Little Blessings Photography

Finally...I am pleased to annouce the launch of my photoblog, Little Blessings of Mine. This will be the platform for me to share my commissioned photo shoots and for potential clients to have a look at my portfolio before making a decision. I have been asked by friends and family to do photoshoots for their little ones and by word of mouth, I have been taking on more commissioned works.

 

Amidst the craziness of caring for the littlest one, exam fever for the oldest and daily physiotherapy exercises for the boy, I have somehow managed to set up this photoblog on my own and I am really proud of that small achievement... I am ready to take on a bit more photoshoot assignments now that the school season is coming to an end and the littlest one is a bit older. Do pop over and visit my photoblog and help me spread the word if you know anyone who may be keen! Thank you!

This is why...

I have been absent from this blog. On the scrapping front, I am really really sorry that I have nothing to share. I always believe in God's timing and I think this is His way of telling me that my priorities have to be re-adjusted for the time being. Since A3's arrival, the boy has been given significantly lesser attention. Amongst the three children, he probably requires the least since he is neither attending primary school (thus not needing help in schoolwork) nor needs to be nursed regularly.
A regular trip to the playground and a simple fall on his hands resulted in an elbow fracture. I had dismissed the injury initially as something less serious like a dislocation when I first saw his injury and was cool about it especially since the usually- whiny boy stopped crying after 10 minutes and was very brave through all the rough handling and examination at A&E. In short, he needed surgery and had been out of school for a month and I was kept busy with him and the baby at home.

I have no choice but to admit that I have to realign my priorities for this year. I hardly bought new supplies and hardly scrapped. I only altered some frames bought from the thrift store for Teacher's Day and these are probably what I have to share for now. Much as I would like to get back some me-time, I think physically I need more rest as long as I am continuing to nurse. A3 sleeps through most nights but paranoid me continues to wake up once every night to express for fear of milk supply dropping. I also want to read more and pursue my photography interest further...

I still hope to share and I am planning to move my blog to a personal website by year end if possible and am still thinking if I should continue to seperate my photography and scrapping interests on seperate blogs. But in the meantime, I can only plan and think about it till the situation at home improves.

Keep me in your prayers and do come back for updates. I will try to update whenever possible.

Time to Say Goodbye...

But goodbye isn't forever, right? My DT stint with Made With Love came to an end on 30th June. It's time to say goodbye to a team of wonderful, inspiring and cheerful ladies. I was very blessed to be invited to join the team when I returned to Singapore from Shanghai. I was lonely and bored being a Stay At Home Mum to the kids here, having to chauffeur them up and down from school and other activities, and going about the household chores. Scrapping was my outlet for frustration and I loved surfing the internet for trends and inspiration. Finally, I could lay my hands on CHA goodies without worrying about lost parcels in transit.

Then, God sent us our littlest angel. I cannot explain how in love I am with her, yet even more so frustrated at having so little time with the older kids. I am more homebound than ever, having to nurse the baby and accompanying either one of the older siblings at the same time. Both of them are in different sessions at school and that means I only have an hour of me-time to myself during lunch before I am joined by the returning kid. I have to coach the eldest in her studies and MOE is not helping with their curriculum and reasoning that our kids need to be ''trained'' to think. So...I hardly have time to scrap these days, much less visit the store ;-( Where I was mobile and on the go before, I am now confined to the home.

During the June holidays, I had much more time to think without the rush to send the kids to school ironically. I was reminded of the reasons that led me to resign from a high paying job to stay home and nurture the kids. I still love scrapping and meeting people, touching the beautiful stuff and most of all, shopping. However, God and family are my most important priorities now and it's time I realign my commitments. So it's time to bid farewell to this wonderful family at MWL.

At the same time, my interest in photography is rekindled. With my little girl growing by leaps and bounds in her first few months, I have been taking a lot of potrait pictures, learning how to photoshop and trying to hone my skills. The funny thing is, as I take my pictures and review them, I always think to myself, how scrap-worthy this or that picture will be. But for now, I will be taking a break from regular scrapping for a while and will continue to post whenever I have completed projects or layouts. I will be updating my photography blog too, so if any of you are interested to stay in touch with my life, do check back these two blogs...

Have a good weekend. I am off to plant kisses on my baby and two elder monsters...

