Goodbye 2010! Hello 2011!!!

Happy New Year!!! We are just minutes away from a new year...2010 just flew by for me..there were so many changes and adjustments and challenges that I found myself screaming for more time all the time. It's so strange. When I was a young kid studying, the years seem to drag by, and I never seem to graduate. But once I graduated from uni and started working, time seemed to be moving at a faster pace. After I became a mum, time accelerates at such a fearful speed that I have to sprint along with the days (and I am not as fit as before now, so...sighs...)

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the projects I have been up to in the past weeks. Yummlicious Websters goodness. Is it any surprise that I am a fan of anything Websters? Well, I altered a flat canvas board into a hanging home display piece using lots of Websters stuff on it. The papers, the netting and the trim. I love how this display turned out after I added the birdcage stand to it with prima flowers twined around it! It was meant as a gift for someone but I couldn't bear to let it go after that, so I think I will make another similar one for her soon!

This is another layout using Websters- Wonderfall collection. Adah really loves the swing, so this is another one of her on the swing in school on her 6th birthday. There is just something about swings, isn't it? The rush as it takes you up in the air and the adrenalin as you come falling back again, just like the challenges and pits you face in life! I have to confess that I love swings too, just that these days I am too busy shooting the kids or pushing them to be on it myself!Lol.

I actually made those flowers by cutting up the vintage netting from Websters into small squares and heating them over a flame. The sides just curl up and gives the flowers a nice dimension. I cut out squares but you can try with circles or ovals for a different look. And dun worry about the size, you can piece the pieces together and try to curl the sides with your fingers into your desired shape. Use a little spray starch if you wanna keep the shape.


Well, that's all for today. Once again, a very Happy New year!

A Little Mention

Well...I have been a little busy doing up some projects which can't be shared yet cos' they are christmas presents meant for others and the recipents have not seen them yet so I dun wanna spoil the surprise! I just wanna drop in and say 'BLESSED CHRISTMAS'! You can tell christmas is my favourite time of the year! Lol.

Just a little nice news to share, I was mentioned over at Prima's blog here for my take on Prima's BAP November Challenge. It's my first attempt at their monthly challenge and I am glad that even though I did not win, my layout was highlighted on their blog!

As I get older, I find that the years just fly by, especially 2010. There were big changes for me, on the family front and scrapping front too. The move back from Shanghai, settling in, preparing Adah for Primary 1 (Yucks, I hate the thought of her growing up!), coping with a helper, then without a helper, getting back into scrapping and joining MWL as their design team member. It has not been an easy year but by God's grace and mercy, I made it through and I really have a lot of blessings along the way to be thankful for. I will be spending some time thinking through my goals for 2011 as we enter the last days of 2010. In the meantime, MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

'Memories of You' Canvas for Made With Love's DT Assignment

For this week's assignment at Made With Love, we had to use mediums on our work. I decided to do up a canvas instead. It was a comfortable size that I found at the bookstore in our neighbourhood, 10 x 10 inches and I thought I'll give it a try and I love, love, love the end look of it!

I stamped butterfly swirls from Inkadinkado's clear stamps all around the edge of the canvas. I used gesso for this as I wanted the stamped images to 'resist' the alcohol inks that I had planned to use. You may have to stamp in more gesso in order for the images to show up against a darker colored background. It was really experimental for me as it was my first attempt with these inks on canvas, so I dripped some drops of 'Pink Sherbet' alcohol ink onto a dabber and tried to rub it into/ onto the canvas. The ink turned out so red on the canvas that the stamped images hardly showed up, so I used the alcohol blending solution and dripped onto the canvas directly and then used a sponge to rub it outwards. I somehow got the hang of it and ended up dripping lightly spots of alcohol ink directly onto the canvas and blended it out instead!

A close-up so that you can see the stamped swirls...


I then sprayed the rest of the canvas lightly with yellow Maya Mist and then splattered some blue and red spots on the canvas using Tattered Angels Mists. After the canvas was dried (it didn't really take long), it was the embellishing bit with laces, felt leaves, flowers, crystals, blings and ribbons all from Prima! I also used a stamp from Basic Grey to stamp in the title, 'Memories of You' and embossed it with dark brown embossing powder! I added some punched-out butterflies and rubbed on some gold stickles onto the little rosettes for the finishing touches.

