Project Life Weeks 2 and 3 2013

I am really enjoying the process this time around. I am still taking too many photos (and it looks like Week 4 is going to need an insert!) but enjoying playing with paper and keeping things simple.

Week Two looks like this.

One side of the entry for this week is taken up with our visit to the Singapore Zoo to see the pandas on loan from China. They are here for ten years but we decided we needed to see them as soon as possible. We only got to see the female panda as the male is taking a while to adjust. I included our tickets, pictures of some of the signage and the special Panda Pau (bun) that is on sale.

It was a pretty busy week. It was my sister's last week staying with us so we got out and about with her to the Botanic Gardens and a few other favourite spots of hers. Scarlett had her first day in Nursery One and we attended a First Month Party for one of S's classmate's little brothers.

I used a variety of papers and inserts including the Studio Calico Project Life kit for January, some handbook inserts from Studio Calico and some pieces from the Clementine collection too.

Week Three was even simpler if that is possible.

 

Once again an outing gets a whole page. This time we went to the Oceanarium on Sentosa. Lots of little photos and little letters. I am finally starting to make a dent in my drawer full of lettering sheets.

 

The second half of the week has a variety of events. We had a fantastic lunch at Din Tai Fung and a Mummy daughter date at our favourite Kiwi cafe. I penned my thoughts on the monsoon season we are coming to the end of and included a very cute picture of Miss S in her raincoat. I really enjoyed including the filler cards and labels from the SC kit. They work really well. I also included a Creative Bubble filler card too.

Probably my biggest issue at present, is the lag between purchasing and receiving my PL kit from Studio Calico. Postage seems to be really slow and it is usually the end of week three by the time the kit is here. I am supplementing my kit with some cards cut from scraps from my other SC kits. I know in a couple of months it won't be an issue but at present I feel like I have to conserve the cards so I don't run out before the next batch arrives.

Miss S has requested a quiet stay at home weekend so we are more than happy to oblige. As long as I get my weekly dose of sushi I will be content to potter around home. We might even get stuck into some Chinese New Year crafting.

I hope you have a wonderful relaxing weekend.

Stuck Sketches January First Sketch

I am working hard to get through my Sock Hop kit. I discovered this Stuck sketch site on a Studio Calico thread about Australasian blogs. The challenge closes today so I grabbed a photo and some scraps and got stuck in.

Here is the sketch

 

And here is my take...

This photo is from our recent holiday in Phuket. Scarlett was desperate to make sand angels as she has never played in snow and figured this was the next best thing! I love her delighted expression in the photo.

I used scraps from my SC Sock Hop kit and a handful of arrow and star veneer along with some flair from a variety of sources. A simple take on the sketch but it lets the photo take a starring role.

Our Little Fairy Princess

Does anyone else have photos that are almost too special to scrap? I have been holding onto the blurry photo on this page for over a year. In the interests of getting it done and perfection being the enemy of productivity I vowed to get this photo scrapped this week.

Once again it was Shimelle to the rescue with another great and simple sketch.

 

I had every intention of following it and then once I had glued down my four background pieces onto my go to grey cardstock I realised I had actually done something else. Oh well.

 

This really is a bit pinker than I usually scrap. Scarlett had been looking through my kit remains and expressed her love for the pink paper on the bottom left so that drove the colour choices. I loved the giant zigzag patterned paper so felt compelled to use it twice and in a thin strip to help divide the quadrants as well. The colours worked well with the 5th and Frolic bits and pieces and everything came together quickly. I really did not think I would ever use the fox faces in 5th and Frolic but it seemed to work well with the feel of this layout.

 

 I have been beavering away at my Project Life and will share another couple of weeks worth tomorrow. I need to get all our Bangkok photos edited so I can get to work on Weeks 4 and 5 this weekend.

Welcome to some new faces who have started following my blog over the past few weeks. I am so excited to share my work and adventures with you. If you have any questions at all, please pop them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

Have a great Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday: Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is fast approaching and the decorations around town this year are particularly beautiful.

Coffee and Cake - a Shimelle Sketch

After waking at 4.30 this morning in anticipation of a 5.30 start I was pretty tired by the time we arrived back to our apartment at two this afternoon. I knew I wanted to do something creative after four days away so I checked my Reader for all the sketches I had recently saved for later. Shimelle came to my rescue with this great little sketch.



I searched through a bag of photos from last year and pulled out two pairs of contenders. I think I will reuse the sketch for the second pairing as well as they will not be living in the same album and it was a lovely simple sketch to play around with.

All the papers in this layout were SC exclusives either from Basic Grey or SC.  I pulled out some hessian look thickers to add to the texture of the page. I added some October Afternoon number washi and a variety of stickers and chipboard from the Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic range.It came together really quickly.

