Cherish Today

My little sister, Asmah, is on vacation and I was a weekend boarder. I know she will never fail to bring her stash (I do, too, just in case) along with her, well, just in case. We were chatting away and we did what we always do - check one another's stash. I fell in love with her Artplorations Stencils and I told her I want to create something using her stencils. Since I have a half-done project, the stencils I chose were perfect to complete my layout.
I have fallen in love with Mixed Media even though I once complain to Asmah that I am so intimidated by the projects I saw online. My favourite tag was I am not good enough. As I start to dabble in Mixed Media, I realize that it is just a matter of playing with colors and paints, just like those days when I was in school.
I love this photo of my daughter taken during her preparation for her 2nd Dressage Competition. I cropped the photo to eliminate all the unnecessary parts and just concentrate on her face that was mixed with fear, determination and strength to remain as calm as possible. I think she did win a Blue Ribbon for this. I'll check again and update later.
The Embellishments used mean something actually:
Butterfly - To indicate the butterflies in her tummy
Clock - To indicate the time she will start and the time for her to accomplish her task
Camera - for me to capture those moments
Flowers - to show the beauty surrounding the paddock

I'll see where I can enter this project for any challenge later.

Location : Royal Selangor Club, Ampang
Supplies : Chipboard that serves as the background
Scraps of Pattern Paers from various Manufacturers
Embellishments - diecuts from Kaisercraft and Eno Craft
Artploration Stencils - Happy Flowers, Bold Florals, Flutterby
Reeves Gesso, Reeves Acrylic Paints, Kaiser Paints, Reeves Modelling Paste


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Our Children

My love affair with Quotes started way back when when I was a child in Primary School. Every time I read the Readers Digest, I would copy the Quotes in my little note book to use any one of them for my Essay Writing. I have never stopped writing them down but sadly I lost a fair amount of them as I moved around a lot.
With the advancement of technology, I print my favorite quotes and use them on my layouts as and when. So when my sister, Asmah, showed me a project by Chrissy, I was inspired to create a similar project.
For this project, I used chipboard I saved from a file that was to go to trash. I removed the PVC cover and decided to upcycle the chipboard. Using the ordinary masking tape, I wound around the chipboard creating texture as I went along. Due to the thickness of the texture, I applied two coats of Gesso before painting them.
I am entering this project for the MMMC challenge #18 with the Theme Texture.

Here is my project.

Supplies used : Chipboard, Masking Tape, Printed Quote, Acrylic Paints (Terracotta, Rosa Red, Phthalo Blue, Mars Black), Gesso, Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist, Modelling Paste, Eno Greeting Laser-cut Butterflies, Mod Podge, Kaisercraft Stencil, Pop Art Pattern Paper

You & Me Forever

One of the things that the well known motivator, Dato' Dr. Fadzilah Mohd Kamsah, said during his talk yesterday was, "Do what you love doing the most". I took his word and after dinner last night, I sat at my makeshift craft table and work on this layout diligently.
My sister, Asmah, had been encouraging me to participate in the Scrap Africa challenges ever since she was appointed DT for this challenge blog. I always say, "Yes", but my yes seem to be at infinity all the time. This sketch seem appealing enough for me and at the same time, I really want to use up my paper pads that is miles long. Otherwise, I'll never get to buy new paper pads (uhm......pun in cheek!). My weekly visit to Spotlight always see me leaving with bagful of new craft supplies.
This is the sketch for Scrap Africa latest challenge, sketch-challenge-no62



I love the wood grains and since I have a couple of wood-grained paper of different manufacturers, I had a hard time choosing. So much for having too many supplies.
I wanted to to create a layout of my little girl, but she told me to take a break from making layouts of her. Since I had this photo of Fatimah (Zahra's former classmate) and her mother matted weeks ago, I decided to use this photo instead. So, I had to recreate the usage of my supplies to fit the photo.

This photo was taken two years ago at Lovely Homes shop, Ampang Point, when Fatimah's mother came to Selangor to pay her daughter a visit. They came from China and Fatimah was studying at my daughter's school then. Fatimah then went to Jordan to further her studies and I had lost contact with her for nearly a year now. I do miss her terribly.

Supplies: Pattern papers - DIY Shop, Paper Boutique, Enogreen, Kaisercraft. 
Flowers - Kaisercraft (which I gessoed), Handmade flowers from DIY, Wooden Flourishes from DIY which I painted with Flesh coloured Acryclic paint, Gesso, Bubble wrap, Momoyo Brads, Micia Inks for distressing, Bazzil cradstock for Matting, Kaisercraft die-cuts, Titles - Momoyo sticker.

Thank you for stopping by.

Art Journal

This is my first Art Journal and I plan to enter this to the "Hop To Stop" blog hop. I noticed the support provided is overwhelming http://damselofdistressedcards.blogspot.my/2015/10/the-hop-to-stop.html. For this project, instead of making cards, I decided to create an Art Journal. I am not really a card person actually.
The first thing my daughter noticed was the colour purple. she wondered why I had turned to doing purple all of a sudden. Well, Becca had the answer:

If you're wondering why everything (at least that's my hope) in the blogosphere is turning puple... there IS a reason - the Hop to Stop is here! 

You see, purple is the color of National Domestic Violence Awareness month. 

1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence over the course of their lifetimes. 

Let that sink in - 33% of all the women you meet. 

And women aren't the only people who are affected! Women, men, transgender - gender doesn't matter. Domestic violence is something that exists regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, religion, education level, etc.

Supplies: Chipboard, American Craft pp, Washi Tape, A Little bit Scenic Stamps by Sheena, Kaiser
die-cut Butterfly, Texture Paste, Kaiser Floral Stencil, Black Gesso, White Gesso, Acrylic Paints,
Micia Inks, VersaFine Inks, Silhoutte, Sunlit Border Punch, Scraps of Pattern Papers
Sentiment by Issam Bayan

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Unique

I wanted to try my hand at mixed Media and Steampunk combined. Unfortunately,what I had in my head did not materialize to my satisfaction. Since this is my first attempt with Steampunk, I just have to make do with the end results. But, I am going to start on another one and this time I hope with greater success.

Being a typical Recyclist, I recycle the chipboard cover from a file folder that was going to the trash. To me this is suitable for my layout because the elements used will be heavy eventually, and a sturdy board is the much preferred.

This photo is of my daughter's good friend and with his permission I used this photo to create this project. I used a lot of blues here to reflect the blue t-shirt he was wearing.

I decided to enter this project to Stamplorations Stencil Sunday and this is my first entry ever. Hopefully this will not be the last either.

Supplies used : Kaisercraft pp, Chipboard, Kaisercraft Stencil, Kaisercraft Die-cuts, Steampunk
Elements, Bubble wrap, Acryclic Paints, White Gesso, black Gesso, Serviette, Modge Podge, Metal glue

Journey

My daughter's friend decided to throw a surprise (belated) birthday party for her at Great Eastern Mall. I decided to create a layout for my daughter so that her friends can sign it as a remembrance of their outing. I had only one hour to create the layout and to get myself ready.
In my mind I knew which photo to use and try to find the right paper to go along with it. I was lucky to be able to find the bits and pieces of paper and it doesn't really matter that there was a mismatch. At the end of it all, I just assemble anything goes.

There was no sketch to follow. I just go with the flow.
As luck would have it, http://another-freaking-scrappy-challenge.blogspot.my/ is hosting a challenge as follows:

Start a layout and have it finished in exactly one hour or less - yes - exactly one hour or less from start to finish. This may be very freeing for some of us and frustrating for others. No going back afterward and tweaking it before you post it!!!

Since there was a slight change of plans for the party, I decided to give the girls sign the layout another day. I managed to use a lot of scraps and also use up my old Kaisercraft paper. The only item that is new is the handmade flower by my sister, Asmah.

I started this layout at 110:45 am and finished it off at 11:30 am, before I got myself ready to be present at noon.

 Location: Sunrise Peak at Jeju Island

Supplies: Kaisercraft pattern paper, Die-cuts, Title and Journaling Card

Handmade flowers by Asmah, Rub-ons, Momoyo Brad, Bazzil Cardstock

Exploring New Places

Good evening everyone. Today we are experiencing another bout of extremely bad haze with an IPU reading of 200 for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. A very good excuse to remain indoors actually. But my dearest girl had her IGCSE English Oral Exam today, so there was no excuse. Later in the evening, my husband and I decided to take her out for an early birthday celebration dinner at Restaurant Sana'a, another Yemeni Restaurant. Our good friend there, Ahmad Ali, a Yemeni, decided to get a birthday cake for her, and together with the staffs of the restaurant, we celebrated her 16th birthday, which is actually 3 days away. We wanted to surprise Zahra', in the end I got the surprise. Ahmad chose to pick up the bill, which in my calculation, was about RM100, minus the cake.

This layout is created for September's Kraft+ challenge http://kraftpluschallenges.blogspot.my/ using the following sketch and theme, Tri-hard.



It took me a while to find the right 3 photos and these seem to be right. I cropped these photos to size to resemble the sketch. Well, quite close. These photos were taken by our Malaysian Tour guide, David, and it really is nice to have a family photo.

Location: Seoul Night Market, our last leg in Korea

Supplies: Kraft paper, American Crafts, Kaisercraft, Coredination Cardstock, Washi Tape, Fabric Tape,
Momoyo Brad, Handmade Flower Kaisercraft Diecuts, Wooden Heart and Butterfly from Typo, Kaisercraft Stencil,
Acrylic Paint, Texture Paste