>>> On Display: BackPorch Memories <<<

This was BackPorch Memories offerings for August's kits:

Solo kit: Basic Grey June Bug

Medley kit: 3 Bugs in a Rug Spread Your Wings, Basic Grey Lemonade & October Afternoon Cherry Hill

BPM August Stamp set

I was assigned to play with the Solo kit that consisted of Basic Grey June Bug papers, which incidentally is double-sided! Man, those papers rocked! Had fun creating with them and was trying to conserve any spare bits.

This was based on a Becky Fleck sketch. Also played with the new Unity stamp set too.

I can't work on a clean cardstock. Find it rather naked so I sprayed Shimmerz Spritz on it and played with the BPM August stamp set as well as Unity's Confession set. The papers used here were mostly leftover scraps. Couldn't leave them to waste, could I?

This particular patterned paper was begging to be cut out so I did! As usual, sprayed the cardstock with Glimmer Mist, with the help of a Glimmer Mist butterfly stencil.

Made this card with whatever paper that was leftover! Stamped image by Unity June KOTM set.

Another card with leftover scraps. Luv this ferris wheel. Coloured using Promarkers. Again from Unity August store set that can be found here. This particular stamp set can only be bought from stores and not on the Unity site. Luckily for me, Paula sells them! :)

Have to say, the LOs certainly didn't come easy to me... crafting mojo had gone awol. So hard to scrap when you're on vacation. Doesn't help that I wanna play with my MacBabe too. Got a couple more scrapping assignments to get over with and I'm done for this month!

I'm off this afternoon to scrap with friends! Best get packing! TTFN!

>>> Fab News! <<<

Woo Hoo! Happened to check out Amy's blog (incidentally, she does some fabulous cards). Met her through 365 Cards blog and she truly inspires me with her card creations. Anyway, found out I had won her blog candy. Thanx so much!

The next fab news is that I'm off to see Lady Gaga this Wednesday! Yup, She's performing live in a concert at Fort Canning Park. Wow! Well, the hubs suddenly asked me to check out her concert and get tickets! So I did! I luv her songs and her music video and can't wait to see her! So cool! TTFN!

>>> On Display: Bellaboo <<<

The newsletter is out and can be seen here (I'm currently blocked from the site so will have to add the link later). This is Bellaboo's August kit featuring a mixture of Fancy Pants and My Mind's Eyes papers.

I had a great time playing with the papers as I luv kraft paper. Here's what I did with the kit:

Utterly adore this particular paper. Has to be the owls!

Background of this cardstock stamped using Unity's Confession scrapbooking set.

Included in the kit was a Basic Grey mini album but I wasn't keen on doing a mini album so broke the pages up and used it for other purposes. Here, I created a hanging frame.

And a bookmark for my eldest son. My youngest saw it and asked where was his! Oops!

TTFN!

>>> Happy Birthday Singapore! <<<

It's Singapore's National Day today! I was a wee bit disappointed at not being able to get tickets for the National Day Parade but I watched at home. Have to say, I enjoyed it tremendously. They certainly put up a great performance. I was there last year at the NDP 08 and enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere. This year, they made it slightly different and got everyone to say the pledge at 8.22pm. It was such a proud moment, reaffirming my identity as a Singaporean. Next year, I'm gonna make sure I'm at the Parade! TTFN!

>>> BBQ! <<<

My dad's friend invited us over to his place for a BBQ. So off we went. The host happened to own a dog and it occupied the boys the entire nite especially Zac. He was so taken by the dog and was literally all over him. Not surprising, he asked me if we could take the dog home! Ha!

Lately, he has been asking for a dog but I've said no! Sorry, but having a dog is like having a perpetual baby for life. It's tiring enough having to do household chores, mind the boys, be a chauffeur, supervise their homework etc... the last thing I need is to look after a pet! Until the boys are older and more willing to pick up poo, we will stay petless for a while! Not to mention, you kinda get tied down once you have a pet. You can't just take off on a whim for a holiday as you then have to ensure there's someone who can look after and feed the pet. Oh and vet's bills for pet are atrociously expensive! Maybe there should be a rent a pet scheme whereby you hire a pet for 2 hrs, play with them and when done, return it back. That way you're spared the hassle of looking after one. LOL! After all, if zoo has come up with support an animal scheme, why not the domestic pets?

Anyway, here they are with the lovely dog that occupied them and kept them out of mischief! Certainly made my job easier that nite and I was able to watch a Chinese kungfu movie! :)


TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Before we left the UK, I made a few 'thank you' gifts for the boys' teachers. I took the simple route and bought a few calendar planners which I decorated. Made use of a lot of patterned papers that I had accumulated over the years. Gosh, it felt good that they were being used.

Patterned papers by Scarlet Lime exclusive papers (not sure which kit!)

Patterned papers by Cherry Arte

Patterned papers by Mustard Moon

Patterned papers by Mustard Moon. These were from a kit which laid untouched and I decided they had to be used. (Unfortunately, photos of this particular planner were all blurred and I just had to pick the best one and modified it).

