Scrapping Carnival

Somehow Carnival always has this tropical feel to it. Well, not here. As in all the countries Carnival is celebrated on the same days. So here it is winter and somehow always freezing. The parade is on Saturday and that is the only real Carnivallish activity that we do. The last couple of years it has just been me and DS Joram. Ofcourse the last two DH Jinte was already born so she stayed at home with DH. The parade is just way to busy and loud for her. Eindhoven, where we live, is called Lampegat during Carnival and the prince takes over the city from the mayor. Some people just party fro five days straight. To me it still seems kind of strange but I guess that has all to do with me not have grown up here.

Though we are not Carnival people the parade is always fun to go to. The last three years we are always on the same spot downtown for watching the parade and more and more people we know are there too. Lots of kids so they can really enjoy theirselves and play with eachother.

So why am I telling you all this? Because Elise took this great photo of Joram and myself during the paprade. You can't really see that we are freezing, but as you can see I am wearing my gloves. Underneath my shirt I was wearing a thick winter jacket and my DH thermo jacket.

 

For this LO I used all stash (I am getting good at it!) and I even used some supplies I'd never thought I would use. Remember those Dress it Up flatbacks? I have so many of them in so many different styles and shapes, I think I can cover a whole wall with them. I wonder what I was thinking when I bought all those. But I used about a whole package on this LO. I remember when I bought them I did not want to use them because they were all soooooo cute.

I used the candies on this LO because during thep aprade lots of candies are thrown into the audience. The hat I am wearing on this pic was also thrown to us and caught by Joram but he did not want to wear it and I did not want to hold it the whole time so I just wore it.

I used some of the Sassafras Lass Bungle Jungle papers on this LO. I think I made about 10 LO's with this line of paper, but I still have papers left.

CS: Bazzill

PP: Sassafras Lass

Stickers: October Afternoon

Rub-ons: Basic Grey

Candy flatbacks: Dress it Up

Brads: Making Memories, American Crafts, Karen Foster

Journaling tag: SEI

Pin: Maya Road

Misc: Ribbon, border sticker 

The 'who knew' word was cut with my Silhouette Machine.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! Spring has finally arrived here so we are enjoying it to the fullest!

Merry Christmas my friends!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a joyfull, happy and healthy 2011 for you and your loved ones. Now getting back to Christmas dinner and watching the Beethoven movie with DS Joram.

This is my first ever white Christmas in this little country of ours. And we are talking WHITE! There's about 12" of snow here and there is more to come.

Take care of yoursleves and thanks for being around, reading my blog and being my friends, it means a lot to me!

Stay safe!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Wreath tutorial

If you arrived here from The Scrap Shoppe: Welcome to my tutorial for this years Home Made Christmas.

This would be a great home decor item for Christmas but leaving the Christmas wish behind, it would make a great all year round wreath. What about putting 'welcome' on there and hanging it on your front door? (Just make sure it won't get wet.....................)

I made this and I was amazed about how easy this was and how good the final result. I am going to try and explain to you how to make this. This is what you need:

• Styrofoam wreath (mine was about 8" diameter)
• Old book (I used a paperback book)
• Pins (regular or short ones, does not really matter)
• Ink for the edges
• Ribbon

You don't really need the following items but you can if you want to spice it up:

• A decoration piece for in the wreath (I used a wooden star about the size of the inner opening of the wreath, this can be your guideline for buying))
• Glitter spray (there's probably tons of people that would say you can't, but I used glitter hairspray, I use it all the time on projects and never damaged anything and it is a frugal option)

You start with tearing pages out of your book. Don't try and do it to neatly, but do make sure you still have whole pages. I started with 50 pages and I could not really tell you how much I used in the end but you can always take more out or throw the leftovers in the waste paper (or your fire place, ha!)

Then ink the sides of your pages. Again: Don't try and do it to neat. This is a great project to let go of your perfectionism, I had a hard time with it and at the same time lots of fun.....

When you have some pages inked you can started attaching them to the wreath. I used those tiny needles that you use for decorating, but you can use whatever you have lying around. Well, as long as they don't come out the other side of your wreath I guess...................)

