Scary Creatures!

My son's PreSchool invited an Animal Man over to display his scary creatures to the kiddos. Creatures like spider (the humongous kind), snakes, slow worm, madagascar crocroach, owl, chameleon etc. Initially Zac was a bit intimidated but then he got over his fear and couldn't wait to touch them. He even had a snake wrapped around his neck... eeks! Not even his mom would do that! Took some cool photos I've to admit!

Here's mommy allowing that hairy creature to crawl on her hands just for the sake of photo!!! Urghh!!!

My little boy overcoming his fear and allowing the snake to go around him. Can't say his face didn't show it!!!

Had to mask the background as people's feet were showing! Anyway, here my baby holding a Madagascar crocroach!

Not sure what creature this was but its skin felt like fabric! Zac just couldn't get enough of touching them once he overcame his fear!

Finally the owl!

Homegrown is coming out with a new Trilogy kit... oh dear as if I need more papers! As the name implies, it's 3 kits in one. It has even an altered item in there! The July kit is looking very yummy. Sigh! Not very good at resisting temptation!!!

Hubby's out on a golfing weekend so guess who's gonna scrap her heart's content while watching CSI tonight!!! Gonna make sure the boys are off to bed early as these days they have a tendency to sleep off at 10pm despite being in bed by 9pm! What's worst it's a nitemare waking them up during school days but come the weekend, they are automatically up by 7am!!! Must be some conspiracy somewhere!

Sigh! No chance to go off to a crop tomorrow. MIL was supposed to hold a birthday party for her 2 grandsons whose birthdays are on Jul 10th and 17th, both of whom she won't be seeing on their actual day! My nephew will be with his dad (parents are divorced) and mine (Oliver) will be in Singapore! Then she called in the evening saying it has been cancelled as my SIL is hospitalised for a tummy problem. She didn't reveal much but she is going to see her tomorrow instead. What a turn of events!

I was debating whether to hold a party for Oliver's birthday and invite his friends as he has been clamouring for one since he has been to several of his friends' birthday parties. However, decided I really couldn't cope with the fuss, seeing that it's so close to our departure date! Instead, have just invited hubby's colleague's kids over and will have a BBQ instead. Mmmm, bring on the prawns and chicken wings!!! (that's my idea of BBQ - absolutely dislike burgers and sausages and will never eat such greasy stuff... much prefer prawns and chicken wings option!)

Saw the soccer match between Germany and Argentina... bloody sour losers they are the Argentines! They lost out on penalities to Germany and started a brawl on the soccer pitch! Tough luck! Now wondering if England will go that route too... the penality route I mean... they are absolutely hopeless at penalties... let's hope they can do better tomorrow!

Rite, enough of rambling... time for scrapping! TTFN!

Euruka!

Wow! Finally found a way of getting around the non uploading of images on this site! It was really pissing me off big time! Anyway, send a message to the Blogger site and received an email off them. They didn't personally respond to my complaint but gave me a list of FAQs and there I found the solution. They mentioned using another window explorer called Mozilla Firefox. Well, I downloaded that, installed and tried it. And guess what! It uploaded images without any problem at all!!! That's it... from now I'll be using this new window explorer! Let's see how good it will be vis-a-vis Microsoft Window Explorer!

On the creativity front, didn't do anything much! Tried to decorate a tag but got sidetrack by MSN... best friend came online, then other overseas friends too... in the end spent the afternoon chatting instead! I luv the internet... it makes connecting friends especially those overseas so easy and cheap! It would have cost me da bomb in phone bills! TTFN!

Scraptivity!

Pain in the back has eased off slightly but not completely so was careful with what I did!

Did a bit of scrapping this afternoon. Just had to do something as I had laid off scrapping for a few days and was beginning to get cold turkey! Made use of my Fancy Pants Spiffy papers!

Ohhhh just discovered some new papers today while surfing around... oh dear as if I don't have enough already... check this out!

Rouge de Garance, from a French manufacturer... lovely designs

Cherry Arte, new sets of papers and rubons too

Urban Lily, their new summer range are to die for.... can't wait to lay my hands on them!

Gosh these papers are so me! I luv bright and bold colours and can't wait to have a play with them! I'm so into those colours at the moment! Let's see if they make their way into kits... which I'm sure they will!

Just heard of another line A2Z Essentials that is coming up with some new lines... check out Heather's blog as she's the creative coordinator of the DT. So far the sneak peek looks good. Hope they move away from flowery images as there seem to be tons of flowery papers around now. It would be nice to play with shapes instead!

OMG! Just realised I've got about 13 days to go before I leave for Singapore.... suddenly I'm panicing now... feel as though there's a lot of unfinished jobs here i.e. making gifts for my sons' teachers. I've an idea what to get/do for them but getting my butt to do it is another thing! Best get started tomorrow! TTFN!

Ouch!

Hurt my back... possibly pull a back muscle while putting the kids to bed last nite. Anyway, woke up this morning in pure agony. It hurts even while driving. Had to take a short nap in the afternoon and little Zac joined me as well! Almost woke up late to pick Ollie up. Thankfully hubby did the cooking tonite as well as bathed the boys.

Didn't do much scrapping either as I tend to stand when scrapping and that even hurts. But I did dismantle the Heidi Swapp embellishment set that I bought and they are now in little gripseal bags. Might use that to journal my stay in Singapore!

Rite off to watch CSI in a minute and an early nite too! TTFN!

Scrap Fun!

Yesterday

Had a full day crop and completed 4 layouts. There were fewer people than usual but I had a blast, scrapping without interruption! I managed to complete the 2 layouts required for my retro article and also finished off 2 letters, P & Q for my A-Z album.

Here's letter Q. Made use of KI Memories paper from BPM kit. The quote reads "Quantity of quality time". Gosh, I'm loving my Provocraft rolling stamp. They sure as hell come in handy. I would have uploaded my letter P but decided more work needs to be done as it's a little plain!

I was so knackered when I got back that after getting the boys to bed, I went off too. Just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer! Missed watching the England vs Ecuador match but who cares when I can scrap the whole day childfree, to my heart's content!!!!

