I Survived my Child's first overseas trip without Me!

I'm so, so, so VERY honored to be invited back to be part of The Daily Digi's Digi Files for November! Today Yin Designs is being featured, so do hop over to The Daily Digi to take a look :) Thank you to Steph and Katie for this great opportunity!

And here is my contribution to the Digi Files #35!

I greatly enjoyed creating these pages, especially the single pages, all photos taken by dh using his Vista Quest , must be the tiniest digital camera around, I think, that takes these quirky little pictures, that makes these interesting layouts :)

Credits: Background paper, paint smudge, sea shells, word art, ringspill from Tropical Paradise by WM(squared), word arts by Suddenly Artistic , word art and flower sticker from Vacation by Wild Blueberry Ink

I Survived my Child's first overseas trip without Me!
Jared has come back safely from his 4 days school trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam! His school took 200 12 year-olds there for learning (museums and the Cu Chi Tunnels), sharing (they visited a Vietnamese school) and sight-seeing. We wonder how the teachers survived it and are so thankful to them for giving our kids such a great opportunity! (Ryan laments that he still had not had such a chance at a school overseas trip) The trip costs each child S$590 (about US$480), our government Edusave fund paid S$300 and we paid the rest. It was a great deal as they stayed in a 5 star hotel and flew SIA!
Before he left for the trip I nagged him so much, he kept telling me "Mom i know what you're going to say for the next 15 minutes!"and proceeded to do just that, lol. I tried to be a level-headed, modern, open mom, but it was hard to stay cool and calm especially when all the kids did not call home as instructed on the first night, 4 hours after touch down at Vietnam! They were apparently delayed and were too tired when they got to their hotel past midnight. The next few days were almost the same in terms of communicability and it sure was hard for me! Thankfully some of the moms (who had daughters that messaged a few times a day) fed us boys' moms some information so we could 'get' by, bless the girls, haha!
Especially during each evening when the three of us left at home find ourselves having these rather quiet and serious conversations, we so missed the sometimes crazy, nonsensical inputs from Jared! I was going on so much about missing Jared that dh and Ryan joked about drugging me till Jared got home, lol!
In due course after a 2 hour flight delay Jared arrived home none the worst, thoroughly enjoyed the trip, a little wiser, and a little more independent. And me, a little better at letting go and letting my little boy grow up :) He will be thirteen in 2 months time and I know there is a lot more of letting go I will have to do - as Tracey said to my last post, this age is so exciting, this age also keeps us on our knees!

Here are some photos he took on the trip:
This is a board game J and his team mates made, for 'teaching' English to the Vietnamese children they met. I must ask him, I'm not sure how it's played :)

And here's a scene from Ho Chi Minh City. Bikes everywhere!

He had no photos where he was in the picture! There were lots of photos where his friends were holding their cameras to their faces taking photos of him though, lol. Aren't they cute! It's fun looking through the lens of my son!

Mousescrappers.com
Some time ago I came to know about this lovely scrapbooking community where the focus is on anything Disney related! You can find Disney tips, resort & travel info, Disney layouts and scrapbooking supplies! Recently I had a chance to get to know a group of ladies at Mousescrappers.com who are volunteering to make photobooks for families of children who have had Make a Wish trips to Disney World. The books are of photos from their wish trips! It is just so meaningful I had to join them. However, it is the lives of the children and the families, their courage, joy and grace that touches and blesses us many folds more. If you would like to contribute or help, please let me know by emailing me at yindgs at yahoo dot com dot sg, and I'll link you up if they need more help. Isn't it a privilege that our hobby can be part of something so meaningful!

And here are more Shanghai trip layouts, it was really nice scrapping the photos and reminiscing and checking my travel journal for details to journal, I do have so much to catch up though!
Here we were at the Science & Technology Museum. It's almost compulsory for us to visit the Science museum in every city we visit :P . What was different in the Shanghai museum was these various robots doing Gungfu moves, dancing chinese dance!

Credits: Background Paper by EGiovanni, stickers from Danielle Engebretsen, Allison Pennington, and 'Science' page by Abish Allen created from PDD Hypothesis

This next layout is from the time we spent at the Historical Museum of Shanghai - really charming museum that brought to life how the traditional chinese and new western ways coexisted in old Shanghai.

