ink, glue, happiness.

2012-01-29T21:34:00.001+08:00

A story in pictures..

Raw materials - cut up bits of scrap paper

Sakura wall stickers, $4.90 from AMK

Happy sticky time for the little ladies

After some acrobatics the 8 pieces of paper are on the wall.

新年快乐，迎春接福！

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HK 2011 26-30 Dec: in prose

2012-01-01T00:59:00.007+08:00

I love travelling with this bunch of friends - Himbo Khai, Atas Heng Bro and my Taling Taling Jiawen =)

Season 2 of our overseas sojourns: HK from 26 Dec - 30 Dec 2011. Gorgeous cool weather and no rain made for a great time.
(and in this season, all of us have iPhones and there was a lot of camwhoring!)

Day 1: Lai Chi Kok, Ladies Market
Lai Chi Kok - Hong Kong Industrial City on Castle Peak Road - many ladies fashion shops over 3 blocks. Clothes and shoes from about HKD40 and up.
Ladies Market - crowded, colourful and bargain-to-the-max central. Bought my "cheong" Cath Kidston luggage bag, hooray.
Eats: Australian Dairy Company at Jordan and a veg restaurant in Tung Choi Street (I forgot the name =X)

Day 2: The Peak, Central, Temple Street Night Market
Crossed Victoria Harbour in the Star Ferry and headed for the Peak after a 1 hour queue for the Peak Tram. Did the Circle walk and enjoyed the awesome views.
Central - Li Yuen St with super cheapo vintage shops (HKD5 and up) and more street market merchandise. Also Pedder Building for Shanghai Tang and IFC for Nespresso (these are obviously not bought by me lol).
Temple Street: Vintage stuff from the era of Chairman Mao. Evocative max.
Eats: Breakfast at Tak Yue Restaurant, Yau Ma Tei; lunch at Tsui Hang, Central, and dinner at Four Seasons Claypot Rice, Jordan.

Day 3: Stanley, Causeway Bay
Bus 6 to Stanley - most picturesque and breathtaking bus ride ever. Walked around Stanley Market, got accosted by the antique-selling uncle and enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere.
Causeway Bay: Discovery of Sasa (boohoo why are cosmetics and toiletries in Singapore so expensive!!) and G.O.D. (the best home furnishing shop ever).
Eats: Breakfast at random restaurant along Nathan Road, lunch at Curry Tiffin, Stanley, and dinner at random restaurant, Causeway Bay.

Day 4: Tsim Sha Tsui, Tung Chung
TST: Granville Road (Lung Shing dispensary - where we realised that the stuff we bought in Sasa could be had for EVEN CHEAPER, more cheapo clothes shops), Cameron Road.
Tung Chung: Citygate outlets with brand name outlet stalls. Surprising myself,I bought a Mango belt and a Giordano puffy jacket.
Eats: Breakfast at random restaurant in TST and dinner on board the Jetstar plane (BLAH)

Pictures in the next post after I finish editing them =X

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T06:58:00.001+08:00

Mainly Bo Bunny's Blitzen collection (Irene's request) and very un-traditional Christmas colors.

Had fun with the Kaisercraft frame: stuck on some netting & buttons and tied on some twine - then the whole assemblage was painted blue, sprayed with various colors of Tattered Angels glimmer mists, glimmer glam, painted Tim Holtz Tarnished Brass and Rock Candy crackle paint, and Studio Calico Calico Cream (one of my fave colors). Whee!! The word "cherish" was also similarly treated but with a red base paint instead.

There's a Christmas "tree" to the left of the frame made of Maya Road canvas banners and strips of Bo Bunny papers. The ornaments are Maya Road crystals altered with rub ons from Hambly's and a tinge of distress ink. The 2 girls' pictures on the right are supposed to look like ornaments, but the effect is not obvious at all.

Oh the Dusty Attic railing!! That was a lot fun too.. Squeezing Beacon's glue all over and heating with a heat gun makes it bubble up and go all frothy, it looks just like frost!!

More Bo Bunny Blitzen and a tad of Echo Park Times & Seasons - which actually does have a rather Christmas-Sy colour scheme. I found some mini tinsel ribbon and thought it would look extraordinarily cute on the Christmas tree and sign.

And the last Christmas layout - using a mishmash of whatever is on my table - which is a real fun and quick way to scrap! Paper from American Crafts, Bo Bunny, and chipboard embellishments from Crate Paper and Prima. I love the K & Co embossed label tape-like phrase stickers! Truth be told, I have a label writer but this is so much easier (not to mention I don't have to keep thinking about my spelling lol).

In the real world, Gary had a scare just before Christmas. He fell off the stage during a set change at rehearsal. Landed on his back and leg and was admitted to MEH for X-rays and an MRI. Fortunately, no fractures and doc decided no need for MRI. Needless to say he was not able to participate in the production after all and is now home recuperating from a very sore mass of bruises. Sigh.

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First Born / Zoe Gal

2011-12-25T16:18:00.001+08:00

Fast scrapping during the holidays - just a little distressing and element arrangement.

Two layouts done on papers from DCWV French Garden stack in the same day. One for Sophie (when she was 3 months old) and one for Zoe (when she was 18 months old). Have to consciously remind myself to be fair to both girls and scrap their photos in turn!

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Christmas presents

2011-12-25T16:13:00.001+08:00

Frames from Ikea - already the perfect red
Green backing paper and cut outs from G45 and Pink Paislee, garnished with a little Prima and

assorted beads.

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A Pau and Some Photo Apps

2011-12-21T13:23:00.001+08:00

Which effect's the best on Miss Pau?

Snapseed-ed:

Camera +'ed:

Phototoaster-ed:

No matter what, she is absolutely such a cute puff!

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June scraps

2011-07-05T19:21:00.009+08:00

I brought papers, embellies and adhesives with me to Glasgow, assuming that because shops close early, I'd have time to get some scrapping in. Brought along a hodgepodge of items I found on my table to scrap - mostly Glitz Designs Scarlett, Basic Grey June Bug and My Minds Eye Lost & Found embellishments. Three very different lines but I thought they came together quite well!

Here's the results:

1. I wanna hold your hand
The pic shows me holding Sophie's hand. Its something I do every day, sometimes with a touch of irritation.. ("Aiyoh! So big already still want mummy to hold your hand!") Eventually the day will come when she grows up and no longer wants to hold my hand.. I think I will miss her little hand in mine then!

2. Thankful to be me because of you
Background is Basic Grey lace doily overlaid onto Hambly's Woodgrain screenprints. Interesting effect although it doesn't show up as well as I would have liked.

3. iPad Puzzle Girls
Their favourite activity - even early in the mornings: "Mummy I want (to) play games on your iPad!"

June Sojourns

2011-07-05T19:07:00.006+08:00

June = my favourite month so far!

Glasgow = meeting old friends, Primark, yumms food, gorgeous scenery, sunshine at 9pm, time to scrap (yes! I brought scrap materials along!)

Bangkok = shop from morning to night, eat, shop some more, manicure, continue shopping.. No photos at all, hands were too full with shopping bags!

July = Back to the daily grind.. Darn

Scraplicious May Projects: Pink Paislee & Graphic 45

2011-06-02T09:47:00.007+08:00

Layout 1: Looking up!

This is a ridiculously old photo - from Sophie's FIRST birthday yikes! I've scrapped it before with a very different feel:

Which one do you prefer? Heh..

The more recent version was done with Pink Paislee Queen Bee base paper (I used the reverse side), with interest added by using a punched-out strip of paper as a mask to create the pink edges. I used Victorian Velvet and Worn Lipstick distress inks for the effect and I must say it is really nice looking! Inside the masked layer, more interest was added with the Unity border stamp (Be Still series). The mask didn't go to waste k, it is next to the Butterfly Garden cutout (of course, the reverse side lah).

Paper cutouts from Pink Paislee Sweetness & Butterfly Garden papers, and a faked "doily" behind one of the roses. That was done with the same Martha Stewart border punch on Core'dinations cardstock, followed by folding the cardstock into a ruffled circle.

Here's the punch:
Martha Stewart punches rock the world!!

Layout 2: 19 months old
It is SO EASY to tell that I have not been sending pictures to print.. oops.. because I'm just using ultra-old pictures that I haven't scrapped before / scrapped already but want to scrap again!

This is the previous version using the same series of pictures:

and the current one using Pink Paislee's Daily Junque:
I love this range to the max for the many tiny little thingies to cut out and layer! *scream* I especially love the effect from the split-tailed flags from the Pink Paislee papers. And the little birdie in the corner with the "A little birdie told me.." quote.

This was a complete mishmash of barangs from all over.. Spot Making Memories (8x8 blue collage paper), Prima (birdcage & flowers), Crate Paper (date and flower chipboards), Hambly's (frame and 2 blue bicycle), 7Gypsies (naked paper tape that's now living behind the flower), Tim Holtz (Sketchbook tissue tape), K&Company (You're my No 1 chipboard). Heng it still turns out quite nice!

TFL and I'll post up picture of the altered project when I am done.. gahh!!

April 2011: Scraplicious projects

2011-05-31T14:46:00.001+08:00

It's the start of the June Holstein, whew, finally have time to breathe.. And post up the long overdue posts for my Scraplicious projects!

For April, I did 2 cards, 1 tag & 2 layouts..

The tag, using 7gypsies Life is Good tag and random leftovers from Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Pink Paislee and Hamblys'.

Layout 1 for April, aka texture-to-the-max layout!
I used Tim Holtz flourish mask with distress ink to create the background design on kraft cardstock. To create the title, I used Heidi Swapp letters as a mask on Hambly's peacock feathers transparencies, and used black acrylic & distress paint as well as micro-beads on top of the mask to create the texture. This was layered on top of another transparency and alcohol ink was applied in between the 2 transparencies to create the swirly silver & blue look. Some flowers were handmade using torn strips of 7gypsies paper as well as paper tape; the rest from Prima & Maya Road.

Close ups:

April layout 2, aka death by flowers layout!!

The "wreath" of flowers was cut from a single piece of Prima paper and backed with 3 different layers of lace (green, gray & blue). The interior of the wreath used 7gypsies Camden paper, with Pink Paislee stamps used to add texture. The hidden photo is behind the Life is Good panel, which was also stamped and distressed. Martha Stewart doily lace punch was used on the photo mat.
And then the death by flowers.. The rest of the layout is covered in them!!

Close ups:

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They are too sweet..

2011-05-22T12:10:00.001+08:00

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And the NSD giveaway reveal is

2011-05-06T20:26:00.001+08:00

This!!

My oh my.. Can I say I am absolutely drooling over the giveaways myself!! LOL!!

Each giveaway is worth at least $90 and they are soooo easy to win!

1. Visit Scraplicious Facebook fan page here and ‘Like’ us (for our existing FB fans, go to point #2)

2. Next, share the giveaway image (posted in our FB fan page already!) on your Facebook wall

3. Then, go to Scraplicious blog and post your comments in the post saying that you’ve shared the giveaway image on your wall (please provide us your FB profile name when you post your comments)

Just do the 3 steps by the Sunday, 8th May, 3:00pm Singapore time and the 2 winners will be posted on the same night.

Note: This giveaway is only opened to Singapore residents. Winners are required to collect the prize at Scraplicious store.

I spy Pink Paislee's Daily Junque- a range which I totally adore! It's festive and a feast for the eyes. And the metal signs from momemtos.. Wow.. I am in love with any metal hardware

And on top of that, there is a fun make-and-take, increased discounts for everyone, and great grab bag deals..

Normal grab bag at $35 with $60 retail value:

And for the diehard scrap staffers like me.. The mega grab bag at $60 for at least $100 value:

I spied Maya Road, Graphic 45, Prima and Tattered Angels stuffed into the bags!! Wah!! With discounts of up to 40% off the retail price of the items in the grab bag.. Its such a good deal lah.. Whoohoo!!

See you tomorrow at Scraplicious!

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可惜今天没办法跟你庆祝生日

2011-05-06T00:23:00.000+08:00

6/5/43 was your birthday.. its the 2nd year the date of 6th May has passed without you around.

You used to be so proud that Sophie and Zoe were also born on the 6th of the respective month also.. so you would share part of your birthdays.

But no longer..

We took this photo on your birthday in 2009, never knowing it would be the last with us..

Dear Dad, have a good 68th birthday in heaven.

It's NSD this Sat!!

2011-05-04T16:27:00.001+08:00

National scrapbooking day this year falls on 7th May, same as polling day. I'm defly more excited for scrapbooking day.. LOL.. no worthy oppo in my ulu home ward of Hong Kah North leh =p

Scraplicious has got lots of great discounts goin on for NSD.. check out the blog to find out! Whee!

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Scraplicious blog is up!!

2011-05-01T00:01:00.001+08:00

Have you seen it yet??

Scraplicious blog is up and running!!

And, it sounds so shallow of me, but it's such a kick to see my name and my humble works up there.. OMG!!

Go have a look and you will be wowed!!

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Location:Jalan Lanjut,Singapore,Singapore

Difficult child?

2011-04-30T23:17:00.001+08:00

Came across this book at a book fair.. 10 characteristics of a difficult child & Sophie has quite a few of them.

1. Super stubborn - she can insist on her way over the most trivial things & not give in even when punished. She can go on for hours literally.

2. Over sensitive - she is very sensitive to loud sounds, temperature, random things can trigger off huge tantrums.

3. Extreme shyness - anyone who has seen me with her outside can testify to this one.. She will not acknowledge you at all throughout the outing even I'd she had seen you every week of her life.

4. Very intense - she is really super intense when it comes to wanting to get her way. Or when she wants to get her point across.

Sigh.. Though she has gotten easier to handle with age, I really wonder when the "difficult" times will pass..

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Scraplicious March Project: Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Canvas Album

2011-04-27T16:02:00.008+08:00

One Maya Road canvas album +

Two Maya Road window envelopes +

Four different colours of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists +

Eight different colours of Tim Holtz Distress Inks +

Countless embellishments (mainly Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe but also from all over the place)

March DT project for altered art.

Yums!!

P.S. MAYA ROAD!! Scraplicious and 40% off!! Whee!

Excuse me, how do you get to.. Maya Road?

2011-04-24T16:27:00.002+08:00

I'm such a 路痴 but the one road I surely know how to get to is Maya Road!! Chipboard, acrylic, stamp and embellishment maker extraordinaire.. Maya Road is a must have for any one who is into altered art. Their designs are so usable and so versatile.

And now. Scraplicious is having a 40% off 3 or more Maya Road items!! *scream*

I see more altered items in my near future... Hohoho..

Do head down to Scraplicious and check out the items!

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Scraplicious DT!

2011-04-15T06:00:00.002+08:00

I don't think I've quite said it yet, but I'm on the Design Team for Scraplicious, a gorgeous store at Parkway Parade. The store is owned by 2 lovely ladies, Cheryl and Jessie, and in the short time I've been working with them I *heart* them so much! Jessie is ever so sweet and accomodating, and Cheryl is exactly my full-of-nonsense kind of kaki. Haha!

Go have a look at their store website and blog! They also have a Facebook page that showcases the new products and fantastic classes *drool.. how I wish I have time to attend..

