Happy New Year

Wow, it has been almost a month since i last blogged. The holidays have zoomed past so fast that i need time to catch my breath and prepare myself for 2012. How has everyone been? HK trip came and went and before you know it, christmas preparations came along and i have quite a number of lovely christmas celebrations. Right now, i am about to get ready for tonight New Year Party. (: It has been a fantastic year and looking back, i have so much to be thankful for. God has provided in so many aspects and he has indeed blessed me with a lot.

Sharing some christmas scrapping here.. this year was kept really simple. I tried the impossible task of giving my good friends each a canvas piece last year and it was so taxing on me. This year, it was all about practicality.





Each of my friends receive simple MUJI To Do List Notepads and each was decorated with love. Thank God for MUJI in Hong Kong where they were cheaper. I love how this can be placed at our workdesk for easy reference. I hope they enjoyed it as much as i loved decorating it. :D

I hope i will be back with more scrapping stuff to share. For now, i have been quite lazy and busy catching up with work preparation for the new term. Here is wishing everyone a Happy 2012. May we reach towards our goals in this coming year and may it be filled with joy and contentment. (:

Here we go

At this time tomorrow, i would be in my favourite city in the world. I simply cant wait.. You must be wondering what is so great about Hong Kong? Well, people do say it is pretty much the same as Singapore but i cant put into words why i love the place. I love the people, the food, the shopping and i love how vibrant the city is. It is like a city that never sleeps - the culture and the lights and the atmosphere... HEAVEN! :D

So before i go, i am going to sneak in here for a quick last post. I managed to complete 2 layouts yesterday, in the hopes of me sharing with you guys.

First up, this layout is for this week's Sketchy Thursday Sketch. Well, if you havent check out the latest OA's Farmhouse collection, you should certainly do so. I thought the grid paper would match this week's sketch quite nicely and i did some clusters of circles. I love this childhood picture of mine and it was finally fitting to use it in a layout.


Last but not least, i said earlier that i had to rush out another layout before tomorrow because this layout is going to be brought along with us to Hong Kong to give to my auntie. She has shown hospitality to us whenever we go to Hong Kong and offers us her house to stay and brings us to all those awesome places to eat. We cant thank her enough.


I left a space in the layout for her to put a picture of her family. I hope she likes it as much as i enjoyed making it.

Okay, that wraps up this short post.
Hong Kong, here we go..

I know I know

i havent been blogging for quite some time. Before you know it, 2 weeks of the holidays have passed. Wow, i have been seriously slacking my life away. And because of that, i havent had much chance to scrap. I should be scrapping but i have been too busy catching up on all my drama serials. Haha. Well, the good news is that i finally started scrapping today since i needed to get a layout done before Tuesday, which i will share in another post.

For now, have you checked out Get Picky's Inspirational Challenge #14. I was given the lovely opportunity to guest design for this challenge. This challenge was all about using words to document on whatever story you wanted to tell. I chose to document about Kate turning 3 and her current quirks and loves at this age.

So as you can see, I chose to leave a lot of space for journalling and this was using my remaining papers and bellies from the OA's SideWalk Collection. So thanks again to Get Picky for the lovely opportunity to showcase my layout for this challenge. (:

Do hop on to GetPicky and try out for this challenge. :D

Next, I was featured in Prima's October BAP.

Well, it was one of my favourite layouts made by Prima Products and i am glad that they loved it too. :D

Lastly before i go, this last layout is a Chritmas layout done for the Dec 1st Challenge over @ OnceuponASketch. I was really drawn by the idea of scrapping about what the things i look forward in December. The Christmas Tags were all distressed with Tim Holtz's Winter Seasonal dies and each tag is labelled with sentiments for this Christmas.



"If you do not know, Christmas is my favourite Season of the year. Quite frankly, the festive season makes my heart warm and what i look forward the most is spelt out in the layout : Faith, Love, Joy and Family. This is the essence of Christmas (December), to celebrate the blessings that He has given to me."

So this would be my last post before i leave for a short break to HK. I simply cant wait to be back at my 'second' home. Have a great week ahead. :D

SCHOOL IS OUT!

