Ztampfilicious

You’ve guessed it! Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2008 versions for Swedish, Danish and Dutch are now available at Ztampf!Shop :).

• Svensk Version
• Dansk Gengivelse
• Nederlands Voorstelling

Remember, the 15% OFF coupon code given in my previous entry is valid until midnight Sep. 7th, 2007 – New York Time Zone. Applicable to all language versions of Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2008! Don’t miss using this saving :).

And… I have another calendar stuff uploaded too:

This one is available in English only though :).

These super economical calendar templates can be used for any year – perpetually! You will be able to create your very own calendars year after year after year using these simple and yet clever templates. Make use of your existing digital supplies. Great for computer desktop calendar too! Instructions included.

The templates are in PNG format, provided to fit in a 12″x12″ page.
You can easily resize them to fit pages of different sizes i.e. 8″x8″, 7″x5″, 6″x6″, 6″x4″, etc. Pair them each with a scrapbook layout in matching theme for the season; place them side by side, or stack with the calendar at the bottom or vice versa. Embellish further as you wish.

Read more details about this Universal Calendar Templates here.

Now I should take a break from designing calendars for a while…! Not for very long though as 2008 versions of the practical Card Calendar and Poster Calendar Kits are planned to hit the shop around end of this month :).

Any comments and suggestions are always welcome…

Have a good day!

Yeah! They are available at Ztampf!Shop N O W !

Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit 2008:

• Version Française
  
• Deutsche Version
• Norsk Versjon
• English Version

That’s it for now :). Enjoy! Oh don’t forget to use the coupon code given in my previous entry ;).

Yes, the English Version is now available at Ztampf!Shop! Scroll down for the coupon code ;).
The original collapsible desk-calendar great for super special gifts that last the whole year and then some! Create fully customized keepsakes to give for Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Days, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Just Because…

Created using recent ztampfilicious kits made mostly in 2007, the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit 2008 NEW EDITION has greater flexibility for you in creating your very own unique calendars.

OTHER LANGUAGE VERSIONS:
• Version Française – now available!
• Deutsche Version – now available!
• Norsk – now available!
Let me know should you wish a version in your language – I’ll see what I can do :).

Features:
• A desktop calendar that is collapsible to a portable ‘book’ – perfect for traveling!
• The finished, display size is Half-Legal Paper Size.
• The Magnetic Snaps closure is not only cool: it is sturdy, practical and compact. Get yours from ScrapSupply.com!
• Individual Monthly Date Overlays in PNG format are provided; you can use them in various ways for various types of calendar.
• Tabbed Calendar Page Templates are provided so you can create your calendar using any paper you wish!
• English Version: All the Weeks are now start on Sunday – as requested.

Content of the kit:
• 28 hyper-realistic Tiny QuickPages/Ensembles ready to ‘drop’ to your Calendar Pages. They can used for many other purposes as well.
• 12 fun and unique Date Markers for those important dates!
• 12 Months PreMade Calendar Pages (complete with background and the dates).
• 12 Blank Calendar Pages (with background, without the dates).
• 12 Months Date Overlays in PNG format.
• 3 Reversible Tabbed Calendar Page Templates in PNG format.
• 3 Sets of Designer Cover Pages.
• 3 Seasonal Charms to further embellish your calendar pages accordingly.
• 3 Sets of Title for the PullOut Note Cards.
• Templates and Overlays for the PullOut Note Cards.
• Illustrated Step-by-Step Instructions Booklet in PDF format with Tips’n Tricks Section.
• Diagram for the collapsible Stand/Folder.

Go check it out now @ Ztampf!Shop… Use this coupon code to receive 15% OFF when you purchase the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar Kit 2008 NEW EDITION before Sep. 8th, 2007: Z2008CCKEblogift. Enjoy it :).

So I haven’t been writing for days now. Been caught up in various deadlines and I’m slowly meeting them one by one! Pheeew!