The hardest thing for me to explain is how to fold the pages. I tried to take pics of it, but it is always hard to takes pics of the entire process.

You start by folding your pages over lenghtwise BUT: don't really fold/crease it! You just sort of put it together without really folding it (this does not really sound too good does it? I just hope the pics are more clear than I am). When you are done folding attach it to the wreath as showed in the pic. This will be your first layer. There are three layers in total. Use as much pins as neccesary to keep the papers in place. Mine has two, sometimes three.

This might be handy to mention: Most of my pics were taken from the back of the wreath. For me it was the handiest to work on the back too, but I guess that is all up to you!

You keep putting pages on until your first layer is completely filled. Thep aged overlap a little about a 1/3" or so. Again, don't be to precise, it can be half an inch on the one and 1/4 on the other one. 

When your first layer is done we keep on moving to the second layer: This layer will be placed about two inches lower than the first one. I swear I took pictured from starting the firstl ayer too but I can't find them anywhere so you will have to do it with the pic of when the second layer is on. You can see in the pic that the second layer is much lower than the first. Again: don;t measure anything, just do it by sight. Trustm e, it will work out great. By the way: This pic below was taken from the top

When your second layer is done the back of your wreath will look like this:

And this will be the front: Again you can see that my pages are not lined up at all. How are we doing with letting perfectionism go?

If you are still with me here you are doing great, we are almost done. We are now starting the third layer. This layer will will placed overtop of the firstl ayer but than facing the other way (so outside the wreath) This will make your wreath look fuller and cover up any of the styrofoam that was still visible after the first two layers. The pic will show you where about to place the third layer and what it will look like when you're done (again: from the back)

At this point your wreath is done and you can start decorating. You don't have to if you like it like this and you can use whatever you like to decorate it. If you decide to leave it like this you will only have to attach to ribbon to hang it. I used three different kinds of ribbon and fibers and placed them just around the wreath on top and bottom.

This is what I did with the star: I inked the edges with the same color ink I used for the pages and cut a shape with my Silhouette and adhered it to the star. You can use stickers, chipboard or whatever you like on it. Just look at it like a little canvas.

I attached the star with the twine that came with it but you can use whatever twine or ribbon that you like. This is what my wreath looks like.





I would love to se what you came up with because I there can be so many different looks to this. So please let me know, or leave a so I can check it out. And I promise that I will post the ones that I know about. And if you have any questions let me know, I would be more than willing to help you out.

You can place this tutorial at your blogs but I would be very pleased if you would link back to this post and my blog!

If you like what you see here please become a follower.

Thanks for playing along.

Have a great weekend!

Home made Christmas card with punches

I posted this card way back but wanted to post it again because I still like it and with time of Christmas wishes ahead I thought some of you might need an idea. This was such an easy card to make and the final result is really cute.

The pics that I am posting are a bit out of focus but since the card was sent to someone I have no possibility to take different pics. So, you will have to do it with what you get, ha!

Let me try and explain how I made this card: I started with a square pice of cardstock as a mat for my angel. I used my border scissors (can you imagine not having border punches?????) to cut the edges of the square. Then I punched two hearts, a little star and a circle with my Quickutz. But you can easily use normal punches or your Silhouette or Cricut. Whatever you have. In ancient times I probably would have cut them by hand............. The two smallest circles come out of a regular office hole puncher. 

You put the hearts behind the biggest circle with the point underneath the circle. When you look at the pic you will know what I mean. 

I used the two little circles for cheeks but you can also use a marker or chalk for that. I made the eyes and mouth with a black marker. The words are rub-ons from Making Memories but can also be replaced by stamps or even a printed text from your computer. 

I attached the angel with  foam dots so she would pop up a little. To top it of you can use some glitter spray or glimmer mist to make her sparkle!

