~ Finally Done It! ~

In the midst of an extremely busy week, I had to do something mad! I finally accessed the online class that I bought during a Christmas sale last year. And I learnt how to use Photoshop properly too! Yup, all my digi LOs were previously done using Apple's Pages... it was tedious but easy to create. But today, I created some time for myself and learnt how to use the software. Suddenly, Photoshop has become my best friend! 

Here's my effort: 

The entire LO is based on a quick page. I merely added photos and learnt how to do it as well as add text & title. 

I'm doing Jessica Sprague's Up and Running class. The first lesson merely taught me how to navigate the interface of Photoshop. Previously, it just left me clueless and frustrated. It's amazing once you know how to do it, suddenly, it isn't intimidating anymore! 

The lesson also included a bonus LO. 

Another quick page. More practice adding photo & text.

Best of all, knowing how to save in various format. The class is definitely worth spending as it taught me a lot just the first lesson. In fact I was able to play a little using the skills that I had acquired: 

This is a digi template by Katie Pertiet. She does offer free templates as challenges. So I merely put my skills into use on this LO. 

Looking forward to learning more stuff.... just have to create some time for myself! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 15 ~

Today is a colour challenge:

Have to say, it wasn't easy but I always love a challenge and this is my card:

Digi Paper is from Karen Funk's Christmas Magic. Tag is from Echo Park's Dashes Through The Snow element. 

TTFN!

~ What A Great Day! ~

Took leave today and met a good friend who came up to Birmingham to see me. We were supposed to meet last Dec but no thanks to the closure of Heathrow Airport, this was cancelled! Brought her hubs and her to Cadbury World, then a scrumptious tim sum lunch and finally a walk along the canals in the town centre. Unfortunately, they couldn't stop and had to return to London. 

You couldn't given this iconic statue a miss!

At Victoria Square

A digi LO created to remember this special day! LO created using various papers and elements from Echo Park (For The Record), Carina Gardner, Ali Edwards, Karla Dudley & Katie Pertiet. 

Miss you L and looking forward to seeing you again in Singapore, later this year! And mighty thanks for the titbits you brought from Singapore! TTFN!

~ Still Day 2! ~

The last few pages of Day 2 of our stay in Shanghai.

 Couldn't resist taking this picture of Coke, written in Mandarin!

Here's hubs, completely knackered! That nite he fell sick and I had to raid my friend's kitchen to find Panadol for him!

Now these LO were created while I waited for my boys during their rehearsal at Adrian Boult Hall. For 2 hrs, I sat at a table and scrap! Talk about bliss. That's the beauty of digi scrapping... all you need is your laptop!

That's the last of Day 2! Onward to Day 3.... TTFN!

~ Performance! ~

My boys' orchestra practice finally accumulated into a concert at the Adrian Boult Hall. Thankfully, they allowed photos to be taken minus the flash of course!

Anyway, picked out a couple of my favs and turned one into a LO:

Digi LO based on various designers such as Echo Park, LivEdesigns, Robyn Meierotto, Katie Pertiet, Carina Gardner and Elle's Studio. 

I'm currently creating all my digi LOs using Apple's Pages. I've yet to learnt how to use Photoshop so I won't even venture into that area! TTFN!

~ Still On Shanghai Album! ~

Still prodding on and ever more determined to finish the album. The next few pages focus on the building seen in the Expo. We made our way to the Expo via the tube. It was easy to find the way as there were signboards everywhere! Countries around the world were invited to contribute and each came up with a different building structure. 

 This was the British building.

Indonesian building.

 Polish building. 

Singaporean building.

We couldn't deal with the queues entering these building as it would take minimum 2 hrs to queue. Beside it was a very hot and humid day too. Hubs and I were seeking shelters to take solace from the heat. Ever conscious of not getting burnt, we were splashing ourselves with sunblock lotion! TTFN!

~ Shanghai Album ~

Been diligently working on my Shanghai album. Here's a couple of them:

The morning saw us visiting a fabric market where hubs was measured for shirts. He could choose the fabric, the cuffs, the collar and it would be tailored to his specification! 

LO created using digi papers and elements from various designers: Ali Edwards, Katie Pertiet, Runna Penner, Deena Rutter, Robyn Meierotto, Fran, Crystal Wilkinson, Audrey Neal, Anna Aspens & Splendid Fiins. 

The tube station in Shanghai, all written in Mandarin!

LO created using papers & elements from various designers: Fran, Robyn Meierotto, Scrap Girls, Shabby Princess, Katie Pertiet & Celeste Knight.

