~ It's Done! ~

OMG! I've finally finished my Summer Vacation 2011 album. Imagine scrapping 26 pages in the shortest period available just because the Groupon offer for a Photobook was gonna expire on 28th Sep!!! Talk about stress!  But I did it which I knew I would anyway!

I had to re-do a couple of pages. Not easy trying to squeeze your 6 weeks vacation into 26 pages. I had to pick the best memories although I certainly could put in a few more! Managed to upload my pages to the site and ordered my Photobook. Took a while to sort the photos on the pages and I had to do something different. Let's hope it still looks good!

Anyway, here's the last few pages...

 Here's the cover of the album.

 Had to redo this page as I initially had it on 2 pages but due to lack of page space, had to squeeze the photos onto just one page.

Parting is always so sad... but at least I didn't cry when I left... maybe I was just too knackered & was looking forward to trying to catch 40 winks on board!

Got a couple of deadlines looming up....doesn't help when the weather is so nice at the moment! I'll be so glad when this week is over! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 211 ~

Today's challenge is Triple It i.e. to use any 3 methods to do the sentiment. Here's my card:

My sentiment made use of a sticker, inking of the edges and bling on the brackets.

TTFN!

~ What A Day! ~

Saturday is just another busy day for us. Eldest got into the Junior String Orchestra and therefore, he has 2 hours of violin practice every Saturday morning (it follows the school term's timetable). We all get early to bring him there and then go shopping/ran errands etc. Then in the afternoon, depending on schedules, they have a Suzuki workshop conducted by their violin teacher. Hence, Saturday is now dedicated to their music activities.

Today I received a letter from my son's new secondary school. I've been elected as a representative of his Year Group on the Parents' Consultative Committee. I did put my name down but was informed during the summer hols to write a statement as they received more applications than required. I did and thought no more of it. So I was rather surprised to get the letter today. Good to know that I can keep track on both my boys! I'm also a Governor of the Junior School.... they can run but they can't hide!

On the creative front, managed to create more pages for the summer album. As deadline to print is looming, it's quite stressful trying to churn out so many pages in such a short period of time. Anyway, here's my effort...

We went on a 4 day cruise to Penang, Malaysia & Phuket, Thailand. Had a great time and kinda renewed my interest in cruises!!!

For the first time of my life, I voted! There was a Presidential Election and it was so exciting to go to the voting centre to vote! Living overseas does have its disadvantage. I missed the General Elections early this year. There was overseas voting centres but I just couldn't get down to London that particular day. Nothing like being in the country and feeling the hustle and bustle of the Election process. 

My boys' hair were terribly long, such that they were constantly being mistaken for gals... never mind that they were dressed like boys! We eventually managed to bribe them to cut it short. They did but we had to bring them to a Lego store for them to choose their toys! Well, at least they look like boys now! I even got mine cut as well.

Having a meal with some good friends & ex-colleagues. We always meet up whenever I'm there. They have a knack of nosing out good places for food! Seriously! The meal we had was just outta this world! Yum!

So much to do on our last day in Singapore! I had an early meetup with a couple of fab gals! We had beef noodles for breakfast but I wasn't too hungry... just upset about having to say goodbye to them. In the afternoon, daddy dearest cooked my favourite dish... chilli crabs! Yum!

I'm nearly done... just the arrival, departure pages & cover for album. My pages at the moment are photo & journaling intensive as I want to concentrate on the photos and tell a story. As soon as this album is over, I can concentrate on the artistic creation of pages. For now, it's just the facts! TTFN!

~ Scrap 365 Blog Hop ~

If you have come here from Louise, welcome!

Finally, it's reveal time.... I'm part of the Scrap 365 Design Team. Gosh, wasn't easy not talking about it especially since we are talking about a new scrapping magazine!

I'm Audrey and I'm from the United Kingdom. A mom of 2 boys, my days are spent chauffeuring them to activities most of the time. And when I'm free, I indulge in my favourite pastime, scrapbooking. I've been scrapping for the past 7 years and the interest hasn't waned one bit! In fact, I'm now entering a new crafting arena, namely, digital. Previously stunned, due to the fact I enjoyed the tactile feature of paper scrapping, I turned to it late last year when lack of time to play with my stash forced me to consider digital scrapbooking. My first foray was doing pages for Journal Your Christmas using Apple's Pages software. The more I tinkered, the more addicted I got and when I finished the album, I became seriously hooked to digital scrapbooking. Having Photoshop on my Mac, I tried to use it but it simply confused me. Then early this year, I took as Jessica Sprague's Up And Running Class and she nailed the software for me! Suddenly, it was less daunting and so easy to use. I have to credit her class for teaching me how to use Photoshop properly and starting my path to digital scrapbooking. I now enjoy digital scrapbooking for the mere fact that I can literally scrap anywhere... all I have to do is bring my Macbook with me. So far, I've scrapped in a church, on a beach, in a car, on a plane, in the airport etc.

