Blessed Christmas

Blessed Christmas to all!!!

May we all have an enjoyable time, stuffing our stomachs, dieting and getting ready for the new year!

Scrap Inspire Create December Challenge

FOR MY CHILDREN



For my children,
Whose hands are still so small,
They fit into mine to rely, and to hold so tight.

One day, you both will grow so tall,
And I will wonder if my job has been done right?
You will eventually reach out for the sky,
May you shine like the stars in the night.

Soon you will hold another hand,
Then embark on your new lives.
Soon you will also have small fingers to guide,
You will then realise what it's like.
The happiness and discouragement,
That comes with undconditional love;
Because of these blessings from above.

Will you then be back,
To clasp the wrinkled hands,
Filled with lines and crease
But once held yours with ease?

Written by Me (AAMummy), for the two children who have put me through so much tests, self examination and self doubt, yet there's no way my love for them will waver; and perhaps that's why there is also so much hurt and disappointment somtimes.

Canvas Art

What have I been up to recently??? Rushing, rushing, rushing through the christmas pressies that I am supposed to make for family and friends before we leave for Singapore next Sunday morning. That is a total of 11 altered frames for the children's teachers and friends, 23 altered albums and 2 canvases. Then, there's the family gifts which I have yet to start on...sighs...I'm in trouble. Looks like there's no way I might be able to complete everything on time unless there are 48 hours in a day. And I think I have rushed through the pieces that I think I might just puke if there's another frame in sight for alteration! Has anyone felt that way before? Morale of the story: Might as well just start your hand made christmas pressies from the beginning of the year! 2 a month will be just nice in timing...Lols.

First Canvas I ever done. It's for LF. Our friendship goes back 19 years. OMG! It's been that long??? Well, the pics show her baby girl on her first year old birthday. I had to get a 40x30 cm canvas to accomodate so many photos. Hope she likes it. I like that rich pink color. I mixed that from poster paint. Only problem is I didn't seal the paint in, so there had better be no spills on the canvas.

Celebrate ONE


Second canvas for a girlfriend I met in Shanghai. She is also Singaporean and turned out to be the hubster's ex- uni classmate! What a small world? Anyway, I called it 'Ladies of the House' cos her mum is living with her to help take care of her 2 little gals. I like this canvas better though it turned out quite differently from the original concept I had in mind. I mixed the blue from poster paint but added gesso to seal in the colors. I like how 'arty' the gesso made the canvas background look. Wat a saver!

Ladies of the House

Pink Sketches #56

This week's sketch over at Pink Sketches is a card sketch. iwas so versatile and I was so inspired that I came up with 2 cards. The first was the one that I originally submitted to Kelli for the DT's take and then later on in the night, I was just inspired to make another simple card and practise some coloring. I haven't been making cards for a looonnnggg time! To think that I used to plan to alternate a completed layout/ project with a card before I start on a new layout!



Decoupaged the christmas wreath there...the hubster brought it back for me from London. I went on a crazy online shopping spree for these craft materials and made him lug it back for me. This has to be my reward for handling his two monsters on my own for almost 2 weeks right?

The second simpler card but with the equally cute stamped image from Sugar Nellie. This range of stamps from them are really cute and somewat vintage...



Try out the sketch...It's still not too late to complete those christmas cards, I'm also rushing through my christmas pressies before we head back to Singapore for the hols this year. Yay!!! Some christmas cheer to look forward to.

Websters' Goodness

Have I ever mentioned how much I like Webster's Pages? They really revamped the whole look of paper and their new ranges of paper just gets better...Below are some of the projects I made for their recent 12 Days of Christmas Online Crop. Just check out their gallery and you will be so amazed at the amount of talent out there. I am embarassed to even post sometimes but *shrugs* usually I cannot resist after so much work on the papers and I can't wait to hear feedback from other Websters scrappers and learn from them as well!

1) Daddy's Gal (Inspired by Wendy who shared on how to 'water n pleat' to distress the paper)
This wasn't an exact take on the challenge. Wendy shared on how to make a photo frame with their paper by first dipping it into water and then pleating it to form a frame around a corrugated cardboard. I was inspired by Wendy's gungho-ness in distressing the papers and how much textures the end result presents, so I crumpled my vellum from their Nature's Storybook range and mounted on a cream cardstock for background. I was so in love with the textures and the end look I achieved by further distressing with chalk ink and tearing!



Some Close-ups






2) 3 in 1 Project
Terri shared how she used one Webster's Pages paper and came up with 2 layouts and a card. The kids fell sick and I was running short of time to complete this project, otherwise I think I have enought leftover to scrap another layout. Anyhows, I managed to complete these over the late nights monitoring the children's temperatures. Lols!