Hello everyone, the school term has officially ended and i am so relieved that i can start enjoying my holidays. Other than a few CCA duty, i am pretty much a free person now. This week has been busy yet fufilling. There were 3 days of Staff Envisioning and activities were packed from 7 am to 5pm. I came back tired each day. But there are 2 good news to share with you today..

First up! It was good to wake up on Monday morning to this.



I have won GET PICKY Inspirational Challenge #13 for this layout. Thank you Get Picky for choosing me as the winner among the many who have participated. I am honoured that i will be playing a part in their next challenge so watch out for this space. If you guys do not know GetPicky yet, it is a site that provides 2 challenges each month, one would be a multi-photo layout challenge as well as a inspirational challenge based on photo/word prompt. Our local scrappers such as Piradee Talvanna and Emeline Seet were DTs with Getpicky too.(:

Up next, i was featured in Crate Paper's November Colour Challenge. Even though i did not win, but it was such a wonderful opportunity to be posted on the website. I have been CP's fan since they came out with their Restoration Collection and ever since then, i have been faithfully buying each line. Needless to say, my favourite lines yet would be Random and Portrait Collection.

So before i go, i would just share one layout that i did quite awhile back but have not been able to post pictures of it. Using the Sidewalks Collection from OA, this layout brings back wonderful memories of playing school dress up during one of my friend's 21st bday party.

I simply adore this collection for OA. I have done like 5 layouts and 1 album using the collection pack. Will post the other layouts and album once i find time to take some pictures.

Hope you enjoy your week ahead.
Happy Scrapping! (:

It is all about the

..journalling! Back when i first started scrapbooking, i used to loathe penning down my thoughts on my layout as i thought my ugly handwriting would destroy the whole page. Even though i am still afraid to do so now, but i am learning to let go of those initial fears and just do it. This was apt for these 2 layouts i did this week.

First up, a layout for Sketchy ThursdayDec DT Call. It was all about scrapping about something that we were thankful or grateful for. I took the opportunity to use the new Head Over Heels paper by Lily Bee.

This layout was to document the 14 years of friendship i have with the closest friends i had since i was Primary 5.I love how the sketch inspired us to do some misting and stitching in the layout.


The journalling reads:
"Since 1997, we have become an inseperable force to be recoken with. We have seen the best and the worst in each other. I'm so grateful and thankful for our friendship.

Up next, i saw this sketch from Once upon a Sketch and i was so eager to play along. We had to scrap at least 2 sentences on when and why we started scrapping. It was such a fun sketch to play along since i had never thought of documenting this down. Since we were not limited in the amount we could journal, i took the opportunity to write as much as i could.



Interpreted the tickets in the sketch for journalling cards and did a cluster of flowers and birds as well as swirly stitching to complete the look. The focus of this layout was really on the journalling. As for when and how i started, let me share...

"The love for scrapbooking started in Dec 2008 with only initial plans to do something different for Christmas but this quickly trancended into a hobby. I just liked the idea of collecting memories and having an outlet where my energy could be spend on something that was of value. While it is good to buy pretty papers and embellishemnts, what is more fufilling is to record the story down. Pictures speak a thousand words but the journalling tells the story one step further and thats what i treasure most about scrapbooking. Years later, the words that you have written would matter more.

This struck me more when Mum glanced through a family photolog i did in 2010 and this is what she said "You have really done an amazing job to put in details that touched my heart and soul." Those words made me realise that what you scrap matters to whoever reads or receive it. It keeps the memories for life. "

I hope it inspires you today to think about why we scrap. What we are doing is far more than a hobby; we are memory keepers for ourselves and the people we love.

Long weekend

I hope you guys are enjoying your long holidays. It has been a fruitful week and i am spending more time at home with friends and family. it is great to not go out too often since i am so broke for this month. I just got a new camera over the weekend and it is damn awesome! Thanks to LDS and i hope i am in time to claim my 400 dollars. :D The quality of the camera is so good, that is far beyond my photography skills.

Much to share.. 2 layouts for this week!


This layout is for my parents. Look at how clear the picture came out! Did this for the Prima's BAP sketch for November. I loved how this layout came around, given that the papers were won from Leena's recent giveaway. The lovely Melody and Moulin Rouge collection in which i missed buying when it came out. :D


This second layout was done for this week's ST challenge, using the lovely Emma Shoppe's Collection. As you can see, i gessoed the side with a SC's mask and did some layerings.

