Friday, February 27, 2009

Here i stand


Sophie stands very stably now and is trying to walk all over the place.
Our impatient little friend tries to run before she can even stable herself to walk.. hence resulting in many almost-falls. But she is walking so much now, we can't even count the number of steps anymore.. more than 20??
My baby growing up so fast!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Weird Dreams / Sophie's Birthday Wishlist

The weird and vivid dreams are back again.. those that I used to have in the 1st trimester with both Sophie and Zoe.

Chronicles of the past few nights:
- I was having triplets and was totally convinced it was true because of the size of my stomach. Was happily feeling all 3 wriggling around in my sleep.. gosh. And when I woke up it took me a while to un-convince myself of the truth of my dream!
- Giant was having a sale where all items cost $3. I happily bought 2 Yves Saint Laurent cosmetic sets for my mum and only after paying at the counter realised I should have bought diapers and wipes instead. *facepalm* so I went back into the immensely crowded supermarket once more to search for diapers, by which time there were only 2 packets left and no more wipes (sob).
- Got into a car accident with G, but it was him banging into me.. his car rear-ended my car. His favourite Suzy was 'resurrected' for the duration of my dream, haha, only to end up banging into my rear. I was so mad with him that I got out of the car and walked off, leaving both cars and hubby at the traffic junction!

I wonder what I will dream of next.. geez.

To answer the many queries about Sophie's birthday wishlist (actually rather Mummy's wishlist for Sophie):
a. Age appropriate toys for 12-24 months. Stuff like MegaBloks/Duplo, MagnaDoodle, a junior tricycle, activity table, etc.
b. Music CDs / kiddy DVDs that we can use to entertain her and keep her IN ONE PLACE gahhhh.
c. A potty! Heh. Hopefully we can start toilet training her by the time she hits 2. My helper tells me that her son was toilet trained by 1 year 2 months.. Gosh!! Such a big saving on diapers, haha.. Shall get my helper to faster help me train the Mouse.
d. Shoes for her just-starting-to-walk feet.
e. For the practical gift-givers: Safety gate for the stairs - we will need it once she's able to walk by herself!
f. For the (immensely) practical: M/L size diapers or baby wipes - always needed. Refer to dream #2 above. heh.

Cheapo way to run an errand in Orchard

1. Drive through ERP gantry in front Wisma just after 5pm
Charge - 50 cents

2. Park at Plaza Sing
Charge - free for 1st hour

3. Complete your errand within 50 minutes.

3. Drive through ERP gantry at Handy Road before 6pm
Charge - 50 cents

Total: 1 dollar.

Cheapo hor?? =)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

023: Don't steal my Orange!

Speaks for itself.. Sophie at CNY 2009, Day 1.

Stuff mostly from Scarlet Lime's July 2008 kit, and included others: Chatterbox Stitched Felt heart, alphas from American Crafts Chloe and Sprinkles, stamps from Technique Tuesday's Loving Words range by Ali Edwards, and Stickles in Ruby Slippers and Fruit Punch.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Goals, 2009

Didn't post this up at the start of the year - well I'm going to do it now, in no particular order:

Financial:
1. Take on 2 more tuitions after Zoe's birth in June.
2. Revive my Ebay account and/or setup a blog to sell off my stuff, baby stuff and scrapbook stuff - to sell at least $500 worth of items
3. 1+2 above to give a total combined additional income of at least $5k by the end of the year.

Physical:
1. Lose 15-20kg after giving birth to Zoe - I want to weigh at most 58kg by the end of the year.
2. Get at least 2 facials, and 1 hair makeover done.

Personal:
1. Scrapping goal - 50 layouts and/or projects. Done so far: 6 layouts, 1 album, and 1 sweet packaging for CNY gifts.
2. Scan in all my old family photos and learn to use the different features in PhotoScape - I need to learn a new skill! Gosh!

Baby/Family:
1. Breastfeed Zoe for at least 6 months. I stopped slightly short of this goal with Sophie (5 months). Needs perserverance and mental strength to do this!!
2. Spend at least 1 hour a day on weekdays with the 2 kids no matter how tired I am.
3. Take at least 1 trip overseas this year, even a short one.

to be continued..

the effort counts.

not the value in money
not the cost in time and trouble

at least make the effort!!

