Hip Hip Hooray!

Happy 39th Birthday, sweetheart! Wish I was with you and the girls to wake you up with a BIG kiss and my birthday gift. Unfortunately you have to wait till this evening. Have a wonderful day! Much love, Ingrid xox.

A package from France

A while ago I met Zab from France through the Internet. I found out that she was the one who directed many French scrappers to my blog. :D Since then we e-mail each other a few times a week. She is a wonderful person, and her scrap work is beautiful too. Today I received a package from her in the mail. A huge envelope with gorgeous scrap papers as well as a postcard. The postcard reminds me of the many wonderful holidays I had in France. I just love these typical French villages. Zab, merci beaucoup for your gift!! I really appreciate this. I am so happy I met you. Gros bisous.

Happy Birthday, and a card

Today our niece Rebecca is celebrating her 9th birthday. Happy Birthday, sweetheart!! I hope you have a wonderful day with your family and friends. Too bad you live so far away from us, but fortunately there is phone, snail mail and Internet. Here is the card I created for her.



And here is a card I made last night for Ilse, one of the girls of the Dolls & Decorations message board. She gave birthday to a healthy baby boy named Tim. Congratulations, girl!

Having a blast

Fleur and Sanne went to the Pyramid of Austerlitz with my parents today. It is a large playground in the woods. The girls love to go there, and mostly they go with my mom and dad. The weather was beautiful today, so it was great to spend some hours in the woods. Here are a few pictures that my dad sent me.



They had a wonderful time, and wanted to stay with my parents for another night.....or two. LOL! So I either pick them up tomorrow or on Wednesday.

Dinner for two

Fleur and Sanne stay with my parents tonight. My mom and dad take care of them on Mondays. Since the girls are still off from school they could stay overnight with my parents. Eric and I decided to go out for dinner and enjoy some time together. We went to our local marina Marnemoende. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside on the terrace. The dish that I chose is not what you call "low fat", but who cares. Tomorrow I'll continue my diet. In two weeks I lost 3.4kg already and I have been very strict to myself. Therefore, I don't think this will harm me too much.

Grand Opening

Yesterday I was in Almere for the Grand Opening of Dolls & Decorations, and had a wonderful day. I did a make & take with the Quickutz Revolution in the morning, and helped in the store in the afternoon. We had BBQ for lunch which was a very nice suprise and a lottery with a HUGE first prize and many other great prizes. As always, the day was a great success. It is always so much fun to meet the Dollies that you know from the message board. I also met some new people and people I know via my blog like Joke. I took very little pictures yesterday. Unfortunately they didn't turn out well. It seems like I used the wrong camera settings. Not sure if editing in Photoshop will help. Below is a picture that Tammie took yesterday. Thanks, girl! Today is the second day of the opening, and I am sure that will be a fun day too.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Work in progress

Not too much to tell, and even worse.....nothing to show. You all know I started in my new job last Monday, and I have to get used to the fact that I have less time to scrap and do other things. The first days in a new job are always exhausting, so I mostly spend my evenings on the couch or surfing the internet. I really like my new job! They are very glad that I joined them, and I feel so welcome. I know for sure that I made the right choice.

Right now I am surrounded by cardstock, papers, stamps, doodle templates, Prisma pencils and flowers. I have to prepare a few make & takes for this weekend. It is the grand opening at Dolls & Decorations this weekend. The store will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 10am till 4pm. I will be there on Saturday and give some make & takes. The new store is awesome with LOTS of yummy goodies.

Last evening we had a meeting in Almere to talk about this weekend's make & take program. Bonnette would go as well and since we live pretty close to each other she suggested to travel together. I really enjoyed our drive to Almere....and back. Needless to say, we didn't talk about anything else other than scrapbooking. Bonnette loves talking about scrapbooking. She had some great and inspirational ideas, and while talking to her I realized I have to scrap more about our every day life, and add more journaling to my pages. I usually scrap a layout that includes one picture and a title, and I often wonder if I will ever do that layout in an album. So from now on I will try to really tell a story, and put more effort into my journaling. A great example of scrapping the every day life is Revlie. Her scrap style is different than mine, but I love her designs and so enjoy reading her funny stories. Last week I had a similar conversation with my scrap friend Mandy. She told a funny story about her 18-month old boy. We both agreed that we should scrap such stories more often and guess what she did......She made a great page about the story she told me. Go and check the story on her blog.

