The Blog Store is Up!

Yes, I finally got it up and running, check it out here: YinDesigns Thanks for visiting!

Made lots of layouts and templates for the store, phew! I'm half wondering if I can keep it up :P
But first, I was tagged, twice actually, last week! By Cyndi of Wetfish designs, and Michelle from Digitalfunplace.blogspot, thanks for getting me to join the fun, ladies. So instead of talking about my kids it shall me about me this week for a change, :)

First here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK, let's see, 7 facts that you probably don't know about me:

1. well, I fell and broke my left arm when I was 7 and a half months pregnant with Ryan. Yep, I did, the doctors decided not to operate due to risk to the pregnancy and I now have a slightly crooked arm but it's totally functional, so no worries. It was tough delivering the baby with the arm in a L shaped cast from shoulder to fingers though!!

2. I can't drive, don't have a licence, our city is so small, and public transport is super, and it just did not come up onto my agenda in life, at least not so far!

3. I am blessed with a great metabolic rate or something that allows me to eat anything I want and not put on weight. I've been underweight most of my life... I know, shoot me :)

4. I don't have an engagement ring - we were engaged on the night dh got a his first job offer after graduation and we were broke. We both wore a dollar stainless steel ring instead! hhmm, stuff for a layout, don't you think?

5. Dh got me my "replacement diamond engagement" ring on the valentines' day after our 7th anniversary. I chose a tiny marquise. It's special, to say the least.

6. My all time favourite novel is "Gone with the Wind". I read the book before I saw the movie, and cried and laughed through both.. it was wonderful everytime.

7. I've always wanted to be a mom, and always wanted daughters. Well, now I honestly think sons are great fun too, and I play lightsaber duels instead of bake cookies with them, but God knows best, and I know I am blessed.

These are who I'll like to Tag, not sure if you've already been tagged, if not, join in the fun!

Tink http://tinkstribulations.blogspot.com/
Shawna (shawnyrvr) http://belovedexpressions.blogspot.com/
Jazzmint http://jazzmint.net/blog/ (jazzmint, i'm having difficulty leaving a comment on your blog, I'll try again later)
Kopperhead http://kopperhead100.blogspot.com/
Ikeagoddess http://ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/
Anita http://nitaandneicy.blogspot.com/
Nikki http://mcdougalfun.blogspot.com/

And here's all the layouts I've made for the one day Monument Tour in DC. Although we are not American, we have read so much about these great men, and it was almost surreal to be actually there, the monuments were so beautiful and solemn and respectful to their memories. I found it a great challenge to make the layouts equally grand, solemn and respectful!

The templates for these layouts are the ones up in my store here: YinDesigns

Credits: Paper from MiraDesigns' Spring Garden, stamp by Marianne, flower and dots by Catscraps, stitches by Kperrien, Alpha by Misty Casto, font is PegsannaHMK

Credits: Paper from Michelle Coleman's Hullabuloo, patterned paper from easy going by Jackie Eckles, medallions and brads by Lisa Sisneros, wordart by JBurkhart, tag by Stephanie Orgre

Credits: orange paper by Mira designs, brown paper by C Kaye, buttons by Tara Dunstan, ribbon by Carole N at PBP, doodle dates by Scarletheels.

Credits: Paper from Blossomshine by LaurenReid, newpaper swilrs from Creating Beauty by Weeds and Wildflowers, vintage label by Gina Cabrera, staples by ksharonk, rose button by Jessica Bolton, pin by Vicki from Digiscrapshak, id plate by Chris Turnbull

And these are photos from our visit to the Gemstone gallery of the Natural History Museum. Totally unbelievable, jaw-dropping time I had there!
Credits: Papers - I blended papers by Leah Riordan from her Bloggidy kit, and Janosh Designs' sampler, lace from Mary ScrapGallerie, stamp alpha and beads by Michelle Coleman, and swirl by Scrappinic.
This is now available as a set in the store here

School HOlidays are here!

School holidays are here!
Before I forget, here's a reply to a question, the font on my US Capitol layout was Aquiline, I downloaded it for free but can't remember the site now, try googling it, it is a lovely font.

The children start their school holidays today! We've handed in the last of the project works, the exams are over and report cards are in, they both did very well, Jared especially improved his grades so much! He was motivated by the reward of a set of Lego mindstorm which we promised him if he scored over 90% for all subjects. He missed by a mark in last terms' exams, and did not complain, and I thought it didn't mean much to him. But this term he worked so hard, and I realised how much he wanted it, and I'm so glad he now knows how hard work always reap rewards! Very, very proud of him!