Today

Postie brought me a pizza box from Scrapitude store. I had ordered the Fancy Pants 6x6 scroll chipboards (now completely sold out!). Kimmy sold them singly which is great as I could then buy what I wanted. Also went for 2 sheets of Frou Frou papers to complete the set as I will be getting more Frou Frou papers from Back Porch Memories July kit. Gosh, it's double-sided and what a blast! Lovely papers! Gosh with all these new papers coming, wonder if I can bring some over to Singapore. Then again, I've got 4 big boxes of scrapping stuff and lots of unused papers there too so maybe not!!! Think I shall just bring my essential scrapping tools instead. I've got friends who has QK alpha dies, and one of them owns an online store too so why bother..... I will get Homegrown to send my July kit to Singapore instead! July kit is featuring Daisy D's Girlfriends, lovely colours with loads of yummy goodies!!!!

Hubby has to cut short his holidays in Singapore so I called up the travel agent to change his date of departure from Singapore. Instead I was told he could only do it in Singapore at the Emirates office! Weird!!! Why can't they change it here??? What if he can't get the date he wants??? Looks like I've to ask my Dad to call the office there and see if they can reserve his departure date from Singapore. Such a pain!!!

Oh, went for my job interview today. It was for a part-time position at the craft section in a Garden Centre. Chap who interviewed me actually said they were looking for someone who scrap as they needed someone since he and another lady aren't into scrapbooking and they have been asked about scrapbooking classes! Imagine the delight on my face!!! Anyway, will see what happens! If I get the job, great! If not, so be it.... I will start looking for a proper job when Sept comes! TTFN!

Bored To Tears!

Popped into Costco in Birmingham for the first time and was literally awed by the place! Massive and loads of stuff in bulk at great value.... wondered why I've not gone earlier but then hubby has never been impressed at such places! Anyway, I was there for one purpose! Heard that they were selling Heidi Swapp emblishments (about 567 pieces) for £21ish!!! It also includes a raw 6x6 album too and loads of alpha bits. Well, found it easily and there were tons in the boxes. Also managed to find some paint brush pens for Oliver's birthday next month. He loves drawing and these paint brush pens will no doubt please him to bits not to mention they don't make that much mess compared to the ordinary paint pots!

In the afternoon, hubby dragged me to his colleague's house with the boys and left me there while he went off with his colleage to play golf! What a boring time I had (even more so when I knew I had a Heidi Swapp embellishment pack to rip apart!)!!! I was forced to watch the live match of cricket between England and Sri Lanka (who incidentally won the match). Anyway, picked up some idea how the game is played and also googled at the captain of the Sri Lanka team who looked kinda cute! He literally won the game for his team with his brillant batting! Never mind that I had to listen and keep an eye on 4, yes FOUR noisy boys shouting and playing rather loudly too! I did of course exchanged conversation with the colleague's wife and his mom but frankly would have preferred to stay at home, at least I could have done some scrapping instead!

During our conversation, they told me some interesting news... that they could easily get me a Sri Lanka maid if I wanted. Well as soon as I get a full time good paid job, that will be my first expenditure on the list! Most of my Singaporean friends have a live-in maid helping them out (& nope, they aren't rich but middle-incomed people, & it's something very common too hence they are horrified to hear that I'm all on my own without maid! Mind you, at least 2 of them are stay-at-home moms too!) Not surprising I loathe living here... I find quality of life sucks big time! Healthcare and dental services are the pits! Food is disgusting especially the lack of fresh fish and variety in fruits! And lately in the news, Cadbury is recalling millions of their chocolates for fear of salmonella and to think they had been hiding that fact for 5 months!!! Oh for God sake, now even chocolates aren't safe in this country and what have I been munching on the last few months, Cadbury chocolates!!! The very same types that they are recalling too! Hygiene in this country leaves much to be desired!

Rite off to pack for tomorrow's scrapping crop! This darn blog site isn't uploading images again... really getting fedup with it now... won't be surprised if I make a switch to typepad soon.... heard it's more reliable and there's a gallery too! Let's see how it goes..... TTFN!

Mundane stuff

Finally sent off my LO to Creating Keepsakes... won't be seeing it for the next 6 months I reckon!

Today was hubby's appraisal at work! Well, he got a nice pay rise but his boss refused to give him 4 weeks off for his holidays... told him to take 2 weeks at the beginning and 2 weeks at the end (I'm there for 8 weeks!) Is he NUTS! Has he no idea what time of the year we are going!!! How the flippin heck is hubby gonna get ticket at this short notice, never mind that he will end up paying at least £800-1K for the tix but whether he can get a seat is another thing!!! Bloody ridiculous! I booked our tickets in April and already seats were filling up fast. In fact I got the last few seats! (makes you think how many are literally getting out of UK!) I told hubby he needs to persuade his boss to let him go whatever it may take! Whatever it is, doesn't bother me 'cos when the time comes, I'll go off with the kids... not letting this set me back! My friends are already expecting, food's already waiting and nothing... and I mean nothing is gonna hold me back from going! Besides the boys are excited at the thougth of sitting in a plane, not that they haven't sat on one (in fact ever since they were born!) Oh well, let's see what happens....

Been industrious and completed 2 LOs today. One's for a Goals' challenge on Scrapitude:

As usual had to follow the guidelines for completing this LO which included using 3 photos, vellum, the colour orange, buttons, rubons and journalling. The theme has to do with the goals that I set at the beginning of the year. This time I chose my goal of going to church. Somehow that never materialised but that doesn't mean I don't believe in God. Still do but just don't show it outwardly that's all! Used the latest Back Porch Memories June kit. Papers are from We R Memory Keepers Diner collection!

The second LO was my last DT LO for Homegrown! Completed 3 LOs and 1 altered project and still have tons of papers leftover!!!

Oh well, got stuff to make for my sons' teachers so they will come in handy! I've now 2 more LOs to do for my article and then I can play with my stash! Can't wait for Sunday crop ... 6 hrs of non-stop scrapping, childfree too! Woooo Hooo! TTFN!

Under Pressure!

Gosh, I've so much to do that I had no time to blog yesterday! Sigh! Never leave anything to last minute!!!

Yesterday

Anyway, postie came and brought me my Back Porch Memories June kit.... boy are they lush especially the colours, so vibrant and I'm so dying to scrap them!

Slight drama in the morning. Looked out of the window and found the chaps tarmacing the slip road just in front of my house! Great! What a time to do it cos that effectively locked me in as I can't use my car until the tarmac is dry! Hence the big walk to school. Got anxious as I've never walked to Ollie's school before. Left the house at 8.30am and fortunately, reached his school in 20 mins, just before the door to the school was open. That was lucky! But never again will I do it. Rewarded myself with a bar of choccie on the way back, wiping out any calories that I lost!!!

