Dolls Day

Today I had a wonderful day at Dolls & Decorations. Petra - the owner of the scrapbook store - always organises a special day for all Dollies when the new scrap kit is released. So once a quarter a large group of Dollies meet up in Almere. This Dolls Day was a bit different for me as I was asked by Petra to assist with a make & take. Along with Monique, Bonette and Ceciel we did 7 different make & takes. Daan (Diana), Jolande and Petra's sister were in the store to help Petra, and John was our caterer. And of course there were delicious home-made pies. I always enjoy these Dolls days as it is great to meet up with Petra's team and the members of the Dolls' message board.

Of course I also had to buy some new stuff too. It is not that I don't have anything at home, but it is always so tempting. I just can't walk out of the store without buying anything. I bought patterned papers, buttons and rub-ons by My Mind's Eye, masks, bling accents and clear stamps by Heidi Swapp, cardstock, daisy flowers by Prima Marketing, Paper Crafts magazine, and patterned papers and the beautiful Simply Stated & Pollen Dust clear stamps by Fancy Pants.

Petra asked me to make a layout or another project with patterned paper from the scrap kit. I was only able to make one layout as I didn't feel well at all this week. I used the new Tres Jolie line and Bohemia Embossed Chipboard from My Mind's Eye and a Hambly Screen Prints Overlay.

A Little Sneak Peak

I can only show you very little of a layout I made this week. The whole layout will be shown tomorrow or Sunday.

New Look

Fleur and Sanne both got a new look today. Fleur went to the hairdresser and had her hair cut a few inches. I think she looks beautiful with a shorter haircut.


Sanne had a birthday party of her friend Jet. They went to Coccinelli where they had a kids' party. The girls' hair and make-up were done. Sanne left her curls at the hairdresser. Her hair was straightened which gives her a different look.

Quiet

I am a bit quiet at the moment. Not much going on here. I am having a cold and it feels like I get the flu. Hopefully that won´t happen, because I have a scrap event on Saturday.

I started on a few scrap projects in the past two weeks, but I am stuck at the moment. Nothing to do with lack of inspiration this time, but with lack of pictures. I ordered lots of pictures and hopefully they will arrive soon, because I simply can´t scrap without pictures. There are people who can prepare layouts or mini albums and add pictures later, but I am not one of them. Of course I have piles of pictures, but I want to work with some recent ones.

The weather is beautiful at the moment. It seems like spring finally arrived. I made this picture in our garden today.

Take-Out Box

Not only the girls were creative today. I too made a little project. I scrapped a little take-out box to wrap up my mom´s birthday present. My mom was very pleased with the box as well as her present.

Artistic

Sanne and Fleur both wanted to create a little gift for oma´s birthday. Fleur (6) wanted to make something with flowers, and asked if she could use my EK Success flower punches. I helped her a little by cutting the grass and sky. She made a great Spring picture. And Sanne (4) made a picture of oma. I think she did a great job.

Fleur´s Art



Sanne´s Art

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my mom who celebrates her 61st birthday today. I am sure that she will be surprised to see her picture on my blog, but I am also sure that she won't thank me for that. ;-) Have a nice day, mom!

Red Note

What a great week for our girl! She lost her 1st tooth, we had a 10-minute conversation with her teacher on Tuesday and she is doing very well in school, and today she got a red note from her swimming instructor. She now goes to the last phase. Swimming certificate A is getting closer and closer.

Lost!

Fleur had a loose tooth for more than 2 weeks, and today - during lunch - she finally lost her 1st tooth. She is really proud. I am sure the tooth fairy will visit us tonight.

Red, White and Blue

Dutch Dare #10 will already be posted tomorrow, so I quickly had to finish Dare #9.

The national flag of The Netherlands, with its three equal horizontal bands coloured red (top), white and blue is the oldest tricolour still in use today. However it was not the country's first flag. The first version of the Netherlands flag was orange white and blue. There are many speculations why the colour changed from orange to red, sailors at sea could see the red better than the orange which due to colourants tended to fade more easily, there was a lack of orange colourant, or perhaps the house of Orange was not as popular those days.
Most likely however is that the French changed the colours of our flag when the invaded our country in 1794

We would like you to create a lay out, or other little project using the colours of your flag.

