Out with 2009 and in with 2010!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and wonder-full year ahead!

This is for Creative Scrappers where I am guest for Sketch 84. I had a lot of fun creating this layout.

I used different mediums on this, including mists, Perfect Pearls, Stickles and Distress Ink.

I first masked off a rectangle and stamped lots of images inside it with Noir and Earth hybrid ink by Palette. I like Palette for the crisp colour and quick-drying quality. Yes, I'm impatient!

Then I misted Pale Ale Memories Mist by Stewart Superior. This particular colour aged the kraft cardstock a little without overwhelming the background nor the stamped images.

Reversing the mask, I stamped a large swirl with Versamark ink and brushed Perfect Pearls over it.

Opaque white swirly rub-ons to contrast the iridescent swirls.
A cluster of red Robin's Nest dewdrops and Worn Lipstick Distress Ink Reinkers around the distressed edges to add a pop of colour to the almost monochromatic page. I also used my finger to dab some Stickles on the edge.
Strips of ribbons and a felt heart edged with Stickles. I punched a scalloped-edge on the bottom of the photo.
Title mounted on Hambly and random splotches of brown mist to complete the page.

Using the brown-based mists and inks gave the layout a vintage, aged appearance which looked like it is a page from a well-loved album.

Photos from this Christmas
The food
The family
The kids
The gifts under the tree
Opening gifts
Thanks P and A for hosting the dinner each year.

This Year's Gifts

Blessed Christmas to all!

Now that the gifts are distributed, I can show what I made.

This year I altered binder clipsand added flowers
and a calendar.
These gift boxes house
gift cards.

The diecut machine really worked overtime this season!

I met up with two dear friends yesterday. Mommies and kids all had a great time. After a delicious lunch of noodles for the children and nasi lemak for the adults, we rummaged through L's stash of rubberstamps and cranked the diecut machines to whip out some cards. Our girls participated too, with C making several clay items and HZ finishing a card. The boys were more interested in the computer, mixing in some energy-expending boxing sessions. E was flitting between the girls and the boys, undecided whether to colour with J or to run around cheering the boys.

Looking back, we have been friends for a long time. L and I were classmates in Primary 4 while F and I knew each other in secondary school. Then in Sec 3, the three of us were in the same class and the friendship thickened.

Despite different career paths, our interests seem to converge over the years. Each time we meet, we have endless things to talk about and do. Yesterday was no exception.

I am deeply grateful for our friendship. Though we don't meet very often, they are always in my thoughts. Wishing L a gratifying job next year.

E is just full of surprises!

Here she is, with her hand on a water jug, making a whirring sound.

Seconds later, she offered a cup to J.
But what's in the cup ?
Vegetable juice made from these ...
E offered another larger cup this time ...
And walked away with a cheeky grin ...

Downtown East Kids

These four kids had a whale of a time at Downtown East this morning.

First the Ball Pool.

Then climbing and sliding for more than an hour.
Finally cooling off and goofing around before lunch.
It's a wonderful way to start the week. Hope your week goes well too!

We celebrated Grandma's birthday yesterday with a wonderful dinner in a cosy setting.
She looks absolutely radiant, happily surrounded by eight grandchildren (1 absent) and four great-grandchildren!

A second layout with the BG Bittersweet collection.
This time, for texture, I creased the strips of paper at different angles and inked the creases.
To the left of the photo, I cut and stacked several blocks of paper scraps and scattered some dew drops around. Journalling lines created with black thread in backstitches.

Although the white space gave the layout some breathing room, I didn't like the flat colour, so I spritzed several types of mists - Stewart Superior Memories Mists come in dye-based as well as pigment-based colours, which show up subtly on dark cardstock. Don't you love mists? I mean the scrapping kind!

I love the reds and oranges in BG's Bittersweet collection. This layout tells part of the story from here.

After cutting the striped paper into waves, I made slits along the wavy edge to create a fringe which I then curled to add texture.
The flower centres are brads topped with blings. Can you spot the little owl? It's a brad too! Too cute!