Heard back from Creating Keepings (finally!) regarding sending the LO off. Had to fill in a contract and also a tax-free form. The LO will appear in an Idea Book, vol 10 due out this November. Gosh, still pinching myself about this!!!

Today

Every Thursday, I pop over to my mom-in-law's house with the boys. They absolutely adore her as she really plays with them and give them undivided attention! I think she gives in too much to them as I found Zac bossing her around today and scolding her for not making the playdoh shape that he wanted!!! Ollie enjoys having a stay-over on Sat nite from time to time! I've to say, she's really good with her grandkids!

I'm now snowed under... I've got 3 LOs to create before the 25th June and I'm starting to panic a little now. I need to create 2 retro LOs and 1 LO for the Goals challenge (which I already know what to do). Just finding the time to do it is a problem. Thank goodness for a full day scrap on Sunday! However, much rather finish it before Sunday so that I can play with my new goodies!!!

Ohhh, got a call today from Melbrick Garden Centre asking me to go down for an interview next Monday. I was there some months back and saw a part time job in the craft section (which incidentally carries scrapping products!). Applied but didn't hear from them so assumed it was gone then today's call! Sigh... just when I'm about to go off for my summer hols in about 3 wks time. Wonder if they will still want me in Sept.... it would be great timing as Zac goes full time to Nursery too!!! Fingers crossed till next Monday!

Rite, off to finish my projects.... TTFN!

Altered Project!

Hubby found an unused cheeseboard in the garage and gave it to me. So I did what came naturally to a scrapbooker... I altered it!

Made use of the Homegrown June kit to deocrate the cheeseboard. Photo of the family on a recent trip to France.

This morning, postie brought me my Coluzzle items that I bought off eBay. I absolutely 'heart' them! I find them ever so easy to use and they are such great tools. They are part of Provocraft and I mnaged to secure some new stuff such as an alphabet set, a tab set and a swirly pattern set. My fav has got to be the large circle as I've been looking for them for ages. I tend to use circles a lot in my scrapping and it's annoying having to make use of plates, bowls to draw out circles!

England drew with Sweden in the soccer match, 2-2. It's a pity Owen is out due to his knee injury. However, I missed the 2nd half of the match as CSI took predence over watching the soccer match and boy wasn't I not disappointed! Another great episode! TTFN!

Time to Create!

Wow! Postie finally brought me my Homegrown kit so can get down to some creative work! As the colours are very summery, it was easy to work with this kit! Managed to churn out 2 LOs:

Just had to scrap these pictures of Zac. Since discovering the scissors and the joy of cutting, these days all he does is snip snip away at papers. Just have to make sure he doesn't go near my patterned papers! Have to say those Jolee scissors came in handy but not before giving it a dose of alcohol inks!

Decided to go minimalist for this LO as the photo was a small one. Not usually my style but I kinda like it. Everything's from the kit apart from the QK Olivia font. I like to try and showcase all the items given in the kit if possible!

Two more to complete and I'm done. Gosh, still have The Scrapper's Loft assignments to do. Thankfully, article is written and I've just need to design the LOs... according to retro theme! TTFN!

Happy Father's Day!

The boys gave their dad a tie that they had chosen from Marks & Spencer and a lovely box of chocolates! Then we decided to go cycling in Rutland Water, somewhere in Leicestershire. It was a perfect day for cycling as it wasn't too hot and was slightly windy. Hubby loaded the bikes and it took us roughly an hourish to get there.

There were loads of people around (not surprising due to the weather!) Zac sat in his little cycle buggy. I reckon Ollie's bike is getting a little small for him and I think it's time for him to learn to cycle on 2 wheels now. Will have to start training him and will get him a new bike for his coming birthday too!

The initial cycle route was great, literally flat and plain sailing. I managed to pack a little picnic bag too and we had a little picnic after 2 hrs of cycling. Then we came upon a children's playground and the boys were let loose in there. After a round of ice lollies, Ollie and Zac ended in the cycle buggy. Ollie's bike was tied to the buggy and both of us decided to make a round trip of the entire place.
Gosh, at this stage, we encountered load of hilly routes. Then some really deserted route. We seemed to be cycling for miles and miles. By 6pm, I was already getting tired and we were no where near our car! In the end, hubby had to seek assistance as I told him I wasn't gonna cycle further if he didn't know the way back. My thighs were already aching! Eventually after another hour of cycling ... on the road itself, we reached the car where I could hardly stand! My legs were so wobbly! God knows how many calories I lost that afternoon! Nonetheless, it was a good workout!

On our way back we debated getting a takeaway as it would be almost 8pm by the time we reach home. Unfortunately, the choices of takeaway didn't whet our appetite so hubby decided to cook instead and we had one of the best meals! I was so thoroughly knackered that I went straight to bed! Didn't have a good nite sleep though due to aching muscles! :( TTFN!

Big Stinkin' Toot!

Checked my email this morning and got a big surprise! Creating Keepsakes magazine, a well-known US scrapping magazine has requested one of my LOs for their Idea Annual. I am totally gobsmacked!!! Me!!! I don't even bother submitting to magazines in the first place as it's such a hassle and they are now asking me for my LO instead! Moreover, it isn't one of my fav LOs too, did that LO to commemorate our family outing trip and it has 9 photos on it. But then I think CK is leaning towards multiple photos so perhaps that's what got them interested! I won't go into specifics how they saw that particular LO but suffice to say, I'm like a cheshire cat, wearing an enormous grin on my face the whole day! I'm now waiting for another email to get more info as they had asked me if that LO is available! Until I see that email, I shan't get overly excited!

They say good things come in threes! First, being asked on the Scrapitude DT team, then getting news that CK wants my LO and finally being offered a full time place at nursery where Zac will be attending in Sept! He and I attended an induction programme this afternoon. My eldest went there so I knew the nursery already and it's a good one too! They have 26 morning, afternoon and full time places. Number one, lucky to be accepted by the nursery. Number two, even luckier to be given a full time place as I didn't think I would get it as they have a checklist to see if places could be granted! Moreover, it was revealed that the full time places were over subscribed.... just makes me wonder if parents are that keen to send their kiddos off to school and have some time to themselves??? That will help me tremendously when I return to working life sometime in Sept. Met some of Oliver's ex-teachers and I hope they don't form an impression of Zac as Oliver was fairly well-known there! Zac is completely different from Oliver at that age.

