>>> Update! <<<

Thursday

The boys received their new belts in their martial arts class but not before performing a demonstration for parents.

Ollie doing his demonstration

Zac doing his demonstration
Not perfect photos as I had my camcorder on one hand too. These were taken with my camera hung around me and moi merely clicking on the button.

Ollie with his new belt. Zac takes after his brother's!

Friday

Zac went on a school trip to the Art Museum in Birmingham. His class got back an hour and 15 mins late as the bus forgot to pick them up and instead came straight to school to pick up another class. Poor chap was starving when he got back. He was moaning how bored he was while waiting! Wonder what the teachers did with them during the wait!

Weekend

The usual routine....music workshop, grocery shopping. I did get to lie-in on Sunday... bliss! :) TTFN!

>>> Happy Anniversary! <<<

to hubs and moi! 9 years ago we were married on this day in Singapore. I did had to remind hubs yesterday so that he wouldn't forgot! Anyway, we are out for a meal tonite. My best friend (and she doesn't even live here!) introduced me to this restaurant, Blue Ginger which serves Singaporean & Malaysian cuisine! Mmmm.... whether or not it's authentic remains to be tasted!

Hubs got his mom to babysit the boys and we went. Hubs asked if I wanted to have teppanyaki at a Japanese restaurant. However, since we have been a few times, I wanted something different. We finally found the restaurant and it was a quaint little place with a cool ambience. Anyway, I went for 2 starters, chwee kway (middle plate) and otak (plate on the left) while hubs went for the special which was duck cooked with rambutan and jackfruit in red curry! And we ordered a side dish of kang kong belachan (plate on the right)!


The food came and I was gobsmacked! OMG! How authentic can this be?!! I took a tentative bite and almost screamed with delight. It even taste authentic! Man, the whole dinner saw me beaming away. For dessert, I ordered pandan crepe with ice-cream topped with coconut shavings. Mmmm, it was simply unbelievable... shiok (local slang that mean smackingly delicious) would be the word! Finally I found a restaurant that serves food from home. Not to mention that prices are reasonable too. Needless to say, I'll be a regular customer. In fact, there was a steady stream of customers and some even ordered a takeaway! I now know where to send hubs to when we want a takeaway! :)

Thanx CB for telling me about this restaurant... you gotta try it when you come over! TTFN!

>>> Butterfly Craft #6 <<<

Here's my take on challenge #6. The challenge is to scrap about a collection. Well, that's easy... I collect a lot namely scrap supply, handbags etc. but I chose to focus on my Crocs! I luv them and they are just sooooo comfy!

Just realised I missed out on a brown pair of Crocs... my boys luv them too and own a couple of pairs as well. LO was created using Scarlet Lime Feb 09 main kit. This kit has loads of greens and yellows hence the particular colour scheme!

TTFN!

>>> Random Thoughts! <<<

Monday

Back to school for the boys. Zac had a violin performance during school assembly as it's Music Week. So together with the other pupils, they performed a few tunes.

The entire group performing Twinkle Variation

The trio performing Allegro

My Li'l One... he must be used to performing by now!

Tuesday

Today is Egyptian Day for Oliver. I got him a costume as the one I made was rather naff! So here's he is, looking like an Egyptian Prince!

Ollie looking a little stifled as it's cold!

Will be keeping the costume in a safe place for Zac when it's his turn! TTFN!

>>> London! <<<

We made an early start for London, was out of the house by 7.30am. We had to be at the Royal Festive Hall by 10ish for the boys' violin rehearsal. They have a performance in the afternoon, organised by the British Suzuki Organisation.

Thank goodness for satnav! We got to the venue in good time and went on a sightseeing trip in London as we passed a fair number of well-known streets. The venue was teaming with people, kids especially with their violins. At 11am, their rehersal started and I got hubs to videotape them while I was clicking away. Here's some shots of them:

Their conductor is French and a really humourous chap. He certainly made the rehearsal fun!

Can you spot them?

The li'l scruffy one... thank goodness it was only rehearsal! Didn't manage to get good single shots of Ollie as he was blocked by the front row people.

We broke up for lunch and had about 3 hrs of free time. After lunch, we took a walk outside where the boys were entertained by the street performers. We passed the London Eye, the Parliament House and Big Ben and walked along the Thames.

The street performers. There were quite a few of them. Wonder how much takings they get in a day?

Bless my MIL! She took this photo of us, holding the camera pretty awkwardly. But she did well and I merely cropped out unwanted bits!

The rascals... can't never get them to pose nicely for me!

