Monday, September 20, 2010

A Little Something from DSC Blog Train!

My son Neill just turned seven a few days ago (on September 16.) That morning I woke him up with a hug and a Happy Birthday kiss. His reply:

"I'm 7 now! Yay!! And you know what? I'm loving you more every year, Mama."

Ditto, baby. Ditto. :)

Between Neill's final exams coming up in less than 2 weeks, having to drive him around to all his sport practices, and trying to finish my own work assignments, my life here is kinda like a quick blur right now. Some days I was so exhausted although when I did go to bed, I couldn't sleep no matter how long I spent tossing and turning under the blanket. This is the time when such a little sleepy message like the one from my boy can mean so much. I'm so grateful for you Neill!!! Mwaahh!

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Now let's get to what you're really here for. LOL! Digital Scrap Cafe's blog train is here again!

For September 2010, the designers of DSC have come up with this cute and huge collab kit, A Little Something. Well, despite the name, with 122 elements, 4 templates, and 70 papers, this kit is everything but little! :D


The kit's color palette made me think of the fun train trip we took earlier in June. The trip was organised by my close friend PaMam so I decided to RAK her with some layouts (brag book pages) using her and her children's photos.

This first page used a template by Adi aka Le Pingouin Designs (included with A Little Something kit!) -- If you like the layout, go collect the brag book quickpage from the Digital Scrap Cafe blog. It's a part of our blog train!


I also made these following 2 pages using the photos of PaMam's children: Prima and Sinat.



So these are my goodies for you for Digital Scrap Cafe's September 2010 blog train! Please click here to download your 4x6" brag book quickpages if you like, or just click on the preview image below.


Don't want to miss any part of the blog train? Easy! I'll just give you the list here. :)

Blog Train Participants:
Pom - http://bkkpom.blogspot.com/ <--- me!
DSC - http://www.digitalscrapcafe.com/
Doris - http://tempusfug.blogspot.com/
Deanna - http://scrappygram.blogspot.com/
Loni - http://tincancanoe.blogspot.com/
Åsa - http://sondra-scraps.blogspot.com/

Please be patient and check back if any of the blogs are not ready yet when you first visit. You know, time difference and such. :) Now enjoy your free goodies and go blog hopping already! :D

Oh! And don't forget that my What's in the Coffee Cup Challenge is still going on until the end of the month! There's a gift for all participants too. Hope to see you there!!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Perfect Combination - A Drift in Dreams - a QP

Got some new layouts to show you, and a little something to give too. :)

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On the last day of Michael's stay in Lebanon, I set up a tripod and fortunately managed to get a few shots of our (very rare) family photos.

"Fortunately" because right after the shots, I went to remove the camera from the tripod and found that I could just lift it right off! No sliding out of the slot or unscrewing needed!!! It turned out that there's a break in the locking plate that I didn't notice when I put it in, so basically the camera was just sitting on the tripod the whole time with nothing securing it at all!! It's just by shear luck that my precious Canon EOS 500D didn't fall and got badly damaged. Wheww! I still got goosebumps thinking about it now.

Anyway, we did get some great shots and I used one of them for this page.


Journaling reads:
one family of two brothers living in three countries
with four loving hearts
perfect combination, that's what we are...


The kit used for the layout is Perfect Combination: the new kit of Designs by Doodelle that just hit the store a few days ago. With the playful palette of black, grey and hot pink, combined with an army of Rachelle's vector-drawn doodles and shiney elements, it has already easily become one of my favorites!


The element pack is also available seperately.


And don't forget that Rach is currently the Featured Designer at MScraps. For the entire September, her special offer is a 20% OFF discount for any purchase of her products worth 5$ and above. Read her advertisement in this blog post and use the coupon code in the ad to get your discount. :)

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This following layout I made for Designs by Anita's CT challenge for September. Anita's CT forum is always an active, happy, and inspiring place to be, especially now that we are welcoming new additions to the team! For this month's challenge, Anita requires the creative use of one frame, one photo, 4 paper squares, and 2 word arts in the layout. Here's what I come up with it!


I kinda like the clean structure of the page, with just enough raised elements to draw the eyes. This page subsequently got mentioned in DST's GSO thread of the day! Yay! It's created with this beautiful collab kit A Drift in Dreams by Anita and Scooty's Designs.


