Hello Today

I hope all of you had a great Christmas, spending time with your loved ones and enjoying lots of Christmas cookies :)

I made this layout a couple of weeks ago when I was feeling down... I chatted with an online friend and she reminded me about being positive :) 

I love this picture my hubby took of me when we were at the Great Wall. It was one of those moments.. peaceful, tranquil, at ease :) and so I decided to scrap it to remind me of those feelings.

Eve

Turkey Leg

I had a really great time in Disneyland last month! It was super awesome although it was really cold too because it was a windy, windy day!!! We should have dressed warmer! haha...

The photos of the layouts aren't that clear.... Partly cos I took it at night :P 

I love the background patterned paper. I believe I created this layout using SC's Dec kit. I can't even remember! LOL.... 

Hope you enjoyed this layout... and I can't wait to go back to Disneyland! :D

Eve

Random things

Just some random ramblings....

Hubby bought these comfy shoes for me last Sunday. It's really nice to wear around the apartment... and yes, I wear sandals in the apartment during summer because I somehow feel that being barefooted made my feet dry... and ever since I started wearing sandals (and now shoes), my feet is not dry anymore!! Easy solution!

Attempting December Daily this year :) My first time... so far so good.... and if I am able to keep up with this, I will attempt Project Life next. After chatting with a dear crafty friend, I am leaning more towards starting PL next year. Been contemplating it for a while now but we'll see :)

Enjoying Caramel Brulee Latte while I craft is indeed bliss :) This has got to be my favourite holiday drink. Tried Gingerbread Latte but it's just ok to me.... And I'm having the decaf version which tastes good but doesn't have the kick of 'real' coffee... well, at least I still get to drink coffee... :) Also, I've been craving Cheese Danish recently... it's delicious too! :P

Eve

Happiness

 ..... can come in many different forms. And for me, one of them was receiving a really happy email from Little Yellow Bicycle sometime early October informing me that I have been given the opportunity to be a part of their 'Once Upon a Christmas' Cycling Team (yeay!) 

.... and then of course, the anticipation of receiving a box full of goodies from them! (really, they spoil us!!!)

I made 2 layouts and 2 cards and still have lots of leftovers!!! :)

This is the first layout I made. The photos was from last year when I was still in Malaysia. I love the snowflakes on this pp. And assembling the rest of the embellishments on it was effortless.

For this layout, I used the little silver stars as accents and oh, I actually was thinking of hoarding the reindeer (cos I really loved it) but I used it on this layout anyway.. :) I popped it up on pop dots to create some dimension. I also stitched the green pp just because....

Look at the reindeer! Isn't it a doll!!! And the snowflakes on its body! love love love!!

I love the chipboard embellishments they have in this line as well. Ok, I guess you know I have a thing for snowflakes by now :)

This card is made under 10 minutes because LYB has the awesomest papers! :D I cut out a part of a pp with the little boy and girl and popped them on top of another pp, tied some twine on it and finished it off with the 'Merry & Bright' sentiment. 

I love the little baubles provided in the chipboard embellishment set as well and created this card with them. I drew the dotted lines and tied the bakers twine before adhering them on the baubles and that's about it! Oh, I added some stickles to them cos I wanted the 'snowy' effect :) And the Merry Christmas sentiment is from the pp where I cut out the little boy and girl! :)

Don't they look pretty? :)

Eve

Christmas Cards

Went on a Christmas Card making frenzy yesterday... lol... yes, not exactly. I have actually made parts of these cards sometime ago and yesterday was mostly assembling. Will be making another 15 cards (maybe) and I will call done :)

Trying to make some simple ones but ended up spending too much time coloring them and then glossing them up :)

 

And for the snowflakes, I actually added stickles on them as well... cos I wanted my snowflakes to sparkle.. haha

Celebrate the season! My favourite season in the year! yeay! Christmas is coming! :D

Eve

Custom Wedding Guestbook

Besides the custom cake toppers, I was also given the privilege to sew a guestbook for the couple's wedding. The bride chose the fabric for the guestbook and I added the flower/ribbon on the elastic band  which are part of their wedding color theme.

The package has already arrived safely in the hands of the bride (yeay! I am always kinda nervous until the package arrives in the hands of the customer... safely..).

I actually "ingeniously" protected the flower/ribbon so that they will arrive in the hands of the bride the way it left mine :D

She wanted the back cover to be grey so that it doesn't get dirty when placed on the table for guests to scribble on .... the pages inside are all acid free Canson watercolor paper (cold press). I super love cold press watercolor paper; they have a delightful texture to them.

