERS. PHOTOS SHOWN ARE EXAMPLES OF WHAT YOU CAN CREATE. A $20.00 value.

So before you run off to create a fabulous layout for this weeks challenge be sure to check out the design teams wonderful creations!

Here's mine!

My poor neglected blog!

2009-12-03T10:40:00.004+08:00

Have been missing... Not by choice... Sick since my trip and sick one week since... Sigh... Whole year never even a sniffle, then I go on a holiday and I fall sick the whole darn trip!! What luck!!

Anyway, here's the weekly challenge from Scrap and Stamp and there's a 15pound gift certificate from the generous owner of Bunny Zoe's Craft for the winner! So come on by and join the fun. You never know if you're gonna be picked!!

Here's the challenge :

Thanks for joining us for another Scrap and Stamp challenge! We hope you all had a wonderful Thankgiving this week filled with family and friends! We thank you all for taking the time to play along with us during such a busy week!
The challenge this week is "fall traditions with at least one stamp." We all have traditions that we carry on with, so we want to see them large and small! Our sponsor this week is the fabulous Bunny Zoe's Crafts! If you haven't been to the Bunny Zoe's store be sure to stop by and check out all that Nikki offers.

Challenge at Groovie Cover Girls

There's also another challenge going on at Groovie Cover Girls. It's a fun challenge with a RAK prize for the winner. Our "leader" Ed, has gone and gotten a cover that was so simple and yet so challenging! So I challenge you to go and whip up a LO that's as interesting as the one Ed picked!! Here's mine!

Finally I can share this news!

2009-11-21T06:57:00.002+08:00

Would like to shout this out!! Hee hee hee!
I've been selected for Scrap and Stamp Saturday to be part of their wonderful design team! They are a scrapping and stamping community who just love their stamps and scraps! (as do I, of course!)

From the blog of Scrap and Stamp Saturday
It is time for the announcement everyone has been waiting for!
First I would like to say thank you to everyone who applied to be on the design team. I so wish that I could have chosen each and everyone of you. I really hope that you will apply again the next go around. This was truly a tough decision to narrow the pool down to just six. After several days of blog hopping and hopping again it was finally time to decide. I am honored to introduce you to the new members of the Scrap and Stamp team. We are completely thrilled to have them with us. You all are in for a treat with their beautiful work!
Hollie Smallwood
Tamara Bennett
Cariena Basson
Lacey Stephens
Shirley Yow
Isolde Pyncket
They will be joining the existing team of
Boni Boutelle-Jones
Pamela Young
Shana Tedrick
Regina Jones

Thank you S&SS!

Then and Now

2009-11-20T09:57:00.004+08:00

Reflections

Then and now. What a difference. And so fast. She's already 9months now and getting into so many things! Her big brother's truck is also fair play for her. She squeezed herself in and tried to get it to move and ended up toppling the whole truck over and her little head banged!

Then she decided that the night view was good and started her "King Kong" climb up the chair, table and finally the "pinnacle" of the "Empire State Building"!! What a little monkey. And she scaled it so fast!

Finally Dad decided that he needed to teach the little on how to build with the bricks. I hope she does not become too tom boyish cos the mummy wanted to save costs and space and decided to let the little girl play with "boy toys"!! But apparently, she loves the boy toys and can repeatedly play with Big Bro's toys over and over and over. And it helps that Big Bro seems interested in his little boy's toys again and is usually playing with the little sister. How sweet eh?!!

I'm back in circulation!

2009-11-19T21:38:00.003+08:00

Hahaha! I just had to use that as a title! Vision still a little blur. But that's cos the 'scab' on the eyes have not fallen out yet. (just like the scab you get when you fall and get cut) At least the pain's not there anymore.
Apparently, I was over sensitive to the temporary lens that they put into my eyes. I was in severe pain over the weekend and Monday was hell! It was probably the worst day of my life - in terms of physical pain that is. I could not open my eyes for more than half a minute. Each time I tried to open my eyes for a longer time, the stinging pain would force me to close and tears just kept dripping. I was also so sensitive to light that I had to hide in the darkened room almost the whole day.
Misery was my companion and I was moaning and groaning about why I had to choose beauty over life and all that nonsense. Luckily, I was at my mother in law's place and they helped me to handle my little one. Otherwise, I'd have "died" of pain and exhaustion! Phew! It was torture I never wanted to go through ever again!
At least it's over now even though its gonna take me another 2 weeks before I can safely drive. It'll be another couple days before my vision clears up and I can really SEE without any aid for the first time in 20 plus years!!!!! Yipee!!!

Lasik over and done with....

2009-11-14T10:53:00.003+08:00

Finally. Done. Over. But the healing process goes on... I'm still tearing and there's some slight pain. But according to doc, it went as well as it possibly could.
After a series of pre-op check up, I was found to be unsuitable to do the more common LASIK ops. My eyeballs were asymmetrical due to chronic contact lens wearing. I had to undergo another procedure called Epi Lasik. It was a less common procedure as it had a longer healing time and post op was more painful than Lasik. However, it was less invasive than Lasik as it did not involve the removing of the cornea to laser the eye. The exact procedure or differences of the two is simply beyond my understanding! (as of now, cos the pain and the near blurness of my current vision now does not make me feel like checking out the differences!)
I now have a lens in each of my eye to protect the tender surface of the eyeball. They will be removed in 3 to 4 days time. The whole procedure took about 10mins and that was due to the doc having to prepare the eye for the laser itself. The actual lasering took only a couple seconds and like my friend said, it was probably the most expensive operation ever for such a quick procedure!! It was pretty scary actually to allow someone to invade your eyes like that. But in actual fact, there was not really enough time for the scary feeling to take over. By the time the surgeon was done, the scary feeling had not even had time to develop! Hahahaha! So on the second day when the other eye was to be done, all feeling of nervousness was more or less over cos the procedure was fairly quick and painless.
So now, I'm still in slight stinging pain (only occasionally, not constant pain) and the blurness is still there but at least I can see without any eye aid. That has gotta be the best feeling in the world after wearing glasses and contacts for almost 20 years!
Need to stop now cos the tearing is starting. Will have brand new eyes in a week's time! Yipeeeee!!!!

Does this look like a Balinese Spa Resort?

2009-11-12T08:09:00.005+08:00

GORGEOUS ain't it?? I love love coming here. It's actually my husband's 3rd anutie's house in Malaysia. They completed it only last year after quite a number of years in the making. The house is really really seriously HUGE!! It was designed in the Balinese resort spa style and the theme runs throughout the whole house. There are heavy wooden tables, chairs, "trees" (for lack of a better word), pots, etc! Even the entrance to the main house is flanked by 2 ponds and a wooden bridge to walk across. As we drive in, the wooden pavillion (pic right at the top) greets us with its sparkling fountains and creatively built ponds. The pavillion is used for relaxation and playing mahjong when the mood suits them. Sometimes it does get a little too hot outside and we escape into the cool of the house. Only problem I see with the house is that the seats have no sofas. It's all completely wooden and pretty uncomfortable at times! But this is just a minor inconvenience in the splendor of the house itself!

Even the furniture itself is mostly imported from Bali and other parts of Malaysia. Impressive huh??! Wait till you actually have a chance to GO there to see it! Jaws will literally smack the hot asphalt!

Groovie Cover Challenge

2009-11-01T21:28:00.003+08:00

Here's the cover...

Here's my take!

123 Smile*

This is my first debut at Groovie Cover and here's my take! Come join in the fun and there's a RAK from one of the Groovie Girls!

Stickles Stickles Everywhere!

2009-10-24T14:11:00.003+08:00

Special Girl

To make a "wavey" ribbon like this without a sewing machine, (I have one, but just too lazy to take it out for a little bitty ribbon!) just thread your needle and do a quick stitch through the ribbon. No worries about whether the stitch is straight or not, just pull it slightly when you're done and sew through the end of the ribbon and knot it.

There's no need to paint chipboards when there's prettily coloured stickles like these!

No more plain felted birdie. Just squeeze some stickles and voila! There's your pretty little birdie with eyes and wings!

Another plain felted chipboard tree. (which I also felted myself, like the birdie) Used green stickles and dotted it all over the tree. Gives it more omphh! Don't ya think so??!!

Lipstick Accident (Really funny one!!)

2009-10-20T09:43:00.003+08:00

LIPSTICK DISASTER!!