Darn! Still no sign of my Homegrown DT kit yet... so annoying when I've got ideas beaming in my head and not being able to do them! This month's kit is GinX Take a Vacation, so appropriate for the season now. I'm already saving some photos for scrapping and will be doing an altered project for it too. As for Back Porch Memories kit, it should arrive either on the 20th or 21st... that kit delivery is like clockwork, arrives on time! Can't wait to play with WRMK Boho Chic & Diner papers, so yummy! There's also American Craft Bookshelves papers and Fancy Pants Spiffy! What a great selection, no wonder that particularly kit sold out so quickly!

Gosh, in a few more weeks I'll be heading home! Can't wait to see my parents, miss them dearly as well as my friends and to feel entirely comfortable in my own surroundings. Not to mention eating my fav fruits that will be in season too! I think I'm gonna pack early as I always end up sleeping in the wee hours the nite before departure as I would be doing last minute packing. Fortunately, as I'm going home, I don't have to bring much clothes back as I tend to buy when I'm there and I still have a wardrobe of clothes back home! As for the boys, t-shirt materials here tend to be too thick to be worn there so I end up buying good, cheap ones for them! Just have to pack some essential scrapping stuff to bring over. TTFN!

Dramatic End!

Whahhhhh! Saw the last episodes of Desperate Housewives... what can I say but it's totally nail gripping and leaves you begging for more!!! All I can say is that it's kept me glued to the TV and I've never been that interested in my life! Mike got hit by a car, Carlos making out with the maid, & Bree in a mental institute etc... Now I really can't wait for the next series!!!

It's Thursday today so it's Grey's Anatomy tonite, another fav American series of mine (I must so get my hands on the 2nd series which is currently showing or has shown in the States and Singapore!!!!) It's a great entertaining programme from beginning to end and leaves you begging for more!

This nifty little plant is a life-saver! What is it? Aloe Vera! Very useful in the kitchen as it a good medicinal plant for any burns that you receive. It will probably do more but each time I burn myself (either thru touching hot stuff or the accidental hot oil splashing one me), I will break the leaves and apply the sap directly onto the sore area. Immediately it helps to soothe the pain, and even lessen the soreness. I once received a really bad burn and immediately applied the aloe vera and did it for a few times in a day. The next day, there was no blister or any painful lesion. Instead, it looked as if it was on the mend, definitely no pain at all. Since then I always recommended it to anyone who received a burn. My BIL sustained some nasty one during a fireworks display and we told him to apply it but he kept pooing the idea but did it and was a convert when he found how well his fingers healed without much pain. That plant grows like wildfire too and I've been giving a bit of it to past visitors and it's still sprouting throughout the year! (as usual, blogger isn't allowing any upload of images!!!)

Alrite, England won the match by 2 goals! Thank goodness as they played a dismal first half and were even booed off the pitch at half time! Do the team have to rely on Rooney to score? It's dangerous if they have to depend on one guy to get them through each qualifying round!!! The irony is that these players literally play football for prestigious clubs and I can't believe out of those clubs we can't find a few good strikers around!!! It would be interesting to see how far they will go in this competition! I wonder how much some of those tickets went for... geesh, if I had one in my possession, I would sell it to the highest bidder so that I can use the cash to go to Scrap-a-ganza (a scrapping retreat in Holland) instead.... would probably have more fun than being in a stadium!

Gosh, been eyeing those Kelly Panacci Funtastik collection but am reminding myself that in a few days time, I will be getting 2 pizza boxes full of papers and bellies, at least 12 new sheets of patterned papers so do I really need to buy more? It's just the temptation I guess!

Rite, off to watch Grey's Anatomy and to settle down to do another assignment on an article. TTFN!

Ohhhhhh!

The official announcement has been made and now I can reveal! I've been invited to be on Scrapitude Design Team! Gosh I'm so thrilled! I hope to be able to inspire with my creation. I start from September onward once I return from my summer hols.

Here's some of my latest creations from the Scraplift challenge:

The only thing I lifted is the vertical stripe of paper and the journalling block. Picture of my youngest playing about in the car. We were waiting for Ollie to finish his soccer practice. I used papers from Blue Cardigan Bloom.

Finally got to scrap these pictures as they have been lying in my photo file for ages! Our ride on the Birmingham Eye. Papers are from One Heart One Mind and they are double-sided too. Simply gorgeous! (part of the Medley kit from Back Porch Memories - so glad to be using these papers as they were piling up)

I had a good read on the Design Secrets book and it's amazing. I'm gonna write down all the design ideas and pointers and see how I can apply them to my creation. It just doesn't tell you the ideas but also show you how they are applied. I love the one on colours, how different colour evoke different meanings! I've reached a point where I need to improve on my LOs, to me, it's simply not decorating a plain piece of paper but it has evolve into a form of art, how I can use colours effectively to tell my stories. Let's hope I can apply some of these ideas as I'm feeling I'm getting into a rut these days!

Had a meeting with Ollie's school and head teachers as they were concerned about his lack of concentration and we talked about setting targets for him to work upon. Work wise he's ok in writing, reading and Maths but the problem is sitting still and concentrating on what is going on as well as needing someone next to him when doing individual work. All I can say is that boys in general do take a while to absorb and they much prefer to be doing things than sitting still and listening. Take a look at how girls and boys play and you can see a visible difference. Girls will sit and play quietly while boys will jump up, make a row and ensure they are visibly seen and heard!!! He's only 5 yrs!!! I feel sorry he has to enter a system where he's being forced to do thing he's not mentally prepared for! Perhaps this country school system isn't working for him and I may have to find alternatives....

Spent the quiet afternoon time I had completing a LO that has been left lingering! Played with Rhonna Farrer Flourishes clear stamps as well as her Scribbles Enchanted papers.

Hooray, E4 is gonna show the last 2 episodes of Desperate Housewives... really luv that programme and definitely not gonna miss it! I hope they will be making more episodes after this! TTFN!

New Books!

Ohhh, postie came and delivered 2 new books which I bought from the US as they were miles cheaper than buying in the UK even after including p&p!!! Got myself Designing with Type and Designing Secrets (from Scrapbook Etc). Can't wait to have a good browse through to get inspired. Loved the books by Autumn Leaves... very inspiring!

