A pink lighthouse

To me, a lighthouse symbolises "Awareness" as it serves to alert unwary seafarers of dangers hidden nearby. Colour it Pink Ribbon Day pink and it so represents Breast Cancer Awareness, don't you think? Or am I speaking for myself? *looks around*

Well, it seemed like a good idea to me at the time! It still does except for the sting of rejection. *sniffle*

Anyway, the amazingly talented Teneale Williams sent out a request for 6" X 6" pages to compile a book of inspirational quotations for those affected by breast cancer while they visit the Westmead Breast Cancer Clinic and the McGrath Foundation office. You still have time to help her as she is waiting until Monday October 12 for the last submissions.

I chose the Elisabeth Guinot quotation for mine because I believe that we don't really know what we are capable of until we are tested. And I'd like to think that we are chronic underestimators.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Kiwi Kiss
Pink Pirouette
Rose Red

Stamp sets:
A Great Friend
Eastern Influences
Lovely Letters
Uncharted Territory

Paper:
Pink Pirouette CS
Rose Red CS
Rose Red Prints DSP (retired)
Whisper White CS

Accessories:
Flower Assortment Designer Brads
Mat Pack
Sponge Dauber
Striped Grograin Ribbon in Pink Pirouette
Word Window Punch

PS. The title is Rose Red cardstock cut using the QuicKutz harvest font.

Long time between scraps

It has been an inordinately long time since I completed a scrap page. I have been feeling the pull of it recently and it brought to mind a little conversation that I had with my sister over a year ago. In that exchange, my sister made me promise that I wouldn't devote myself to scrapping a hundred pages on my nephew, Shi Wei, and then neglect any other subsequent children of hers ... leaving them to wonder why Auntie Lin Mei loved Shi Wei the most.

So, here I am, wondering where are the pages of my baby niece, Shi Ying? Hmmmmmm ... I'd better set aside an album for her as a starting point! The following page will be the inaugural one.

After feeling rather guilty, I consoled myself with the fact I have yet to scrap a baby photo of Shi Wei ... so it is still early days for Shi Ying - phew! The other thing that I've noticed is that the recent supply of photos from my sister has slowed to a mere trickle so I think that it's time for me to remind her of her side of the bargain...

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Basic Black
Basic Gray
Cameo Coral
Pixie Pink

Stamp sets:
Calendar alphabet

Paper:
Pixie Pink CS
Raspberry Tart DSP
Vellum CS

Accessories:
1.3cm Circle Punch
Clear Buttons
Pretties Kit
Scallop Oval Punch
Sponge Dauber
Stampin' Pastels
Stampin' Write Marker in Basic Black
Summer Love Rub-Ons
White Grosgrain Ribbon

For my newsletter subscribers, I have to apologise for not posting a project featuring the custom coloured ribbon when promised. I lost the ribbon in amongst my scraps and I was hoping that it would float to the surface eventually. Needless to say, ribbon isn't particularly buoyant (especially without floaties) when immersed in scrap paper *sigh* Anyway, I applied Stampin' Pastels on another strip with a colour gradient starting from Pixie Pink to Basic Black. You should be able to spy it in the page above.

In gratitude and guilt

In Australia, we've had a compelling lesson in the fragility of existence. The bushfires in Victoria have claimed many lives, 173 people confirmed dead so far, and many homes. I am sure that those who survive the ordeal will eventually recover because, even though our time here is arbitrary, our ability to endure is immense.

As witnesses to scenes of grief and ruin, we have asked each other how we could help and have acted in concert with the response. It is heartening to know that we will still look out for each other in tough economic times.

As someone who is well removed from the flames and those affected by them, I'm stuck strangely between gratitude and guilt. Feeling gratitude for all that I have and guilty that I haven't lost it all. It seems to be the only homage that I can make to those who have lost everything.