Still more photos to go.... TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 7 ~

Today's challenge is to do an Arch Card. Found a template on the net and the rest was easy! Here's my card: 

Patterned papers from Basic Grey Granola collection. Trying to use up my flower stash!

TTFN!

~ Day 2 ~

So Day 1 of my Shanghai album done. Onward to day 2. We did a lot on day 2. Shopping in the morning and visiting the Expo in the afternoon. 

Visiting an old part of Shanghai before it will be pulled down for development in the near future! Kinda remind me of Singapore in the 70s!

Not making much progess... time is not on my side! Wish there was more than 24 hrs a day! TTFN!

~ More Pages! ~

I'm determined to finish my Shanghai album. I've got a knack of starting albums but never completing them so I want to make sure I do finish this particular album!

E took us to a Japanese restaurant on our first nite in Shanghai! I absolutely adore Jap food!

This is sashimi! The dish was so fresh and delicious that we had to order a second one as we enjoyed it so much! So lovely to be able to eat raw stuff without worrying if the product is fresh enough for it! Can't do it in this country!

So that is first day done! Now to carry on to Day 2! TTFN!

~ Still Prodding On... ~

A few more pages from my Shanghai album:

Still Day 1 and this time we are in Tonli.

A typical signpost.

Still have a long way to go with amount of photos I've got!!! TTFN!

~ Anxiety! ~

The results for secondary school posting is out today. My eldest got his choice and he's quite pleased about it. I'm relieved as I didn't want him to go to the secondary school near our house and fortunately, he wasn't posted there (not that I put it down!)

Anyway, all that anxiety went into creating my Shanghai album. Hubs and I went there last Aug as part of our 10th Anniversary celebration, just the two of us! The boys were looked after by my parents in Singapore. We spent an enjoyable 6 days there and stayed with my best friend and her hubs! Here are a few pages. Did it digitally as it was faster. 

The midnite flight from Singapore to Shanghai, just so we had an early start in Shanghai.

Our friend whisked us to Suzhou for a visit.

One of China's signpost! Luv how they translate stuff into English!

Still in Suzhou. 

Pages are done 4x6" just in case I decide to print them out and stick them into an album. It's cheap to buy 4x6 albums! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 1 ~

Gosh, we've done a full year and it's back to the beginning of the year for 365 Cards! I'm glad to be able to start the 'new' year! This week's sponsor is from Robyn Fetish Digital Stamps:

Today's challenge focus on white space. Here's the sketch:

Here's my card: 

The frame is a digital image from Robyn Fetish Stamps. 

White space is never my strong point but I think I think I did ok! TTFN!

~ Banana Frog Hop ~

Apologies.... this post would have been up earlier if it wasn't for a car that refused to start during school run! Not wishing to walk 30 mins (just one way), we opted for the bikes. Got home just in time for the RAC man to show up! What a great start to the first day of the school term!

If you have come from Anne, welcome! Anne is one of our latest Froglets to join the Banana Frog team.

For today's project, I challenge myself to use stamps that I've not touched before. Usually in a set, there are certain stamps that get used a lot and a couple that is left on the shelf, so to speak! So I told myself that I needed to get them out of their 'virgin' state! 

As the theme this month is on 'hearts', I chose the It's All About Hearts stamp set: 

I've never ever used the large hanging hearts so I decided to make use of that stamp in a card. 

I cut out the scalloped border and the hearts and adhere them using foam dot on the card. Then I applied glitter on them. A sticker sentiment finished the card. 

For my second card, I used the row of hearts background stamp. Here's the card:

I created a border strip with the background stamp, centre it on the card and adhere using foam dot. Then I added a butterfly ribbon on top of it. Left the sentiment blank so that I can fill it in later.

Now that I've used these stamps, I will no longer be daunted by them the next time I see them. Hope you are enjoying the blog hops. And if you fancy owning a Banana Frog set, leave a comment and it might just be your lucky day! 

Your next hop is Francine! Happy hopping! TTFN!

~ Happy Anniversary! ~

to hubs and moi! 11 years ago, we were formally hitched, although we had known each other for 5 years before! 

Anyway, hubs took the day off and we went down to Poole to visit his sister and his family. They kindly offered to babysit the boys so that we could go off for a meal but not knowing the area well, and which restaurants to go to, we took a rain check and decided to have the special meal when we are back in Birmingham. I already have in mind, our fav restaurant to go!