By the way, the journaling reads,' Swing Me, Upon the broken tire...'. It's a lyric from 'Kiss Me' by Sixpence None The Richer...I used it cos Adah was swinging in the pics though much of the swing has been cropped out. And finally, a picture of the mediums used...

Lil Big Boy using Pencil Lines Sketch #216

I managed to finish this layout last night as I was staying up to monitor Adah's temperature. The poor girl woke up lively and active as usual, did some painting and exercises in the morning but she started to complain of a sore throat after her nap. She said she was alright to go swimming but she threw up after that and in the evening, she developed a temperature and it stayed around 38.5 despite the fever medicine. I wanted to be sure she was alright and her temperature does not spike up again in the night, so I stayed up a little later than usual and had this layout done in the meantime!

I used Asher's pictures from our holiday again. He was sitting on a log in a village called Sassafras after our train ride and was sill excited over sitting in 'the Thomas train'. I used the sketch #216 from Pencil Lines here and the guest designer this week happens to be none other than my fellow DT member from Made with Love, Piradee! Pencil Lines has the most versatile sketches and I like the layers here (very my style, isn't it? Lol!).

I used the latest collection from Basic Grey- Curio. Its my favourite line this year, together with Crate Paper's Restoration line. I like the deep browns and reds in this range and it is so 'use-able' on both boys' n girls' layouts! I cut out and trimmed away part of the lace cardstock for the bottom part of the layout before layering the embellishments over. I also added a floral ribbon from Tim Holtz and spritzed it with sprays from Tattered Angels and Studio Calico to get the browns on it. The vine was from Prima and was trimmed down too and the key from Tattered Angels just complete the whole look!

Some close-ups as usual:


(P.S. Love the pair of birds, seem like they are talking to each other, like Asher n Me! Hahaha...)

RAK and a new blog page!

Yes, I have been busy lately. Tis the season to be jolly and I love Christmas! Actually, I enjoy the preparations of Christmas, looking at those decor, shopping for gifts, SALES and preparing gifts! I have received a couple of hand made customised gift orders, so I thought I shall start up a Customised Gift Ideas page (the link is right at the top of my blog) to showcase some of the orders I have done...

Hmmm...and with all the buying, I think it will be very soon before I put on my own garage sale page too! Lol!

Anyway, Madscrapper, you were the winner of my previous RAK but I have not yet heard from you. If you still have not contacted my by 24th December, then I will post up the RAK for another drawing.

In the meantime, I shall be doing another RAK to celebrate my completion of the new blog page/shop! Please leave your comments for me and I will post up pictures of my RAK soon. My dear brother has borrowed my lens so I got to wait till this weekend when he is back to take photos and post! Also do check back next week as my assignment for Made With Love is due and I will be sharing a canvas that I have made!

I will be back soon, bringing the kids to see the Christmas lights along Orchard Road tonight and for some bit of shopping! Enjoy and brisk in the Christmas season!

My Princess

I am so sorry that I had been missing in action for so long! I had been busy, busy and busy chauffeuring Adah for her graduation concert rehearsals, attending primary 1 orientation, getting her stuff ready for school and dealing with all the changes in schedules while handling another sleep deprived, attention seeking little boy who claims to be Buzz Lightyear now! On top of that, I had been getting some orders from family and friends for some customised gifts, so there was hardly any time left for my own personal scrapping. No complaints, I like being busy ;-)

I used one of the sketches from Pagemap's November sketches. You can check it up under the archives if you want to look for older sketches. These photos of Adah were taken during her graduation concert at Jubilee Hall. I was hiding behind my DSLR and gulping away to stop my tears from flowing everytime I see her on stage. My little baby all grown up! And she is still singing the songs after the performance and Asher knows the songs by heart too. Asher must be Adah's biggest fan! He was so excited during the concert and we had to stop him from calling out to his sister all the time!

I combined two lines from Imaginisce for this layout, one from the previous 'A Fairytale Collection' line and another from the new 'Enchanted' line. The blooms were from Websters Pages and I thought it matched the greens in this line very well. The butterfly was cut out from a Sizzix die on the Big Shot machine and I used foam for it (thanks to Wendy's recommendation!)

Some close-ups of the layering...I just love how sweet this collection is and my girlfriend also bought a paper stack to start on some layotus for her baby girl due next March!




