Horse and Carriage

Today we went to visit my friend (and ex-colleague) Anouk and her boyfriend Bernard in Doniaga, Friesland. Bernard arranged for a horse and carriage, and we made a tour through the woods and villages near Doniaga. We all enjoyed the ride very much. A bit primitive, but lots of fun. There were about 100 bulls (or even more) at the farm, and Fleur was very interested in them. It is great to see how much she enjoys being around with animals now. Until a year ago she (and Sanne as well) was very feared of all kinds of animals, but fortunately it changed. We had a wonderful day. Bernard and Anouk, thank you so much for your hospitality.

Design Team Call

I decided to participate in Dolls & Decoration's DT call. In the first round one has to make a mini book (min. 6x6"/max. 8x8"), and a layout "All About Me". Below you can find my takes on both projects.

Mini book "Mini Golf"

Me from A to Z

Wanna know me?

Well, you have to be patient for at least another day to find out more about me. Sorry! I finished my layout, but I have to bind my mini book before I can post both projects. Here's a little sneak peak of my layout.

Not too much to show

I hardly scrapped this weekend as I was away all Saturday and spent most of the day outside yesterday. Of course I did scrap during the Crop Till You Drop on Saturday, but I wasn't able to work on the mini book I started last week. So I thought I would give you another sneak peak of one of the inner pages I already finished.

These boots are made for walking

7 Random facts about me

I got tagged by Miranda. I am not really into these tag games. It feels a bit like a kettingbrief (chain letter) and I don't like these letters. Sorry Miranda! I will do this one, but I won't tag 7 other people. This tag is about listing 7 random facts about myself. Here goes!

1. Eric and I met at work in October 1989, but it took me 7 years to finally realize that he was Mr Right.
2. We have 2 beautiful girls, Fleur (6 y.o.) and Sanne (4 y.o.)
3. My favorite drink is a cup of tea (Pickwick's English Tea Blend).
4. I love Indonesian food.
5. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons.
6. I love to listen to Eurovision Song Contest songs from the 70's, 80's and early 90's.
7. My favorite perfumes are Hypnôse by Lancôme, Le Bain by Joop!, and Style by Jil Sander.

Crop Till You Drop

Today I cropped till I dropped. Dolls & Decorations had their annual CTYD in Hotel De Biltsche Hoek in Bilthoven. It was a full day with workshops, make & takes, time for shopping, lunch and dinner from 9.30 till 22.00 hrs. O, and let's not forget the scrap bingo. I was really lucky today. I won lots of prizes in the second round. I won a doodle template and Art Warehouse stamps for being the first one with one full row, and Fancy Pants biggest chipboard and a photograph magazine for being the first person with two full rows. After dinner we had a sort of photoswap. You had to bring along a picture of yourself today. All pictures were put in a basket and each of us got a picture of someone else that you had to scrap. In the end everyone had 5 points (or actually 5 peas) to divide. The one with most peas was the winner. I was first runner up after Wilma, and again won a prize. This time I got a set of big brads by Around the Block. It was my first CTYD and I enjoyed it very much.

Eric, the girls and their girlfriend Lisa went to the musical Nijntje (Miffy) on holiday. They had a great time. Actually I was supposed to go with them, but I completely forgot about the musical when I booked my seat for the CTYD. Fleur and Sanne get along very well with Lisa, so we asked if she wanted to go. She really enjoyed herself.

Sneak Peak Mini Book

I have been working on a mini book and finished the front and back cover. I now have to work on the inner pages. Here's a little sneak peak.

Lots of pictures

Today I received my order from ScrapbookPictures. A few weeks ago I tried their service for black and white pictures for the first time, and I am very satisfied with the quality of the pictures. Their black and white matte prints are great. Much better than here in the Netherlands. It is a bit more expensive than ordering pictures over here, but I think it is absolutely worth the money. By the way, if you log in via your 2Peas account and order for the first time you will get a credit of 15 x $0.25, and shipping fee for international orders is only $2 at the moment. I think I now have about 200 recent pictures to scrap, so if you miss me I am in my scraproom. LOL!

This picture of Sanne is one of my favorites I ordered. I am not good at editing pictures in Photoshop Elements 4.0 or adding e.g. brushes to a picture. ScrapbookPictures has a feature to add borders designed by Karen Russell. Really great for people like me.

