Is it Christmas yet?

Well, fortunately we have 3 more months to go. I love the cosy December month, but I must honestly admit that I am always happy when it is January 1st. December is a very busy month for us. Both girls have their birthday in December (12th and 24th), so December is all about birthday parties, treats for school, Sinterklaas (5th), Christmas and New Year's Eve. Last week I came across an ad from My Sentiments Exactly! in Creating Keepsakes. The two projects in this ad made me to scrap(lift) a Christmas card. My first Christmas card.....EVER! I bought these Basic Grey papers last year, but never used them. I won't scrap ALL my Christmas cards, because it would take me ages to finish them. I just love to make a few cards for family and friends who can appreciate a handmade card.



Materials used: Basic Grey Dasher 'Peppermint Stick', 'Yule Log' and 'Snowbank', Bazzill cardstock and flower, Prima Flowers, Fancy Pants clear stamps 'Bella Brush', Versacolor ink 'Scarlet' and 'Pinecone', Making Memories Alphabet Rub-ons 'Heidi White', EK Success flower punch, white brad, Crop-a-Dile and sewing machine. Digital photo border: Itty Bitty Borders. Size: 4x6".

Splish Splash

You may recall that I organized a RAK some time ago. Marianne from Denmark was one of the lucky winners. I not only sent her a RAK, but also promised her to do a layout with one of her pictures. She sent me a cute picture of her son Max. I enjoyed working on this layout. With two girls in the house I hardly scrap any boy layouts, so this was a nice change.



Materials used: Bazzill and DCWV cardstock, Sassafrass Lass Serendipity, Scenic Route Laurel and Charlotte, Rusty Pickle knoopjes Lime, Chipboard star, Ranger Paint Dabber 'Pool', Uniball Signo pen white, Diamond Glaze, Sizzix Scallop Frame and Nouveau alphabet, American Crafts ribbon, Millennium Zig Writer black and sewing machine.

Love these pictures!!

When I checked my e-mail during my lunch break I found an e-mail from Florence in my inbox with the link to our personal photo gallery. I am very impressed. The pictures are SO beautiful. I just love them all. I was already happy with the pictures Florence sent us last week, but now I am over the moon. She did an AWESOME job. I won't be showing them all, but just a selection of my favorites. Although I must honestly say it is very hard to pick a few favorites. Each picture is gorgeous. Here are a few pictures. I might show some more pictures later this week. BTW, we also received the pictures in color, but I just LOVE black and white pictures.

Our beautiful girls




My sweetheart


Me


Us

Altered bottle

Lately I reorganised my scrap room and put all my Prima flowers in IKEA jars. I kept the Prima bottles and this morning I altered one of them. For now I store my crystal rhinestones in this bottle, but I might put something else in it.


Materials used: Sassafras Lass Serendipity and Rhonna Farrer French Twist papers, Prima Sprites, SEI brad, Ribbon Little Silver Hat, Rusty Pickle buttons, beads, thread, crystal rhinestones SS10 and Versacolor Pinecone ink.

In the mail

Today is a great day for mail. Around noon I received a LONG letter from my sweet friend Carol from Canada. I so love her snail mail letters. A real FAT envelope with a 12-page letter full of news. As soon as we finished lunch I made myself a cup of tea and settled myself on the couch. I always enjoy reading her letters. She has a great style of writing, and it is always nice to catch up on her news.



Half an hour ago I received a "cold pizza" from Dolls & Decorations. LOL! It is the new Dolls Good Newz Box that will be released on September 29th. Can't show you the content yet, but for those who get the kit too I can tell it is a beautiful kit. I am now off to do some shopping to buy some goodies that I can alter.



Have a nice weekend!

Haven't found it yet

I am still looking for my creativity. Don't know when and where I lost it. LOL! I am sure it will get back one day. Hopefully soon! I still haven't scrapped a layout, but I did make a birthday card last Sunday. Loved to use lots of ribbon, buttons and my new bling bling tool.



Thank you all for your nice comments on the gorgeous pictures by Florence.

Photo shoot

This morning we had a photo shoot with the four of us by Florence Bavinck. We came across her site a while ago, and decided to book a photo shoot about 2 months ago. We didn't tell our families, because we wanted to keep it a surprise. I can tell you it wasn't easy for me to keep my mouth shut, because I sooooo wanted to tell everybody about our photo shoot. Both Eric and I take lots of pictures, but we hardly have any pictures of us as a family, or pictures of Eric and me together. Therefore, we booked a session by Florence. She takes beautiful pictures, and makes you feel very relaxed. The photo shoot took place at our own home and garden and I can tell you that is perfect. It makes you feel much more comfortable and at ease, and I think it shows in the pictures. These pictures are just a small selection of the ones taken today. The rest will follow soon. Huge thanks to Florence for the gorgeous pictures. We enjoyed the session a lot and are very happy with the pictures she sent us already. I am sure the rest of the pictures will be great too. I can hardly wait!

Shop till you drop

Today we went shopping for the girls. The new fall/winter collection has been in store for more than a month already and until today we hadn't bought anything yet. They both don't fit their clothes from last year anymore, so we really had to buy something new. There is a great kids store in our village where you can buy brands like Esprit, Mexx, Vingino, Filou & Friends, etc., and we always go there first. The girls love to go there to. Not to buy clothes - although they do like that part - but to play in the bumper car. LOL! I didn't make a picture of them in the bumper car, but I did take a picture of their new clothes. Purple seems to be quite hot this winter.

