Photoswap #7

It has already been three weeks ago since I showed a sneak peak of the lay-out I made for Brigitta. I can now finally share the whole page with you as I sent it last Monday. It is a picture of Brigitta and her daughter taken in Portugal in 2004. When I got the picture I knew immediately that I wanted to use My Mind's Eye Magnolia patterned paper. I love the colors of this line. I haven't heard from Brigitta yet, but I really hope she is happy with the outcome. Today I received the lay-out she made for me. I sent her a picture of Sanne taken mid January. Both Sanne and I are happy with the lay-out. The patterned paper matches well with the picture. Thanks for the lay-out, Brigitta!

Here's the lay-out Brigitta made for me...


And here's the one I made for her...

Last working day

Today I had my last working day. Fortunately it wasn´t as emotional as I thought it would be although there were some very nice e-mails from international colleagues that brought a lump to my throat. I got a bunch of roses from my executives, and a bunch of tulips, a card with lovely notes and a gift coupon of my favourite scrapbook store from a few Dutch secretaries. My manager Sietze took me and my colleague Sonja out for lunch at Hotel Artemis. I had a delicious club sandwich. Yummy!! Sietze will also organize a farewell dinner on March 16th. My 3 executives will be there as well as my colleagues Marjan and Sonja. I am sure that my farewell party will be more emotional. It wasn´t an easy decision to resign, but I am still convinced that it was the right thing to do. I feel so much better than a few months ago. I will first take a break and enjoy my time off, and then look for a nice job closer to home.

I Love You

One day you have a scrapper's block, and the other day you are full of inspiration and energy. I really got inspiration from the new products I bought last Friday, but this time I was also inspired and challenged by Dutch Dares. A great initiative by Daniëlle and her DT. It is already dare #8, but I must honestly admit that this is the first time I take the challenge. This week's challenge is to make something small and tiny and you are only allowed to use 1 colour (different shades of the color are allowed). I already had a mini book and the perfect patterned paper in mind, so I gave it a try. I am quite a slow scrapper and spent some hours on it last night and today, but I am very pleased with the final result. Daphne you were right....this is the perfect way to get rid of your scrapper's block.

Work in progress

I am really happy with my new Sassafras Lass patterned papers. Their new Serendipity line is very colorful and inspiring. I had an idea for a mini book in mind and when I saw this paper I knew it was the perfect line for my little project. I combine it with Sassafras Lass´ Daydream line. Here´s a little sneak peak of the cover. It seems like my scrapper´s block is gone.

Shop till you drop

Today I went scrap shopping at Dolls & Decorations in Almere. Petra got lots of new goodies in this week and I really had to go. The girls and I left at 10.30am this morning. Lots of traffic around Utrecht so it took us a little longer than usual, but I didn't care. The 1-hour drive was worth it. The new paper and all embellishments looked so yummy. I bought lots of new paper by Sassafras Lass (love their new lines), Basic Grey Pheobe, and Sweetwater. I also bought a set of alphabet stamps, a doodle template, embellishments, and paint. Of course there was so much more that I could have bought, but there was a limit.....at least for today. Fortunately I still had a gift coupon to spend at Dolls, but that was only 1/4 of the total amount.

Scrapper´s block?

I am not very creative at the moment. I have lots of ideas, but I don´t get anything done. Is that what they call a scrapper´s block? I only made a simple birthday card this week.

Weekend recap

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we went to our city center for the carnival procession which was fun. We also did some shopping. We don´t really have a cold winter this year, and spring seems to arrive soon. Most stores already have their spring/summer collection in stock. We went to Kruimel, a nice store for children´s wear and bought some great clothes for Fleur and Sanne. We also bought them both a very girly pair of Lelli Kelly shoes. Needless to say, the girls can hardly wait to wear their new outfits. Here are some of my favorites.

On Sunday afternoon we went to visit our friends Vera and Marcel and their kids Bastijn en Annemijn. It was so nice to see them again. The kids had a great time together and so did we. They live directly across the woods, so we had to go for a walk in the woods.

Circle Journal entry

I participate in a Circle Journal (CJ) and this time I had to make a spread about My Favorite Quote for Miriam´s album. This was not really an easy one for me. First of all, I find it hard to make a double lay-out of 12x12". And secondly, I don´t have a favorite quote. Last week I came across the quote A family is a little word created by love on a scrapbook site, and thought that was a nice one to scrap a picture of my family. I am not 100% satisfied about the outcome, but I hope that Miriam is happy with my entry.

Carnival in IJsselstein

Festival

Today the girls´ school had their festival which they organise 3 times a year. Each class performs a song, a little play, or a dance and parents are more than welcome to come and see the show. Eric had taken the morning off so we could go and watch our girls´ performance together. This year the school celebrates its 10th anniversary, and they have chosen "world school" as a theme. There are 23 different nationalities in school and they are proud to have so many nationalities and cultures represented. This festival was about nationalities. Sanne´s class had their performance at 8.45am, and Fleur´s class at 10.45am. Both classes performed the same songs. The first song was about doing the laundry, and the other one was about spider Anansi. Both songs were sang in Surinamese. I am not sure if their teachers explained what the songs were all about, but it was so much fun to hear them sing a song in a language that is not theirs. I always love to watch our girls. My heart melts when I see them acting so enthusiastically. It was Sanne´s first time, and she did great. She was not shy at all.