Monday, February 16, 2009

What you Expect

Its so true that people become what you expect them to be.

Its a vicious cycle.

If your expectations are low, its transmitted subconsciously and others feel all they need to do is to live up to this lower expectation. And so they don't live up to it, and you lower your expectations even more so that you yourself will not get disappointed. Etc etc etc.

But how do I increase my expectations without being unreasonable and without being too demanding?
That's a hard one.. still learning. =(

How I have changed!

Last Saturday, the 14th of February, was spent mostly nuah-ing at home. And visiting Celine and Jason whose stunning 3.9kg boy Seth was born early that afternoon!

Now, as people comment on how they spend their V-day and ask me how I spent mine, and I reply "oh I was at home!", I reflect on how much I have changed from the years before I got married. Before, I was hardly ever at home and my schedule is packed from morning to night 7 days a week. Life was lived at a fast pace and I am certainly one of the "on" people among my friends.

Now, my life is much much more home-bound. Probably because of baby Sophie (and soon to be Zoe), my hubby tends to be the stay-at-home-avoid-crowds kind of person. So I have to stay at home more too. Compared to 7 nights a week out last time, I now spend the majority of my nights at home. And I certainly can't imagine spending "special days" doing nothing last time, but this round when hubby asked me on Friday where I want to celebrate, I actually turned to him and asked him "Celebrate what?". LOL!

But flowers, gifts and nice meals are still welcome.. any day.. hehe..

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Warning: Mega Long post with loads of pics - Scraps for Feb

022; Joyful Baby

Did one of the first LOs with cutting out of designs on the PP last night. OMG, the cutting almost killed! And worst of all, the cut-out designs do not really stand out even though I put up to 3 layers of pop up tape behind them.

Kind of regret not distressing the diecut flower PP before sticking it down, and regret not stickling the edges of the cut-outs to make them more obvious. Ah well. Done is done and I'm not taking the LO out of my album again! Grr!

Can you see the pop-ups????
Please say you can!!

Ingredients: PP: Colorbok (part of a package of die-cut flower papers), Creative Imaginations, K&Co Urban Rhapsody die-cut mat pad Alphas: AC Thickers Lax Embellishments: Making Memories Vintage Hip trims, MM Delaney note paper, Laundry Line Flirty Play chipboard accessories, MM Delaney metal signage, Buzz and Bloom acrylic accent (Up the Garden Path - Fuschia), Urban Lily rub-on.


DS Album - Review
Done at Laine's class.. Oh boy.. this is going to be one heck of a project to finish doing (and blogging about!)

1a. Cover Page:

All cardstocks, papers, gaffer tape, twill and tag from Laine's class kit; I *think* the Observations stamp is from 7G, the owl stamp which is embossed in gold is from Maya Road; ghost clock stamp is pretty sure from Heidi Swapp. Chipboard leaves from Maya Road and Glimmer-misted blue.

A very interesting effect is the brown distress ink on blue paper. The paper actually had glossy portions and the distress ink can be wiped right off these portions. Hence leaving the look as seen above.

Things I added: Rub-on quote from Autumn Leaves Manhattan collection, Family chipboard word from Maya Road glimmer misted in Robin's Egg and Suede.

1b. Back of cover page and
2a. Front of first chipboard page

To the left hand side of this photo is the interior of the cover page. Pasted down a few scrap pieces of papers from the class kit and added the buttons and rub-ons myself. Rub-ons from 7G Pretoria Fortunes.

On the right hand side of the photo is the first page. 7G library pocket and tags from the class kit; I added the rubons from 7G and AL. You can see a small string on the right of the page which is a 7G circular photo turn tied on using twine.. more about this on the..

