Christmas came early!

Christmas definitely arrived earlier in our household this year. The Christmas shopping started way back in October. I have never enjoyed the conveniences of internet shopping as much as! Nothing beats selecting and comparing prices from the comfort of your home. I was put off internet shopping previously because your credit card gets charged first and you never know the quality of the goods you receive. There were still some hiccups here and there but I must say, the general consumer experience that I have had from these internet shop owners are really good so far. And so, I had all these gifts wrapped up and ready even before end November in anticipation of Baby A3's arrival!

What else have I been busy with? The full month party favours were rushed out and completed last week. I made some 4 by 4 inches notebooks and happily used up a great portion of my stash! There's a first month baby album for A3, my pregnancy journal is almost completed now and I made another Maya Road trinket box frame for the kiddos, along with a few more layouts. I guess this is my last burst of energy before A3 comes along. I will take my time to share all my little projects later on since I anticipate I may have nothing to share for a while...

It's now a wait game and if I don't get to come in here or meet up with some of you, Early Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!

Boys will be Boys

It's my turn to share over at Made With Love again.That's my-not-so-little-boy in the picture. He is developing quite a character of his own now, having his own opinions, getting so chatty, arguing and fighting back against his elder sister and wanting to be heard these days. Even the helper says he has changed from that quiet, gentle and yielding little boy to quite a character these days!

I have been disciplined in my purchases recently or maybe I am just going through a 'nesting' phase and have been trying to declutter instead of adding more to my stash, so this layout is completed using my crate paper purchases from earlier on in the year. This is the 'Toy Box' collection and Asher loves it as much as I did. In fact, he helped to pick out the chipboard pieces to embellish the layout. He was so enthusiastic that I had to stop him from pasting the 'dinosaurs' and 'rockets' onto the layout when I was not paying attention!

I painted the left side of the layout using yellow acrylic paint over the wall mask from Prima's new range of masks. Then, I cut off part of the Hambly transparency and layered it over the base cardstock and then added part of the 'books' cut out from the 'Toy Box' collection. I kinda like the end result of the layering...The rest of the layout was completed with journalling cut-outs and chipboards from the same collection with help from Asher!

Some close-ups. I love that little windmill over there!

I couldn't resist adding a buttons to 'balance' an empty void on the layout and I tied some baker's twine onto them for a simple 'spice-it-up'!

Waiting for Christmas!!!

Nope, nope, nope...the baby's not out yet though I am walking like a penguin already and I feel larger than an elephant and everyone keeps looking at me knowingly and goes,'Anytime soon right?'

I am not due for another 3 weeks I hope so that I can finish up the projects and layouts I have in mind. A Maya Road shadowbox, showcasing the 3 kiddos. I will have to add the pictures of Baby A3 later on and a couple of layouts to complete the year...I had in mind a huge plan to create an advent calendar for the two older ones but it seems quite impossible now. The school holidays start for Adah this Thursday and I have shifted Asher to a half day program at school, so it means I have less time for myself now since the kids are with me almost all the time and I really do want to spend time with them as much as possible before A3 arrives and gets all my attention for a while.

Well...2 cards finished for Made With Love. They will be on display at the store soon.

The first- A Christmas card. I always loved stamping and coloring in. I used my Copic markers here and I always find coloring and blending a fast and therapuetic way to have some time on my own. It doesn't command full attention from me and I don't get as irritated as when I am distracted from my scrapbooking when the kids call out for me. They are usually intrigued by what I am coloring and start darwing, stamping and coloring along with me!

The stamp is actually an old Sugar Nellie stamp which I had purchased long before any of the local stores here brought in. I still love the nostalgic feel of the image and I added some stickles to brighten up the whole look of the card.

The second card can be used for as a wedding anniversary card or a wedding congratulatory card. I used my leftovers from Crate Paper and the shiny cardstock from AC to die-cut the butterfly. Thanks to Pooi for highly recommending the AC glitter cardstock during one of our crops earlier on. Took her advice and got quite a few of them in different colors but my fav are the silver and gold ones currently! Very suitable for the season...

Ok...this is a short post. Hopefully I can squeeze in some layouts here before I go into labor! ;-)

Made With Love DT Assignment - Take That Step

This layout is for my DT Assignment for Made With Love this week. The hubster brought the kids to the zoo on Saturday and I had the house and study room all to myself. It feels weird to be able to focus on scrapping and crafting completely after having to juggle the hobby amidst household chores and two noisy kids...so it took awhile for me to get started! Lol.

The papers in this layout are from My Mind's Eye- Stell & Rose Collection. Love love love the soft hues of blue and pink in this collection! And I actually used the sketch from Pencil Lines to get me started, though I rotated the sketch a little.

I distressed the edges of the papers with my cutter and inked the edges. For once, I didn't have curious supervision and little fingers from the kids so it was kind of therapuetic as I distressed away watching online videos at the same time!