Anyway, hubs got me this as an anniversary present:

I got the owl and the clips. I won the beetle and the ribbon spacer by opening 2 drawers. Apparently, the Pandora store in Bournemouth was having a promotion whereby if you spend £50, you get a lucky dip. Now all I need is to add some beads to balance it out! I guess this will be a fairly long process of collecting. Just as well I stopped buying SB stash! 

Been doing some research and apparently, there are lots of alternatives to Pandora. Guess that's my next surfing sites! TTFN!

~ Half Term! ~

In the midst of half term at the moment. Enjoying the break especially not having to wake up early. Thankfully the boys luv their sleep too! They aren't too fussed about going out either so we hang out in our  PJs all day long. 

Currently, I'm busy transferring all my digi supplies over to iPhoto. I created a new library (click 'option' button while pressing iPhoto & it will bring up a box whereby you can chose different libraries or create a new one) and have been importing my digi files and organising them into various categories (somewhat akin to real stash!) It is a tedious process, seeing how much digi stash I've amassed in such a short period. Hopefully, this will allow me to find my supplies easily as my current method was getting too tedious and when I bought the same kit twice, I knew it was time to change my storage method! I've to thank a blog article I read on Design House Digital that allowed me to use iPhoto to store my digi collection. 

Anyway, I took a break to test out my new system of storage and created this LO about the boys' furry babes!

Patterned paper & various journaling elements from Katie Pertiet, trimming by Ali Edwards, circular rubon from Scrap Gals, tag from Jen Allyson and alpha from Audrey Neal.

Quite pleased that my new system works perfectly. I can now see what I've got and sorting them out in categories have enabled me to use them more effectively too. I've even grouped the seasonal files together such as Christmas, Halloween etc as it makes more sense. 

My wee one had to participate in a performance at the Gang Show tonite. Basically it's a show put up by the Beavers/Cubs/Scout groups. Little one was given a small part to play but he did kick a fuss about performing. Looks like both won't go down the acting route! Told him it's his last contribution to Beavers as he moves up to Cubs next week! Unfortunately no video or photos was allowed. Show was pretty good and I enjoyed it!  That was our first outing of the week! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 359 ~

This week, we are sponsored by  Guylou's Inimitability Digistamps:

The challenge is Tuesday Trio: blue, distressing and button. Here's my card:

Digi patterned paper by Kate Teague, tag by Jen Allyson. Sentiment by Banana Frog stamps and digi image suppled by Guylou's Inimitability DigiStamps, colourwashed using distressed inkpad.

TTFN!

~ The Beginning ~

Half term is around the corner! Yay! Looking so forward to it. It was also Parents' Evening as well. Fairly good report for the boys but more work needs to be done on the older one before he sits his SATS. Hence, doubt very much I'll have time for any creative stuff until SATs is over. 

Thankfully, that's where digi comes into play as it's easy to churn out a page in less than half an hour as opposed to an hour (or more) for traditional scrapping (and that's if I don't fluff about!) Bought a couple of new digi kits today and couldn't wait to play with them...

LO created using various elements from Robin Meierotto's Kraft Party kit. Journaling stack by Katie Pertiet. Words by Ali Edwards. Swirl & flower patterns by Celeste Knight. 

This was the nite where we (C & I) dragged Jaz (incidentally a renowned scrapper) out. We only met her recently in person although I had already known her (though not that well) via a scrapbooking forum. Anyway, this nite changed our relationship and the three of us became firm friends. Then last year, we added another two into the picture. But I will always cherish that nite outing (where I got really pissed drunk too... but that's another story!) TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 352 ~

This week is a week of sketches. Each DT member comes up with a sketch. Here's mine:

Kept it simple so that it can be opened for interpretation. 

Here's my card: 

Card is entirely created using digital elements, apart from the heart which I stamped using Banana Frog's Heart stamp set. Robot & papers came from Deena Rutter's Whole Lotta Love kit while the 'Adore' bingo card is from Lettering Delights. 

The entire digi elements were printed,  cut out and assembled on the card. Have to say, that robot is just too cute for words! No surprising I had to get the kit! TTFN!

~ Happy Valentine's Day! ~

Hubs surprised me with an enormous box of choccies from Thorntons! We don't usually celebrate today as our anniversary is later in the month and we much prefer to go out for a meal on that day instead of today as restaurants are invariably fully booked and overpriced! Besides, after celebrating our son's birthday the day before, it's just too much to celebrate today as well! 

