Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Going on to 2014.

2013. How should I begin to describe the year. There were hits & misses that's for sure. Things to give thanks for and things also to let go and let God. My biggest takeaway would perhaps be a greater clarity over a certain decision and the peace to slowly lay it down. It has been a tremendous blessing to be reminded by God over His control of the future through two verses:

Rev 3:8
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Psalm 65:11
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.

For the second verse, it was amazing how God confirmed it again through my colleague Rachel who came to me with the exact same verse. God is so good, thank you for the assurances for the new year, I believe God knew about my innermost fears and the assurances came haha, like tidal waves!

//

I have 10 goals set for the year as per tradition:

1. Come up with a new and better bible reading plan.
2. Utilize the gym membership more.
3. Eat cleaner, eat healthier.
4. Re-open  Colourful Raindrops Co. (This has been my wish for the longest time, to put in more into growing this and I sense that 2014 is the time.)
5. Explore serving in church again. (After wandering around for 2 years, 2013 saw me being part of CG: Hallomai! Next step, to pray over the ministry to serve in.)
6. Let go. Await open doors.
7. Healing of the self. Self-care. In relations to No.6.
8. Learn new crafty skills: Silk Screen Printing, Painting, Graphics Design.
9. Learn to bake/cook.
10. Blog regularly. Read weekly. Learn from others.

And lastly, I present to you, my one little word for year 2014:

Perseverance

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Happy blessed new year to all! Thanks for coming by! The new year will be fabulous, I truly believe so!

Friday, December 20, 2013

My Christmas List.

My favourite festive season of the year. The air would be filled with strains of Christmas carols, busy shoppers shuttling around buying gifts, the entire street of Orchard Road would be decorated with sparkly tinsels and clothed in reds and greens, the list is exhaustive. Yes, this is Christmas, my favourite day of the year.

In line with this happy occasion, thought I would share my Christmas list. These are things on my hit list!



From the left:
1. Silhouette Cameo- The "mother" of all cutters. Enough said. The mister got me this one for Christmas! Can't wait to start cutting!
2. Saltwater Sandals in brown. I do not know why I am so taken with this pair but I am and I have since ordered myself a pair over Amazon! Hah! Talk about patience.
3. The Flower Recipe Book. I am smitten by the beautiful pictures of these wild floral arrangements. Reviews says that the book's easy to follow instruction will guide reader in putting together their own bouquet easily. Yes please.
4. Silk Screen printing. A class I would really love to go for in 2014. Imagine the things I could do thereafter!
5. A frivilous desire: A pair of tortoise shell raybans! 
6. Am a huge fan of the volkswagen camper van so its not surprise I would want it in the LEGO version. Of course if I could just take a spin or even own a real one, that would be fab. But for now, models of the real thing would suffice.
7. A Singer sewing machine. My future scrapbook room will be perfect with one. Just saying. ;p
8. Mulberry Soft Leather Hobo. The braided strap and bag's slouchiness took my heart away.
9. A mint green coloured KitchenAid. This would of course make a perfect kitchen too. Heh.

So what's your list? Blessed Christmas and God bless you! (:

Layout | Awesome.

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A layout completed long ago but never quite got around sharing it on the blog. Using mainly Crate Paper products. Painted that title myself. Getting quite over the use of alphabet thickers. Accumulated quite a fair bit over the years and its always the same issue of having too many leftovers of the same letters haha. One of my boldest colour yet as the base for this layout and I think I would love to use bolder colours more often!

I really love how easy it is to put a layout together by layering chipboard. I love the dimensions created by the chipboards on paper. It has become a personal obsession of mine to grab a crate paper chipboard sheet the moment a new one's launched.

December's almost coming to an end, are you excited for the new year because I am!

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Currently.

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I like this picture. Saw this on (Pinterest). It makes me feel liberated for some strange reason.


Reading: Tempting Fate by Jane Green. I finished Best in me by Nicholas Sparks and it was a good albeit emotional read.

Listening: Set Fire to the Rain by Adele

Planning: An exercise and "Eating Cleaner" regime. I am thinking Body combat on one week, Pilates on another. Fruits and lots of veg and possibly one supplement thrown into the equation.

Busy with: Outreach events at work as Christmas is coming. Of course, wedding planning. (:

Thinking: Materializing dreams in 2014.

Loving: My new book- Paper to Petals. I'm so psyched and I can't wait to start creating some blooms out of crepe paper!

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Inspired by: Pinterest. I have been following a lot more boards, a lot more creative people and I am so inspired. Mind-blown in a good way!

