Moving On...

I can be found now at my personal webpage. I started it for my photography business but decided it is just easier to manage everything from one blog.

So I will be updating and blogging about my scrapbooking and other arty ventures on that blog from now on.  on. Please head over and lend me your support. Thank you!

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.