How to use embellishments to tell your story

 

We might not always be able to capture detailed photos to tell our stories because we were of course, busy living that life moment. *winks* Here are some ways to use embellishments to tell your story. Enjoy! :)

1. Create a whimsical "scene".

On this layout, the Gangster Gang boys (aka nephews) were very excited about going to the fish farm to catch fishes for my fish tank. Since I was busy ensuring that the kids did not "kill or injure any fishes" while they were catching them with nets, I only managed to get some photos after we bought the fishes. 

Since they were consecutive photos, I decided to break them apart to help tell my story.

I silhouetted one photo to create a whimsical "scene" with their happy faces. They were standing on "netted" grass with a pig posing with them, next to a lamp post with a bird nearby. *LOL*

The smaller photo at the bottom right was another photo with the actual background of the fish farm.

I also used a circle punch to showcase their  happy faces as part of my title work. 

2. Showcase joy with your chosen embellishments.

Let's get real. It's hard to get good food photos when you are dining out because

1. The lighting conditions need to be in your favour.

2. You need to angle your phone so that you capture what you want (food) instead of other diners in the eatery.

3. You need to work fast because your eating companion may not be so patient as to wait for you to take "that perfect shot".

4. The food may be "languishing" as time passes..eg. ice-cream melting, crispy chicken getting soggy...etc.

All conditions that hinder the taking of the perfect food shot. *hehehe*

Anyway, on this particular layout, I went with a "party" theme to convey the joy from eating the yummy food. I incorporated the party critters jumping for joy, the banners at the top of the page and the strip of "lucky" text to express the emotion. Can you feel the joy? *winks*

3. Incorporate elements/replicas in your actual photo as embellishments.

This one is probably quite easy to incorporate with diecuts or stickers eg...animal stickers on a zoo layout or paper flowers on an outdoor garden photo. On the Bandage Buddies layout, nephew #3 and the niece were "attacked" by mosquitos and since we didn't want them to scratch the bites, we covered them with bandages! *hehehe* I incorporated a strip of bandage and a pair of travel scissors as part of my title work. :) This is also a great way to reimagine found ephemera and use it on your projects. 

4. Creatively insert your photo in the background design of your layout.

Now I really wanted to document my first visit to Marini's on 57, a really hip bar on the 57th floor in one of the towers of the iconic Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. But I only took a photo of the cocktails when I was there. So, the next day, I took a photo of one of the towers from the ground floor and incorporated in my skyscraper "scene" as a way to highlight the spot when we had our drinks. Can you spot the actual building? ;)

5. Use your patterned paper to tell your story.

Sometimes you find THE perfect piece of pre-designed patterned paper that helps you tell your story. So just use it. :) Here, on this layout, we were in the mountains of Alishan in Taiwan surrounded by tea plantations. All I did was add some trees, flowers and cute critters to create a newspaper article style layout for a bit of fun. ;)

There you have it, 5 ways to use embellishments to tell your story. Have you used any?

Pin It

Workspace Wednesday - an eye sketch

 

Happy Wednesday friends! Today I am sharing an eye sketch.  

I'm slowly getting back into the groove of drawing in my sketchbook again. I miss sitting in a cafe, sipping tea and spending some tine just working away on my drawings. It was my form of meditation. While we are allowed to dine out right now, we are not supposed to linger in the eateries for too long (as a precautionary measure).

Now art-on-the-go is me drawing at my dining table while something is simmering on the stove or baking in the oven.*winks* 

What about you? What do you miss most about pre-COVID 19 days?

Pin It

This week's postal-friendly quick card

 

Hello friends! Meet this week's postal-friendly quick card! :)

And if you were thinking, "This gal got off her lazy ass and went to take a punch from the drawer-of-highly-neglected-punches," you would be right. *LOL*

Hope you are having a great week! My chicken is roasting in the oven and I baked a batch of citrus scones for breakfast tomorrow. That's me winning at life...*winks*. Seriously, it has been an extremely hot and humid August so far...the kind of weather that makes you want to do nothing much...except eat a lot of ice-cream. *hehehe*

Pin It

Mum and her home-grown okra

So mum has been busy in the garden cultivating her herbs and veggies.:)

The tomato plant hasn't bore fruit yet but we've been having fresh okra every few days. 

We don't really have enough to actually make a vegetable dish out of them but we have to harvest them once they are of a certain size because old okra is fibrous and pretty unpleasant to eat.

Mum is always excited about her home-grown okra so I thought it was totally necessary to have it documented in the family scrapbook. *winks*

Playing along with Let's Get Sketchy.

Pin It

How to incorporate paper scraps on your layouts

If you are like me, you've probably accumulated a ton of paper scraps over the years of scrapbooking. I try my best to exhaust every single morsel of usable scrap paper because I hate to waste anything. Here are some ideas for how to use your paper scraps on your layouts. :)

1. Create your own version of a store-bought embellishment.

Try fussy-cutting out text or elements to make a tag or a cute cluster that would go well with the theme of your layout.

2. Unify your layout with a single repeated colour.

On this layout, I used RED to create a visual triangle around my photos and tie the elements together. If you organize your paper scraps by colour, this is a great way to use up pieces of the same colour but different design.

