Boring people

So, as interesting as I thought digital scrapbookers they are with their awesome layouts and out to grab freebies, they are just boring on the inside. Only one response, Lukasmama, she made an effort to play the game .. well, not that I expect all who take my freebies play but just one person to response to my previous challenge says all and over 500 downloads on borders and grungy blocks.

I will be staying MIA for a while, to work on my projects and less on freebies. No Freebies for today but my challenges are still up
this mini Comment Challenge and the October Oriental Challenge.

Have a good month ahead ladies.
Liz

Mc D 24hours and delivering in Shanghai PLUS mini challenge Freebie

I think most people of my generation remember when McD did not exist. When I was young A&W was the in thing in Malaysia. A good treat is the rootbeer and waffles with unlimited syrup!

Now Mc D is the in thing. Well to people living in Shanghai. Last year they decided to go 24 hours!! Can you imagine that, if you live near a McD and you woke up hungry and you single and your fridge is empty (like mine). You just walk in with your pajamas for some Apple pie!!

Well, walking in your pajamas is OK in Shanghai, everyone does it! But getting some apple pie?? NO WAY, they have stopped Apple Pie for McD China.. why? Not Chinese fav.

They prefer some odd flovours (says my Western friend) like, red bean pie, green bean pie, peach cobller, banana (my fav!-no longer making them) and at the moment it is Pineapple pie and Taro pie. 2 for 7yuan, like 2 pie for 1dollar.

To top it up, of course i am not so fortunate to live next to McD, they deliver 24/7 too :) Now that is cool... I like McD Spicy Chicken wings...and thier pies, I used to like thier shakes until the recent milk issues here. (plus I am not a milkshake fan).

Why am I talking about this?That's because I am having MACCERS for lunch, totally unhealthy but I forgot to bring my protien drink today, well yes, I am on diet but not a strict diet as you can see haha. I do go to gym trice a week. (pat on the back)

So, tell me if McD is giving such a service where you are at? 24 hours services? wierd / cultural menu. McDs here have prosperity burger. KFC has portugese egg tart and rice porridge.. oh the list goes on.

So here's your challenge:
Tell me about your McD in your city or country and leave it in the comment plus an email where I can send you a link to this freebie today OR email me at etscraps@yahoo.com. (Plus you will get the Border and Grungy Block links as well)



Today's freebie is STAMPS!! I have been seeing people making stamps to give away, sadly, many times I have said this, I don't get to download them in 4shared.com so I have to make my own. I have used them, they are AWESOME on my LO so I want to share it with you.

So I look forward to hearing your McD story and email you my stamps :)

Cheers and Tschus
Liz
PS: Oh come on amuse my curiousity!!

OH WOW!! I just realised my blog has
reached more than 10,000 visitors..
Hurrah.

Grungy Block Freebie

Good day,

Today's freebie is a challenge for me from my Scrap buddy. She loves to look at people layout and that inspire her to make a layout of her own. This is what I like about Susan, we actually do compliment each other as Scrap Buddy, she would show me things she like on the LO and I would think if I could make that.


So, the other day she showed me a few LO where the pictures all faded to the side, like feathering but looks a bit grungy, she likes grungy. I took a look and told her that it looked like brushes all piled up together. I have many brushes by now, thanks to BRUSHEEZY.com, and I told her I could make a few for her.


I used some mask brush, coffee stain brush, some floral vectors and grunge brush and piled them up artistically on each other. Then we tested them, I took a picture and placed it above the mearged layer of brushes and Ctrl G-ed it. That puts a smile on our face :), I was really happy with the result... so, there it is very easy to make the blocks, pile up your brushes artistically and then merge them together and you have a grungy block.


If you don't have many brushes, please visit Brusheezy.com (I have a link here on my blog) and download them and make more yourself to personalised your LO. The freebie today can start you off with 6 blocks. I hope you enjoy it.



















Click on the preview to Download it. Sorry Preview link not working here, this freebie is now a mini challenge. Please read my McD Blog Date 17Oct 2008 to get this Grungy blocks and Borders.
(I use MediaFire)

Thank the designer for the freebie!

Have a nice day

Liz

Dead at 19 and a Freebie

It is always upsetting to see young people being killed by another young people or by war etc.

This morning I read about New York Rangers draft pick Alexei Cherepanov dies unexpectedly in Russia at the age of 19. Not this is very strange.

I mean if he is sickly and has a life threatenin disease, fine, but a sportman just drop dead like this and no one is tell us what happened to him. The first thing that came to my mind was drugs. How can some people not educate our teenagers about the effects of drugs? Ok I may be jumping the gun at the moment. I believe parents should pay close attention to their children. Yes, he is 19 a full grown adult so what? he is still your child check on them from time to time.

Oh I hope his parents will have a peace of mind once they find out what actually happened.

Today's freebie are Borders with words., I made it for my friend
who has two boys and from there I realised I was making more. I ended up using two for my own Layouts and the rest I hope you find them useful too.
I tried my new preview style.. I used mostly brushes to make
this preview. I like them simple to that the elements stand
out. What do you think? it's a bit rough on the edges.

There are 8 borders all together. You can recolour them to match with your layout. You should put the borders inside your picture
just like the WITH LOVE border sample in the preview.
Grab it here . Sorry the link is expired here, this freebie is now a mini challenge. Please read my McD Blog Date 17Oct 2008 to get this Grungy blocks and Borders.

Have a good week gals.
Liz

My Birthday, embracing my age.

I'm officially 34 today, but what is age? In my mind I always think I am about 28. In some culture, it is totally rude to out right ask a lady person of her age. As I get older I realised people tend to be cautiously askng what my age is.

Age is age, but we are so caught up with the conformity of the society that we tend to make it so sensitive, so taboo, so no-no and that people has to step gingerely around you just to see if you will disclose your age.

My first year in China, I met many local Chinese, and the first thing they do is to ask, how old are you? base on that age they will proceed to the next question. If you are in the 20s, they will ask "Do you have a boyfriend?" and if you are in the 30s they will ask "Are you married?" Funny eh?

Of course I always get the THIRD question, "How come you are not married?" and the FORTH, "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" and the FIFTH, "Don't you want to be married?" etc
I can image if a few of my other single available female friends were to be asked these questions, they will either clam up or be in tears! I just answered all the questions out of curiosity just wanting to know what is the last question. There were no last question but a last statement, " I will help you find a boyfriend!" haha

So, age is age, it should not affect us, us women in this new millennium should not have such attitude and mid frame about age. Why are you afraid of your age? You can not get rid of it, and you can not turn back the counter (Although many try using other physical power). A few of my friends also say the 30's is the new 20s. Are you kidding me?

Women has come a long way to where we are with the society, we have done leaps and bounce and why let a little 2 numbers get into our way of thinking?
So here I am 34!




Now let's back to the real reason you are here :) thanks for reading and thanks to those to took time to tell me that they like my work. I really appreciate them as your words have encouraged me. While you wait for the things to be downloaded please leave a comment I love to hear what you have to say about AGE.

So, here are two Chinese Glitter words. I will have it up for 2 days meaning today Sunday, and tomorrow Monday, because of the time zones.. I know by tomorrow when I work some people are still on Sunday. And I like Ping Ping to celebrate my birthday with me.

The meaning of the Chinese words are on the label.
They are my first official glitter elements.
3 styles and 8 words.

Here is also Ping Ping. She is holding a typical Chinese
candy, it's a like in America you have Candied Apple.
In China it's called Hawthorne.. it's candied Hawthorne.
There are various fruits nowadays. Oranges and grapes
and my fav. Candies Strawberries!




Click preview to view it closer.
and grab them here
(Sorry Link Expired)









Enjoy my freebies!
Be courteous and leave thanks on my blog.
and have a great weekend. I know I am.
Liz

second last day of BD FREEBIE!

Here's a Freebie grab from my Birthday Grabs.
Click preview to DL it. (Sorry Link has expired)

Tomorrow is my Birthday. I am really happy, I think the 30s is the new 20s a few years back but now I believe the 30s is the modern 30s.

I know what I want in life, and I don't think the people in the 20s will ever understand what it is like to be in the 30s until you have cross this line.

So, tomorrow I will have an only ONE day grab of a few freebies!
Have a good weekend.

PS dont forget to participate in my October Oriental Challenge, the bonus is still up for grab!
Here's the challenge kit for you to DL load again.



Liz

Enable the Disable

That's what I was told yesterday after the IT techy looked at my LT. I won't moan anymore today about this because what I did was really silly, no idea when I did it but I did it. I disabled the local connection, so that was why my LT didn't give any LAN signal. Silly right? but 'phew' it's all right now.

Yesterday I had HOT POT for dinner, it's the healthiest way to eat. I try to eat almost no carbohydrate at all these days just meat and veg. Not that I am super thin or really over weight, but I am a big size person. I want to eat healthier from this year onwards.

So this hot pot is like this, you get your own little pot and everyone will order meat or vege. They have the regular meat like pork, beef, mutton, seafood and poultry and some restaurant has beef tongue, crocodile meat, frog legs, sea cucumber etc and vegies like lettuce, radish, potato, all types of mushrooms and more. My fav is fried Soy Bean Skin and mushroom. The soup come in several flavour, ultra spicy, mushroom, healthy, peanut and more.

You then pick your own sauce of condiments to compliment the meat or vegies by dipping on them when your food is cooked. You wait for the soup to boil and start to put the things you like to eat into the pot and cook it yourself :) Simple and very yummalicious!

Here're pictures of the hot pot



Pic1. My pot - Mushroom soup.

Here, various of condiments for you to blend your sauce, from sesame oil to soysauce, sesame seed, peanut sauce, XO sauce, Hot chilly pepper, spring onion, garlic, onion etc.

Here you see the mutton and beef we ordered, the far left is the frog's leg, and next to the pot you see bowl of say sauce and the T's condiments next to his bowl.

I go there at lease once a week. One of my favourite meal in Shanghai. Healthy and delicious!

Today I will give you my third last day Birthday Grab... On my birthday I will give you the most glittery freebie of all. I think I forgot to tell you that these grabs only last for around 2 days and they will not be given out again so, remember not to miss these few days freebies ok?

My last Cloth Frames.

The last frame in this set is more like furry than cloth, hope you like it.

Have a nice Friday.
Grab!

Please leave a message, I love to hear from you. :)

Still upset

My father came to visit me yesterday from Malaysia, when I returned home from work we chatted and he casually mentioned that the economy in the world is looking pretty bad and that nothing is permanent and the only thing permanent thing is GOD. He is ever here with us and never change.



At one point he said something about being online in the afternoon to read even more news about the present situation. I stopped him. "What ? You got online?" I abruptly went to my laptop and hooked up, the joy of being connected again just gave me such great happiness, but was in vain. It didn't work on my computer. Only his, and this is when I realised that my LT connection to the internet is faulty. So, there's no problem with the internet, the problem lies on my baby LT!!



How sad I was. I felt a little betrayed as I take care of LT very carefully and she went sick on me!! I know it's a silly thing to say this, but I am really sad and I hope I can fix this problem ASAP.



Anyway, my goal this week is to improve on my kit previews. A friend pointed to me that my previews are not marketable... so I am going to try this week to make my Nov. Oriental Preview to look better. I do have to say that my FROM GERMANY WITH LOVE preview is pretty nice... I like the little sticker in the middle of the papers compare to the strip across. You don't know what I am saying? You know the middle sticker in the middle of the papers?? Ah, well then I should show you.. let's see this one!

See that? I like it that way.. But I like to make a nice one for myother kits, maybe a rounded corner one or something. What do you think of this preview? It is attractive enough?

Well I will make a new Nov. Oriental Preview and then let you see the old and the new together. And like to hear what you think, Ok?

The preview here shows Sunflowers and another orange flower (no idea what is the name, I'm terrible at keeping a record of flower names) We were riding through the scenic view, mind you all the views surrounding Adelsheim is Beautiful, and we passed by a patch of SUNFLOWERS.Being a city girl I have never really seen fields of sunflowers in real time. I have seen plenty in pictures, so I made T (my boyfriend) turn around and stopped to let me just look at the field, what else would I do next, you say. Took PICTURES!! It was a very happy picture time. So after doing a bit of tweaking the papers, now they turned out beautiful!

The other picture was taken in Bad Rappernau, a nearby town to Adelsheim and they were promoting a flower festival, I was a little dissappointed with the festival because there weren't many variety, but I captured a few flowers for my freebies to you. This orange ones are gorgeous. Don't you think?

Oh I realised I forgot to tell you, this preview is my freebie today. :) Grab is here ladies, and please leave a comment if you like these papers.

I am now worried sick and hoping my LT will be working and I dont have to send her in to the IT hospital. Well I have a duty to do, so have a good day, cross fingers and pray that my LT (laptop ) is not seriously damaged.

Tschus!

Liz

"Politeness is a virtue"

Have you thank someone today?

Connection Down

I sat in front of my Laptop yesterday night clicking the connect button that links me to the cyberworld about a million times. I was not able to do so, and if this happened 8 years ago, I would be jummpind around getting edgy because I can not read my news, my email, chat and do some net surfing in the comforts of my own home.

But yesterday I was calm, I just continue to work on my Scrap Journalling, texted my landlord to ask him to replace the modem or find out what happened. I watched some movie and went to bed early.

I have come to realised that I can still life a fulfilling day without using a laptop day and night, but as you know given the opportunity, I like to be online. It is like being hooked up on an IV drip.

Well, I just realised that my birthday counter is wrong!!.. Its not 2 days left!! I still like to cherish my younger me today, tomorrow and up to Saturday!! I will be the older me, but still young at heart (How many times have you heard this line already, yea?) on Sunday.



To celebrate 3 more days of being 33!! Hey triple 3! Let me share a Brackets with you.




(Sorry the link has expired)





Have a good day ladies, and please leave a comment if you like them.

Liz

Two more entries for BONUS kit!

This is the most exciting event!! Here I have 2 more entry for October Oriental Challenge Layout..and it is only the beginning of the month..

Here you see the second LO from Kimberly of her son with his Blue Belt.

I have also the third LO from Gia, she did a great job in blending the picture to the Jade paper.

How cool is this! If I get 5 LO at the beginning of the month the BONUS kit will run out soon! Should I extend it?

Anyway, remember to DL my Birthday freebie.
On my Birthday I will post a ONE day freebies.
So, stay tunes my freebie grabbers!
Liz

Another Birthday Freebie.

Sorry not so much blogging today. It's Monday and I brought work home.
Yet, I like to share something with you today. I hope your Monday is not as busy as mine. :)
Have a good one.

Liz


(Sorry the link has expired)

American October Celebration.

It's the Halloween month.
I remember my host told me the first year I was in Arkansas that they do not celebrate Halloweens but Nov 1st, all Saint's day. (I think) It was more of a religious celebration for them on Nov first then Halloween.

To me is a day where all American children play dress up in the community and get candies. In Shanghai, most expat families, not just Americans, would participate this costume seasons. Children will knock on your door, which is decorated to indicate you are participating in this event, and the apartment tenant will pass out candies, coupons or homemade cookies.

There is also a darker side to this celebration, not that I know clearly what it is, but I remember my host family telling me children in the community can only be trick or treating in the same community they are from, for safety reasons. Kidnapping and people making thier own candies with razors or silica powders etc for the kids to eat!

I never celebrate Halloween, that is because I never grew up doing this. In Malaysia, no one does it and by the time I was in America for my studies, I was too old to participate.

Although I do like the idea of dressing up for a fun occasion, since I can not do that here or I don't have pictures of me in costumes I am sharing PingPing with you.
She is in her 1st Halloween costume - a glitterly butterfly.

Click HERE to grab it.











Recently I will be busier. A friend and I came up with the idea that I design the cover of the Wedding Guest Book for her as she is a wedding planner. I have agreed to do this for her and I am really excited.

I hope I can continue to give freebies to you as my work began to pile up. I am very very happy to share my work with you. Especially those who made effort to write me and encourage me. Oh, I have finished finally my November Oriental Challenge and I am working on the December Oriental Challenge. It will be a Peranakan Themed. (a Chinese Malaysian Theme)

I will not be doing any Christmas Challenge, but I may have a surprise Christmas gift for you. I will be away most of Dec as I will be celebrating Christmas in GERMANY!! for the first time with BF's family. I will try to bring my HD with me so I can set up Christmas gifts for you everyday. Like a Christmas Advent? Everyday you open a box and a small gift inside?? Nice idea? What do you think?

Oh well. I need to get to work on my Wedding Guestbooks layouts.
Have a good Sunday.
Liz

Oct .-Ori.-Challenge FIRST Layout from.

Debra!! Congratulation!
Ok, very excited here. Thank you for putting a big smile on my face today and I hope the Opera Mask kit will put a smile on your face too. Debra, very cool LO and I have sent you the links.

Here is the LO for you all to admire.





Deadrose Blogger (don't know her real name)
Sent me two of her LO, here they are.




Leave them a comment.
Thanks ladies.
Have a good day.
Liz

Observing the Chinese

Good weekend to you.

It's Saturday, and one more day and I will be back at work. Holidays passes very fast, I wanted to do one LO a day but it was hard due to some circumstances. Although I did get two LOs done since I got back from my holiday.

My October Oriental Challenge is here, so remember to scroll down to grab the challenge. I know you may find it hard to find something to go with the theme. But you don't really have to get into the FULL oriental gear for a LO. Anyway, it's on and the last day is the 31st of this month.

Yesterday, I went out again and will do so today! I was at this street where locals buy their food to eat and right across this street I was welcomed by Starbucks and Mark&Spencer etc. So first here are Pictures of the people selling the food and how this local street looks like.




(Click on pictures to have a bigger view)

Then here comes the things sold on this street(not all are shown)







Then just across the street you see this!


We went to have a cuppa and I tried out the peanut butter scones. While sitting and relaxing, I realised I was watching the Chinese people behaviour and I click on my video button and this is what I saw while enjoying my cuppa.I hope you like it, it's a short clip, I made the clip faster so, NO this is not how fast the Chinese can walk. At the end of the clip you may find the most interesting person in the most surprising attire in broad daylight HOWEVER it is a very very very COMMON attire worn by many Shanghainese.(Someone even published a picture book about this)




Now,today's freebie is a birthday give away. Frames with Chinese Oriental design. I have tons or textures, BF thinks I am a little nutty but he is very patient with me whenever he is out with me. I am always clutching my camera instead of his arms and would go into my scrapping world through the lens of my Samsung. I thought I share some of my textures with you through frames. If you are in China, you can but cloth frames as gifts to your friends. So, here are the first set of digital cloth frames for you. Only for today!


Grab the FRAMES HERE (Sorry, download is expired)

Have a good weekend Saturday!
Thanks for your encouraging comments.
Liz



Click preview to safe pixtag on your blog

Thursday and Friday Freebies

A lot of things to catch up these few days so I share with you
two freebies today.
The first one it my 5th Chinese Girl. She is holding a lantern.
And the second one is from my From Germany with Love series. A scenery papers.

It's good to be back in Shanghai, there's so much jacuzzi and swimming and lounging one can do over the holiday and then, you want to get back to reality.
Surprisingly, Shanghai is quite quiet.. so I will be going downtown to take a stroll and will bring back a photo of the city for you.




Click on image to preview
Click here for
1) Chinese Girl Lantern
2) From Germany With Love.





Enjoy my freebies and please leave a comment if you like my freebies today.
Liz



Click preview to safe pixtag on your blog

October Oriental Challenge is here.

It's the 1st today. Just came back from my R&R. I am happy that I am back but sad at the same time. However the good thing is I am still on holiday :)

Today mark the third Oriental Challenge. This month challenge is a kit from the Beijing Opera Masks. The ones I designed here are not the traditional shaped. I enjoyed making them and have used this kit for my travel and my god-daughter.

BE CREATIVE AND BE CHALLENGED you freebie Grabbers!
Here is the Challenge Kit. Click here to DL the October Oriental Challenge.

"Download this challenge kit, use all 4 of the materials(most welcome to add your own collection) and send me the kit by email.(Written on the preview)"




When I received your LO I will post it here and let everyone admire it. Here is the full kit, plus add on and a QP














There is a BONUS for you, 3 Frames from the QP and a ceramic Peony Sticker for the first 5 LO sent to me. Here is the preview of the BONUS.


I am hoping to receive some LO this month for this challenge. I will be giving out some Birthday Download soon, so keep in tune. If you like add yourself to the follower list.















I have designed two Chinese Girls Picture Tag, feel free to click on the preview and copy it and put it up in your blog. (If you like her )One is the Polite tag and another is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.



Have a good day! BE CREATIVE BE CHALLENGED!

Liz