Digital Sunday

Today is the last day of Jessica Sprague's Up & Running with Photoshop class and I was soooooo behind on the assignments. So far I had only done week 1's assignment and midweek assignment. I just didn't have the energy in the evening to sit down and create a digital layout. Since my trial version of Photoshop Elements 6.0 expires this week I really wanted to do some digital scrapping today. I created 3 layouts and really enjoyed it. I was never patient enough to work with Photoshop Elements simply because I didn't understand all the features. Now that I do know how it works (at least the basic elements) it is much more fun. I still prefer scrapping with paper, embellishments, glue, etc. but I like to make a digital layout every now and then. I should also be able now to create my own banner, so I will give that a try soon. I think I will look for some nice digital kits to create one. I now have PSE 4.0 on my computer, but since I enjoyed working with PSE 6.0 I will do an upgrade. If you are not familiar with Photoshop Elements or CS2/3 and would love to learn about digital scrapbooking I can really recommend this class to you. My SIL was very enthusiastic about it, and I am glad she recommended the class to me. The next Up & Running with Photoshop class starts on May 5th (registration as of April 28th). The advanced class Now We'Re Rockin' with Photoshop starts in June, and I will sign up for that class as well.

Assignment week 2


Assignment week 3 - my favorite


Assignment week 4


I am not sure if this card was already received, so I can't show it yet. Hopefully it hasn't got lost.

**ETA** I just found out that Daan received my card (thanks, Hanneke! I check her blog daily except for today. LOL!) so I can now show it to you. I thought Daan could use a little card to cheer her up. Hope you're doing better soon, girl.



Take care, and thanks for all your lovely comments.

Surprise

Look what I received in the mail this morning. Don't you love this? A sweet gift from Moon. When I started dieting last year she promised me to send me a handmade pin if I achieved to loose 5 kilo. I got stuck at 4+ kilo, and lost my mojo. Since then I haven't lost any more weight and even gained the 4+ kilo again. You can probably imagine that I was very surprised to find this cute note book and 2 gorgeous pins in the mail. Moon made these gifts herself. She always makes beautiful projects and is a talented card maker. You should really check her blog. Thanks, girl!! I really appreciate it.

Just a Little Sneak Peek

I had planned to seriously clear out my scrap room and desk this evening, but instead I made a card for someone. I can't reveal the card yet as the person who will receive this card is a frequent visitor of my blog. Sorry, girls!! Well.....shall I give you a little hint? She lives in the Netherlands. That's all I can say for now. Off to bed now because it is already 0:05am and I have to get up at 6:20am. Good Night!

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today my mom is turning 62. She and my dad are on holiday, and we are about to leave around 9am to suprise them with a visit. They are only an hour away from us. Do you remember this sneak peek? Well, it was a little sneak of the card I made for my mom.

Happy Birthday, Mom. Wishing you a wonderful day! Love you, xoxo



Supplies: Bazzill Kraft cardstock, Making Memories Noteworthy PPs, Rusty Pickle buttons, Basic Grey Chipboard Monogram, Making Memories Shimmer Kit, Sizzix Primitive Hearts die, Prima Hydrangea & Press 'n Petals Flowers, EK Success Rebecca Sower Mini ABC/123 Stickers, lace, VersaColor Pinecone ink and Diamond Glaze.

The world outside is white. Yes, we had.....SNOW. I like a white Xmas, but I don't like a white Easter. It is supposed to be spring, not winter. We hardly had any snow this winter - it was quite a soft winter actually - so the good thing is we can take some 'winter' pictures.

Have a nice day!

It's a Boy

One of my colleagues gave birth to a baby boy on March 14th. Of course I wanted to make her a card. I was thinking of making her a 4x6" or a square card, but when I was at Dolls & Decorations yesterday I came up with the idea of a crown card. Petra, the owner of the store, has a new AccuCut die-cutting machine including some great dies. When I saw this crown I knew immediately I wanted to use it for the baby boy card. Don't you just love it? I had the crown cut from cardstock, but you can also use chipboard or transparencies. Petra has lots of dies to choose from and it offers great possibilities. I had cut some other shapes too, and will start working on some examples soon.



Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Daisy Bucket Star Kissed PPs, Rusty Pickle buttons, Quickutz Fastener die, EllisonDesign Stars die, American Crafts Thickers, thread, safety pin, ribbon, and AccuCut #MR105.

Do you have any special plans for Easter? This morning we went to visit my mother-in-law, and after lunch we went to see the movie Horton. We all enjoyed it.

Have a wonderful Easter, and thanks for stopping by. I just love your wonderful comments. Thank You!

TOOOOOOTTTT!!

Woooohooo!! I got selected to be part of the Card DT of My Sketch World owned by Lucy Chesna. I submitted my entry at the very last moment, and was quite surprised to find an e-mail from Lucy in my inbox last Monday telling me that I got selected. I guess you all know that I love to make cards, so this is a great opportunity. A special thanks to Lilian who notified me about the DT call otherwise I wouldn't have known about it. I submitted two cards based on this DT call sketch. I wasn't too sure if you were allowed to enter two cards, but I really loved working on the sketch. The card for my father-in-law is based on the same sketch. So.....if you need some inspiration for a layout or card go and check the My Sketch World blog.

Happy Birthday, Ruben

Our cousin Ruben turned 8 today. Happy Birthday, dear Ruben!! I hope you had a wonderful day. I made him a card with Sassafras Line papers. I hope it arrived in time. You should also check his mom's blog. She made him a GORGEOUS card.



I am off now as I will be helping in school this morning. I will be back later today to share a toot with you. :D

Catching Up

I am sooooo behind on Jessica Sprague's Up & Running with Photoshop class. I was just too busy the past week and a half, and didn't have much time and energy to do the weekly and midweek assignments. This evening I started on the midweek assignment of last week. Quite a simple one, but it really learns me how to work with Photoshop. This time we had to convert a picture to black and white, and add a journaling block. The layout itself is a quick page, so I didn't do anything other than adding the picture and text.

Midweek Assignment 1


I enjoy digital scrapping, but I still prefer to work with papers, embellishments, etc. There is at least one good thing about digi scrapping......my desk doesn't need to be cleared out afterwards. LOL! I forgot to show you the card that I made for my father-in-law who turned 66 last Friday. Usually I create my own designs, but this time I used a card sketch.



Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock, Scenic Route Sumner PPs, Rusty Pickle buttons, May Arts ribbon, American Craft Thickers and EK Success Rebecca Sower Mini ABC/123 stickers.

Sanne's Birthday Party

Sanne turned 5 on December 24th, but so far we hadn't thrown her a birthday party. Today was FINALLY the day! 6 of her friends came over to our place and the girls had a blast. They painted, danced, dressed up as princesses and we played some old fashioned games.....games that I played with friends on my birthday parties when I was a little girl back in the 70s. The girls really enjoyed themselves.



A Dutch tradition......koekhappen (don't know how to translate this in English).

Back Home

My sweetheart got back home from Dallas, USA at 7.10am this morning. Needless to say we were all happy to see him again. Especially Sanne missed her daddy a lot. She told me every day that she was missing daddy, and kept asking me "mommy, do you miss daddy too?". Of course I missed him too. Eric bought Fleur and Sanne some gorgeous tops, shirts and dresses from GAP. They already knew that there would be something in his suitcase for them, so upon arrival - well, after a kiss and huge hug - he was kindly asked (eh...forced) to open his suitcase immediately. LOL! He spoilt himself with some great Abercrombie & Fitch shirts. It is good to have you back, sweetie!



PS: Sanne is dressed up as a Disney princess as they have a special day for teachers today. Usually she doesn't dress up like this for school. :D

More cards

I promised to show you the cards I made last Saturday. The Just Married card is for a colleague who got married in Las Vegas during her holiday. The design of this card is based on the Miss You card I made for Eric. I like the simple design. The Scenic Route Loveland PPs are so much fun to work with. I love the colors.



Supplies: Bazzill Kraft Cardstock, Scenic Route Loveland PPs and Making Memories Alphabet Rub-ons Heidi Black.

