///Sick days///

I'm guessing, nobody likes sick days? haha.... I guess it's a good thing my brother and his girlfriend are only coming in the middle of this week instead of the last couple of days because I have been having dizzy spells since Saturday evening.

I was washing sweet potatoes and chatting with the hubs when the room sudden tilted! It was a very uncomfortable feeling. He helped me to the sofa and I took a rest and was better that night but when I woke up on Sunday morning, I couldn't even sit up without having the whole room spinning! :(

Practically wasted my whole Sunday sleeping cos I felt dizzy even when I open my eyes... sigh... am feeling a lot better now. At least I can move about and not feel like I'm in Willy Wonka's factory... and at least I can look at the laptop now. Couldn't do that yesterday without feeling like I was going to puke.

I made this layout last week and had not blogged about it yet... so here, it is! I love the woodgrain background... 

My aunt and uncle were asking us to do the pretend "I don't want you", "hey, you!" kinda shots... hahahaha.... it was fun! 

I think I'm those no-sketch-in-mind, simple kinda scrapper... but there's more to explore and discover so I'll see where this leads me :D

When I am sick and unwell, I look to porridge as my comfort food. What about you?

Quirky

Just Cute

This week past by so quickly! It kinda just whizzed past me and it's almost the end of the week... ! I don't really know how this week went by, actually. haha... but hubby was ill on Tuesday and he spent the day resting and erm, I kinda rested too :P

And then the photos I took of the layouts turned out blur and I didn't want to post them blur. But I still think they are kinda blur. hmmmm.... Not gonna be too bothered by it for now. 

When I saw the leaning branch in the park, I so wanted to take pictures on it... I've seen many pretty pictures of couples taken on leaning branches like those and I wanted some too :P Good thing, my hubs was nice enough to indulge in my goofiness. haha....

You know the splattering of sparkles you see on my layouts? Those are rhinestones and I 'splatter' them because I don't have any paints with me yet... LOL... and I loved the splattered effects I've been seeing on layouts, so this is my version of it. And the folded doily is an inspiration taken from my friend, Jessy's tutorial :)

Hope you guys had a great week! It's Memorial Day weekend for us here in US. And oh, the Sketchbook Project 2012 exhibition is down in LA this weekend. I hope to make it there to check out all the arty sketchbooks sent in from all over the world!

Quirky

Love Always

My grandma is my rock. She's one of the strongest ladies I know in my life. The things she went through before in her life, the way she thinks, conducts her life and lives her life are worthy to be written into a book and immortalized. 

She was the one who took care of me when I was a little girl as my mum had to work. She cared for me and took me to kindergarten. I remember fondly the memories of walking through the muddy paths in the backlanes to get to the kindergarten and how she stopped at a neighbour's house to get tissue to wipe off the mud on my white school shoes before we reach the gates of the school :) Those were the days before they tarred the roads in the lanes behind her old house. 

She was already in Australia when my Hubby and I flew to the States, so when I met up with her in Melbourne, she hugged me and teared. sigh... it tugs on my heartstrings to realize that she is caught up in years (but I want her around for many, many more years to come...).

I love you, Grandma.... you'll always, always have a special place in my heart and I can't wait to see you again when I go back!!

 Wish you could come but you said the journey is too long... and yes, I do understand flying that long is uncomfortable for you... I will be back in a blink of an eye! Let's take lots and lots of pictures together again! :)

Quirky

Lovely Day

It's official... I l-o-v-e Studio Calico. Something about their kits and choice of paper jives with me... There are many beautiful kits out there too but sometimes it's just which strikes a cord on our heartstring, yes? :)

The layout I made here is scrap-lifted from Jessy and she's the featured artist for this week over at Studio Calico. She made such a beautiful layout and I just love how she effortlessly cuts out pieces of patterned paper to use. I'm learning to do that now too. Afterall, they are supposed to help me make a pretty layout, not stay in the paper pad :P

Photo was taken on a very lovely day in the Rose Garden @ Werribee Park. I must say, that is one of my favorite places in Melbourne now. Considering the fact that it is quite a drive away but it is very much worth it! I would want to go there again whenever I drop by Melbourne :)

Close up.... I've seen these twine inspirations on blogs a lot and finally decided to try it for myself!

I love the twirls they make, actually. I think I will use them more in my future layouts :) Oh, and the doilies are inspired by a tutorial over at Jessy's blog too. I am loving the scrunched-up effect. As you can see, they are subtly inked too :)

And here's the full layout. How's it? I think this is one of my favorites so far! 

