9 months

Ariff's picture taken on Nadira's birthday party on 7/1/07 at Kidzsport, BSC. He enjoyed himself so much. We had everyone there, Adib, Adam, Mimin, all baby cousins attended the birthday party. Layout is scraplifted from Ali E. I think its real simple and got a chance to use my new clear stamps from Autumn Leaves. Absolutely love clear stamps now. With green swirls on top left hand corner, I managed to stamp twice with clear stamp block. Made a mistake with green being too light so had to stamp one more time to darken the colour. Not bad, stamp it, no sweat!

Japanese, Japanese, Japanese

Today its all about Japanese. Made menu cards and name cards. Had to keep it simple for we didn't have enough time to do anything more. Anyways, we whipped up these cards in minutes!

Hap-py

Happy is my word for the rest of the year.

Happy is joyous, joyful, blithe, cheerful, merry, contented, blissful, satisfied, favourable, successful, propitious, prosperous.

I will put all this beautiful words into my little notebook to remind me all the time of what i wanna be this year.

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

Taking up a Challenge

Ali Edwards, my inspiration (besides you, Nings), posts challenges on a monthly basis. One of my new year's resolution is to spend more time with myself. So what do you know, Ali E's 1st newsletter for 2007, is One Little Word, check it out at http://www.lifeartmedia.com/newsletter11.html. The idea is to introduce a single word can be a catalyst for enriching your life as well as your scrapbook layouts. It can be a something tangible or intangible. It could be a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is find something that has personal meaning for you. My word is, Happy! So i made this journal for myself to remind me of my word.

2 thumbs up gallery!

Please check out http://www.concroption.com/Gallery/tabid/631/Default.aspx for mini albums inspirations!! They are aboslutely beautiful!! Enjoy!

Invitations

1st birthday, jungle animal theme. Card is dark green, hand cut grass in lighter green. Animals in front of card a gorilla in yellow, an elephant in baby blue and a zebra in baby pink. The idea is to keep the colours to baby-ish colours.

Top of cards says KAY VEN TURNS ONE!

Inside of card, says, You are invited to a roaring good time at Kay Ven's 1st birthday party! Sunday 11 February 2007 at 11am, Level 2, 3 Kia Peng Apartments, 3 Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur. RSVP lysha.

7th Birthday. Dragon theme. Dragon with wobbly eyes. Pink box is space to insert photo.

Inside of card says, Come and join our magically mythical adventure where dragons rul the skies, unicorns roam the elms and wizards brew up some wonderful tricks. Date and venue same as above and right on the bottom of card, it says, please come dressed as a magical/mystical creature!

Basic Techniques

When it's time to get started on your very first exciting layout, here are some basics to get you started~

Selecting your pictures. Take your time selecting the photos you would like to scrap, there are no rules in how many photos you can put on one layout. You can have one impactful photo or a series of images depicting a holiday/special occasion. Picking photos with similar colours/themes/series of events works well on a page together.

Cropping your photos. You have to first know what you want to focus on in a photo. You can shift the focus attention of a photo by just cropping it with a computer or simply lay pieces of paper over the area you think you're cutting away. That way, it can change dramatically the emphasis of an image on the photo.

Selecting papers & cardstocks. Choose your colour scheme, either by selecting a colour from the photo you have selected or try selecting papers/cardstocks reflecting how you feel about the image.

Matting your photos. A matting technique will help you make your photo stand out from a layout and it gives a frame to your photo. Cut carstock slightly bigger than your photo then mount the photo on top of it. For extra dimension, double matting the photo will give a more impactful image.

Putting your layout together. After choosing paper for your background, you can then start arranging your layout. Do not stick anything yet, try different arrangements first. Start with your main photo in the right place and only when you're happy with the focal point, then and only then stick everything together. Add embellishments and lettering that matches your colour scheme in the layout.

and there you have it.. the basic techniques in starting your very first scrapbook layout. Its very simple. There are so many embellishments and different kinds of lettering you can use for your layout, always remember to not use too many elements on the page as that will take away the focus on the pictures.

Have fun and be daring!

Shortbread Special

Mak had a special celebration for the birthday gals.. So made cookies to put in jars as a birthday gift. I have tried so many cookies recipes, never really got it right. I had to make these twice to get it just right. I love making them! I have to start a new project, I need to make a recipe keepsake. Have no idea yet of what I want or how I am gonna do it. I need have that so I can start collecting beautiful recipes such as this. This recipe is called the Icebox Shortbread from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.

Essential tools

1. Eyelet Setter: eyelets are easy for fastening elements to your layout. Setter can flatten eyelet backs to secure element. Setters may come in different sizes to cope with different eyelet sizes. There are only about 3 sizes.