Credits: Background paper and coins by Girl Boheme, Flowers by Heather T, and Alpha by Jady Day Studio

And then we spent a meaningful time at the old home and museum of Mr Sun Yat Sen, learning a lot about his life, ideology, brilliance, and his love for China and the people.

Credits: Background paper from Sahlin Studio's watercolorpapers, black ink by Emily Merritt, Borders by Shawna Clingerman, alpha by Retrodiva designs

And here is the first of many layouts to come, featuring the World Expo at Shanghai 2010! We spent 3 full days at the World Expo, exploring many countries' pavillions, exhibits, finding out about places we might never be able to visit, tasting their food, buying their souvenirs, it was so much fun and interesting and just the sort of stuff my family digs :)

Credits: Background paper from Chelle's Creations, earth and word art by Kaye Winiecki, flags by Miss Cato

More photos from the World Expo - night scene - arguably even more beautiful! We got there as early as we can and leave as late as we can, and start again the next day!

Credits: Background paper by Pretty in Green, glitter by Emily Giovanni

This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!

And here we are with my cousin's family in Shanghai, we had a great, great time catching up, enjoying their hospitality and company!

Credits: Background paper by Allison Pennington, border from yesteryear by The Tattered Pear, alpha by Gina Miller

This is now available as part of Template Pack 7 in the store. Thanks for your interest!

Seasons of Life

We are studying Ecclesiates in church and it does feel like a season of life is passing for me! Jared's big PSLE exams are finally over. Certainly studying was a big part of it, but more than that, Jared has grown and matured so much in so many other ways :) In my opinion, the Lord allowed a rejection from his dream secondary school, and through it Jared learnt the powerful lessons of humility, teachability, responsibility, working for a goal, and the personal satisfaction of working hard on something and knowing you did well. I know, big words and phrases, huge stuff!

He is also learning to Gpray and trust God about the choices - he hopes to try applying for the dream school again when the results are out while also asking Him for guidance about the other two schools where he has been offered a place. Can you imagine, my little boy, facing such huge decisions so well?

Last week, J and I had a cute candid conversation about this, that went something like this:
Me: You know, if you find that you tend to excel at big national exams, you should go to school A.
J: No, I prefer relaxed.
Me: Then you had better go to school B, which is a six year program that allows you to skip one national exam! No need to try for the 'dream school'!
J: But I prefer interesting.
Haha! He sure has his own priorities clearly sorted out! We continue to pray and await God's choice!

Right after the exams, J's school informed that they are organizing a school trip to Vietnam and Jared is selected. Wow, another step forward, travelling overseas without mommy! He is terribly excited about the without mommy part, only I am cringing inside, lol. I have to let go, it is that season of life :)

Similarly for dh, remember I completed a page myself for a daybook in my life in Aug? I also got dh to do a page and this is the result:

I so loved to read some of his answers, especially "I am creating... a stable home for the family" Love him!

And also some of his deep concerns for Jared showed "I am thankful... for Jared's getting into 2 great schools, what a terrible feeling for him if he had to face rejection at such a tender age", "I am hoping... that Jared will go through these exams with his spirit intact"

And this is funny and so accurate: "Around the house... toys, toys and more toys. a busy house, full of creative activities: stop motion movie making, computer game writing, scrapbooking and tonnes of books."

If you haven't, capture your day and your sentiments in a Daybook page and include it in your scrapbook albums!



It was so nice to be able to do a post after a long month! I played around in blogger and found that a new series of dynamic views are now available and it looks real cool! Here's a preview, click HERE to try the new view. You can even toggle to different views on the black menu bar there!

I'm now making great efforts to catch up on my trip photos! I'm probably only a third way through my Shanghai trip album that was in June last year! Here are some I did so far:
This layout is from a morning we spent in QiBao, touted in the guide book as an original town preserved, but we found it to be terribly turned into a tourist trap! Still, being where the chinese tourists go was interesting, just look at the top two pictures in the second column from the right. Those were pig snorts and baby ducks! I ran from the scene, dh managed to take the pictures, lol!

This Miniature 'museum' was also in Qibao, you won't believe how tiny these furnitures, vases, sculptures were! About an inch tall but oh so delicately carved from semi-precious stones, just amazing.

Next we went to a fun shopping space at Tai Kang Lu built into old alleyway homes, it's now has hip and cool shops existing in these old buildings with families still living in the upper stories.

And this was how we spent an authentic sunday morning the Shanghainese way, in the City park. These above layout templates are in the store.

