Being a mother....a lifelong journey

Project Life week 6

2012-02-14T16:08:00.006+08:00

Another week had passed....it's time again for Project Life!

This week, we take it easy and kinda relax a bit, after the vomiting spell last week. We had fun playing, eating, crafting and we had a birthday celebration.

Crafting wise, again I put my sewing machine to good use, and also some of my purchased digital elements. I created my own journal tags and I love it....will be creating more...

I have an insert this week, one side is Elise's guided drawing and another is Grace's happy family drawing.

Here's my spread this week, with insert...

And without insert

The left page...

The right page

One side of the insert

Another side of the insert

And some close up on my journal tags

Take Twelve 2012 February

2012-02-13T23:17:00.006+08:00

Stumbled into this challenge at Ella Publishing Co...Take 12 photos on the 12th of each month...I found that it is pretty fun to do, so I have to do it...I missed January but it's ok.....

I plan to make a collage of these 12 photos and have it as an insert in my project life for week 7....

(gosh...I was typing this post and was already ready to post it, then I went in to nurse Elise and suddenly realized that today is the 13th not 12th...what was I thinking?...may be I thought I'm living in the United States...haha....Never mind, I'll just cheat a little for this month....grin...)

Well, here's the 12 photos....

1. Started off the day with a visit to the hospital...Elise for review, Grace for runny nose, sore throat and some rashes at her chin (which gave us a fright)

2. VeGood drink for the girls while on the car

3. Elise trying out the spectacles (she put it on herself) in their second home..grin..Toys R US

4. Lunch at grandma's house

5. Making music (with the newly bought musical set) with grandma

6. My iPhone gave me "Unable to take photos as you are out of storage space", so I was busy deleting photos

7. Goodies from my favorite shop...Material

8. A peek on my project Life Week 6 spread...going up tomorrow

9. Elise getting the iPad fever "bug"

10. this below scene happens quite often in my house..throwing tantrums during meal time

11. All ready for bed...

12. my entertainment while nursing Elise

Project Life Week 5

2012-02-08T00:30:00.003+08:00

This week, well was full of crafts and sickies. It started off with me having a real bad gastric...which later on turned out to be an upset tummy due to food poisoning, followed by Grace coming home from school claiming that she felt very cold....and her tummy ache too.....then in the afternoon the nightmare starts....Grace vomited...twice...and later while on our way back home from my parents....she messed up my car....ohhh.....while at home, it was my turn...then followed by having a real high fever....sigh....Wednesday was an oil-free meal day and everything seems to be on the better side....but wait...on Thursday, Elise got the vomiting spell and seems to be the most serious one....and finally on Friday, Elise was hospitalized...phew....what a week....
Having said that, it was a week with the least photos....but on the hand had the most (among the 5 weeks) memorabilia to be included in my Project Life pages....no insert for this week....
Here's the 2-page spread....

The left page...containing all the photos from being groovy with daddy to hospital room....

And the right page, I used the design E page protectors, to house the memorabilia...I treated each square as a mini layout....

Project Life Week 4

2012-02-02T17:07:00.005+08:00

I'm obviously late late late......it's supposed to be Tuesday, but it's now Thursday....
During normal weeks, I usually will start planning out my pages on Thursday and Friday, leaving enough spaces for the last day of my week, Saturday...if Saturday is loaded with photos...I will make some changes to my layout....but that normally does not happen (at least for now).....I may or may not also start printing my photos on Friday.....and as soon as my week ends on Saturday night...I will print out the rest of the photos and jump right in creating my pages....normally I will need another night (i.e. Sunday night) to complete the pages....the latest, my pages including inserts will be ready by Monday night.....
However, due to the festive season last week, and us being away at my parent's house during the end of last week....my routine needs to be changed....I did plan out my pages while at my parent's house...since there's extra hands taking care of my sticky glue....but when I hit home on Saturday night....all I did was sitting in front of my TV, catching up with episodes of TVB drama on Astro on Demand that I missed....and again on Sunday night for the grand finale.....grin...
And so I only finalizes my layout on Monday and printing out the photos...then miss Grace and I were sick due to food poisioning and on Tuesday I was drop dead tired and sick.....so, I only managed to get my pages done on Wednesday.....
Ahem....sorry for the above ramblings.....here's my pages...
I have an insert this week....on one side is favorite shots of Miss Elise (note..she kinda posses for these shots) and the other side was some sunset photos that my brother took during our beach outing....
Lots of reds this week.....RED is the color for Chinese New Year.......and this week, I've got the sewing bug....I took out my sewing machine and started sewing....
A peek of my layout plan and my scribbling....

the spread this week with the insert

the spread this week without the insert

the left page

the right page

front of the insert

back of the insert

some close-ups

Project Life Week 3

2012-01-25T00:35:00.005+08:00

This week was totally random....
There's us preparing of Chinese New Year, Elise being naughty, mummy being crafty, kids enjoying pizza lunch...etc....
So for this week, my spread was full of square Instagram photos...and I do have an insert....I just couldn't resist...I decorated a basket for my mother-in-law and was playing with all 17 effects in Instagram...and so have to show it.....on the other side of the insert, was yet another layout of Elise having fun at my parent's house...

Project life Week 2

2012-01-18T15:15:00.006+08:00

This week started with me worrying that I will not have enough story and photos to build up the 2 page spread....but it ended up with 2 inserts!!!!

With cousin Amos here in Malaysia with us...there's always fun and play....I don't want to leave out those photos and so included a 6" x 12" 4R insert...

Other than that...I have another insert for a notice from Grace's school about their CNY reunion party, while the other side of that insert have an A4 layout of our preparation for the upcoming Chinese New Year....

This 2nd week of 2012, Elise was having tummy bug and fever, so I included a spot documenting her journey to recovery.....despite her being sick, she did say and do quite a bit during this week, so I had a 4" x 6" spot to record those that she did....

This is the left page...

and here's the right page, with the insert on the left

both insets

the 2-page spread without the inserts

...closer look on the 2nd insert

...closer look on the mini layout

slot documenting those that Elise did

slot documenting Elise's recovery

Embarking on recording life the creative way...Project Life

2012-01-09T12:04:00.005+08:00

Ever since I started scrapbooking, I was hooked. I love that I can use my creativity to preserve those precious memories and that all the photos that we take are not only kept in disc and computer hard disk...I know these albums will be precious in the future....there was once Grace took out the albums and started looking at her baby stories and it was fun.....

As much as I want to scrap everyday....that really is no workable when I have 2 sticky glues and a household to mend....and so, due to us moving to the new house....I've stopped creating layouts for like 4 months....gosh....that was long....

I came to realize that when life caught up with me....I create less and less.....but I still want to keep all those memories and print out those photos!!!!

After much consideration and calculator pressing....I finally pre-ordered my Project Life kit in November, waited for about 1 month and was so excited to receive my package.....Project Life is so talked about these days in the scrapbooking community.....as for my non-scrapbooking friends...Project Life is "a back to basics approach to memory keeping". You can read more about it here. (note: I'm not getting paid for telling you this..)

And so, I am now happily taking photos everyday, making notes everyday and creating the pages in my Project Life album every week....I will still make scrapbook layouts on those bigger/ special events....

After reading through the blogs of fellow Project Lifers....I get ready for 2012....

I organized my stuff nicely...

I prepared a weekly diary with pockets for recording and keeping memorabilia.

I put together the title page (still missing a photo of daddy and the girls)

We're now onto the 2nd week of 2012....and yesterday I get the spread for the 1st week ready....

1st week and I already have an additional insert...1 side of the insert is for the welcoming of 2012 at church while the other side is Grace's school activities sheet..

Here's the spread without the insert

The right page

The left page

My space

2012-01-01T21:45:00.007+08:00

A space belonging to me...yeah just me...when the 2 sticky glues are asleep....

I'm so happy with this space of mine....though not very big....it is not small....

In the afternoon, it will be a space for Grace to do her homework and craft.....other times it will be my computer room, work station (my work as family accounts clerk and church treasurer) and craft corner....

I'll let the photos say for itself...

An overall look of the room

On the table top is the chest of drawers (got it from Material) which houses a lot of my smaller stuff and the one beside it (also from Material) houses my Project Life cards (will talk more in another post)...

Nice shelf from Biggie Best..housed all of my flowers, buttons, Mister Huey and Distress Inks

These wall cabinets (originally installed by previous owner) are great for displaying my mini albums (upper) while the lower panel house all my vertically stored stamps, dies, loose alphabets, glues (in the white bin), large tools (in the pink bin), my newly bought sewing machine....and all hanging crafty creation of Miss Grace...

That pile of metal bins are both decorative and for storing threads and needles..

All my papers, stickers, die-cut shapes, are stored vertically here...this top to bottom book cabinet is an add-on...my scrapbook albums are stored in the guest room...with all my photo albums....easy retrieval for people to browse...

The book cabinet has 4 compartments, the lowest compartment has 2 shelves - houses Grace and Elise's books, the perfect height for little girls, then a compartment with just 1 shelf for all my crafty stuff, then the open shelf (as above) and the last compartment with 3 shelves - houses files (bills and documents), books and many more....

This little box below the table is also an add-on....with a just right drawer above and a carefully designed cupboard below.

The drawer houses these....

and the cupboard houses these....

The open shelf below the table....one arm houses more of my stuff...adhesive, ribbons, cutting mat, trimmers, pens....etc...

the other side with trays....houses Grace's stuff....pencils, coloring pens and pencils, a whole lot of stickers, a whole lot of mini notebooks.....

There you have it....my crafty space...I hope it will always be so tidy....hehe....

Grace's Birthday Final Part - Episode 2

2011-12-31T13:18:00.007+08:00

Wow....I've abandoned my blog for the longest time....year end is always so very busy....I'm not quite done with Grace's birthday as yet....

And so...after our breakfast, we went home for a much needed rest and nap....

In the evening, we head on to TGI Fridays for a birthday dinner....and a little surprise for the little girl....when ordering our food, I told the waitress that we are celebrating Grace's birthday and wanted them to celebrate it TGIF's way....and for that we get a Friday's Sundae on the house....

And so we let the little girl ordered whatever she wants and then we eat....

After which, the crew came out with the sundae all lit up with a candle....and while Grace is anticipating them to sing for her.....she was asked to stand up (on the chair) and sing a song.....hmmm....now that's a surprise for her....

Later when went to Toys R Us....to pick up a present for Grace (this is from her grandma 奶奶)...what else can a princess like Grace pick?.....barbie dolls off course...and yes, she also picked a set of barbie doll when her uncle (my brother) took her shopping for her present....

So...here's the last bit of her 5th Birthday in photos....

Here's the very pretty birthday girl

Birthday girl enjoying her food

Waiting for her surprise

Singing a song

from her 奶奶

from her 舅舅

Grace's Birthday Final Part - Episode 1

2011-12-03T00:26:00.007+08:00

So how did we ended up celebrating her birthday on the actual day?.....

Well...it all started very early on Saturday (26th Nov)....intended to start it at 5.30am but as "mom-the-alarm-clock" couldn't wake up...it started at 6.30am.....both girls skipped their morning bath...too early....and someone...yes...someone even accidentally skipped brushing her teeth.....hehehee....must be too excited..

Where did we head to?....."The hills are alive....in the sound of music...."err....got a little side-tracked there.....we head on to the Penang Hill...and since it was a school holiday here in Malaysia plus it was a long weekend, and being very kiasu (how can we not?...we just don't want out kids to get sandwiched....) we went early to beat the crowd....

It was a great experience for the girls to be on the new funicular train up the hill....we had small walks there...and someone complained that her little feet are tired...and since there was no food found on the hill...we head back down after about 1 hour....and went to our favorite (more of like the girls' fav) Starbucks outlet for breakfast....

Notice the episode 1 on the blog title?....yes...there's more for the little girl....

In the meantime...here's some photos on the hills....

The amount of crowd when we board the train

A curious girl...

Beautiful scenery

with beautiful people....ahem

Grace's birthday Part 2

2011-11-27T00:04:00.003+08:00

Like I said earlier....that little girl gets to celebrate her birthday over and over again (I mean...the same year!!!!)......

First celebration was with her school mates....and the second one was with my side of the family and it was in Kuala Lumpur.....ahahaha.....one lucky girl....we usually do birthday party at home but this year my mother-in-law was not around, as she went overseas for the birth of her 7th grandchild....

Anyway....it was school holidays and so we packed gong-gong's (my father) car and off we went to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday afternoon....her uncle Daniel usually fly back for her birthday...but since we are down there....we might as well have a celebration there....and so we have it at Delicious....and the food was delicious....

Here's some photos....

A Happy...happy...happy...(x100) birthday girl

with gong-gong and po-po

with Uncle Daniel (my brother)

Stay tuned for her final birthday celebration on the special day....with her special parents (ahem....)

Grace's birthday Part 1

2011-11-18T16:13:00.005+08:00

Like last year, Grace wanted to celebrate her birthday in school with her friends and so we have to celebrate it one week in advance as they will be on school holiday starting tomorrow.....

This year, I have lesser time to prepare special goodies bag for her friends...and so we had just made princess wand for each of her girl friends (altered from windmill candy...which the boys get) plus bought some stationery sets......

Why part 1?....let's just say some lucky girl gets to celebrate her birthday a few times this year....stay tune to see how many times she gets to celebrate it......

Here's some photos....

Summer "Wahaii"

2011-11-11T15:38:00.003+08:00

...that's Grace's version of "Summer Hawaii".....her tongue sort of get twisted and couldn't (initially) get the Hawaii right....she got it right later on though....

What's with this Summer Hawaii??....well it was the theme for her school's Children's Day Potluck party this year....and so we handmade her costume (err...except for the blouse and pants...of course)

we made hula skirt out of raffia strings....flower lei for the neck out of a whole bucket of Prima Marketing French Can-Ection, Paris flowers and flower lei for the head with simple handmade flowers.....

Here's the "Hawaiian" princess....

Ancient Chinese Princess

2011-10-25T07:23:00.005+08:00

It was Grace's kindergarten Concert cum Graduation Ceremony on Sunday. So we all packed up early to go to this very important (as per Ms Grace) event. Grace was too excited that she couldn't even rest during the afternoon nap....and had very early dinner and kept on asking, "Are we in time? Do we have enough time to reach there on time? Is the concert place very near or far from our house?".....

Well, I could understand her excitement....they had been training and practicing for this event for the past 3 months!!! and the teachers had been telling them lots about it.....how could a 5-year-old not be excited with it!!!!

Well, it was a long wait for her performance to finally be on stage....but we were not bored at all, as all the other shows were super cute too....and we enjoyed every moment of the waiting time.....and I was of course overwhelmed when I see my girl doing her dance.....

She was selected to join the 6-year-old class in the "Kingdom of China" dance.....

I've ordered a DVD for the whole event and so, my camera was specially for my girl... it was zoomed towards my girl....hehehe...yes I am bias.....

It was so dark and their make-up was so excessive....we couldn't recognize our own daughter!!!! We need to look for her by looking at her shoes!!!!.....

She did a great job....really proud of her....

And here are the photos with her "fans".....

Pack, Move, Unpack....

2011-10-15T22:56:00.005+08:00

Well...that's about all I did this past week....other than the nursing, fetching kid, making lunch, feeding lunch, frustrated with Elise rejecting her solid food (still) part of my 24 by 7 job.....heheee.....

Yes, the new house is now complete and I'm slowly decorating it with pretty things and filling it up with more stuff.....

I've been...of course, lagging in blogging as well as scrapbooking......I guess scrapbooking will have to wait as all my crafty stuff are now in the new house.....

However, I did managed to get this precious piece ready before the hectic house moving activities even begin....

And since I'm in the "new house" topic, here's some pictures of the new house...The study cum craft room will be in another post....(after I'm done arranging and decorating it)

Master bedroom

Guest room

Kids room

Kitchen

My new baby!!!!

2011-09-19T23:54:00.003+08:00

Making Memories Slice Elite...and it is in pink!!!!

I'm so excited and so is Grace.....she insisted we try the designs yesterday and today we tried another design card.....