I am so glad i am running through my old collections and using them up! I am going out soon for yet a night of dinner and karoake. I hope you have a great week ahead. :D

It feels good

to wake up on a Tuesday morning at 10am. As you can see, school is kind of officially over. Other than reporting for invigilation and going back to the staff room from time to time, i am pretty much free now! Yipee!

So i guess that calls for more scrapping right? I have been creating a lot of layouts lately and some of which, i have yet to post it up. Will find the time when it arises. For now, this layout was inspired by Get Picky's Oct Photo Prompt Challenge. If you check it out, you will realise we had to work with really bright and contrasting colours. I dont know what came over me but i found it quite intriguing and decided to give it a shot, considering that i dont really like BRIGHT colours. :D

Here is my take:


Part of the challenge was to use fabric so i used my Dear Lizzy's fabrics that i have kept for the longest time, selected all the colours, cut them into strips and use them as a background. I needed the colour blue since it was seen in the photo so i misted the background with TA's Jack Frost. Well, it was not enough as i wanted more blue to bring out the elements in the layout. If you look at the close up photos, i embossed a texture fade die into a Pink Paislee paper as well as cut out a heart shape at the side of the photos. The heart shape was painted with gesso over a mask and was distressed with Tim Holtz' Tumbled Glass distress stain.

WAHHHH! Sounds so technical but i thouroughly enjoyed myself. I am learning to challenge myself to go beyond cut and paste. Finally, i finished some touches with some faux sticthing, journalling and adding FLOWERS AND FABRIC FLOWERS! :D All the more to make me grin as i use up my flower stash. :D

;

On the side line, you might have realised that i have been using a lot of white cardstock recently and with all those scraps left, i decided to change the way i tracked my mists and stains. My earlier system did not work so i cut up the scraps into equal sizes and misted on them for easy reference.




Not the first time you heard about it but it certainly works for me! Well, that is it for today. Have a lovely Tuesday ahead. :D

faux stitching?

Hello! Another two more layouts to show since i have been on the stitching frenzy. The first layout is where i scrapped about the lovely Tai Cheong's Egg Tarts from HK. I have never been a fan of egg tarts but was completely sold when i tried these. They melt in your mouth and the tarts are so darn delicious. You guys should try if you're in Hong Kong.


Look at the stitching done at the side. That took quite a lot of time but i am glad it came out nice. :D

Up next, a little trick to share with you. Notice the difference between this and the earlier layout. From far, the stitches look like they were done by a sewing machine but in actual fact, there was no sewing done. :D

So how did i do it? Simply adhere your shapes onto the paper first. Draw straight lines using your pencil or pen. Use your piercer and pierce through your paper and VIOLA! Faux stitching appears!!


Cool right?

Well, happy scrapping! I am off for a good dinner with the family! :D

sew easy?

I dont know whether you face the same problem as i do but a few months back, i bought the sew easy tool and i have been facing some major difficulties. it does not pierce as well when it comes to thicker cardstocks and maybe it is just me, but i am finding it hard to row the tool in a straight line..

So i figured why not use my piercer and try to sew? And so i did.. Well, no sticthes are meant to be perfect and mine was certainly not but i really loved how it turned out. It adds so much more textures to the layout.



Using some Studio Calico papers, mask and mists - punching out different circles and layering them. This is why i love SC papers, their papers speak volume! i dont really need to embellish much. :D

Well, praying that I get better too. I had a sudden bout of high fever last night. Amazing since i have no cough or flu. It worries me.

Time to sleep. Good night!

YAYYY!

I have finally finished all the marking! The holiday can officially start! Haha, what a weekend! I just cant wait for school to be over so that my travel trips can start! :D On the scrapping front, have you checked out GetPicky? They are celebrating their 1 year birthday bash and there is just so much inspiration seen from all the designers. I decided to join in the fun and participate for this month's sketch. :D



Notice the embossed swirls on the circles? Haha, the wonders of a Big Shot! Haha can you see i am trying to use up all my prima flowers? I overbought during the sales period and i had so much trouble trying to fit all of them into my original box. Right now, everything is fitted in. I used up like half of my stash of flowers already! Happy happy! :D

Wishing you a great week ahead! :D

life

is indeed fragile. One momenet you are here and the next moment you aren't. Tragedy struck upon one of my students today. My heart goes out to her and wherever she is right now, i pray that her wounds would be healed in God's name. Sometimes when one decides to go, i wonder whether one knows what it feels to be left on this earth to deal with the consequences thereafter. What is it like to still breathe but not feel like you are living?

