New Projects Completed!

Whew!! Just dropped off my projects to Remember Me Scrapbooking, but just realized that I forgot to scan them before I left the house!

Well, this means that you just have to head out to the store and see them IRL!! A couple of hints. One layout is done using the Coluzzle circle template, and involves the main picture being a part of Mickey Mouse's head, with gorgeous Creative Imaginations paper as part of his ears. I've used a Mickey Mouse head spiral clip to attach Mickey's signature to use as the title. I traced different spiral clips (in the shape of Mickey's head) to the cardstock and used Crystal Lacquer and microbeads to highlight the shapes -- looks like epoxy stickers!

The other layout involves Bazzill scalloped cardstock, Scenic Route chipboard letter and Heidi Swapp rubons. There is also some gorgeous ribbon that Di has in-store -- black with red Chinese characters!! Simple but striking as this layout has red, gold-yellow and a teeny bit of orange in it -- it matches the baby picture of Bel wearing her teddy's bear's Chinese outfit!

I will try and take a picture the next time I'm at Remember Me and upload them to this post!

I've Been Tagged

So Anna has tagged me, so I am tagging anyone who reads this blog to post:

6 Quirky/Weird Things About Me:

1. I have a thing for shoes and purses -- I probably have over 50 pairs of shoes/boots and probably over 20 purses -- in the past year alone, I have bought 5 pairs (I've been exercising restraint) and 8 purses (2 Prada, 5 Coach, 1 Fendi)
2. Whenever I eat something that is too salty/spicy, I NEED to eat something sweet. It also works the other way so if I eat something too sweet, I NEED something salty/spicy.
3. I used to be very shy, but something happened in my late teens and now I can be a very agressive, nasty Bi-atch when people tick me off
4. My favorite movies of all time are the Lord of the Rings trilogy-- I think I've watched them close to 10 times. BUT I only watch the parts with Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and the Elves (Liv Tyler) and fast-forward anything that shows just the Ents (talking trees) and the Hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, etc) -- I thought those parts were boring
5. When I was a teenager, I LOVED Top Gun and Tom Cruise and have seriously watched it over 100 times. But now I think Tom Cruise is an idiot so won't watch it any more.
6. I have a "dirty little laugh" as my husband likes to say. He says it only happens when I'm feeling kind of evil or when I'm playing a joke on him or the kids.

7 Random Things About Me:

1. I LOVE to shop for pretty much ANYTHING -- especially if it's on sale
2. Reading is one of the things I enjoy the doing the most. I read virtually anything and everything from biographies to romance novels to murder mysteries to medical thrillers.
3. I am a total Harry Potter fan! Love the books and surf mugglenet.com
4. Love coffee (non-fat no-foam lattes or at Christmas, the gingerbread lattes). My fave is Cafe Artigiano but will take Starbucks as it is more accessible.
5. I'm not even 5' tall! I'm only 4'11"
6. I don't like insects of any kind and am scared of pretty much all animals. I've had some bad experiences with dogs as a kid though I really want one of my own (Golden Retriever puppy)
7. I love anything cute. I am a big Hello Kitty fan, and have a huge Winnie-the-Pooh collection. I guess you can say that my favorite place on earth IS Disneyland!!

Here is a layout that I created for a Fancy Pants contest. I love how the striped paper imitates the pattern on the Korean pagaoda in the photo.

I glued the pattern paper to the FP Biggest Board flourishes and letters, and then sanded the edges to distress it a bit. I wanted to use a heart as part of the flourishes (to match the two hearts on the bottom), but didn't have a chipboard one. So I used a punch and made multiple cuts on the FP paper and glued them one on top of the other until it was 3-dimensional. I also used 2 Heidi Swapp ghost hearts for the bottom, and glued a piece of the FP paper under it so that it had a very subtle pattern when you look at it.

Items used for the layout:

• Fancy Pants Mulberry Road pattern papers
• Fancy Pants Biggest Board Lotsa Letters
• Fancy Pants Biggest Board Flourishes
• Heidi Swapp pink ghost hearts
• Heart punch

Another Sneak Peek Layout!