Now to figure out how to put up the Scraplicious banner in my sidebar..

Scraplicious March Projects: Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Layouts

2011-04-03T23:27:00.000+08:00

Can I say.. I love Crate Paper?
*swoon over the Emma's Shoppe range*

OK lah.. partial swoon over the Portrait range and Toy Box range also =P

Layouts with Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe:

1. Words With Friends
This picture is of my 2 daughters playing together in their playhouse. I imagine they are having a nice conversation.. you can see that they understand each other so well and love each other to bits!

The base was Pink Paislee Fascinating diecut paper, topped by white cardstock misted in green, blue and brown. The misting was done with the "negative" of Studio Calico's wooden alphabets (what's left after punching out the alhpabets) and gives quite a cool look!
The lace doily is a cake doily with the center cut out, and inked with Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye & Walnut Stain distress inks for the uneven effect. The woodgrain paper is the backing for Studio Calico's wooden alphabets (getting the max mileage for my scrapping dollar hahaha) and overlaud with Hambly's Screenprints Embroidery in teal for the eye-popping colour.

The photo mat was using Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe (new line in at Scraplicious! Woo!) Playhouse paper and I love the crosswords design on it. The words on each side of the photo describe their personalities - Zoe is exuberant, bold and feisty, whereas Sophie is sweet, eloquent and quick.

The "sun rays" were done using cut out strips from Emma's Shoppe and Toy Box collections, both by Crate Paper. To continue with the "words" theme, I cut up one of the Accent Cuts cards (it was like a cloze passage kind) and those form the sentences in between the "sun rays".

The text is using Rainboots puffy alphas from American Crafts thickers. To make it stand out more against the background, the words were outlined with Dimensional Pearls in Mushroom & Expresso.

The photo was held in place with a clear photo holder from Prima's Canvas album - I did an ROM album for my friend but had 2 of the clear photo holders left over. Rather than let it go to waste I used it here instead. Like the effect generated by the brown twine through the metal rings.

Embellishing around the photo with a mix of Prima flowers & vintage trinkets, Jenni Bowlin buttons, more cut outs from Emma's Shoppe Accent Cuts, bakers' twine, flower made from Tim Holtz tissue tape (below the red button) and Basic Grey ribbon doilies from the Curio range.

2. Playing House
Same photo series and same paper series as the Words With Friends layout - although I love these 2 photos a lot, I did struggle with getting them into layouts because of the *uber bright* primary colours of the playhouse. Finally found a good match to them with the colours of Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe collection (plus a wee bit of Toy Box).

For this layout, I was inspired by the book titles on Books paper (of course!) and really wanted to showcase the titles as well as the feeling of items being stacked in horizontal rows. On the other hand, I also fell in love with the Inventory paper (I am such a sucker for any text-based papers!). So being the usual greedy old me, decided to squeeze both into 1 layout *haha.

The Inventory paper was stitched with the help of WRMK's Sew Easy tool. It makes very deep holes on the Sew Easy piercing mat (I tried with and without - SUPER BIG DIFFERENCE) making it much easier to sew on the paper. The "ruffles" above and below the paper were created with cut out strips mainly from the Books paper - I used both the front and back sides. Border punches used were from Martha Stewart (loves!) and EK Success. The edges were inked with various brown distress inks to give dimension. I also kept the punch "negatives" - can you spot them on the "window frame"?

To add more texture, I used various random ribbons (mostly leftover scraps on my table) and more of the ribbon doilies from Basic Grey's Curio range.
The flower in the bottom left corner was done with translucent text print wrapper (you can find at Daiso), backed with a small cake doily and topped with grey ribbon ruffles behind a cutout from one of the book titles.

To reinforce the impression that the 2 girls were looking out the window of their playhouse, the photo was cut to 4x4 size and matted using the super old Maya Road Tapestry chipboard (the brown grid behind the photo). The gingham ribbon and Basic Grey ribbon doily are supposed to look like curtains framing the window.

Embellishments with more chipboard from Emma's Shoppe, the packaging of Prima's flowers which was cut out for the lace doilies, a wooden ruler (Yes! Real one!)and Hambly's Couture screenprints, as well as random assorted paper strips on the table.

Juan's Wedding: Rampant Artistry III (or How One Thing Led To Another)

2011-04-01T23:03:00.000+08:00

OK last one I am done after this I promise!!

An angpow box that started as a simple papier mache suitcase
morphed into a paper-covered one.. both inside and out..

(the suitcase was too hard to cut through and so the original idea of cake-like stacks of boxes was abandoned) ..and because I needed the suitcase to stay open, I had to use a stand..

but the stand looked rather silly on its own, so I got TWO stands..

anyway with two stands I could 顺便 hang the couples' names

and a lantern with more pics..

to finish up the whole setup.

Hehe. Hope you enjoyed!
Suitcase from Spotlight, lamp and lampstands from NTUC, car from random flower shop and other materials from SEI, Prima and Graphic 45.

Juan's Wedding: Rampant Artistry II

2011-03-31T19:00:00.000+08:00

2. An ROM Album

altered from Prima's Canvas album.

Juan's Wedding: Rampant Artistry

2011-03-22T16:56:00.008+08:00

1. A guestbook.

With interior pages that I intended to be pull-outs, but got lazy and ended up with only two pull-outs in the entire book.
Altered from Fancy Pants Storybook, with SEI Jolie Chocolat and Making Memories Vintage Valentine(?) papers, lots and lots of Tim Holtz tissue tape / washi tape / 7G naked tape / 7G gaffer tape. Had to as flat as possible to actually be able to lay flat for people to sign.

Personal Scraps 2011 Jan-Mar

2011-03-22T15:41:00.006+08:00

Gasp, only TWO layouts for 2011 so far, both done during the long CNY break. Goodness, I haven't had time to do any other personal layout since then.. and before then.. =X

This was done for Colour Combos Galore Challenge 177. The blue and green tones went well with Zoe's top and seatbelt (and seatbunny too!). Photos from Jan 2010 (yikes max!!)

Was into the roses and foliage look.. lots of different elements combined to give the overall feel. e.g. Websters vellum leaves, G45 Le Romantique cut out paper butterflies, roses and leaves, Urban Junque chipboard roses, Prima fabric flowers as well.

Details:

There was once a time when I would remember every single small thing I've used on the layout and type it out, such days are long gone!! I think if I've to do that now, I'll never blog on my layouts as I'll never manage to finish the materials list!! Oops!

Next one, continuing the foliage theme, using photos from the same day, and also for CCG #178. More series of photos on Zoe as I've always scrapped more on Sophie, felt I should do some for Z.

More foliage goodness from Basic Grey Curio, K & Co dimensional stickers, Prima fabric flowers and papers, again, can't remember where else the foliage is from. I thought the little bugs that came along with K & Co dimensional stickers were too cute, can you spot them all over the page LOL.

Details:

Three months

2011-03-22T15:34:00.002+08:00

since I last posted, one term of school has gone by in a flash.

Thought that this will be a better year, but not quite so much as I'd hoped.

Still into the wake-up-at-4-am-to-work lifestyle.

Jan: Nothing much.

Feb: CNY celebrations, Dad's anniversary when I had no time to be sad.

Mar: Sophie's birthday, Juan's wedding, first Scraplicious teaching class.

Hope next few months will be better with more time to do more things blogworthy.

Destroyed from shopping forever

2011-01-04T12:49:00.009+08:00

why would anyone shop in SG when you could get denim jackets for S$4 in Chatuchak?? I am SO counting down to the next time I can go to BKK man.

Such an interesting backdrop for the shrine.

Partners in crime: My Taling Jiawen, Heng Bros boss and khaikhai. Love this bunch of kakis, all positive, upbeat, on the right lame frequency and with great shopping stamina. The two guys are also suitably vain and metro enough to be good shopping company even for girly things.

We hit BKK on Thursday and spent the afternoon in Central World, followed by Patpong and Khao San. Patpong is such a chiongsters heaven, but you must be able to bargain like siao. Probably double or triple the price in other areas. Khao San was a nice place to walk in - very pasar malam vibe and not too expensive. Lots of interesting street food too.

Banana uncle and banana apprentice~

On Friday, we spent the day at Siam Paragon, Siam Central and then Siam Square. Roughly Ion / Taka, Heeren and Far East Plaza, in that order. I love the shops on Level 3 of Siam Central! Lots of one-off designer items (but still mostly too ex for the market aunty residing in my head). I also discovered Boots and No. 7, courtesy of our ever-

I've also realised that the shop names in BKK are, erm, interesting to say the least. We saw "What For?" followed by "Because I like it", "its happened to be a closet", and plenty of dates in shop names. The shop decorations are also really unique and I find it so refreshing to see different outlets differently decorated. its' happened to be a closet in particular works on a very eclectic concept with sofas, pianos, and even a nail spa as part of the shop display. And Playhound's display in Siam Paragon used different types of tapes (masking tape, scotch tape, packing tape, duct tape etc) to create a diagram on the shop wall. So creative!!

Nov & Dec 2010 have passed at light speed

2010-12-22T16:06:00.025+08:00

and the holidays are almost over. OMG!

Definitely the holidays have been better for me as a time to recuperate from the struggles of 2010. Torn between getting sufficient rest and doing all the things I have been missing out on doing in the very busy 2010.

One thing I am happy about is that I managed to get my scrap engine re-started. Partly due to agreeing to design for Scraplicious, I really needed to put in my heart and soul into SB. Luckily for me, I've not totally lost my abilities in creating stuff after the long hiatus.

My designs at Scraplicious:

Tea Tray using acrylic paper trays and Basic Grey Curio collection. There is another version using Graphic 45 Le Romantique but I've stupidly forgot to take photos before submitting.

House of Memories, using Websters' Pages Waiting for Santa / Sweet Season 6x6 paper pack and Crafty Secrets little folding house. I think my photos do not do the piece justice!!!! Always so hard to get good photos of a 3D project.

Random layouts. Detailed cutting on Websters for the 1st 3, got sian and decided to go for simple on the last 2.

More things to complete by the end of holidays: 2011 organizer, Juan's wedding angpow box and ROM album, (hopefully) room hanger for S and Z, finish up class projects.

On the home front, Pau has been getting more and more mischevious and cheeky. She is really testing her boundaries with whining, climbing the grilles, struggling, refusing to sleep argh. She even ran across the expo hall during Robinson's sale, not caring that I was not chasing her!!! OMG!! But she is also getting cuter by the day, cracking us up even when angry with her. She is SUCH a cute puff!!!!

Sophie gets prettier and more 小姐 each day!! She will even pause to POSE for photos when the camera is aimed at her! LOL. We have toilet trained her for day time, a nerve wrecking process especially when bringing her out without diaper.. Need to constantly ask her whether she needs toilet, and scramble to get to toilet when she asks for it eg. on a drive!! She is also getting more mature and able to reason with her. Although she still has tantrums, I feel its easier to calm her and make her listen now. She is also getting more daring in play (eg. climbing up the "networks" in playground).

Lastly, I got myself dyed hair and a new haircut. Fringe for the first time in ages! Needs getting used to again. Also bought iPhone 4, finally, after a super long saga over 3-4 days. =)

long overdue scrappiness

2010-11-07T00:44:00.010+08:00

scrappiness = happiness

long overdue.

accumulated may-nov 2010.
and yes, that's all i did in 6 months.

Frustrations

2010-10-27T22:37:00.004+08:00

Seems like every time I've blogged this year, its only to complain and vent frustrations. Nothing else could possibly give me the motivation to, since I've hardly any time to eat / breathe / sleep - only a state of high "pek chek" ness would make me re open this fusty dashboard to rant.

Everybody wants a piece of me bigger than I have to give, can't you see I am already at the end of my rope.

Students skip pre arranged lessons, sms me as late as possible so I can't possibly chase them down, so that they can see me one to one, HELLO, I have 30 remedial students leh, HOW CAN I POSSIBLY SEE YOU ALL INDIVIDUALLY?? Might as well say, we should not have tutorial lessons, or worse still lecture sessions, every one of your teachers should just see you and you alone for lesson!! How about that for a good time??? Isn't that the point of typing out a schedule for you beforehand (you think schedules fall from heaven?! They take my PLANNING and TIME) so that YOU can plan YOUR TIME and I can address the common issues together!! It makes it really hard for me to believe each of your reasons each time the SAME PEOPLE cook up a different excuse not to be around for every session. Whatever.

Maybe I should just give up and let go, heck care about making up for those who are not around for lessons. Unfortunately, I am too bothered, not confident enough that these students can score well in the end. I mean, come on, will I ask you to see me if I am certain you are able to score?? YOUR A levels, not mine, come on!! Maybe I should start treating you like you treat me, as a last minute afterthought. "Not here for remedial? OK lor. Never do homework? OK lor. Don't do well for exams? OK lor, what did you want me to do about it??"

And stop whining to me about how busy you are, I shouldn't ask you to do X, Y, Z.. Come on, you think I am more free?? I HATE it when people whine. To shut you up, I'd rather just take the work on myself. Save myself the time of getting whined to, and then subsequently complained about. Whatever. I HATE cleaning up peoples' messes when they can just 拍拍屁股走了。 Be responsible for yourself, CAN?? You have commitments, don't I too?? You have other things to do, I have AT LEAST DOUBLE THAT AMOUNT, you know? Yet you expect me to pick up the pieces and you stand on the sidelines and don't get your hands dirty at all. Worst of all, I KNOW that I will never be sided with, I will be found to be in the wrong no matter how anything turns out. Others do not do their work properly, it must be because I did not instruct / guide them. Others do and its substandard, well, it must be up to me to pick up the pieces, guess what, they get the credit for doing it along with me. Others do and its up to standard, of course, its nothing to do with me. I do and its up to standard I thought is enough, sorry, no, my standard is sucky in your eyes. Must do another higher standard even though, wow, I am JUST told that this is what is required. I need to do more than anyone else, stay longer than anyone else, anyone can be excused but me.

If I'm sick, I pop a Panadol (my new best friend) and work anyway. Can't afford not to, too many remedials / consults / admin / meetings / discussions, if I'm away for 1 day, it takes me 4 days to make up that 1 day of work undone. If I ask others to help me settle things, I am irresponsible, but its perfectly fine for others to do the same to me. Students take up all my time from 7.30am (sometimes 6.30am) till sometimes 8pm, admin and whatever other work comes AFTER that, and sometimes after tuition, what kind of life is this?? My workday in school starts at 6.30am, my workday #2 as a mummy starts whatever time I get home till whatever time the kids sleep, my workday #3 doing admin starts at whatever time the girls sleep till whatever time I need to clear enough work that I am not suffocated the next day. Usually 1am, sometimes later. Sometimes the entire night long. Finish work?? That is not possible. I'm just delaying my own inevitable drowning.

So goes a typical day:
0545: Out of bed.
0630: Reach school.
0630-0730: Sometimes start seeing students. Sometimes an hour of relative peace and quiet (if no one notices I'm around and comes around with questions or stuff for me to settle) to start on Things That Must Be Done Today.
0730-1900: Consultations, remedials, meetings, discussions. Eating time and toilet time optional.
1900-2030: Wrap up whatever Things That Must Be Done Today need doing.
2030-2100: Drive home
2100-2200: Entertain kids till they sleep
2200-xxxx: Finish off Things That Must Be Done Today and start on or continue Things That Must Be Done Tomorrow.

