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...

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...