The Magical City : London Panorama

Sharing a few pages I colored recently.

The Magical City by Lizzie Mary Cullen .

I'm in love with her whimsical style. Very playful, very fun! I'm using wet brush pen straight to pencil method for the ones I'm posting here. Pardon the messy~ness. I'm very much a newb when it comes to using Derwent Inktense.

Yes, I colored the intro page. Do you do that? I decided to start with the intro page, and I very much wanna color this book page by page, in order. In my head, I'd like to see how much my coloring improve the more I color. Well, a girl can hope! :)

First full page with Inktense. It can't get more patchy than this, I think. LOL. I colored at least 50% of this page at the school canteen while waiting for my girls.

Second page, I think I figured out how to get even colors when using the wet brush to pencil method. Patience. Sadly that is not one of my many virtues. Haha. I tried going really slow but got uneven colors on some part. I just tell myself it's part of the 'charm' of watercolor!

London Panorama. 

I'll see you soon.
xo

Big Love

A layout about our #biglove for Brooklyn. Well, it's the whole of New York for me, and might be the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory for her. LOL. Can't wait to be back. 

Digital Supply List :
Thick Valentines Words
Messy Love Circles

xo

The 1000 Dot-to-Dot Book : Cityscapes

Mostly, I post them to Instagram as I finish them but I've gotten some requests asking me to post my finished dot-to-dot pages here for easy referral. I think that's an awesome idea too, because then, I can label my posts and that makes searching for stuff way easier than scrolling through my instagram feed. 

The 1000 Dot-to-Dot Book : Cityscapes by Thomas Pavitte

If you can't keep still, like me. I promise you will love the book. Such a perfect thing to do when you wanna get busy with your hands but have no brain juice left for scrapbooking or journaling. :P 

Athens.

Amsterdam. Sam is actually over there right now. :)

San Francisco. There is just something incredibly romantic about cable cars to me.

I will post more of my finished pages from other books by Thomas Pavitte soon. Watch this space :)

xo

Hey you!

Hello everyone! 

Wow! It HAS been a while eh? As you probably already guessed, I'm swamped with life. Not a bad thing actually. I'm still scrapping, still on the Ali Edwards Digital Creative Team and doing many other things on the side. Coloring, dot-to-dotting, doing querkles, cross-stitching - how I wish I can post them all here all the time. 

I'm moving back to simpler style of blogging (not so longwinded - I can hear sighs of relief from some of you. :P LOL) because while I want to keep this site updated, I want to have the time to do other things and sleep. Ha.Ha. Maybe I can, I think I can and will work towards that if there is any interest. Otherwise, you guys can follow me on Instagram as I pretty much post whatever I make over there. :)

On to the layout! 

I've scrapped those words before but I needed to do it again in my current style. And also, this year my girls are 16 and 14. Moms of teens will understand my need to scrap this again. 

Digital Supply list :

Heart This 8.5x11 Layered Template

Valentines Journal Cards

You Word Art

xo

You Say Jump Jump

Instagram is a good place to 'store' journalings for your photos, a very good place indeed. I took the journaling for this layout straight from the caption of the very same photo of me looking like an idiot that I posted earlier this month. LOL.

Confession : I love that photo so much I want to enlarge it and hang it on my wall. Ha! Self-centered much? :P

Almost all my layouts nowadays begin in Photoshop, I played around and added the 'yes please' + curly arrow brush from my old Studio Calico digital stuff collection, typed out my journaling then added 'this is what it's all about' digital stamp.

Once I printed out everything on the white cardstock, I made a cut file (you say) from one of the .png in Ali's I, We, You brush pack, cut it once in yellow and once in white so that I can layer them and have that 'shadow' effect that I love so much but always thought of it once I have packed the Cameo away. Me = lazy. :D

I also used the fun homespun alpha stamp set by Becky Novacek for Illustrated Faith for the second part of my title and finished my layout with bits and pieces from Pink Fresh Studio august kit and some older puffy stickers from my embellishments bin. 

xo

Well, hello morning

So what are you? A morning person or a night owl?

