Blessed New Year!

Blessed New Year everyone!
I'd like to give you this verse and wish that I received from a very dear friend:
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
In the coming year, may God's grace cover you, may His presence watch over you, may His love abound toward you - moment by moment, step by step, day by day. I wish you and your loved ones a Blessed, Peaceful, Joyous and Wonderful New Year!

After a wonderful time spent with old friends on New Year's Eve, reminiscing and laughing as we thumbed through old photo albums, we spent New Year's Day quietly and just by our family. After a time at the beach it rained, and we headed for our favourite Borders' bookshop nearby, and our favourite seat in the Borders' cafe.

It was so nice to sit with dh and reflect on the past year and the new year and share our thoughts and wishes over coffee. I won't share everything with you, but I liked what Rozanne Paxman said in the ScrapGirls newsletter, if I may quote some of her words, she said that sometimes when she compares her life with that of some interesting blog writers' , "I begin to think that I live a remarkably unremarkable life. I get up. I get dressed. I work. Sometimes, I cook. Usually I don't. On rare occasions I bake. Usually I don't. My house isn't as clean as I'd like it to be. My haircut is easy-to-do. I'm using the same makeup I've been using for years...." I had to smile because that is so me! You must read all that she says, but eventually she concludes that "for now, my life is as it is and my blog proves it. I guess that's okay. It feels good here."

Me too, I'm not perfect and neither is my life, but DH and I concluded that it is good, and definitely as good as it gets, and we treasure what God has blessed us with.

I didn't make resolutions, but I intend to enjoy every little blessing I have to the fullest, find the good in everything and in everyone I meet, and "love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly with my God" (Micah 6:8) :)
Now I did start something yesterday! I took a lot of pictures, and at Borders I saw this fantastic book that touched the part of me that love the magazine, graphic style of photo-booking, then I went to Ikea Goddess' blog , and read about the 365 Project link she had... well one thing led to another, and I started what you see here!

I'm not ambitious about taking a photo for everyday, but I will certainly like to keep going maybe every other week for 2009! This will be in simple graphic style, so I can keep it up, while I still get to be scrapbook style-creative with my Japan Travel photos!

If you're interested, the 1 Jan journalling reads: We woke up really late. After all, tomorrow we start 6 am school days! The boys bought and played their once a year entitlement to a computer game (yes, they are deprived!) Jared, his Return to wonderland platinum edition, and Ryan his Avatar Bobble battles. While we watched Dan in Real Life for the second time - wonderful movie, just the way we like them! After much debating (nowadays its usually a 4 way debate ..sigh)we made it to the beach for our much missed (3 weeks in Japan followed by 1 week of rich Christmas/New Year foods) local foods - satay, chicken wings, nasi ayam, ice kachang and coconut! YUM! The boys spent time playing on the beach - we have countless similar photos of them at this same beach through the years! They never tire of it! We sat on the beach and while he read papers I caught up with the sewing of school pants for Ryan - he's so thin everything needs altering! I still have 16 name tags to sew onto both their school shirts! When it rained we escaped to Borders, and our favourite love seat in the Borders cafe. We chatted and reflected on the new year and how good we have it, how it's so "As good as it gets", and how we must treasure each day. Then a quick take-home dinner and it's off to bed for the boys at 9, while I set out their first day uniforms, shoes, the bags they had already packed. We are ready for the new year! And this is how we spent the first day.

Now I would like to share with you lovely layouts from some wonderful readers and friends! This first one is by honeybee, love her Christmas morning pics!
And this is what Vanessa has on her desktop showing off great family shotsThis is by Britney, love the theme of EverydayLife and the way she scrapped about them.
And I wanted to show you my photobook! It was all of 100 pages! I had to throw 2 pages out, and when I received my book, I realised I duplicated 2 pages!! ugh!! But everything was beautiful, love the cover, the paper, colors, how well the textures showed up (I enlarged a couple of shots to show you here), and the spacing using the shutterfly printing guides turned out so well, I was so excited to get it, yes, I did do a bit of a dance :)
And here is the entire book (can you spot the duplicated pages?)

Click here to view this photo book.

Finally I want to leave you a little gift, a kit I made nearly two years ago when I was designing and selling at GDS, it's kind of out of date now, compared to the superb kits out there now, but you may like it. It has to do with everyday life, that's why I thought of it.Download the Paper pack hereAnd get the Elements pack here

We're Back!