Did you try to guess what E was saying?

Itchy Colour Ubi actually refers to the song lyrics 当我们同在一起　齐快乐无比

This girl cracks me up all the time.
See if you can make out what she's trying to say:

"Itchy colour ubi"

No, it's not Malay, but it's not English either. That's your clue.

Be back tomorrow for the answer and some layouts.

The whole local scrapping community should have been at MWL yesterday for the 6th birthday bash to celebrate the amazing journey of three lovely ladies and their passion-turned-business. Silly me forgot the camera. Nevertheless, it was great to chat with fellow scrappers, crank the make-and-takes (thanks Kelly, Jasmine and team), drink in the atmosphere and munch on yumminess (thanks Chenta, Helda and team). Most of all, a huge congrats to Elvira, Sandra and Swee Ching for your commitment to a community of memories-hoarding, product-coveting scrappers. And thank you for your inspiration, love and sacrifice. Here's to many more good years!

Finally I cranked out a page. It's been sitting incomplete on my desk, begging for a free afternoon to be completed.

I started with the lovely SEI Moravia paper with its elegant copper foil effect and started piecing embellishments from strips of paper, folding some into concertina flowers and edging another with large scallops. The variegated ribbon complemented both the teal and copper in the colour palette and the Mermaid Designer Series Stickles added a touch of sparkle to the distressed photo matte and journalling blocks. However at this point, I am still without a photo and hence no title.

I found a photo which I almost abandoned because of its orange cast. I thought I just might be able to salvage it, since photos of myself are so few and far between. The candid shot was taken when I held my new camera in my hands for the first time.

Finally into the journalling blocks is part of the line from my profile on this blog

The last two weeks have been like a whirlwind! I reported to work five days a week, for the first time in two years. Some were 12-hour days. I battled a cold, struggled with a crazy deadline and now it is finally over. I'm just thankful to have survived through God's grace and strength.
I barely scrapped, unless you count stickle-ing one chipboard shape. I hope to finish the layout this weekend. Hope your week will be good and the weekend better!

How Different Can They Be!

Two girls, twelve years apart.

One is quiet and reserved among family and in unfamiliar settings.

The other loves company, and the excitability index rockets sky-high the larger the crowd grows.

One hates to perform to a crowd (though that is changing somewhat in the last 2 years).

The other sings her lungs out on a makeshift microphone.

Her favourite song is Everyone and she can sing the entire song, albeit with some mispronunciations. It's her mandatory bedtime song. Twice, she fell asleep without this bedtime routine and she woke in the middle of the night claiming "forgot Everyone" and made us turn the music on before she finally fell asleep again.

Word of the day:

Com-mo-mo-yo, as in "Bye Bye Por Por. Bye bye Kong Kong. Gee you. Com-mo-mo-yo."

Translated: Bye Bye. See you. Come tomorrow.

Great Minds Think Alike ... I Think

Remember me saying I need a new place to photograph my layouts? I was going to do that with P's old typewriter. I had dreams of my pages resting between rows of keys.
Today, I saw the set-up at Donna Downey's. Now I'm so stoked to stage my pages asap!

You are my Sunshine

E at the park between grandpa's and godpa's.

Trying different ways to make flowers. Here's another:
Bright sunshine from stickles.

She looks so grown-up now. I miss my chubby baby, she's a true toddler now - opinionated (she chooses her own outfit most of the time), fiercely independent, fixated with going out and eating bread for every meal, a great conversationist.

Over lunch yesterday, she recounted the repairman fixing the airconditioning at Por Por's house the day before. But it is not Por Por's aircon which is spoilt, it's Kaufu's.

Dressed up and getting shoes on.
Getting the strap tight enough. Notice the finger to press the lower strap down.
Yep, done. And she packed the bag herself - snack, tissue, teddy and a ball.
Trying to get the fingers into a victory sign.
Afternoon out with Dad!