Patterned papers by Urban Lily

I also created small pizza boxes to put choccies & mint sweets in. Bought a huge bag of them from Costco and filled them up in these boxes. These boxes were easy to assembly, from a mere 6x12" sheet. The front of the boxes were simply decorated with stamps and I added a little finishing touches. Well, you can tell which boxes were for the lady teachers!

Thick patterned papers work best for assembling these boxes. Incidentally, I found the instructions from Splitcoast Stampers site but modified it a little to suit the length of the paper I was using.

Thankfully, all the 'thank you' cards were created while completing challenges for 365 Cards! Thank goodness for that! All I did was got the boys to write their 'thank you's in it. TTFN!

>>> Yummy Mommies Nite! <<<

So I was invited to a ladies nite outing yesterday. My friend's Clara has a group of ladies whom she goes out once in a while and I was invited to join them. Oh what a nite! Our rendevous was at the Pump Room in Clarke Quay. Gosh it was really crowded that nite (but I'm told only on Fri & Sat nites). We had a table booked for us and we had dinner. The fun only started from 11pm onwards when the band came out to play. Music was good and we had a great time dancing to it. Not forgetting the alcohol too. We bought a bottle of Vodka and had it with either orange or cranberry juice. I made a mistake of indulging a wee bit too much (had 2 shots as well)... should know myself better... I don't drink! Needless to say, it didn't stay long inside me (shan't go too much into details there! LOL!)

Took a cab home and the chap was a little chatty and asked why I was going home so early... eh at nearly 2am, that's late for me. So he concluded I wasn't a serial clubber. Ritely so! Gosh, my head was already bursting and I was dying to go to bed. Funnily enough, didn't actually shut my eyes till 6ish! Well, I leave with some photos of the evening:

The yummy mommies! Let's just say that all of us are mommies with at least 1 kid. Who say you can't be a mom and have fun at the same time! :)

My scrapper friends. It was lovely meeting Jaz (in the middle) in the flesh. Knew her online before.

He came sneaking into the picture without us knowing. LOL! He's the waiter that served us and he did a darn good job!

TTFN!

>>> Another Sweltering Day! <<<

Gosh, it was another hot day again. Stayed in the whole day and only went out with the boys for dinner. We walked to the town centre where the boys somehow got me to get them Pokemon trading cards. Took them to the hawker centre to try something different. I managed to tuck into my Yong Tau Foo, where you get to pick 7 ingredients and choose which noodle you wanna eat with. Not sure if the heat got into me but I certainly didn't enjoy it! Weird, it's supposed to be my fav food as well. Did a bit of shopping too and bought a couple of blouses and skirts. Haven't had the chance to shop so far and I've been here for almost 20 days.

Had to call the Birmingham Council Payroll to sort out my salary. They apparently halted my holiday payment as I left a week early. Not sure what their reason was (well, they thought I wouldn't come back despite having proper documentation that was applied way back in January!) So there I was, on the phone, at my expense, trying to sort out the flippin' mess they created. They have agreed to pay me now .... we'll see! Good thing I checked my account online! I just can't believe they would simply stop payment just because I applied to leave early for the holidays. I didn't even give them a resignation letter, so how could they assume I wasn't coming back? Makes you wonder why you sign a contract when they can't even honour it on their side!!! Absolutely disgusted with them!

Rite, I'm off to scrap.... I need to let off steam! TTFN!

>>> It's Sweltering! <<<

Gosh, it was extremely hot and humid today. The boys were lethargic and I was feeling sticky and uncomfortable! Despite that, I still managed to churn out a LO from the latest BackPorch Memories August kit. I had the Solo kit which featured Basic Grey June Bug papers. Here's an early peek (since it's already out at the BPM site):

LO is based on a sketch by Becky Fleck (the DT members are sometimes given a sketch and it amusing to see how each of us interpret it). I did switch the sketch, mirror wise, as it suited my photos better. Played with the new Unity stamp set that is only sold in stores and lucky for me, BPM sells them! Check it out here.

What can I say about this set? The images are adorable!

TTFN!

>>>It's Party Time! <<<

Hello to the Weekend and to a brand new month, August! It's a special weekend as it's Shimelle's Inspirational Party Weekend. I was invited to play along this weekend. So while watching re-runs of CSI, I created 2 projects for the Party. I was given a printable PDF to play with and it was so easy to use. Here's the first one, a hanging frame:

I played with the 'Self Indulgence' printable and cut out the cupcake journaling block and the words to use in this hanging frame.

Here's a close up view of the frame.

With leftover paper, I created a card. One sheet of printable hold a few images and I just couldn't leave them to waste so I cut out some cupcakes and a quote to use them in this card.

I outlined the cupcakes with a black pen and adhered them using foam dots.

Here's a closer view of the card.

I certainly enjoyed using the printable. There are actually 20 printables and they are exclusively available at the online class, Go To Press at 2peas. Check out the rest of the Party this weekend at Shimelle's. Thanks for dropping by! TTFN!

