Innonence

INNOCENCE
Some days I wish my children are grown and matured and I do not need to teach or worry about them anymore, but mostly I'm so afraid of them growing up so quickly and losing their childish innocence that is so adorable, and lovable. And mostly I just can't handle the thought of dealing with teenagers yet!!! My eight and ten year olds are precocious and too smart for their own good, they think they know everything, but ah, we had such a good laugh at the HK Jungle Cruise I just had to record it :

Journaling reads:
When you’re grown up and read this believe me it is all true !! On the jungle cruise, you were both amazed and marveled at all the animals and sights. You laughed along with the guide and us, then got all serious. One of you asked the other, were the monkeys real? And launched into discussion. Finally you both declared that only the elephants, and crocs were real, so proud that you were not tricked by Disney.
It’s true! Love you, innocent, adorable, mine!
Everything is from Weeds & Wildflowers' Creating Beauty kit, and the "Cute" tag is by Christina Renee,what great work they do!
And here's the template from the layout. If you like it, leave me a comment!
You can download it here:
Sorry this is no longer available

A Nook of My Own

A Nook of My Own


From a lovely book "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach given to me by my oldest and best friend:


In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us - Virginia Woolf


I live in a medium sized apartment with 3 bed rooms with my dh, two sons and my parents in law. I'm not complaining at all, I'm blessed, in my tiny land scarce country. But there is no nook of my own for creating, as suggested by Sarah in her book. After reading this particular page, I look at the table I share with my boys, right this moment full of papers, a beany bear, dictionary, stationery, tissue box, my cheque book... ahhhh, I feel like laughing out loud at my nook for creating. But yet, it's here, on the computer I too share with both boys, after they are in bed every night, that I enjoy an hour or maybe more of creativity. I'm not disturbed by the untidiness or the clutteredness of the "nook" at all, once I start, I am in a zone so to speak, previously designing, now almost all the time for scrapping all my memories, and also for blogging and recording anything I like here. It's great, and I'm grateful, for I am able to "give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us."



Journaling reads: It’s amazing what you can do together in the ten minutes we were“stuck” together on the Ocean Park Ferris Wheel.Making each other nervous, doing kiddie antics, playing with Miffy..... just having fun..... love family time. Dec 06
I used Corina Nielson's Be Kind paper and frames by Fernlili - they are both my favourites.

COOL

COOL

I really loved how this turned out! Jared has been watching his favorite Snoopy VCDs everyday again, he especially loves the parts where the characters break into song and dance, "jazz" he tells me... and of course he'll jump up and join in the dance. He reads all the Charlie Brown comics he can get his hands on, breaks out uncontrollably in laughter every now and then. We love it that he has this great sense of humour, and we are so glad he has these wholesome cartoons to enjoy! Here's Jared in HK's tiny Snoopy Park.I made this template from the layout, in case anyone is interested, cos I kinda like how it worked! It's my first template actually!

Sorry this is no longer available

Gigantic Difference

Thank you so much!!

But first I'm excited about this so I want to ask what you think of this quote? I saw it in an issue of Real Simple yesterday and immediately had to put one of my photos to it. No time to even properly scrap it! And to think, Marlene Dietrich said it! It's a wonderful reminder to me that the Lord blesses us richly in many ways!




And back to thanking all of you! Thank you so much for your wonderful, kind, lovely comments and well-wishes, I'm so blessed by them! Some of you are special ladies I know from GDS but some of you are total strangers and all of you stopped by to leave a kind word - how wonderful is that? This digi-community is a blessing indeed. Thank you! Please keep in touch with me at GDS or at my blog!

Since I've stopped designing, I've completed "cataloging" all my digi-kits (I print out previews) that I've accumulated over the past year, bought and free - as I've mentioned the amount of stuff shared out there is fantastic, and I intend to chip in from time to time too!

And here's one layout I just completed: some of our many beach photos - I think we are beach bums!! Do any of you have the same feeling as me, that regardless what expensive far flung holiday we might be able to bring our children to, they seem to enjoy the simple pleasures of the beach the most? The children have much to teach us about contentment!It's based on SimplySarah's template - isn't she great? you can get to her blog from here: http://simplysarahdesigns.blogspot.com/. And that fantastic paper is from Laura Reid's Create Wings - unbelievably beautiful - get them at ScrapArtist.


And now, here's the last freebie I will put up at GDS as a designer, another mini-elements kit I prepared for the previous daily download program, but never put in the store, it's up at GDS. You'll need to log into GDS, the link to the post where you can get the attached file is right here: http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2661


Lots of other fabulous stuff in the same forum area from the other designers too! And don't forget my Saying-Goodbye sale is still on till 15 August - everything at 60% off! Here's the link to my store: http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=10&sort=7&page=1

Saying Good Bye

Saying Good Bye

This is a bittersweet post... I've thought and prayed, wavered for quite a while, but finally, it's decided, I'm saying good-bye to my life as a designer ... sob sob... it's been such a ride, this past year, and especially the last 7 months at GDS, who'd have thought, me a designer!!



