缘尽缘散

Specially to all my friends out there ...

Thank you for coming by this little cyberspace, over the last 3 years, for some random updates/rambling of mine.  It has been great having you here to share some of my life experiences & thoughts, despite only with the use of simple "Singlish" & not bombastic words of expression. 

I've decided to close off this blog, with effect from 3 Oct 2009, as this little outlet of mine has been seen as part of an evil plot, between some loud, scheming, evil & ill-mannered enigmas.  However, if one's conscience is clear, there's no fear. I strongly believed that TIME WILL TELL & hoping for TIME TO HEAL.

Worry not, friends!  I'll continue to live my life to the fullest & fulfill my role & responsibilities on earth.  After going through this shitty mess, hopefully, I'd pick up the courage to create another "space of mine" in the near future.  

Till we get connected again, TAKE CARE & SAYONARA !!

Cheers!
Jane         

Where's My Adhesives ???

It's a long weekend here in Singapore ... as next Monday is a gazetted public holiday (i.e. Vesak Day) = NO WORK !! .... Yippppeeeee !!

Having 3 full days of free time on hand, plus a rather "stay-at-home" mood but I've got nothing much that I'd love to do ... what a waste !!

So, as usual, I hopped around those scrapbooking blogs for the whole afternoon & I'm inspired to start scrapping all over again (after an extremely long break).

For a quick start, I think this Pencil Lines site will be able to help me to get the ball rolling ... but hold on, where's my acid-free adhesives ?!?! and where's my 12 x 12 trimmer ?!?! ** alamak !! **

Here I go again, giving myself silly & lame excuse of ... "It'll be much easier to start with; after I do some scrapbooking shopping to get my hands on some "latest & greatest" products." ... ha ha ha

My Dream Room

What a gorgeous room !!!

I happened to chance upon this post from {Benita} at Two Peas earlier & I'm overwhelmed with the amount of scrapbooking goodies that she owns. Besides that, she's really good at organizing her space, and look at how creative she is by using curtain rods to display her layouts.

It's a SCRAPBOOK HEAVEN and I'm luvin' it !!!

A personal note to NC :
Can I have something like this in our new apartment ... PLEASE ?? ... hee hee

P2P X'mas Special !!

An update of P2P latest Christmas Sale cum Open House ...

17 & 18 Nov 2007 (Sat & Sun)

{ Anytime from 11am onwards }

15% off an order of $50 & above*
20% off an order of $100 & above*
30% off an order of $150 & above*

Plus attractive free gifts to be given ...
- An unique music box (worth $15.90) with any purchase of $150
- An imported Rusty Pickle T-Shirt (worth $30) with any purchase of $200

* Storewide discount, including New Arrivals
* This promotion is from 17 - 24 Nov 2007
* Valid for online orders too

For enquires, please feel free to email detha@pictures2pages.com.

Happy shopping & scrapping !!

BE ORIGINAL, please ...

In the world of scrapbooking, it is completely okay to scraplift (i.e. use other people's ideas of layouts).

In most instances, we will usually have the basic courtesy to give proper credits to those original "creators" should we scraplift in whole/part of their layout ideas/designs ... this is so-called "Scraplifting Etiquette". Many a times, the original artist will be thrilled that you decided to use her ideas.

On the contrary, how would one feel if his/her original business ideas have been copied (again & again) under broad daylight ?? Do we regard such acts as competition? or plainly just lack of originality? or copycats?

Don't be a blueprint.
Be an original.

~ Roy Acuff

Heidi Swapp in Beijing ?!?!

It was a Public Holiday as well as a Saturday night, but I felt a little lonely & bored at home tonight.

I've tried calling NC in China earlier, as I kinda miss him ... but he was still out running errands, so our IDD teleconversation was short & sweet of merely 10 mins :(

With nothing better to do tonight ... I surfed the net !!!

I chanced upon Heidi Swapp's blog and got shocked !! Guess what? Her whole family of 7 has moved to Beijing, China on 24 Sept 2007.

Heidi Swapp:
"I have made mention of his business dealings and product development here and there … and he and his partner have built a factory in China to produce the garage doors they have developed. (very exciting) … early on, it became clear (and we have both known that it would be necessary) he needed to physically be there. the long trips overseas have been so hard for me, and harder now w/ #5. SO, after MUCH deliberation ... we have settled into enthusiastic acceptance of our family adventure!"

I really can't believe it ... Heidi actually did what I've been thinking of doing (for years), but have yet to do it.

She simply dragged her 5 little kids across the planet to another place with a huge communication barrier on top of the cultural difference. But yet, she thinks that it will be an amazing, unforgettable, life-altering, growth experience for herself & her family.

The idea of relocating the whole family to a foreign country involves much considerations like housing, schooling, work, safety issues, medical issues, etc etc. Hence, I've been trying to put off this entire idea again & again, while waiting for "miracles to happen".

After reading Heidi's blog, I guess it's high-time for me & NC to really sit down, discuss & plan what will be the best for our family.

Families are the compass that guide us.
They are the inspiration to reach great heights,
and our comfort when we occasionally falter.
~ Brad Henry

Passion for Pictures

After a long wait of slightly more than a month, Detha and I finally went for our free Canon EOS DSLR Training @ Canon Digital Lab yesterday.

It was a 3-hr theory-based session, I've been trying hard to figure out what have been taught such as exposure compensation, aperture, shutter speeds, ISO ratings, depth-of-field, metering, focal length, etc etc ... and I ended up with a headache towards the end of it (I'm serious, no joke).

In summary, this training has provided me (i.e. a basically point-and-shoot person) a better understanding of what photography is all about and I'm really amazed at what my newly-acquired camera can deliver.

Our young and good-looking trainer, Mr Jino Lee, has shown us plenty of sample photos taken using various lenses as well as techniques. Those pics really WOW me !!! ... I've linked his site to this post, do check it out (especially those pics under his Travel category) ... they really make me yearn for a relaxing break at any beach resort now ... ha ha ha.

A Fun-filled Afternoon with {CREATE} at P2P

~ Born to Crop ! Not to Mop ! ~

The CropMeet yesterday was a SUCCESS !

(Although it was a little "warm" at the beginning, but we managed to "cool" everyone down shortly ... those who were there will know what I'm referring to ... ha ha ha)

On behalf of P2P, I'd like to thank everyone for making it a fun-filled afternoon with us.

Firstly, a round of applauds to the organizers from {CREATE} for their great effort & time in planning those fun games & challenges. And secondly, sincere thanks to all the participants for their time to come all the way to P2P's new location at the East.

{ These ladies were busy cutting, rearranging, pasting and
discussing on their team's layout for a challenge }

{ Everyone was listening attentively to Aida's great tips on scrapbooking }
{ It's Lucky Draw Time ... and the winner was Ms Sooki !! }
{ A group photo shot with their creatively-designed coasters }
{ Ms Detha was being asked to choose the winner
for this coaster challenge ... a tough decision indeed! }
{ Snack time! And these ladies were so busy chatting with each other }
{ Thanks Aida & Jenn for these lovely handmade gifts for me }

I hope that everyone has enjoyed this CropMeet as much as I do ... and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one real soon.

Cheers!

Let's Crop With Us

How often do I scrapbook?

"Not even a layout for the past 1.5 years! Oh gosh, I better churn out something when I go for this coming Saturday's CropMeet. It's always the getting started part that is difficult ... and I'm hoping a crop session with this group will do just the trick!"

Crop with {Create} & Pictures 2 Pages are co-organizing this event on Saturday, 6 October 2007 from 2pm ~ 5pm.

According to both organizers, there'll be crop session, fun games, door gifts, lucky draw, RAK prizes, delicious snacks to be served and discounts for offline shopping !!

What's more? P2P will also be having it's 1st Open House on that same day from 11am ~ 2pm at their new location.

So, calling all Singapore scrapbooking addicts ... do free yourself up on 6 Oct 2007 and join in for a day of fun with friends with the same passion!

Imagination Project, Inc.

Just thought of sharing ...

I've just received an email dated 13 Sept 2007, from Janice Jezek of Imagination Project, Inc.

In her email, Janice mentioned that they've made the decision of NOT to CONTINUE in the scrapbooking industry. This is after 4 years of exhausting yet exhilarating cycle of coming up with new and better designs every few months.