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I'll wrap it up with a little something for you again! Rach is, as always, generously letting me turn my layout from Perfect Combination into a quickpage to give away here. So, please click here to enjoy your gift, or on the preview image below. Leave me a word if you like it! :)


Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Fresh Restart, a charity, and a free template

Let's do something good together, shall we? :)

The designers of DigiScrappers Brasil are back again with the new Charity with Love project: A Fresh Restart. As Dunia's CT member, I'm really honored to be chosen to work with the amazing mega kit which is perfect in every way and, most of all, it's for a great cause. Here's the message from DigiScrappers Brasil...

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Hello my friends. Today I'd like to draw your attention to something important and ask for help to everyone who can contribute.

Tsunamis, earthquakes and uncontrolled rains have devastated parts of the world. Many people have died, many others have lost their homes and everything they had, entire towns disappeared from the map. And even knowing what those natural disasters can do, we are never sufficiently prepared when they happen.

Last June the Brazilian Northeast experienced one of those tragedies. 95 cities and towns in the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco were flooded due to torrential rains. About 50 people died and more than 100,000 were left homeless. Many of these people lost their homes, their furniture, clothes and all their belongings.

An heartbreaking and very sad scenery.

Our charity project aims to raise funds to be used in benefit of those people who still need so much all our help. The designers of Digiscrappers Brasil, through the project Charity with Love, has created this beautiful mega kit, A Fresh Restart, that includes 94 beautiful papers, 271 assorted and very colorful elements, three alphabets and three templates for layouts. All you need to create the most beautiful pages.



Also our scrappers helped us to create a beautiful album with 16 quick pages in size 12 "x 12", plus cover and back cover.


If you liked both two products, there's a bundle version with 20% off discount.


100% of the sales, after discounting MoIP (Brazil) / Paypal (international) fees, will be reversed in favor of families affected by the rains in Alagoas and Pernambuco through honest and trustful organizations.

Thanks in advance for your support in this cause.


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The kit is just so much fun and energetic so I wanted to create something with a lot of dynamic actions. I chose this series of photos of Neill and his friends on the merry-go-round. I think it represents A Fresh Restart quite well. :)


If you are one of DigiScrappers Brasil's newsletter subscribers, you must already have seen that the layout is offered there as a free quickpage! (Thank you, Loreta, for featuring it!) If you are not a subscriber yet, you can still read that newsletter and get the quickpage by following the link here. You have to hurry though coz I really don't know for how long it will stay available. :)

When I posted the layout in galleries, my friend Åsa asked if I can make a template out of the page. Of course I can! So here it is, Round n' Round template. The scalloped journaling is something I wrote for my layout, it's NOT a wordart included in the kit. I think it's quite cute and you might find some use for it so I throw it in with the template as well. Hope you like it!

Leave me a little something here if you like it enough to download, will ya? You know how much I love comments, right? LOL And don't forget to check out the wonderful charity mega kit A Fresh Restart too!!!


Enjoy!!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Me and my first ever mini kit!?!

Didn't expect me to blog again this soon, did you? LOL. Well I'd like to surprise you (and myself) every once in a while!

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I just put this layout in galleries. Didn't plan to put it out at first since I made it especially for Anita's CT profile page, but what the heck. LOL!! It's just a little something about me that you would have already known anyway if you've come by this blog more than a few times.


Journaling reads:
Briefly me --- Pom.
37. Thai. Married to South African hubby Chris. Mom to 7-year-old Neill.
A book editor & translator. Scrapping since early 2009. Vegetarian.
Addicted to coffee, reality TV, books, and the Net!


Credits:
Pieces of You - a collab kit from Designs by Anita and LieN Clickphoto Designs

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There's something I did for the first time last week. I created my first ever mini kit! It was kind of a spur of a moment thing actually. LOL

As I told you earlier, last month (August) I took over the What's in the Coffee Cup Challenge at DSC from Di. It's exciting and I wanted to have something to give away to all participants for playing with me. I was going to do some teenie-tiny thing but an idea occurred to me and it eventually became a kit. What can I do? LOL!