Here is my second project made for Remember Me Scrapbooking. It is a 2-page 12x12 layout showing the great time my girls had at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. The title has a question mark at the end that I made by combining a backwards "c" and an upside-down "i" -- it is a question mark since the title "Monkeying around" isn't 100% true since we all know gorillas aren't part of the monkey family! I cheated and only inked the Bracket part of Autumn Leave's journaling stamps so that I didn't get the lines or the other bracket.

This layout was made with:

• Reminisce pattern papers
• Bazzill cardstock
• Gel-a-tins clear stamps
• Autumn Leaves clear stamps
• Versa and Tim Holtz inks
• Zig pens

Check out the original layout at Remember Me Scrapbooking.

"Adorable" layout Sneak Peek

Take a sneak peek at one of my projects for Remember Me Scrapbooking in Coquitlam, BC. You can check out the original in-store as of the end of this week!

This layout was made with materials that you can find at the store:

• Making Memories pattern papers


• Bazzill cardstock


• Autumn Leaves clear stamps


• Scenic Route chipboard letters


• Heart and circle punch


• Versa Ink


• Zig pens

I'll be posting more projects soon!

Garage Sale

I actually decided to try and sell some of my supplies at a garage sale at the lss today -- my room is starting to run out of storage space!! It was really busy (which was good) but there was no time to run out for a Starbucks until the end!!! So I made money -- good thing, but the part part is that I also spent some! It's always so tempting to go through other's people's stuff since they have great goodies that you just have to have!! Best deals I got were 3 packs of glue dots for $10 and ribbon at $0.10 per table length!! Yay!!!

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to sell everything - and I still have a brand-new medium AMM tote in pink/brown . . . perhaps next time!

Tonight I'm off to the Booker Club to make a mini book and to chat with friends. YAY!

MOMS

My poor mom fell last week in the kitchen and shattered all the bones in her left wrist. She is in so much pain, even with painkillers and a cast! Doctor orders are that she stay in bed for a week and not to move around too much since if the bones set wrong, they have to break it and re-set it again!

So, DH and I have been there every night to make dinner for the family since my dad doesn't really cook nor does my brother. I'm so glad to be able to help out since my mom has ALWAYS done so much for me.

It really makes me stop and think how fragile life is, and how things can happen in a split second. Take a minute to stop what you're doing (it's never really as important in the future), call your mom and tell her how much you love her and give her a big hug. Or if you're Asian*, give her a hug and tell her how much you love her anyways!!!

* since most Asians don't show public displays of affection-- at least not the ones I know. Trust me. When I was on a student exchange in high school, I was the only Asian in the group. At the airport, all the other students and parents were hugging, kissing and crying. My parents and I looked at each and said "bye". : )

A New Computer!!

Yay!! About time. I got a brand-new computer -- 22 widescreen LG LCD monitor and a 2GB-RAM, and 500GB hard-drive. So LOTS of space to download my photos now!! Though I notice that I'm still quickly filling it up -- guess I'll be burning them to cd soon!

More Work Done

I've worked on some projects for Distinctly Me and thought I would share them on my blog .

This is a card I made that folds out kind of funky -- it's unique and just a little more fun than a standard card. I used the Distinctly Me Cardstock sticker (Life Partners),and paired it with Provocraft paper, Bazzill, ribbon and this beautiful metallic pearlescent cardstock I got from my husband's company.

I also used the rest of the Distinctly Me Cardstock Stickers to make a mini book. I again used the same cardstock, Bazzill, Basic Grey paper, Studio G clear stamps and ribbon.

To see more of the inside pages and other projects for Distinctly Me, follow this link https://www.distinctlyme.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=9.

My Submission

I was recently on a scrapbooking discussion forum and noticed that they have a Heidi Swapp contest where HS herself was going to pick the winning page. The criteria was that it had to use at least one HS tool and one HS transparent item. So here is mine:

I used a HS mask on top of a transparency -- it worked out great since the paint dried shiny so that it looks as if it is still wet! I outlined the HS letters in paint, and placed it over words that I had written on the Bazzill so that you can read it through the letters. I used a HS stamp on the corner of the photo and drew attention to it with some HS jewels. I also inked one of he HS flowers so that it looks like the ones in the photo.