I also started on reorganizing my scraproom. Like all scrappers I have way too much stuff, and I am not really happy with the way I stored my goodies. I now have to find a way that works better for me. I will also be reorganizing my blog. I won't change the look of it, because I am happy with it, but I will be labeling my posts in a different way. Well, lots of things to do. So.....if you miss me, you know what I am doing. :-)

First day of work, and a layout

Today I had my first day with my new employer. It all went well, but I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. There is always soooooo much information to gather on a first day. I talked, listened, talked.....all day. I was welcomed this morning with a beautiful bunch of flowers. Isn't that a warm welcome? My new employer is a small management consultancy firm with only 23 people, and they all (well, the ones I met today) are very nice. I am sure I will have a great time. And you know, one of the things I like best about this job is that it is only 25 minutes from home. So no more traffic jams.



Last night I scrapped a layout with SEIs new Ally's Wonderland papers. I used a sketch for the very first time. Never done that before, and I am not sure if I will do it again. It has absolutely nothing to do with the sketch design - I chose this one because I liked the design a lot - but I found it pretty hard to use a sketch. Since it was my first time I am not comfortable yet with using the sketch in a different way and adding my own touch. Perhaps I should try it more often. The sketch I used is sketch #22 designed by Valerie Salmon. I found it on her blog Got Sketch.



Materials used: Bazzill Cardstock, SEI Ally's Wonderland PP and rub-ons, SEI Penelope's Potpourri Buttons, Technique Tuesday Big Timber Line Capital Letters Tall clear stamps, Prima Flowers, Making Memories Tag Maker Rims, White label, Colörbok Date Stamp, Hero Arts Acrylic Chrystal Gems, Staples, EK Success Curvy Circle Cutter, Versafine Onyx Black Ink Pad and Font Arial.

Well, I am off to bed now. Good Night!

Relaxing Sunday

We had a relaxing Sunday. The girls played with their friend Anouk, Eric painted one of the walls in our bedroom, and I made a card and started on a layout with my new SEI papers. At the end of the afternoon we visited my brother Peter and his wife Li. They had invited us and my parents for dinner. We had a delicious Chinese dinner cooked by Peter and Li. Fleur and Sanne went home with my parents to stay over for 1 night. When we got home I finished my layout. I won't be able to show you a picture as it is too dark now.

I should have been in bed for about an hour or so as I have to wake up early tomorrow. It will be an exciting day as I will start in my new job. I really look forward to it. I enjoyed being a stay at home mom for 6 months, but I also enjoy going back to work. Will give you an update later this week.

For now I will leave you with a picture of the card I made for my brother.



Materials used: Scenic Route Cape Town papers, Ellison Design Stars Die, Chipboard, Technique Tuesday Big Timber Line Lowercase Letters Large clear stamps, Versafine Onyx Black ink pad and staples.

The river Lek

Today we took the girls down to the riverbank at Salmsteke which is about 15 minutes from our home. Fleur and Sanne love to go there. They always have fun playing with the sand and the water, and watching the boats. We stayed for 2 hours and of course they didn't want to go back home. Here are two of my favorite pictures taken today.





This weekend's Micro Challenge at the Caardvarks blog is to scraplift a Caardvarks DT card. Lauren - one of the DT members - turned the tables and scraplifted one of the 10-Day 10K Challenge winners. And guess what, she scraplifted my winning card. Thanks, Lauren! I am honored that you picked my card. I really like Lauren's take on my card, so go and check her blog. By the way, the winner of Caardvarks 1-2-3 Challenge is my talented sister-in-law Lisette. Congrats, girl!! She is in the winning mood this week.