1st Layout- Adore
The first wedding picture that I scrapped. This has to be our favorite shot where both of us look good together. I used only 2 papers from the Postcard from Paris range for all 3 of my projects! Wowweee, lots of $$$ savings here and I can use the rest to scrap Adah's flower girl pictures later on! Love the red roses in the layout, really matches that red and pink wedding dinner gown I wore.



Close- ups







2nd Layout- A Beautiful Life
I used the wordings on the paper as the tittle and used the Prima crystals to draw attention to it, and the aeroplane in the photo. Loved this shot even though you can't see our faces! (Maybe dats why that photo is so nice...hahaha!) Lots of cut-outs here also and I am so in love with the blues and reds in this range. Just eye-catching...



Close-ups




3rd- ATC Card
Made this cute little card from the leftovers...This always happen to me when using Websters. I lap up almost every flower or detail on their paper. Just pains me too much to even discard one tiny bit of their paper. Too pretty to go into the bin...



And my 1st layout "Adore" was Layout of the Week #55 over at Made With Love.*grins* Thank you for choosing me!

Two Thankful for Pink Sketches #55

This layout is for Pink Sketches #55. The photo of Adah was taken 3 days before she turned two, at church. Adah had not started school yet then, and most of our friends had not started their families yet, so we decided not to throw any party for her. But we had a little celebration for her at church, cake cutting in her sunday class and she was totally excited and high after that about being the center of attention!



I dunno if I have mentioned before that Adah had been such a difficult baby when she was younger that I actually thought approaching two made things easier for me by the day. So my journaling reads: You turned two on this day and you were on your way to being an elder sister (cos I was preggie with Asher then!) You seemed to have grown up overnight and getting better by the day.

I used up old stash ordered from Your Scrapbook Stash almost a year ago!!! My goodness, how time flies and only now I am digging into these stash ordered then!??!! Papers from October Afternoon, Crate Paper, MME Wild Asparagus Decoupage Set, Say it with Crystals, Prima Flowers and MME Transparency. I am experimenting with more layering these days and still struggling with co-ordinating colors. I so wish I have a better imagination so that I can see in my head a visual of my layouts sometimes...

Some close-ups

4 Seasons

Just realised I didn't post this layout at all...this was the one that I mentioned in the earlier post that had special mention on laine's blog!

Pink Sketches #54 and more!

I am retyping this all over again because I have been asked to leave my laptop once too often by the kids and the anoymous proxy just timed- out, and somehow blogger doesn't save drafts automatically when u access it from an anoymous proxy. When is this country ever going to let us access the internet freely again????

Anyway, this is my take on Pink Sketches #54. I must have e-mailed Kellie the wrong one because she posted my take on #55 instead...I used my My Mind's Eye die cut paper here, along with another Amy Butler paer, rub-ons from Basic Grey/ DCVW, Making Memories vintage key, bird cage cut- outs from Hambly's and the little farbic flowesr were from Daiso. I was in two minds when doing this layout. Initially I wanted to make use of the floral background and layer on it, but then again, it was so pretty that I did not want to cover it up too much with embellishments.



Also, wanna share 2 other layouts that I have done recently for some challenges.

Joy Rides (inspired using Sketch #45 of 52 weeks 52 sketches)
Using again My Mind's Eye Abbey Road Collection diecut paper and a whole load of old stash for embellishing. I love it when I am using up the stash I have accumulated! Its scary how much I have hoard in just a short period of time.



Papa's Gal (inspired by Wendy over at Websters Pages Ning forum and Inspired Blueprints)
Websters Pages is having a '12 days of Christmas' online crop over at their ning forum. The projects and takes on the challenges are stunning beyond words. Sometimes, I think Websters Pages papers are so beautiful, how can anyone go wrong with it? I was so inspired by the techniques that Wendy shared that I also tried out some new techniques here for a change. I crumpled and distressed the vellum paper and absolutely loved how it turned out! Also tried pleating adn rolling up the papers to form a frame around the photo. I used the sketch #35 from Inspired Blueprints for this layout. Do hop over to these sites for more eye candy! I am amazed at the talent out there.



Finally, I just wanna share some good news. 2 of my layouts had some special mention and that was enough to make me go over the roof. My layout tittled 'When did U grow up' was selected banner of the week at Websters Pages Ning forum last week. The other layout, 4 seasons, which I had submitted for a multi- photo challenge over at our LSS forum was also mentioned on their blog and shared with their readers! Whoopppeee!!! Doesn't it feel good to receive praises from your favorite manufacturer, scrappin' idol or designer?