Went to my local newsagent to pick up my Scrapbook Answers magazine and the store lady informed me some crap about the one-off magazine (Scrapbook Answers - How To) being the magazine now or it has changed to it...sigh! What a load of bull! I don't blame her as she got the info from the distributor! I take it the mag hasn't arrived in the UK yet as it's due to be out on June 6th (in the US) so it will take sometime to make its appearance here. It really gets to me that people can come out with crap when they don't know the answers... what's wrong with saying 'I dont' know but I will check' instead of coming out with bullshit! Anyway, I'm going take my May issue to show them that the June/July issue is coming out!!! Hopefully they will go back to the distributor and blast them instead!

Popped into Woolworths and luck must be shining at me cos found a laundry basket for half price. The current one is broken (considering that it is not even a month old!!!) and I do need a new one. Went for a pink one and hoping it will last longer than the last one. Also found some England soccer t-shirt and shorts for half price too so bought that for the boys. At least Ollie will have some proper training gear instead of mismatched t-shirt and shorts!

It's rained today and as luck would have it, during school run. Couldn't find any umbrella in the house so had to run out in the rain to pick my son up. As it was Tuesday, had to bring the eldest for his soccer practice and it was held in the hall as it was still drizzling when we went there. Hall's a little small and had to watch Zac to make sure he didn't venture into the playing area.

Rite, off to have a good browse through my books. Had a flip through and am already impressed by it! TTFN!

Weathered Down!

Oh boy, the weather is really getting to me. Although it rained and that help a fair bit, I could actually feel the slight humidity of weather and actually perspired a bit. By 9pm, I was zonked out, just couldn't take it anymore. Tried as I could to watch CSI, I missed the last bit (the most exciting bit) as I fell asleep! Duh!!! Definitely need to hunt down for my standing fan... I'm sure it's in the loft somewhere!

Ohhh, received some good news this morning but will reveal later (what a tease!) Made my day it certainly did!!!

Remind me NEVER cook sweet sour pork again. Decided to do something different for dinner, checked out the receipe for it over the net and made preparations. The dish required flying the pork so that they are crispy and that's when the problem started. Firstly, my deep fat fryer is filled with oil that needs cleaning out! So started frying them in a little pan. Urghh, ended up being burnt with tiny drops of hot oil... definitely not pleased at all and having to change pot at least 3 times as it was burning! The sweet sour part was easy to fry. And to top it all, my boys didn't like the taste of the sweet sour at all, preferring to eat their rice plain! So much for good efforts! Think I will stick to the usual receipes in future!

Bad Hair Day!

Ohh my hair's in a state at the moment and I desperately need a hair cut and a good colouring. Unfortunately I've yet to find a hairdresser in this country that can cut my hair to my liking. I'm not fussy but most British hairdresser just don't know how to deal with my hair as firstly it's not fine and thin but rather coarse and thick! I've been to a few, including well-known ones but always coming out feeling not like a million dollar babe, instead a frump! My hair need thinning and I find that majority don't really know how to deal with my hair. Instead they resort to cutting it shorter and making the problem worst!!! I gave up eventually and only do my hair each time I return home to visit my parents which is once a year! This time is no exception as I want a layered bob and new highlights so the moment I hit the ground in Singapore, will give my hairdresser a call and book for an early appointment!

Today weather was sweltering again and it did give me a throbbing headache! Hubby was laughing at me as he couldn't understand it since I should be used to it but having lived abroad for more than 10 years, I'm kinda climatised to the weather here and therefore it does take getting used to the heat once again. Just wondering how I'm gonna cope when I go back next month but thankfully dear old dad has fitted a new air-con unit in my room so I guess I'll be spending most of my time in there!

Thankfully we didn't go cycling today. Instead went shopping as Oliver's Nan wanted to get him a pair of sandals for his birthday (which is next month but he won't be around). So we went to the Fort Shopping Centre. Managed to find him his sandals, topped up on sunblock SPF 50 lotions and also bought myself Scrapbook Inspiration magazine but only b'cos I wanted the template! I had a good browse through the Scrapbook Magazine but wasn't particularly inspired by it. The free Rusty Pickle papers did look good but I much prefer getting the actual papers instead! Flipped through the SI mag and was quite impressed by the contents. Picked up some scrapliftable elements!

My fridge in the kitchen is acting up funny. Got out a bottle of fizzy water only to find that it was frozen!!! FROZEN --- that fridge doesn't even have a freezer unit at all! Not only that, it's also making hell of a lot of noise too. Thankfully hubby called for a techie to take a look and he will be here tomorrow. Fortunately, we do have another fridge, a much bigger one that's in the washing area so for the time-being, all the food stuff goes there.

Ohhh, my best friend from Shanghai called and we had a good natter. She will be in the UK sometime in Sept and will be popping over to see me so I'm kinda excited. Pity she won't be in Singapore during the time I'm there as her mom is flying out to visit her. Gosh really miss her company as she's one person I can really open my heart to and we can just talk about anything in the world! Can't wait to see her in Sept!

Managed a LO last nite for the Scraplift challenge. Played with Basic Grey Color Me Silly papers. Quite pleased with the outcome and went for a clean, simple look. Will reveal once it's out on the Scrapitude site.

Rite, need to complete another LO for another challenge. Oh, had a good news from Cherry Arte. They accepted another of my LO for their gallery submission and it's already there! Cool! TTFN!

Goal!!!!!

Ok so England won but they didn't score that goal. It was due to a Paraquay player who scored instead! I got bored watching it halfway ... England players seemed so lifeless. Perhaps it was the heat and that can sapped up a player's energy real quick! Let's hope the team will play better in the next few rounds or they can kiss the Cup good-bye!

Regarding Black Country accents/dialects, Mal, I never ventured into that topic and frankly don't want to 'cos my first encounter with a chap who spoke with a typical Black Country accent left me utterly speechless! I had absolutely no clue what he was saying! Didn't think he spoke English in the first place!

Regarding sports, Toni, I had that suspicions but not researching enough into the topic, didn't want to put my foot in the wrong place. Then again, if it's seen as a lower class game, the amount of money spent on tickets & merchandises and following the players around sure doesn't equate to that status! That sport is probably the biggest money making machine compared to the other sports! I can't see a cricket/rugby/tennis player earning similar sums to Beckham, Rooney or Owen!!! Ha the quirky irony of it!

