:: looking for inspiration ::

On my bloglines, there is definitely AE's blog

A new 'must read is her Tuesdays tutorials.

It is so full on inspiration and ideas, of how to 'up' one's layout to the new level, or even a nice and oh so needed reminder of how to use some of the existing materials that we already have but have stashed aside with the arrival of new SB products.

This week's tutorial by Christine Middlecamp is amazing! I am so inspired by 'Almost Perfect' layout. What I love? Everything! From the oh-so-cute picture (what an intense face) right down to the layering of the embellishments!

It's a definite must-try for me! Can't wait to get started!

____________________________

I can't believe it's July already. Where has the past 6 months gone to? So much things have happened... This weekend proves to be another busy, yet exciting one! hehe...

Sorry to my dear friends who have been hearing me go 'goo-go' & 'ga-ga' over my current fixation... I promise you it'll spot this weekend *wink*

Have a great weekend my dear friends! TGIF

:: 231 ::

That's the post #

As I was falling into slumberland last night, I was formulating 3 different posts in my head. Now I can't remember what I was formulating...

In all mundune of tasks, I just paid the bills for all various things and I'm feeling the pinch. It's especially so this & next month as there will be no mid year bonus to 'fill the money pot'. To make things worse, expenses have been high as well (granted some were definitely neccessary & some are not :S) ... all out but little in :(

Hope everyone's day is doing much better than mine!

ETA: I've been getting super weird phone numbers on my mob. They start with +861 --- and just a couple of minutes ago, one that started with +20808100... Some scam going on here??? Argh I don't like it! My weekend just got worse... BIG sigh

:: haircut ::

She's 40 day old tomorrow.

She's going for her first haircut tomorrow and it's bye bye baby hair. It is so soft and fine. It stand up right at the top and no matter how it's combed, it still stands up! It's going to be all gone tomorrow, in hope that the new hair will grow thicker and nicer :)

She's also going for her first outing tomorrow to visit her great grandparents! Woohoo... have fun sweetie...

:: baby overload ::

* be prepared for baby LOs overload... *

mentioned here... The layouts for the baby album is mainly from both the MM Noteworthy ranges. I've been hogging these papers for the right layouts to do and I guess this is it! With 9x9 layouts, space tends to be quite tight... so as you can see from the first layout that I did I'm getting used to smaller space.

I have a folder of all the papers, word stickers, hambly onesies and other stuff for the baby album together so I can reach for them easily.

In line with the whole album, inspired by J, I am doing a A-Z album too.

Here's A is for Adorable:

And my "space" coordination slowly gets better...

&

Here's "B is for Beautiful Baby":

This is is more free-flow for my own album :P & this is what I mean when I love being able to scrap at any chance I get. I've scrapped this pic *above* but I had to have it for my own album so here it is...

Thanks for looking and hope you all have a great week ahead!

:: Happy Birthday ::

My younger bro is 26 today. How times flies!

He's finally finished his Uni studies and onto the workforce *fulltime*
Soon we may be missing him again as he is off to see the world *again*

I remember having HUGE sibling rivalry with him. Fight with hands, fist, legs and even *weapons*. Screaming and crying, kicking and shouting were all part of a normal day in our household. Even a big house could not contain our voices.

As we grew older, prob me.... , we wised up. Probably because every one of us children have been away from home for an extended period of time and thus it was made our sibling relationship stronger than ever. We know for sure that we can depend on one another on anything at all, even though we may be miles apart.

Although, the once little chubby boy is the baby of the family, roles have sometimes be turned when I feel that I am like the little one of the family. I remember him even telling me not to come home too late. Not to buy things that I don't need *oopz*

I shall miss him again if / when he goes off to seek his future...
We know in our hearts that in every choice he makes, the family is a big consideration that he factors in and he does the best that he can for himself & for the family.

Happy birthday my dearest younger brother. I know that I might not be say it very often.
But I and all of us are very proud of you.