Thanks for coming by to visit my humble blog! I appreciate your visits and please do leave me a comment so that I can visit yours too! Have a good week ahead...I love December cos I can smell Christmas in the air!!!

Inspired Blueprints Sketch #60- Baby No More

This is the latest sketch from Inspired Blueprints. Have you ever checked out their gallery and blog? Full of talented scrappers there!

And this is my take on it. I badly wanted to dig into Basic Grey's Marjolaine line as it has nice calming tones of blue and strong greens, very suitable for layouts for boys, and I tend to have more pinks and peaches in my stash. The greens in this line were quite dark and strong but I realised that they were a match with the greenery of the photos we took in Australia during our Ocean Road trip, so I scrapped another pic of Asher from our Aussie trip again! I suspect there are a lot more of our vacation pics related layout to be coming.Lol.


Basic Grey produces the prettiest lace cardstock all the time! I just had to cut into mine and use part of it to matt the photo on. To keep the green a little 'toned down', I stuck the cardstock over it so that it doesn't overwhelm the whole layout. As for the circle, I cut it out from another paper and adhered white lace to the border to give it some dimension before I attached the photo and embellishments. I added stickles to the petals of the flowers to 'brighten' the look a little too, and of course a few crystals for a little 'bling'!

A close-up. My usual style of layering the embellishments...Aida said in my DT post that I have a layered style but honestly, I do not know my style also??? If anyone is reading, can you please leave a comment and tell me what my style is? I think I am shabby chic but I like layers and sometimes I go for clean lines too cos' I am a neat freak and I dun like messes.




And a side profile of the layout where you can see the 'layering' better.
And a very very very happy birthday to my favourite LSS, Made With Love! They are 7 this year. May there be many more good years to come! The store is having some fantastic offers in celebration of their 7th birthday, so do head down for a look. (Psst, I have been down almost every week since February.)

Thanks for being with me and have a good weekend!

Experiencing Spring and RAK winner

I completed this layout over the weekend for Prima's November BAP challenge. There are so many photos from our Aussie trip that I love and I just want to scrap them all! Hahaha...the good weather really makes the pictures stand out, unlike the cloudy and/or rainy weather over the Singapore skies these days. It's the end of the year, and its cooler with the rains and wind, so I am not complaining except for the poorer lighting conditions for the pictures!

The Jack and Jill collection from Prima has such soft and pastel colors. The little children, puppy, ladybugs and birds are all so adorable looking! Anyhow, I cut out the paper with the daisies first and wanted to matt it with the green one below but I had used part of it in an earlier layout and somehow I managed to cut out 4 rectangles, pieced them together got the lines covered with the embellishing! Very proud of myself after that, lols!

The pictures show Adah fiddling with the little spring blooms that we saw in Australia. We hardly see such flora n fauna here so she was also awed by nature's beauty. I used the long Prima vine as the base for the swirl and filled in the empty spaces with the rest of the sunflowers, flowers, leaves and a tag from Prima too. The butterfly has been in the drawer for ages and now it's finally used as I wanted a big embellishment to make it look more 'dramatic'. Actually I still have a lot more these butterflies when I went through my 'designated' Prima drawer. My stash is getting too scary...I also brushed a little of pink Tattered Angels glossy glam over the white flowers, before finishing it off with Prima's Say It In Crystals.

The layering...

The cute epoxy button that goes oh-so-well with my blue thickers!


And now, the reveal for the winner of my RAK...

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Congratulations, Mad Scrapper! Please e-mail me at adeline_lal@yahoo.com to arrange for your pick-up!

And I am off to a busy week of chauffeuring again. The girl's got her rehearsals and pratices before her graduation concert next week. I'm sure I will be bawling my eyes out from the audience when I see her perform...

Enjoy using Creative Scrappers Sketch #129

Wow! It's been a long long time since I was able to blog hop around sketch sites and challenge blogs to create a sketch. Thank God for the IPhone, now I try to surf whenever I am free, at home or outdoors! So I have managed to catch up a bit of my blog-hopping and Creative Scrappers is one site I like to go to for quick and easy sketches to help me get a head start! Btw, I really love how cheery and colorful the site looks and the talent there is enormous! I am really humbled when I see all these beautiful works on display.

Anyhow, I have been meaning to scrap this photo of Adah for the longest time and is jsut waiting for the right papers, I suppose. And finally, MME's Line and Dandy line is so apt for this photo! With a sketch, and the 'perfect' papers, it didn't take me long to complete this.

