Currently

I have been wanting to blog this layout for many many days . . . 

Re: Stitching on paper - it has been a while but I think I'm back at it. This time I used the 'currently' from Prompts digital brushes by Ali Edwards. It felt so good to be stitching on paper again!

My only regret with this layout? In the last para, that I didn't realize I typed 'running back' when what I have in my head was 'running again'. There's a couple of spelling mistakes here and there too, but that 'running back' bothers me so much I'm tempted to redo the whole dang layout. :D

Just like that 2014 is almost over. I guess I'll see you next year! 

Just Sayin'

Merry Christmas from us to you, you, you and you!! May this holiday season sparkle and shine. May all your wishes and dreams come true and may you feel this happiness all year round.  #throwbackThursday Pic from 2007

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I have a layout up on the October Afternoon blog today. If you need a little break from the festivities, I say why don't you play along with my sketch? :)

I kept pretty close to the sketch, cutting strips of Story Time pp from Public Library and arranging them towards the top portion of the layout. I adore that patterned paper, I guess I will always have a soft spot for papers with text on them. I'm a bookworm if you can't tell. :D

Then I took two banner shapes from this Sew Fun Banners pack, used one of them to draw attention to the number 15 (we've been married 15 years this year!) and another as some sort of a mat for my journaling strips. I also added a stamped tab underneath one of the paper strips before I machine stitched everything in place. 

And oh! I absolutely think that Just sayin' tin pin is perfect for my layout! Don't you think so? That's just how we roll. In fact, if you follow me on Instagram, you'd have known that I dropped Sam on his butt right after this picture was taken. LOL.

I added a chipboard heart and my last strip of journaling on the lower part of my layout because I really love how it looks. I consider that my own spin on the sketch even when I was the one who created the sketch in the first place. 

Do share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see your take on this sketch.

Hello Real Life

Real life. 

What's real life, actually?

I've been teaching my girls that real life is hard. Real life is not fair. You don't always get what you're due. What can you do? Suck it up. Speak up. Work harder. 

Nidhi, especially. She's my youngest. And people around me seem to think that I pamper her too much. The fact is, I do pamper her, but not too much. She has her own share of heartbreaks and disappointments. She has to work hard for what she wants. Tantrum? I'd like to think I'm immune to tantrums. Haha! I take pictures in the middle of melt downs!

I wanted to layer the photo and title onto the stitched pocket so I turned one of Ali's Heart Real Life digital brush into a cut file. I slipped my journaling behind the photo, into the pocket and managed to keep this layout fairly simple and clean with vibrant pops of colors. :)

NOSS

First of all, please don't ask me what NOSS is. I have no idea what the heck it stands for. LOL. Nidhi was in this NOSS Sailing Championship last year, and I wanted to document that. :)

I have a 'water' challenge on the October Afternoon blog - please do check it out if you have time to scrap! I know people are so busy during the holidays, but sometime it's nice to have one rest day to do something solely for your self-enjoyment, don't you think? 

The B side of Reference Section patterned paper from Public Library reminds me of the sea, so I decided to use that as my background paper. I cut my white cardstock into sections and stitched them back onto the background paper to create some interest rather than having a flat white background with a border. This must be my favorite thing to do nowadays, I've done this many times lately. :)

For my photo focal point, I layered Corn Maze, vellum, Bonfire pp and a couple of tabs. I playfully stamped one of the tabs because that's what this layout is about. My daughter, playing at sea. I believe we can learn so much while playing and it's not like I want her to go out and earn a living as a sailor, so this was play. :)

I used Daily Flash Navigate alphas for my title. Just how perfect is that for my layout? I squealed out loud when I realized that as I usually start my layout with a photo + story, not products. Such a happy coincidence! I hid my journaling underneath the photo cluster and finished my layout with a printed circle tag and a sprinkle of Pop Drops. 

I hope you'll play along with Mandy and I. Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see your take on this challenge!

Bento

How fussy are your kids when it comes to eating? 

Or more importantly how fussy are you when it comes to eating? I'm quite fussy I must say. I don't eat lamb, oyster and the likes, raw fish or anything for that matter except for vege, I don't eat innards and the list can go on and on and on. 

And this is why I can't be on Survivor, Amazing Race or the likes. Haha!

But this girl of mine.. she's brave. She will try almost everything at least once and I'm so proud of her. I know, japanese bento is 'nothing' to some of you, might be your daily meal but she came from me and I don't do japanese food and this is a big deal in our household. :D

The layout is my take on a sketch by Melanie on the October Afternoon blog. Please hop over there to see her fabulous layout and the sketch itself.

Please take a moment to look at that smile. *sigh* My heart melts.

When Melanie first showed me the sketch, my eyes zoomed straight for the triangles. I knew then that I wanted to create something based on the angles. I thought about it for a while and decided to go bold and cut apart the white cardstock to show bits of the Science Patterned Paper underneath it. The strong black background and angled white cardstock made a very interesting background for my layout. I layered some chipboard pieces and stamped labels to create the perfect placement for the 'yummy' Mason Jar letter stickers. 

 

I absolutely adore the Strawberry Ice Cream chipboard alphas - how perfect are those for a food layout? :) There are scattered + symbols on the sketch and I mimicked that by stamping and some adding some mist splatters.

Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see your take on this scrap recipe!

Marathon

How about a recipe to get you scrappin'? I know December is a busy month for most of us. Christmas for some, summer holidays for the others and also school holidays for those with the same school calendar as us in Singapore! :)

One look at the recipe and you'll think "that's not a lot to work with!" - believe me I know. But that's the interesting and challenging part.

Here's my layout

Verdict? I adore this layout.

I use little patterned paper as it is, but when I have a recipe calling for no patterned paper, that is all I wanna slap onto this layout! :D I focused on the journaling, and made the alphabets chipboard the star of the layout. The Old Oak alphas are my personal favorite!

One brad - oh this was hard, because I love brads! It took me a while to decide on that 'No 1' brad from Public Library. The layout, after all, is about Sam's first marathon :)

Visit October Afternoon blog to see another layout based on this recipe by my talented friend, Laura. Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see your take on this scrap recipe!

xoxo

Twinkle

These two girls. . .  *sigh*

Nidhi loves her cousin, Zahra, so much it brings tears to my eyes. This also means that my sister 'gains' another daughter when Nidhi is around as she'd rather be where Zahra is.

I used Noel Word Art to create the 'twinkle' card. Making up my own 3x4 cards from digital brushes are so fun! I printed it on 'orange peel' white cardstock - interesting textures and oh so pretty I must say. 

Fitting Room Selfie

Together with the ever fabulous Shanna Noel, I'm hosting October Afternoon blog again, this time with a sketch! Let me show you the layout first.

Fitting room selfies are our favorite! I always drag them in with me anyway. I'm too paranoid to let them wait for me outside when it's just us. They're pretty useful too when the clothes hanging hooks are full, you know? I drape clothes on them very so often! Haha. 

Instead of using paper strips for the right hand side of the layout as per the sketch, I decided that it's the perfect spot to place my title, some chipboards and stamping. I mimicked the 'lines' in the sketch with some machine stitching. 

I cut my title with my cameo out of the B side of Science patterned paper from our Daily Flash - Milk Money collection. How playful is that Peach Milk font? You can download from dafont.com and do the same for your layout if you're so inclined. 

I also added a puffy clock sticker, because you know, there is always time for a fitting room selfie! :)

Here's the sketch 

Come play along! You can use #octoberafternoon and tag @sashafarina on Instagram please, as I would love to see your take on this sketch.

Weekend is coming soon!
Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary, Sam

I'd like to say we balance each other really nicely all the time. The fact is, I 'dropped you on your butt' right after this picture was taken. Haha.

What? I thought we're supposed to enjoy the seesaw and forgotten that you had both your legs up for the sake of the photo. LOL. I'm sorry.



15 years.

Here's to forever more. . . 

I love you, Sam.
♥

Love Story

Or maybe I should say 'Our Kind of Love Story' :D

Morbid to some people, I know. But not all of you since I've posted a sneak on Instagram and many said that they told their other half the exact same thing! Haha!
Sam is used to me saying this, I think. Why, yes. I take any chance I get to remind him that if I were to die first, he'll have to spend the rest of his life mourning and missing me! :P

I love that guy. Hard to believe our 15th wedding anniversary is just around the corner. I hope we'll be together until forever and ever! There's no one else I'd rather annoy! :D

I printed out the 'love story' digital stamp on a white cardstock (Ali Edwards Stories of Life) and layered it with a chipboard frame, gold circle label and a piece of vellum I cut into a square. That yellow paperclip? It was what I used to hold the 'love story' card together with the frame while I was still pushing things around on this layout. I decided I love it there.  

xoxo

School Days

“The days are long, but the years are short.” ~ Gretchen Rubin

 How true. 

Oh so true. 

I took the photo on the layout below in December 2008. That was the December before Nidhi started Primary 1. *sigh* I blink and she's done with primary school. All six years of it. That hit me hard, for some reason. I think it's because she's my youngest, she's my baby. 

I created this layout for Patricia's I {Puffy} Heart You challenge.

Puffy stickers! Who can resist them? Not me. I've been a fan of puffy stickers since I was 7! Actually, I think it was earlier, but my first memory of puffy stickers, you know, sharing and trading with friends, was from when I was in Grade 1. :)

For this layout, I decided to go simple to showcase the Daily Flash Milk Money Pillow Puffs. I also didn't have a lot to say. The two sentences on there summed up how I felt when I picked her up from school the last day of her exam. How perfect are those puffy stickers for this end of primary school layout? I love that while they're cute-sy, when used on a clean layout like this one, they make an impact. Don't you think so? I added some Pop Drops, a piece from this pack of Flash Blubs and stamped the 'School Days' title in soft grey.

xoxo

Overdue Meeting

I wanted to blog this layout yesterday. .  but then, it was a special day. We fetched the newly minted 12 year old from school and didn't get home until almost 10pm. By then, I was so ready for shower and bed. 

I made the above using Ali Edwards Week In The Life 4x6 template. I'm not doing WITL project as of now, at least not this week, but I thought I'd play with the template anyway. Love that it already has the date on there! Makes it easy for me to just print this out and slip into an album.

And here's the layout I have up on October Afternoon blog based on a typographic poster. Hop on over to see the inspiration piece behind this layout :)

I concentrated my design on the lower right hand side, just like the poster. I used a mixture of Daily Flash Apple Cider and Public Library for this layout. Those Snap Caps and Flash Blurbs are really really fun! I like how I'm able to add lots of layers onto the layout without actually having to deal with bulk later on when it's time to slip this one into the album :)

I finished the layout with title made with Daily Flash Nightfall alphas, some stamping (how cute are the 'instagrammed' stamped word!) and machine stitching. 

Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see your take on this piece of inspiration.

You Can Take Me Anywhere

Another week, another inspiration piece is up on the October Afternoon blog. This one blew me away. The possibilities, oh the possibilities! I suggest you take it and run away! Have fun! Lots of fun. Boy I sure did.

Just another layout using my favorite photo of all time. This one is mushy. But I can't help it. I love this guy. Not to say I want to be with him all the time (let's be realistic!), because then I'll get cranky. Haha. Hey, we all need our own space. But yes, he can take me anywhere. I left Malaysia to be with him and now I don't know if I ever wanna move back to my birthplace.

I decided to use that beautiful map patterned paper (Daily Flash Milk Money - Social Studies) as the main element on my layout. I wanted to mimic the wavy stitched lines of the inspiration piece and did just that, with the help of my Silhouette Cameo and a cut file. I layered a piece of chipboard from To The Point Flash Chip set on a circle label, added a heart sticker and a stamped tab, all adding pops of red across the layout. 

You can see that I machine stitched some of the wavy pieces onto the white background. Beside being inspired by the stitching in the inspiration piece, I also love stitching down stuff on my layout because then you'll know they're not going anywhere. Stitching is a great way to adhere bits and pieces to your layouts.

Don't forget to check out Alex's layout on the OA blog.
Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see how this piece inspired you!

xoxo