Valentine's Day Cards

Last week through Danielle's blog I discovered Create My Keepsake's latest monthly card kit 'Love Notes' (which is unfortunately now sold out). I ordered it at the first opportunity and it arrived yesterday. I couldn't help myself, but had to play with it straight away. Last night I created these three cards:







All supplies are from the kit. These are the items that are included in the above cards:

Bazzill Basics Cardstock Kraft, Kisses, American Crafts cardstock white | Making Memories Patterned Paper 'Love Notes' Die Cut Artisan, Words, Lace | KI Memories Frosty Lace Cardstock Flutter and Tulip | Making Memories Foil Alpha Red | Making Memories Love Notes Journaling Sheets | Making Memories Love Notes Crochet Pink Ribbon | Maya Road Velvet Trim - Hearts | Maya Road Love Keychain Chipboard | Making Memories Love Notes Tickets | Making Memories Love Notes Pins |KaiserCraft Flower Rhinestone | Creative Cafe Buttons - Gold

I need to go pick-up Renee from a friend's house. Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday

Last Monday I mentioned we might be going to see Quantum of Solace. I'd arranged for David's mum to babysit. We did go, but Rebecca came home from school early that afternoon with a fever. Thanks to my MIL babysitting we felt comfortable enough to still go to the movies. There were a total of four of us in the cinema. They forgot to start the movie on time... we needed to point out to the staff that the movie hadn't started. For a moment I thought they wouldn't play it, due to lack of audience. The movie was quite good. Rebecca has been off school until yesterday. She was still reluctant to go today, but she had been fever free since yesterday. At least it's only one day, and she'll have two days off again.

Today a friend in Holland her youngest son is celebrating his birthday. Congratulations, and I hope you have a fantastic birthday. Here's the card I made for him:



Supplies: Bazzill Basics Cardstock kraft | Sassafras Lass patterned paper and die-cuts | Scenic Route alphabet stickers | One Heart-One Mind rub-on | Doodlebug Designs Paperfrill | Spotlight button | twine

I hope you'll have a great weekend. Our forecast is extremely wet. Ugh!

Hubby's Birthday

Today, my hubby is celebrating his birthday. Congratulations hun, I love you! Earlier morning the kids and I sand 'Happy Birthday' and gave him his presents and cards before the children had to go to school. He's working from home today. This evening David's mum will come and babysit, so we have a chance to go out together. Possibly going to see Quantum of Solace, as we still haven't seen it.

This morning in the post Ingrid's card turned up, and David was wondering whether we agreed on what card to make, as mine is very similar to hers. Stars, hb2u...




Supplies: ShortCuts Sheetloads frosted clear card | Sassafrass PP | Doodlebug paperfrill | SEI buttons | Sizzix star die-cut | Paperartsy rubber stamp | American Crafts chipboard alphabet stickers and ribbon.

Hopefully your Monday isn't too blue (according to the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, today is the most depressing day of the year)! Mine's pretty good so far. Head up, shoulders back and smile, that's my motto. Until next time.

For Rosie & Emily

This afternoon Renee has a joint birthday party of two of her friends at school. I made a card using ShortsCuts clear cards for both of them.





Supplies: clear card ShortCuts Sheetloads | Hero Arts background stamp | Brilliance white ink | Papertrey 'Happy Birthday' clear stamp | Staz'On brown ink | Making Memories ribbon, epoxy flowers, die-cuts and PP | Martha Stewart flower punch | PaperMania Bling | EK Success circle punches.

This time I bought a present for the girls, but we normally do a collection as well, so they can decide themselves what to buy and gives them an opportunity to get a larger present. I offered to do the collection this time and made a card with a pocket inside to put the money in.





Supplies: Bazzill Basics Cardstock | Scenic Route 'Loveland' PPs | Prima Marketing Flowers | Martha Stewart flower punch | Papermania Bling | Silhouette machine for monograms | Doodlebug Designs paperfrill | EK Success photo corner punch.


Enjoy your weekend.