After two fun hours, we went into the Festive Hall to allow the boys to rest. Finally it was time for them to go in. The concert lasted 2 hours and they were the finale. No photography was allowed but there were so many parents sneaking a pic or two and some even videoing them. How can you not resist... seeing your kid performing on stage! Anyway, I managed a couple of sneaky pics...

This was one of the best shots of my sneaky pics! Taken without flash. Zac is right in front while Ollie is just behind him on his right.

Needless to say, I will be buying the DVD of the concert. :) My dad would luv to see it. TTFN!

>>> Dreamgirls Challenge #22 <<<

Came across this blog while blog surfing and decided to participate since I do have a fair number of American Craft papers lying untouched! In fact, Scarlet Lime Feb main kit has 4 AC papers and I used them including shaped thickers that were in past kits.

The theme was to use 80% AC stuff and to include a heart and flourish/swirl in the page. Here's what I came up:

Well, I've got at least 80% AC stuff as all the papers are AC including thickers, alphabets and shapes. The other 20% consist of trimmings, transparent tape, tiny alphas and stamps. Played with my new Ali Edwards Loving Words stamp set that came today.
LO was created using Scarlet Lime Feb main kit 09.

Pretty glad I cut into the SL kit. Most of the time, it's sitting on the shelf untouched. My aim this year is to find challenge blogs to take part and use up my kit more often. It's also fun to be able to create freely without restrain.

Rite, it's back to household chores.... ironing beckons.... got a shedload of clothes that need to be folded and ironed! It's the folding part that I detest... ironing is much more fun! TTFN!

>>> The Weekend! <<<

Friday

The day started out bright and sunny. I invited the boys' friends over to play, a pair of sisters, both of whom are in each of the boy's class. Well, all of them had a fun time playing with Wii. They did have a bit of run in the garden but not for long as it's still chilly despite the sunny weather. The boys did enjoy their company and it makes a change having gals around.

The later part of the afternoon was spent in their Nan's house. Later Zac stayed over while Ollie and I headed for home. Hubs came back early i.e. 6pm (he's normally not in till 8pm) and we made an impromptu trip to Star City for dinner instead. I took it he was too lazy to cook so decided to go out to eat... fine by me :). We tried a new restaurant called Oodles Noodles which was a pan Oriental cuisine. Have to say it was good, much to my surprise! Ollie wanted to watch Bolt but we felt it wasn't fair to Zac. He would have a fit if he knew we watched a movie without him. That boy is so calculating these days.... gosh, he goes into mathematic overdrive if he knew his brother had something more than him, especially in the snack area.

We had been debating whether to get a hotel in London for tomorrow nite as the boys have a violin concert on Sunday at the Royal Festive Hall in the Southbank Centre. They have to be at the Hall early on Sunday for rehersal which means an early trip down to London. In the end, we decided we rather drive down early as opposed to staying in London. Not so keen to do any sightseeing in London (translate that to I can't be bothered to pack for an overnite stay as I've yet to unpack from the time we spent in Poole early this year!!!)

Saturday

A quiet day for us. We only went out in the evening to see Bolt as the boys wanted to see it. It was entertaining.

Early nite for us as we are off to London tomorrow! TTFN!

>>> WeKitUNot Challenge! <<<

Here are my entries for WeKitUNot blog. The challenge this month is for us to make use of embossing, either wet or dry and I put my Cuttlebug embossing folders to good use!

Made use of the snow embossing folder on the circle.

Made use of the birthday embossing folder here.
These were created using BackPorch Memories Feb kit.

Over at UKScrappers forum, a group of us who subscribed to Scarlet Lime kit decided to challenge us to use the kit and create something. Well, it has worked and we have put the kit(s) to good use. I played with August main kit 08 last nite and came up with this:

Made use of circular embossing folder to make the centres of the flowers.
LO created using Scarlet Lime Aug main kit 08.

On a happy note, my Scarlet Lime Feb kit has arrived! Hooray! Gonna have a nite of fun later. TTFN!

>>> Already Thursday? <<<

Sheesh, it's already Thursday. Where did the time go? I had a busy day today as my SIL and her boys came down and we spent a good hour in the park. The weather was perfect too. My boys luv being with their cousins (they are of similar ages). As for me, I had a good time practicising my shoots on them, not that I'm an expert but it gets better with more practise!

Note to self: wipe his snog off before taking a photo!

Why is it so difficult to get all 4 boys to look into the camera and smile!!!

No doubt some of these photos will make their way into my pages. I was running out of photos to scrap!

I had this sudden urge to bake and I did.


