Colorful

Before showcasing my creation for this post, a little ranting:

Scrapbooking has surely changed after being a mom. Although I am on maternity leave and seems like I should have some time to scrap, unfortunately, I don't. Kind of. Baby naps twice a day now, and each nap lasts 1-2 hrs long. Not bad, right? So technically, I could have some time to scrap - that is if I still had my craft room where I could just lay everything out. Now with the baby, my scrap room became the guest room and the guest room the nursery. All my stuff are on the main floor and the dining table is now a desk combo. Since we do eat on our table, that means I have to put away my supplies every time. So by the time I take out all my stuff, nap time is half over and that I need to start packing up. Scrapping like so is just not fun.

I still remember back in the days, if I was on staycation, it would probably take two days to complete a 1-page layout. Now, 1.5 weeks - minimum! Sigh.  Ok, I'm done.

Anyways, this page showcases the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It was a pretty big market, but many "stores" sold the same thing. Even though it seemed a little dark inside this sheltered market, the majority of the merchandises were so colorful. I like colorful.

Before, I find Basic Grey's Capture collection was a bit hard to use. This is mostly because it was so colorful and the paper design is a bit bold. However, these qualities fit this page perfectly!

Paper: Basic Grey
Embellishments: Punch outs, chipboard,

Walking Tour Frankfurt

This was our last stop of our Europe-Asia trip in 2013.  Frankfurt is a major hub and long hours of layovers are common.  I had a choice to just sit in the airport for the long wait (very tempting since we were arriving at like 6-7 in the morning), or do a quick tour of Frankfurt.  Being me, who likes to make use of every single minute of making vacation, I chose the latter.  And it was worth it.

I started and finished 99% of this page on March 18, 2015.  All I had left was the journal entry portion of the page.  At around 11ish pm - midnight, I was debating, should I put this away?  I'll likely work on it tomorrow.  I chose to put it away.  My mom was staying with me.  With her around, I can't really live in my place like my own place.  My house, her rules - and that is, put things away.  However, I'm glad I did because around 6 am, March 19, 2015, my waters broke and I went to the hospital and had my baby.  So this page is extra special to me: it's my last page before being a full time mom.  It was just recently that I took this page back out to finish the journal entry (during baby's naptime).

Paper: Bazzill, Basic Grey, Scrapbook Customs
Embellishments: Sticker letters

Catch Up Miscellaneous

OMG.  It's been more than half a year since I last posted. I meant to post earlier but I have been so lazy.  However, I haven't been that lazy with creating.  I always try to scrap something on long weekends.  Then when maternity leave started, I had some time to scrap since my little bun decided to bake a bit longer than anticipated.  All this time I want to post whatever pages I haven't posted, like I last mentioned last post.  Of course, I didn't.  And when I wanted to, the baby came out.  Life was over.  Kinda (elaborate later in future post... maybe). Anyways, here are some of the pages I created over the last while. Good thing I wrote down some of the things I used when making these pages.

Paradise Air
This was the most adventurous things I have ever done in my life.  What's best was it was also the first adventurous thing B and I did as a married couple.  On the second day of our marriage, we went to Paradise Air and flew over the southwestern part of Oahu island.  I loved it. I don't think I will ever get a pilot's license, this will do.  The best parts were to "feel" the clouds and hover over rainbows.  It was amazing.

Paper: Can't remember! KaiserCraft?

Embellishments: Thickers, Bo Bunny cutout

Fishy Spa

In Santorini, B and I hiked from Fira to Oia.  We could have took a bus, but 1. people said this hike is amazing, and it was, and 2.  I didn't want to pay for two bus fares (we went back to Fira by bus).  It wasn't meant to be a hard hike, but we did take some detours, which took longer, and I hadn't exercised for ages!  However, it really made me continue to exercise after this trip.  Anyways, after this long hike, we were famished and our feet were overly exhausted.  After a delicious lunch, we dunked our feet into a fish tank and let the fishy eat away our dead skin. It was a pretty enjoyable experience.  B was surprised that he quite enjoyed it.

Paper: Echo Park, Carta Bella, Elle's Studio, Core'dination

Tools/Techniques: Silhouette Cameo 

Embellishments: Basic Grey memo card, letter stickers

Camel Ride

In Wadi Rum, our private tour guide suggested a camel ride. Oh yeah!  How often do I get a chance to ride a camel in a desert. Perfect animal in a perfect setting.

Paper: Crate Paper, Basic Grey
Embellishments: Stickers (Basic Grey, Authentique, Kaisercraft), Punch Out (Teresa Collins)

S'mores

This photo was taken a long time ago, like two years?  Even the stickers on the page was bought a long time ago in preparation to make this page.  However, I'm lazy to print photos from my phone, I just never got to it.  Now with a nice new printer at home, this photo is ready for print.
I love s'mores, but I don't camp.  I'm so happy that my two good innovative friends came up with this so that I could enjoy s'mores without camping outside!  Yum!

Paper: Kaisercraft, scraps

Embellishments: Sticker (Jolee's Boutique), vellum quotes, punchout

Wow!

It's been almost than a year since I last posted.  Have I stopped creating?  Of course not, but I haven't been creating as much as I would like.  Work has been crazy since I returned after Xmas holidays.  My brain was exhausted with specifications, site work, drawings, engineering stuff.  Although scrapping helps escaping it all, but I was lacking the brain juice to create.  And when I finally created something, I got too lazy to post it here.  When work finally slowed down a bit, and creative brain juice replenished a bit, I found out I was pregnant!  My first trimester consisted me camping outside my bathroom and lethargic on the couch.  I could barely hold down water, forget about scrapping.  It was horrible.  I would not wish it on my worse enemy.  Now that's all over, the baby is cuddling warmly in my tummy, and my workload has lessened it's time to start again.  To start, here are some recent pages I made in the last few weeks.  I'll try to find post the other few pages I made this year... maybe.

Floating in the Dead Sea
Our last stop during our big vacation last year, the Dead Sea.  Since I was the camera person, I couldn't take shots of me floating in the water or covered in mud.  Therefore, this page only consisted of B.

Paper: My Mind's Eye, Simple Stories

Tools/Techniques: Cricut B is for Boy

Embellishments: Sticker, Cut out

Little Venice

This little strip of buildings on the island of Mykonos is built near the waters, just like Venice.  I was lucky to capture this shot when the sun was setting.  So pretty.

Paper: Pink Paislee

Embellishments: Sticker, Die cuts

Delos

We took a daytrip to Delos, an island covered by ruins not too far from Mykonos.  If I was a history fanatic, yeah, I would like it but I'm not.  However, I am a scrapbooker - the more places = more photos = scrapbook potential!

Paper: Authentique, Basic Grey

Embellishments: Sticker, Die cut

New Year Creations

With another week off, I got more scrapbook layouts done.  Also helps when mom came to "visit", and I did not have to worry about cooking and washing dishes.  So I had all the time in the world to scrap (and watch earlier seasons of Supernatural on Netflix).

Hawaii Wedding
The main reason we went to Hawaii last year (2012) was to get married!  I love Hawaii.  It's seriously my favourite place on Earth.  It's a place I can visit again and again.  Just love it, and therefore, it's a perfect setting for our wedding.

Paper: BoBunny, Core'dination

Embellishments: Stickers, vellum love quote, memo card (Elle's Studio)

Marukame Udon

Although it was on my list of restaurants to try in Waikiki, B got to it first and fell in love.  He's not a big fan of cities in paradise, but he sure is a big fan of this place.  Near the end of our short stay in Waikiki, I finally made it there and of course, he had no complaints going there again.  It was good, but I didn't fall in love with it as much as him.  The reason to go back to Waikiki for him is this udon shop.

Paper: Basic Grey

Tools/Techniques: Cricut Create a Critter, Silhouette Cameo 

Traveler

During my holiday, I got a chance to go through and develop my newest vacation photos and getting all gung-ho to start another new scrapbook (yes, I'm crazy!).  So to start things off with this scrapbook, let's start with page 1, the title page!

Paper: Bazzill Basics Paper, Core'dination

Tools/Techniques: Prismacolor pencil crayons, distressing/ink

Embellishments: Sticker (title "Traveler" by Jolee's Boutique), stamps, vellum quote

Puppy Portraits

A long time ago, I took these photos with a borrowed dslr camera.  This holiday, I finally got a chance to scrap these photos.  I actually could have finished this when I was at my parents' but I don't know how I managed to lose one of the photos.  The good news is that I bought a new printer that could print out awesome (backup) photos!  And so to test it out, I reprint the photo I lost/misplaced.  

   

Paper: My Mind's Eye, Making Memories, Echo Park

Tools/Techniques: Silhouette Cameo, circle cutter

Embellishments: Stickers

Holiday Scrapping

For the first part of my holidays, I went to visit my parents' for 5 days and spent Christmas there.  Usually I would also visit some friends and do some catching up, but this year I decided to just be a homebody and stuck around the house.  Husband had no complaints.  During the five days, other than walking the dog and going out for dim sum once, I was either "Alien Hive"-ing on my tablet (damn, that game is addictive and impossible), or on Pinterest getting inspirations for scrapping and catching up with some scrapbooking.  A total of three layouts were completed.  I did almost finish another but due to limited supplies (and technology in the house), I had to save it for later until I get home.

Cambridge
I would consider this the last 'adventure' page in the England/Ireland scrapbook (now just missing the England title page... which I forgot, else I would have worked on that too).  I had a few good photos for it, but I think for this layout, it just goes well with one.

Paper: Simple Stories, Fancy Pants Design, and the plaid paper by...
Embellishments: Stickers, Snippets (Basic Grey)

Life's A Beach
Since I thought I was done my Europe 2010 page, I continued with my Hawaii 2012 page.  I went to a number of beaches in Hawaii, but I really didn't want to scrap them all (plus I didn't have enough photos for each of them).  A beach is a beach... sand, ocean, bare feet... Why not just put them all onto one page?!

Paper: Authentique
Embellishments: Stickers, Tab

Hawaii
After remembering I needed a title page for England, I did a title page for Hawaii.  This page was so fun.  It's also the one I liked the most out of the three.  Simple and bright.

Paper: Basic Grey
Embellishments: Stickers (Jolee' Boutique, Echo Park, Crate's Paper), buttons (Dress It Up), pearls