It's Friday

Today's weather was a little bit better than yesterday. While the cooler weather in the morning was just perfect for me to wash Ethan's stroller, the heat in the afternoon dried it.

It really needed some washing. The long travel from Surabaya (Indonesia) to Vancouver (Canada) to Toronto (Canada) and then from Toronto back to Vancouver in early July, followed by going back to Toronto to pack up all our stuff and flew to Vancouver just 4 days ago. . . wow, just listing this traveling that we did within the last 2 months made me feel exhausted, imagine how I felt during those traveling times.

Meanwhile, Ethan was busy playing nearby. I filled the stroller snack tray with water and let him played with it. Grandma seemed to have a better idea. She took out a few little toys for him to 'wash' just like his mom washing the stroller. Surprisingly, this simple random things combined together amused him.

I even had a little extra time to tackle the unpacking task. 3 luggages are empty and ready to be stored and the rest will just have to wait until tomorrow.

And hopefully, in a month or two we'll find our own place. At that time, the packing task will begin again.

Sizzling-Hot Weather

We're back to Vancouver from Toronto 2 days ago and greeted by the hot weather.

Vancouver is reaching its highest temperature this week. As a matter of fact, it's official that yesterday it broke its old record. It was around 38°C. Yuck! No wind to feel and no rain in sight.

Today's weather is not much different. Little Ethan is sweating but is still full of energy. Lol. It looks like he just took a bath . . . a bath of sweat that is.

Good thing that the portable air-conditoner that we purchase a couple of weeks ago through on-line had arrived. My dear hubby installed and put it in our bedroom yesterday upon his return from work so that we could get a good sleep at last. We all know that we need a good sleep in order to function well during the day. After all I have unpacking those 6 plus luggages and laundry to do. Cardmaking and scrapbooking will just have to wait.

If you ask me which one I like better: cold weather or hot weather, I'd say cold weather. At least I could wear thick jacket and sleep under a cozy thick blanket.

This Vancouver hot weather actually reminds me about the hot weather post that I did when we were in Indonesia (read here).

I Don't Feel Like Doing It

*Sigh* it's time for packing up all our stuff again. We're leaving on Tuesday to Vancouver. It's not that I don't want to go, I just hate the part of packing and unpacking of it. And it's not the end since we're going to live at my parents' place temporarily until we find a place that we can call home sweet home.

We packed one luggage yesterday, and today we're going to do a couple more, I think, if we could find things that we're not using until the last day.We can't pack the TV just yet since we need that, or the printer since I'm using it for my scrapbook pages. I promised my hubby that I'll pack my papers, tools, etc on Sunday. And I really want to have them organized so that we don't need to open all the luggage while at my parents'.

Can foods, bottles of sauces and condiments are heavy to bring so we're trying to use them as much as we could.

Six checked baggage, three carried-on baggage, a purse (or bag) and a stroller may sound too many, but I wish I could bring more. But that's the maximum allowance we can bring with Air Canada.

Craft Diva Award

I never consider myself as a Diva, but I'm flattered that I'm nominated for Craft Diva Award by Debbie of NYPapercrafter. Visit her blog here.


In return, I'd love to share the award with other bloggers whose works I enjoy and admire:

Vink of As Mind Goes By

Lynsey of Swirly Thoughts

Molly of Molly Lee Cards

Lisa of Handmade in Israel

Please also visit Craft Diva: http://craftdiva.ning.com. Get to know other crafters and share your ideas.

Cards for Cars

Every once in a while, I love to do trading with other Etsy sellers. It's one of things that I love being on Etsy community.

I recently made a trade with a lovely Etsian seller, SimpleWoodenToys. Granpa Ernie is the carpenter who makes these wonderful wooden toys. Mary, his daughter, runs the shop for him, and she was a great person to deal with. A trade of CaRds for cArS.

A couple of days ago, this set of 3 mini cars arrived on the mail. I was so excited opening the package, but my 19 mos son to whom I ordered this for was way more excited than I was when I showed him what I got on the mail. He dropped everything else and approached me with eagerness from the other side of the room.

He plays and plays with them (and is playing with them as I'm writing this post).


This set of wooden toys looks simple and yet you can tell that they are well-made and fine craftsmanship. The size is great for the small hands to hold. More importantly, it keeps my son occupied for awhile and I can do my chores.

