Drum Jam!!

One layout done with Club Scrap Fiesta kit, the other with Sassafrass Lass 'Tickled Pink'. Bazzil chipboard flower, Art Warehouse sticker and Making Memories velvet Alpha stickers.

It is three months that Ricky has been learning to play the African Drum. He has picked up so fast! At the performance the children had the cutest little African vests which set the mood for the three Nigerian songs they played. The children have been practicing so hard these last few weeks and they were all so excited about this first ever public performance. It is an amazing boost to their self confidence!

After Ricky's performance we all sat in a huge circle and with Kumi leading us, had an awesome drumming session! There were at least 200 people, each with a percussion instrument of some sort. And none of us were professional musicians. Just regular people who like drumming. It was fun, educational and we made great music.

The waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui is a beautiful place. We went for a walk down the promenade and had to get some photographs with the Hong Kong skyline as a backdrop. It was a pleasantly different way to spend an afternoon.

Layout for Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness month. And here is my layout about Autism. I had been saving this little essay for some time now. When people ask what it is like to have a child with a disability I show them this wonderful passage. I knew I wanted to do a layout with it because it puts into words what I have always felt in my heart but am unable to express.

Journaling: When you are going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation the day finally arrives. You pack your bags, and off you go. Several hours later the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!?” you say, “What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there has been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland, and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for awhile and you catch your breath, you look around… and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills…and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes that is where I was supposed to go. That’s what I planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever go away…because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But…if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the special, the very lovely things…about Holland.

Source: Emily Perie Kingsley
From a Reprint in “Family Resource Committee” Newsletter

Phantasmagorical!

Just playing around with my camera!! Don't you just love the expressions on the faces of the girls?! This is the beauty of the digital camera. You get to see the results immediately! The main photo of DD was what started the whole thing. I was trying to take photographs without a flash so I had set the exposure and f stops & all those things. And as I was taking this photo, DD decided that she'd had enough and jumped up and away. And all I was left with was this ghostly image of her on the sofa. Which gave me the idea for a photo shoot:

I asked the other girls to stand very still with scared expressions - like they had seen a ghost. And DD was moving around. I think girls 2 & 4 have a promising future in drama if they do take it up!

Scenic Route papers & monogram sticker. Don't know who makes the letter brads.

The GAP ad

Again Basic Grey 'Color Me Silly' line. Heidi Swapp chipboard flowers, epoxy sticker, CK Newsprint QK font. All layouts from DD's birthday.

Journaling: The GAP ad is now very popular and so the girls had to do their version!

Legally Teen!

Scenic Route papers & stickers and Scrapworks alpha rub-ons. Could not find a nice big orange flower so a small yellow one will have to do!

Journaling: This year’s party was one that all the girls were looking forward to. An Aesthetician and a Make-Up artist came to the house. First there was a hands-on course on how to take care of the skin. Cleansing, toning, and all the other important things young girls need to know to keep their skins clean and healthy was demonstrated and the girls got to work on themselves. They had individual consultations on their skin types and which products to use. Then the Make-Up artist did half the face of each girl and helped them do the other half. Everyone loved the whole session, which lasted a full three hours. The goodie bags that they took home contained a full set of cleansing products, a lip gloss and a cool eyeshadow set. From the 'Thank Yous' I received, I think everyone had a ball!

A Passion for Riding!

This layout is done using Club Scrap paper. I have been saving it for a while till I could get a decent photo of DD riding. These photos are not so good, but I decided to do the layout anyway while I practise some more my skills for taking action photos. I also need to invest in a new lens so I think it will be a while before I get really good shots. She wanted the layout now! Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, which I painted brown & interference copper. Making Memories definitions.

Journaling by the rider: I love horses! I love to ride and jump and just be with them. I feel free. I feel one with the horse. I feel like am flying and the world just stops and I am alone in the world; just me and my horse. I can feel its heart beating with mine. When I am on a horse I think of nothing else but riding - everything else just melts away…

Whose Angels?

Love the new BG papers - the colours reflect teenage girls perfectly! And this is the first time I decided to hand stitch some thing on the layout - the flower around the yellow chipboard. This will be the last time I hand stitch on any layout. I shall stick to the machine and I have ordered some Hero Arts stitched stamps. They'll have to do! DD & her 13 year old girlfriends acting their age, I guess!!

a Monochromatic Layout challenge

I am so enjoying these challenges! This one is from Scrapologie and I was challenged to do a monochromatic layout in 8½ X 11. Layout design inspired by a layout in the April CK. Papers are from my stash of 3 or 4 years ago. Design Originals, I think.

Journaling: A play about Christopher Columbus, supported by lots of shadow puppetry, was the culmination of a whole month of 'Expressive Arts'. You made a puppet ship, were a great puppeteer, acted very well on stage and said your lines so clearly! Papa and I were thrilled and so proud of your achievement.

Macau - An Architectural Experience

Layout with the very nice new Crate papers. And some pretty alpha rub-ons from K&Co.