Dreams

I came across a quote many years ago. Little girls are what dreams are made of...sugary sweet and everything nice. How true! I love my girls to bits. The eldest is a constant companion. She has been with me on travel trips, is my helper when daddy is away on business trips, my chat buddy when I need someone to talk to during those lonely moments, my shopping and even pedicure partner! The little one is easy going, smiling almost all the time when she is not sleepy and coos away happily, allowing me to relive those cute baby moments once again.

 

Anyhow, I managed to complete my very first layout for the baby. This requires lots of fussy cutting which I have not had the luxury to sit down and carry out for a long time. I conceptualised the layout design in my head for quite a while since I received news of my assignment and this had to be one of the layouts that took the longest to complete. I cut out the pictures everyday whenever I had some time on my own after shuffling amongst the three kids. As I cut, I visioned how I would place the elements around and once I had the pictures ready, I started the usual process of distressing and layering.

 

I liked how the layout turned out in the end with little hints of pastel blue and pink, very 'babyish' colors. Lots of layering with the help of foam pops and prima flowers and leaves.

Some close-ups. The pin is from Websters pages.

 

I used my finger to smear the stickles randomly all over the white flowers. Love the effect of it as it glams up the whole look immediately.

New Prima tile.

New Prima wooden ticket with a yellow resin flower attached. The butterfly was from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden collection last year. I love how picture of the little girl and its placement on the rolled over edge! It's like she is trying to peek into the basket. Lols.

On another note, I must really apologise for the lack of presence in blogging recently. Facebook really does help us keep in touch realtime (or almost) and as soon as I am ready with pictures of layouts or something to share, life gets in the way. I was sick the whole of last week with fever and chills. I thought I was coming down with something but in the end, I slept and slept and by the rourth or fifth day, I was almost back to normal with no running nose or bad throat. Guess it must be fatigue then...

It's the school holidays and we have a more relaxed schedule. Less travelling and rushtime but the kids will be home almost all the time and I hope I still have my sanity left by the time the school re-opens for Term 3!

Maya Road Shadow Box

I am back! It has been an exciting week for me. First, the little one refused to nap for days after a long weekend with the father and her siblings. It was the father's birthday last Friday, so he took leave from work and spent time with the kiddos. And you think a 4 month old baby would be exhausted at night if she hardly slept a wink in the day, but no! She went to bed at the same time and woke up several times a night! This coupled with two older siblings who need to use the toilet or decide to start having 'nightmares' and climb into your bed in the nights, I hardly slept well at night and I had to wake up to express milk for the little one too. I remember waking up about ten times one of the nights and I was literally screaming my head off by dawn...Oh well, memories that I would be sure to remind them of when they are parents themselves! Lol.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't trade these kiddos for anything else in the world. There were sacrifices that we had to make for them but at the end of the day, they are 'Our Greatest Gift' and we are so proud of them, hence the title for this Maya Road Shadow Box. This box measures 8 inches by 8 inches and has 9 squares. I chose to put 3 solo portraits of the kids and 1 of them altogether, and embellish the shadow box for display at home.

Some close-ups. Blogger has changed their template and I haven't figured out how to adjust the photos so that they appear bigger, so these will have to do for now until I have time to surf around and find out how to do it. I am not exactly a techie so this will have to take time.

Maya, Maya, more Maya

Hellooo!!!! Hellooo!!! Anybody still coming in here??? I didn't realise that my last post was on 6 March and that was more than a month ago! After a roll of two blog posts in a week, I 'disappeared' for a month! My apologies to all my blog readers, that is if I still have any left...sobs...

Life is indeed very challenging with three kids and I am blessed to have the help of my father who willingly ferries the two older kids to and from school most days, allowing me some rest. But last month, Granddad Chaffeur decided to take a break and went to Hainan island to promote some Hainanese opera projects that he and his siblings have undertaken and I was left on my own! Throw in 3 kids who take turns to wake up in the nights to call for me to either help them use the bathroom, or climb into my bed because of nightmares or has to nurse, I was totally burnt out. How did those mothers with 4,5 or even 10 kids like my Grandma cope?

Anyhow, the DT assignment for Made With Love for this month is to create projects using products from Maya Road.After scrapping for a few years, I have to confess that I have a whole drawer for Maya Road products, from albums to chipboards to sheers and even their flowers and ribbons... ...

For my assignment, I have chosen to do up a Maya Road scallop, plastic album. I love scallop albums as they allow you to see through to the pages behind. They are also sturdy and can take heavier embellishments such as metal pieces etc. It is also very fun assembling the embellishments and paper on both sides of the plastic pages to make sure they coordinate and layer well with each other! Hahaha...simple challenges that I set for myself as a scrapper.