Wishing you a Happy Birthday.. Off you are already to enjoy yourself today. See you later tonight as we celebrate it with food that you love, even if it's just local hawker fare which you LOVE so much! ... & a yummy cake :P

:: finding time ::

In between arriving home from a full day training session at about 5pm and a wedding dinner at 7.30pm, I managed to scrap a layout! It took less than an hour? without my usual style... it was just add and build on to the existing papers and embellishments.

Proud? yeah I am... My hands have been itching to scrap. Hoping to do more layouts this weekend but I guess not. Off to my bro's house to play with my sweetie & to catch up on some revision for my course... and it's a grand feast at his place tonight to celebrate a birthday and Fathers' Day. *we're wanting to go out and celebrate, but with the little one, it's tough*

Have a great weekend!

:: Hello cutiepie ::

Started on layouts for this sweetie... this is one for my personal album :P

I also finally started using the 9x9 MM scalloped album which I bought in 2007/8 ( i think!) Finally broke into it for my sweetie her! I started on a few layouts for my bro & SIL. I left empty jouralling cards for them to document their own thoughts. *Pics of layouts soon!*

The best part of it? I get to do 2 layouts for each pic that I use!! Any chance just to scrap more!

My assignments for the current course modules are over! yeah!!! at least free till end Aug.
Tried scrapping last night after class... was slightly inspired but ended up with nothing... the mojo left me as soon as it arrived :( I decided to stop and go to bed, before I start destroying papers...

Going to be a busy weekend again, celebrating my bro's birthday and Fathers' Day! Hope I get the chance to scrap some time...

Thanks for lovely comments from friends/blog friends. Each and every one is very much appreciated!!

Have a great weekend everyone!
&
Happy Father's Day!

:: Full Month - almost ::

When these red eggs are in sight, it only means 1 thing!!!

This little one is almost 1 month old! My bro and his wife celebrated R's 1 month at their home last night. The turnout was great! Thanks to all my relatives who turned up! It was just great seeing everyone again. It has been some time since we cousins (both paternal and maternal sides) all met up! There were a few babies around too, so the place was definitely bustling with activity :) A pity that we forgot to take pics of them... oh well... next time!

Yeah & she's loving that she's growing up! She's such a looker... I'm not being biased here! but just look at those eyes! She's keeps looking around when she's carried and loves seeing things are her :P

Cute little cupcakes, decorated with icing sugar, sugar hearts & baby girl *edible* decor! (can you see the pacifer??)

Getting loved by Great-Grandparents!

The proud parents :)

The proud grandparents :) See how stiff my dad is?? It's the first time that he's carrying R. We had to ask him to sit down and put his hands in position and then just hold her.

A Family photo is always in order :) The darling of our lives now... & she seems to know it :P

Looking at all the pics of R, most of the pics she looks into the camera! Pretty cool i say!

& of course a fun photo for J, K and me! All squished up together :P

It was a busy weekend but all worth it!!

Although, I do want my Sunday back :S

:: sight see ::

One final layout from the March holiday to Australia :P

This one is of various pics of the sights from Melbourne :)
I think I'm starting to fall in love with multi-photos layouts! They're just so fun to do...


close up :P loving the simplicity of the layout... it took no time to complete it! :)

OK gotta go...
one presentation today and another next week!!! arghhh.... :(

:: naughty naughty::

Yup! that's me...

Instead of continuing on the other 20% of my assignment, I scrapped 3 layouts! gosh! How did I manage that in 4 hours?!?! Well actually around 10am to about 3pm? I woke up at around 9.45am and literally jumped out of bed, went to the study room and took out papers and started scrapping!

Call it task avoidance? *as I don't wanna work on my assignment* sigh.. naughty naughty

Sharing here are layouts I did some time ago. It's like a series of 3 similar layouts of the same picture taken in front of NOBU in Australia.

The 2 DEAREST friends, with me in the picture, treated me to the most delicious fusion Japanese food! No expense spared with oysters, cod fish, fresh mushrooms, sashimi, dessert... it's the works!