Outlet Shopping is the Best!

We went down to the US on Sunday with a couple of friends and endured the long wait at the border!

We hit both Prime (Burlington) and Premium (Tulalip) and there were some great buys!! Picked up a bunch of clothes for the girls and jeans for DH.

MY HUSBAND IS THE BEST!!! He had promised to buy me a Coach purse as a mother's day gift, but he ended up buying me two since I couldn't decide which one I wanted - I really liked the lavender but the pink one is similar to the one I wanted to buy years ago, but couldn't find. So he got both -- but I think it's partly so he wouldn't have to hear me wonder aloud if I made the right choice!!

We also stopped off at Target and though we couldn't find the AL stamps at $10 that Tracy found, I picked up some Prima tins for $10 each -- couldn't resist. Plus I got the Fiskar soft-grip x-acto type knife for only $4.99.

We did end up paying at the border, but the guard was nice annd only charged us GST and PST. It did end up around $50 though -- still it was better than what I could get here. I'm not sure how or why things are so much cheaper in the states?!

I'm heading down again this coming weekend -- my mom wants to check out the sales since they have the Memorial Day sales coming up. Me? I'm taking my mom but don't think I'll be buying much. I spent too much already last week!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!! Hope everyone is having a great one. I spent the day with my family for an all-day BBQ.

My youngest daughter, Ori made me some great artwork at Preschool and her various art classes. She even brought me a plant that she grew from a seed (at school).

My oldest, Bel made me a beautiful card with dried flowers, and made a mini-book about what mothers mean to her!!! I just love it.

Plus both girls made another card with daddy. My husband bought me that KitchenAid mixer that I've been wanting for the last few years and has promised to get me a new Coach purse the next time we head down to the US!! Yippee!!

I'm Free....

I'm officially off work for the next week, but unofficially still working behind the scenes as my staff are trying to get everything ready for next semester...but still, at least I can do it from the confort of my home/car/scrap space!

I am so ready to start scrapbooking! I've taken a break since February due to the work load, and haven't really done anything other than my once-a-month scrapbook nights at Sonja's Booker Club . Last Saturday, we played with the Creative Imaginations dress form and it was soooo much fun!

Yesterday night, I finally managed to make my first meeting of the 77 in 07 club at Remember Me Scrapbooking. Though I didn't get much done, I had a lot fun meeting new and old friends.

Today I managed to scrapbook 2 2-page layouts for my best friend's wedding album, and started a third. I will try to do a bit more tonight.

My plans for my week off? To make curtains for the four downstairs windows (I've been promising to do this for the past 5 years -- oops), finish my friend's wedding album, complete my four projects for Remember Me Scrapbooking , complete my projects for Distinctly Me, clean the house, weed the garden, have a playdate with Sonja and Claire, meet up with Doreen, help Cathy with her scraproom, and read some books!

Will I get it all done? Well, probably everything but making the curtains. Again : )

300

WOW O WOW O WOW!! That's all I can say about this movie.

Originally I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch a gory, action-packed war-type movie. However my DH convinced me to go since he said it would be kind of like a Greek mythology type movie and that it was kind of like the Lord of the Ring battle type scenes.

When the movie started, I didn't want it to ever end!! It was such a great story, though sad. Without giving it away, basically the story is about 300 Spartans who went to war to defend their country. There were only 300 of them since there was some kind of Greek holiday that forbade any type of fighting during this time period, but the King decided that it must be done in order to prevent the Persians from invading their country.

I was in awe of the principles that these Spartans had, in spite of the adversaries that they faced. It was gory, some real but some implied.

And the bodies on these actors!! I was convinced that many of these actors had their bodies CGed (computer generated) as they ALL had very defined muscular arms and legs, broad shoulders and 6-pack abs -- even the older guys. However, my DH said that he remembered reading an article about how all the actors had to go through some rigorous body-building training before they filmed and that they had to also go on those insane diets that body-builders go through just prior to competition.




So, ladies, even if you're not a big action fan, it's worth it to see all these beautiful-bodied men wearing nothing but sandals, speedo-like bottoms and a cape!! But honestly, it's a great movie!

Whew!!