On the subject of creation, here's my LO that I thought was pants! I had to incorporate alcohol inks somehow but didn't like the final result. I went back to the drawing board (my sketch book) and ended up with another LO which I do love but can't reveal. Papers are by Melissa Frances, part of the Back Porch Memories Medley kit. Letter stickers are from Doodlebug cardstock sticker. Well, I'm not gonna change it as I can be creating perfect LOs all the time. Anyway the LO records a conversation between moi and Zac! I was out hanging the clothes at that time! That's what I luv about scrapbooking, being able to record little things like that!

Here's another LO that I created as part of the Scraplift Challenge at Scrapititude. Made use of my Cherry Arte papers that were sitting in my folder untouched. Somehow I find it harder to use dark coloured cardstock (apart from black) ... always feel that it just doesn't look great once the elements come together.

Gosh, we were sweltering at home today. It was really hot and I had the kids covered in sunblock constantly. My mother-in-law asked me if it was that hot in Singapore and I told her is was even hotter with high humidity! Here, at least it's dry heat and you don't sweat.. oops perspire (horses sweat :)) I'm alrite in this weather, I can take the heat but not the cold! Urghs! I always feel sunny weather puts people in a more jovial mood, well at least in this country that I've noticed!

Made use of the raging weather to stay indoors and complete my assignments. Managed to finish 2 and have got another 2 to go. Then my Homegrown kit should be arriving next week so had better put my thinking cap on. It's nice to have something to do as I'm one person that gets bored ever so easily. Been thinking of going back to work once I return from my holiday in Sept. Doubt if I can continue as a stay-at-home mom as I'm beginning to feel really restless. Just have to decide what job to look for as I don't feel like returning to the IT industry. TTFN! (Ta Ta for Now)

At Last!

Finally got my hands on the Creative Memories corner rounder! Currently I own 2, one from Woodware that is utterly useless, as all it does is bend the corner of the paper and I've to trim the edges off myself! The other is from EK Success but somehow the catch holding the metal piece has broken and each time I use it, it literally jumps up from the plastic casing making punching almost difficult if not impossible! Let's hope the CM last a wee bit longer than these 2! Heard good reviews about it and couldn't believe my luck when I found it on the UKScrappers marketplace! Along with that came other goodies such as individual bottles of alcohol inks including the metallic mixatives and some dome tins, chalk ink and Doodlebug stickers from Papermaze. Ohh, the tins were ever so cute and I'm still deciding what to put in there for my son's teachers.

Gosh my brother send me this interesting website regarding a controversal book that is now banned in Singapore (typical!!!!) It's actually written by the grand-daughter of the Tiger Balm family and feature snippets of interesting people including politicians! Now a banned book can only arouse further interest and this is no exception! Talk about juicy gossip. As the site is hosted in the US, doubt if any legal action can be taken. Definitely the book will make its way into my library! Dallas and Dynasty pales in comparison to the saga that's in the book! Somehow the situation reminds me of George Orwell's Animal Farm where I distinctly remembers this: "All animals are equal although some are more equal than other!" (something to that effect) Quite true in this modern world!

The World Cup season starts today and so will debauchery and hooliganism! Don't envy the police force as they will have their hands full during this season! Can't understand why this sport encourages such behaviour as you don't see it happening in rugby, cricket or tennis! Or perhaps it's the nature of the sport, the dress code of the sport that incite a certain kind of behaviour? Mmmm, makes a very interesting PhD topic (if ever I decide to go for it haha!)

Oh and Mal, what I said about the Brummie accent is true. The local news even did a survey about the accent and found some interesting results about it. A Brummie accent doesn't auger well in job interviews and people have known to take elocution lession to get rid of it! Sorry I certainly don't want my sons discriminated the moment they open their mouth. As it is, my English relatives (who are Brums now living in poshy Poole) have even taken the mickey out of it! My sister-in-law even tried to remove the accent via elocution lessons... so what I've said stay put! :)

On the 'uncreative' front, I think I've lost it! I just can't seem to get it right and I'm talking about my LOs. Once done, I look at it and think 'God, it's crap!'. Did a LO this afternoon for an article that I'm writing but somehow feel it's so crap that it's not worth submitting. As my article is on alcohol inks, did a LO incorporating the use of alcohol inks. (As usual, blogger isn't cooperating so can't upload the LO). But I'm just not pleased with it! Oh shucks, back to the drawing board again!

Languages!

Ohhh I just can't wait to go home where I can switch back to the local lingo and blab away in Mandarin and dialect. It's so frustrating having to speak Brit English all the time and in their proper tone 'cos the moment I lapse (and I do) in my local accent, I'm asked to repeat what I've said! Surprisingly, after spending more than 10 years abroad, I've yet to pick up the Brit accent (god forbid as the Brummie accent is horrendous!). I certainly do worry that my kids will not know their mother tongue (Mandarin) as they will not have the opportunity to learn. I've tried to find a language school in Birmingham but haven't been successful. Since it's one of the most spoken language in the world (yup, above English) it would be advantageous for them to pick it up. What annoys me about the state school is that they don’t introduce foreign languages to pupils at an early age. I find that it’s the best time for them to learn new languages as their brains are like sponges and they will pick it up so quickly. Oliver is able to count in Spanish thanks to Dora, a computer game he plays where Dora speaks in both English and Spanish. He definitely knows the word frog in Spanish! It’s pointless introducing them when they are 12 yrs onwards as it is more difficult to pick it up and by that time, majority feel that they don’t need to know another language. I guess I've to get a personal tutor in languages... I want him to be able to speak Mandarin and French (only b'cos his mom can speak it and is the official language of the UN!)

Another thing that irks me is their insistance on concentrating on writing... frankly at ages 4 -7, they should be learning new languages! Kids at this age are far too young to do writing and frankly, they got years ahead to pick up writing. And especially when you have a class of mixed ages i.e those who were born in Sept and there has to wait another year to enter school. They have the advantage over those who are the youngest in the class, a good whole year advantage. How can they expect pupils to be able to achieve the same target. Also they fail to take into consideration that boys tend to be slower in picking up reading and writing skills. Some are more interested in playing and to force them to do writing will only cause them to be turned off! I remember my son's teacher told me about his lack of interest in writing late last year. I didn't force him and in fact didn't even ask him to pick up a pencil to write. I figured when the time come for him to write, he will write. It's pointless to force a writing on a child when they are not ready! And true enough, early this year, he became interested in writing and got me to make him a book so that he could write stories. I used to be a teacher before and therefore am only too aware on targets being forced on children not mentally matured to accept them! In the first place, I feel this country send their kids far too early to school. In Singapore and in many other countries that I know, kids formally attend school from 7 years onward!

