DIY Valentine's Matchbox Card (From Scraps)

I used to make Valentine card for my husband. That was when we haven't got kids yet.. 

Now, with 2 kids.. I'm too lazy I have no time to make 😀 And that makes me feel guilty.

So... today I make this Valentine's matchbox card for hubby, inspired by shop3xu's artworks. 

Don't ask me who the shit is... 😁😁😁

I made the card in the office, using used DHL envelopes 😂😂😂. Hubby must be very proud to have a cheapo creative wife like me 😂😂😂

Baby Scrapbooks (Part II)

I made a month by month scrapbook page to record the milestones and precious details of my baby's first year. The purpose of each scrapbook page is to record the special memories that occurred during the month.

I used numbers in my scrapbook title to indicate the month.

Like for this one, "Precious little 1", to show that it is for my baby's first month. And "2 cute for words" is for the 2nd month... and so on..

I don't use alphabet stickers. Firstly, it is not cheap. Secondly.. I don't know what I'm going to do with the left overs "V", "X", "Z".. 

Luv this layout!! I used gift wrapper for the background, did a lil quillling.

My favorite part is the journalling part. I used papers from an old notebook that the pages turned yellow. I typed the journals using typewriter. I made the fishes from left over quilling papers, match with the background. As for the bottom part, i made my own pattern paper that match the background color (it was easy, just find any good pattern from google image and a lil bit of editing here and there.. Done! 😜

Another favorite layout. Love the title frame!!! This layout is about precision precision.. I cut out 1 big glitter paper to make the frame.. Glitter paper is expensive so I really need to be careful n measure properly or i will waste my $$$

How to make the page title?
 1. Find a good frame from google
2. Make the layout in microsoft doc
3. Safe it in pdf
4. Print screen the pdf
5. Open 'paint' and cut the image of the title+frame, save it under .jpg
6. Go to the ms doc again and insert picture (the title picture)
7. Adjust the size
8. Use the 'drawing tools' option to flip the picture horizontal
9. Print out and cut it
10. Paste it to the desired pattern paper
11. Start to cut...

Step 1-11 also applied for making page title (you see how troublesome it is? But since I enjoy it, it's kinda fun.. Haha) For this page title, I paste another paper with the word 'Time' and 'fun' behind the glitter paper.. After some measuring, it fits nicely, between the number 4 😉

I think this is the most difficult layout I ever made..

It all began when I have these photos of my son when he started to turn. And was thinking to make a layout that can show the process nicely. So I choose to make this "snake" layout.

Problem is.. I need to cut the photos so they can match the shape nicely. 1st attempt: failed. I never failed before!! So it was quite disappointing. I need to re-print everything and find another paper as the background etc.. Very troublesome.. And I didn't expect that it will failed. Coz this is not the 1st time I do this layout. I've done the same layout for my wedding scrapbook. Well.. it has less photos though, so that's why this one is more difficult..

2nd attempt: almost failed.. I tought that if 2nd time failed, then that's it! I give up.. (I know I must not give up easily, but I was quite tired.. I do my scrapbook night time.. After work and take care of my family. So I was in a tired condition when I did it. Of course I expect everything will go smoothly..)

Once the photo layout is done, next challenge: the text. Have to match the shape.. 1st attempt: failed. I roughly calculate the size etc.. It didn't work (what was I thinking??!!) So, I drew the shape in a tracing paper, and scanned it, then I used the drawing as a base to put the text..

Another problem is the title. It was too pale, so I tought why not put some shadows? So I use a marker which I never use before anddd.. It was too big for the font and it was sooo ugly, I decided to scrap it and re-do.. (Only the 'F'). But since I've made a shadow for the 1st font, I need to finish it with the rest. Anddd it was not nice.. It looks sloppy 😞 Oh well, not my favorite layout (definitely) but I'm glad I've finished it..

Working with a pattern paper is quite tricky.. You don't want to cover the nice picture/ pattern with your photos or journal. I like to use nice pattern paper so I don't need to use embellishment. But of course the down side is to make a layout that can fit nicely with the background.. On the right side I put photos of my son's response to different food. He definitely doesn't like apple haha!

The photos cropping makes me got a headache 😑 but I'm quite satisfied with the end result..

The background is a paper with a wavy patterned below. So I need to cut the photos following the wavy pattern. Problem is... To crop the photos so they can fit with the frame... In the end I use different size for each photo.

I have 2 topics for this month.. My son's teeth came out and he can clap his hands.. So after searching through pinterest, I finally get this layout.. Not really good, like something is missing... It is good to use plain paper for the journal, but then it will cover most of the background so it wont look nice, but using vellum like this make it looks quite plain... Sigh..

Nothing special with the layout.. Just a simple one, but i love it! 😊

This layout is quite simple but need to measure the photos and cropping etc.. I threw some of the photos coz the size somehow shrink after printing... Even if it just 2mm different, but bcoz the gap between the picture is 5mm, I cannot use them.. In the end, quite satisfied with the layout 😊

Luv luv luv this layout!!! And it is dominated with blue color too!!! My fav! 😁 It's all about My son's bday, we celebrated it at the sea aquarium. He luv it so much! At the right side, I put a pocket. Inside got the booklet, entrance tickets and also 1 letter for my son.. Suppose to give him a letter on what we expect from him when he received this scrapbook album etc, but now still an empty envelope coz.. We don't have time to sit down and write the letter 😓 (He is 4 yo already now..)

This page dedicated to my husband. He was the first person who changed my son's diaper. He also thought me how to clean his poopoo, and bathe him during my confinement period. He also help me to feed him milk in the middle of the night when he was still a baby, coz he thought I must be tired so it is only fair if he also takes part.. He gives me my 'me' time whenever I need to go for ladies nite.. Instead of complaining, he said that I can have my ladies nite every week or whenever I want.. We are so blessed to have him :')

I lost my glue 😞 so I used another one which is stronger.. Turned out that once it's stick to the paper then cannot change position ald.. Hix.. That explains the sloppy title 😭 So sad sad sad... I luv the paper so much..

This time I used another glue (liquid), turned out to be ok. But it leaked... So it was quite messy.. Sigh.. Time to buy a new glue 😞

Everything was fine. I cut the prayer, line by line. Arrange nicely. Till I realised... I missed 1 row!!!! And nooo, i cannot re-print or re-do coz everything has been calculated nicely and cannot just anyhow insert another row.

So I continue and skip the missing row Then comes the 2nd mistake... After finished, looks nice.. I realized that I put the gap wrongly. The cutting between verse 1 and the 2nd one is wrong!!! Oh well, just need to close one eye (or both since it was 12.17am when I finished this).. And be grateful for the layout and the colors that turned out to be just nice..

Baby Scrapbooks (Part 1)

I want to share a baby scrapbook made by me & hubby for our son. Hopefully it will bring inspirations to those who wanted to keep memories alive through scrapbooking 😊

The difference between my scrapbook with others is that there are 2 journalling in a scrapbook page. One made by me, another one by my husband. So that my son will know 2 sides of the story 😉

Being a working mom the only time when I can do scrapbooking is at night (around 10pm-11.30pm), although it is tiring but I enjoy it 😊 . Hopefully I can give this scrapbook album to my son when he is older..

1st time tried to do quilling.. Thanks to a friend for the idea when she gave me a beautiful handmade quilling bday card 😊

Details... I purposely choose pregnancy test kit that is not too big or too thick, coz I already planned to keep it for my scrapbook page *LOL*. (Watson brand - If I'm not wrong). I took a lot of time to finish this page.. But I'm quite satisfied.

9 months pregnancy and a lot of pictures from my gynea.. I was thinking to have 4 pattern papers that related one another.. Then I had an idea to use 4 seasons concept. But it was really difficult to find the scrapbook papers. 

In the end I made my own scrapbook paper.. I must say that it was a looot of work to do. But I'm happy with the result

Tips to make monthly pregnancy photos:
1. Find a good spot and try to take the photos at the same spot every month
2. Find a dress that you know it can fit till the last stage of your pregnancy

Found a nice scrapbook paper and it was very cheap.. Only $1 haha..

Previously I was going to use brown paper as the background. I was stuck for few days.. Then when I change the paper to blue, the inspiration flows smoothly. I guess Brown is not my color... The right things on the bottom right are my son's hair and umbilical cord..

To be continued...

Keeping memories alive

Memories are one of the most important aspects of life. While our brain does the best it can to store our memories, some still fade away.

As a mother, I wanted to keep a memory journal for my kids. I don’t want to forget the small, everyday things. I record specific stories, prayers, photos, funny things they said or did, because.. they grow up too fast... I make those journals into scrapbooks.

I know some mothers who did the same by keeping those memories in their FB album/ posts or even blog. Well, keeping them in a blog is much better than in FB album/ posts, because in a blog, you can put some labels that can help you to sort the posts when needed. And you can also find specific post based on the posting date.

In my opinion, FB is a bad bad choice to keep your precious memories of your children. Why?
1. Your FB page is filled with not only things about your children, but also things that interested to you that you shared with your friends (video clip, quotes, recipe albums etc) or your friends tagged you. How to sort those posts with no labels on?

2. Some mothers create a FB account for their children. So, all the posts about the children will be posted in their FB page. One day, the mother will show the FB account to their children and they will be thrilled to browse and see how they were doing back then when they were still a baby ... or so that's what they thought..

Now.. Can imagine 17 years from now, your children have to browse all those 17 years worth of FB posts? Have fun scrolling and browsing (That is.. if the FB didn't crash) LOL

I make scrapbooks for my children.

While my kids are very young and nowhere near ready to read them themselves, I am committed to continue making them so that someday they can read them and know how I prayed for them before they were even born. What hopes and dreams I had about being their mother, and how much I cherished all those everyday moments.

I look forward to the day when I get to give them to my children for them to cherish and read through too. I’m always looking for ideas and creative ways to record and store away keepsakes from my children’s childhood, what do you do to preserve your memories with your children?