Living Life In Color: November 2006

Michelle

My nerves are shot! It's been a crazy day of anticipation. I'm talking about the OPAAT (One Page At A Time) kit club Design Team call. The entries closed yesterday and today the new team for 2007 is announced.

I've been stalking my email like a mad woman and hitting the refresh key like there's no tomorrow (My fingers got a good work out!) on the OPAAT website. The results are finally out... I didn't make it. Kinda disappointed 'cos I really wanted to be on this DT. Their kits look amazing and very me - my kind of style. The current DT members are a group of women whose work I totally admire.

The upside of things is that I made Honorable Mention - second time in 2 weeks!!

I do feel honored with the knowledge that I did make it to the 'shortlist' of people they considered. This is really encouraging. I do hope that I don't always only stay in the honorable mention category though. Like I said to Debs... it has to be onwards and upwards from here right? :)

Talk about Debs... here's my entry for her CJ. I had a lot of fun creating this layout. It's not totally my usual style but I'm completely happy with it. She's had a peek at it and said that she likes it too. So it's all good! :D The scan is a bit wonky so is the stitching... but IRL it's all straight. :D

Right.. I'm off to scrap a bit... and another day of anticipation. Another site will be announcing it's DT tomorrow. Fingers crossed for me now...

11 comments |

Wonderful Tuesday

Michelle

Usually I don't like Tuesdays.. it's a weird day.. Monday is the start of a new week-usually goes by very quickly.. so I don't actually get the Monday blues. Wednesday- is Hump day... halfway through the week.. so that's a good thing. Thursday - the weekend is just a day away. Friday - doing the happy dance.. last day of the week and the weekend starts at 5pm! So Tuesday is neither the start nor the end of the week. Heck..it's not even the middle of the week! So usually I get Tuesday blues...

Today is a different Tuesday. Today I woke up to 2 really cool things in scrappy world. Two things that made my day.. my whole week even.

First thing is this:

You'll need to click on the pic for a better view.

This is the coolest thing ever. First time a Garden Girl comments on my work - Jennifer Harrison. And even more exciting is that Jennifer is the designer/creator of these really cute Bampop papers that I used to make this tag. This really made me feel good. And lucky Shirley will get this tag to keep! :D

Here's a clearer picture of the tag:

Second cool thing to happen is:

(Click on the picture for a bigger view) A PM from Dora the owner of ScrapStreet requesting a layout of mine to be published in the December issue of the Scrap Street e-zine. :D

I didn't actually submit to any of the December calls.. but it's just the coolest thing that she actually emailed me to request for a layout! WOOHOO!!!!

This hostess love tag is for Jamie for organizing the best and funnest (is that a word?) swap ever!!! Thanks Jamie!!

I came home to a belated birthday present from my ex, Ian. He actually went in search for scrapbook stuff in the tiny town he lives in! :D Pretty cool huh?

I need to finish a layout tonight and submit a couple of DT calls. So thanks for peeking!! :D

Oh.... I just realised that in 24 days, I'll be flying home!!!!!!! It's soooo soon! So much to do before I leave... have to get my Christmas pressies sorted too! OMG OMG OMG!!

Have a great day all!

*hugs*
Mich
xoxo

10 comments |

Thanksgiving... Feeling guilty...a little sad...

Michelle

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends who are on the other side of the world... who are celebrating Thanksgiving with their family and friends. Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in New Zealand (nor in my home country - Malaysia)... I still am thankful for everything I have in my life. A Pea on 2Peas posted this thread the other day... 'Thankful For....' I posted on her thread the things that I am thankful for:

Having enough of everything in my life
My family
My friends
My boyfriend
My PEA friends
The chance to go home and spend Christmas with my family this year
The rediscovery of scrapping through 2Peas and the improvement in my scrapping skills/techniques

I signed up for the Secret Gobbler swap on 2Peas... I've had the best fun ever and made really really great friends through it too! A huge thank you to Jamie who's organised the swap. My turkey spoiled me big time and sent me a huge load of goodies!! :D

I still don't quite know who she is... although I thought she gave away her identity, but she told me that she's played this game a lot of times before and she may not be who she seems to be. :D So there'll be a reveal party on the Secret Pal Chatter board tomorrow. We get to find out who our turkeys are and reveal who we were turkeys to.

I'll be going to yumcha with a few friends tomorrow before the reveal party. Initially I wanted to tell them that I couldn't do tomorrow and if we could make it next week instead. LOL! But I think they will think I'm crazy and pathetic to put real life on hold for a cyber friends get together!! Trish said only a Pea would understand! LOL! I'm sure she's right!

I got to finish work early today and I met up with Lisa and went for a little window shopping. I bought a new pair of shoes! My most comfy (and fave) pair of shoes are falling apart *sob* and it's hard to find a pair of shoes that is totally comfy that I can walk comfortably in and wear to work. What do you think?? :D

At the moment... I'm trying to wrap up my Secret Santa pressies and finish a layout. My friends just texted me and asked me to go out for coffee. I told them that I'm in the middle of something... didn't really tell them that I was scrapping. But I think they knew anyway. They didn't even try to persuade me to go with them this time. All they said was.. ok.. next time then. Made me a little sad...'cos usually they would try to coax me into going out. Maybe they're sick of me talking about my scrapping all the time and all or tired of me telling them that I'm in the middle of working on a layout. It's really hard 'cos I don't have close friends who scrap or can understand my scrapping. It frustrates me sometimes 'cos I don't want to be annoying and talk about something others can't understand. Yet when I get excited about my latest layout.. or a DT call.. or a contest.. it's hard to contain that excitement. Sometimes I feel really guilty too.. that I opt to stay home and scrap rather than go out and hang out with my friends. But if there's a deadline... a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do....

So here I am blogging and rambling... I just need to get it all out of me. If you've made it this far.. thanks for stopping by. :D

Have a great weekend!

6 comments |

Early Saturday morning

Michelle

Good morning! The weather in Wellington today is quite dismal. It hasn't stopped raining since yesterday! Uggghhh!! But it's ok. I'm going to met up with Debs who's in Wellington at the moment. We're gonna check out a few shops, have lunch, catch up.. have a bit of a laugh and all. :) I love catching up with Debs! She's such a bubbly and fun person.. so full of life! I personally have not seen her frown even when things are going crazy! So I'm sure we'll have a great time today! :D

The Secret Gobbler swap I'm in on 2Peas is coming to a close soon. I sure will miss chatting with those girls many times in a day...Shirley, Jamie, Trish, Elizabeth, Mandy, Athena, Andrea and all the other gobblers. We have a great time chatting about a lot of things (most of the time it's about food thanks to Shirley and myself!) and sure hope that I'll still get to chat to these girls regularly. They are really nice and fun people...

I woke up to an email from Larolin at Paperdillies about their 2007 Design Team contest. I didn't make the DT, but I got honorable mention and possibly will be asked to be guest designer next year! :D It's ok.. getting honorable mention is a first step! :D I'll just keep trying.. and the process will only mean that I push myself to create more outside my comfort zone.. to try new things.. new techniques. It's all good!

Alright.. I think that's all for now.. gotta get a few things done before I head out to meet up with Debs.

Have a great Saturday all!

Mich
xoxo

4 comments |

600

Michelle

That's how many hits I've got on my blog since I started it on August 15th - exactly 3 months ago!

A big birthday shoutout to Nic. Happy Birthday girlie!

Not much to post about today... just doing the meme on 2Peas.

one. I am happy and excited to go home for Christmas and New Years
two. My family & friends know me best (I think!)
three. I feel frustrated at the moment and wish my scrapping mojo would come back
four. the most important thing in my life is my family and friends.
five. I always carry my cellphone, bank/credit cards, my comb, pocket tissues and lipgloss
six. I think tomorrow will be a great day!
seven. I’m at my happiest when I'm creating, having me time and when my mojo is flowing.
eight. on a Monday morning, you can find me at work! Uggghhh...wish it wasn't that way.
nine. my favorite food ingredient is garlic (I'm Asian after all!)
ten. my eyes are brown and big!
eleven. my favorite material possession is my computer (with internet) so I can communicate with friends all over the world.
twelve. to relax, I like to hang out with my close friends or my boyfriend.
thirteen. the town I live in is pretty cool actually.
fourteen. my worst habit is procrastinating.
fifteen. my guilty pleasure is fried food.
sixteen. when I look at someone, the first thing I see is their smile.
seventeen. I think I will go off and create something after this.
eighteen. I can live without the exorbitant prices of scrappy supplies here.
nineteen. I wish I had my own scraproom.
twenty. my life is colorful.

