~ Scrap Factor: Week Two Results & Royal Wedding ~

Phew! Just found out I'm still in the competition as voting ended this morning. This week's challenge is to scrap based on a printed advert. Here's my advert:

That is such an eye-catching advert. Hence, it greatly inspired me to produce this LO:

Photo of a few good friends in Singapore. If I'm not mistaken, this was taken by Jaz's little boy! He sure as hell took it well!

Credit:

Anna Aspnes, ArtPlay Palette Blooming Marvelous kit
Anna Aspnes, Spring Word Transfer
Maya de Groot, Prego kit
Carina Gardner, Daisy Jane Inkblots
Audrey Neal, Everyday Celebration kit
Katie Pertiet, Winged Clusters No2
Katie Pertiet, Floral Photo Blocks
Katie Pertiet, Worth Repeating Page Title
Lynn Grieveson, For Humanity kit
Font: Traveling Typewriter

And who can forget this day?! It is the Royal Wedding and hubby woke with up by turning on the TV. So we watched till lunchtime. Have to say, quite a regal affair and the wedding dress is lovely! Luv the lace! As it's a public holiday as well, nice to stay in and chill out on a Friday! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 156 ~

This week we are sponsored by Shannon's Sentiments.

Today's challenge is to create a card that you could give to pretty much anyone you know (male/female, co-workers, family members, friends), so it can't be too personal and it can't be gender-specific -- but of course there's a catch.  It must have a sentiment on it, and it cannot be a thank you note.  Otherwise it can be of any theme. Here's mine:

Candles are from Shannon's Sentiments, coloured using Copics and sprinkled with glitter.

TTFN!

~ Scrap Factor: Week Two & Back Home! ~

Voting for week two has started which can be seen here! This week, we are supposed to be inspired by a printed advert. Managed to find one online (that was previously printed) and my LO came on fairly quick. Luv the colours in the advert. Voting ends on Friday where we will find out our fate! It's been fun so far and I've learnt a lot more about digi scrapping. Not surprising, my Mac has also been inseparable from me lately! 

Just got back from a weekend getaway from Poole. Been a beach bum for 3 days. We literally spent our time on the beach, basking in the glorious sunshine. The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing with the sand, just digging holes and swimming in the sea. Can't fault the weather, it was brilliant. Felt as if we were experiencing summer, not spring! I leave with a couple of photos...

Hubs & moi in the canoe.

The li'l wee one crawling thru' a hole that was dug. 

Somehow, the boys always have to find an unusual way of playing in the playground!

The Easter break is almost at its end. How did 2 weeks fly so quickly? Oh well, another 4 weeks to go before half term again! TTFN!

~ Scrap Factor! ~

Phew! Just found out that I've not made the bottom two. Now that voting is closed, here's my LO based on the inspired colours.

The inspired colours.

My LO. We were invited for BBQ at a friend's and she offered scrumptious squids, chicken, pork and lamb! Yum! Thankfully no sausages or burgers! (just can't eat them... too chunky for my liking!)

Credits:

Paper by Fran's Soleil Givre
Overlay by Jen Allyson's Vanity Fair Squares
Sentiment by Ali Edwards' Memories Delight
Journal page by Gennifer Bissett's Torn Journaling Page
Mask by Agnes Biro's Dear Diary
Tag by Kate Teague's Vacation Holiday Tags
Journaling lines by Katie Pertiet's Ledger Grids
Photo frames by Katie Pertiet's Clustered Frames
Alpha by Mary Ann Wise's Sprayed Alpha
Fonts by Pea Annalee & Adler
Tape by LivEdesigns Tape It Up Noted

Today marks the start of a long Easter weekend. We are off to Poole as SIL managed to rent a beach hut on Poole beach. Guess we are all gonna be beach bums for the next few days! Ciao! TTFN!

~ On Display! ~

Been working on my Scrap Factor LO for Week 2 which stipulates taking inspiration from a printed Ad. Found a fab Ad and got working on it. Took a while to search as I don't possess printed materials i.e. newspapers, mags etc. So much easier to read everything online! Anyway, managed to find a printed one online that I like and my LO came on fairly easily. 

Over at Jessica Sprague, they have One Buck Wednesday and a few digi products was marked down to a $1. Not surprising, I snapped up a few supplies and one of them was a Photoshop Friday lesson about transparent photo. Well, had a go at it and this is my LO:

LO is based on the free mini kit that came with the lesson (bargain!) and so is the template. Anyway, I put into practice what I learnt. Gave the photos a vintage look (a tip I picked up at DesignerDigitals) and learnt how to make my photo sepia in this lesson. Have to say, Jessica's lessons are brilliant as she makes them very easy to understand. 

TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 50 ~

This week we are sponsored by Digital Delights.