Repeat everyday from Monday to Friday. On weekends, extend 0630-0730 slot to whatever time needed to complete Things That Certainly Must Be Done By This Weekend. Replace next timeslot with Entertain Kids, extend timeslot to 2200. Continue after 2200 with Things That Must Be Done By Monday And Didn't I Already Tell You You Should Have Started Earlier.

One day I took a one hour spin through ION

2010-09-04T22:18:00.007+08:00

Chad clog in Tan, Rubi Shoes

Bomber jacket a la Stradivarius and Bershka

Bag(sssssssssss), Accessorize

Stole from Uniqlo (I mean, I want a scarf [also known as a stole].. NOT I steal from them)

Creamy Concealer kit in Honey and Touch Up Stick in Warm Natural, and Denim Rose palette, all Bobbi Brown

Lust of the eyes man.

In the end, I bought..

Shu Uemura: Stage Performer Instant Glow and Signs Off

for my mum's birthday.

Efficient shopper I am.. to look through so many stores at one go!!

Life nowadays

2010-08-29T08:15:00.003+08:00

seriously sucks.

Working 12-15 hours on weekday at least, rushing back to spend time with kids before they sleep (if I can even make it back home by then), working AGAIN after that.

Weekends continue working on whatever time is not filled up by having to look after kids.

All those things I have to do other than these 2 (spending time with my mum, even cg and prayer meetings), I am so tempted to NOT do because I am just so tired. My body is there, but my mind is not.

Usher - I truly enjoy but I can barely even make it to duty once a month. Sometimes, if suay, even that once a month is gone. Honestly, I feel like stepping down, the only thing stopping me is that if I do quit, I will never get to restart. Selfishly holding on to the last part of my life that resembles the old me.

No such thing as "me" time - shopping, movies, scrapping = forget it. Too low on my priority list. Even if I've free time, it is in few minutes blocks at the wee hours of the morning, how to do anything??

I can't imagine life like this for the next however (n) many years of my working life (omg.. at least another 30 years more to go).
Worst of all is that at least 30% of this stress is completely unnecessary.

Anyway no matter how much I do, I'm too slow / I don't spend enough time / I am not careful / I am not respected / I am not WHATEVER lah. Basically, I am just not good enough. Which majorly pisses me off because I KNOW I am not a slacker and I am dying trying already.

How I wish I can drop everything and spend all my time just doing what I like - unfortunately, I don't have that option. As always in my life, I am too slow to move, someone else has taken on the "can enjoy life" position before me, I've to settle for the "slog my guts out" position instead.

I feel damn selfish to say this but how I wish for time to do my own stuff and enjoy myself. Spend money on relaxing without a care in the world. Not having every minute of my day filled up with responsibility and things I MUST do. With the additional "sword" hanging over my head that I CANNOT lose my job no matter how things go.

I mean seriously.. Do you really think I ENJOY living like this??
Do you understand? Do you appreciate?

Sounds so super mid-life crisis. Sucks.

She does not remember

2010-08-22T16:04:00.003+08:00

S was going through the pile of photos on my table when she came to one with Dad in it, she was able to identify everyone in the picture except Gong Gong.

I asked her if she remembers Gong Gong, she shook her head.

For myself, my earliest memory is probably at the age of about 2 and a half - I'd just been toilet trained, and was running to make it to the toilet. Didn't make it though and sat down and peed right in the corridor of our flat.

Seeing that Dad passed on just before Sophie turned 2, the rational part of me tells me that I shouldn't expect her to remember.

But the emo part can't believe that it has taken her such a short while to forget =(

Submerged + Resurfaced

2010-07-24T23:36:00.003+08:00

Reason for submerging:
Work, work and more work for the past month or so, no time at all to sleep, eat, or breathe most days. Literally every waking moment save for those that coincide with the kids'. Sleep is optional, proper meals even more so. I can't even begin to explain the craziness - except to trench buddies (read: in the same longkang). Ugh.

Reason for resurfacing:
To record down Sophie's too-cute conversation in the car today:

Me: Sophie, is Mummy pretty?
S: Yes, pretty. Your dress is pretty.
S: Papa is not pretty.
Me: Of course Papa is not pretty, he is a man.
S: Not a man, a boy!
Me: A man!!! A man is a grown up boy!
S: No, a boy, he is not an uncle.

June To Do List

2010-06-03T10:05:00.003+08:00

#1: Catch up with friends - I need to touch base with some people I've not met for ages. Being realistic, that would translate to about 1 outing per week with friends.

#2: Revamp my wardrobe - Again, being realistic, I am probably not going to be able to fit into my pre-baby clothes any time in the near future, seeing as the last 5kg of baby fats seem to be be permanently settled all over my body. So I need to buy new clothes to not look so frumpy anymore.. this ties in with aim #3:

#3: Check out the new shopping malls in Orchard! No better time than during the GSS right? Just goes to show how "ulu" I am, on Monday I stepped out from Bugis to the roadside and went "Wah, why so many lights one!" Erm, I was facing Iluma which I never knew was there *shamefaced.
Anyway this fits in really nicely with #1 and #2 *defensive* - I've not been to parts of Orchard for more than 6 months la.

#4: Clear out stuff - clothes cabinet, shoe cabinet, kids cabinets, scrapbooking stuff.

#5: Do some decoration of the kids' room. Maybe get them a new mattress, as there is only 1 mattress in the room at the moment.

#6: Rebond hair. Maybe dye a little.

Trick A' Treat April GDT

2010-05-05T04:59:00.027+08:00

I had the privilege of being invited by Dorcas to be Trick A' Treat GDT for April. Although it may not be my best works ever, but I really appreciated the motivation to immerse myself in something I enjoy. Else, most of the time, I would just spend moping around.. Thanks to Dorcas, I think she thought along that line too.. she believed in my "scrapping power" (LOL) when I did not believe in myself anymore.

The GDT kit items were a mix of Jenni Bowlin, MME, Lily Bee Designs, Basic Grey, as well as Delight Fabric thickers from American Crafts. The colour tones were red, cream, pale green, pale blue and pink.

Aside from these items that came with the GDT kit, I made heavy use of Studio Calico's stamps, border punches, Prima crystals, Hamblys Overlays and three-D roses. Brandless brads and ribbons too (Daiso I love you!) And distress inking, inking, inking all the way.

I made a mini album using Basic Grey chipboard, which was hanging on a stand altered from 2 biscuit containers and a chopstick (*finally had my revenge on the chopstick, it was "single" for a very long time and irritated me no end because I couldn't find its partner!)

I thought for a long time about the theme of the mini album. There wasn't a happy thought in my head over the past few months but I decide to make something commemorating the everyday things I am thankful for. And it did make me feel happier and more grateful about life. =)

All right, done with the sneaks, here are the pics of the album proper.

In the beginning.. Crackle painted, distress inked and stickled the edges. Left them hanging on the towel rack to dry..

Cover page:
Inner pages:

By the time I got to the end of the album, there were not enough space left and I ended up with a list of things squeezed on the back page. Nice. =)

Back cover:

Hanging on the stand:
This is called.. O.T.T (over the top!!!!) Lots of fabric, laces, ribbons, paper strips, 7Gypsies gaffer tape, big and small roses, paper cutouts from Basic Grey Wisteria (loves) and the 3D bird perched on the chopstick.

3 am

2010-05-05T04:08:00.002+08:00

Got up at 3am to do work, and instead spent an hour sitting in front of computer crying.

I still miss you Daddy.

It would have been your birthday tomorrow, I hope you enjoy it in Heaven.

Looking at Beautiful things..

2010-04-27T19:19:00.011+08:00

to cheer myself up..

Leftovers from Trick A Treat GDT kit.. will post that up soon..

Random stuff - I think I was trying to finish up Basic Grey June Bug collection

From Scarlet Lime Sept 2008 ABC & 123 mini kit

Another random, inspired by the Melody Ross Artsy Urban paper

Finally finished off the Scarlet Lime Oct 2008 main kit

Much less scrappiness this year due to all that has happened. Actually many of these were done a long time ago, just I had no mood / time to post up.

so close to the edge

2010-04-25T23:41:00.003+08:00

it has really been (and still is) the worst year of my life.

i have never worked so hard, and so futilely, been torn up in so many directions because nothing can give way, nothing can take a lower priority even with all else that is going on.

here's what's giving way - my ability to take it all.

Whatever it is, it is always my fault lah ok

2010-04-11T08:19:00.003+08:00

.. happy now??

How much more browbeaten, hen-pecked, cornered into submission can I get. Nothing I can say or do is right, even if it is in this instant, it will turn around to be wrong in the next. Best thing is nothing I can say or do about it.

Thicken skin, crack face into smile, move on.

Things that remind me of my Dad

2010-04-06T18:12:00.002+08:00

1. Hwa Chong school song - if there was one thing he loved above all else in life, it was Hwa Chong. Dad would randomly sing the school song at times. Makes me inspired to learn it in his memory. Though I never would have otherwise even though I worked here for 7 years.

2. Seeing old men and women on the street - makes me wonder if he knew them. And makes me feel resentful that they are still here, and he is not. Similarly, seeing the Hwa Chong Board Members - I KNOW they knew my Dad. Even worse.

3. Seeing Dad's photos when I scroll through my picture albums. I still can't bring myself to look at the photos taken during the funeral, though I think someday I will be grateful for them.

4. Hearing "Butterfly Kisses" song. Don't ask me why.. it reminds me of my wedding day when he walked me down the aisle. And no, I didn't play the song at my wedding.

5. Dogs. Especially silky terriers - makes me think of Scampy and Dad having a good time in heaven.

When I am not awake, I do not think.

2010-04-05T03:04:00.003+08:00

I think I haven't really properly grieved for my dad yet.

Oddly enough, its' only now (like recently, in the past week) that I keep on having vivid flashbacks to those awful three days-in-limbo between the death and the cremation, and everything seems to be happening over again, crystal-clearly - whereas previously I couldn't feel a thing if I tried. Emotional self-defense mechanism? Sigh, I just wished it had kind of worked a little longer. Like maybe till the June holidays when I didn't have THIS many things to handle =X

Everyone seems to expect me to already be alright, probably because I SEEMED so alright immediately after. But nope, I am NOT alright. Damn.

Really, its all that occupies my mind now, each time I pause from work, family life, or even from talking. Lapsing into silence drives me instantly back to the awful just-past. And that drives me into a horrid lethargy, a lack of willpower to do ANYTHING and an a randomly tearing mess. So I try to sleep my days (and nights away), since when I am not awake I do not think.

I am not sure if its emotional reasons or physical reasons, but I've also been having headache spells lately that make me feel dizzy and woozy. If I can afford to, I go to sleep - If I cannot afford to, I pop a panadol. I think I've slept more in the past week than I have in any two weeks preceding that.

How I wish I could take time off everything - being a teacher, an SL, a mother, a wife, heck, even a daughter to my mum - so I could unwind and let it all out. Go away for awhile and have a good time to take my mind off depression. But I also fear to, because I don't know how long I will take to come back to myself, or even if I WILL come back to myself. Much as I would like to, I simply CANNOT just throw in the towel - too many people are depending on me. Being too responsible is a curse, really and truly.

Remembering Robert Jordan's quote - Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather.

I am NOT pulled-together, I am just pretending to be.
I am too good at it, however, and so no one knows but me.

No pressure, my foot

2010-03-29T20:48:00.003+08:00

Don't give me such rubbish la, NO PRESSURE, saying everything is for my own good and up to me to decide, if its really up to me, then why keep on repeating and repeating?? Basically, trying to nag me into submission, all the same as it has always been for the 30 years of my life. Somehow, this belief that if you repeat it enough times, I will eventually cave in.

Yeah, ridiculous boh.
Example: a dozen years after I entered uni, my mum still believes she can change my mind to go back to uni and enter medical school (not because I want to, because SHE wants me to) just by nagging at me every time she gets me alone.

Now, its wanting me to move back to her place. Either just me, or the ENTIRE gang- hubby, 2 kids and maid!!! Not to mention all the barang barang that 2 young kids need, OMG.

If its just me, I'll have to run in triangles around the island everyday - bukit timah to yew tee to upper thomson. On top of doing my own work that I am already completely overwhelmed by.
I shudder to think what the case would be if I moved everyone over.

YES, I know that you are lonely.
YES, I know I am the only child - therefore all the relatives expect me to be the one to handle everything. How many times have I been told to "look after my mother, she is not strong, you have to be"??? Uncountable!!!
YES, I know I am "all that you have" and "the only one can be comfortable with".
YES, I know you are still upset and depressed, you know what, if I move back, you will be EVEN more upset and depressed because you will be telling me tales of Dad every minute of the day. Since I am "the only one who can understand" and who CANNOT ask you to change topic to get out of your maudlin mood!

I am worn out of my mind thinking of solutions and relying on the goodwill of others.. I am so frustrated.

Is too s*** stressed that she has weird dreams

2010-03-01T07:38:00.004+08:00

And so I was going on holiday to Iceland with my mother from 4th to 7th June. Deciding between pink striped and purple fur coats, I dithered and forgot to pack my underwear. No worries, we were limousine-chauffeured to the airport and got there in record time. Horror of horrors, discovered that my mum's friend's son was my colleague Yew Han and would be going along with us. Shit, will he ask me to work on my holidays too??? But actually, it was not a bad trip, just that I was pissed my name couldn't fit into the 5-letter long space on the souvenir pictures. Whereupon I promptly woke up and discovered it was 6.45am and dashed off to school.

Credits to Jiawen (calling me to tell me she'd booked a holiday to Europe in June), Yew Han (for calling me about work and for being surnamed Heng - same as Aunty Miriam), my over active imagination and need for a break.

And Iceland is beautiful in my dreams..

PS. Got to school then remembered today we only need to report at 8.45am, damn could have continued seeing more of Iceland in my dream..

Update - I went home to google for photos of Iceland. My dream is super inaccurate lah. =X

Just so damn exhausted

2010-02-28T07:46:00.003+08:00

On the 3rd day of CNY, someone told me I am working 3 jobs.. #1 teacher, #2 giving tuition, and #3 being a mummy. Even then, there was no rest for myself, my only "personal time" is probably 15 mins in the weekday mornings?? The narrow sliver of time between waking up for the day and going out to work.. Weekdays I was full time #1 + #2 and part time #3, weekends full time #3 and trying to sneak in part time #1 when I can manage it.

On the 4th day of CNY, whole world turned upside down when my dad passed away suddenly of a heart attack. Was handling all the arrangements, with some last-minute requests by Mum thrown in, as well as entertaining guests, arranging overseas relatives arrivals / departures, staying up at night to 守夜.. no one else to do all these since I am the only child!!

