Ztampfilicious

Ztampfans Challenge #3
Congratulations for Carin, the winner of this challenge :). A $20 PayPal cash have been sent! Enjoy!
Thanks for every one participated :).

Ztampfans Challenge #4 will be announced here on Thursday, Dec. 6th.
Posting period will be from Dec. 6th to the 13th, with the voting period from the 14th to the 20th. Winner will be announced on the 21st. This will be the last Ztampfans Challenge for this year since I won’t be online much in the later part of December. I’ll be visiting my parents and old friends in my hometown, Jakarta, Indonesia!

So… what’s the update! Nothing much on Ztampf! front except that I’ve started working on an Album Set! If everything goes well, this album set will be available at the shop by this Sunday ;). So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, on the allergies: My condition continues to improve! Hooray! Perhaps the new medication regime is working for me! Or perhaps… it’s just about the time the allergies are taking the turning point. Either way, I’m getting pretty good long sleeps these nights. Blissful! Hopefully the allergies will really go away for good soon! Thanks for all the well wishes sent my way :).

Oh I’ve made a couple of early Christmas things. One is for my step-daughter who is in exchange program in France now. I tucked this into her Xmas Gift Box :). The other one is for my only niece who lives in Canada.

Made using 2 of the 3 sets included in my own Seasons Delight Mini AlbuMail, can be found at Ztampf!Shop and at my SBB Store.
Instead of just using eyelets like I did last year, I used Lil’ Davis’ ArtHooks and MM’s Jewel Brads for hanging :).
The layout is done with my Journalicious Accent Pack. Fonts are Packard Antique and FG Cheryl.

Come see my new Fhungalicious CafePress Boutique: http://www.cafepress.com/fhung

There’s a FREE SHIPPING promotion for orders placed through Nov. 26th, 2007. Take advantage of this now ;). Use coupon code SHIP07 upon checking out. Good for delivery within U.S.

Find unique gift items not available anywhere else for your loved ones – or for yourself :). Just in time for the Holiday Seasons. Hope you like what you see there!

Yeah! The new medicine seemed to have a bit of effect on me. At least I could sleep well last night! And so I finally managed to get another item done! Just in time for Christmas: a Mini AlbuMail set to help you create unique Christmas Cards quickly. Here’s a preview:

Mini AlbuMail is a mini album designed to be easily folded for mailing which can then be hung on the wall for display by the recipient! Each Mini AlbuMail fits 3 photos with your own title/notes plus a short letter/message on the other side. It’s as easy to use as QuickPages.

This pack will give you 3 (three) Mini AlbuMails. Each consists of Inside file in PNG, Outside file in JPG, and 2 Return Labels. A folding template and complete Instructions are provided as well. Created using various ztampfilicious kits, each Mini AlbuMail is filled with rich delightful details just perfect for your cherished photos for the holiday!

This ‘Seasons Delight’ Set is a perfect way to send out your Christmas and Holiday Greetings to your friends and family… They make great keepsakes too! See below for detailed previews of each Mini AlbuMail in this pack!

The finished project will look like this (done using the ‘Fall Pack’ Mini AlbuMail).

All created at industry-standard 300dpi for best quality print out. The unfolded size is half A4 Size Paper (divided vertically).

Click here to see close-up previews of each Mini AlbuMail in this set.

That’s it for now, folks! Hope those of you celebrating Thanksgiving had a good one. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! (And don’t forget to vote for the Ztampfans Challenge #3! Thanks!).

1. The Voting Period for Ztampfans Challenge #3 has begun! Go and have a look at the beautiful entries at Ztampfans Challenges Gallery. Cast your vote by typing “Voted!” in the comment field on the layout of your choice. The last day to vote is on Wednesday, Nov. 28th. Happy Voting!

2. And… don’t I have an exciting announcement to make! I have been participating in a book on digital scrapbooking and the book is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com! Although my contribution is only in the form of digi kits and layouts, it is still a cool thing, don’t you think? Layouts by some of the Z!Girls are featured in the book too. Oh… and one of my layouts is on the back cover! Woohooo…! Are you curious yet?

The title of the book is “Picture Yourself Creating Digital Scrapbooks“ by Lori Davis and Sally Beacham. This is their 2nd collaborative work on digital scrapbooking. Their first book is called “Digital Scrapbooking” – also available from Amazon – and it was a success. “Picture Yourself Creating Digital Scrapbooks“ is written for the novice digital scrapbooker and the experienced paper scrapbooker who wants to dive into digital. It’s also designed to be inspiration for the intermediate or experienced digital scrapbooker, who can peruse the layouts by our featured designers and their creative teams, and use the book’s resource DVD contents in their own unique way.