Today's challenge is to take inspiration from the design of the 365 Card blog. Now I was inspired by the rainbow and made my background paper based on the rainbow colours in Photoshop. Here's my card:

The background was created using the digital images from Katie Pertiet's Birthday Blocks. The journaling note is from Biograffiti's Note to Self. Stamped image from Digital Delights, coloured using Copics. Sentiment is from Banana Frog's Sentimental Style set.

TTFN!

~ On Display: Banana Frog! ~

Over at the Banana Frog Blog, it was my turn to showcase Project of the Day. I did a Hybrid project. I created my papers based on a couple of digital elements and printed them out on an A4 sheet. Here is my A4 sheet: 

Digi images from Anna Aspnes' ArtPlay Palette Blooming Marvelous and Spring Transfer Words.

The tag was sprayed with a mist and then stamped with Hiya Chick stamp set. 

 The card page was slightly misted.  I added a sentiment from Sentimental Style set and butterfly from Butterflies and Swirls.

 Finally a 6x4 LO. Journaling lines from Hiya Chick set and 'imagine' word from Retro Space. 

On the homefront, just found out that my wee one passed his Grade 2 violin exam! Phew! He was so worried he would fail as his mind blanked out when he was asked to play his scales. Poor chap! He was so nervous before the exam and I didn't realised it would affect him. He came out utterly disappointed. His teacher had said he played his 3 pieces brilliantly so thankfully that managed to salvage his marks! He was so happy that he has asked his dad for a pair of roller blades (we usually reward them when they pass an exam or do well in something)! Not sure how I feel about it as he can't skate but hey, he can always learn. Both boys now have to prepare for their Grade 3 exam due to be taken in July! Good luck to them! TTFN!

~ Scrap Factor! ~

Voting has begun in the Scrap Factor, over at UK Scrappers! I had fun creating my LO for the colour challenge. There are some lovely LOs in the gallery. All the best to the other contestants.  I'm having a great time putting into practice the knowledge I've gained through the Photoshop tutorials I've amassed recently. There is so much to learn about using Photoshop and I luv finding out the new tools that can be used.

Over at a challenge in Designer Digitals, I created this LO based on a template and colour challenge. Katie Pertiet generously gave away the freebies here and I made use of them in this LO:

LO is based on a template. I also used the free digi papers that was given in colour challenge, effectively combining both challenges.

Credits

Anna Aspnes, Artwork Palette Blooming Marvelous

Anna Aspnes, Spring Word Transfer

Katie Pertiet, Worth Repeating Page Title

Katie Pertiet, Defining Words Birthday

Picture was taken where hubs celebrated his birthday recently and his boys played a birthday tune on their violins. He was so chuffed by it. 

The second week of the Easter break. I'm enjoying it but not liking that it's passing way too quickly. The weather's brilliant and fab for laundry. All I can say is I'm enjoying the BBQ that I'm having nearly every weekend! Here's a taster...

Squids & chicken! Yum!

TTFN!

~ On Display! ~

Over at Jessica Sprague, there is a challenge to take inspiration from this image:

Now that is one serious delicious wine bottle. 

Well, here's my LO: 

This photo was taken by a friend when I was in Shanghai last summer. I thought it was an amazing photo and always wanted to scrap it. Well, this challenge gave me the opportunity as we had to use lots of circles in the challenge!

Credits:

Paper: Cosmo Cricket Love Notes,

Border: Crystal Spooky October,

Circles: TaylorMade Composure element,

Bubbles: M de Groot Prego,

Alpha: Echo Park Little Boy Alpha,

Label: Echo Park For The Record,

Mask: Carina Gardner 365 Color 1,

Frame: Jessica Sprague Framers1,

Font: Pea Elaine

Had fun creating this LO. The weekend is here... for once we are free from any curricular activities. Looking forward to chilling out! Let's hope the sun comes out... dying for a BBQ! TTFN!

~ On Display! ~

Days are passing way too quickly for my liking! It should be crawling not whizzing by so fast. So far, having an enjoyable time at home with the boys. Apart from doing a bit of homework and practising their violins, we have been having fun dancing with the Wii. Gosh, it's tiring after going thru' a song but we luv seeing how high each score after the dance. 

Been categorizing my digi supplies in iPhoto. A constant chore as I seem to be either buying or downloading free ones daily. Not sure why I need 1000ish digi papers but that is what is showing at the moment. I got a weakness for papers hence, it does apply to both paper and digi ones!

Here's a couple of pages from my Shanghai album. Been neglected but definitely not forgotten!

Day 4 of my trip and on our way to YuYuan Garden when I spied this! McDonald's in Mandarin! Papers are by Cosmo Crickets...yup, they offer their products in digi form too. Luv it as it's one of my fav manufacturers. Best of all, I can print them out when needed.

LO was based on a template which I adjusted for 4x6 size. 

I'm also starting to create for challenges too. Most of the digi sites I haunt do offer challenges and it's fun to have go at them. This LO was done for Design House Digitals (DHD) which offered a Blueprint template:

My boys achieving another grade in their martial arts. LO was created using a Dear Diary kit by Agnes Biro, a new designer at DHD. Luv her style.