After all the funeral arrangements, I now realised I have a 4th job.. that of a "child minder" to my all-alone mum who is now my "3rd child".. albeit one with the ability to make irrational decisions. I've to micro manage my mum's schedule, making sure she is not left alone, making sure she eats and sleeps, trying not to let her drive around herself - her driving is DAMN SCARY now that she is so distracted and depressed - spending as much time with her as possible.. which means running back and forth from Yew Tee to Upper Thomson to Bukit Timah since my mum does not want to move out of my parents place.

And please add, on top of that, I have *so many* things to catch up on work as I was away for those days, which happen to be just after CNY hols.. meaning that I have not seen some of my students for 2 weeks already!! Argh!!

How to survive!!

Meimei says HUAT AH!

2010-02-15T08:48:00.002+08:00

Birthday Birthday

2010-02-11T15:28:00.003+08:00

Sophie's birthday is coming soon and she is mega excited over it. The girl keeps talking about it!! Haha!

What we're going to do differently from her 1st birthday party:

1. Self catering!! Being abit ambitious here.. we will get the respective grandmas to cook some food and make finger foods for the little kids to eat.
2. TWO playrooms! One for the small kids (12 months and below, in Zoe's room) and one for the bigger kids in Sophie's room. With different toys and activities.
3. Themed party! ZOO is the theme and I've gotten animals decor, animals door gifts, animal themed activities.
4. Big cake rather than cupcakes. Little Miss has been going on about her birthday cake too and I thought it would a nice idea for her to cut the cake herself.
5. Trim the guestlist to (mostly) parents with kiddies. I realised that adults without kids tend to get kind of bored at kiddie parties, which is why I've seldom attended a kiddie party when I didn't have kids!

What we're going to do the same:
1. Balloons! Miss Mouse's love.
2. Brazenly post up a wishlist for presents!

Little Miss has a great liking for:
1. Things to draw on (think washable markers, colouring books, Magna Doodle)
2. Stickers (which Mummy hopes to combine with educational materials - think books)
3. Pretend play (cooking , cleaning, being inside her house)
4. Toy cars (the big one in the nursery which we put her into) - I think the liking will also translate to tricycles and / or bicycles

Mummy wants:
1. NO NOISY TOYS (ahem ahem)
2. Toys that require input from the child (eg. Lego - those are basic building blocks and the child has to exert creativity to put them all together - and it can be used to build up so many things)
3. Casual clothes for the next 1 year
4. The ever fail safe VOUCHERS - NTUC is excellent, Capitalland is good, Kiddy Palace is good too.

The Smell of Kerosene

2010-02-08T09:44:00.003+08:00

Smelling the kerosene brought back memories of my days in Guides, in VnR, the Orientation campfires I'd managed as a Students' Council teacher. Its a smell you only get to smell at campfires, which are always the highlight of any camp and the culmination of weeks of preparation. Everyone's spirits are high, there's singing and dancing and lots of fun.

On Friday, as thousands were waiting for the fire-lighting, delighted that the rain had finally stopped, I walked away from the Central Plaza to the lingering smell of kerosene.

Driving as fast as I could in Big Eddie, ended up missing Sophie's bedtime but was in time before Zoe slept. And for that few minutes, walking away from what I used to love was worth it.

Oh, but how I miss it.

So, where have I been for Jan?

2010-01-27T18:53:00.002+08:00

What a way to start the new year with G aggravating an old injury at a soccer game on Sunday before school opened (10/1). The diagnosis changed each time the Doc came up to see us, as further investigations revealed more and more issues. The op to repair the damage was done on Tuesday 12/1, and the final summary after Doc opened his knee up:

Snapped anterior cruciate ligament – this was the repair he had performed in 2001, using a hamstring tendon. Now, need to re-repair with a cadaveric tendon.
Torn medial meniscus
Crushed and bruised lateral meniscus
Sprained 2 other ligaments whose names I forgot
Osteochondrial lesion seen on MRI that turned out to be a hairline fracture

Apparently this repair is a very painful procedure and G had to be on IV painkillers and a cryo-cuff in the hospital, where he stayed for 6 days. He has to use crutches, wear a brace, and attend physiotherapy sessions to help exercise the area. No photography (squatting, running around is a no-no), no carrying kids, no sports, NO SOCCER roar!!

Adding fuel to the fire, Sophie's CC had a chicken pox outbreak. There was 1 case at the start of the year, but the virus only really spread on the week that G was in hospital. As we had not yet given her the 2nd dose of chicken pox vaccine, we took her out of school and separated her from Zoe in case she had been infected. MIL being very tired from looking after all day long, I had to take over the care once I got home = no work done! To top if off, Sophie does not sleep well at night and I get maybe only 4-5 hours of broken sleep. How to function??

And just as G came home, there was the ISYF in school. Being the "social escort" to the distinguished guests, I was barely at my desk all week as we had to fetch, send, escort, pour coffee.. the list goes on!! Work piled up.. it is currently 6 inches high stack of marking that I NEED TO CLEAR ARGH, not counting the bag full I brought home but yet to finish =(

Save my life................. no wonder I have not posted for all of Jan.

Pau-Pau!

2010-01-24T06:00:00.000+08:00

* a picture that always makes me smile

November and December scraps

2010-01-05T15:44:00.000+08:00

I'm too lazy to write down the materials.. just enjoy the pics and let me know if you REALLY want to know what I did! Should be self-evident anyway, I'm not a technique-heavy scrapper, just product-intensive =P

Pink Sketches 50: The Simple Good Life

Pink Sketches 52: Flyaway
There is a small flip book mini album that I inserted in the ATC slipcover to the left, and the right square envelope holds a copy of the party door gift.
Mini flip album pages

Details on the LO:

Happy Scraps Challenge - Graphic Inspired 4: Walk in the Park

Details on LO:

Pink Sketches 53: Grandmama

Pink Sketches 55: Whose Hands Are These

Details:

Moments Recorded Jan 2010 Challenge: I am Looking Forward
Pink Sketches 57: Fleur

Details:

Pink Sketches 58: 2 Beautiful 2 Believe

Details:

Laine's Class Layout 1/3 - Be Still
Details:

Laine's Class Layout 2/3 - Moments

Class layout 3/3 still in progress, not finished yet. SIGH

Keep Shooting
Details:

My Girl Everyday

Because...

2009-12-30T03:30:00.014+08:00

Recently conversations with Sophie have gone on to a whole new level.

She's using words like "finally", "only", "nevermind" - big, abstract words yet she really seems to know what they mean.

Dinner conversation:
Me: Sophie, eat your cereal?
S: No........
M: Its really yummy cereal you know (repeated descriptions of how nice it is)
S: Don't want (repeatedly)
M: How about... Mummy put raisins inside your cereal?
S: FI-NAL-LY (exasperated tone)

The funniest of all, is the word "Because".. Sophie's learnt the word, but she does not know how to reason yet. So when we ask her a question beginning with "WHY?", she'll reply "Be-Cause".. and then pause...................... and not know what to say after that.

HAHA!

"Because" and not knowing how to continue kind of sums up my feelings over the month as well, I've been pretty down and trying to figure out how to get around what seemed insurmountable issues (in my tiny understanding that is!).
Didn't post though I wanted to many times, I felt I might be too "emo" and shock some, or be too "angry" and shock others.
And I hate having to deal with fallout, so better keep it all to myself till I've
(a) decided what to do
(b) gotten rid of the emotional aspect of my thought process so I can write rationally
(c) gotten out of my funk so I can write non-emo-tically

And so, here I am, at the end of December realising it was not really such a blog-worthy month after all. Too much to write on one hand, too little on the other, so err on the side of laziness and write less. =)

Check out Meimei's muffin-top tummy!

I've spent the month mostly at home, entertaining the 2 kids, seldom going out - yes, I didn't hit ANY shops once throughout the entire month, can you believe it OMG. Christmas shopping was done in hurried snatches in between tuitions, waiting for buses / trains, and so very very few (count them on 2 hands) adults got store-bought presents this year. A slightly bigger number (45) got hand made books from me, so I keep on telling them these books are SUPER LIMITED EDITION haha. Whatever possessed me to do the handmade books, goodness knows, they were certainly gorgeous but MEGA time consuming.

Children's presents on the other hand are a whole different ball game. The glee on my girls' faces as they see their presents and rip open the wrapping paper is just so heartwarming. So I rather put in the effort to buy, wrap and arrange the kids presents nicely under the tree, and make it a point to give pressies to all my friends' kids, they will surely enjoy receiving them as much as my kids do.

I bought S a set of Crayola washable markers, crayons and a colouring book for Christmas. Super good choice as she loves to colour, write and draw now.

Z got a set of board books and a soft toy, I hope she will not destruct them like Sophie did hers (hey, why would I need to buy new board books if S was a gentle girl you know)

This is also the first time I am seeing Christmas festivities through the excited eyes of my kids. I drove my in laws and the babies down Orchard Road in November before the crowds got too crazy, it was still a 1 hour journey just from ION to PS. Still, the journey was worth it because the babies liked the lights.. Mummy has no idea what the lights look like, I was busy fighting the traffic!

Seeing Sophie so excited at the Christmas tree in her school, I bought her a small one from Japan Home for $1 and a small box of ball ornaments from Daiso for $2 (CHEAPO alert!) - I made the rest of the ornaments myself from scrap papers and embellishments. Once the Cheapo tree went up, S would always go for it once she got home. Just $3 and she is so happy.. gosh..

Christmas morning outfits! Decided to let the kids look slightly chic in grayscale clothes. Nearly spoilt the effect though by wanting to put them in 1 red and 1 green stocking each!! HAHA!!
Don't worry, in the end S wore 2 green and Z wore 2 red. =P

Sit Up and say FATS

2009-12-02T23:55:00.004+08:00

Miss Zoe has managed to sit up on her own just before the age of 6 months. Doesn't she look absolutely yummy (like, I-WANT-TO-MUNCH-HER-THIGHS kind of yummy).

Warning if you do that, you might risk CHD and atherosclerosis some point later in life. Close up o her fats so you know what munching will get you into:

I am continually amazed by her thighs!
And just in case you needed a cuteness overload..

Cuteness providing service from the Sim Sisters, at your service 24 hours a day.

Scotland Is..

2009-12-02T22:26:00.004+08:00

.. very very rainy - brooding gloomy kind of rainy

.. very very cold - below ten, above zero, and luckily we got out before winter REALLY set in

.. very very beautiful - i've never seen grass so green, ref to pt above about rain

pics when i have time - now to recuperate from jetlag and whiny mice.

_______________________________________________

Update: OK here's the pics.. I can't sleep cos its the middle of the afternoon Scottish time, sigh. Can anyone say JETLAG!

Going Around Glasgow
Scottish breakfast, we ate the same thing every morning.

Overhead bridge also so chio

Our group in one of the rare moments of sunshine. I look so freaking silly with the darn hat I decided to stop wearing it.

At the Glasgow Science Center - They've some Age Machine thing. First pic is of me, 2nd pic is me aged 30 years (oh man I so need to start skincare regime NOW) and 3rd pic is of me as a man (no difference at all WTH!!)
Remember the quote "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration" (Zoom in)

Glasgow Central Station, they've merged brand new facilities so well with old buildings.

Glasgow Cathedral, also known as St Mungo's (Hogwarts!) I am a big HP fan, I SO felt like I was living a HP novel in Scotland. The robes, the place, the mist and the castles. *dreamy eyed*

The interior of the church. This is the innermost portion where services are still held. There is an outer church and a lower church too.

Kelvingrove Museum and Glasgow University tower. I love the light here

Was lucky to get this sort o lighting on the last day there

University of Glasgow & the Dow / Davies Labs
The iconic Glasgow University Tower.. Can you spot the rainbow behind it? Hey with all the rain.. there's got to be rainbows lol

In the University Square courtyard of Glasgow Uni
View from the University Library.. omg how to study with a view like this, I'll be gazing out the window dreamily all the time I think
Chowing down in the cafe. This is cheap eats, a hot meal for around £3.. S$7, omg. On the streets, the cheapest we could find was around £5 or so and it was mostly more in the £7-10 range. Freaking expensive to live there lah

Wolfson Building where the Dow / Davies labs were located

First day in the lab and intro to the FLIES.. Many of them died for our sakes that day lol. Lab staff, Laura, Tony and Pablo who helped us loads
I told you many died for our sakes

Pablo demo-ing in the lab. We managed to get good clones for the 2 genes worked on, hooray. Hopefully we would be able to further this with positive results here in SG.
Tony and the confocal microscope
With Professors Dow and Davies, who so kindly hosted us in their labs. They are wonderful people, very gracious and kind and always willing to talk to us about all sorts of things, not just the projects.

It was Prof Davies' birthday on Nov 29th and I made this little gift box for her and stuffed a muffin inside. Had actually brought along the materials to make thank-you LOs for the 2 Profs and Helen (but forgot to take photos of those, facepalm!) - this box was made from the scraps.

University of Glasgow: Other Labs
Short lecture at the Henry Wellcome Functional Genomics Facility
Genomics: DNA microarray
One chip can hold all your DNA - there you go
Proteomics: PAGE gel runs, HPLC, mass specs, Flim-FRET.
Metabolomics: Super sensitive LCs that detect up to 0.0001MW. You can tell the difference between metabolites based on their MW.

Insectory with Anopheles mosquitoes. The research group studies the malarial parasite, which is cultured on a blood medium.

We went to the Institute of Molecular Parasitology after this, which was also a Wellcome Trust center. Unfortunately my camera died by then, so no pictures.. Can you believe the darn cam went through 14 batteries in 10 days. Crazy!! Every few hours I'd turn to ML and go "can you take photos my camera died liao" sigh.

We saw fluorescent trypanosomes, tsetse flies, and various other microscopes and plate readers.

Side Trips: Dundee, Stirling, Edinburgh
This is MUCH more like the weather we had all day every day than the sunny pictures above! Shot on the bus to Dundee.

Walking through the center of Dundee city

View from University of Dundee cafeteria

Wellcome Trust Biocenter
The TEM.. thats more than my entire house worth of $$ right there on the table, and that was just one room!

There was also the Anatomy department, but we were not allowed to take photographs. We actually went into their dissection rooms and saw the partly dissected cadavers. There were regional specimens (limb, head, neck) and full-body specimens. Fascinating, I never thought I would get a chance to see these as it is relatively rare for a course to be offered in Anatomy to non-medical students.

Observing fungi in the microbiology labs

Super foggy the day we went to Stirling

SO foggy I didn't realise there was anything on the hilltop till someone told me

Comfort food on a cold day, yummy
The Scottish Saltire - it was St Andrews' Day on November 30th
Saltires galore
An actor telling the story of William Wallace at the Wallace Monument
Stirling Castle. Sigh.
Slightly improved - one of the interior buildings of the castle
Sunset outside Stirling castle

St Andrews DO in Glasgow's George Square - a very winter-wonderland themed place. The Saltire was projected onto the City Chambers building.

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh. Rainy day again =(
Edinburgh Castle
Castle interior courtyard
Procession of bagpipes players up the Royal Mile - again St Andrews' Day celebrations
Look at the roadname WTH
Cockburn Street

I dearly wanted to walk around Edinburgh on their free walking tour but it was raining and cold =(

Finally ending of with my self-shot attempts hahahaha
Mugger-like. The robber kind.

