Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

the crazy does not stop....

I guess you can say the crazy does not stop.... after the madness from the store's reopening .. it's time for CHA!  We've been up to our neck busy with all things CHA.  As you can see.... some CHA Summer stuff have already begun arriving at the store!

Unfortunately.. we are not going to Chicago this summer.  I kinda miss that place!!!  I'm dreaming of taking the tram/bus ride around town... I loooove how the city looks like.. especially with the Chicago river that runs right through the middle of the city.  I miss Navy Piers.... walking along the pier, eating al fresco... admiring the city lights and the ferris wheel.... the fireworks!!! Hopefully I'll get to go back there again.. :)

Anyways... I managed to get my hands on the new Sassafras - INDIE GIRL collection.  Here are 2 quick layouts !  i needed a creative break from all that's happening. :)

 

Another starbucks layout to add to my growing stash of layouts dedicated to my favourite cuppa!

 

Love this photo!  We took it at The Fullerton Hotel - Jade Restaurant.  The colours fit perfectly with the Sassafras papers.  .. oh and that Paper Napkin flower!  Me loooove!   When I saw the paper napkins for sale at IKEA a few months back.. i knew i would have use for them some time down the road..lol!  I bought this blue shade and a black/white one too!  Not sure if it's still selling at IKEA.

And i think I'm currently having a mad obsession with this colour scheme.  I cannot seem to get out of it! I've been scrapping these colours over and over again!  I tell you.. the subconscious mind is really powerful.  I did not think of scrapping these colours until I took the photos of the layout and suddenly... it hit me!  I used the same colours again.  When I got the Sassafras collection... it did not strike me that they were going to be the same ole colours from the previous pages.    Crazy huh!

Okay back to work now.  (or maybe some lunch first..lol!)

Vegas ... and scrappy stuff.

Just back from Las Vegas last week... took some time off to go on a family vacation and to attend the

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas.  I had a blast of a time.... bought loads of stuff... walked till my feet hurt and took tons of photos!!!

We stayed at the Treasure Island @ Vegas. Pretty decent hotel... not the best but really convenient  location.  He are some of my favourite photos from the trip ...

 

JULIUS!!!!!! ehheheheee.....  so glad to have found a Paul Frank store @ Vegas.  I HAD to buy this soooooo sooo cute Julius plushy.

Outlet shopping - burnt big hole in pocket.

Taken at Ceasar's Palace.. hehehee... cute butt eh? Squeeshy squeeshy..... :P

At a Chinese restaurant in Ceasar's Palace.  Nice decor!  Look at the ceiling?   BUTTTTTTT... really horrible food. US$3 for a bowl of rice (small bowl!)  and US$16 bucks for a bowl of soup that tasted like what we get when we order wonton noodles - really bad soup.  It was advertised as "mouth watering".  (smacks forehead!)

Taken at THE VENETIAN.  I love how vibrant everything looks in the hotel....especially with all the "al fresco" diners by the fake lake. hahaha..  The false ceiling with the sky makes it look like day time but these photos were taken at about midnight. LOL!

I have a ton more photos to seive through and sort .... between Eugene and I, we took more than a thousand photos!  Will post them up on flickr soon.

So anyways I'm off to CHA in LA again on Friday.. looking forward to soaking in the whole CHA atmosphere and walking the floors... gonna be soo tired though.  I found out that I will have inflight on board power for my lappie... hmmmmm maybe i should load in some serials on my lappie :P   Another loooong flight ahead...wish me luck.

Okay and FEB is around the corner.  Did not get to teach any workshops this month as the store's been under renovations.  Lots of delays in the opening of our new wing due to various factors but I'm so excited to teach at the new wing soon!  We've made our workshop /classrooms ALOT better and so much more condusive for having scrapbook fun!

