Creating

On a roll again. Created this LO using Scrapbook Obsession May kit featuring Basic Grey Urban Couture. Luv this range of papers as it's so oriental looking. Have made it my mission to come out with at least 5 more LOs using these papers. Anyway, SO is having a competition whereby you create LOs using the kit and on the 10th May, voting is held to pick the best one and that person receive the following month's kit free! As I always said, nothing venture nothing gain!
Picture is of my youngest, Zac. His eyes are so dark, not black but dark brown which is so different from his brother, which are light brown. Funnily that he shares the same colour eyes as his cousin, Grace. Both their eyes look so similar!

As mentioned, I caved in and bought Rhonna Farrer Splendor collection! Caved in further and went for Cathy Z's sequel to Clean and Simple. I'm not a clean and simple scrapper but I might just give it a try. It certainly is a lot faster to create although I like to stay away from using the PC so much in LO. I much prefer using handwritten journal instead. It gives a more personal touch I feel!

I'm in love with Cherry Arte papers. Discovered them when I was subbing to Back Porch Memories kit and since then, have bought their latest sets, Angel and Seasons. They just look so gorgeous and so easy to work with. Here's one that I created using the Burnish range. The colours are so subtle and so easy to layer them. They currently have a Design Team call but doubt if I stand any chance!!!

Created this LO for a contest on the Scraptitude forum whereby each of us had to guess the creator behind each LO. After doing this, kinda thought the photo would give me away but as it was done close to deadline, didn't fancy re-doing. Photo of Mike and the boys on a beach along the Route des Caps in France. It's so lovely to hear the waves and smell the sea!

Urban Lily Collection 3 papers are out. Got my eye on Urban Boy and Urban Gypsy. They look just so cool. I've to stop buying papers though... got so much at the moment! Oh well, it's my birthday so will give myself a treat and then go on a stash diet! I'm also on the lookout for the new book by Autumn Leaves Freestyle. My friend Brenda-Mae is in it and her work is just so cool! The book itself has a blog which is issuing a challenge to scraplift any LO. Have taken a peek at some and it's soooo my style of scrapping. If only it doesn't bloody sell out so quickly in the UK scrapping stores!!!

Finally got down to clearing my craft area. Sorted out the cardmaking magazines and items as I'm not into cardmaking these days. I've got 2 boxes full of stuff to sell off... might offload it on Ebay next week! As soon as that is gone, will start sieving out my scrapping papers that I won't use anymore and somehow get rid of them too. Might make them into a kit using smaller size papers instead. Found out I've got a few mini albums lying around so might just chuck them into the kit. See how it goes. If I'm gonna get new papers, can't be holding on to old ones so might as well get rid of them. I need to organise my unmounted stamps!!! I've got in mind what to do with them but just don't have the time to get it sorted. I guess part of scrapping is organisation too. I'm beginning to reach that stage whereby I'm getting fedup of the messiness. Anyway, have dedicated May and June to a big spring clean so I just have to get it done!

Finally another LO made for Homegrown. Somehow it didn't turn out the way it should. Not so keen on it really so might do another one to compensate! Photo of my boys walking along the wall. As usual, they have to find some unusual area to walk instead of the pavement! I've entitled it 'Walk the Walk'.

The next few LOs will see me attempting minimalist approach.....hopefully!

Scrapping Me!

Finally got down to scrapping about myself last nite and completed the LO in the wee hours of the morning. Used Basic Grey Urban Couture from Scrapbook Obsession May kit. Gosh, have to say that those papers in particular are so lovely, it has to be the best papers out of the entire BG range! The LO was done in response to Kirsty another fabbo scrapper (her works are to die for!) call to scrap about yourself. Most scrappers tend to concentrate on their loved ones, neglecting to scrap themselves and it is such a shame as you buy all the lovely stash and end up using it on someone else! It also gave me the opportunity to use my new Zig metallic pens and these really show up on black cardstock beautifully! Did a fair bit of doodling as well although somehow didn't think it came out great! Anyway, here's the piece:

Received a letter from Royal Mail to pick up a parcel from the PO. (annoying when parcels arrive and you are not in!!) I reckon the parcel is the birthday swap that I'm involved at UK Scrapper forum. I was very specific in my likes, requesting BG Baby Boy papers. I much rather get something I want than someone's castoff especially if you don't state what you want! (speaking from bad experience!) It will be hard having to wait until my birthday to open it... or well, in 2 days time! :)

I'm seriously resisting the urge to get hold of Rhonna Farrer Spendor collection. Just bought her Enchanted papers not long and haven't actually used it yet! I think I've got enough papers now to last me a life time... I've never actually used up an entire piece of 12x12 paper. Knowing me, that urge will haunt me and eventually will give in.........

Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder!

Yes, it's the time of the year where the flowers & leaves are starting to come out and my fav time of the season. Days are getting slightly longer and warmer too! I luv Spring as it feel like as if life is being rejuvenated! Also the time to slap sunblock on myself too.
Having brought up in a tropical sunny climate for the better part of my life, I learnt that sun is the worst enemy with regards to wrinkles and freckles! Been indoctrinated by beauty therapist to avoid the sun and to be as fair as possible as that is a sign of beauty! Being dark is ugly (not unless you are born dark which can't be helped. But if you were born fair skinned, it was a sin to have a tan!) Needless to say, being a rebel, never heed that warning and was constantly in the sun when young. Hence, my face is now riddled with freckles!

The perception of beauty is so different between the Far Eastern & Western women. There is even a difference in the skincare products being sold. Back home, you will find tons of whitening skincare for women (product to whiten the skin as fairness is a sign of beauty!) Hence in the West, ask them about whitening products and they look at you blankly... instead tanning products are sold! I'm talking about big names such as Estee Lauder, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden etc.... they all indulge in the whitening products range over in the Far East but not in the West. Kinda remind me of the HSBC advert where they show the different customs in different countries and how they take note of it as part of their customer service! I suppose it the same for skincare companies... what sells in one country/region may not be saleable in another!

Anyway, while back in Singapore last Sept, was introduced to Nu Skin, an American product which is not sold over the counter. They don't believe in advertising either but hell are their skincare products ever so good. Mom has been using them for a while now and my goodness, her skin at 60ish looks even better than mine! She certainly doesn't even look 60 at all! I got the entire TriPhasite range and used them during the winter months... have to say it's fabbo! For once, my skin was kept nice & moist during the harsh winter months, In the past, whenever I put makeup on, you could see the dry fine lines but this time.... nothing!!! How great is that! I luv it! They do have an office in the UK but seeing that I still have my products (got 2 sets), don't need anymore at present! Dad is even raving about their vitamin products too as he takes them and find it has done him so much good... Dad is in his 70s and he is ever so active, playing tennis 2-3 times a week and going off to Indonesia for fishing or Malaysia every 2-3 months! I've even introduced the product to my best friend and she swears by it now! Finally a skincare product that actually works!!!

Spring Clean

Ohhh, I'm getting frustrated! Was trying to do a LO but the overwhelming mess on my craft table was getting too much and gave up any notion of creating! Instead, took a bin bag and started clearing out the mess. Must have thrown loads of papers and rubbish and car magazines etc. I will have to declutter my craft supplies soon. Realised that I do have quite a fair bit of card making items and these need to go as I'm not into card making these days. Hence, most of my lace, paper piercing templates will go as well as all the old craft magazines too. They are taking too much precious space that I could use for scrapbooking! Not to mention punches, and other bits and bobs relating to card making. As soon as I clear that, the next area will be the baby stuff. Definitely not gonna have anymore kids so no point hanging on to baby swings, prams etc. That will be in the loft. Have dedicated 2 mths of decluttering the house.... whether I actually do it is another question but I have to!

Finally needled hubby into going back to Singapore in July. The boys and myself will spend 2 glorious months there while hubby will stay for a month. Wow! So looking forward to eating especially my fav fruits ... really miss them. Not to mention watching the latest series of CSI as my brothers are fanatics of that series. Finally, can't wait to meet up with my friends again. I think the boys will thoroughly enjoy too as I can bring them for a swim every evening. Dad is probably gonna bring us to the kelong in Indonesia for a week of fishing.... fab! Imagine having freshly cooked fish for every meal... mmmm! Let's hope I can catch an even bigger fish than Mike! Yes! Yes! Yes! Looking forward to 2 months of no housework and cooking!!!!

Hubby asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday as it's just around the corner.... well, seeing that he has just paid da bomb for our flight fare back to Singapore, didn't think I should push my luck further but did hint about getting a new laptop as the current one is running out of disk space, not to mention very old features! Doubt very much if he would take heed of the hint! Sometimes wondered if I'm that feminine... most women would have asked for jewellry, handbags or something girly but I tend to ask for mostly electronic products.... like a HiTi photo printer, sewing machine etc instead. I suppose it's the practical aspect as I can use them instead of having something that remains in the vault! Oh, I did ask for a Louis Vuitton handbag before. I think it's b'cos since becoming a SAHM, I don't get opportunity to go out so what's the point of having such items!

