Shame on me!!

So many things have been going on since May that sadly I have neglected my blog. Seriously.........SHAME ON ME!!! Sigh.....

Well lets see now, we are suppose to move back to the States sometime by the end of the year. Much as I look forward to this, there are so many things about Singapore that I hold close to my heart. My friends, my previous job, the food and just little things that I believe are important. I knew that my move to the US is inevitable but little did I know that it would come this soon. Actually not that soon, as we have been here for over 14 years. Thats a long time...

I have been scrapping a lot. I know I need to photograph the stuff that I have scrapped recently and I need to get this in gear quickly. I have found some new friends online in the scrappin community and I need to add them to my blog as well. They have been such a tremendous source of inspiration and I have found myself literally creating stuff that is so "out of the box". In any case, I am pleased with what I have done and I am hoping to launch my first video on the stuff that I have created.

Well i got hubby to take and edit the pics of the album that I made using the scraps from the MLS papers. I think it is too cute. I used these cute lil honeycomb thingys from the Martha Stewart card kits. I added some rub-ons and actually journaled quite a bit. i added pics in the pockets that I created but I did not photograph these as they are just pics of various people and food of course. So here it is the lil album that i created: TFL

My Little Shoebox

Well I decided to submit some stuff for MLS DT call. I just love their papers. They are really too cute. I must say it was pretty hard to get my hands on them though. I guess sometimes the LSS don't bring in enough or if you are not there in time to get the stuff, well then it can be a problem......

Well here's what i did with my MLS papers and I also created a mini album from scratch with the left overs. I will photograph them tonight and try to do another post this evening.



I know, I know, everyone is sick of looking at this pic of me, including me!!!!!! I am not one who likes to be in front of the camera....and I like to take pics of subjects other than myself but I really have got to post up more LOs of me....seriously!!!



I love these tags. Thanks Aida for such a great idea. I used MLS papers for these save for a couple of stickers from Imaginesce.













I am going to put my sick little boy to bed now. I will try to get this little mini album that i made today up on line here and on two peas. It is really too cute and I can't wait to share it.............

DT Calls...The Ups and Downs......

Well I have been doing a lot of LOs lately, cards, tags acrylic albums and such for various DT calls and also to upgrade my own skills. The DT calls are great although it can be very depressing at times to be notified that "you are so talented" yet we only have a few positions available. It is the way it goes though. Not everyone can be on a DT and so far being published has been a milestone for me too. Now that I am officially a SAHM, I guess I have no excuses not to scrap or not to try out for DT calls, challenges and other stuff on line.

I recently got a whole bunch of scrappy supplies and of course even though it costs a bomb, I am very happy with it cos now I feel that I can really get down to business and scrap. I am not sure if I am gonna work on anything this evening cos, I am really tired, and I need to get aquainted with my new lappy the HP ENVY!!!! Hmmmm, what a great pressie for my birthday!!!

Well here are some of the stuff that I have been working on...thanks for looking everyone, not sure who follows my blog, and I definetely wanna try to upgrade my blog so it looks good, and now with a new lappy, I think I should be able to get more done!!!

A major milestone....

Today is a big day for me. After being on medical leave for almost a year, I have decided to resign from service. It was a tough decision. I am gonna miss everyone and even though my work can be overwhelming at times, I derive so much satisfaction from it. The decision to finally quit left me in buckets of tears over the weekend as i pondered over it but I believe it is the best thing for me to do for my my son and hubby. Sigh............I am gonna miss everyone in school and all the wonderful friends that I have made over the years. I can still keep in touch with them but its not the same as seeing them everyday.

In terms of scrappin, well there have been ups and downs. Some of my designs seem to be be "too elaborate" for the likes of DT calls so for the next few weeks my designs are gonna be simple. I am gonna make a mini book from scratch using MY Little Shoebox paper and see if it turns out nice. I love the products. Also I bought a new line of paper from Basic Grey and I can also use the Vintage Groove from Makng Memories which will go so well wth the stuff.

