101th post giveaway!

Hello! I think I have missed out on announcing that I'm having a giveaway because the previous post was the 100th post! So I'll make it the 101th post giveaway! =) I'm gonna give away some of my favourite tiny prima roses and flowers, pearl strings, trinket pins from Maya road, a few Webster papers, little charms and a set of thickers! Most of them are the usual items I reach out for when I scrap! All you have to do is to leave a comment here and I'll draw a winner by next Sunday 12 midnight (Singapore time). I've a small request for the winner of the giveaway though! That is to scrap something out of the stash I'm giving out and share with us! I can't wait to see what you can come up with! :) Before I go, I'm gonna share some layouts. Thank God for the recent mojo, I've much to share! Mr & Mrs Santa A cute Christmas layout of my parents wearing those cute Santa hats for the first time! I just realised I love to hand cut images out of paper. It's kind of a random discovery during the crop! lol Anyway I forgot to take pictures during the crop so I'm going to 'steal' the photos from MWL blog to share here soon! I dressed up as a grid girl or racequeen whatever you call it. And I won the best dressed!! Love knows not what time is What a romantic title! I should've used this layout for a photo of the boyfriend and I but my friendship with this guy is priceless. lol It's Lionel's birthday and so I scrapped this layout and fell in love with it! His girlfriend wrote on my facebook wall and commented that she loved it too! Oh I realised I love to ink too. This little shelf is my favourite! :) Ps: I'm totally in love with the new webster papers! I think I've said it before but I just can't stop mentioning how beautiful they are. I feel so bad for neglecting the other papers but they're just too attractive to ignore. not your typical kind of girl This is done for Emeline's mid-month challenge and it's real fun! Check out the other entries here. The criteria is to use two non-scrapbooking supplies in your layout. I use the white handkerchief and music scores from my old piano book in this layout. I know I'm kind of cheating with the music scores because they appear in papers from time to time but mine is authentically a real music score! Oh yes. I want to share the journaling here. It's quite funny listing out why I'm not your typical kind of girl. Now the world will know all my quirky habits. HAHA Here it goes: 1. I laugh at a joke 5 minutes after everyone laughs. 2. I do not allow the boyfriend to place his elbows on unclean tables while dining. (He has to eat with his elbows in mid-air like me!) No he doesn't call me Evil, he calls me Anal and proceeds to tell friends whom we're dining with that he's going to dive into the sink to take a bath after meal. -.-'' 3. I sing and dance and do retarded stuff in front of my tuition kids when the need arises. 4. I've this balancing habit. I like to slap my right shoulder if someone slaps on my left and vice versa. WEIRD I know! I've been badly abused ever since the boyfriend spilled the beans in front of my tuition kids.. 5. I love to kick Dad's ass. Don't ask me why! 6. I love to scare Mum because she gives pretty good response. 7. I like playing really sappy music on the piano and look melancholic. 8. I never like being at home till I started scrapping. Everytime we've a public holiday, I tell the boyfriend, "My home or the scrapbook store, the choice is yours!" then gives the sweetest smile possible. :) 9. I like to smell new books and papers or anything new. Do you have any WEIRD habits to share? I want to know that I'm not alone. :P

Scrapping mojo on a high!

I've so many layouts to share! Goodness. Just realised that I forgot about posting layouts that I've completed eons ago! 1) Look here Cutie! Did this as a birthday gift for Jillian, my cutest student! I realised I've been making lots of gifts for people!! 2) Old friends This is for one of my close friends, Wikyantoro Kusumo! As the title suggests, we're three OLD friends! It's been 11 years and counting! Yes, the boys do treat me like a boy most of the time! -.-'' 3) Life stories I did this JUST for the blog header!! The boyfriend was confused about the title as I didn't include any journaling. Heck! The title is for my blog and I love how it turned out! I love misting, the scary thing about it is that it can be quite addictive! And.. I'm still swooning over the beautiful webster papers I've hoarded over the past few weeks. I can never stop buying the same pieces everytime I visit the LSS. I'm officially a webster pages fan! Details: Alright folks.. I'm going to load pictures of a jillibean layout and a card and one more webster layout in a few days' time! Can't wait for Friday evening to come because I'm going for an overnight crop at MWL!! The theme is F1 race night and I've gotten my race queen outfit ready. So excited about it! PS: I submitted some layouts for two magazine calls for the very first time and they're all picked up!! I can't believe that my work's going to be published!! Praise the Lord!! In the meantime, I'll just keep scrapping.. =)

Jillibean Soup

My latest craze: Jillibean Soup The papers are so cute that I can't resist buying some to try! Made a signboard for my Prof's house warming! Aren't the owls adorable?! I love the alphabets too, I'm hoping to buy more when the store restocks! And I will like to share this too! Yappy has been complaining that I've not been making stuff for him. Here is one for the neglected boyfriend! lol Close-ups: I'm gonna share more layouts!! Mojo is really high these days all thanks to the beautiful papers I've hoarded the past few weeks! Last but not least, Happy Hari Raya to the Muslim friends! :) I'm enjoying the loong weekend, are you?