And I bought my first strand of real cultured pearl necklace in this Shanhai market. At least, I hope they are real! The store owner shaved the pearl with a knife, to show me that underneath it is authentic pearl with real sheen and shine. Looks real to me! I loved that I could customise the length and select the individual pearls that I want for my necklace!

This is now available as part of Template Pack 7 in the store. Thanks for your interest!

Technology, iPhone and Scrapbooking

You might have seen in my Week in the Life pages that I got myself an iPhone last month. It has created a bit of a stir in my family! If you'd been following this blog, you will know that we as parents try very hard to guard our boys against the invasion of (or addiction to) technology/computers/phones/internet/games. My boys have claimed and protested that they are the only two children in Singapore that do not have phones, X-box, nintendo, Wii, and the like. (Well I found another parent who has the same convictions so now we both tell our children they are the only four in Singapore!)(We finally gave Ryan a phone when he turned 13 and has to travel across the island to/from school by public transport)(Jared is eagerly waiting for his turn - he turns 13 in 4 months time) :P

So it was hard to justify my iPhone! I am not into any games, nor am I on facebook or twitter. But I enjoy being able to access online stuff and check emails and blogs and forums especially when I'm commuting or waiting, and love that I can organise my entire life on it, lol! I'd be honest, I was rather caught up with trying out apps, wallpapers, finding the perfect cover.. Dh was not really disapproving but mildly amused. But he teased me no end about it and called me his 'teenage wife' a few times, and he got me this card: Okay, I get it! (lol)

But the Lord Himself sent me a timely reminder, when at BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) we received an article entitled: How R U Connecting? by Susie Rowan. She quoted Psalm 68:6 "God sets the lonely in families..." in that families are meant to dispel loneliness, but nowadays we find connectivity isolating family members, reducing face to face conversations and interactions and making it harder for us to connect with our children and each other....

Modern connectivity diluting Real connectivity! Sad but so real in our lives! Susie suggested many ways to counter this: Be the Parent (exercise control), Don't rush in (to buy that first phone or game), Unplug (set aside time as a family), ... but what hit me most is that we must Model proper use of technology in our own life. Ohhh, it's hard.. but I must try. So no iphone during meals or family time, and keep internet or scrapping for when the kids are in bed and all the chores are done! I want to make sure my phone/internet/computer is a blessing not a distraction to what is most important to me! I can do this!

Speaking of blessing of the iphone, what I have loved most about having it is what Katie the Scrapbook Lady mentioned, that the Best Camera is the one that is always with us! I have taken many more on the spur of the moment photos, so many more snapshots of here and there, whenever I thought, this is a moment(!)

Armed with these precious, but not the most perfect pics, I played with them and realised that if I cropped them close, they look great and intimate and tell a lovely story.... (even though for many of these layouts i only had one photo!)
Never a dull moment ..

Dh having an impromptu heart to heart talk with Jared...

Dh and I sharing a cuppa...

Jared and his antics and Miffy..

To mark the super cute iphone cover dh got for my birthday after teasing me no end about searching for one..

Ryan spoke his mind in church... a lol moment!

time with my family on my birthday...

How the boys are constantly connected to earphones these days...

Us after sampling mooncakes for about 2 hours (yikes!) at a local mooncake fair

And guess what? In view of Jared's big exam coming up, we proposed to the boys to totally lay off computer games until the exams are over, and though they grumbled a bit, to our surprise, they agreed! They have been completely off gaming, on their own accord, for three weeks now, and will be for three more weeks (!) - We must be doing something right! Haha! Here's the layout to remember this momentus event:

And this one shows how when computer games went away, the legos came out to play :)

(Credits: Background paper by SugarPlum. Birthday Wishes layout: heart by Danielle Engebretson, others all by Sahlin Studios. Boys will be Boys layout: Round stamp by Jackie Eckles, wordart by Suddenly Artistic and Vera Lim. Sharing a Cuppa layout: love stamp by Honeydesigns, Coffee mugs by Fei Fei, Do not disturb sign by K Winiecki. Heart to heart with Dad layout: puzzle piece by Tattered Pear, quote marks by Digital Design Essentials, Moustage cut out and speech cut out by Allison Pennington. No Computer Games layout: all embellishments and papers by Peppermint Creative - TechnoGeek kit. Never a Dull Moment layout: paper by Akiko, elements by JKneipp and Kaye Winiecki. Greatest Hits layout: Earphones by J Kneipp, treble cleft by Brittish designs, record by Dani Mogstad. Celebrate Family layout: Hat by Nicole Young, flower by Tracy Ann Designs. Mooncake Layout: heart by Honeydesigns, cake stand by Nancie Rowe Janitz. Lego layout: Smile tag by Mmareda, arrows by Flergs, play by H Roselli, road from Sussie M's Boyzone elements.)