Made 2 trays of banana cupcakes and half was topped with chocolate buttercream while the other half with vanilla buttercream. Added a Malteaser at the top for good measure. This went down well with the kiddies and adults! The only problem when you bake is the urge to finish up what you bake! I'm resisting the temptation to wolf them down. I've been keeping my waistline in check and so far I'm pleased with my progress. But it's so difficult to keep slim, especially moi, who luv to eat!

Did a shedload of cooking as well. I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow as it's the hubs' turn to cook! He's a much better cook than I am.

I've been addicted to the music channels these days. Been catching up with the latest pop videos and enjoying them while I'm in the kitchen or craft room. I'm so luving Britney's latest hits and her videos. That gal is sure as hell talented and I'm glad she back in the music scene.

Postie brought me 2 mags that I enjoy... Stampington Inspirations and Stampers' Sampler. I would have gone for Somerset Studio except that I didn't fancy the current issue... didn't appear interesting and these mags aren't cheap either. However they contain tons of inspiration and are worth keeping. My only grouse with Stampinton Inspirations was that 1/4 was the mag and the other 3/4 was a stamp catalogue. I seriously don't understand why they had to do it ... to bulk up the mag? Imagine if I had to order from the States and pay high postage for a mag where 3/4 was simply a stamp catalogue.... I would have been pissed! Well, they did mention there was a stamp catalogue but 3/4 of the mag simply on stamps was way too much for my liking. Oh well...

I've been keeping a rein on my stash spending (well, I've got so much at the moment) but I couldn't resist these stamps when I saw them. I just had to have them.

Basic Grey Porcelain Aviary (aren't those bird cages cute!)

Basic Grey Marrakech Morocco (these remind me of an Asian flair... luv that peacock feathers)

Technique Tuesday Loving Words by Ali Edwards (had my eye on these a while back and when they came back in stock, I went for it)

Can't wait to have a play with them when they arrive! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

It was my turn to display my project for Banana Frog blog and this was what I did. It was also my birthday pressie to Zac:

I had this blank canvas lying around my craft room and decided to put it to good use. Luv the photo I had taken of Zac during our advent of snow and had to use it. Pulled out a few Banana Frog stamp sets and they were put to good use. The stamp sets used were I Heart You, It's All About Flourishes, It's All About Stars and Steelfish lowercase. The butterflies were cut from KI Memories lace cardstock.

A closeup of the cut out heart images. Patterned paper used was from Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letter collection which was so appropriate for this project.

TTFN!

>>> Half Term! <<<

I'm so loving half term at the moment. I can't tell you how nice it is not to rush in the morning but best of all, not to have to get up so early! The boys and I spend a lazy time in bed in the morning, watching cartoons. The afternoons are spent doing a bit of homework and in the evenings, they practise their violins. In between, they play either their DS or Wii. We haven't really gone out as there is nowhere to go really. Hubs was supposed to take time off but suddenly he had meetings and he has to go to London this Friday so there goes his leave! Oh well, the boys and I will just continue our lazy sessions. It's nice not to have to do anything as opposed to normal routine where we are simply rushing all the time! Bliss!

>>> On Display! <<<

A couple of projects on show:

A last minute card that I made for Scrapitude forum Card-athon. I had to follow the theme 3-2-1 i.e. 3 of something, 2 of another and just 1 item. It was more difficult than I though but I've got 3 trimmings, 2 patterned papers and 1 blossom. Sentiment will come later when I decide what the card is for.

This LO was done for my A-Z BOM entry. I'm now onto letter 'S' and I've chosen to focus on sprinting, the time when I was an athlete in my late teens! I ran competitively on a national level too. It was fun and I certainly enjoyed it. I also did cross country too. These days, the only time I ran is after my kids!

LO created using Scarlet Lime kit (not sure with month though but luv the background paper which is from GCD)

TTFN!

>>> The Party! <<<

Zac had his birthday party at Scallywags, an indoor softplay area which is miles nicer than Wacky Warehouse (which I find is getting rather jaded and dirty). This place was huge, bright and cheery!

Best of all, when I was checking it out, they allowed me to go in and take a look unlike the other two places, Funky Monkeys and Hickory Dickorys who merely told me to just look from the reception area. Tough luck, if I'm gonna spend money on a party, I definitely wanna look at the play area and also to show it to the birthday boy to see if he likes it. And if company take a dim view of that, too bad, they lose my business! So I thoroughly recommend Scallywags. A great place for children's party and the food is good too. They offer free flow of drinks, free face painting/tattoo for the birthday kid and free hot drinks for the birthday kid's parents. The customer service was great too. Meal was served buffet style and there's a choice of cold, hot or mixed buffet. We went for mixed buffet and I like the fact that the kids have a range of food choices as opposed to just a singular meal. I think they ate more. Cakes were served after the meal as well as ice-cream.