2b: Back of first chipboard page and
3a: Front of large library card pocket

At the bottom left hand corner of the left page is the circular photo turn mentioned earlier.. I stuck a 7G metal words etc glass bubble onto it which reads "wishes". Not sure if it can be seen though.
Left hand page additional stuff - Together chipboard words from Maya Road, again glimmer misted in blue. Yes, I have only two shades of glimmer mist, how did you tell?? This is from the same little chipboard words set as the "family" on the first page. And you will also see "blessings" and "love" in the same kind of pattern inside the book too. Heh.
Rubons from 7G & Pink Paislee, alphas from AC thickers Poolside, counting blessings sticker from AL Quote Unquote "Friends".

Right page is the front of the large library pocket. Faith is a Jenni Bowlin bingo card, Hope is a Tim Holtz Adage Ticket, and Love is a chipboard accent from Memory Boutique.

3b. Interior of large library pocket
Stuffed in a photo of Sophie at her baby dedication in Nov 2008. Stuck on cardstock from the class kit - additional stuff are 7G Photo stickers and Prima Say it with Crystals black crystal frame.

3c. Back of large library pocket
This is one of my favourite photos of all time of Sophie.. looks like such a poignant moment.
Actually what she is so intently studying is the bottle of puffs that her grandad is holding.. and in the next instant after the photo was taken she snatched it away from him most unceremoniously. LOL.

Quote is a cutout from Cosmo Cricket Little Girls paper kit, rubons from 7G and AL as usual.

4a. Front of second chipboard page
This page is very "out" of colour scheme from the rest of the pages.. but I have a reason.. LOL. The original 7G tag in the class kit had a quote that wasn't quite relevant to what I wanted this page for.. the quote was something about "family" but I wanted a page just for me. Heh. So I covered the 7Gtag with a Brenda Walton Mira tag from K&Company.
And since its such a "girly" colour tone, I decided to add on lots of flowery blings!
Various flowers from Making Memories Passport collection, Kaiser Craft, Imaginisce, Queen & Co flower brads, KCK metal flower brads.
Who, Me alphas from AC Sarah Script stickers. NB - I love these! But I can't seem to find them in SB shops anymore. Please please tell me if you see them!

4b. Interior of tag foldout on second chipboard page
Short blab about me. Hey, I did the album, I'm entitled to at least one page all for my self!

4c. Back of second chipboard page
This is the first as-yet-to-be-filled page in my album. LOL, there are lots more to come behind. I am planning to add on to the journalling and photos as 2009 goes along.. I am too lazy to make a 2nd "family" album just to include #2 Zoe. Sorry baby, even before you are born you got to share everything with jiejie.

Additional stuff: Metal heart from Blue Moon Beads (loves!!) and chandelier laser cutout from RiffRaff Designs.

Oh boy, now we come to the biggest section of the entire album.. the flipbook!
*deep breath*

5a. Front page of flipbook
Flipbook is a very interesting concept as the base is a piece of chipboard, and various 7G revolving carousel cards are stuck on to both the front and the back using gaffer tape. So when you reach the middle of the flipbook, you have to flip over the chipboard piece to continue to view the rest of the pages.

Aiyah I don't make sense.. You need to see it for yourself.

Anyway, the front page of flipbook used 7G 97% complete tag, Hamblys' Decor Notes paper, and 7G gaffer tape (as well as my own addition.. the polka dot paper on the back of the Prima Say it with Crystals package.

Additional decor on the Family Matters card:
Hambly's Screenprints - Birdcages, cutouts of tags from Brenda Walton Mira tag pad from K&Co for the journalling space plus the word "happiness", crystal swirls from Prima, double layered punch-out and distressed butterflies held together with Queen & Co heart brad, square frame rubon by Urban Lily, "all because two people fell in love" quote from Cosmo Cricket Little Girls collection kit.

5b. First page of flipbook
Wedding picture. Distressed with a different ink colour (Faded Jeans by Tim Holtz) because I thought it matched the colour scheme of the picture better. All other distressing were done with a mix of Timber Brown (StazOn), Caramel (Adirondack), Tea Dye and Vintage Photo (both Tim Holtz).
Note paper from Making Memories 5th Avenue, crystal swirls from Prima, The Momentous Tag from Daisy D's. On the right hand side, only partially visible, a "love you" metal signage from Making Memories Delaney, and rub ons from Maya Road Nature. Totally invisible (facepalm!!) is another tag hanging from the end of the scalloped paper that reads "this photo". Its back to back with the "this picture" tag you will see on the next page. Basically punched out two Daisy D die-cut cardstocks and stuck them back to back for the effect.

