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...