I leave with a few photos of the event:

Zac's birthday cupcakes

Meal time. A mix of cold and hot buffet.

The birthday boy blowing out his candles! Can't believe he's 6!!!

TTFN!

>>> Happy Birthday Zac! <<<

My little boy turns 6 today (on the 13th!). Sheesh, where has the time gone? I can still vividly remember him making his entrance a wee bit too early for comfort as he was due on the 14th but decided to cause me anguish on the 12th instead. Unfortunately I had just had dinner and therefore, they couldn't do a C-section immediately so I had to endure 6 hrs of labour pains! As I had problems giving birth naturally for my eldest, I opted not to do it this time. Eventually I was wheeled into the surgery and out he came on the 13th in the wee hours of the morning.

His school celebrated his birthday (& the others) during assembly and parents are invited to witness it.

After blowing out candles, the birthday gal/boy gets a pencil

Later during home time, he gave out sweets to his friends. In the evening, we held a mini celebration for him. Instead of getting the traditional Chinese cake, I decided to make him cupcakes instead.


Hubs got him a Wii for his birthday pressie.

As usual, we are always the last to get such stuff as his cousins already do have a Wii and other games stations as well. Hubs set it up in the living room and both boys had a go at it. It took Zac a while to get use to the controls but once mastered, he beat Oliver at most games (much to Ollie's annoyance!) I'm intending to get the fitness board so that I can do some exercises or rather, have fun doing exercises! :)

Tomorrow is Zac's party and it's held at Scallywags, an indoor softplay area. I've been baking all nite as he's having cupcakes for his birthday cake.

The kiddies' cupcakes, vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream, topped with jelly beans.

The adults' cupcake... banana cupcake with vanilla buttercream, topped with a walnut

Can't wait for all this to be over.... haven't scrapped for a while and getting withdrawal symptoms! It's also half term too ... hooray, no need to get up early. I certainly need a break from that. The boys will be busy next week practising their violins as they have a concert in London next Sunday! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Some LOs created using BackPorch Memories Feb Medley kit:

Papers by SEI Lovebirds!
Made use of a Cuttlebug snow emblossing folder on the circle.

Papers by Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letter. This LO was based on a sketch (which I rotated a little) by Becky Fleck. Have to admit, the sketch kinda hampered my style!

Papers by Collage Press Jackson Lodge.

Birthday card using Collage Press Jackson Lodge scraps!
'Birthday' word created using Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder.

All created under extreme adrenalin! Stress works! LOL! :) TTFN!

>>> Duh! >>>

What a dork I am! Got all my dates mixed up and I was thinking that today my son had to dress up in an Egyptian costume. I only read it on Saturday nite and by then it was too late to order any costume for him. So I decided to make a few bits. Managed to dig out a pj that nearly resembled a costume. Then proceeded to make a head gear, bracelets and belt.

Not a great shot! The headgear that I made. Think I will now get him an proper Egyptian costune instead!

Got him dressed and when we reached school, realised that no one was wearing any costume!!! Suddenly it dawned on me that I might read the date wrongly so drove back to check and true enough, it was supposed to be on the 24th Feb! Duh!!! So Ollie got back into his uniform and I had to send him to school late. So crossed with myself! And to think I wasted my time making all those things... I could have done my BPM DT assignments!

Yeah, postie brought my BackPorch Memories kit yesterday! So I only had a day to create my stuff. Good thing I work well under pressure and managed to produce some reasonable LOs! He also brought along some Cuttlebug embossing dies which I had gotten in the US at sale prices! I've fallen in luv with these dies and have been using them a lot in cards.

Need to prepare for Zac's party this Sat and his actual birthday on Friday! I've got plans but whether or not they take shape remains to be seen. Better make a start now! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Here's the challenge that I set for the Card-athon at Scrapitude forum. Found the basic instructions from Spiltcoaststampers site and tweaked it a little to suit me.

The stairstep card. Used stamps from Autumn Leaves Mindy's Zoo, Purple Onion Designs and BackPorch Memories.

Here's another card that I made based on a sketch. This was Kimmy's challenge:

Took out my Basic Grey clown stamps to play. Other stamps used are from Autumn Leaves and Purple Onion Designs.

I will be tackling more challenges as soon as I get my DT assignments done! TTFN!