Trading is great when you are trying to save money. Trading doesn't always have to involve tangible items. For example, you can take turn with your friends watching each other's child instead of hiring a babysitter.

So, what did you trade for lately?

Congratulations Card

This card I created while I was still in Indonesia. I just love its simplicity and elegance. It's now listed on my shop.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. My husband has accepted a job offer in Vancouver. YEI!!! We'll be relocating from Toronto to Vancouver. I'm not too sure if I'm excited in going back to Vancouver. Somehow I would rather stay in Toronto. Perhaps because Toronto is a much bigger city. It's more alive and things are more accessible compared to Vancouver. And perhaps because it's a new environment where we could explore and discover compared to Vancouver where we've-been-there-done-that.

But who am I to complain? In this tough time, we are grateful that my hubby can secure a good job after a couple of months of job searching. We have surrendered everything to God and if this is where and what He wants us to be, then be it.

We'll be packing up our stuff again. We also need to find a place of our own while in the meantime staying at my parents' place. Until we have a place where we can call our home, I have to be pretty flexible on where I'm going to craft.

To celeberate the end of job searching, get 35% off of everything in my shop (10% off on sale section). Enter "GotJobSale" on the notes to seller and I'll send revised invoice or do refund. Sale ends on July 31st, 2009.

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Baby Page: So Tweet

Another 2-page I created recently for Ethan's album. So Tweet!


The theme is sweet and tweeting bird seems perfect for it. I used my felt bird and a few 'sweet' stickers as well as stamped the word sweet. I printed the journal, cut it into several pieces and ink the edges. Instead of buying the ready-made arrow, I made it myself from scrap papers.


This 2-page scrapbook captures a special developmental milestone where Ethan's neck was strong enough that he could hold his head high.

Working on 2nd Baby Album

While I'm waiting for my scorer (EK success cutterpede score) to arrive on the mail, I thought I work on my son's album. I finished the 1st album a couple of months ago but because I just love all my baby's photos (I'd bet any mom would say the same thing), by the time I finished the 1st album, I realized I only scrapbooked his photos from delivery day up to him being 2 months old. Now if I don't learn to choose less photos I would end up with too many albums and that would beat the purpose of scrapbooking, wouldn't it? Or I would end up with empty albums since the task looks so daunting.


In the past I felt that baby boy album is tougher to create since flower embelishments should not be used. I tried to find patterned papers with rocket, car, train, airplane designs, anything that is boyish. If you've been seeing my cards, you will see that I love flowers. I use flowers almost all the time.

However, since seeing some pages for boys with flowers in craft magazines, I thought, "Hey, if it's not a taboo for others, why should it be for me?" Flowers are not for girls only. So here the pages that I made with some flowers.

Front Page Worthy

WoO HoO!

I made it to the Front Page, dedicated to Canada Day yesterday. I've been wanting to be on FP, so yesterday...it was just like a dream come true. The first time after a while being on Etsy.

There was a time when I was advised by a curator that her treasury made on a FP and one of my cards was included. I was so excited and tried to look at the archived FP (I didn't get a chance to see the live FP) but soon found out that mine was an alternate and unfortunately did not make it to appear on the FP before it expired.

Having my cards and tags on treasuries always makes me happy. It feels so great to be included and be a part of talented artists. Past treasuries with my products can be found here.

So yes, I was doing my happy dance yesterday and a big full grin smile on my face just like when I was on Storque Shop Local Asia Spotlight. I told my husband about this great accomplishment. Is this a big deal? It is for me. There is 160267 sellers on Etsy as I'm writing this article (and growing) and those photographs of artworks made to the FP, they always left me in awe. The facts that my product was picked and made to the FP just provided me with a confirmation that I'm on the right track in making my dreams come true.

Being on a FP for a short period of time translated to 9 new hearts on these tags, 12 new hearts on my shop, and 16 new hearts on other cards/ tags.


This set of 3 Leafy Green Felt Tree Tags are one of my favorites of all time. I made about 5 sets of these, a couple was sold as part of wholesale to a boutique in Nelson, BC and the set that is on sale on my shop is the last set and I won't be able to make more as I don't have the patterned paper anymore. Talking about this interesting paper, I didn't think that I would be able to create something beautiful as these tags (read here).