I thank them for their hospitality and their friendship. It's a pity that I can't see them more often. Now you know why my trips back to Australia is always 2 states - Perth and Melbourne?? I need to do 'friendship duties' if not I get slaughtered for visiting one and not the other!


A little "thank you" present for their friendship. It was definitely great seeing them again.
& now that they have received it, I can post it :)

Layout 1
Layout 2

Can you spot the difference in the 2 layouts? haha

it was a joy working on these 2 layouts especially when
1. I know who the recipients are *& I know that they'll love it*

2. I get to scrap even though it's similar layout... get it?

Another layout from the holiday...
Something simple with lots of white space as the papers chosen were complex, so thought I should not over do it?


Ok back to the assignment! Ganbatte!!!

:: i heart ::

this picture very much!


taken by yours truly! I'm pleased...

:: 2 weeks old ::

Finally a picture of my very cute little niece... yes! I'm biased ^.^



I mentioned that it felt so good to scrap so here's a layout from my recent trip to Australia :)
This one is taken in Perth...


I've been working on my assignment the whole afternoon and I'm glad to say I'm 80% done. It's the very first assignment for the course so feeling the pressure to do a good job. After this there is another 2 more group assignments to do :S All due this month... arghh!!! This module has an exam in August... I am not looking forward!

Help!!!

Back to working on my assignment... Hope you're having a better weekend than me! ;|

:: therapeutic ::

because I scrapped last night! It felt good. It felt great! It felt like I was able to release some pent up frustration. *wow that's sounds rather hard to believe* But yeah, I've not been scrapping for a several weeks and my hands are itching to use that penknife, scissors, rampaging through papers, alphas, chipboards, sticker, word labels, prima flowers, inking, cutting, glueing, pasting... you get the drift!

It also doesn't help that I've been tempted by new products and yes I confess, I've been buying stuff and not been able to use them :(


In the meanwhile, no pics of baby yet.

Somehow the USB port is not reading the card reader *bummer*! That means no posting of pictures of baby or my long ago layouts or printing any pictures of Renee to start on her very own SB album.

Having a new addition in the family definitely brings unusual & sometimes funny moments into our lives:

I sent SIL and baby Renee to the hospital last Thursday as the baby needed to get a blood test done (for what, I'm not sure). She was in the room with baby Renee and suddenly I heard crying... really loud crying! She sure have powerful lungs. Luckily, she came out quiet and smiley :)

Of course, this being the first grandchild in the family, the grandparents are anxious. Dad asked how the the session went. I told him that his granddaughter sure have powerful lungs, I could hear her crying in the room from the waiting lounge. And Dad appeared upset, saying why would a baby need to have a blood test? Why make a baby go through such painful torture? But crying is good for the baby, it strengthens her lungs, and since she cry so loudly, her lungs are good.... May I use the word "cute" on him?


* I'm documenting things that I notice / hear about baby Renee here so when I do the album, I can remember! HAH

Baby's a week old now... gosh how times flies!

- She still likes to fall asleep in the midst of her feeds.

- She likes that someone sings to her, well i think cos I see my bro singing to her and I sing to her! :)

- She opens her eyes wide now and Dad said that she has big lovely eyes and a nice double eyelid!

- her fingers and toes are still wrinkly...

- She's an animated baby when she sleeps. Her little pouty lips moves, she kicks a fair bit and wriggles her arms around.

:: mark the date ::

Gosh! I've not scrapped in recent weeks too :S I miss scrapping

It's really tough trying to juggle work and studies and play at the same time (note the order!)

But happy news... Renee's here. Bro, Mom, his MIL and I were in the hospital throughout the birthing. Bro was with SIL all the time while the 3 of us waited paitently at the lounge. We saw Renee within the 1st hour of her birth :P All pink and wrinkly. Tiny fingers, toes and a cute button nose.

Renee's a sleepy baby. She slept for almost 3 hours straight on Sunday afternoon. She loves yawning and doesn't cry much *phew*. Even in her slumber, she opens her eyes and takes a peep before closing them and dozing off again!

Mommy and baby are doing great. They are going home today.

:: since March ::

since March, many things have certainly happened!

