Truth. And Pink Sunset.

• Truth : I have been feeling sleepy since Friday. Yup. I went through my weekend half asleep. I have no idea why, I just know that I'm sleepy and I need to sleep or I will give my keyboard/scrap table some of my forehead. I even skipped my walk this morning, instead, I drove home and headed straight for the bed after sending the girls to school. Felt much better after the 2 hour nap. Part of me is hating myself now for napping, but the other is saying thank you so much for resting. Guess you can't win them all. 
• Pink Sunset : This, I miss. I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again. We're the water people. We live on an island, yet, given a choice, come vacation time, we choose beaches and other islands, again and again. 

• I combined bits and pieces from Snippets, Sundrifter and Here & There for this layout. The darling embellishments have always got me weak in the knees so to speak. Run Away With Me, will you? I feel like the sticker was made for me! LOL. Also loving how the cork pieces are looking very pretty against the darker kraft, tone on tone, delightful!
• Some Atlantic just landed on my doorstep, can't wait to dive in! :) I'll see you soon, yes? :)

xoxo

Planetarium. The Layouts.

• Before I share my layouts, I think you should totally head over and pick up the Neon Mini Mister Huey's and Neon Sequin Variety Pack. I ordered mine and cannot wait to get them in my hands! :)

Love love love the colors in the main kit this month! So sweet and happy! I used my favorite element - circles! are you surprised? LOL.

Can't get enough of circles. I love layering them up like that, adding bits and pieces, here and there. That anchor flair was my starting point for this layout :)

I'm sure you have seen the youtube video of Katrina Kenison and her Ordinary Days. Her words spoke to me, like it's meant for me you see, so I really want to document that.

Played with watercolors on this layout. Once I'm happy with what I have, I let it dry and then typed out the quote. I stitched the letter R when I realize that I ran out, but still wanting to use that particular set of alphas for this layout.

I really love the stamp in Orion. *sigh* I decided to use one of our latest family photo taken enroute to Singapore from Seoul last month.

I wanted to use the cork chevron on the layout, but I feel like I need them to be 'anchored' to something - so I handstitched the diagonal lines and then my life is complete. LOL. (or I'm just so addicted to stitching, maybe? LOL)

I adore the wood veneer sheet! I can't bear to cut it up more than I should, but since I scrap 8.5 x 11, I still have some left to play with, so I ran it through my big shot to get the two butterflies.

I used my typewriter for the journaling - works perfectly. And oh, as you can see, I hand-stitched on the wood background too. I love how versatile the wood veneer sheet is!

You are so very loved was traced from one of the card in PL kit. I used the card as a guide to pierce the stitching holes - can't help it, as I love the swirly handwriting so so much :)

I still have the card - I can see myself using it to stitch a couple more times for other layouts. Why waste a good template eh? :)

I used the V pattern mask as a stamp here, with White Mister Huey as my 'ink'. I love the 'barely there' look I got and decided to play with the watercolors! While the white mist is still wet, I just dipped a little color onto it and let it spread and blend. The pastel marbled effect is so pretty! :)

Totally a 'what was i thinking' moment. LOL. That was what I thought when I see Neha being so high up in the sky! That was the only time the girls got to go parasailing, maybe that one time experience sobered mommy up. LOL.

I love that anchor. In love with that anchor more like it! Glad I waited to scrap these photos until now :) Some sort of symbolism since I didn't capture the boat that was pulling Neha + the parachute :)

I made my own background for this layout, using the circle stamp in Big Dipper. I randomly stamped the circle with versamark and embossed them in white before adding the mist. I spray the mist onto my kraft skeet and very lightly put my white cardstock facedown, making sure some parts stay white for the marbled effect. It's a gamble every time, but I love how no two pieces can ever be the same using this technique. Once I'm happy with the background, I gave the embossed parts a good wipe with some tissues.

Thank you for looking!!

xoxo,

The Pier, You're Golden.

