Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!


We had a lovely family dinner at my in-laws last night.

Today, after Christmas Service, we caught up with some old friends and their family.

Then on to our favourite pastime: reading over a cuppa.  The little one's engaged in her favourite pastime too - napping.

Our books and brews of choice:



Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Miss Spoken is right

E: Hey Mom, I love you more.
Me: More than what?
E: More than my toys.

Monday, December 12, 2011

O Christmas Tree!

This Christmas tree I made for our regular swap generated some interest on fellow swapper's Facebook post.  So I thought I'd post a quick tutorial on how I made it.
The idea started months ago, while I was making this layout:


Seeing how the rosettes stacked so beautifully, I experimented with making each die-cut strip into fans, and folding one segment to the back to get more contact area.
A dab of glue and a bit of pinching later:

The base of the tree is formed from half a die-cut strip.  Three segments lay flat while the rest are accordion folded and stuck on.

The base and three fan shapes layered on to an embossed ATC card base, topped with a gold brad on a vellum circle:

All done!
Latest layout featuring Sizzix, for Made With Love.


With the kiddo at home and lots of year-end errands to run, time for scrapping is considerably reduced. So it's really a time-saver to use large embellishments to finish the layout faster. The 657390 Daisy Blast, at a whopping 4 3/4", has lots of "real estate" for dressing it up.



For this layout, I simply wound twine around the petals:



and through the holes in the centre:



Hope you have a blast making quick layouts too!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Miss Spoken

E: Yiyi went holiday
Me: Yes. She's gone to Taiwan
W: After that she goes to Tai-Two?

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Miss Spoken

"Eryn, be careful!"
"Ok Mom, I'm be-carefulling!"

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Miss Spoken continued

So this four year-old cannot think of herself in 3rd person. 
E: Mommy where is the little girl asking questions?
Me: She still awake. Her name is E-r-y-n. 
E: Same as me?

Monday, November 14, 2011

Miss Spoken

Me: There is a little girl who's asking Mommy a lot of questions.
E: Who?
Me: She's supposed to be sleeping but she's asking so many questions!
E: Daddy do you know who is the girl asking Mommy so many questions?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Layout for Made With Love.  This is my nephew and his many antics, gotta love this boy!

I paired the Sizzix Flourish die with Stamper's Anonymous Flourish stamp and played with all sorts of white medium.


Transparent Rock Candy crackle paint, shiny stickles in Frosted Lace and opaque gesso applied through the die negatives while the positives weigh down the bottom of the page.


Stamped flourishes in white pigment ink edge the photo.

If you are not aware, MWL is having its 8th anniversary this month.  Truly when I think of MWL, it's more than just a store, it's almost like home!!  Congratulations, and here's to many more good years!!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

It's the end of the year and also concert season. I see many preschoolers prepping for concerts by way of costumes and rehearsals. E has been enthusiastic about rehearsals, and keeping the suspense - she refused any sneaks for the grandparents!!

Meantime, J has a few more papers to go for the O's. Instead of gearing for the post-exam prom or graduation night, she is prepping for two mission trips and a leaders advance. She is also picking up the language. I'm so proud of her for setting her priorities.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

New Mini Books Class

I have a new series of books for November at Made With Love - three books, in fact.  These are accordion-styled books but with a twist to each of them.  I totally enjoyed making the prototypes and samples, especially since the ecclectic papers in the Crate Paper Random Collection are so gorgeous to work with.  I'll let the pictures tell it all.  Hope to see you at the workshops.

Twist 1: Double Accordion
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Twist 2: Winged Accordion, and I don't just mean the covers.
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Twist 3: Star Accordion
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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Shout for Joy

You've laughed over the misspoken words of E. Here are the words from J, may you grow to know her through the thoughtful and few words she speaks.

Mulling over post-secondary options:
Here's why it's better not to go poly: you can't go on
mission trips because holidays are different. Besides I don't want everyday to be a fashion show.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Morning Has Broken

I count it a blessing to be greeted by this magnificent sunrise every morning from my front door.  With this beauty to start the day, I just know the rest of the day cannot be too bad.

While thinking of a way to frame this photo, I came across a geometric pattern that looks like spiralling rectangles.
 After cranking some black cardstock strips through the Sizzix and the On the Edge Postage die, I went to town with Dimensional Pearls, Liquid Pearls and Glimmer Glam, getting my fingers all shiny in the process.

The white foam Thickers were not spared the bling treatment: Glimmer Glaze in Blue, Red and Yellow blended and flowed together to create customised colours for the title.

Hope your day is great!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

It's my turn to host a challenge at Made With Love!

I was thinking how some people would flip a coin to make a decision and thought of trying the scrapbooking equivalent.  I picked some random objects lying around - five rubber bands and a thick piece of string - and tossed them on a sheet of white cardstock to get my random placement guide:


Do you see a possible "heart" in there?

The layout -

The photos are set on the mesh background with eyelets and the Thicker letters for the title are sewn down with a variety of stitches using twine.


Love the fuzzy blue yarn - but at the rate I'm touching it, it will lose its fuzziness very soon!

Head on to MWL's gallery to read details about the challenge - looking forward to your participation.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Miss Spoken

E: What is this?
Me: A calculator.
E: What is it for?
Me: It's to add really big numbers that you cannot add in your head. (Seeding an early idea not to over-rely on calculators).
E: But these numbers (buttons on the calculator) are not so big!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Did September just sneaked in without me realising August is over?

In August, we had

Birthdays, national and E's:


An accident, and the family rallying together with the aid of technology:
Makes you wish this exist so we can speed through the tough levels:

Always therapeutic to immerse in craftiness:



A new class at MWL - five little books and lots of techniques and tips to share:


 Goodie bags - keeping it simple with 12x12 paper and 8 scored lines:

 And this smile every day to keep me going:


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

July 24, 2011

E: Thank you Jesus for the milk. Amen.
Me: Do you know how to give thanks in Chinese?
E: Yes. Thank you Jesus for the 牛奶. Amen.
...

July 11, 2011



"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." ~ Hans Christian Anderson








A Sizzix layout for Made With Love inspired by butterflies and a white flower. I used a familiar favourite that is probably found in every scrapper's shelf - the Tattered Flower die. Just trim away one or two petals and add some blings.






Cutting them out of vellum and mesh ribbons gives these flutterby an ethereal feel. In fact some of them are almost ready to takeoff! Don't be surprised to see some butterflies fluttering in the wind when you next visit the store.

Happy National Day

Our nation's 46th birthday. A day to be thankful for how far we've come and how much more we need to go.

I have a wish for my homeland: to be a peaceful place for my girls to grow up in and a haven for my loved ones.


Monday, July 4, 2011

Miss Spoken

Daddy's phone rings.
E: Who's calling you Dad?
D: It's grandpa.
E: Why grandpa call you?
D: To tell me something.
E: What grandpa to tell you what grandpa what grandpa to tell you something …
Me: What did grandpa tell you?
E: Not me - Daddy!
Laughter all round.
E: What's so funny?

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Just posted a poll on my blog.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Kraft Goes With Everything

I mean kraft paper, not the cheese.

For Made With Love, which by the way just celebrated its grand opening in Jakarta this weekend!

Maya Road kraft doilies made into flowers by stacking with red cardstock and gauze.

I cut the cardstock and gauze with Sizzix Wrapped Flower (657116) and added rhinestones and paper twine at the centres.

Behind the photo is a Decorative Swirl border (656215) that just begs for more blings to be added.  

I also hung a trio of charms on the right to lend some movement. 

So, kraft with turquoise, red and white - quite a pleasing combination.  Can't say the same about my lunch of curry with cheese!