Ztampfilicious

Oh boy… the last few weeks flew by so fast! Lo and behold… today is my last day at VSC! All the residents are leaving tomorrow morning! It feels so weird… especially for those of us who have been here for almost 2 months. We’ve made wonderful friendship with many and we’ll miss each other’s company. It’s all good though – we are ready to get back to the ‘real world’ out there. VSC is an ‘alternate world’, an ‘all-positive bubble’ where everything and everyone is good – a truly great place to be, but we can’t stay here forever.

So I have posted all my art supplies and tools in 2 heavy boxes back to Hong Kong by post yesterday. 1 box filled with my canvas and small copper wings was also posted to Hong Kong. I won’t need them for the rest of my trip. My paintings and the big copper wings will be shipped by UPS to Jakarta – for a group show I’ll be in in late June there. Right now, I’m in the laundromat – doing my last laundry here. Later today, I will have to pack the rest and the clean up my studio…

There are so many things I would like to share with you all! Where to begin…
Last previous Saturday, April 12th was a very special day! First, me and Thu, another Freeman Fellow artist are having a work-in-progress show and the opening was on the evening of April 12th, right after dinner. It was exciting! We both dressed up a bit to appear a bit different than our daily shabby-artist-look. Dessert and wine along with some fruity snacks were provided and everyone seemed to enjoy both the show and the food :).

Here are some photos from the opening – there are more in my Facebook Photo Albums:

Oh, my laundry is done now… I gotta run – will try to post more later today!

It’s been two weeks ago but the heart-warming memories remain. Coming down to the Dining Hall, we’re greeted with a wonderful view; the place was transformed over night: the VSC staff laid out a beautiful Easter Sunday Dinner for us. There were wine and cheese with olives, various desserts and all. There were guests visiting too! Among others, there was a group of musician from Rajashtani, India: the MERASI, brought by a New York NGO, http://folkartsrajasthan.org/. They were going to perform at the Lowe Lecture Hall later that afternoon and we were all so excited about it. Their bright colored costumes were very eye-catching!

But for the moment, we were enjoying the sumptuous Easter Dinner! Lots of people were dressed up too – adding to the beauty of the whole setting. I particularly loved the many little flower arrangements that Louise (one of the VSC founders) has tastefully placed on each table – she put several small, obviously handmade objects with them. They’re very charming and cute!

And then in the afternoon we went to see the MERASI performed. It was a wonderful experience! They exudes so much joy and warmth with their music and in the soulful way they performed it. The music was so dynamic I thought everyone should just get up and dance!

Here are some clips that I took with my pocket camera to give you a glimpse of their soulful music. Visit their website, http://www.merasi.org to learn more about them, purchase tickets for their shows, buy their CD, etc.:

Enjoy :). And now I have to get back to work in my studio. I will post more soon enough – hopefully tonight!

Wow, it’s been quite a while since my last post eh! There are too many things to do with so little time! The unsteady internet connection here is not helping either. But here I am! There are many things I’d like to share with you. I will divide them into several posts – so watch out for a stream of posts soon (that is, if things go according to plan!).

But first, I want to show you this:

The snow has started to melt away! I took this picture yesterday afternoon – it was such a beautiful sunny Sunday!

And now, in my last post I told you about the Bread and Puppet Theater who came to town and that I was volunteering to help with their show here. So here’s the story:

Me and my two friends were among the first VSC volunteers who arrived at the Lowe Lecture Hall. They were unloading – so we helped them a bit. There were a few old leather suitcases, musical instruments, a sewing machine, a few head masks, etc. Peter Schumann himself is a very unique, interesting old man in his 70’s. He’s so full of energy and ideas. His warmth and unpretentious manners are wonderfully embracing. There were only a handful of his crew there and you can tell from their appearance that they’re some sort of artists – they’re beautiful in unusual ways and they dressed in their very own unique way. Interesting people.

So, after all the volunteers have arrived – there were 12 of us – Peter gave a short introduction about his troupe and what we were there for. Turned out they were there not as Bread & Puppet Theatre, but as Lubberland National Dance Company! And guess who were to be the dancers? Peter himself with his 6 people and … the rest of us: the VSC volunteers!

