I QUIT!!

One week into spring and what do you know???? Winter is back in full force...past few days it has been sooo cold.....lots of rain...lots and lots and lots of rain. It was not fun for two days a twork being stuck in the house....we couldn't go to the park...we couldn't go to the shops....we were stuck at home. Orlando and I got cabin fever....we did a lot of dancing and marching up and down the hallway.....the 16 month old little cutie pattotie can spin and groove!!!

I have one more day left with Orlando next week and then I won't be his nanny anymore. I quit because I am needed at home.....with two high school boys (Year 11 and Year 9) and a pre-schooler......it isn't easy....Joseph and I were finding that we were constantly hurrying them....chasing them to get up....rushing them off in the morning...barking instructions etc.....then after work....I'd be rushing home to either drive one to work, pick one up from work and pick one from Grandma's...and rushing to cook dinner. All they would see was one stressed mother who would destress all over Dad when he finally got home. Enough is enough.....something has got to give and my sanity was worth more than my job. LOL

I've had a fairly stressful week....so have been collapsing into a heap on the couch every evening. DH thinks it's great because we have been snuggling and watching telly together. We watched the 9/11 special ...and we even watched Memoirs of a Geisha....beautiful beautiful movie. So...no scrapping done at all.......nothing much to show except for the canvas which I did last week.

Ok....12x12 canvas for Miss Hannah's 3rd birthday...same photo...but this time teamed it up with Mod Red Gerbera papers. I absolutely adore the Technique Tuesday Petal stamps and petal tiles.
Next is a little explosion album which I made for Kylie's new baby Emma. Love the cover!


Ok....to tell the truth...I did one layout last weekend....but it was snapped up by Scrapbooking Memories....4th one accepted in a fortnight! Very happy!!

1st day of Spring!!

Yay....officially the end of winter ...and what better way to celebrate Spring than with an explosion of flowers!! Layout at the top is of Kylie's gorgeous daughter Hannah. I've also done a canvas of her for her 3rd birthday using the exact same photo...so I will post it later.

The Nature's Gifts layout is the most pinkest and flowery layout I have done on my son. Again, another photo of him in our magnolia tree. DH loved this photo so much that he printed off an A4 size copy and gave it to me to scrap with. What a challenge. I do love the outcome...and so does Basic Grey because they accepted it into their gallery!
Dream layout - love the photo of Jeromel daydreaming while looking out the window...and I changed it to b&w so that I could use my new Capetown papers. I've done hand stitching, some beading and stuck 7 gypsies stickers onto chipboard to make them 'pop'...and used my last black petaloo flower!
And then two more small 8x8 layouts for Jeromel's ABC Album....can't believe that there are only 6 more to go before the album is complete....we've just been told by Sri that we have till the end of September to finish it. Yikes since they're the toughest....UVWXYZ!!!


Yah...all in all...I've had a very very productive week scrap wise. Asides from these layouts...I've also done an explosion album and a canvas....so very pleased!!

But wait....there's more!!!

LOL...two more layouts for my Everyday Moments Album....theme is Snapshots, sponsor of the month is S.E.I. and the onsert is iron ons which I used for both layouts.... one more layout for the EDM before the end of the month.

I haven't been idle....

LOL...long time between blogs...but I haven't been idle....am back to finally post my layouts from last week. I'll start off with a couple more layouts for Jeromel's ABC album.

Q for Quiet time....Jeromel suffers from excessive ear wax in his ears...his ears are not self cleaning at all. When he was little...he had speech problems....he couldn't say F and S and had to have intensive speech therapy. It was found out that he had loss of hearing....nothing major....just that his ears were chockablock full of wax. I swear...the ENT dude pulled out wax plugs nearly an inch thick.....of clean white wax...like candle wax....I had my own little Shrek!!! Anyways....to keep his ear canals clear....we have regular ear candling sessions...which Jeromel really enjoys. R for ride....first time riding after his training wheels were taken off his bike. He was quite excited about the prospect of them coming off....but wasn't quite ready for Daddy to let go of him.
Oh...this layout...I absolutely adore. I made it through the first round of the Effer dares and the next challenge was to do a layout using exactly 13 photos....gosh...as if I haven't done enough multiple photo layouts lately!!!

