original...

Before scrapbooking, there was jewellery making that interest me... *another expensive hobby!*

The appeal came to me recently again and I've been collecting interesting things which I could take apart and redesign to make it my own *albeit inspiration from books and other designs*

These were made last night....

some interesting beads

another set of beads with different colour theme from the necklace above

A little gold leaf attached to the necklace for a bit of fun!

close up of the floral design of the main charm in both necklaces

Both necklaces are for sale!
Great ORIGINAL & HANDMADE gift for someone special....

Interested? Email me at fiona.woo@gmail.com to enquire
Thanx!

thanx to my elder bro who volunteered to model the necklace while I take the pictures!

can you feel...

the WIND???

succumbed to temptations and of course VANITY and went to extend my eyelashes!


took a while for the people around me to noticed it! but who cares! i like it.. although it can be a bit hard to manage at times!

Oh well.. all for the price of beauty right?

a pressie

not very good at altering things. As I mentioned before, no formal lessons taken but listening to advices on altering stuff from more experience scrappers!

Thanx for the advice! *you know who you are!*

the flower note board with stamped writing pads

close up of name and painted peg
her personalized board with her name

The flower board took me quite a while to complete.. I find altering things require lots of 'strategy'. knowing what come 1st and the next step forward. I had to be very clear with with I wanted to do! Well, very pleased with the final product! End result is amazing nice! hehe... although I couldn't embellish anymore even if my life depended on it!

Hope the little 5 year old gal who's receiving this noteboard will like her present! well, at least I hope her mummy likes it too! :D

I have to say altered stuff sure make a great gift!

TFL!
Have a great weekend!

on a high!

I am proud to announce that I am on a scrapping high... been doing layouts but slow to upload them... hehe... cos I wanted something to blog about? hehe...

{happiness is all in a smile}
{ me *heart* Birkenstock } close up of the title, i cut out parts of the box.
the word Birkenstock is from the box.
also cut out the side with the picture of my favourite Birkenstock model.

TFL!

eta: Thanx Cousin J for the lovely OA papers! Isn't it great to have a cousin who is on 2 *probably - I have to be politically correct!* most wonderful kit clubs? Even though OA pps has not been released in SG yet, I had my hands on it for the longest time and couldn't bear to use it until now! hehe... THANX again!

i *heart* ikea frames

Another layout in my favourite white Ikea box frame especially for my mom's friend. This time I had a photo to work with! However, I also thought I wanted to allow changeability of photos so I did not adhere the picture to the layout and used hambly overlay as a "pocket" for the photo.

i *heart* Hambly overlays!



Been spending a fair bit of moo-lah ($) on SB stuff! arghh... I have been warned that's it's always like that after a CHA when all the new releases are out! Sad though as I kinda feel mojo-less... due to a couple of unfortunate SB discoveries.

*chin up, shoulders up FIONA!*

it's the weekend, go and have fun! hehe.. yepz.. will do just that tonight!

{ 4 each other }

Another layout using August's SOMO kit.
Totally loving the different prints in the pattern papers in the kit!

Did you see the Sept kit that's up? Oh my.... loving it as well... did you see that cute ribbon that looks like a measuring tape and all the stamps and the papers! NICE!!!!

Totally...

hate *really hate* the long agonising wait that I am enduring at this moment. it's been like this for the past 3 days! argghhh when will my torture end *sweetly i hope* !!!

{ look here! }

I had to dig into my new supplies from SOMO kit... Totally *heart* the July kit and can't bear to use it... So i decided that I should start scrapping with the Aug kit 1st.

photo from my elder bro's wedding photo shoot.
Don't mind me saying it again, ain't the kids just cute! hehe...

Thanx cousin J and IG for a wonderful crop session with lots of snacks and the discovery that Sara-Lee has yummy Apple Pie. Darling G woke up from her nap to discover how yummy Daiso's Caramel Corn was and kept coming to the table to reach her little hand into the packet! Thinking of it now, should've got the camera ready! We were all just too busy scrapping, chatting and playing with G!

mixed feelings

just "saw" an ex-college friend online.. after saying "HI" the next message was... "I'm getting married"

That was probably 15 minutes ago that I talked to her over msn... Now I am left with lots of mixed feelings! I am definitely happy for her. It has not been easy for her to have come so far in her relationship. Truthfully, it was almost like a chase around *half* the globe, from w/i Australia to Singapore... her boyfriend faithfully followed her to Singapore when she decided to work here for 2 years.. and faithfully followed her back to Australia when she decided she had had enough of him and of Singapore *Singapore not in a bad way*.

Now she is getting married *in Nov! 10 days before my brother's! I hope I can make it for her wedding in Aussieland* ! Oh darn am I surprised and it just makes me wonder about my own perspective in life. Interestingly, the topic of marriage *much to my dismay* has been THE topic surround me - questions were posed by"concerned" colleagues and friends. My reason *truthfully* is that I am not ready and I don't think I suit marriage with such a strong-headed character.

But boy oh boy, my close friends around me are certainly joining the ranks of marriage life and leaving me all alone....

Relax...

... it is times like this, when I am feeling kinda burnt out that I really miss ...

Freo

*fremantle, Perth*


I love walking that stretch of road leading to the weekend market for a nice hot homemade savory crepe, immersing in the sights and sounds of a bustling market, walking by *and of course into* the rows and rows of eclectic mix of clothings, savouring the paper wrapped and awfully scrumptious meal of fish & chips at cicerellos & of course the sea... such clear waters and such peace.

how i wish i could be there everyday! I really miss the year that I stayed near Freo, where it was my 'playground' every weekend!

A request (II)

Yesterday was a friend's mom's birthday, not knowing what to give, I was commissioned to do something for the lovely lady...

A pretty tall call as I had no photo to work with and 2 days advance notice!!

Cracked my head as I took my 1 hour bus journey to work and I finally came up with:

I so *heart* the ikea 3-D frames...

close-up of the embellishments!

Also not knowing what to title it, I just gave it a very general one - Memories - so that happy mummy can constantly change photos and it will still suit! :D

I have to say

.
.
.
.
.
.

I AM VERY PROUD OF MYSELF

and totally pleased / loving with the final product as well ...


*Update on my SOMO kits!* It has landed in Singapore and safe and sound at cousin's J's place... hehe.. can't wait to use it! Yippee

*YEO* dudes

Not to be *biased* and scrapping only about my niece G, i also scrapped my 2 nephews (well I get more pictures of her esp from her mom!).

Big K is 4 and small K is 3. It was small K's birthday. Big K knows I am a teacher so he is rather well-behaved with me around *at least I hope it is that way* while small K is kinda temperamental at times. But what I really love about these 2 boys is how they look out for each other ALL the time *well almost - at least when I am there to witness it*. If I have something for 1 kiddo, he will automatically ask if the brother has it too. so sweet right?

on the scrapping front...

I had an interesting conversation with IG today. We were discussing STYLES, as in scrapping styles. So I told her, it's so coincidental that she mentions about a personal style of scrapping for I was just thinking about that yesterday as I was scrapping the layout for my nephews. Initially when I started scrapping I had so much issues with finding out my style or rather the *composition* of a layout. After a few layouts, I realised that my style is "cut-cut-cut" (cutting out flowers or papers) , or so I thought.

Then came yesterday, as I was doing this layout, I had so much idea for it as I started taking out the papers, but then halfway through, I lost my mojo! It took me an awfully long time just to be satisfied with choosing the right embellishment, the placement and the final layout!

IG conveniently pointed out an old layout that I did of G that she thought should be my style! To be honest, that layout was done with lots of help from cousin J, the most talented CRAFTER that I know *who despite being 7 months preggie is actively scrapping/sewing/working*.

Oh well.... I might just explore my style in that route but also experiment more styles at the same time. In fact, the more I think about how I want to create an LO the more stressful it becomes and the harder it is for me to create one! No wonder they say:

YOU ARE YOUR OWN BIGGEST CRITIC!