I've got no projects that would be appropriate to post but this page features my nephew Shi Wei - I am so grateful that he is still around. Stay safe.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Basic Black
Pretty in Pink
Wild Wasabi

Stamps:
Jumbo Outline Alpha

Paper:
Afternoon Tea DSP
Ginger Blossom DSP
Pumpkin Pie Prints DSP
Vellum CS
Whisper White CS
Wild Wasabi Textured CS

Accessories:
Anchored Rub-Ons
Flower Fusion
On Board Blossoms & Basics
Paper Snips
Photo Corners Punch
Rhinestone Circle Brads in Ice
Round Tab Punch
Sanding Block
Scallop Edge Punch
Silver Brads
Simply Scrappin' Kit Winter Bright
Stampin' Write Journaller
Styled Silver Hodgepodge
White Gel Pen

First double layout ever

... but without a triple flip. Yes...I have to admit that I'm not much of an ice skater although this sultry heat in Sydney makes me imagine how great it would to be on ice...(with or without skates - I'm not fussy!).

I started this project as a single 6" X 6" page - being the page on the left. Even though the page looked complete to me, there was no space in which to write the few words that I had wanted to about Shi Wei and my sister. Also, I had more photos of little Shi Wei in the garden which were irresistible 'cos he is so darn cute! So I decided to add the page on the right - with the smaller photo, it was possible to add a strip of journalling and an extra word for a more expressive title. Who would have thought that it wasn't all planned from the beginning? *whistles nonchalantly while looking around* *wanders discreetly away*

Wei & Mei Tending

Stampin' Supplies

Ink: Ballet Blue VersaMark Stamp sets: Lovely Letters alphabet Short Order alphabet Cardstock: Ballet Blue Textured Wild Wasabi Textured

Accessories: Anchored Rub-Ons Bold Brights Buttons Clear Buttons Heat Tool Natural Twine Stampin' Write Journaller Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware White Embossing Powder White Gel Pen Wild Wasabi Striped Grosgrain Ribbon Winter Bright Simply Scrappin' Kit

PS: No, my sister is NOT wearing her pyjamas - at least I think she's not...But I have to agree with you that those shorts look mightily like PJs.

That hair is really long! Gee!

During our trip to Longji, China, we encountered a group of Yao women who were rather keen on seeing us fulfill our responsibilities as tourists. These duties included photographing them doing their customary hair unveiling and combing as well as allowing them to adorn our heads with their hand-made kerchiefs. Normally, I would not wear hanky on my head as it makes me want to impersonate Luigi of the now defunct WA Salvage - we’re not fancy but we’re cheap, eh! Sandgropers'll know what I'm talking about...but the women were so insistent in such a nice way.

And yes indeedy! Their hair was very long once unfurled - reputed to be the longest hair per head so to speak. I found it fascinating that their hair has the added bulk and weight of an extra length of hair - from when they cut their hair for the first (and IIRC the last) time when they reach 18 years of age. With all that weight on their heads, it's no wonder they were all shorter than me.

I put together this scrap page as part of this month's INKlings Cybercrop hosted by the wonderful Alana. Her second challenge was a scrapbook sketch based on a card layout.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
VersaMark

Stamp:
It's Beautiful wheel

Cardstock:
Naturals Ivory
Pink Passion Texured
Tempting Turquoise

Accessories:
1 1/4" Circle Punch
Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker
Circle Rhinestone Brads
Corner Rounder Punch
Eastern Elegance Rub-Ons
Heat Tool
Scallop Punch
White Embossing Powder

I thought the combination of the It's Beautiful wheel and Eastern Elegance rub-ons would be a good way to say farewell to the Spring Mini in scrapbook form. I must confess that the only way that I could bring myself to use the Eastern Elegance rub-ons was by buying an extra package while it's on sale this month! *puts hanky on head* We're fancy but we're cheap, eh! *takes off hanky*

Simply Sent three shorts

I promised to post my Simply Sent Three Thoughts projects today and I only have half an hour until the deadline! So, I'll keep the post short and talk about the shots. I know you are thinking "Thank Goodness! No banter!"

Cards on the right - you can make six of each with a Simply Sent Three Thoughts kit, ironically without much thought since these come with instructions!

The card to the left was made using the kit and a few extra supplies from my stash. I used Stampin' Write Markers in Mellow Moss and More Mustard to make my life easier but I could probably have just used the Stampin' Spots in the kit. If you got it, flaunt it. [Hey! What happened to no banter?!] But I have all this white space to fill...

Additional Stampin' Supplies
Accessories:
1 1/4" Square Punch
Mat Pack
Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware
Purely Pomegranate Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon
Stamp-A-Ma-Jig




Thirdly, I thought that I'd do something a little different so I used the kit to put together a scrap page. The photo was taken by Hubby when we were living in Melbourne last year. Whenever I look at it, it makes me nostalgic *sniffle*

Additional Stampin' Supplies
Cardstock:
More Mustard Textured

Stamps:
Carte Postale set
Defining Alphabet set
Totally Tabs set

Accessories:
Clear Buttons
Corner Rounder Punch
Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon
Round Tab Punch
Stampin' Write Journaller

Ooooh! Just made the deadline. Make sure you make the deadline to save 20% of Simply Sent kits as it ends tomorrow night.

Scraptember

I hadn't intended it but September has been the month of scrapbook pages of my nephew. On realising this, I decided to create a row of it by adding one more. I remember being told at school that two does not constitute a row - as in two in a row was just nonsensical. But two in a row does make sense, right? After all, it just means one following one other. Anyway, being a particularly pedantic student, I had gleefully stuffed that "rule" into multiple parts of my brain for future reference. I am sure that those brain cells are now a complete waste of space and mourn the fact that they could have been better put to use for remembering:
• Hubby's mobile phone number when asked by an interested employer,
• the names of people that I worked with 10 years ago and bump into at the beginning of a long train ride,
• whether we have to put out the recycled or the garden waste bin this week,
• to post that letter sitting in my OUT tray for the last four weeks! Gah!
• when swaps are due...

Speaking of which ... back to the scrapbook page. This was made for a 6X6 swap co-ordinated by the amazing Alana, who showed great patience as some of us were kinda all over the place (including me as I forgot when this swap was due until a week before closing date and had to beg for an extension). Thanks so much, Alana! Many thanks also to the lovely ladies who took part for the marvellous pages that I received.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Pumpkin Pie
Real Red
Tempting Turquoise
Wild Wasabi
VersaMark

Stamps:
Defining Alphabet
Frames with a Flourish
Seeing Spots
Sprinkles

Paper:
East Coast Prep DSP
Pumpkin Pie Prints DSP
Tempting Turquoise Textured CS

Accessories:
1/2", 1", 1 1/4" Circle Punches
Horizontal Slot Punch
Real Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
Sponge Daubers

Out of order

Such strange serendipity! I was entering the title of this post with just the hint of a smirk, when Fate slapped me down for being out of order. The original meaning that I had intended for this title was that I would be showing one of the challenges for the cyberstamp out of sequence...but when Blogger's Autosave feature activated, I was greeted with "Autosaved failed" and prompted with the standard suggestion of please try again...which I did. Hmmmm...did I try that again or did I imagine myself pressing the Save button? So I pressed it again. "Autosaved failed". Oh no! Blogger is out of order!

So, I trawled through the Blogger Help Forums, found no help there but lots of panicky people rearranging chairs. I then tinkered around with my settings and if you are experiencing the same problems, try clearing your browser cache and refreshing on each form before you use it (such as the list of posts and when you open up the edit post form). It worked for me [ETA: just long enough to get this posted] !

The third challenge for this month's INKlings Cyberstamp was the option of either a scrapbook layout or making a card using a themed stamp set so that the theme was not featured (eg. a Christmas stamp set for a birthday card) or vice versa (eg. a Valentine's day card from a non-themed flower stamp set). The scrapbook page is to use [WARNING: sample scrap page features a SNAKE] the following sketch.