Check out the trail of lipstick on the floor all the way to her clothes and face and hands and hair and goodness knows where else!!

She was still playing and smearing the lipstick all over herself and the floor!

I knew the lil lady had already woken up. She padded into the hall while I was at the computer. I chose to ignore her coz I had spent an hour persuading her back to sleep and she refused to sleep. So she found her own entertainment. I heard her mumbling with the occasional yell thrown in. Finally, after about almost 5 minutes of loud mutterings, I decided I'd better get up and see what she was up to. THIS was what I found!! Too dumbfounded to react, I just stared at her for half a minute. She knew she was in serious trouble and was whimpering away with those little cat like noises. I didn't know if I should cry or laugh but I ended up laughing SO LOUDLY and woke the whole family up. Told daddy to grab the camera and I laughed so hard that many of the pics I took ended up quite blur! These were the best to showcase her LIPSTICK DISASTER!!

THE AFTERMATH

I love how she isn't afraid of water even when I sprayed it all over her head and face. It took 3 rounds of soap and 4 rounds of water to completely clean her of the lipstick and smell! Happy and clean at last! I laughed all through the washings! I had to hold back the laughter cos she was getting perplexed as to why I started laughing each time I looked at her. She was beginning to get scared even though I was laughing probably cos she never saw me laughing when she got into trouble like that. Hahahahahaha!

Laines "Stickles" Challenge

2009-10-13T09:01:00.002+08:00

At Play

Again another LO for a challenge at Laines Gallery. But their gallery is not up yet for this challenge so just have 'ta wait!

Yummylicious Food and a Rockin' layout!

2009-10-12T19:00:00.002+08:00

Stir Fried Udon

Just a couple of days ago, I fried this. I was out of ideas for dinner. Found a 3 pack udon in the fridge. Took out the baby corn, carrots, cabbage, smoked bacon and a tin of vegetarian Lo Han Chai. Yummy! Husband, son and daughter loved it so much that even though it was a huge pot, they finished it all up!

Family Together

I completed this LO in just one night. I was actually inspired by Georgina's LO for the Groovie Cover Girls October challenge. I didn't realize it at that time I saw it that it was actually for this challenge, so I scraplifted it and lo and behold, I can now enter the challenge! Hee hee!

Kukup Kelong Trip

2009-10-05T14:44:00.003+08:00

Brandon holding onto 2 starfish

Standing on the rickety planks of the kelong
Holding out fish food for the Archer Fish to aim at!

Family fun at the kelong

At Kukup Kelong having lunch

It was a super hot Sunday afternoon in Pontian, Johor. We didn't want to cook for such a large number of people so we all decided to go to the pretty well known and popular Kukup seafood restaurant. It was only a short 20min drive from the uncle's house in Pontian Besar to Kukup. At the restaurant, the view was so nice and breezy and everything was a new experience for the young ones. (the adults too!) We took pictures of pretty much everything and posed everywhere "posable"! Hahahaha! The lunch was mostly seafood and there were around 12 dishes for the 10 adults and 2 kids and 1 baby. The bill? RM$230!! What a reasonable price for such a sumptuous lunch!

After lunch, the "suaku" Singaporeans decided to take a ferry to the kelongs (fish farms) at sea. There, we stopped at the kelong and walked along the rickety wooden planks. It was pretty scary for those who have "land feet" as the locals called the land lubbers! My sister in law was pretty terrified and my husband had to hold her hand and helped her across the planks. Her own husband was helping her equally terrified son across the planks! Luckily, my son found his "sea feet" after a while as I had to carry Brianna across the planks.

There were some interesting stuff to see. The guide pulled out a horseshoe crab and flipped it upside down so we could look at it without it scuttling away. Then we saw the uncannily accurate shot of the archer fish as they shot out squirts of water to hit the fish food. Baby sharks, starfish, jellyfish and a dried out puffer fish completed the interesting tour.

Well, this trip was really meant for the city kids. We hardly have a chance to see all these things first hand and even if we do, it's always through a glass window and they are usually not allowed to touch anything. This time, the boys had fun feeding the archer fish and touching the starfish and the shark. They also saw a jellyfish up close. It was really fun and educational even though we all had a pretty bad sunburn!

Hey! I've got inspiration!

2009-09-30T08:26:00.006+08:00

Autumn Leaves 2008 Design Calender

Sweet as a Berry

Together Moments

So Happy Together

Finally! I've done something! Enjoy!

Zzz...ZZzz...zzZ...zz...

2009-09-24T22:32:00.003+08:00

Been sleeping on the blog. (as in "sleeping on the job") I have been scrapping. Really! I have! Scrapped! But simply too lazy to take photos and post. Hee hee! I sometimes wonder how all those wonderful gals out there cope with kids, husband, work, chores, scrap, blog, chat... I can barely cope with any of the above 2!
I seem to be fluctuating with the weather. Weird. That about describes the weather and me. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and I see the sun shining through my window and I think... Hmmmm... wash clothes. THEN, when the load goes in, the soap goes in and the timer is set and the water starts to flow... I look out the window again and the sky is so dark I need to switch on the lights! What is wrong with our weather here??!! Does anyone else wonder too? But this weird thing happens only when I wash clothes. It never happens when I decide to sleep in late and not wash today. Then the sun is shining brighter than my daughter's eyes when she sees food!
Murphy's Law. My husband says. Why does it only apply to me? Traffic is green and smooth flowing when I'm early and wouldn't mind a few red lights. Traffic is red and the cab driver decides to stop in front of me to pick up passengers when I'm so late I dont even dare look at the time anymore.
Then, there was this weird thing that happened to me. I stopped at a light and there was this cab right beside me on the left. He seemed impatient to be off and zoomed off when the lights turned green. THEN he made an abrupt left turn and STOPPED right in front of me!!! I could not move and he kept raising his hand to apologise to me. I waited a couple seconds to see what he wanted. He didn't seem to want to move and I finally horned at him. Twice. He got angry and made a rude sign which I immediately copied back at him. What a ridiculous idiot! WHY did he have to make a left turn when there was a left filter lane? WHY did he have to be the 1st off the light when there was no car behind us at all? (He could have waited for me to move off before making his crazy move) WHY did he have to turn left and STOP in front of me? WHY couldn't he just move off? WHY did he have to make the rude sign at me when he was the one who was in the wrong? That is why I have utterly no respect for cabs on the road. I know that dumb @$%#* like him are the black sheep in an industry that already has a bad rep. I know that most cab drivers are nice fellows who tolerate drivers like me who hates the industry as a whole. I also know that I should not group all cab drivers in the same category. I know I should not be aggressive only towards cab drivers. But, often in life, knowing and doing are 2 utterly different things. Sigh...
Another weird thing. What all of you hope never to enocunter. Yes, an encounter with the "supernatural" kind. As most Singaporeans know, the 7th month was just over. The 7th month is the Ghost month where believers say that our "friends" from down below come up for some fun. Concerts are staged for them, feasts are prepared for them, entertainment is organized for them and worldly possessions are burned for them. Well, during the middle of the month, my mother in law would prepare a huge feast complete with prayers, food and all the works. That evening, our whole family went over for dinner. After dinner, the maid, my mil, me and I think my sister in law went out to burn joss papers. As it was a rather stiffling night, we were feeling the heat from all the burning. There wasn't a scrap of wind and the burnt papers were burning merrily in the huge bin. It was a rather sudden thing and I felt a chill around my legs. I looked around at the others to see if they could feel it. Nobody seemed to notice anything wrong. As a true blue Singaporean exposed to all the horror stories and the beliefs and superstitions, I sensed that something was nearby. (By something, I mean "those things") The burnt papers began to slowly twirl upwards whereas they were just lying quite still at the bottom of the bin a minute ago. Immediately my mil said, "Oh, got people come take the money liao!" in a matter of fact way. I felt the chill pass through my legs through the rest of my body! It wasn't my first time burning joss papers, nor was it my first encounter with the supernatural kind. Nevertheless, the sensation was chilling! I could sense things and I could see the papers twirling upwards in the absense of wind. Scientifically, it would have been explained as the rising of the hot air currents that carried the papers upwards. But unless one were there experiencing it first hand, it would have been difficult to convince a skeptic.

Phew, I finally got that scary episode out. I could feel the goosebumps rising again! But as a Buddhist and having a husband who's Taoist, I try not to let my imagination nor my fear get to me as I believe that if you do no evil and do not disturb the peace and make no fun, we will all leave each other alone and not cross each other's path.