• I'm quite sure I'm behind trend as usual. LOL. I'm just now loving gold on my layouts. I don't mind though, because my love for gold and the arrival of The Pier from Crate Paper happen to be around the same time. 
• I can't put The Pier away, it has been sitting on my table since the day the box came in the front door. LOL. I think you will love it too, look out for the collection at your LSS very soon! :)

• I had the best time working on the main collage of embellishments. I noticed that I'm more of an embellishments scrapper rather than paper scrapper. What about you? 
• The Pier has a great selection of embellishments for you to choose from! My favorite must be the Ephemera pack - chock-full of delightful little pieces! Just look at that ready made banner near the 'smile' sticker - yup.. it came like that! I didn't stitch that myself! :)
• Kraft, gold, yellow, brown - they go together so well, but pops of teal and red and dark blue made the layout even more pleasing to the eye in my opinion. 
• The background was embossed with Mustard Zing, then misted with Gold Mister Huey and stamped with Versafine in Vintage Sepia. 

• Life wise, well. . .  baby is on the way. My sister is at the hospital, they're gonna induce her soon last I heard - overdue and low amniotic fluid. Send baby vibes our way! 
• Talk soon, okay? I love you.

xoxo

Life is short

• Life is short. Eat dessert first. ~ Jacques Torres
• I may be exaggerating, but I think, in Seoul, you can't walk 50 steps before encountering a coffee/waffle/donut/muffin joint. 
• *sigh* good and bad, you know. I love to eat. in fact, some days, I only work out so I can eat more than my suggested calorie intake. LOL. 

• I used a lot of Sundrifter for this delicious layout. The happy, sweet colors are perfect perfect perfect! :) Added a flair from Here & There, a brad from Snippets and also an ampersand sticker from Darling Dear.
• I used both Noah alphas, the solid and the outline for the title. The solid Noah is an older set but you can get the outline Noah from Studio Calico. I stamped each alphas twice, purposely offsetting them a little each time, then I cut them out while watching Survivor Caramoan ⇓. LOL. 

• *sigh* I miss Seoul. Nomnomnomnom! LOL
• I'm knee deep in pretty papers right now! Wish I can share it with you. Soon okay? soon!

xoxo

More than words. . .

• Sharing some tags I made for Crate Paper :)
• Last week, I borrowed "Once in a Lifetime" by Cathy Kelly from the local library and was head over heels smitten with the words expressed in a letter that had been included in the book; a mother's words meant for a special daughter. Upon reading it, I knew right away I wanted to create something like that for my girls.

• Together in that box, they look absolutely beautiful. I keep staring at them! You might notice this already, I love tags. I use tags on my layouts, and I adore them as a stand-alone art. But as a sort of a 'mini album' like this? They're too adorable! I think the kraft base sets off all the gorgeous colors of Crate Paper nicely, won't you say so? :)
• The box is not tall enough for the tags to stand upright all the time, but has a glass cover for you to peek when they lay flat inside. 
• All quotes were typewritten by Pearl (that's my Adler Tippa cursive typewriter, btw) and I. Some mistakes here and there, but it didn't bother me at all - part of the charm I would say. 
• Here are the close ups for all the tags. Yes, all 10 of them. :)

• I certainly have a feeling that I wil be creating more tags like these in near future. I hope you love my tags as much as I do!

xoxo

Stupid. Crazy. Awesome.

If you're here solely for crafty reasons, 

feel free to scroll down quickly to read the rest of my blog.

If you want to know just how crazy I am, 

stay. :) LOL.