We have this gorgeous magnolia tree on our front yard ..a truly magnificent tree....full of green leaves in summer, autumn starts growing flower buds and leaves go brown and drop off, winter...the flowers bloom (no leaves on the tree)....so just big magnolia blossoms....then by spring..the flowers have fallen and the tree is bare naked.

Jeromel has taken a liking to this tree because it's the right size for him to climb and being 5...he's very much into climbing trees. So I decided to capture his antics and the blooms on the tree. The photos were taken over about 2 weeks...so the tree is in various stages of bloom.

For this challenge....I decided to use my hambly overlay and my Kodomo Inc paper....it took me a long time to align the photos so that the swirls weren't covering up Jeromel's face...and it's a simple layout...but I adore it. And I didn't get through to round 3 of the Effer dares.....competition was very stiff and the layouts that progressed were fantastic.

Amazing Scrapping kids...

Yesterday..I had a little crop session at home with Mich......while we are scrapping...Jeromel decides to get out his craft bag and so some scrapping too. I was a tad pre-occupied with my layout and during the course of the afternoon...he comes and begs for a few photos...which I gave him ....so that he would leave me to scrap in peace. To my amazement....he produced some lovely works of art...in fact....he did 7 layouts compared to the one that I did!!!

Shirley popped by as well for a visit and Abby got into scrapping with Jeromel as well...enjoyed herself so much that she didn't want to leave! What do you think of his scrapping work? I might have to wrangle him a spot on Arty Pants junior DT!! Does he qualify Judy?

I'll be back later to post some of my own layouts...stay tuned.

Fantastic end to the week!

I've had a fabulous weekend... Friday was a lovely lovely productive day....chores after kinder drop off...then went to the park in the afternoon to catch up with Ann, Robbie and Claire....whom we haven't seen for about 6 months.....sort of lost touch when playgroup disbanded...and recently discovered that they are now just living up the road from us. Friday night I actually got around to scrapping my Arty Pants first DT challenge layout which was to use 6 or more photos on a layout....I adored the layout I did.....finally got around to using the SEI Petals and Paisley papers...and did some beading on the layout...and kept adding more stuff....lol ...and i multi tasked and scrapped while watching a movie...Tristan and Isolde...beautiful movie.

Saturday night...we had a fabulous time. MIL and FIL invited themselves around for dinner, then a friend said he was coming too...and more friends said they might pop in for a visit.....so when I mentioned it to Mich...I invited them too and to my surprise....Mich said yes.....although...I thought she was sort of kidding since they live so far away. We had a nice dinner....half of it was takeaway chinese food....crispy roast pork and bbq pork. MIL brought some pasta and filipino crispy 'internals' (I'll spare you the details - but it was tasty), I cooked Pan fried soy ginger salmon, some stirfried garlic shoots n sugar snap peas and baked honey soy wings. Can't remember what else...but we had more than enough to eat and then we started on poker...had lots of fun......Mich's first time ...beginner's luck didn't kick in until her last hand!!! We'll have to organise another poker night.

Jeromel, Ellen and Phaedon had lots of fun as well. Jeromel was kind of bossy with them...as he is with other kids...but when it was time for bed...he was sad that Ellen and Phaedon had gone home...he wanted them to sleep over. I don't know about Phaedon...but I think Ellen wouldn't have minded. Right Mich??? rofl!

Today.....was the Arty Pants little afternoon tea where I got to meet the other DT members...Steph, Chrissy, Connie and Carrie. So nice putting faces to names.....esp Chrissy as she will be moving across to the other side of the country to WA!! And while I was there...DH took the kids and got Krispy Kreme!!! Woo hoooo!!! What a way to end the weekend....hot cup of coffee and a fresh Krispy Kreme! Yummo!!

And I just checked my mail and I won the Scrapping with Scraps blog competiton. Thanks Jilly, Sarah, Lusi and Chrissy!!!! Off to bed now before I turn into a pumpkin!!

What a week!

Seems like it has been forever since I have blogged and scrapped....lol....my mojo went on a holiday to mojo island and is only reluctantly returning after lots of prayers from me. Ok...layout on the top was done for the Scrapping the Scraps blog competition. Showing support for my Arty Pants fellow DT members Chrissy, Jill and Sarah. *waves*

Next layout was done for the Effer Dares - Last Scrapper Standing Challenge #1. Did this layout today...did the journalling while at work and quickly assembled the layout after a dinner party for Mum's birthday. Loved doing this layout as I absolutely adore the photo and I've been threatening to do a layout on DH's mid life crisis. I didn't let him read the journalling until I was done and I'm glad that he likes it...journalling and all.
Finally.....I'm published!!! After months of waiting...it's in the For Keeps magazine!!! Absolutely thrilled to see my layouts in print. Now I guess I have to pull up my socks and try to get more work published....must admit I have been rather slack in submitting layouts consistently.




















Asides from scrapping....I've had a fabulous week...had a fabulous 5 hour lunch with Mich and Shirls on Monday. I had promised to make Chilli Crab for Shirl's birthday lunch...but after my mad dash to Springvale....I was told by fishmonger after fishmonger...it's Monday...no crab. Sigh..turns out fishermen or crabbers don't work Sundays....and they come from Darwin.....so Melb only gets crab about Wednesday onwards...sigh. So after a panicked phonecall to Mich...we agreed that Chilli Crab with sandcrabs or blue swimmer crabs just wouldn't be right and decided to make laksa. And since we all like oysters....two dozen oysters were added to the basket too! Jeromel and Abby enjoyed fish tofu and banana milk.

Of course I can't leave you imagining the food...here are the foodie pics....compliments of Shirl's new camera.

Right behind you....

Did this layout for the How Dare you blog challenge set by the Queen of 3D Carole Janson
One peek at her blog set my heart and brain racing with inspiration. Fabulous challenge and I had a lot of fun doing this at the mini crop session at my place yesterday with Mich and Shirls. We each got one layout done in 3 hours which is pretty good considering how much we chatted.

I've had a fabulous weekend ...scrapping yesterday, friend's house for dinner last night and I ended up at Krispy Kreme for the first time last night with my friend and we queued and to our delight got fresh hot Krispy kreme donuts......soooo yummy!!! Yah...can you believe that I have not been to Melbourne's Krispy Kreme store since it opened? Last Sunday we had wanted to go but one look at the queue and we decided to skip it...no way we were going to queue in the rain and hail!!! Sooo worth the wait and I must say ...their Mocha is sooooo yummo!!! Pity I didn't have my camera with me last night....I should have taken a photo of my donut and my mocha for my 'snapshots' layout!!! LOL....well....I guess I will just have to go back.

Through the M4M Singapore group of fabulous scrapping Mums.....I got sent a pack of goodies for a product challenge. Rules were to use everything in the pack...both sides of the cbx paper and that the products cover 70% of the layout. And yes...that bit of cardboard has to be used too. All the products must also be visible on the layout.

This is the pack...
And after much struggling .....mostly struggled with what photo to use with the products as I found the paper and fabrics to be quite feminine while the quote tag and the cardboard were quite masculine. Anyways....this is my layout....I think it's quite ok...
The new tool that I have been raving about - that I bought at Arty Pants during their open day is the EK Success Corner Adorner....which I used to make the scallopped edge paper...sooo easy to use and soo much fun....effortless scallopping. LOL Thanks Shirley for sharing this fantastic tip.

Another layout done is for the HMITM
pattern challenge set by Shirley. It was challenging....it was fun.....something I've wanted to do. And Jeromel loves it heaps!!! He said that I must love him a lot to make such a big heart. Awww.

MNOP....

