Chip off the ol' block

This is the only LO I managed to squeeze in these past busy CNY weeks. I did not think it would take me long but infact it took me AGES. Reason being this is the only copy I have of this picture which although wasnt a good picture (had lots of stuff to crop out), I loved the focus of the picture which is my dad and bro chilling on the couch together. I dont know who took the picture or where the negatives are but I found it lying about the house one day and knew I just had to scrap it.

Chosing the pattern paper itself took sometime. Although I felt this stripy one from MM Fresh Anthology collection suited it, I tried to match it to something else but it didnt work. The green strip the heading is on is also from the same paper stack. I got the heading from a stack of vellum Family quotes I got from Scrapperholic. Buttons next to the heading were from Hokko. They had these little packs of coloured buttons from Japan which I thought were quite cute so I bought them in a few colours.

The picture was quite small after cropping so eventhough this was a 9" by 9", I knew I still had alot to cover. I found a similar matching blue from some paper I had bought from a bookstore (Shhh!) and cut a big semi circle I could do some journalling on. Now this is the hard part. I wanted to do those lovely zig-zaggy stitches I always see in the magazines (which I'm told is done using a sewing machine) but I dont have a sewing machine. So it was down to handmade poking of holes as equally apart as I could have them. I started with the blue paper (after I'd stuck it on) then poked holes on the pattern paper in between the holes I'd made on the blue paper. Sewing the zig zag into the ready made holes reminded me of cross stitching...I have been advised to try and incorporate this into my LO's....but anyway...ya I take ages at stitching. I then had this big gap to fill at the bottom. Before deciding to put the blue semi circle, I had tried out my foam stamps (my first venture into stamping btw) and they looked good so I've incorporated them into this LO.

Lastly, I had some keropok n stuff on an ugly side table I wanted to cover in the photo hence the dyed tag from the Fresh Anthology collection again. I covered the tag with crackle medium after I wrote on it. I think crackle medium works best on darker colours though cos you need to take a closer look to notice it. So that's my LO. It took me almost the whole afternoon to make and I more or less pulled out all the stuff I had to make sure everything was right. Its probably the longest I've ever spent on an LO. I knew I couldnt use flowers cos the macho-ness of the male form lazed out on the couch just wouldnt have carried off flowers. I'm quite happy with how its turned out now really...Yay!!

I'm a Survivor!

Today, I celebrate being alive. 4 years in remission since my operation and another year to go. Medical tests have gone well (so far) and friends and family are always there to make sure I know my life is worth fighting for. I wanted to spend this day with these people so well, I live with my family so I knew I'd see them. I arranged lunch with H and am having a girly night out tonite.

If there is one thing going through a life and death situation that u learn, its that you should not harbour bad stuff. Move on and away from any bad experiences and people and make the best of what has happened. If someone doesnt make you feel good, move away from them rather than cause a ruckus. Dont bring your bad experiences with you, instead concentrate on the good. Another fellow cancer survivor I have met laments on about how he is a dying man, doesnt eat all sorts of stuff and is always in a very pessimistic mode. I dont know how I would be if that had turned out to be me. I dont want to restrict myself cos I dont know how much longer I will be around and I dont want to leave this life regretting not having eaten, drank, partied, done etc things just cos of something that had happened to me.

Dad was one of the longest survivors of cancer according to his doctor with 20+ years fighting it down to his last breath. He was and still is my biggest hero and aspiration

Live life to the fullest, enjoy every moment and most of all, Be Yourself

China - Nanjing

I've skipped another couple LO (not of me and H) to get to a brighter one. I made this when I came back from Singapore (after spending another load of $$$ on scrapbooking supplies) One of the many things I got were 2 bottles of Prima flowers from Laines and a bitty bag from Scrapbookingcove which I was itching to use. Since I knew I wanted to use flowers, I thought it was best to use plain cardstock to make the LO seem less busy. My pictures from China had really nice scenery so I decided to use the ones taken when visiting the Ming Dynasty tomb in the China National Park. I just used plain white cardstock from the DCWV stack I got from Shabby Chic. The circles u see were from some pattered paper I got from Shabby some time ago. I had just purchased a circle cutter from Laines and I knew I did not want to use the whole pattern paper for a LO so I took Scrapperholic's tip and cut out a few circles though I only used 2.

The photos were meant to have even emphasis and I chose Prima flowers to match the colours in the pictures and circles. I use glue dots to stick them on except the blue one in the left corner of the bottom picture where I used a crystal brad. I got the chipboard phrases from
K & Co. Chipboard in a Tin, words n phrases and just chose ones that were appropriate in words and colour to match the LO. I used the small circle punch I'd bought from Laines to punch out little circles to write the words "China" on and covered them with MM page pebbles though they did not really have the 3-D effect I expected. I punched another circle for my large Heidi Swapp Florals pink flower and used some crackle glaze on it but I think my circle is a bit small. Lastly, I used a border punch I had bought from Takashimaya to punch out the paper I was using for journalling and used the hearts from the punch out to fill up some space on the LO.

