Dare or Not?

Dare #15

2007-09-05T07:19:00.000+08:00

Get Creative with Die Cuts

These days we have all sort of tools to create die cuts, be they punches, handheld or electronic machines. We challenge the Dare Gals to show us their creativity in the use of die cuts.

Do you dare?

Here's what the Dare Gals have come up with:

Audrey - a card made using a butterfly punch.

Edleen - A LO created and decorated using a flower punch.
Michelle - Butterflies from Quickutz.

Dare #14

2007-08-20T04:07:00.000+08:00

Get Creative With Boxes

Be it big or small, we see them everywhere. Their usefulness lies in the ability to contain stuff! This week, we challenge the Dare Gals to think 'outside the box'.

Do you Dare?

Our Guest Designer is Yati. Here's what she has to say:

Hi! I'm Yati, a SAHM with 3 precious kids. I started this hobby late last year & have no regrets at all (although I do wish it can be less expensive heh-heh). I still consider myself a newbie & have so much more to learn. Thankfully, friends I've made were more than willing to help me out and shared their knowledge with me. And without their encouragement & support I don't think I will be able to continue this hobby. Not forgetting support from my dear husband too. Yes I'm truly blessed!!;-) So when I was asked to be DG this month, oh yes I was over the moon :D! And to do an altered art, that is really something very close to my heart. Lately, most of the gifts I gave to my friends are altered art. It's tiring but the satisfaction feeling I get when the project is completed, that's priceless. True they might not look stunningly gorgeous or professionally done but they were definitely made with love & I believe that's the most important part of all :)

Here's what Yati has altered! A truely stunning gift box!

Our Dare Gals have come up with some lovely creations:

Audrey has put together 4 matchboxes to form minature drawers.

Edleen decorated a used chipboard box to store a mini album that she created.

Michelle dressed up a box to store a lovely set of tags.

Dare #13

2007-08-01T05:49:00.000+08:00

Get Creative With Tags!

We see them everywhere, on cardstock sheet, chipboards etc. This week we challenge the Dare Gals to get creative with Tags! See how they can be used other than being on layouts!

Do you dare?

Here's what the Dare Gals have done with Tags:

As bookmarks - Audrey

Part of a mini album - Edleen

As a mini album - Joanne

As a name tag - Michelle

Dare #12

2007-07-17T19:02:00.000+08:00

Inspired by Homemade Stamps

Stamping is becoming slowly but surely popular. A lot of companies have come out with their own acrylic stamps. For this week's Dare, we want you to create your own stamp. Take inspiration from your surrounding and see how you can easily create a stamped image from an ordinary object!

Do you dare?

This week Guest Designer is Sasha Farina. Here's what she has to say:

Hi ! I'm Sasha, a full time mommy to Neha (7) and Nidhi (5). September 5th 2006 was the day I started scrapbooking and you can say I never look back. I'm so lucky to have found some very genuine friends through scrapbooking. We keep each other inspired on a daily basis :)

I've been asked "What's your style?" And to be frank, I do not know what my style is. I like to try things and my motto is "Try everything, at least once". You never know what good things are gonna make their way to you and you have got nothing to lose. Based on that, I ventured into Digital Scrapbooking on June 5th, 2007. And a whole new world just opened up... seriously, so many things to do and learn! I'm being kept busy these days!

I find inspiration in the most mundane of things. Some of them are newspaper articles, the label on my dishwashing liquid and the cartoon my daughter watched on TV.

My "stamp" on this LO was made from Cork Placemat. I then painted it with Acrylic paint before stamping it on the LO. Can't wait to see what you will come up with :)

Here's Sasha's lovely creation:

Sasha uses cork

And here's what the Dare Gals have come up with:

Edleen uses a ruler

Edleen

Joanne uses leaves

Joanne

Michelle uses a round container

Michelle

Dare #11

2007-07-01T06:24:00.000+08:00

Inspired by Transparencies

It's amazing how office supplies are suddenly making their way into scrapbooking. Well, this one is no exception! Transparencies seem to be making their appearance in a big way these day. You can easily find lovely pre-printed designs in the local scrapbooking store. Or you can even create your own design! This week, we challenge the Dare Gals to use tranparencies in the creations.

Do you dare?

Our Guest Designer is the uber talented Emeline Ng. This is what she has to say:

Hi ! I’m Emeline and I am a blessed SAHM to 2 very precious children - Telia and Trevan. I began scrapbooking 3 years ago after the birth of my daughter.