Few more layouts for Jeromel's ABC Album

M for Monkeying Around with boots the monkey (from Dora the Explorer)......we caught him giggling when he was supposed to be asleep....his excuse....Boots was being funny and telling him jokes and keeping him awake.
N for Naybe. Jeromel has very cute Jeromel-ish .....he says Naybe instead of Maybe and he says berember instead of Remember.....and let's not forget I'm a magenius. Very cute sayings.


O is for orange. This was his favourite favourite jumper last year. Photo was actually taken at a Ted's camera store when the salesperson was demonstrating a camera and printer dock....so I got this photo of him.
P is for Peanut Allergy.....

You were diagnosed as being allergic to peanuts when you were only 6 months old along with dairy, egg and wheat. You’ve outgrown the others but it seems that the peanut allergy will be with you for a while. You’ve had 3 repeat tests and they’ve shown that you’re anaphylactic which is the most severe form. We have to carry the adrenalin injection (Epipen) with us at all times in case we need it, it only buys enough time for the ambulance to get to you. You have never ever ingested peanuts but you are sensitive even to the smell and touch of peanuts. On this occasion, we had gone out to dinner for Popo’s birthday and even though our food had no peanuts, there must have been trace amounts on the table or chair. You were tired after childcare and were rubbing your eyes…before we knew it…your eyes had bloated, and you were very sick. Poor darling, we hope you grow out of it.

I'm a Princess

I'm a princess according to the gorgeous Susan Johannes
LOL....that's what she said when she tagged me...so here I go fulfilling my princess duties...

1. How old are you? 38.........lol....on the doorstep of turning 40!

2. How many kids do you have if any? 3 handsome boys - Jordan 17, Jarryd 15 and Jeromel 5

3. Are you married, single, divorced, widow? Married

4. What is your occupation? Nanny

5. What are your passions? My husband, children, family, scrapbooking and passionate about enjoying life

6. Are you a dreamer or a dream seeker? Oh a dreamer for sure...and sometimes, I will move out of procrastination and dreaming mode and go make it come true.

7. Are you happy with the way your life has turned out? Yah....I am happy....I've been married 19 years and still so much in love. I have really great kids. I wish we had more money for a bigger house, more holidays........but then that's a wish that the majority of people have.....so essentially....I am happy with the way my life has turned out.

8. Are you a scrapper and if so how many hours a week do you scrap? How many hours do I scrap? I think the question is how many hours am I not doing something scrap related. LOL.....I'm obsessed.

9. What do you want to do before you die? I'd love to travel around the world and I'd love to fly over Antartica.

10. What is your favorite food? Noooooodles!!! I'm a typical asian gal who loves her hawker stall type food.

11. What is the food you hate the most? Oatmeal....can't stand the smell of it...can't even bring it upon myself to cook it for the kids.

12. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? oh...there are so many....how do I choose? I am a ditzy klutz.....I embarass myself a lot......I get embarassed about myself.....enough said.

13. What is the happiest day of your life thus far? Today because I am alive and enjoying life. Tomorrow is looking great too.

14. Are you a neat freak? Or a dirty house cleaner? What is a dirty house cleaner? Who would clean a clean house? I'm a slave driver....I pay my older sons to vacumn and clean toilets...they also tackle dishes. I'm not a neat freak....I'm not obsessive.....with 3 boys my house is cluttered and can get messy...but it's not dirty.

So now I guess I have to tag three people.....so am tagging....Miss Jane , Rachael Axton and Jodie Armitage
Why these 3 super talented ladies? Curiosity I guess.....nah..just like to get to know them a little bit better. LOL

A mini Tooot

Ok...my mini toot.....I'm a member of the DT for Arty Pants!!! The shop opened today and Mich and I went to check it out and spent some money....quite a bit of money. If you're in Vic, make the trip to Arty pants.....you'll love it. They have Foofala buttons!!! My favourite purchase of the day is a very nifty little tool which I can use to make scallopped cardstock or patterned paper. No more being stingy and saving my US bought scalloped Bazzill and tracing and having to painstakingly cut out the scallops. I'm in the middle of the layout...so very soon I will share my layout as well as this nifty little tool. *muaks* Shirls for sharing this with me.