• Twilight Ultra Challenge (TUC) - Probably the craziest thing I have ever done so far. 
• I mean, who decides to join a race, on a Saturday afternoon, after driving home from JB in the morning and just reorganized and refolded the entire wardrobe and changed the sheets, and oh, folded the the couch-full of laundry?
• Me, apparently. 
• And all this happened while Sam was mid-air. Making his way home from Brisbane. 
• And I have zero training - ha! The furthest I've walked before Saturday was 12.31km. You read right. I walked. I'm so not a runner!
• And on Saturday, I decided to grab the extra bib that was available from one of the Freedom Freaks brothers. This was at 4.30pm. Asree was so kind to help me liase with them. He did everything, I only had to pack my 'not-so-special-needs' bag and get myself to the starting point. He even offered me some energy gels which I declined because I never in my life, have taken them before and I didn't want to start on race day. :D
• Left the house at 5.30pm, and texted Sam in the cab. I remember thinking to myself- he will get the shock of his life when he lands in Singapore and gets this text. *I was right, btw. He was shocked beyond words! Ha!* Texted Asree as well to tell him I'm on my way. His reply was 'This is crazy, you know!' :D 

• I reached the main event site and went to look for Ben Swee to let him know that I will be walking his event using somebody else's bib. He was fine with it and reminded me to listen to my body. Yes sir! :) Mohan and Asree helped me 'change' the name on the bib using some masking tape and markers - so now I'm Sasha instead of Moktar. Perfect. LOL.
• Waited for the rest of the Freaks, and what else? :) Time for some photos before the flag off.

• Spot my mistake number one. Okay, that is wrong. Even thinking of joining TUC at the last last last minute was my mistake number one - then comes texting Asree to enquire about the bib - then confirming and packing for the run etc etc etc - so, spot my mistake number *I-really-can't-count-anymore*. Got it? 
• Yes - black top. While I don't think any other color would make a difference because the heat was almost unbearable for me. Despite running by the beach, there was no sweet, calming sea-breeze. You get bbq and cigarette smoke blown in your face instead. I don't think any other color will make noticeable difference anyway - except if I have a blue/white/red/yellow top with a built-in cool mist sprayer that sprays you maybe every 5 minutes. And oh, ice cubes in my sports bra. LOL.
• We were flagged off at 7.00pm. Merely 2.5hours after I decided I was gonna run this race. I surprised myself when I jogged *super slowly* for the first 15k or so. While I can't say the same for the public who walked 3/4 abreast and blocked the pathway or those who let their 3/4yr olds go zig and zag on bikes with training wheels/skateboards without supervision - I must admit the runners were AWESOME. Everyone was so encouraging and kind. 
• The best thing about being painfully slow at the back of the pack is that almost everyone is rooting for you. The faster runners u-turned and then they see me struggling and without fail, I will hear some 'feel good' words. That helps A LOT! Trust me, when you hear your friends shout "Go Sasha! Good pace, good pace, keep it up. Come on Sasha you can do this!" or as Mohan would say "Pinky shoes are cominnnnnggg!!" - you actually believe that you will not die on the pavement. LOL. Runners - sincerely, thank you for the high-fives and shouts and some of that 'never say die' spirit. 

• Photo above was taken during my break after 20k. If I look a little pale - that must be because I had to stop and pee at 18k. Peeing was okay - the public toilet was not. The smell hit me like a punch to the face, 30m before I reached the main door to the ladies. *shivers* I must admit, I gagged and peed at the same time because I have no other choice (didn't know that the organizers had porta potties available for runners - didn't look hard enough I guess). I got goosebumps even, because I really can't stand the awful smell.
• But look at those guys I call brothers. They were at their 25k break and still looking mighty fresh! I'm envious! :) Ashley gave me some chia-seed drink - you're too kind Ashley, thank you! This was where I had one banana, one slice of watermelon and half a piece of a granola bar. Was that enough? I have no idea. I was hungry but I can't bring myself to eat anything else. 
• Hunger and heat aside - blisters on the edges of my sports bra, waist band and anti-slip hems on the pants were really painful. Another mistake - maybe if I'd have taken the time to get the vaseline from my 'not-so-special-needs' bag and apply some on them I could have prevented them from getting worse.

