Project Life Week Fifteen

Good morning. This week's spread was a quick and easy effort. We have a busy week planned and I knew I wanted to get it done rather than have perfection. Fortunately I am still pretty happy with the result.

I was a little worried that I would not have enough portrait oriented pictures to use on the back side of this sleeve but it turned out I had plenty. The papers are the reverse of the Amy Tangerine paper from two collections ago that I used last week. All the labels are Twine and Ink labels from my SC Project Life kit. I want to say the Dim Sum letters are Basic Grey but I cannot find any brand mark on them to be sure.

There were quite a lot of food photos taken this week. We went out for a family breakfast at Jone The Grocer. Tet and I had eggs and so forth whereas Miss Three settled for a macaron and a cupcake! The other larger picture was of ballet lesson coffees with our friend and her baby while our daughters attended ballet class. We ate some delicious dimsum at MAD but were not prepared to queue like the hundreds of Singaporeans to try the new Tim Ho Wan outlet. Tim Ho Wan has a Michelin star for his dumplings in Hong Kong and his first Singapore branch has been outrageously popular.  The other three photos are more random. A toy pram for sale with a hefty $1100 price tag. Outside the same mall we enjoyed the free beauty of the rainbow reflections from the Gucci store frontage. Hubby provided the last image as he attended a work bowling match during the week. He was pleasantly surprised by how he went but was not among the top performers.

The visible cards this week are all from SC Project Life kits. I have put them all together so I am not sure which kit they are actually from now. The label on the photo of MT and her Daddy is a cut down journalling card as well. The labels are a mixture of Jenni Bowlin and Twine and Ink.

This page is lots of little snippets of life. A funny sign in a store that threatens to sell unaccompanied children to the circus tickled my fancy. Miss Three has taken to stripping down to practically nothing and demanding to sit on my knee to watch TV. As you can see there is not much watching for me! Tet and MT have been playing mermaids a lot lately, using MT's old sleeping bags for tails. I guess it is a good way to reuse them. Finally our teeny tiny street is the proud owner of a pair of street lights while construction goes on. While it is barely wide enough for two cars to pass comfortably in places, it is extremely busy with some pretty large developments going on. We have a lot of large trucks and so on up and down while the new buildings are being completed. I thought the sequins were a fun echo of the lights.

How is you PL going? Are you still keeping up or, like me, a little behind but fighting the good fight?

I am off to edit some more photos. I really want to be more caught up! We have a public holiday here tomorrow so I am hoping to get some PL time in then.

Listmania 15: Currently

Currently I am:
 
Reading: The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger  - generally pretty good and Margaret Mahy's Down the Back of the Chair (at least once a day) at the request of Miss Three.
 
Listening to: Spotify mainly the Placebo channel
 
Laughing at: The Daily Show especially their recent piece about Fox News' willingness to abandon every part of the constitution in relation to the Boston bombing (with the exception of the right to bear arms). Worth googling for! In fact here is a link!
Fox News Riff
 
Swooning over: The orchids, vegan cake and bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne that hubby gave me the day after my birthday when he arrived back from Jakarta. The pandora charms he gave me were swoonworthy too. Oh and the pinterest page my sister-in-law has set up for flower girl dresses for Miss Three. Who knew gun metal tulle could be so pretty?
 
Planning: A month of me. I am signed up for the 30 Day Self Care Blueprint course that Deb and Kerri White are running. It is also International Scrapbooking Day next weekend and hubby is in town all month. I am going to be working on me and make some big decisions.
 
Eating lots of: Junk in anticipation of being healthy next month... am I the only person who does that? Oh and the delicious vegan cake hubby found for my birthday.
 
Feeling: Well rested after falling asleep before 7:30 on Friday and Saturday nights while putting Miss Three to bed. We are such party animals. Hubby fell asleep too on Friday!
 