Hello everyone, we're back! We touched down on the evening of the 23rd, went to work on 24th (yeah !), rushed home to celebrate Christmas with our family, then spent Christmas with friends right after Christmas service till late, then back to work on 26th, and finally today I have time to catch up on my blog. I've missed my blog a lot!

Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Christmas celebrating the coming of Emmanuel, Lord with Us, the greatest gift of all.

And thank you for the wishes left on my blog for my family too! You're such a blessing to me :)

Where do I start telling you about my trip? Wow, while our US trip was wow in everyway and iconic in that we visited places we've read, watched on TV, seen in the news, and always dreamt we could one day visit, on this Japan trip, the wow came in experiencing this very different culture, people, beautiful land, everyday was full of fascination, they are so technologically advanced, yet so traditional, so much history, yet so modern, and the people we met everywhere with their warmth made the trip truly wonderful!

You'll hear more and see them all as I scrap the pictures (1000 of them on my camera alone, and another 1400 on dh's!) but I'd like to show you this one that is probably my favorite. It's the boys being absorbed as we all were, everyday, at this temple ground where hundreds of red tori (gates) were erected over a hill. They were counting them, actually, haha, but gave up at about 640th , when we gave up climbing further up the hill (I think we were not yet halfway!)

And I've made myself a desktop featuring more highlights from our trip. (click on the image for a larger pic) Yes we made it to Hiroshima! See the picture of the Atomic Dome building in the centre. Scroll further down to get the template link.

Now I've got new templates in the store too, these are from one last page for my US album and the front and back covers, which I completed before I left for the trip. And today I received my US album from shutterfly in the post!! It's perfect! I'm so pleased and all the pictures looked so much better blown up to 12 by 12 book size. I'll take some pictures and show them to you in my next post. This is the front cover,
And this is the back. Credits: the background paper is by Flergs - it made the photos on the cover literally pop!
Credits: background paper by VeraLim, and the red leaves are by mimilou.
The new templates are in the store HERE

You can download both the 1024x768 and 1280x800 sizes of the Desktop templates HERE! Just one request, if you don't mind me posting it on my blog, could you send me a jpeg copy if you use this, to me at "yindgs at yahoo dot com dot sg" (replace at with @ and dot with . of course) so we can have fun seeing what we are all having on our desktops! Thanks in advance. :)

Hello from Japan!

Hi!
I'm posting from Japan! Wanted to leave a note that I will be away but did not have time to do it before I left. Have spent the last 10 days in this amazing land and being absorbed in its culture, beauty, people, language and food! Well I'll have lots of photos to show when I'm back :) just before Christmas, will have so much to tell then! Take care and a blessed Christmas to allof you my friends!

School Holidays are Here

School holidays are here - it's the end of the school year and we have 7 weeks of hols till school start in Jan. The boys are home - and that means trouble!! Well, I've been getting like 10 calls in one morning when I'm at work - to settle disputes, listen to their complaints about the other, trying to make things "fair" ..etc! I need to find them something to do! Then I had a great idea, for 3 days they sorted through all their toys, into piles to give away, to throw away, and into neat / sorted to play piles. I told them if there is no space for new toys, then there will be no new toys (for christmas)!! It worked!

To their surprise they found so much they thought were gone forever, or had even forgotten. Jared found so many of his Lego mini-figures, he was delighted! And I had fun too playing mix and match with their hats, weapons, body suits, etc... haha this is the lot of the poor mama who has no daughters nor barbie to play with . lol!

Well, I am really coming to the end of my US trip photos. In fact, just in time, because in 10 days we are leaving for our first ever trip to Japan!!!I know it's recession and all that, but we booked it before the financial crisis played out, and also we had frequent flyer miles from our last trip, so it was not as expensive as it could have been. And we really scrimped and saved for it!

These photos are from our last day at Universal Studios - the wonderfully whimsical Dr Seuss Land.Credits: Pink paper by Ziggles Designs, lined paper by Robin Carlton, alpha by Lauraskathi, flowers by cinnamondesigns.
And then these photos are from our last day back in Washington, spent exploring Harpers' Ferry - am almost surreal time, quietly and thoughtfully spent, compared to the breakneck pace of the last week in Orlando!Credits: Paper from Faith Sisters Collab, leaves by Kim B, all other elements by cinnamon designs

These templates can be found here

I realised after all the double pages, I needed a single page for the last page of the album I'm making. So this is what I came up withCredits: Paper by Meredith Fernwick, elements by Cinnamon Designs, words by Chantal.This template is now available as a set in the store HERE

A blog award! Some replies, and more inspiration!