• Then I walked another painful 5k and met up with the guys again at the rest area. By then, my back felt like I was about to give birth and my right knee felt like it was about to fall off. Ha! I'm pretty sure I'm exaggerating but hey, my body is not used to this kind of torture! :D
• Sam + my girls came while I was resting at 25k. He asked if I was okay, I told him let me try walk for another 5k and I will let him know. So I went on what felt like the longest 5k in my life. I passed by friends who said "Come on Sasha, Sam and your girls are waiting for you!" but I just can't go any faster. If I thought rolling on the pavement was possible and will lessen the pain, I would have rolled my way to the pit stop.

• After what seemed like forever, I'm back at the tent again. Checked in with the volunteers for the last time and did the 'throat slashing' sign to Yee Hua to let her know I'm done. Done done done.

10k - 1hr 31mins
20k - 3hr 15mins
30k - 5hr 30mins 

• Could have better timing if my big butt didn't want to sit at every rest area. LOL. In my heart of hearts, I believe this was meant to be. You see, in my family, we consider 23 to be 'our number' for so many reasons (a whole new blog post that I won't bore you with). I said yes to the bib, without knowing that I will have 'our number' with me all through the race. When I collected the bib and saw 23 - that was when my heart said "Let's do this!"
• My heartfelt thanks to my Freedom Freaks family, every single one of the runners at TUC, Ben Swee, Yee Hua and every single one of the volunteers. You guys rock my world. I love you :)
• Thank you to my darling Sam who practically had to carry me home at 1.10am, even when he had to wake up at 4am for his 2XU 21k this morning, and of course my sweet girls who came to the beach with daddy in the middle of the night to support the insane mommy.
• I went with zero training, zero mileage. It was stupid. It was crazy. It was definitely awesome. Will I do this again? Perhaps. I've learnt to never say never.

Photo credits : Alexander Asree and Yee Hua.

xoxo

Spencer's. The Layouts.

• I need more time to play with this kit, don't you think so? :) 4 layouts are NOT enough! I hope to do better next month - March was so much fun with the trip to Seoul and Sam's new Personal Best timing for full marathon, but bring it on April. I miss scrapbooking. :D
• Make sure you don't miss the new and fabulous SC 12x12 Woodgrain paper and SC 12x12 Grid paper add on and the Today Noted stamp set that is so versatile designed by Natalia!
• p/s : you can click on the titles to bring you to my gallery at SC to see what else I use on that particular layout :)

So Much Awesomeness

'Awesome' gotta be Nidhi's favorite word when telling me stories about her camping experience with teachers and friends. :) Awesome this, awesome that - what better way than to capture everything on a single page?

That photo was taken while we waited for lunch after I picked her up from school. Non-stop chatter for probably 3 hours before she fell asleep mid-sentence. LOL :)

Those speech bubbles are perfect for what I have in mind as they were not allowed to bring along their cameras/mobile phones = no pictures.

Right Here

I think I have a new love - that Orange Peel Texture from the Main Kit! :)

This page is super bright in real life, but that's how we roll :) My crazy loud family, wouldn't have it any other way. I used the V shape mask from SC Here & There collection + Garden Mister Huey for the background and started layering from there.

I stitched a white outline the heart on the tag - little details like that make me happy.

The part I love most? The stamped 'hearts+right here' near the bottom of the page. I think that is so sweet.

Today Noted

I had so much fun getting this page ready - the misting part is the best :) But then again, I am so in love with Mister Huey it's ridiculous! LOL.

Not all the colors are in the store right now, but I used these colors for the ombre effect --> Buttercup, Taxi, Sunshine, Desert and Orchard. Start with the lightest.

The journaling for this page is a little bit too personal for me to share here, but it's there on the tag behind the photo. Basically about my 'get healthy' goal this year :)

Randomness

The Kraft Circles paper was made for me, don't you think? :) I know, I know the photo is so small, but in this case, I want the 'True Story' circle to shine! :)

Went a little bit monochromatic here - kraft background, kraft circles, cork cameras - i love how they look together. The stitching was done using bright pink and green thread but because they were so close to the edge, they have this 'peek-a-boo' effect which is, to me, adorable :)

xoxo