Merry Christmas part 2

I got interrupted before...so I will continue my post....

Christmas day was fabulous....we went to Joseph's aunty's place where we got together with the whole family for a fabulous lunch which stretched to dinner...which stretched to supper and we came home at 2.30am....quite respectable for us....if not for Jordan working the following day...we probably would have had breakfast there!

Boxing Day after taking Jordan to work, we hit the shops for the boxing day sales...our first time....and only because Joseph needs new glasses and OPSM were taking 30% off the glasses he's been eyeing for a while now. Dinner that night was at Mich & Peter's place....we had a fabulous time...great food and fantastic company. Thanks Mich and Peter for a really delightful night.

Lastly.....a photo of the men in my life......was so hard to get a photo of them on Christmas day....this was the best I could get after 20 tries.....sigh.....but still the photo captures the goofiness which I love about them all.

Merry Christmas Everyone

lol....I am a few days late....I have been meaning to blog but it has been hard to get on the right computer. We have two computers and my pics are on one....and messenger is on the other.....and with two teenagers on school holidays...it has been hard to find the time to sit down and compose a blog entry. OK...excuses out of the way.....

Christmas was good...it was how I wanted it....I didn't have to host anything....I had a great time.....we had waaay too much to eat....

Let me share some pics of Christmas eve...
Our menu was beautiful....
Entree - vegetarian spring rolls and crab claws (it was beautifully arranged on a platter...but when I served the mains...I could see that the two younger kids had done some artistic arrangement on each plate)


















Baked snapper in foil with lemon grass and tomato
- pic isn't so appetising because we ran out of time and didn't have time to open up the foil to let the fish brown up a bit....but it was delish...this was polished off first...


Then I did some hoisin garlic pork belly....this is the dish of the month...i discovered it a couple of weeks ago and it is just so easy and sooo scrumptious....so to cater for the carnivores in the family.....this dish was requested.

Then I did one of my all time favourite dishes....garlic prawns Brunei style. First of all....prawns are well salted and then deep fried until the shell is crunchy...then set it all aside. In a separate big wok.... pan fry a whole clove of chopped garlic, a big red cayenne chilli (no heat but beautiful taste n colour) and one small hot chilli and a big handful of fresh curry leaves until everything turns golden brown and curry leaves are crunchy...then add a big dob of butter....and throw the prawns in and toss well to mix. The end result is something extremely aromatic and absolutely finger licking fantabulous.






And after filling our bellies to the max and collapsing on the couch for Miracle on 34th Street with some carols in the ad breaks.....with me practising to use the manual functions on my camera for Katie Toland's project......to capture christmas tree with the tree lights....i had fun and I love what I captured with my idiot proof point and shoot.....tee hee....it's not even a fabulous branded camera...it's a kodak...tee hee

I just have to say that I am in love with my tree.....I changed colour schemes last year after being a very traditional red and gold girl. Last year....I threw caution to the wind and decided to do silver, pink and purple and I love it. I also have a couple of garlands in the house....one behind the tree and one above the L shaped windows in the loungeroom....both garlands got the silver, purple and pink treatment as well. My wreath also got a revamp in the same colour scheme.and lastly.....some of my decorations in the loungeroom....DH did this the other night for me...and I absolutely adore how it has turned out. I made the BG decorations...and gave him creative control and I think he did a fabulous job!

Wowsers!!!

Wowsers....coz I stunned myself. The One Page at a Time kit was such a breeze to scrap with....I didn't have problems coming up with my minimum DT requirements at all and did one extra layout!!! I still have enough for a few more...the kit is just so awesome and so generous and soooo inspiring to work with. This is what I came up with...
ok....little known fact....in fact...I didn't even realise it myself.....I have never ever used pink alphas....I don't own any.....never thought of buying any....and actually thought it was a problem getting pink alphas in my kit..........even on the my son flower layout......the pink alphas really balance the layout......that's it...I have to get out of my comfort zone and buy alphas in all the different colours....be bold.....go PINK!!!!LOL....I left the clipboard to the last.....I was kinda stumped....so I decided to alter the clipboard so that i can still use it as a functional clipboard....not just a decorative item....so my LOTD clipboard was born...so I can clip up my latest layout and admire it for a while. When mod podging the clipboard......my brain remembered a tip.....I poured on the modpodge and used an old credit card (was just a store card)....and used that to spread the mod podge around....the result was fabulous...no brush strokes....just nice even smoothness...like icing a cake....tee hee....

And my brain....hmmm....my brain stores lots of info.....it seems to absorb lots of 'how to' tips......I don't know why...but it just does. It's kind weird and bizarre.....I wish that my brain will remember my shopping list....my dwindling bank balance when I am scrap shopping....that I must order school books and uniforms for next year....I wish my brain would remember useful things like that. lol

So all in all.....a very scrap productive weekend!!

OMG LOOK WHAT ARRIVED!!!!