Coffee and cake have always been my go to comfort foods. My journalling reflects that although my lactose intolerance means the coffees are soy these days, with a bit of planning I can still enjoy the same kind of treat.

Bangkok was a great adventure for us all. I need to gather my thoughts a bit more before blogging about our few days there but I am feeling a lot less pressured about the whole moving issue now. Knowledge most certainly is power.

Have any of you played with Shimelle's sketch? Please post a link in the comments. I would love to see your take.

Listmania 2 Best and Worst of the Monsoon

Hooray! it is week two of Listmania with Deb at Home Life Simplified. This week's list is on the best and worst of your current season. I cannot wait to go and check out the other listings at http://www.homelifesimplified.com.au/listmania-two-your-current-season. 

(Apologies for the less than perfect links today. We are in Bangkok and I never blog from the iPad

usually. Now I know why!)

When I tell people I live in South East Asia, they always comment how lovely it must be to always have warm weather. It is true that we never get truly cold weather but we do miss having anything resembling four seasons. Essentially, we have the monsoon (which comes twice a year) and the rest of the year. There are things I love about the monsoon and other things I could live without.

Five Six Things I Love About the Monsoon

• the cooler temperatures - there is nothing nicer than walking around and not breaking a sweat within the first five minutes. Temperatures between 23 and 28 are so much more manageable than 28 to 35.

• my daughter's eczema improves greatly in the cooler, humid weather

• we can stay snug and cozy at home without feeling we must be out and doing things

• I love the sound of the rain. When it rains in Singapore generally it is absolutely torrential and I love watching it and listening to it cascade down the side of our building

• Watching thunderstorms is one of my favourite activities and we get a great view of the lightning striking the tall buildings around us and the menacing black clouds descending 

• Taking my daughter downstairs to splash in puddles in her gumboots and raincoat

Miss S all ready to get out in the rain

Five Things I Dislike About the Monsoon

• freezing to death on public transport, in malls and supermarkets. It is under twenty degrees on some of the buses. I carry a cardi for both Miss S and myself all the time at this time of year and Miss S still requires cuddles to warm up on a regular basis

• not being able to get a taxi for love or money when it rains. We have been told the reason is that many drivers go off the roads in bad weather for fear of having an accident and having to pay the first $1000 of repairs. Now that we are carless sometimes we really need a taxi

• trying to keep all stored linens and clothing mould free. We have had friends lose almost their entire wardrobe after going away over Christmas and not having moisture absorbers in their wardrobes. Everything tends to feel damp and even washing straight from the drier is never entirely dry feeling at this time of year

• keeping Miss S entertained when it is raining again. Fortunately, her preschool has a good covered outdoor area so she does get to run around at school but we live in a 120 square metre apartment so her opportunities to burn off steam are a bit limited. Thank goodness for the Wiggles to dance along with

•  I find I have to cook more as it is often raining around dinner time and no one wants to go out and pick up some prata or chicken rice in the rain

How did I forget rainbows?

 Please join in the fun with Listmania at Home Life Simplified. I would love to see what you are loving and less fond of about your current season.

Life Paper Scrapbook Sketch

I am so excited for my friend Manda who has just started a new online scrapbooking magazine based in Australia, Life.Paper.Scrapbook. I love it when people find something they are unhappy with and go out there and do something about it. The site is well worth a look as she is currently looking for a design team and has recently put up a new sketch challenge.

I love a sketch as it really helps me get my pictures scrapped quickly and painlessly. Here is the new Life.Paper. Scrapbook sketch.

 

I pulled out my November Studio Calico kit and a couple of photos from the Marina Bay area of Singapore and got to work.

I started off working on a  red and white patterned paper but as I flicked through my papers looking for my secondary patterned papers I realised that the colours of this feather paper matched really well with the colours in the photos. That made adding the feather patterned vellum a no brainer and I decided to keep it pretty clean by using the swiss dot white cardstock as my third option.  Some quick embossing onto wood veneer triangles, Pink Paislee glitter letters and a few bits and pieces from the Dear Lizzy line and I called it done.

I think I am incapable of completing a layout without enamel dots at the moment. They add something special!

Now that I have braved the world of heat embossing I am trying it out at every opportunity. I will definitely be using it in my, as yet incomplete, December Daily.

I hope to see some of your interpretations of the sketch up on Manda's site soon.

I am off to finish packing as we head to Bangkok to have a good look round this weekend. I am hoping to post some pictures on here over the weekend. If you follow me on Instagram be prepared for a bit of a deluge!

Have a fantastic weekend.