>>> My New Baby! <<<

Went down to Sim Lim Square on Thursday with my brother and his friend. Now that's the place to get electrical products if you ever want to get one! My brother wanted to get a new casing for his PC (one of those who builds his own PC). I was looking for a Apple laptop. Anyway, walked into this Apple authorised retail store and began to make enquiries and walked out with this! My new baby!

The exquisite alumimium unibody MacBook!
I decided to upgrade the Memory to 4GB DDR3 RAM.

It looks so sleek and beautiful. I'm totally in luv with this babe. It totally suits my needs and I have been looking to switch to Apple for a while. It was a toss between getting a Sony VIAO or a MacBook and I'm afraid the latter won. I guess I had enough of PC.

Best of all, you can dual boot between a Mac OS and a Windows OS using boot camp. So yesterday, my bro and I installed Win XP and it worked perfectly. That means I can now install software for Windows on this part of the drive. MS Office comes to mind. Talk about having the best of both worlds on a laptop. It's not to difficult to use the Mac, it's different but just need time getting used to it. So glad to kiss goodbye to IE browser... that's a rite pain to use and constantly crashes on me! So from now onwards, welcome to the world of Mac! TTFN!

>>> Fancy A Dip? <<<

The boys got another chance at swimming again. My friend invited us to her condo which houses a large pool and the boys had a great time swimming with her kids. As Zac hasn't learnt to swim properly, he had to go into the baby's pool where there were equipments to amuse him. Later, we managed to find some shallow areas in the deep pool where he played to his heart's content. I leave with photos of today's event:

As usual, he has to go down the slide in a different way!

That certainly wasn't meant for him!

The two boys at the baby pool. The see-saw actually squirts water when you go up and down. Have to say, I was quite impressed with the water equipments.

At the shallow end of the deep pool. These little fountains could be activated simply by the touch of a button.

TTFN!

>>> Psst! Have You Heard... <<<

Check out what's happening this weekend over here! You won't want to miss it! TTFN!

>>> So Much Going On <<<

Spent the mid afternoon checking out Art Friend, an art and craft store in Takashimaya. They not only sold Copic but also Promarkers too but it was great to be able to test the different types of Copics that they sold. Plus they had a 15% discount so I indulged in a few Copic Ciao markers to try out. I'm still partial to my Promarkers.

The evening was spent taking a leisurely stroll in Changi Village. Two of my ex-colleagues brought my boys and I there and we had a nice time catching up on old times while the boys let off steam, running around. I put my camera to good use and was lucky to catch the sunset.

My boys, hot and bothered, after running about so much!

Ex-colleagues and now fab friends of mine.

Caught the sun setting

Sun rises at 7pm and sets at 7pm here, more or less. Pretty regular.

TTFN!

>>> Scrap Day! <<<

Took some time out today and went over to a friend's place to scrap. Been ages since I've done that and we had a great time. I actually completed 2, yay two projects. The first is a hanging frame for my youngest and the second, is a card. Both were done for a scrappy blog .... which will be revealed this weekend!

Did more scrapping in the nite (guess mojo is coming back now) and completed another alphabet of my A-Z BOM album. Sheesh, that has been taking a while to complete and I've only got 5 more letters to do. I did the letter 'X' tonite and as soon as I've sought out photos for the other letters, will try and complete them.

For the letter X, made use of the word 'XO'. Can't say it's easy to find a suitable word with the letter X so XO just happened to suit my theme! Made use of Scarlet Lime July kit.

TTFN!

>>> Last Week Of July! <<<

Sheesh! Can't believe we are into the last week of July already! I will dread it when August start flying past as this means the end of summer vacation. So far, am enjoying my stay here. Can't tell you what a relief it has been not to be stuck with 2 kids all day long (and for 6 weeks)! My dad certainly has helped tremendously, especially during meal times, saving me the immense hassle of deciding what to eat/cook all the time, during bath time as he enjoys doing it (who am I to argue?) and playing with them. I'm around as well but it's nice to be able to put your feet up and read a magazine (in peace, I may add) and not be at the kids' beck and call all day. In fact, I'm actually enjoying their presence far more. Strange but true!

On the crafting side, managed to break my crafting lull and produced some LOs/projects. Here's one of the LOs that I did for Banana Frog July's Colour Focus challenge:

Brought a few Banana Frog stamp sets so had to make do with what I have (it's not easy scrapping with limited supplies). Made use of Scarlet Lime June kit (patterned paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle Traveller collection... entire set of papers rock!). Stamp sets used here are Greenwich Park, Backgrounds and Paper Chains.

Also played with Bellaboo August kit, which features Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts (the girl papers) and My Mind's Eye Penny Lane collection. There's a sneak peek on the Bellaboo blog so not difficult to guess the papers. As it's not August yet, so here are some sneak peeks of what I've done:

Ok I absolutely adore the owls so couldn't help using them to death! LOL! Did a lot of stamping too. Hope I've done justice to the papers as my crafting mojo is still on vacation mode and it's so darn difficult waking it up! Not having my border punches and embossing folders doesn't help either.

I'm off tomorrow to scrap with a friend! Best get my butt to bed as it's now 3am in the morning. I still can't sleep normal hours but at least I'm not yawning my head off in the daytime! TTFN!