Pink Sketches #53

This is my take for Pink Sketches #53. The sketch catered for 2 photos but I expanded to 3 cos' I wanted to show how much fun Asher was having in his bath and how he enjoyed just sitting in his yellow ducky bath then. He must have developed his love for yellow ducks since then! Lols!

I played around with papers from Jillibean Soup and Cosmo Cricket here and I thought some of the quotes used were rather witty for this LO! Ha ha ha...just my crooked sense of humor at work here but I really do think my little boy is awesome!He's just too cute and growing up too fast....sighs...Everyday I think about the differences between my kiddos. Adah is chatty, interactive and challenging yet fun! Asher is quiet and reserved but he is so soft and adorable and really touches a chord in your heart especially when he talks to you in that soft little voice of his and smiles his cheeky yet so charming smile!

Some diversification here...but back to the LO, a lot of layering using cut-outs and stickers and embellishments. I like how it turned out, uncluttered yet embellished, a change from my regular style.

Pink Sketches #51 & #52

I know I am late in posting my take for Pink Sketches #51. I meant to upload and blog about it in Singapore but the cable in my mum's place suddenly died on us and on the last day of our stay there, it finally took hubby to get going to buy a new router and set up the wireless network for my sis. My mum is the happiest cos that meant that she need not move around wires that my sis had been dragging around everywhere when she wants to move around the apartment to do her school's project work.

So we came back to Shanghai, to a land where blog sites and facebook is blocked and I fell sick. Greedy me took Asher's leftovers and caught the flu bug from him. When I was young, I used to be around and about even when I was ill but now as I get older, I find myself becoming more of a whiny baby when I am ill. Plus being mum to two very active kids meant that you hardly get any rest as you still have to take care of them and attend to their needs! Sighs...

SO here's a quickie post compared to the previous long post. I'm going to sleep off that cold bug quickly once I am done here.

Sketch #51- Ur Cheeky-ness shows thru'


Sketch #52- Miserable
My gal's first halloween party in a new country, a new school and a new environment. We never celebrate Halloween in Singapore and all the treats and surprises did not make her any happier as she was missing home so badly. It was our first month in Shanghai.

Warning!!! Extremely LONGGGG Post!

I made this Family album to record memories of the apartment we lived in for almost 3 years in Shanghai. We would never have had a chance to live in such a lavish place on our own without the expat package! And I just wanted to record places around the apartment that the children spend most of their time in so that when they grow up later on, they will be able to remember this special time of their lives. Since this was about our home, I thought using this chipboard album shaped like a house was most apt!

I had a little ‘window’ added to the front page that opens up to this quote- Home is the sweetest type of heaven, added little flowers from Prima’s Bitty Bag and inked that flourish chipboard from Maya Road with Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink. I love how it looks like in real, sparkly and bright. That photo does not do justice to the color! I also cut out flowers from the BG doily lace paper and layered around the ‘window’ before adding the string of pearls for the border. Love the vintage, cottage look!



The first page of the album open up to our family photo which we took ourselves in the living room on the self-timer the day we arrived at the new home in Shanghai. I finally found a way to use the ‘Love’ transparency title from Prima here and added the bird for extra dimension.



The second page shows our gal doing her coloring at our dining table. Check out the chandeliers above her! They are cut out from my favourite Hamblys transparencies and I took that ‘popped up’ chandelier picture there that really hangs above our dining table! I know it looks pretty but in a regular apartment, I thought it looked tacky and over the board but I think most Chinese like to do up their homes this way. And I love how it blends in with the Hamblys here as I try to ‘re-do’ our dining area scene. I also stamped the edges of the album with flourishes. I loved trying out different techniques on my layouts and albums! Also hidden behind the photo of my gal is a tag with my hidden journaling.



The third and fourth pages of the album. I used mainly rub-ons and stickers here. It shows the glass windows in our living area which looks out to the spot where our gal waits for her school bus every morning with her daddy. You can’t see it from here but one of the photos also had the road name of the street we live on! The next page shows our boy standing against the height chart we put up and that corner doubles up as our punishment corner! I altered the bird sign that I had bought from a household store in Japan with ribbons and rub-ons and stuck it on top of the journaling card there.



The fifth and sixth pages of the album which shows pictures taken around our apartment. I simply layered it with Prima flowers, bird cages cut out from BG’s Porcelain’s papers, floral ribbons and the calendar tags there. I had stamped the flowers with the word ‘Blessings’.



The seventh and eighth pages of the album show our gal standing at the lobby of the private lift that brings us right to our doorstep and the kids at play in the bedroom. I stuck on a ruler sticker and highlighted the number 9 with another sticker to show the floor we lived at.