Discovering: Just how much I needed to head back to NZ. Now we have set a date for our trip (much sooner than anticipated) I feel nothing but relief.
 
Looking at: The contents of my daughter's drawers. She has too many clothes and not all of them fit. I see a massive sort in my future.
 
Wearing: Maxi dresses and capris - the weather is warm and the legs are waxed! I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

My current fave from Virtu

 Once again I am linking up to Deb at Home Life Simplified. 

What is happening currently in your little part of the world?

Anzac Day

 

Today is a special day for New Zealanders and Australians - ANZAC Day. It commemorates the  assault on Gallipoli during World War One where thousands of young Aussie Diggers and their Kiwi comrades in arms gave their lives fighting for the Empire.The combined Australia New Zealand Army Corps is what ANZAC stands for. It is a public holiday and there are dawn services all over both nations to remember those who paid the highest price for our freedom.

I have always wanted to get to Turkey to spend ANZAC Day on the beach at Gallipoli. It is a special day for our family too as it happens to be my birthday. I feel it would be a really great way to mark the occasion of being a year older.

If you are interested in the story behind the day there is quite an old movie starring a very young Mel Gibson telling the story of the events leading up to the disastrous landing. It is quite a good watch.

It is also a tradition to eat ANZAC biscuits at this time of year. They were originally sent in food parcels to the soldiers as they kept quite well. They are an oaty coconut treat and really quite tasty. There are hundreds of recipes online if you want to try your hand at baking them.

So please spare a thought for that generation of young men lost as you go about your Thursday. Recent events suggest that our freedom requires a constant effort and I am grateful that those young men served on my behalf all those years ago.

Penang Sunset or was it Sunrise?

After a terrible couple of hours randomly pushing papers round and searching for photos I gave up. I came back to the same papers and photos after Scarlett went to bed and was able to make something work. It is funny how the inspiration hits you.

Once again it was a Shimelle sketch that helped put the pieces together. I looked at this sketch in the morning but it didn't seem right. Ten hours later it was just what I needed.

 

I fell in love with the Tim and Beck paper that I have used in this layout so I wanted to be able to show off a big chunk of it and this sketch made it possible.

The papers for this layout came from the Studio Calico Neverland kit and the Tink add on. I added a couple of cards from my Project Life card stash and cut a piece of the anchor paper from the SC kit. A few sequins, a Basic Grey sticker and the gorgeous ombre lettering and the layout was done.

These photos are from our trip to Penang last year. I am starting to think that they were from a sunrise rather than a sunset as we were on the Eastern side of the island but the thought was there! It was such a restful outlook from our apartment there.

This morning has been anything but restful. We have been nurturing a tame gecko in our hallway but woke to find that our cat had killed it. Miss Three also woke up with a cough and a runny nose so I have kept her home for the day. My plans for getting much done have evaporated and all before six am! I am hoping that I might be able to work on some Project Life while MT is resting. If she rests of course!

I hope you have started the day in a less eventful fashion!

Project Life Week 14

It was a much less eventful week in our lives than many. At first I was afraid we would not have enough to fill the spread buy it turned out I had too much to share and not really enough space to journal. I am glad that most of the photos are self explanatory.

My favourite images from this week are all ones my husband took. I love the picture he took of Scarlett sitting in the guardhouse at the gate to our condo. We have two very tolerant, in fact doting security guards who let Miss Three do whatever she likes in their space. Her current favourite activity is to sit in the big chair and wave to our neighbours as they come in and out. Mr Siva and Mr Aziz are a real part of our family as we talk to them almost every day. The other images I like are the photos from our neighbourhood that hubby took while walking to work one day. There are some lovely restored terrace houses just a few streets away. I am not sure if the original owners would have appreciated a statue of Colonel Sanders outside!

Miss Three was sick with a couple of different bugs this week so we spent a lot of time inside the house. She and Poppy shared the sofa for an afternoon nap one day. She and her father also found some fun activities to do inside including playing hopscotch in the hallway and designing a zipline for one of our USB keys!