Here are a couple of things that i have completed in the past few days and as soon as I get more projects up i will post them as well. TFL

"to be or not to be" / "to submit or not to submit"

Well, its been a busy and expensive week....The sale of my house is finally over and done with and nothing is a greater feeling than being debt free!! WOW!!! Really gotta pinch myself on that one just to remind myself about it. It was an expensive week cos I needed to get some stuff that is long overdue...like a new lappy. I am using a mini notebook to blog, watch videos, upload pics and seriously it gets to be a royal pain at times just staring at a small screen. Well I got the HP ENVY and seriously can't wait for it to get here. Am still wondering if I should get it skinned, to match my I phone, I pod etc. But we shall see.

Now going back to the title of this blog.....Prima Marketing is having their DT call. I absolutely love their products and am feeling very overwhelmed about even submitting my stuff. Their blog is just gorgeous, and since this call is open to all countries, i can't imagine the talent!! Hmmmm, wonder if i should even give it a go. I have created a couple of things for the DT call, and I am not even sure if it matches up to the amazing talent that I see on their blog. Perhaps I should not sell myself short but at the same time...............

Well, this little LO got a lot of comments on Let's Scrap. Seriously, I had to adapt it quickly cos none of the LSS here, have the ATC holders, so adapt, modify create out of the box so to speak comes into play....

A humbling experience

A truly humbling experience..............I went to the SNR website to see my LOs on their site. I almost cried. I still have to pinch myself when I go in and see it cos I can't believe that my work is now published!!! Although, in my previous post I trumpeting about it, to see it "live" on line was just truly humbling and I am so honored to be alongside so many talented scrappers. THANK YOU SNR for choosing my work. It is such an honor.


Well Mom came over today to spend the day at our new place. It has been a long and tough week for me. The final transaction for the sale of my house will be over and done with by Monday. As of next week, I will be completely debt free and I am super excited about it. I have had a lot of mixed feelings about that though.....selling the first home that I actually owned was very traumatizing cos, I really liked that house and although this new rental is such a beauty it is not mine.

My new scrap space AKA as my bedroom is not too bad. I have gotten it organised so I can more or less find my stuff. I am working on 3 mini books this weekend to give a way to friends and of course to keep one for myself as a sample. I did manage to aqueeze out a LO of my son, which has a "flowery" element to it as well as that grungy look so that it does not look too overly feminine. LOL



And another LO of summer fun (well its summer all year long here in Singapore) but i thought this was a very cute children's LO. It lacks all my doo dads and doo hickies that I normally do on my LOs but this clean and simple look can be very appealing to some....(I hope)!!






TFL everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. I need to finish my 4 mni books and start on some other projects that are pending......

"Ahem"....Drumroll Please.....

I can't believe it, but after being a "closet scrapper" for so long, I have finally come out of the closet and put my stuff online, apply for DT calls and submit my LOs for publication...... I am OVER THE MOON to be PUBLISHED!!!!! 3 of my LOs will appear in this online magazine SNR or Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. I will add their blinkie on the side of my blog (I will get hubby to do that)!! My first 3 LOs was in their March issue and I submitted 10 LOs for their April issue and they accepted ALL 10. I feel so blessed and really excited that my work was appreciated by a team of editors. I am really really very very happy!!!

I also submitted a couple of LOs for a DT call and I thought that I would share that with you..

The Bag Lady

Most of my friends who know me well, are all aware of my love for Designer Label Bags. Well I just got my first Scarlet Lime Kit and decided to do a LO based on my bags!!! I used a sketch from http://letscrap.ning.com and this is what I came up with. I love the idea of layering the flowers with tulle and I also posted a short tutorial on how to do the flowers on the same site. TFL



This is my latest bag which I use for going for scrapbooking classes and for carrying my yummy stash when I go to the LSS.

New Home

I know I have not been blogging in a while......absolutely no excuse for that!!! The past month has been a whirlwind of trying to find a new rental, trying to keep up with scrapping, creating a paypal account so that i can shop online and the list just goes on and on....

Well we finally moved in on the 6th of April to our new place. Its nice, takes a lil getting used to but I kinda like it. I have yet to take pics of my new scrap space AKA my bedroom, but its a lil messy now so I have taken some shots of the neater part of the house.

Sketchy Thursday

Well this is the first time I am posting with this site!! So I am kinda excited. I also applied for their DT call and I am keeping my fingers crossed cos I would love to be part of such a creative design team :-)



I am attaching this LO, based on the above sketch. However, I have flipped it around and put the embellies on the right instead of the left. TFL



All the papers are from Basic Grey's Origins Collection and the swirls and flowers are cut from Sizzix.