Yeah...my parents just came back from their 2-month holiday from the United States(visiting my sister and their grandson there) and they help me carry this precious back...together with additional design cards and some border punches....boy, I sure saved a lot in shipping......at least 50% lesser....whoa.....

Non-crafters must be wondering what this is......it is a digital die-cutting machine which I had been eyeing for sometime now....and when my parents decided to go to the US, I just had to grab the opportunity to buy it.....children at church will be expecting some cool new die-cut shapes to use in their craft work....and I can foresee Grace making request to use it everyday.....

Here are photos of the stuff that my parents brought home for me and the girls from the US....

Little girl on the move

2011-09-17T23:02:00.003+08:00

Well, the title tells it all.....my little girl, Elise is now officially walking....she'd been holding on to our hands for a few weeks now...and sometimes when she'd forgotten to be afraid, she did managed to walked a few steps unassisted...but once she remembered, almost every time she will fall...

On Thursday, she finally walked a few more steps....but still needed motivation and help....she will still asked for our hands to hold her...but when forced to...she will walk the few steps herself....on Friday she perfected her walk a little more...and tonight, while daddy was having puzzle time with big sister...little sister walked from the shoe cabinet to where daddy is at...picked up a piece of puzzle and walked back to the shoe cabinet to "post" the puzzle piece...the distance is about 3 feet...

Here's a video of her doing her new found favorite play..."posting" books or whatever that fits through the ventilation holes on the shoe cabinet and her new found skill...walking...

The Flower Girl

2011-09-05T20:51:00.004+08:00

3 years ago, when she was merely 2 years 1 month old, she walked down the aisle (as a flower girl) bravely.....though she needed reminder along the way...and though she needed to be bribed with marshmallow.....I was so so proud of my baby girl......

Her "new style" of sprinkling confetti, gave the wedding guests a good laugh and bringwarmth to my heart....

3 years later....again she walked down the aisle (as a flower girl)...not needing reminder, not needing marshmallow.....but elegantly and a good lead to the ring bearer and bride's maid whom was not able to attend the rehearsal.....I was also very proud of her....this time round...a young lady....

(I've yet to have the professional photos...these are my iPhone photos)

Wedding Mini Album Part 1

2011-09-04T23:32:00.006+08:00

Well, again I neglected my blog....Grace was off school for a week and Moses was also off work for a week....so there's a lot of outing during this week, plus the wedding of our dear brother and sister (Ee Hong & Jenny) in Christ yesterday....

Remember I mentioned on the wedding mini albums that I made? Well, now that the bride had seen it and most of the wedding guests have seen it....I can now post it here.....

Today, I will post one of the 2 albums...."Defining Moment 8.6.2011"...these features selected ROM photos of the newly wed....

For this album....it was pretty easy to put together....I started with stamping all the pages with random background stamps ( which I don't have plenty...) then inking it with Tim Holtz distress inks to the colors that match the photos....then I put in the photos and embellishments....and viola....

I also lightly decorated a purchased gift box to keep the album...

Oh...I had been MIA for ages!!!

2011-08-21T22:22:00.007+08:00

Hello ...hello.... seems like this blog is filled with cobwebs..;)

Had been busy (ah...just some easy reason for being lazy)....I'm really busy, with the new house, with mini albums for a friend's wedding, with kids being sick......

From Grace's hospitalization onwards, I had been visiting the same doctor for almost every week...with Grace's check up, then for Elise's fever, and then for Grace's fever, then for Grace's very serious muscles pain (she couldn't even walk!!), then for Elise cough and phlegm....sigh...I hope it ends there....

Other than that, I had been busy making 2 mini albums for a friend's wedding...can't share it here as yet...as the bride has not seen the albums....will let her see it first before I post it here.....

I'm also slowly cleaning up my messy craft space and started new storage and organizing in preparation to move to the new house.....we won't be moving until end of September....but I have the whole house to organize and decorate...so I better start early....

Both girls are doing well, other than the being ill part.....Grace had a chance to visit a goat farm with her school and had a blast of time there.....her excursion for on a certain Thursday, but on the Tuesday just before the Thursday, she had fever...which makes her very sad....she cried a few times for fear that she will miss the excursion...so I took her to the doctor and she had antibiotics on Wednesday...and the fever miraculously went down....so I let her join the excursion...then on Friday, while waking her up for school....she claimed that her legs are painful and couldn't walk....I thought she's just being lazy and tried forcing her...but her expression when put to stand scares me....and so I put her onto a stroller and off we went to the hospital...did a blood test and yes....she had virus infection to her muscles....took medicine and she could run after 2 days.....(strange?!?).....hehheee

As for Elise, she's being very very and I mean VERY active...learning to walk and talk...she could not walk by herself as yet....but is very good if assisted....she babbling a lot these days....but no one can understand her....hehhee...

I think that's a lot to read already....some photos of the chickies to end this post....

Enjoying her "chocolate"....for the record, she dislikes chocolates....I wonder why?

We were having our fries and little Elise likes to have some too..but mean mummy doesn't want her to have it...so she pretended that no one is watching and take her first bite on fries....off course mean mummy took the whole packet of fries and put it some where higher....hehehe....

Hospital update

2011-07-24T22:35:00.005+08:00

Grace is still in the hospital.....with daddy to accompany her for the night....3rd night now and she'd become used to me leaving for the night and visiting her again in the morning with her favourite breakfast....

On the first night (Friday)....she cried badly when I wanna leave...makes my heart ache so much.....then later during midnight....she cried again, because she was sleeping soundly when the nurse woke her up for the gas inhaling session....other than that....she'd been very good and brave...

Her fever is still on and off, and this afternoon she still had a slight fever....I'm hopeful that the doctor will allow her to be discharged tomorrow afternoon....I really miss her....

Miss Elise is still going healthy...and I pray that she will remain healthy....but she's a little tired with all the trips to the hospital...she enjoyed the playground time there though....

Here's some photos of my brave little girl during her gas inhaling session and antibiotic injection session...(err....don't get shocked...it was just a simple session of less than 5 minutes...)

And here's both girls enjoying Hi-5 in the hospital room...

Catching up....

2011-07-22T23:43:00.005+08:00

Phew....was really busy recently..and I've not blogged for like 2 weeks?!? Well, let's catch up with what the girls had been doing for the past 2 weeks or so....

On Elise's 1-year-old check up, we noted that Elise was not gaining enough weight...she's like 6.36kg only...for her height, she should be at least 7kg..and so doctor suggested that we start formula on her....actually I've got the same plan too and so, on the same day I bought a bottle and a tin of Pediasure (recommended by doctor)....so, the next morning, both girls had their milk time....(to date, Elise is still not able to finish her trial 60ml milk..not because she hates it, she kinda like it but she's too active and busybody to finish that 60ml of milk...sigh)

We did get some time to visit the playground as a family...

Grace and I had some crafting time...
...Here's what we made...(it's gonna be in some one's new room)
The girls did some "swimming" on our balcony...

and since they love it so much, I bring them real swimming..

Then mommy and daddy celebrated their 9th Wedding Anniversary with a bouquet of flower...

Elise got this real cool car from our dear church brothers and sisters for her first birthday and the sisters had a blast fighting for it...hehehee

Look at the "This is my car"...eyes...

Then we got the keys to our new home. Grace and Elise were super excited with their room.....and mommy is gonna be extra busy with renovation and moving (later)...
Then on Friday (yesterday) evening, Grace got admitted to the hospital for having 4 days of high fever....and she's now at the hospital with daddy...pity her....but look who's more excited about the hospital bed...

A certain someone is 1 today!!!!

2011-07-05T23:36:00.008+08:00

Here's the birthday girl....with her presents....

Well...we celebrated Elise's birthday a little earlier as Grandpa and Grandma will be making their way to the United States on the 6th and they have lots of things to pack...and Sunday is just a better day to have a party....

We had a simple birthday party for her with family and close friends from church...the adults had great time with the food, while the little ones, including the birthday girl, had fun with toys in our room.....

The crafty mummy made a banner out of patterned papers from Studio Calico June's kit and some alphabets...love the effect...

Enough of words....here's the photos....

Banner that mummy made....

Pretty birthday cake...front and back

The foodThe kids enjoying their playtime...

The blur birthday girl

Birthday girl terrified by the candle and guests singing her birthday song...

Of course her big sister needs to blow the candle for her...

At least she's not afraid of cutting the cake

Grace's art work

2011-06-29T00:28:00.005+08:00

Grace has many many art works...those from school, those from church and those from home.....thus, you can image those art works being cramped on my already small craft desk...which sometime could get in the way....so I thought of a way of storing these precious.....right...put it on my layouts....

So, here's two layout showcasing Grace's art work...

The first one here is a little something that Grace made using bits and pieces of papers that she found on my table...she was making this while I attend to little Elise, and she kept telling me, she'll need to finish it up another day...because there's just too much glue....hehehhe....little ones meet glue = MESS...

The second one is a "folder on a layout" I made to store all the cards that Grace made me for year 2011....from this year onwards, I will have one for each year...that way I can save keep the cards that she made me and it would be so precious to look at when she's all grown up....

Talking about cards, there's this certain card I want to talk about here....it is for my birthday from my girl...and look at the wordings....

That day, she told me she wanted to give me a surprise...and the surprise is a card, so wanted me to give her some materials...and so I gave her some and wrote on a scrap paper the following greetings..."Dearest Mummy, Happy Birthday, I love you..From Grace and Elise"....so what happen to the "Birthday"?....this is what she said and insisted.."Mummy, this word (pointing to birthday) is too long...I can't write it...I will just write this and this (pointing to Happy, I, Love, You)...and not this...(pointing to birthday)...sigh....

Sandy Playground

2011-06-27T16:16:00.004+08:00

There seems to be a thousand beach photos to be scrapped.....yeah...we love the beach and the kids love it too....we had been going to the same beach for like every week....Elise started off with limited exposure to the sand...and eventually we let go and let her play in this gigantic sandy playground...

Somehow, she knows that these are not to be eaten and she never once tried to put the sand, nor the play items in her mouth....and she enjoyed it a lot....I dressed her in romper and long pants..so we won't get sand in unwanted areas and it is less messy, just take of her long pants and most of the sand will be gone......

Well, I enjoyed looking at her playing the sand...and just for one outing, I have 51 photos of her with the sand....so it was a hard task to stream down to just 3 for this layout....

We don't have four season here where we live, but the weather here is like summer everyday...and so I go on with using the Summer Days banner, but instead of using it as it as (a border stripe), I separated the flags and go about making my own banner...and I made a sun using buttons and some stickles...and the watermelon..it is also refreshing to have some fruits during hot steamy days....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico June's Kit, some old trims from my stash and stickles
Sketch: Sketchy Thursday 6.23 sketch

Sometimes, you just need to sleep like this...

2011-06-24T16:25:00.003+08:00

I'd posted this photo in one of Elise's monthly update and thought it was really a funny photo...it definitely makes me smile every time I look at it (I was laughing out loud when I was choosing photos last night)...she was having hard time falling asleep that day and when she finally did....she had to have this funny style...silly Elise...

And so, I used a Creative Scrappers Sketch and created this super simple page...and yes I made myself stitch again...

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico June's kit, cross-stitch floss from my stash, and silver Signo pen
Sketch: Creative Scrappers Sketch #161

Howdy!

2011-06-23T17:12:00.007+08:00

These photos were taken during our recent trip to Genting Highlands, when Grace is attempting one of the rides there.

There's a little story behind this. When we visited Hong Kong Ocean Park in March, Grace tried a ride called "Frog Leaper"...the kids version of the "Space Shot", with slower motion, shorter height, and it kinda leaps like a frog...."Frog Leaper" it is...she took 2 rides...both with mummy sitting beside her...and yes, they have an extra big seat in the middle for and adult to accompany their little ones.....

And so, when I saw the "Rodeo Rider" ride at Genting Theme Park, I thought she would be willing to take the ride. Now...this one does not have the extra big seat...as it is meant for kids under 122cm....so that's one setback...So, I tried to convince her into taking the ride by..."Look, that little girl is so little and shorter than you...she enjoyed the ride...she's not scared...she's bla bla bla...."; "It is just like the "Frog leaper"...bla bla bla...."....she agreed to try....but later intentionally avoid it....sigh....The next day, I persuaded her some more....and only at the end she agreed to try...

When the ride first started, she got a shocked and almost cried...but then there where so many people looking...and I guess...she managed to overcome her fear...and she was laughing the whole time.....when she's down, I asked her "Want another go?"........"NO"....hehehehee...

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico June's kit
Sketch: Sketchabilities June 15 sketch

The photos were too small....(guess which one is her)

Wrestling with Mr. Bolster

2011-06-22T14:10:00.003+08:00

I've noticed this for quite sometime now....when given the bolster, Ms. Elise will, for some reason, definitely "wrestle" with it....sometimes, even her pants came off...hehee.....maybe is her teething?....I don't know..but it sure was fun looking at her wrestling session...so, even with the blurry photos, I needed to put it down in my scrapbook...

I used a Sketchy Thursday sketch and played with stitching again....this time with the help of the Seweasy stitch piercer....it really was faster, rather than poking the holes one by one with my safety pin, which I borrowed from Elise (for her nappy)...

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico June's Kit and some floss...
Sketch: Sketchy Thursday 6.16 Sketch

A post that is 2 weeks late...

2011-06-20T12:05:00.007+08:00

Yeap....Elise's monthly update is late for 2 whole weeks....sigh..where has all my time go??!?

Oh well, Elise is growing up fast...time really flies...next month we will be celebrating her 1st first birthday and we're celebrating it BIG time....

We don't have doctor's appointment this month, so there's no formal weighing and measuring...but I guess she's just around 7kg, or may be less.....but she's eating fine, sleeping fine (except for waking quite often for nursing), playing fine, exploring fine, teething fine, baby talking fine.....everything is fine....

As Elise is quite a shy girl...she don't really shows the real cheeky girl she is when she's around our friends...she sometimes don't even want to smile...sigh...so I thought it would be fun to post some of those cheeky photos of her, that our friends don't usually get to see....enjoy...

"Qing ni gen wo zhe yang zuo"

2011-06-20T11:48:00.003+08:00

...the title is the Mandarin "pinyin"...meaning please follow what I do....(direct translation...hehehe)

I've blogged about this before and had been wanting for a long time to put it down on scrapbook layout....I finally got to do it, using a Get Picky sketch...

Scrapbook materials: Studio Calico June's kit
Sketch: Get Picky June Sketch Challenge #9

Read me stories

2011-06-17T19:37:00.007+08:00

As Elise is growing...she begins to appreciate a lot of things...one of which is us reading her stories, especially from this little cloth book (maybe it was because we had started reading this to her when she was a little little baby), "I Love...."...it's a very colourful book with images and simple words....it goes like this
"I love.... my elephant; I love.... my sheep; I love... my duckie; I love... my pig; I love... my monkey; I love... my pony; I love.... baby. I will usually read each page to her and make the animal sound, when I reach the last page, I will give her a hug.

Of course, the big sister has to have a go (in fact many go) reading to her little sister, and good as she is....she will add in all the sound effect and the hugging at the end.

I wanted to document down this very sweet moment...so I used almost all of the photos I captured....I want to show every expression of them both....(I'm sharing the photos at the end of the post)

I played along with Scrappin Studio weekly challenge, which is to use stamps....I have many stamps and it is time to use it...I just love the film strip stamp that comes with Studio Calico June's kit....and it is just perfect for the multiple photos...so, I embossed it with black embossing powder (something I have not done for a long long time)...before which I used some of my favourite stamps to make the background...
I'm not sure of how to use the smash pockets (from the June kit)..so I cut it open and journalled inside...I'm happy with how the layout turns out....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico June's kit, blue brads from my stash and twine from my stash

And since the photos are so small in the layout....I'm sharing it here again....

Nature lover

2011-06-16T22:29:00.004+08:00

My family is kind of a nature lover....when we were young, our house (back in our hometown) will always be surrounded with plants, vegetables and animals (yeap...animals, like dogs, chickens, ducks, geese)....we just love it..especially my brother....

Well, now here where my parents live, the house is also surrounded with plants and vegetables....the below layout is about the magnificent sunflower that my mother grows....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico May's Kit with some butterflies punched out of left over papers from previous kits, with Martha Steward punch, and some gems from my stash
Sketch: None

Being such nature lover, of course we have to visit the beach numerous times...(and of course to satisfy the kids)...here's our 2nd take on making Sandcastles....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico May's kit
Sketch: None

Missed me?!?

2011-06-14T14:12:00.004+08:00

Went MIA for a few days......school holidays...sigh, always makes me even busier....plus, brother-in-law and family from Singapore visited us last week (and so some extra activities), plus church children camp during end of last week....

Yeap.....we went to the beach twice with Grace's cousins...once during the evening and the second time it was like 11am when we reach the beach...so you can imagine how Grace look like after the outing....

Then I was busy preparing kits after kits (crafting kits that is), booklets after booklets (with my Zutter binding machine) for the children camp. We had a blast during the camp.....children loves their craft materials and I even let my class play with some of my wood mounted stamps....love those stamps....I don't have to worry about the kids being too rough.....

Here's some photos of the kids enjoying their stamping session and the very messy table....

I will be back with layouts that I made way before the school holiday starts and Elise 11 month old updates (yes...I am way way too late)

Travel

2011-06-02T00:12:00.005+08:00

Just came back from a short trip to Genting Highlands....is not a relaxing trip though..having to haul two kids between the outdoor and indoor theme park is really very tiring....plus I was not well...having a bad headache (after a ride on the "tea cup" with Grace), too full with milk (and only breastfeeding mothers know the pain) and then ended up having fever...sigh....

The kids enjoyed it though......yes kids, even little Elise was having fun with the rides.....and keep on demanding for more....

Well, today I quickly quench my thirst to scrap with a really simple page...it's the cover for my Vacation album....I used to create mini albums for each of my vacation...but since I was so stressed with mini albums, I decided to make a real big album to house all of my vacation pages....and so i bought a D-ring album and make 12 x 12 pages for my vacation photos...

This page has lots of white spaces....but it will soon filled up (like our passport pages) with stamping of the names of place that we visited.....

Scrapbook materials: Studio Calico May kit (bits and pieces), Teresa Collins patterned paper, Little Yellow Bicycle sticker, Pink Paislee Ephemera (left over from April kit)
Sketch: By Jessy Christopher for Scrappin Studio Sketch Challenge

Playing with colours

2011-05-28T17:29:00.003+08:00

Yeah...I mean really playing with them...mixing this and that to get stunning new colours......that's when Grace meets colours! She will definitely enjoy every colour session....she just likes to mix them up!

We have this "Paint you own" kit and started off with 6 colours....which we then turned to a whole lot of pretty new colours....we had a blast doing so...and the kitty had a blast wearing those colours...hehhee....

I too was playing with colours in the background of this layout. I misted it with Mister Huey's Mist....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico May Kit, tag maker
Sketch: Get Picky May Sketch Challenge #8

Last 2 layouts using Studio Calico April Kit - Singin' In The Rain

2011-05-25T23:13:00.004+08:00

Whoa.....13 layouts all together...using materials from the main kit Singin' In the Rain and add-on kit, Mosses Supposes....and here's the last 2...

This first one...Grace was making so much noise about having a pair of sunglasses just because her grandma, her uncle and her aunt have it.....so we have to get it as soon as we stepped into the shopping mall....and so, during lunch, she and her uncle...just fool around with their sunglasses....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit
Sketch: by Davinie Fiero

The second one, it was a photo which my brother took from a staircase, while all of us are in the see-thru elevator....we were on out way to a family dinner, celebrating my dad's birthday....the expression on our faces....priceless..... although the photo is a little blurry...Grace helped whole lot in completing this page....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit
Inspiration: from Kelly Purkey's QM layout

Family Booklet

2011-05-20T18:01:00.006+08:00

I have mixed feelings for mini albums....I love their size...I love that they are in one theme...but....it stressed me out when I'm creating a mini album...I could go from full of inspiration and oomph to complete it....to no mood at all to touch it...or even see it....sigh...and then there's storage problem...I don't have that many place to showcase my mini albums and if I keep them away...then it will be a waste of effort!..

So, when I saw this challenge for Scrap-It-Lah, though I have plenty of products packaging in my stash (I have this habit of keeping them...especially if they are pretty), I put-off the idea, for fear that I may not have the "strength" to complete it......until I saw this yesterday..I get inspired right away and thought of making an album for my little nephew, Stanley, who lives in the US.

And so, I made this little mini album today....it features everyone in our family, with their birthday (just in case his mother forgets..hehehe), and Chinese words of who we are.....my parents will hand carry this to their little grandson when they visit in July....

Here's the mini album....(apologize for the bad photos....evening is not a good time to take photos in my house...every where seems so glare)

A very simple album cover....

The page on the left is decorated by Ms Grace...the embellishment on the bottom right...I fuzzy cut from Basic Grey product packaging...

The mini calendar is a gift from Smidapaper (Penang's only LSS)...

Again, I fuzzy cut the design on the Basic Grey packaging

The "cards" on the right...I cut out from the tiny pieces of promo papers (not sure what they are called) that come with my Studio Calico kit (yes...I keep them too)

That girl figure on the left is from Grace's toys packaging and the care it is on is some key chain packaging...hehehe...seems that I'm keeping everything

Just a cheeky girl!

2011-05-18T11:07:00.002+08:00

yup...that's Elise...Grace is equally cheeky....sigh

I was with my iPhone and Grace was trying to put that hairband on Elise....so, Elise gave me this nice post....hehehe....

This is a simple layout to record Elise's cheekiness....as of May 2011

Scrapbooking material: Studio Calico May Kit - Lawn Party, Studio Calico product packaging
Sketch: None
Challenge: For Scrappin Studio May 16th Weekly Challenge

Little Elise enjoying the outdoors

2011-05-17T18:28:00.006+08:00

Did I mention little Elise likes going "kai kai" (out..anywhere out of the house)? Oh....she really likes it so much, she will squeal with joy whenever we say we are going out and when she notices we are preparing to go out....to a certain extend, she waits at the door....

Here's 2 layouts of the little one enjoying the outdoors....the playground and the beach.....

The first one, she's at the playground near our house....here's where I will bring them if it is not raining.....and here's where the big sister conquer the swing....little sister conquered the play station...see her joy?

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit
Sketch: Scraplift from Susan Weinroth's "Let's go outside" layout. Loved the little tree, and ended up using her sketch too.

This second one was little Elise during our first beach outing this month. She initially was irritated with the "sandy" feeling, but later found that there's nothing to fear about....so she started "walking" (well, with help of course) and then proceed to crawling...and in one of the photos, she'd grab a "pinch" of sand in her hand....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit
Sketch: Studio Calico NSD Sketches

Long long title

2011-05-12T23:12:00.001+08:00

Naming a layout can sometimes be a little hard for me....thus, most of my layouts have short (the most 3 words) title....this month, I played a little with the titles and made 2 layouts that have very long title...

This first one.....was about Grace finally overcome her fear for swing....yeap...she was very afraid of swing....ever since she was a little baby....she refused to sit on one...even if I forced her...it will only be 1 or 2 swings.....ever since she joined school, she'd become a little more wild and more courageous.....don't know since when (sigh....sometimes things happen too fast)..she'd overcome the fear...Now, whenever she visit the playground...she will want to sit on the swing...and you can hear her say "Mummy, push faster....faster.." and she can still be silly and dance a little while on the swing...

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit
Sketch: none

This second one...the title and the photos say it all...little Elise trying to kiss the "other her" on the mirror...she seems to be enjoying it.....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit, frame from some pregnancy journal (my sister sent it all the way from the US), Jillibean Soup journalling sprout
Sketch: I scraplift the idea for the title from Nicole Samuels

Koi Haven

2011-05-12T11:34:00.001+08:00

Early April, I (together with my 2 little girls) followed my parents and my brother to Alor Star for Qingming (is a festival where Chinese people visit the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors in memory of the deceased). And of course, there need to be other more fun activity for the little ones. So dad brought us to this Lye Huat Garden (about 20 minutes from Alor Star) so that the little ones can have fun looking at the animals and most importantly the Koi fishes.

To me....the mini zoo and other displays were just "so so" but the Koi pond was amazing. The fishes were so not afraid of people and were so eagerly waiting to be fed...that whenever you walk by the banks of the pond, the fishes will follow you....and sure enough...little Ms. Grace had a blast feeding these fishes....I think I finished up 4 packets of fish food....

Here's a fee shots of the fishes to give you an idea of the number of fishes..followed by a page I made to safe keep this memory....

Scrapbook materials: Studio Calico April Kit, Jenni Bowlin Stars Chipboard (left over from March kit)
Sketch: Sketchbook 3 Online Class

The Wig and Gear Up

2011-05-10T00:01:00.004+08:00

Just wanted to share these 2 layouts on respective girl.....

Earlier I purchased a bandanna with wig for little Elise...just to cover up her "hair-less-ness"....but she doesn't like it....she kept reaching for it and afterwards....I found fake hair all over my bed....sigh....but it sure make her look different...

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April's Kit, some die-cuts shapes from years ago, Basic Grey Brad, Jillibean Soup journaling sprouts
Sketch: Sketchbook 3 Online Class

Early April, my dad promised Grace a set of protective gears so that she could wear it during her cycling session. Unfortunately, the store owner was out of pink helmets, so for the first week after the promise was made, Grace only get the elbow, palm and knee shield....she was ok with that provided her gong-gong get the helmet that weekend and give it to her the next week.....unfortunately again...the stock does not arrive on time...this time Grace made a big fuss and only a tub of ice-cream could solve...so, waited for another week...and here she is satisfied with her gears....(note...the knee shield was too big for her...so used the elbow shield as the knee shield..)

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April Kit, rick-rag from my very big ribbons stash
Sketch: Sketchbook 3 Online Class

10-month-old Elise

2011-05-09T00:39:00.006+08:00

Can you believe it? Another 2 months and we are celebrating Elise's 1st birthday!!!

This little girl of mine is 10 months old.....and she's still at the 6.5kg range...I don't know why...she's been eating and drinking milk well.......but people around us says that she does looks bigger....and she's happy....so I think that's ok.....

She did get sick...with throat ulcer...thanks to her oh so compassionate sister...whom kept kissing her even when I warned her not to.....sigh..

Well....here's a series of photos of the little one....

For some reason, she likes to wrestle with her bolster....and sometimes even her pants came off....

Digs into this basket for her toys...she can sometimes climb into the basket, grab a toy and then climb out of it...

Love, love the playground...

Can you see her saliva?!?

Still put almost everything that get takes into her mouth
Knows where her toys are...here, she's trying to get the box of balls....
Doesn't like people touching her mouth....so this is a very rare glimpse of her 2 little teeth
Isn't she cute?

The more you stop her from grabbing something, the more she wants to take it...here she's trying to bring down the plastic container in my parent's house

And if you stop her even more....this is what you get....

How lovely.....

And sometimes....she just needs to sleep like this....

Sandcastle

2011-05-07T14:30:00.004+08:00

Grace was off school for the past few days and will be for another 5 days....is she sick? No.....her school was advised for a compulsory 10-day close due to the outbreak of hand foot mouth disease....and so, 2 kids at home is driving the mummy to the wall....

So, on Thursday....I bundle them up and went to my parents place.....so that I have extra helping hands....like all grandparents....my parents is also always looking for fun stuff for the kids to do...and so later that day....we bundle up the kids and lots and lots of little containers and off we went to the beach.....it was our first time to this beach...it was a really nice beach...with shades and clean beach.....Grace love it and Elise also grew to love it....

Why little containers?....well, we did not know that we're heading to the beach, thus left all our sand-play gears at home....being my dad....whom is so good with kids play.....found all those old stuff and took it to the beach....Grace had a whole lot of fun making castles.....

And...of course...we had to go again next week....and I can foresee...many many weeks to come.....

Here's a page I made on our creation....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April's Kit, Rub-ons by Cosmo Cricket
Sketch: by Jessy Christopher @ Scrappin Studio blog

Above all else

2011-05-04T19:10:00.003+08:00

About this time last year, I made a "Mother's day resolution"...which I always hold on to....

"I MUST do all I can to shepherd their hearts. Guide them in the right path. Tackle their heart, instead of aiming for temporary correction of the exterior. Teach them the words of God. Teach them to fear the Lord. Submit them in the hands of the Lord."

And yes...this remains my goal as a parent....

Yes...there's a whole lot I want my daughters to be.....like the layout below, among others....be amazing, be true, be kind, be themselves, be grateful, be positive...but ABOVE ALL ELSE, I want them to be faithful to the Lord our God.....to fear the Lord....to always walk in God's path....and Yes...that remains my most important, our most important for the rest of our lifes.....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April's kit, Mister Huey's Color Mist (Applejack), Basic Grey brads
Sketch: Sketchbook 3 Online Class

Splashin'

2011-04-30T14:19:00.004+08:00

Other than the rides in Hong Kong Disneyland, there's this one place called UFO Zone (@ Tomorrowland) which attracted a lot of children, and with no exception, also attracted Grace. Grace was already talking about that zone even before the trip, as I showed her video clips on the happenings in Disneyland.

One thing good about this zone is that, you don't have to queue for hours just to get on the ride...as it is just an area with spritzing water. While we were there, Grace really enjoyed herself and of course get herself wet....lucky I have change of clothes, which initially meant for layers of clothing to keep her warm....

Well, I captured a video of her running around like crazy at that zone, trying to avoid the spritzing water...and from there capture photo of the moment....the photos were not very good....but it did showed how much she enjoyed the play...

Like I said earlier, Grace will often ask if there's anything crafty that she can help, so one afternoon, I gave her the task of applying dimensional pearls on those chipboard shapes that I use in the below layout as her afternoon activity (you see, we substitute her afternoon nap with activities, and she gets to sleep easily earlier at night...if she nap, she is only able to doze off after eleven at night)....

Anyway, her colour applying is not very smooth...but I like it as it gives a little dimension, and the thing I love most is how she mix the colour on the cloud+rainbow piece...absolutely nice.....

Scrapbooking materials: Studio Calico April's Kit
Sketch: Sketchbook 3

Handmade with love

2011-04-28T22:59:00.005+08:00

Grace often came home with stickers and pieces of cute paper, claiming that they are from their friends. She mentioned that her friends often share things with her. Being my Grace, she has to have something to share with her friends too...so I suggested that we make something for them. Yeah....Grace was super excited....

Did I mention how she loves my papers and embellishment?...well she sure do...she often come to my desk asking for papers and offering me help in completing some craft.....I can see that she's got talent in this....

So....I gave her some tags, some rub-ons which has been sitting in my stash for almost 2 years?!?...some die-cut shapes, some ribbons, teach her how to apply distress ink to the tags...and off she go..on her creativity ride....
(being her ever so wanting to be perfect mummy, I did touch up a little on the distress ink application)

All I want to say is...I'm proud of her...and she told me that she's so excited to give her little surprises to her friends....

Scrapbook materials: Studio Calico April's Kit
Sketch: Sketchbook 3 online class

A simple saying "Hi" giveaway....winner

2011-04-28T18:40:00.002+08:00

Hey...sorry for the delay....

Grace was on medical leave for the last 3 days and so, when she gets back to school today, she has got lots of homework do and these homework takes a long, LONG time to complete...plus I went to fetch my mom whom just got back from Kuala Lumpur...

Yvonne...your daughter will have all those lovely papers to craft on.....please email me your snail mail address....

Scrap my heart out.....3

2011-04-22T23:37:00.009+08:00

(p/s...the giveaway is still open...here...)

...with Studio Calico March Kit...In the Woods...this month, I purchased an add-on kit (because I just can't resist the stamp)...

Well, with the add-on...I'm able to make 13 layouts plus 2 mini album pages...

Wow....that's a lot of pages to share...so I shall stop writing now...

When I saw this layout (the last layout) from Studio Calico Design Team, Jen Jockisch, I went ooh...ahh....that's how to use the big pockets....so I scrap lift her layout..instead of patterned papers and tags...I slot in all the travel "documents"..and I love it...everything from the kit...

