maya road

I had the privilege of attending a workshop taught by Caroline, the founder of popular U.S. based scrapbook brand.
There was much to learn, the projects were beautiful and the class was run smoothly , very well prepared and professional.
Most of all the people were really great! Thank you Caroline and all the folk at MWL, you ladies are rare gems.

I came home inspired and motivated. Still glowing from the break and happily jumped back into my routine.

outside| looking in

Martha Beck, a life coach and contributor to Oprah magazine says that we are not equipped for the environment we live in.
I really have been feeling that lately. Too much of everything =overwhelm. How then to find balance?
Take a look from the outside in! Just when you think you haven't got another minute to do another thing...
On impulse, I bought tickets to "Bee Movie". Now I don't watch TV and hardly EVER go to the movies. My schedule was getting ridiculous and I'm going away this weekend, What possessed me?
Turned out to be just the therapy I needed. Just sitting there, mindlessly. No other agenda except to chill! It wasn't a great movie but the rewards surely were.

I guess we need to get out of our routine now and then, even when we think we just can't. Take another route. Road. Door.
When we came home I thought I might go out the other door and look in. This door leads to a commom garden and we hardly ever use it. It had just rained. The air was crisp and cool and there was a gentle wind blowing. I stood for a while looking in, at my home , this place where I live. and then I stood some more. How refreshing. How simple.


I-mei and I will take this a bit further. We are going to spend the weekend being students and shoppers. We can't wait .

by the twinkling lights of the tree

We've had the same short , stumpy tree for years. Last year I almost bought a new tree, I wanted to have a tall towering tree, the kind you had to get up on a ladder to dress up. Philip convinced me to wait. "Next year," he said "in our new house".
So I waited, and finally the tree is up . 8 feet tall. We only put up the lights, so far, and it was so pretty we camped in the living room in the glow of the pretty lights.

sheer mini book

Oh what a week! I feel like I've been to battle. I wrote in my planner this morning. 'Note to self: Have a really great day!'
And a reminder to set aside some creative time. AND, I managed to finish the sheer mini book that I started.


I had fun with the sheer flowers from Maya Road , originally intending to paint them but in the end thought they looked good as they were and just added some buttons, brads and epoxy centres. With brads they work great as a sheer layer over journaling.



I started with a Making Memories album and changed the ribbon tie from white to red, to keep with the colour theme of red, white, cream, black and brown. And to meet the approval of the teenage subject ;)

I think she liked it.

trees, chipboard & sheers

Do you notice that even with so many scrapboking supplies & products out there, there are a few that you fall in love in and keep using for some time? I'm loving trees & chipboard right now. Decided to make this the theme for the book I'm doing on our new home. Here's a layout I did about 'Moving day". I'm also very much into neutral backgrounds, mostly white, grey or brown.

Another trend I'm loving now? Sheers! I'm working on a mini book using these elements. Not sure if it will be a class, though. Maybe if I can get all the materials. Anyway, it's not nearly done but I'm excited about the possibilities. Here's a peek at the early stages.


I'd love to know what you all are loving right now. =)

Max

Our Rhodesian Ridgeback pup arrived from Australia on Friday. Philip has been waiting for him even before he was conceived.
Little did he know what he would be in for. So far, he's been in the pond (a lot) uprooted some plants, destroyed some others! Now Philip has to walk the other two and then go out again with Max, but he sure is sweet. A lot of scrapbooking moments coming up...

where i work

I'm the ony person I know who has four desks! I have two identical Ikea tables in my home office/ studio, where I spend productive time in the mornings and late at night. There are glimpses of my creative table scattered on my blog. The other one, where paperwork , planning, ordering,etc gets done...I'll show that to you sometime , when it's er, neater.


This is where I work when I'm at , well, work.I have two desks here as well. The desk at the far end is where the serious stuff happens. From here I can see the shop through a window. I gaze longingly in that direction sometimes, wanting to be out there where the people are. Who knew that a scrapbook store would generate so much paperwork . (Those are the files you see to the right of my table) I actually have two jobs, the other related to the car business.

Now the other table is where the fun is. Here I 'receive' shipments, do photography for the website,class schedules, pricing- which means , if I'm in a good mood, products go out to the store cheaper, (just kidding) . Here we brainstorm , share ideas , make decisions.

If you don't see me in the shop, I'm probably at some desk or other. And if I'm not there, I could be out walking. Recharging! =)