Finally got some time off to myself while the boys were in school and managed to finish a LO this afternoon. Makes a big difference when you don't have the boys to pester you!Decided to do a different theme and incorporated all four of us. I seldom scrap myself but decided that it shouldn't be the case. So here goes....

Have to luv those white pens... got them while I was in France checking out a stationery store. Couldn't believe my luck when I saw them. They are from Pentel and Uni Ball. They look absolutely lovely on the black cardstock!

Actually made use of my latest stamps. Stamped the 'OUT' letters in Li'l Davis hash brown foam stamps, the brackets from Technique Tuesday Functuation stamps, and the background flowers in the journalling from Sassafralass Stitched Border 1 stamps (luving them so much) .

I don't scrap at nite these days as I much prefer to watch TV namely CSI on the cable channel. Gotta luv Living TV as they bring out one or two episodes of CSI every nite. Tonite was no exception except that I had to switch between Desperate Housewives and CSI . Yes, I'm a confessed CSI junkie!!!

Crop

Once or twice a month, I go to a scrapbooking crop where together with a bunch of scrapmad ladies we sit on our butt and scrap happily away without interference from outside sources such as kids, hubby or housework! It's a day dedicated to pure scrapping ectasy! Oh and not forgetting shopping too as there is usually a scrapbooking shop within the premise. Today was no exception and we had the pleasure of Crafty Pastimes. Was very restrained in my expenditure and went for the Blond Moment papers in Sugar Dumpling (pinks and purples) and Spring Fling (oranges & yellows). Then had to grab the StazOn white inkpad, some ribbons and alpha stickers!

The rest of the day was spent doing my 2 letters in my A-Z album, J and L. Then completed a LO as well. Here are the results of my productive day:

Yeah, it's good to get out and have time out for myself. You feel so refreshed to face another week of mundane lifestyle! Good to know in a fortnight, will be going to another one, this time on National Scrapbooking Day (yeah, it does exist) from 9-9! Another fun-filled scrapping day to look forward to!

Food! Food! Food!

The one thing I miss most since living in England is food back home (home where I originally came from i.e. Singapore). It's certainly is a food paradise there and you can get any kind of food you want all round the clock! Sometimes you had a hard time choosing or deciding what you want to eat due to the variety of cuisines around namely, chinese, malay, indian, western etc. Yup, I do get serious withdrawal symptons not being able to eat my fav food such as nasi lemak, kuay chap, yong tau foo, carrot cake (made with turnip rather than carrot), cha kuay tuay etc. I could actually go on and on.
What I really miss most is my fruits.... I eat loads of them and there are so much varieties found back home. Here in England, it's the usual oranges, bananas, pears, apples, the berries and grapes. Occasionally you find in the exotic section of the supermarket, mangoes, pomelo, papaya, lychees etc. My fav has to be duku (definitely not found in the Western world yet!), mangosteen, durian, chiku and the Indonesian snake skin (not sure of its exact name) fruit. I could easily sit down with a 3 kilo worth of duku, in front of the TV and finish off the fruits! What a pig!
Even miss my titbits too. I'm not a potato eater and hence, you won't find me eating crisps. I tend to go for the preserved stuff like preserve plums/mangoes/olives etc and not forgetting prawn crackers.
Anyway, had to go down to the Chinese quarters to get some cooking sauces and while at a Chinese store, bump into a lady who picked up blachan (a very smelly but delicious chilli paste) and put back after seeing the price. She said to herself it was expensive and she would buy it back home. Being the nosy one, I asked where she came from and she mentioned Malaysia. Immediately I strike up a conversation with her about living her and missing food which she totally agreed. She's been here even longer than moi, 20 yrs and still misses her homeland, lifestyle and food! Then she gave me a tip!!! She informed me of a takeaway that did authentic Malaysian dishes (well both countries share similar dishes by the way). Trust me when I say that it's sooooo difficult to find local cuisine here in England. True, there are loads of Chinese takeaways and restaurants but they lean toward Cantonese cuisine (from Hong Kong) and it's totally different! Anyway, after exchanging phone numbers, I went to search for the takeaway only to find it was close until 3pm. Didn't want to hang about for 2 hrs so went back home. Guess who will be eating out come Saturday!!! Saw the menu and found nasi lemak, cha kuay tuay and even crab!!! Wonder if they can actually cook chilli or pepper crab??? Definitely be one of their regularly customers! Salivating now just at the thought of it!
Yeah, I luv my food! The word diet doesn't exist in my vocab and I do eat like a horse. Fortunately I'm equally blessed with a great metabolism rate that keeps me looking like a beanpole too! Hence I get comments from well meaning people telling me to eat more.... ha! if only they knew.....

Anyway, cooked up a feast tonight: vegetarian noodles, pak choy with fungus (mushrooms) & garlic prawns. Took me an hour to prepare the ingredients but it was cooked fairly quickly. That's the trouble with chinese cuisine. There's so much preparation but cooking it just takes a few minutes! Eating it is even lesser! Here's my gastronomic delight! Hubby was ever so impressed and wasted no time wolfing down the prawns! Even Oliver, my eldest couldn't resist it. Those 3 dishes took 15 minutes to be wiped completely clean! And to think I was hoping for any leftovers.....

Stash Delight

Wow! Postie brought me some new stash from Scrapkit, a few papers from Cherry Arte and the Sassafralass Stitched borders. Initial surpise was that they were small but on closer inspection, they are absolutely gorgeous. Managed to use them in a LO and it wipe off ink cleanly! Fabulous. Then I was alerted to more of their new stamps coming out in May! Oh gosh! The doodled borders are evenly lovelier! Gosh, I really got a fetish for stamps in any forms.......

Back to normality

Been offline for a week as I was on holiday in France. Had a great time visiting places around, spending time on the beaches with the kids and had great food. Somehow meat there taste better than in the UK! One nite we had veal for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Can't get veal here in UK! Even the lamb didn't taste and smell so lamby too! And the pastry was to die for as well! Doubt if I put any weight on as I'm still able to fit into my jeans! Oh well, so much for eating like a pig!

Back to reality now. Loads to catch up, namely laundry as I had 7 days loads to wash. Unpacking as well which is a major chore.... fun to pack but horrid to have to unpack everything!

Got back on Easter Sunday and DH presented me with a lovely Mingles Easter egg... shock horror as I didn't think he would get one as it wasn't cheap! Anyway, yet to eat as I'm stuck with a horrid sorethroat.

While in France, I had opportunity to scrap as the lady that rented the cottage did scrapping workshop and I attended 2 sessions. Even bought a couple of French scrapping magazines. There have a few but some were dismally basic! Got 2 that I found was worth browsing and keeping, not to mention learning the French terms for scrapping too. Managed to complete a few LOs as well as I had packed a few kits to bring with me. Couldn't bring too much as the boot of the car was already filled with luggages!

Got my chance to practice my French too as we were in a farming community and not many could speak English. It's great to be able to speak in another tongue other than English!

Took tons of pictures too! The good thing about digital camera is the ability to take as many shots as you want without worry about the cost of developing them. I only print out those that I want and store the rest on CDs! Need to make an album out of them now!

Just before we left France, headed to Carrefour (their local mega supermarket) and loaded up with food (no wine or beer as we aren't drinkers especially moi!) Got my apple pie, cheese and of course escargot (they have it all marinated in the frozen section). Wish I was back living in France, food there is so much nicer!

Right need to come back down to reality now that I'm back in the UK. And of course to scrapping. Hard to do with the kids still on their Easter break!

Oh, before I left for France, received my Rhonna Farrer kit (Enchanted collection) from The Red Lily. Darn postie left it outside my door without ringing the doorbell to inform me. Only found out when I opened the door when DH arrived home from conference! So annoyed as I could be stroking it! Can't wait to have a play with them. (Picture of kit taken from the Red Lily site)

Busy as a Bee

Gosh, the last few days have passed like a blurr! Times flies when you are not watching it. Funny how when I was working before, time seemed to crawl, more so when you are constantly looking at it to see how long before you leave! These days, I only look at it so as not to miss picking the kids from school. And boy does it just fly!!!

Today was Oliver's last day in school and also the last day for his Headmistress who is retiring. She's a gem and will be missed. I made her an altered canvas using picture taken of her with the children on the stage. Thankfully the Deputy Head is taking over the role and not an outsider! Makes more sense since he know how the school is being run. A stranger might just upset the balance and flow that is already in place!

So hubby is away 2 nites for a conference and I'm all alone with the kids. Doesn't bother me 'cos they are more obedient without their dad around (dad's a little softie and boy do they know how to twist him around their little fingers!) Kids aren't stupid these days. They will try out patience to see how far they can go and then take full advantage of it! Unfortunately most parents fail to recognise it and pay the price later. Luckily my teaching background has come in handy and has allowed me to keep them in check! Oh well, someone has to be the disciplinarian.

