Mini album phobia

16 February 2012

This is my mini album basket. It houses the twenty or so mini-albums that I’ve made in the past couple of years. It sits in a convenient place in the living room and is constantly a source of amusement when guests come over.

So I was rather surprised when I recently discovered that I have a phobia of making mini albums.

I fear that the products won’t match. That they’ll take too long to get done. That they’ll be too stressful. That they’ll end up looking all the same and being too boring…

Don’t get me wrong. Mini albums are great for storing numerous, multiple photos of one event. And they’re great for carrying around and showing off when I actually get done with them. But it’s always the thought of starting that puts me off and terrifies me.

And it’s strange really, because I don’t think I’ve had this before with the mini albums I’ve made.

Ahh, I know all this sounds so silly now and I’ll just end up laughing at myself after I get started and finish putting my pictures into minis.

So for now, I’ll just look this lion squarely in the face and let this inspiration aplenty help me get started.

Source: studiocalico.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Source: crate.typepad.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Source: candimandi.typepad.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Someday, I will get over this.

Sketch Wednesday Take / 8 Feb ’12

14 February 2012

I don’t usually do much for Valentine’s Day.

Instead, I spent my day creating a layout for last week’s Sketch Wednesday at the Green Frog Studio (:

Project #9: 2010

Supplies: Lily Bee Memorandum collection, Love Elsie patterned paper; Tattered Angels Decadence chalkboard mist; Basic Grey dark chocolate chip alpha stickers; Maya Road black transparency, die cut kraft doilies; washi tape; date stamp

Because I didn’t have a sewing machine and wanted the look, I hand-stitched across the circle cut outs.

I hadn’t done it yet here, but I later added white glue over the Christmas tree and turned it into an epoxy-ish tree.

These photos from Christmas 2010 had been lying around and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. And actually, this layout didn’t quite come together as easily as layouts usually do. But I was pretty inspired by what Melissa did here and I quite like the feel of how my layout turned out (:

Happy Valentine’s Day! <3

Catching up.

13 February 2012

I’M BACCKKKK! (:

I was away from Wednesday to Saturday last week with the Teh’s helping with Character First! Education training in Kluang. We went early to make preparations. And also got to enjoy lots of Kluang hospitality, eat good food, and go shopping (: ‘Twas fun getting to teach again and meet new people. And I’m thankful for how well everything went.

Just a couple of photos from the trip:

We had a group of really enthusiastic learners!

Presenting the group’s songleading techniques.

Organic steamboat – with your own, personal pot of soup (:

Yummy teh chendol. SWEET.

Loved the pretty puffy clouds on the way back.

I arrived home on Saturday night, right in time to enjoy all the weekend fun and hang out with my much-missed sibs and friends.

I missed last week’s Sketch Wednesday at the Green Frog Studio because I was away though ): But I hope to be able to come up with something over the next two days. We’ll see.

As always, it’s good to be home (:

What Valentine’s Day plans do you have tomorrow?

20 recipes / chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache

8 February 2012

If I ever judged how successful my baking is by how the food looks, then this would have certainly been an EPIC FAIL.

Because my cake looked NOTHING like the photograph in the book. Seriously. My cake had no delicious layer of white chocolate ganache like the picture did, no pretty patterns on the ganache. Zero, nada, zilch.

Thankfully, my taste testers eat my food despite the looks and I got rave reviews on taste. Thank you, dear taste testers (:

This chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache I made this past weekend was from this chocolate recipe book, gifted by my sweet friend Ru for my 19th birthday (thanks, love!). All the recipes in the book look absolutely mouth-watering; I can’t wait to try them all!

I’ll be away for the next couple of days. See you when I get homeeee (:

OVER AND OUT.

Sketch Wednesday Take / 1 Feb ’12

7 February 2012

It’s time for Sketch Wednesday again! (:

Circles usually stump me and this week’s sketch forced me to incorporate them into my layout, which was really great because I haven’t done that in awhile either. On a side note, I am seriously loving these sketches because they work superly with Project 52 for 2012. Plus, I accomplish my goal of doing more sketch challenges and stuff (:

So Project #8: ’09 Memory

Supplies: Bazzill Basics cardstock; SEI Dill Blossom paper stack; Maya Road chipboard shapes; We R Memory Keepers blue lagoon baker’s twine; Tattered Angels Mallard and Mustard Seed Glimmer mist; Versamagic Tea Leaves ink; American Crafts Bones thickers

I officially love baker’s twine (: I think I use it in almost every other layout, haha.