Savouring: The amount of annual leave and time offs for Dec. These breaks have been doing me a whole lot of good but the breaks can also be a tad bit dangerous as my mind goes wandering of lofty dreams & possibilities when the house comes along. Chants *art studio art studio* heh.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Drury Lane Cafe | Cafe-Hop & Scrap Sesh.

After our last scrap session at L'etoile café, we wanted to do it again and we were looking for a new location for novelty's sake. It had to be quiet enough and private enough to do our art and not feel like we were hogging a table for too long. Drury Lane proved to be the perfect place with its more private second floor. There were several bigger tables and we managed to snag one for ourselves.

I like the vibes of this café. Very raw and old school kind of setting- think old shop house and lots of wood. I like the fact that there is free wifi, water and pay-as-you wish muffins. That's such a cool idea!


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Love the berry cooler, refreshing with real pulp! Chocolate tart's pretty decent but nothing to rave about.
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Pancakes' really good stuff, soft, warm and fluffy! It comes with honey and berry compote.

This café's worth a visit! You will find many other cafes along the same stretch so you can imagine I can't quite contain my excitement. Tanjong Pagar's such a gem, I will be back!
Drury Lane
94 Tanjong Pagar
Singapore 088515
Tel: +65 6222 6698

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Singapore Biennale 2013

My favourite bi-yearly affair- Singapore Biennale! Its always most exciting to see what artists around the world, in particular Asia creates. My favourite would most definitely have to be 3D installations. And I have to comment that this year's art installations are amazing! Even the not so arty farty fiancée is impressed with 2 in particular. No regrets paying a visit to the Singapore Art Museum. We have 3 other places to comb.

You just have to pay $10 and you will get yourself a guide book and admission to the museums hosting the artworks for Sg Biennale. The exhibition's till 16 Feb 2014 so there's still lots of time for you to go have a look!

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So much possibilities and surprises behind every door, that's what I love most about art and museums!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Currently

Blogging from: Bus, on the way to church.
Listening to: The Sam Willows
Reading: Mr Penumbra's 24-hr Library 
Digging: That floral pair of Doc Martens & that brown Saltwater Sandals. 
Wishes: To adopt a dog or a cat. Needs another pet in my life, I am ready.
Wants to: Correction. Need to craft more, hands are itching to but time doesn't seem to permit much. Gah.
Looking forward to: Bangkok Trip- Café Hopping, shopping, eating. Lots of eating.


A work in progress that I really need to sit down & finish. October's a crazy month, hopefully November will be a more manageable one. Have a good weekend!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Layout | X2

One of the shortest layout title to date. I was sitting there, wondering what would make a good title and I just couldn't think of one. Decided on x2, short (very short) and sweet. Heh! Decided that I should make a list of potential titles in my notebook so when I am dry on titles, I can refer to my list for some help!

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It was always something that I wanted to do on my layouts- scrapbooking an LO with the element of painting and drawing. It was really fun to whip up this LO with bright and happy colours. I used my new Windsor & Newton watercolour paints here. The colours were really bright initially and I felt that it was very much an isolated segment on the LO because of how striking it was. Decided to mute the colours by putting on a layer of vellum and then tracing the outlines of my doodle with my black Zig pen.
 
Drawing and painting on the LO or even mini albums would not be the last here. I have some more ideas to try. Thanks for coming by and all the kind words on my facebook & instagram. It is truly because of encouraging friends like you that keeps the passion of crafting alive! (:

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Made with Love is back!

 
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After much wait, my favourite scrapbooking store is back; bigger, better & brighter! *cheers* Had to be away in Malaysia on their grand opening day so I could only make it down on Saturday. Again, it was so meaningful not just because I could shop again in my favourite place to be but I met so many scrappy friends again- Gen, Aida, Ai Yen, Carol, Debbie, Jie Ying, Junni, Jesslyn, Jasmine, Alice, Jeanette, and Eliza! Hehe, you can tell I'm excited to see these people!

I love everything about the new place- organized, bright, spacious, I love the see through classroom too! There is so much familiarity and closeness in MWL that makes it such a special place for all of us.
 
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So good that you're back!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Layout | Story Time

Start of a new week, and a short one at that. I will be away from Wed to Fri for my company's corporate retreat. Praying for a fun & meaningful one, always exciting to meet & catch up with friends from other centres!

So here's one layout for the week. As you can see, I do not often play with G45 papers but this line- Mother Goose, had me making purchases of the papers. I have always loved Mother Goose nursery rhythms, even at this age. I found the designs to be really cute and the graphics big enough to be cut to form a bigger picture on my layout; which I loved after putting it all together.