I used acid free glue and paper for my custom guestbooks unless otherwise advised by clients. Even the journals in my Etsy shop are made with acid free glue and paper (the paper are  100% recycled, acid free FSC certified paper).

Eve

Custom Cake Toppers

A friend from Malaysia asked if I could paint a couple of cake toppers for their wedding. It's my first time painting cake toppers though, but I do like challenges so I said, 'yes'. 

And this is what I came up with :) She wanted it to be similar to the images on their wedding invitation card :)

It's pretty challenging drawing the smaller details.. but oh-so-fun to do.. haha... I added extra 'butterflies' at the hair on the back of the bride because I thought that would look prettier :) Added some button details on the back too... 

I used Mod Podge to seal and varnish the cake toppers and I love how glossy they look (though it's supposed to be matte finish)... cute, right? Modpodge is non-toxic and that's why I used it instead of the normal varnish I have :)

Eve

Handmade Journals

I have started making journals again.... this time in 100% recycled, FSC certified paper. Well, also because I recently preferred creamy colored paper. 

I have posted pictures of the journals I made on my facebook page and am slowly listing them on my Etsy shop too. If you see any that you like and wish to purchase them before they are on Etsy, please do drop me a private message on my facebook page :)

Eve

Blog banner

Some ideas has been playing around in my mind to design a new blog banner... I changed it a couple of weeks back and then I decided I wanted to change it again. This time, I am finally satisfied with the results (let's hope for a longer period of time.. haha)

The cabochon flowers are from Studio Calico's kit... I love them but somehow always fail to integrate them into my layouts. Perhaps I will attach them to a frame or something. Will have to think about it more... 

I have changed the name of my little 'business' from "Angelicquirk" to "Evelin T designs" on my Facebook page (the url has been changed too). I will proceed to change it here on blogspot as well. Am still thinking of the best way to do it... should I just change the name here on the original blog or create a new blog and direct people there? What do you think?

I also made a little custom stamp for the new name :) I do hope this new name will be a whole lot easier for people to remember (fingers crossed!). 

Angelicquirk was a fun name and I was published in a number of local (Malaysian) magazines, however I wanted my little crafting business to meld into something more professional and I think a name change was in place.

We will offer custom and ready made journals & albums, scrapbooking, mini albums, altered shadow boxes and photography as well as some new ventures on the way (to be announced soon).

Maybe one day, Angelicquirk will emerge again under the umbrella of "Evelin T designs"... who knows?

Eve

hexagon...

Just sharing another layout I made some time ago :)

Was trying to incorporate hexagon shapes into my layout and of course, I love the typewritten journalling... I think I made quite a lot of mistakes typing this and my hubby was asking me why the trouble in typing with a typewriter... haha... 

Eve

finally snapped some pics...

... of the layouts I made :) And then I realize I need to snap more pictures so that I can make more layouts.. haha

This picture was taken when we went to see the Hollywood sign back when my brother was here for a visit.. haha... yes, it's been quite a while :) 

Am excitedly waiting for some packages to arrive and also trying to get some work done. Off to cross some things off my list. 

Eve

It's a happy-doodah-day!!!

I received a really happy email late evening yesterday! I have been accepted into the Little Yellow Bicycle Cycling Team for their "Once Upon a Christmas" collection.... WOO HOO!!!! 

This is really exciting for me as I have not applied to be a part of any design teams for a while now.... It was a hiatus I had to take as I was busy with my craft business back in Malaysia (which I am re-starting  here.. handmade journals for the win!! haha). I was participating in quite a number of craft markets then and did not have the time to commit. But I am back and ! :D

This time around, I am striving for better time management so that I can apply to be a part of Design teams again and also make my journals and develop new items :)

I am so blessed to be chosen and be a part of Little Yellow Bicycle's Cycling Team... !! It's truly an honour!!! I can't wait to receive the items to play with!!

Check out their "Once Upon a Christmas" collection on their website now... they are so delicious and will be a wonderful collection for December Daily, 25 Days of Christmas projects or just cards or mini albums! 

Eve

Hola

It's been a while since my last post... sorry, if you've been checking back here but I have been feeling rather tired lately. Maybe it's partly due to the heat as it has been really hot lately. This past week was rather good though with the weather cooling down a little. Weather forecast for next week is scorching again. 

Sharing this layout I made way back (sounds so long ago...) in July. I haven't scrapped much in August and just a smidge this month...

In Universal Studios, they have this giant backdrop with New York's landscape and it's really very 3D when we snapped a photo, doesn't it? 

 Have I mentioned how much I love glossy accent?