You may recognize the design of the Sassafras Lass Happy Birthday card. It is a lift of a card that I saw in one of the issues of Card Creations Quick & Easy. Nancy was so kind to give me an issue of this magazine. One of her gorgeous cards was published in the magazine.



Supplies: Bazzill White Cardstock, Sassafras Lass Daydream & Serendipity PPs, Doodlebug Paperfrills and EK Success Rebecca Sower Mini ABC/123 stickers.

The card below is on its way to Melbourne, Australia. Our cousin Ruben will be celebrating his 8th birthday next week.



Thanks for stopping by and all your lovely comments.

Scrap-a-Licious Workshop

Hanneke and I had a wonderful time this weekend. She arrived at my place around 4.15pm yesterday afternoon. We had lots to talk about, and we scrapped in the evening. I made two cards that I will show you later this week. Today we went to the Scrap-a-Licious workshops by Corinne Delis and Céline Navarro in Utrecht. I really enjoyed myself and liked their projects. Their style (freestyle) is so different from mine, so I had to scrap 'outside the box' which isn't always easy but fun to do. I used more paint than I ever did on my projects before. LOL! I wasn't able to finish my projects, so I can't show you any pictures yet. Hanneke and I had a picture taken with Corinne and Céline. Call me stupid, but I always feel a bit embarrassed to ask for such a picture. But....as all the other 38 women wanted to have a picture taken we decided to ask for a picture as well. LOL! The pictures are not really sharp, but it is a nice keepsake from this day. I also met Daniëlle for the first time IRL. She is a real sweetie. I bought some of her gorgeous Hambly rub-ons and American Crafts thickers. She was very busy, so I didn't have a chance to have a picture taken with her. It was also nice to meet Monique again. It was already 7 months ago since we last met. Don't forget to e-mail me our picture. :D I met many other girls too. Girls you know through messageboards or blogs like Nili (thanks for the delicious chocolates) and Fauve, but who you have never seen in IRL. I think that is one of the greatest things of such a day. I am gonna make myself another cup of tea, and then I am off to bed. I am pretty exhausted.

Us & Corinne


Us & Céline

Miss You

Eric woke up at 4am this morning, and left home for Schiphol airport at 4.30am. His flight took off at 7.50am. He will be on a business trip to Dallas, USA for almost a week. I bought him a book, and made this little card. I miss you, sweetheart. xoxo



Supplies: Bazzill Kraft cardstock, Scenic Route Loveland PPs and Alphabet Stickers.

Busy Bee

No time to scrap this week. I am just too busy with work, the household, preparing for the weekend, and so on. Right now I am busy selecting and scanning pictures for the Scrap-a-Licious workshops on Sunday. I so look forward to the workshops taught by Corinne Delis and Celine Navarro, and to meet Danielle and many other blog girls IRL. I will go to Utrecht with my scrap friend Hanneke. She will already come to my place on Saturday afternoon. She lives an hour and a half away from Utrecht, so I offered her a place to stay. Eric will leave for the USA early on Saturday morning - he will be on a business trip to Dallas, TX - and the girls will stay with my parents on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Here is one of the pictures I selected for the workshop Vintage meets freestyle. Do you recognize this little girl with the chubby cheeks? Yep....it's me! No curls at that age. :D



The girls had their picture taken at school on February 19th. Just like last year I am not pleased with the result. I don't like the colors, and again the picture is not sharp. I think my own amateur photographer can do a better job. LOL! I had a different hairdo in mind for Sanne - I so love her curls - but she had something else in mind. She insisted on having two little piggy tails. I was in a hurry, already late for work, but....she REALLY wanted to have piggy tails. Do you know that 5-year olds can be really stubborn and persistent? So I quickly did her hair, and it shows, doesn't it? The individual pictures will be taken in April.



Hanneke tagged me earlier this week. You may already know that I don't like all these tag games. However, I did decide to do this one so you get to know me a little bit better. BUT....this is really my LAST tag game. Sorry!