5c. Second page of flipbook
TV addicts both.. Haha.. One of the similarities between father and daughter. Here, Sophie about 5 months old and she is already so intense on the remote control. Yes, they are both facing the TV in case you are doubting the TV addict label!

You can see the "this picture" tag on the left hand side of this photo that I mentioned before.
Fonts from AC Thickers Leg Warmers and Lax, 7G photo stickers, metal signage from MM Delaney, and rubons from 7G and AL.. Do you notice a trend, I am trying to use as much of one product as I can on one project.. mainly to finish up the product and therefore my stash pile! Of course, they will coordinate with each other perfectly well too. Heh.

5d. Third page of flipbook
Well since I have a page about myself I guess my hubby has to get one too. And ends up, his page is so much nicer than mine.. boo. =(

This photo was taken when his photog buddies in church were clowning around taking pictures of each other. So it has the very "photographer" element of the white studio backdrop, good lighting and monochromatic apparel. Yet, it also shows off his drama-king side with the jumping action and big grin. If you know G, you will know that these are the 2 biggest passions of his life. Wife rank way below.. Haha.

Additional stuff:
Lots of 7G photo stickers and Fortunes rubons; I did some on the photo and some on the photo sleeve, with popped-up effect, for texture. MM Love Notes note paper, Pink Paislee Press-Ons, and journalling finally done on top of a Daisy D cardstock tag pasted on top of both. The No 1 * in the lower right hand corner also from Daisy D, and rubons from AL.

5e. Fourth page of flipbook
This is the first page where you have to flip to the back of the chipboard to get to the rest of the flipbook.. you can see it from the different "backdrop" to the revolving carousel cards (if you know what I mean).

This is also one of my all time favourite series, Sophie with my mum-in-law. Taken when she was about 3 months old, she was laughing and smiling so happily. Now, its MUCH harder to keep her entertained!

Heidi Swapp clear extras, the usual 7G and AL rubons, another metal heart from Blue Moon Beads, binder clip with 7G photo stickers stuck on, and flower created from MM Passport, KaiserCraft and Imaginisce flowers.

Oh yes, I tried to distress-ink the first photo on the left too. Can you tell? But it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, perhaps because the ink pad I own is Tea Dye and the correct colour for the effect is Vintage Photo. I've been on a quest to find Vintage Photo since and have not succeeded. Boo.

5f. Fifth page of flipbook
OK, this is another totally-out-of-overall-feel page, but i couldn't help it because this is the nicest photo of Sophie with my parents that I have! It was taken only this CNY. Sophie has never been the best photo subject and with my parents its usually even worse as she wriggles and struggles - she is not as used to my parents as to my in-laws. Add to the fact that my mum usually comes over after her gym session at Bishan and she will be in absolutely lok-kok clothes! So, no nice photos of my parents sides of the family.

Fonts: AC Thickers Playroom and Lax. Chipboard tag from Basic Grey Sultry chipboard shapes, felt heart-stalk from (somewhere-don't-know-where), MM Delaney metal signage again and rubons from AL. Back of binder tag is shown with another 7G photo sticker and another piece of sticker on the photo sleeve.

5g. Blank pages of flipbook
These are the pages I conveniently decided I would leave blank for Zoe's pictures when she arrives. Heh. You can see the back side of the chipboard used to hold the flipbook on the left hand side of the picture.

By the way, the rest of the pages that you see on the right hand side are all blank too. All for Zoe and the rest of 2009!

6. Tabbed Pages
The first tabbed page can be seen on the right hand side of previous photo. Here are the rest of them:
Aside from sticking down the pieces of scrap paper, cardstock and twine from the class kit, I have only added one of the Heidi Swapp Clear Extras on the last page of the tabbed book.