It was extraordinarily fun and inspiring! The show consisted of 6 dances; and Peter explained the theme/meaning of each. The overall theme is basically political critic on the election… although it’s not always obvious. Then we started rehearsal right away… he gave instructions and showed examples of the kind of movements we expected to do, and we followed. It sounds impossible but we did rehearse for about 2 hours only and that’s it! There were a lot of freedom for us in term of how we ‘dance’ – although of course there were some directions that we had to follow, i.e. point your finger and move around, move your body gently as the followers of the Goddess of Sleep, prance about – run as if you were being chased, roll on the ground, freeze the moment the cymbals bang, etc. etc. I really enjoyed it! The atmosphere was so relaxed and playful and fun. It’s so liberating to move and dance like that! I loved it!

The first dance depicted the battle between the Money People and us, the people. We’re riding ‘horses’ – which were brooms held upside down. The brooms were made from sticks and branches like witches brooms. This first dance was really hard on my left injured knee and on my breath. I was relieved that the rest of the 5 dances weren’t that vigorous although still involved a lot of movements. There were very little props and there weren’t any costumes except for a few puppet masks.

After the 2 hours rehearsal, we all went to have dinner at the VSC’s Red Mill – this includes the whole Lubberland National Dance Company crew! Afterwards we went straight back to the venue to do a brief overview… refreshing our memories about which dance follows which. So exciting! By 8 p.m. the Lowe Lecture Hall has filled up and it’s show time! It’s opened with a unique performance by Claire of the Bread & Puppet Theater; she’s telling a story with a kind of sing song way – with a help of a hand-painted story board. It was hilarious! And of course political. Then it was the dance show: ours. I had a marvelous time! I surprised myself that I was not nervous at all! I enjoyed every moment of it! It was a success too!

(yes, the photos are blurry – I’m still waiting for the official documentation…)

I felt so happy! And I received unexpected high praises on my dance… For the next few days afterwards people kept on telling me how beautiful and graceful my movements were; how their eyes were just drawn to watch me amongst the rest. How I was so into it, how my face and eyes were so expressive. Many even asked me if I was a professional dancer! One of the newer writer residents who is a trained, professional dancer even asked me that. When I told him that I’m not, he said that my movements looked like a pro and that I definitely have it in me – that I should perhaps consider developing that, adding that to my work or something. I wasn’t expecting such responses… of course I was pleased but also a bit embarrassed at the same time. I’m especially pleased because the movements are mostly my own too! My mother would be very happy and proud when I tell her – she, the real dancer!

After the show they served warm home-made bread with garlic spread. So yummy! It warmed both our belly and our heart! At the foyer, they had postcards, posters and mini publications of the Bread & Puppet Theater and I got a couple of booklets for my step-daughters: How to Make Junk Instruments and How to Make Puppets – I hope they’ll like it!

Then… we rushed back to the Dance Party! Yes, the residents were hosting a Dance Party at the Kahn Barn Drawing Studio that night! It was so fun and exciting! The girls were all dressed up and made up their face – we felt so preeety :). I felt like I’m back in college years – with my art school friends preparing for the Fancy Nights… Oh good ole’ wild days! Jason who brought his iMac to the residency use it for the sound system – playing a dance mix from his iTunes. Such eclectic music to dance to… it was great fun! What a super wonderful Saturday it was!

“What sort of idyll have you wandered into?” my husband wrote in his email to me recently…

My 3rd Week in VSC is reaching its end soon! How time flies! I’ve been having so much fun here: making new friends, meeting fellow artists and writers – enjoying their company, making art, attending Resident Slide Show, Resident Reading Night and Visiting Artists Slide Show, enjoying good meals, relishing bon fire night – tasting my first ever S’More (it’s yummy!), visiting Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory to see how they’re made and get a taste, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day drinking Guinness while listening to Irish folk music played by a very talented young boy with his fiddle and dancing to a live band playing James Brown music afterwards… I’ve been much more sociable than I’ve ever been in the past few years! Oh boy!

(More pictures at my flickr site: http://flickr.com/photos/fhung/)

And this weekend, more fun is a-brewing! We’ll have a dance party at the Life Drawing Studio at the Kahn Building this Saturday! Yay! And before that… there’ll be a puppet show by the famous Peter Schumann’s Bread & Puppet Company. I have never seen their performance before, but from what I heard from people here and seen from books – they sound like a fantastic visual feast! Their puppets are huge and extremely artistic they could be sculptures belong to museums of art or something. And guess what! They need 10 volunteers and I have signed up! I was hesitant at first since I didn’t want to miss the show… However, I figured that I probably will get another chance to see their show. But an opportunity to take part behind the scene of such great puppet theater? It will be an interesting experience. I heard that we’d get to help with the puppet’s strings and singing etc. We’ll see! The show will be at 8 p.m. this Saturday and all the volunteers have to arrive at 4 p.m. How exciting!