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I really need to start getting into the habit of taking more shots of the different layout angles. Each time when I am snapping, I am always in a rush and have to get out of the house for one thing or another. Free mornings with the natural lights are rare and few. I have to work out a strategy of some sort! Haha! Have a good start to the week! God bless!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Pinspiration | Aztec

I have been seeing too many Aztec prints on clothes, carpets, fabrics etc and I am in love. Aztec prints have been in the rage for a long time and I think that it is not going to die down that easily. Prints on carpets really give the room a pop of colour and I would so love to keep this idea for my future home. Here are some ideas from Pinterest that inspired me on the home front and yes scrap wise too!
 
 
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Layout | My Song

I have been obsessed with the song Yellow by Coldplay. It is on replay mode and I cannot begin to tell you how talented Coldplay is. So I turn my favourite song into a layout.

As you can see, I attempted to write slightly more cursive than usual in a black sharpie, and I must say I like how it looked even if the handwriting isn't perfect. That's art for you right? Art is never about perfection but boldness to unleash.

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It was intentional for the colours to stand out amidst the monotone lyrics and backing of layout. I used a favourite photo of mine from last month's MT expo. It is always nice to just scrap for no reason but just for yourself and there is no care whatsoever if it looks good but more importantly the meaning behind the layout for you. I really want to do this more often. God bless!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Crate Paper's Aug Creative Weekly Challenge: Navy & Sequins

Last month, Crate Paper hosted a challenge with the theme Navy & Sequins. I really has so much fun playing along with this challenge and what was even better was that I kind of had the right supplies on hand that I could use for a layout. Crate's design team members like Jeanette & Evelyn's layouts inspired me to give it a go too.

I have to confess, it has been quite awhile since I joined a challenge and it felt really good to do this again, what's more with my favourite brand!

So here's my take:

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I created a border on the paper as part of the design and filled this frame border with sequins and had it hand sewen onto the paper. Crate's chipboards really makes layering extra fun!

And for the happy news, I was one of the runner-ups for this challenge and my layout was featured on Crate Paper's blog: http://crate.typepad.com/cratepaper/2013/09/the-moment-that-so-many-of-you-have-been-patiently-waiting-for-the-winner-of-the-august-creative-weekly-challenge-navy.html

Totally made my day and this encouraged me to continue joining challenges, not for the purpose of winning but to keep the passion of crafting alive and to be connected to this community of scrapbookers!

Wanna also thank you all for the sweet comments on facebook and instagram. It is with friends like these that makes this crafting journey a whole lot more uplifting and encouraing yay! Have a great week!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Gen's Birthday Crop!

Gen invited a few of us last Sunday to her birthday crop and it was a very exciting time for me. It would be my first crop with many other scrappers I know online but have yet to meet face to face. I literally counted down to the actual day! No kidding ;p

It was such a good time of crafting, eating, and lots of talking. It was pretty amazing to be able to hold lengthy conversations with them when we probably met only for the first time. Gen had a beautiful home with a beautiful scrap space. I was so awed too by her effort in decorating the place and the set up of the craft and food table! Inspired!

Even the welcome gifts were so prettily wrapped! Thanks Gen for the invite, truly blessed beyond measure! Can't wait for the next crop and just chilling out with like minded crafters!

Some lovely photos from that day, I will still smiling even as I go through these pictures. Definitely gonna get some printed and scrapped heh. (:

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Star of the day! Gen!

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The beautiful food area!

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With the two lovely ladies- Cassandra and Li Rong!

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With the lovely Aida!

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All of us!

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Beautiful day spent with beautiful people. Blessed!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Mini Album | Baptism.

6 August was special day for myself and Mr Ng, my fiancée. He decided to take that step of faith to be baptized. The whole journey towards this day was a long one. Both of us had to complete a 10 week course in church even though I was already baptized previously in another church. I have to admit, the 10 weeks was necessary. I felt very refreshed going back to basics and was a great blessing to connect with many other AMK Methodist church members.

A special event calls for a special project! To contain all the precious photos, I decided to capture these memories in a mini album! I used my favourite Dear Lizzy supplies- papers, stickers, die-cuts, chipboard, embellishments etc. I was biased, I wanted the album in my favourite colours, so its not exactly manly.
 
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I used two pieces of mini canvases as album covers here and covered them with gesso and paints to create this subtle pastel hues.
 
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This is by far one of my favourite mini. Told Mr Ng I am keeping it with me for now. Haha!
 
Thanks for the sweet comments on Facebook and instagram of this album and of course, thanks for coming by!