So ladies, if you like any of their product lines, namely Gin-X, Chloe's Closet, Project Essentials, Center City, Chartreuse Dream, and Blue Cardigan, do grab hold of them while you can !!!

P.S. : If I don't remember wrongly, P2P still has some limited quantities of their past collections of patterned papers, do check it out!

Remembering Times at P2P

{ Warning : This is a Long Post }

Pictures ‘2’ Pages was my 1st business that’s solely operated online. It’s a very different experience from my past business venture on mobilephone wholesaling & retailing; and especially challenging for a “not-so” IT savvy person like me.

Through the process, I did pick up some extra knowledge like HTML coding, photoshop, managing data-based shopping cart, building HTML newsletters, etc etc.

In fact, this E-store of mine is a 100% DIY site, with no professional help at all. It was being built with my brother’s great help.

Thinking back (in Year 2004), I didn’t opt to spend a few thousands bucks on professional web-designing services coz I’m afraid that I might give it up after a short while … but who knows, P2P is coming 3 this year!

It all started with me who believes that dreams do come true. Of coz, I’m well-aware that our dreams don’t just fall into our laps – sweat free – but instead, I believe that we have to have faith in our dreams, work for them and have patience when they sometimes take longer to materialize than we would like them to.

The cool thing is, when everything is said and done – and the dream that was once just a picture in my mind – is actually facing me head on … no doubt it has ALWAYS been worth the price I had to pay for.

Hmmm … you must be wondering what price am I talking about … here’s some examples of what I used to “pay”:-

• Self-discipline (loads & loads of it) – as working from home, as well as there’s no accountability to anyone … tend to make a person slack and to work at his own pace.




• Running an “One Man Show” business was really good at giving me lots of stress as I could NEVER leave the business out of my mind … thinking, talking & planning business constantly. There are so many strings attached to owning a business … that most people don’t fully understand, until they actually experience it!




• Irregular working hours – as I tend to accommodate with offline customers' preferred shopping hours, this would meant working at nights (after regular office hours), weekends and especially public holidays. On top of that, I had to stay up till late nights to place orders & communicate with those US manufacturers (it's all due to our geographical differences).




• Unwanted gossiping & negative remarks from competitors … well, I shall not do any finger-pointing right here as they’d definitely know who they are.
  On this aspect, I’d normally fall back onto my DH for his moral support & comfort, where he’ll always remind me to “Mind Your Own Business”.
  
  
• Shopping with a business in mind – I’m being reminded by a great friend of mine *A* to get in product lines that my customers would want instead of what I want. Obviously, this deprived my enjoyment of personal scrap-shopping.
  


• To catch up with the grueling-yet-exhilarating cycle of new product launches from hundreds of manufacturers in every few months.

Nevertheless, I’ve never regretted on following those urges to do something different, to listen to my heart and accomplished my dream of having a scrapbook haven right at my own home – Life is too short NOT to chase after your dreams.

Oh yes, I ought to give it a mention … I’m also very grateful and would like to thank my family for their past support, kind understanding and assistance rendered.

• My Mum - who helped me with stocktaking & pricing whenever my shipments came in, and also most importantly, took great care of my kids when I’m totally engrossed in work.




• Bro *A* - who helped me with my site development as well as making deliveries during my absence.




• Sis *J* - who helped me with the processing & mailing of orders as well as meeting up “self-collection” customers during my absence.




• NC - for his moral support and great understanding (can you imagine … I’ve messed up our whole house in order to free up more storage & display space ... and without any complaints from him at all?).
  


• R1 & R2 - for not meddling with my stock whenever they came back home. Occasionally, they even helped me with the pricing & displaying of products … but due to their height, my products being displayed on the racks were normally below eye-level … LOL).

• And not forgetting my Dad, who is not really involved in my business operation. But rather, he did show his concern (quite regularly) by popping questions like : "Why are you always sitting in front of your PC; at the very moment when you opened your eyes and till late nights?" or "Why can't you do it tomorrow since work is never-ending?", etc etc.
  Guess what's my typical reply? ... "No choice, if I'm not doing it, who is gonna do it for me ??"

Oh, I’m so blessed !!

Lastly, a big heartfelt thanks to those valued customers-turned-friends (both locally & overseas) who have been supporting P2P, for cheering us on, and for those sweet & encouraging emails/SMSes received.