Hi September mojo!

2009-09-07T11:20:00.004+08:00

Frenz!

I made this for my neighbour cos her daughter is very fixated with my son and always comes over to play! Hee hee! She's 6yrs old and my son's 8 yrs old. But they seem to enjoy each other's company and my son doesn't mind playing with a younger girl. That's what so good about him. He plays with anyone and everyone and has no prejudice against anyone.

Water Play & Snow Fun

I got this hanging holder from Daiso (where else??!!) and was wondering what to do with it when I realized that the 8x8 papers I had fitted in nicely! So this was very quickly conceived and just as quickly churned out! All in one night!

Happiness Is: ...

I did quite a lot of sewing on this LO but because the colours I used were very pastel like the paper, it wasn't very outstanding. But I still had fun sewing it!

U're so TweetThis altered art was inspired by a visit to scrapping pal, Jaz's house. I saw the bird cage and how she used it and was totally hooked! I love the little cage and was thrilled to find it at the new Daiso at Rivervale Mall. This Daiso is sooooo near my place that I'm afraid that I'll go there and stock up every week!

Mommies day out!

2009-08-28T22:03:00.004+08:00

THE MIGHTY MOMMIES!

This is the 1st time I'm meeting so many scrappers at J's place. Some of them are old time friends and some I'm meeting for the 1st time. But regardless of how long we knew each other, there was instant bonding. There's really something to be said for this scrapping hobby. It's an expensive hobby, but the rewards of having and meeting friends like these... Priceless! (Sorry for sounding like the advertisment!) We all had so so so so much fun!! Talking, gossiping, eating, laughing, sharing! I'm so gonna remember this day. It's really been such a long time since I enjoyed myself so much with so little restrain. Sometimes, with colleagues, it's quite a different type of feeling and depending on what type of colleague you go out with, there's always a level of guardedness and isolation. Today was really a hang loose and let your hair down kinda meeting. Ladies, I just wanna thank you all for such a GREAT GREAT time and your priceless company! May we be able to do this again! But must find another location or else J will collaspe and faint!!!! Wahahahaha!

I really love this candid shot of E taking a "lovey dovey" shot of herself and A! Hahahaha! It was just such a scrappy shot!

Sexy sexy sexy leggy! Hee hee! Don't kill me for posting this eh, Mee Kia Girl!
Trying for an "artistic" shot with mini digi cam. Not so successful eh! Looks more like a wrong shot that's back lighted.....

Don't we all look like we're having fun?!

Of course we had to have food right? What's a day out without loads of sinfully yummlicious snacks, drinks, cakes, salads... *Smack lips*!

And what's the use of 8 gorgeous scrappers coming together without at least a gorgeous scrapping bag??!! Thankx S for the lovely shot of your lovely bag! Ok, that's all for the pics! I'm off to buy that bag! Online of course, at this time of the night!

More layouts!

2009-08-24T10:03:00.002+08:00

Did I mention.... I'm in a posting frenzy!! How can anyone understand the computer so well??!! I'm so very blessed that I have such a fantastic husband who is so good and so willing to help me resolve my computer problems! Lovely!
Here's one I did a couple days ago.

Gentle Giants

tkd

Roamy has gone back to Scotland. We'll miss him and his family. We've had so much fun together in the short time that we knew each other. But we made a promise to them that we'll go visit them when Bri is older. I so wish to go Scotland too! Read so much about Scotland and Ireland that going there will be a wish come true and a vision fullfilled!

Norwegian reindeer snow shoes

2009-08-24T09:57:00.002+08:00

My wonderfully technically inclined husband has resolved the missing post pic buttons for me. It's just so great to be able to blog again that I'm gonna make this a picture filled post! Here's a very cute pic of my daughter wearing this Norwegian reindeer snow shoe. My husband bought this back 10 years ago on his trip with his band to Norway. Why he bought this is anyone's guess!!

Lost again!

2009-08-14T09:16:00.000+08:00

What's the matter with Blogger??!! The buttons are gone again! Does anyone out there know how to restore those buttons?!

IT'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-02T10:05:00.006+08:00

Yeah! My "buttons" are back! I can finally post pics! Never knew these few small buttons could control my cyber life like this!

Life In Macro

Here's the LO that won me the wonderful goodies loaded prize from Japan! Here's where you can find her wonderful, lovely and inspirational blog! Tessah

TA DA!! The lovely package I received from Japan!

There's also a couple of LOs I did over the last 2 weeks. Been quite productive! Hee hee!

You & Me

H is for Home

Friends

Still missing.... Sigh!

2009-07-28T10:52:00.000+08:00

My upload photo buttons are still MISSING!! I'm going bonkers soon! I really so wanna post my latest LOs, my gorgeous stash from Japan, my kids.... Arghhhhh!!!!

Sigh.....

2009-07-27T10:29:00.000+08:00

I have no idea why.... But Blogger is not allowing me to post any pics. There isnt a post pic button on my Posting page anymore. Anyone out there can help? I just received a gorgeously scrap ladden package from Japan and so wanna "show off". Guess this is fate's way of telling me that I should not be such a fluff head show off! Hahahaha!

Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul

2009-07-17T13:17:00.002+08:00

I laughed when I received this as my birthday present. Chicken Soup is such a success that even scrapbooking is playing a part in one of it's titles! Hahahaha! I thought it would mostly be about what sb is, why others sb, the hoarding instinct, etc. What I didn't expect was the touching stories about how scrapbooking changed the lives of some and made it easier for others. Scrapbooking for these people was about leaving behind a story, yes, a story, not the bombastic word, legacy. Why use the word legacy at all? It's not like we're leaving behind millions of dollars for our next generation. But what these scrappers were leaving behind were worth more than the billions of dollars. They document their lives, the children's lives, the laughter, the tears, the breakups, the weddings, the funerals, the sickness. Everything. Nothing was mentioned about competitions, Design Team, pretty embellishments, admirers, being recognized.
After reading it, I realized that I had strayed from my original aim of scrapbooking. I was too caught up in the buying (who isn't) and the opinions of others. I let the trends take over. I slaved over ONE single LO for days just to make it look pretty and trendy and acceptable by others. I blogged hopped, magazine hopped, friend hopped.... just so I could create the loveliest LO that would be praised and admired by others!
Finally, I felt so tired by it all. I had no more mojo left in me. I needed to make another gorgeous LO to be admired and fawned over. I wanted everyone to drool over the wonderful creations I had come up with, I wanted the praise and the recognition. I had lost myself.
Chicken Soup had done its job again. Reading it brought me back to my senses and reality. It was nobody's fault that I became this way. It was too easy to lay blame. That was what I did initially. I blamed the manufacturers for always coming up with new stuff, the LSS for bringing in all that drool worthy goods, even my friends for their bad influences! I must have been mad!
When at last I ran out of excuses, I looked deep within myself and dug out that worm called "GREED" and squashed it flat. Greed for new things, greed for recognition, greed for money, greed for everything! I need to relearn to scrap for myself again. Not every LO needs to be beautiful, to be admired, to be nice. Each project that I undertake now must be for myself only. To please myself. To leave behind a story. To make me happy that I've done another LO...
I am happy now!

Happy enough that I cleared my cabinets of years of mess and dust. I carefully packed my coke collection and made space for my scrapbook collection. The display shows many of my years of work. Whether it is artistic, childish, out-dated, I dont really care. I just want to clean the dust off my work and give it a nice place to reside in. If it is admired, I'm happy. If not, I can live with it too!

Love the clean, clean display shelves. Weeks of hard work cleaning and throwing and packing resulted in this!

My Beloved Coke Collection

2009-07-14T12:09:00.003+08:00

I finally made the decision to give away my coke collection. It was not as painful as I thought it would be. I had to make space for more of my scrap stuff to be displayed.
It wasn't too painful maybe coz I had a good friend who was willing to house my collection. I definately have more than the pics I showed here. I wanted to take pics as I packed them away, but I got so carried away that I completely forgot about taking some memories. I cleaned them, polished the bottles and scrubbed the years of dust away. As I cleaned them lovingly, I savoured the memories each bottle had for me and I almost put them back again. But I knew that if I did that, I would never be able to part with them again. So now, here they are, most of them in a box, ready for their new home.
I really have to thank Ed for so kindly taking them in. I'm really glad I don't have to throw them away. I was not even willing to sell them to Cash Converter, which was what one of my friend did.

All my coke collection are from around the world. Italy, Nepal, Japan, Cyprus, Dubai, England, Thailand, Hong Kong, Denmark, Alaska, Canada.... Can you imagine the effort it took me to carry them all back? Especially the glass bottles.
So my beloved collection is now going onto a more worthy home. One who will take care and display them for more people to enjoy. Thanks Ed! Will remember this favour!

Has it been almost one month??

2009-07-07T11:17:00.002+08:00

When I saw the date on my last post, I thought, "Hey, Blogger ate some of my posts! Where did those posts go? I specifically remembered that I had posted some photos, some musings in between.... Or was that in my dreams? Hmmmmm..."
In reality, I must have forgotten to blog again! Why do I do this to myself? Why must keep up with this blogging thing? It's not as if I like such a popular personality and thousands read my blog everyday. Aside from my few really loyal friends, no one actually reads my blog. Hahahaha! I'm not belittling myself. I just wonder why I even blog really!
Recently I just got a new bag. It's a first for me. Not the buying of the bag. But the price tag that came with it. I have not bought such an expensive bag in my life. I enjoy the good things in life, just like anyone else. But to spend such an amount on a simple bag is just not my style. It's not like the bag costs a couple thousands, just a couple hundred. But still, it was a first for me and then I realized that it would not be the last. I finally understand why young girls are willing to blow their 1st paycheck on a thousand dollar bag. It's the thrill of buying and carrying it around for others to admire. And after buying my first couple hundred dollars bag, I'm now more willing to blow a few more couple hundred dollars on another branded bag. Would I carry on this way? Would I now think that a couple hundred dollars for a handbag is nothing? Would I start to lose my sense of perspective? Should I even allow myself a second expensive handbag?
In this current economic downturn, to even spend on this sort of frivolous thing seems very sinful to me. Especially when there are others out there who are living from hand to mouth. Not so much the adults. It's the kids. Are there kids out there who do not have enough to eat coz their parents had lost their jobs?
I think the next time I give in to my impulse to get another couple hundred dollars handbag, I should think of those kids out there who are eating only biscuits drinking water to assauge their hunger. Really. There are such kids out there. I have met them.....

Busy...

2009-06-09T12:40:00.002+08:00

Who isn't? You ask. I am an almost full time mother and almost part time worker. Hmmmm.... nice life, I'm thinking...
But I'm a fairly lazy person especially when it comes to work. I'd prefer to spend my time lazing around and meeting up with friends, sipping a latte on a breezy Wednesday afternoon.... Alas, on a breezy Wednesday afternoon, I'm rushing through work, kids, laundry, cooking, ferrying kids here and there for holiday programmes (I must have been mad to sign Brandon up for so many holiday programmes!)
I often wish I were one of those ladies who are always so well turned out, with narry a hair out of place and lipstick bright and glossy. They will always have 2 or 3 kids in tow who are just as well turned out as the mother. And if you look carefully, there'll usually be a maid trailing behind looking harassed and wild haired! How nice to have a maid taking care of your kids, housework, cooking. And all I'd have to do is to take care of my hair and nails and clothes before I come out looking like a million bucks!!
POP!! There goes my dream bubble. I am the perfect example of someone who is not contented with her lot. Sigh.... I've read all the requisite books on how one must be contented with life and that money is not everything and cannot solve everything... Blah blah blah....
Jeez.... I can always dream can't I? Hee hee! Maybe tomorrow I'd strike lottery and then I'd have that breezy Wednesday afternoon in the Bahamas! Hahahaha!
Have a wonderful breezy week everyone!

Our Local Variety Show

2009-05-26T22:07:00.003+08:00

Watched a very interesting variety show on Channel 8 this evening. I don't usually like variety shows and most especially chinese ones produced locally. I don't think they do a very good job on the originality front. Most of the shows copy the more creative Taiwanese or Japanese ones.
However, the one this evening was hosted by Mark Lee and was all about foreigners speaking our Mother Tongue, Mandarin. It was jaw cracking hilarious! I was amazed by the talents of the foreigners. They could speak Mandarin so well and most of them could even "get" our colloquail words and phrases. Phrases like "gila"(crazy), "salah"(wrong), "ponteng"(skip school/work) were used to test the foreigners knowledge of our local words. It was so funny watching them guess the words and form sentences based on what they had guessed.
I was impressed by the fact that these were people from Isreal, America, Germany, Korea, Japan etc and they made the effort to learn Chinese even though many of our locals are fluent in English and some can even speak 2 or more foreign languages.
Our local children have much to learn from them. I told Brandon that the American guy on the show speaks better Chinese even though it wasn't his 1st language and Mandarin is really not an easy language to learn. They could even read the Chinese characters!! That really impressed me.
Finally, towards the end of the show, the Isreali guy took out his local drum and started beating out a beautiful rythmn and our local Indian dance instructress danced a perfectly matched Indian dance to his Isreali drum beats! This is beyond language and shows how music transends all barriers.
I am now going to make time to watch this variety show every Tuesday at 8pm. And I should also revise my biased opinion of local variety shows. Maybe if Brandon watched more of it, his spoken Chinese may then improve..... I can only hope..... and watch more Mandarin variety shows!

A photo laden post

2009-05-09T15:56:00.004+08:00

I started making this mini album at G's hse 2 weeks ago. Together with Ed, G and myself, I managed to complete 3 pages! When I got back, I was so enthusiastic about this project that I actually completed it in one week! That must have been something like a speed miracle for me! Heh heh heh!
Anyways, I seem to have inspiration at other people's house! G's place, Jaz's place.... Everywhere except my own place!! Hahaha! What a laugh!
Every scrapping session at G's house is always food, laughter, drinks, more food, louder laughs, bigger cups of drinks! And of cos the scrapping too! G's so happy to share that sometimes I'm afraid that I'll take advantage of her generosity.
It's often easier to scrap with friends and make merry with gossips, idle chats and makan. I love to pop by Jaz's place with a bagful of scrap stuff. And very often, my very generous friend would slip papers, bellies, flowers into my scrap bag. Where to find a friend like that?
Thank you all, dear friends! I'm glad that scrapbooking has let me find my passion and my passionate friends!

The Many Faces of You

I thought that putting this pensive look at the last page ended the whole album quite neatly!

Memories of Home

This box was done up quite some time back but I never had time to take pics and upload. Since today appears to be a free day for me (kids taken care of by mummy. Thankx Mum!) I thought I'd take some time to look through what stuff I can upload into my very pathetic blog! Hee hee hee!

I'm not missing in action, yet......

2009-05-03T22:39:00.004+08:00

Is That All?

Hee hee! Here's a long overdue LO that was inspired when I visited Jaz 2 weeks ago. I completed it 2 days after I came back from her place ( a very inspiring place, to be sure!) but was lazy to take photos and upload!

So, here's Brianna with her very first stash of birthday pressies!

Our little baby girl is ONE!

2009-04-20T09:33:00.004+08:00

One year ago, this little miracle was born and we were just embarking on our new journey as a unit of 4 instead of 3. Brandon was a real trooper. He took it in his stride that he would no longer be the center of his parents doting attention. Instead, he'd have to share it with his little sister. He helped to look after her, watch her and even carried her at times. Now that the little sister is older, he is even playing with her and carrying her around! I think I must be the luckiest mom around. Most kids would likely rebel and demand more attention. Brandon just goes with the flow and bumbles around happily like before. Maybe he's a little sad that he no longer gets all our attention and love, but he seems alright with it. I must also remember occasionally that he is just an 8 year old boy and still needs my love, care and concern.

Even though this post is all about Brianna, I must salute the little trooper, Brandon!

Our Girl (Ikea Photo Frame)

Brianna (Happy Birthday)

This lovely LO was done by good friend and scrapping pal, Jaz. As usual, her brilliant style shines through even in this simple LO. I love the cutout flowers and the simple and effective layering.

Brianna's First birthday celebration (meaning that there'll be a 2nd one!!)

2009-04-16T16:38:00.004+08:00

Check out the fantastic spread of food that my mother in law prepared with her helper, Ling.

Chinese believe that we should have an egg that is dyed red for good luck. And Bri was busily and happily cracking hers against the container! Then when she discovered that the shells could be removed, she slammed it even harder against the container and then tried to dig out the egg that was inside! We all watched her and let her put the eggs and the shell into her mouth! It was amusing to see her spit out the shells!

Finally, the cake cutting! Even though the cake was rather small, we all enjoyed it throughly!

And that is the end of the wonderful and warm birthday celebration at my in-laws place!

Next up will be her birthday celebration at my house! And that will be even more of a blast cos so many more people will be turning up on that day! Yipee! (Why am I so happy anyway? It's not my BD celeb what.....)

Almost one...

2009-04-11T11:35:00.002+08:00

Today, we're celebrating Brianna's chinese birthday. On the lunar calendar, she's already 2 years old as the Chinese take it as the child is already one from the day that they are born as they were in the mother's womb for 10months. That already counts as a year.
We'll be popping over to paternal grandparents place for a quiet celebration with family only. It should be fun cos they really love her little antics and as the only bb in the family currently, she's the most pampered one. I have picked out a really lovely dress for her. Initially, I didnt even think of buying a new dress as she already has so many clothes lovingly passed down from friends and relatives. Many of them were so new, I thought that I'd just let her wear anyone of those. A friend reminded me that even though she has so many clothes, most of them were hand me downs and no matter how new, I should at least get her a new set for her birthday. A girl only celebrates her one year old only once and when she grows up, at least there are photos of her in a lovely dress that was not a hand me down! I caved in and got her a gorgeous Korean mini dress. It has lovely hand stitched flowers and a pretty little bow on the front. The soft chiffon material had me caressing it for a long time! (I dont even dare think of how much I paid for it, safe to say that I myself had never even paid so much for a dress of my own!!)
So, tonight is the night for the little princess and even though I know she'll never remember this day, I will take photos, videos and make little notes to remind myself and her of this milestone!
Till next Sunday then! When the little princess celebrates her "English" birthday with the rest of family and friends at our home!

Funny photos!

2009-03-29T08:28:00.003+08:00

First, she enjoyed herself clinging onto the railings. She smiled and squealed, laughed and chuckled.

Then, she got a little bored. She wasn't smiling so much, but she wasn't crying either. She was beginning to wilt a bit. Tired from all the laughing and chuckling I guess......

But what I didn't expect was THIS!! Hahahahaha! I was so amused by her! She was really tired and could not cling on any longer. Yet, her parents still put her "behind bars" and tried to make her look cute! This was the result of "force" photo taking!
Hope you enjoyed this series of amusing photos! Have a great weekend and a fantastic week!

Made it back in one piece

2009-03-20T16:41:00.003+08:00

We planned and planned for this one week hol. Should we go Bintan? Hong Kong? Malaysia?
In the end, decided that we should self drive to KL. Coz of bb, we had so much more luggage to lug. So, borrowed an MPV (can put more stuff and still be comfortable) packed in our stuff and family and set off rather excitedly on Tuesday morning, 6.30am. Drive was smooth and comfortable. Some rain and fog along the NS highway but it wasn't anything hubby couldn't handle.
The real trouble started when we reached KL and checked into the hotel. We arrived slightly earlier than expected and the room wasn't ready. No prob, we thought. Just leave the luggage in car and take only what we need. So, unfolded pram and off we trooped. Went around the back to Sungei Wang and BB Plaza. Traffic was rather horrid and weather sticky. After lunch, Brandon started drooping and whining. He was getting sicker. Coughed almost non-stop and sneezed his nostrils off. Poor guy, we said. No choice, hubby said. Let's get back to hotel. From there, everything started going downhill. BB didn't want her food, big brother just lay on the bed like a sick droopy flower, daddy tried giving meds, mummy tried coaxing food into BB. 2 hours later, we all collasped with exhaustion. BB from screaming, Brandon from illness, daddy from driving and mummy from eveything!
I nearly wanted to drive back the next day. Things didnt get better. Only worse. Brandon was getting sicker and BB kept spitting out her food. Mummy could not get any shopping done and Daddy was the only sane one. Thank god for Daddy's calming influence or else I would have left the BB by the roadside and chucked Brandon into the dustbin!! I was that frustrated!! She kept refusing to sleep, eat or poop! Brandon kept wanting to sleep! All I wanted was to do some shopping but I could not! Could not even eat a proper meal or have a decent rest at night!
Sigh..... I learnt a lesson.... BB was simply too young to bring anywhere simply coz she could not eat our adult food. And as she was still BF, I became her only source of nutrition and that really frustrated me coz she wanted to suck every 2 to 3 hours.
Never mind..... It was only 3d2n..... and what a frustrating 3d2n it was.....

Bri's 10 months already!

2009-03-04T13:01:00.002+08:00

How time flies! This must be the most oft sprouted phrase when it comes to little ones. They really seem to make time fly. Even though I have been the one looking after her, I still feel that the time has really sped by. I often think back to the time when she had just appeared to say hi to the world. The joy, the pain, the miracle..... Now, at 10 months plus, she is still my bundle of joy, just not so little already!
She can do so many things now. I have this tendency to keep comparing her to Brandon. He was such a sweet natured baby whereas she's a little spitfire. Brandon was relaxed and sedate; she is easily bored. Bran could sit and play by himself for a long time while Bri needs constant attention. Bran always sat quietly in the car seat and pram; Bri puts up a fight almost every time. Bran's motor skills developed quite late; Bri could switch toys from hand to hand at 5months! Bran didn't really speak clearly till almost 16months; Bri can already call Mama, Papa, "mum mum" (eat) Ah Ma. Bran didn't really understand commands till about 13 months; Bri can already point, ask for things, shake head for no and nod for yes, babble and reply when you talk to her, move her hands away, and a whole lot more.
I'm constantly surprised at the progress she has made. Her level of understanding is just simply beyond that of a 10 month old baby. Most of my commands, even the more complicated ones, she can comprehend and follow. Actually, at about 7months, she could already understand simple commands like nod and shake head. Bump heads. Dance dance. Move move. No no. Yes yes. Does she really understand? I ask myself. So test after test is done on her. Get her to do this, get her to move that.... And again, she surprises the hair off my head!
I have learnt not to underestimate the innate intelligences of very young children. She is a very special child, just like every child out there, and as her mother, I have to make sure that this innate intelligence is carefully and lovingly nurtured.
Have a great week ahead one and all and remember to have a smile for the young baby, child that you meet! Dont forget the mother too!!

Love is.... Always True

2009-02-16T12:34:00.004+08:00

A challenge LO for Webster's Pages, InspireMe. It's Jaz's challenge and I thought it would be fun to take part in it cos the rules were fun and simple to do. So here's my take!

Love is ... Always True

The flower hides the journalling that's underneath!

Remove the pin and the flower and the journalling opens up! TFL!!

Brushes of Love

2009-02-16T12:20:00.002+08:00

I bought this wooden palatte a really loooong time ago and never got round to scrapping it. I've always liked the altered art side of scrapbooking. I enjoy making albums from scratch and altering almost anything that's available. So here's my Brushes of Love! TFL!!

Brushes of Love

Inspiration from a good scrapper pal!

2009-02-09T08:04:00.005+08:00

Righto! Here's two of my "Jaz inspired" layouts. Hmmmm... recently, I seem to be copying her alot leh! Hahaha! But then again, imitation is the best form of compliment!
Jaz loves to cut and cut and cut and layer and layer and layer. I dont have that kind of patient nor skill. But I love how she mixes the different elements and textures on a single art work. The skill with which she expertly puts one embellishment on top of another is simply genius! Over here, I have taken K&Co's newest line (jeez, I cant remember the name!) and cut out the many gorgeous flowers and trims. I have layered as much as I could before I got fed up and tired of cutting! The result was a fairly successful mix of my usual linear style and Jaz's layered shabby chic.

A Perfect Moment In Time

Over here, I took a Creative Imaginations shaped pp and cut out the center. I used cardboard to line the frame to make it "pop". (again, jaz's idea!) Then I cut out the designs and layered it all over the LO. I'm actually quite happy with this LO. I really like the group of smallish photos of Brianna. The photos chronicles the journey of the little baby to the cutey "Fat Fat" she is today! The circle shaped pp represents the eternal circle of life.

A Collection Of Beautiful Memories

February Layout for Groovie Blog!

2009-02-04T09:52:00.003+08:00

At last! CNY madness is almost over! We're onto the month of February and we have another thingy to celebrate. Thank goodness Valentine's Day does not require copious amounts of cleaning, scrubbing and all sorts of unpleasant but necessary housework!

I love the month of Feb. Maybe coz it's the shortest month of the year and we can get paid after only working for 28 days! Hahahaha!

This month is especially memorable for me coz Edleen asked me to be her February's Guest Designer for her Groovie Blog!! So happy and honoured! I came up with a "Love" layout and there's a fantastic RAK prize for the winner! I really haven't got the time to take a photo of the RAK that I packed but believe me, it's gorgeous! So come on to the groovie blog and play along!

Simply create a layout using the word "Love", have a heart shape anywhere on the LO and show a little, or alot, of the colour RED on your LO!! That's it! Fun, simple and gets your juices flowing for that special someone on Valentine's Day!

Click on this link or the one above or the Groovie link on my sidebar to join in the fun!

Kreative Award

2009-01-18T07:56:00.004+08:00

This is such a cute award! I like! Thankx Sharon, for the nomination!

But, errrrr, I'm such a lonely blogger, I dont really have anyone to nominate for this award leh. But to all you super creative gals (& guys) out there, pls give yourselves a slap on the back and loud applause from me ya!!

3 LOs in just 4 hours!

2009-01-15T07:03:00.003+08:00

Here's a couple of layouts that were done by a friend when she came to my house to ask for "help". She was at a loss as to how to use certain techniques and patterned papers. So she brought all her "barang barang" and we had a blast that day! She was such an enthusiastic learner and she was so keen to learn! Wish that I had more friends like that.

This LO used crackling. My friend saw this technique on one of my LOs and she fell in love with it. She quickly bought the crackling medium but had no time to try it out. So I taught her how to do it and she did this all by herself! This LO is still not quite completed coz we had no time. This was already our THIRD layout!! Fantastic huh?!

This was our 2nd LO. We worked on this coz she said she didnt know how to use transparency PP. It was a lovely transparency by Creative Imaginations and we had no problems figuring out how to use it.

This was the very 1st LO we worked on. My friend saw this lovely PP, again by CI and she just had to buy it!! However, she had no idea what to do with it. It was a circular shaped PP and was a little challenging. I recalled how one of my favourite "copy cat friend" (I copy her work!), Jaz, cut out the PP and raised it to make it look 3D. So I did the same thing. I got my friend to cut out the center portion of the PP, raise it by putting cardboard behind, put cardstock and then stuck everything together. Voila, we had a totally new look! Then we just cut and cut and cut the swirls on the remaining PP and stuck them all round the photos. It was a simple way of making the LO look stunning! I love it and so did my friend

So that was how 4 hours just zoomed past. I guess it was a great achievement to create 3 LOs in just 4 hrs! And we had soooo much fun!

It's been almost ONE MONTH!!!

2009-01-06T08:51:00.004+08:00

OMG!! I have been soooooo busy I cant even find time to do my fav thing! Scrap!
December has been the craziest month. I barely have time to breathe and I think I haven't visited the loo in days! Hahahaha! Just kidding! Anyways....I'm happy to be back at my blog even though I know only hubby and a few good pals read it! Hehehehe! Good to be famous or better to be invisible? Hmmmm.... Who doesn't want to be famous? I would LLLLOOOVE to be well known, but I dont think so I'll cope too well with "famousdom". *Chuckle*
I know of people who are so out to make a name for themselves and they become so shallow as a result. Why make yourself miserable by trying to be something you're not? If you are good enough, you will naturally be well known in your chosen field. Otherwise, why make yourself and the people around you sick and tired of you??!!
Maybe I'm just too cynical. But I really like the little world that I've created and I dont need other people to know how good or how fantastic I am. Just the people that I treasure and the ones I call friends. They're all I need really. It's fun to be well known, but there is no need to chase after it like doggies chasing after their tails.
Take scrapbooking for example. I'd love to be well known and well liked like Ali Edwards, Mara May, Lisa Bearnson etc. Or our local celebs like Aida Haron, Jaq Yeo, Edleen, Jaz, Sharon etc. But knowing myself very well, I know I cant do it. I have my own little talent and it's just not at that level. But I'm ok with it. I still love SB very much and I scrap from my heart. I will never give up this hobby just coz I've not been chosen for some design team or other. I hope that aspiring scrappers out there can scrap for the love of the hobby and not for some misguided need to be well known. The enormous amount of work, sweat, and tears put in by these talented people are oftentimes not known. I applaud their dedication to this wonderful hobby and I salute their absolutely perfect time management!
Coz I know that I am simply unable to keep up!
Cheers all! Have a wonderful 2009 and scrap from your heart!

Inspiration Hit Me!

2008-12-09T09:56:00.002+08:00

I've not done any of my wedding photos at all. (Shame shame!) So, after the inspiration attack when I was at Jaz's place, I came back and dug out a sepia toned photo of our wedding 8 years ago!
So Jaz, here's my simple take after seeing all your layered works of genius!

Here's another one for the sketch challenge over at Ed's Sketch Got Stamp? It's using an animal stamp on the LO. I've got so many birds and butterflies stamps and I use them so rarely, so this challenge comes at a good time for me to use those stamps!

My Sleeping Child

2008-12-02T03:12:00.004+08:00

Here's another LO to share. I actually did this some time back but didnt post it. Thought this was a good time coz I'm feeling so down and this is such a cherry and uplifting LO! Enjoy!

Me, myself and I

2008-11-30T20:05:00.002+08:00

There's no layouts, no altered art, no nothing today. I just wanna de-stress and grumble on my blog. I mean, its not like THE blog where the whole world reads about me. So I guess its safe to grumble...... (Coz a fren of mine nearly got sued by the sister in law for grumbling about the mother in law....jeez...)
I am deleting and deleting what I type. This is the fourth time I'm "throwing" my post into the bin. I really dont know where to start. Most of my headaches and troubles are the results of decisions that I've made and I'm not happy that I've made these decisions. But how do I get out of it? I really dont know if I've made the correct decisions and whether I can get out of the situation I'm in if the decision I've made is really wrong.
But do we always make the correct decisions? What happens when whatever we've decided turns out to be wrong? How come I keep making the wrong choices my whole life? Is it me? Do I have a problem making decisions? Why did a seemingly good idea become bad? Have I been misled or did I mislead myself? Am I delusional? All the questions and no apparent answers.
I like a carefree life. Some call it lazy life. I dont see anything wrong with it. I am not the kind to make big bucks or climb coporate ladders. I dont like to work very hard. I work because I have to, not because I like to. Lazy? Yeap, for sure. But I'm happy. But now, I am facing a crisis. I cant get out of the work that I have to do because I promised I'd do it. But I was not shown the whole picture of what I had to do. I am capable of doing it. I just dont want to. Dilemma, is what I'm in right now. Getting out, is what I'd like right now.
Sigh..........

I got it! I got it! I got it!!!!

2008-11-26T22:57:00.003+08:00

I cant believe I managed to buy it at last!!!! Arghhhh! No words can express my utter joy and satisfaction at having bought the current love of my life! Yipee!

Here's the story......

I called a certain LSS and asked the staff to reserve it for me. They told me (without checking) that it was already OOS. I was extremely disappointed. If they had bothered to check and reserved it for me, I'd have bought it from them ages ago. So, I waited and hoped that the other LSS would bring it in. I called and check too. This time, because it was my favourite LSS, the staff there knew me and was willing to check their stock, their warehouse and their shipping list to see if it was on the way here. Unfortunately, they were unable to find it in the warehouse but were quite sure it was on its way here, just not sure when. So I waited patiently. Finally, I could not wait anymore and decided to go down and make use of their excellent discount vouchers of up to 40%!! And to cut the long story short, when I was there, the goods actually arrived at the store!!! I hopped up and down and squeaked (Sharon said I was squeaking alot that day!) myself hoarse! The new arrivals included my Amy Butler Tote!!! I nearly died from happiness! It was so 'fresh' that it was warm. I chose pink finally (and a whole lot of new stuff too!) So, here's my Amy Butler Tote all lovingly filled up with my SB tools and stuff.

And the best thing? I paid for the tote with a whooping 40% discount!! And if the other LSS had been willing to check and reserve for me, I'd have bought it for only a 25% discount using my friend's card. So I guess it was fated that I get the tote from my favourite LSS at that fantastic discount.

Look what came in the mail!

2008-11-12T11:23:00.002+08:00

I actually received this package some time back. Was ecstatically cutting up the tape on the box to reveal the goodies in it and then was too engrossed with it (and of course the other stuff in my life). Finally, 2 weeks later, I managed to find time to post this and thank the sponsers, Indigo Mill, for their prize!
It was a whole lot of die cut papers by Rhonna Farrer, DCWV, KI Memories. I just could not stop gazing at the lovely papers!

Amy Butler's Tool Tote

2008-11-12T11:12:00.002+08:00

Don't you just looooove this bag??!! The 1st time I saw this, I knew I gotta have it! I don't usually fall in love with stuff like that, but this tote just called out to me, ya know what 'cha mean?
So, I called up our LSS and made enquiries. Imagine my disappointment when one said they didnt bring in this bag and the other said it was SOLD OUT!!! Arghhhhhh!!!!
Now, I need to figure out how to get my greedy hands onto this lovely lovely creation by Amy Butler!
Anyone wanna sell??!! Hee hee!

2 sketches defined for Rough Draft

2008-11-04T08:41:00.004+08:00

Sketch 2

Sketch 4

I've been madly running around recently and although I did the sketches some time ago, I didnt manage to take photos of it till now. So here's Sketch 2 and 4 for Rough Draft.

Sunshine after the rain

2008-11-03T07:15:00.002+08:00

It's been some time since I last posted anything. Little Bri has been so sick the whole of last week. One of the nights, we very nearly had to send the poor babe to hospital! She's been coughing and sneezing the whole of last week and the climax was during the weekend. She was constantly coughing, sneezing, vomiting, crying. In that order. I didnt sleep from Thursday to Sunday! Luckily, she took a turn for the better and managed to sleep through on Sunday night. So here I am, on a chirpy Monday morning, with the whole world right again cos I managed to get my full night's rest at last!
When a child falls sick, especially a very young one, everyone is so concerned and worried about the child. Fussing over the child, making sure the child is alright, comfortable, etc. We often forget that it is the caregiver, usually the mother, who is also in need of some care and comfort. Especially when it is a long drawn out illness. I am lucky (in a sense) that Bri was sick for a short period of time. Even the few days of stress was enough to make me feel like hell. I can only imagine how bad it must be for the parents of children who have long drawn illness requiring constant care. Not only do they have to endure physical stress, the emotional upheaval they go through is even more difficult for them, I believe.
So, every morning, I will give thanks that I can still wake up and see the beautiful sky, smell the fresh morning air, listen to the traffic sounds outside, feel the mild heat of the morning sun.
I've got a wonderfully supportive husband and family, 2 gorgeous healthy children, a stable and happy family.... What more do I wish for? I know now that life is not about wishing for things that others have, but what we ourselves have worked for and achieved on our own. There is no need to want to be like anyone else but ourselves and that will be what will make us the happiest!
Wishing everyone the best for the week ahead!

Seven Random Facts about ...... what?

2008-10-25T03:35:00.003+08:00

Got tagged by Cloudsters. He's the funniest and most amusing writer ever! I mean, each time I read his blog, I just collaspe in laughter. Either that, or I'm snickering to myself and having to explain to hubby why I'm sniggering to the computer screen! So, he just tagged me on a random fact thing and I thought it was fun to play even though I'm not so sure I've got seven people to tag! Hahaha! So here goes 7 random/weird facts about myself. (more weird than random I believe!)

1) I am an absolute anal person when it comes to personal belongings. I cannot stand my stuff dirty, being out of place, dirty, off center or dirty. You get the drift huh?!

2) I hate garlic. Period. Anthing with garlic in it, I wont touch. I wont even touch the bulb itself. It's like I'm a vampire or something. If I accidentally injest some, it'll burn it's way down my throat and into my guts and I'll feel like puking.

3) I can't stand the colour purple. Nothing in my possession is of that colour. It's like I've got an aversion to it. Just like garlic, I shudder when I have to touch anything with that colour. (anal right?!)

4) I've got 2 seperate sets of nails on my last toe. Hee hee! Gross fact! Well, anyway, my mother in law told me that it's cos I'm Hakka. All Hakkas (according to her) have this two-nail-on-one-toe thingy. And the weirdest fact of all..... my hubby has this weird toe nail too! (His great great great somebody is Hakka. Again according to my MIL)

5) I've got a habit of reading through all my SMSs before I send them out. I reread them for content as well as grammatical errors. Hahaha! Another anal fact! Actually not just SMSs. I reread all my blog posts at least twice before hitting the publish post key. I also reread forum posts, emails, and whatever else I happen to be typing! (And still, there's mistakes! Arghhhh!!)

6) I love to drive in the rain. The heavier the rain, the more thrill I get out of it! I simply love rainy weather. I love the gray overcast skies, the incessant pattering of rain, the smell of ions in the air, the fresh scent of world when it rains. I just love the rain!

7) I can cook! Serious! I am a very good chef. I love to do western food. I can cook anything and it'll taste good. I've got the knack for cooking I think. When I season my food, I dont measure out quantities nor do I have to figure out what food "goes" with what seasoning. I just go with gut instincts and plonk the stuff together and whatever the end results, it's always tasty!

Alrighty! I've done 7 weird/random facts about myself! Hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I've written them. This has actually made me more aware of myself! Hmmmm.... maybe I should go on further and list even more facts about myself!

I've tagged the following 7 people. Feel free to carry on this game or just enjoy the random facts of others! Thankx for visiting! Have a great weekend!

1) Louisa

2) Jaz

3) Ed

4) June

5) Jemma
6) Yin

7) Sharon

Phew!!!!!!!!!! Finally!!!!!!!!!!! I never knew there was so much "work"involved in tagging others! It sure was not easy finding others to tag. This just proves how little blogging friends I have! Must go out and source more!! Hahahaha! Hope you lovely people get some perverse fun reading my weird facts! Cos I definately had my own perverse fun writing it!

Here's one for Ed's Sketch Got Stamp?

2008-10-21T17:05:00.003+08:00

What a cute title!! Got stamp? was added later cos Ed decided to up the difficulty factor of the challenge. So here's my take on Ed's October challenge.

Another day, another thought.

2008-10-19T00:19:00.004+08:00

Recently, I keep getting hit by headlines on the ST saying we're in recession, people are saving money on food, non essential items are 1st to go.... so on and so forth. What do people consider luxury items? What then, becomes a need and what then, becomes a want?
So what should I be doing to help cut costs? Buy less scrap stuff, that would be the obvious one. Hahaha! We're not stinking, filthy rich (though hubby says he can be stinking and filthy!) but neither are we in the pits. We're not above average, but then again, we're not below average. People like us in the "neither here nor there" situation can find it hard to cope at times. We have a car, so does that put us in the rich catergory? No. We have to pay for rising petrol costs, but yet cant sell the car because we have young kids to ferry to and fro schools and classes and we go to work. We live in a 5 room flat, so does that put us in the above average catergory? Again, no. We are working out b**ts off so that HDB can deduct $**** from our account every month. We eat out fairly often, so does that make us yuppies? No. Most times, I'm too tired from work and looking after the baby to cook.
Then how? I ask myself? How to make our dollars stretch in these lean times? We really have to save for the kids, rainy day, ageing parents. I, too, wish to have a maid, stay at home, scrap all day. But I really cant. I want to spend time with my baby and my school going boy. But I cant. My heart breaks as I think of all these. But even as the crack of my heart is loud, so is the sound of the "kaching" as the prices of everything rockets.
My kids are being shuttled around like nomads so that both parents can go to work. Our income is too high to qualify for any kind of governmental aid. But just barely enough to cover the ever rising costs of today's living. So how?
Do I take away the extra classes for my boy? Do I buy less toys for my baby? Do I sell away my scrap stuff?
How do people like us survive?
Then again, do we have a choice? Survive we must. Carry on with life we must.
Therefore, even though this rambling seems kinda down, I'm actually feeling ok. Cos regardless of whether I'm miserable or happy, I still have to get through the day. So, I might as well get through each day happy right?! This is what one of my ever cheerful friend once told me.
So I leave you with another happy day, another cheerful thought......
Have a good week ahead and remember to get through your day with a good mood, light heart and happy face!

