Some layouts to share

Thought I'll share a few layouts with you ...... haven't done that for a while. :) :)

Because you love me - I don't think I've shared this layout yet. This is published in For Keeps #57. Theme is to use 5 different theme colours on the layout. So I took the opportunity to do use the Collections chipboard squares and covered them with all different patterned papers, and then embellished.


WYSIWYG - This is my first DT layout for Blueye Dezines, a new brand of products. Those heart shape thingies are felt ribbons. BED's felt ribbons are very funky and cool. Can't wait to get the next package to play with and make more layouts. These products are already available in US and there is already an Asian distributor.


rain+mud=boy - This was the layout I did in 1.5 hour's time at Monk's crop last Friday. It was one of those unplanned layouts that turned out decent and likeable. I think Love Elsie papers have that effect on me. LOL... Can you see the stitches that resemble rain and the very big rain drops? Mighty proud of myself actually.


I went to the Fiskars warehouse sale yesterday. Mostly tools on sale, so I grabbed a couple of craft knives ($1 each), a couple of replacement blades (50c each), a hand-held rotary cutter (almost resembles a pizza cutter, $3), half a dozen packets of Heidi Grace decorative hat pins all at $1 each (to share with Ruey of course), a circle border punch for $3, a set of Teeny tiny punch for my daughter to play with ($3).. and some other stuff.... walked out $21 poorer, which was quite good. I don't think I'll be running out of cutting equipment anytime soon. Hahahahah....

I'm trying very hard to finish the 2nd layout I started at the crop. GOT TO FINISH IT.... before I go to another crop tomorrow night. :)

Cheers!

The Week

Thank you to all who responded to my last post. To update, she didn't and hasn't stopped. It's like all of a sudden, she has just become a born-again 2-year-old toddler, getting her hands on anything and everything. After speaking to a few people, we have all come to one conclusion. She needs stimulation. She probably is very bored with kinder by now, and all ready to move onto something more exciting and challenging. I can't say I disagree. She can write her alphabets, both upper and lower case, with 90% accuracy; she has learned to spell some very basic words phonetically. I can't ask for more from a 5-year-old. So with all those excess energy in her, it's no wonder she is destructive. So I'm on the hunt for more activities for her... thinking of dancing. Will investigate that.

On Friday, I went to Ruey's place for lunch, to catch up with Shirley and Vita. Kids just played although they seem a bit lost without Jeromel there. Shirley and Vita brought their cameras to play and I had to play model (nah.... I didn't have to, just me being vain... lol). And I particularly liked this shot Shirley took of me...


That evening, I went to a crop at Carolyn's. As usual, I was disorganised and didn't get to adjust photos till late. By the time I was done adjusting and was ready to print, I realised that the printer had run out of ink, so I couldn't print. All my planned layouts just went out the window. I just picked up 2 Poppy Ink kits, some American Crafts thickers in my hand carry tote, and my AMM tote and took off. THE LEAST I HAVE PACKED FOR A CROP.... EVER!!!! I was planning to get there and be a sticky beak to see what everyone else is doing cos I have lost my mood. But then when I got there. ... I did a layout in like 1.5 hours. Then I started another layout but couldn't finish it cos I didn't bring the right alphas with me. Then I won a RAK of a little papier mache box which I altered on the spot and gave it to Monk as a little gift. I think my mojo lives with the Ondaatjes. The last time I cropped at her house, I also did a layout in an hour. Monk... you can count on me to be there every month from now on. :) :) Will take some pics to share another day.

On Saturday, we drove for MILES trying to hunt down some Cloud 9 Rain Dots. Naturally, when you are desperately hunting down something remotely scrapbooking, you can never find it. After dragging the kids all around town, shop after shop, I felt bad so I suggested to Peter that we take them to a "shop of their kind", i.e. a departmental store with a toys department. We bought this little game called Ker Plunk!

I've never heard of it but apparently it has been around for decades. You are supposed to pull the sticks out one by one.... until the marbles go KerPlunk! into the bottom chamber. Aim is to get as little marbles as possible. But of course, the kids LOVE the marbles going KerPlunk! They were just rapt everytime they get some marbles and to them, that is winning the game. LOL... So this is our first family game. :)

That's all I can remember for now. Will blog more when I remember more.

Banished my daughter!

This is post is not for the faint-hearted or the bleeding hearts.

My daughter got into A LOT of mischief yesterday. Yesterday in the afternoon, while Peter and I were watching a movie on TV, she did a whole lot of "destructive art"... if they even qualify as art!

1. She went into the bathroom and took out 2 pots of lip gloss from my drawer and practically did colour tests on her pair of jeans (like you would on your hand when trying out lipsticks).

2. She went into the study which she knows she is not allowed to, took out a black texter which she ALSO knows she is not allowed to, and drew on her brother's doona cover, which penetrated onto his doona, drew on his bead post, and on one of our drawers in the study.

3. While she was in the bathroom, she also took some hair gel and applied onto her hair, which I didn't realise until this morning while I was combing her hair.

My blood boiled beyond boiling point. It wasn't so much of the cleaning up or washing I had to do. But the fact that she actually did something like this. It was not just innocent mischief because if it was innocent, the child will just come up to you and show off their "creation" and smile! But while I was watching the movie, I asked her a few times...eg where she was... what she was doing... etc etc. She just lied and said "I'm just lying in bed" or "I'm just going to the toilet". And then she also made frequent appearances in the lounge room to play with the brother too... like forming an alibi!

When I finally went into their bedroom to fold up the laundry, I was horrified to see what had happened to her jeans! I asked her what happened, she said her brother did wee-wee on her pants. I sternly told her to fess up .... and she quickly did.

She copped a double time out straight up. I was so worked up and upset it was beyond comprehension. I had to walk out of the room before I did anything I'll regret. Then I concocted more punishment. After her time out, I told her she will not get anymore TV for the rest of the day. AND the ultimate punishment for her, she was not to talk to me or be near me for the rest of the day. This made her cry. I had to show her how disappointed I was at her behaviour. And time outs and no-TV just don't quite cut it. At bedtime, she was prompted by Daddy to come apologise to me.

Today, I COULDN'T WAIT to send her off to kinder ..... banished! But luck was not on my side. She didn't want to stay at kinder. I took her there and left her like any other day. Everything was fine and the teacher rang me in less than 1/2 hour cos she told them, "I just want my mommy." So I went and picked her up, giving her the benefit of the doubt. As soon as she got home, she was running up and down the hall way... and I questioned her... why she didn't want to stay at the kinder, guess what she said? "Cos I wanted to play with Phaedon!" ... without batting an eyelid.

So for all those still reading, you still feel sorry for her?

I rest my case.

Looooook!!!

I didn't do any layouts last night during the crop. But I made these little babies. I meant to use them as a little gift box, probably fill it with Scrapbooking goodies or lollies and choccies perhaps? I was inspired by Michele Witchell's Cake Slice Box. After seeing her cake slice box, I googled for cake slice box templates. I found a few but didn't quite like the measurements. In addition, I wanted to "hinge" the lid and most templates didn't accommodate for that. So I constructed my own template. I swear, I've not used a protractor, and a right-angled ruler since high school! LOL... The only thing I can't figure out, is why the gape (especially obvious in the 2nd one). But I'm chuffed.... that I "constructed" something from scratch. Mighty proud of myself here. :D :D :D

<<>>

I also played with my Stampin' Up goodies today. Man!!! The wonder crayons... soooooo fabulous! I still find the stamp pads a little tricky to open but I'll get use to it.

Have a fantastic weekend to you all!

Singapore National Day

The Crop for Kids committee had our first meeting on Wednesday, August 8th. It was really exciting to get everything started, and great to have these wonderful ladies offer their helping hand in the committee. We are all very focussed and driven. We have A DATE!

WHAT: Crop For Kids 2008
WHEN: 15th March 2008, Saturday
WHO: Jess, Tania, Jorja, Sofi, Jacqui, Carolyn, Ruey, Katie, Suzanne, Trish, Lyn and myself!
WHERE: Still negotiating, to be confirmed
WHY: Because we love our kids ... and scrapbooking of course

We have VERY EXCITING things planned for this event. Other than the crop on 15th March, we are also going to have lots of activities for our blog. So seriously, stay tuned to the Crop For Kids blog.

It was Singapore's National Day on August 9th. It celebrates the day we gained our independence from Malaysia in 1965. Yes, we are only a tiny and young nation. So tiny you may not see the dot on the atlas, and so young at 42 years old. And yet, we are sooooo big and advanced in our development and achievements. I am very proud to be a Singaporean. On a day like this, I am always a little more sentimental than usual, cos I miss home. :) But, on a good note, we will be going to Singapore in November for my brother's wedding. YAY!

Phaedon had a bout of temperature the day after his needles, but nothing some Nurofen can't fix. He loves Nurofen like he loves lollies anyway.

August 9th is also my SIL's birthday. So I should never forget either occasions, really, should I? She had us over for pizza and cake last night. I missed lunch (unintentionally), and had too much crackers and dips before the pizza was even served. Then I had too much pizza, and was too stuffed to enjoy her cake. But can't complain, I didn't have to cook dinner! Whoo-hoo!!!

Tonight, I'm having a bunch of girls coming to my house for a crop and/or chat. Can't wait! Maybe I should be cleaning up a little bit now.

Chat soon!

My Brave Boy

It was Phaedon's 4-year-old immunisation today. I have been dreading this day. I dreaded the same day last year when it was Ellen's turn. She cried so loud and was a mess for all of 2 minutes. But as soon as we said we are going to McDonald's for dinner, she was all happy. So you can imagine why I really dread this day, especially knowing how difficult my son is. Well, he was difficult, that much was true. I told him that we have to take him to see some nurses, and they will give him some medicine on his arm, which will hurt a little bit. But I had to tell him that we will take him to McDonald's afterwards for dinner (same deal!). Straight away, he started whinging and whining..."I don't want to go the medicine shop... I am not sick!!!" and kept repeating that for as long as he could remember.

But when it was his turn, he sat on Peter's lap, witnessed the nurses putting the needle into his left arm, .... and nothing! I kept a close eye of his facial expression expecting to hear him scream and cry .... all he did was winced a little bit. Then we had to swap him over on his other side to be jabbed on his right arm. Again, winced and that was it! No tears, no crying, no flinching, no whinging, NOTHING!!! Nothing like his sister! He must have inherited my pain threshold. I even had lollies in my bag, his hanky (a security thing), dinosaur toys, etc as offerings and I didn't even need them! But he got a lolly anyway for being such a brave boy. :)

I will be attending the first Crop For Kids 2008 meeting tomorrow. Good Friday is early next year, on March 21. So we will be having the fundraising crop early in 2008 too. There will be more details on the Crop For Kids blog soon after our first meeting tomorrow night. Please bookmark that website if you are keen to find out more!

Come visit again soon!

Cal and Hsu's day out

Uncle Jimmy's funeral was good. Simple and yet celebrated the man's life. His eldest son gave a great eulogy which made all of us smile and an odd giggle here and there. It wasn't an uncomfortable funeral, for no better word.

We met our friends, Cal and Hsu from Singapore on Saturday and literally spent the WHOLE day with them. We started with brunch at Retro cafe on Brunswick Street. They serve breakfast ALL DAY, so we actually had breakfast at 12 noon! Eggs Benedict, pancakes, Hangover Brekky, Big Brekky... the lot. Then we proceeded to take them shopping at DFO (Direct Factory Outlet) in Essendon. I bought a couple of tops and so did Hsu. She is so fun to shop with, cos we both like colourful stuff and very similar tastes in clothes. For dinner...... mmmmmmmm...... Sorry, I can't help myself but reminisce first. LOL... We took them to one of our favourite cafes in St Kilda, called Street Cafe (23 Fitzroy Street, St. Kilda). Peter and I used to go there BK (before kids). There is this dish we would always order .... Jambalaya. On the menu, it says it is a Jambalaya for 2, but realistically, 3 people can share it and you'll still be rolling out of the cafe. It is done like a spanish paella, BUT if you were like me, disappointed that a paella is dry and crispy, then you MUST try this. It is cooked in a paella dish, but kept very very moist (like a risotto). The flavours are Creole, tonnes of great seafood, chicken, chorizo, olives, ..... Everyone was impressed with it. And after 5 years of not patronising them, I must say the dish is still GREAT as ever! We tortured our kids a little today, they had an extremely long day. We could see that Phaedon was just staring into blankness towards the end of the night. He was dog tired, so was Ellen.

On Sunday, I attended a Tupperware party hosted by Jess. Had a chance to see Jess newly renovated home and BOY am I loving their kitchen! I only bought a couple of things to add to my current "collection". **oops** Then I rushed home to prepare dinner as I invited Cal and Hsu over for dinner again. On the menu were Lamb casserole, Caesar salad, Crispy roast potatoes, rice and dinner rolls.... and... and ... AND.... Chocolate Fondue for dessert. It's my cheats way of getting dessert out of the way. Get fruits, eg strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, etc. Melt Toblerone chocolate with some cream, add a dash of Grand Marnier.... voila!!! Serve in ramekins, or coffee cups like I do cos I don't have a fondue set. Oranges/mandarins are also great with chocolate.

We were so full afterwards, no one could hold a conversation. They are off to drive round Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island, Yarra Valley winery tours... etc.

Today was great mail day again. I received my order from Create My Keepsakes (I couldn't pass up a 40% sale and had to get the pageframes), Memory Bug (I have been hunting for a very long time, the Heidi Swapp 12" clock overlay Moments in black, as well as XL ghost clocks), and my eBay order of Rhonna Farrer stamps have finally arrived after 1 solid month!!!!! The seller kept telling me she has sent it 6 days after end of auction (July 6), and even offered to claim insurance blah blah blah.... MY FOOT! The package I got today, was post marked July 30. She even signed the custom declaration form herself dated July 30! Not a very good liar, I reckon.

I've been nagging at myself to scrap scrap scrap.... but I just couldn't do it. Lots of new products waiting for me to play with, but I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and print any photos. Slack! I shan't blame it on mojo, they already cop quite a lot of heat from a lot of scrappers all the time. I'm pretty sure I'm just lazy LOL I promise I will scrap at least 1 layout before Friday! That is my challenge to myself.

See you again soon!

This week seems so long...

I do have a few things happening at the end of this week and I really look forward to them - a dinner with families of Peter's colleagues at a Chinese restaurant that was going to happen on Wednesday (got postponed to Thursday), friends from Singapore (Cal and Hsu) will be in town so we'll be catching up, Tupperware party at Jess' ... You know how the week seems long when you are looking forward to some events?

Then yesterday, we got a phone call from my FIL. Peter's uncle, Uncle Jimmy, passed away in the hospital at 4.30am on Tuesday morning.Uncle Jimmy had not been well for a while. In fact, he had been in and out of hospitals for really critical illnesses and unfavourable prognoses, with dim hopes of leaving the hospital for the past 2 decades! But every time he just managed to prove them wrong. He had heart attacks, angina problems, kidney failures, pneumonias, chest infections, so much so that the doctors put him under induced coma .... you name it, he had it. The doctors had time and again said to the family, to be prepared. They have heard it so many times, they were probably used to it. He would always managed to walk out of the hospital on two legs, and lived a normal and great life. He would take the train into the city on a regular basis. He would make friends with strangers, the grocers and butchers at the Vic Market.

This time he didn't make it. But I think we expected that too. We went to their house yesterday for a visit. The house full of visitors was quite lively in my opinion, which I think is a great thing. According to his children, he wanted to be cremated. On Friday, we will be attending his funeral.I was telling Jorja, I don't like funerals, not because I feel sad but because I don't. It is one of those occasions where you just don't know what to do - to be happy or to be sad? What to say - there's nothing you can say to make the occasion right? My personal feelings about death is that it is part of life. There is nothing to fear, and everyone should expect that. It will come to us (or our loved ones) one day, like it or not. I would rather celebrate one's life, than mourn one's death. If you have spent every living moment of your life being happy and having no regrets, there's nothing to mourn about. But I understand that not everyone shares the same sentiments like I do, so that's why I don't like attending funerals, cos I don't know what else to say to not offend. Does that make sense? So I will keep very quiet, and if you know me, that makes me the most uneasy - to stay quiet!! LOL...

So now, the passing of Uncle Jimmy makes this week seem even longer.

On another note, I received the felt shapes I bought off this Etsy store - Tattered Tags. Look at these things! Just thought they are sooo cute, I had to get some. I ordered them on 27 Jul, and got it today... 1 Aug! How quick?!?!


I also received delivery of a new mouse. NO! NOT THE 4-LEGGED TAILED FURRY CREATURES! The ones we use for computers!! So now I'm scrolling the pages with ease.

I really should be scrapping. But before that, I got tagged by cutie, Jenn Tan and the sensational, Nura Keif. I am now also a Rockin' Girl Blogger!


And last but not least, if you feel like a challenge, go to {CREATE} Make It Happen! and do the August challenge - Red/White. :) The RAK prize is pretty groovy! And if that's not enough, if you post here to let me know that you have done the challenge and submitted it to them, I will do a random draw to win a RAK from me too (if there's more than 1 submission)! So double chances of winning! Get scrapping!!! :) :) :)

I hope you have a great rest-of-the-week after the hump.