I so totally agree with that ;P

busy...

been pretty busy since i last posted preparing for some altered projects to be given away as birthday presents... SB is such a great way to make handmade present especially for people!

alphas and flower wood board at 'resting' after I applied a layer of mod podge over them... can't wait for the next stage to continue with altering... hehe

personally I find altering quite a challenge and requires lots of meticulous planning as well! ... ok, granted i've never been to any 'formal' SB classes to learn creating layouts *other than going for crops & a lesson with cousin J* or learning to alter *although i meant to do that*. so now it's my 1st foray into the world of *alter* so wish me luck! and lots of creative juices

another BKK LO

I have resisted buying a cutterpede for the longest time because

1) It is far too expensive for my pockets
2) I have been 'trained' to use the traditional cutting mat and ruler to cut paper! that is the poor kindy teacher way
3) storage space!


I started this LO approx 12am in the morning... quite an unearthly hour for me but I was quite inspired by my new cutterpede that I bought 2nd-hand from Pris. Thanx for the great deal & new mat! I surprised myself by completing the LO in around half an hour! of course it helped to have a cutterpede to do all the paper cutting.

at 12.30am in the morning, my brain's kinda dead.
i just took a few brads and placed them randomly
i also started to staple ribbons to the LOs in random and I totally love the effect it made!
something so unlike me... as I am quite anal about positioning of embellishments! hehe

TFL!
have a great weekend!

completed...

As promised a photo of the birkies that I have for a LO... took another picture from top view. I am still contemplating with picture to scrap! I am ADDICTED! as you can see the new pair of birkies (silver) is so CLEAN, I can't bear to use it!

also finally completed the altered box.. nothing fanciful with the embellishments! it is so hard to put more there without looking cluttered!

and just came back shopping from spotlight with IG... yippee I have more projects coming along! :D SB is so great for making handmade wonderfully thought out gifts for birthdays!

smiley grin

nothing beats waking up to a great msg:

Hi. Better start taking pictures now.

Cos all your kits are coming with my shipping!

It's been sent last friday. So would be there this weekend! :)

Excited???

Of course I'm excited! hehe...

*jumping up and down like a mad woman*

Thanx cousin J for the sms :D I'm camping over to your place this weekend to pounce on the poor postman the moment he arrives to get my hands on the kit!! :D

still....

... feeling under the weather :( Nursing that sore throat with lots of "nin jiom' sweets. It's so funny how at the end of the day I feel okie and think "great! I should be okie tomorrow" but no I would wake up feeling that dry throat and 'heat' from my body! Not good at all...

However, I did feel better yesterday :) After teaching, went out with Mom and Bro to do some serious damage on our pocket - custom-designed jewellery - oh darn! I love them too "think pink and white* and has been seriously dropping hints that mom shouldn't give it away. But as we made 2 sets, she said we could keep 1 set - as it is meant for future purposes! erm.. nono! idea is: I GET ONE SET AND MOM GETS THE OTHER... oh well.. as the only daughter I still get to keep my mom's jewellery right - hey! stop that the evil look!! I am not eyeing my mom's jewellery... I've been contributing to it the past years since I started to work but of course not expensive pieces! But great pieces nonetheless *wink*... ANYWAY back to the subject. I love the pieces made! so I want to keep them too! maybe it's more the matter that I dun like to share, in this case I don't like the fact that another person has the same piece of item that I have! wahaha... I AM a spoilt brat!

After that serious spot of shopping, mom and I went down to Raffles City for some 'lighter' shopping... to pick up the birkies that M kindly reserved for me! There was a crazy number of people in that shop! and Yes! I am one of those crazy people who keep buying birkies! but they are oh-so comfy! IG and I were talking and we said we should do a LO on our birkies! I have to date 5 pairs and counting... not a lot considering an ex-colleague of mine said she has 19 *i am sure i did not hear wrongly* pairs and they are all madrids! I am still SANE!!

I've not been to raffles city for a long time and my! it has changed alot - renovation and shops moving to different levels! mom and I had trouble finding the foodcourt and ended up asking a tourist where it is! erm... ironic isn't it? a local asking a tourist where the foodcourt is? haha...

************************

But today... woke up not feeling good again :(
Staying home to do a bit of cleaning, laundry and chauffeuring...

totally feels good to just be at home all by myself once in awhile doing things that I wanna do without someone bugging me from behind! keke...

and yes! I still need to finish my altered project :(

A request

A colleague saw a card that I made for a friend's wedding and requested if I could do a couple of birthday cards for her. As it was meant to be sent overseas together, I did not want to have too much embellishments on it (to add to the postage weight) . Obviously 1 is for a guy and the other a gal! Spelt the guy's name wrong... you know it's not steVEN.... it's the french way... STEPHEN! arghh had to redo the name.


Glad my colleague liked it anyways! and hope the birthday boy and gal like them too!

a change indeed

I finally decided to change the skin of my post, after finding it totally boring. Now it's bright and cheery... a bit too bright? erm....

it's almost 10pm. Thought I would hit the sack soon after reaching home from work! But obviously not! played around searching for downloadable blog skins hence what i chose. (if it's too glaring do let me know and i'll change the skin again to sometime more pleasing) .

anyway I think the sore throat that I felt was coming along is not FAKE.. it's real! but then i've been making myself go to work as my appointments are back to back and I really need to be in office to clear up and continue with some work! (I can't believe I'm saying that!). The weather is getting to me as well! arghh... hope it's going to be a better week soon!

on the scrapping front... i've been trying to do some altering and experimented with mod podge... i think i was quick successful with it after getting detailed instructions from I. However, feeling under the weather has not helped in 'sending' any mojo my way to complete the project! hope that starts to pick up soon as I really need to complete it soon... hopefully *fingers crossed*

hope everyone is feeling much better than me! and that the horrid weather is not getting to you as it is getting to me :(
Take care you all!

Photo shoot

It has been a busy weekend trying to help co-ordinate my elder brother's photo shoot... So this layout took 3 days to complete! The only lesson I learnt from it was never to do that cos I totally lost my mojo at the end and just added 1 -2 things and that was it!

so this being my end product.....
Results from the photo shoots!

Kids took a while to warm up. Big K (in the vest) was the most photogenic one of the lot! Even the photographer said so! G was in a few other shots needed a bit of coaxing to smile but totally loved the hairband and flowers she held onto. Small K needed more coaxing and seeing kor kor taking pictures he wanted to join in too!
A fun enjoyable event nonetheless! :D


oh darn... back to work tomorrow after a nice long weekend! Erm.... do i feel that sore throat/fever coming along??? :P

National Day and a bit...

It was Singapore's42nd birthday yesterday. Went for the preview last Saturday, tickets courtesy of my cousin. It was an unscheduled rehearsal so it seems that lots of things were not prepared like FIREWORKS, parachutes, MC leading... but enjoyable nonetheless when the company was good.

i love the backdrop of the flag against the skyscrappers!
Self -portrait of Kieron (elder nephew) and me! so scrap-worthy right?

Being the typical Singaporean, since I have a chance for a long weekend, why not take leave right? So today I'm on leave and brought G out for a bit of flower-girl dress shopping :D

Also, I managed to scrap a bit with my new (not so new- june) SOMO kit. :D more LOs coming up soon...

reminiscing

... about the past

my long curly hair which I cut off at the beginning of this year wanting a change, just to find out that I loved my curly, wavy hair a lot and I want it back again... so I am keeping it long again to get it permed again! ... and yes of course I am reminiscing about my age too. After the 25 yo mark, one really starts feeling the heavy responsibilities that lies on one's shoulders!

and Yippee! June SOMO kit finally arrived! Can't wait to get started :D but still anxiously waiting for July kit to arrive.... wonder when? it really is a big waiting game :(

on hind sight...

I am totally elated when I hear that my friends are married, having babies and having a great married life!

In the past couple of months, 2 friends have given birth (in sg) - I woke up last week to a msg that a friend has given birth! talk about a nice wake up call :D

& I also found a long lost friend from Perth who has also just gave birth to baby no 2! Although N's blog's in Japanese, I totally love looking at her pictures and her cute dogs that she has since I knew her in Perth! and of course her two darlings are so kawaii!

Do wonders never cease! hehe...

Well whatever it is... I am happy just playing with my nephews and niece and I can't wait for my other niece to arrive soon :D

scary thoughts

When peers around me starts to get hitched, I TRY NOT to be affected. hehe of course I'm happy for them but then the idea of marriage seldom cross my mind! I guess I'm interested in persuing other areas of 'interest' before the marriage bug hits me! There are just too many other things that I want to do 1st....

close up of the transparent swirls that i used :D

daddy dearest

one of the rare few photos of my dad actually smiling!

TFL!

Ph.D

also known as Permanent Head Damage

just came back from lunch... cheap & yummy Ayam Pengat :D

anyway that's not the story!

This man came to share the table with my colleague and me. He wore something like a uniform and had a badge on top of the left breast pocket and it read:

Dr. xxx Sim, Ph.D
Certified Trainer for
Emotional Intelligence

and there he went taking out a wet tissue to wipe his face, before proceeding to wipe the top of the hawker centre table and placing his plastic blue file on the table and took out a big pastry - looking bun to eat. Oh! he also kept trying to place his earpiece into his ear... you know like one of those *koo-ku-s*

My colleague and I looked at each other... thinking... he can't be a Dr.

I guess the whole 'experience' added a positive light note to the the start of the week...

*Grin* I'm so not going on to study Ph.D after I do my masters! *Grin*

finally....

Mom seldom calls me at work.... so when she finally did, she told me she wanted to go to the 'health & lifestyle' exhibition at Suntec on Sunday. So today being sunday, we went very early... by 11+ am we reached suntec and parking was a breeze! always a good start right? Anyway, going to such exhibition with Mom or Dad I always have to be the 'controlling' one, reminding them not to buy anything unnecessarily and walking way ahead so that they will just move on and not get 'stuck' in 1 booth, hanging on too long for the sales person to think that they are interested to buy anything!


This time, Mom's intention was to buythe uZap that I've been mentioning that I wanted to buy for a long time (for about a year??) but I've resisted buying as I wanted her to pay for it - rationale being that Mom needs it more than me! wahaha *eh! I'm not being mean but it's true!!*

she FINALLY became interested when her colleagues starting buying recently due to the promotions and when her workplace started to receive donations of some kind of machine. so at the booth today we checked out the uZap
but then... we saw the uZap KING! the newer improved version of it, that gives different vibrations according to the areas you want - tummy, butt or thigh, even the shoulders too to give some relief to aching shoulders... needless to say, we bought this.

and sadly to say... I paid for it... boohoo... but then it's her birthday soon and lucky for me, my brothers know what to do, one has already said he's going to split the cost while the other's going to pay for tonight's dinner...

The moment we bought it, uZap has come in handy! We just came home from a full dinner at JUMBO! I was joking about not worrying about overeating for we have the uZap KING! hehe i need to zap away that peking duck, fresh prawn, chilli crab, prawn meat wrap with bacon, hor fun! lol... haha :D oh!!! & gotta zap away that slice of cake from Awfully Chocolate too!

guess we made the right choice to buy the heavier-duty uZap, although the model is a male, it's better for us as now I think everyone in the family needs it! haha

*********************************************
loved the wonderful closeup photo of my darling niece with her rosy cheeks, pouty lips, wide eyes wonder and that inquisitive face! What a sweet darling who when keeps looking for this 'ku-ku' makes me feel like I'm on cloud 9... darn... that little gal sure has me round her fingers too!

sorry for the reflection on G's face, using the pretty hambly screens :D

Mummy Dearest

mentioned previously that I found some great photos at my grandparents' place. here's one of them - a picture of Ah-Ma with her 3 sons! Dad could not supply me how old he was then??? I wonder why! Using the new BG infuse range of papers which blend very well with the previous range :P

TFL!

relishing on relations

I am considered quite lucky? That for most of my life... though not long... I've had the joy to experience being taken care of by 3 of my grandparents. They brought my cousins and I out, took care of us.

My maternal grandma stayed with my brothers and I as we grew up as my parents were often overseas... now at 90+ her memory's failing and whenever we visit her, she will ask, who we are and how we got to her place? & somehow she has the fascination to know if we can drive or not ... she approves of driving though... and will always remind us to drive carefully. anyhows... taking pictures with grandma was so cute.. she kept saying it was pointless to take the photos, but because she keeps shaking, she always appeared blurry! so ended up taking so many pictures together! well.. good memories to treasure anyway!

