My Sweetheart's Birthday

Picture by Lisette

Today my sweetheart is celebrating his 41st birthday. Birthday wishes from me to you, my love! Since we both have to work today, and the girls have to go to school there wasn't time for sleeping late or breakfast in bed. We did sing Happy Birthday and the girls surprised Eric with lots of handmade presents. Of course I made him a birthday card.



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Pebbles Inc. Lil'Buddy Button: Rusty Pickle Rub-ons: Melissa Frances Tools: Sizzix Stars die, Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Squares Large and Classic Scalloped Squares Large, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, sewing machine Other: twine

Last week I had a very busy week at work. Usually I work 3 days a week, but this time I had to work 4 days. On Monday we went to Nuenen to work on a project for children in Bosnia. We went to Schiermonnikoog on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday we had a business meeting. In the evening we celebrated the company's 5th anniversary with a great party at the office. Due to the long working hours and me being out of town for 2 days I hardly had time to scrap. However, I did have a few assignments to accomplish. I finished my DT projects for Jillibean Soup this weekend. I can't show the projects yet, but I can show you a sneak peek.



Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday to Rebecca

Today our lovely niece Rebecca is celebrating her 11th birthday. Time really flies.... I remember the day she was born so well and now she is already 11 years old. Rebecca is a gorgeous and sweet girl. Fleur and Sanne loved playing with her while she was in the Netherlands recently. I made her a card using my favorite Soup Staples papers from Jillibean Soup. Happy Birthday, Rebecca. I hope you have a wonderful day!



Supplies: Cardstock, ribbon: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Jillibean Soup Soup Staples Flowers: Prima Marketing Button: Rusty Pickle Rub-ons: Melissa Frances Stickers: American Crafts Tools: QuicKutz Silhouette, Coluzzle Circle Template, sewing machine Other: waxed cord

Thank you for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

CPS #130

This week Jillibean Soup is a sponsor of the card challenge blog Card Positioning Systems. This week a few of the Jillibean Soup Design Team members have participated in Sketch #130 as well. Here's my take on this week's sketch...



Supplies: all by Jillibean Soup except for button (Autumn Leaves)

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday to Hanneke

Today my dear friend Hanneke is celebrating her 26th birthday. We met each other about 3 years ago at a scrapbook event via a Dutch forum and have been friends ever since. We get along really well. We e-mail each other almost daily and always have something to talk about. She is a wonderful friend. I made her a card using some new Jillibean Soup papers. I was inspired by Rae Barthel's What's Cookin'? card in the September/October 2009 issue (page 77) of PaperCrafts. Have a Happy Birthday, Hanneke!!



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Jillibean Soup Alphabet Soup, Soup Staples Rub-ons: Kaisercraft Flower: Prima Marketing Button: Rusty Pickle Ribbon: Creative Impressions Tools: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, sewing machine Other: waxed cord

Have a wonderful day!

Jillibean Soup CHA Projects

It has already been a month ago since CHA Summer was in Orlando. The new Jillibean Soup collections were a huge success. For CHA I was asked to work with the Minestrone and Cold Raspberry collections as it wasn't sure that the new collections would arrive in time for me. No problem for me, because I {heart} both collections. Here are the projects that I created for CHA Summer 2009.









If all goes as planned the new Jillibean Soup collections will be available at Paper & Pictures at the end of the week or in the week after.

Have a Happy Sunday!

I Am Back!

Yesterday we got back home from a 12-day vacation on Texel, one of the Frisian islands in the north of the Netherlands. We had a fabulous time. The weather was beautiful, so we spent lots of time outside, on the beach and in the swimming pool. Texel is a great place to stay. The girls enjoyed themselves too. Fleur already said that she would like to go to Texel again next year.


Thank so much for all your sweet comments in the past two weeks. I had pre-scheduled all my blog posts as we didn't have access to the internet. I haven't had a chance yet to visit your blogs, but will do so soon.

This afternoon we will be visiting my SIL Lisette, her kids and my MIL. Lisette and the children go back to the UK tomorrow. Since we were away we haven't been able to see each other much, so we are going to spend the afternoon together and have dinner at my MIL's place.

Have a wonderful weekend!

ShortCuts, and Be Inspired #45

As usual on Wednesday I have a ShortCuts and Cuttlebug Challenge Blog project to show you. Let's start with ShortCuts today. I made a Thank You label for a wine bottle. A very easy and quick project to alter a wine bottle. I used Jillibean Soup's new Lentil Soup collection.