So in honour of today, I did this LO: 

LO done using a Shabby Valentine kit by Karen Funk.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day! TTFN!

~ Happy Birthday! ~

to Zac! Eight years ago you came out, exercising your lungs and today, it hasn't stopped! You are loud, cheeky and simply adorable!

Papers by Karen Funk from One Year Older kit. Journaling, alpha & frame elements from Katie Pertiet. Month element from Robin Meierotto. Tab element by Karla Dudley. The 'Z' element from Elles Studio. 

He was certainly pleased with his iPod Touch and his Hero Factory toys! TTFN!

~ New Pets ~

The eve of my wee one's birthday and we wanted to bring him out. He requested to go Legoland but unfortunately, it wasn't open for business during the winter season, nor other theme parks! We did manage to find one in Blackpool but the wee one wasn't interested, as he didn't want to travel far. Instead, he begged, pleaded, cajoled his dad into getting him and his bro, a pet each! Now I'm against keeping a pet as it's too time consuming not to mention the hassle of housing it when we are away on holiday! I like to be away to just jet off at the last minute without having to worry about who's gonna look after the pet! Anyway, their dad promised a small pet, one that is easy to look after!

So off we went pet hunting. We visited 3 places we knew that sold tiny creatures. Finally at the last stop, the hubs fell in love with a Russian Dwarf hamster and got one for each of them. Have to say, they are pretty cute! Got the boys to promise that they would look after them including cleaning after their poops!

So here's a LO documenting their hunt for their new pets:

LO done using Story Time kit by Katie Pertiet. Tape by Celeste Knight and words by Ali Edwards.

I need to find a better way of organising my digi supplies. Have amassed that much that current storage system is ineffective. Might just have to create a new library in iPhoto to house them. The only problem... time! TTFN!

~ Gotta Luv Technology! ~

I seriously don't know what I do without modern technology! Contacting friends and family members who live overseas is so easy these days. My dad gets to see his grandkids more often now that my bro and moi have iPhone 4 and we 'facetime' each other quite frequently! Thanks to wifi! Contacting friends is even easier thanks to the apps that allow communication, completely free! 

I got to know these group of gals thru' scrapbooking. Initially, it was just one gal. Then we got introduced to another and another and eventually, we ended up being firm friends. Last year, we got along so well that we became a group, calling ourselves the Joy Luck Club (or Joylites for short). Despite moi living thousand of miles away, we never cease contact, chatting via Facebook. Then today, we tried video conferencing! We used Skype and we had the most fabulous chat ever! Never mind that they woke me up at 6.33am (blame it on the time difference)! 

So in honour of them, I did a LO documenting today's event!

LO created using Pinfeather collection by Carina Gardner. A sheet from Jen Allyson's Vintage Findings. Calendar element from Kate Teague.

Managed to snap them while we chatted! Luv these gals and can't wait to see them soon! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 345 ~

This week we are sponsored by Digis With Attitude.

The challenge today is to create a card based on a 'rock style'. Here's my card: 

The background image was downloaded from the web. The gal was a digi image from Digis With Attitude, coloured using Copics. 

TTFN!

~ Happy Chinese New Year! ~

It's the first day of Chinese New Year today! Wishing all my Chinese friends and those who celebrate it... 

I'm in for a major celebration this weekend... lots of good food and good company! Cheers! TTFN!

~ Project 365: January ~

I seldom embarked on long term projects as I've a tendency to get bored halfway but when I saw the Project 365 app on iPhone, I couldn't resist it. No harm giving it a go as it's on my phone and I'm so attached to my phone at the moment. Anyway, glad to say that I did take a photo daily in the month of January and as a result have fill all the entire calendar month with photos. And I turned it into a page: 

LO (8.5x11") was created using paper from Splendid Fiins. Numbers by Katie Pertiet & alpha by Jen Allyson. Journaling element by Katie Pertiet and strips by Splendid Fiins.

So January was an eventful month. There were days where nothing exciting happened and I looked at the simple things to capture memories i.e. getting a high score on Word with Friends, chatting with my bro on FaceTime or even making a card! 

I'm now embarking on February's memories. So far so good. Looking forward to creating a page at the end of the month! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 338 ~

This week we are sponsored by SRM Stickers. Have to say, their stickers are a joy to use!

Today's challenge is inspired by the sponsor's name:  S-R-M. Hence the card should feature a Sticker (or several), Ribbon and Masking technique. 

The background paper was created using repositional mesh and mists. Cupcake & sentiments came from SRM Stickers. 

TTFN!