[crafty pursuits]

i love arts and crafts. i love creating stuff. i love the act of putting things together and creating something from nothing. i also love giving things to people - the look on their faces, the sweet anticipation of that look.

some sketches for gracie's room wall - have an idea of laser cutting these shapes onto sticky backed paper.

some diaries for next year:



wish i had loads more time to do these things!! :P

[celebrate]

celebrate my hours with gracie (since i've been working late nights and over weekends, those hours are more and more precious)


celebrate family - we had a great dinner with everybody in the family - it was vic's grandpa's 93rd bday! lots of good food and the usual chinese family gathering...



(made him this bragbook as he is constantly asking for photos of gracie)

celebrate love - yup, it's been 10yrs since we've been a couple. just wanted to make a little something for vic, afterall, 10yrs is quite a long time! :D








ok, u gotta check out my 2peas site if you want to see the rest, cos it's just too many pages to post here! :D

[imagine]

john lennon's song is going through my head right now.... (have this on LP! But sadly, don't own a player any more)

Gracie's recently started to get into role play and playing with her kitchen sets! We bought them some time ago, but she never really played very long with them, preferring to pour their contents out and scatter them all over the floor. Now, she 'cooks' with them, pretending they are very 'hot', and even putting 'sauce' (black sauce!) into them and 'stirring' them around. She loves letting us try her concoctions, which can range from the banal 'chicken soup' and 'porridge', to the exotic orange pear porridge and sometimes even 'man' soup!

Over the weekend, this was what we did with a blanket and 2 chairs:



our very own architect?? :D



and Always our princess!

[teacher teacher!]

I'm starting a *trial* first class with our local online scrapbooking store - owned and managed by my very 'old' friends M&M! Do check them out at -> www.velvet-cat.com!
Here's some samples of the pages which i'll be teaching in class, as well as a brief writeup of the class itself! :D


[The Layered Look]


[What's in a name]



The continuation of these classes will be dependant on the trial class being successful, so please DO spread the word! :D

[sunday activities]

I've been guilty of wanting much more 'me' time. It's inevitable, it's the weekend, we need our own time to do our own leisure activities. With a child, that amount of 'me' time is cut down drastically to the few hours when she naps in the day, and whatever scraps is left of the night after she falls asleep. The rest of the time is spent trying to keep gracie entertained and hopefully intellectually stimulated! So, apart from some trips out - zoo, beach, kiddie playgrounds - I've decided to have some time with gracie every sunday doing crafty things. These would be things which I would like to do as well, like baking cookies (ok, we haven't got THAT far, the stuff we've been making so far are hardly edible) making cushions, creating a cardbox car. Basically CREATING. i think it's pretty wondrous to watch something come out of nothing. Also, it's a great way to spend that sulky sunday...

Here's the first activity - dough cake making! (flour + water = tons of fun!)

[hazy hazy]

My daughter is a minimalist conversationalist ....
After her fall in the zoo, she'll say that her knee is 'painful', cos she has been 'running', falling 'bom' on the 'floor', and 'auntie' will put some 'cream' on her wound, and she'll have 'runny nose' cos she's been 'crying'.... *note, words in ' ' are what gracie actually said.

Here's some of the pictures we took when we went to sentosa on the incredibly hazy day - psi 128!!

[BIRTHDAY PRESSIES]

Not exactly tangible gifts, but something amazing happened last weekend -
BIG news #1. One of my scrapbook layouts got picked to be published on this magazine.
BIG news #2. I got into the top 20 shortlist at MM Idol - it's like american idol but for scrapbooking (i think there's still time to vote - www.makingmemories.com/mmidol)
BIG news #3. I've been chosen as part of the new Design Team for an online store (something every scrapbooker would love as part of the resume!)

Heehee... so i'm a happy chickie tonight..... :D

[inspiration]

I'm inspired by all sorts of things in my life.
I love pretty things and i love making things....
Yesterday was mum and pa's 34th wedding anniversary! wow to such a loving couple with a very healthy and close relationship (every single day of my 32 yrs they have always presented a united front - and really, that's what's parenting all about! in my opinion)
My present to them was a little mini book that i did about 'things that make me smile'.... which is kinda wierd, but i was thinking that if there was anything i would really like as a parent for her child - would be for her to be really happy... and that's what this book is about:

too many pages to post, but the full album can be viewed at - http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=992751

some inspirational sites i go too all the time:
http://www.littlebirds.typepad.com/ - simply too gorgeous to be true (and her husband's an architect too :D)

http://www.abigael.sg/ - thanks for inspiring me to create my own jewellery

http://gladcake.blogspot.com/ - fellow mum, but with a great passion which i can only view in awe :P

http://www.designpublic.com/ - a site for all the wonderful furniture that makes me wish i've more money

i see inspiration all over the place, but most of all, i feel inspiration comes from those closest to me - here's some precious pics of the little one :