An overall view of my scallop album. I added a giraffe chipboard that was from Maya Road's mini chipboard zoo album. I painted with Maya Road Mist in buttermilk on both sides, chalked the sides with Versamagic in Gold and then added vintage glass glitter on it! It has been a long time since I got my fingers dirty and icky. Lol.I also made sure I had at least a Maya Road product on every page! Will introduce them further below...

The front cover. The word 'Love' is also from their mini chipboard words. I misted it and then added Distress Cackle Paint on it. Love, love, love the cracks made by the cackle paint. Also added a cute little glass bottle at the side, filled with beads and the metal ornate frame is from Teresa Collins. And all these items are heavy, so a regular chipboard or cardstock album can hardly hold them up. By the way, the vintagey pearl pins are from Maya Road too.

Another reason why I like plastic albums- more playing with mediums. I stamped alcohol inks at the edges of each album and they look really pretty in their translucent shades of pink, aqua and blue! For the front and last pages, I also stamped little butterflies around the borders.

Crocheted doily and yellow resin flower from Maya Road! Not P****...:-)

Cute little chipboard spool from Maya Road and I just wound some baker's twine over it. The brown sparkly lace ribbon is from them too.

The red plastic stamp frame is from Maya Road.

Felt star and star badge that I have been hoarding for the longest time are also Maya Road items.

Resin flower center.

Red felt bird which was the rage some time back and the purple stamp frame.

Blue chipboard heart and the sparkly ribbon again!

Red chipboard heart.

The last two pages. I stamped a Prima image of the three children sitting on a bench on the last page.

Thank you all so much for still bothering to come in here. I am on a Maya Road roll and I promise I will be back soon with a Maya Road shadowbox that I made for displaying at home. Take care and have a good week.

Scrap This and That Challenge #9

I am the host for Made With Love's Scrap This and That Challenge #9. Each month, two members from the Design Team will take turns to host a challenge each at Made With Love. Participants have up to 2 weeks to complete their layouts and upload them to the gallery. Names of winners will be drawn randomly and the winner gets SGD$20 shopping voucher to spend at the store!

For my challenge this week, it's all about chipboards! Over the years, we have seen various chipboards manufacturers popping up. I used to think chipboards are grey and boring but not anymore! Look at the laser cut chipboards from Dusty Attic, Kaiser Craft, Maya Road etc...So for my challenge, all you have to do is to include at least one chipboard on your layout and 'dress' it up.

Here are some examples:
1) You can ink the edges like what I did in the layout below for the row of houses (from Buzz n Bloom, an Australian based chipboard company which has closed down).
2) You can paint them like the house at the corner of my photo in the layout.
3) You can cut out papers and paste on them like the string of chipboard banners from Jenni Bowlin that I had used on my layout.

4) You can stitch on them.
5) You can wrap ribbons on them.
6) You can stamp or emboss on them.

Well, I have given quite a number of examples already. So come along and play with us on this challenge. Remember, all entries to be uploaded by 19 March 2012, 12 noon.

Wintery Days for Made With Love March Assignment

I re-read my blog entries on the days we were in Shanghai and realised I do miss that place in some ways. The strawberry picking trips, weekly brunch outings with the kids, the river view right outside our windows and the four seasons...

Much as I enjoy the cooler weather, I hated the freezing cold days in winter during the months of December and January and was happy to stay home and laze about. Unfortunately, I had to send the kids to school and zip around for errands.It was such a chore putting on those thick layers of winter clothing for the kids and then myself and trust me, it ain't easy carrying that chubby boy with extra layers on both of us! Lol!

Then, we always find ourselves in situations when we are comfortably and warmly settled in a restaurant, toilet requests would come forth from the kids.Then it would be a mad scramble to quickly put on those layers of clothing back, zip out in the cold to the toilets, undo those layers to get the kids to pee properly without wetting their clothes and then back to the restaurant again!

Anyhow, it was still fun minus all the colds and ear infections which were so common during the cold months and we always try to get out once the weather forecast shows some sun. The kids, with their chubby and rosy faces and winter wear, made good photography subjects too for my scrapping!