2009 Calendar

In my post on January 6th I mentioned that I finished my 2009 Calendar project. My mum received it on Tuesday, but I just haven't had a chance to edit the pictures yet and post them. This was a project I started very early, but then lost interest after I did three months. As it was a gift, I had to finish it, and especially since 2009 had already started I had to get a move on. Well here it is:






Supplies: Bazzill cardstock | Sassafras PP | Autumn Leaves, Heidi swapp and 7Gypsies clear stamps | EK Success flower punches | Autumn Leaves buttons | Stampin' Up ink (chocolate and turquoise) | American Crafts vinyl alphabet stickers | Spotlight ribbon

I used Adobe Illustrator to make the calendar months and printed it directly on the cardstock, already trimmed to 6"x6" squares. I then punched the holes with my Bind-it-all machine, so I knew what margin to leave on the top. I then stamped a swirl in the bottom with VersaMark ink. Next I adhered the picture, added a strip of patterned paper on the right and put a border on top. I stamped the names of the months and the swirls for the flowers and added a two layer flower using punches and a button. Initially I had both the flowers on pop dots, but I removed those, as the calendar was getting too fat and started to topple over. I did the cover last and matched it to the other pages by using the same elements.

The past week I've been really busy making cards, but not much I can share. Today, I did make a card for one of David's friends, who is celebrating his birthday today and with whom he was going out for dinner tonight. So, I made a card for him. Unfortunately I can only show you a detailed view image, as I seem to have deleted to frontal shot.



Supplies: Bazzill cardstock | Crate Paper PP | Hemp tie | Ellison Design Stars #2 die | VersaColor Ink 'pinecone' | Stampin' Up rubber stamps | SEI button

Lastly sweet Nancy gave me an award on Wednesday. Thank you so much, Nancy. I'm supposed to pass it onto 8 others, but I have to disappoint you. If you're reading this, consider yourself the lucky recipient.



I wish you all a fantastic weekend and thank you for your sweet comments.

Photo Gallery + Tim

The days between Christmas and New Year David took the time off work, which gave us the opportunity to do some decorating around the house. One of the things that I have wanted to have is a wall full of pictures. This recent image on Potterybarn's website was my inspiration...



I found some nice picture frames here and here. We first put up the ones from the White Company and then I ordered the smaller ones from John Lewis to add, as I felt it was too plain with just the large frames. To cover the entire wall we were also one frame short, as I had just guesstimated how many frames we needed. The frame turned up yesterday and David hung the final pictures last night. Here's the finished look of the entire wall:



And here's a closer look:



The other day I mentioned I forgot a birthday, well I couldn't just let it pass, so I made a card for Tim last night albeit late:



Supplies: clear card - Sheetloads Shortcuts, cardstock - Bazzill, PPs - October Afternoon, paperfrill - Doodlebug Design, alpha foam stickers - American Crafts, buttons - various, star die - Ellison Design.

Better late than never I suppose.

Thank you for dropping by and have a great weekend.

Christmas Thank You's

Wednesday evening I created little 4"x4" Thank You cards for the presents that the children received from family. I kept them quite simple and stuck with a white and red colour palette and I haven't even used any patterned paper. I stamped the background with VersaMark ink, stamped the sentiment with VersaMark as well, and embossed with white embossing powder.



Supplies: cardstock - Bazzill, stamps - Amy Butler and Hero Arts, ink - VersaMark, embossing powder - StampWorld, buttons - various, organza ribbon - unknown, baker's twine - notonthehighstreet.com, corner rounder - Woodware, punch - Marvy Uchida, Fiskars.

Happy Friday! It's almost weekend...enjoy.

New Year's Message

With today's post we received a New Year's message from one of my cousins and his family. I thought it was really touching and so true, that I wanted to share it with all of you.

Tijd. Het ongrijpbare en onbegrijpelijke verstrijken van al die momenten die ons leven kleur en inhoud geven. Momenten die alleen in de herinnering achter blijven. Voorbije ogenblikken dierbaar, hartverwarmend and soms ontroerend. Een bezinksel die een andere kleur krijgt als de tijd verstrijkt.

Het hier en nu. Je leest, proeft de woorden waarmee we je vertellen dat we aan je denken. Nu, op dit moment van schrijven, maar ook op andere momenten. Op de fiets, onder de appelboom, tijdens een wandeling of zo maar even. Een fracite van een seconde waarin jij voelbaar door ons hart en onze geest wandelt. Omdat jij mede inhoud geeft aan ons bestaan.

Elk moment is per definitie eenmalig en daarm kostbaar.