Ryan had a very interesting final project, in which he was given a "future problem". The problem stated that in the year 2020 there will be a company which has invented a program that so perfectly transforms images or videos no one can tell what is true anymore. (they don't know we can do a lot in photoshop already!! hehe) They had to solve the problem of governments using this technology for hiding the truth, for selfish gains like aid, or hiding weapons, etc. After he identified 16 possible solutions, such as scientists inventing anti-software, government sending spies, he had to rate the 16 based on criterias like cost, resource availibility, ease of implementation... When we checked in on the project last week, we were absolutely tickled and quite proud that he had narrowed down and picked the final best solution, which is, ....drum rolls please.... "PARENTS to EDUCATE their Children against the evils of the software" !!! Our darling Ryan still believes in the virtues and effectiveness of Parents in transforming the next generation! How sweet don't you think? After pats on the back between dh and me, unfortunately we had to explain to him that that solution is unlikely to work because not all parents will do it, and not all chidren believe what their parents say, .... :( still, we hope to buck the trend in our home, oh yes!

There is this layout I want to share, it has precious photos for me. The boys joined dh and I in participating in our church's recent "hear the new testament in 40 days" program, where we listened to the Word being read for half an hour a day. We were not sure that we could stick to it, much less the boys, but once we started, we were blessed, and found it so interesting, and in the end not difficult to complete the program. I took these pictures one morning as we listened, the boys had gotten to reading their bibles while listening, still in their pjs, and this is just such a lovely scene and a great encouragement to me.

Credits: Ksharonk's template and word art by Kristal Hartley at FaithSisters.com

Thanks to all of your awesome comments and feedback! I've started working on the blogstore, the blogheader is up and I'm so excited, if you want to take a look, see here http://yindesigns.blogspot.com/ I'm really pleased with it, used elements I made when I was previously designing, such fun! Now, I'm still struggling with the rest of the set up, hopefully in a week's time it will be up!

Now, for this week's layout and template, here we were at the Korean War Memorial. Ryan is very interested in wars and all, Jared isn't yet, but they seem to get the horrors and pointlessness of wars in the time they spent peering into the eyes and expressions of the soldiers. The memorial was haunting and so beautiful.Credits: Papers by Michelle Coleman's Hullabaloo, note pad by Tangie Baxter, Wax seal by Natalie Bird, Alph by Laren Reid (hot news), font is CK Love note.

This is now available as a set in the store here
Thank you for all your comments, they are precious to me!

Overheard

Overheard
Bits and pieces overheard in our home this week:

Jared was watching Teenage mutant ninja turtle. I teased him, "Why are you watching this? Are you a teenager?", "no", "are you a mutant", "no", " are you a turtle?","no"... "but I am a ninja!" came the triumphant answer. I had forgotten his recent pre-occupation jumping around the house imitating a ninja, his latest hero. LOL

As I was struggling revising Science with Jared for his exams, he said" mommy, you're as tall as Miss C (his teacher), looks like her, dress like her, so why does she know so much more about science than you?" I was so pleased to hear that because Miss C is really pretty and young and he thinks I look like her!!!

Dh was having his turn struggling during revision of Science with Ryan, and in a moment when Ryan went out of the room, we were laughing over how tough their work is nowadays, and we were flipping through his science files and saw to my horror, the reproductive systems and anatomy! Oh my, we had no idea they were taught that already! I hurried out of the room and told dh to have that talk if the chance came up during the revision... dh looked horrified. How will we handle this? ;p

After a particular hard day at work, I came home and lamented about how maybe I will not be able to keep at this job and was worrying... and Ryan said, "but God will provide!" :) Now I had shared with the children how God had proved His provision to our family over the years, and how He has never failed us, and here my son has grown in his faith and is reminding me and encouraging me... my heart sang.

These conversations and moments whether touching or funny are what makes memories for me as a mother. So precious and what I go back to all the time, especially when they are growing up so quickly. May we all have a lifetime of great mommy moments and memories, Blessed Mother's Day!

And here's my latest layout, photos from an afternoon strolling the Mall and around the US Capitol. We took our time and it was great.

Credits: Background paper from Weeds and Wildflowers' Natural papers, red graph paper border by Jessica Gorny, Remember stamp by FeiFei's designs, and flower motif by Anna Aspnes .

I should tell you that I've been thinking of selling my designs and templates, maybe just a mini store off my blog, (because selling at a store takes up too much commitment, otherwise I'll go back to GDS and my dear friends Holly and Deborah anytime), just need a little income to feed my digiscrapping hobby, self-funding is what I call it! But don't worry, I'll still share free templates here, probably limit the time they stay on the blog, still thinking about it. Do let me know what you think!