Oh and did I tell you that I’m volunteering to assist teaching art class for 1st graders in Johnson Elementary School every Friday morning? Well, I don’t really do any teaching, I just give attention and help whenever needed. Last week was my first time ever and it was quite overwhelming in the beginning. There were about 20++ children aged between 5 and 6 y.o. and there were only 1 real teacher plus me. It was very interesting and fun though!

So no wonder that I’m exhausted! Now I’ve gotten back to my ‘normal’ schedule which is staying up all night working in the studio and sleep in in the morning. It’s fantastic; I could bang my hammer at 2 a.m. and sing along loudly while working in my studio and no one will be bothered! Cool eh! Here are some pictures of my work-in-progress that I’ve been working on since I got here:

All this doesn’t leave me any time to do any Ztampf! things except for some customer service emailing – unfortunately! But I’ve been collecting ideas and inspirations to work on once I manage to get the time to do them so worry not :).

It’s snowing heavily today… since last night, actually. I love watching the snow flakes falling from the sky, I love walking on soft fresh snow alternating with crunchy ice beneath. I feel so very fortunate and privileged to be here; so very grateful. The VSC people is doing an excellent work running this place. Positive vibes resonate so warmly – life is good. I am happy.

And thanks to each of you who has sent me emails or left messages here :). Thank You for all your kind words and well wishes! And to Tracy (http://worksbytracy.blogspot.com), I’m staying at the upper floor of the Red Mill itself so it’s super convenient! Downstairs for meals and slideshows, a short walk across to the Schultz Sculpture Building for my studio! Awesome! Re the Laundromat, some people told me the one with the card is cheaper so I went there but later on I heard some other people said the one with coins is cheaper! Oh well! I’ll email you more about VSC later! How cool is that you found my blog entry and you’ve just been to VSC!

Well, that’s it for now, folks :). Have a wonderful weekend!

Yes, I am in Vermont Studio Center now! My flight went smoothly enough: from Hong Kong non-stop to O’Hare Chicago then continued on to Burlington, the closest airport from Johnson, where Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is located. I stayed overnight at Anchorage Inn in Burlington and the VSC people picked me up the following morning.

I was lucky to get a window seat which enabled me to take aerial photos as the plane was lowering down for landing in Burlington. The view was just so pretty… so much snow I almost couldn’t believe it! The lower our plane was going, the cuter it all looked. Just like a giant maquette – only much more detailed and cuter!

Today is my 7th day here and I love it so far! It’s such an amazing place… They really do a great job running this place. There are about 40 artists and 12 writers at a time – they came here on various different programs/fellowships/durations so there are always people coming and going all the time. It’s so exciting!

For those who wasn’t sure what VSC is all about, basically they are a non-profit organization: from artists for artists. They are funding artists and writers from the US and all over the world to come here to create in a non-competitive community-based environment. They house us in simple and yet cozy rooms, feed us three times a day with excellent meals (the desserts are killers!) and provide us with private studios to create in. Some of us are here on full fellowship (like me – funded by the Freeman Foundation) which means we don’t pay for anything – we’re even given some stipends. While others are here on partial fellowship in which they have to pay a small amount and do some community work i.e. helping with washing the dishes, etc. VSC does not offer training programs nor courses although from time to time there are some lectures or presentations from Visiting Artists and Visiting Writers. To learn more about VSC, you can visit their website at http://www.vermontstudiocenter.org. If you are an artist or a writer, I encourage you to apply for their various grants/fellowships.

It’s so nice here – everyone is so friendly and eager to help each other. I’m a hermit but I must say I do enjoy socializing with others here. Meal time is the time to meet others and chat; it’s very interesting learning about what they do, where they come from, etc.. These are a bunch of very creative and talented people of all ages. Some of them are so young and yet so accomplished! This is such a wholesome community – I am very impressed!

It’s no wonder then that I’m settling down well. I love my studio too – it’s so spacious with plenty of natural light coming through the three windows. It took me a few days to set everything up; and I have started working in it now. I’m not sure what I’m going to make yet. Got some ideas but they keep on changing. Originally I wanted to continue working on my To Breed Or Not To Breed project currently in progress, in Hong Kong. But later on I decided to do something entirely different. Or, it could be exploring the same theme, but with a new approach or something. So I’ve been experimenting. My challenge is to create with what I got here – which is quite limited as naturally I couldn’t bring everything from my studio in Hong Kong! So far there is nothing I’m really pleased with, but I am hopeful. Maybe within the next week I’ll be able to come up with something more definite.

The other day, for the first time ever in my life I got to do a ‘Laundromat’ thingie! It was interesting! haha! Walking on the snow is also interesting – I actually like it! What is tough is walking on melting snow or sheeting icy ground – so slippery! Oh and I also got the see snow falling for the first time too! And I’m turning into a morning person here! Got up very early without any difficulties. It could be just jetlag though… but I’m enjoying it – the ‘morning person’ bit, not the jet lag! :)

And there was a Resident Slide Show – it was very interesting to see others’ work. This is done every Wednesday – my turn will be on the 19th.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and some of us went to the nearby town, Morrisville to get some materials at the big hardware store there. It was fun!

Last night, I attended the Writer Reading, there were about 5 writers reading their work: some are poems, some are short stories, some are excerpts from the book or article they are working on. It was very interesting and enjoyable!

This weekend, there is a snow storm warning – and I’m excited as I’ve never been in a snow storm before! Silly eh!

Well, that’s it from me for now :). Have a wonderful weekend!

Well, things have been extremely hectic! I’ve finally managed to get my packing about 85% done… but I’m worried that it might still excess the baggage allowance limit. It’s so tough because I need to bring my art tools and some materials… Hmmm… we’ll see…

This post was supposed to be about the Beckett’s play I saw… when was it… feels like ages ago! So.. the play is called “Fragments” – it’s a series of 5 short plays done consecutively, directed by Peter Brook who is Beckett’s long time friend and is a renown director. The short plays are: “Rough for Theatre I”, “Rockaby”, “Act Without Words II”, “Neither” and “Come and Go”. We’re very lucky to be able to see the play! It was very funny and very good. The actors were simply amazing – there were 3 of them: Jos Houben, Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni. It’s hard to say which one is the best – they’re equally excellent. My favorite piece is probably the simplest one – it was actually a poem recital, but it’s done in such a way that it stays with me long after. It’s called “Rockaby” and performed by Kathryn Hunter.

At first I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t catch the spoken dialogs/monologues well – English is not my native language and when watching DVDs I would prefer to have subtitles – just in case. But in this case, I’m happy to say that I did understand what was said! I was so relieved to be able to fully enjoy the play without any problem :).

If “Fragments” is playing where you are, do go see it! Even if you didn’t know Beckett’s work, I’m positive you will find it thoroughly enjoyable. It brings heavy matters in such a funny, light-hearted way – without undermining its deeper meanings.

Last night my husband treated me to a Björk Concert! YAY! My first ever major concert! And I was such a fool – I didn’t know about the no-camera rule and I was carrying my DSLR camera in the open so I had to put it away at the concierge (and paid for it too! Ugh!) while other, more-experienced concert goers had their cameras safely hidden in their bags. We managed to get some low-quality pics and video using our mobile phone, though. So at least there is some memento! LOL! Although the stage design was quite a disappointment… We expected something more artistic and other-worldly from Björk – naturally. But her singing was fabulous, of course! And she sang my favorite piece too: Bachelorette.

And tonight, we went to see Pina Bausch dance performance – another treat from my husband before my departure. Though the timing is too tight, we had no choice. “Vollmond” (Fullmoon) was a powerful performance – it’s amazing what you can do with your body. The movement of the dancers and the water element widely used were just fantastic!

Now it is 3 a.m. – I finally finished packing and copying files from my iMac to my MacBook Pro. My flight is at 11:40 a.m. I will stay overnight at Burlington first, then they will pick me up on Sunday, March 2nd to my final destination: Vermont Studio Center. My internet connection will be quite limited while I’m there – but I’ll check for emails etc. at least once a day – or I will try too anyway – we’ll see! I will try to regularly post at my Ztampf! blog about any Ztampf-related news and about my stay in VSC too – so drop by often :).