Ok... I'm tagging Dessy, Cheryl, Shirley and Sharon to do this meme.

3 comments |

This one's for Shirley - the food pics

Michelle

Ok Shirley girl - this feast is just for you! These were most of the stuff we had at my bday dinner. Missed out on 2 dishes.. but I did get all of these. LOL!

So.. what do you think? Wanna go out for dinner this weekend? ;)

Orange Beef (YUMMY)

Kung Pao Chicken

Garlic stirfried Kai Lan

Tofu with seafood and vegetables

Shrimp chow mein (gotta have noodles on your bday - for longevity)

The remains of the Szechuan fish - they dug in too fast for me to manage to get a photo!

Beheaded fish - as you can see, even the fish head wasn't spared! Ditha was digging in to this when I took this photo.

Ok Shirley - hope this satisfied your appetite! :D

*smooches*
Mich

5 comments |

Birthday dinner and other things

Michelle

I've promised Shirley that I'll update my blog and things kept coming up ( I know, I know.. excuses) and I haven't had time to sit and wait for blogger to upload photos (on dialup!).

So today I'm just going through the day.. sneaking in updates here and there till I get everything down and I'll post tonight when I get home! :D

Today is my 1-year anniversary here at my work. I can't believe that it's already been a year since I started out here. I've learnt new things.. and the bosses are great! Really nice people! However, I've decided that I've had enough. It's time for a change. Not now.. but early next year when I get back from my trip back home. I hope that I'll get a change of scenery.. and get to do something that challenges me more.

Ok... birthday dinner photos. Sad to say most of them are really dark due to the lighting in the restaurant. Didn't want to use the flash 'cos of the over exposure.

THE PEOPLE:

Jay & I(bday girl)

Harridz (bday boy) & Yessy

Laura, Jessica & mom

Ditha, Adri & Lies

Lucy & Tim

We had dinner at Shanghai restaurant. Just a close group of friends... lots of fun. Good food, good friends = great times.

After dinner we went to Breakers for a few games of pool. Man I sucked big time that night! I don't .... probably because I haven't played in a while. The guys that I normally beat.. I lost to them that night!

We all called it a night around midnight and I went home and went to bed! Yikes... turning 27 is turning me into an old lady! LOL!

Right... that's all for now. Blogger won't let me upload more photos to this post. Shirley.. food photos coming up!

4 comments |

Layout completed

Michelle

Ok here's the layout that I had a mind block with last week. Finally finished it last night. So here it is. :)

I've got another layout to finish up too. Hopefully soon! Tonight I'll be starting on a couple of CJ layouts. My Global Peas CJ is coming to an end.. kinda sad but at the same time glad it's over. A few of them flaked out and I was *unlucky* enough to have done layouts for all of them and they are the last ones to do layouts for me. So I'd have done more than what I'd be getting back. Oh well.. that's life.... you win some.. you lose some.

The craziest thing is... I've not actually done my own layout for that album! LOL! I think I should soon. Heheheh...

Anyway.. it's just a short one for now. Nothing much happening today. Will post again later on if there's more to write about.

*Smooches*
Mich

8 comments |

27 Today - Part Deux

Michelle

Got lots of bday wishes today - thank you to all who remembered. :) My mommy & daddy, my brother and cousin rang and totally made my day. :) My cousin, Lavinia made me a digi layout too and she doesn't really even scrap! She just loves playing around in PS. I love this!! :)

My friend Cheryl gave me a special shout out on her blog.. and also gave me a virtual cake.

Peg on 2Peas also made me a very pretty virtual cake.