4 jobs I have had:
- Shop-girl @ bric-a-brac shop (weekend job)
- Secretary @ a liquor trade company (May - October 1988)
- Secretary @ Cognos (October 1988 - December 1997) - place I met Eric
- Secretary @ PriceWaterhouseCoopers (now part of IBM) (January 1998 - March 2007)
- Secretary @ Hiemstra & De Vries (management consultancy firm) (August 2007 - present)
Sorry had to name 5

4 movies I watched:
I hardly watch movies, so no recent movies
- Four Weddings & a Funeral
- Notting Hill
- You've Got Mail
- Bridget Jones' Diary 1 & 2

4 cities I have seen:
- Vancouver, Canada
- George Town, Cayman Islands
- Stockholm, Sweden
- San Francisco, USA
and many other cities

4 places I have lived:
- Mijdrecht (place of birth)
- Utrecht
- Nieuwegein
- IJsselstein

4 favorite TV programmes:
- House
- De Wereld Draait Door
- Masterchef @ BBC
- Idols
I hardly watch TV, but managed to name 4

4 favorite radio stations
- Radio 538 (Evers staat op)
- Skyradio
These 2 are my favorites

4 favorite recipes/food
- Indonesian food
- Stir-fried dishes
- Salads
- French fries with lots of mayonaise (yeah...I know)
I wish I could name more than just 4 (LOL!)

4 place I would like to be:
- Vancouver, Canada (I was there in 1999 and would love to go back)
- Melbourne, Australia (to visit my SIL and her family, and scrap together)
- New York, USA (I have never been there, but would love to go there)
- home....because there is no place like home.

If you like to play this game too.....consider yourself tagged.

Thanks for stopping by!

My First Digi Layout

Jessica Sprague's Up and Running with Photoshop class started today. I hadn't been able to download the course materials this weekend, so had to do it this evening. I also wanted to download a trial version of Photoshop Elements 6.0, so it took me a while to get started on my first digital layout. This first assignment was pretty simple, but I must honestly say that I couldn't have done it myself without Jessica's class. I simply didn't know where to start.....until this evening. Here is my first digital layout.



I am off to bed now. It is almost midnight and I have to get up at 6.15am tomorrow morning.

Party Invitations + Card

These are the invitations for Sanne's birthday party that I finished at Nancy's place yesterday.



Supplies: KI Memories Pop Culture PPs, Bazzill Cardstock, Rusty Pickle buttons, Prima Flowers, Sizzix Nouveau Alphabet and Déja Views Flirty Purse Card Panel Template.

As mentioned in my previous post I also made another card with the Dahlia folding technique. Has any of you already tried this technique? It is so simple. I love to see your take on the technique, so leave me a link to your creation.



Supplies: Scenic Route Loveland PPs, Bazzill Cardstock, Queen & Co Bold Round Brad, QuicKutz die, thread, Tulip Puffy Paint Black and computer font Arial Narrow.

Have a nice Sunday!

A Fun Afternoon

This afternoon I went over to Nancy's place to scrap together. Unfortunately Mandy wasn't able to join us, and since my SIL Lisette is back in Australia she couldn't join us either. It was a lot of fun to meet up with Nancy again. We had a lot to talk about. This time we scrapped more than we did last time. When we had our first scrap date in January I started on the invitations for Sanne's birthday party, but I never finished them. *blush* Today I took them with me again, and finally finished them. Our girl had her birthday on December 24th, and haven't had her birthday party yet. Now the invitations are finished we can finally set a date. I can tell you that Sanne was really happy. :D I also started on a card using the Dahlia folding technique again, but need to finish that one. Nancy created a gorgeous layout and I am sure she will show it soon. We completely forgot to take any pictures, so no pictures of the delicious donut, snacks and chocolate eggs that Nancy served me. When I got home it was too dark to take good pictures of the invitations, so I will show them tomorrow. Nancy, thank you so much for a fun time!! xoxo

Last week I created this little box and card. The box is a QuicKutz download, and cut with my Silhouette. Again I used the gorgeous Noteworthy papers by Making Memories.



Supplies: Bazzill Kraft cardstock, Making Memories Noteworthy PPs, lace, ribbon, tag, EK Success Rebecca Sower Mini ABC/123 Alphabet Stickers, Junkitz Ringz, Rusty Pickle buttons, and Fancy Pants pin. Size card: 4x4".

Have a wonderful weekend! I am going to watch the final of Dutch Idols.