Some family updates: DS Joram (now in 4th grade) had to do his book report today. He was sooooo nervous he even woke up last night crying . As most of you know Joram has a severe dyslexia so anything reading or spelling is one big disaster. Because of his dyslexia he did not have to read out loud in front of his class (which goes with the book report) but he could video tape it and play it in his class. He decided to read himself in front of his class. I was so proud of him when he decided that (well, at 3 am he wasn't to sure about that anymore, but you can imagine I was not going to video tape at that point......) And because he practised the part he was going to read over and over he knew it by head and 'reading' should not be a problem at all.

And the final result was: He got a B! I was soo proud of him! He said he was really nervous when he did it and even his book was shaking in his hands when he was reading. But no matter what: He said he had fun and he wanted to do one again.

And when I put him to bed tonight he said this: Mommy, I think they made a mistake when they said I am dyslexic, I had no problems today with reading.................... I did not argue with him and he fell asleep with a smile on his face..............................

'Vintage' Halloween pictures

This last summer while visiting my inlaws in Canada my MIL suggested Iwould go through the boxes with pictures and take some home that I liked. Well, if you are a scrapper you must know what that feels like: HEAVEN! There were tons and tons of pics. Lots of very old ones (from people I did not know) but also tons from DH Richard. I took quite some pics home (Thanks Janny!) and last night I scrapped some of them. These are two pics taken at Halloween half way down the seventies. There have the typical size of pics in those days. At first I wanted to crop the white borders of (they still have those black cut marks on them) but I decided to keep them the way they were. No cutting!

The little boy is my DH and the other is his older brother John. Aren't they the cutest?

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned paper: Lily Bee Design, Daisy D's, Creamotion (a Dutch brand)

Transparency: Hambly Screen prints

Rub-ons: Martha Stewart, Royal Langnickel

Stickers: Wordsworth

The title was cut with the Silhouette. I used a sketch from Let's Scrap as a base for this layout. And last but not least: I only used leftover papers fro this layout! I really need to dig a hole in that big pile of paper that only has a little piece cut out, or just halves. And since I really like to combine patterned papers from different lines and different companies: I decided not to get to the unused patterned papers. The only thing I will be using 'unused' is the cardstock that I use as a base for my layout (yeah duh................)

Sunday is almost over here. For all of you: Have a great week!  

Happy New Year! / Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

For all of you: A very happy and healthy 2010 full of friendship, joy & happiness.
Let me tell you what 2009 was all about:

209 days of pregnancy (the rest in 2008)
1 vacation in Southern France
92 hours of neanatology ICU unit
1 delivery (unexpectedly at home)
1 ambulance drive

1 daughter

1 proud big brother
1 proud daddy

1 millionair's family

51 layouts

19 cards

13 altered items

2 mini albums

86 blogposts

1 new washing machine

800 dollars worth of diet formula

5428 pictures taken

1 gymnastics championships

1 swimming championships

79 'congrats with your baby' cards
1 new scrapbook studio (moved from the 2nd to the 3rd floor)

139 gifts for newborn Jinte

1 hot summer

And soooooo much more. This will actually be a great list to use on a layout.
Now let me get back to my laundry, I need to keep that basket empty.

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO UPLOAD SOME PICS BUT BLOGGER DOESN'T LET ME, MAYBE LATER...................

Voor iedereen een heel gelukkig en gezond 2010 voor met vriendschap, liefde, plezier en geluk.

Dit was voor mij 2009:

209 dagen zwangerschap (de rest in 2008)

1 vakantie in Zuid Frankrijk
92 uur op de neonatologie afdeling

1 bevalling (onverwachts toch nog thuis)

1 ambulance ritje

1 dochter

1 trotse grote broer

1 trotse vader

1 rijkeluisgezin
51 layouts
19 kaarten
13 altered items
2 mini albums
86 blogberichten
1 nieuwe wasmachine
500 euro dieetflesvoeding
5428 foto's gemaakt
1 turnkampioenschap
1 zwemkampioenschap
79 felicitatiekaarten voor Jinte
1 nieuwe scrapkamer (van de eerste naar de tweede verdieping verhuisd)
139 cadeautjes voor de pasgeboren Jinte
1 hete zomer

En nog heeeeeel veel meer. