things change

In my early days, I was pretty much in the limelight all the time. Moving to Penang was a wonderful change, a moving backwards of sorts and yet, moving forward, to a simpler, more meaningful existence. Being able to blend in, retreat into quiet spaces became something I treasured. My new uniform in this laid back, island paradise- jeans.
When smidapaper came to be, things changed. It became important to get out from backstage. Can a tiger change it's stripes?

Scrapbooking is such a personal pursuit. So much a baring of your soul. So much a sharing of your life, and, you know what, that's beginning to be really ok with me. My early pages were 'journaling free'. Privacy is privacy but, where was the story? What was the point? Well, things change. You're reading my personal blog and I'm journaling on my layouts. (even Esther is ) Who knew that scrapbooking would change so much. Who knew it was freeing? Who knew that your authentic self would emerge?




Even as we have evolved through this beautiful art, so has smidapaper. Here's a flashback. One year ago at our old location on Beach Street. Have we come a long way? To those of you who knew us then and still come around, HUG! How has scrapbooking changed you? Newcomers, you're in for a big surprise. And you are going to love it!

Oh, and thanks for visiting my blog.

this is scrapbooking

September school for late night scrapbookers has been shut down. At least the hours have been greatly reduced. Well, you see, I've been loving it! And 3am bedtime became 3.30am. Became, well, you can imagine. My brain began to do strange things. I would mean to say one thing and something else would come out. My doctor says I'm walking around but I'm really asleep. So this is sleep deprivation!

It is great to love your work so much that you can't wait to wake up and get to it and wish you didn't have to sleep. But, I've learnt. One does have limits. (I keep hearing my mom's voice saying "Everything in moderation", I hear you Mom)

So I sleep earlier. (Before 3) In the morning I'm at my desk.There is no layout there from last night. Just the paperwork and I begin to feel a litlle sorry for myself, wishing I had more time. I start to take out my scrapbooks. "Here's my hero book", and "oh, I love this one with everyday moments" and then my eyes rest on my December book. I'd challenged myself to do this last year, taking photos and scrapping them all the days of the month. As I turn the pages I begin to cheer up. Remembering. Everything comes alive. One ordinary month made so special because I recorded it. So this is what scrapbooking is about! It isn't about making the best page, with the newest and the most stuff. It is about celebrating your life. And the people you're blessed to have in it. Real life. Real memories. Real moments. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Every time!

I think I'll do it again. Another month in the life. Maybe if I sleep early and wake up really early...

Enjoy the process

Weekends are a great time for clearing your space. I thought I might take a break from scrapping , after all, it's my job and I do it all week. So i was all geared up for the big clean up.

I got my errands out of the way. Put in some quality time with Sarah. Settled everything at the shop and headed home.
My dream to have two separate workspaces came true when I moved house. So now, I have one desk facing the wall for all my paperwork and not so fun stuff and one whole desk for creating. This is what 'creating desk' looked like at 1pm on Saturday.
Stuff piled up from a week of scrapping till 3.30am!

It was hard to focus on cleaning up. All that scrapping stuff was beckoning. Calling me. It's great to have a job you love, doesn't feel like work. And so, I started to scrap... I'll just finish this, and oh, samples for next month's classes, ah and I've been meaning to try this new idea...







I did manage to clear my desk. Just the one. By 5 pm. One of my favourite phrases: Enjoy The Process!

Jack & Abby. Neat.

September is back to school month for many. For me too! Lessons start at 12.30am when everyone's been tucked in.
I have different teachers everyday. There are a few that I love, and I keep going back to them from time to time.
I am reluctant to leave my desk at 3am, but one has to sleep, no?

Running the shop has somewhat taken away from scrapping time; ordering, working on the site, schedules and paperwork have taken my attention from this great love. So, when I moved to our new home, I decided! I must go back to the basics, to the reason why I am doing this.

I have learned so much. I have been humbled. And inspired. There is so much great stuff out there.

I learnt one thing today.

As much as I love Elsie Flannigan I could never work her style. I can use all the chipboard buttons and funky doodles and still... you see, I'm neat. I cannot bear to see a rug not aligned. You can imagine how that affects my pages! I was doing a page for our Jack and Abby release ,(home is a place really close to my heart & this collection is all about home) , it was fun but I realised "This is a really neat page", then I realised that it's ok! You will be you and I will be me and Elsie, well, she'll be Elsie!

And the journey continues, the learning, the awe, the wonder. I'm loving it." There are no rules", I tell the gals who come to my class. But , hey, why not be the best that you can? And never stop learning!

I just had a peek at Wati's blog. She's a gal from Singapore (my hometown, btw). She came by the store one day but I didn't get to meet her. She does great stuff! More power to you, Wati!
You're my teacher today.

This is the one!

This is the one i have been waiting for =)

Low Tech

I've been working on setting up everyone to be linked to our shop website. (I have help!)My blog will be linked last so I tried to update it a few times. Alas! Blogger has changed and I couldn't access...blah blah blah.

Anyway, I got more help and I'm back! I am SO low tech :) Digital scrapbooking looms like a huge mountain I hesitate to climb, but for now, good old fashioned cutting & pasting & writing is keeping me plenty happy. I've been working on a couple of things;

1.A travel photo journal. I went on an extended 'artist date' in May and I'm almost done with the album. I used a 6" x9" ring type album which is great for adding pages, even for future jaunts. I will post the finished work here at some point.

2. A funky vintage birthday card. I thought I was pretty smart doing the hidden journalling thing but was told that everyone would have thought of the same idea. ;)

3.My pet project... we just moved house and I'm documenting the whole process. I've printed over a hundred photos, so between decorating(my first love), sorting the photos and actually scrapbooking, it may take a while to see some evidence of this work in progress but I can't wait to use the latest collection from love, Elsie- Jack &Abby.

I wonder if I can get some time off...