If you've not taken my Dec workshop "Sunshine on a Rainy Day" featuring the bright and cheerful GREENHOUSE collection from K&Company... i think we are going to have 1 or 2 more sessions in Feb.  In addition, I have a new workshop lined up using the coolest and trendiest of colours right now in the scrapbook industry!  You will use some really fun papers from Basic Grey's ORIGINS collection, together with lots of Hambly goodness (overlays, papers, stickers, rub ons!).  The layouts are gonna be COOL!  You will also use unexpected materials to add texture to your pages :)

Here's some sneaky peeks........ hope you like what you see :)

As I will be loading the workshop pack with lotsa goodies, alphas for titles will not be provided for this workshop.  But i'm sure you'll have lots of alphas at home to add on :)

OHHH... and have you seen the new SASSAFRAS collections? CUTE eh!  So now tell me... for FUN-TAS-TIC workshop - NERDY BIRD or APPLE JACK? hehehe.

 

ORRR

 

Cute eh?  OR... BOTH for 2 Fun-Tas-Tic workshops! hahahha.

let me know what you think!   

 

MONSTROSITY!!!!

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo... i love those monsters.

think its gonna be FUN FUN FUN (x3) tastically exciting  ... hmm.. geddit?

Feels like Sesame Street / Muppet Show.

me likey.

Just saw the REAL images for Sassafras' "Me Likey" collection on Christine Middlecamp's blog.  I must say this is really one shining example of how different products look online/in their catalog as opposed to the real deal.  The papers look much much much better than what i expected them to be.  I actually like some of them. lol.

This is one of the many reasons why going to CHA shows are very important as we are able to see the products (or most of them) up close and make better judgements about whether our scrappers would love them and  to the quantities we want to carry. 

Sadly, because of the H1N1 pandemic... we've decided to cancel our CHA Summer trip this year.  I was looking forward to spending some time post CHA at Disney World.... maybe next yr?  Well... better to be safe then sorry ya?  But panic not.... ordering still goes on.  I've been staring at the new American Craft collections all day ...... ehhehee.. sorry can't show any of them as we've been requested not to show / sneak / leak out any info before the show.

All I can say is.... we're gonna be in Thickers heaven.  Also their collections are not too bad :)    Oh and My Little Shoebox is not bad too... hehehe.

All other brands are slowly showing sneak peeks everywhere and soon we'll be able to order them and they will be at the store.........so are you all ready for what CHA Summer has to offer????

CHA Winter 2009

im bummed. i just spent a loooooong time typing this post and well .. it got deleted.  so.... sigh!!! im gonna try again!  ugggggh..

*Warning* graphic intensive post!

CHA Winter was great.... even though lesser manufacturers showed and there were lesser people on the show floor.. i really liked most of what was shown... looks like the releases for the next couple of months will be full of yummy stuff!

The day before the show, we were invited to several VIP preview parties.. Creative Imaginations was one of them.  This year.. STAR WARS is their main theme and fans of SW will be able to look forward to papers and embellishments to scrap about their love for SW! hehehe

Anyways.. they had troopers aplenty at the event .. even Darth Vadar , Luke, R2D2, Bobba Fett and Chewy were there to grace the ocassion.  Here's some photos with Chewy and Boba. hehhe

 

 

Cool eh?

On Monday night .. we all went to a local scrapbook store in LA to attend Celine Navarro's workshop.  We've been hatching a plan with Celine for a couple of months now to bring her to MWL to teach.  When I found out she was gonna teach in LA.. i immediately signed all of us up for her workshop.  It was reeeeaaaaallly fun!  We learnt a lot and I'm sure you will too when she comes to teach here at MWL.  I cannot wait!  Mark down your calendar for May 8th to 10th ya?  More details will be released as soon as we can.  And while you're marking your calendar.. don't forget that the weekend before is National Scrapbooking Day.. and we all know the craziness that happens in MWL on NSD so you may as well mark that Saturday too hehehhee.

Anyways back to Celine's workshop.  I met the lovely Amy Tangerine there too. She was also attending the workshop.  Here are some photos:

 

Celine.. myself and Amy .. below:

 

Celine and I...

This is the workshop pack.. filled with all my favourite stuff!!! There were Sassafras, October Afternoon, American Crafts and loads more.  Yummmy colours i tell ya!

 

I had alot of fun.. now i really want to finish up the layouts! woooooohooo!

Okay okay back to CHA... didnt take many photos at CHA .. most of them are in Kel's cam.  But we did stop by Basic Grey's booth to take photos hhahaha.

 

 

 

 

Doncha love the colours?  The background featured Basic Grey's collection - Lime Rickey.  Yummy colours!

We also stopped by Pebbles Inc..... love love love the wall of patterned papers! Wish I had this wall at home!

 

and some sassafras yum..

 

That's all the photos of CHA i have in my cam.  Stay tuned for the store blog which should have some updates of CHA photos.

Anyways... this year we decided not to rent a car and take cabs since we were not going to go to far places.  Cabs are really expensive in LA!!  Here are some LA on the road photos -

 

 

STARBUCKSSssss..

 

 

 

We went to Anaheim Main Place Mall where we did some shopping.  I managed to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch and got Eugene a Polo T and COLDEN the cologne for Vday. hehehee.  It smells really good!  Too bad we do not have Abercrombie in SG!

 

During dinner.... we had KAYA SOUP.....

 

haha kidding! it sure looks like kaya soup ya?  It was actually Asparagus Soup. LOL!

More random photos -

This is the Hilton Anaheim - right next to the convention center

 

We also went to THE BLOCK @ ORANGE for more shopping on the last day

 

Shadow Warriors.. LOL!  Swee Ching, Kel and I taking photos of our shadows.

 

 

Lunch at a really nice cafe at THE BLOCK. 

 

I love this shot of Kel!

 

LOOK!!! Celebrity Sighting!! Paparazzi in tow.  LOL!  Swee Ching looking cool!  That's Kel taking photos. :D  If you're wondering where Elvi is .. she was really tired on the last day and didnt join us to go to The Block. 

 

LAst but not least..... here is sunset in Anaheim.... really beautiful!

 

 

Well hope you enjoyed the photos!!!  phew!

I'm glad to be back home but I sure had fun in Anaheim!  :)

Still here.... in Anaheim

I'm still in Anaheim!!!  Phew its been a tiring couple of days..the convention is over and tomorrow its R&R! woohooo...

Celine's workshop at Scrapbook Oasis was sooo goood!  I had so much fun!

Will update more with photos when I get back.

im offffff.... tomorrow morning.

all packed... and ready to go!  phew! the last couple of weeks have been bad ass busy!  Lots of orders done and many more to do when we get to CHA!  Anaheim here we come..... Downtown Disney.. here we come.. JAMBA JUICE...... HERE I COME!!!! wooooooooooohooo.

Gonna miss the festivities of CNY here and my family's yearly Day 1 visiting... sigh......

Well if I get the time I may blog there but if not.. till I return.... HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Huat ah!

honey.. im home!!

Well actually I've been back since early Thursday morning. LOL!  I've just been too tired to blog.  I spent the entire Thursday in bed (well almost the entire day).  Guess what time I woke up?  4.30pm.  Yep!  Think my body clock is suffering some major jetlag here.  I'm wide awake at 3am and can't sleep till 4 or 5am then somewhere during the afternoon.... I'm yawning and getting really tired and zonked. LOL!  Let's hope this jetlag passes soon.  I need to be able to function normally!  Coffee DOES NOT help, apparently.

So here's the low down on what happened in Chicago.  It was a busy couple of days during CHA...trying to complete our rounds and orders.  The days whizz by so quickly it ain't funny.  It was a good thing that we managed to squeeze in some time during the last day in Chicago to go visit Chicago town itself coz next year's CHA Summer will be held in Florida.... do I hear Disney world???? 

So.. CHA... hmmm I met ALI EDWARDS again!

It was nice to meet her, grab a photo with her and watch her do an interesting demo at the Ranger booth. She was doing an 'anti blending' or 'anti Tim Holtz' (LOL!) technique using Ranger's Alcohol Inks.  You can see her samples on her blog.  Somehow Ali makes everything look so easy and fun.

I got her to sign one for me! *happy dance*

 

I really love some of the cool releases for this Summer show.  Here are my hot favourites.