Enough of ranting, I can now show the Scraplift Challenge LO as it has been revealed! Made use of Rhonna Farrer Flourishes and Swirls stamps and of course some doodling too. Got to play with Cherry Arte papers. Used a plum-coloured cardstock but somehow I feel I sucked at using coloured cardstocks! Always feel it looks awful after I'm done. I much prefer to stick to white or black cardstocks ... which reminds me that I need to stock up on black ones soon. (blogger's playing up so later...)

World Cup Fever!

Urghh! It's the World Cup season again... thankfully hubby isn't a fanatic although I'm sure he will be watching some of the England matches. Used to have an Ex who was really a fanatic and remembered having to cut short my shopping trip so that he could go home and watch a soccer match! How annoying!

What annoys me most about this coming soccer season is the emphasis on Wayne Rooney... gosh, one would think he's is THE ONE in the team... sorry but there are 11 players in a team, not one! I can imagine how the others would feel, being in the squad but being ignored for just one player. Ok he scores goals but hell if the others can't defend or give him the opportunity to score, then he can't do much! Besides, the over emphasis on his broken heel has indicated to the opposing teams England's weak spot, no doubt they will be aiming to tackle Rooney as much as they can!

Postie brought me some lovely papers but these are for the birthday swap that I am taking part at UKScrappers. Thought I had better get it sorted early. Just have to add a couple more bits and I'm done!

Received my LO for the Scraplift challenge and spent the afternoon doing it. Wasn't too pleased when I'm done.... scrapping mojo isn't functioning at its best! Anyway, decided to play with my camera and took candid shots of the boys... I'm still trying to figure out how to use my Nikon digital camera (just a small one!) It annoys me when you end up with blurred shots at some good images. Then again, I see no reason why not to use them, since photo software allows you to play and alter images pretty well.

Ordered a couple of scrapping books, Designing with Type and Scrapbook Designs (from Scrapbook Etc.) Heard some good reviews of the latter so will be interesting to take a look. Also, ordered some Provocraft tins from Papermaze as well but these will be for my son's teachers. Had better sort their pressies out early as it won't be long before the end of term draws near. Morever we are leaving slightly earlier for our vacation so best get them sorted. Gonna decorate the tins but haven't decided what to put in there... might make them some cards and other bits and bobs!

Look What Came In The Post Today!

Ho Ho! Look what the postie brought me today!!! My long awaited set of Rhonna Farrer Flourish and Swirl stamps and my luscious ribbons/fabric/fibres from Shoebox Trims (eat your heart out Toni :)) Gosh I reckon delivery took less than 5 days to arrive! This month's colour is in shades of lilac, pink, green, yellow... very pastel.... mmm need to do a LO using those yummy strands!

Needless to say, I wasted no time in playing with my stamps. I've got a newsletter article to write and decided to do one on alcohol ink. Created a card with it and here's a partial glimpse!

Ohh, been naughty and bought some more single bottles of alcohol inks including a metallic mixative from a 3dJean that had free post and packaging too! She does a lot of altered projects and even an altered kit which will definitely suit those into altered stuff! Quite interesting!

As it's Tuesday, had to bring my son for his soccer practice. He absolutely enjoys it and it's a pity we will miss the last session which they are supposed to get a medal as we'll be in Singapore by then. Wonder if they will let him have his early?!!

Hubby came home from work to find the boys completely zonked out on the sofa. Usually I would let them watch DVD so as to keep them quiet while I'm doing the dinner. Hence I had no idea both had zonked out. I wouldn't if I had known as it does affect their nite routine.

A Milestone!

Whayyyyy! Finally my little rascal (picture above) has decided to potty train himself and now goes to the toilet to do his wee and poo! I've been trying since Feb when he turned 3, actually in fact last year when he was 2 3/4 yrs old as that was the time his brother started wearing pants but nope! He absolutely refused to have it .... think he was still trying to cling onto his babyhood! Well, I gave up after 2 days when I had to wash poo off his pants.... Tried again earlier this year but nope... he just refused! Gave up and continued the nappy. Then last week, he decided to go to the toilet to do his poo! I think it was a Wednesday and he continued that routine but he still 'wee' into his nappy. Then on Friday, we ran out of nappy and I had to put him in his pants. He then started going to the toilet to do his poo and at times, his wee. I had to do a bit of bribing for him to do his wee in the toilet. Well, today he was good, didn't have any accident but insisted on his 'boody' (goody which is what I tell him he could have if he went to the toilet!) each time he went to the toilet... at this rate I will finish my Mingles in no time!!! :( But I've to celebrate his milestone... finally he's officially my little boy, no more a baby! Don't know if that's good at all....

Whoopee! Received my prize from Scrapitudes for the May Goals challenge. A few Bazzill cardstock including the scalloped edge one (which I've been looking for!), a SEI Winnie Walls rub on sheet and a Limited Edition ribbon and lace clear stamp set! Almost died when I saw the stamp set ... mmmm how did she know I've a fetish for stamps!!!

The start of school term so I had 2 1/2 hrs to spare and finished off another letter to my A-Z album. Here's N (which I couldn't load the other time) and O:

Made use of my Back Porch Memories kit papers and the above papers are from One Heart One Mind and they are double-sided too! Cool, luv papers that are double-sided as they seem to be value for money! Made use of my alcohol inks to dye the metal letters and button. (The metal letters read 'Nuture')

This page was done with papers from Blue Cardigan using the Bloom range! Ohh they are so gorgeous. The border around the photo was done using the new ribbon and lace stamp set from Limited Edition (my prize!:)).

Remind me never to do grocery shopping on a Monday. Sent hubby out with a list as we didn't manage to go the weekend and he came back with only half the list saying that most weren't available or sold out!!! Sigh! Will have to pop in during the week for some fresh fruits as they had sold out on strawberries, or any of the summer fruits!!!

Lazy Day!

Spent a lazy day with Zac. Hubby and Oliver wouldn't be back till late (They are in Poole). Weather was brillant but didn't feel like going out. We snuggled up in bed watching Cbeeies and ended up both of us having an afternoon nap, something that I've not had for a long long time!

On the creative front, the Scraplift challenges that I'm are now revealed so I can show off my LOs!

The only element I lifted from this LO was the piece of paper behind the photo. On hindsight, should have torn all the sides....

This LO was created in honour of Delainey, Steph's little girl (owner of Homegrown Scrapbooks). It was a challenge among the DTs to create a LO using a photo of Steph's little girl! Have to say it was fun scrapping little girls for a change.