I loved it, taking an idea, a few colors, playing with it all and coming up with something beautiful (at least to me!)! I was in creative heaven so to speak, walking, thinking, dreaming design ideas all the time. But unfortunately it was also terribly distracting... especially because I also work outside the home, there was no way I could cope on a long term basis and still focus on all the other parts of my life as I would like to. I feel that the Lord is leading me to this decision, so that I can put my focus back on my family, work, bible study class, sunday school, scrapping, and also, more sleep ! haha!
Click here to go to the store: http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=10&sort=7&page=3


So here I am, saying a reluctant goodbye...I know i'll still design, for my own layouts, for sharing, and Holly at GDS has graciously said I'm welcome to be a guest designer from time to time, bless her!! So the door is not closed, just a chapter I guess.. that makes this easier. :)

Well so much for all my rambling, thanks for reading so far, in case any of you like to pick up my stuff, everything in the store is 60% off till 15 August !!

Click here to go to the store: http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=10&sort=7&page=2And here's a toolkit I made earlier but had not put up in the store, I may have quit selling, but I can still share them. Enjoy and do leave me a comment if you like it :) Sorry this is no longer available

Dance to your Music

A new layout and some doodle hearts

I did this really fun layout yesterday - in 20 minutes flat too!! I'm really enjoying scrapping with the tonnes of stuff free and bought that I've accumulated over the past year.. it's amazing how much is being shared out there, I'll try to do my fair share too :)
see my SSB gallery for credits - but it's mainly from Mira designs's free kit - I'm loving her funky doodled stuff, great for the funky kid I have!

I scrapped!

I scrapped!!

Yeah, taking a break from designing, and look what I came up with using my Sapphire Seas and Castaway kits! Had to cheat and add the black backgroun though - it just goes so well with my sons' black top and hair. I always had a thought that for us Asians, because of our coloring, dark colored kits work best for my photos, it makes them pop!

Here's another updated layout of my younger one at the pool - I love this photo, he still had all his baby teeth then! Yes, this is the guy that made the little fish!

What to do

I got this idea from a layout in CK, "what to do at the beach", we were at Pulau Rawa which means Rawa Island, and I wanted so show as much as I can in one page. It wasn't quite enough!! :)
What a great time it was, just doing nothing except beach bumming around! I was even happily weaned from scrapping and the internet for four whole days!! oh and i used papers and elements from my own soon to be released kit - it's pending a name! And I also used ksharonk's alpha from her making mischief kit. Love, love her work!

Your Hero

These are layouts I made around Father's Day. It's all from my kit Rough & Tumble.

I'm feeling much appreciation for the role he plays in the boys' life now that they are older, and now that there are stuff I can't or don't do as well with them. I'm also thankful in this day and age and in our fast paced economy, that hubby does not need to travel for work (well he did it once last year, and it was unbearable!!) and is around everyday for me and the boys. No matter that he is so strict with the boys, they still gravitate to him, and look up to him as their hero. Well, at least when it has to do with star wars, battlestar gallactica, and light saber fights!! More and more I'm told, "mom, you won't know!" or "it's alright, it's a boys' thing" ...haha!! Good thing I have scrapbooking!
For once I don't have so much to say on this layout, I really like the more laidback look although the colors are not so striking.

And this one is really fun, I kinda laid on too many layers I think, for my usual style, but love that face!! It's true that my boys are more the bookish type, but they do love all the boys stuff, and are definitely, all boy. :)

Stories I love

I've been Scrapping!
This is my younger son Jared in a pensive mood. He's usually jumping and running and talking non-stop, but he's a real thinker too, and it's wonderful we've caught him on film in this particular photo. Jared, I know you've been blessed with a fabulous mind, and although I need to help you be disciplined and self-controlled lest you get into too much trouble, I know I must also not stifle you and allow you your self expression you so crave! Lord help me keep this delicate balance!!

It's been wonderful taking off from designing to scrap! I really got carried away too!

I've finally found a satisfactory way to scrap these favorite photos of mine. They were taken in Lake Tekapo in NZ in Dec 2005. We were checking into a youth hostel and the boys found their way to the hammock and snuggled close together. It's the perfect layout to remember that they name each other their best friend. It's been the same answer since they first answered the question maybe two years ago ... so sweet, i know! Sometimes i worry though, it seems they don't have many other good friends! I guess they share so much, a world they made up, play in, that gives them so much fun and joy, so it's no wonder they find in each other that much kinship. I do want them to grow, to make many more friends, but definitely also that they keep each other always closest in their hearts.
And this is a layout that is long overdue! The incredible stories or rather, STORY that my boys tell, that started probably more than two years ago, that has kept on going, growing, never ending, on and on and on! It started with Tom and Jerry, those cartoon characters, the mouse and the cat, and over the years, all sorts of characters have joined in the story, some made up, some coming in from books and movies they read or watched, for example, Darth Vader, Captain Hook, Mffy, oh and the story itself? Some sort of fantasy good versus evil outer space war story, i would say..... The story takes over especially when we are on car trips, we don't need games, music, nothing is necesary. In fact, we get terribly embarassed especially when we are on overseas coach tours, and their stories are loudly told for everyone to hear, and they go on for the entire journey!!!