In Loving Memory of Avery Lynn Canahuati 11/11/11 - 30/04/12

"Imagine you've been diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease and you are told you will not only lose your ability to walk and move your arms, but you will die between now and the next 18 months. What would you do? My name is Avery Lynn Canahuati, I'm almost 5 months old, and this has become my reality. But before I die, there's a few things I'd like to accomplish...this is my bucket list and my story. SHARE IT & HELP ME TELL THE WORLD ABOUT SMA!"

This is little Avery's introduction, on her blog Avery's Bucket List. Have you read her blog? Or seen her in the news recently? Avery has a genetic disease clled SMA type 1. Have you heard of it?

On the morning of 30 April, I chanced upon her blog. One of the posts on her blog has a bucket list, a list of things Avery wanna do before she dies, one of which read "Paint a picture for my mommy and daddy". Well, I can't paint on her behalf, cos that doesn't quite count does it? But I thought that little Avery and her parents might like a little hand made gift as keepsake, and here it is.

I've also included a pull out mechanism, where I wrote some stuff (not shown here) for Avery.

Unfortunately, Avery crossed the rainbow bridge later on the same day that I discovered her blog :(

Without me explaining, do you know what SMA is? Well, if you don't, please hop on over to her blog. I want you to hear it from her. So i'm not going to go into details here. But it's a genetic disease where MANY PEOPLE are carriers. You may seem normal, but it might surface in your children, or grandchildren because you passed it on to them. There are no cures, and infants suffering from SMA type 1 will not live past 2.

So what can you do?

The pre-pregnancy test for SMA is COVERED BY INSURANCE, but is not commonly offered (and most people don't opt for it cos they have not heard of it). So if you are thinking of having a child, or know of anyone who is, PLEASE hop on over to Avery's blog, to read about the disease which took her away, and prevent it from happening to yourselves. That's all Avery is asking for... Nothing can be done for her, but EVERYTHING can be done for you, if only you KNOW about SMA.

12 Days of Christmas: A Gift for Clara

A 12x12 LO for Clara. Featuring her cute niece Chloe :) Hence the layout was titled, C loves c. Big C = Clara, Little c = Chloe! This is also her birthday pressie. Lala is born on the last day of the year! The irony... when the clock strike 12, she ages yet another year! Imagine aging 2 years in a span of 24 hours hahahaha


Truth is, this layout was made using off cuts, leftovers from other projects! Can you identify the products used?



This layout was embellished with Webster's Pages journalling card, and guess what! The case that holds the cards is mighty useful too! Look! Peekaboo! I see you!

So yep, Clara can just swap the display photos as she wish :) Kinda an ever changing layout! Neat much?


Last look! Look at all the cutesy expressions!

The Good Life Carousel Shadow Box Pop Up Mini Album

EDITED ON 25 JULY 2011: Ok I have had multiple requests literally everywhere for a tutorial of this album. Well... I don't think a "tutorial" is necessary, since each and everyone of you have your own style on how to doll up an album. BUT... I've made a template for the base of this album and it is available for DOWNLOAD HERE. Just input your email and a link for the PDF download will be sent to your mailbox. Hope that helps! Also, a shout out to Merdrey for the inspiration on the carousel roof! :)

Please note however, that the template is for personal use only. Strictly not for sale and please do not re-upload it anywhere else for others to download it. If anyone wants it, please direct them to my blog to download it. Thank you and have fun! :)


Ok I'm done with the 2-part mini album swap that I hosted and here's what I came up with for my swap partner! It's a carousel-style shadowbox album!
And why do I call it a carousel album? well here's why! it opens up into a "carousel", complete with "roof" and multi-layer "shadow box" like pages! See see! Each page has 3 layers, one inch apart, and photos can be placed at of the layers to create a multi-dimensional look.


As you can see, each page has LOADS of embellishments... which is the whole point of why I designed the album as such. Well, I told the ladies to send enough embellishment to cover one 6x6 page (2 sides), but I think each sent enough to make HALF AN ALBUM! So I had to design something that allows me to expend as much embellishments as I can, yet still allow space for photos and journalling...



Well.. I love photos... And I suck at making videos honestly... But I think a video "tour" can better give a feel of the album so here's one!



A couple more photos... Hope ya like it!