7. Third chipboard page
Added on a cutout of "the sims" using AC Sarah Script on cardstock, and a layered flower with MM Passport and Imaginisce. The bottom layer of the flower was pretty interesting - I punched out 2 layers of flowers from an angpow paper and pasted them back to back, so that the protruding edge of the flower from the side of the tag would appear red from behind as well. However, I pasted the 2 layers slightly out of alignment so you can see from white from the front and some red from the back. The curly bracket is from a RAK from Dorcas.
Interior of the tag

Back of third chipboard page on the left hand side. Remember the Maya Road chipboard words from the front of the album.. well here are the last two of those words!

On the right hand side of the photo is the -

8. Back cover of album
This page is also chipboard but glimmer-misted blue. Family heirloom tag in the top right hand corner from Spotlight, Prima crystal swirls, and metal tags from MM Passport collection.
The interior of the tags on the last page, which are also blank.

Whew! That's the end of this mega-long post. Give yourselves a hand if you have read this far! =P

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Mouse on Strike

Recently, my mouse has gone on strike.

Refused to move, unable to recognize when I give it inputs. Such a contrast to the usually very responsive and very active mouse.

So, after enduring the "striking" mouse for 2 days, I decided to bring my mouse for examination this morning. In the end, I got a mouse exchange to a brand new model.







And yes.. its computer mouse. Not Sophie. Haha.

Slow

Very funny, I decided to blog because I couldn't stand seeing the same post every time I load up my blog. Stupid hor.. MY BLOG leh.. of course I will know that I didn't post and silly me still go and load the page and be sian about not having new posts.

Kiam pah hor??

Anyway, SLOW reflects exactly the word i feel about myself now. Slow to blog, slow to put up photos, slow in scrapping, slow in doing work, slow in thinking.. urgh. I just feel so lazy and lethargic all the time! And to think I still have another 1/3 of this pregnancy to go.. Oh man.. I wonder how I'm going to "live with myself".

It would be really nice to be able to nuah for the remainder of the time till June 1st.. HA HA DREAM ON!! Work hard, work hard, work harder is more like it lor.. Lol.. And after June 1st, I must work EVEN HARDER for more moolah to feed 2 kids instead of 1! Sadly, no one wants to take me on as a tutor this year because I've told them upfront that I will have to take 1 month break in June. Sob sob.. have plenty of enquiries but they all fizzled out after realising about delivery in June. Ah well, must pray for lots of tuitions from June onwards! Let there be plenty of last minute students this year!

Monday, February 09, 2009

Hello Hello?? Siang??

Sophie has picked up imitation.. she imitates us to put handphone to her ear. Looks like she's trying to have a phone conversation.. Haha!

Didn't manage to get a picture of her doing it because I am too busy trying to prevent the inevitable next step of hers.. which is to hurl the handphone across the bed / floor / room.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Cutest Mouse in the Animal Kingdom

Strictly speaking, this is a rat, but hey we call Sophie a Mouse don't we too?

Ahn.
Let me out of my crib, Papa!
Cuddle cuddle Hamtaro
Hey thats my bottle
Cuddle cuddle care bear
In general, most sleepy and satisfied

I love Cute Overload!

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Font Loves / 021: Light of the City

American Crafts Thickers: Lax

- glittered chipboard, beautiful cursives.

Did a very simple LO (trying out the less is more style) using this last night. Wait for pics.

_______________________________________

Update: Here they are!

021: Light of the City


Inspired by the song lyrics that everyone who had attended AC should know by heart..

the church we know / righteous and holy
the church we know / faithful and true
the church we know / a tower of refuge
hearts are healed / Christ revealed
the church we know / light of the city
the church we know / strengthens the weak
the church we know / Your heart beats within me
as He is / so are we

Big departure from my usual style for 2 reasons, 1
1. I wanted the focus to be on the candle light
2. was trying to challenge myself to finish the LO within 2 hours

Journalling:
" In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it - John 1:4-5. Christmas Candlelight service 2008, CHC"

Ingredients:
PP: Scenic Route, Hambly's Screenprints
City Silhouette (oh how I love this): Riff Raff Designs
Alphas: AC Thickers Lax and Poolside
Phrases: 7G 97% Complete Grateful, Making Memories, Stampendous, K&Company
Others: Random ribbon and button, blings from Prima Say it with Crystals and KaiserCraft, metal heart from Blue Moon Beads
Effects: Distressing with StazOn Timber Brown, outline of city Silhouette with Stickles Tiara, and also used Stickles (smeared on with my finger) on the torn edges of the paper around the photo.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Anonymous Calls

Have been getting calls from "private number" on my phone recently. 2-3 times a day and the person does not answer when I pick up.

So irritating!

So now, when I see "private number", I will just kup the phone. Hmph.

Those with private home number, call me using your HP instead..

My Mouse Let Out a Roar 2

I told you that picture reminded me of Sophie!

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

My Phone is Dying

Ironically it is the newer phone, the N6500S, that is giving me problems.. my hardy years-old N6230 is still going strong despite of having to be tied together with a rubber band to keep the battery connection in place.

I dropped the 6500 yesterday.. not a very big or violent drop, but since then it has been acting up weirdly. Last night, a round patch on the right side of my screen start appearing pixelated. Now, the pixelated portion has extended to black lines that run horizontally across about 1/4 of the screen. Can still read messages though cos the lines are spaced pretty far apart.

Hopefully it doesn't get any worse and maybe miraculously spontaneously resolve.. HAHA.. else it mean I have to go and waste time to queue at Nokia service center again.. Urgh. Took me 3 hours to queue to submit the phone AND another 3 hours to queue to collect my previous phone last time!

Monday, February 02, 2009

020: Epicure

Belated post with pictures taken on my birthday celebration last year.

Perhaps it had to do with the recent "spring-cleaning" of my papers to bring to Laine's for paper exchange.. basically they'll take 20 pieces of any old papers and exchange it for a $10 voucher - the 20 pieces of old papers are for workshops for charity. While looking through the papers buried in my Cropper Hopper (loves!) I found a Teresa Collins piece from the Bon Appetit range.. that got me started.

There is a small 4 x 6 mini-album on the page to showcase all the photos of the food. Its an accordion album and I got the idea from Scarlet Lime's project kit page for August. Yes, so outdated! I know!

Mini album cover:
It says dinnertime! Heh. I had not enough letter "N" left for this font set, so had to be creative (and "kiam siap" at the same time) - I cut out the outline of the letter N and stick it onto white cardstock. =P
The place we had dinner was Hangout Hotel at Mt Emily.

Page 1:
Wild Rocket, the restaurant's name, and the starter we shared (roast pumpkin wild rocket salad with feta cheese).

Page 2:
The main courses (duck confit for G and ribeye for me), plus what was left after we mopped up the food. Accessories to murder: the fork, knife and spoon haha.

Page 3 (the flipside page of the accordion album):
How could any meal I eat possibly NOT include dessert? Especially, chocolate dessert. =P
Kueh buloh tiramisu with espresso ice cream for G and my warm chocolate cake.
The last pic is actually kind of "out" cos it was the birthday cake-cookie from my parents, not eaten in the same sitting with the rest, but hey its the only thing that said Happy Birthday Ming!

Credits:
Cardstocks: White and orange
Paper: Utensils from Bon Appetit range by Teresa Collins, Secret Garden from Pocket full of Rosies by Sassafrass Lass, journalling frames from Bam Pop! (forgot which range)
Alphas: AC Thickers Sprinkles and Remarks Sarah Script, Doodlebug Hopscotch, Making Memories tiny letters
Embellishments: 7Gyspies gaffer tape and Unique 97% complete stickers, Hambly Screen Prints Frame Wallpaper overlays, AC Thickers Vera Accents and Subway Accents, lots of stuff from Dorcas' RAK (ribbon, brads, assorted flowers, buttons and arrows), Scenic Route Ashville labels cardstock stickers, Heidi Swapp ghost clock, paper clips from I forgot where.

Sidetrack: I am super in love with PhotoScape - the new photo editing software I've recently tried. Its good, fast, easy to use and best of all FREE! Search it at download.com.