I wasnt satisfied that it was finished at first so I showed it to H and he thought it was good so I've left it at that cos I didnt want to overdo it. Most people who have seen pics of this LO really like it actually. I think its the bright colours and flowers that do the trick. I still have more China pics and Barcelona pics to scrap. Thinking of doing a double LO for those tho. Havent embarked on a double LO before so being a bit wary....

Pink!!

Right after I write a comment in Jazz's blog about not doing pink I remembered this card I made for my sis in UK. I felt like scrapping and since she said I never write to her I thought I'd make it extra special by making her a card. I used the paper and stickers from the Vintage Cardkit I obtained from Shabby Chic and chose her favourite colour...u guessed it...Pink! I had read about shaker boxes in the Encyclopedia of Scrapbooking so I was itching to try it out. I had got some glitter hearts and stars from a shop I passed by one day and saw bits and pieces I could use to scrap with.

Shaker boxes are a great addition to any layout (though I havent made another since). Just cut a hole in ur cardstock or paper (whichever ur using). Cover the hole with a piece of transparency (cut to fit n pasted around the hole). Place foam double sided tape around the top of the transparency (that is not stuck to the paper). Proceed to fill the area inside the area created by the foam tape with little beads or what have u...then cover up and seal off with paper. Voila, shaker box! *Groan* Havent explained it very well but hope u can see it...

The silver and red flowers below the shaker box are actually adhesive ribbon from Hokko where I also got the butterfly. I bungled up the interior of the card a bit cos I didnt fold the paper before sticking it on so its got 'bubbles' which really annoyed me. Finished it off with freestyle journaling and some matt metal heard brads as well as a sticker from the cardkit. I need to get one of those "Made with Love by..." or "Created By..." stamps....*mumble*

Best part of the day was of course that my sister loves the card and hopefully "Ahem" it has a special place amongst her gallery of photos in her room...hehe

I stitched & stitched & stitched...

Ok so the sunlight has kinda caused a lot of reflection here but at least my stitches showed up!! I only used normal thread for this one as I was not patient enough to go out and buy DMC thread and come back to the LO.

I knew I wanted to use this Valentine's pattern paper I got from Shabby Chic and the rhinestone flowers from Hokko against black cardstock but I got a bit stuck on embelishments as the paper was already so busy. I had just bought the scallop cutterpede so I cut out a sticker from the Love Cardkit (that says "You & Me") I got from Shabby Chic and pasted it onto red cardstock and cut a scallop frame round it to make it look like a picture frame. I then had this huge bit of blank that I was unsure what to do with. Suddenly, I remembered seeing a card in a scrapbooking magazine where a someone had drawn a design n stitched it out. So I squiggled someone I thought looked cool and started labourously punching little holes for the stitching....holes which grew further apart as time went on! LOL!! As this was quite a big design with quite a bit of overlapping, it look me about 2 hours. I had to make sure I did not end up with a jumbled mess so I would rub out one section of the pencil lines before moving on to another.

This picture is one of the rare moments where my shy H shows some "public" affection (inebrieation helps) and the pic also symbolised something for me. I wanted to capture what the picture meant in some journaling....though not obvious in the LO, hence my pull-out behind part of the patterned paper. I had also bought some metal tags from Scrapperholic and while they fell out of the packaging when I opened it, I noticed that one of them beautifully fit the word LOVE from the patterned paper so I stuck it on!! Add 2 little heart brads for good measure in the corner, a couple of squiggle punch outs and Voila! My finished LO! :)

Finally!!

As promised, I've finally uploaded the pics of my LO's from the camera to my comp. Havent had time to pretty them up so hope u guys can see them...I'll start with the 1st LO I ever did. This was when I attended S.C.'s introductory class last month and was able to use to Sizzix to make my letters. Had a range of lovely pics from X'mas (mostly taken unsober :p) which I decided to use here. Its pretty simple but I still like it :) All products were of course from Shabby Chic (hadnt really started shopping yet). I'm sorry I dont have them on hand to name them other than the Bazzill cardstock, ink pads (for the MY), various punches (boy & girl & corner punch), and a sticker which says, "the best thing to do in life is to hold on to each other". This is in line with us holding on to each other in all the pics :)

More to come....up next....my stitching....

More shopping!

I ventured into Shabby Chic the day before they closed and the day after they opened. I was trying to be good today as I was just accompanying a friend but ended up buying stuff myself. My next step into scrapbooking is stamps and paints. Will finally push into embossing after that which I'm worried that I will fall in love with...hehe.

One of the mags I was going through showed how a scrapbooker literally turned plain cardstock into patterned paper with all her stamping....it looked really good and went well with the picture too. She also overlapped the stamping on one of the photos which showed up really well.