1.  Basic Grey - omg!!!! I love everything they released but I must say "OffBeat" was my favourite.
2.  October Afternoon - total yummmmness.
3.  Sassafrass Lass - again.... total yummness.
4.  Hambly Screen Prints - birdcages, moustaches, bicycles, typewriters.. ohhh i can't wait!!!!
5.  American Crafts - can't get enough of thickers... love the new epoxy ones and chipboard too!

There were loads more that I went GAGA over but these are the ones that I can recall off hand.

On to the last day in Chicago - EL, SC, SO and I took the train from Rosemont all the way down Town.  I have never taken those 'American Trains' that we see so often on TV so it was quite an experience.  The train ride was pretty comfortable (we appreciated the aircon in that HOT weather) but rather 'noisy' LOL.  Our MRT rides are sooooooo quiet in comparison.

We stopped by a local scrapbook store .. walked arnd a little, did some damage to my pocket and then took the train to the town itself.

Here are some sights of Chicago town.. I'll let the photos do the talking.  These were taken while we were enjoying the Chicago view from their FREE Trolley rides around town.

That's us! On board the FREE Trolley... *wonder what EL was so shocked about?" LOL.

here are some funny chinese restaurant names:

"LAI LAI" (i almost missed it - see the right of the photo)

"Wow Bao" - Hot Asian Buns.  LOL!!! ROFL!

and this is what frustrated me... I went past 2 Jamba Juice stores but could not get to it! UGGGGGHHHHH.. once was when we were in a taxi and the other time on the free trolley ride.  I missed it on this trip.. so sad!!! :(

In the evening, we went to NAVY PIER (and by then we had bags and bags of shopping.. LOL) to chill and have dinner.  Navy Pier was pretty okay... though the shopping could have been better.  I thought Darling Harbour in Sydney was much better.  However, I did like the ferries wheel!  Made nice backdrop for photos .. HAHA.

and just before we left the Pier......

FIREWORKS!!!! Sorry for the lousy photos... was too excited about the fireworks and I only had my Point and Shoot with me... LOL!

Okay so there we go hehehe......I didn't buy much on this trip for myself (Eugene got 3 Old Navy shirts and a polo T) but I must say my favourite score was this suuuper nice Tote bag (the bigger of the 2 in the pic) we found in a quaint 'book store' somewhere in Chicago town itself.

LOVE it so much.. it's nice ya?

hello from chicago!

So its day 2 in Chicago.. the weather is freaking hot!!!! its like being in Singapore. LOL.  The show officially begins tomorrow and I'm excited to be able to walk the show floor again... woohoo!  Today we went to several preview parties and made some orders.  We're liking what we have seen so far. 

Can't talk much.. gotta go do some work but here are some pics taken on the way to Chicago. 

We were on the plane so much and changing timezones that I seriously cannot remember if this is a photo taken near sunset or sunrise time LOL.. but i really liked the view from the plane!

And this is a shot of a tunnel we had to walk through to get to the main terminal in Narita , Tokyo.  We had a 3.5hrs transit there before continuing our journey to Chicago.  This shot kinda reminds me of the show GATTACCA.

Hokays... logging off now.  Catch ya again soon.. the madness begins tomorrow!

i.n.s.p.i.r.e.d

Not much to post today... just something that I chanced upon while browsing the net.... I'm inspired! 

Image taken from someone's blog but it originates from a flickr poster.

Also the next prompt for OLW (One Little Word) challenge is up.. and it is the word NOW.  Gee... I'm also inspired to scrap another NOW layout....... hooooowwwwwwww??  i need time!

On the CHA front.....I am looking at the new American Crafts that will be released this Summer Show... man oh man.... I'm in love with the new thickers.  uber yumz... especially the new fonts.  I'm a big big fan of regular and straight fonts like MOMA (from American Craft) that can be used for titling and this time American Crafts did not disappoint. hehehee.  look out for them here at MWL as soon as they are ready to be shipped!

Oh and those Pink Paislee sneaks that have been appearing on their blog..... i'm loving the distressed rub-ons. oooooo......