Job 1:21
"...and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

;

Before i leave, here is sharing my take for Sketchy Thursday's November Guest DT sketch. Here is to brighten up your day with a wonderful picture of my other niece. I am absolutely in love with this picture taken by my bro in law.



Cute right?

Made 3 green leaves at the right hand side, using some Jack and Jill papers and white gel paint. The other 2 white leaves are on the flowers itself. Also wrote 5 things i am thankful for on the journalling spot below. I am so glad Beth is ours to love. :D

And yes, i was happy to be featured yet again on Sketchy Thursdays

Kate turns 3

I am feeling a whole lot better today. I prayed about it and i am sure God is in control even as i try to clear up the mess. Right now, i am still marking my exam scripts. 4 more classes to go before next round of papers come in on Thursday.

On Friday, my dear Kate turned 3. She was in such a cheery mood and i am so glad she enjoyed herself. From baking cookies, to collecting her bday cake to eating at the ship to running around the shopping centre to singing and cutting cake.. it amazes me how fast time has passed. She has grown up into such a beautiful girl. She has developed her own quirky yet independant personality. I am so glad she is my niece. :D

Sharing a LO i just did on her 3rd birthday! (yeah, i have been taking secretive breaks in between marking!)



This is also done for this week's Sketchy Thursday sketch and Prima's Oct PAP's sketch. Look at her! She looks so happy and engrossed. :D She loved the gummies on the cake. :D

Have an awesome week ahead. :D

What a week..

It was an eventful week to say the least. Exam papers are in and i majorly screwed up in one of my invigilation. Well, to cut the long story short.. the HOD and Exam Comm are aware so lets hope that things will get resolved. What is up with me lately? Meeting bad parents, screwing up procedures or having demanding colleagues... i just wish there were less problems.

I was reminded of this verse today: Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It is a verse that never fails to give me peace in my heart. My heart might be far away from God but i am reminded that his love is unfailing and He is in control.

;

Well, lets not end the post so sadly. Firstly, I was named a favourite for this week's Sketchy Thursday sketch. YEAHHH! :D



Do check it outhere!!

As you can see, i am finding more time to join challenges and to tell you the truth, it can be really fun! :D Another LO to share. This was a non-photo LO and i am in love with it. It looks really canvas like, dont you think? Using all stamps, inks and distress inks to do it up.


See the paints on the leaves? Simply use a paintbrush and find suitable colours from your mists/hueys, dab in your paintbrush and paint away! I love how it adds shimmer once you are done! :D

I hope your week was better than mine! Back to my marking! :D

Nantucket love

Hello! I am back with another update, this time I am going to share some of the layouts i did based on Pink Paislee's Nantucket Collection. Initially, i was hesistant to buy some of the papers/embellishments as i was afraid that the pictures i printed might have to be beach related. But i was so bought in by the colour palette that i didnt really care whether there were lobsters or fishes on them. (:

First up, using some of the papers to do my HK pictures to the Peak. I thought it would match well with the papers. Lots of SC's white mist and stamping. I loved how it turned out, something a little different from my usual style.



Up next, i figured that i wanted to use the same idea of misting and stamping so that i could play along with this week's Sketchy Thursday's sketch. Here is my take on the sketch.

Still using the same concept, but adding colours to the stamps itself and fitting in some boxes. It was simple and easy! I am glad i managed to finish it today. With work piling up, i can only pray i find time to scrap.

Lastly, i have a piece of good news to share. I finally purchased my big shot machine.

