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