We Are Family + Cutesie Photos of Abby

Before I start, I would like to say THANK YOU for the time you took to leave a comment or two on my blog. You know who you are and I truly appreciate it! With that, I want to give you a big bear hug!

 I made a layout the other day using only the Dear Lizzy paper from the Lucky Charm collection. Honestly the colors are not really my style but I love the design so much that I went ahead and bought them anyway. No regrets as the paper work so well together! I usually love to work on the same collection because the patterns and colors are designed to work for each other....it kinda saves me some time to rummage through my stash to find the perfect one. I hope you like this one :)

Oh and before I go....I have to share this. She's too cute not to share right? Lol.....

 Abby at 14 months

xoxo

Layouts To Share......

After an emotional post yesterday, I thought I would cheer things up a little by sharing these layouts with you. Nothing makes me happy (besides my family) than creating and sharing them with you. Being creative is a stress reliever for me, an outlet to create things for myself and feel good about it. I have never like a hobby for this long and I definitely see myself doing this for many years to come.

This layout uses a lot of Chilled Cucumber Soup paper by Jillibean Soup and in fact, they are mostly scraps left from my previous projects. Check out the list of supplies here. This picture was taken during Jessy's visit to Penang late last year. We took Abby to the hotel they were staying for a swim. And right before pool time, we managed to snap some pictures in her hotel room. Abby seemed comfortable with Jessy that she let her carried her around.

I used mostly Crate Paper for this layout and I entered it for their April challenge. Think I develop some kind of banner fetish and I hope you are not bored with them yet. Compared with the photo above, Abby has grown so much! At least she has more hair now....lol. Love my baby to bits!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

5.5.2013

On May 5th, I joined millions of Malaysians to cast our vote and do our part for the country......to make a change. A change for a better government is imminent as the ruling government is so corrupted to the core. In the 55 years of Independence, this is the first time Malaysians are so united in fighting corrupted government. The opposition could have won the election if the ruling government had not use dirty tactics. Phantom voters, blackout at counting centres, extra ballot boxes appeared out of nowhere and gangsterism are few of their tactics used just to win the election. They might have won the Parliament seats but not the heart of its people. Millions of Malaysians are aching but we will not stop....we shall rise and fight again! With that said, I still LOVE my country....(not the government).

The so called indelible ink used on our fingers to prevent double voting. There are a lot of complains that the ink came off easily with soap...not so indelible after all.

TO BE ONE, TO BE UNITED IS A GREAT THING. BUT TO RESPECT THE RIGHT TO BE DIFFERENT IS MAYBE EVEN GREATER 

-BONO-

A Card & An Album

Do you remember the banner layout I did a month back? You can check the original post here. I was estatic when I received an email from Nicole Harper that my layout was picked as layout of the week and will be featured on Studio Calico blog. That was almost a month ago and I forgot to share it with you until now. Me and my memory doesn't work that well these days....well they never did anyway...lol. To check out the Studio Calico blog, go here.

Ok, the reason I suddenly remember about the banner layout is because this card was inspired entirely by it. To be honest, I love this card so much! Well, the ampersand doesn't bring any meaning but I thought it kinda blend into the design and I love that I could use a clothespin on it. Not to mention, it's a super quick card too. Think I whip this in less than 15 mins ♥

Two weeks ago, I was commissioned to make a mini album for a retiring person. There are over 30 messages and I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to put them all into an album. Lucky it didn't take long :) I typed all the messages and print them out. Easy peasy. This is the album cover and I love the title so much. Retirement = World Longest Coffee Break. How true! Sorry for the color and quality of these pictures because I took them with my phone. I left my camera in the office and forgot to bring home. Told you, me and memory don't get along well ...lol.

There are over 30 pages and here are some of my favorites. Clean and simple...exactly my style :) I used quite a number of washi tape on this album too. I realized I like washi tape on album or card better compared to layout...which explains why I hardly use them on my layouts.

xoxo

Friendship Enriches The Soul

A very good friend of mine who is also a co-worker is leaving her current job. She's always so supportive of my work that I thought of making a framed layout as a farewell gift for her. Think she will like it. Well, as I have mention it's a framed layout but unfortunately the picture doesn't turn out quite well as expected so I'll just show you the layout instead. In order to complete this layout yesterday night, I literally looked like a panda bear this morning with a two huge dark circles under my eyes. Lucky there is this thing called concealer :) 

I had fun playing with Crate Paper and here you can see I mix the old and the new collection....love how the colors and patterns work so well together.  This is the reason why I love Crate Paper so much!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo

Layouts And A Card For Jillibean Soup

Happy Friday everyone! I have a few projects up on the Jillibean Soup blog that I have not share it here yet and here they are.....

I absolutely love the latticework Placemat, it's especially useful for those who don't own a silhouette. They come in 12x12, you can choose to work with the entire sheet or trim it down just like I did on this layout. Jill aka The Big Bean gave us a challenge back in March to use as many products as possible on a layout without looking too crowded. I decided that the Placemat is the perfect candidate to showcase papers from 4 different collections. I started by tracing the latticework pattern on several papers, trimmed and adhered them on the Placemat, leaving some of those blank  because I like it that way :) The next products I love by Jillibean Soup are their alpha stickers. Absolutely LOVE! Here you can see I used 6 different alpha types (including Wise Words) to create the title. This photo of me and Jessy was taken back in November 2012 when she and her husband, Eric visited us. She was pregnant at that time and now her baby is already 2 months old. Time is flying by pretty quick!

No doubt, I'm white space lover. I can't seem to fill my entire page with embellishment or paper and have to have some empty space here and there. It's just my style. So this layout is a perfect example of what my true style is. Clean and simple :) Love this photo of my daughter and my MIL....the title says it all, she is truly my MIL's sunshine :)

Lastly, a card I made with my favorite collection, the Chilled Cucumber Soup. I almost used up some of the paper from this pretty collection...just can't help it. This card was made based on a sketch by Kimber. I love Kimber's style and her sketch is so wonderful to work with! 

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

"When We Say I do"

When I saw the new Maggie Holmes collection at Crate Paper blog, I knew I must get my hand on them by crude or by hook. Fast forward a few months and this girl finally get what she wanted! I bought almost the entire collection but still waiting for my 12x12 kit to arrive. The timing was right when I saw that Crate Paper hosted a "winged" challenge on their blog. If you followed my blog long enough, you will remember that I love to stick butterfly on almost every projects I created. So much so that my crafty friend, Jessy labeled me as a butterfly freak...lol. And as a known butterfly freak, how could I possibly pass up this challenge without giving it a try. So I did and the bonus was this layout was chosen as runner-ups along with some amazing and talented crafters. You can see the winning entry and the rest of the runner-ups here. Hope you like it as much as I did!

xoxo

Jillibean Soup: Dad Card

TGIF! Weekend is upon us and do you have anything plan out yet? Me? Not so much....just hope to spend some quality time with Abby. We've been out and about almost every weekend and as a mama I felt bad to have mess up with her nap schedules. Anyway, I have a Jillibean Soup card to share today. It was an origami shirt and tie. Trust me, it's not as complicated as it looked.....you just need a bone folder and a bit of patience :)

xoxo

Two Best Friends

I stayed up way past my bedtime just to finish this layout and it was so worth the effort. I love the result so much and most importantly is I finally put my MME stuff into good use. I used mainly The Sweetest Thing collection and this is by far my top favorite by MME followed by Lost & Found collection. I was so inspired by the beautiful pattern and soft colors in this. LOVE! 

Here is a picture of me with my best friend taken at her wedding day. Can't believe that we've known each other for almost 20 years and we've definitely come a long way! Maybe one day I willl dedicate a post to my bestie :) But for now, I shall leave you with this layout of us. Hope you like it :)

xoxo

Sweet Little Moments

Can I say that I love all the patterned paper from the 5th & Frolic collection by DearLizzy? The color and pattern on each paper just make my heart goes pitter patter. While in the process of making this layout, I kept reminding myself to save each and every piece of scrap left from this precious collection of mine  :) The chipboard pieces are from Neapolitan collection, also by DearLizzy. I had them for a while but never gotten around to use it until now. I also had a thing for splatter ink these days and it really does add some interesting details to my otherwise plain layout. I used to be hesitant about using cardstock as my layout background but ever since I discovered this fun technique, cardstock has been my go to choice.

This picture holds a special place in my heart for a couple of reason. First, it was candid....we were totally unprepared and I wasn't even aware of it. Second, Abby was smiling happily. Third, she was actually crying really loud before the smile took over. We did a mini photoshoot at a friend's house and while halfway through, Abby fell and knocked her head hard on the floor. She wailed like there's no tomorrow and I quickly picked her up and comfort her. It was when my friend decided to capture this precious moment of us. It reminded me of how much I love my daughter and that I would always protect her and be by her side whenever possible. It is sweet little moments like this that I would want to remember forever.

xoxo

Jillibean Soup: Friends For Life Layout

This went up on the Jillibean Soup blog yesterday and I'm glad I could share it with you today. If you have seen the new CHA collection by Jillibean Soup, you will notice that I've used almost everything new on this layout. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again that the Chilled Cucumber Soup collection is my favorite thus far. I feel so blessed to be able to work with these beauties, all thanks to Jillibean Soup ♥

Let me share with you how this layout came about. First, I'm a sketch person and I always start off my project with a sketch (usually my own) so, when I found this sketch from Pinterest, I jumped right into it. I followed the sketch closely and to re-create the grid lines, I used a brown ink and my faithful tracing wheel to start making the faux stitch lines. So easy and fuss free. I did a tutorial a while back on how to create faux stitch with a tracing wheel and you can find it here. Hope you enjoy!

On a sad note, Google Reader is shutting down in July. Have you heard? I have been faithful to Google Reader for so many years and depend on it for my daily dose of inspiration. Now that they are announcing of shutting it down, I feel lost and sad. Of course there are other alternatives out there such as bloglovin and feedly but they are not as good as ol' Google Reader. Oh well, guess I need to deal with it and live on......

xoxo

Photo Day

• Abby enjoyed being cuddle by her grandma (my mom)
• Vintage tiffin carrier on display at Spice Market, Rasa Sayang Resort
• Sneak of my layout (will share here soon)
• Yummy goodies from Korea counterpart
• Altered tray by my craft buddy Jessy
• Grilled chicken for lunch
• Coffee to perk up after four hours of frantic running around town 
• Me and hubs at his best friend's wedding

I am much more active on Instagram now compared to before. Think I get the hang of snapping picture whenever I could and with the apps on my phone, it is a breeze to edit and post pictures with just a few clicks or slides. Without a doubt, Instagram pictures are dominating my PL spread. Speaking of PL, I hope to share mine soon....am still working on it :) Stay tuned!

xoxo

Jillibean Soup: Friendship Card

It's only March and already 2013 is a tough year to begin with. It felt like a roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs as well as some shocking ones. Life is just unpredictable and when you thought you have everything figure out, the truth is you were just fooling yourselves. I've had my fair share of life experience and one thing I've learned from this is I'm actually a strong person. Not physically strong but mentally strong. I was thrown back with news that are so bad that I never imagined I could ever face it but I did....and I did it with positive attitude. I never knew I had this in me....at least not until now. I've come to realized a lot of things in life and one thing for sure is to appreciate things or people around you. Never for once take them for granted especially family and friends. I came across this quote when I started cardmaking and I take it to heart "When Life Gives You Lemon, Make Lemonade".