Too lazy to upload so many photos, so I've done a collage of snapshots from today - morning tea that my bosses brought, presents from my bosses, my first couple of photos @ 27 years old and just a random photo of my chopstick collection. :)

I'm a little disappointed in myself. Started out with every intention to apply for the Maya Road open DT call. Unfortunately, I just got stuck with the project I made because my mojo has left the building and I can't finish in time. I don't want to do a half-hearted job and submit that. I'd prefer not to submit at all.... eventhough it's a waste of a great opportunity. It's all or nothing for me. So I've stopped working on the project for now till my mojo returns.The good news is that I've completed one of my layouts that I got stuck on last week. Will have to take pictures of that tomorrow. It's too late and the lighting in my room ain't the best. P/S: I've uploaded a few layouts on 2Peas too. :)

Ok.. I'm off to bed. It's late and I'm sure I'll have problems getting up again tomorrow! I'm sooooo not a morning person.. specially when it's to go to work. Funny how I can wake up super early in the weekends to scrap!

3 comments |

27 today - Part 1

Michelle

I'm 27 today! OMG where has the year gone?!

I went to bed last night with every intention to get up at 6.30am so that I can go to the 7.30am mass. So much for good intentions! I slept through my alarm till 7.45am! I leapt up.. had a shower and raced to work.

My birthday started off with a lot of birthday wishes via text message, email, on Friendster, and on the boards of Kiwi Scraps (actually some came a few days back). My bosses brought morning tea in - a whole array of food. YUMMY! I got pressies from my bosses and another colleague too.

I received a birthday card from my parents on Friday... my daddy is just soooo organised and sent it early enough that it got here in time (well, earlier) for my birthday. Thanks mommy and daddy.

During my lunch break I went for midday mass at St Mary of the Angels. I have been doing this for the past 5 or 6 years. It's something that I must do or else my birthday just doesn't feel complete. I go to church to give thanks to the Lord for all the blessings He's given me for the year and to ask Him to bless the year to come.

No birthday celebrations for me today... Jay's got finals today and tomorrow. We'll probably just go for a quick dinner after work though.

Anywhoo... will post more when I get home tonight.. including pictures of my presents and the morning tea. It really amused my bosses when they asked me to open my presents.. I had to set them up and take photos before I opened them! LOL! Yes.. I carry my camera with me to work most days.. never know when there's a photo op.

Right.. back to work for now. Stay tuned for part 2 of my bday post.

2 comments |

Beautiful Saturday & Sunday .... 2Peas

Michelle

Well, despite all my good intentions to post on Saturday/Sunday.. I just got so carried away with scrapping that I just forgot about posting! LOL!

I love scrappy weekends...On Saturday and Sunday I just sat on my bed (that's where I scrap!)working on scrappy projects.. listening to Dean Martin & Roy Orbison (I know! I have old taste in music! LOL!)... the sun was shining outside, a cup of coffee next to me... ahhhh.. perfect bliss! Love afternoons like that.

Saturday night I went out to dinner with the girls and Adri as usual. Jay was studying at the library so didn't come with us. After dinner we went to Oriental Bay to watch the fireworks display. I didn't get great photos.. they were just ok.. Ok for a point and shoot camera I suppose. I'll have to add them in later. Having computer issues here.

I worked long and hard all day yesterday on a mini album. I've not finished it yet.. hopefully tonight.. waiting for paint dry is not very conducive to a productive scrappy day! LOL! While waiting for the paint to dry, naturally I'll be surfing the boards on 2Peas. :D And at times tend to forget what I was doing in the first place.

2Peas is more than just a message board and gallery - it's where I met so many new friends who understand and share my scrapping obsession, find out about the latest and greatest, learn new techniques, get new ideas, receive support and praise for scrappy and non-scrappy achievements... meet up with Shirley to talk about food... leave messages for friends... get new recipes (believe it or not?!)and a whole lot of other things.

I <3 2Peas!

Sorry for my rambling! If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to pop by.

Mich
xoxo

4 comments |

Painting

Michelle

Wow!!! The week has gone. It's the weekend again here. I stayed up most of last night to scrap. I'm making a set of 3 mini canvases for a guy friend's birthday present. Love the fun happy colors I've used. Not quite done yet.. but getting there.