Written in an easy-to-follow and highly visual format, the book teaches the reader step-by-step how to create beautiful scrapbooks using their digital camera, computer, and basic graphics software. The accompanying DVD includes 13 kits from 7 designers, fonts from Larabie, Kingthings, Melissa Baxter, Miss Tiina, Robin Rowlands, Hoodsy and from the author, Sally Beacham: assorted plugin and utility demos, other miscellaneous scrapping stuff and some tutorials. The contributing designers are: Angela M. Cable, Doris Castle, Glenda Ketcham, Lauren Bavin, Roberta D’Achille, Terry Maruca and me, Lie Fhung.

My contributing kits are: “Oh Baby” and “Painting Kit” that I created quite a while ago but had to keep in secret until now :). Just click on the image below to see more detailed images and sample layouts done with the kit:

3. And… to serve you better, I have set up an Amazon Associate Store where you can find digital scrapbooking related things such as reference and how to books, digital imaging software, tool and things for your hybrid projects and scrapbook albums to keep your printed digiscrap layouts!

There are sections of my hand picked Children Books, Books I Read, Music I Heard and Movies I Watched there as well! Check it out! The URL of the Fhungalicious Things store is: http://astore.amazon.com/fhungalicious-20. This link is also accessible from here at Ztampfilicious Blog (down there on the right panel under “Pages”) and from Ztampf!Shop (on the left panel under “Categories”).

P.S. On the allergy-side, the new medication still doesn’t give me any relief but at least the night time one made me sleep :). I slept for 12 hours straight last night and I wouldn’t have awoken even then if I wasn’t busting to pee! LOL!

Oh one more thing:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to those celebrating! Enjoy the warmth of home cooking and family gathering :).

Take care!

Yeah I can’t sleep again – the itches… And I thought I’d better send out a reminder here:

Ztampfans Challenge #3 is ending soon. Get scrapping and post your entries at the Ztampfans Challenges Gallery here: http://ztampf.com/ztampfest/v/Contests/ztampfans_challenges/ before 22 November 2007. You might win the $20 PayPal CashPrize :).

Upon requests, I have made the Version Française of the Ztampf! MINI CraftyCalendar 2008 Kit available from Ztampf!Shop. Let me know if any of you want the kit in your language. Currently it is available in US English (Weeks start on Sunday), Global English (Weeks start on Monday), Deutsche Version and Version Française.

That’s it for now. I’d better try to get some sleep – hopefully the itches will subside soon.

Back from the specialist! His diagnose is that my allergy is not caused by anything I ate or get in contact with. It is internal. I was born with a predisposition for allergies which manifested itself as I grow older and probably triggered by changes in my life style or by stress or lack of sleep. But I’m not particularly stressed out or anything. I have been in a much more stressful condition before. And there has been no changes in my life style recently either. And as for lack of sleep… well, the itch does that to me. In fact, I didn’t sleep last night because of the itch. I fell asleep for about an hour or so before the itch woke me up. But anyway, he will give me another medication – I am to take this medication for 20 days. If this doesn’t help, then we’ll probably have Skin Prick test… Oh well, we’ll see. Hopefully the medication will give me some relief this time.

But because we’re using the University Health Service, I couldn’t get the medication straight away. I have to make an appointment with the University Doctor first to show the ‘specialist report’ to her, and then she’ll issue the medication. Bureaucracy. But financially it is a big help. So!

And…. I did something daring afterwards! Well, I have been thinking about it for the past few days. And once it got into my head, it wouldn’t go away. I just got tired of my hair and my hair styles for the past years. Plus with the itches my hair gets irritating sometimes – even short as it is. So! I have decided to just shave it all out à la Sinéad O’Connor! My husband is totally cool with it too! I have made a simulation with Photoshop last night and I liked the result.

So this afternoon, I went to Toni & Guy Academy in Wanchai. You can get a full service haircut for just HK$50 (US$6.5) there. Of course, it’s done by the students but there are supervisors so it’s safe. I have never been there before and as usual I took a wrong turn and had to make a pretty long detour. But the weather was nice so it’s all right. When I got there, they’re having their lunch break so I had to wait for quite a while. The place was pretty fancy, all sleek and stylish. There were a couple other guys waiting to get a hair cut as well.