Then came another idea from Amelia Khalik from Scrappin Studio...here...I took the sketch and made my version....it houses the journalling (long story) for this layout..a non photo layout..wait those tickets are the photos....long story short...thanks to Grace's "kepoh" (busybody) hands....I have these to scrap....everything from the kit except for the white paper clip

In April, I joined an online class..Sketchbook 3 by Kelly Purkey..and this is sketch 1. The title says it all....Amos is Grace's cousin brother and he is 1 year 3 months younger than Grace..I added a few phrases stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle

This sketch 2 from the Sketchbook 3 class....Grace just posing around at "special odd" places during our trip to Hong Kong....added some stitching...

These photos were taken in sequence as shown...really funny expression by the little one....sketch 3 from the same online class...and still today, there's no way I can trick her to take her porridge...

Did some lousy stamping here..(but who says everything has to be perfect?)..that's the stamp that I can't resist...Grace and Elise playing on our very big bed..while mummy trying out her Lomo Lomo iPhone apps....added the colourful banner from Cosmo Cricket and the phrases stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle

Just to document down the wonderful hotel that we stayed in while in Kowloon..it has a see through glass wall for the toilet...of course if you need privacy, just lower down the blinds...the see through glass wall was really useful to us...Grace can have her bath tub fun while we can relax on the bed....and still be sure she's ok...added the red photo corner chipboard shape from Scenic Route..Grace helped colour the stars with Dimensional Pearls

Sketch 5 from the online class....and that's the Panda posing for Grace but showed us the back when Moses steps into position...

Also sketch 4 from Sketchbook 3....added the phrases stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle and the die cut shapes from Pink Paislee..nice tea cups @ Winter Warmers

Our cable car ride @ Ocean Park Hong Kong....a ride that Grace couldn't wait...

Dedicated to our fabulous Daddy....the journalling was printed on Studio Calico stamp packaging....added the phrase sticker from Little Yellow Bicycle

A story on Grace's art class on every Friday...played with the alphabets here (cause I've run out of so many alphabets)...added phrase stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle and yes...that's Grace's colouring work...and I was a little carried away while adhering the circles...that's why the uphill...

Grace's school excursion to the Fire Department...she was overjoyed....sketch 6 from Sketchbook 3....added the journalling tags from Jillibean Soup...and I seldom use stickles....

Phew...that's a whole lot of photos and explaination....hope you enjoy it....

A simple saying "Hi" giveaway....

2011-04-22T12:02:00.003+08:00

Yes...hello to my blog readers.....I know some of you....but not all of you....

Well, I'm having too many pretty papers at home and since I'm creating mostly on monthly kits, these pretty papers were getting neglected in my stash. So, I'm hoping to give some away....for my blog readers and for some local community center.

Nothing fancy...just 24 pieces of pretty patterned paper (not the newest collection though), 5 pieces of cardstock, 2 stickers and 1 alphabet stickers.

Whether you are new in scrapbooking and wished to build up your stash or you are a non-crafter but need some pretty papers for your kids to craft on (Grace loves my papers)...just drop me a comment in this post. I will let this run till Thursday, April 28th....I will let Grace draw a name at 5.00pm (Malaysia time).

And...thanks readers for visiting my blog...

Scrap my heart out.....2

2011-04-14T11:12:00.007+08:00

Well....I'm still scrapping and catching up with using the Studio Calico kits...I'm currently almost finish with the March Kit and hope I can finish using the April kit by end of the month so that I can start out with May Kit in May......alright...let's just hope....

Today, I will share those layouts I made using the Feb kit, Candy Shoppe. I managed to get 8 layouts and 2 mini album page with this kit...

A happy day for Grace...she'd been talking about meeting Mickey Mouse in person ever since we plan for the trip. All items from the kit...love the clouds and sad to say I misplaced it and now it is no where to be seen :(

I took videos of the entire parade and transform some of the scene into photos....and this layout features all of it.....a simple layout..everything from the kit..ran out of the letter "a" so used 4 to represent it...

The amazing dolphins in Ocean Park...it was a fun show, all 3 except Elise enjoyed it. Elise was terrified by the loud music...everything from the kit

m & d here stands for mother and daughter..just documenting those moments together...also everything from the kit...

Our Disney day...the highlight of the trip..you can see that by this time...I've run out of some of the main alphabets...added the verse stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle

Took this photo for Grace's report card photo....it was hard cutting all those circles (though I have a circle cutter) and applying adhesive using my Xyron...everything from the kit

Grace has a happy bag (made by yours truly) which is full of goodies...and I will bring it along everyday when I fetch her up from school..came up with this idea when she was far too emotional earlier when Elise was born....added the pink chipboard alphabets from American Crafts...

Need not explain this further...Grace is a princess and barbie mania...added the foam alphabet from American Crafts and some stitching...can't believe I have the patience to sew on paper....

Elise is 9 months old!!!

2011-04-13T11:34:00.005+08:00

Okay....I totally missed out on this post...was busy scrapping and something happened on the first few days of Elise turned 9 months old....

Well, there's no injection this month and so I do not have a very accurate statistic of her weight and length. My guess (with the help of an old scale) is that she's between 6 to 6.5kg and she's almost 68cm long.....Not much difference as compared to last month....but she's happy as can be most of the time....except for 2 occasions...

During this month, she'd had many first....first airplane ride, first immigration stamp on her passport, first Hong Kong and Disneyland experience, first ride on a cable car, first MTR ride, first Tram ride...that's a whole lot of first....

Other than that, she has also started crawling (on fours) and is now roaming every where in the house...she's not so much of a food person, don't really like to eat, especially that bowl of porridge...however she loves her Baby Bites biscuits, egg yolk and almost anything that has apple added in it...

Also in this month, she started her "teething drama"...premiering 3 days before we leave for our vacation with very high fever, doctors said that there's nothing wrong with her ears, throat, lungs...and said it was a viral fever...but I'm sure it was her teething...her fever just disappear on the 3rd day...and 4 days later when I feed her bread, I touched her 2 lower front teeth...

The drama continues....just last Friday, she decided to have a nursing strike. What "nursing strike"..you may ask. Yes...you guess it....protesting sore gums by refusing to nurse....argh...it was such a big drama, with frustrating mummy, hungry baby and a pitiful big sister....mummy was worried that Elise will be hungry, and because she refused to nurse and also eat other food...the baby is hungry and because she's hungry and grumpy, mummy needs to carry her all the time, and because mummy's hands are occupied...she couldn't accompany the big sister...and because big sister don't get to do all the activities she wants with mummy....the big sister gets grumpy....sigh.....and thank God that it was just for 2 days.....little Elise decided to end her STRIKE on Sunday evening!!

Well....I guess too many words this month....here's some photos of the little 9-month-old....

Scrap my heart out.....1

2011-04-05T10:02:00.007+08:00

I was in a really scrappy mood the past 2 weeks or so....with so many photos in my laptop and with my Studio Calico kits always in view, i can't help but think about scrapping all the time. And so, I had been really crafty and completed 2 layouts on most days (except weekends when it was family day)...one in the morning half when Grace is at school and Elise is napping and the other one later at night when both girls are sleeping.

I really need to catch up on the Studio Calico kits usage...as I want to create using the latest kit every month....and I have lots of travelling photos...

So, here's my work and all these are made using Studio Calico January Who's Who kit. Plus the other 2 that I shared earlier, I managed to get 8 layouts plus 2 mini album pages (6"x6") out of the kit and there's still some patterned paper left.

Our recent Hong Kong trip, where Grace kept asking a hundred time, "Are we there yet?" Goes into my vacation album.
I added the red die cut chipboard stickers (Prima Marketing), the verse stickers (Little Yellow Bicycle), the pink alpha thickers (American Crafts), boarding pass..hehe...

That's Elise on her first ride on a plane ever...
I added the white corrugated alpha (Jillibean Soup) and the boarding pass again...

Grace's Chinese New Year dress...
I added the kraft corrugated alpha (Making Memories)

Elise..so eager to stand..here, she's about 7 months
I added a brad (Basic Grey)

Elise..when she just started solid...