Fleur's new clothes


Sanne's new clothes

Finally

I hardly scrapped in the past few weeks. Simply because I didn't have any inspiration at all. I did create some cards, but no layouts or mini books. This week I started on a layout for Marianne from Denmark. She won one of my RAKs and I had promised her to make her a layout. She sent me a great picture of her son Max. I finished the layout this evening, and will send the layout to Marianne tomorrow. I guess she will get it in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Until then I leave you with a sneak peek.

A new "toy"

Recently I came across the blog of Peggy Severins, and read that she purchased a very cool tool.......the Glitter Glamour Hotfix applicator. The perfect tool to make your own bling bling embellishments. I love using rhinestones on my layouts and cards, so I didn't have to think too long about purchasing my own Glitter Glamour tool. I picked up my parcel from the post office today, and will play with it this evening. Now I can make my own Heidi Swapp bling bling look-a-likes, and save a lot of money.

I hardly had any inspiration lately. I am just too tired in the evening. I guess I need some time to adjust to being a working mom again. Going to bed a bit earlier will help as well. ;-) Last Monday I started on a layout for a photo swap. A boy's layout this time, so I guess I won't be using any bling bling on that one. :D

I'm a (sc)Rapper

Yesterday me and my colleagues Nicoline and Jacqueline had an all day business meeting with Joscha and Ernelies to talk about our secretarial office, and come up with a division of tasks between the three of us. We had a very good and productive meeting, and we all are happy with the outcome. After the meeting we went to Pink Pepper where you can do all kinds of creative workshops. My colleague Ernelies had arranged a rap workshop. We had to write a rap with the 3 of us. I am creative when it comes to paper and pictures, but writing a rap on Friday evening caused me a writer's block. :D Fortunately Nicoline had lots of inspiration, and along with Martijn - our workshop leader - we came up with a nice rap about our job/office. When we finished writing we had to record the song. What? Yeah, rapping our own song. I am not a good singer, but this was a fun thing to do. We all got a CD with a copy of our own rap. I asked Eric to put it on You Tube. He could have done that in 5 minutes, but of course he had to make something nice of it and spent the afternoon on it. So credits for the video go to my sweetheart. :D Please keep in mind that I am not good at singing at all, so don't be too hard on me. LOL! BTW, the rap is in Dutch, so apologies if you don't understand a word.

Cards for charity

One of my Blogger friends, Monique raises money for breast cancer research. Monique will participate in the A Sister's Hope 60K, a 2-day walk held in the weekend of October 6 - 7, 2007. Each participant committed herself/himself to raise at least 1,500 euro. There are a few charity foundations that get money from us each year and one of them is KWF Kankerbestrijding. I donate money each year as my dad was diagnozed with cancer in 1999, and again in 2003. I think it is important to raise lots of money for research. I really like Monique's initiative and therefore support her 2-day walk financially. If you would also like to donate money go and check the post about A Sister's Hope 60K on her blog. To raise more money Monique posted a message on the Dolls & Decorations message board yesterday and asked about ideas or things she could sell at the fair in her town. A few girls suggested to make cards that Monique can sell. Monique was very enthusiastic about the idea. The fair is on Friday September 7th already, so there is very limited time to create some cards. I didn't have any hand-made cards in stock anymore, so I created some new cards today. I managed to make 6 cards. The designs are not very spectacular, but hopefully nice enough for Monique's card sale. :D

Gift for a friend

Yesterday I sent this mini book in the mail to my friend Anouk and her boyfriend Bernard. I wanted to make them a mini book to thank them for the wonderful day we spent at their place at the end of April. I could have sent her an envelope or an e-mail with the pictures of that day, but I thought it would be much nicer to create a little keepsake. I hope they like this little gift.



Materials used: Basic Grey Pheobe PP, Bazzill cardstock, Stamps: Autumn Leaves Big Swirls and Ledger Tabs, Catslife Press ("Remember", "Notes from today" and "Handmade Book"), Prima Flowers, Buttons: Rusty Pickle and Foof-a-La Bag-o-Buttons, Letters: Queen & Co Chipboard Alphadots, Doodlebug Stickers White, MM Boho Chic Tiny Alphabet stickers, Basic Grey Pheobe Alphabet Stickers, Ribbon: May Arts and American Crafts, Ink: Versafine Onyx Black and Versacolor Pinecone, Chipboard: Deluxe Design (swirl and flower), 2 pieces for front and back cover, Rub-ons: MM Alphabet Rub-ons Heidi Black and Hambly Screen Prints Vintage Motifs White, Ranger Paint Dabber, binding ring, brad, tiny safety pin, staples, tag, Tulip Puffy Paint White, Uniball Signo White pen, Crop-a-Dile, black pen and Morn Sun flexibel ruler.

Back to school

The girls went back to school today after a 6-week summer break. They were pretty excited, especially Fleur (6) who is now in group 3. This school year she will learn to read and write, and she really looks forward to it. Eric brought the girls to school, and took a few pictures.

Finally...

...having some time to upload the birthday card I made for Eric. Do you notice Nancy's influence? :D Her cards ROCK and are a great inspiration. Thanks, girl!



Materials used: Scenic Route Sumner PP, Bazzill cardstock, Ellison Design Stars die, Heidi Swapp "Happy Birthday" clear stamp, VersaColor Pinecone ink, VersaFine Onyx Black, Foof-a-La buttons, Fiskars hand punch circle and staples.