Just Keep Swimming…

Ever watched Finding Nemo? I’ll always remember catching this film with my nephew and the Beloved and how much fun we had…While Dory is so absent-minded, I like her philosophy of just forging ahead, in spite of all circumstances…. These days have been exciting, but tiring too, which numerous activities packed in, like having an all night scrapathon from 6pm – 6am at Yommie’s Place, my LSS where I teach classes. It was fun hanging out with the ladies, dressed in our PJs, having a sizzle, singing crazy songs and scrapping into the night. That certainly helped me completed numerous pages! Here are some for Pink Sketches that have been fun to create:

Just Keep Swimming, a personal reminder not to fear anything, anyone or any circumstance, but to always stay afloat…we all need that at some point in our lives, don’t we?

Then here’s the next, which again shows how much I miss all the lovely food I can find readily in Singapore and Malaysia…. An ode to all the cravings I have. Only that, I have to do all the cooking of the dishes when I want to eat them, instead of happily skipping downstairs, to the eateries near my home to buy from uncle a packet of chicken rice, or from the lovely Malay auntie, my sambal goreng (veges fried with chilli)…

I’m slowly learning to slow down and smell the roses…Admiring the beauty all the around and gasping at just how creative God is… The Beloved and I love driving home and just taking in the skyline and the beautiful trees and blooms that surround us…Of course the birds here are also more aggressive. I always revel in his stories of how magpies and ducks attack him when he’s out cycling…Must be quite a sight.=) Thank God for His protection however, given how common a phenomemnon this is, that cyclists here are often attacked. In fact, most cyclists here wear sticks in their helmets, in a bid to scare off the birdies, though I think they still try nonetheless, but fewer attempts are made. So here’s to God, the Creator, who’s 100% original. See the word “Bloom”? I ran out of “L” and “O”, so “1″ and “0″ replaced them, making them a lovely touch in capturing the essence of this page.

More on life soon to be posted, while I continue to happily cook, create and celebrate life…Ta!

Page after Page…

Not posting much these days, but that does not translate into not creating. In fact, here’s a post filled with pics. BUT before we get to that, thanks for all you well wishes and for sharing my joy! I’m throughly blessed by al lthe opportunities I’ve received of late in the world of creating. Before I post pics, allowed me to invite you to join us at Zutter for a Blog Hop! The OZZ Ladies, ie, the pioneer, original Zutter Zisters are having a blog hop and just by leaving comments, you might win some yummies for yourself!

First up, here are the pages created for Pink Sketches for the last few weeks, which I have been slow to post.

That’s Sketch #48, which celebrates the time spent with my bro-in-laws and sis-in-law bowling during Boxing Day last year. I certainly miss them heaps!

Next up, a cheerful happy page of our trip to Jervis Bay to do some whale watching. It was absolutely delightful and we enjoyed ourselves throughly, from the beautiful weather, to the whales, food and friends we made.

Last but not least, this week’s, marking it Pink Sketches’ #50, it’s Sojourn, a reflective page, as we trust the Lord to lead us. As sojourners through life, uncertain of what the future holds, we can only pray and seek His face… These days, we learning to do a lot more of that, knowing that ultimately, we can control nothing…

Not sure if you remember an earlier post where I mentioned how the Beloved and I love to make a special purchase for significant places we visit? For our honeymoon to Penang, we bought Mr Royal Typewriter, which I have not mentioned nor introduced to the world…yet…

Say hi to Mr Royal Typewriter, whom I fell in love with the instance I laid my eyes on him. Do the Write Thing! A page created as an ode to my honours year thesis on Righting Myths….

I’ve got loads more to share, but they will have to wait for now, as I return to the process of cutting, sticking and getting myself messy. Thanks for being patient and do stay tuned!

Floriade

The Beloved and I had a great time at Floriade! Each year in Canberra, this flower festival is held, heralding the arrival of Spring. We enjoyed admiring all the flowers and simply marvelling at how detailed God is in His creations. One of our favourites from the day, this beautiful organ that travels far and wide around Australia, playing at different fairs!

Music just makes everything seem so much livelier!

Candy Shoppe Designs

How exciting is this? I’m the Guest Designer over at Candy Shoppe Designs this week! Have fun creating those bookmarks and you might be a winner!

Live As You Wish

A quick one today. A layout created for Pink Sketches. Pics were taken during our First Wedding Anniversary last year. I know, long overdue pics, but isn’t that what scrapping is about – capturing all those precious moments we had, regardless of when they happened? Can’t imagine how time flies… We’re looking at our second anniversary in a couple of months! There certainly is a need to seize the day and live it to the fullest! Carpe Diem!

I Love My Mee

One of my earliest memories from my childhood involves noodles, otherwise known as mee back home. To be specific, fishball noodles. Back then, a bowl of mee would cost $1.50 and the uncle that prepared the mee would always add a hearty dollop of ketchup to my bowl. I’ll always remember the day that my nanny praised me when I could actually finish eating an entire bowl of mee! Till today, mee one of those things I I love eating and since arriving here, I’ve been missing my wanton mee. So, the challenge was to create my own. Here’s the result of my hunger and craving:

How’s that? I was delighted that I managed to have some char siew(roast pork) in it too! All created from scratch=) So much for tooting my own horn… Just wanted to remember this moment that really, the most important ingredient in cooking is passion and nothing will be impossible… Ok, being hungry helps too…One of these days, I’ll be doing my own laksa…Me want mee!