I've posted this out of order so that my mum can see another layout of my nephew, Shi Wei! I've kept her waiting long enough...

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Chocolate Chip
Really Rust
Wild Wasabi

Stamps:
Defining Alphabet
Priceless set

Paper:
Apple Cider DSP
Naturals Ivory CS
River Rock Textured CS
Vellum CS

Accessories:
1/16" Circle Punch
Anchored Rub-ons
Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware
Black Hemp Twine
Corner Rounder Punch
Earth Elements Buttons

Auntie Lin Meanie falls from grace

When you see photos of my nephew, Shi Wei, you'll take his side, for sure! But I'm going to share this little story anyway.

My nephew is the cutest, cutest, cutest little prickly pear in the whole world. The first part is easily confirmed by checking out pictures of him. The second part relates to the fact that you really have to earn his affection. If you are not in his good books and you try to guide him with a gentle touch on his back, he will turn around, grab your offending hand and fling it away (did I capture enough of his disdain there? If not, just insert "disdainfully" before "fling"). But, if you have managed to ingratiate yourself with him by being at his beck and call and not squealing on him to his parents if he hits you, you've got it made! When it is time to put on his socks, he will come to you, sit in front of you and offer you the privilege of dressing his feet - I have to confirm that it completely sets the cockles of my heart ablaze.

By the last day of my stay in Perth, I had managed to inveigle my way to "Shi Wei's Best Friend"¹ status. This was no mean feat it had to be wrested from my mum who had earnt and held on to that title with tonnes of tolerance and lots of dark chocolate. I know you are wondering who feeds children dark chocolate? But it's my sister's rules! Anyway, so Shi Wei asked me to accompany him to my father's home gym, which to my nephew is the equivalent of the Forbidden Forest - scary and dangerous and, therefore, lots of fun! I was a nervous wreck when he clambered on to the equipment since there were countless protusions (OK...11 to be exact) which I kept imagining him hurting himself on. When I tried to hold him to make myself feel happier about his safety, he batted away my hands and told me to "Go away!" Yeah! So much for "Best Friend" status.

While on the gym, he patted this, twisted that and then slipped slightly on something round and gave us both a heart attack. No more Auntie Nice Gal! I lifted him off the gym and Boy! Did he protest! He wriggled, he squirmed, he shouted "No!" and, in the kerfuffle, my spectacles got knocked askew. He then proceeded to raspberry me which covered my face in a fine mist of spi... threw me back to the summer days in London when you'd get soaked by really light rain yet never felt a drop of water hitting you. I deposited him next to his mother (hoping that it was the equivalent of handing over the baton of responsibility) and proceeded to observe the following exchange.

"I don't like Auntie Lin Mei!" declared Shi Wei to my sister. [LM thinks: "Best Friend" status to Shi Wei Enemy Number One in eight seconds] "I hit her glasses off," he said while pumping his little fist into the air, "and then I pppphhhhhrrrrrrtttffff all over her!" he finished triumphantly. My sister then asked him, "Shi Wei, did you want a timeout²?" [LM: Sweet schadenfreude! I'm such a bad auntie...]

The photos in this page were taken by Shi Wei's great photographer father. The page includes a sneak peek of the stamp set that we received during the 2008 Stampin' Up! Sydney regional seminar.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Bashful Blue
Basic Black
VersaMark

Stamps:
Live Your Dream set
Sprinkles set

Paper:
Bashful Blue CS
East Coast Prep DSP
Pumpkin Pie CS
Whisper White CS
Wild Wasabi Textured CS

Accessories:
1 3/8" Circle Punch
Anchored Rub-Ons
Crop-A-Dile
Jumbo Eyelets in Antique Brass
Mat Pack
Round Tab Punch
Stampin' Write Marker in Basic Black
Stampin' Write Marker in Tempting Turquoise
Striped Grosgrain Ribbon in Bashful Blue
Word Window Punch

---

1. Exclude his parents - they are way above "Best Friend" status.
2. Timeout - the only disciplinary action we subject Shi Wei to is being told to stay quiet for a minute.