This LO is completely different from the one I lifted as the original LO featured big rectangularblocks randomly put on the cardstock but I chose to use that element as journalling blocks instead! I love the font used for the title 'Perfect'. It's from Ellison thin alpha dies called Twang. A bit like Sizzlit. I used it at the Moxley crop. Might be looking to get one as I need a big alpha die and QK is proving a wee bit expensive. Also, it's slightly bigger than QK classic. Will have to find a bargain place to get it now!

Just found out that my basic cable channel has National Geographic so I'm watching that too! Luv their episodes on Air Crash Investigation... so interesting... I've an affinity for planes... always wished I could have worked as an air stewardess. Also enjoyed their documentary series on Seconds from Disaster. Luv documentary programmes!!!!

Roundabouts!

Ohhhh, you either hate or love them, no two way about it! This country has one of the most roundabouts I've ever seen!!! Was on my way to a crop and took a wrong turn at the roundabout and ended up in Timbuktoo!!! For a good bloody half hour, had to make my way back to the beginning and restart my journey, despite following a map that I had printed out! Later realised I should have turned on the 3rd exit not 2nd!!! Talk about wasted time and petrol!!! :( Think I will take up the offer of my hubby to get a satnav!!! Definitely need it!

Subject of weather, it was brillant today, about 22 degree celcius, nice and warm and I even got on my spaghetti strap dress! But I stayed indoors the whole day.... sorry, not a sun worshipper, like it for its warmth but certainly not for getting wrinkles and premature aging!!! Sheesh! Better get a bottle of sunblock with the highest factor for the kids ... not safe for them to be out in the sun unprotected. The incident of skin cancer is pretty high in this country!

Talking about productivity, only managed 1 LO, 1 1/2 pages of my A-Z album. I spent a fair bit on the LO as it was meant for the Scraplift challenge and for a while, went blank at what to do... true, there was a LO to scraplift but being me who can't lift entirely, had to chose an element and eventually managed a LO that I like!!! Using the new papers from Cherry Arte Seasons... mmm they are so gorgeous. Talking about Cherry Arte, they are coming up with at least 4 new sets of papers. Ohhh, got my eye on East of India, Tropics and Party Days. They look so yummy especially the East of India papers!

Made some progress on my A-Z pages. Did letters K and M. I should have finished this album last month but procastinated ... god knows why as it's such a small page and therefore shouldn't take too long to finish. I purposely kept it flat as it's in a book format. Made use of a lot of stamps and papers! Here's the pages:

Discovered a new font at the crop by Ellison. It's called Twang and it's big! The entire upperand lower case in a set! It's slightly bigger than the Quickutz Classic so I might just get that as I'm looking for a big font. Besides, it looks so swanky... really lovely! Now to find a place to get it cheaply!!!

Hubby and Oliver is currently away at the moment in Poole (south of England). Hubby is giving a helping hand to his brother-in-law in some DIY stuff! As I had a crop to go to, didn't fancied going down to be bored to tears! Anyway, with Zac soundly asleep by 9ish, did another letter, N!

Regarding scrapbooking kits, the novelty of it has worn off and now I only get Homegrown kits ('cos I'm on the DT team) and Back Porch Memories (for the versality of the papers). I find that I don't use the BPM papers enough or perhaps it's because I've too many papers! I hardly ever use up an entire 12x12 sheet of paper. Hence, after making a LO, there's a lot left. I tell myself that I need to make at least 2-3 LOs using the kit papers to justify their expenditure! So far, no problem with Homegrown but struggling to use BPM.... if they had a competition, perhaps it might encourage me to use the papers more often. Anyway, thankfully the A-Z album is forcing me to use the papers. I think after this album is finished, need to get on with my France album, followed by a A Year in Review 2006 album. The latter will be very enjoyable and fun to do!

Next week will be an exciting week, not b'cos the kids go back to school but my arrival of Rhonna Farrer stamps! Been waiting for them for a while now! Also, my Shoebox Trims ribbons/fabric/fibres. I subbed to them and for £9ish including p&p, it's well worth the money. You get 10 one yard ribbons, 10 fibres and 6 fabric strips! And I actually use them too. Waiting rather impatiently for my Designing with Type book from a UK Sponsor ... luv Autumn Leaves books... they never fail to impress! Sad to say that I'm still searching for my scrapping style... there's so much to experiment that I can't stick to one style yet. Perhaps it may emerge one day!

Urghh! Need to get on with one assignment regarding retro LO... Might give it a thought in the next few days.....

Out for a Walk!

Took the boys down to Birmingham Town Centre together with their Nan. Didn't really shopped much although I did pop into WHSmith to look at the scrapping stuff and found it to be really pathetic. They had a half price sale but didn't want to waste my £££ buying rubbish! Did a sinful thing and fed the boys MacDonald!!! I usually don't go there especially after watching Supersize Me but the last trip we went was a month ago so I guess there was no harm doing in once in a blue moon! The boys had toys from the movie they saw yesterday, The Wild... a crocodile and a tortoise!

Then we walked to the canals. MIL was in a state of panic as my boys DO NOT walk at the side of you... they have this nasty habit of running about and she worked herself into such a state that I told her to just relax! She was worried that they would fall into the canal or Zac would fall down.... geesh! So what if they did... a lesson to be learnt! God they are boys after all! One thing is for certain, she will NEVER ever bring those 2 out on her own! She'll probably get a heart attack! I'm used to their antics and frankly I gave up being scared ... it's probably a mom's instinct to want to protect their kids but then you also need to give them some leeway for exploration. I see it this way, as long as they will not injure themselves while exploring i.e fall from great heights etc. then I see no reason not to allow them to run free! I guess her way of bringing up kids and mine are vastly different!

Here's some lovely pictures taken of the afternoon. Luckily the sun was out and it was a great day! (as usual blogger not uploading!!!)

Ohhh received 2 fabbo books from Amazon today, Simply Graphic and What about the Words. The latter rocks as it shows how to make journalling fun and enjoyable. In fact, having browsed through the book, it got me motivated and contributed to a LO for the scraplift challenge (yeah, back again at Scrapitude). The other parcel received was from the Scrapitude store where I bought up the SEI 8.5x11" Fantastic Plastic albums. Churning out so much in those sizes that I've completed already 3 albums! Really need to sort the LOs out as they are not in order! Absolutely love that size!