Challenge at Rough Draft Sketches

2008-10-15T14:59:00.003+08:00

There's this lovely new blog for sketches (I know, I know! Another one!) But this one is really fun! The challenges on this blog, Rough Draft, are for the purpose of, what else, challenging yourselves! Yeap! The sketches are really fun and doable. I know of some sketch sites that have so much on the sketches that I end up asking myself, where in the world do I put my photos??!
So here's the really simple but adorably lovely photo and LO of Brianna!
Using the Spring Fling line from Pink Paislee, chipboard branch from Maya, chipboard frame from Lil' Davis(doesnt tat look similar to the Pink Paislee logo??!!), felt ribbon from Creation, "smile" crytals from Heidi Swapp and bling cardstock from Bazzil.
"SMILE"

Altered Art

2008-10-12T11:17:00.002+08:00

I realised that recently I've been doing alot of layouts and not much of my favourite altered art. I did this lunch box tin some time back but never had the time to take photo and post. There's a little empty space on the right and that's for me to decide which travel booklet I wanna make and put inside this "Travel" box.

Here's another altered art done at Laines. I followed some of it but later decided that I'd much rather redo it in my own style. So here's the zig zag book (7Gypsies) on the story of my scrapbooking journey.
These are some fun tins that I like to alter as and when I feel like it. I've got a couple dozens of these tins and I like to put small little bellies in them and then alter them. Fast and fun!

Grateful for Friends Like U

2008-10-07T09:17:00.002+08:00

Am done with this LO. It was actually a 'not-too-bad' LO rite from the start. However, the 'owner' wanted to chuck it into the bin and I yelled so loudly!! So I took over and just did a slight alteration. "Owner", hope you are satisfied with it!

The result of a bad back

2008-09-30T12:07:00.002+08:00

After the result of speed shopping at Laines, I just have to blog about the result of a bad back. Mums-to-be, mums-already-be, watch out!! After giving birth, our bodies are severely weakened by the traumatic process. Our bodies are weak and we need to take really good care, not only during the confinement months, but for the next 8 months. Especially when you are fully breastfeeding your baby, like me.
The body produces some kind of muscle relaxant when we are pregnant, to allow for the baby to grow and then to be born. This chemical stays in our body for some time following birth. If we don't do a good job of taking care of our spine, the result is a severe muscle pull. That is what happened to me.
On Sunday morning, when I bent down to pick Bri up( i was in the correct bending position some more), I heard and felt a loud crack and something shifting in my back. I felt a severe pain shoot through my back and immediately I put Bri back down. I tried to sit and realized that I could not move at all! Imagine my shock and fear! I yelled for S to come. Poor guy had just fallen asleep for only 45 minutes. I could not sit down and I could not stand up! I was in a half squat position and crying in pain. S took a mattress and tried to help me to lie down. I tried to but the pain just kept shooting through. For the longest 10 minutes of my life, I tried to lie on the floor. Finally, I managed to get myself onto the mattress with S's help. I had to lie only on my side as I could not shift at all. It was a nightmare! Luckily I could still move my legs and wriggle my toes. We were thinking slipped disc! Horrified by the consequences of slipped disc, I nearly panicked again. As usual, my cool and calm hubby decided that I had to go hospital. My MIL called then and wanted to ask me to go and have lunch. I told her that I was lying prone on the floor and could not move at all. She, too, panicked and asked my bro in law to drive her over to see me. Brought the maid and all and lucky too. Cos with all the help, it only took us 1 hour to pack up and rush me to the hospital.
I was finally admitted cos the doctor suspected prolasped slipped disc. The pain was unbearable and even a slight jolt of the wheelchair sent me into spasms of pain. When the orthopedic specialist came, he took a look at my x-ray and pronounced that it wasn't slipped disc, prolasped or not. We all heaved a huge sigh of relief as he went on to explain that it was a very severe muscle pull or tear. The spine was in position and so were all the discs. Hahaha! Said doc. So very enthusiastic and happy. Of course it wasn't him in pain! But then, we were happy also cos the worst did not happen.
I was on traction the whole day and night. On Monday morning, I felt so much better that I could even get up and walk. But then that was all I could do. Walk and lie down. Sitting in a lying down position was painful, bending was impossible, carrying the baby.... don't even think of that! So the doc asked if I wanted to stay another day, but I told him no. I would rather go home and rest. So, I went for physio therapy before being discharged. It was there that I learnt that my muscles at the back was very weak due to "post natal birth" something. Plus I have been breastfeeding and not taking enough calcium and viatmins. Thus, the muscles there were so weak that a tear or pull was just waiting to happen. For the past few weeks, I have already had signs that something was not right. Each time I bent down to do something, I had difficulty getting up and straightening my spine. It then led to this.
So all mothers out there, please please please take care of yourself or else if this happens, life becomes very difficult. Especially if you're a SAHM and all the housework, care giving, cooking, washing falls on your shoulders. Right now, I still have to try to do some stuff cos husb really doesn't know and whoever comes to help me cant do it either.
Sigh...........

The result of speed shopping at Laines

2008-09-27T07:14:00.004+08:00

It's really amazing how much we are tempted to buy when "forced" to speed shop! Especially when there is a time limit of only 3 minutes. And unbelivably, in 3 minutes, I managed to chalk up a whooping SGD$160!! And that is the amount AFTER DISCOUNT!!!
Ooooo!! How not to buy out the whole range of Doodlebug's glittered flower papers??
Jenny Bowlin's shaped CS Paper. I have no idea how or why I ended up with 2 pieces of this. When Nancy (Laines) asked if I wanted to put it back (she was so nice!) I told her never to mind. Course if my hands took 2 pieces, then it must be because I will need 2 pieces! She could not stop laughing at my pathetic excuse for getting 2 of the same thing!
So tweet! They have the same berries as my K&CO Berry Sweet papers!
Who needs more ink? Not me for sure! So how did I end up with 3 more ink pads? Must be the scrapbook muse that put it in my basket!

This is Lou's gorgeous Prima Crystals. I had wanted the same set for myself too, but luckily or unluckily, I forgot to put an extra set in my basket! Hee hee! So I only had the black swirls.
Here's the stash of MMBI stickers of which I grabbed 6!! And since each cost $9.90 before discount, that added to the bulk of my cost. But I just could not resist it la!! Then there was the Prima flowers which I could have done without, but of course which I still bought...... The sweet and lovely DaisyDs tags, the irresistable Thickers (miraculously I only grabbed 2!!) and the MUST HAVE Maya Road Chipboard Birds and Blossoms.
Close ups of my MMBI stickers and Maya Road Chipboard ....... I must have been MAD!!
Papers!! How could I not get them?! The gorgeously flocked Anna Griffin papers. I cant even begin to describe how lovingly I ran my hands through the papers. I ended up getting 2! Anyone wanna share??!!
Then there was the Hambly transparencies. I began a love affair with them when I did a full Hambly transparency album in black and white. Sigh......

So, have I justified my SGD$160 purchase??!! I hope I have, cos I think I'll be going down again with J on Monday.........

Genuine You

2008-09-24T11:23:00.003+08:00

This may look like little Bri, but it's actually her big bro almost 7 years ago! Brandon was and still is the most handsome and adorable boy ever! I developed quite a number of this particular photo and have scrapped about 3 of them already. Recently, I found this photo again and I could not resist scrapping it again. So here, enjoy little Brandon 7 years ago!

Under that group of flowers is actually hidden journalling. Thought it would be fun to hide some journalling under all that flowers!

Now we are Frenz By Choice

2008-09-16T10:11:00.003+08:00

J & I met each other 1st. I had admired her gorgeous work on Scrappers Loft. So I PMed her and she was so estatic that someone actually liked her work! From there, we chatted and then progressed to cropping together. Then, she was still preggie with Sky.
I decided to subscribe to a kit, Scarlet Lime. L was the organiser. I collected the kit from her place and stood outside her house and chatted like old friends for nearly 15mins while poor DH waited down below for me. Then I was preggie with Bri. I organised a crop for SL kitters and we went to L's hse for the 1st time. Subsequently, I persuaded J to join us for crops and that was how the 3 of us became fast and close friends!
Journalling reads : When we met, it was by chance. But now, 2 years later, we are frenz by choice.

The result of our crop party at Lou's place

2008-09-07T18:10:00.003+08:00

Our four gorgeous princesses! It was such a Kodak moment then! I just had to scrap it. Lou was such a sweetie! She printed for J & I a whole stack of photos! On the spot, in about 15mins, I came up with this LO. Stuck on the main stuff and brought the rest home to complete.