On the 2197th attempt to take a good picture of myself in the University of Glasgow I finally succeeded
Camwhoring with a glass of the national drink Irn Bru (equals lemon barley with fizz kwakwa)
The best of the lot but still fail at camwhoring - I need a tutorial!! ZEKE!!

Thats all folks.. back to boring Singapore. I need to SLEEP (but I can't!) Argh.

the moments you wish to remember forever

2009-11-16T10:21:00.011+08:00

Would you buy these?

2009-11-14T09:10:00.002+08:00

Zoe Crawls!!!

2009-10-27T23:37:00.001+08:00

I don't have a photo to prove it, but she can get from Point A to Point B.
In a rather haphazard fashion involving many unintentional detours, but she eventually gets there.
And oh, it helps to have a toy at Point B for her to aim towards.

=)

September Scraps

2009-10-05T02:38:00.018+08:00

I'm now down to doing just one scrappy post a month.. geez.. that's all I can squeeze out the time to do!! Sheesh! And I still have tenmillion things unaccomplished.

*sian

Full reveal for (outdated!) MR Challenge 16: Home

My National Day LO for 2009..
Base was cardboard box, I tore off and crumpled top layer, inked both bottom and top layers and glued them back together. On top of that I layered an inked lace doily and the 3 papers according to the sketch:

The other requirements of the challenge were to use
- a page from an old book or magazine or even dictionary - masking tape - staples - paints

Here's the masking tape.. I folded it into half lengthwise leaving a bit of the sticky edge exposed, and then fan-folded it to make a "penny-ring" flower. I used 2 colours of masking tape (cream and brown) and inked the edges.

You can also see the page from old book - in this case an outdated street directory. I used the portion of the map showing my CCK block, distress inked and covered with Memory Glass. I actually wanted to do image transfer with gesso but had no time to experiment to perfect the look.

Tucked a second masking tape flower between the 2 layers of cardboard and accented the curled up portion with rub ons.

For the journalling, I stamped on twill using Stazon ink. I used the lyrics from "Home", still the best National Day song ever. The title actually forms part of the lyrics too.. you can see "this is" in the Tim Holtz ornate frame, "home" in large red letters, and "truly" stamped on twill below "home".

You can also see the staples here. I used them to accentuate 2 of the 5 stars on the LO by sticking the star shaped sequins on transparency and stapling following the star shape.

Recent fascination with pins, twine, and Tim Holtz.

I am so lazy to write out the embellishment listing.. man =X

Another (outdated) MR17 challenge - Oh Boo

At least I'm not THAT behind for this one!! Submission deadline is the 29th Oct. And the condition: Use any materials you like to create your own Scary, Monster-ous, halloween looking layout.

Question: I am SO not into Halloween, HOW?
Ans: Thank God for Sassafrass Lass Monstrosity collection!

Because its just as cute as the photo subject. Hehe.

Can you believe this is almost one of the first LO's I've done using Sassafrass Lass papers, though I own so many of them? They are just too cute to cut up, you know??

I thought it was too cute that the "oo" in the BOO fit so nicely over her eyes!! Hehe. But G was completely unimpressed because he couldn't recognise the girl behind the "specs"! LOL.

The only really Halloween-y product on this layout is the Making Memories scalloped paper. And it was the least Halloween-y looking of the whole range! Heh.

Oh yes, I was trying to channel spiderwebs with the hanging bats, and googly eyes with glossy-accented monster eyes - can you tell??

A host of Birthdays: Mum's birthday 11092009
For my mum's birthday, I finished up the destruction of my SL Sept 2008 kit. Can I just say, I LOVE those colours and could use the combination again and again and again??

I made her 3 items -
a) a 4x4 mini album using the Quickutz Journal font folder, since I've removed all the dies into my ring file.

The exterior of the album. I think I went overboard with the embellies, and didn't quite fit to the colour scheme of the interior. =( The ribbons were a necessity though, as I stuff so much things inside that the album was very difficult to remove from the box unless pulled out by the ribbons!

The inner 20 pages. Each page had a 2x3 photo of the babies, embellies and a label on the top part of the page with a short description of the age / stage / whatever they were doing then.

I stuck on a velcro at the bottom part of the album so it could be used as a table display or kept inside the box.

b) a wall hanger with 7 photos of my parents and my babies (I stupidly forgot to take photos of!!)

c) a 12x12 LO in a shadowbox frame.

I did this LO in about 1 hour. And it surprised me by how nicely it turned out! Scarlet Lime rocks!!

My own birthday: 17092009

Each year, I do a photo-less layout to celebrate my birthday. I might do a photo-ful one in the future if I am EVER satisfied with how I look again. Till then, I need to lose 10kg, fix the horrible skin, and get a major hair job done.

So here goes the very "artsy" post. I am proud of myself for this one, because I tore up the white pp majorly and coloured in parts of the paper with markers. I wanted to stickle and mist too but that takes time (for drying) which I didn't have, so yeah.

The "30" letters were printed and cut out - explains them being so big. I inked the chipboard hearts and tied them together, rather like the look. And because I wanted some characteristics of myself at the age of 30,I glued small strips of paper to the reverse side of Tim Holtz Muse Tokens packaging, inked the edges of the packaging, and overlapped it onto the "30". I also used mesh and Hambly's to layer beneath the "30".. I guess that was very un-noticeable =(

Cloth on top left hand corner from Daiso (muacks!) and man clips from some long-ago random school gift.

Gary's birthday: 24092009
The last in a month of birthdays, what to expect except last-minutedness? But, *facepalm*, when I have no time I end up choosing time-consuming techniques!! Wahlao!!

Time consuming technique #1 - painting raw chipboards. The entire 12x12 Buzz and Bloom chipboard somemore. With multiple coats of paint. In different colours. Argh.
Time consuming technique #2 - Threading a heart shape. With super thin thread, requiring a LOT of turns to complete the full heart. Sigh.

Time consuming technique #3, placing INDIVIDUAL rhinestones on the shapes!! I had to calculate the distance between each rhinestone too as I had just enough clear ones. OMG!

Wahlao eh. Duh of me right?
But anyway. I grabbed all the hearts I could find in my stash to finish up the page. And did it up just in time before he came home for dinner.

BTW, this is the first page I have done with no PP whatsoever. The background kraft-looking like paper is actually the chicken rice paper I used to protect my table from the paint, which explains the slightly offset paint look. And the heart was cut out from a cork sheet from Daiso (Everyone together: Daiso rocks!), which I had traced using a Making Memories chipboard heart negative.

Pink Sketches Design Team:
I made it to the Pink Sketches Design Team! Whee!! In the company of such *idol-izable* people like Sophie Sim (no, not my daughter!), Shamma Parvin, Wendi Robinson, Elizabeth Carney, Penny Smith, Sarah de Guzman, April Mensik, Taj White, and of course my lovely scrapfriends Sophia, Dorcas and Adeline.
OMG, I am weak at the knees just thinking about it!!
And can you imagine, I haven't had time to post about it till now. =X

Sketch 48:

My take:
(which I'll admit was A MAJOR RUSH JOB)
I rotated the sketch 90 degrees anticlockwise and placed the 2 photos at the top of the page. Its the same photo in B/W and colour. And of course, I can't get out of my Hambly fetish.

This has an ingredients list!! Hehe. Because I've to send it in for Pink Sketches. =P
Materials:
PP: Fancy Pants Designs - Simplicity (Form), 7 Gypsies - Victoria (Fernwood), K & Company Que Sera Mat Pad
Alphas: AC Thickers Platforms (black), Lullaby (white), AC Remarks Getty (green)
Embellishments: Hambly's All Mixed Up Teal, Glitz Designs rubons 12" flourish, Maya Road Office journalling sheers, Heidi Swapp chipboard heart, two metal female figurines from a stationery store

Sketch 49:

and my take:
Title (words, fullstops and font) inspired by SONY ad - remember the one with the little kids jumping up and down and making a (very cute) mess out of everything?

That is SO Sophie!

I didn't handwrite journalling at all on this page, but used rub-on words to convey those words that make her so special.

This is *finally* not backdated - its the current week's sketch - hop over and play along!!

Materials:
Papers: Cosmo Cricket Jack's World Animal Friends, Basic Grey June Bug Daydream,
Alphas: AC Chit Chat Puffy Thickers
Embellishments: Hamblys' Birdcages red, Grandma's Wallpaper pink, Little Circles black, All Mixed Up teal; Basic Grey June Bug pops, rubons; Sassafrass Lass Paper Whimsies Shindig; Bazzill pom pom in pink; Kelly Panacci word rub-ons; AC Subway Accents foam thickers blue; Kaisercraft rhinestones red; black paper ribbon, red crochet flowers, orange felt flower and green felt from Daiso (a local thrift shop - they sell EVERYTHING at $2!! Yay!)

I think that's more or less it for my scrappy September!
How did yours go? =)

Lunch at Les Amis, OMG!!

2009-09-25T02:46:00.001+08:00

Worth every penny. Yumms!!

Post up pics when I'm feeling not-lazy. =P

Bittersweet September

2009-09-23T06:31:00.005+08:00

Sep 17, 1993-Sep 25 2008

Dear Scampy,

Sixteen years ago, in September, I first got to know you as a palm-sized puppy, smaller than the dish I fed you milk in. You were shorter than one step of the staircase and it took all your courage to jump from step to step. Chasing empty coke bottles across the garden, jumping over and under the bushes, dashing across the fish pond bridge. You were a common, constant fixture through the many changes in life. No matter moving house 4 times in 6 years, home was always where i could hear the tapping of your paws, have my legs snuffled at by your wet nose, and rest my hands on your smooth silky fur.

Last year, in September, you were sent to the vet to be put down because of throat cancer. I was lucky, I had your companionship for 15 wonderful years. I really regret not taking more pictures of you, with you, because I have so few tangible memories of those times. The smell of your doggy breath, the texture of your fur and the joyous sounds of your barking hover just beyond the edge of my ability to grasp, and I so fear that with each passing year, I will be less and less able to remember.

I look forward to the day I can see you waiting for me at the gates of my mansion in heaven, wagging your little stubby tail furiously as always. I'll make sure to request Jesus for an extra-large garden for you to run in, lots and lots of your favourite dog food in the larder, and many many containers of yoghurt in the fridge for you to lick clean. And I promise to put everything down and play squeaky toy with you.

You will always be my favourite pet.. I love you and I miss you so much.

Short Notes

2009-09-23T01:40:00.002+08:00

- Miss Zoe flipped back to front at about 2 months.
- She is now flipping front to back at the age of 3.5 months.

- Miss Sophie has 14 teeth!! 8 incisors, 4 molars and most recently 2 lower canines.
- Her word arsenal is expanding exponentially and she parrots the words she hears us speak everyday.

Happy Baby

2009-09-13T16:23:00.003+08:00

I just love her smile!!

My little grown up girl

2009-09-12T18:29:00.000+08:00

No motivation.

2009-09-11T23:14:00.006+08:00

I am sitting here thinking about my life and how boring it is.
How long has it been since I really had a life of my own?

Its hard to get excited by anything anymore, simply because I don't have any expectations of being excited.

I am more than just a pair of boobs, more than just a money tree, more than just a sai-kang warrior.
I wish I could have a holiday from life and go back to being ME. But that will never happen.

Look forward, not back..
Don't compare, DON'T COMPARE.
(repeat 100000000000000000000000000000x).

Moments Recorded 16: Sneakie

2009-08-29T19:53:00.004+08:00

This upcoming challenge will surely STRETCH your creativity.. it did mine!!
Wait for the full reveal on the 1st Sept and have fun.. meanwhile, do hop by for MR Challenge 15, ending tonight..

054: Talkin' up a storm

2009-08-21T06:47:00.011+08:00

I've done this LO for 4 challenges together!! Woo!

1. Pink Sketches 41
2. Dreamgirls Challenge 34: White it Out
Prompt: Create a monochromatic challenge using all white, or cream
Technique: Stitching
Product: Lace

3. Scrapping The Music 99: Kiss Me Thru The Phone

4. Scrapping Out Loud: Use tissue paper and a bow on your layout

Here it is..

One of my all time favourite LO!!
Details details:

I had a lot of fun with this.. dug out all my white stuff to use. heh.

Papers: KI Memories embossed cardstock - Love, Elsie - Zoe Daydream; lace doilies paper from the bakeshop, DCWV white cardstock as a photo mat for the rightmost 2 photos.
Alphas: AC Glitter chipboard Lullaby in white, Making Memories tiny alphas in white.
Embellies: White twill, pearl rope, white twine, brown twine, white organza ribbon and white lace doily were non-SB in origin. (read: I collected them randomly and can't remember where they came from!), crepe paper ribbon from Jenni Bowlin, Cream scallop from Fancy Pants Biggest Board packaging, adhesive paper ribbon from K & Company Wild Saffron, cream lace framing the leftmost photo from Daiso, cream tag backing the center photo and 2 pins from SL's Sept 2008 kit, white heart and metal heart findings from Blue Moon Beads, cream felt heart shape from American Crafts Sweethouse Romance, hidden journalling tag (behind the left most photo) from 7 gypsies, white flower photo corner on center photo from Jolee's Boutique, eyelet from WRMK Love designer eyelets series, white frame on bottom right photo from Hamblys' Frame Wallpaper, 2 large white flowers from Heidi Swapp, Prima Bonnet Blooms in white on the bottom right, Bazzill and Imaginisce flowers on top right, white button from Fancy Pants, eyelets from WRMK.
Effects: Stitching with cream thread on top right.

A Post Devoted to Scraps!!

2009-08-20T04:19:00.018+08:00

I have been too busy to do a lot of scrapping lately. And of the scraps I've done, I've not had the time to upload them here with the descriptions either. So here are all the scraps from end July till now. About a month's worth.

048: Adored
This was done for the MR challenge 15 (yes, I did 15 before 14! LOL!) of which I'm now part of the MR Design Team! Whee!! I've been majorly remiss in DT duties.. man.. hope I will improve as life gets less busy. I did this a pretty long time ago but did not put it up as the MR15 only goes live on the 15th of August.

MR Challenge 15
You are to create a layout using the sketch provided with the following conditions

at least 25% of white space
journal (printed or hand-written)
usage of mist (glimmer mist, any sort of mist are welcome)
masking technique (optional) (this is to in cooperate with the mist)

Here is my take on it.. I used Tim Holtz flourish mask and Heidi Swapp Ransom alphas mask.
I really love how this LO turned out!! White space is definitely not my cup of tea but.. this came out pretty well!! And I love this series of photos too. Sophie looks just SO CUTE and angelic! Esp in the bottom center photo, the one I accented with a flocked frame cutout (which is by the way really cheater =P.. its the sticker "ghost" from LYB Love Letters stickers!)

