Memento Mori... Vive Hodie!

Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality" or "Remember you will die".

Nothing morbid, really. It's a phrase to remind ourselves that we are only human, and that we should be humble, to remember the fragility of life and to cherish.

So yep, here's a 8.5" x 6" fabric-cover mini album encased in an altered mini stitched chipboard luggage.

Luggage is titled Memento mori, while the mini album reads Vive hodie, which is latin for "Live today". Pretty little thingies if I may say so myself. Love how the two items came together.

Don't you guys just hate how mini albums explode with embellies and look like they are gonna fall apart anytime? Well I do. So yea, I love how the luggage holds the album together and protects it.

Oh and look at the transparent box adhere to the backpage of the album! It's actually the packaging that holds the japanese papers that were used for the pages of the album! Now I have space to store those little bits and pieces of ephemera and what-have-yous! Innovative idea yea? Thanks Merdrey for the tip!

Haven't figured out what sorta photos I'm gonna put in here though... Any suggestions?

p/s: see that pretty pink with white accents chipboard alpha stickers that spells "mori" and "hodie"? Those are exclusive American Crafts Chipboard Alphas that only the local scrapbooking store Papermarket carries. Sold no where else in the world cos it's a collaboration between AC and Papermarket! If you are interested in purchasing, they are selling at $9.90 per pack. I can help purchase them, just drop me your request in the comment section :)

Walking With Nature Mini Album

Loooooovvvveeee this album to bits! This album was made using ONLY 7gypsies Conservatory papers! Well... ALMOST. Just one little pebble, 1 chipboard swirl from K&Co., 2 prima flowers, 1/4 of a sheet of wood "paper" and... that's it! The rest are just paper! With lotsa inking, stamping and fussy cutting!


See the flowers? These are handmade using the 7gypsies paper cos I couldn't find flowers of suitable colors. Not too shabby if I may say so myself. Considering that this is my first time making flowers!

Here's some fussy cutting. Cut out those flowers and vines from an 8x8 sheet of Conservatory paper. In fact, all the little flowers throughout the album were cut from the same sheet :) Maximise usage!

More fussy cutting! I am quite the perfectionist. And almost drove myself crazy snipping those little vines and flowers. Haha. But I love how they turned out!

Opps... Have not matted these pages yet. Oh well... I'll get down to it another day. For now I'm happy just looking at the inked pages!

Page on the left was created overlaying old dictionary paper onto pattern paper, then ripping the top layer off, revealing the bottom... Then inking like crazy.

Page on the right was created by inking distress ink over beacon's advanced craft glue. The glue acts as a resist to give that circular border effect. A little something I learnt from Sharon :)

Love the little wooden frame I created, photo slips right in from the top!

What do you think?! I really do heart this messy, inky, muddy looking "nature" album to bits!

Live Laugh Love Staircase Mini Album

I have something fantabulous to share today! (Thanks Drew!) Look at how beautiful this mini is! The colors are gorgeous! And every photo matt is machine-stiched :) Pretty eh?!

Lotsa prima flowers to go with the beautiful prima mixed collection papers! And I love the alphas. Tim Holtz Chip Block alphas. If you have a Sizzix, this is a must-have. I've already planned to use this on a 7gypsies mini album that I'm working on. Will share! :)




The scallop edge is done using Tim Holtz Sizzix Die SCALLOPS On The Edge Alterations.

Awesome stuff Tim Holtz comes up with! So looking forward to his upcoming new releases at CHA!

Collection Altered Multi-Drawer Trinket Box

December Project! Altered a Multi-Drawer Box by Karen Foster.

Embellies were mostly just buttons by Graphic45, with a couple of metal embellies from Tim Holtz. Of cos, the little drawers require pattern paper to cover... October Afternoon papers were used here, but you could always use scraps! Budget eh? haha

See the border that looks like wood? Thought it's real?! Aha! Gotcha!

A technique that I learnt from Sharon. Rub the length of a candle down kraft cardstock. Remember not to hold the candle like a pencil and draw. Next, rub distress ink over the cardstock. I use Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink here. The candle wax will resist the ink and there you have it! Woodgrain!

Another method would be to paint the surface with acrylic paint using a dry brush (preferably a damaged brush that has dried paint on it). Then just run distress ink over it. The uneven surface created by the brush can mimick woodgrain too!

Have fun!

Early childhood education

So I was reading this column on the daily newspaper and the columnist was talking about sarcasm in children. And how his 4-year-old son will roll his eyes and say "...And there were two bears" before walking away. That was his equivalent of "talk to the hand." Hilarious.

I thought that was good haha. But this article is even better. Talks about how 2 siblings were not allowed a pet dog (or animals in general) and decided to adopt a housefly just to get back at their dad. A pretty good read. Here. Check it out :)

Digressing. That's also the story behind the name of this blog. I have a newborn baby boy. And was gonna blog and scrap about him, and thought "...And there were two bears" was a pretty cute blog URL. I like sarcastic kids. You want to laugh and strangle them at the same time. Haha.

Sweet Sweet Moments Altered Post-it Board

I WON I WON I WON!

There was this voting contest on Facebook, and the prize is this altered post-it board by Jaz... AND I WON IT! Thanks to like the 60-70 friend who voted for me! Love ya guys!

See see see! Pretty right!

Hmmm... I have no use for a post-it board though... so I'm gonna alter the post-it part of it into a calendar instead, and attach a DND sign to the bottom of the board, and hang it on my room door. Can flip to the DND sign when I am *ahem cough cough* pumping breastmilk or feeding baby. Hehehe.

Perhaps my sign should read "Gourmet @ Work" instead of DND hehehe.

Angels Altered Box

A pretty romantic box in Webster's designer Jaz signature style. Pretty much?!

Jaz's original design was meant to be the album cover of a 6-page accordion fold album actually. But I never quite like accordion fold albums cos I can't jam pack them with embellies due to the nature of the folds. So I decided to make it into a box instead.

But... it isn't just a box! Look! here's the show stopper! Jaz original design came with the hinges as embellishments. But I thought it was a waste that they weren't functional, so I made a secret compartment under the layerings! Good for those little jewellery and stuff! Weeee....!


I really liked the layers of this box cover, so i translated the design onto a 12x12 layout for my dearest Granduncle and Grandaunt. Am closer to them then my grandparents, cos I was brought up by them since I was 2 months old :) Much love!