Quirky

*click*

I wouldn't say that I have a trigger-happy finger but I really do love taking pictures. I have bought quite a few cameras these last couple of years since I caught the shutter-bug but my favorites so far is my Nikon D90 and my iPhone 4s. The former, obviously because it takes way better pictures but the latter  because is so lightweight and it's all-in-one (phone, camera, games, etc). It's really helpful when you wanna take good pictures but don't want to lug a dslr around :)

For my recent trip to Melbourne, I decided to travel light and was only equipped with my iPhone 4s. In fact, the photos in the last couple of blog posts are all taken with it too. To say it for a fact, I am impressed with the camera function... it is w-a-y better than my old iPhone (the first gen) and the iPad... :)

I love the paint-peeling off the wall kinda effect on this patterned paper... it's awesomely vintage :)

And I do have a thing for turquoise.. I love that colour, somehow.

I have not done a 3 photo layout before. This is my first time doing one. The doilies have been inked as I wanted it to have a bit of colour as opposed to being stark-white against the background. As you can see, I love inking the sides of all the papers... 

This trip to Melbourne was awesome. I met with my aunt & uncle who went to visit and accompany my grandma back, spent time with my grandma, cousins and aunt & uncle who hosted us :) It was a very family-close-to-heart-kinda trip :)

Quirky

Hippity-Hop

I am slowly finding back my creative-side and my mojo after our big move to the US sometime in March. It was floating around in hotels and motels and then finding a place to call our home for the next couple of years, to finally settling in.

Honestly, I said it's a big move because it really is. Whoever said packing and moving is a piece of cake either meant a piece from one huge a*s of a cake or they had plenty of help (or paid movers to do it!)... oh, and the "big move" I meant is the moving-out-of-the-country-kind, not the moving from house-to-house-kinda-moving. They are really different... you have to experience it to know what I'm talking about.

But, I guess, doing it a couple more times will definitely make things easier (chuckles)... yes, I aspire to be like Travelingmama and experience life in many different places :) 

I do know that I have not been keeping this blog alive with interesting or creative feeds for quite a while now (the occasional smattering of low quality posts is really below par.. sorry about that) and I hope this fresh start in the States will also be a fresh start for my blog and my craft. For instance, I have finally started doing more 12x12 layouts, something I don't really do back home. 

I love kangaroos... they are so cute when they hop and these were wild.. I had to creep very near them to capture these shots with my iPhone.. yes, it's taken with the iPhone 4s, so you can imagine how close I was to them. Good thing they did not charge over and punch-kick me! :P

Loving the woodgrain PP

I really do hope my 'readers' will come back and frequent my blog again. I hope it used to be an inspiration for some of you and I hope it will be again. Please do leave me a comment to say 'hi' if you drop by.. don't be shy! 

Quirky

Happy Together

Just printed a bunch of photos yesterday and now I can't wait to create layouts with them. I thought I had edited more than the amount I printed but boy, editing does take time and it's hard work! :)

Made this with SC's May kit. Well, the thickers, leaves and camera were not from the kit, they were from my own stash. I had fun making this. This photo is taken on our recent trip to Melbourne! :)

We were in Werribee park... it was beautiful... vast expanse of greens, a rose garden, a lake and a very beautiful mansion (accompanied by a tragic love story... le sigh)!

I love this pink thickers.. been saving it :P

I really do need to get a proper lamp or study light for crafting. The light in the room is yellow mood lighting and I don't work very well with it.... haha... I need proper white light. It's been fun staying here and we have friends coming over again soon! 

Quirky

Steal a Kiss

The skies are getting brighter earlier this week. Woke up at 6.30 am to see the sky so bright, I thought it was at least 8 am! Am still adjusting to waking up to cool weather... there's just something about the cold that makes you feel like snuggling longer under the sheets and not wake up, doesn't it?

Living in the States for the past month or so now has been a very pleasant experience, especially when it comes to buying craft supplies! I have to be honest, it IS a joy to buy things now and I finally joined a kit club! First time ever!! And I am loving the kits I received so far (2 only.... :P)

I finally created a layout today... and here it is! This photo was taken during Christmas 2011 in Bangsar Village 2 back in Malaysia.

Grandma, Mum & me

I stamped some butterflies into the PP background as well just for added dimensions as I don't have everything I used to have with me... I am slowing getting my supplies again... it will take some time but for now, I am teaching myself to use what I have :)

Hope you like my layout! :)

Quirky