I've noticed something last night when painting chipboard alphas - There's something calming about it.. all the little bit in the sides and inside. Eventhough it takes a while and it's tricky to hold when painting the sides.. I find it weirdly calming.

I've got a few layouts that need the finishing touches on them.. so hopefully I'll be able to finish them off this afternoon. Then I can get started on new ones. I'm notorious for creating layouts and when I get a mental block, I put them away and then start new ones without finishing those ones first! LOL!

So I'm going to finish those two off so I can post them here.

I've got a few things in mind that I want to do too.. so it's just a short post for now.

Later..

3 comments |

2 November

Michelle

I woke up to the sun streaming into my bedroom! I love sunny days!! Summer is definitely near - I just can't wait for the temperature to get warmer.

Took me a while to go to bed last night. Just when I turned off my computer and brushed my teeth and got ready to turn off the lights, an idea for a layout popped into my head. So came the mad scrabbling for my sketchbook and a pen. Got everything down. Put my sketchbook and pen away. Jumped into bed, reached over to turn off the lights and another idea flashed by! Repeat the whole scrabbling for sketchbook & jot down idea process. Finally this time no more ideas came and I crashed within minutes of my head touching my pillow.

Good deed of the day - Sent out a surprise package to a friend who's having a crazy time at the moment. Just wanted to brighten up her day.

I can't wait to scrap tonight - hopefully I'll have a productive evening. I've not scrapped much this week... mojo has gone missing. *sigh* hopefully it'll be back by the time I get home tonight.

Today is also laundry day... which I really dislike! But.. I have to do it.. running out of essential items... :D

Will update more later. Have a great day!

2 comments |

Last week @ 26

Michelle

I didn't realise that it has been over a week since I last updated my blog. The whole of last week sure has flown by in the blink of an eye! Just quickly updating with a few things.

Last Tuesday I went to see Scrapped - The Movie. It was great fun to meet up with the ladies from Crafting Connections 2006. Thank you so much Kiwiscraps for putting on this event. Now, the doco-movie was great!! I loved how Wes described how he felt about scrapbooking, how he discovered it... and the people he spoke to to find out a bit more about scrapbooking. Kristina Contes was sooooo cool!! And I nearly fainted looking at one of the women's stash of products - specially when it showed all the Queen & Co goodies. Debs had to calm me down. LOL! It was really funny to see Wes attend a crop and had a nametag with a pink flower. Overall, I loved the movie. Wes told us that we were the first to see the movie on tour! How cool is that?!

Scrappy 500 is over. I didn't win but I had the best time participating in the challenges and I am really happy and proud of myself that I made it to top 10. It was great to push myself out of my comfort zone and try new things. I learnt a lot through this competition and now I can finally post my layouts that I did for Scrappy 500. :)

Lap 1

Lap 2

Lap 3

Lap 4

Lap 5

Yesterday is the start of my last week at 26 years old. I can't believe that almost a whole year has gone by since my last birthday! Where has the year gone?

I went and saw The Devil Wears Prada with my friend Lisa. I LOVE the movie! I read the book 3 years ago and enjoyed it a lot. I was sooooo happy when they were finally showing the movie here in NZ. I've always loved chick flicks.. so this one was right up my alley. :) After the movie Jay and I went for sushi. It was alright.. nothing that blew me away... I've had better.

I finally finished my layout for Tammy's CJ. Her CJ is about your theme song - a song that best describe where you're at and how you feel about life at this moment.
This song by Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten is one that I totally love... I play it over and over again on my iPod. I love the lyrics to it too.

For this layout I used the Tuscan Hill & Fall into Autumn kits from Dragon Flaire. I printed them out and use them as you would any scrapbook paper.

Tonight I printed a couple of photos and hopefully will be able to scrap them tomorrow. :) Oh yeah.. I made dinner tonight... after not cooking for the longest time! I wanted to make spaghetti... and had everything. Then i found out I didn't have any spaghetti.. so used penne instead. YUM! At least I've got lunch sorted for tomorrow. Shirley - I know you pop by here.. so this one's just for you! Bon apetit!