Look at what arrived? My first kit from One Page at a Time. This took my breath away and had me weak at the knees...it is just absolutely gorgeous....absolutely packed to the brim with such a beautiful selection!!! It truly is such value for money because the papers are mostly double sided....so you can get so many different layouts done with this. And the otp item is fabulous quality. I've never done a clipboard before...so will be having lots of fun with this....I have an idea for this in my head already.

If you haven't tried a kit before....run and get one for your chrissy pressie because it will sell very very quickly!!

Now what else have I been up to?
It has been busy in the Enanoria household..........with boys finishing up with school and Jeromel had his end of year concert at kinder....so cute.....they did the nativity play. My camera was not behaving very well that day due to flatish batteries and poor lighting....so my pics aren't fabulous but I have enough to do a layout....will be back to post that one soon.

On the foodie side....I have finally restocked on my Prima Taste products.....I am not ashamed to admit that I am a lazy cook. Prima Taste makes perfect Singapore Laksa, delectable fool proof Rendang and the best ever Singapore chicken curry that has everyone happy to eat just gravy and rice when all the chicken has been polished off. For a couple of months now, all my local stores have been out of stock and I have been using up my stock slowly .....sort of rationing it.....finally I got tired of waiting and contacted the distributor directly and found out that I can buy directly from them. They're quite far away...but worth the drive to get what I want....plus I get to drop by and visit Michelle (who is also a big Prima Taste fan).

On the scrapping side......I took a little break from scrapping layouts and did some christmas decorations and presants instead. Mich and I saw the Kaiser Craft Christmas Tree at The Scrapbook Scene and fell in love....head over heels in love with it. Here it is ....all done up in Basic Grey Fruitcake papers and for the first time.....I did beading.....proper beading with tigertail and crimps....nearly went blind beading.....but it was sooo worth it....it twinkles in the light and is just such a pretty centre piece.Basic Grey also like the tree and put it on their gallery....I still get a kick out of them accepting my work. LOL See the stars next to it? I've been making them slowly while watching telly from the BG kits....still have to make the balls this week.

On the publishing front.....I've had a few acceptances this month....one from Scrapbook Creations and two from Scrapbooking Memories and was asked by SM to do a product review....first time!!!! Very excited!!!

omg....it can't be December already!!!

I can't believe the year has gone so quickly and it's already time to drag out the Christmas tree and go pressie shopping and buy food and send christmas cards.....stop snickering u organised girlies......I am feeling sooo unorganised this year. I need to start making those lists to keep me in check.

I went to lunch with the BB girls last Sunday at Campari's and had a fabulous time. It was just great to get away from all the testosterone in the house and immerse myself into girly scrap talk.....lol! The food was really great....I had Linguine di Mare (garlic oil based) and then finished it off with a Coffee Tiramisu & latte......absolutely heavenly. I am already planning to go back to have the Seafood Paella which I shamelessly asked Wendy for a taste of.....lol

ok...layouts that I am sharing...

The other two layouts for my last 2 layouts for the Everyday Moments album - sponsor product Carolee's creation rub ons...and theme is seasons. Quite enjoyed doing these two layouts....very quick to do.


and wait....there is a bit more news. I found out a couple of days ago that I won 2nd prize for a Scenic Route competition at A Million Memories. Thrilled with my Rockland prize pack!!

2 layouts and some news to share....

Jodie from Arty Pants set another challenging challenge for the DT again. LOL....that's why they're called challenges. This time....we were only allowed to use cardstock and art mediums (paint, ink, pen etc)....no embellishments at all. no brads, no eyelets, no ribbons....but the bit that had me in tears was no chipboard!!! Gosh....it made me realise that I am soo reliant on my chipboards....chipboard alphas for my title, chipboard embellishments covered with PP......it was good to think outside the square and go back to basics and create a layout.....not just a layout....but being a DT challenge...the added pressure was on to create a wow layout. I love the end result and my little batboy has declared this his favourite layout. He was pretty sad when we dropped it off at arty pants...but on the other hand....pleased as punch that it will be on display in the store.

Ok....this summer layout is the only layout I have done for November EDM album!! So I am officially two layouts behind....so 5 to churn out this month!! Why am I late? Because I found it soo hard to get hold of Carolee's creations papers/rub ons etc....and had to wait till Scrap Pile got them in. And fabulous Cass from Scrap Pile also got some of the plain SEI cardstock in! With EDM, it's kind of frustrating that we can't use bazzill if we want to comply with the 80% sponsor products......so I am absolutely in happy land now that I have some plain SEI cardstock to work with.

I had lots of fun with this layout. Did this during the crop at my place on Saturday and I asked for some of Mich's paper and with two co-ordinating sheets.....we both got a layout done each. Onsert product this month are the Carolee's Creations rub ons....on this layout....I added the words enjoy on the photo and the colourful blocks on the page corners.

Ok...now....my post title did say I had some news. It is big news to me....exciting news...fabulous news. This morning I got selected to be part of a kit club design team!!! I am now DT on One Page at a Time.

I am absolutely reeling with joy that Capella and Toni have picked me to be on their team ....I absolutely adore their style and their kits which are bright, funky and fun. The whole DT is fabulously talented and I'm really looking forward to getting to know the team and working with the kits.