- Celebrated my birthday a few times over, with friends in Singapore and Australia :)

- Started on a course to get local certification in SpEd (as mine were previously done as a distant learning and I don't want to take chances) and also as a stepping stone to further studies. It's been exciting but nonetheless difficult with lots of things that needs re-freshening & needs me to read up on! Made a few friends & 1 of whom should be great study pal :)

- Workwise, a new project that promises to be loads of learning & new roles for me... *one level up I hope*

- an existing project that is attempting to make me jump off the roof! argh... endless roadblocks and horrible working relationship with external parties!

Can't believe it's May already...
My soon to arrive niece is ready to say hello to the world anything this month!
She's my namesake *somewhat* as the initial name my mom wanted to name be was to began with 'R'... mom's happy with the choice of the English name but everyone's thinking hard about the Chinese name.
*yeah* new subject to scrap about ;)

3 assignments due next month! Gosh

:: dark picts ::

I have had webster pages papers for a looonngg time, but never knew or how to scrap it well.

Another attempt and away I went!
Though the pics are too dark to see it here as they were taken in a restaurant... those at the back are meant to be out of focus. & I demanded for one that I was in focus... but obviously my dear friend JT thought that the oysters were the subject! hmph! but loving the shots and the memories of this meal :)

:: scarlet fever ::

Truth: It probably took me almost half an hour just to decide on the colour combination! First, I started off with the KI pattern paper (the one with all those cute tiny cameras). Next, I dragged out my stash of cardstock and started to match them! I almost pulled my hair out... until I found THE ONE!!! and the scarlet fever started...

And then I was on a roll! Yippee...

*note to self* - so I can remember what I did!! somehow I keep forget techniques!
I totally love the colour combination of purple, light turquoise, yellow & black.
I totally love how the dimensions & layering work out in the end.
I totally love the embellishments, especially the star & little tick, which is not something that I usually do!

the FINAL layout


close up 1

close up 2
Random thoughts!

1) Dad is suddenly interested in Sudoku... so my younger bro bought him a book to do. He's so happy :)

2) Working on some alter art for pressies :) I love when I do that... haha

3) Am loving the weekend as it's going to be another short week next week! yeah!!!

:: one for the night ::

mentioned here... i redid the layout...



I am happy :)

:: For & from the past ::

These were done sometime in end Feb (when my SB mojo was going strong)


Not sure when Mom took this picture, but I thought it's pretty cool and decided to scrap it.

I wanted to cover the cutout flower shapes in this MM paper and while it looked great in real life as it adds a certain dimension to the layout, in photo, you can see the squares that covers the cutouts! Phew! I was neat about the squares! heh...


The title was picked by Mommy dearest herself...



For the past few years, I've been doing a layout with the title of "me" at hthat particular year.
While this picture was not taken exactly at the turn of the year, it was done so at the beginning of the year in early FEB (during CNY). There's hidden journalling where the ribbon with the flower is (on the right of the layout, behind the photo).



Am loving all the embellishing in these layouts!
It is not easy for me to embellish! I take tons of times to just choose the correct one! argh! I end up so frustrated that sometimes I just give up!

OK! off for some relaxing time!

Hope you have a great weekend...

:: feeling good ::

Feeling good today...

There can be a variety of reasons?

1) Long weekend! Time to do 'ME' stuff

2) Since changing my working hours to earlier, I've been reaching work on the dot which does not equate to being a on-time worker here, or I've been slightly late :( BUT today! I was early by a good TEN minutes... Yippieee!!!

3) I scrapped last night. Maybe I should rephrase - I re-scrapped last night. I did a layout a couple of weeks ago but it was a bad bad layout. I had to stop before the damage got worse. It has been at the back of my mind to redo the layout. So last night, inspiration came. With a different range of papers and a semi re-organised SB area, I sat down and got cracking.

I'm so happy with the result :D


4) Did I mention I kinda re-organised my SB stuff?? It's so much easier to scrap now... most things are within reach now :)

Hope your week was good and it weekend even better!