Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

hmmmmm....

Why is it that everytime I clear my scrap area... it does not stay neat and cleared for even a day.  sigh.  A clean table makes me feel inspired and creative... and then i start pulling stuff out to play .... and one thing leads to another....... and yep.  the area gets messy again.  AND WHEN IT DOES.  I don't want to look at it and i feel so so uninspired.

You see.. it's a vicious cycle. I need to maintain a neat area to feel creative but i can barely keep it neat for a day.... a clean area gets me all excited and in a scrappy mood. LOL!  I'm pretty much screwed here.

Today I'm thinking about Christmas and how the end of the year is fast approaching. ... and dreaming of when THIS will appear ......

STARBUCKS HOLIDAY RED CUPS!  I can't wait.  :)

 

oh where oh where have i been?

i know i know.. i've been a really bad blogger.  its been a busy couple of weeks leading up to my sister's wedding last weekend.  I had relatives from Australia come down as well so all in all it has been quite crazy times. 

My Sassafras Monstrosity workshop (Fun-Tas-Tic 3) started on Saturday and it was a blast!  I had a really good time teaching the workshop and thank you all who came!  I hope you had a fun time putting together the 4 layouts.  We also named some of the monsters in the workshop.... lol.  If you're coming for future workshops, you'll be introduced to my monster pals as well.

I always have fun creating workshops with Sassafras products.  Love all the beautiful patterns and colours.  I think I should start keeping all my Sassafras Fun-Tas-Tic workshop samples in a separate album like what I did with Love, Elsie's A Beautiful Mess.  For those of you who attended A Beautiful Mess series of workshops... do you store your layouts in a separate album?  They really look good put together in a single album.

Oh yes... will you be attending the MWL Cropathon on the 31st of this month?  Each of us (5 in total) have created a fun mini album that you'll be able to do in each hour slot.  Elvi, Sandra, Swee Ching and Kelly's album all teaches you a clever way to create a different mini album design.  For me... I went with the more conventional route opting to create a theme based album rather than a type of album.  I will show you how to create your own album cover using a die cut patterned paper and how to embellish your album cleverly with your own  coordinating supplies.  It will be fun! 

I will post more about my album when I get a hold of a photo of it... i left it at the store and did not have my camera with me the other day.

Till then.... have a great week ahead k? 

ho ho ho!

We are getting down to the wire here... Few more sleeps  before my sister's wedding this weekend and dinner on monday evening.  Got to make sure everything is in place!!

But i thought i'd drop by for a quick update and post somemore sneaks of my new workshop next month......

here goes :)

Fashion help before i become a fashion faux pas!

It's the weekend!!!!  YEY!  What plans do you have this weekend?  I wish I could say that I'll be scrappin' up a storm but alas..... my scrap area is seriously in need of a good clean up.  I have so much stuff and rubbish on the table I cannot even see my trimmer anymore. LOL!

My sister gets married in 2 weeks....... yes .... 2 weeks time so this means we'll all be crazy busy leading up to it too.  I'm so happy I managed to find a really beautiful dress for her wedding dinner.  It's really a big load off my mind.   Now I just need to go find some matching acessories and shoes.  Should not be too difficult eh?

Any good suggestions as to what would match a Ivory Tube Dress? 

Pearls? Gold bangles? Gold strappy heels?  Let me know k???

And before I finish off.... here is another sneak for my new October workshop.  :) FUN FUN FUN!

Have a great weekend!! To all my Muslim friends... Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. :)

of cooks.. models... and monsters. lol.

I'm so happy that the new seasons for Top Chef, American Next Top Model and Project Runway have begun... yey.  This season of Top Chef is really good.  I love that the chefs are all of pretty high calibre.. i mean, no offense to the mom cooks but this IS top chef competition after all.  This season there are Michelin Star and James Beard nominees.  This makes the show so much more interesting.  I love Top Chef.. been following it since Season 1.  Anyone watching Top Chef as well?

Now I can't wait for the rest of my favourite shows to begin again after the summer break... LOST.. Grey's Anatomy...Gossip Girl....Scrubs.... and more.

Next month...... a new workshop.  I always pick a fun collection from Sassafras each time they release a new series of collections to create a workshop from.  They are always full of fun to create and jam packed with loads of goodies and yummy colours.  This time round from the CHA Summer releases....i chose MONSTROSITY.  I LOOOOVE the fun colours from that range and those cute cute monsters.  Here's a little sneak peek for now.. :)

hhehehe yes thats the super cute felt monsters from Sassafras.  I know it has not hit our store yet but Sassafras was really kind to send them to me to play with first.  I promise ... you'll see them at the store REEEEEEAL soon. 

If you're worried that this is kinda a 'boyish' range and you don't have boys.... DON'T BE!  I made the layouts very versatile so you can use any photos on the layouts.... maybe try to pick FUN photos?

Okay more sneaks to come real soon..... hope you like what you see so far! 

CHEERIOS!

wooooo... i scrapped!

I'm glad i managed to scrap a layout last nite.  It was actually on impulse and probably due to the fact that I cleared the table a little the day before.  I haven't been able to scrap at all prior to last night .. its been too long.  Last nite felt good :)

I really envy scrappers who can churn out layouts after layouts week after week.. especially those on our Design Team!  :)  I cannot seem to do that.. perhaps it is due to the fact that day in day out I am actually looking at all the products (which i love!) and sometimes I think I need a mental break from anything scrapbook related.  Of course there is also the constant distraction of Korean or TVB dramas... LOL!  I go through cycles in my scrapbook endeavours and with work added to the mix...usually when the mood comes again for me, it's time to plan a workshop so none of my personal pages get done. 

I separate my work pages (workshop pages or those that I create for work related purposes) from my personal ones.  I do this as I go through a different mental process with work and personal pages while creating them so usually the 'personal' ones end up more ..... erm.. personal and me. LOL.

So throughout the year.. as the months progress, I cycle through creating several workshops, ordering products for the store, looking at products all day, teaching workshops... i guess you can say the mood for scrapping personal pages don't come by often... but when they do (like last nite), I feel really good after creating. :)  I love how the page turned out.. it's dedicated to Eugene who has been most obliging with taking photos (goofy and otherwise). I really like this collection from Cosmo Cricket.  So fun.. especially the red OCR answer sheet at the background....i HAD to use my pencil to mark out some of the alphabets .. like a real test answer sheet. hehehehe.

Well....It's Monday again... hope your monday started out great! 

P-p-p-poker face....

Man she would be so entertaining to watch... I'm still on the fence whether to go see her at Fort Canning. I Loveeee Lady Gaga but I don't really think I would like to sit by the mozzies in the heat to watch her.  Free seating too.. can't imagine how early we need to be there to get a good spot.

It's mid week tomorrow.. how has your week been?  I am dreaming of being in a nice cool country now.  I needddddd to get to somewhere cool.. even COLD.  It's too warm in Singapore.  I rather be walking in the cold all wrapped up then sweat and perspire here.  Sigh.

So yep... we went to ION on Sunday.  Obviously nothing was opened yet.. dono why they call it a Family Day ... what do we get to see?  Basically lots of carpenters and everyone bustling around to make the Tuesday opening dateline. LOL.  We did get a sneak peek as to what stores there will be at ION though.  Let's just say I can only afford to shop at the basement levels. LOL!  Anything above........ too expensive. LOL.

Anyone went down today?  I heard from Eugene who walked past that it was very crowded.

So my sister had her wedding photoshoot last week.  We ended up going to Portsdown area and the Marina Barrage.  The official photos from the photographer are not ready yet but here is one that I shot from afar that I particularly liked .... :)

 

Like Mafia Boss marrying the Mafia gal huh. LOL.

So before I leave.. here is another sneak peek at the new Lemonade workshop next month... enjoy!!!

The creation process.....

Some people have asked me how I go about creating layouts for workshops... well I thought i'd blog about it since this question comes up in almost every workshop....

Here's a little insight on how I create my workshop layouts.  :)

Basically i need to be inspired by the products.  I usually decide which brands and collections I want to do a workshop with and gather the supplies.  The starting is ALWAYS the hardest.  Sometimes I have some ideas for 1 or 2 layouts.. sometimes I sketch a little.

Then I go about printing a bunch of photos I think I would use.  I usually end up with quite a few more photos than what I would finally use... lol.  The extra photos gets put away in my photo container and sometimes I use them in future layouts.  Once I have the photos, I begin working on my first layout.... I actually work on ALL my layouts at the same time.  What does this mean?  Basically I start with No.1... find a rough idea of what I want to see... cut the papers (sometimes I stick them down.. sometimes I don't, yet, at this point.. sometimes I just add a light touch of glue).  No embellishments yet.. the layout is still only 1/4 way done.

Then I work on No.2.... same thing... then No.3... and if its a 4 layout workshop.. No.4.   I will end up with 4 layouts that are about 1/4 to 1/2 way complete.  I lay them all next to each other and look at them to make sure they somehow look like they belong together.  I like to see all my layouts at one go.  At this point, I continue cutting papers... reshuffling them... adding stuff to the layouts.  I can be working on all 4 of them at the same time.  Once I am happy with how the papers are on the layout, I stick everything down.  This now forms the 'base' of all my layouts.  At this point.. i heave a sigh of relief .. lol.

Then... comes the embellishments. After working out the costings and taking what I know will work with the layouts.. I begin layering the embellishments to all the layouts.  I work on all 4 simultaneously.  They are always laid out together (lol.. i take up alot of space when I am scrapping for a workshop).  The embellishments part is usually the fun part coz by this time.. 1/2 my stress is over as I already have a good idea how the layouts will turn out.  I enjoy this part most :)

After adding the embellishments... I add on the title and journaling last... do some final checks and then my layouts are complete! 

Its a long process. I dont work on my layouts all at one go.. they are usually laid out on my scrap table for weeks.  It takes me a couple of weeks to get from picking the supplies to having everything complete and stuck down (in between doing other work).

So..yep.  This is how I design my class layouts.  It's not an easy process.. it stresses me out alot!.. but its really an enjoyable one.. especially when everything is complete and done. LOL!

What's up for the next workshop then?  Hmmmm I'm still in the beginning stages of the creation process (aka...paper cutting/sticking stage).. but I can say the layouts will have - pinks, greens, yellows, blues, whites, butterflies, circles and more.  Any guesses?

Oh and while reading Cathy Zielske's blog... i chanced upon a workshop she is gonna conduct in Sept. 

im considering this...... who wants to join me????

More Starbucks love...

i did this sometime back but forgot to post it up.... just another one to add to my Starbucks "album".... i should really go get a dedicated album for all my starbucks layouts.. hehe.

 

Oh and the Fun-Tas-Tic Series 2 workshop run is over.. hope that those who attended the workshop enjoyed the layouts!  I had real fun teaching them.  Here are the layouts from the workshop....... :)

 

 

 

  

and the special bonus layout...

now what do we have here?

Just a quick one... of things to come. :) *wink*

 

more coming soon..... have a nice weekend everyone!

lol.. i like how the photo only captured "my stuff.. is the good stuff"... lol.