The flowers at the bottom were cut-out using the Big Shot machine. I trimmed the flowers a little as they still had their stems attached. Hope you like it as much as I do! Gotta go off to bed now cos my eyes are closing as I am typing! Will be back soon with the winner for RAK, but in the meantime, please feel free to add your comments here since I have not picked a winner yet!

2 new layouts for Made With Love

I had a productive time last week churning out 2 layouts on top of organising Adah's birthday party and running down to MWL to grab Basic Grey's Curio line. I like being busy as it keeps me on my toes and gives me a high to get my tasks accomplished!

This week, I was assigned to work with rub-ons for my DT assignment at Made With Love. And rub-ons are my favorite! I use them on almost every layout cos of their versatility. It can be hidden under layering to cover up an odd empty space, rub-on quotes also add that special touch to a layout and define the theme revolving around it and when you are in need of some dimension, just add glossy accent onto it and it looks like an epoxy sticker popping off the page!

Some close-ups.
I added glossy accent onto the little boy riding the trike! The words, 'Super star' were rubbed-on and I added the dimensional sticker on it.

Rub-ons work on all surfaces and in this case, the metal cap. I also painted the cap with Shimmerz after covering it in alcohol inks.

Rub-on wordings framing that chipboard sticker there. The title ' Dirt Magnet' again added with glossy accent to give it dimension.

I cut out some stars and stuck them on with dimensional foam to 'pop' them off the page!

Is there any doubt that this new line from Basic Grey is my favorite? I just had to rush down to get it once it hit the store!Love the vintage feel of this line and the floral and bohemian designs on the papers. I had a tough time deciding between getting the full paper pack (and adding more to my stash!)and getting loose sheets. I almost bought the entire co-ordinating embellishments too!

I was inspired by Sketch #211 over at Pencil Lines, and used the photos from our recent trip to Australia. This was Adah sitting on the ledge of the Puffing Billy train during the ride. The colors were also inspired by Palette #31 of The Color Room. I do not have a green color mist so I used the turqoise color from Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist instead.

Some more close-ups!

A little tweet!

My layout below was featured on Webster's Pages Gallery!

Thank you Websters for being so kind to feature my humble works, especially when I am such a big Websters fan. Half of my accumulated stash belongs to Websters and I wish I have double of everything, one to swoon and run my fingers over again and again and another to cut and scrap!

Also, please remember to participate in my RAK. Leave a comment in the post below so that I can drop you some love too! Thanks!

A new layout and a giveaway!

The laundry from our vacation is finally cleared and ironed, the unpacking is done, the photos uploaded onto facebook and finally, I can get back to my scrapping! Moving back to Singapore and being on MWL's DT means I can access the latest new arrivals every Thursday and I am horrified at how much stash I have accumulated since our move back in February. I almost need another new set of cabinets and my exisiting cabinet's drawers can hardly be shut in already! Lol!

Anyhow, I have to use up my stash quickly and I have sworn off anymore buying! This photo is one of my favourites from our recent vacation. The kids have made up a new song that just goes,'Friends Forever' (repeat 10 times at least!) whenever I ask them to pose with their arms around each other. Lol! I love love love the greenery and drier weather in Australia. The kids were not screamish about sitting on the grass or logs as they were mostly dry unlike Singapore's greenery which is always wet from the rain and humidity.

I used lots of yummy Websters Pages, Wonderfall collection here and twined the yellow lace around the vintage netting, also from Websters. Lots of cut outs as usual from their papers and their vellum sheet too. With websters' papers, I usually just do a lot of cutting and use them to embellish, saves me the trouble of searching through my stash for stuff that I always cant seem to find and turn up when I dun need them! Again, the consequences of over stashing!!!

Some close-ups! Love how the little trolley adds a vintage child-like charm to the layout and the kiddos have a similar one at home that they use to transport their toys around!
Twined lace and netting, with Prima's crystals for a little 'bling'.

I love that little bird there...so sweet...

And finally, thanks for reading to the end! As promised, I will be doing a RAK giveaway to share my joy of being on MWL's DT! Papers from Echo Park and flowers from Prima and those purple and white flowers there were bought in Shanghai, very pretty! I haven't seen them around here yet...Leave a comment for me and I will try to find some time to leave some love on your blogs too. I'll get my most helpful assistant, Adah to pick a winner next Monday!