Here's another take on the same sketch. However for this one, I placed the pic towards the right and put the main embellies on the top left hand corner instead with the hand cut vines coming down. TFL



For this LO I followed the sketch as much as I could...the only difference was that I put the title on the top and not the bottom. That green paper you see where the title is, is actually part of the packaging of Prima flowers. Don't waste, ya, some of these embellies come with really pretty packaging.



The photo shows a group of my former students celebrating Hari Raya - the end of Ramadhan for the Muslims. The month long fasting and sacrifices comes to an end with an elaborate celebration of visiting loved ones and friends. What I find so fascinating is that they wear their traditional clothes, which is just simply gorgeous.


For this LO, I used flocked paper as the background and used Memento inks to color it in so that the designs on the flocked paper would show up a bit more. TFL

I got "Scooped" by paperpopsicles.com for this card I made with the theme Home is Where the Heart Is !!!

And some cards....

I decided to make some cards in the course of the week, but have not had time to post so here they are...... I incorporated the subject of Spring and the Orient, as the Chinese New Year here in Singapore was on Valentine's Day. So i created a Chinese Valentine's Day card as well. TFL





As for the Spring theme, I decided that Easter should be included since its round the corner and of course my fave...flowers. Now these ones were hand stamped, colored and patiently cut out and layered....Phew!!!

Layouts...

Well this weekend was an expensive one...sigh. I absolutely adore the Prima Flowers and i think I went a lil (well a lot) hog wild at the LSS. But now, I should not be buying anymore Prima till I finish what i have got!!!

Here's a couple of LOs where I used my Prima flowers.....





For this LO, I used G45 papers...I cut out the elements of the paper that I liked and rejoined them to give a more "collage" effect. I then used the same collection of G45 and created a border. I cut out the flowers, and then layered the Prima on them. TFL

For this LO, I used ALL Prima products. This line of paper is rather old, but i love how it blends in with the pic. I chose a very brownish/orangish line of flowers to go with the theme....TFL

Card Making.....

Well this week I decided that I was gonna make cards instead of LOs although this weekend, I will probably try to do both!!! Hopefully I will have the time to accomplish it. LOL. I created my first pop up card....,



For the front of this card, I used the Hero Arts Series...I stamped the top image of the mailbox, bird and butterfly directly on to the Bazzil Cardstock and then colored it in with copic markers.



This is what the inside of the card looks like....I cut out the houses from Best Creations Inc. and then gave it a popped up or stand up look by cutting out small strips of paper to paste behind the houses. I added the clouds from a Quikutz Die. TFL

My first Clear Album

This is my very first attempt at doing a clear album!!! I was so excited about trying it out cos i have never had a chance to use my STAZ on inks before!!! It has a very cluttered look (I know) but i wanted to load as many pics that I could which would best represent Bali. I know I need to work on more clean, simple LOs so I will be attempting to do those too.





For the front pages, I decided to incorporated both die cuts and stamping....to see how the effects were. In this album, I also did a lot of journaling, as I felt that this vacation really was worth remembering. I had a fabulous time!!! I also applied some new techniques which included using scraps from box covers, paints and other mediums.



This is one my fave pages of the album...This was taken at the Bonsai garden just before you hit the beach. There are so many potted plants that can be purchased but it was kinda hard to buy them and transport them back by plane to Singapore without causing any damage so i decided to just take pics instead.



I have always been facinated by Batik and the fact that it is painstakingly done by hand using a wax resists technique. That is truly a work of art and I did end up buying some pieces of Batik but I had to photograph the gals hard at work at creating these breathtaking masterpieces.





Bali is really a place of a thousand temples. According to some travel critics or writers there are more temples in Bali than there are homes!! I guess to some extent they are right, cos every home has a "mini temple" built right on their property and of course there are the main temples which are the tourist attractions and other lil temples dotted along the island so that people can do their prayers which are done 5 times daily.







This is also another fave from the clear album......The view from the top of the Ulu Watu Temple is just glorious but the walk up to the summit was no joke at all!!!! I decided to stamp around the edges of the page and add stickles and some Prima flowers. The journaling was done vertically so that the main focus would be on the pic.