Sneak Peeks at Laine's!!

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

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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!!

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"!!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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?

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??!

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!

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!

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

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!

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....

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?

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

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!

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??!!