Papers: White CS from DCWV, pink cutouts from Basic Grey Bittersweet - Raspberry Cream. Alphas: Heidi Swapp Ransom Alphabets mask Embellishments: Sheer tulle ribbon from old Scarlet Lime kit, large white Heidi Swapp flower, pink and brown felt flowers and the jeweled brad holding them from Sophia's RAK, journalling sticker from Creative Imaginations, Fig 4, 5, 6 cardstock die cuts from Daisy D's Favourite Photos, Smooch sticker and sticker "ghost" from My Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letters, Hamblys' Onesies overlay in white. Effects: Doubled masked the Tim Holtz Flourish mask with distress ink in Old Paper and Glimmer mist in Suede; masked the Heidi Swapp Ransom alphas with Glimmer Mist in Suede and Pink Ink; stickled the heart on the bottom center photo with Suze Weinberg Ruby Slippers stickles.

049: TBF@41D and 050: Priceless can be found in earlier posts..

.. skipping right on to

051: Glow
for MR 14 challenge.. my first challenge as MR DT.

MR Challenge 14
This month challenge is all about "CLEAN and SIMPLE". Some times, less is more. You are to create a layout with the following conditions

at least 50% of white space on your layout (if you divide your 12x12 background paper into 12 boxes with each measuring 3"x4", you are only allow to use up to 6 boxes to achieve the 50% white space)
no more then 3 pattern papers (double-sided pattern are consider as 2 papers)

Here is Glow using mostly Scarlet Lime's September 2008 kit (Yes! I am almost ONE YEAR behind in using my kits stash! Oops!)
50% white space requirement nearly killed me.. Ha ha..
Managed to do it by using 4 small photos. I cut the CS to frame the photos. And it has EXACTLY the same effect as if I had simply placed the photos on top! Sheesh!

Again, I used a series of photos that I really love so much! Isn't Sophie so mega cute!

Papers: Brown Sugar cardstock from Bazzill, American Crafts Backyard - Slurp (orange and green cutouts), yellow patterned from SL kit. Alphas: American Crafts Puffy Thickers Rainboots black Embellies: Darice flower chipboards, red pom pom ribbon, Prima Say it in Crystals swirls and Jenni Bowlin Apothecary Stickers Red from SL kit; 7Gypsies gaffer tape in polka dot, yellow and orange felt flowers from Sophia's RAK, red metallic brad from K & Company Que Sera collection, "This Picture makes me" cardstock die cut from Daisy D's Favourite Photos, foam heart embellishment from American Crafts Details in Email, owl and heart chipboards from Chatterbox Happy Days, word stickers and "The Story of Today" sticker from October Afternoon Cherry Hill.

052: First Pair of Sunglasses
This was done for MR 13 (Yes!! I am really doing the MR challenges in reverse order LOL) as well as Pooi's Pow-Wow Embellish Challenge at MWL.

Moments Recorded Challenge 13: Using at least 7 photos, you are to create a layout (any sizes) / mini album / frame work using the following :

7 pattern papers and/or cardstock (think to use you scrap pieces!)
Hambly Overlay
7 brads and/or eyelets
tearing
usage of an envelope (any sizes)
journal 7 reasons why you love the photos used for the challenge

Pooi's Pow Wow Embellish Challenge:
1) 12x12 LO and choose any colour cardstock or kraft cardstock as the base.
2) To use at least 3 different embellishments. ( please state the embellishments used)
3) The title of the LO must include the word ‘FIRST’
4) Last but not least dedicate a corner for your journaling of the ‘FIRST’

Because I needed help with the 7 photos thingy, I followed Pencillines Sketch 143 and modified the right hand side to incorporate 3 photos instead of 2:

Journalling was on the card inside the envelope:
Papers: Grey background CS, Brown Sugar Bazzill CS and yellow pp from SL Sept kit, green grid paper from Pink Paislee Office Lingo collection, red, green and white CS from DCWV. Alphas: American Crafts Puffy Thickers Rainboots in black, Making Memories Tiny Alphas in black. Embellishments: Hambly's Frame Wallpaper overlays in yellow, Chatterbox Happy Day chipboard button (sun), Basic Grey Lime Rickey rubons, Creative Imaginations Date Transparency, Jenni Bowlin Apothecary Stickers Red from SL kit, red vellum envelope from Stickopotamus, eyelets from Making Memories, random bit of twine. Effects: Tearing of green grid paper and stitching in red embroidery thread; embossed the white CS in top left hand corner with Provocraft Script embossing folder in my Cuttlebug.

053: Queen of Scrap
Yet another challenge- inspired LO. I feel like I am doing either challenge-inspired or request LOs all the time.
This was for Laine's July Queen of Scrap challenge: 5 reasons why you should be crowned Queen of the Scrapping Universe. I submitted it 11 minutes beyond the deadline though as Zoe was fussing and missed out on getting a $50 voucher!! Man!! The things we do for our kids!!

As I'd left this LO till the very last minute to be done, I completed it in, what, 1 hour?? Simply slapped down the leftover embellies I had on the table onto the paper, no effects at all.

Papers: Pink CS from DCWV, text patterned paper from 7 Gypsies Left Bank Journey - Soho:Brompton, photo mat from K & Company Urban Rhapsody.
Alphas: American Crafts Tiara glittered chipboard thickers in Aqua
Embellishments: Jenni Bowlin Apothecary stickers in red from Sept SL kit, Prima blue decorative tape, red flocked squirrel and butterfly stickers from Colorbok Friendly Forest, red vellum envelope from Stickopotamus, blue arrow from American Crafts Foam Subway thickers, cardstock die cuts for "Capturing the ordinary, the everyday, the reality" from Daisy D's Favourite Photos, black and white bird stickers from Heidi Swapp, Hambly's Frame Wallpaper in yellow, black crown frame rubon from Luxe Designs. Also punched out 2 hearts from the backing of Prima Say it in Crystals using EK Success Giga Heart punch, flipped one over and covered it in leftover buttons, framed the other with lace from Daiso and stuck pink "Handmade by" sticker from October Afternoon Cherry Hill collection.
Effects: Doodled on CS with white pen.

Jaslyn's Graduation Card
I had actually forgotten that the graduation ceremony was this past Sunday (16/08) and I only realised on Friday night, ie. 36 hours before!! Man!!
Again, no time to do any effects and I just layered on the flowers! I did this from 3.30am - 6.30am on Sunday morning itself.. *phew* finished just in time to get ready and packing for the service.
Framed up the "card" in a Fancy Pants 8x8 album holder - gave enough room for the 3D roses to stand up without being squashed. There was a small round popped up area where the D rings were kept.. it fit the fabric rose really nicely! Hooray!

Papers: DCWV Rustic Stack (pink) and Fancy Pants Daily Grind 8x8 paper pad (blue)
Alphas: Blue alphas from Wati's RAK. The pink one is actually the letter "g" which I reversed and inked in Worn Lipstick distress ink to get the "a". Cardstock sticker "s" is from Cosmo Cricket's Just Your Type sticker book. Name alphas are blinged with clear rhinestones from Kaisercraft; "SOT" in Loopy Love from Doodlebug and "graduation 2009" and "w337" are from Making Memories Tiny Alphas.
Embellishments: Various assorted Prima, Kaisercraft, Imaginisce paper and fabric flowers, 3D paper roses from Art Friend and fabric rose from AMK ribbon shop. Assorted buttons from Autumn Leaves and Fancy Pants. Assorted ribbons for decor and hanging strap. Chipboard "the journey begins" tag from Making Memories (I think!), felt hearts from Fancy Pants, "Congratulations" rubon from Autumn Leaves and "Find Your Path" rubon from Fancy Pants.

Mikayla's 1st Birthday Album
We missed Mikayla's first birthday party on 8th August (yes, she was born on 080808) due to Sophie being sick. Part of her present is this mini-album that's supposed to be for Shirley and Sharan to put in her pictures from newborn to 1 year old. Done using mainly Cosmo Cricket's Little Girls: Biography collection which I'm proud to say I've managed to finish off by doing this mini album! Hooray!
Used: Cosmo Cricket Little Girls Biography Paper Crafting Kit
Other papers: MME Bohemia 2 Bliss - Love of My Life (red polka dot and blue), DCWV (pink swirls and pink checks)
Alphas: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Platforms Black, Making Memories Tiny Alphas in White
Embellies: Colorbok Friendly Forest red flocked stickers, Basic Grey Lime Rickeyrubons, Kelly Panacci Baby rubons, Make it Personal rubons, Cloud 9 chipboard stickers and rubons, felt flowers from Fancy Pants, random buttons, Prima blue decorative tape, metal findings from Blue Moon Beads (heart and flower), Hambly Onesies Overlay in white.
Effects: Doodling with white pen on the cover page and the AC thickers.

Keqing's Birthday LO
Keqing requested a 12x12 LO for her upcoming birthday on the 26th of August. Though its not the 26th yet, she doesn't read my blog, so it should be fairly safe to put this up here! Hehe!

I also tried to follow Aida's Scrap by Numbers Challenge at MWL, where you can use only 20 page elements to make up one page, and the title must be a date or number. It was supposed to be a "clean and simple" look result, but as usual.. my clean and simple.. is NOT QUITE clean nor simple!

20 page elements from me:
Background pp - 1
Roses pp - 1
Die cut orange pp - 1
Pale blue hexagon pp - 1
Yellow photo mat - 1
Purple / pink journalling tag (cut into 2 pieces) - 2
Teal Hambly's overlay - 1 (yes! It is all one piece!)
Pale blue scrap paper strip (cut into 2 pieces, bottom right and top left) - 2
Pale blue scallop strip - 1
Lace - 1
3 red crochet flowers - 3
Journalling sticker - 1
Yellow vinyl accent - 1
Title - 1
Rub ons - You are my favourite friend - 1
Rub ons - TMQ 09 - 1

Total: 20 (phew, just made it!)

This photo of the 3 of us was taken last year for either my bday or KQ's bday. I wanted the title to include word "Three" to signify the 3 of us. So I did the title as Three O - ie 3 0, KQ's age this year. I also initially wanted to be able to incorporate the "3" in 13, as in the number of years we have known each other. But I couldn't figure out how to without looking TOO contrived, so I gave up on that and just included the 13 years into the journalling.

Papers: Fancy Pants True - Devoted (background yellow /green pp), Sassafrass Lass Life is Beautiful Woodland Whimsy - Rose Thicket (roses pp), Basic Grey Junebug diecut Swiss Dots in Orange, Basic Grey Junebug Broken China (pale blue hexagons), Cosmo Cricket Little Girls Biography (pale blue strip) K & Company Que Sera Mat Pad (yellow), with top edge punched with EK Success Binding Edge punch for interest.
Alphas: Ameerican Crafts Puffy Thickers in Rainboots Yellow, Making Memories rubons (TMQ 09) in Heidi font.
Embellies: K & Company Que Sera notepad (purple scrolls) - I cut it into two, Hambly's All Mixed Up overlay in Teal, Jenni Bowlin Apothecary journalling sticker in red, lace ribbon from Daiso, American Crafts Vinyl Thickers Vera Accents in yellow, pale blue scalloped strip from Fancy Pants Biggest Board packaging, "You are my Favourite Friend" rubons from Basic Grey Lime Rickey, red crochet flowers from AMK ribbon shop - a freaking steal at 6 for $0.90!

Of course, these do not include the layouts I have done for the fundraising thread, of which I've completed 3 and have 1 more on hand to do. However, as they are not mine, I feel kind of weird to post them up.

Well.. looking back on this super long post that took me most of the day to write, I guess I did manage to be somewhat productive after all! =)

Habbakuk 3:17-19

2009-08-13T18:18:00.003+08:00

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Thankful for:
1. A very helpful mum-in-law and mother who have really gone beyond the call of duty to help out with the gals
2. A hubby with a flexible schedule so he can be home as much as possible
3. Sophie getting better both in terms of her cold as well as her food refusal
4. Zoe's diarrhoea stopped (as inexplicably as it started)
5. Good friends who stsnd in the gap for me
6. Priceless moments that make it all worth it.

Vamoosed

2009-08-13T12:27:00.000+08:00

*poof*

my maid has MIA!!

Short version:
She had asked for home leave for the funeral of her MIL in Philippines and failed to return after that.

Long version:
She was originally here to earn money to put her younger sister through school. And she had come to SG against the objections of her husband, who felt that she should remain home to care for her 2 year old son. Her husband's family is well off and could afford to put the boy through school.
In June, she found out that her younger sister would no longer be going to university as she had fallen pregnant out of wedlock. So, she lost her motivation to stay on here and faced increased pressure from her hubby to return home.

Anyway, it is really silly of her to vanish like that. Had she just told me she wanted to end her contract, I would have had to pay her airfare for her to return to Philippines. However, because she "disguised" it as a request for home leave, she had to pay the airfare herself, and whats more, she bought a round trip ticket! That cost her more than 1 months salary.
Doing the math, she has worked for me for about 8months plus. The 1st 6.5 months of salary are used to pay back the agent, so she had effectively only received 1.5 months of pay.. which.. was just enough to buy the air ticket back home!! So she went home with no money earned whatsoever! Man!

So now, we are going through the rigmarole of cancelling the work permit, maid levy, looking through maid bio-datas and interviewing maids. If all goes smoothly and we are able to find someone that meets our needs, we will have a new maid in by, say, the end of the month. And after that comes the process of training her, getting Sophie accustomed to her, etc etc.

Oh no.. I am SO going to be a submarine for so much longer!! =(

Talk Show

2009-08-12T07:07:00.002+08:00

Sophie is talking up a storm nowadays. All sorts of different sounds keep on tumbling out of her little mouth.. plenty of combinations of 2- and 3-syllable babble! The rate at which she starts on new words is amazing, like 2-3 new words a day! We've taken to enunciating simple words that we want her to pick up slowly and repeatedly, and suddenly, *poof*, she's saying them too. Wah.. =)

Word List:
1. Mama (Grandma in Hokkien)
2. Papa
3. Papash (Papa's)
4. Papa.......ya (I'm not sure if she actually knows what this one means!)
5. Gong gong
6. Por por
7. Tita (Filipino for Aunty, my maid)
8. Mum-mum (eat)
9. Eat
10. Yesh (Yes)
11. Cup
12. Cut
13. Cah (Car)
14. Ahp (Up)
15. Oww (Out)
16. There
17. Buff (Bath)
18. Grah (Grass)
19. Aiyah (this is SUPER FUNNY!! Got singlish accent one!)
20. Meimei (very rare)
21. Mummy (even RARER). Asking her to say Mummy is like asking for gold to drop out from her mouth!

And she even did a 2-word sentence:
Papa'shhh Car!!

Typhoon Sophie has passed.. Now for Tropical Depression Zoe

2009-08-10T23:25:00.003+08:00

Sophie seems to have gotten over the worse of her cold plus the food refusal. Yeah!! Thank you all for your prayers and concern.

Her cough is much less frequent than the past 2 days and her nose is much less runny. That makes for a better sleep for her and hence for us!! She even back to her usual cheeky self today as she played with my mum and MIL for a short while. It was great to see her smile and hear her laugh.. really miss that for the past 3 days!!

She has also started taking some food and milk again. Food = plain porridge and baby biscuits, milk 2 ounces at a time. Not much but WAY better than the previous week! Thank GOD!!

