Update update read all about it.

I wont start this post with an apology for not posting in ages. I think I've done that too many times lately. So what have I been up to? A couple of cards, a couple of LOs (which shall be posted another time) and a small item for a charity sale.

First up is a card I did for my beloved cousin who just had a baby. I had the honour of being in the delivery room with my cousin as her husband was away in the UK and till today my pride in my cousin knows no bounds.

Then I did another card for a colleague of mine and her hubby who is an ex-colleague of mine. My colleague just gave birth to a baby boy by the name of Ayden Zahari. How I love that name!! Well done S & H!!

I decorated the plain white envelope as well with a die-cut of a train and a strip of cardstock.

Not sure if you can tell on the card but i went back to my old Fiskars Shapeboss and did a dry embossed border. The Shapeboss is one of the first things I bought for scrapbooking but I find that I hardly have any use for it on my pages cos embossing doesn't really stand out. But now, with the Cuttlebug rage and its oh so brilliant embossing folders, I think the Shapeboss could be rejuvenated for card-making at least.

Last but not least, a small item for a charity drive for the victims of the recent tragic earthquake in China. I was really inspired by Ruey's cards which she posted on a forum but my attempts to scrap-lift her designs did not pan out. So I decided to do a simple cd hanger. Its not much (really felt no mojo) but then again I haven't had much time for anything scrap related lately.

TFL!!

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!

Quickutz Galore!

Finally the box from Scrapping Gals arrived! We've been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting (I think you get the drift) for this box which left the USA on the 4th April 2007. Normally it only takes a week to arrive but this time we had to wait 3 weeks. Turns out the box arrived on the 10th April but was held up by customs cos it arrived badly damaged. The thing is they didn't send any notification of arrival card and if JG hadn't gone to the Post Office to ask for it, I'm not sure that they would ever have sent word. I'm still not entirely sure of the Post Office's rationale of keeping silent about the box for 2 weeks.

Anyway, a million thanks must go out to JG cos he had to sneak out of the office to get the box. You're a STAR! Woohoo and look at what arrived...loads of Quickutz fonts and die shapes for me!!

All these were bought during SG's 15% storewide sale last month. 15% savings on all QK stuff...what an opportunity not to be missed!! I bought some animal and dino dies cos I would like to start on a dino page for Ty and maybe scrap the zoo pictures from last year (inspired by Scrappaway's mini zoo album).

I had long debated over which Die-cut tool to get and finally settled for a Quickutz ("QK") last year mainly for its portability...not that I would wanna cart it around with me cos it turns out to be a little heavy.

The only drawback with a QK squeeze is that the size of your dies (and therefore the size of your fonts and shapes) is limited to a 2x2. But then they came up with the Revolution....

The Revolution solves the size limitations of the QK so it is safe to say that I already have something else on my wish-list now....hehehe.

Oh and I just had to post this picture of Ty monkeying around. We tried to get him to lie in a sexy pose but I guess the "I feel sleepy" pose will do for now. Haha. I'm gonna have to keep the dino dies away from him as he already thinks they all naturally belong to him.

Happy Birthday!!

We celebrated the Hubby's birthday in November 2006 but I only completed the layout below in December. This is my first non-Ty 12x12 layout ever (finally eh) and I guess it is fitting that it is of the Hubby. The Hubby's friend has already commented on how come there are no pictures of the Hubby in any of the layouts that have been posted, so to Mr. B5000 here it finally is. :-)

Materials: Textured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper; Patterned Paper: The Paper Patch; Snaps: Making Memories; Photo Corners: Heidi Swapp for Advantus; "Happy Birthday" laser-cut title: Go West Studios; "The Big 30" die-cut title: Quickutz (Marisa font); Clear Embossing Ink: Ranger; Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel: Suze Weinberg; Rubber stamp: Hero Arts; Watermark Ink: Versamark by Tsukineko.

This was the layout that I mentioned in my previous blog regarding embossing small die-cut letters with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). The results for the title "The Big 30" came out really great (painstakingly done and at the expense of the tip of my Quikstik). It was really glossy because I had to re-do the UTEE several times to cover bald spots. The "Happy Birthday" title was less so because I only did one layer of UTEE and the cardstock colour was pale yellow.

This layout also represents my first time at tearing paper. Yes, I think the general reaction would be..."WHAT the 1st time??!!" but hey I am more of a neat freak when it comes to my pages. I think family will be glad to know that I am letting go of this anal nature and that I am beginning to realize that a little imperfection is actually ok. I actually enjoyed tearing paper.

Quick tip for the day: When you tear paper, make sure that you pull the paper directly towards your body and not sideways as you will get a better textured tear that way. (Credit for this tip goes to my cousin LJ who learnt it in her class at Laine's in Singapore - Cheers!).

By the way, do check out LJ's blog at http://jazzscraps.blogspot.com.

My mom saw this layout and was so enticed by the picture I took of the cake (mango flan from the Sheraton Hotel) to the point that she asked me to order the same cake for my own birthday just a week or so ago. I didn't mind as the cake is delicious!!

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture above but I experimented with watermark stamping on the red paper. I used a rubber stamp and Versamark's Watermark Ink. The effect was rather good actually but I got overzealous in my stamping and the crazy randomness of it did not turn out so well...the messiness of the stamping did not appeal to me at all.

All in all, this is not one of my neatest layouts but at least it got done.