When my turn came, I explained what I wanted and they were duly shocked. haha! They asked if I was sure I wanted that. I said yes. The tutor ran his hands on my thick black hair with a sorry look: a good material wasted. So I told him, okay, the student can practice with my hair first. He could cut my hair in any style he wanted, before finally shaving it all out. They were very grateful and they told me that I got an hour to reconsider about shaving my head. But my heart was set and I just couldn’t wait to have it done. I felt almost sorry to let the student do the practice on my hair because he was apparently a true beginner; he was so slow and it took him longer than I expected to finish the practice haircut. But I was happy to be of help too. And finally…

What do you think? I like it! It feels so refreshing and light. I brought a hat with me just in case I’d feel too self-conscious or didn’t like the result. But I really like it and I walked out just like that! And it didn’t feel as weird as I thought it would be although a lot of people did stare. Haha! Now I’ll have to keep it regularly trimmed!

Oh and TEO loves it too! He thinks I look good with it :). Funny thing is, I look even more like my youngest brother now! See?

Yeah! Ztampfever #28 has finally been released earlier today! Have you subscribed yet? It’s not too late to receive the… ahemmm… tucked into the newsletter.. Subscribe now – I’ll re-queue it a few times later ;).

And yes, I did finish one new item for the shop – just in time for those Christmas projects:

There are a total of 28 stitched goodies there! Use them for your layouts, Christmas cards, etc. Combined them to create holiday seasons scenes… There are just many possibilities to use these.

I actually started working on this pack waaaay…. back when I was creating the Mini Crafty Calendar Kit. Those of you who purchased it might recognize one of the Christmas Trees above. I’m glad to be able to finish this pack. I hope you like it! This nasty allergy really slows me down a lot – I just can’t keep concentrating for a long period of time whereas usually I could work non-stop for hours and hours designing things. I’m still itching…. It’s been going on for 1.5 months now. Crazy! I’m going to see a supposedly very good specialist this Monday, though. Keep your fingers crossed that this time I would get at least some relief from the itch if not the cure. I can’t wait to get back to normal… I have a long to do list and ideas for new stuff that I want to make! So wish me lots and lots of luck :).

Have you been to the Ztampfest Gallery these past few days? Something is up! The Ztampfans Challenges has been moved from Facebook to Ztampfest Gallery as many of you have requested. So go check it out! The current challenge runs through Nov. 21st and the prize is $20 PayPal Cash!

That’s it for now! Enjoy :)

Sooo… yes, I’m still itching and somehow it got worse again the past couple of days :(. Like now, it is 5 a.m. and I’m up because I couldn’t sleep thanks to the itch! I did fall asleep for maybe a couple of hours before the itch woke me up. Rather than tossing and turning and scratching in bed and accomplish nothing, I decided to just get up. So here I am!

One of the most annoying things about this allergy is it how disruptive it is to my work. I just can’t do any designing work properly. I tried. I started. It seemed to be all right for a short while, but then when the itch attacked… it was just too much. It’s not just the itch, but the overall ‘not quite well’ feeling as well… I have to let you all know that Ztampfever for this month will be coming a day or two late – I’m hoping to be able to finish at least 1 new item that I have been working on since before the itch started. Hint: It’s a Christmas-related stuff! So please be patient just a bit longer :). And again, many thanks for your many heart-warming emails – they really cheer me up amidst this itchiness.

So what I have been doing then? Well, little things like uploading a couple of iPhoto movies that I made to YouTube :). It didn’t require much concentration nor time! Here is my YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/profile?user=freefiresparkz (In case you’re wondering, freefiresparkz is my online nickname for ages – before Ztampf! came along). For best result, watch the movies in smaller size by clicking the button right beside the volume button.

Here are the movies:

Korean Twins

Hong Kong Skyline

That’s it for now, folks :).

Heheheh… so pleased with myself, obviously! It arrived yesterday early evening and I spent all night migrating all data, installing the Leopard (it came with Tiger installed – plus the Leopard Install DVD). Well, as soon as my allergy’s gone, I’ll get cracking to create more new ztampfilicious stuff! I’ve checked that Photoshop runs much faster on it – as it should with 2.8GHz processor, 4GB SDRAM and 1TB of space :). I’m still in the process of familiarizing myself to use a desktop – a huge one at that too. For the past 8 years I have been working solely on laptops. So it’s quite a big change, no pun intended!

One thing that I immediately notice: using desktop is more ergonomic for your body. Even compared to using laptop on the same desk/chair which I’ve been doing most of the time anyway. I just have to remember to sit with my back straight up: not easy! But in the long run it will be a good thing :).