Wij wensen je de tijd om te leven, tijd voor het dichtbije en het bijzondere, tijd voor de mensen die je lief hebt en jouw lief zijn.

Geniet van 2009.

- Bertus Ververs and family

For those who couldn't understand the above, I'll translate to the best of my knowlegde.

Time. The untouchable and unbelievable passing of all those moments that give our lives colour and meaning. Moments that remain only our memory. Past memories, treasured, heartwarming and sometimes moving. A mixture of feelings which changes colour as time goes on.

Here and now. You read, and taste the words that tell you that we are thinking of you. Now, at this precise moment, but also during other times. Riding a bike, under the apple tree, during a walk or just at any moment. A fraction of a second where you tangibly walk through our heart and soul. Because you are part of what makes us today.

Every moment is by definition unique and therefore priceless.

We wish you time to live, time for now and those special moments, time for the people that you love and those who love you.

Enjoy 2009.

- Bertus Ververs and family

Have a great Thursday.

Birthday Card

Phil is celebrating his birthday today. Anyone having a birthday in the first week of any month runs the risk that I forget their birthday, don't ask why but I seem to ignore those. I forgot one yesterday, but I didn't forget Phil's as my Outlook calendar kindly reminded me last week.

For this card I used October Afternoon Nightlight papers, which I ordered in September and finally got delivered last week. Despite the long wait, the papers are still gorgeous.



Supplies: cardstock - Kraft by Bazzill, PPs and 'happy' sticker - October Afternoon, alpha chipboard stickers - American Crafts, brads - 7Gypsies, buttons - various, ribbon - unknown, dies - Ellison and Sizzix, staples.

Good to see that you are still there and thank you for your lovely comments. Until next time.

Christmas Cards

I know that Christmas is long gone, but I wanted to share my cards that I made for David and the children. Last year, I mean in 2007, I was so busy making cards for others that I totally forgot to make cards for David and the kids. This year however, I was determined to make them. Very last minute, I made these:

For David:


Supplies: clear card - Sheetloads, PPs, snowflake and canvas alpha stickers - Making Memories, rubber stamps - Hero Arts, ink - Staz'On, border punch - Martha Stewart, paperfrill - Doodlebug, white marker - Kikki.K.

To stamp the word 'Christmas' on the clear card I used a white Kikki.K marker, which I bought in Australia.

For Rebecca:


Supplies: cardstock - Bazzill, PPs and brad - Basic Grey embossing folder, snowflake die - Cuttlebug, rubber stamp - Hero Arts, ink - Stampin'Up, ribbon - local haberdashery, white marker - Kikki.K.

For Ruben:


This card was inspired by this.

Supplies: cardstock - Bazzill Basics, PPs, snowflake and metal greeting - Making Memories, punches - Martha Stewart and McGill, baker's twine - notonthehighstreet.com.

And lastly for Renee:


Supplies: cardstock - Bazzill Basics, PPs - Webster's Pages, rubber stamp - Hero Arts, snowflake - Making Memories, punches - Marvy Uchida, baker's twine - notonthehighstreet.com.

Tomorrow is back to normality. After the school run and the post office, I'll be back with another card.

Happy New Year!

Hello... are you still there? I've taken an extended holiday from blogging. During the past 2 1/2 weeks I've spent minimum time on the computer or did anything scrapbooking related. But it's a new year... Happy New Year to everyone of course... and time to get the creative juices flowing again.

Today, Ruben and Rebecca were meant to go back to school, but due to a broken heating they got an extra day off. Only good as the temperature didn't get over 1 degree Celsius. We received a text today that the heating is fixed, so all three of them will be going back to school tomorrow.

I've got a quite a few things to share, but I need to get my pictures organised. I'll start with a card I made for Sanne's birthday, which was already almost two weeks ago.



Supplies: clear card - Sheetloads, PPs - Amy Butler by K&Co, rub-on and bling - Imaginisce, charm - October Afternoon, alpha stickers - American Crafts, ribbon - local haberdashery, butterfly punch - Martha Stewart, corner rounder - EK Success.

Today, I've finished my '2009 calendar' project I was working on. A bit late, but I guess better late than never. I'm sending it off tomorrow, so I'll be able to share in a couple of days. I've also got to share the Christmas cards I made last minute for David and the kids. And my goal for January is to finish my Daily December album as well as my Week in the Life album.