The last 2 pages of the album. I had stuck on the small flowers from Prima’s Bitty Bag collection to make it look like a roof. Loved how pretty they look here! It actually gives some dimension to the page. The last page shows the snow scene out of our back window when we experienced snow for the first time in our lives the first winter we were here. It was also the heaviest snowfall in Shanghai for 16 years and we were blessed to have such an experience even though it was freezing cold then.



The back cover of the album. I added the chipboard tree and used the acrylic characters to represent our basic family unit. I cut out our faces and stuck them onto the acrylic shapes and added the ‘clothes’ for us, using stickers and ribbons!

Here’s a final picture collage of some close- ups. I apologise for the really long post but I hope you guys have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting together this album and sharing it here! There is nothing intimidating about doing min-albums and they make fantastic Christmas gifts for family and friends! Just start early…*grins*



Supplies used:
Scenic Route House Chipboard Album
Basic Grey papers from Lemonade, Eva, Porcelain ranges
Maya Road Microfelt birds
Prima Transparencies
Maya Road Arcylic Family keychain
Jenni Bowlin Bingo cards, journaling tags and stickers

Pink Sketches #50

This layout is done using Pink Sketches #50. At first, I had several ideas on how to do this sketch- turn it into a Christmas themed, present top looking layout or turn it into a card sketch, etc etc. Then I went flipping through my papers and got to the new Websters Pages papers I had just got and they were calling out to me to use them!

I love love love the blue paper that I had used as the background and while working on the LO, I had already decided that I want to minimise the usage of ribbons and flowers on the layout since it's going to be about my boy. So I had to work around on using papers or embellishment for the two srips intersecting each other.

In the end, I turned the sketch 90 degrees anti clockwise and used the window cut out and chipboard streetlamp to form the vertical strip and lots of cut outs and layering for the horizontal portion. Overall, I like how it turned out and that's why I love using Kelli's sketches for my layouts. She leaves you with enough room to further explore on your own, and her sketches do not get too overly complicated.

That's Asher at 18+ months. He just grew up before my eyes, my little boy...

Got Food? for Scrap Inspire Create October Challenge/ Pink Sketches #43

Here is the layout for my first DT assignment with Scrap Inspire Create October Challenge. The challenge: to use felts, fabrics and ribbons on your layout or altered project. I was so excited that I completed the layout within 2 days of receiving the assignment from Jasmin! Lols.

I had also used Sketch #43 from Pink Sketches for the layout. I had submitted this layout to apply to be part of their DT team also because I simply loved how everything turned out in the end! I had used the striped paper from Scenic Route as the background and mounted on the red paper with foam squares for a layered look. I distressed and rolled up the edges of the paper where I cut out and I think my layout ended up looking like a table mat, though the concept only came to me to model the LO like one in the midst of doing it. It's strange how and when mojo can strike you. Its like you never wanted to walk the path but you decided to anyway, and you found something that you had been looking for along the way...

The pictures in the layout actuall show Adah having her first meal. I was such an inexperienced mum then and I didn't know what to prepare for her to wean her off milk and start on solids, so I made carrot puree. I hadn't realised that you need a blender to make it into puree so I thought if I cook it really long enough and mash it with a spoon, it will turn all squishy like baby food. It didn't turn out that way, and sometimes I wonder if Adah's difficult eating habits when she was younger had to do with my inexperience and ambitious experimenting which turned out otherwise!

I had used a piece of fabric to matt the top photo cos I thought the background stripes looked pretty and I could still show more of it through the 'peek-a-boo' fabric, If you look closely, I had used cloth stickers for the chef's hat and menu. For felt, I cut up my Prima Felt Matties which was meant to be used as a matt and added to them some felt stickers from Chatterbox as $embellishments. My ribbon is not that obvious but its that 'apple' strip at the right had side of the layout.

Adah ate lots of apple sauce/ puree when she was younger. She loved it and wanted it with her main meals almost all the time...I always like to use embellishments which remind me of the kids on my LO when its about them. My favourite part on the LO has got to be the vintage looking characters that I cut out from a postcard that I found amongst my stash! Lols...they were hidden away for so long that I almost forgot about them!

Please do visit SIC's blog and submit your challenges for a chance to win a RAK from Timi. It's her birthday month, so 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gal!' And if you want more inspo, check out what the rest of the DT members have came up with, I'm sure you will be impressed!

More Toots!!!