This is my latest favourite layout of meeeeee. I did this over a week ago but wasn't able to share it because of course I have to let Arty Pants have first look and it's up in the shop. Love the Heidi Grace papers which Mich brought back from Singapore for me. The dotty paper is flocked....so nice and fuzzy and texturised. Why eyelets?? Because it was an eyelets challenge.......scrappers....take note...I am predicting that eyelets will make a comeback. LOL Heaps of stitching on this layout as well and I even added some beautiful dragonfly beads. And I absolutely adore the new Heidi Swapp ghost alphas....so big and they make such an impact on the layout.


This colourful layout was done for the HMITM Rainbow Brite challenge. Challenge was to use red, green, blue, yellow, orange and violet in a layout as well as two other embellishments (ribbons n buttons). I started on it quite late as I have had a fairly full on week PMS-ing. Enough said about that.....we don't need to go into the nasty nitty gritty details which will make me look like a BITCH. LOL

Ok...I took the photo early yesterday morning because we walked out of the house delighted to find that the front lawn was all frosted over. It was sooo cold that the dew had frozen. The lawn was white and it looked like it had been sprinkled with snow. The look of delight, wonder and awe on Jeromel's face was so hard to capture...but I managed this shot which I absolutely adore and I just had to scrap it.

oh...I do have other photos of him and the lawn.....will be scrapped when inspiration strikes. LOL

Beautiful Moment....

This is my last layout for the Everyday Moments album comp for July. I love the photo sooo much. It was taken during my sister's wedding reception last year in Brunei. Jeromel's Gung Gung (grandad) was taking him around to chat to various people and the photographer captured such a beautiful moment.....

I see a look of gentleness and pride on my Dad's face,
I see such gentleness and love in the way my Aunty is holding him and she looks interested in what he had to say
and Jeromel looks soo sweet and he's obviously enjoying himself and he looks sooo dapper in his mini tux....this must have been before he got very disheveled while dancing up on stage with the band....yes...my son did this!!!

Thanks for looking!!! I'm wondering who reads my blog regularly.......maybe hardly anyone...but if you read this....please post a comment and say Hi!

Everyday Moments Album competition

For Keeps is running an 8 month long competition along with 10 sponsors (Basic Grey, Scenic Route, Junkitz, Li'l Davis, Heidi Swapp, sei, Sassafrass Lass, Carolee's creations, Micheal Miller, and Strano)....where each month, there will be a little bag of free products from the sponsor of the month with the mag and you have to use those products to create 3 layouts following a particular theme. Still with me?

In a nutshell....this month is Junkitz and theme is Family. So 3 layouts using Junkitz products that came with the mag with 80% of the products used being from the list of sponsors. So all in all....24 layouts to do. I've opted to do a landscape 8.5x11 as I have never done that before...so another challenge for me. So far...I've done two layouts and loving it heaps.

First layout is Legacy of Love featuring my parents and my children. Totally love this layout and I used clear dimensional paint, black dimensional paint, Pebeo Crystal touch and glitter!!




















Second layout features my hubby Joseph and our boys. Again...lots of Junkitz products and I had a lot of fun using the paper punches.

One more Junkitz layout to do...which is half done on my table...will probably finish it tonight. Thanks sooo much for looking!!

What is it about J's????

I have had a fabulous fabulous week. Last Sunday, Mich and Shirley came to my place and we then went to Paper2 and caught up with Jane, Susan and Jen. First time meeting the fabulously talented Shirley, the amazing Jane who is also in the current issue of FK in the Introducing section (congratss!!) and also first time to meet two EB scrappers Susan & Jen. I shopped till I was silly and between Mich and myself....we got enough points on the loyalty card in one visit to entitle us to 10% our next spree!! We spent heaps!!

Then we went to Sails on Main for lunch and oogled through each other's albums and even did a mini photo shoot right in the middle of the packed restaurant......we were noisy and laughing and having a ball!!! i will come back and post pics on that soon.