Be back soon... TTFN!

~ On Display! ~

Over at Jessica Sprague, there is a challenge to take inspiration from this image:

Now that is one serious delicious wine bottle. 

Well, here's my LO: 

This photo was taken by a friend when I was in Shanghai last summer. I thought it was an amazing photo and always wanted to scrap it. Well, this challenge gave me the opportunity as we had to use lots of circles in the challenge!

Credits:

Paper: Cosmo Cricket Love Notes,

Border: Crystal Spooky October,

Circles: TaylorMade Composure element,

Bubbles: M de Groot Prego,

Alpha: Echo Park Little Boy Alpha,

Label: Echo Park For The Record,

Mask: Carina Gardner 365 Color 1,

Frame: Jessica Sprague Framers1,

Font: Pea Elaine

Had fun creating this LO. The weekend is here... for once we are free from any curricular activities. Looking forward to chilling out! Let's hope the sun comes out... dying for a BBQ! TTFN!

~ Playing With Customed Brush! ~

I've been buying a few Photoshop tutorials and today, I went through one about creating a customed brush from a photo. Amazing how easy it's done once you are taught the basics. Anyway, I created one of my boys and used it in this LO:

LO template & paper is by Katie Pertiet. 

I just wanted to play with the brush I created hence, the LO. 

Now that I've crossed over to the digi side, I'll be selling off quite a lot of stash over the next few days/weeks. I've no desire to play with real stash although I will be keeping a bit for DT work. I hate to admit it but I'm now addicted to digi scrapping and derive utmost pleasure doing it. It's a learning curve for me at the moment, getting to grips with Photoshop and there's still so much to learn but I'm looking forward to it! Do check back on the blog as I'll be listing a few stuff for sale as well as on UKS and eBay. Not sure if I can give up my enormous amount of stamp collection..... mmm! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 43 ~

This week, we are sponsored by the Stamping Boutique.

This week's challenge is Fancy Folds. For today's challenge, I chose to do an accordian card. Having surfed the net for ideas, I found one here. Here's my card:

Papers by WRMK. Stamped images by Stamping Boutique, coloured using Copics. Left it blank so that I can decide how to use the card later. 

TTFN!

~ Surprise! Surprise! ~

While browsing a UK Scrapbooking forum, I saw they were organising a Scrap Factor competition. Normally wouldn't be interested if it wasn't for a digital section they were including in the competition. And so I entered! My aim was to improve my digi skills. So to my astonishment, when they announced the final contestants today, I was one of them! Wow! 

I had to enter 5 LOs, of which 1 had to be a double LO, a LO about myself and a LO without photos. So here are my LOs that I submitted:

LO about myself.

LO without photos

A double LO.

The 4th LO

The 5th LO.

Well, the theme for next entry is up. Here's the inspiration palette:

Gotta get my thinking cap on... TTFN!

~ At Last! ~

The day finally arrived, all those countdown and this is it! Today marks the start of the Easter break for roughly 2 1/2 weeks! Let's just say I'll be working for only 7 days in the month of April! Yay! However, I still had to work after school, organising a disco for the kids. It was great fun but hard work. So glad when I finally got home and was able to put my feet up.

However, still not completely done as my wee one has a violin exam tomorrow and the older one has a literacy and numeracy test in his new school on Monday! I guess I can finally rest from Tuesday onward! TTFN!

~ Some Digi LOs! ~

Here's some LOs that I created last month that I didn't get a chance to showcase:

A 6x4 LO of my best friend and her hubs.

E and I, taken in Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai, last Aug.

Created this for a friend who recently invited me for her birthday celebration.

A 12x12 LO of a recent trip to Cadbury World. Found the Cadbury image on the web. LO is based on a template by Linda Roos.

Currently discovering about LO templates and finding them ever so useful!!! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 36 ~

This week we are sponsored by Heart Song Designs.

Today's challenge is based on a colour scheme:

Here's my card:

Created this card for my Deputy Head who is leaving to be a Head in another school. Gonna miss her though as we had a great working relationship! All the best to her! TTNF!

~ Been Burgled! ~

Woke up this morning to find my handbag missing. A check later found son's wallet missing too, along with hub's Blackberry and the boys' violins! Figured someone came in and did a quick pick. Unfortunately, the back door was opened for a few hours in the evening and we were upstairs for an hour during that time.  Had to make a police report and hub had to have the locks in his car changed as his spare car key happened to be in my handbag! As for myself, I didn't want to think what else was in my handbag... surface to say, quite a lot as well as a bit a cash too! Curse the bugger who took it!!! 

Couldn't dwell much on the loss as my boys had a violin concert that day. Luckily, their violin teacher found 2 spare violins for them to play with. 

On the bright side, my digi LO was showcased at Gallery Standout! What an honour! TTFN!