Altered Matchbox Mini Album Swap

Tadah! My contribution to the matchbox mini album swap that I am hosting on scrappyhappiness ning!

Let me walk ya thru. I covered the matchbox with 1/4 dictionary paper and 3/4 7gypsies Lille collection paper, lace punched. Then diecut a baroque window and pierced a little hole to attach a mini ornate key. Don't ask me why I did that, honestly it was a pain to cut that little window and do that small piercing without tearing the matchbox, cos it was done very close to the edge.

Oh well... and finally I embellished it with a mini little flower, a hamply studios screenprint I cut and some lace.

For the inside, I made it a little pocket tag album, matted every page. And every page has a pocket for a pull-out tag which you can do some journalling on. The inside of the front and back cover also sport half pockets to slot some little photos or notes. I attached a little metal locket to the cover of the mini, and that acts as a closure, for me to thread some twine thru to hold the album in place. Can probably see better in the above pic.

So yea! Hope ya ladies like this! This is for group 1. I'm not sure if I can find an angel to fill in for group 2 yet, cos a couple of swappers pulled out. If I can't, I'll design another one for group 2. Won't be the same! :)

p/s: For my readers who want to have a sense of it's size, these matchboxes are about 5cm long! cute much?!

May Scrapbeach Wildcard Charm Swap

Made these itsy bitsy teeny weeny charms for the wildcard swap on scrapbeach. they are real tiny (and cute if i may say so myself)! like the smallest bead is only 3-5mm! pretty cute i must say!

and i encase them in matchboxes instead of the usual tags or cards (cos i bought lots for the matchbox mini swap that i'm hosting haha). thought the combination looked pretty sweet, yes? hehe

hmmm... but i'm not too sure if the ladies are gonna like these? i mean they look cute and all to me.. and i do like teeny miniature stuffies... but i do know that some people would prefer larger charms i suppose... so i am a little apprehensive.. hrm hrm hrm. what do ya think?

Life is Beautiful Mini Album

Did this in... Jan.. I think? But didn't have the time to photograph and post it. Not quite completed though... Cos some pages were designed for the embellies to go on top of the photos. I have set aside the embellies... Will post the completed album with photos when I am done (I hope, hehehe)


Used a ton of primas as you can tell. Prima gotta love me. And yes, the white doily is prima packaging haha



Lurrrvvveee Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint! That's Distress Crackle in Rock Candy. can't get it in the local store though.. So I gotta ship from USA... Boo...

Love those little flower balls! I included them in the Tim Holtz Swivel Clasps Swap that Nancy is hosting... So whoever's in my group gets charms with flower balls hehehe.



One last look at the album with pages open. It's a pretty fat album actually.. Can't close fully anyway... But that means that it's packed with goodness!

So yep! that's all for now! Comments comments?!

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!

Rusty Treasure Chest

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered my new favourite place, a local scrapbooking store called Laine's Papeterie. What caught my attention was this rusty looking treasure chest that was on display. I was subsequently told that there was gonna be a class held to create this little treasure. Overjoyed!

When I say rust, I meant those oxidized bronze kinda "rust". Not the reddish, dirty kinda rust. Something like that.

So here's what I completed in class.

A close up pic. Pretty realistic rusting eh? :)

Since Sharon (the instructor) was kind enough to share with us her technique. I'll spread the love! :) Here's how.

To create the rusty effect:

1. First, ink chipboard or cardstock with distress ink.

I used Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

2. Then use a stamp with busy designs and stamp randomly on the chipboard/cardstock with embossing ink/glue.

3. Emboss with a greenish embossing powder.

I used the Aqua ZING! Embossing Powder by American Crafts.

4. Rub Timbre Brown Staz On Ink over the embossed chipboard/cardstock.

TADAH!

I'm a happy girl :D

Oh wells... I was telling da hubby about my "new" hobby when I got home from class, when it dawned upon me that it isn't exactly a newly discovered hobby. But in fact, it's just... ART. Something that was once a big part of me, but was buried and overwhelmed by work and the mundane. I graduated from an Art College, but haven't been in touch with anything artsy fartsy for the past 3 years cos I'm working in the PR field now. The lack of artsy stuff in my life is slowly devouring my soul. I'm glad that I'm rediscovering art, and rediscovering myself in the process :)