Ok...down to scrapping.....this week...3 layouts for Jeromel's A-Z album

J Friends

J for J Friends. What is it about J's? When I was first pregnant, we had a hard time choosing names....we had a very well thumbed baby names book with post it notes everywhere....finally we decided that if the baby was a boy, the first name would start with J (after DH - Joseph) and the second name start with R (after me). So much easier...we eliminated the other 24 letters of the alphabet and concentrated on two sections.

Our boys are named: Jordan Rhys, Jarryd Rhain and Jeromel Rhowan.

We had a hard time choosing Jeromel's name and thank goodness we don't have to choose names again. LOL

So now....my little one Jeromel has lots of good friends that start with J....Jessica, Jye and Jaime....what a co-incidence huh???


K for Karaoke
Ok...this Karaoke layout is kinda lame....it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I might re-do this at some stage...but for the time being...it will stay. Enough said about it....

L for Laughter
I took this photo of the boys during Christmas last year and I love it heaps. After taking lots of unsuccessful photos with one of them always with a funny face or closed eyes or rolling their eyes....I told them to laugh...and they roared and I got this fabulous photo!!

This layout was done for the HMITM eyelet challenge...where you have to use at least 20 eyelets amongst the journalling. A fun layout to do and decided to do it on DH since he had already started complaining that it's been a while since I've done a layout on him. LOL He loves it and I had lots of fun with the eyelets.

I've done a few other layouts....I will be back to post about them....

boy oh boy!!

This is for the How much is too much Week 4 challenge....to use 50 stickers or more on a layout.....I stopped counting after 60 and that was just one side of the page....tee hee! Heaps of fun to do and I really like the way it has turned out.

I've had a fabulous weekend.......I got to scrap ....I got to sleep in......I got to go shopping and most of all.....we took the kids to watch Superman today. Everyone really enjoyed the movie and although Jeromel did get a tad scared in the middle and had to sit on my lap for the rest of the movie.....he's pronounced it 'the best ever' movie and wants to watch it again. After walking all around Southland looking for a comfy pair of school shoes for Jarryd.....we parted with $80 for a pair of size 13 Hush puppies for him.....let's hope this pair lasts him a while!!! I'm totally scared now...because in all shops....they only go up to a size 13......what happens after this??? Custom made?? $$$$$$$$$$$$ Surely there must be a shop somewhere for BIG Feet??? Maybe it's time to revert back to the ancient chinese custom of binding feet??? hahahahaha...first I'll have to catch the 6'1" 15 year old boy....then pin him down then bind his feet.....no probs!!!!

I'm a Magenius!!!!

Playing catch up as usual with some of the challenges!! The layout above is for the How Dare you blog challenge. I had so much fun doing this layout. It's a photo which I have been struggling to scrap....it was taken 15 years ago (yah...I'm that behind!!)....and it's of my son really enjoying a bbq pork bone as a teether. He has this intense look of concentration and satisfaction on his face that is just sooooo adorable. How dare he look so cute?? How dare he grow up?? This boy is now 6'1"....crikey!!! Had lots of fun using the gorgeous scallopped Bazzill and the beautiful Cactus pink papers (thanks Mich!).

Following layout is for the How Much is too much blog challenge....which is to use at least 5 kinds of fabric on the layout. Again....photos of me on my 2nd birthday (lol....I told you I was behind in my scrapping!) and my 5 fabrics are prima flower, tafetta (scrunch dyed in walnut ink), pretty patterned fabric, walnut ink stained lace, embroidery thread and a li'l davis canvas word. I ummed and aaaahed over this layout sooo much ...but I do like the end result. WDYT??

I'm a magenius!!! He yells out!!! He means to say "I'm a genius".....but he thinks the word is magenius....so "I'm a Magenius" it is for the time being. It's soo cute and he always says it with such enthusiasm that I don't have the heart to correct him. Let him be wrong for a little while longer....let someone else burst his bubble......for now...I will enjoy my Magenius!!