This smaller format page simply used the reverse of last week's papers. I love the black chevron and it makes a great narrow frame around the larger photos. I cut up an older SC card for the heart on the guardhouse picture and used some of the Snap green alphas from a couple of SC kits ago. I also used the woodgrain font in the most recent PL kit and an owl flair from my big jar.

One of MT's favourite activities this week was making a lei in the Lollibox craft kit she received. I have been very impressed by the Kiwi Crate kits I have seen online and found that Lollibox is the Singapore equivalent. The lei was such fun to make and apart from needing me to thread the needle and tie a knot at the end MT was able to complete it totally independently. She also made a sun visor as part of the same Sea and Sand kit. I have also included a little bit of the story of our current transport arrangements. We miss our company car but we are making the situation work.

I used an older sheet of Amy Tangerine paper from my stash for this page. I included a couple of pieces of flair and a lovely wood veneer card. The this and that sentiment seemed to go perfectly with the mish mash of stories appearing this week.

Hubby is off in Jakarta for the rest of the work week. This is his last scheduled trip for the year! His new role has not been finalised so we remain in limbo until we find out if we are staying here or moving somewhere else. We have ruled out a transfer to the US (health insurance being a major factor) but are open to remaining in Singapore or moving to Australia (specifically Adelaide) or back to New Zealand. At this point I do not really mind where we end up... I just want to know where we will be!

On a happier note, my sister in law Yaeh has set a date for her wedding in April next year and has asked MT to be her flower girl. We are currently looking for suitable flower girl outfits which gives me a good excuse to spend time on Pinterest.

Right the supermarket is calling my name and then I hope to get my scrap on before I pick MT up off the school bus. Happy crafting!

Listmania 14: Music

Such a wide open topic to look at this week! It seems timely though with the arrival of Spotify in Singapore in the last week. I have listened to more music this week than in the entire year prior. I did not realise just how much I need music in my life to boost my mood. I was also quite unaware how much new music I would like and how much I would loathe!

So in the spirit of enjoying something new my list is going to be my favourite five songs on Spotify at present and the top five features of the app as a whole. I have decided to focus on the positive as my disliked songs list could be enormous!

In no particular order:

1. Pink and Lily Rose Cooper: True Love

2. Of Monsters and Men: Little Talks


3. Imagine Dragons: It's Time


4. Bic Runga: Something Good (such an upbeat song)


5. Goldenhorse: Maybe Tomorrow (always makes me homesick)



Five Best things about Spotify

• Really reasonably priced (indeed free if you don't mind ads)
• Super customisable
• Introduces you to a whole raft of musicians in a style you like that you may not otherwise get to hear
• Really simple to operate
• Customisable for the whole family. I am in the process of setting up a couple of play lists for Miss Three

Are you a fan of Spotify or Pandora? What is your favourite channel currently?

Thanks Deb from Home Life Simplified. I really enjoyed this week's list. I would love you to link up with this weeks list.

Love: A Stuck?! Sketch

I had a hot streak of scrapbooking time this week and managed to get another layout completed. I had just over an hour for this one so I decided a sketch would certainly be helpful.

Here is the sketch I found on the Stuck?! site.

 

And here is my take.

I had this photo enlarged with the thought of framing it but I had not managed to get round to that. Instead I decided to use it. It is one of my favourite photos of my husband and daughter together. They really do adore each other.

I used my February SC kits for this layout in terms of paper. I love this cross hatch styled background paper. In the interests of continuing to reduce my stash I grabbed an older unopened pack of thickers and some 2009 Sassafrass flowers! I also added in some Websters Pages buttons and a selection of more recent SC arrow stickers and labels. I love the white space in this layout. I can see me repeating this sketch.

In other news Spotify has finally arrived in Singapore and I am so excited! Constant streaming of music that I like. What's not to love? I am working at fine tuning my channel and having so much fun doing so. I had forgotten how good great music makes me feel.