Supplies: ShortCuts Frosted Full Sheet Patterned paper, journaling sprout, stamps: Jillibean Soup Pearl: Melissa Frances Eyelets: We R Memory Keepers Ribbon: Creative Impressions Tools: EK Success Retro Flower punch Tape: Make Me Tacky Tape, foamtape Ink: DewDrop Memento Rich Cocoa Other: waxed cord

This week's Be Inspired #45 challenge on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog is a great one. The challenge is to create a shaped card. I used my QuicKutz Silhouette to cut this flower shaped card. Thanks to Corinne - who {hearts} her Silhouette - I now know how to create a shaped card design. She posted instructions on her (Dutch) blog Silly Silhouette. I embossed the front of the card with my favorite Swiss Dots folder. The pink cardstock is from Core'dinations. The ColorCore cardstock is perfect for embossing. When you sand the embossed cardstock the core color is revealed.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Core'dinations ColorCore Patterned paper: Doodlebug Design Ribbon: May Arts (?) Clear stamps, twine: Jillibean Soup Button: Rusty Pickle Tools: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Combo With Gratitude, Stampin'Up! circle punch Ink: VersaColor Other: white tag, sanding paper

Thanks so much for your sweet comments.

Happy Birthday, Peter

Today I have another birthday card to show you. My brother Peter is turning 38 today. I made him a card with the new The Boyfriend collection from Cosmo Cricket. The design turned out quite simple, and I had some problems with my sewing machine, but hopefully he likes it. Have a Happy Birthday, Peter!



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket The Boyfriend Letters: Prima Marketing Clear stamps: Hero Arts Tools: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, sewing machine Ink: DewDrop Memento Rich Cocoa

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Anniversary

Today my parents are celebrating their 43th anniversary. Since my mom loves Jillibean Soup I couldn't resist making a card with the yummy papers. I just love that all the Jillibean Soup papers are so easy to match. I even used one of the Christmas papers on this card. Mom and dad, Happy Anniversary!



Supplies: Cardstock, patterned paper: Jillibean Soup Ribbon: Bazzill Basics Paper Rub-ons, pearl: Melissa Frances Tools: EK Success Retro Flower punch, corner punch, Stampin'Up! border punch, sewing machine

Have a wonderful day!

Celebrate

Today my friend Nancy is celebrating her birthday. I sent her this card. It is one of my cards that was published in issue 7 of the Dutch magazine Cards Only. Happy Birthday, Nancy!



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: SEI Bridgeport Rub-ons: Kaisercraft Button: Rusty Pickle Tools: EK Success Retro Flower punch, Stampin'Up! circle punch, Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Ovals, sewing machine Other: waxed cord

Thank you for stopping by.

Got Sketch? 88, Be Inspired #44 & ShortCuts

I was excited to be invited back for another Got Sketch? challenge. I just love to work with Valerie's sketches. This is my card based on Sketch 88. I can't get enough of the October Afternoon papers. I just love to use these papers for birth cards.



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: October Afternoon Ducks in a Row Rub-ons: Doodlebug Design, October Afternoon Stickers: Pink Paislee Ribbon: Vandoros Tools: QuicKutz Nesting Flowers, Stampin'Up! border punch, EK Success circle punch, corner punch, sewing machine Other: foamtape

This week's Be Inspired #44 challenge on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog was quite a challenge for me. We had to create a scene card which is something I hadn't done before. My first card ended up in my trash bin. I simply wasn't satisfied. So....I did another attempt and came up with this one. Quite simple, but I think it will do for a scene card. Do you see the grid and polka dots papers? It are the yummy Soup Staples papers from Jillibean Soup. I can tell you that these papers are great to work with. I created a layout with Soup Staples combined with the Alphabet Soup collection last week and I love it. Unfortunately I can't show the layout yet as I will submit it to Scrapbook Magazine.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Core'dinations ColorCore Patterned paper: Jillibean Soup Soup Staples Rub-ons: October Afternoon Tools: Provo Craft Swiss Dots embossing folder, Provo Craft Forest Branches embossing folder, QuicKutz Silhouette, QuicKutz Digital Designs (tree, cloud), Stampin'Up! circle punch, Martha Stewart Double Scallop edge punch, sewing machine Other: sanding paper

Today I also have two ShortCuts projects to show you. I made two cards using Whimsie Doodles cutting files. For my first card I used the Whimsie Cuts Teapot cutting file. I converted the cutting file to a dxf-file so I could cut it with my QuicKutz Silhouette. I have used that machine more in the past two weeks than I ever did before. I cut down a ShortCuts Clear Full Sheet to create a 5x5" card.

Supplies: ShortCuts Clear Full Sheet Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: We R Memory Keepers Tiffany's Cutting file: Whimsie Doodles Pearl: Katy's Cards Tools: QuicKutz Maddie Anne alphabet, sewing machine Ink: VersaColor Pinecone Other: ribbon

And here's another card using the Whimsie Cuts Just Duckie cutting file.

Supplies: ShortCuts Clear Card Patterned paper: Little Yellow Bicycle Letters: American Crafts Buttons: Rusty Pickle Tools: Fiskars border punch, QuicKutz Silhouette, sewing machine Brad: Making Memories Cutting file: Whimsie Doodles Ink: VersaColor Pinecone Other: waxed cord, ribbon

Have a Happy Wednesday!

Happy Birthday to You

Today my sweet friend Kay is celebrating her birthday. We met each through the internet a while ago, and I am really glad I have been knowing her. Kay is a wonderful person, and an amazingly talented card maker too. I truly hope I'll be able to meet up with her in person one day. I sent her this card along with a little gift. Happy Birthday to You, dear Kay!