Yesterday Ryan had his chance to dress up when he went to a friend's fancy dress birthday party. Guess what was the only character he was willing to go as? A scientist! DH borrowed a lab coat and goggles for him, and he was voted best dressed by his friends. Amazing! And he was so happy that he won a prize of a Risk Game set, his favourite board game. He looks so big in these photos! Can you believe he'll only turn twelve next January? My baby is all grown up!!



Oh! I'm very honored to have been presented with a blog award. The very creative Livia as well as Christine presented me with this! Thank you ladies! It's so nice to be nominated :)

The award calls for a list of 7 things I love or am thankful for, that's easy!
1. I'm so thankful for my Lord and God who has rescued me and blessed me beyond words can describe. Thank you Lord.
2. Very thankful for my husband of (nearly) 15 years, who is also my friend of 27 years! Although we did nothing much to deserve it, God has blessed us with an incredible marriage. His words to me for my last birthday were, 'grow old with me, the best is yet to be'.
3. I love my children of course, although they give me equal amounts of joy and stress, what would I be without being their mom? The best job there is, for me at least.
4. I'm thankful for my part time job, I'm facing risk of layoffs in this climate, but still, to have had this part time position for the last five years has been so great for the social/financial front and the home front.
5. Currently, watching Japanese and Korean romantic comedy tv series with dh - we are at it practically every night ;p
6. My collection of rings, mostly costume, semi-precious, vintage flea market finds, but all huge!
7. My digiscrapping hobby, my creative outlet, recording memories, my blog, my store, and ALL of YOU!!

Be Yourself Day

Tonight our news is full of the US Election results! Although we do not know much about US politics, we followed this elections with interest. We pray that Mr Obama will lead with wisdom and understanding and insight and foresight. What a historic time we live in! And amidst all of this, we carry on our ordinary lives, :)

Yesterday was "Be Yourself Day" in local schools. Instead of the school uniform they wear everyday, the boys get to choose to dress up as anything they like, preferably dressing up with recycled stuff instead of bought costumes. We don't celebrate Halloween here, so this promised to be fun.

True to form (or rather, their personalities), Ryan did not want to dress up but went as 'himself', donning his usual weekend clothes. Jared, on the other hand, had high hopes of going as "obi one kenobi", and drew up an elaborate list of costume bits, including a brown 'cloak' I was supposed to sew for him and a beard he was going to devise out of cotton wool and wires! After much trying out, he went as Luke Skywalker, wearing my t-shirt, his brother's socks, my belt, and the rest of his own stuff. He was rather pleased with it, except that he did not have blond hair and wore glasses. :)

This brings me to this week's layout from Orlando, this one where Jared got to fulfill his dreams and got a stint at the Jedi Academy where they train padawan. It was definitely the highlight of the trip for him! Can you spot him? He's one of the tiniest one in orange T and blue jeans.

Credits: Background paper by Digital Couture designs, button by Debra Tope, so cool label by Ksharonk, word tags by Dani Mogstad, twine by natalie,

Speaking of being yourself, on dh's birthday two weeks ago, his young colleagues got him a new 'new age' man's bag, how do I describe it, like a much smaller messenger bag, that had a rounded bottom. It had a flap that was velcro closured too! I love my dh for many things, one of which is him being a man, leaving the dressing up and carrying bags to me! So I teased him no end on his 'carrying a sissy bag', and when Ryan came into the conversation, he asked, "what are you talking about?" and topped it off by "oh, you mean this purse?" !!!! Even dh laughed out loud at that one! Oh, he is still carrying the 'purse', by the way.. he says he is man enough :)

The next two layouts were of the day we spent at Island of Adventure, though we did not take any of the extreme thrill rides, we were thrilled alright, and had loads of fun!
Credits: black & white doodled border by Emily Merritt, circles and splash paper cuts by Dani Mogstad, striped paper by Jackie Eckles, background paper by Emily Giovanni


As usual, the above layouts templates are availablehere! Thanks for looking!

Credits: Background paper by Emily Giovanni, red paint by Rachel Young, mesh by Carrie Stephens, foil stars by Dani Mogstad.