Am I ever glad that March is almost over. It's been a crazy, crazy month. It all started with:

• a Saturday night crop at the Booker Club. It was a great night as we made a fantastic layout based on Sonja's talented idea! (I'll post a picture soon).
• The next day I headed off to a luxurious afternoon of high tea and shopping with the LOLAs (Ladies of Leisurely Activities), a group of my 7 closest friends.
• I've had an Open House at work where I had to find staff and students to make speeches and presentations
• Planned, organized and hosted an Advisory Board meeting (including all the curriculum that needed to be discussed)
• Planned, organized and hosted a Student-Industry function which allowed students to meet one-on-one for interview and networking opportunitites -- there were 5 managers plus 18 students
• Planned, organized, hosted and delegated responsibilities for a one-week program for 16 high school students -- trying to teach them about the hospitality industry so that meant calling and finding guest speakers, arranging field trips and supervising the entire program
• Taught 3 courses including prep, and marking
• Been part of 3-4 second interviews since we're trying to hire a Marketing/PR manager
• Had a fun, wonderful but late dinner with a bunch of friends last night at the Olive Garden -- we'll miss you Janet!!!

So I'm hoping to keep the weekend fairly restful -- I still have tons of marking, still have to prep 2 sets of powerpoints plus write 2 different final exams. But at least most of the stress should be gone -- no more work-related functions until next semester!

I do still have to attend a birthday party next week. Oops. That reminds me that I had better start organizing Bel's 6th birthday since it's coming up -- the room is booked but that's about it.

Can't wait to play at Sonja's in mid-April at the next Booker's Club! Perhaps I'll finally find time to scrapbook again!

Do You Ever Keep Secrets?

Let me ask you a question -- do you ever keep secrets from your best friend or your husband? I don't. At least not ususally.

HOWEVER, a couple of weekends ago, I went shopping with some girlfriends and found a pair of shoes that I just HAD TO HAVE!! You know the ones...looks beautiful - makes you look fabulous -- you just can't live without them! Well, normally it wouldn't be a problem, but with the amount of money that I spent on scrapbooking supplies in the past month or so with all the old stuff going on sale and all the pre-orders everywhere...well, I made a promise to DH that I would NOT buy anything I don't really need, especially new shoes when I must have over 40-50 pairs at home (not that I've actually counted them).

Look, could you say no to this??

So for the past few weeks, I've felt very guilty about not telling DH about them. I managed to smuggle them into the house via my handbag (I told the salesperson that I didn't need the box)and I've been keeping them at work. Unfortunately he notices any new clothings, shoes and bags I have so am working at telling him eventually!

Darn that budget of mine. I must win the lottery!!

Another Year Older...

... I just had my 35th birthday and wonder where time has gone. I was looking at some photos today and came across some wedding pictures. Boy, did I ever look young. Then I saw some baby pictures of my girls and can't remember them ever being that teeny tiny.

Then I thought about what I've accomplished in the last year since my last birthday. I have:

1. made new friends through Lovebug, Pick-of-the-Patch and Remember Me.
2. gotten a lot faster at completing layouts (sometimes).
3. tried not to let the little things bother me so much.
4. spent more quality time with my girlfriends, whether it's shopping or scrapbooking or just chatting
5. been more open with trying new foods -- raw oysters, buffalo, caribou
6. been more patient with teaching my ODD her homework
7. realized that status/titles/pay raises are not everything and I don't regret making the decision to spend more time with family.

Though they may not be big things, I am happy to know that I am finally "growing up" in some areas of life and realizing what is important.

YAY!

Harry Potter!!!

Anyone else a Harry Potter fan??? I just got an email about the 7th and final book coming out on July 21st -- can't wait to get my hands on it. I think I will have to re-read the other 6 books so that I'm up-to-date when I start reading the last one. I hate it when I'm reading and think, "did this happen in the last book?" -- though to be honest, I just really enjoy his adventures. And the 5th movie is due out this year though I can't remember when -- though I enjoy the movies, the books are way better!

Though part of me feels that Harry should die so that they can't continue on the series (R.K. Rowling said that she will not write another Harry book after this one) because sometime other authors do a "spin-off" and they are never as good as the original author. Look at the Godfather books by Mario Puzo -- someone continued on the stories after he died, and they are terrible!

The other part of me really wants Harry to live a very happy life with Ginny Weasley. After all he's been through, he should be entitled to some happiness, don't you think?

It's One Thing After Another!!!

SATURDAY
On Saturday, we had to attend my cousin's 11th birthday party. It was a late night and the kids had woken up early that morning, and didn't take a nap. My grandmother is NOT the grandmotherly type if you KWIM -- has no clue how to play with kids since nannies took care of my dad and his siblings when they were small.

It's about 9:30pm, and we're waiting for them to bring out the birthday cake. My grandma is bored and starts to "play" with my YDD who is 3 years old -- by taking away her toys, poking her and generally just teasing her. We didn't say anything to my grandma since she is old, and that is just how she is -- though we did tell YDD to be nice since she was giving dirty looks and growling at her. Removing her from the situation doesn't help since my grandma would then follow her around to "play". I did say something to my grandma, but since I'm supposed to be a "NICE" Chinese girl, I couldn't really do too much. Finally after about 30 minutes, my daughter had had enough -- she stood up, pointed at my grandma and said "You talk too loud" (grandma is going deaf and thus, tends to talk really loud). We all started laughing, including my grandma -- she secretly loves when someone stands up to her since not very many people do.

Anyways, my aunt (my dad's older sis who has NEVER been married or been around kids) starts freaking out about how disrespectful my daughter is and how we should discipline her, etc. My DH got upset and said that it's not about disrespect, but about standing up for herself. This really got my aunt angry -- I don't get it -- my daughters always greet their elders by name, they always say good-bye and give a hug & kiss, they always say thank-you and please -- and when they don't, we remind them and they always repeat it. They are ONLY 3 and 5!! It was utter chaos!! My grandma, my DH and I were all talking VERY loudly to my aunt -- which was a good 10-15 minutes of VERY loud arguing which took my mom, sis and BIL to break up. I mean, my grandma wasn't even offended -- she found it funny and even yelled at my aunt by saying "what is the big deal? She's only a child -- they don't know how to be rude (on purpose), etc.".

So anyways, this means that I won't be spending Chinese New Year with the family. It's very bad luck to say anything bad/negative on that day and I know my aunt will start something -- she's weird that way. And my mom and other relatives would be so unhappy if any arguing happened that day. I already feel bad that we ruined the birthday celebrations of my cousin (on my mom's side) since celebrations follow the same negative/bad rule.


SUNDAY
We had a guy come give us an estimate on painting the trim on our house and we got a quote of $2000+!!! Just for trim!!! If we wanted th entire house painted, it would be $4500+!!! Our house is very small, less than 1800 square feet!!

Guess we'll be getting a second opinion.


TUESDAY
My ODD had to see a pediatric dentist today. She has 6 cavities and when we took her to her regular dentist a few weeks ago, she refused to get her fillings done (after the 3rd shot, she clammed up, screamed and refused to get the treatment). So, she is going to the dentist I went to when I was a kid!! Weird isn't it?

Anyways, they did a consultation and it turns out that there is more work than anticipated. The believe that she will need about 6 crowns and tons of little fillings. It turns out that one of her front teeth is abcessed and has to be removed. She will need to go to Cambie Hosital, be put under and they will do all the work at once. Talk about expensive. They gave me a handout today and it costs $369/hour at the hospital and this is all BEFORE the dental work. I shudder to think about the final bill....

However, if it has to get done, it has to get done. Not much we can do about it. It's just frustrating as she rarely eats sweets and brushes her teeth after if she does. Drinks juice once per day with a meal. Brushes regularly and flosses every night. The dentist told us that she probably just has weak enamel and that there isn't much we can do about it.

Oh, and it turns out that she may be missing the two teeth besides her top middle two -- it could be late but most likely is missing. Apparently it happens and is apparently heriditary though I don't know anyone in the family who is missing them...so this may need ortho work later on....

ACK!!! Oh well, tomorrow is a brand new day!

Goals for 2007

Okay, I guess it's time for New Year resolutions event though it's been about 2 weeks later than I should've sat down to write this.