I am typing this at 6 am in the morning at Osaka. We have been here 3 days now, and I am too happy for words that I can access Blogger, Facebook and other blocked sites freely without having to go through anoymous proxies which sometimes block out half the contents anyway! Anyone noticed I changed my blogskin? Whoo hoo!!! So happy that even my blogskin looks so 'scrappy' now! The hubster says I am so addicted that I get withdrawal syndromes if I do not cut or paste or play paper for even a day...LOLs

It had been a terrible rainy day yesterday and we took a train out to Kyoto to check out the mountains and geishas but we ended up seeing nothing. How do you pacify two kids who have been dying to see monkeys, check out maps, manipulate an umbrella and a map in one hand and push a stroller in the other? SO we just gave up and made our way back to Osaka early...

Anyway, I just wanna share here that I have made it to the Design Team of Pink Sketches! My heart was just thumping away when I saw the e-mail header from Kellie and as I read the lines on the Monday afternoon just before we were supposed to fly here, it really made my day. And nothing could ruin it even with two bawling kids who were fighting to sit next to me on the plane!

I definitely was smiling through the day! I always loved sketches and I dunno how Kellie does it but the sketches that she comes out with weekly is fantastic! For me, I like to use sketches a lot as I am too lazy to think up of new layouts all the time. I just wanna 'head butt' into my stash and bring out all the embellishments once I am ready to scrap, and I like a ready sketch so I can just focus on embellishing and layering!I am a lazy scrapper I guess!

So Coy

Another layout using Basic Grey's papers...you can tell I love my Basic Grey and Websters! Lol!!! Not all of Basic Grey though, some of their papers are too exotic looking for me and I can't see myself putting a layout with them. These are what I call difficult papers...so yummy and good looking but too difficult for me to tackle cos I dunno what to do with them. And this is my latest rule that I keep in mind when making purchases to save $$$, dun buy papers that I can't foresee a layout with.



Adah at 6 months old. I dunno how I managed to capture this look of hers with my idiot proof, point and shoot digital camera. I am still at that stage of photography, I dun really dare to venture into another hobby that may require an expensive initial upfront payment though I think I may enjoy it and it will definitely contribute to my layouts' asthestics!

Anyhow, I am still happy with my regular digital camera which has managed to take some of these close-ups. I actually think that they are getting also a little sophisticated these days with their functions too. You just have to figure out how to use them appropriately...

Good news and a sneakie

Good news to share...I am on the Design Team for Scrap Inspire Create!!! I am so honored to be joining Jasmine and the rest of the DT over at SIC, and my term will start from October and end in March next year. At this point, I can't help but wonder how time seems to just zoom by these days, or am I getting old and nostalgic already??? I was just showing Asher the photos of his daddy and me taken during our uni days and he couldn't recognise us! Daddy had long hair as it was the trend then and Mummy was so big-sized and tanned from all the sports and outdoor activities then...

Back to the topic of being on SIC's DT team...I was so excited that I completed my layout for October's challenge within days of receiving it, so I am going to show a sneakie here. One of my favourite LOs...



Here's another layout that I have done recently...simple but at least it's a different color combination from my usual. Tittled 'The First Gift', its a reminder to Adah who's pictured playing with her first present from her Por Por that her first gift from her is actually her love. I was blessed to have my mum together with me while delivering Adah. During the labour, I suddenly missed her a lot and just burst out crying when I heard her voice on the phone. The labour was so long that she actually managed to make it to the hospital to witness Adah's birth. She was so excited that she immediately went shopping at the basement shopping arcade and brought back this teether which has a loud, noisy music function!

Butterfly Crafts Challenge #20

Time just flies by before we know it. Its the end of my short term with Butterfly Crafts as their DT member. It has been fun participating in the cyber crop that Karen has put together and getting to know everyone else on the DT. I remember how excited I was when I first received news that I am on the DT and how I couldn't wait for the first challenge to come along and now, its all over before we know it! And we are entering the last quarter of the year...when I was a banker doing sales, our performance was always assessed based on quarterly targets and I remember how I would always name and remember the year by quarters. Sigh...it's been a long time, but it always seemed so near yet so far past.

Back to the challenge- scrap about a summer family tradition. We came from Singapore where it's always sunny all year round and we never got a chance to experience the four seasons until we came to Shanghai. I hate winter because it always seem to just get colder and more dreary. The sun sets by 5 pm and its all dark, and of course, the kids fall sick more easily.For me and my little family, I think we miss our fun in the pool most whenever we are not in sunny Singapore! So once the weather gets warmer, or when we are back in Singapore, we will definitely visit the pool! Adah is absolutely a water babe and Asher is beginning to enjoy water play too. This summer, Adah started formal swimming classes and is absolutely delighted to find that she can swim on her own!( Journaling is on the top left of the page)

The Layout


Some close-ups