I Like Surprises

A little while back, a kind Lady, Ellen, emailed me about this layout. Was I surprised to find out today that I’m featured on Core’dinations’ blog! Thanks Ellen for this feature. You have truly made my day=)

In the same vein, here’s a shout out to the ladies who have been so generous with your comments and praises. To Kate, Felicia, Huimei and Ros, let it be known that your words never cese to put a smile on my face=)

Here’s a recent layout created to utilise pictures that I had of the Beloved and I. You know how it is that often, after developing pics, we change our mind about which ones to include in a layout and we end up with a pile of pics that do not belong to the same event? Well, the Zutter solved my problem in this instance, where I scrapped about being Bound 4ever.

The owires served as an excellent embellishment to complement the message on this layout – that of how we’re united for life, a commitment we made the day we started dating. If you notice the top left hand corner, the equation there is not the result of my poor arithmatic.

 

When you flip it open, it actually reads:

Tah dah! There’s a little surprise journalling there. And of course, more journalling at the bottom corner, where little embellies were tied to the owires:

I say this layout was one of those where I really had loads of fun creating, not that I do not enjoy the others, but this one was challenging in terms of including different items to reinforce the subtle message and the layout, be it the frames overlays, the wires or the cherries…

Okie, since I’m on a roll, more surprises. While playing with the owires, I decided that my scrapping supplies should become wearable art as well. So this was what happened:

When worn on my wrist, here’s how it looks like:

How’s that? I should try to make some earrings soon with the wires….another challenge..=)

Finally, another one of those ideas that caught my fancy – a mobile featuring the weather! There it is, hanging from our porch:

Closer view of the top, where the wires were used as the main structure of this creation.

 

Phew! That’s a lot of pics in one post! I hope you had as much fun looking at them as I had creating them. =) As for me, Im just waiting for more surprises=)

I Can Count…

Pop-ups never cease to amaze me. I tell myself that when I have my own children, I’ll see to it that they have a good collection of pop-up books – and possibly mummy will be making them. Now, now don’t start guessing, I’m not pregnant, at least I don’t think I am=) So for the last week, I’ve been imagining and enjoying the entire process of putting this book together, “I Can Count: 1-5″. Come join me on this counting journey.

So here’s the cover. THe entire book was bound using my beloved Zutter, which ensured that the pages will be held together forever, regardless of multiple handlings. Notice the little birdies? They’re our pal as we learn our numbers, through each page. So count with me now…

1 big, blue flower, blooming in the sun.

See the ruler below the page? That will help us keep track of our progress=)

2 kissing birds, very much in love.

Ok, the Beloved cautioned on how appropriate is it to have this in a children’s book. My stand, teach them early on the real meaning of love. Parental Guidance=)

3 Tall Trees, reaching for the skies.

Get your tongue moving, pronouncing each word clearly as you go along…. I like a little alliteration.

4 beautiful butterflies, flying higher… and higher… and higher…

We’re progressing….see if you can remember what 1,2 and 3 were…

5 barking dogs, running round and round.

I love to see how the doggies are all about, barking their heads off. If you’ve made it to this point, well done! You can count!!!

Okie, that’s enough from the teacher for the day. It sure feels like I’m re-living my days as a teacher again. Thanks for humouring me my dear reader. You have a good day=)

Exciting Stuff Has Been Happening…

Ok…So I haven’t blogged for a few days… Not that I did not want to, I did in my mind…But there has been loads going on…i’ve started a new job on a casual basis, at a local florist!!!! I’m totally over the moon with that one, as it’s a dream come true! Prior to coming, I mentioned to my mentor back home and my Beloved that I would love to have this opportunity to explore all things creative. The Lord heard my prayers and I’ve been happily meddling with flowers=) I’m not trained in floristry, so that makes the Lord’s goodness all the more sweeter, that someone was actually willing to offer me a position.  Working in a florist is more than just making flowers look good in a container. It’s back-breaking work tending to them – changing water, rotating the flower etc… So as you can imagine, my body is adjusting to this new job. I love every minute that I’m in the shop=)

Beyond that, I’ve also been busily creating stuff that will be posted over the next few days. First up, for Pink Sketches this week, we have Seeing Double:

 

If you had read my earlier post about us spotting double rainbows when we were travelling to Canberra, this page is all about that. That’s my sis in the pic with me. Many people think we’re twins, but we’re certainly not, but we do have similar features and even my mum gets confused when we call home these days, mistaking us for each other=) Do check out Pink Sketches! We’re looking to add new designers to the team! 

I’m excited as tonight, I’ll be teaching for the first time at my LSS (Local Scrapbooking Shop). Totally grateful once agian for all these doors that the Lord has opened=)

The Best Embellishment…

The other night, while the Beloved and I were talking before turning in, we were discussing how embellies are such a big things for creating and he started this imaginery post which I think makes so much sense:

“You know how much we crafters love to have beautiful pages and try ways and means to embellish a page? I think the best embellishment any scrapbooker or crafter can ask for is…Time!!!”

 Having moved to a new land, where time is on my side, creating has been so much more fulfilling, what with me enjoying every step of the process. It’s not that I did not enjoy the process back home, but there was the constant nagging of uncompleted work, general fatigue and just this whole uninspired aura, as a result of my overworked state of being. I like how I’m able to grow from strength to strength through each piece I make, not having to worry that I’m taking too much time nor sleeping hours. I’ll readily admit that I’m blessed to affort this luxury. Given my present situation, I’ll live it to the fullest and learn how best to use my time wisely, so that when this best embellishment should one day not be on my side again, I’ll know how best to cope…

The layout for Pink Sketches this week is an example of me, having hopefully learnt from time management. Given the amount of stuff I was creating last week, I was happy to learn that the sketch lent itself well to a simpler layout and this was done after I returned home from the markets:

 

So all crafters out there, I say that money cannot buy us the best embellies. Ultimately, it’s all about how time is used…=) And I pray that you too, will enjoy the creative time you get.