That’s it for now… Wish me a trouble-free journey :).

Thank you so much for your kind and supportive words (Your questions are replied at the end of this post)! I know that the majority of our community is nice, trustworthy people who wouldn’t upload my work to any file sharing services/groups or I would have quit designing digiscrap stuff years ago. Ztampf! wouldn’t be where it is now without your support and patronage :). So thank you again! I took a couple of days off from the digiscrap land – I admit that I’ve been fuming a lot about it but I don’t want to let the pirates to bring me any more loss and negative effects as they have already done. And I have always known that this is part of the risk of the kind of business I’m in. Plus, I have plenty to do and to prepare before my trip – so I’m dealing with this as best I can.

Right from the start, I have implemented any security measure within my means and I have always included my Terms Of Use file within all download folders. My Terms Of Use is available for all to read on my site here and any one can email me with any questions about it.

And today, I have registered The Great Expectations Collection to the US Copyright Office through their new online registration system! I’m one of their beta-testers now :). Why US while I’m residing in Hong Kong – you might wonder. Well, I only have a few customers in Hong Kong (even paper scrapbooking is rare in Hong Kong – let alone digi!) while US is my major customer base. This doesn’t mean the work is only protected within the US; all original creative work be it registered for copyright or not are automatically copyrighted and protected under the International Berne Convention.

How about Digital File – is it ‘tangible’? Well, according to the US Copyright Office, it is – below is from their FAQ section:

Is it legal to download works from peer-to-peer networks and if not, what is the penalty for doing so?
Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney’s fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights.
Whether or not a particular work is being made available under the authority of the copyright owner is a question of fact. But since any original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium (including a computer file) is protected by federal copyright law upon creation, in the absence of clear information to the contrary, most works may be assumed to be protected by federal copyright law.
Since the files distributed over peer-to-peer networks are primarily copyrighted works, there is a risk of liability for downloading material from these networks. To avoid these risks, there are currently many “authorized” services on the Internet that allow consumers to purchase copyrighted works online, whether music, ebooks, or motion pictures. By purchasing works through authorized services, consumers can avoid the risks of infringement liability and can limit their exposure to other potential risks, e.g., viruses, unexpected material, or spyware.

So there! Registering copyright, while it is not necessary under the Berne Convention in order to have your work protected by law, will be useful should we (as a group of designers) decide to file a lawsuit against the pirates. I can only afford to register little by little though… As you can see, it is pretty costly ($45 per work or per series/collection – or $35 for a limited time as beta-testers). But I’ll invest back some of my income for this. Oh yes!

And now… let me answer some questions asked through the Comments on my previous post (thanks for asking them :)):

• Jennifer asked: “how would I know if I was buying something illegal?”. Well, you can’t be very sure unless you’re shopping at reputable shops where you know they do things correctly. Even reputable shops sometimes could unknowingly sell pirated designs. Sometime last year, a few ‘designers’ were selling my BeRibbow as part of their kits – some customers who came across them informed me. Two of them quickly apologized, she got it from someone else and didn’t know any better. But the remaining two adamantly denied it. Against all unmistakable proof they claimed that they made the BeRibbow from scratch themselves. Yeah, right – with all the little folds and highlights and additional touches that ‘accidentally’ identical with mine! So… usually you’d find out – perhaps later – when you came across the original designer’s site or something like that. Or, you might notice that the quality and styles of certain item/elements look markedly different from the usual ones you got from that designer – or from the rest of the stuff included in the kit. But really, there is no definite, easy way to find out… That’s said, if you got the stuff through file sharing groups or sites – chances are they are not legal although there are people who legally share their own work that they made for fun as a hobby.

• Melanie asked: “To be sure, is it okay for me to use your kit pieces to make a card and print it out – or even email a FLATTEN COPY (not the layers) jpeg or png file to someone?”. The answer is yes! You can use my kits to create anything for your own personal use. This includes creating/printing cards, scrapbook layouts, hybrid crafting, etc. to give to your friends and family as gifts. And yes, you can email your creations using my kits as flatten files. For more information, you can peruse my complete Terms Of Use here.