The crunch came when I applied for a DT position and was accepted as part of Simply Tiffany Studios Creative Team. Tiffany specialised in templates and I was only too delighted to be able to use them for scrapping. They sure as hell cut short the scrapping time! 

I'm still trying to find my style with regards to digi scrapping. As a paper scrapper, my favourite embellishment was using stamps. I've got an enormous collection of them. Hence, not surprising I do try and mimic what I used to play before. Now digi brushes are a great substitute. I use them a lot in my digi creations. 

As much as I enjoy scrapping pages digitally, I still do indulge in playing with paper from time to time. I make cards, tags, mini LOs (eg. 4x6) and off the wall projects. I contribute to 2 card blogs, 365 Cards & Christmas Cards All Year 'Round and am part of Banana Frog's Design Team. 

When Katy, the editor of Scrap365, asked me to join the Scrap365 Team, I was delighted. As a contributor to Craft Stamper, I was only too happy to move from there to the new scrapbooking magazine. Having found out the features that the magazine would offer, it sure fitted my new interest perfectly. 

I leave with a few favourite digital pages...

And if you fancy winning a year's subscription to Craft Stamper magazine and over £20 worth of stamps, do leave a comment on every blog you hop including Scrap365 blog! Who knows, it might just be your lucky day! If you are in London over the weekend of 24th September, there is a Big Stamp and Scrapbook Show at Alexander Palace. If you happen to pop by, do visit the Traplet stand (no.63) for a sneak peek of the magazine and a special subscription deal. The first issue of Scrap365 will be on sale on the 18th November at the newstands and digitally worldwide. And if you are on the social media, here are the some addresses to note: 

Blog 

Face Book

Twitter

Your next hop is Gabrielle! TTFN!

~ On Display ~

More pages from my summer album...

 Meeting up with old friends and going for a long walk on the Southern Ridges route.

 Visiting Sentosa. Big mistake going on a public holiday... so crowded!

Meeting up with the Joylites in the morning. We saw each other every week where time permited and I 'hug' them for making the time for me! In the evening, we visited Clarke Quay as they had a Mooncake Festival of lanterns on display. 

At the moment, I'm focusing more on photos and documenting events that took place. All these pages are gonna be printed out into a book. Still a few more pages to complete.... TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 204 ~

This week we are sponsored by TradeFish Designs,

They are an acrylic stamp company and I got some cute stamps to play with. The challenge for today is Outer Space and here's my card: 

The background was created using distressed inkpad and sprayed with a white mist. The stamped images were coloured using Copic markers. 

Have to say, the acrylic stamps stamp very well, took the ink quite well and gave a crisp image. Had fun playing with it! TTFN!

~ On Display ~

Been busy creating and here's a few more from my summer album:

 Boys were so excited when daddy could join them. Now the holidays really begin!

Meeting up with the Joylites. First time all five of us could meet up. Well, maybe tim sum was the dangling carrot!

We visited Universal Studios again and this time, we made sure we saw everything & rode on all the rides. I skipped the Human & Cylon roller coasters... the mere thought of being upside down just didn't appeal to me! The boys went on them twice! The second time unaccompanied! 

Marina Barrage - a new place to visit for us but ever so interesting! 

Still got more pages to come and deadline's looming.... TTFN!

~ On Display ~

Just some LOs to display from my summer album...

 Brought the boys to ice skate although the ground wasn't in the least bit icy! Think they fell more than they skated!

 

Watching the fireworks from the National Day Parade Dress Rehearsal. Getting tickets to see this Parade is like gold dust! You can't buy it, you can bid for it and it's just luck if you get it!

 Boys didn't swim that often this time around. Still, when they did, they enjoyed themselves.

 A good friend that brought me out for walks in a very interesting place. As usual, we finished it off by eating! Nothing new in Singapore!