Some close-ups. The chandelier and the ornate frame are from Dusty Attic. Dusty Attic makes the most gorgeous laser cut chipboard pieces! I painted the chandelier with white paint and then brished Glitter Glam in Bronze over it. As for the ornate frame, I chose to leave it as it is...

It has been a peaceful and crafty week for me since Adah's exams are over and we are taking a break from the books....I will be sharing some cards that I have created for Made With Love soon! Check back...

Baby Girl Album

Another week of silence as the eldest girl sat for her year-end tests in the last 2 weeks. I had been screaming my head off for her Maths. I really dun understand it. Different schools have varying standards and the assessment books that I bought for her to practise are so much more difficult than what she has been taught, and I see her frustration as she gets confused at the end of reading every story sum!

Anyhow, it was a good break last week as we spent 4 days at home because of the Primary 6 exams marking days. I was able to complete a mini first month album for Baby A3 as Adah did her revision next to me. Despite the challenges of coaching her, I guess I will always remember moments like these when she sits next to me, me crafting and she writing away. Despite her rebellion and stubborness, she really does have a special place in my heart...sighs...

I have been hoarding this Pink Paislee album for the longest time, so I decided to prepare something in advance for baby's first month celebration. I will just need to add in baby's pictures then since I expect to be very busy after she's out!

The album is completed using mainly Crate Paper's Emma Shoppe collection. I was so crazy over the collection that I bought almost the entire set of papers and embellishments and I had so much leftovers despite using up quite a bit for my layouts.

The front cover of the album. I added the aqua blue ribbon to tie the front and back covers together so that the album can be closed after I add in the photos and embellishments. The wooden doily from Maya Road was misted with Tattered Angels mist and I love the strong red it turned out, though the sample was more pinky looking.

Some of my favorite pages in the album...

Believe

I was in the mood for some scrapping last week and completed this over the weekend. We set up a little studio at home to take pictures and I got the kids to test my camera. We ended up taking lots of goofy pictures and I love this most. Asher has always adored his older sister since young and he is always looking out for her to play with him, but she is getting older and is sometimes uncomfortable with his passionate hugs and kisses! Lol.

Played with some mediums here. Misted the cardstock with Tattered Angels Sky Blue mist over a Prima mask and dripped huge red droplets randomly. I painted the birds and leaves on the Dusty Attic tree vine and added Glimmer Glaze on the birds, so they kinda shine when you take a closer look. Those cloud rub-ons are from Studio Calico, and they are just so simple and beautiful. The transparency and butterflies song sheet are from Glitz and the rest are from my ever growing Prima stash. I tried to control the buying so you will probably see lots of repeated flowers on my coming layouts.

I always say scrapping is a hobby that is so opposite to my principles. I dun like waste and yet I hoard SB stash. I dun like spoiling the environment and yet I am always buying paper and more stuff to add onto my layouts...sigh...so it has to be about control now...

Some close ups...

9 Months

Just to share my current ongoing project...a pregnancy journal documenting the 9 months of journey with my little A3. When I had the elder two, I was not keen on scrapping at all. I was working and busy climbing the corporate ladder, meeting career goals and trying to juggle a family life with kids as the same time. Life slowed down a lot only when we moved to Shanghai and that was when I picked up this hobby...

It's amazing how a slower pace of life changes a person. I used to be very practical, unwilling to spend on anything that is of little practical use but now as I look back, scrapping not only provides an outlet from the mundane everyday life revolving around kids, it also helps me in documenting my blessings and feelings along the way, much of which we forget as we get caught up in life pursuits again (and in my case, my domestic responsibilities)

And from scrapping, I moved onto photography to capture every precious moment with the kids. I am so eager to embark on this newfound interest but many times, the guilt creeps in when I get totally engrossed in spending too much time on my interests and Adah's grades at school take a tumble. Then, just as I thought I can spend more time on scrapping and photography after somewhat finding a balance to domestic chores and motherly duties, I am now heavy with Baby A3 and soon we can expect more changes in our lives before we settle back into a routine again.

But for now, I just remind myself to slow down, enjoy every bit of this journey with baby and the kids, enjoy my interests instead of meeting datelines for DTs or classes or challenges and I find myself cherishing my moments with the kids and my hobbies more...

So presenting my yet- to- be- completed (but-hopefully-soon-and already-zuttered-waiting-to-be-bound-up) journal album.

Some close-ups

Thank you for continually coming in to read my posts and check on my progress. I am grateful for all the comments left behind and kind words when I meet some of you in person at the store. It used to irk me whenever I am an ardent blog follower of someone and he/she goes missing for ages and don't update but now I am one of those! Lols!!!! I am hoping to prepare some more layouts and a canvas for baby's full month and hopefully baby's first year album in advance, leaving only the photos to be added in. But that could be a bit too ambitious ya?