• Anna-Marie asked: “I don’t understand, do they just say it is their own work? How can they post it when their is someone else’s name on?“. Well, I guess this one is rhetorical. But yeah, in some cases they just took my BeRibbow and put it as part of their own kit with their own name as the designer for the whole kit. The cynic in me thought: perhaps there are other designers’ work in that kit too! Ugh! No self-respecting designer would do that. I guess people like this just don’t deserved the title as a ‘designer’.

• Adi requested: “I would love to hear about the Becket’s play… ;-)”. Don’t worry, it will be on my next post :).

• Lynn asked: “I’m not sure how they were sharing. Was it a blog leading you to a file share site? Can’t that individual be tracked and brought to justice?”. Usually they are members (or owners) of file sharing group. They upload the files to a file sharing sites and then distribute the links through their groups. Oh yes, some of us are working to track them down – with the goal to eventually bring them to justice. Yep!

If any of you have any more questions, just holler, OK! :) Thanks again for your support!

I would like to tell you about the Beckett’s play we watched this weekend – the one I had to rush to right after sending the Ztampfever No. 31. But I’m troubled. My heart is heavy…

Two days ago I received several emails from fellow designers: several of my works have been illegally shared through a certain file sharing site. Yes, it has happened before in the past, but never this many and mostly were my free samplers. This time, it is my paid-for kits that are being illegally shared. Some of them are from my beloved The Great Expectations Collection too. It is a pregnancy and baby kit. Just think what kind of people these must be! Imagine… These shameless women (and mothers at that too) scrap about their pregnancy and children using stolen goods. Stolen from hardworking individuals like me. We designers are not big corporations who exploit their workers – or anything like that – whom some people might think deserved to be pirated. We work on our own from home, using our own creativity and skills to create our products to generate independent income to help paying rents and utility bills. And these thieves are stealing from us… It can’t be out of innocent ignorance either. I understand that some people might have unwittingly shared a few kits with their family and friends, perhaps because they don’t know the basics of copyright as it applies to digital files. I harbor no hard feeling towards these people. What I have found instead is that they have removed my Terms Of Use file included in each download folder so other people won’t be able to read it. And they uploaded the files to a file sharing site and share the links through illegal file sharing groups. This is not a generous sharing between genuine friends. This is a massive illegal sharing. This is not just a shameless act. This is intentional malice.

What breaks my heart even more is that… this must have been done by at least one of my own customers… My guts feeling told me that they are not my regular customers, though. Probably they got my kits for free or at huge discounted pricing through some Sale/Promotional Events or some random prizes given during Ztampf! 2nd Birthday Party (the Scavenger Hunt). Whoever they are, I hope they will receive their karma accordingly. Soon.

I love giving away Gift Certificates, Huge Discount Coupons and even Freebies. However, experience has taught me that these things often attract those pirates whose goal is to get scrap kits for free or at lowest possible cost, only to illegally share them later… They are so petty to take delight in easy stealing of other women’s hard work – I guess they have no self-respect nor dignity. I do feel sorry for them – they probably have nothing to be proud of or to be happy for that they have to derive pleasure and to win friends by sharing files illegally. By making Thieves of themselves. But I also feel so violated and angry. What a waste of my otherwise productive time.

Anyway. I have reported the illegal links to the file sharing company. Many other designers who are also the victim of this piracy have also submitted their reports. This statement below can be found on the front page of my shop. But let me put it up here as a reminder:

:: SAY NO TO PIRACY ::
Please remember that all items at Ztampf! including free samplers & awards are subject to my Terms of Use. They are for personal use only. Sharing/re-distributing them in any way is prohibited. Please contact me if you are unsure. Thank you for your compliance, it is sincerely appreciated. To learn more about what is considered to be Piracy and why sharing freebies is wrong please click HERE.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my honest customers… Customers with integrity who don’t redistribute their purchase, who asked about (and purchased) the Professional Use Licenses, and who have been supportive to me and Ztampf! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your integrity and ongoing support. Without you, Ztampf! wouldn’t have lasted.

I encourage you to inform the designer(s) if you know that their products are being illegally shared/redistributed. Please help educate your friends who are new to digital scrapbooking about the basics of copyright too. All products are copyrighted by the original designer/artist. By purchasing and downloading a digital product, what they are getting is the personal license to use the product as outlined in the Terms Of Use file included in each downloaded folder. They do not in any way own the product in the sense of owning a physical product. Sharing and redistributing their purchase is a violation to the Terms Of Use and is totally prohibited. If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to email me any time.