A fun evening

Mandy and I had a wonderful evening yesterday. We arrived in Ede around 5.30pm and had dinner first. We had a healthy ham/cheese sandwich in a small restaurant. The smell of French fries was very tempting, but you know that I am on a diet so I was strong. ;-) As soon as we were finished we went to the store to do some shopping. We both behaved ourselves and didn't buy that much. I bought Cherry Arte's new Princess line, a few sheets of Basic Grey that I need to make a copy of the mini book I am working on, 3 sets of alphabet stickers (Rusty Pickle and Love Elsie), Versafine ink pad, and Blonde Moments Sugar Pink Utee. The workshop was very relaxed. A nice little mini yearbook with pages doodled by Dawn. The book is finished, but I would like to pimp it a little with buttons, ribbon and stamps. And I have to do the journaling. It was very nice to meet Dawn and her daughter Carly in person. Dawn is a wonderful and friendly woman. It was also nice to meet my blog friends I mentioned in my previous post. Of course we had a chat and took some pictures. I hardly took any pictures with my own camera, so ladies.....please e-mail me the pictures that you took of me. :D It was a fun evening, and I enjoyed it a lot. Mandy, thanks for your wonderful company.

Workshop Dawn Inskip

First of all, Happy Birthday to my brother who celebrates his 36th birthday today. We will have dinner at his place on Sunday. Not only to celebrate his birthday, but also his and Li's first wedding anniversary (August 18th).

This evening I will have a workshop by Dawn Inskip from the UK. I am really looking forward to meet her. We will make a mini yearbook with 2x2" pictures. Still need to sort my pictures. Yeah.....I know.....I always do these things at the very last minute. I will pick up Mandy at 4.30pm. We will first have dinner together in Ede. There will be many girls that I met online. I have met only a few of them in real life, and I am looking forward to meet the others in person too. I know that Miranda, Monique, Marga, Jeanet, Marije, Tamara, Astrid and Emine will be there. Here are two sneak peeks of the workshop.

41 Years

No....that is not my age. It is my parents' 41st anniversary today.

Dear mom and dad, congratulations on your wedding anniversary. Love you!



Here are two pictures of the happy couple back in 1966.

A few sneaks

The girls are still off from school, so there isn't much time to scrap during the day. These days I mostly scrap an hour or two in the evening. My mini book is almost finished. I bought these Basic Grey Pheobe papers months ago, but hadn't done anything with it until now. I know, I know....., but don't we all have a large stash of unused patterned papers? Please tell me you do too. LOL! The Pheobe papers match really well with the pictures, and it is a fun little project to work on. This book is meant for someone else, but I am really considering making another copy for myself. It is quite a simple mini book, but I am very pleased with the result. I don't find it easy to give away my scrap work, but it is less hard when you know that the receiver appreciates your work and time spent on it. Do you find it hard to give away your scrap work as a gift to someone?



This card is on its way to our niece Rebecca in Australia who will celebrate her 9th birthday on August 28th. I must honestly say that I find it pretty difficult to make cards for young children. I am not completely satisfied about this card, but hope she likes it anyway.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet online friend Nancy who celebrates her 29th birthday today. Have a wonderful day, sweetie!

A creative Sunday

Eric and I both were creative today. While the girls played with their friend Thomas we were spending time on our favorite hobbies in our craft room. LOL! Photography for Eric, and scrapbooking for me. Eric created a nice video with pictures of our holiday in France. I started on a mini book. The book isn't finished yet, so I will only show you a sneak peek.



And here is Eric's video. No sneak peek, but the full version. Don't worry, the movie won't last hours.....only 4.17 minutes. :)



If you would like to see more pictures of our family go and check Eric's blog. His blog is about his favorite pictures. Apologies to my foreign visitors as his blog is in Dutch, but the pictures say enough.