Extremely GOOD News and a layout!

We are back from our Aussie holiday! The weather was fantastic, except for the first and last days when it rained. I can't complain when we had blue skies, cool weather and bright sunny days which made photo taking such a breeze! We ended up with 2188 photos and even though it was a hassle carrying the camera load around all the time, I had no regrets!

And I have a piece of good news which I had been bursting to share. I am now on the Design Team for my favourite LSS, Made With Love. I had been guesting for them in August and September and when Aida emailed me to be on their design team, I was over the moon! It's like a dream come true, designing for a LSS and my favourite too! So in order to celebrate, I will be doing a giveaway in my next post!

I managed to complete a layout in the midst of unpacking and doing our laundry from our trip. I used Webster Pages, latest Hollywood Vogue papers. They are my favourite line so far, so sweet and soft and yet still very glam and diva-like at the same time!


I cut up the die cut paper into two and layered them together with ribbons. I also misted the top half of the cardstock to create the soft pink tones. I then cut up the paper to create a floral frame around the photo, embellishing with Prima's Say it in Crystals. I also found a piece of felt amongst my craft materials and ran it through the Big Shot with Tim Holtz Alterations, Tattered Florals die to create those beautiful layered flowers! So pretty and versatile!

Close-Ups:







I am dozing off soon...do check back for more updates! Nites!

Asher's First Drawing

Fresh from the oven, I just completed this layout in the morning! A very simple one done within 1 hour. This is a colored photocopy of Asher's first drawing of our family. I had to reduce it slightly as he drew on an A4 piece of paper. Time flies, I really had no idea when Asher started to learn how to draw these stick figures until he produced it to me!

I used the papers from Pink Paislee's School Days Collection and this dark green piece of paper was perfect for Asher's drawing printed on white paper. And Pink Paislee manufactured co-ordinating rub-ons, canvas border stickers, felt layered stickers, transparencies and lots of other co-ordinating embellishments. I almost went crazy picking out what I wanted! At every CHA event, the manufacturers just seem to outdo their previous products...and it keeps me wanting more and more! Bad for the wallet!

We will be taking a short trip to Gold Coast and Melbourne later in the week. I had big plans to do up a travel album before we leave so that I can come back and print out my favourite pics and attach in those receipts and tickets I love to keep from our trips but nothing done yet...So I guess that albumn has to wait because once we are back, I'll have to organise Adah's birthday party too!

Do check back ya...I'll try to post my layouts if I get any 'quickies' done over the next few days.

Start of a Journey

That was Asher learning how to stand up with support and making weak attempts to walk with help. It is amazing how fast the kids grow from helpless babies to toddlers within a year. I love the stages from 10 months to 24 months. The kids are more expressive and passionate with their feelings, they argue lesser and you are still the center of their adoration!

I had used mainly products from My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found collection. So vintagy and 'glamourous' with all that glitter on their papers!I used Prima's new range of masks and randomly blended with distress inks all over to form the background to matt the photos of asher in, then layered the embellishments simply to get the final layout.

I also enjoyed painting and then sponging the Pink Paislee's flourish from Artisan Elements. I also added Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Copper Kettle to it to add some dimension. You can really see the 'glimmer' from an angle! Also used lots of rub-ons from 7 Gypsies here...
I'll be sharing a piece of good news very soon I hope!!! Can't wait to announce it and all I can hint at is, it' s like a dream come true...

My Little Soldier

It's Crate Paper- Restoration goodness again! I love, love, love how versatile the papers from this range are and I finally found a series of vintage papers that are not too girly for using on my boy's layout! Just check out the splashes of red, blue and green on the layout that goes-oh-so-well together! I was even able to sneak in some flowers and doilies and yet the overall look was still acceptable...

I enjoyed layering the lace border stickers for a different look. First, I stuck on the two bottom most borders, allowing the second to overlap the first. Then I stuck on the red cardstock that I had intended to use to mat the photo. I intentionally rolled up the ends for extra dimension, then layered the two other yellow and orange borders on the red cardstock. I also cut out a strip of the red cardstock and inverted the other side over to stick on the top to form another layer.

Yummy...the patterns and colors in this range are just too versatile and pretty that I had a diffcult time choosing my favourites to use...

Some close-ups...