Was considering whether to get the original black and pink one or to get the limited edition one. I figured it will be much cooler to have a machine that less people owned. Yes, after 3 years of scrapping.. i have conceeded to this machine. I have to limit myself on which dies to buy! I cant wait to buy from Joann.com during their sales. The dies in Singapore are way over priced, need to wait for 45% off again! (:

Have a great week ahead! :D

These days..

are busy and tiring! it is nearing the exam period for the kids and right now, we are in the midst of intense revision and marking of scripts. I just got to hang in there another week. (:

On the scrapping front, i am finding it much easier to churn out 8.5by11 layouts as they save more time and are much more fun to do! Haha. Did you check out Sketchy Thursdays' sketch this week? Here is using the latest Studio Calico products and doing my own interpretation to this sketch. I am loving how simple mistings and playing with shapes can work well on a page.


Using some jazz blue glimmer mist, calico white and calico custard. Woweeeee! I love butterflies! Haha. But the saddest thing was losing one of my butterfly mask after just one day! Now i am down to 4 instead of 5. Oh well, i will find it soon!

Happy Sunday!

Reflections

During Teacher's Day, I was awarded an unexpected award. Prior to that, there were already students telling me personally that they voted for me and i was quite surprised as these were coming from students that I constantly loved to nag and scold at. Jokingly, i told the class to not vote for me as I loved being in the background and do not like going on stage in front of the school. They laughed.

I knew the chances were not high and I didnt take it too seriously. On that day, the usual top guns were named and my name popped out of nowhere. Stunned, as the cheers rang throughout the hall. And then my name was called as the winner. Most Caring Teacher Award. What did I do to deserve this? I was definitely not one of the best teachers in school and there are times where i question whether i am an effective teacher in the classrooms.

I am honoured.I scold them but hopefully, they see that it is my way of caring for them and reminding them to buck up. I treat them as friends at times and hopefully, they see that teachers can be relatable and approachable. I try to produce the best lessons and notes and hopefully, they see that learning can be fun and easy. I have my off days when they test my patience but hopefully, they see that i am only human. Most importantly, i share my personal experiences and lessons learnt so that they realise that education is important for them to shape their own futures.

It was not my first job choice and i do question my intentions of joining the teaching force but it's little moments like these that makes you feel that what you are doing is worthwhile.

And the giveaway goes to ...

Kate begins by shaking the box with all the names inside.


*shake shake shake. AND THE WINNER IS JOANNNNNNNN! Congrats. Kindly send me your mailing address particulars to magnette_86@hotmail.com and i will be sending out your awesome giveaway to you asap. (:


Of course, Kate wanted to post with Mama's name. So by default, my dear sister in law will also receive another smaller RAK, thanking her for letting me post Kate's face in public. Thanks to Kate for being a real sport. She was so eager to post for the camera.

Showing you another project that i did for my house. I decided to do an artist tray so that Mum can display in the dining area. It fit perfectly with the white walls. Using lots of Pink Paislee goodies and webster pages, along with my favourite dollies that i have recently finished using. :(




Thanks for stopping by. I cant wait for this week as it is the Sept Holiday and it would be a good time to rest and charge up with the upcoming KL trip too. I will be back to post more reflections on the recent Tcher's Day.

All things white

I am sure everyone knows about Studio Calico's white mist. Everyone has been raving about it but i never got my hands on them. Its funny how one product could be sold out in an instance. So i decided to improvise and made my own mists. I bought white paint, put two tiny spoonful of it into my mini mister, mixed with water and viola! out comes spurts of white blots. (:


Well, i am proud of myself for experimenting with these mediums as i am so not a technical person. So from my made-to-do white mists, i made the following stuff..



Notice the white blots? They are as good as your tattered angels mists and much cheaper too! Loving the CP's Random collection and i gesso-ed the sides of the LO to give some textures.

A few weeks ago, Jo and I ordered items from Joann.com and our stuff finally arrived. I went crazy over their K&Co stuff because the items were so ridiculously cheap. 12by12 pads were going at US$6 dollars and each of their fun packs were priced at around $4. I simply could not resist.. So in the light of that shipment, i made a bday album, marking my 1/4 of a century life.

Notice the white paint? I used the prima's mask and painted over it. Each page is also splattered with white. (:


I hope you guys are having an awesome long break! Lets enjoy it before Wednesday comes. For now, i am happily slacking away, sleeping a lot more and scrapping even harder. (: