Ollie's Pages

So, I decided to change my Ollie page a bit and after 2 days, I managed to finish the 2nd page. Lots of crying, of course. I always know that scrapbooking her pictures would means re-living the memories all over again, but at the same time I know it's good for me to do it. Part of the healing process. It's been over a year since Ollie went across the rainbow bridge, but it still kind of hard to journal about her.

Here's the 1st page updated.

And, here's the 2nd page. My letter to my baby girl. I'll keep this post short. The journaling speaks for itself and I don't want to cry all over again. It still hard to see her being so skinny and fragile on these pics.

Supplies for both pages: MFT All My Love, MFT I Love You More, MFT Planner Basics,
MFT All My Love dies, MFT Bubblegum premiumdye ink pad. 

Am definitely  much slower when it comes to scrapbooking compare to card making. But, there's certain joy that comes with it that totally makes it worth it.

That's it from me. Going to try to scrapbook more this weekend. :)

Always & Forever

Before Eli, there's Ollie. My 1st pug. My very 1st dog that's all mine. I grew up always having dogs, but Ollie was my 1st dog I have as an adult. I did my research, learned about the breed, learned about being good dog mommy before I got her. I wanted to do it right, because for me, having a dog is for life. 

I got Ollie back in 1998 and she is every little bit a pug. Spunky, bossy, loving, stubborn, loyal. She's my loyal companion that always by my side through the up and down of life. When I went through a hard time, to the point of debating whether I should just go back to Indonesia or stay in the US, she's the reason I kept moving forward. I just couldn't leave her.

She taught me to never give up. How? Easy. After every meal time, she always check my other dogs's bowl to see if they eat all their food. Never fail. I was like, Ollie you know they always eat their food. But, she'd look at me as if saying, so?? Nothing wrong with keep trying. You never know when you could get lucky, like hey he missed a kibble there. :)

She was with me for over 15 years. I cried for days when I found out that I had to let her go back in October 2013. Last night, I finally took the step to document how special she's for me.

Supplies: MFT All My Love, MFT I Love You More,
MFT All My Love dies, MFT Bubblegum premiumdye ink pad.

I am still struggling to do the journaling. There's still more pics of us that I want to scrapbook, so I'll probably write my journaling on that page. Right now, this is a start of what I know going to be difficult pictures to document because I do miss my girl.  So, yes, the page is super simple. I simply add the heart & stamped the sentiment.

I might add more to this page, but right now, this is it. That sentiment says it all. 

It feels pretty darn good going back to scrapbooking. As you can see, my scrapbooking style is the same as my card making style. Clean & simple. :)

You Are My Happy

Yay... I get to scrapbook again. Slowly, but it feels so good. I decided to start an album for the "kids" and am using Studio Calico album. It's the perfect size as it can hold lots of pages and the smaller size allow me to complete the pages faster.

I am a slow scrapbooker as my perfectionist tendency usually come up to the surface when I scrapbook. Like, when things doesn't line up perfectly, it bugs me to no end and I kind of have to force myself to just let it go. That it's okay to have some imperfection on my page.

Anyway, I have these pics of hubby and Eli that I just love. Here's the way my page turned out. 

Eli was only about a couple months old on this pics and totally adorable! Of course, being his mommy, I will always think he's super cute. Hah... Hubby never really owned by a pug till he met me. Ollie was his first pug. And, when we got Eli, I told him once you hold a pug puppy, you can't go back. Heee... There's just something about pug that totally make my heart goes all soft.

These 2 are my happy. :)

I am entering this layout for Moxie Fab NSD: Scrapbooking Rock challenge. 

That's it for me today. See y'all later....

So Lucky You Are In My Life

Yay! I finished a layout. I don't get to scrapbook as often as I'd like to, but when I do I get super happy. After all, I have tons of pictures to document.

I got inspired to scrapbook this weekend, when I saw this layout sketch from Elle's Studio.

I've been wanting to create a layout of my favorite subject, our pug puppy, Eli. He is such a poser and the pic below is my favorite picture of him with hubby. By the way, we need to clarify that he is mommy's boy first and daddy's boy second. Hah...

Gahh... his face, his expression melt my  heart every time. Yes, I love this boy very much.

The patterned papers are from American Crafts  & Jillibean. The banners and tabs are from Elle's Studio. I have a whole stash of Elle's Studio stuff waiting to be used and it's my goal to use them all.

I still need to learn on how to take good picture of a layout. So far I haven't managed that. I ended up scanning this layout.

You Are My Sunshine

Sharing another layout from the scrapbook I made for my brother. Love it when the paper looks so pretty and  you only need to add a bit of embellishment. Makes it so easy and fast to do the page.

Now,  this two lovebird has this sweet little girl. That piercing look, hah... totally my brother's look.

Earlier this week, they were celebrating Shakira 1 month old by doing the Chinese tradition blessing ceremony. Basically family member and close friends come together and gives the baby blessings so may she or he have a blessed life. And this day also mark the 1st day that the baby go outside the house with grandma taking her for a walk. 

I so love this picture. We have picture just like this when we were babies with our own grandma. And I love the fact that my mom went with the traditional, old school style umbrella for this event. You don't see this often nowadays. And somehow as I see how our family branched out and scattered all over the world, I value our heritage and appreciate it more than ever.

And, yep, our family is in love with this baby girl. Just like the title on my layout, she is our sunshine. :)

To my sweet niece, Shakira, I wish that your life always filled with sunshine and when there's rainy or cloudy days, I hope you remember that the sun will always come back and rise. And may you bring sunshine to those around you.

Just The 2 of Us

My adventure in paper crafting starts with scrapbooking  and to this day I still love it. I don't often find time to do it, but when I do my heart actually flutter with joy. Yes, that's how much I love it. There's something of working with your loved ones pictures and combining it with pretty papers.

Last year, for my brother's wedding present I made an album of him and his wife from when they first met. I plan to share the pages here, but then completely forgot. And yesterday, browsing my files, I realized how much I love the pages I made for them and it's time to share them here.

So, no card today, but a layout. :)

Yes, still sticking to my clean and simple style. When it comes to scrapbook, I want the picture and the journaling to take center stage.

I will share more layouts and after CHA I am pretty sure my brain will be buzzing (it already start to buzz) and my creativity will be in high gear. Truly hoping that I can balance scrapbooking & card making this year.

And, yep I am already filled with anticipation to see my crafting friends. I will get to meet many new ones this year and I am super thrilled about it. 2 more days before it's time to fly out! Yayness.... :)

Mama Elephant Grand Opening Stampede!

Hi everyone and welcome to Mama Elephant Grand Opening.  If you arrive here from the fabulous Joy Taylor then you're on the right track or to make sure you don't miss any link, you can start at Mama Elephant blog.

You probably wonder who or what is Mama Elephant. A bit about them: Mama Elephant is owned and operated by two childhood friends from NYC. We are so happy to bring the collaboration of our aesthetics to Mama Elephant! Our stamps are designed with card makers and scrapbookers in mind! Our stamps are carefully curated to provide optimal versatility with a wide variety of styles - cute, whimsical, bold, graphic, and  fun!

When Kryssi told me about this new adventure of hers, I am so excited for her. I adore Kryssi's style and consider her as one of my favorite card maker. So, of course, when she ask if I'd like to join the grand opening, I didn't even have to think my answer! A big YES came out right away. And, when she shared sneak peek of the stamp sets, oh my word... I just love it. Mama Elephant designs totally capture my heart.

Here's my cards using the adorable images from Nursery Deco.

Since, I am going to be an aunt soon, making baby card is definitely on my list. And, this set is so my style. I mean, when you're looking at Mama Elephant's set they have that clean line style and cute images. The kind of combination that makes my heart pitter patter. 

To get you better acquainted with Mama Elephant's stuff please continue to hop along. From here please hop on to Alice Wertz blog (she has mad coloring skill!). 

And... how about a little enabling. To celebrate their grand opening, they offer a 10% discount of the whole store using the coupon GRANDOPEN for 2 days only starting today. 

Thank you so much for stopping by here. As this post go up I'll be up on my way to Hawaii for a vacation time with hubby and my mom. Since, this is most likely my mom's last trip to the States, I want her to have a fab vacation. So, I'll see you when I come back. Aloha.... :)

In This Family

I started my journey in paper crafting world with scrapbooking. I got into it way before I get into card making. And for me,  there's different joy in scrapbooking.

I love card making, but when I scrapbook, I could literally feel like my heart is singing. I know, it sounds cheesy, but that's how I feel. I just love, love, love doing it. I think  the main reason would be because I am working on preserving the memories of all the important people in my life. And as I grow older, it's also about remembrance. So many moments, sayings, stuff that I don't want to forget.

I am a bit hesitant in sharing my layout on my blog, because after all my blog focus on card making, but this past few weeks, my heart been wanting to do more scrapbooking and I think since it's also part of who I am, what I love, I should just post it. So, no card for this post, but a layout of my family.

The journaling is inspired by wall plaque "In This House" that I found on Pinterest. For this layout I made it into "In This Family" and of course, I adjusted it to how it goes in my family (you can click on the picture to make it larger if you want to read the journaling). 

This picture is from my visit to Indonesia back in December 2010. Taken on New Year's eve. I love this pic as it capture our family closeness. Yep... to this day, even when we're in our 30's and 40's, we all still like to pile up on the bed and sharing stories, just like we did in our childhood.

And, one thing that I realize.... my scrapbook style totally change from when I first started. :) You can expect more layouts from me, that's for sure. Am a slow scrapbooker, though, so there would always be more cards than layout. Thanks so much for stopping by here.

May Arts & October Afternoon

Today, I shared a layout and a couple cards at May Arts blog HERE. I got to play with 5 & Dime collection. L.O.V.E. They are so gorgeous.

Here's a look at the layout I made. It's about my brother and his girlfriend. They're just so cute and goofy together. Love them to pieces. Every time I completed a layout, I felt such a satisfaction. I love card making, but I started as scrapbooker and will always love scrapbooking. Always.

Please check out the post for the cards and would really appreciate it if you leave some love over at May Arts blog. Thanks so much!

Layout, card, & scrap room

It's Friday!! Yay.... One more week before my CHA Super Show trip. I am counting the days! So looking forward to meet some crafty blog friends. To meet them in person would be so much fun and the shopping?? Super duper excited! :)

I was so inpired by all the goodies that I received the day before that I actually made a layout! It's been awhile since I made pages for myself. This past couple of years I completed several albums, but all of them are for presents. It feels awesome to make layout just for myself.

The papers I used is not part of my goodies, but I've been wanting to use it ever since I got it. It's from American Crafts Dear Lizzy line. This pic was taken on hubby's birthday last year.

Just like my card style, I like clean and simple style as well for my layout.  Those tickets were made using my latest Papertrey Ink goodies "Just The Ticket" set. I loved, loved this set. I have the matching dies as well and I can already tell this is going to be one of my favorite stuff to use! Sigh... love Papertrey Ink very much!

Hmm.. back to the layout, I am really slow in journaling part. I love writing, but I have to be in the right mood to do my layout journaling. I probably will added some more personal journaling later on.

I also made a simpler version of my Gallery Idol card. This one just flat, instead of accordion folded, so it can be framed. Planning to give this to my niece, Maddy who's such an animal lover. I love my niece to pieces, she's just so beautiful inside out, goofy, & smart. Entering this card for Jenny's Wee Memories Summer challenge as well.            

 

I am not sure how smart it is for me to put picture of my scrapbook room. It's so messy lately as I've been so busy working on many cards & projects, that I haven't really get a chance to straighten my room. So, don't laugh, okay!? :)

As soon as you enter the room, to the left is my paper rack and computer desk that also hold my Cricut and Silhouette cutter.

Next to my computer table is my Ikea shelves that I so need to re-organize. As you can see this shelves hold all kind of stuff. One day soon I want to reorganzie it and make it looks neat the way it loooks in catalog! Next to it is the drawers that holds my Hero Arts and Stampin Up! stamps.

On the opposite side of the wall is this messy area (that's why no close up pic of the desk, LOL), which is my working area. The tall glass cabinets hold my completed albums. The drawes hold all kind of stuff. The plastic drawer next to it holds my most often used inkpads, chalks, and Papertrey Ink stamp. On my desk, my Cuttlebug, spices tubes that filled with buttons, papers, drawers where I store my pens, color pencils, embellishments, etc.

Above my desk is a skinny ledge shelf that holds variety of pics. Some of them are my brother's photography works. That sleeping owl on the right edge, is one of my favorite of his works. You can view more of his photograhpy work here. Next to the desk is another plastic drawes that holds my 8.5x11 papers & embellishments. On top of it smaller drawers that holds my scraps. On the floors 3 additional boxes of scraps. :) What can I say, I don't like to waste stuff. The very last drawers holds all my tools, fibers, & adhesive. And the red magazine holder has the latest magazine or idea books.

Messy, yes. But this is my happy place and this is the way it looks most of the time.  One of this day, when I actually have more free time, I want to redo this room. Not sure if I will change the color, since I do like the color blue. Or maybe I'll use lighter blue. For now, I am thankful that I actually do have a scrap room that's all mine. OK, I share with Nick my sheltie, since he always follow me everywhere and like to guard me. :)

Okay peeps, that's a long post for today. Hope you enjoy your stop here and I wish you all a super duper great Friday & may your weekend be filled with loads of fun stuff! Hugs, Vera. 

Layouts, card & sewing machine

Happy Monday y'all! Try to say it with Texan's drawl. :) How you like my title? That's because today I have layouts & card to share with you & I rediscover my sewing machine.

First, I am so happy today. Just found out that I won the Paper Crafts Card Creations 8 giveaway. Yay... I love good idea book. All I can say is that I am so, so grateful for all my winnings and I appreciate all of them so very much.

On Saturday, I received the Lily Bee collection from Jennifer McGuire giveaway. LOVED it!! The papers are so pretty. And I am proud to say that I accomplished almost 3 pages this weekend. Well, I completed 3 layouts, but for one I still haven't done the journaling. I am working on it. Here's the finished pages. It's a two-spread layout for our trip to the Houston's Zoo.

Here's the second page. I love scrapbooking collage style, cause I can fit lots of pictures! Definitely influenced by Laura Vegas a lot. Loved, loved her pages. See the elephant border? I made that using Silhouette print & cut feature.

And, if you stop by my blog to look at card, I have one for you, too. Now, for this card, I am super proud by the fact that I recycled. See the awesome wood background? It's the backing from the Lily Bee sticker package. I was about to throw it away, then I stare at it and something click. Duh... it's nice looking, why don't I just use it? It's perfect for this Silhouette bird (used the Silhouette print & cut).

I thought this turned out really great. It's simple, but eye catching, no?? What you think? I am entering this card for Paper Crafting Gallery Idol. My first time trying. Cross my fingers. To see all the cards that I sent for gallery Idol, click here.

Oh, this weekend I also firgured out how to make my sewing machine works. LOL, yes I do own a sewing machine, bought it about 7 years ago, made 1 quilt with a friend assistance, that's it. I haven't use it since, don't even know how to do the bobbin. I literally have to pull out and read the user guide just to figure out how to thread the needle. It works, now I only have to brave using it for card or layout. I think my dad (who I like to think is watching me from up there) is probably clapping his hands when I did the first stitch. He always acted surprised when me or my mom even pick up a needle. LOL.

Okay, that's a long post for today. By the way, this Thursday, Digi Doodle Shop's Best is doing a blog hop. Hope you can join us. Have a great week everyone. Hugs, Vera.

Coco

How about another scrapbook page? This page is all about my smallest four-legged kid. Her name is Coco and she's an African pigmy hedgehog. She's been my baby for almost one and a half year now. She's my early Christmas present in 2008 from my husband.

Yeah, I think everybody scratch their head when I said  I want a hedgehog. I basically emailed my husband picture of a hedgehog and asked him if I can have one. LOL. They're just so cute looking! I found a hedgehog rescue and fell in love with Coco.

Coco is low maintenance and love to snuggle. How do you snuggle with all those quills?? Easy, when she's comfy, all her quills lay down and she'd just find an area to bury herself (usually by my elbow) and just sleep or sometime she tried to chew on my shirt. :)

All the papers are by Jillibeans. I cut the letters using my Cricut machine. And that little hedgehog stamp on the right side is from my old Stampin Up! collection. These pictures were taken in our back yard.

Hope you enjoy meeting Coco here and I'll post more cards tomorrow. Thank you all for stopping by and let me know what you think of Coco. :) Hugs, Vera.

Scrapbook time

A little switch-a-roo from my regular card post. I actually made a couple pages this weekend. In case you didn't know, my love of paper crafting start with scrapbooking and then branch out to card making.