Personal:

1. Be more active and fit.
2. Date Wil more on a romantic setting rather than just trips to Costco for a hotdog prior to grocery shopping.
3. Eat healthier -- bye-bye Costco hotdogs!! : )
4. Spend more quality time with the girls -- they won't be small for long.
5. Be more organized -- my room and computer areas look like a tornado hit them.
6. Be better with money - shop less!
7. Be more patient.

Scrapbooking:

1. Do more - try to scrapbook at least 3 times a week.
2. Do more multi-page and multi-picture layouts.
3. Use up my stash -- buy less, hoard less.
4. Be more adventurous - use colors/embellies and things that I would ordinarily not try -- at least once. How do I know if I can do it if I don't try?
5. Make gift albums for the parents for Christmas this year!

Whew...let's see if this works. So far today I have NOT spent any money!!! Though it will be hard with Remember Me having their sale this weekend...

The most embarrassing day of my life...

was this past Friday. I kept both kids home from school (as a unofficial professional day) and took them to Brentwood mall to spend a quiet few hours together. Everything was great until lunch which was at McDonald's. Since the youngest didn't finish her cheeseburger, she was not allowed to have any fries which caused her to blow up! She screamed and threw a royal fit -- including wailing, crying and hopping up and down! I told her that this behaviour was not acceptable and that we would now have to go home. She then crossed her arms and refused to let me put on her jacket.

EVERYONE was staring at us, and looking towards the sound of the screaming!! I walked away with the oldest in tow, and the youngest screaming her guts out, trailing behind us. We walked from one end of the mall to virtually the other end -- and she was the type of nightmare child that you sometimes see and wonder why the parents can't discipline their child! Finally she stopped -- only because she thought I would leave her behind since I told her that she was not going to go outside without a jacket and that I was leaving.

I couldn't figure out why she was behaving so terribly until a bit later when I realized she had a fever! I forgot that she had gotten the flu shot the night before, and I guessed it changed her behaviour somewhat -- this is the second time she's ever done that to me, and that was a year ago when she had gotten shots then too!

Talk about kids managing to embarrass their parents!

A Day in the Life of a Shopaholic

Happy New Year Everyone!

To celebrate the New Year (sort of), my friend Cathy and I went down to Bellingham to shop. Talk about luck! We made it through the border virtually with no wait (one car in front of us), and even had time to stop off at Barnes and Noble for a coffee and a yummy chocolate molten cake for breakfast before the stores opened!

Then we went to Treasury of Memories and shopped for 2 hours at their annual sale. I only ended up buying 2 mini book kits, some paper, and a 7 Gyspies stamp. My friend bought a gorgeous green ultrasuede mimi bag along with some paper and other supplies.

This put us at around noon, so we then headed off to Stampadoodle for their big New Year's Day sale -- everything in the store was 25% off. I ended up with a ton of ribbon, some princess charms, ink pad/cleaner and Stickles. We were there for about an hour and a half and then went next door to Paper Zone. They have lots of great stuff, though there wasn't a sale. We did check out their clearance area and got some great deals. Cathy bought this package of KI ribbon, regular price $12 -- we thought it was 50% off but it ended up being $1.75!!! I think this was the best deal of the day! I ended up with an assortment of paper -- from $0.17 - 0.56 each, some Doodlebug ribbon for $0.50 each and Making Memories "heidi" rub-ons for $3.00 each!!

So we finally ended up at Bellis Fair for a very late lunch. Checked out Target but they didn't have anything in terms of scrapbooking products. So we headed home. Again, luck was on our side...made it through with no line-up...and the customs guy was nice and let us through without hassle...YAY!

Thanks to Cathy for getting us there and back safely (YAY!! No more fears!!)

Can't wait...we'll be heading down again on the 13th to Treasury of Memories as Karen Russell will be teaching some classes.

As well, we'll be heading off to Sonja's place this coming Saturday for some scrapbooking fun! She always has such fantastic layouts for us to scraplift!

Thank goodness there are things to look forward to...I'm heading back to work again tomorrow (after a 2 week break), and am STILL trying to re-organize my scraproom. At least I can see the floor now!