I'm neither. Most days, I only function after several coffees and before 10.30pm, for real. I'm turning 37 this year and I still go to bed at around 10 almost every day. I dread waking up every single morning, grateful for sure to be alive another day but oh man! I don't wanna leave my bed! Ha!

Nidhi, on the other hand, jumps outta bed singing her heart out. It used to be Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga but right now, she's all about Melanie Martinez. While she sings, I bury my head under my pillow trying to deny the arrival of morning. LOL.

I totally made the 'hello morning' digital brush the focal point of my layout. I like doing that with digital brushes - I feel like half of my layout is done! I also added the black splatters digitally. Just one of the beauty of hybrid scrapping, I tell you. 

Once I printed out the title and journaling, I started adding 'real life' (lol!) embellishments onto my layout. That owl chipboard from October Afternoon is just so cute, don't you think? In true Sasha style, I stitched everything down onto a bright pink pp, added a yellow date tab and used my Little Things clear stamp just because I cannot resist my Story Stamp collection. Not at all. I just wanna use them on every single layout! :)

xo

Build A Life You Love

Build a life you love. 

Easier said than done, in my opinion but I'm glad I have these people along for the ride. My life is definitely much more meaningful (read : crazy, busy, loud. Haha!) with them around. 

Build a life you love. I try my best. Everyday. I hope the girls will notice that.

I work in Photoshop (always!) and used the Build digital stamp as my stitching template again. How could I not. That word art is so fun! (and I miss hand stitching on my layout, I admit!) I measured and left some empty space for my photo before I printed a very faint outline (20% gray) of the stamp onto the white cardstock, then I pierced and stitched as per normal. 

Once I'm done, I added my photo, the 'roof' of the 'house' and the ampersand clip, the two enamel hearts, and a 'Be Happy' Flair from A Flair For Buttons which I layered with a sun sticker from October Afternoon Summertime. 

I used my Little Things story stamp (not digital) for that last sentence, then I added the metal Making Memories 'laugh' tag and the potty people wood veneer from Studio Calico. Are those considered vintage already? Ha! I'm running out of the little potty people and I'm quite sad!

Lastly, I sprinkled some happiness, oops, I mean colored mist onto the layout, layered the whole thing onto a piece of wood patterned paper and I'm done!

xoxo

Guest Designing for Pink Fresh Studio

I accepted the invitation from Kinnari to play with Pink Fresh Studio's August kit and Happy Things collection way back when Happy Things collection was still being designed. I saw one photo of a patterned paper and said yes! :) That's how much I love Pink Fresh Studio's stuff!

I've been subscribing to their kits since January, loving them all and August did not disappoint. If you're like me, their embellishment kit is the way to go. Given a choice, I would part with 95% of my patterned paper and will still be able to scrap and stay true to my style. Embellishments and stamps, however are a whole different story, and why I'm subscribed to Pink Fresh and Story Stamp by Ali Edwards. 

#thestoryofmylife

Almost always the photographer, even when being photographed. :)

My brother-in-law took this photo of me taking photos of Neha at the abandoned house next door. I thought it’s perfect for this layout. 

I stamped #thestoryofmylife repeatedly using  various shades of black and grey ink. Love how that turned out. I’m also a little bit obsessed with black and white at the moment, that Doodle Borders patterned paper from Happy Things collection is totally made for me. LOL.

I also scattered some of the acrylic xs on my layout. I can’t get over how beautiful they are. 

Love The Details

Look at that Doodle Borders patterned paper being the star of my layout again! I used the 12x12 this time and made it the background of my layout, making sure that my white cardstock is cut smaller so that more of that beautiful piece of paper can be shown off. 

I cut apart the labels and stitched them back onto the layout, using what else but yellow thread. I love machine stitching with yellow thread. Don’t ask me why, I just love the way it looks. 