I’d like to update you on the Mac Backup Softwares that I mentioned in my post here. I’ve downloaded the trial version of both SuperDuper! and Synk Backup. The latter one has more advance options and I have been using it regularly now. Every night (or morning as is the case sometimes!) before bed, I’d run the sync backup and it is very fast indeed! I didn’t notice any slowdown caused by the ZeroScan that’s running in the background either. I’m using their 30-day trial version now – I’m considering to purchase it. The only thing that might prevent me from this is the new Leopard OS that’s supposed to be out in October: it will come with the super cool Time Machine! Now, if the Time Machine comes with enough customization options, you wouldn’t need 3rd party backup software at all. Otherwise, you might want one because seems like Time Machine will take a huge space in your HD. So… we’ll see!

And there is a new update on the Ztampfest Gallery! With the upgrade of the gallery script, I am now able to make the Ztampfellas Section to be opened to you! This means registered customers are now able to upload their ztampfilicious layouts to the Ztampfellas Section. Check it out – the instructions are provided there :). I’ll be looking forward to see your ztampfilicious layouts. Every week I’ll pick one layout as ‘the featured layout‘ and the lucky scrapper will receive a Coupon! So go on – start uploading your ztampfilicious layouts there!

For those who have been waiting patiently for the Ztampf! 2008 CraftyCalendar, the wait will soon be over. Well, in a couple of days anyway! I’ve been working on a brand new one, using my newest products. As ever, it will come packed with multi-purpose goodies. As promised, French version will be made available as well as German and Scandinavian language versions :). Oh and all the Ztampf! 2008 Calendars will have the weeks start on Sunday (not Monday as in the previous editions). So stay tuned!

As it is now 4:40 a.m. where I am, this is going to be a very short entry :). I’m so sleepy but I just have to let you all know that this is available at Ztamp!Shop now :).

And here are a couple of layouts I did with it (click for larger view and detailed information):

Hope you like the overlays!

Monday is here again! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty fun! We had dinner over at our best friends’ place with some other friends. We haven’t met any of them for a while so it was extra fun. Not to mention how delicious the meal was. You see, it was called the “Garlic Feast”. Mei Ning and Josh have just been back from their summer trip to Pender Island in Canada and they brought back various types of fresh, organically grown garlic from local farms there! Mei Ning is a terrific cook, she cooks mean dish – especially chinese food. But she also cooks delicious western food or anything in between. Too bad I forgot to bring my camera with me that evening… so no photos to share with you on how great the food was! Well, you’ll just have to take my word for it: the “Garlic Feast” was a huge success! We came home very well fed and feeling content with the world :). Oh and she gave us smoked salmon and ‘candied salmon’ as well as a whole piece of garlic to take home. Yummm! And she gave me a pair of pewter earrings in traditional native motif of an eagle head! Thanks, Mei Ning!

Any of you are Mac users? Do you back up your files often? Well, I have a weird experience in backing up this weekend. My new LaCie EHD came with LaCie SilverKeeper backup software. I’ve used this software a few years back and was pretty pleased with it. It’s free to download from their website and made for Macs. So I made a complete backup of my entire laptop’s content to LaTjie – the whole Macintosh HD. When I’m done, I deleted the Applications folder in LaTjie since I won’t really need it and it took up plenty of space. And then I worked with EmB (my laptop, do you remember?) as usual and performed a Sync Backup between EmB and LaTjie. Naturally, EmB is the Source/Data and LaTjie is the Destination/Backup. The expected result, logically speaking, would be: LaTjie should then have the same content as the updated EmB.

But what happened was: the files that I have deleted from EmB which were still on LaTjie from previous backup session were then copied back to EmB after the SilverKeeper Sync Backup! This is ridiculous! But what’s even more ridiculous… although I’m still not 100% sure what really happened here is that I’ve lost all the entry in my Address Book! Now, this is just too weird. I didn’t do anything that warrant such result. So the suspicion fell on the SilverKeeper Sync Backup which after all has done a ridiculous thing by copying back deleted item to the Source from the Destination – which it shouldn’t do. I was bewildered! It’s so distressing if backing up your files messed up your files instead! So far looks like it’s the only thing that was affected. I hope it will stay this way.