I won.

Hi, I did this layout quite some time ago but forgot about posting here! Love the kebayas that we got to wear during the MSI finals that I've to scrap it! Details: This is Shine and me in the lovely Kebayas sponsored by Moo! They're so gorgeous and I can't wait to wear them again for my portfolio as part of my Ms Photogenic prize. Yes I didn't win anything except for that! Lol The pageant has definitely been a ride given the short period that I'm given to prepare for it. I was the last to join so I didn't get to know the other contestants well. Of my naivete (as always highlighted by the boyfriend), I was appalled by the ungracious behaviour of some contestants whom I shall not name. Of course there are some others who are extremely sweet, Shine's one of them!! I've learnt so much about human nature, especially on the final night that the real competition is not on stage. The backstage is the where the catfights are. The judges were really fair that night and I lost out on the lousy walk and the ugly posture I maintained the whole night! I almost fell during the rehearsal because of the uneven stage and it struck a fear in me the whole night when I was on stage so my eyes were darting up and down to make sure I would not trip. That's a big NO NO for pageant walks! 2nd factor that attributes to the lousy performance: I was way too conscious about my revealing gown that I can't help but place my hands near my gown so that I would not over expose myself. You'll then ask, why then did you choose such a revealing gown? Here's my take. The lady on the fitting day promised to alter for me as the gown's too big so she sewn this tiny buckle on the halter strip but the weight of the gown was too much for it to bear and so it gave way during the final rehearsal that day. I wanted to try on the gown left by a contestant who was forced to withdraw due to irregular attendance for practices and before I get to take it off the hanger, this very assertive contestant came up and forced me to let her try first. I agreed and that marked the last contact I had with the gown. This resulted the revealing gown that made me uncomfortable the whole damn night as my parents and BOYFRIEND were sitting right in front of the stage. See why I was insecure the whole night? This is how revealing my gown looks!! Arrgh! Taken with the nicest winner I've ever met, Wei Ee, who is heading the young SWA (Singapore Women's Association). I'm going to see her more as I've signed up as a volunteer to help the less fortunate! With Annabelle, this year's winner! She's such an elegant lady. Beng chye, the official photographer, gave me the Ms Photogenic prize. lol Well, there're several other upsets behind stage which really affected my mood a great deal that night but above them all, I managed to keep my cool. It didn't come from me alone, I'm dead sure about it. It all came from Him. I could've blown my top and thrown a big tantrum. Or be mean and nasty and force the hairdressers and make up artists to touch up on my hair and face the whole night. Or snapped at the one who denied me of a better fitting gown and not allow her to try the gown first! I didn't do all these because I want to please God. I kept thinking about Jesus all the while and he told me that I'll make the Father unhappy if I were to bite others just because they did the same to me. I've this adamant feeling that God didn't want me to think about winning that night, he wanted me to think about doing the right things. Doing things that would make him proud of me as a Christian. I prayed for those who hurt me that night and the nights that followed. I won that night because my heart was right with God and nothing else mattered. :)

A Big Thank You!

A big thank you for dropping by! It really makes my day when I see the encouraging comments. I think all scrappers will agree with me that the biggest bonus on top of the joy of crafting is to earn recognition for the effort behind creating stuff! Thanks Pooi, Kate, Geraldine, Shuangyu and Shuanghui for leaving so much love here all the time! And Elaine, thanks for visiting too! I love your blog! :) Just like a smile, a comment doesn't cost a cent but its value is priceless to me! Thanks again for all your lovely comments! Before I turn in, I've a layout to share! What's most meaningful about this layout is the story behind my title, Tinted Glasses. I love to share the journaling here: Sometimes, we only see what our lenses allow us. Sadly, this relative truth is tainted by the tint of our individual lenses. Let me be constantly reminded of Jesus' admonition: For what judgement you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Matthew 7:1-3) I'm grateful that God is the only One who never wears TINTED GLASSES. I can hardly do a layout without prima flowers! Seriously who can resist such beautiful flowers? I smile everytime I look at these! Glimmer misted the butterfly before adhering it at the side. Misting is real fun! Goodnight world! PS: I just got back from two wonderful outings today! One with my tuition kids, they're the loveliest bunch and we had such a blast this afternoon! And when good things come, they come altogether! I had a real good time this evening meeting up with my secondary school friends after an 8-year hiatus!! Can't wait for the second outing!! Will upload the photos soon!