2. Hole Punch: Create holes on layout as decorative patterns, or to add eyelets or brads. Interchangeable heads will make various-sized holes.The beauty about this tool is that you can have the hole anywhere on the layout, unlike using an ordinary puncher.

3. Mini Hammer: a little girlie hammer especially for setting eyelets or to put force into your hole punch. With the new gadgets out every season, many brands are making new tools where most of them requires a hammer to punch hole in. A must buy!

4. Cutting Mat: A self-sealing mat to protect table top. A must have too! Don't want to damage the beautiful desk!

5. Scissors: Good scissors are essential for intricate cutting, while a standard pair is good for general cutting. Did you know they have a non-stick scissors especially for adhesives. Fiskars ones are pretty cool, they are black in colour, kinda reminds you of the non-stick pan in the kitchen. Hehehe

6. Metal Ruler: Great for accurate edges. It is best to use a metal ruler so there be no damage done to edges.

7. Paper Trimmer: Makes cropping photos easier. More handier than a metial ruler and a craft knife! Trust me! Been there done that!

8. Craft Knife: For intricate cutting and light scoring is easy with a craft knife.

9. Bone Folder: Helps create crease (i.e. scoring) for easy folding.

10. Paper Piercer: Helps create fine and precise holes in preparation for stitching or for attaching brads. Really comes in handy when making albums!

Its all fun I tell you... all so exciting... these are just the essential tools don't get me started on the nice-to-have-tools list! Muahahaha

You are my sunshine

As you can probably tell, i am trying to use as much handwritten journalling as i can. Prior to reading and doing the exercises in the Heidi Swapp Handwriting book, I have learnt that we can learn to love our very own handwriting. This layout took me only minutes to put together. The journalling was written first in pencil then trace over with acid-free black marker. Ok maybe I'm into the swirly thingy at the moment, yes Ning, swirly is done with free hand. May i also add Ning is very hesitant with writing anything, even if its just a line! But hopefully after the Swapp book that she might be more daring to write her journalling. We'll see.. I guess I can also say my new year's resolution would be to hand write my journalling more now. Hehehe. We'll see about that!

Nadira turns 4!

My first attempt to making buttercream icing turned out just the way i wanted it to. Not bad for a first timer. My hands were shaking though. Icing always scares me away. I am very happy with the outcome thanks to Ning and Nigella for the beautiful recipe! Nadira turns 4 today, she was speechless when she saw the cake, I could see her eyes staring towards the cake by the dinner table. She is so cute. Dora the Explorer is her favourite at this point in time. She absolutely adores Dora. There was a time when my Nadira really did look very much like Dora, everybody agrees with me. At home, she is still being called Dira-Dora!

Special

Another simple layout. Love the photo. My journalling for this layout says: " Mama Ning, you are so special. You are thoughtful and very gentle. We are glad to have you as our very special friend". Title: Special Friend, Special Cuddles, Special Love. Ahem.. doesn't the paper clipboard look familiar? Mama Ning's new Sizzix die cuts!! We miss you..

What is ...

1. What is Scrapbooking?
Scrapbooks are used for sharing thoughts and feelings and recording family stories and special memories. Scrapbooks are cherished memory books that tells a story of who we are while preserving our memories for future generations. Scrapbooks are a celebration of our lives, an artistic expression of who we are, a place to have fun while recording the memories that make our lives unique.

2. What is acid-free?
Paper, card or products that don't contain acid. Using acid-free supplies means that your work will last. Acid attacks the surface of the photos, causing them to deteriorate.

3. What is Lignin-free?
Paper/products that do not contain the sap that holds wood fibres together as a tree grows hence preventing the paper/product to brittle or yellow with age.

4. What is a crop?
A group of scrappers working on their layouts together and sharing ideas, having a scrapbooking session together.

5. What is cropping?
The process of cutting photographs to focus on a certain area.

6. What are eyelets?
Small metal shapes used to fastened into a pierced/punched hole that becomes flat on both sides. You will need a tool to do this.

7. What is journalling?
The writing on the page, the story behind the pictures.

8. What are die cuts?
Pre-cut paper shapes in both printed and solid colours, used as extra decoration on your pages/layouts.

9. What are embellishments?
Used to refer to the non-paper decorations/products. There are a wide range of embellishments ranging from charms to buttons to shells, etc.

10. What are rub-ons?
Alphabets and images that can be transferred to backgrounds with a stylus or stick.

Scrapbooking 101

So.. I have been updating meself with some Bruneian blogs over the holidays and friends encouraged to check out the very few scrapbooking one http://www.scrapper-holic.blogspot.com/. Thought the blog was very informative for you all new or scrapaholics out there. There is an extensive review of different adhesives and not to mention pictures to go with it too! and most importantly where to buy them adhesives. So thanks to the blog, i would like to write about what scrapbooking is all about in my next few posts. Keep up the good work scrapper-holic!