Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Back From Disneyland Paris

We had a wonderful time in Disneyland Resort Paris. Fleur and Sanne were pretty exhausted, but they enjoyed every minute....and so did we. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that good. We had sun on the first day - and even got a little sunburnt - but we had quite a lot of rain on Monday and Tuesday. Despite the bad weather we had a wonderful time. Fleur had lots of fun meeting the Disney characters. We booked Tea Time with Disney for Monday afternoon, and it was absolutely worth the money. The smile on Fleur's face was priceless. Sanne isn't really into these "meet & greet" activities. I guess she is a bit too shy or too scared. We haven't seen everything in these 3 days, so we really need to go back one time.



Before we headed home we bought the girls a pretty Disney dress including gloves, a purse and shoes. Needless to say, they were thrilled. They wanted to wear their new dress on the return journey. They fell asleep shortly after we crossed the French/Belgian border. Being a princess can be pretty tiring. LOL!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

I Am Still Alive

Just a quick post to let you know that I am still alive. It has been more than a week ago since my last post. I have been pretty busy at work, and at home with all kinds of activities. I did make some scrap projects, but I can't show you anything yet except for a few sneak peeks. I created a mini book with Jenni Bowlin papers.



And I made a card for the next card sketch challenge at the Dolls & Decorations forum.



I also did some digital scrapping. I made a banner for Hanneke, and I even won a RAK by creating a new banner for Nili. I made them both a personal banner by using pictures of their own scrap projects. I enjoyed working on both banners, and I am so happy that I learned working with Photoshop Elements.

The weather was beautiful today. Spring finally arrived! It is so lovely to be outside or sit in the backyard with a book or magazine.

The girls are off from school for 2 weeks. Tomorrow we will leave for....



We booked a 3-day trip to Disneyland Paris. Eric went on a business trip to Disneyland once, but the girls and I have never been there so we are very excited to go there. We will be back on Tuesday evening.

Enjoy your weekend! And talk to you soon.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

You've Got Mail!

When I got home today I found 20 cards on the door mat....all for me! Cards sent by the consultants from work to let me know how much they appreciate me and my colleagues. It is National Secretary Day today and this is their way to show appreciation. I was so surprised. Don't you think this is a great initiative? They also booked us a table for lunch in a pub close to the office. We had a wonderful time. I never regretted the decision to resign from my former job and join this company. It is a good company with great people!


Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Card Sketch Challenges


As of yesterday I host bi-weekly card sketch challenges and monthly layout sketch challenges on the Dolls & Decorations message board. I think sketches are great for inspiration. For now I use sketches from others - with permission of course - but I will also try to design my own sketches. Need to find out first how to create sketches in PSE6. The first card sketch challenge is a sketch by Becky Fleck. This is my take on the sketch. Again I used Scenic Route papers. I love the colors of the Providence line.



Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock White, Scenic Route Providence PPs, Prima Flowers, Hotfix Crystal Rhinestones & Pearl, and Rebecca Sower Bookworks Mini ABC/123 Alphabet Stickers.

I also created a card for my uncle who is having his birthday today. Quite a simple design due to lack of time and inspiration for a male card. Can you tell I am a Scenic Route addict? LOL!



Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock, Scenic Route Ashville PPs, American Crafts ribbon, and Sizzix Sizzlits Single Die 'Happy Birthday'.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my first assignment for My Sketch World. I really appreciate your comments and visits to my blog.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

My Sketch World April's Card Sketch

I made my first assignment for My Sketch World. April's first card sketch can be found here, and this is my take on the sketch. I used Scenic Route Laurel PPs....my favorite Scenic Route papers. The butterflies are cut with the QuicKutz Silhouette. If you make a card based on the sketch leave a link to your blog or gallery on the My Sketch World blog or my blog. Have fun!



