Mini Album

I actually have quite a number of LOs to upload. But I'm not using my own computer at this moment and I have absolutely no idea how to crop the pics and to make the file size smaller so as to upload faster. However, I do have a mini album to share....

Another day, another LO....

I did this for a competition at MWL. It was a scraplift challenge by Aida, my scrapping idol! LOL!

The requirements were that it had to have glitter, paint and butterflies/bird/moth. I thought it was an extremely interesting challenge and all three are my fav scrapping methods, especially the glitter.
Also, it allowed me to use the photo that I took 10 years ago in Nepal. I love that this photo seems mysterious, yet serene. Lonely yet peaceful. Old, yet graceful. There seems to be so many sentiments attached to this one photo. With a more artistic slant than is usual for me, I made this LO to show off the cracks on the wood with the crackle paint. The butterflies enhances the mysteries that the bench potrays and serves as a poignant reminder of our transient life. Glittering the felt on the chipboard butterfly, I also want to show that transient though our life is, there are always the beautiful and shiny parts that which we must treasure. The paint on the crackle has been mixed with glitter for an old/new effect. Glitter for the new, crackle for the old.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Jezze.... been tagged again! How nice of my fren Jaz to give this award to me. She's one of the most talented scrapper around. Her wonderfully shabby chic style just blows me away. Even though the style is the complete opposite of my anal retentive ways, I still love the way her LOs turn out. I've been trying to layer the way she does and I think I've been quite successful. I cant do it in such a shabby chic style as hers, but I can make it my own style though. Thankx a million for your inspiration Jaz!!
The rules :
1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.
My nomination :
1) Lia
2)Cloudsters
3)Aida
4)Avina
5)Irene

What's up again?!

As usual, I'm lagging behind in my blogging. Wish I were like others out there who can religiously post everyday. I mean, sometimes we just have to take some time out and lose ourselves out there in cyberworld.
I can't remember when I started blogging, but I do remember the reason why I started. I was already thinking of resigning from work to teach scrapbooking and give tuition as well as make more time for my son who was going into primary one this year. The blog was supposed to be my advertising space for my works of art. It started out that way, but has now developed into my space for letting out steam, showing off my newest addition to the family and my musings whenever I feel like it.
I still scrap alot. But usually I'm just too lazy to take pics and post them on the blog. I look through other sb blogs and I get very inspired to take more pics of my work. But after I take them, I usually just leave it in my camera and am too lazy to transfer it onto my computer and then onto my blog! Hahaha! How lazy can one get?!
These days are lazier and "freeier". I've gotten used to the new routine and can now handle more things in a day than previously. As a fairly anal retentive person, I've gotta have my routines and my need for order satisfied. Sometimes, I think I'm anal to an extent that I even irritate myself. Luckily, I'm sane enough that I don't fixate on the minor stuff. I still gotta have a routine for doing stuff and I've gotta order and pack my stuff in a certain manner, but I don't require that everyone in my household or my universe do that. Thank goodness for that! When my friends see the way I pack my scrapbook stuff, they are very amazed at the amount of effort I put into making it orderly and neat. I can't chuck my stuff around even though I don't have the time to pack. I MUST pack all the stuff back even when the baby is already crying! Jeezzz.... am I nuts or what??!! Hahahaha! Nowadays, I try not to let the unpacked stuff drive me crazy. I just close both eyes and tell myself that once the baby calms down, I WILL pack those stuff back. Or I will carry bb and pack.
Ok, that's enough musing for the day. Will try to post more pics next time!!

My Ikea Bin

Check out what I have done with the bin from Ikea. When I saw it on sale at SGD$5.90, I could not resist. I even called up 2 scrapping mates and cajoled them into buying the same bin but different colours! Hahaha!
This side was completed 1st and was fairly fast. The 2nd side (below) took longer cos no inspiration was flowing then.



I've still got 2 more sides to complete and I'm not sure if I want to complete it or not. A fren of mine asked whose photo was gonna be on the sides with holes. Hahahaha! Still deciding whose photo is going onto the "holey" part!

The 3 month jab

I just came back from the polyclinic. Was expecting a long wait for the 3mth jab and the doc's visit. Miraculously, our number was called just 15mins after I registered.

The nurse was as usual very cheery and talkative and helpful. I'm beginning to change my opinion of public health care places. (used to think the nurses yelled at people!) She asked loads of questions and checked the baby for everything from poop to hair growth! (to be fair, my daughter's hair is growing a little oddly after the shave) Then weighed and lengthed her. All the while, Brandon kept asking, "so, when is the injection going to be?" Finally, the climax of the morning.... Was hoping that the little muffin wouldn't scream the house down when the needle went in.

She was sleeping and refused to wake. So nurse flicked the needle and in went the sharp end. We waited with bated breath for the scream to come..... It was quite an anti climax when muffin just gave a short, sharp wail and then settled back for more ZZZzzzZs!! Phew!
Next, the doc. Again, I thought that it was gonna be a long wait and settled in with my magazine. I was pleasantly surprised when the next number was mine. Scrambling to get my bag, babe and pram, I stumbled in. Everything was fine and dandy. Babe was eating well, growing well and pooping well.

Phew, time to wheel the pram back home. That's it, end of an eventful morning!
What a boring life I lead now!

A birthday gift for my sis-in-law

Did this for my sis-in-law for her birthday. I happened to see a fairly inexpensive clock and decided to make a family thing for her.
We've always been quite civil to each other in all the 17 years we've known each other. It was only recently when my mother in law was diagnosed with kidney failure that we've gotten even closer to each other. Our families get together quite often so that her son and mine can keep each other company.
Recently, since my daughter was born, she's even more keen to get together. She really really loves this niece of hers. Whenever we reach her place, she'll immediately ask for Brianna and carry her straight away. She'll then proceed to play with her, carry her, talk to her.
I'm beginning to appreciate this sis-in-law. Especially since a friend of mine fell out with her in-laws. Apparently, she wrote all her grouses on her blog and her sis-in-law read it. And the most ridiculous thing happened. The sis-in-law proceeded to sue her for her grouses!! Unbelivable!!
Sigh.... Why do people have to do this to one another? It's already bad enough that strangers are suing each other upside down and inside out. Why do families have to do this to each other? There's a chinese saying that it takes a thousand lifetimes for us to become families. Isn't it better to try and get along rather than fight over little, little gritty things?

I've been tagged

Hee hee hee! This is the 1st time I've been tagged. By my good mate and scrapping fren, Jaz! Ok, this is what I've gotta do... Errr... hope me am doing it correctly....
1) Link back to the person who tagged you. Jaz
2) Post these rules on your blog
3) List 6 unimportant stuff bout yrself
4) Tag 6 other frenz

1) I'm a fairly obsessive person. About putting stuff in the correct place and being neat and tidy. In short, anal retentive!
2) My first real love was dancing. Esp luv disco dancing. Those days are mostly over though. Old already la!
3) Only love now.... Scrapbooking! (of cos this does not include my family la)
4) I like chilli. Really really hot and spicy. Maybe that's why I've got a fiery temper to match!
5) Used to be very conscious of my appearence. Now, shorts and t-shirt plus slippers also can go out liao!
6) I hate the colours green and purple in my choice of wardrobe. Absolutely hate the colour purple in my choice of anything.

Errr... now I've got a problem leh. I dont really have many frens to tag and the only ones have already been tagged. So I guess this tag game will have to "die" at my hands!! Hahaha!

Half and hour later.......

And she's done. Hopefully, she'll sleep for another 2 hours before wailing again. Where was I just now.... Oh ya, sucking hands. She seems to have refined it to an art in the space of only a week or so. Now she will suck our shoulders when we carry her upright. If we carry her in the lying down position, she'll cast surreptitious looks at us to make sure we are not looking and then promptly pop her hand in. Then the wet sucking sounds will alert us to her misdemeanour. Soon, she's gonna learn how to circumvent that too. Then we will just have to stay one step ahead of her!
All that sucking aside, she has been smiling since before she was a month old. However, it has been impossible to capture that smile. The moment the camera pops up, the smile automatically switches off. I've been pondering that question for the longest time and am still without a conclusion. Does she actually know we are trying to take a shot of her? Does the camera cover her view of us? Does she think we're trying to drop something on her?
But at almost 5 weeks, we finally captured that elusive smile! From that moment on, it was slightly easier to get her to pose a smile for the camera. Recently, she seems to smile on demand. Or maybe this is just a mother's indulgence that her child is growing faster, smiling earlier, understanding better, etc... Hahahaha! But whatever it is, Muffin is certainly living up to her nick. Her 2 cheeks have filled out to an extent that I keep thinking that she has something hidden in there. Others just cant resist plumping her cheeks. Through it all, she tolerates the attention with the aplomb of a saint. She must be thinking, " I shall not wail when that auntie squeezes my cheeks until my lips stick out!"
Muffin loves it when we talk to her. She'll coo and chuckle and make odd noises from the back of the throat. And that's when the problem starts. The back of the throat sound seems to cause the milk to flow back up her throat. So when she has been "talking" for a while, the milk will slowly but surely make its way up and out of her mouth. I wonder if anyone out there that has a baby with this odd problem?
Problem aside, she now looks forward to her Daddy talking to her. Even though Daddy isn't as eloquent as Mummy (pardon again my indulgence) Muffin seems to respond loud and enthusiastically whenever Daddy is around. In order to pacify the jealous mummy, Daddy says that Muffin is not talking, but shouting at him! Jeez....

I cant believe its been more than a month!!

It's been more than a month since my last post! I guess life has been rushing by in a fast forward mode for me.
Muffins (my nick for her) has grown..... and grown and grown and..... you get the picture! At her 1mth jab, she weighed in at 4.5kg and measured an amazing 58cm! Her older brother was only 53cm at 1mth! She is now 5.9kg and 65cm.
Having discovered that she could suck her own fist a week ago, her arms are like springs now. Each time you pull it away from her mouth, the arm would just "toing", spring back into her mouth! Putting mittens on her has had no deterant effect. Maybe I should do what Cloudsters did.... wrap one hand in diaper and watch her antics in trying to free herself!
I'm not done with the post yet.... Just that muffins is hungry and on the verge of wailing! Gotta go 1st......

Baby Cutie!!

Brianna's a real poser! Everyone thought that we posed her that way, but in actual fact, she seemed to like this postition alot as this was not the first time we caught her in this pose.

Brianna at 2 weeks seemed to call for a family shot. We were at home and apparently Brianna was the most well dressed!

She just had her bath and was finally dressed in her own pretty pink clothes instead of Brandon's blue stuff. She looked so adorable and I could not resist taking a few dozen photos of her!

Baby Brianna is born!

On the 23rd of April, our little bundle of joy decided to make her appearence. She was about 2 weeks early and made us all dash around like crazy because of the sudden appearence. But we're all completely estatic about her arrival! She's so adorable and her eyes are really huge!

Making a card using the remaining papers!

With some of the remaining papers from my layout, I managed to make a card. I seldom do cards as I don't really have the interest. However, this was for a challenge at MWL and I thought that it would be fun to try and make a card using scrapbook style. Hopefully, I've succeeded!

Using my die cut patterned papers at last!

Instead of using the whole piece of Rhonna Farrer die cut paper, I cut it into half diagonal wise. Then I cut out a corner of a Creative Imaginations paper for the bottom right corner. Then came some black and white flowers that I painstakingly cut out. Phew! That wasn't easy. The MM scallop paper at the side of the photo contains my journalling and can be taken out.

Mini Accordian Album with my Scarlet Lime kit

This is a mini accordian album that I made from scratch. I used a cardboard photo frame that I bought from Spotlight some time back. I covered it with MM papers. Then I used the Noteworthy note and hinged it to the first page so that it would look 3 dimensional. Then I covered the hole with transparency and put a rub on at the corner.

See how the note paper hinges?

Using my Scarlet Lime Kit

This is a wooden chopping board that I covered with MM papers. Then I stamped the swirls at the corners with MM foam stamps and MM paints. Then using MM glitter, I quickly poured some over the paint. I didn't want too much glitter. Then I painted part of the paper and added crackle to give it a shabby grunge look.

Next was a box that I found. Coincidentally, it was the exact shades of my Scarlet Lime kit for March! Talk about lucky! I cut out the gorgeous flocked leaves and lined the side of the box, then layered it over with the remaining MM papers. Then I decided to go round the sides of the box with more MM papers. It worked out really nice!

Here's another cute one!

I made this one for a challenge. It was fun to do and really eye opening to ask someone their favourite thing about yourself!
Journalling reads,
I asked,
So Brandon, what is your favourite thing about me?
He said,
You cook nice food
You buy lots of books and stuff for me
You bring me out to have fun
You teach me how to do my work
By now, he was sweating a little!
"What else do you want, mummy?"
"No, no, YOU tell me what is your favourite thing about me."
"Hah! Ok loh. Let me think."
He paced around and looked into his toy cabinet.
"You buy lotsa toys." No more.
Then finally, after a long silence, he finally said,
"Because you love me, Mummy!"

An Old Photo

I just found this photo that was taken way back in 2003. Here's Wai Leng and Brandon "encased" in the little house that I made from the washing machine box. I bought the fabric from Spotlight and then glue gun it onto the box. Then I took his wall charts and stuck them on the inside walls of the box. It was a well loved box!

My Favourite Layout of Brandon

This was actually completed some time back. I kinda like only got around to loading it now! Hee hee!

Life in Black & White (Hambly Transparency)

This mini album used Hambly transparencies exclusively. I cut the 12x12 into quarters and I used about 3 sheets. Then I Zutter-ed the whole lot into place!

I also slotted in some caardstock to give the album more bulk. Ribbons were tied to the sides after I used the Zutter to punch a row of holes. There was of course some problems with the transparency being transparent and showing off the unsightly back sides. So there was some challenge there to make it less obvious when turning the pages.

More Bintan pics.....

Seeing the way these 2 fellows are digging, you may be forgiven for thinking that there are hidden treasures underneath!!

Our Bintan Trip

Ooooo..... Bintan.... Brings back the memories of the sun, sand and sea. We went with Wai Leng, Mike and Megan. It was a little stressful cos Megan was not feeling too well and she made quite a lot of fuss there. But overall, it was quite fun. Here's some lovely pics!

It's been such a looooong time!!

There was actually something wrong with my computer. I have been trying to load my page for the longest time and nothing on the page worked. It kept telling me error on page!! Luckily I have a computer whiz for a husband! He finally made it work..... after 5 minutes!! It took me 5 days!! Arghhh!!