In the meantime, here's the free template download:This is now available as a set in the store here

More Gorgeous Layouts

More Gorgeous LayoutsI nearly forgot, I had the privilege of some lovely layouts using my templates that have been shared with me, and here are two that I'd got permission to share here. Both different and totally awesome, thank you ladies for sharing your creativity with us!
This is by Cheryl Leong of her trip to Kota Kinabalu.
This is by Kay (kopperhead) of her aunt and uncle

My Gentleman

My Gentleman

Firstly thank you all for the wonderful comments and feedback and love you left me last week. You're so sweet! I'm so blessed.

I have yet another little story to tell. Can you tell I love capturing these little moments and conversations of my family? I plan to print out these parts of my blog and stick them into my journal as I go along!

Well a few days ago, Jared had a project to do as part of a team. Each team member was to find out facts regarding an aspect of a " Snipe Eel". (now before this day, I had never heard of such a creature... and he is only in primary three!) Anyway he looked up all the facts about the "habitat" of the eel and wrote them all out. Then his classmate, a girl called up, and he realised he got it wrong, she was supposed to look up "habitat" while he was to look up "reproduction". While he was trying to persuade her to switch since he had completed it and she had not yet started, we noticed long periods of silence while he hung on to the phone, took many silent "sighs", looked at the ceiling a few times, and said "okay, ...okay". Finally he put down the phone and went to work on "reproduction". This is not like our Jared at all, to give in to anything without a fight! I realised then it was because she was a girl! lol! How cute, right? What a surprise, my little gentleman! :)

This week I worked on a layout of our day spent at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was a most deeply moving visit for our family, and I'd like to share my journaling with you:

We couldn’t miss the Holocaust Museum. Although the guidebooks said that only mature ten year olds would be able to handle it, we talked them through and went. The Daniel’s Story renactment on the ground floor, meant for chidlren, was especially touching. The children touched all of Daniel’s stuff, read his diary, sat at his dining table, crawled under his bed, and sensed a little of what he might have gone through. Jared was especially moved. I’m so glad he understood. Upstairs in the main exhibits, we were each given an ID card of a real person who lived during the Holocaust, and both the children read theirs through. Here, Ryan followed every story and read all the details. I’m glad they blocked the most gruesome pictures and videos with a wall. The room of victims’ shoes, the wall of family portraits, the models of how the gas chambers were used, hit me the most. It was a haunting visit, and also probably the most valuable time we spent in Washington. May we never forget.

Credits: Background paper from TCS Scrapgirls, swirls by Zsaliza, corners by Jess Gordon, brown underlying paper and also the paper used on the frames is from Weeds & Wildflower's natural set, tag by Agnes Lahur.

Hope you like this more "serious" and orderly layout. This is now available as a set in the store here

Layman

Layman

This afternoon I was helping Ryan work on an assignment, where he was to write a newspaper article as a journalist who lived in the 1960s, writing about our country's political situations at that time. After I read through his draft, I explained that he had stated the points but not explained them, so that someone like me who lived then may not understand it fully. He looked at me, and with realisation, said, "oh! poor laywoman! I know what I must do now." My my, to be called "laywoman" by my eleven year old! The only consolation, is that the draft article improved a lot after that. :)

Got a new layout to show! I am so pleased with it, it is our day spent at the Washington Monument and I enlarged and blended a photo with the backgroun paper and loved the effect.

Credits: Background paper by kschimdt, flower by Dani Mogstad, and alpha by Miss Scrap

This is now available as a set in the store here

Enchanted

Enchanted

Tonight is actually our date night, but dh had to go to a work function, so I rented movies and watched Enchanted with my boys! They were really sceptical at first at watching a "fairytale" movie, and actually so was I, but I'm happy to report we had an surprisingly enchanting, bonding time! Just yesterday Ryan told me they will live together when they are grown, "we will be bachelors!" he said gleefully, :) , I did not tell him that in three years he'll think very differently(!) (I was worried there for a minute: but what about grandchildren??) Tonight we were all happily transported to happily ever after land, halfway through Jared actually worried about Giselle, "who will she choose?" - well, boys are human and sweet at heart too, after all! :)

The situation with computer games is under control, this week we are working on the "earn" your computer time with "homework well done" basis, and so far so good! I sneak onto the computer every night after they're in bed, and caught up with lots of scrapping, been using some designer templates, it was so easy!

Credits: Frames from Scrapieupe.typepad.com, paper by Corina Nielson

Credits: Swirl by Vanilla Hush, frames by Scrapkitty, background paper by Krista Designs, alpha by DaringSpiritGraphicsCredits: Background paper by Fanny of Scrappinfolics.blogspot.com, labels by LigiaOrsati, stamp by FeiFei, heart by Minna Rajala, alpha by Pri Rocha.