Love this little camera from EP's paper too... it makes a fun little embellishment!

Eve

Warning...

.... this post contains a LOT of pictures! :) 

It was Labors Day in the United States on the 3rd of Sept (in Malaysia, Labours' Day is on the 1st May) and the church organized a picnic in Tellefson Park in Culver City. I have not attended a BBQ 'western' style before and a day out with fresh air and friends is always good, so off we went! :)

 Food on the grill... there's burgers, sausages, chicken, steak... corn....

 The weather was lovely! Warm sun, cool breeze!

Kids playing...

Filling up their water guns!

 Having fun ....

 My hubby and Dominic won the Balloon Toss competition! woo hoo!! :)

 The ladies :)

 See how much fun the kids were having? hehe

 well, the adults had fun too!!! Jump!!

 They played American Football... Pastor got cornered! LOL...

Look at them go at it! :D

It was a super fun day... I totally enjoyed the sun and the breeze... but I got a bit ill during the night though... just felt generally unwell. Went to bed at 830pm and practically slept the whole of the next day too... maybe it's heat exhaustion but I am alright now... Lots of sleep helps! :D

Eve

Back from hiatus....

.... I hope. I know I have not been updating my blog for the last couple of weeks (or was it months, I lose track..) but I still have lots of scrapbook pages I have done that I want to share. I actually managed to fill up one Becky Higgins' album within 2 months and I've ordered another one.. lol. So, you can imagine how many more I have in store to share (if I am hardworking enough...).

As you can see, these are still the photos from the Universal Studios happy day back in June! :) Well, I have a lot of photos from that day to scrap :D

I love to add glossy accents to highlight certain embellishments :) I love that they pop a little and that makes me really happy!

Oh, I was out with my church folks on Labor's Day for a picnic at the park too... Photos and updates to follow :) It was a fun day out and it was my birthday too but no one knew :D Well, I just want to spend the day out in the sun with people I adore and it doesn't matter if they don't know :) I had fun and that's the most important thing :)

Eve

Organizing weekend!

Hubby drove us to IKEA over the weekend and he got me a shelf and a table :D Well, I was perfectly happy scrapping on the floor but he felt that sitting on the floor all day doing things is not good for me and when he suggested we go to IKEA, I said, 'lets!'

He assembled the rack and the table for me and I'm pleased as punch! Now, everything is neater.... I guess there's no more excuse not to scrap or do my artwork anymore :P

I wanted to show a picture of before (how I scrapped on the floor) but I guess I either forgot to take a picture previously or I had deleted them. Oh well, this is the after :) I've got myself a cozy little corner :)

p/s : I love the baby back ribs they have in their cafe now.... it's delish! And the fries are perfection too! 

Eve

Fussy Cutting

I scrap faster than I take pictures and post them up. There are times when I just scrap and then file them away and when the pile gets a bit too huge, I will take some out to take pictures. In a way, it's good, I guess.. then I will have things to post up as and when.

There are plenty more Hollywood pictures to scrap and so, I hope you won't tire of seeing them :) This one is me and Sue Chin with a yellow taxi! 

 I love the polka dot patterned paper. It's so pretty!

I fussy cut the bicycle and kites from another patterned paper. I love the image but I was not sure how to use it on the PP, so I fussy cut them and used it for this layout instead.

Just a simple layout with loads of fussy cutting and some misting :)

Eve

A visit to Santa Paula

Let me share my 'adventure' in Santa Paula with you. It was mostly to accompany my hubby on his hour & a half drive to his client's place as well as be his navigator. I did look up on the town the night before we went so that I will roughly know what to do and expect.

Santa Paula is 45 minutes away from Los Angeles and it is located in Southern California's beautiful Heritage Valley. This area was firstly settled by the Chumash tribe of Native Americans around 10,000 years ago and it has a long history in oil and agriculture.

If you love old architecture, you will most probably love Santa Paula. There are many old buildings that are so beautiful!

Below, I share some of the photos I snapped with my iPhone4s. I didn't bring my Nikon out with me as my bag is already full with my sketching supplies and I'm on foot the whole day. Didn't want to overload my bag.

I stopped in my step to admire this clock. It is working! :)

Unitarian Universalist Church

 Beautiful murals abound in this town

 Santa Clara Valley Bank. I love the building!

The owner has Gone Fishing!

The Commerce Center 

 More murals :)

Oddfellows Clocktower 

Car Wash... look at the cute structure :)

This is a quiet, quaint little town. There is no hustle & bustle like in the big cities and sometimes, it is nice to take a step back and enjoy a town like this.

Eve