I flipped the sketch to the right so it would work for my photo. And I kept this layout pretty simple and went with a more arty, fun feel.

I’m totally loving how it turned out (:

Recipe #4 of 20 tomorrow. Promise.

Now excuse me, while I go and pack for my trip tomorrow and try to squeeze all my stuff into a smaller-than-usual luggage. Haha.

Made with Love Scrap Challenge Take

6 February 2012

My weekend was plenty busy! Baking, scrapping, hanging out with friends and family. And church, most definitely (:

But I managed to make this layout for this scrap challenge at Made with Love, my local scrapbook store. This was a color challenge to use shades of kraft, brown, yellow, and green.

Project #7: Hello

Supplies: Bazzill Basics cardstock; Studio Calico Countryside, Autumn Press collections; We R Memory Keepers limeade baker’s twine; Maya Road kraft mini ticket strips; Keng paper tape; washi tape; American Craft forest thickers; Amy Tangerine Lovestruck clear stamps; date stamp; Versamagic Jumbo Java ink; buttons

I still love this camera stamp.

And I’m totally into banners still, can you tell? (:

I’ll be back soon with my recipe #4 of 20.
Happy Monday!

Inspired.

3 February 2012

I was absolutely floored looking at all the sneaks of a.ma.zing new products showcased at CHA Winter 2012 in Anaheim just over this week.

I loved watching some of my favorite scrapbook designers (Heidi Swapp, Ali Edwards, Liz Kartchner, Amy Tan) introduce their new products at PaperClipping.Com. SO MUCH FUN. I am super excited/inspired by what they’re doing and what they’ve accomplished – things I can only dream of doing someday.

If I could, I’d purchase every single new collection. (Have you seen Crate Paper, American Crafts, Lily Bee and Studio Calico?!)

Now I wish America weren’t so far away so scrapbook supplies wouldn’t take so long to get here ):

Anyhow, as always, Pinterest has been inspirational and I’ve been busy pinning! (: I have SO MANY favorites this week.

Source: abeautifulmess.typepad.com via Amelia on Pinterest

This geometric photo art project by Elsie Larson is so cool. I can’t wait to try it out someday when I get the time.

Source: stephaniehowell.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Stephanie Howell made these love jars for her daughters. So cute and sweet.

Source: octoberafternoon.typepad.com via Amelia on Pinterest

October Afternoon has some really neat misting ideas this week. FUN.

Source: hamblyscreenprints.typepad.com via Amelia on Pinterest

HAMBLY (:

Source: swissgirldesigns.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Rahel Menig always, always amazes with her effective use of white space.

There’s so much more to share from Pinterest this week but I need to run! You can follow me on Pinterest here and catch more inspiration (:

I officially wish this hobby were my full-time job.

Happy weekend! (:

20 recipes / lemon spaghetti

31 January 2012

We had this for dinner tonight. And it was really not bad. I quite enjoyed the tang of the lemons. Although, if I made it again, I’d probably reduce the lemon juice a tad.

Pasta always makes me happy (:

3 down, 17 more to go.

Sketch Wednesday Take / 25 Jan ’12

30 January 2012

My weekend was pretty busy, but I managed to sneak some time in to scrap a layout for this sketch challenge!

Supplies: Bazzill Basics cardstock; Studio Calico Countryside, State Fair, Memoir collections; Sizzix butterfly die cut; American Craft thickers, Ruban premium ribbon, foam dots; Maya Road A year to remember sheers; Dymo embossing label maker; Keng paper tape; Versamagic Jumbo Java ink

And a couple of close-ups…

I popped up the butterflies to add dimension and hand-stitched the zig-zag along the edge of my patterned paper to add some texture.

Although the border in between the photos stumped me for awhile, it all came together really nicely in the end and it turned out being my favorite part of this sketch (:

I hope your week is starting out really superly. See you soon!