I opted for a light pink,violet,and silvery color tones on my layout to reflect the 'coldness' of winter. This is my first layout of the year, after baby Anna's birth and I took a long time with it, completing in parts over 2 weeks! But it was definitely satisfying! I managed to play with some mediums, misted the Prima canvas frame which I matted the picture onto and the girl at the side. Also brushed on some gold mica flakes on the resin bridge, before layering on the papers and flowers...yums!

A side view of the layout...

Close-up of the bridge and misted canvas.

I glued on the violet flower on top of an older prima winter flower that I had been hoarding for the past 3 years!


Hope you like what I have to share. I will be back tomorrow with another post on my challenge over at Made With Love. Two posts in a week! That is quite a feat for me currently ;-)

From 2 to 3

From 2 to 3...most of you readers would probably know by now that we have a new addition into our family, so I guess the layouts will most likely revolve around her for the time being! Lol! The hubster is reliving the days of parenthood and I suppose with age and experience, he seems to be enjoying it better this time round. In fact, he says we should have a baby again once this princess outgrows her cuteness! That's fathers for you, they leave the worrying, education and discipline to the mothers and just have fun doing the enjoyable stuff like feeding, bathing (and then leaving the dressing up struggle to mum again), cooing and hugging...

Anyway, this photo was taken when I was about 34 weeks pregnant. The two older kids were always excited about meimei's arrival then, had great plans for hospital visits and what they would do when meimei's home. Adah was always feeling for the baby's kicks and Asher kept asking when baby would be out so that Mummy can carry him again! This was a fun photoshoot that we did at home on our own and I love the cheekiness in this pic!

Lots of Websters Pages goodness here from the older collections. It's amazing how much stuff I have bought and hoarded over the last 3 years of scrapping! The bird's nest is from Melissa Frances and I painted over it. The pink birds are from Prima and misted. The bright flower and aqua floral ribbon are from Websters Pages too!

Some close-ups...

A Review of 2011

So many fellow scrappers I know have been committed to doing PAD (Photo-A-Day) layouts. Honestly, it seems exciting and fun and even as I look over their layouts, I share their sense of satisfaction at reliving all those simple daily moments. As for me, I am too lazy to carry a camera around, even though I have my Iphone! But I definitely still do appreciate the goodness that God has showered my family and me with in the past year and I completed this 2011 layout just before I delivered my little Anna last year.

This is my Photo-A-Month layout for 2011. I want to document some of the most important events that we have been through last year. Adah's first foray into Primary school in Jan, our discovery that we are pregnant in Feb, Asher's and Daddy's birthdays in March and April, our trip to Hongkong in June, our 10 year ROM anniversary in Nov and Anna's arrival in Dec!

I thought the layout looked a little cluttered and tried to seperate the months by the gridlines made using aqua baker's twine from Pink Paislee. I tried to use up as much of my old stash as possible before I go into the new CHA buying frenzy again this year, so you see some paper cut-outs and embellies from Glitz Design, Basic Grey, Prima, and Websters.

Chinese New Year is in a week's time and this is the first year that I am so ill-prepared for it. We hardly get visitors but it is still fun to buy those snacks and tidbits and new clothes and stuff around the house but I am hardly free these days...not that I am complaining, I simply love the smell of a baby's breath and am relishing every moment with Anna before she grows into a little girl like Adah. Well, here's to wishing everyone a Blessed, Happy and Prosperous New Year and may all your dreams be fulfilled!

Goodbye 2011 Hello 2012

Some news update. We have a new lovely addition to our family- Baby A3. She's a lovely little princess and the two older kids are delighted to have her around, both fighting to play the role of older protective sibling.

The not-so-good news was Adah and Asher are both down with HFMD even before my confinement period is over. For Singaporean Chinese, new mothers generally observe a month of staying home, resting and eating certain foods to nourish and rest the body after delivery. But this period has certainly been very stressful with the kids falling sick after Christmas and they were not able to make it to school this week, after I tried to 'hype up' the back-to-school-fun. Sighs...sadly too, I sat out my birthday and christmas at home while the hubster brought the two older kids out, thinking that was the best gift to me, letting me have some peace, quiet and rest.

Well, my confinement's almost over and I just pray that baby and myself will be safe from the HFMD. I am thankful for God's grace upon Adah and Asher that they are finally eating some foods after days of not eating and crying in pain. Church members have been calling and praying for us too. It may be a rocky start to 2012 but I am thankful that the good Lord has shown His goodness to our family.

I hope to settle into a routine with the 3A kids and start scrapping soon... How I miss my own me-time...