Anyway. So I have to look for alternatives to smartly backing up my files properly. And I found this site: http://maczealots.com/articles/backup/. Looks very promising and helpful. The entry is recent – which is important for stuff like this. I’m now trying to choose between SuperDuper! and Synk Backup. I’ll download their trial versions and decide from there, I guess. Synk seems to be more powerful with a lot of customization/control features. The best part is that Synk “offers a technology called ZeroScan, which eliminates the need for Synk to scan your entire hard drive for changes before running your backup. ZeroScan works by running in the background while you are using your Mac. Each time you make a change to a file, ZeroScan makes note of it. When your backup is run, Synk is able to read the information gathered by ZeroScan to make a backup of only the files referenced. The benefit is a faster backup experience compared to other applications, but it only works on the local machine.” And then there is this CrashPlan – it’s a unique off-site backup system that I have yet to study further in order to fully understand how it works (in practical terms, of course!). Well, I’ll definitely keep you all updated with what I found on these :).

Next. Facebook. Yup, somehow I’ve gotten into the Facebook world. I was skeptical at first. I already have a Friendster and a Multiply – I’m not very good at keeping them updated. But Facebook is different in many clever ways. I love how they make it easy, fun and quick to connect with others and to update things. Everything is delivered in neat little parcels that flow nicely bewteen each other. It’s so easy to get absorb into it. So be warned ;). Warnings aside… I would like to invite you all to join me at Facebook: find Lie Fhung and add me if you would. I have also set up a Ztampfans Group there. I think it would provide a fun alternative to keep in touch and to exchange news, discuss things, suggestions, ideas, etc. between us all. I plan to host some fun stuff there too! So have a look – there are already a lot of digiscrappers there. You’ll find some familiar faces there for sure :).

Yeah! Finally managed the re-organizing of my files! My filing system is not perfect – but I think it’s pretty efficient. Anyhow, I’m happy to get back to designing some new stuff again :). It’s funny how I’d get the violent itch to create if I haven’t been making anything even for just a couple of days. It’s not about work, it’s about creating. So it’s no wonder that my motto is “I create therefore I am“. Hmmm… I should find out how to say this in Latin ;).

So I have tidied up my work space a bit. Have set up my new LaTjie EHD – placed it neatly beside the old Maxsparkz on the IKEA’s Racken trolley beside my desk. Here… I’ve made a couple of layouts on them (click to get the credits detail):

Of course, I used my new PS CS3 to create them :). I haven’t really explored the new features but so far so good. I really like the new Bridge though, the improvements and new features are so obvious and so useful! Except that for a while it kept on crashing whenever I quit the application. Turned out there were some updates that I had to install – you’d think such a clever program like that would automatically notify you on such matters huh. But anyway it’s closing down properly now.

So… what have I been designing? Well, I finished my contribution for SBB September’s Elements Team Kit. As you might have known, I’m a member of SBB Elements Team. The E-Team collaborate to create a big kit unified by a certain theme and color swatch that each of us is taking turn to create. I really like the Sept. one – watch out for the kit to be available at SBB in September!

And then I made a new kit that I’m quite pleased with. However… this kit won’t be available for sometimes because it’s created exclusively for a very special project that I’m not allowed to disclose yet! This project involves many other designers too… but that’s all I can say about it for now ;).

Now it’s 2:41 a.m. here… I should go to bed, don’t you think?

So! Where have I been the past couple of days?

On Tuesday early afternoon, I went out to pick up my new LaCie 500GB EHD. I made a special trip to the city just for this. And boy, I was so mad when the sales guy told me that the goods wasn’t there yet. I mean, they should have rang to let me know; they got my number! What a waste of my time! And I was so looking forward to it because I couldn’t do much work without the much needed extra space. I did tell them that when I placed the order last week. Hmmph! I couldn’t help but to let out a frustration groan which resulted in people turning their heads towards me with a surprise look… Oh welllll… So anyway, the sales guy promised to deliver it to me as soon as they got it. Which at that point they still didn’t know exactly when. Great. So I went back home straight away, fuming all the way on the ferry and on the bus. I rang them later on and they told me that they managed to get a hold of one LaCie 500GB EHD and will deliver it to me the following day – in the afternoon. Pheeew! I must say that I felt relieved that I didn’t have to wait for days!