I've been scrapbooking since high school (although back then I didn't know it was called scrapbooking), and seriously get hooked on it since 1997. I  was a scrapbook consultant for 4 years, then I taught intermediate to advance scrapbook class for a LSS. Then my life took certain turn and for a couple years, I didn't do any scrapbooking. I did manage to continue making cards here and there.

Last year, I made 4 albums. All presents, for my mom and for my in-laws. This year, I want to focus on our (hubby, me, and the critters) scrapbook. Yesterday, I completed this layout of my babies. I can't tell you how exhilirating it was. I love every minute of it. I love looking at the colors, the pattern, the process of seeing it all coming together. It was fun. Maybe it's because I haven't scrapbook just for myself for so long, that when I did this page, I was just very excited. It such a simple thing, then again I am a believer of enjoying the simple things in life.

Here's my page of Ollie (the pug princess) and Nick (my Sheltie boy). It's simple page, but I love it. :)

What do you think? Aren't my babies cute? Okay, okay, I know they look more like spoiled brats on these pics, LOL, but yes, my pug actually love laying on her back like that. Hope you don't mind we're doing a bit of scrapbook here. Hoping I can do more pages this year, so my post can be a mix of pages and  cards. Well, you all have a great Sunday and may your day be a sunny one. Hugs, Vera (Ling)

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year, everyone!! Hope you all had a great time welcoming the New Year. We had a pretty quiet New Year's eve. Went to Galveston in the afternoon for my MIL's late birthday celebration, then we swing by Joy's place for an hour or so. By ten at night, we were home and comfortably watching TV and I welcomed the New Year with my mom, my hubby, and our 4 legged babies, Nick, Ollie, & Coco the hedgehog. :)

On top of the Christmas hustle and bustle, my MIL and my mom both have their birthday close to each other, right after Christmas. So, this past month, I've been busy working on an album for each of them. For my MIL, I made an 8x8 scrapbook and for my mom I made an 11X8.5 scrapbook. The one for my mom was kind of hard for me to work on it without her knowing. She comes all the way from Indonesia and I don't want to just ignoring her by keep working on the album. Besides, she'll get suspicious. :) One night, hubby also get involved and keep her company and watch Hotel for Dogs with her, just so I can finished up the album. Love my hubby. So... thoughful and kind. :) Like my mom said, I am very lucky.

My mom's album is basically about her trip to the US this time (except for the cover page & I put one of my favorite poem about mother). So, I printed out the photos from Thanksgiving and our Disneyworld trip and just make a pretty simple album. I decided simple but done is better than fancy but only 2 pages done. Here's a couple of the pages from the album. (I actually tried to load 5 pages,  but somehow the other 3 keep coming up the wrong way).

Well, things still a bit hectic, but one of my New Year's resolution is to maintain my blog more consistently.  Hopefully, I can do much better this year. And, I do like to domore scrapbooking this year. My boxes of photos is growing and I better catch up.

Here's to 2010. May this year be filled with joy, peace, happiness and beautiful  blessings for all of you. Thank you all for your support and kindness. This blog is keep going and growing because of you all.

Love,

Vera

The birthday girl...

Today, I am the birthday girl. Sooo wishing to have my family here. Miss you guys so much. Talked to my mom this morning and she gave me the best birthday present. She'll be here for Christmas. Woohooo... Happy dance!! :)

Agenda for the rest of the day? Heading out for dimsum, some shopping at Michael's (papers on sale, can't pass that now, can't we??), then head to Joy's home for a lowkey birthday party. Joy is one of my dearest friend and she is the sweetest, most thoughtful person I know and she's throwing me a birthday party. Love ya, Joy! She has this contagious loud laugh that you can't help but laugh, too when you heard her laugh. I am sure you'll hear more stories of Joy down the road.

Back to bday babbling, yesterday, hubby spoiled me by getting me a big cappucino blast from Baskin Robbins, flower bouquet that he said was my present from the doggies (including a card from them, hehe...), and a nice dinner at Italian restaurant where he got me my tiramisu. Gotta love a thoughtful husband! Thanks, honey.

Anyhoo, for today, instead of cards, I'll share my family page. I'm so blessed to have a loving family and want to thank them for all their loving supports. So, today's post dedicated to them, especially to my mom. Love you, Mom!!

Well, off to celebrate and you all have a great Sunday.

Cheers,
Vera