Have a wonderful weekend. We have a few things planned over the weekend so I hope to have some fun photos and events to share.

 

Playtime Fun

Day one of the four day weekend has begun and I am exhausted at lunch time! I have always had respect for pre school teachers but the more time I spend with my three year old the more amazed I am that they are not dropping with exhaustion!

I have been trying to finish off my older kits before starting new ones but the urge to play with some of the papers in Neverland overcame me. I had just broken up my January kit remains when I worked on this layout so I can almost justify my choice.

Life Paper Scrapbook has regular colour and sketch challenges. I liked the look of the current sketch so decided to have a go.

Here is the sketch: 

And here is my take on it.

I initially attempted to add some ink and try some  masking but it was not very successful. I covered it with my papers and was quite surprised to see how much the paper had warped a couple of days later when I decided to photograph the layout. The papers are all from the Neverland kit. I am in love with the KesiArt paper with the tear drop A side and the hot pink B side. I definitely would love more of that particular paper.

I included a couple of repeating embellishment clusters.

and 

I am not entirely sure where the washi is from but the little puffy stickers are a special Amy Tangerine SC collaboration  along with a couple of Basic Grey enamel dots.

These photos are about nine months old and are from an outing to the Botanic Gardens for a picnic. We had intended watching a band perform but it was so crowded in that part of the garden that we settled down in a quiet spot and Miss Three and her  Daddy played some soccer. It wasn't long before MT had a new friend joining in.

I hope you are having a great week.

Stash Bash and a very long weekend

I have been trying a few different ways to get on top of my stash lately. Project Life has been a great way to use patterned papers that have not made it to a layout but which I would still like to use. Challenging myself to use up my SC kits within three months using a drawer system has greatly reduced the amount of unused product that was building up. I am always open to new ideas though.

Simple Scrapper is currently running a Stash Bash challenge. It is a combination of scrapbooking projects and organisational prompts to help get rid of the stash that you are never going to use and focus on the items that you really love. The first days prompt was a five minute challenge to use up your older supplies. I had Miss Three as my willing assistant. We hit up my stash cabinet. I asked her to choose a paper she liked from the drawer. We then found a handful of other papers that worked with it and some embellishments. Once the five minutes was up we had the making of a layout.

I must apologise for the photo. I completed the challenge with ten minutes to spare to enter the daily prize draw, so the picture was taken at 8.50 pm with a lot of unnatural light. I had intended to reshoot it this morning but we have had a massive thunderstorm and the light is no better now. 

Miss Three originally chose the Poppy patterned paper and then she added the Crate Paper orangey red pattern too. The reverse of that is the green paper. I added in the script paper as I liked it but had never managed to make it work. The circle paper elements are from a Cosmo Cricket paper and I have added in some older OA flair and some Sassafrass lettering. I am so pleased to have used some papers I loved and to have scrapped a new photo. Miss Three was really happy to see herself and the papers she chose all made magically into a page while she slept. She is very keen to do a five minute challenge again today!

Miss Three has a very long weekend. School finishes for the week today! The staff are having some training for the next two days and Mummy gets extra time with her darling daughter. At this stage the plan is to take her to Zumba tomorrow (at the teacher's suggestion) and to then have a family fun day on Friday. If the weather is nice we hope to spend the day at the new water park on Sentosa. If the weather is bad we will spend the day at the Oceanarium instead. Hubby is taking some time off on Friday to make it all happen. I have my fingers crossed that her Lollibox (the Singapore equivalent to a Kiwi Crate) arrives today or tomorrow so we can do some fun crafting on Thursday afternoon. 