** Please do continue to support P2P as I strongly believe that Ms Detha will bring it to a much greater height in the near future. **

Before I end this post, I’d like to invite you to take a peek at what was it like behind the scenes at P2P and to reminisce with me the times of shopping with us.

Cheers!

BIG, WONDERFUL and HAPPY News!

I’m very excited and thrilled to announce some BIG, BIG news about P2P!

My online store - Pictures2Pages.com, has been acquired by a wonderful friend of mine, Ms Bernadetha, w.e.f. 25 July 2007.

She has been scrapping since Year 1999 (with limited choice of supplies to play with back then – mainly stickers). She’s also customizing scrapbooks for others as well as selling supplies at numerous craft fairs.

It’s not surprising that you might have even met her way before this; at LSS or crop sessions as she’s very addicted to scrapbooking and “scrap-shopping” (like you & me).

One of the reasons I’m excited for Ms Detha, is that after scrapping for 8 years, she’s now realizing something she has dreamt of doing - and that is, having her own scrapbooking business, making it grow and thrive and be something she can call her very own.

I’m sure this news may come as a surprise to many of you, as I didn’t say much about this transition until now. It was because there were a few issues that needed to be finalize before making an official announcement regarding it.

Nevertheless, the experiences I had over these 3 years have been truly amazing. I’ve been so blessed to become friends and acquaintances with so many creative people (both locally and overseas); having the same goal like mine -- to preserve our memories and create lasting legacies for generations to come.

My DH needs assistance from someone that he can trust … therefore, our choice is obvious and I’ve to come to this conclusion. In fact, he has been asking for my help since the beginning of Year 2006 and I’ve been putting it off for more than a year.

I’m especially looking forward to this new change as there’ll definitely be improvements, new ideas, different product ranges and a whole new shopping experience at P2P !!!

And so, with mixed emotions, much excitement and gratefulness for many things, I’m looking forward to the future of Pictures 2 Pages. Lastly, I really value the friendships I’ve formed over these years and love the people I’ve been so fortunate to work with … A Zillion of Thanks !!!

Jane Chai
… and for the last time to include this title in my signature line,
Owner, Pictures 2 Pages

Great Photography Tips ...

Initially, I planned to enrol for a 10-session Foundation Photography Course at one of our local Community Centres, commercing on 7 Sept 2007.

However, due to insufficient participants, this class has been pushed back till early-Oct.

Since I'll be travelling to China for an exhibition next month ... guess gotta give it a miss ... *sigh*

On the other hand, thank you Aida, for sharing this great site on Photography Tips by KAREN RUSSEL with me ... do check it out !!!

Cheers!

Snapping, Snapping & Snapping Away ...

It was a quiet Monday afternoon where R1 went for her K2 Overnight Camp @ JCK (3 - 4 Sept 2007). What a peaceful afternoon with only 1 kid at home ... playing with his Gameboy all by himself !

So eagerly, I picked up my new toy and snapped from top to bottom, left to right ... and of coz, R2 was my model for the day!!

In fact, I'm quite clueless about my Canon EOS 40D (with much more buttons & features than my Sony T3) as I'm a 1st-time DSLR user. But I still managed to capture some "moments" of my little one playing attentively.

{ R2 : "Mummy, are you done ?" }

P.S. Those scrapping bugs are biting my hands almost everyday, I WANT TO SCRAP !!! But all my scrapbooking barang-barangs are being stored away for the time being ... so how??

My New Toy

Yippee-ya-ya !!! I've got myself a Canon EOS 40D - Kit II (with EF-S 17-85 IS USM) today !!!

Well, I've finally decided to go for it after 2 days of pondering, pondering & pondering ... hahaha.

However the thought of better-quality photos for my 2 little darlings, will definitely make this investment worthwhile.

I'd be registering for Canon's free training soon and hope to pick up a few photography tips from there ... and start snapping away like a Pro (hopefully).

To EOS or Not ???

COMEX 2007 is here !! ... and found this !!

Yes !! I'm contemplating whether should I get a DSLR as I'm rather pissed off with my current Sony T3.

On top of that, I'm also checking out on any great deals for lappies as I intend to upgrade my current Fujitsu LifeBook.

Oh no ... these will DEFINITELY burn a big hole in my purse.