I’m sorry for the gloomy tone of my post this time. I just can’t help it. Thanks again for your support!

Have you subscribed yet?

If you haven’t, you would want to. Trust me. Why? Because… on top of the usual discount coupon, there are some more treats tucked in ;). Just head over here to subscribe – I will requeue the newsletter several times today and tomorrow :).

And yes, finally the brand new China Blue Series is up at Ztampf!Shop:

You might want to just get the China Blue Package Saving version instead because: not only you will save some $$, you will also get an exclusive Bonus Pack:

Here are some layouts I did with the China Blue Series:

As usual, just click on the thumbnail images above to see the larger version with detailed information.

Thanks so much for everyone who has left a comment here or sent me thank you emails – it feels good to be appreciated :). I’m glad you all like the China Blue Gift Set and the China Blue Series! Now it’s 2 a.m. – I’d better hit the sack. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the Beckett’s play we watched tonight.

Have a nice weekend! Happy Scrapping!

Forgot to add a reminder that today, Feb. 14th is the last day of the { Spring Festival SALE } so you’d better check it out. There are more items added now – some are shuffled ;). The sale runs till the midnight before Feb. 15th – US EST (New York – see the clock on the right).

Enjoy and Have FUN!

I hope you are having a lovely day – whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day or not! Personally, Valentine’s Day is not a big deal for me and my husband. He did get home early and is now busy in the kitchen cooking a special feast for me ;). So I guess we’re sort of celebrating it. Either way, it’s always nice to get some extra chocolate or TLC pampering – anytime :). We have decided not to get any flowers though. It’s simply a rip off – the way they hike the prices for fresh flowers around this time of year. It will cost you at least three times more to buy a bunch of flowers today! Crazy!

Time seems to fly even faster these days. There are still so much things to get done before my trip to Vermont… I’m started to feel a but panicky. Just to imagine the packing up I will have to do soon is enough to get me worried. Deciding which tools and art materials I should bring with me will be very tough. But at least I have got my passport back with the US Visa in it :). Yay! Next is to get the visa for Canada as I want to visit my older brother and his family in Toronto on the way back from Vermont. And then… well… endless this and that to do which won’t leave me much time for anything else.

Oh but I do have something for you! Take a peek:

Yeah, I know it should be ‘are’ and not ‘is’ – if you even noticed it at all :). Anyway… just click the image to get this China Blue Gift Set. The entire China Blue Series will be available from Ztampf!Shop by Feb. 15th. If you haven’t signed up for the Ztampfever Newsletter, please do so as I will tuck in something that I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss ;).

That’s it for now from the cold Hong Kong. It is 9ºC which is unusually cold for Hong Kong in mid February. Those is cold places, keep warm!

A customer really liked the CNY08 TentFold Cards Set and she asked if I would make the kit I used to create them available. Well, I created the cards with elements and papers from various existing Ztampf! kits… She didn’t mind that – I figured it would be such a hassle to find which elements from which kits and whether she owns every single kit I used there. So I put together this Compilation One Kit – but I also added some brand new stuff plus 2 QuickPages made with mostly the new stuff:

This kit is great for any layouts/projects require a touch of glamour and luscious elegance from Chinese New Year to Weddings, Anniversaries, Parties, Celebrations, Heritage – even Christmas themed! Here are a couple of layouts I made using the QuickPages Bonus from the Compilation One Kit above:

Just click on the images to see them larger for better detail viewing.

You’ll be delighted to hear that the Compilation One is now included in the { Spring Festival SALE } . Only for the next 2 days though! So hurry up! Go on have a look and do let me know how do you like the kit and whether you would like to see more Compilation Kits in the future :).

Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival! Valentine’s Day is also just around the corner – and I can’t wait for the warmer weather of Spring to be here. So I decided that a celebration is in order! Let’s celebrate Love, Spring and Chinese New Year with a { Spring Festival SALE } at Ztampf! Shop starting today!

Enjoy ztampfilicious things with love, chinese/oriental and spring themes at special, discounted pricing from 7 February to 14 February 2008 (US New York Time Zone). Come see what you can get and how much you can save during this period. Some items will be shuffled just for fun :). So drop by often to see if the ones you’ve been eyeing are on specials!

Enjoy the { Spring Festival SALE }!
Don’t miss it!