I'll have seconds

Our recent trip to China was awesome. But, now that I think about it, I realise that it was very food-centric. Sure we did lots of sight-seeing but that was just to whet our appetites for the main events - lunch and dinner! I suppose it is an indication of where my family's priorities lie, in general.

If you could overhear our descriptions of our trip, it would probably sound like this...
Friend: So, how was your trip to China?
Family: It was great! It started off badly, though, since we got a little ripped off by the tourist guide who recommended a Peking Duck that cost 10 times more that what we could get in Wangfujing.
Friend: Uh huh. And what did you see there?
Family: We went on some private tours to see the Forbidden City ...
Another family member: Don't bore them with the details - who cares what we saw? Just talk about the most important bits! The food was awful on those tours ... touristy all-you-can-choke-on buffets ... Yeah! DON'T go on tours - do it yourself, you'll eat much better.
Friend: Ok... did you climb the Great Wall?
Family: Sure did! The best part was when we got to the bottom and relaxed with a cold bottle of Coca Cola and went back to the hutong for a great dinner...This place was fantastic. Authentic food, and did we say it was sooooo cheap?!

This scrapbook page, the second to be posted on this blog, has the first picture that we took in China ... which was of our first meal in Beijing. See? I wasn't joking about our priorities. I've used a few items from the, as yet, unlaunched Stampin' Up! Spring Mini. The little polka-dot ribbon is attached to some hidden journalling which details what we ate (rivetting and top-secret¹ stuff!). Quickutz Chopsticks font was used for the title.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Groovy Guava
Real Red
VersaMark

Stamps:
Canvas Background
One of a Kind set

Paper:
Groovy Guava CS
Only Orange Textured CS
Real Red CS
River Rock CS
Summer Picnic DSP
Whisper White CS

Accessories:
Basic Eyelets
Boho Blossoms Punch
Crop-A-Dile
Fire Circle Rhinestones
Glue Dots
Mat Pack
Pretties Kit
Stampin' Dimensionals
Stampin' Write Journaler

---

1. This is sooooo top-secret that only people with access to the internet can read it!

Memories, like the photo corners of my mind

It's about time that I posted a scrapbook page on this blog! Actually, it's about time I completed a scrapbook page full stop. It is kinda funny but I resumed papercrafting in the last few years because of scrapbooking. I accumulated lots and lots of scrapbooking stuff because the variety and loveliness of embellishments and pretty paper were mind boggling and the concept of journalling, meaningful. It also helped that this is one papercraft where you keep the results without any guilt!

Of course, there's always a catch. For me, it was the lack of photographs. I had many digital pictures of loved ones and special events but no printer. I could have gotten the pictures printed but I suppose inertia got the better of me and I used the stash to make cards instead.

Well, I don't have any excuses now (except, perhaps, the Stampertitis and a lack of talent). I recently purchased a colour printer and received some free photo paper just yesterday! It's a sign and it says "Make a heap of scrap!" So, here is the bottom of my pile:

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Chocolate Chip
Real Red
So Saffron
VersaMark

Stamps:
Artfully Asian set
Defining Alphabet set
In the Spotlight set
Symbols of Solicitude set
Totally Tabs set

Cardstock:
Close to Cocoa
Naturals Ivory
Old Olive Textured
River Rock
Whisper White

Accessories:
Corner Rounder Punch
Fire Circle Rhinestone
Five Petal Flower Punch
Glue Dots
Pretties Kit
Rounded Tab Punch
SNAIL
Sponge Daubers
Stampin' Write Journaler

The picture was taken by Hubby while we were in the Old Town of Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in China. The town is a marvellous place to wander around in - so much colour and character in the people and the distinctive buildings. One of the highlights is to see the red lanterns lit up at night. Ah! Memories...