Supplies: Bazzill Kraft Cardstock, Scenic Route Laurel PPs, Prima Bubbles Blue, Rebecca Sower Bookworks Mini ABC/123 Alphabet Stickers, Hotfix Crystal Rhinestones, Rusty Pickle Buttons Pink, VersaColor Pinecone ink (#171), Bazzill In Stitch'z Templates Flourishes, DMC Embroidery Floss, and QuicKutz Silhouette.

Have a wonderful Sunday! And thanks for stopping by my blog.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Beach

Last summer we spent 2 weeks in France. Fleur and Sanne loved playing on the beach. They could spend hours playing in the water and building sand castles. The new Grafton line by Scenic Route is perfect for beach pictures. Again I used the Prima Build-a-Page sketch designed by Janine Langer.



Supplies: Bazzill Kraft Cardstock, Scenic Route Grafton PPs, Scenic Route Chipboard Letters, Rusty Pickle Buttons, Ranger Paint Dabber 'Pool', VersaColor Pinecone ink and sewing machine.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Little Accident

Our youngest 'model' had a little accident in school today. She played outside....was running around....and all of a sudden she fell on the ground. Ouch!!

Monday, April 7, 2008

New Blog Banner

My first blog banner was made by my dear BF Eric, and when I decided to change the look of my blog the wonderful Dawn Inskip was so kind to make me a banner with her digital kits. This time I made one all by myself, and I am a little proud about it. :-) I purchased the Cherishing Every Moment digi kit by Prima Hybrid this morning, and made a new banner this evening. I had plans to work on a layout with new Scenic Route papers, but instead I worked with Photoshop Elements again.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Daddy's Models

Eric wanted to practise his photography skills this morning, and did a little photo shoot with Fleur. She really enjoyed being daddy's model. I sooooo LOVE this picture of Fleur. I think she looks gorgeous, but of course I am her mommy. If you enlarge the picture you can see that she has the most gorgeous long eyelashes.



Sanne wanted to model too, but when it was her turn she wasn't really cooperative. She likes to have her picture taken, but she also loves to tease her daddy and acted like she didn't like it at all. She is such a good actress. LOL!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Playing with Photoshop Elements

Now that I know how to work with Photoshop Elements I love to do some digi scrapping. This afternoon I had some time left to play with the digi kit by Mindy Terasawa that I purchased earlier this week. I used this sketch on the Prima blog designed by the talented Janine Langer. A great sketch, and I will definitely use it again on a paper layout.



I also created a digi layout with the Capri kit by Lynn Grieveson. I used one of my favorite pictures of our summer holiday in France last year.



I am still a beginner, and the digi layouts are not that complicated, but I really enjoy practising the basic elements in PSE 6. There is one technique that I really miss when I scrap digitally....inking the edges of my papers. I just LOVE to use my favorite VersaColor ink cube on every piece of paper. I would love to do the same on a digital layout, but I really have no idea whether that is possible. Is there an experienced PSE user who knows how to add a distressed edge to the digital papers?

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! I will be at Dolls & Decorations all day tomorrow. It is the quarterly Dolls Day.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Thank You

A few weeks ago my SIL Lisette surprised me with two jars of psychedelic embossing powder. She used it on several cards, and I really liked the look of it. Here is one of her cards with the embossing powder. I told Lisette I couldn't find any psychedelic embossing powder in the Netherlands (unless it is called differently here), and she was so nice to send me the embossing powder as a gift. I already used it on a card, but forgot to take a picture of the card. I made Lisette this card to thank her. If all went well she should have received it in the mail, so I guess it is safe to show it now.



Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, We R Memory Keepers White Promenade PPs, Prima Flowers, ribbon, Basic Grey rub-ons, Kaisercraft Pearls self-adhesive, Sizzix Flower Layers die, White Uniball Signo pen, QuicKutz Silhouette, and computer font: Susie's Handwriting.

Yesterday I made a card for my first assignment for My Sketch World. I can't show you the card yet, so I'll leave you with a sneak peek.



Have a nice day!