In the beginning, I merely journalled and pasted pictures onto albums. Along the way, things got interesting and more products became available. I began to add more and more onto my pages! This addiction of making my pages look pretty became a lifestyle - and most importantly to record life's precious moments.

I can't find a neat word to describe my style! It varies and evolves around the photos and pattern papers which I work with. Largely, it depends on the mood I wish to covey in the layout. I love to play with colours and find that scrapbooking is therapeutic and a form of self expression. I am thankful to have a very understanding and supportive husband who wholeheartedly encourages and provide for my passion in scrapbooking.

Truly, I am blessed to have several opportunities knocking on my doors and I hope to use my layouts to reach out to fellow scrappers. As I learn along the way, I hope to inspire and be inspired by you!

For this challenge, working on transparency brings back fond memories! School projects were normally done on transparencies back in school days when the over-head projector ruled! I used the transparency as overlay and underlay.

You can find out more about Emeline from her blog. Here's her lovely interpretation!

Here's what the Dare Gals have come up with:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Karen

Michelle

Dare #10

2007-06-17T08:01:00.000+08:00

Inspired by Adverts

How often do a billboard or an advertisement, either on TV, magazines or even online, catches our eye? This week's Dare focus on getting inspiration from adverts and we challenge the Dare gals to find an advert for their inspiration.

Do you dare?

This week's Guest Designer is Jaz. Here's what she has to say:

Hi! I'm Jaz. Late last year, my girlfriends introduced me to Scrapbooking and I have never looked back then. I am a SAHM to two crazy adorable children Kai & Faith and a blessed wife to DH Simon. They are my scrapped subjects most of the times. And new member, baby #3 should be arriving in few days time ;)

I am thrilled to be the GD for June and on the theme Ads! Many ads pull me in because of their strong slogans, graphics, skillful blends of colours which all work together to produce well-designed ads. For this LO, I've chosen COCACOLA, my all time fav .My dad used to call me coca-holic, I call myself a lady of good taste. For generations, Cocacola has been associated with special times and places. And it's all about making memories.... I just think it's just time for me to bring both, my fav Cocacola & my love for Scrapbooking together, into this Dare-Inspired By Ads. I've always love vintages and the vintages Ads by Cocacola has never failed to captivate me...Here I wish to capture the vintage (me in pic) vs modern (myself & my daughter in pic) Cocacola world...Using the Limited Edition CocaCola Collection Kit by EK Success,here's my take..."Psst!Have a Coke and smile"

You can find out more about Jaz on her blog.

Here's Jaz' Ad-inspired LO:

Here's what the Dare gals have come up:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Michelle

Dare #9

2007-06-01T00:24:00.000+08:00

Inspired by a Word

What's a language without words? These days, we are faced with a lot of inspiring words and scrapbooking is no exception. This week we challenge the Dare gals to choose a favourite inspirational word and use it as part of a title.

Do you dare?

Here's what the Dare gals have come up?

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Karen

Michelle

Sharon

Dare #8

2007-05-15T16:54:00.000+08:00

Inspired by Nature

As scrappers, we tend to draw inspiration from what we see and this week, the Dare Gals were challenged to draw inspiration from Nature. Be it flowers, insects, birds, colour of nature etc, we want to see how this become translated onto paper. The Asian Dare challenges you to look into Nature for inspiration.

Do you dare?

Here's what the Dare Gals have come up:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Michelle

Sharon

Dare #7

2007-04-30T17:51:00.000+08:00

Inspired by Fashion

This week we kicked off a series of 'Inspired by...' theme. For our first theme, we are going to be inspired by fashion trends. How often do we see a fashion style and wonder how this could be translated onto paper. We have challenge the Dare Gals to be inspired by a fashion item and they have to take a photo to prove it and show us their creation.

We take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to Michelle Vass, our Guest Designer. Here's what she has to say:

I am Michelle, a Singaporean and have lived in Melbourne, Australia, for 8 years now. I'm married to Peter, a Greek Australian and we have 2 children together, Ellen and Phaedon. I started scrapbooking 1.5 years ago when I noticed that I have too many photos in my hard disc and no one gets to see them. So rather than putting them in an album, I decided to do something nice with them. It soon went from a hobby to an obsession. And when I found out that fellow Singaporeans are also getting into the craft, I was so thrilled. At least I know that whenever I come back to visit, I won't be having withdrawal symptoms!!!

My scrapping style is predominantly linear and geometric (forgot the existence of this word and have just picked it up again from the previous Asian Dare Sponsor, Kristy! LOL), with quite a bit of lumpy bumpy details. I have patience when it comes to this craft, so you'll often see me cutting up flowers or patterns from patterned papers. I have an obsession with inking or outlining almost everything I put on my pages, to make them stand out. I don't have a favourite colour because I can work with anything apart from purple/lilac.

For this layout, I was inspired by a rather trendy-looking scrapbooking apron complimentary from Fiskars. I absolutely love this colour combination of blue and orange. Plus I just can't go pass the swirls.

Here's Michelle's interpretation:

You can find our more about Michelle or see her work on her blog.

Here's what the Dare Gals have come up with:

Audrey: I was inspired by the buttons on the jacket and decided to make use of them in my LO.

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Edleen: I was inspired by my t-shirt's pretty flourishes. As it's only on one side of the t-shirt, it looks like a wing to me so it occured to me to have wings on my LO.

*********************

Karen: I was inspired by the colours and the ornate gothic-ness of the dress.

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Joanne: I was inspired by the print of the shirt. I used only ribbons and lace in my LO. The stitches mimic the trim of the shirt too.

*****************

Michelle: This is a picture of a t-shirt that I'd bought once when I was feeling down. The words "Don't Bother" encouraged me not to let what other people think of me affect how I feel about myself, so long as I am true to what I believe in. The journaling in my layout reflects exactly those sentiments, that I should never forget who I am and to always stay real.

Dare #6

2007-04-15T20:51:00.000+08:00

This week Dare is sponsored by Far Flung Craft and Kristy has the honour of choosing the theme for the Dare Gals.

Geometric Designs in Asia

First, a little secret, I hated, despised, and abhorred geometry in school. I only just barely passed high school geometry, my math teacher treated me horribly, I just didn’t get understand it and I struggled with the concepts of angles, circumference and how to determine the area of a triangle. To this day, I still am not quite sure I know who Euclid was and why his theories really matter to me. In fact, my general opposition to all things geometrical still exists today and I cringe at the thought of having to tutor my children someday in the mysteries of math, but here I sit in Singapore surrounded by Geometric patterns, designs and art. I love the look of the Chinese lattice screens, the geometric patterns found on antique floor tiles, and of course the naturalistic patterns of Japanese paper. Living in Asia may just force me to change my mind about all of the geometry lessons I so hated.

The use of patterns as a decorative touch has long seated history in Asia. Examples of geometric patterns can be found on the early bronze works from the Shang Dynasty in China (2000 BC). Geometric patterns have also been traced back to Japan as early as 3000BC in the form of tattoos and let’s not forget all of the geometric patterns found in Indonesian textiles, Polynesian designs and Indian and Tibetan Mandelas.

This weeks dare is to think about Asian geometric designs and use them on your layouts. Perhaps you are a whiz at paper cutting and can design a background using Chinese lattice designs, perhaps you feel inspired when looking at the geometrical beauty of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur. Let’s see us all take on Euclid and prove that Geometry is more than a high school math subject!

Here's what Kristy has to say:

" Hi, my name is Kristy and I have been scrapbooking in some form since high school. When my I moved to Asia I got serious about scrapbooking but it was hard as Taiwan had no scrapbook stores at the time. Moving to Singapore in 2004 was like a dream come true, real scrapbook stores with paper and cardstock! Ok, the stores have grown a bit since those early days, as has my stash!

I love living in Asia and am love gaining inspiration from all of the images and sites that surround me everyday. I think Singapore is really my second home and I love the Asian Dares, thank you for letting me a part of this! "

This is Kristy's interpretation of the theme. She was inspired by the Moorish architecture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

You can find out more about Kristy on her blog.

Here's what the Dare Gals came up with:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Karen

Michelle

Sharon

Participants of this Dare will have their names put in a box and one lucky winner will win a Sin$25 voucher to be spent at Far Flung Craft. Please leave the link of your creation either at the comment box on this blog or at the Dare section in The Scrapper's Loft forum. Have fun!

Dare #5

2007-03-31T19:01:00.000+08:00

Rainbow Connection!

Colours surround us everyday and hold more meaning than what we are aware of sometimes. In nature, bright colours are often used as forms of warning, and animals find safety in the camouflage of monochromatic tones. In society, they are symbolic of feelings, character and occasion, and this is where our dare takes us.

What kind of emotions do colours stir up within you? Does "seeing red" or "being green" mean the same to you and I? Did you know that while white is often associated with purity in western cultures, faces painted white in Chinese opera would suggest the character is sinister?

So, what stories do colours hold for you? Share them with us!

Do you dare?

Here's what the Dare Gals have come up with:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Karen

Michelle

Sharon

Dare #4

2007-03-15T20:59:00.000+08:00

Food, Glorious Food!

The saying, "You are what you eat" is probably truer than you can imagine, albeit not just from a nutrition perspective. The taste, texture, colour and smells associated with different foods, often do more than whet appetites and fill empty tummies - they tell stories and hold memories!

Tell us then, what is it that you miss eating most when you're away from home? Or, what do you look forward to having when you're at your hungriest? Perhaps it's something you absolutely will not touch with a 10-foot pole yet mum insists on serving it every holiday! Whatever it may be, share it with us!

Food, glorious food!

Do you dare?

Our Guest Designer is Anne Marie. Here's what she has to say:

Hi, I'm Anne-Marie. I started scrapbooking about 3.5 years ago when I was introduced to it by my sister. I am a part-time working mum to Ethan, 6 and Hannah, 4. They are my most scrapped subjects, of course.

I'm honoured to be this month's Guest Designer and what better topic than 'Food'! I love to eat, especially sweet stuff. I'm thankful we live in Singapore which offers as diverse cuisines as you can possibly imagine. My favourite food? Well, that's too many to list but here's a layout of my current favourite: 'Zi Cha' at Bukit Panjang. :)

You can find out more about Anne Marie from her blog. Here's her take on the theme:

Here's the gorgeous work from the Dare Gals. Here's hoping they have tantalized your tastebuds:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Karen

Michelle

Sharon

Surprise RAK!

2007-03-15T20:52:00.000+08:00

We gave a surprise RAK to participants of Dare #2 and the lucky winner is Stefanie.

Congrats and thanks for taking part.

Dare #3

2007-02-28T18:31:00.000+08:00

"A civilization is a heritage of beliefs, customs, and knowledge slowly accumulated in the course of centuries." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Pilot, Writer and Author of 'The Little Prince', 1900-1944)

What is the slice of civilisation that is you, which you will leave behind for the next century? What are you an accumulation of? In other words, who are you?

The Asian Dares challenges you to to leave your mark on our heritage trail.

Do you dare?

We are priviledged to have Caroline Lau from Maya Road as our first Guest Designer. Here's what she has to say:

Hello, I am Caroline Lau, the Managing Partner at Maya Road. My sister and I started MR about 3.5 years ago after deciding that there was a need for the products we wanted to see in the market. In 2005, I quit my job as a Chemical Engineer to work on MR full time and this truly has been and is my dream job.

I have been married to my DH, David, for almost 6.5 years now and we just had our first baby boy, Noah, last year. In my spare time, I love to run, play soccer, hang out with baby Noah, travel and try to keep up with my DH on learning Chinese (he is taking his first chinese classes now).

I am so honored to be a guest designer for the Asian Dares. I love the concept it presents and the respresentation on the diversity of the Asian heritage near and far.

Peace, Caroline

You can find out more about Caroline from her blog. Here's her take on the theme:

Here's the gorgeous work from the Asian Dare Gals, together with a brief bio of themselves. They haven't properly introduce themselves so here goes:

Audrey

I came across scrapbooking via cardmaking in 2004. I attended my first class and became hooked instantly. I realised that it was something I used to do years ago, as I would keep a vacation journal and collected souvenir bits and later decorate an album with what I’ve written and collected. It was good to rediscover scrapbooking in a new light and with archival materials too. Over the last year, I’ve taken it more seriously and have been published in scrapping magazines and am also on the design teams of several companies. I love scrapbooking for the freedom it gives me to explore and experiment with new trends and ideas. I love the fact that there is no limit or restriction to what you can create. I certainly look forward to many more years of creative expression!

Edleen

I'm a SAHM to 4 wonderful Kids and have been married to a really great guy for 14 years. If scrapbooking with acid free stuff existed when I was a teen, then I'd say I've been scrapping since then. But I began in November 2005 with acid free products after being inspired by many layouts and projects that I've seen. In September 2006 I applied to be on a DT for the first time and I am proud to say I'm their first International Designer from Singapore at about.com:Scrapbooking. I truly enjoy this hobby and am very honoured to be part of the first Asian Dare Design Team in Singapore.

Sharon

Hi, I'm Sharon, and I absolutely love Scrapbooking. Getting into the Asian Dares Team has been great fun and really challenging from Dare No 1. The mad scramble to meet deadlines, mad but fun.
I started this really addictive hobby a couple of years ago and I have found a side of me I have never found before, the creative artistic side, a side which my art teacher in school would have been proud of. Scrapbooking has really widened my perspective on things and I now try to see things in a different perspective either thru my the lens of my camera or trying to tell a story with my layouts. I love trying out different new techniques and is absolutely in love with playing with colors at the moment.
This is going to be a great time for Asian Scrapbooking and the Asian Dares .. come join us on this exciting journey. I dare .. do you ?

Joanne

My name is Joanne. I come across this term "Scrapbooking" from a parenting forum. I'm like any non-scrapper, thinking it is just a nice way of arranging photos and pretty papers, until I really learn what is scrapbooking about in Nov 2005. I love the idea of keeping all my memories in a form of photos and journaling and this will be passed down generation to generation.
Along the way of scrapbooking journey, I find that it is not only memories keepers but it unleashed the creative side of me, which I never know it exist in the first place. I used to curse and swear during my Arts Class in the school day and I would never imagine that I'll be in a "Art" related design teams years down the road.
Asian Dare is the first steps out of my comfort arena and I'm really glad I am part of it.

Karen.
Hi, I'm Karen. Scrapbooking has become a big part of my life: Everything goes through the "I need to take a photo" process and "Can I scrapbook this" checklist. I'm the one behind the camera and writing the stories.That's the way I like it.

Michelle
Hullo! My name is Michelle and I come from the sunny island of

Singapore

. Artsy-crafty stuff has always been a keen interest of mine, hence it was only natural for me to pick up scrapbooking after chancing upon a LSS in June 2006. Til date, I have been scrapping for about 8 months and so far, loving every single bit of it. I do believe scrapbooking will be something that will remain with me throughout my life as it is such a personal hobby, allowing me to not only express my creativity but more importantly, capture my emotions and memories.

LO Inspiration of Dare #2

2007-02-27T06:58:00.000+08:00

Some great LOs here! Thanks for taking part!

Winner of Dare #1

2007-02-27T06:12:00.000+08:00

Yay! We have a winner for our 1st Asian Dare #1. Swee Ching, partner of Made With Love scrapbooking store picked the winner:

Congratulation Joanne! Incidentally Joanne is also on our Dare team! Well done!

Dare #2

2007-02-15T21:43:00.000+08:00

Confucius, he say...

...man who scrapbook make good story teller.

We joke about it lots, but let's face it, idioms and sayings carry the wisdom of generations before us and many of us do live by some of these sayings. If you could pick one such saying/proverb/idiom as a wisdom to leave behind to generations that come after you, what would it be?

Do you dare?

Audrey
Saying: To be in your children's memories, you have to be in their lives today. Anonymous

Edleen
Saying: Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart
Confucius~Chinese Philosopher 551BC~479BC

Joanne
Saying: A child needs your love most when she deserves it least.

Karen
Saying: A hug - the shortest distance between friends

Michelle
Saying: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.

Sharon

Saying: If you meet with obstacles, grumble a little and move on. Do not dwell on it because nobody cares about yourself more than you.

The New Dare Gals

2007-02-06T19:35:00.000+08:00

After much deliberation, we extend our heartiest congratulations to Edleen, Joanne and Michelle to the Dare team. Here are their layouts that completely wooed us!

Edleen

Joanne

Michelle

The next Dare goes up on 16th Feb. See you then!

Dare #1

2007-01-15T20:49:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the 1st Asian Dare!

What Say You?

We speak differently in different contexts - at work, in school, during lunch. But when you're at your most comfortable, what is it that you speak? Hokkien? Pasar Melayu? Singlish? With more than 2,000 languages being spoken across Asia, we're certain that many of you possess a richer language bank than we know of. And if it's not an Asian Language that you speak, no matter! Welsh? A local German dialect? A regional slang? The Asian Dares challenges you to scrap in your native tongue, whatever it may be. Leave your linguistic heritage behind as part of your title or journaling.

Do you dare?

Karen

Li-Sa

Audrey

Sharon

To celebrate the launch of Asia's Dare Blog, Made With Love has kindly sponsored a scrapbooking hamper* worth SGD$150. Each entry will stand you a chance** in a draw for this exciting prize (which could include goodies from CHA Winter 07!), so what are you waiting for?

TSL will also be taking this opportunity to look for Dare Design Team (DDT) members from Asia to help us grow these Asian dares. For more information on the call for DDT, please login to TSL.

*We regret that we can only send the prize to participants residing in Asia, Australia or New Zealand.

**To qualify for the draw, you must post a link to your layout on TSL in the Dare or Not forum. For those who don't qualify, simply put a link in the comments for us to view your Dare.

This dare will end on 15 Feb 07 as per the request of the sponsor. Subsequent dares will be posted fortnightly.