Monday, July 13, 2009

Happy Birthday Simon!

Did a card for Simon. It's kinda cute for a guy, but I like it and I'm giving it to him. Besides, it's the thought and words that count.

Brought Jonathan to great grandparents place before lunchtime to pass them something. First thing he did was go climb onto the old swing (60s to 70s), same one that his father sat on. So, MIL and baby cousin Mabel went to sit on the swing too. Simple fun!Ggpa was already having his nap, so we chatted with Ggma. She even got onto the swing with Jon.In the late afternoon, Simon brought Jon to the garden to pluck longans. Jon chose a big one and a wee little one (which he insisted on bringing to the bathtub later when he had his bath!). The longans are in his left hand...He also touched a lemon on the lemon tree, but he didn't plucked it. A few more days, it will be ripe too! Mrs Secu (i.e. Security) gave birth to four puppies yesterday. She's the wife of Mr Secu, a stray that has been staying with us for nearly a year. Doggie hubby brought his wife to stay with us two months ago, and we noticed she was preggers. What a responsible doggie.There were two brown ones, a black one and a white one. We didn't want to intrude too much and I took a few snapshots very quickly and left mommy and babies alone. In fact when Jon came up, she actually growled softly at him!

The last shot of today...Jon pretending to eat mango. Why pretend? Coz he only licks or puts the fruit into his mouth without actually eating it. Do you notice how big the slices are? In SIngapore, I would cut the fruit into small slices for sharing. Here, there'so many mangoes...so MIL just cut into huge slices.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

My first mini album

I did a mini album for my #2 - Jillian. Yay!

* I was not sure if I would have the time to scrap when she arrives, so I decided to have a headstart. I would usually select photos first, so it was strange working without photos.

* The Sassafras Lass Vintage papers are so yummy (thanks Wen Anne for the gift, and Elaine for the recommendation to Wens).

3. Mainly coz I was inspired by Leila Bentahar who's known as Lilibee. Check out her free tutorial here. This creative lady does great works with SSF and Cosmo Cricket papers, and charges very reasonable rates for instructions on mini albums.

Inside pages. A total scraplift of Lilybee's first two pages. I used the chipboards from the Woodland series.I went a little haywire on these two pages.The last two pages...also my fave!

Celebrated Simon's birthday in advance

We celebrated Simon's birthday in advance at the Miri Marriott Resort & Spa, and had the yummy buffet dinner. We had actually cancelled the plans for a family dinner on Sat night with 11 cases of H1N1 (5 from abroad and 6 local), but MIL said we should go and she'll take care of the kids at home.
So Stanley, Grace, Simon and me went to enjoy a nice sumptuous dinner. We all admit we're old already and cannot eat so much. So we went for quality rather than quantity. I took the opportunity to eat more red meat since my haemoglobin levels were just below the average 11pts (10.9 to be exact).
We had a nice time just eating and chatting away.
When I called for the bill, I forgot that I had mentioned to the staff that it was Simon's birthday and they said they will arrange a complimentary piece of cake. Simon knew I would arrange for a cake and said he was too stuffed to eat anymore. Well, the bill took like 15mins to come and with it, the comp cheesecake. Birthday boy was nice enough to finish the entire slice.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Mangoes galore

We had a bountiful harvest from the mango trees this week. On Thursday morning, MIL called me to bring Jon down to the kitchen as she wanted to show him something...and I was to bring my camera.She had collected more than 50 mangoes, averaging about 1.5 to 2kgs each! The heaviest one was 2.5kg! At the market rate of RM6 per kg, the mangoes would fetch some RM500+.
Jon oohed and aahed over the fruits and was amazed at their sheer size. We then packed the mangoes for distribution. We had a few fruits over the last couple of weeks, but this collection was the biggest!All yummy and sweet...I limit myself to 2pcs in the morning, 2pcs at lunch and maybe another 2pcs after dinner.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Pretty home accessories

Accessories make a home cozy, and they reflect our individual styles and characters. If you are a fan of designers from the Netherlands, check out the Dutch delights found in http://www.dutchbydesign.com/ I just love the following items.
The Passe Partout Clock, which is made up of 12 pictures frames. I can fill the frames with my fave photos or scrapbooking materials!
Whimsical Bird in the Bush stackable cups (blue or pink)...such a delight to drink from, don't you think?
Bird cage table lamp...comes in fuschia pink and lime green too!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Yikes!

Jon has this naughty habit of sticking his fingers into his mouth after eating or drinking. The other day, he did just that after finishing a bottle of milk while in the sarong. And of course he puked! Yikes, not a pretty sight.

I quickly brought him to the bathroom to clean him and give him a change of clothes. The puked bits were all over the neckline and instead of cleaning them off first, I just took off his T-shirt while waiting for warm water to fill the tub. And the result was this....
Silly mom right? I should cleaned the bits off first, then pull of the shirt right? Anyway, I got Aunty Grace to go get my camera to take a photo of Jon. I tried very hard not to laugh and Jon was very patient in waiting for the warm water to wash him clean.

PS: I won the Patchwork Challenge by Piradee @ Made With Love...yay!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Patchwork Challenge

I took part in Made With Love's mid-June challenge where we had to:
- include at least 9 squares on our layout - these can be in any size or a mixture of sizes (perfect opportunity to use those scraps)
- include some stitching (and more than just XXX)... somewhere, anywhere on the layout
- and include ribbons

I had this photo that we took as a family back in Dec 2007 (yes, that far back) and it was perfect with the papers from Sassafras Las Life is Beautiful series. I have been hoarding much of their papers and haven't been using them....so this challenge is just great that I can use a few of the papers.


Enjoyed the stitching process - I did straight stitches and blanket stitches. But there's a lot that one can do with simple stitches:
raindrops and border accents
alphas and outlines
Sparkles and photo corners