I really enjoyed and loved creating every one of these pages, as I publish this post, I have 6 more layouts worth of iPhone taken pics waiting to be scrapped! Everyday moments at their best, I say!

And one last iPhone related comment: I went a searching for apps that will help me in scrapping, and this is the best one I found. Moe's Notes. .

Unfortunately it's aethestically rather manly and functional looking (would have loved some colors or funky touches in terms of looks) but it gives the ability to record moments with photos, journaling, audio, video, logs it with time and location stamp on a calendar view! I can easiliy browse its calendar for any log when I am ready to scrap, just email the entire note (neatly packed in a zip file) to myself to save on my harddisk and for my scrapbook page. Have also been capturing the boys' crazy conversations, and jared's oral practices too, will be precious since his voice is likely to break anytime now! And especially great for capturing those Everyday Life stories :)

Just a quick update on Jared's big exam (PSLE) and his applications to various secondary schools. He has received acceptances from two of the schools, but was rejected by his 'dream' school. Thankfully he was not crushed but instead is now very motivated to try to do extremely well in the exams for a second chance at applying to that school. At first we were worried and even Ryan wondered if the Lord was too harsh in handing him such a great disappointment, but now I can clearly see why - Jared is learning through this setback precious lessons about diligence, humility, and maturity that are far more important in the long run. He is quite literally transforming, it has been so heartening for this mommy! So I want to give thanks to God and also say, we are so proud of you, Jared!

On the scrapbooking front, I have been catching up on pages for our 2011 family album, here are some layouts from our visit to the Red Dot Museum and Fireworks during National Day celebrations.

The Red Dot Design Museum is one of two on the planet! The other one is in Germany. It celebrates the designs that wins the yearly Red Dot Design awards for innovative product design, and the museum is so much fun!

They even have a section to showcase how Tupperware was designed and made, including how the various colored plastics were "concorted"!

I scanned a copy of the Red Dot Museum layout map to include in my layout :)

(Credits: Fireworks Layout: Background paper - blended papers from Flerg and Designs by Gabi, fireworks by Sahlin Studios. Red Dot Museum Layout: blue squares by cinnamon designs, red dot by Corina designs, paper by Sahlin Studios. Tupperware layout: gears by Dani Mogstad, paper by Tattered Pear. Creativity layout: Background paper by Dunia, painted circle by JLarsen, element by Studio MGL in learning to fly kit)

Finally, do want to leave you with a sample template from my 'cropped iPhone' layouts, you can find the rest in the store.

Download here. Have fun cropping and greatly appreciate your comments!

Week in our LiFe - So Blessed

Our Week in the Life pages are completed!! I have immensely enjoyed this week of capturing our life on a daily basis,  so reminiscent of my Project 365 days in 2009, enjoyed it very much. As I look at our life splashed across the pages, simply am so thankful at how blessed we are!

It was a very ordinary week, and weekdays we were all in school or at work, so I've organised my pages not by days but by themes - weekday morning routine, weekend meal highlights, daily studying routine, etc. It worked beautifully :)

I kept it simple and used Sue Cumming's, and Suddenly Artistic's beautiful wordarts. Came together quickly!

I'm still lacking a spot of journaling, am still thinking how I might do up an additional page or two to capture all the journaling/thoughts of the week in one place.Will also include my Daybook entry to complete it :)

Also been hanging around Ali Edwards' and been so inspired by hers and other scrapbookers' pages and ideas. Just been so basking in the glow of this wonderful community capturing our lives together! I'm so blessed and thankful I am a part of it all! Project Life is tugging at me too :)

And to top it all off, my Rawa album arrived! (see pages in earlier post) Just so wonderful to hold it as a book in my hands :P

Finally, I've made a new page using a similar style as my week in the life for our Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner - easy!

Saved this template for you here. The rest of the page templates will be in the store soon. Thanks for dropping by and sharing my joy :)

Download here. Have fun!