When I read this Dare I knew immediately that I wanted to create a new cover for a mini book that I had in mind. I already created the cover of an album about 2 months ago, but I wasn´t happy with the outcome at all. The handmade album itself was okay, but the choice of patterned papers and embellishments didn´t represent my style. Not that I have already developed an own style, but the book wasn´t me.....if you know what I mean. The colors of this Dare´s theme fit much better with the pictures of the 1-day boat trip that we made in July last year. I haven´t had much time to scrap in the past two weeks, so I only created the front cover of the mini book. The rest of the book will be finished soon. I first need to order some new pictures.

The Perfect Housewife

Have you ever watched BBC´s programme The Perfect Housewife by Anthea Turner? I LOVE that show. I don´t think I will pass the test to become a domestic goddess. I am simply not as disciplined and structured as Anthea is. What would she think if she shows up unexpectedly at my place today and sees this pile of laundry that need to be ironed? I guess she will be in shock. Do you think I will get away with the excuse that I have only been a fulltime housewife for two and a half weeks? I guess I need a little more time to adjust to my new life.


I would like to wish Ruben - our nephew down under - a very Happy Birthday. He turned 7 today. Congrats, boy! Hope you had a wonderful day.

Farewell

Yesterday we had my farewell dinner party in Restaurant De Kloosterhoeve in Harmelen. My three executives Sietze, Leendert and Norbert, and my colleague Sonja were there along with their spouses. Unfortunately my colleague Marjan was sick and therefore unable to join us. It was a great evening, and I enjoyed talking to all. I worked with Sietze for more than 9 years, and we always got along very well. We never had an argument.....never! He is a great person, and I enjoyed working with him from the very first moment. Norbert and Leendert are wonderful people too. I worked with them for 3 years, and we too got along well. After our dessert Sietze gave a speech, and I was touched by his words. During the years he made no secret about his appreciation of me and my work, but these words were very special. Not sure if I will ever meet such great colleagues again. I will sure miss these guys.

My colleagues spoilt me with some nice scrapbook gifts. They bought me the Bind-it-All machine including some covers and wires, a chipboard alphabet by Cosmo Cricket, and "All About Me" patterned paper, wooden buttons and rub-ons by Sweetwater and a beautiful bunch of flowers. I am very, very pleased with these gifts. Thank You!!!

Circle Journal Entry

I didn't scrap much this week. I was just too busy with other things. However, I did have a deadline to meet. I am participating in a Circle Journal (CJ) and this month I had to make a spread for Charlotte's CJ. Her theme is Scrapbook Recipes, and you have to make a spread about scrapbook techniques. I chose to make one about using a sewing machine on your lay-outs. I love to use my machine to add texture to my pages. I used Sassafras Lass' In Stitches line which is very suitable for my chosen technique. The colors of the picture are not very good, but I couldn't get it any better.

Photo Swap Day

This morning I went over to my friend Wendy's place as today is the day we had to hand over our lay-outs for photo swap #8 to each other. Usually you send your lay-out to your swap partner, but since we live close to each other we decided to combine "business" with pleasure and had a cup of tea together. Wendy made a lay-out with a picture of Fleur and used the new line of Sassafras Lass. I love this paper, so she made a great choice. I really like her take on this photo swap. I had to scrap a picture of Wendy and her niece in the woods, and used Chatterbox patterned paper. We both were very pleased with the result. Thanks, Wendy!

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


And here's the lay-out I made for Wendy...

Back from the USA

Today Eric got home from a 5-day business trip to Orlando, Florida. The girls and I went to Schiphol to pick him up. The closer we got to the airport the more excited the girls got. Not only because they would see Eric again, but also because of all the planes they saw. Needless to say, we were very happy to see him. And of course he was happy to see us too. When we got home the girls wanted to open Eric´s suitcase immediately, because they already knew he bought them some clothes from GapKids.

Eric called me last Thursday to share some great news. He qualified for the Eclipse event again. A recognition event for all employees who achieved their target. This year we will go to Cayman Islands in June. We will either stay in The Ritz Carlton, Cayman Islands or The Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa. Both resorts look great. Not sure if we will extend our stay this year. Last year in Jamaica it was the first time since we have kids that I went along with Eric again. We were away for 9 days, and I thought that was a bit too long. It is nice to be away together, but I rather spend a few days at a destination closer to home.

We had lunch at home, and afterwards we went into town to do some shopping. Eric bought 2 pairs of shoes, and the girls got new shoes too. Sanne´s winter boots are getting too small now, so we didn´t want to wait any longer. Hopefully the weather gets better soon. Fleur got the pink/orange shoes, and Sanne the blue ones. Sanne´s new shoes look like they were already worn, but they are not. They just have a cool look.

A busy bee

I am a stay at home mom (SAHM) for a week and a half now, and so far I enjoy this new phase in my life. After 19 years of work it is good to be off for a while. I always enjoyed my jobs, and if it wasn´t for the travel time I was still with my former employer. I am thankful that I was able to quit my job without having another job to fall back on. I realize it is a great position, and I am really glad that Eric is very supportive. Thanks, sweetheart!

There are so many things in and around the house that have to be done that I don´t have a chance to become bored. I sometimes wonder how I managed to get all these things done when I worked 3 days a week. Well, I didn´t. I did spend time on housekeeping but not as much as I do know. I already was involved in school activities, but now I can spend more time. Yesterday I spend my first 2 hours as "computer mom" in school which was fun. Of course there are many other things that have to be done, but the most important benefit is that I am more relaxed and can spend more time with our girls.

I hardly scrapped in the past few days. Last night I finished another page of my paperbag album. Hopefully I will be able to finish some more pages this weekend. I have to order my pictures for this album soon, because it is not easy for me to scrap pages without having any pictures.

Being creative

What a dull weather today. It´s been pouring since this morning. A perfect day for scrapping. I first had to bring Eric to Schiphol this morning. He has left for Orlando, Florida (USA) to attend the company´s annual worldwide kick-off meeting. He didn´t look forward to it at all. Mainly because he is feared of flying. He was really nervous and doubted until the very last moment if he would go. Well, he did go and I am sure that when he arrives he has to admit that the flight wasn´t as bad as he thought it would be. He will stay in the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. Not too bad, but unfortunately they will have no time for shopping, sightseeing or anything else. All days are fully booked with business sessions. He will only be there for a few days. He will get back on Saturday, and the girls and I will pick him up from the airport.

I did do some scrapping today. I have finally finished the back cover of my diary. I used it with a raw chipboard back cover for 2 months, but now it is ready. This year I only bought a filling. The covers are handmade.



I also finished the front cover of my paperbag album. It will be an album with pictures of a walk in the woods of IJsselstein on November 26th last year. Yes, we do have our own tiny woods in IJsselstein.



Well, gotta go now. I have to pick up the girls from their after-school child care centre.

17 Years later...

In November 1989 my parents bought me a sewing machine for my 21st birthday. I did do an attempt to make some clothes myself, but it never really got off the ground. Now, more than 17 years later, I rediscovered my sewing machine. I now use it for scrapbooking. Stitching looks great on a lay-out. You can stitch borders, frames and much more. I am now working on a paperbag album inspired by Iggydodie who has a great style. I stitched all pages with white thread. I just started on scrapping the front cover this afternoon. It is not finished, but I will already show an impression of the patterned papers being used. I haven't fixed anything with glue yet, so the look can still change.

Want to see a sneak peak?

Here is a sneak peak of a lay-out I made for photo swap #8. This time I am linked to my friend Wendy. I really had fun working on this lay-out. I used Chatterbox paper this time. Unfortunately you have to wait another 10 days before I can reveal the whole lay-out.

A little card

I made this card for Yvon to give her heart. She will have a surgery on Monday and by means of this card I want her to know that I will be thinking of her.

Proud

I am so proud of Fleur. She has been having swimming lessons since November 2005. It all went well, but maybe not as fast as she had hoped. I booked her a private lesson mid January to speed things up a little, and she has really made progress since then. It resulted in a "blue note" today which means she is on to the next phase. As of next week she has to swim with a shirt on. Needless to say, she was very happy. Good luck, sweetheart!

Art

Usually I don't post twice a day, but this art is absolutely worth a separate post. Fleur had a birthday party of her best friend Romy yesterday. Romy's mom always comes up with very creative ideas. Not only on birthday parties, but also when Fleur gets over to Romy's place to play. Yesterday all the children painted a plate. This is Fleur's creation, and I am really proud of my girl and her creativity.

So delicious

Today is my first day off. I am officially employed until April 1st, but I had so many vacation days left that I could take March off. When I went shopping this morning I ran into these American Cookies at Hema. They are so yummy! Not really good for someone who is supposed to be on a diet and definitely not in Sonja Bakker´s diet book, but I thought my first day off was a good reason to treat myself. I guess I can always think of a reason to treat myself, but this one is pretty valid. Don´t you think? For the Dutch readers of my blog, if you have never had these chocolate cookies from Hema.....go there. The cookies are on special offer this week. :-)