But, now, Zoe is the one thats making me worried..
She did not seem to have caught the cold from her jiejie as we have tried our best to isolate the 2 girls from one another. However, she has been having pretty watery diarrhoea for the past few days too. Which is kind of odd as she is on TBF and I've not changed my diet nor had any symptoms of tummy upset myself. We tried switching her back to some FM (the same FM she had drunk in the 1st month when my MS had not caught up to her demand yet). But, the diarrhoea continued even with the FM, albeit more lumpy than watery. She has always been pretty "gassy" (I mean, all babies are fart machines), but she does not seem more gassy than normal even with the diarrhoea. And no vomiting, no fever, no loss of appetite, no lethargy.. its really a mystery what is causing her runny stools. Argh!! If she still does not improve by tomorrow, we might bring her to the doctor. Poor Pau..

It never rains, it pours

2009-08-09T22:50:00.002+08:00

Sophie has stopped throwing up and replaced that with refusing to eat AT ALL, and refusing to drink her milk too. Its been about 2 days since she even had 1 drop of milk!! Yikes!!

And with the lack of nutrition, her immune system is down too and hence Sophie has fallen ill.. she had a bad cold, running nose and sore throat (vicious cycle, all the more she does not want to eat~!). So she is mega whiny and clingy.. suddenly cry for no reason and throw tantrums for no reason too. Last night, I think she woke up like, 10 times?? Or more?? Man!! And she gave Zoe a shock too with her ever-loud wailing, so that Zoe did not sleep well either last night. Poor little Pau was trembling and woke up about 4-5 time through the night too. For me who is used to her waking up either only once or not at all.. that was a rude shock! Sigh!

After the ordeal last night, we brought her to Mt A 24 hour clinic this morning. Somehow seems she always falls sick on long weekend or holidays.. sigh.. no normal doctors available and even if we want to see a PD, have to wait till Tues. The doc at Mt A seems pretty unconcerned about her condition and recommended some cough drops, nasal spray, infant panadol and a gel for her tongue which he diagnosed as having a fungal infection. So perhaps that also contributed to the reluctance to eat as it would have caused her pain.

Sigh, my poor baby.. get well soon!!

Girls update

2009-08-05T08:39:00.004+08:00

My girls are a joy but also a trial..

Sophie has been refusing to eat and throwing up everything we feed her for some reason..not because she's sick, she actually forces herself to throw up the food. We think she might either be
(1) teething
(2) doing it to get attention
Either case, we do not know how to help her or reassure her. Its been going on for 5 days already. She no longer has a pot belly and instead has a flat stomach.. and she feels so much lighter =(

So now, we have to feed her very slowly and very carefully to try to prevent her from throwing up. Coaxing her to finish up the food is a tortuous process punctuated by much screaming and wriggling (on her part) and distraction methods (on our part). Last night I managed to feed her 1 and a half tofu and that was a great achievement. Funnily, the food she is willing to eat seems to vary from day to day. Some days she will be perfectly happy eating potatoes but other days she will protest it? And same goes for all other food.

Of course, there is also the cleaning up to be managed when she throws up. Sigh!! Clean her, clean whoever is holding her, clean the high chair she was in, repeat in a few hours time for the next meal. She is really going through all her clothes at a very fast rate. Like fashion parade like that.

SO now the strategy with Sophie is to feed her small amounts round the clock. Like 1 spoon of cereal in morning (previously it was 1 bowl), 1 hour later milk, 1 hour later biscuit, 1 hour later more milk, etc. =(

Zoe has developed a habit of yowling her head off in the evenings. She is relatively quiet and peaceful during the day, but after dinner she'll be continuously yelling, crying, drinking for 2-3 hours in a row till she finally falls asleep from exhaustion at about 10 or 11pm. So during those 2-3 hours, we have to carry her constantly and try to find ways to make her more comfortable.. no idea why the whining too!

And she is a real big drinker.. my breasts do not seem to supply fast enough for her liking, so she BITES! Argh! In fact she bit me so hard last night that my nipples are bleeding.. man.. pain!! So to give my poor boobies a break, I've to pump out the milk instead. Which is another time consuming event as I do not really respond well to the pump and takes me 1.5 hours to get out 1 feed worth of milk.. very frustrating as I can still feel there's milk inside but just no letdown. To use a single-side pump I need 2 hands as I've to constantly massage!! Sigh!!

It doesn't help either that my pump motor seems to be failing. For some reason it keeps on auto-offing and I need to break off my massage rhythm to re start up the pump. Its an Avent Isis IQ Uno, anyone has any idea how to solve the problem?? Medela pump does not work as well for me as Avent, strangely enough, so I would want to stick to Avent as much as I can.

So my schedule for the day runs somewhat like this:
6am: Zoe wakes up for first feed and goes back to sleep
7am: Sophie wakes up and needs to have milk and bathe, then cereal
7.30am: I start pumping out the overnight milk
9am: Zoe wakes up for the day and needs to bathe
9.30am: Feed Zoe .. sometimes I pump simultaneously with this feed from the bloodied side of my boobs
10am: Sophie's mid morning milk / snack
11am: Sophie's nap.. IF we can coax her to sleep
12 noon: Lunch for adults
12.30pm: Feed Sophie her lunch (War #1 begins).. may need to continue on to bathe Sophie again
1pm: Feed Zoe
2pm: Feed Sophie snack
2.30pm: Playtime with the 2 sisters together (depends on them though)
3.30pm: Sophie's mid afternoon milk / snack
4pm: Sophie's nap.. IF we can coax her to sleep
4pm: Feed Zoe
6pm: Sophie's dinner
6.30pm: Adults' dinner
7pm: Feed Zoe.. if she gets hungry early then I've to eat dinner later
8pm: Playtime with the 2 sisters together before Zoe starts getting cranky
8.30pm: Sophie's night time milk
9pm: Sophie sleeps
8.30pm-10plus or 11pm: Feed + entertain cranky Zoe till she drops off to sleep
Drop asleep from exhaustion myself.

NB. Insert other random chores in between as Roselyn is away.

poof

2009-08-03T16:13:00.001+08:00

Roselyn is going to go back to Philippines for her mother in law's funeral who had suddenly passed away from a heart attack. So I'll be maid-less for the next week! Oh no!!

Prepare to see me disappear (poof!) from email, blog, fundraising thread AGAIN.. and no more scrapping unless its the wee hours of the night!! Argh!!

First Proper Word

2009-08-03T16:11:00.001+08:00

Guess what is the first proper word Sophie can say??

Its...

CUP!!

Yeah!! She's always loved drinking water from her sippy cup.. so CUP is her first official english word!! =)

Mega Behind Time

2009-08-03T02:16:00.002+08:00

I am sooooooooooooo behind time with answering my emails, keeping up the fundraising thread, didn't even publish my latest SB creations on this blog or either gallery I keep up with.. =(

why so busy and mega behind time??

Tuesday - Went out for dinner with parents. Declared the night a ME night (been rushing out fundraising items for the past few days) and managed to scrap one LO for MR13 challenge.
Wednesday - Sneaked down to MWL to pick up some stuff.. after all the monthlong 40% discount is ending soon. Tuition at night till late.
Thursday - Rushing to finish an LO for the fundraising thread for collection. Also had to go out to NTUC with entire family in tow, plus an unexpected visit from my parents (argh!)
Friday - Sophie's big misbehaving episode in the morning, plus buying her shoes, and FOP at night. Rushed out LO for Laine's July challenge though I only posted it up 11 mins past the deadline =( Embellishonline stuff arrived and sorted it out till 4am in the morning!
Saturday - Tuition in morning, rush home to pass car to FIL, wait for parents to come, go out later for another tuition.
Sunday - 20th Anni service in the morning till mid afternoon. Out since 6plus am as I had to send G first, turn around home and pick up the babies and then go down to SIS a 2nd time. And Magdelene's wedding dinner at night.

Oh my gosh, I have been going out almost every day for the past week. Add on to Sophie's tantrums, Zoe's feeding sessions, and I barely even have time to on the computer and check my emails. I have so many backdated things to do!! Man!!

Funny Faces with Papa Series Part 1

2009-07-28T23:14:00.009+08:00

Hwachu looking at?
Learning Mummy's slitted eye stare
Open eyes big big for the camera and look down. Don't smile!! And there we have the perfect ah lian camwhore-professional look.

.. plus a couple of I Love Mei Mei Series Part infinitum

Busy Busy

2009-07-28T17:22:00.006+08:00

Had been busy over the past 2 weeks.. oh boy..

1. Trying out for MWL's Design Team
In the end, I did not make it in but I am glad I tried. Seeing the other scrappers' efforts really made me feel way out of my league! I had no time to do up the full 3 LO and project and simply made 1 new piece and resubmitted the others which I have sent in before. Oh well!!

Here is the LO for MWL's DT call:
Priceless

Part of the call was to use Sizzix die cuts on the layout. I don't have a big shot machine, so got a pack of die cuts from the store that consisted of artisan shape (yay) and flowers!

Artisan die cuts used on the photos as either frame or backing. I coated the "ghost" of the artisan diecut with June Bug Broken China paper and did blanket stitch around the interior of the "frame". The solid shape was inked with Faded Jeans distrees ink and used as a photo backing; and the artisan frame shape was used both to frame the last photo and to journal in my chicken scratch handwriting.

Flower die cuts used as.. well.. flowers!! They were variously inked with different distress inks (Faded Jeans, Mustard Seed, Burnt Marmalade and Worn Lipstick), used rubons, or left raw white in order to bring "contrast" to the other layers. I cut out the "ghosts" of the diecuts of the 2 largest flowers for use as well.

Journalling:
On the artisan frame:
That day, you woke up crying from your sleep. And when I reached down to comfort you, you grabbed on so tightly and did not want to let go - giving this precious picture against my chest. June 2009

On the white strips of paper:
One pack of 64 L size diapers:
$16.65
One tin of formula milk (900g) per week:
$23.80
One Pumpkin Patch dress set that's just so cute:
$39.90
Countless number of toys, books and paraphernalia:
$ hundreds
(or more)
Half an hour of a warm, soft weight on my chest:
Priceless
(haha inspired by the old VISA ad!)

Papers - Junebug Broken China, Daydream & Orange Swiss Dot Doilies
Alphas - AC Rainboots Puffy
Embellies - Junebug Pops, rubons, Riff Raff Designs Encircled, "A Priceless Photo" tag from Daisy D's Favourite Photos diecuts.

I felt I did not put in my best effort for the MWL DT call because I was also involved with #2 below.. which is something infinitely more important..

2. Fundraising for Charmaine
Here's the linky to what we're doing: http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/581296/2693587.html?1248767809

Charmaine Lim Fan Xi is a 4 year old suffering from neuroblastoma who needs to go to New York for a treatment to double her chances of survival. In the short time that her story has been made known to the public, various avenues of donations, charity events etc have raised the initial $500,000 sum as the downpayment for the treatment in NYC. This Thursday, she will be flying over to begin her course of treatment.

Now, she needs money for the remainder of the estimated treatment bill, which is still unknown.

The SB mummies in SMH are collecting donations for her by making cards, layouts, mini albums etc for sale. So far, we have collected over $400 and more on the way hopefully! As I'm coordinating the effort, I've spent a lot of time setting up the thread, writing replies to enquiries, updating the flickr album with pictures of our works as samples. Of course, as well as taking on the projects to be done. I've so much orders on hand that I've even taking to doing my cutting on the bed while breastfeeding Zoe!! Haha!!

You can see our works here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40329816@N06/

Do support if you are able! =)

I really did it..

2009-07-23T08:55:00.001+08:00

不自量力。=(

will put up pics when I can.. we are only supposed to post in MWL gallery at the moment.

OH MAN WHAT HAVE I DONE

2009-07-20T11:32:00.003+08:00

.. that's the sentence that keeps running thru my mind since I screwed up the courage to walk into MWL last Friday and apply for their DT Call.

Oh man, am I mad, everyone is so talented.. how to possibly get the place?? Yeah, maybe, if they pick 12 out of 12 applications then I will get it.. oops. =X

Anyway, I am trying hard to crack my brain on how to do the LO now. I can only manage the time to do one fresh LO for the DT call using the Sizzix die-cuts to be incorporated. The other 2 LO and project will have to be my previously submitted ones as I really do not have time to make them now.. argh!!

*sweat furiously as brain cranks on what to do with the submission LO*

I managed what I thought impossible

2009-07-18T00:54:00.011+08:00

.. building up enough milk supply to TBF Zoe =)

With Sophie, I never managed to TBF her, it was always partial FM and my BM was always "out of stock". The best I ever managed was 1 formula feed per day, and that was only for a really short period of time because my supply dropped like crazy once I went back to work. Didn't help that there were 10 new mummies (yeah, productive workplace!) in 2008, it was literally dash-in-and-pump-whatever-you-can-in-20-mins every day. And bf-ing does not come easy for me, in order to pump out less than 100ml of milk takes me up to 2 hours?? Somehow I just don't have letdowns easily when on the pump.

And yes, it was pretty depressing thinking that somehow I am not doing enough as a mummy because I had insufficient milk supply.

This round, I was more determined and more willing to endure the discomfort and inconvenience of bf-ing. I've never actually liked the process, btw. I find it freaking boring, not to mention painful! And messy with milk dripping all over the place. But knowing that breastmilk is good for the babies, I've tried to perservere with more pumping, more latching on and it paid off.

Finally, today, 17th July 2009, 41 days after she is born, I'm proudly able to say that I can TBF Zoe.

And of course, to celebrate, I did an LO! Hehe!
049: TBF @41D

Innocuous picture.. hehe.. I mean, cannot put picture of myself really breastfeeding right?? That would be a super 见不得人 LO! I would be too paisay to let anyone see!

Cutouts! Halfway through the cutting I was thinking wth I got myself into. Sigh. It took me ages to finish cutting up! And yes, all cutouts from one piece of paper, Basic Grey Junebug (Broken China) I *heart* my Junebug range!! I am so on a roll to do LOs using the Junebug papers.. plenty of ideas floating around my head man.

Journalling reads - 41: the number of days of pumping, self-psyching, downing pills to do what I thought I could never do: TBF my #2. well this just goes to show, all things are possible, never give up!

I kind of regret not putting the lovely doilies paper on top of the blue CS, but too late to regret after doing in all the details. Somehow the blue CS just looks too plain =(

Papers: Blue CS from DCWV, Basic Grey Junebug (Broken China), K & Company Que Sera Tag pad (orange)
Alphas: American Crafts Foam Thickers in Daiquiri White, Doodlebug Loopy Love Alphas in white
Embellies: Basic Grey June Bug cardstock stickers (red flourishes), Colorbok Friendly Forest flocked stickers (red flowers), random buttons, Basic Grey June Bug Olio Rubons (red on tag and navy blue on CS), blue tag from SL August 2008 kit, Fancy Pants rubons in Journal it (orange on tag), white ribbon from a past SL kit that I cannot for the life of me recall which
Effects: Sewing on the edges of the Broken China paper

Hey wait.. this is 049.. where is 048??
Hehe.. That's a story for another day.. *hopping around excitedly*

Flying Super Mummie

2009-07-14T16:10:00.003+08:00

In the time duration between 9.45-2.15 today, I have

1. Travelled between Toa Payoh, Orchard, and Ang Mo Kio (public transport, not by car)
2. Seen my gynae
3. Visited the Post Office
4. Visited 2 banks
5. Eaten 2 meals (inlcuding LJS =)
6. Drank my KOI bubble tea (yumms)
7. Done grocery and sundries shopping at NTUC
8. Shopped at Kiddy Palace for Sophie's shoes (fail. designs not nice)
9. Shopped at Japan Home for adhesives and plastic ware (kick self for not buying more of their huge rolls of mounting tape last time - NO MORE le =(
10. Shopped at Venus and Pink Beauty
11. Met up with 4 mummies to conclude 6 scrapbook buy-and-sell transactions
12. Walked 2-3 rounds of Toa Payoh
13. Bought afternoon snacks for my MIL, FIL, mum, dad and maid
14. Still squeezed in time to shop at Laine's haha!