Enough of my ramblings and let's move on to something cheerful, a card maybe? Lol. I was pretty stoked when the mail man delivered my pizza box that was filled to the brim with Jillibean Soup new CHA collection. I have been waiting for it for so long and it felt surreal to have the products lying right before my eyes. Awesome! My favorite collection has to be Chilled Cucumber Soup. The colors and patterns are so beautiful....so much so that I'm a bit reluctant to use them. But since I have DT assignment to fulfill, I make pretty project out of them. First up is a card using mainly Chilled Cucumber Soup. You can head on over to the blog for more details.

Have great day ahead!

xoxo

Jillibean Soup: Feb projects

TGIF! I have a card and a layout to share with you today....

A very simple yet masculine card using pea pod parts from the Macho Nacho Soup collection. I love how the products are named after soup.....but they also create a problem for me when I work on my project way past midnight....they make me hungry! Lol.

At a glance, one would quickly think that these photos were taken at the same time but the truth is they were taken at five years apart. The one on the left was from 2008 and the one on the right was taken earlier this year. Thanks to the sunglasses that hide our "changes". I am pretty sure if we take off our sunglasses, you are able to tell which is the old and which is the new photo. Anyways, bakc to the layout....if you wish to know more of the supplies used, you can always check out Jillibean Soup blog. There are tons, and I mean tons of daily inspiration to keep you going.

Alrighty...that's all I have for today. If you don't see me dropping by your blog to say hi this week, I'm sorry. I promise you will see me again next week. Have a great weekend!

Jillibean Soup: Shocked Layout

Hello Firday! I am so glad that this week gone by real fast and weekend is almost here. I'm so tired that it took a huge toll on my sanity. Just so you know Abby is the culprit of my dark eye circles. I haven't had a good sleep for a long long time and it gets worse during teething or when she's sick. I'm praying hard that she will let her mama have some sleep tonight. Just one night and I will be very happy.

Now onto some scrappy stuff, this layout was up on the Jillibean Soup blog today. I challenged myself to use up the journaling spots that were lying on my desk and started arrange them on my page. Once I'm happy with the placement, I glued them down and even sewed the title together. My mother-in-law captured this photo with the flashlight on and Abby was shocked by the bright flash that she gave us this funny expression. So cute!

Hope you have a great weekend ahead!

xoxo

Published Cards and Layout

I've been hit by flu bug since last week and it has now progressing to cough. Can't say I'm on the road to recovery but it's getting there. Keeping my fingers cross.

I haven't been sharing my latest pubs with you so I thought it might be good to do it today. Since having a child, I haven't been as active in submitting as I did before. I used to submit every other month and create stuff just for publication purpose but I hardly have the time now. Let's see what the next few months bring. 

So here goes........

 Published in Cards December 2012 issue

 Published in Cards November 2012 issue

Published in Scrapbook Trends January 2013 issue

xoxo

Photo Day

As I kick started Project Life early this year, picture taking has been a weekly ritual for me if not daily. You can see me whipping out my camera phone whenever possible hoping to capture my everyday moments. iphone and Instagram have completely changed the way I take pictures and I love it. Fast and simple...just the way I want it. Here are some of my favorite shots taken last week....

(Top left - right: afternoon tea with my mom at Sushi King; pasta for lunch with my buddies; met my crafty girlfriends for lunch. Bottom left - right: me and abby; posing with her cute face; sleepy eyes while daddy shop for shoes)

xoxo

The Love of My Life

I love this picture so much. If picture speaks a thousand words then this picture speaks a million to me. What I love about it is how beautiful and natural their smiles were! This was taken a day after Abby's first birthday party, we helped her open up her presents but this baby was more interested in the wrapper and boxes rather than the presents.....lol. While they were busy, momma had to snap some pictures of them....and this is what she gets. Bliss!

I was experimenting with picmonkey and super love their filter. They are free but you can join their membership to enjoy more privilege. I created my collage with them too. Check out their website and try on their free tools....you will love them.

xoxo