So… Wednesday. I spent the morning and early afternoon in my studio upstairs working on a non-digital project (more on this later). The new Playdock from TEO accompanied me as I heartily sang along to Sinéad O’Connor, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos and Nina Simone. At around 3:15 pm I quit the studio and rang the sales guy to make sure that the delivery was happening. He assured me that their driver was on his way to my address. It should take about 1 hours to get here. So I waited. And waited. And waited… Almost 2 hours have passed with no updates from them. So I rang the store again. Finally they told me that the driver was boarding the ferry right then so he should reach me a little before 6. And so he did. I was so relieved and excited to finally got my EHD!

I unpacked it straight away and set it up beside my old Maxtor (AKA Maxsparkz). It took me a while to get it all to work because the cables that came with the LaCie were all very short because it was designed to be used with a Mac Mini stacked on top of the EHD while I’m using it with my MacBook Pro. Fortunately, the cables from the Maxtor are long enough. After some considerations, I decided to use USB with the Maxtor and FireWire with the LaCie – since FireWire is faster and the LaCie has twice as much space than the Maxtor. Organizing the crisscrossing cables underneath my desk was quite sweat-inducing but I was very pleased when it’s finally done. I hate clutters (not that I lack any! LOL!).

Now the *real* organizing agony begun! I have so many files in both my EmB and Maxsparkz EHD. I’ve been using Maxsparkz as extended HD for EmB for quite a while now. A lot of the files in the Maxsparkz got no backups. Scary thought, huh! So I was anxious to back things up a.s.a.p. As things in life are changing and developing, the way I organize my files should be adjusted and kept compatible if I am to have an organized space – which I really want and need.

LaTjie & Maxsparkz – side by side on the Racken trolley besides my desk (in case you’re wondering, the trolley is actually for bathroom use but I found it to be perfect as a desk-companion!

The innards under the desk – I try to keep them off the ground. Don’t you wish everything is wireless!

My (messy) work space @ a glance. The EHDs are hidden, you could glimpse them a bit on the lower left there. The desk extension on the right is actually a shelf. You can see my CraftyCalendar sits there! Of course, trolley + desk + shelf are all from IKEA! Oh and it’s my scanner there perched on top of an IKEA chest of drawers. Can you spot more IKEA stuff in this picture?

But then it’s dinner time! TEO has cooked us some deep fried fish served with some ‘sambel’ (hot chili sauce), bread and salad. Yummy! But I was anxious to get back to my desk to continue with re-organizing my filing system. So after dinner I started copying things from Maxsparkz to LaTjie (Latjie is laci in the old, dutch-influenced Indonesian spelling system). It took quite a long time because there are just sooo… many files! I washed the dishes while waiting.

Guess what! I ended up staying all night long re-organizing and backing up files between EmB, Maxsparkz and LaTjie. When this was done, I installed my Adobe CS3. There were some problems during the installation so I had to reinstall which took hours and hours… But! I’m so happy that at least my virtual desktop and space are now tidy :). I’m so ready to get back to work… I will need to customise my work space and preferences at Photoshop, Bridge etc. From what I’ve glimpsed so far, it all looks promising! For one thing, Photoshop does start up and close down much faster than previous version. Can’t wait to *really* try them all out! But it’s lunch time soon…

So here are some snapshots I took yesterday on my birthday…

Timothy cooked this for us: bagel + smoked salmon + poached egg. Accompanied by the usual chocolaty coffee he prepared every morning for me. Scrumptious!

And this is my birthday present from him… Cool iPod dock eh! I’m going to use this in my studio upstairs. I really have to get back working there again one of these days…

And this is the Indonesian dish Timothy cooked for my birthday dinner. Although he used mostly ready-sauce from the Ind0Shop, it was still very good! I do miss Indonesian food sometimes! The Ayam Goreng Kuning turned out to be quite authentic tasting too!

On the left is the Sambel Ulek Terasi (Chili sauce with shrimp paste and garlic), that little bottle is Kecap Manis (sweet soya sauce). Then it’s the Ayam Goreng Kuning (Yellow Deep Fried Chicken) and Tahu Goreng (Deep Fried Tofu). He also cooked a pseudo-chinese veggie dish wasn’t pictured here.

And finally… The birthday girl with her birthday cake… I just had a shower; it was so humid. My hair still a bit wet, but who cares :).

And here is my birthday cake! A chocolate lemon meringue pie. I love meringue cake but it’s so hard to find – especially those with mainly meringue in them! This one wasn’t bad. Quite yummy indeed. And those are my birthday candles. LOL!

It’s my birthday today! We got up very very late – we went to bed much later last night than usual. We stayed in watching a DVD – and the big storm raging outside. The movie was Director Cut’s “Blade Runner” by Ridley Scott with Harrison Ford, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah – I saw it when I was 14 y.o. and it’s interesting to see it again. We discovered some plot weaknesses none of us aware of the first time we saw it (he in his hometown in Drogheda, Ireland; I in my hometown in Jakarta – none of us knew of each other then, of course!). It was fun to see how then (in 1982) the year 2019 seemed like a long time away. But here we are in 2007 and the world hasn’t changed all that much – not as much as the sci-fi writers imagined anyway. The special effects in the movie were pretty cool though!

But it was the storm that was truly impressive! We saw huge lightning striking across the sky several times. The whole night sky lighted in an eerie way. It cleared up after a few hours, leaving the sky sparkling clean. As we’re in the 80’s nostalgia mood, we went on watching 80’s music video clips on YouTube. It was very amusing and we were brought from Boy George (remember Karma Chameleon?) in the 80’s to Sinéad O’Connor in the 90’s, back to Thin Lizzy in the 60’s.

It was several hours after midnight then but my husband insisted that he’d only give me my birthday present in the morning after we wake up, before breakfast! Oh well!

And so we woke up very very late. Okay, I’ll tell you how late. 11:30 a.m. *That* late! Disgraceful! But it’s Sunday and it’s my birthday! So who cares, right? :). In case you’re wondering, I’m turning 38 today! I don’t feel like I’m 38 though… I wonder perhaps most people don’t really see themselves as ‘old’ as their actual age. Do they?

Anyway! It was a sunny day! Yoohooo…!!! And I got an iPod Docking Speaker from my husband! It’s a PlayDock i500 from Creative. Very cool and stylish. I’ll use it in my studio upstairs with my old iPod (it’s a used 3rd generation iPod from my brother. It’s great having a brother who must have the latest version of stuff – I got all the older versions. Can’t complain though ;)). Then we had a nice breakfast that my husband prepared for us.

Now it’s after dinner. It was a lovely one. My husband cooked us an Indonesian meal in honor of my birthday. True that he used mostly ready-made sauces and stuff, but still… it’s delicious!!! We had “ayam goreng kuning” (yellow fried chicken) with deep fried tofu and ‘pseudo chinese-style’ veggie dish. We loved it. But the amount of washing up to do in the kitchen afterwards was just …ugh! Well, lucky for me since it’s my birthday, I didn’t have to do it. My husband did it. But he said he won’t cook any Indonesian meal ever again if he had to do the washing up himself! LOL!

Well… it’s very humid and sticky here. We’re going to have shower soon. I took some pics of today’s stuff, will upload them later.

Meanwhile, here’s a layout I did yesterday afternoon – click for larger version and detailed info as usual :):

I’ve been so cranky the past few days. Hmmmh. PMS-ing? Probably! The weather has been awful which I guess somehow affected my moods too. But today it’s actually a fine day: it’s sunny! Yes, it is still humid and hazy, but the sun is shining! Compared to the past week, today it’s a grand fine day indeed!

And I went out today! Those who know me in real life would understand that this is a special happening as I very rarely go out. I am a certified hermit, you see! So! I went out because I’m in a dire need of extra space! Virtual, that is. I need to get an External Hard Drive pronto! I’ve filled up the HD space in my Mac Book Pro (which I named EmB – after a name given to a character in a book titled “Under the Glacier” – Undir Helgahnjúk – by Halldór Laxness, who happened to be Kjersti’s – one of my Z!Girls, grand-uncle from her husband’s side.) – and almost filled up my existing, 250GB EHD as well (Gee… what a long winding sentence this is! LOL!). Plus… some files in Maxsparkz (that’s the name I gave to my 250GB EHD – it’s a Maxtor one) don’t even have a backup! How scary!

So… last night I ran a search online for the best EHD within my budget. And I found this cute and yet powerful one from LaCie here. It has plenty of ports of various kinds which I’m sure will come in handy. Of course I didn’t order it there as I am in Hong Kong. I went to my favorite Mac shop in Central instead. Alas… that particular LaCie EHD that I want is out of stock. I have them checked their other shops for one, but none have it at the moment. Well, it’s not a new product as far as electronic stuff goes. And Hong Kong people is a faithful follower of all things newest and trendiest. However…, they could order one for me! Yipppeee…!!! And since I’ve been such a good customer (well, not really, I’ve never spent much there) – they gave me 5% off discount. The LaCie Mini HD 500GB will be available for pick up by Tuesday, Aug. 21st! Not bad eh! It costs me HK$ 2,260 – that’s about US$ 289, higher than the pricing in the US. But then again, if I ordered it online there’ll be some considerable shipping cost plus longer waiting time to get it. And I *really* need it! It’s ultimately necessary for my line of work. So… *sigh*, I just had to order it today.

And now I have to get back to work! I’m not as enthusiastic about it as I normally would because since I’m running out of HD space, Photoshop is running very slow :(. I do have 2GB of memory – but lacking of HD space does matter! Oh well.

I really look forward to Tuesday when I’ll get my LaCie EHD. I anticipate some kind of annoyance or frustration in re-organizing my files between EmB, Maxsparkz and the new LaCie (which, btw, I will named “Laci”. In Indonesian language, “laci” – pronounced “la – cee”, means drawer; like a drawer in a cupboard. So it is a storage system, an empty space to store stuff. Appropriate for an EHD, no?). My tendencies to be really organized sometimes could be annoying and impractical. LOL! Talking of paradox…

Oh I did have a new layout done last night! Here’s a tiny preview. Just click on it to see the larger version with detailed info – as usual :). Enjoy!

Anyway. I said I have to get back to work, didn’t I?

Yay! It’s finally out! After spending countless hours in front of my over-worked Mac Book Pro, Ztampfever #25 has been released earlier today. Have you subscribed yet? It’s not too late to subscribe now – I’ll requeque the newsletter a few times in the next 24 hours so you’ll still get a chance to get that special something tucked into the newsletter ;).

The series I told you about is done too! It’s quite a job to upload them all to the shop and I’m so happy now that it’s done! Here is a preview of the main kit:

This series is dedicated for my eldest step-daughter who is a bright student and is going to France for an exchange program this coming November. She is as lovely as this kit – if not more!

There are 2 matching Alpha Sets, an Ensemble Set and an Album Set to go with this kit! A Package Saving is also available – with a special bonus pack not available anywhere else.

And here is a layout I did while I was working on the kit above – I can hardly wait to scrap more now that I have completed the whole series with even more artsy elements. Click the image to see larger version and to read more detailed information about it.

Now I should take a break from ztampfing and pay attention to my dear man ;). More tomorrow!

The past week – especially during the weekend, Hong Kong has been assaulted by storms and typhoons. Fortunately most just skimming by although one particular typhoon went by quite close to Hong Kong. It was Pabuk Typhoon and it created quite a mess last Friday when the government suddenly hoisted the Typhoon Signal No.8 – sending everyone home from work and schools, resulting in packed MTR stations and bus stops. It took Timothy almost 3 hours to get home! Yiiikes! Not a weather to go out in, definitely!

Today there was a bit of sunshine – although in general it’s still very hazy and humid. Here’s a picture I took this afternoon: Hong Kong island was completely gone!

Compared with this one that I took a while ago when the weather was fine:

The weather forecast said there’ll be a new storm coming up on the 16th… Oh wellll… At least I’m working from home :).