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Rub-ons: Melissa Frances Button: Rusty Pickle Twine: Jillibean Soup Tools: EK Success corner punch Ink: VersaColor Pinecone Other: thread, foamtape

I'll be back tomorrow with a Cuttlebug Challenge card, two ShortCuts cards and...... Well, there's more to show, but you'll find out tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

Guest Designer @ Creative Scrappers

A month ago I was asked by Kristine Davidson from Creative Scrappers if I would be interested to be Guest Designer in August. I immediately said yes as I love to work with sketches. I do not only use card sketches, but also layout sketches. Sketch #64 is a great one, and it didn't take me too long to create this layout. I scrapped one of the pictures taken by Florence Bavinck back in September 2007. I am really pleased how this layout turned out. I liked the sketch so much that I created another layout, but I can't show you that one yet.



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: October Afternoon Hometown, Scenic Route Grey Cube on Worn Letters: American Crafts Rub-ons: Melissa Frances Ribbon: Creative Impressions Brads: SEI Flower: Prima Marketing Buttons: Rusty Pickle Sheer: Maya Road Tools: Sizzix Flourish die, QuicKutz Silhouette, QuicKutz Scalloped Circle Digital Design, QuicKutz Nesting Flowers, EK Success Retro Flower punch, circle punch, Martha Stewart Scalloped Circle 1" punch, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, sewing machine Other: waxed cord

Enjoy your Sunday!

*ETA*
August 10th, 2009

My layout made it to the Top 10 by Views on Two Peas in a Bucket.



And by votes...

ShortCuts, and Be Inspired #43

August is going to be another fabulous month at ShortCuts!! Not only do we have intersite promotions with a couple great sites - Whimsie Doodles and Card Patterns Blog...

...we also welcome our August Guest Artist - Mandy!! I know Mandy personally, and she is such a sweet person. Mandy is a very talented scrapbooker. She is great at scrapping and journaling about the everyday life, and her mini albums are gorgeous. Oh...and her latest addiction is arigurumi. She crochets the most adorable creatures. Hop on over to her blog to see her beautiful work. I can't wait to see what she'll come up with for ShortCuts this month. Make sure to keep checking back here, as well as the ShortCuts blog, for lots of great inspiration!

My first ShortCuts project for this month is a card based on the sketch from the August '09 issue of SheetLoad of Cards and images from Whimsie Doodles. Owner and designer of Whimsie Doodles is Melyssa Connolly, one of my fellow ShortCuts DT-members. I used her Thank You Teacher digital stamp together with the new Alphabet Soup collection from Jillibean Soup......a perfect combo. Make sure to check out this post at the Whimsie Doodle blog for a special ShortCuts discount offer.



Supplies: ShortCuts Clear Full Sheet Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper, twill: Jillibean Soup Alphabet Soup, Soup Staples Tools: Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch Digital Stamp: Whimsie Doodles Metal rim tag: CreaMotion Other: eyelet, waxed cord

My second card today is the card I created for Be Inspired #43 at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog. On this card I used a digital stamp designed by Cuttlebug Challenge Blog owner Maggie Lamarre. I also used Core'dinations ColorCore cardstock and my favorite folder.....Swiss Dots. Core'dinations ColorCore is perfect for embossing.



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Core'dinations ColorCore Patterned paper: Pebbles Inc. Downtown Ribbon: Creative Impressions Twine: Jillibean Soup Button: Rusty Pickle Tools:Digital stamp: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, QuicKutz Nesting Flowers, sewing machine Maggie Lamarre

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Movie Stars

Last week Eric took some pictures of Fleur and Sanne including this funny one. Eric loves to play with Photoshop CS3 and created this poster. Flamsaro doesn't mean anything. It is just a word made up of the first two letters of our girls' names. I once chose that word as user name on a Dutch forum.

Lay-outs, and Scrapbook Magazine

Yesterday I received the newest issue of Scrapbook Magazine in the mail. Now that the new magazine is out I can show you a few of my projects that were pubbed in the previous issue. Here are two layouts about Fleur. The layout Bijzonder (= Special) is about a question she asked us back in April just before she went to bed. She asked us what makes her special. We can mention a 1001 things that makes her special, but the most important thing is that she is who is she and that makes her special. That's what the journaling is about.



The other one is about Fleur on the swing in the yard of my parents' rental holiday home. When my parents go on holiday to Ouddorp (NL) for 3 weeks we always go to visit them for a weekend. The first time was in May 2007, and that was when this picture was taken. Fleur couldn't get enough of the swing and spent lots of time on it.



Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Imaginisce Letters: American Crafts Tools: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, Lacy Days of Summer border punch, EK Success circle punch, corner punch, sewing machine Flower: Prima Marketing Button: Rusty Pickle Other: date stamp, foamtape

And here's the cover of the new Scrapbook Magazine #25. It wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realized I made it to the cover. That little paradise picture is a picture of one of the pages of my mini album about a trip to Jamaica that made it to the magazine.



Have a wonderful weekend!