I couldnt resist trying out the jigsaw frames I bought last week so I managed to squeeze in one last LO before CNY. It was only a 9" x 9" one but it was my first venture into mixing patterned papers so I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Only took me half an hour as I used almost all the Fresh Anthology stuff I got from Shabby Chic so it was easy to mix and put together.

I just got a few more sheets of patterned papers today, glitter letter stickers, pink paint and a mini album kit to catalogue the firm's Vietnam trip last year...cant wait to get started!

Here are some of our Vietnam pics:

Promise Rings

Promise rings are bestowed to symbolize a promise that one person makes to another. In some cases, promise rings are precursors to engagement rings. While the latter symbolize a promise to marry, promise rings can stand for many other kinds of vows.

Isnt this a great excuse for a woman to have an additional ring?!! Seriously though, I found this quite interesting when my friend told me about it. I initially thought of getting eternity rings when we agreed on a timeline for marriage since we are considering cutting short the engagement and heading straight to marriage which seems to be the trend nowadays (unless ur a lucky woman to get that very big sparkly Lazare diamond ring like some very lucky girl is now sporting :)) But then Trace told me P got those as her wedding bands so err...maybe not. Hehe... I'm not one to be too fussed about sporting a big sparkly diamond cos I'd always be nervous about losing it so this sounds like the way to go. What do you think?

Jingle Jangle...

I finally went to the tailors to get measured for my 1st costume i.e. belly dancing in hot red. Lady there who had measured me last year commented on my weight loss (*chuffed*) So $150 for the first costume...and another 2 more to go. Funny how we pay more for less material however it does include a lot of beading and shiny shiny stuff so its all good ;) The belly dancing costume does include the veil for my group anyway which I can probably reuse and I've always wanted one of those chiffony skirts since I saw Sha performing in hers. I managed to find red bangles in S'pore to match the costume while wandering around Clarke Quay. Cant wait!!

Since we're on the topic of dancing, I thought I'd share this pic. Apparently my sister's mate carved this...that is one talented girl!!

We're taking a break from dance rehersals for CNY obviously but back to full swing after that so hopefully it will eliminate all the cakes, cookies, keropok, etc that I'll be gorging...hehe. This year's CNY is going to be a lot more toned down due to the fact that we all have to return to work mid-week. H and I have no choice but to return due to work commitments though we'd love to take the week off.

After all the hearing the events of some people's Valentine's day yesterday, H and I have decided to now celebrate it on 13th to avoid all the hype and commercialism. To be honest, as long as you're enjoying some time out with your loved one, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you will be having a great time. A friend told me one of her best Valentine's was just staying in, watching a movie and eating a tub of ice cream with her beau :)

I suppose I should mention that I did a LO on Monday. I had a handful of China pics which I've divided into 3 LO's. I picked 2 papers from my Basic Grey (Urban Coulture) pack that I got from Scrappingcove and have yet to work on those. As I had purchased quite a few flowers from Scrappingcove and Laines, I really wanted to use them. The pics from Nanjing were good for these as there was a lot of greenery which would make the flowers stand out. I wasnt sure if I was finished with it cos it looked a bit too simple for my taste but when I showed it to H last night, he really liked it so I might just leave it the way it is. Will post it up soon.

I also rushed a card for H's aunty on Tuesday. She had asked me to do a Valentine's card for her to give her hubby when she saw me stitching a LO I was doing of me and H but I kinda forgot about it. I thought of just sticking on a sticker n a flower or something but simple just isnt really me. Though I finished it in about half an hour, I thought it turned out pretty well. She wanted me to do a bit more but I had to rush off for a lawyers CNY dinner at Empire and H told me she ended up doing some journalling inside the card. Unfortunately I was unable to take a pic of the card before it was whisked away. *Sigh* I love the effect the white butterfly rub-on I got from Scrappingcove had against the dark red background so I really wanted a pic....

To end on a good note, H went along to Shabby on Tuesday and bought the stuff I asked him to. When he told me I didnt have to pay him back for it (since he had already spent a lot of money on my in S'pore n bought me a present to boot, I felt guilty about making him spend more) I was like....why didnt you just buy the rest of the stuff on my wishlist then?!! LOL

Sean Ghazi

OMG!! I had only heard him sing Malay songs before but I've just heard him sing in English and its enough to make my knees go weak! Step aside Frank Sinatra!! He doesnt look too bad either ;) Thank you EL for letting me rip your album....Sigh....

Blog Cherry Popped!

Hello all,

I've decided to move over here cos its alot easier to work with and should be better for uploading my LO's. If its your first visit here....welcome :) Its still work in progress so hope you guys dont mind if its a bit plain. I've posted up a picture below of the 2nd LO I did which was for a friend. A huge collection of great X'mas photos inspired me for doing a load of LO's but I did a couple for friends. The very 1st one I've done cannot be revealed until tomorrow...but once I learn to upload the rest, you guys are welcome to peek!

Until the next time then...