This is now available as a set in the store here

Easter To Me

Easter to me
Happy Easter! On Easter I want to give thanks to our great God for reaching out to us when we are unable to reach Him. This morning at Easter Service in church I was so reminded of how utterly undeserving we are, or I am, of Jesus' work on the cross and His gift of salvation. I am so thankful for that first day more than twenty years ago when I first heard the gospel and believed, and for everyday that He walks with me, despite who I am. Praise be to our Lord!

Brag book for my mom
Made my first brag book for my mom on her birthday. It was a breeze and oh so beautiful because I used Ikea Goddess's quick pages that she offered for a challenge on Weeds & Wildflower a while ago, thanks Angie!! My boys are my mom's only grandchildren so you can imagine how much she loves to "brag" about them. I used some of their younger photos - they were just so cute, and also to see how much they have changed and grew.

Been Offline

Been Offline!!

Due to mini crisis at home related to enforcing computer gaming rules for my boys, we had to take a hard stand last week and removed the cables to the computer indefinitely!! It worked and there was no protest and in fact a peaceful week (it was a one week school holiday) spent playing board games and creating with Lego and Knex, outdoors, at the beach, and at the museum!

Unfortunately for me I share the computer with the boys (the dh has one for himself..because he has work on it, well that's his reason anyway :p ) I was OFFLINE too!

It was quite uncomfortable, but I too did more reading, and finally, I scrapped, the traditionally paper way! Well, I have been wanting to re-scrap the boys' baby photos which were not digital photos, and did not want to bother with scanning them. Guess what, I enjoyed myself so much! The scrapping was tedious and I kept it simple, but going through Ryan's baby photos just felt so... well, precious and warm and fuzzy, and I am now able to journal a lot about those days, well, from my current reflections of 11 years ago! Look at some of these pages!

I asked Ryan what he did to my sweet baby in those photos, and he said " I upgraded him." I can't disagree with that!

Okay, I did log on a few times after they went to bed, downloaded freebies and over the weekend, completed a page:

Credits: Papers by Kschmidt's flight of fancy, wordarts and ribbon by Gina Caberra, title alpha by faith42love , charm by Lori Barnhurst, swirls by Janosch designs, butterfly by Weeds&Wildflower

And here's the template:
This is now available as a set in the store here

Of Music and Children

Of Music and children
Dh and I just just had our date night, and we went to watch the movie, August Rush. What a delightful movie! The soundtrack was unusual and awesome, and the sweet movie really tugged at our hearts. Long ago when I watch movies like this I'd think how wonderful if I had music genius like that, nowadays I think how wonderful if my sons had music genius like that! From the couple of years they have spent having piano lessons I know they are far from that (!) but we let them carry on, (no music exams please though) since they have never requested to stop lessons, and keep on punching those keys. It is good enough for me and dh as long as they are able to enjoy making some music when they want to, that they can appreciate and be blessed by the great genre of music that God has blessed humankind with. As the children grow, I keep trying to watch for something they totally standout in, like sports or music, for a glimpse at what they might lean towards, pursue, become great in. At this point it is not clear yet, though we can tell that Ryan is academically inclined and Jared is creatively inclined. We can't rush children nor second guess God, can we? I just now thought and feel thankful for my boys, the wonder of watching them unfold, the knowledge that God has them in His hands and the blessing of being their mom. Well! That was a lot of rambling, but I'm glad I captured some of that!


I have finally completed my next layout, it was tough! because it had all planes in our photos from the National Air and Space museum at Dulles Airport.
The journaling goes: The boys, especially daddy, was totally floored by the planes and space shuttle we came face to face with at the Udvar-Hazy Centre of the National Air & Space Museumat Dulles Airport. Daddy must have taken 20 photos of the Blackbird alone! He told the rest of us many stories, and it was totally awesome to see the Enola Gay and know it dropped that A bomb in Hiroshima that saved our families from the WWII. WoW


Credits: twine by Natalie Bird, Background Paper by April Staker, crumpled brown paper by Krizomel, stars by Sausan designs, tags and alpha by Miss Mint, compass by Island Girl.







And here's the template, hope it works for you! Thank you so much for your great feedback and especially links to your lovely layouts! Jackie had feedback asking me to collapse the layers for each photo, I've done that for the white frame layer and its shadow, and linked that and the photo layer, hope that helps! Also, Jackie, in photoshop you can still move the the photos that hang over the page into the page for your smaller 8x11 pages. Just use your move tool. I just have this thing about photos going over, haha, it kind of makes the scrap page look like it is a photo of a physical scrap page! Do feel free to move them around to suit your page. This is now available as a set in the store here