I'm the flying super mummie man. Zoom zoom here I come!

And once I reached home. Had to entertain big and small whiners. Man I feel so popular LOL. I need earplugs for my birthday!!

Quest for Food

2009-07-10T10:50:00.002+08:00

My life is tragic..

After 1 whole month of VERY YUCKY confinement food, I have been hankering after ang-moh food.

Tuesday:
Planned a Botak Jones trip - Failed because it rained
Asked mother to ta bao Long John Silver's from Bishan - Closed for reno
Asked mother to ta bao Macdonalds instead - Also closed.
Ate a super yucky wanton mee.
=(

Thursday:
Dinner at Plaza Sing - Ordered pasta, which was pretty good the last time I ate it - Pasta was so salty that I couldn't finish!
And no time to buy any other food cos rushing to CG.
=(

Tragic life..

Daddy's Girls

2009-07-09T13:27:00.000+08:00

047: Life is not measured in minutes but in moments

2009-07-08T00:11:00.002+08:00

Done for MR Challenge #12:
Using at least 7 photos that you have taken from the same day you are to create a layout (any sizes) / mini album / frame work using no more then 3 pattern papers with the following :(doubled sided papers will be counted as 2 pattern papers)

office supplies (staple, paper clips, note pad papers etc)
add a date (it help us to remember when things happened)
journal what happen on that day (how is it possible that you have a date but no story?)
Hambly Overlays
7 buttons and/or 7 flowers
tearing

Super high difficulty challenge! =P Dorcas ah Dorcas.. aiyoh..

It took a long while to pick out 7photos of the same day and then think of how to arrange them on a 12x12. In fact I've to cheat by cutting up one photo into half as I had only 6 photos!! Oops! I really love the series of photos though as they show Sophie and Zoe together, with Sophie doing her "sayang meimei" actions.

Originally wanted to use a Heidi Swapp clock face (where I got the quote from) but realised there is no space to fit the clock face in. Oh well. Use it on another day then.

Papers: K & Company Que Sera Butterfly Garden (both sides - red and yellow), Fancy Pants Designs 8x8 Daily Grind paper pad (beige grid), navy blue CS from DCWV Summer Cardstock stack for photo mats
Alphas: Doodlebug Loopy Love white, Making Memories tiny alphas black
Embellishments: Hamblys Frame Wallpaper in yellow and magenta, Creative Imaginations Narratives Blue Bell Frame transparency, 7Gypsies gaffer tape in Measurement black, October Afternoon Cherry Hill cardstock stickers ("Smile" and words), flowers from KaiserCraft, random buttons, eyelets and brown ribbon saved from some leftover.
Effects: Tearing of pps (didn't turn out as torn as I would have liked), stitching on the "smile" sticker and buttons.

The Most Precious Gift

2009-07-07T22:19:00.002+08:00

.. is not money
.. is not extravagance

.. it is knowing the heart of the receiver.

One Month Party

2009-07-06T20:21:00.008+08:00

Four Weeks: Pork Chop Buns

2009-07-03T22:56:00.002+08:00

Evidence of Pork-Choppishness on Miss Zoe..
*she had better never get around to reading this post when she grows up haha.

Please note, the pot belly, thunder thighs, and 八月十五buns.

046: K is for Kong Kong

2009-07-03T02:23:00.005+08:00

K is the first letter of the alphabet mat Sophie learned to recognize as "K" for Kong Kong. Eventually she got to "P" for Papa, "M" for Mama, "Z" for Zoe, etc.

Words she can say now:
1. Papa (first word!)
2. Kong Kong (though she pronounces it more like Geng Geng)
3. Tita (Filipino for Aunty - my maid)
4. Mama (I think she means me but G insists it means his mum! Damn.. I am the last person to be acknowledged by my own daughter lor.)
5. Nen Nen (Argh.. she calls my breasts but not me!)
6. Popo (only once or twice)
7. Meimei (only once!!)
8. Uh (I think its her approximation for UP = upstairs, the room where G and I sleep. She has a recent fascination with climbing stairs and will always point up and shout "Uh" at the same time to indicate she wants to go up)

So, LO for FIL's birthday was inspired by the K is for Kong Kong.. May I say I didn't knoe what else to title?? I am not really close to my FIL and do not talk to him a lot. And this had to be a simple quick LO squeezed out in between attending to either screamer jiejie or yeller meimei = no time to think!

Paper: Cardstock from American Crafts Neutrals
Alphas: Doodlebug Loopy Love (red), Making Memories Felt Alphas (blue), Making Memories Tiny Alphas (white and black), large blue chipboard K from a long-ago RAK from Wati
Embellishments: Prima rubons, Prima Say It in Crystals Swirls in pink, lace doily from random shop in Toa Payoh ($2.50 for 50 pieces!! Cheaps!!), buttons from Autumn Leaves Bag-o-Buttons Techno Pop, Maya Road A Year to Remember Sheers with the date of FIL's birthday (July 1) outlined in KaiserCraft blings, Date sticker from October Afternoon Cherry Hill Cardstock stichers, rectangular artisan clear overlay from My Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letters Clear Cuts.
Effects: Painted edges of CS in MM paints (Cantaloupe and Deep Coral from the Fresh Anthology range). Tried to paint in handprints of S and Z (lower left corner) but it looked so ugly that I covered up with a rubon!

Weight-Less Chronicles #2

2009-07-01T10:13:00.002+08:00

Comparing to my weight-less chronicles after #1..

6th June 2009
Before checking in for C-section: 78.1kg

9th June 2009
Leaving the hospital: 73.6kg plus a 3.475kg heavy cow

16th June 2009
Gynae follow up checkup: 70.0kg

30th June 2009
Weighed at home with a cranky weighing scale, taking the average of 3-4 attempts!! - 67.0kg

Sigh.. I guess when the body is older, fats just tend to be more stubborn!!

Wants: Basic Grey June Bug

2009-07-01T08:59:00.002+08:00

Aren't they just the most delicious things EVER?? *slurp*

I could hold you like this for ever

2009-06-30T11:35:00.000+08:00

Happiness!! - Updated with RAK winners!

2009-06-30T00:51:00.003+08:00

RAK drawing process:

1. Write down names on small pieces of paper. Separate into 2 groups - Boy and Girl.

2. Attempt to catch Sophie. In the meantime, papers get mixed up by the blowing of the fan.

3. Assess if I can hold a wriggling mouse in one hand while managing the papers in the other. Decide not to even try and get someone's assistance to hold Sophie while holding the papers!

4a.Tell Sophie to pick one.
4b. Yell "No, No, just ONE" repeatedly as she grabs for as many pieces as she can.

5. Pick up pieces from the floor, table, carpet, wherever they have fallen while she was happily throwing them around.

6. Put papers back in hand. Repeat till she happens to pick out ONLY ONE piece at a time.

7. Now, attempt to grab the one piece out of her hand as she refuses to let go. Hope that the piece will still be intact enough to read the name.

8. Realise that you forgot to take pictures of the process! Argh!!

9. Resolve to use a random number generator next time or something. Sigh.

And so finally.. we have:

RAK Winners:
Boy Boy - Khengyan
Girl Girl - Erna

Will send you both emails re pickup =)

____________________________________________

After donkeys years on the old blogskin, I've finally changed it!!

=)

Happiness - let's have a RAK!

Two RAKs! hurhur.
And they are really creatively named.. wait for it..

RAK #1: Boy Boy

RAK #2: Girl Girl

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry couldn't think of any other names.

Since I'm too bushed to figure out how to make comments appear (lol), leave me a tag in my tagbox instead telling me which RAK you would like and why Oh yes.. Pls leave your blog url/email when you tag me too! Will pick the lucky winners on the 30th of June. =)

Three Weeks: Zoe Smile!

2009-06-26T08:17:00.006+08:00

Zoe smile!

P.S:
[dons blue top]
M: Does this make me look fat?
G: YES.
[dons black and white top]
M: OK, in terms of fatness, is this better or worse?
G: Worse!
[dons purple top]
M: OK how about this one?
[long glance and silence]
G: The blue one is the best.

In another words, there's nothing I can wear that DOES NOT make me look fat! Argh!

045: A Good Day

2009-06-25T01:04:00.003+08:00

Its always been a running joke that I can't do an LO with lots of negative space. Many times I tried and failed because I've just the tendency to add on more and more things. But I've finally managed to restrict myself to using just 20% of the space on a CS (yes, I measured LOL).

Its a very frustrating experience as there were so many things I wanted to add but told myself CANNOT!! Haha! Alright, it will be back to my normal style after this.. phew!

Paper: DCWV white cardstock
Alphas: Making Memories Felt Alphas in blue
Embellishments: Cutouts from an angpow, Hambly's Frame Wallpaper in white, rubons from Prima Swaney collection (roses, blue ribbons and Love quote) and Fancy Pants Designs Splendid (red and pink flourishes), Fancy Pants Glitter Cuts Hearts, Making Memories Clears in Scrolls, random green ribbon.

044: Over the Rainbow

2009-06-23T00:24:00.003+08:00

My *supposed* white space LO.. it started with the photo in the top right and the title in the bottom right. Then knowing me I add salt add vinegar all the place and here is the result.

Oh well.. will try again for the whitespace tmr.

Papers: Blue cardstock from DCWV
Alphas: Doodlebug Just My Type in ladybug
Embellishments: Crate Paper Lilian Glitter die-cuts, rubons from Basic Grey Wholly Cow (white), Fancy Pants Designs (Free Spirit and Key Lime Pie)

Happy Father's Day / 5 LOs

2009-06-22T00:21:00.008+08:00

Well being cooped up like a hen in a pen (wahaha it rhymes!!) there's nothing I can do for Father's Day except scrap!! And so I scrapped with a vengeance. Suffice to say I only completed the last of the 5 LO I wanted to do up at exactly midnight, the last minute of June 21st. And I haven't shown him the last one yet as he's gone to sleep with S. Oh well. At least I made my goal! Sheesh!

a. Two Pieces of My Heart
This one's also done for Laine's 9.90 challenge (scrap an LO with products of less than $9.90).
Lazy to retype, shall just copy and paste my challenge entry:

This is completely made up of recycled packaging materials!! Except the 7Gypsies 97% complete Baby stickers ($4.90) which I added at the end, forgetting I wanted to do all recycled |||-_-\.
Background is from a USPS Flat Rate box (stamped with various Inkadinkadoo, Purple Onion Designs and See-D's stamps in Versafine Deep Lagoon, Crimson Red and Onyx Black, distressed with Old Paper and Walnut Stain Distress Inks), blue paper is backing of Prima Felt DeVines (distressed with Orange Marmalde Distress Ink), photo mat is Making Memories Noteworthy ribbon card (beige) and PageFrames Designs (white). Transparent heart is the backing of Prima Say It With Crystals Swirls (stamped with assorted Unity Stamp Company stamps in Stazon Cherry Pink), title fonts are die cut (QK: Stardust Grand Complete Alphabet) from American Crafts Remarks Accents Clear Stickers Book 1. Large bracket from Fancy Pants Designs Mixed Media Square Book packaging, ribbons saved from gift boxes and red rope from clothing tag. Doodling done on the "2 pieces", "Priority" and outlining of the die-cut letters.

Next 4 LO are all in the same style (all done using SL August 2008 Mini kit!) and I am proud to say I've "destroyed" one kit doing this. Hurhur. One down, many more to go LOL.

b. Kopi Kia x2

c. Adored So Absolutely

d. Papa'z Hair

e. My Dream Girl

OMG I am so lazy today.. copy and paste ingredients list again:

Patterned Paper: Making Memories - Addie Noteworthy Pattern Stripe, Addie Noteworthy Die-cut Flower; American Crafts - Moda Bella Sophisticated; GCD Studios - Tinted Medallions; Basic Grey - Euphoria Trance; Daisy D's - Chloe Marie Daffodil

Embellishments: Why not Rubons - Cosmo Cricket (OK I didn't use this yet, darn); Dream Dimensional Flower: Adorn It; Dark Pink Felt Flowers - Heidi Swapp (Neither this, oops); Laugh Together Cardstock Stickers - Adorn Kit; Exclusive Scarlet Lime Barcode Stamps

This and That: 1/2 yard pink eyelet trim; assorted buttons; 1 mini purple flower; 1 polka dot note sheet (assorted colors)

Other additional items used:
Pink lace (forgot from where), ribbon scraps (I think from SEI Aunt Gerti's Garden but can't really remember), twine, Prima's never-ending blue tape, Prima's Elysee flower-ribbon, October Afternoon Cherry Hill cardstock stickers, and alphas from Doodlebug Loopy Love and American Crafts Poolside Vinyl Thickers in Grapefruit.

Two Weeks: Munching Away

2009-06-22T00:07:00.003+08:00

Confinement is driving me crazy!!!
Staying at home ALL DAY LONG, eating the same food day in day out (ok the CL tries but how creative can you get with sesame oil, ginger, and 300% of the food I normally enjoy on the off-limits list), freaking fish and more fish, not being able to bathe above once a day in this sweltering weather, forgetting what water even TASTES like because I have to drink that darned longan-red-date tea, gulping down foul-tasting tonics, soups and what have you.

Yuck and I have 2 more weeks to go. OMG!!!

Do NOT smirk and tell me its good for me! I detest being patronized. Argh.

On the upside, Z is still doing her cow thing and being a really good eater and pooper. We measured her this morning and she is now 52cm long.. an increase of 5cm from her birth length! Wahlau. I also want that kind of height gain nia. Weight wise, we cannot really tell as the scale at home is stark raving mad. I mean, it tells me I weigh 30kg, duh!! Thats' probably just the weight of all the excess fats on my body right now. =(

My Girls

2009-06-20T17:02:00.004+08:00

Kek Sai Face

2009-06-17T09:30:00.000+08:00

.. proof that her bowels work really well. =P

Chocolate milk, served warm at the poolside lounge.

2009-06-16T20:59:00.003+08:00

Zoe suckles from my right without problem, but has been refusing the left boob.. she will scream her head off when offered the left side.
Lesson #1 learnt: Probably the 2 boobies provide different flavours of milk... chocolate from the left and strawberry from the right??

After a few frustrating tries on the left, I switched to side lying position and she happily drank.. gosh.
Lesson #2 learnt: Chocolate milk needs to served while she lounges lying down (maybe she thinks she is at the poolside). Strawberry milk can be served anytime, anyplace.