Sad news

This is super SAD news for me. HERE. How you ever like something so much that it is hard to let go? PArting is tough. I always enjoy the inspiration here. Wishing these creative gals the best........ they are such great inspiration.

OLW - Gratitude

Word up at OLW - Gratitude. This word has huge meaning for me. Mostly important, i want to document who taught me this value. Gratitude Journaling: I will always remember the Chinese proverbs "Yin Shui Shi Yuan" (I can't type out the chinese font here). Grandmom taught me about gratitude through this very impartful phrase. It means whenever you drink water, you must remember the source(spring). This teaching and value stayed with me thru life. I learnt to appreciate the ones who has blessed my life. I've learnt to give back to others, those who are in need. I've learnt to say thank you. I've learnt to always let gratitude fill my heart, whenever things dont turn out as I want. And when I looked at my life now, I am grateful for 2nd chances, grateful for those who encouraged me, those who saw potential in me. I remembered the soulful voice of grandmom, her deep winkles yet a face full of grace and love. She may not have the best of life but she learnt to be grateful. This value will stay with me & I will impact it to my children. All using Webster Pages "Nature's storybook", provided by YSS. I cut the tree and well from a sheet of PP "Wishes Come True"(Webster Pages). I use the tree as a mask first by spraying some glimmer mist. I like having the well there... cos it ties in with my story (remember the water source)... hee..hee...

OLW - beauty

Here is for OLW - Beauty I use this verse from the Bible which is my fave: One thing I ask of the Lord and this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple Psalm 27:4 This verse calms me down a lot. To what is important. To worship God. To look upon his beauty. From him flows beauty, into my imperfect world - my thinking, my attitudes... my speech, my life. It inspires me to BE what he wants me to be. Beautiful inside and out! - I cut out some butterfly and use as mask. Then the white space for journaling. And I like what Lucy did on AMM where she gives a breakdown of a page. Here we go: - I love the texture of fabric. I sew then spritz with Glimmer mist. Then stamped on it. - under the word beauty (mist with Patina).. is a lace misting.. I just place my lace there and spritz yellow. - yes.. more stamps - Purple Onion Music Note. - can you spot the bird stamp - oh.. so cute - from Crafty Secrets. - this is sooo subtle.. which I like. NOt obvious. I stamp a Purple Onion butterfly. Clear emboss. Then I spritz some Glimmer Mist (Patina) over it. It resist the mist. Just clean the stamp image a bit. Just love the "now you see it - now you don't" effect. This page sums up my style: - layering - subtle little details ( i love little 'touches' like these) - stamping, misting - texture

OLW -living

Ooooo.... I love this word over at OLW.... "Living"... it is so full of vibrancy, life and expectation. So, I altered this CD case where my Webster Pages journaling paper came in. This is like a love letter to myself. This paper has a stamp image at the top right corner. Very cool!. And I like the colours of teal and raspberry combo for this project. "WORTH LIVING" Techniques: - For the cover, I stamp the case with Staz-on White.. to give it a misty look. - Then I add a Fancy Pants packaging tape across. - I painted a frame with teal... oooo... loving this colour. Then I use my fingers to dab on Gluepad... randomly dab on the frame. Then I sprinkle... just a bit of WHITE UTEE..heat emboss.... . this gives the speckles look on the teal frame. You get the White 'dots'. - Layer with a Prima flower, a piece of raspberry felt.... - then I paste a small piece of FP packaging tape... then i use my heat gun... it crinkles and curls due to the heat. Love love the effect. - found a vintage butterfly to add on top. Do you like this? Journaling inside: I love this recent photo of myself..... very healthy looking.... full of life... hee..hee... of course, after losing some weight due to my Jan illness. Journaling reads: I am glad to be where I am today. When I was young, I often wondered why I am here. What am I living for? What's my purpose in life? When I found God, I finally understood the meaning of life and found my purpose for living. I am living out my calling acoording to his plans. I am enjoying life, I am truly living. I dont need to struggle whether I am worth living.... I found the source of life. I am soaking in the joy, the fun, the ups and downs of living. As i journey along, I found fulfillment, satisfaction. I'm living the life I 've imagined & better. I am worth living. I am awake, conscious each day of the tremendous energy life gives. I've decided to give my best shot in living. One life, LIVE it! Back looks like this:

I didn't disappear to some caves!

hi friends, some of you are wondering what happened? Where did I disappear to?