3. Go with a repeated shape.Here I went with triangles as visual arrows to my focal point.

4. Have a little fun with your punches.

Create a little visual interest with your border punches and diecuts. They are a great way to use up those paper scraps.:)

5. Go with a whimsical scene.

I love to use paper strips as a base and add fun elements (stamped or fussy-cut) to create a whimsical scene.

6. Piece the paper scraps like a puzzle to create an interesting mat for your photos.

I love to use this method for piecing together really small paper scraps. The trick is to put together the bigger pieces, then slot/tuck the smaller pieces in. If you feel that the patterns are too jarring, add some washi tape as a buffer. I like to add shaped elements to soften any hard edges. Here I used punched out circles and stars.

There you have it....6 ways to incorporate paper scraps on your layouts. How do you incorporate your paper scraps on your layouts?

Pin It

A page from the recipe planner - mango sticky rice

Today's page from the recipe planner features a Yam family fave - Thai Mango Sticky Rice.:)

It requires very few ingredients and a little patience (mostly waiting time...*winks*) to get a really yummy dessert.:)

When I first googled the recipe, it said to soak the glutinous rice overnight (at least 8 hours) but a further google search led to the discovery that the soaking time can be significantly reduced by using warm water instead of room temperature water. Yeah...how was life like before google eh? *LOL*

If you were wondering about the photo...the rest of the Yams were out of the house when this was ready so I had time to "stage" the dish for photo-taking. I mean, you know how hard it is to keep food uneaten in this household right? Why do you think my bread is in the freezer? Because it requires effort to put it in the oven in order to eat it and that's too much work for the majority of the Yams. *hahaha*

Do you have problems with keeping food "safe" in your household? 

Pin It

Workspace Wednesday - current faves August 2020

It's been a while since I last shared my current faves. :) First up is my recipe planner. With all the stay-at-home cooking I have been doing, the recipe planner has been filling up really nicely. Every time I add a new recipe page, I flip through the rest of the pages to see how far I've come in my cooking journey and I'm really proud of myself. :)

Of course, you all know that my latest obsession is sourdough. Thank goodness I have a cousin who started the journey much earlier than me and she can understand my obsession with anything sourdough. Earlier this week, I texted her that I needed a bread intervention because my freezer has been filled with my sourdough experiments (The waiting time is so long so I always make 2 loaves - one to eat and the other to freeze), And it's only been 5 weeks since I baked my first 2 loaves of sourdough bread. *LOL* 

Yeah, when I am passionate about something, I go all out. Pictured is this week's first go at a sandwich loaf. And you know how I am about NOT wasting anything right? I don't actually have any sourdough discard, I use everything. If I have extra fed starter, I will scour the web to find recipes to use that up. Oh yes, sourdough pancakes are nephew #1's current fave snack.

As for art supplies, I've been really into portrait drawing with my Derwent pastel pencils. I love how blendable they are and how quickly they can be used to achieve a realistic portrait. My goal is to draw my family members and set up a gallery wall in the living room. :)

Speaking of current faves, I must also include art supplies for the face...well more specifically for the eyes..since the whole mask-wearing need is putting more emphasis on the eyes. *winks* These Natasha Denona palettes are my current faves. Never mind that I only wear makeup like 1 day a week or occasionally 2, I always find myself gravitating to these 2 palettes because I'm such a colour junkie.

There you have it...my current faves. What about you? 

Pin It

This week's quick Santa card

Well, you know Santa has to make a weekly appearance *hehehe*. Here's this week's quick Santa card!:)

A mish mash of patterned papers, washi tape and stickers..and finished with a little bling.:)

Happy Tuesday friends!:)

Pin It

Mixed Media Monday - an eye sketch

Hello there friends!  It's been a while...but I finally went back to my first love - drawing the eye! Here's a mixed media eye sketch using Faber Castell Polychromos and Uniball Signo white pen for the highlights.  :)

Pin It

Happy weekend friends!

Happy weekend friends! Hope you get to do something you enjoy this weekend (like eat a yummy cupcake)! :)

Pin It

July 2020 - sourdough experiments

So you know that I started my sourdough journey last month and baked my first two loaves of sourdough bread. This month, I got a little more adventurous and experimented with more recipes using my sourdough starter :)

1. Focaccia with oregano, tomato and mozzarella cheese.
2. Cheddar cheese bread with oregano and paprika
3. Hokkaido milk bread
4. Chocolate bread with raisins and walnuts

I know that some sourdough experts say you should stick to ONE type of bread till you master it because sourdough breads can be very finicky - change in temperature, strength of starter, type of flour and length of fermentation can all affect the outcome of your baked sourdough bread. But you know me, always a maverick...why can't I learn how to make the "perfect" sourdough bread by experimenting with different flavours, right? It can be so boring eating the same type of bread. And you know my family has some really picky eaters. *winks*

I have been having fun with my sourdough experiments. The long wait for each outcome is actually making the stay-at-home period a little more bearable.While most bakers want large holes in their sourdough breads, I want small holes so that my butter or jam doesn't fall through the holes. *LOL*

Playing along with Stick It Down.

Pin It