The pictures of Fleur´s class are a bit blurry as I haven´t been able to ask permission to the parents of her classmates to post the pictures on my blog.

Felt RAK winners

My girls enjoy the RAKs as much as I do. They love to pick the winners. This time they picked....

Rak #1 (pink, white & black)


Rak #2 (lime, pink & orange)


Congrats! Please email me your address and I will send the felt a.s.a.p.

I am now off to have dinner with my friend Anouk.

Scenic Route Challenge Revlie

As mentioned in previous posts Revlie challenged the readers of her blog to scrap Friday February 2nd using Scenic Route stuff. I really love Scenic Route so I joined the challenge. The biggest challenge was getting some good pictures. The pictures I took in the morning on our way to school didn't turn out well due to the wet and foggy weather. The ones I took during Fleur's swimming lesson on Friday afternoon didn't turn out well either. Fortunately the ones of Fleur cooking vegetable soup were okay. Fleur is really into cooking at the moment and I love that. The journaling is in Dutch and says:
A few weeks ago you asked me if I wanted to teach you how to cook. I didn't have to think about an answer that long. Of course I would like to teach you. I really enjoy cooking with you. If we tell you during dinner that you did a great job than you beam with pride.

Sneak Peak Challenge

Here´s a sneak peak of the lay-out I made for Revlie´s Scenic Route challenge. Can´t show you the whole lay-out yet as all lay-outs will be posted tomorrow. Be patient and check my blog tomorrow.

Felt RAK

I had so much fun organising my chipboard alphabet RAK in January that I think it is time for another RAK. A felt one this time. You may have seen that Queen & Co. showed their new felt line at CHA in Annaheim last month. Very cute felt and great colors. Here in the Netherlands we already had such felt borders. Actually not really meant for scrapbooking and maybe not as cute as Queen & Co.´s felt, but I can tell you that it does look great on scrapbook pages. Here´s an example of the pink felt I used on a lay-out.



As usual I bought more than I will ever use, so.....I would love to share with you. I have 2 sets to give away. Set #1 contains 1 feet of pink, white and black felt. Set #2 contains 1 feet of lime, pink and orange felt. The only thing you have to do is leave your name. If you have a preference for one of the sets please don´t forget to mention if you would like to have set #1 or set #2. I noticed I have quite some international visitors and of course international entries are welcome too! The winners will be announced on Thursday February 15th, so please leave your name no later than Wednesday February 14th.

RAK #1


RAK #2

My own Andy Warhol

As a scrapper it is great to have a partner who has photography as a hobby. Eric loves to take pictures and that makes a perfect combination with my scrapbooking. One of his other passions related to photography is editing pictures using Photoshop Elements. I am so glad he does, because I really have no clue of PSE at all. Last night and today he edited pictures of me and our girls in Andy Warhol style.

We are the champion

Today Sven Kramer and Ireen Wüst - both from the Netherlands and only 20 years old - became World Champion 2007 in Heerenveen (NL) at the World Allround (Speed Skating) Championships 2007. What an achievement!! Sven even skated a world record (12.49.88) at the 10K. I always enjoy watching speed skating. It is a great sport. The crowd in Thialf went crazy, and I love to watch all the orange.

Sven Kramer

Source: www.nu.nl

Ireen Wüst


Source: www.telegraaf.nl

6 Months

When you are a 4-year and 6-year old you hardly have any notion of time. Mid January we booked our summer holiday to France. We told the girls that we booked a mobile home at Camping Les Ecureuils in St. Hilaire de Riez, France for this summer and they were very excited. Of course they wanted to know when this trip will take place, and we told them they have to wait for another 6 months. They really have no idea how long that is, so they keep asking me about it. Especially Sanne (4) is very interested. She asks me weekly "Mommy, when is it 6 months? May I look at your watch to see when it is 6 months?". I think it is funny that she thinks that when the big or little hand points to 6 the 6 months are over. Unfortunately it doesn't go that fast, so I guess I will be asked many, many times again.

Snow

Finally we had snow this winter. The first snowflakes whirled past my window around 11am this morning. A few hours later we had a few centimeters of snow. When the girls and I got home at the end of the day we made a little snowman. By now most of the snow is gone.

Sneak Peak

It is time for a sneak peak again. Yesterday I finished a lay-out for another photo swap (#7). This time I had to make a lay-out for Brigitta. She sent me a great photo of her and her DD. Brigitta visits my blog frequently, so I thought it would be nice to show her a sneak peak. I am sure she would love to see the rest of the lay-out, but unfortunately she has to wait until the end of February. The lay-outs won't be sent until February 26th. I enjoyed working on this lay-out, and I hope that Brigitta likes what I created for her.

Never Say Never

If you had asked me a few years (or even months) ago if I would ever make cards I would have said never. And guess what I did in the past few weeks? I made about 10 birthday cards. A few girls at the Dolls & Decorations message board suggested to set up a birthday list. Everyone could join the list. The only criteria was that you have to send a birthday card to each member, and of course you get lots of cards in return. I was a bit naive to think I could just buy a card and send it. I soon found out that you had to make your own cards. Well, that was quite a surprise for someone who always said that card making was dull and not my cup of tea. But.....I now have to admit that I enjoy doing it. I am not very good at it yet, and not always satisfied with the result, but it is a start. I think a handmade card is much more appreciated. Do you agree?