Oh and I haven’t really explored the Leopard – but I think I’m going to really like the Space and QuickView. Haven’t tried TimeMachine yet; I’m still reluctant to completely wipe out my LaTjie EHD for it. I think I’m going to explore a bit and after I’m sure that everything is really fine then I’ll run Time Machine with LaTjie as the dedicated EHD for it…

Updates on my allergy saga…

Carin: Thanks, I don’t think mine is Urticaria – but who knows… Xyzal didn’t do anything for me, though. None of the medication did :(. So we’ll see.

Lynn: Wow, internal itchy sounds nasty! It must be very frustrating. I’m glad it was over for you quickly. Thanks, I hope we will find out the allergen soon too…

Anyway, I felt a bit better since I stopped taking the medication. The swelling is practically gone now (only very slightly on my eyelids remain). The itch has gotten less too – although it started to get a bit worse again yesterday, perhaps because I was out and about a lot. Yesterday I got the blood test results: everything is perfectly normal and good! Well, I’m glad but also somewhat annoyed because it means I’ll have to undergo the process of finding the allergen which could take a lot of time, energy and resources. But I really want to find out because it could be anything – which means, this allergy could come back anytime without warning. I would like to be able to take preventive measures so I’m determined to find the cause. The doc referred me to another dermatologist – she said he is very good. I’ve secured an appointment for Monday, Nov. 19 – the earliest available slot! I guess he must be good. I would like to have Skin Prick Test to see if we can find the allergen. I need to find out before my trip to Vermont. I won’t do to have this allergy attack while I’m there! *knock on wood*

Well, wish me luck so I can get back to creating Ztampf! things again soon!

It’s been over a week since my last entry; my allergy (or whatever that is) really slows me down a lot. The medication doesn’t give me any relief from the itch and now the skin on my arms and parts of my legs and body are textured like orange peel or strawberry skin. I love textures, but not on my skin! To make matters worse, it looks like I’m allergic to the medication too! Aaargh!!! So for the past couple of days I got swollen eyelids and face – they’re still swollen now :(.

So I’ve decided to stop all medications. They are not addressing the cause as the doctors don’t know it themselves. The function of the treatment is to repress the itch and it is not working for me. They’re giving me new problems instead! On top of everything else, my skin now has become hyper sensitive. It’s a real challenge to find clothing that won’t irritate it. Any slightest roughness i.e. on the inner seams would make my condition worse. Perhaps I should shop for all things silk with impeccably soft inner seams and replace my entire wardrobe with them! Anyone willing to fund me for this? LOL

Anyhow, last Wednesday I had some blood test done; since my itch is all over the body it might be caused by something internal/systemic disease i.e. liver malfunction or anything that causes toxins to build up in the body. It is possible that it’s not allergic at all, which might explain why the medications didn’t work. The blood test result won’t be ready until this coming Thursday. They took 6 ampules of blood – they’d better be able to tell me something definite about my ailment.

For now I just drink plenty of water, have a lot of fruits, restrain myself from having any coffee and chocolate (tough!), keeping cool (temperature wise, that is!) and try not to scratch so much…

In case anybody is wondering, the medications are Semprex and Hydroxyzine. I googled Semprex and found out that it is known to have side effects and might cause allergic reaction! I was flabbergasted! How come any of the doctors (or the dermatologist) didn’t warn me of this possibility while they very well knew that I develop this new allergy – that we don’t even know what caused it. It could be anything. At the very least, they should have told me… Oh well! That’s what Google is for, I guess – among many other things!

Anyway! Thanks for those sending me get well emails, much appreciated :). Lynn, I hope your allergy has gone. Yulia, how’s your allergy now – have they pinned point the exact allergen? 3/4 of 30 is a lot! Depending on my blood test on Thursday, I might get a skin prick test. Wish us both luck! Gayle, thanks for the link. I’ve checked my mattress and beddings – and found nothing like described as bedbugs… So at least we know that it’s not bedbugs.

Enough about this wretched topic. I wanted to share these with you – they are my designs produced by Inque Boutique. They basically purchased my designs straight up. If you’re into stamping and paper-crafting, do check the stamps out! They are available both online and off line across the US. I have to admit that I like their system: combining the best features of rubber stamps and clear stamps. You can click on the images to visit the Inque Boutique website.

And guess what! Did you notice any changes at Ztampfest Gallery recently? Check out the links on the right here on the blog… Under the Z!Girls Galleries… Yes! We have a new Z!Girl! She is Donna, whose gorgeous works most of you have seen during the Ztampf! 2nd Weekly Challenges. We’re all very excited to have her as part of the Z!Team.

Well, I haven’t been designing at all for the past weeks because of the allergy. I do have a few new things in progress – I hope to be able to finish them within the next few days. Thank you for your patience :).

Now please wish me well a.s.a.p. This has been going on for too long…