Dreams

I finished my entry for Carla's Circle Journal (CJ) this weekend. Her CJ is about dreams. Of course I dream about things like winning the lottery, holiday destinations, lots and lots of clothes, etc. but all these material goods are relative. When my dad got seriously ill in 1999, and the disease got back in 2003 I once again realized that a good health is not obvious. So my biggest dream for my family and loved ones is a good health, love and happiness. My 1999 dream came true....fortunately my dad is still with us and hopefully for many more years to come.

A Card

I made this birthday card for my uncle who turns 70 tomorrow. Actually I had already bought a card, but I thought it would be more fun to make one myself. I got the idea from the UK magazine PaperCraft Inspirations.

If...

...you let a 6-year old do her own hair she looks like this.


She and her little sister wanted to do a performance for mommy and daddy just before they had to go to bed. Of course you have to look good, so that means you also have to do your hair. LOL! I think she looks adorable.

New Car

This morning we went to the Seat dealer for a test drive in a Seat Altea XL. After a positive test drive and negotiations with the sales rep - of course done by Eric (I am not good at asking for discount) - we decided to buy the car. The Seat will replace our VW Touran. Again we chose a black car. Needless to say we both are very happy with our purchase. It will take about 8 - 10 weeks before we get our new car, so we have to be patient for at least two months.

Paper Bag Album

I finally finished my paper bag album last night. This album is based on an album created by Iggydodie. I almost ruined two pages of my album, but fortunately both pages turned out well in the end. Larger images can be viewed on Two Peas in a Bucket.

Meeting Mandy

This morning I went to visit Mandy who also lives in IJsselstein. We visit each other's blog and now we also met in person. A while ago - when I posted a picture of a photo swap layout on my blog - Mandy suggested to do a photo swap together. I liked the idea, so we set a date. Today we had a cup of tea together and exchanged pictures. I got a nice picture of her husband and little boy Max, and I gave Mandy a picture of Fleur made last Sunday. It is always a challenge to make a layout with a picture of someone else, but a fun thing to do. Of course I will do my utmost to make a nice layout. Mandy, it was nice meeting you and Max (so glad he is doing better now). Next time when we exchange the layouts you also have to bring me the book you recommended. :-)

You've Got Mail

I received this Sizzix die in the mail this morning. I have to finish some other projects first, but then I can start on a project I have in mind inspired by my sister-in-law Lisette.

A little update

I haven't scrapped much this past week. Hopefully I will be able to do a little more this week. I finished a few pages of my paperbag album this weekend. I have to create about 4 more pages and then my little album is finished. To give you a little update.....here's one of the pages.

It's a Beautiful Day

Scraplift

When I went through the gallery on Two Peas in a Bucket today I came across a layout that looked pretty familiar to me. I opened the layout and was totally surprised to read that one used one of my layouts for a challenge on a French message board. Some of you may remember this layout of Sanne I made for a Dutch challenge in December.



It is my favorite layout, but I had never thought it would be good enough to be used for a scraplift challenge. I use other people's work for inspiration as well, but I must say it is a pretty weird experience for me to see that my work is scraplifted by others. I have only been scrapping for a year, so I am a little flattered.

Here are the two scraplifts.

Layout Calexandra



Layout Gwen




***edited***

Here's another scraplift by Daniela sent to me by Alexandra (Calexandra). I really like the bright colors. The circles are created with paint, but it looks like patterned paper.



Not much else going on at the moment. I am working on a few mini books in parallel, but since I haven't finished any of the books I can't show you anything yet.

Only for 1 Day

Eric was the proud "owner" of this Aston Martin DB9 for just 1 day. What a car! He came home a little earlier, so we could drive a few miles together. It is a beautiful car, but absolutely not my style. Of course I can't afford such a car, but even if I had millions in my bank account I wouldn't buy this car. There are other brands that I like more. However, it was fun to drive the Aston Martin. A dream came true......for Eric.

Birthday Card

I have to send a birthday card today, so I quickly made one myself. I came across a card on Two Peas in a Bucket last week, and scraplifted that card.

My Little Diva

I made this simple 6x6" mini book yesterday. I used Hambly Screen Prints overlays and My Mind's Eye provided by Dolls & Decorations and Basic Grey's Blush. I wanted to create this mini book for the Dolls Day last Saturday, but as I was ill last week I didn't create anything other than the layout I showed you. Pictures of Sanne were taken on 28 March.

Scrapbook Goodies

Here are the pictures of the scrapbook goodies I purchased yesterday. I had a gift coupon to spend, and I used it to buy the beautiful Fancy Pants clear stamps.