Here is what it looks like:


The idea of the kit came from the photographs I took of Beirut's skyline. The view from the top deck of Gefinor Beirut Hotel -- with the sunset, the infinity pool, and everything -- was just stunning beyond words. I just love those colors so much.

Creating the kit, however, was quite a huge challenge for me as I have never seen myself as a designer. I'm simply a digi scrapper who loves to try new things and share the outcomes. :D I had fun making it but I'm quite certain now that I won't be quitting my day job to design scrapbooking kits anytime soon. LOL. Lucky me, quite a few people have said they like the kit and that makes me totally overjoyed!!!

(By the way, notice the new preview format? I decided to give it a makeover, completed with a logo! Like it?)

The mini kit will NOT be up for sale or given away anywhere else but in the challenges I host. It has already been sent to all participants of the August CCC. (And some have made stunning layouts with it. Woohoo!! Thanks, girls!) If you want it too, however, you can still have it by participating in the September Coffee Cup Challenge!



The challenge is to scrap a layout that includes each of the items listed in the coffee cup. I’m hoping to have some fun with night vs. light this time. More details at the challenge thread!

Here’s my layout using directions from the coffee cup:



Journaling reads:
There were a few dozen classmates sharing the same stage and bathing the same spotlight,
Yet you were no doubt my star of the night.


I used Aprilisa Designs’ kit Hot Off The Press for the layout. The talented Lisa is also the Designer in the Spotlight this month so don’t forget to check out her fabulous challenge and sale too!

So, I hope I'll see you all at the challenge! I know it's not easy but isn't it fun too to challenge yourself creatively? And, just for visiting the challenge thread, I'll give you this frame set taken from "At Dusk" for free! Please click on the preview to go to the challenge and get your download link. Enjoy!


Monday, September 6, 2010

Some good news and some goodies!

Hi there!!!

It's amazing that I have already been maintaining this blog for over a year!! Remember, this is me who--for all my life--NEVER succeeded in keeping a diary after only one week into a new year. Looking at how (relatively) consistent I have been at blogging, scrapping, and giving away freebies here, I am quite proud of myself! I can see some obvious progress in my scrapping skills too. Yay! Giving myself a pat on the back! LOL!

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So let's fill this blog entry with all the good news! I'll start with this one as it's already late blogging about it just now. (Sorry!! I've been so swamped with other things. Urrgh!)

Dunia is having a great sale! To celebrate her Birthday (on Sept. 5,) all Dunia's products will be on sale at 50% off between September 2 to 7, both at DigiScrappers Brasil and at Zig Zag Scrap! Don't miss it. :)


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Anita (Designs by Anita) is having a stunning new kit out this Friday! This time it's a collaboration with Scooty's Designs called A Drift in Dreams. I just have to show you this sneak peek as I love these colors so much!!!!!


Want a chance to win it? Head over to Anita's blog, she's holding a RAK right now and there's a great freebie (a mini kit!!) for grabs too.

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Another great news from Rachelle! From now on, Rachness Designs is no more! But don't gasp just yet. :D My talented beloved friend Rach will instead be known in the digi world as Designs by Doodelle, as you might have noticed from my new non-blinkie on the right.

This month, Rach is the Featured Designer at MScraps! For the entire September, her special offer is a 20% OFF discount for any purchase of her products worth 5$ and above.You just need to use the coupon code you see in the graphic below. (Such a cute ad, isn't it? I love all the fun facts about Rach here. LOL!)


Rachelle is also offering CU freebies on her blog, as well as a special mini kit for MScraps newsletter, so make sure to check it out!

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To end this blog post in a celebrating spirit, I have a little goodie for you too! I've already shown you the layout I created with A Cup of Kindness, the collab kit between Rach and Lorie M. Designs. Today I'm giving you the quickpage from that layout! Big thanks to Rachelle and Lorie for this beautiful kit too!!


I hope you like it and don't forget to drop by her store and enjoy the sale there, okay? ;-) Just click on the preview image for download link. Enjoy!

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Oh! I almost forgot the last bit of a good news! This will be the last time you see the freebie preview format above. I'm changing my preview design. I'll even have my own (sort of) logo now. LOL! I'll blog about it later today. :)