In other news, my Grandad is seriously ill in hospital back in New Zealand and we are trying to decide when or if to go back. My Nana has dementia and is very confused without her primary caregiver on board. My Dad and his brother are looking after Nana between the two of their families but they are finding it pretty tough going. They did look at respite care for Nana but it was so depressing they could not bring themselves to put Nana there. Nana and Grandad still live in their own home but it seems likely that this will have to end as it appears Grandad will require oxygen at all times which will make him unable to maintain the house. It is a pretty tough time for the family and one of the reasons I don't like living overseas.

On a more trivial note, I have found a fantastic new coffee joint. There is a new Farmer's Market called Pasar Bella opening at Turf City and there is a boutique coffee roaster open there called the Dutch Colony Coffee Company. Their flat white is amazing and I made a coffee using beans from there this morning and it was excellent too. I am thinking about taking a barista course and learning to make great coffee. I think it would be a useful skill to have.

I am off to enjoy a morning of crafting while listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable. I am also excited about trying the first recipe from my Jamie Oliver 15 Minute Meals book. I'll let you know if it is a success. Happy Hump Day!

Project Life Week 13

As we enter week 16 of the year I am wondering if I will be permanently behind with Project Life or if I can get myself caught up. Weeks like this one do not help!

The main event was our trip up to Kuala Lumpur. I was considering a mini album but decided I just did not have the time so went with recording the trip as part of PL. Three inserts later and the story is told. I challenged myself to use up papers from my January Studio Calico kits in an attempt to have an empty drawer waiting for April's delivery. I still have a few uncut papers left but I think they are heading for my stash. If I haven't used them in three months then I am probably not going to use them at all.

 

I have divided the week into days and themes this time in an attempt to have some sort of order. It makes sense to me but I am not sure it would necessarily be as clear for the casual viewer. This spread is the first day of the trip and into the next morning.

 In the spirit of stash bashing I have used a selection of labels from October Afternoon's Modern Homemaker collection. They were really useful as the background papers I have used this week have all been patterned making it harder to journal directly on them.

 This insert side deals with the apartment we stayed in and some of the activities my family got up to. I have included another modern homemaker labels, a Jenni Bowlin label, a journalling card from one of my Studio Calico PL kits and a flair piece from Paper Bakery.

 One of the best things about where we stayed in KL was the proximity to an enormous playground. We went there everyday so I felt it deserved its own spread. I kept this very simple with some hand written journalling and some various word stickers from my PL stash.

 All the pictures on this side of the insert were taken from the same park in central KL. I added a piece of flair from Paper Bakery and some older labels from Crate Paper.

 One of the best parts of the trip was heading out into the burbs of KL to visit with our friends Alan and Indera and their three dogs. Only one of the dogs was very taken with Scarlett. The others were scared and/or barking at her. Yoshi was a real star though. Again I just kept it simple with some OA labels.

KL is known for its great food and Alan and Indera took us to some great foody spots. Check out the breakfast dosai on the bottom right. I backed this spread with a Basic Grey SC limited edition paper that I could not imagine using on a layout. I do like it much better cut into pocket sizes. The journalling cars is a SC PL kit one and the word label is one of my favourites from MME.

This final page of KL only photos is a round up of some of the things we got up to and I must not forget to show you the My Little Pony someone got while she was there! Alan's car has a glass roof so that was fun in the downtown area. It gave us a new perspective on the skyline. I have used more MME word stickers and journalling cards from OA and SC.

 

The final spread highlights the joys of KLIA including a great children's play area and adjoining massage chairs. It would have been rude not to try them! We had a lovely Sunday at home including ballet and lunch out. I have added clear sequins to the ballet photos which have not photographed well but look cute IRL.

Congratulations if you made it right through to the end. It was a bit of a mission this week. I have processed the photos for the next two weeks and they are looking much lighter. Fingers crossed I might even use some filler cards!

Listmania Thirteen : Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner

Another thought provoking prompt from Deb over at Home Life Simplified this week. If we could invite anyone living or dead to dinner who would we ask and why? I have been mulling this over all week and it has really got me thinking.