FULL!!!!!!!

oh my! Just got back from a scrumptious dinner with Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin! What a spread of selection of food for steamboat! And yes you can see the pot-full of ingredients and the soup that is "oh-so delicious" hehe... even the colour is milky which gives the indication that has a full bodied flavour! A great dinner is never complete without dessert! According to my aunt, there's a pineapple plant in the garden and we ate the pineapple and it so so sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!! probably the sweetest that I tasted! Yum... and I am oh still so full!!!!
heh! making anyone hungry??? look just look at the soup!!

Also managed to do a couple of layouts last night and I am totally pleased with this one! My new found love is glossy accents, JBS little birdie rubons and the transparent sheets!

I really love how the flowers and hambly screens turnout! so pretty!!
love the 3-D effect that the flowers make!
big smiles from me when I complete the LO.
it's kinda like a new level for a novice scrapper like me....

off to complete another LO... i need time to digest the food!

paitently waiting....

Still paitently waiting for SOMO kits to arrive :( With the CHA coming and all, the shipment has been delayed. According to the site, it will only start shipping on 16th July! and that will be 17th July in Singapore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! arghhh.. why must there be this nonsensical saying that 'all goods things come later'???? I just wanna get my hands started on them to get scrapping again!!!!! arghh.... well, the only good thing that's coming out of this whole waiting game is to find out that i have PATIENCE!!!!! hehe...

I don't care! Going to start scrapping with my 'not-so-old' supplies! Erm... Which product should I use? And I have photos!!!! Truly a scrapper's nightmare to be without subjects to scrap about! Found some fab old photos at Grandma's place 2 weekends ago! hehe.. they are so vintage! I scanned them, just can't bear to use the actual ones anyway. Going again tomorrow for steamboat dinner, as my younger bro is back for the month for a short vacation, a family dinner is called for! can't wait for steamboat and can't wait to see what other goodies grandma has at home! & of course more photo opps at the dinner rite??? yippeee!!!!!! seems that I've got a couple of 'meal' events that my family has planned since younger bro is back now!

here's 1 pic of something I wanna scrap about? erm.. still contemplating about it whether I should scrap or not.. it's for a purpose that I shall keep hush hush now... ;P






Tomorrow's TVC Junkyard July event... can't wait but then I'm wondering if I should just go without cash! hehe... should really stop buying things! haha


TGIF!!!! have a good weekend everyone!

nothing much...

actually i've nothing much to say, but just felt that i've neglected my blog a bit the past week!

Feeling horrible yesterday (sunday) so i just literally slept in the whole day feeling totally lethargic and nursing my bad cough. Imagine being up in the middle of the night coughing your lungs out! It's getting better but I just hope that this bugging cough and irritable tingle in my throat will just go away!

Haven't been scrapping or sewing that much. In fact, i'm waiting anxiously for my SOMO kit to arrive! Waiting for both June and July kits. Woohoo.. I''ll be scrapping then!

hope everyone's feeling much better than I am...

Giving thanx

Am totally really grateful that I have wonderful friends. Friends that I've made recently from SB are a real GEM! A priceless friendship that have been fostered through the common love of SB and of cos the love to shop! keke... It's so cute when we keep edging each other to shop and spend money but also at the lookout for each other to remember to CONTROL the spending!


& of course friends that I've known since Secondary. It's been 13 years since we've known one another. We've all grown in our own different ways, from the type of education we went through, the experiences we have, working in different industries, experiencing one another relationships... but we stuck together, bitched about things together, lunched, shopped, travelled and just hung out together... Such wonderful friendships that I am so grateful of.

Yeps! I enjoy my work!! hehe seldom heard from someone who has quite miserable pay but I enjoy cos it's for the greater good of mankind! lol!!!!

i have to praise myself as I played with the alphas and the black ones read ASD - autism spectrum disorder... that's the kids i mainly deal with trying to help teachers include them into school ! so clever rite??? keke

been nursing a bad cough since I came back from BKK. well it started before I went but having all the yummy curry and tom yum kung didn't help of course, although i am still dreaming of the scrumptious taste... :P