Monday, August 27, 2007

Laine's Designer Studio Class - Bits

On my last trip to Singapore, I finally managed to join a class at Laine's Papeterie for the first time. It was their Designer Studio Class and was entitled BITS. For the price of $58, you get enough class materials for two LOs. The class moved at a real fast pace and I was hard pressed to keep up with the instructions being given out by Betty. The good thing was that it was the last class of the month and there were only 3 people in it. So there was plenty of space to spread your stuff around cos as most people who've been to Laine's know, their classroom is pretty small.

I eventually had to leave with one LO about half finished and the second with only the basics completed. I had a great time though and learnt a lot. The class, in line with its title, BITS, teaches you to use bits of everything. From bits of paper and foam to bits of ribbon, cardstock and string.

The class sample LOs were designed by Sharon. I simply adore the first one below. The flower shapes' outlines were traced from Fancy Pants Big Board Chipboard and cut out by hand. I learnt what a running stitch is (ya my knowledge of sewing is sorely lacking) and for the first time inked the edges of my paper with...an inking sponge...LOL. I always inked the edges of my paper directly from the ink pad but am now converted to using a sponge. Ranger sells the sponge in one whole piece which you can cut up into little pieces. I bought a pack of cosmetic sponges from Watsons which work just as well.







Almost all the materials came with the class kit apart from the chipboard alphas which were my own. But Laine's class sample used the same exact one. I used a lot less embellishments but only cos my photo was wide, giving me less space for embellishments. I also used less ribbon on my LO but only because I like a cleaner look.
The title 'Its a boy' was my SIL2's suggestion and it suited the LO perfectly cos the photo is of Jay at about 2 months and everyone says he looks like a girl. And I gotta admit, when he was born, a lot of people said that same thing and when I show people this photo, they all think its a baby girl. Eeps!! He's boy boy boy...just a bit of a pretty boy. LOL.


The second LO was much simpler. We used up one whole piece of cardstock by punching out circles and then overlaying them a la fishscale style. Love this effect. The green and yellow dots are punched out foam circles and these were painstakingly glued down with the help of MM tweezers and GLOO.

And this is the reason I love scrapbooking. I had completely forgotten that Ty used to love tearing up paper when he was about a year old until The Dude gave me these photos. We used to give him old newspapers and he would busy himself by tearing them up to shreds. It would keep him busy and out of mischief for at least half an hour. His hands got awfully dirty but for some moments of peace, it was worth it. I guess we were just lucky he was not in the habit of stuffing things down his mouth. It really makes me feel glad that I can scrapbook this little bit of history for Ty to see and read about when he's older. :-)

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Ruey's Kit Part III

This is the last page from Ruey's Kit. I say it is the last page because I did not do the 4th LO as I used the paper allocated for that on another LO.

This was my first time at actually carving out patterns from a PP. Doing this LO has changed my way of thinking whenever I see PPs now - to see the potential of the individual patterns instead of the paper as a whole. I've also noticed that it has become quite a trend for scrappers worldwide to carve out the patterns as well. This star patterned paper was pretty easy to cut out but I've also discovered that I'm not very handy when it comes to using a craft knife.


All Materials from Ruey's Kit.


Again my attempts at using the Kindy Glitz was rather disasterous in my book. If there is one thing I hate it is inconsistencies when creating a pattern, especially when it has to be in a straight line with preferably the same size and spacing. Humph!

I also had to swap the patterned stars and my journaling block to the top of the page cos my title was too long. It took a bit of arranging to get everything to fit nicely. I'm really happy with the result though, as I was quite glad not to have to compromise on my chosen title.

On a separate note, I managed to find dinosaur PP at Laine's on my last trip. I've collected a pretty fair amount of dino material so far but have yet to do a page on Ty's dino-mania. It has not abated as yet and if anything, his obsession is as strong as ever. I suppose it does not help that we read about dinosaurs everyday before bedtime and that Ty owns at least 12 different books on dinos. At school, his teachers are calling him "Tyler-saurus". I thought that was just too cute!! And on our way to school earlier this week, I asked him why he liked dinosaurs so much and he answered "Because I don't like Barney". LOL...that really cracked me up. Of course I had to tell him that Barney is a kind of dinosaur too...just a purple one that can sing and dance. And to think he used to be obsessed about Barney just one year ago. Wonder what it'll be next year.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

August Box from Scraping Gals

The August box from Scrapping Gals will be leaving on the Tuesday 7th August 2007. So please try and get all your orders in on or before midnight on Monday 6th August 2007 so that your order can be picked and packed in time for release on the next day.

Happy Scrapping y'all.

My Moment of Being Inspiration-less

Ok so I know most everyone hits a low peak now and again and when the mojo is down...scrapping seems so far far away. I recently came out of a patch like that. Now don't get me wrong, I wanted to scrap but everytime I sat down at my table, nothing seemed interesting. Not even buying new supplies inspired me anymore cos even tho the scrapping came to a halt, the shopping for supplies did not. Hehe.

So in a valiant attempt to try and tidy my scrap room some time ago, I came across a Clear Expressions sheet that I bought in May from Laine's. The Clear Expressions sheet is a piece of clear plastic overlay that is 12x12 in size and all you have to do is choose your patterned paper or cardstock, stick your picture on top, add some journaling and place the overlay in position on top of everything and voila...a completed LO in a matter of minutes.



Materials:- Overlay: Clear Expressions; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Ink: Making Memories; Pen: Zig.

Hee, its cheating I know, but completing this LO inspired me to start scrapping again. Sometimes, when inspiration or mojo is low, you gotta do whatever it takes to get it back again. And you gotta admit, the doodles on the overlay is nice. I like doodles but am not very good at it. So this overlay was a perfect solution for me to get some doodles in my album. Hehe...in this situation, sometimes the end justifies the means. :-)

NB: I actually have another Clear Expressions overlay for a "ME" LO. Thought it'd be nice to do one just for me.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Singapore + Scrapbook Shop = Lots of Fun

I went to Singapore last week for a course which was held at the Hilton Hotel which so happens to be only 2 blocks away from...*gasp*...Wheelock Place...which so happens to be home to...*gasp*...Laine's Papeterie. You don't even have to cross any roads to get there. My favourite place to stay. Haha.



So I left Brunei on Wednesday. Managed to avoid going to the shop on that day but then after my course ended on Thursday, I went over and spent 3 wonderful hours there. On Friday I signed up for the "Designer Studio - Bits" class and had a blast! Watch this space for the LOs once I've completed them. On Saturday, I popped by again...oops and then on Sunday, 3 hours before my flight departure I decided to visit Laine's again to get the item as seen below....



Now I own a Quickutz handtool and have been considering the Revolution. But at Laine's they told me that the Cuttlebug (by Provo Craft) can use Quickutz dies and that the embossing effect of the Cuttlebug is fabulous. After a quick demo, I was sold! Part of what convinced me was also the price of the Cuttlebug's embossing templates....they only cost $14.90 cos its made from plastic. Talk about being affordable. So bye bye Revolution, hello Cuttlebug. Now I can buy the 4x4 Quickutz dies without having to buy the Revolution. Only drawback is that the Quickutz 4x4 embossing plates cannot be used on the Cuttlebug.

The Cuttlebug is also much cheaper than the Revolution. It retails at Laine's for $199.90 but I got a 42% discount on it (all those who have been reading Laine's blog will know bout this coupon book promotion currently happening there).

I'm a happy scrapper!