On the creativity front, been creating 1 LO everyday using SEI's Winnie Walls papers. They are absolutely gorgeous and so yummy to use. Must be the colour orange in them... somehow makes it so bright and springy! Here's a few that I created:

Luv this photo that was taken professionally. It isn't very often that I'm in front of the camera. Did a fair bit of doodling on the LO using my Le Plume pens (boy are they coming in handy now!) and Zig writer pens. Took inspiration of course from Rhonna Farrer new stamp collection set which incidentally are absolutely gorgeous as it features her doodling.

Another LO created with Zac in the swing. Brought them to Malvern Park one sunny Saturday and he was absolutely tickled pink in the swing and kept wanting to go as high as possible!

Have created a few more but will upload later.

Musings

Finished a third LO for Homegrown. Accidentally trim a wee bit short of the 8.5" width and made up by adding flowers to the side as seen here:

Looking at his new hair cut (done by his dad), Zac is looking more and more cheeky and I swear, if I put a dress on him, he would pass off easily for a girl! When he was sprouting long hair, he was always mistaken for a girl despite putting him in boy's clothes!

Been taking note of the mundane stuff I did today so that I could journal in my diary. It's the 3rd today and I've yet to put any entry in and it's annoying the hell outta me!

Gosh, I felt so bad as I had completely forgotten about decorating an egg for Oliver to bring to school! Never mind that, sent Zac to school and completely forgotten that I had to help him decorate an Easter hat. Anyway, seeing the entries brought in, it was plain that the competition should be aimed at parents not the kids. It was stated that it should be handmade, using art and craft material and yet you see proper hat being decorated with little chicks and silk flowers!

Geesh, in 5 days time we head off to France for a week's break and have I pack anything so far... NOPE! The bags are still in the loft and I'm still busy scrapping. Oh well, probably end up doing last minute packing. Doesn't help that hubby is off to a conference from Thursday until Sat midday so it looks like I've to ensure everything is ready to go when he returns on Sat as we have to drive down to Poole (a 3hr journey) to catch the ferry across France. Life's gonna be interesting later in the week! But then don't I always strive on adrenalin and pressure?!!!

Best Friend

It was my best friend, Ellen's birthday yesterday and wish I was with her to celebrate it! Our friendship goes a long way, meeting her when she first started teaching in the same school as moi! I had seen her before in the teacher's training college but as she was a year below me, never really knew her. However we strike up a close friendship, made even closer by a despotic vice principal, and together with a few more colleagues, had a ball of a time chasing good food and going places. Anyway, I left for studies overseas but kept in contact and later, she joined me in the UK when she came over to study too. Once again, we had a ball of our time, searching out places with good food (yeah, I luv food but that's another story altogether!) and having fun. She's now in Shanghai, China with her hubby who's working there and I was so glad to be able to visit her last Sept. I had such a fun time, eating, shopping and enjoying each other's company! She's like a sister to me, the sister I never had and it's so good to be able to confide in her whenever I need someone to talk to. Thank goodness for cyberspace where we can chat and email without paying exhorbitant charges! Here's a LO I created in honour of her using Homegrown Hybrid March kit:

On the creative side, I'm late in doing my journal but I've to fulfil my DT assignments first. Hopefully I'll get some time to do the journal as I've got full of ideas but frustratingly no time to create it!

I'm making progress with the DT assignment. Here's another LO created. Picture of my youngest who was so knackered on Friday that he fell asleep awaiting his tea. Being the mean mom, I only gave him half an hour though. Past experience has shown that if he slept too long in the afternoon, he won't sleep at nite!

Have to say that the Crate paper resembles Wild Asparagus papers. Double-sided and quite thick. Colours are a little muted. Well, one more LO and an altered item to complete!

April Fool's Day!!!

Can't believe it's April now! Where has all the days gone by?

Anyway, a new month and I've got a new project which is to do a journal for this month. I'm gonna make it artistic, with lots of doodling, stamping (really gotta use my ever expanding amount of stamps) and of course photos. Will be concentrating on the mundane aspect of my life, namely what a SAHM does! I suppose in years to come it would be interesting to read about what I did! Writing a journal isn't new to me. I did a year's journal for both my kids when they were born, yep one whole year, charting their development.

Woo Hoo! The postie brought some goodies for me. Came back from grocery shopping to see an envelope sticking out of my letterbox. It was a little too bulky to go thru. Anyway, it was SB stash which I bought 2nd hand from a scrapping forum! Then picked up a big envelope from the US....and hooted with delight! It is my Technique Tuesday clear stamps. I ordered the Functuation and Paisley stamps from a US scrapbooking store and it took 5 days to arrive. Absolutely luv the Functuation stamps!!!! Can't wait to have a play with them.