Just us having a meal with a friend at Sushi Express & then a drink at Raffles Hotel! Nice to know that my parents were on hand to babysit the boys! Well, they weren't too bothered about not going out!

I'm not too bothered about my pages being uniformed... it would bore me to tears! I rather have it colourful and the freedom to play and explore colours! Currently leaning towards Anna Aspnes designs and Webster Pages for these LOs!

On the mundane side, hubs and moi are planning to re-decorate certain rooms in the house! I'm giving up my craft room and turning it into a bedroom for my youngest. (How I'm gonna remove all the stash I've in that room is another matter...) We are gonna turn the lounge into a lounge cum study cum guest room. Whether or not we use it as a lounge is another thing as since we moved in, we have never ever use that room apart from being a dumping ground for coats! Yeah, when we have guests, we use it but on our own, it's straight to the bedroom where we watch TV in there. I guess we can kiss goodbye to the next few weekends as we re-paint, re-decorate and re-sort the respective rooms. I will have to get rid of a lot of stash as they will never fit into the new study which is much smaller than the existing room.   Not that I mind but it's the tedious task of finding buyers for them! 

I'm entering a different phrase in the crafting arena. I'm certainly leaning towards digi as it's more convenient and definitely cheaper to maintain as a hobby. Paper stash can be so costly. However, I'm still doing cards (can't bring myself to buy!) and will maintain a small amount of paper stash for DT purposes. But doing a paper LO will be a thing of the past! TTFN!

~ So Terribly Busy! ~

My gosh! A good friend of mine pointed out to me that I've been neglecting my blog! Well, the moment I arrived back in the UK, I was thrown into serious household chores. Hubs left me with 2 big baskets of clothes to put away, all his may I add! Then I had to sort the airing cupboard out as he out the shelves out from there for the boiler to be serviced (but it never happened, that's another story... ) and merely shoved everything back in the wrong order. Men! Can never leave them on their own! They just can't cope! Not to mention unpacking 8 luggage worth of clothes, toys, food etc that we brought back from Singapore. On top of that, a deadline to fulfil ... doing my pages for my son's album that needed to be printed out by a certain date! Even 24 hours wasn't enough for me! Friend of mine has been asking me out for coffee morning but had to take a rain check until later this month. Got a couple of deadlines to fulfil before this month ends! 

On the crafting side, I managed to get my son's Year 6 album done and printed out into a Photobook. Have to say, I'm extremely proud of it. All events relating to him in that particular school year was chronologically documented, as much as I could within 21 pages! I'm sure I could do with a few more pages. Here are some of them:

 Album cover

 School camp that he went. Unfortunately, couldn't get any photos of the camp activities as the school never put it on their blog. So it was whatever I took before he left. 

 A sponsored walk the school does every year.

 A music workshop they both attended during a school day.

 Experiencing snow during a school day. Well, their headmaster is opposed to closing down the school despite heavy snow!

 Their annual Summer Fayre which I always help out.

 Sports day - Year3&4 was held in the morning while Year5&6 in the afternoon. I took part in the parents race and came in first both times (had both boys in the 2 groups)! Good to know I got some points for their teams!

Some parents got together and organised a Prom Night for the Year 6 kids. 

The above LOs were all digitally done. I would never have finished it if they were paper-based! It's much easier and fun doing it on the laptop as opposed to sitting on my scrapping table these days.

 I'm currently doing an Album for my summer hols and it has got to be finished by the 25th this month. I should have done it during the hols but somehow, the mojo wasn't there! Well, paying the price for it now as I'm rushing through them. That's me! Always a last minute person but I know I will get it done! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 197 ~

So I'm back to doing cards again. Took a hiatus of 6 weeks but am back and raring to go! This week's challenge is to include beads on the card. Here's mine: 

Pulled out my scraps (I've got piles of them) and a Magnolia girl coloured with Copics. Have to say, added more colours to my stash while I was in Singapore. It's so much cheaper to buy over there and with 15% off, who can resist?!! 

A closeup of the beads used on the card. They were used as decorative bits around the card. 

I felt a little rusty when doing this card. I guess 6 weeks of inertia does create havoc with my mojo! Hopefully it will get better with more practice! I still have this year's Xmas cards to make as I've not been consistently making them throughout the months. I guess digi might come to the rescue if I ran out of time to do them! TTFN!