This template is now available as a set in the store HERE

Font used on my layouts

Thank you for your encouraging messages to my last post everyone! Am so blessed.

And just to come back to some who have been asking me about the font on my layouts, the one on the Magic Kingdom layout is "Aquiline", and the one on The Magic of Disney is "Pegsanna HMK". I donwloaded both for free on the internet, but can't remember where, and both remains my favorite which I use again and again. :)

It's late for me, so good night!

Walking humbly with thy God

There's so much bad news and uncertainty around these days. So I thought I'd share parts of a testimony I wrote out while attendnig the Alpha Course recently. It is about how I came to know the Lord and how my life has changed. I'll cut out some of the more personal parts, and just share this part:

"Before I knew the Lord, I was not really at peace. I was happy if I felt I was doing generally better than others, had good results, and was well thought of by others. Naturally I was miserable when the opposite happened.

Over the years, God’s dealings with me in this area extended to many areas of my life, to my relationships, studies, career, marriage, having children, and raising them. He continues to work in me! To show me that “all have fall short of the glory of God” and it is “by grace, through faith that we are saved”. 'Good' as I may appear on the outside, inside of me God continually works, and “amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me” is a resounding song within my heart.

There were a few major periods of difficult times in my life, one when I was younger and had relationship struggles, another when I was married and was trying to have a baby, and yet another when our firstborn had developmental difficulties, coupled with financial worries. Through all those times, God took a long time to answer my prayers in the manner I asked Him to. But in those long periods of struggling, He changed me. He taught me to rely on Him, and to trust Him. Through those periods, He also knew where my breaking points were and when I was vulnerable, and He protected me and provided special ways and help for me to cope.

As I walked this road of faith with God, I have tasted the goodness of God, experienced His faithfulness and answered prayers, seen the changes in my life, received peace, joy, and guidance for my life, found that the teachings in the bible are true, and that the bible gives answers to all my questions about life, and hope for the future.

My favourite verse is in Micah 6:8 - “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”

Praise God for His Everlasting love and faithfulness, and I pray that I will walk closer and closer to Him, and my life will more and more honour Him."

Well, if you have taken the time to read through all that, thank you, and hope it blesses you to know how God works in my life. I hope in the difficult times to come I too will remember His faithfulness and always have hope, peace and joy. Same to you too!

Now, for this week's layouts, I'm trying out more muted colors for these theme park photos. I've so many photos for this one trip!! It's taken almost the entire year to scrap them. Someone asked if I'm always on vacation lol! I wish, hehe! But scrapping has been really great as I relive the trip with dh and the boys. Can't wait to see it printed!
Credits: background paper by Weeds & Wildflowers, birdie and cut papers by Beth Nixon
Credits: Background paper from mediterrean kit by T Martin and Nancy Comelab from Digital Artist magazine, purple paper from Miss Mints kindergartencrafts, color sparkles from ChristinaRenee's blog party 2, orange paper fr Jackie Eckles' Whimsy world.

As usual, the above templates can be found here
Credits: background paper by Faith True, disney logo by Idzibitsy designs, numbers strip by Danielle Young, bullseye by Kim Christensen

This template is now available as a set in the store HERE

New link for Template 68 and some replies

And some replies to my wonderful blog friends:

Jazzmint, the F1 was great but tickets are rather expensive, if I get them for free I would definitely go next year! :)

Elnorac, you live so near by? It's a real pity and I don't think I would go to the US for a long time more .. :( ..but then over the internet all distances are short!

Thank you Melody and the others earlier who gave me the blog award! I'm very honored that you all visit my humble blog, I'm not much of a blogger but I do love sharing layouts :)

And to Chelsea, great suggestion, I will put in the preset guides in future templates. Actually I have not yet printed my US trip layouts with shutterfly yet, the only double page I've printed is the one of my trip to the beach, (see aug 16 2008post) where I experienced outer edges being cut off, that's when I realised shutterfly had these guides. I will be using the guides for printing them when i'm done, soon, and will definitely come back to tell how they worked.

For the shutterfly covers, I made a very successful cover (see post on 22 Oct 2007) where I used a textured solid color background. That helped the spine to blend in with the front and back covers without any obvious seam. And I did not have photos that crossed over from the front to the spine or to the back. Hope this idea helps!

Oh and I've completed two layouts and will be back with them soon!