Photos taken by Grace using an iphone apps, Lomo Lomo.
I added several die cut shapes (Pink Paislee).

Short trip to Hong Kong...

2011-03-19T16:44:00.002+08:00

Was off to Hong Kong last weekend for a short trip...and of course the highlight was Hong Kong Disneyland. Grace was so very excited...for the trip to finally come, during the entire trip and sure enough was very down and sad when the trip ends. These videos that we took during the trip help make her happier....

Enjoy....

Gosh,....another month had passed by just like that....

2011-03-08T11:29:00.004+08:00

Time does fly...don't they? It's another one of Elise's update. She's now 8 months old...

She's not gaining weight very fast......and so, I'm feeding her 2 meals of solid right now....but she looks healthy and is always (I mean ALWAYS) on the move....her legs, her arms, her bum bum, her body....every part of her....is always on the move....

She'd started crawling....it was amazing seeing her learning to crawl...she started off with very good position, then she got mixed up and thinks that she need to lift her bum bum real high to crawls....then she did the frog leap..then she finds out how to sit up by herself...and then when she'd get hold of it....she's on the move on fours.......Now..the "gate" (the pillows) that we previously "installed" is no longer useful...why?...she tries to climb over it and that's really dangerous....and when I piled up the pillow and used her basket to block her way....she holds on to the pillow/ basket and she stands right up!!!

And...she's getting really mischevious too....Here're 2 videos of the very active girl...

Crafting....

2011-03-01T11:44:00.008+08:00

Hello readers.....it has been a while since I last post about crafts...err....well ok, it has been a while since I last post.....not active these days.....super busy with life!

Well, no matter how busy I am, I still steal some time to make scrapbook layouts and crafty stuff....and off course scrapbook shopping. However, instead of buying and buying every time some new stuff is released, beginning this year, I limit myself to a monthly kit from Studio Calico and only buying tools (like adhesive) as and when needed.....I've been eyeing on Studio Calico kits for too long now and finally decided to make a monthly subscription.

The longer international shipment time coupled with my busy life....I've only now started using the January kit and I've only done 2...sigh....

Here's the 2 precious layouts....

The first one here...is about my 2 girls.....two pockets holding a tiny note each. The note is about the character of each of my girl.

Next is a simple layout to document down the special one week when Grace was selected the Daily Leader in her class.

Up next are 2 mini albums.

This the very thick album about Grace's first school, first class. It holds numerous photos of her in her school (taken by teachers....parents not allowed at school), notes that I made about her first day at school and even holds the receipt for her school fees for a year.

Then this is an album I made for an old friend from United States.

Here's what Elise was up to during her 7th month...

2011-02-09T11:39:00.007+08:00

.....perfecting her sit

.....try out new taste..rice cereal, rusk,
avocado, sweet potato, banana, baby biscuits

.....sticking out tongue (lots)

.....smile (lots and lots and lots and usually ends with sticking out tongue)

.....rolling around in our jumbo bed (and discovered the curtains)

.....putting on bandanna with wig

.....fooling around with jie jie

.....went to the beach and enjoyed the outdoors

.....and at the end of it, she weighs 6.1kg.

@ 6 months old, Elise....

2011-01-06T23:53:00.006+08:00

is weighing at 5.9kg...

is 60cm tall...

has started to roll....now we have to have "doors" to our platform bed...

grabs anything that comes near her and is very aggressive in attempting to grab anything that she sees....

is very smiley now...

is still very close to me but now can be cuddled by others..

could recognize her daddy, and adores him...

is getting prettier by the day...

is very demanding, anything that she wants to grab, she wants it...if she can't reach or we deter her from reaching it...she will whine...ahah...yes, whine...

is sitting unsupported now....her greatest achievement this month!

Here's the little smiley face....

Addicted to online shopping

2011-01-06T07:26:00.003+08:00

How often do you buy online? Never? Once? Seldom?

Well, like the title suggests, I'm addicted to shopping online. It is so convenient! Having 2 kids make physical shopping super hard and troublesome. Well, convenient it is and you can do it anytime you feel like doing it even during the middle of the night! All you need is a computer, an Internet connection and of course a credit card!

I first started online shopping when I had my first daughter. Then, I was looking for breastfeeding clothes. Soon after, I was hooked on scrapbooking and since we don't have a local scrapbooking store here in Penang (there is one, but it was far from where I live), I had no choice but to order online. And since then, you could see Poslaju (Malaysian Courier servce) guy making delivery to my house every now and then.

Recently, having another addition to the family, I became even more engaged in online shopping. This time, I have "shopping for children's clothes" added to my list of online shopping experience. Branded kiddies wear at reasonable price delivered right to your doorstep....who can resist that?!? Not me!!!.....hahaha

Now, most of Grace and Elise's clothing are bought online. I'm now looking at buying shoes online too. But this had me thinking and worrying whether I'm buying the right size. Well, having seen this video by Start-rite Shoes, I'm more confident in making online shoes shopping. Such great idea! Children shoes manufacturer developed an innovative way to help parents measure their child's feet from home so that parents can buy shoes online!

Talking about shoes....I like shoes, Grace likes shoes. We can't settle for just one pair of shoes....I guess, practically all ladies are like that. Even my husband has more than 1 shoes. Like Grace, she has to have sport shoes, school shoes, shoes to go with her princess dress, noisy shoes (hehehe...that the "high heels"), shoes in different shades/ colours.....phew....I better stop here...else I'll need another shoe rack at home. Okay....time to go "shopping" for shoes online!

just a photo to show you how much Grace loves shoes.....

Fashion...fashion...and more fashion....

2010-12-30T22:34:00.007+08:00

Hello....long time no blog...had been busy, but it's not over yet, am still busy preparing accounts and budget for my church AGM next Sunday!...phew when will I get my crafting time back??

Well, let's talk fashion today. You see...Grace is growing fast, and a girl will always be a girl...she loves Barbie, princess, dress-up..you know, those stuff that every girl likes...which the mummy likes too but had no chance of doing when she was a little girl, thus the pampering came.....because the mummy wants to play too....wahaha..

Let me name the things that my little girl is doing this Christmas season...

1) she already had the Princess Costume which I bought for her school's party and the accessories of course...but what's new was, her cousin Joy was here last 2 weeks....errr...she's not that kind of wanting to dress-up, so the 2 came out with a "Grace dress-up and Joy take photo" game. So my girl will wear all her accessories (noisy high heels included), do some really (and I mean really) sexy (oohhhh..ahhh..) post, and Joy snap it with iPhone....fun ah?

2) Mummy bought her an original Barbie, but not Barbie herself, it was Barbie's friend (whom I've no idea of the name) and some original Barbie outfits and accessories as Christmas present. Why do I have to state original? Well, mother-in-law had given her for her birthday a cloned "Barbie" and outfits, then a cloned "Barbie" came with her princess birthday cake. Now she has 4 Barbie dolls and quite a number of outfits....it's a good thing that Barbie and her clones can share outfits.

3) Still not pampered enough? The mummy brought Grace and little Elise to Queensbay Mall today for a "Barbie - A Fashion Fairytale" live show. And she enjoyed it. Here's some photos of the stage setup.

4) Want some more? And mummy couldn't resist this set. And here's Barbie and her clones with the set.

A little girl, anticipating the play with her latest toy set.

5) And....hubby got me an iPhone 4 this Christmas, and off course there's lots of games for the little girl. She likes to play but not for a very long time...she will try out once or twice for each game and then keep the iPhone. But when I install this particular apps, it kept her quiet for some time. Here's some of her creation:

Grace

Mummy

Elise

Hmm....talking about fashion and dressing up, do you ever thought of dressing up your grill? Yeap...those that you use to barbecue and grill your food! Well, check out these grill covers and Kettle covers from 1001 GrillCovers, you might find a nice "dress" for your grill!

Christmas is just around the corner...

2010-12-21T11:01:00.002+08:00

....and it's getting really chaotic here at our house...kids playing and watching tv and quarreling all day long..last minute shopping....last minute performance practice...Christmas gift wrapping...decorating the house....phew....

which means....I will need to be missing for a while, at least until after boxing day..

I will leave you with our Christmas tree and all the presents.....