My first choice of guests are not famous or well known but without question they are the first two people to come to mind. I would love to have a meal and a catch up with my Mum and my maternal Nana. As they are both no longer with us it is not a real possibility but they are the two people who I wish I could have a chat with. It would be an even bigger bonus if they could both meet my daughter. I would probably twist my Nana's arm and get her to cook the meal as well.

My next two guests would be authors - one living and one dead. I would love to meet Kate Atkinson who is one of my favourite authors. She has written a number of well known books including Behind the Scenes at the Museum and When Will There Be Good News. One of the reasons I find her so interesting is that she published her first novel in her forties so she had a great deal of life experience to draw upon before she started to write. I think she would be very good company and I would be interested to hear about her process of writing her novels.

 

The other author I would invite is Agatha Christie. She lived a long and active life through a fascinating period in history, She was married to a well known archaeologist and travelled all around North Africa and the Middle East assisting at his digs. I think she would be a very interesting conversationalist.

I would also invite Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore. He was a great adventurer and not your typical 19th century Englishman. I think he would be fascinated to see what the small colony he founded in 1819 has become.

 

There are several living people who I would like to meet and eat with. I am an enormous fan of Stephen Fry so he would certainly make the short list. He is one of the few people I follow on Twitter because he is very pithy in 140 characters.  I think he would take care of the issue of awkward pauses.

 

My final choice would be the British comedian, Eddie Izzard. He is hands down the funniest comedian I have ever seen. I have never laughed so hard as I did at his show. I probably would not get much eaten at this meal but I would be entertained.

Here is a link to an Eddie Izzard riff about Wikipedia if you do not know his work.

My husband has just pointed out that every single guest is British with the exception of my family members. He is right of course. I guess I tend to find English people more interesting.

I am sure if you asked me again next week I would have an entirely different guest list. I would love to know who you would invite to dinner. Please make sure you link up with Home Life Simplified and pop a link in the comments as I would love to check your guest list out.

You Are Here

I had an idea for this layout that I just could not make work. I practised on scrap card stock, bought new ink and new Zing but the idea in my head was just beyond my technical capabilities. Stamping and I just do not get on. I love stamps and have a bucket load as a result of my Studio Calico sub but I think I am at the point of calling time on stamping and selling my stamps.

The smudging on the inked stamp came after the original stamping. The embossing just was a disaster. I guess we can't be good at everything!

I found I used a lot of Teresa Collins products on this layout. The background paper, buttons and little tags are all from the same collection. I also added a You Are Here piece  from the new Simple Stories line Urban Traveller. I picked up quite a bit of this line and the other new Simple Stories lines at my LSS and I really love them. There are also the ubiquitous wood veneer arrows and geotags from Studio Calico and some MME enamel dots.

The picture is from our recent trip to KL. The hotel had a pool on the 22nd floor so there were awesome views of the city centre. I love the bright splash of red from my daughter's togs against the blues and greys of the urban landscape.

In other news I attended my first Zumba class yesterday. I decided I needed to get out and meet people a bit more so have joined a regular Thursday group where an hour of Zumba is followed by an hour of hanging out at Starbucks afterwards. The class was fun and I amazed myself by making it through to the end without collapsing. I am a little stiff today but not as much as I had expected. 

Sasha Farina has also arranged a brunch meetup on Monday for some Singapore based scrappy types. I am very excited to finally meet her in real life along with the other attendees. 

Have a great weekend.

This Is Me

I signed up for the Studio Calico class as soon as it came up. I knew I wanted to make sure that I was recording more than just Miss Three's life but a quick glance through the albums told me I was failing. Hubby and I make an occasional guest appearance but the star of the show is undoubtedly our daughter. Don't get me wrong - I have not made an album of her first year even but we mainly take photos of her at play.

Part of the issue is that I came to scrapbooking late. I only took my first class when Scarlett was about eight months old and only really got stuck into the hobby six or eight months later so I have not been a memory keeper in a time before the child. I also struggle with the idea that I don't really have any stories worth telling. This is not going to be a pity party but more a reflection of the fact that as a SAHM expat wife and mother I have definitely lost a great part of the sense of who I really am. There is no real community in the real world that I am a part of and as I am not working, it has been a challenge to make friends. Does cleaning, cooking and scrapbooking make for good pages?

Fortunately the prompts for the class, mainly in the form of example albums from a variety of scrap stars, have been great. I have a big list of ideas that I wish to scrap. Not just the where I am and what I am doing kind but the deeper, spiritual important ideas about me and where I have come from and most importantly where I am going. This class is actually turning into a real life raft in a time of  tremendous uncertainty for me and my family.

It has quickly become apparent to me that this is going to be an ongoing project. I was dismayed initially that I could not manage to find a handbook to use as the basis for the album. It has been a blessing really as 12 x 12 pages will enable me to tell my stories in the way that is most comfortable for me. It has also made me realise that I need to create an Us album for the stories of my husband and myself together. Not just the stories before MT but the stories of our life together now. 

I have also signed up for what I hope will be a life enhancing class called The Self Care Blueprint which is being run for the final time in May. It is run by Deb Dane of Home Life Simplified and Kirri White and the focus is making self care a priority. I am super excited for May to come around!

I have only completed one layout for my album so far.

I purchased the beautiful liberty covered word for my bedroom but found that the idea of dreams has been at the forefront of my mind. Not so much the ones that happen when we sleep (in fact I rarely remember my dreams - maybe one a year) but more the ones we wish for in our lives. I knew I wanted to have some hidden journalling about my dreams but when it came down to it I found I did not really have any for myself anymore. I have plenty for my family and MT and hubby individually but my mind has remained blank on the topic of my dreams for me. Something needs to change and it will.

On a lighter note, I left this layout out in the lounge where I had photographed it quickly. I returned to find that MT had completely dismantled it and neatly laid all the veneer, envelope and flair beside it. Oh and she had removed the string from the envelope too. Sigh.

I mainly used pieces from my Studio Calico February kit along with a piece of flair from the Paper Bakery. I am in love with their flair and their range is great. There are some ubiquitous enamel dots there too.

Have a great Wednesday!

Project Life Week Twelve

I was quite happy with these pages when I finished them but when I went back to photograph them for the blog they did look a little sticker sneezy! It is a fine line between keeping the pages flat and making them look a bit too one dimensional.

 

It was a pretty quiet week overall. The main event which dominates the spread was the Open Morning at Miss Three's school. I really enjoyed myself watching the class go through a typical morning. They actually had an open week and just 3 or 4 parents were with each class each day which meant we were not too much of an intrusion. We also celebrated World Down Syndrome Day with our socks, saw some random wrapped trees on Orchard Road and a big snail on our travels.

The base paper is a Simple Stories  pattern and I included some American Craft, Studio Calico, Glitz and MME stickers.

The second half of the spread has a lot of photos from Open Day along with a couple of foody photos and my new hair cut. Tet was in Bangkok and Jakarta this week. He took a great shot of a box of Mister Donuts that his wafer thin assistant managed to eat five of while waiting to fly back to Singapore. We don't have Mister Donut down here so it is a treat we all look forward to when we are in Bangkok. The cupcakes at the bottom were a party gift for a one month celebration we attended for the new sister of one of MT's classmates. It was a lovely party. I even got some baby cuddles!

The base papers were an SC exclusive and I also included a Dear Lizzy veneer card, and labels from October Afternoon, Pebbles and MME. I love those Pebbles dymo like labels and am glad I have finally used some.

I will link this up with the Mom Creative later in the day. I am gleaning a lot of inspiration from the contributions there. 

I am struggling with life a little at present and this blog is a real sanity saver. Thanks so much to those who take the time to read my posts and share their comments. It really is so appreciated.