Another current love of mine on this layout is the (Happy Things collection) black glittery foam word sticker. I’m totally  gonna be using up the rest of my pack and will be ordering more! :) I also used up all the hearts from (Happy Things collection) puffy stickers pack. I love scattering small bits of embellishments that way, they make me, well, happy! :)

The journaling is quite private for this one so I wrote it on the back. :) 

I have lots left from the box Kinnari sent me (thank you K!) . . . and I know I will enjoy them for a long time to come!

xo

This Broke My Heart A Little

Yes, my 'baby' is turning 13 soon and she shares my bed whenever Sam is not around. I kinda like it, really. I kinda want her to keep doing that for many more years to come. 

The other day I offered, and she declined ever so graciously, half asleep, but still, she said 'I think I'll sleep here. Thank you though." 

I thought "Good! I can have the bed to myself!" Haha! Then I went to my room and tossed and turned the whole damn night. LOL. I missed her before bed endless chatter the most. Endless as in she will fall asleep mid sentence, or I drift into dreamland halfway into her many stories. 

I printed my own strip of patterned paper - it's actually a 3x8 digital journal card from the Week In The Life Bundle but I like it so much (that yellow!) I'm using it as patterned paper. I altered it a little before printing by digitally stamping << this >>.

I stamped 'This Day in History' (because really, she never say no when invited to my room! haha!) from my Story Stamp set (Roots), added a flair from A Flair For Buttons, some enamel dots, a little enamel frame from my June Pink Fresh Studio Kit and various older stuff from my Studio Calico stash to complete the layout. 

And oh, after I photographed this layout (in her room because that's the only room in the house with good sunlight) I forgot to take it down. She read it, and came to me and said "I'm here to unbreak your heart, mom!" LOL. Turned out she didn't even remember declining my invitation. *sigh* :)


xo

Happy Is What You Make Me

If your blogger username is 'Young' and you left a comment on this giveaway, you might wanna check the post to see if you win anything. Please email me by August 7th or I will have to pick another winner :)

I took a little break from Ali Edwards Digital Creative Team to spend June school holidays with the family - fasting month - getting back to work after one month - celebrating Eid (yup, one after the other!), but now I'm back! Eid is still being celebrated, but we're (or I (the anti-social) am, actually) more or less done. Work is great, kids in school and I no longer feel like I wanna die at the end of each day. Ha!

Here's one layout I made and didn't manage to post here before the madness.

Those girls of mine. Even when at times, they make me wanna bang my head on the wall out of sheer frustration, they're still the ones who make me happy. Still the ones to be doing silly things with. Still my best travel companions!

If you have known me for a while, you'd have seen that photo of the girls before. You'd exclaim "They've grown so much!". I'm glad to have been friends, online and real life with all of you for that many years, that you have seen my girls move from playgroup/kindergarten to secondary school. I hope you'll be around to see them become responsible adults too. Now I feel old. Haha! Sob! Sob!

I printed 'Happy Is What You Make Me' from Ali's Totally Amazing digital brush pack onto a small manila shipping tag, then rummaged my tubs for scrap papers and embellishments to build the layers. For about 8 out of 10 layouts, this is what I do and enjoy. I like finding potential in the pile of scrap papers. Yes, I said potential. ;)

I used a few Story Stamps (Daily and Little Things) to add some real (I mean not digital) stamping straight onto the white cardstock as well. While I get the digital stuff for free for being on the team, the Story Stamp subscription is totally mine, purchased with my own money. I have been a subscriber since the beginning and hope to be able to support Ali for a long time coming.

I added the XOXO rub on from Pink Fresh Studio January Kit, some old puffy stickers from Amy Tangerine, a bow from Crate Paper, enamel dots and of course, mist splatters and yellow machine stitching before I'm done with the layout. 

As usual, I'm available via email or Instagram if you have any questions. I'm long-winded but also a scatterbrain so there's a chance I missed something here despite the long rambling of a post. 

xo