My first workshop

When I got back from France I found out that I will have a workshop on October 20th. Not as a student, but as a teacher!!! Petra from Dolls & Decorations asked me to teach a workshop. My first workshop as DT member. Pretty exciting! It also makes me a little insecure. Will I be able to come up with something new and innovative? What do they expect? What would people like to learn from me? Well, I have plenty of time to think of some ideas and techniques, so I am sure I will come up with something.

I got tagged again. This time I am nominated by Jeanet and Lisette. Thanks girls! I am honored.



I will send a card to someone soon. However, I won't be tagging anyone, because I found out that most girls I know already got tagged in the meantime. Sorry for spoiling the fun.

It is time!

Time to take some serious action. Time to finally start with a diet. I gained a lot of weight in the past year due to the fact that I didn't feel comfortable about the situation in my former job. I am an emotional eater. I eat when I have stress or don't feel well. In the past few months I started dieting several times, but each time I quitted after a few days. Apparently I wasn't disciplined enough. During this 2-week holiday I gained more weight than I ever did during a holiday. Shock! Well, not really a surprise given the fact that I ate a croissant and almost half a baguette for breakfast, half a baguette for lunch, a delicious Carte D'Or ice cream cone (pistache and banana chocolate ice cream were my favorites) every day and salad Piémontaise au Jambon supérieur (made of ham, potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, pickles in sort of mayonaise dressing) or Tabouleh Oriéntale to go with lunch or BBQ. I truly hope that these extra kilos disappear as fast as I gained them. However, losing these few kilos isn't enough. I have to lose a lot more, so as of today I will be on a diet again. No more cookies, potato chips, candies and other unhealthy food for me. I know I can do it and this time I am more determined than ever. Until 3 years ago I had a lot of overweight and I managed - with ups and downs - to lose 20 kilo/3.1 stone in 2 years. I told myself I never wanted to be that heavy anymore, but if I don't take care of myself now I will end up in that same situation again. I was so proud of myself after losing 20 kilo/3.1 stone, and I want to have that same feeling again. I have to lose quite a lot of weight, but my first milestone is to lose 5 kilo/11lb.

Back home

We left St. Hilaire de Riez at 7am this morning and got home at 6pm. We had a wonderful holiday in France. We enjoyed every minute. It was a very relaxing holiday. The girls slept till 9am almost every day which never happens at home. Of course they went to bed later than usual, but they were pretty exhausted at the end of the day due to the outdoor life and swimming. We spent a few hours in the swimming pool each day, and especially Fleur had a blast. She just loves to swim. Sanne didn't really swim in the first week. She could spend hours in the paddling pool, but as soon as we bought her new Winnie the Pooh armbands she finally dared to swim. We visited St. Gilles Croix de Vie, St. Jean de Monts and Île de Noirmoutier. I especially enjoyed our visit to Noirmoutier. I was there about 27 years ago with my parents and brother, and although I didn't recognize everything it reminded me of our stays in the Vendée at the late 70s/early 80s. No day passed without playing jeu de boules with Fleur. She loves that ball game, especially when she is in the winning mood. And believe me, she won a lot. We also played games like Mens Erger Je Niet (don't know the English name of this board game) and Yahtzee and I read 5 books. My favorite books were the Dutch versions of Moonshine by Victoria Clayton, Learning by Heart by Elizabeth McGregor and Showdown by Tilly Bagshawe. I like reading books, but I never allow myself time to read a book. Too busy with other things at home. A holiday is always a good occasion to catch up on my pile of unread books. We didn't really feel like going home, but once you start packing your stuff you do long for home again. At least I do. We took about 450 pictures so enough material to scrap. Below you find a selection of our pictures. I will spend the next few days on washing and ironing (the worst thing about coming back home), but also on catching up on my favorite blogs.

Vive La France

Just a little note from La Douce France to let you all know we are doing well. We are having a great time in St. Hilaire de Riez. The weather is beautiful. We spent our days either in the swimming pool or on the beach. The girls enjoy themselves very much and so do we. Only 4.5 days to go and then we go home again.

Typing this message on a French keyboard is taking ages. Apparently they don't have a Qwerty keyboard, so I have to use the backspace and delete key a lot! LOL!