Journaling: Chinese New Year 2006 – We found ourselves in Hong Kong, with nothing planned. And the PB family was going to stay in town too. We realized that neither Lily nor Catherine had ever been to Macau. So we decided to visit this Portuguese enclave, which like Hong Kong, has now reverted back to China. Macau used to be very European but in the few years from the handover it has reverted back to its Chinese-ness with amazing speed! We did find a few of the original old buildings when we went walking the back streets. And of course, the main Government building is still there. Everything else has been torn down and replaced with ultra modern structures. The walk up and around the old fort was very nice, as was walking around the streets with strange shops, looking for that bottle of Old Tawny Port, which Joe insisted on buying. Food is always good and we had a nice dinner at the Pousada de Santiago, which is another old fort, built into a mountain. An interesting walk around Stanley Ho’s amusement park which has miniatures of many famous World Heritage sites like the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum and Pyramids of Giza, ended our day trip.

Birthday Layout

Scraplift challenge again. From 2 Peas and I decided to use a layout by Nisa Fiin as my inspiration. Printed paper is from Chatterbox. Stickers are Rebecca Sower. Numbers stamp is from Club Scrap. Sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Joe & Ricky share the same birthday so I always end up doing simlar layouts. This one is for Joe's album, which is why the '42' is more prominent than the '10'

Another New Year's layout

So now that hand journaling and doodling is all the rage, here is my hand journaled and 'doodled' layout! This layout is for DD's album. She dictated the journaling but refused to write it. I tried telling her how it would be nicer for her to actually write it but it's no use discussing this with a thirteen year old.

Papers are leftovers scraps from BG Skate Shoppe. I doodled on some velvet paper, then cut that out and stuck it onto the layout. The smaller flowers are punchies. I also used punched hearts to make the petals of the larger flower. I cut off the base of the heart. Both the monogram letters are matted.

Journaling reads: Margherita & Filippo joined us again this year for our New Year's Eve party at Centenaro. We had fantastic food. The cooking was all done by Mamma, Kali & Rashi. And we also had petardi and sparklers. I even got to sip a little champagne! I had so much fun!!

Beginnings 2006

This is also a scraplift from the same challenge from the pub. I chose this layout because it has been years since I cropped my photos into circles. I wanted to see what it felt like. So I dusted off my CM circle cutter and got to work! Let us say that it was a nice change but I am not going off on the circle tangent again. Papers are from an Italian paper manufacturer Hobby di Carta.

l Journaling is basically me griping about having to throw these parties for 20 people every year and not wanting to do it again! It remains to be seen who wins out this coming New Year's Eve. If I do I'll be at the Country Club with friends, attending the best New Year's Eve party in this town!!

What is in a name?

I did this layout for a challenge on 2Peas. It was fun because I finally had an idea for the next page to add in 'The Book of Me' album. I always keep putting off working on that one. And I scraplifted Gwyn Calvetti (thread on the Pub) so that was two challenges with one layout. The name is from Hindu mythology and has a very romantic story associated with it. I have always liked my name but doubt if I would go that far for any man ... :)

The journaling:

A~parna: Another name for Parvati, Shiva’s wife and the benevolent manifestation of the mother goddess Devi. A~ Parna or ‘without a leaf’ was the name bestowed on Parvati when she was living the life of a hermit and sought to win Shiva’s heart. She mortified her body through austerities, the final one being when she stopped eating the few leaves that she conceded herself and became ‘A~parna’. This won Shiva's admiration, and he accepted her as his consort.

First Ever Scrapbooking Retreat in Hong Kong!

In March, Scrapping Gals, the first Asian Scrapbooking company, organized a retreat in Hong Kong. Of course, I had to join in! And people flew in from other countries too, which was so cool! After my last retreat in the US (in 2001) I knew I loved these but could not always go so far away for my hobby. I love all the gifts we get. So many freebies ... WOW!!

Here is my page dedicated to the event. The little accordian book has the signatures of all the attendees. I am seated in the first row in the Indian top :) Love this line of papers & stickers from K & Co.

Happy Easter!

This is for a DT: The journaling on this layout says "Sweet little girl makes a very scary little bunny!" And if you saw the smaller photos in colour, you would surely have nightmares!! The paint on her face is just horrendous! I love the fact (Thanks Michi for pointing it out!) that her two front teeth are missing and the bunny seems to have taken it. A happy coincidence. The bunny's tummy is a shaker box, which was a requirement for this Easter layout. I had to search my old photos to find something 'Easterish' to make this layout. Never thought I would scrap the ugly bunny photos from 1999!

And using the leftover papers (Paper Patch easter words) and stamps from PSX & Stampa Rosa (Bunny in can - from Alesa Baker designs ~ now calls Imression Obsession its home) I made some cards for the Italian side of the family. Water colour pencils (I love Caran D'Ache) and a blending pen are my favorite colouring technique right now.