I wish I could tell you I was whisked off to St. Barts and sipping some cola on a beautiful beach.

No!

I was lying on a hospital bed........... on NEW YEAR's DAY! What a bummer!

Well, I was very sick since Boxing Day.....shoo.... I miss all those post Christmas sale. 1st bummer!

Then the next 7 days were spent at home, moaning from the body aches, the shivers and the high fever. Yes.. it went up to 40 degree Celsius...... (American friends, you got to convert this to F). Went to see doc but the medicine didn't help.

Then New Year's Day, I went weak, breathless.......... off to the A&E (equ to ER) of my local hospital. Blood pressure very low..... heart beat weak... breathless.... not good signs.

Took blood tests, chest X-ray.............. they immediately put me on a drip... first to hydrate me.... then some antibotics drip to get to the viral infection. Then a put on a oxygen tank to help me breathe!

After hubby settled the adm procedure and came to the ward... he went "Wow.. this is serious".

Doc came with a chirpy voice "You've got PNEUMONIA".......... wait... I can't even spell that!

No arguements... you got to be in hospital for a week!

A week! That's hell!

So that's my story........... what a start to 2009! What a wake up call for me and my health!

I was out within 5 days, which means I am recovering..... GOOD thing!

Thank God I brought my humor along.... while fighting the viral infection... some days on the hospital bed, i dreamt of sipping a ice cold orange juice. I think I may be too dry in my throat and the fever too high......... so... my hands stretched to reach for that drink........

Then reality came in "Mdm...... hold that hand... I am going to take your blood pressure."

hahaha.... I was reaching my hand to 'take' that drink..... the nurse caught hold of my hand......... LOL! She woke me up from my dream!

Along with that.... I was still dreaming of my ice cold lemon tea.... no amount of bribes could get someone to bring me that.

My mom (in her Chinese Cantonese fashion) pronounced "No cold drinks for a month... let your lungs rest!".... oh my goodness... I am dying! She is already thinking of the traditional Chinese Medicine to feed me! Yucks!

So, for a rough start to 2009, I made this LO to remember this BIG start!

Just nice... OLW word up is "START" so I did this one.

"Not exactly a good START to 2009"

using all my fav Webster Pages papers..... i did a Purple Onion stamp at the top.... a music note... did some fake stitching with Doodlebug rub-ons. I love that curly paper which house my journaling and title. Love it so much!

Journaling: 01.01.2009, I ended up at ER@ my local hospital. I had been sick since Boxing Day, high fever, shivers, pain all over my body. The dread continued for 7 days till New Year's Day. cannot breathe.. too weak seriously... this is no joke. Doc said "Pneumonia"... hooked up to a drip, IV for antibotics..... worse... need a oxygen tank to breathe. NOT EXACTLY A GOOD START to 2009. Spend the next 5 days at the hospital. More determined ever to start

- my vitamins regularly

- my exercise routine.....ok...ok.. brisk walking counts...LOL!

- listening to my body. If I'm tired, I need to rest.

- laughing more.... I'm way too intense.

Well, a rough start does not mean I will live like that.

For the next 360 days ahead, it will be good.

A healthy start to a good, mental, emotional & physical well-being.

That's my wish fora start.

I will end 2009 better and well!

Woohoo..... LISTEN to the good news!

Woohoo.... over at OLW... I won I won... Here is what I submitted............ I loooooooooooovvee OLW... since Aug this year... I have been hooked... I am a journaling person... I am a word person.. Yes... I am seriously addicted to OLW. I won a kit from Kenner Road. How thrilled I am!!! I have been stalking this kit club since last month... they are relatively new in the market... but their pick are seriously good!!! Anything vintage will win my heart but this kit is more than amazing..... it has THAT touch... which makes the difference for me........ Check them out! Now, floating on cloud 9............ see ya!

Listen to your heart

I am in a state of hopeless devotion to my Webster Pages...... some of you will notice I have been using WP in my recent LOs.......... really I looooooooove it so much!

This page is inspired by Anabelle, see her blog here.

I love to cut up the papers... layering over... with lace, flowers... and Hamblys... seriously in love with them all. I trace a scallop pp to a WP paper.......... use a white pen to draw a frame...... simple!

Here is I created for DT for Scrap Schemes "(i am also submitting this for OLW)

Listen to your heart

Journaling: Mar 2008, communication with you was tough. Nothing got thru. You were acting up, frustrated. Crying alot.... anxious..... yet doesn't want to talk much. We seemed to lose our connection. One day i was talking to your dad about this problem. He said "LISTEN to her"... I was defensive.... "what do you mean, I wasn't listening?" Everyday I am listening.

You dad said these words of wisdom which jostled me "Listen to her.... I mean her 'nonsense".... her silly jokes.. her goofy antics with her classmates... that's a part of her right now. Then slowly she will tell you the more serious, the issues weighing her heart. You got to be patient, to get past the trivial first.

Then i realised I have been falling short in this area.... i have been listening to what I want to hear.... to what I like to know.... I am too impatient. I brushed off a part of you.... the part where you tend to notice funny, silly things. I am not listening.... I am so sorry... I will try again.

I will learn to listen, to pay attention, to be there, to listen to ALL of you, to listen to your world, your perspective. Months have passed since... things have improved. I am grateful fo rthis learning experience- the art of listening. I've not mastered it full but I am still trying. To listen with my ALL, to ALL you are!

OLW -keep

This week OLW is 'keep'...... love it!

Oh... I had to tell this story... my girl who can't keep secrets!

She keeps spilling the beans on me - my 'sins' all exposed!

Titled: Can you KEEP a secret?

Journaling:

Can you keep a secret? All my secrets are definitely not safe with you.

You can't keep your excitement.

You can't keep smiling.

You can't keep it inside.

You just got to spill it all.

You got to tell on my new shopping sprees.

My new shoes, my new dress, my new scrap supplies.

I suspect daddy sent you as a spy. keep you with me so you can report all my naughty secrets to him!

I did lots of cut-outs from the lovely SR papers... added stickles to the large flower. I love the effect! Tell me what you think.

OLW - Change

Over at OLW, the awesome work of the DT never fail to inspire me.

I love this word - change.

Maybe because I hate to stay the 'same old-same old' day in and day out.

I like change.

But sometimes it can be painful, annoying and upsetting.

But well, here is my LO "Change is necessary"

Journaling: "I wonder that happen when the caterpillar does not want to change. It will lose the opportunity of growing wings, miss the joy of flappings its wings and fly. This is a reminder to myself. The cost of staying status quo is far greater than the price for change. So, change is necessary. "

I develop the same photo in 2 finishes, one in full colour and the other in sepia. I cut the colour one and lay on top of the sepia to bring focus on the butterfly. Btw, this photo is taken by hubby. Lovely shot!

Using all Graphic 45 papers......... wooohoo... gorgeous papers! Love it!

OLW - LOVE

Over at OLW, the word up is LOVE. I did several LOs this week which had lots of layering and stuff... but for this challenge... i want to focus on the words (but of course).......... so i 'slope' the journaling at 1 side and a group of focus embellishments on the other. Titled"Love me not".... you noticed part of the photos hold the title.... Journaling: Sometimes I wonder how so many of these around me could love me. I do have my PMS or 'love me not' moments. I don't think I am nice or good enough to be loved. I do have my hot temper times. I do have my critical or sarcastic days. I do have my fussy, picky days.

Nanny, what will you thinking when you pick me up? What made you love me when I was such a difficult baby - crying non-stop?

When the 9 other nannies before you fled, you stayed and loved me.

Mom, what made you love me? Tolerating my nonsense, my rebellion, my sharp words, my wilful attitude?

Sis, what made you love me? I am fierce beyond any comparison. So strict with you. So stern towards you. You've seen the worst of me. Yet you love me.

Chee Khan, what made you love me so much, so deep even after more than a decade of marriage? You have seen my 'not-submissive' side. You have tasted my spiteful words, my prideful attitude, my 'not-so-wise' spending habits. You have seen my selfish ways, my mercy-less times. You tolerated my horrible driving. Yet you love me so much, beyond what I can give you.

Thank you, all of you for loving me. Because of you, I know what LOVE is. Love is tolerance, long-suffering, grace, selfless giving, unconditional. I love you .