I'm featured on MF blog! Toots!

I've been featured on Melissa Frances blog! Check it out!! I'm hopping around in joy!! :) PS: I've been scrapping heavily but very much way behind time in posting up here. I'll be posting soon after this busy week! Happy birthday Lionel!! I'm organising his birthday gathering after modeling this Friday, teaching on Saturday and best of all holding the Games Carnival on Sunday! I'm also looking forward to our secondary school's class gathering after almost a decade on Sunday night. Phew!! What a busy weekend.. I'm in such a happy mood now!! Gives me more energy to get back to planning for the Games Carnival! Have a good weekend peeps! :)

When frustration sets in...

I'm constantly being reminded of how people value worldliness. This is a money-minded world consisting of people who are more concerned about material well-being over emotional well-being or health and relationships. This is what my pastor termed as worldliness. The world we're living together is so consumed with getting the most luxurious house (never mind it being next to noisy shopping malls strewned with a sea of people and honking cars as long as it is located in Orchard Road), the fastest car (never mind that you can't speed above 90km/h in Singapore and you get stopped by at least 3 traffic lights ahead of you as long as it shouts branded!), and the latest gadget (never mind that the next big thing say iphone 3rd generation is coming to town the next day and the price of yours will drop by more than half its value).

This is worldliness. Because we live in a world full of temptations, we want to live up to it. Because the devils hype up these temptations, we want to live the life the world deems as COOL and desirable. Because we want to be seen as the 'in' crowd, we allow ourselves to be dictated by the devils and their temptations.

Someone important in my life has always been trying to convince me that I should get a rich husband or at least boyfriend so that I can lead a comfortable life. That someone has an argument with me this morning over my job.

Being a tutor has no prospects. Your income isn't fixed and your students will leave you sooner or later. You should get a 9 to 5 job so that you can get promoted and get bonuses. This is not a real job. You've no CPF contribution and you're gonna die without any retirement funds. You've no right to comment on my gambling habits because you didn't lend me money to clear my debts!

I retaliate by yelling back at her. For that, I'm sorry. No one deserves to be yelled at. Then again, no job in the world should be insulted. I feel that I've the most wonderful job and I'm so angry that I yelled because the job that I love is insulted, and so am I. I'm not tutoring because I can't find a job and therefore I'm doing it temporarily. I'm not tutoring because that's the only thing I can do. I'm in this because I've a passion for it. I've no CPF contribution but you know what? I'd rather save up the 20% I get every month to set up my own educational center so that I can do research and help more kids. I've no rich boyfriend but you know what? I'm happy taking the train and bus or cabs with a boyfriend whom I can connect to rather than put up with some snobbish rich boy who will probably underestimate everything I do and slap my dignity (if there's any left) with his parents' money. I've no intention of ever trading this job for a 9 to 5 office job where I've to put up with nasty bosses and be on my toes with hypocritical co-workers. No job security? Well, I can work for the company for decades and still get retrenched one fine day when the economy crashes. I've my dream and goals to work towards and I guess it's something to be thankful for. It's never about working for money and power. It's about doing something meaningful to help others and yourself. It's about making a difference, big or small. I'm extremely delighted when my students improve their grades or when they thank me for teaching them something after lessons. I'm really grateful when my sweet students give me little gifts of love on Teachers' Day or on my birthday. I'm really pleased when they look forward to each lesson with so much energy, knowing that my efforts in preparing for lessons is worthwhile and that we're going to have a good time. These are the perks that no other job can offer. So to the important someone out there, I'm really frustrated that you can't see through this world the way I see it. When I see everything through Christ, everything becomes clearer and I've never felt safer than before. How can I ever convey God's message to you that we should never be after this worldliness? It's Devil in disguise and we're at constant battle with it. Everything looks so rosy in a facade. All these things will pass but not God's words. One can never serve two masters (God and money) and I'll pray for you to come to God's side soon.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

Life under the hot/cold weather

The year is fast zooming past.. and before we know it, September's here to greet us! The sudden change in climate has everyone feeling under the weather so do take extra care of yourselves! I myself have not been feeling well for the past few weeks. I have been coughing non stop for 3 weeks, sore throat for the past two weeks and was down with flu and almost fever yesterday. Oh well, I hope September will be kinder to me! I almost forgot to share this layout I created from the PP warehouse stash. I'm still thinking of how to fit it in my bf's room as it's too thick (thanks to the layerings and pretty roses!) to be fitted into the page frames. Nature lovers Details.. I'm in a dilemma as to where I can store my 'pop-out' layouts! Anyone has any idea?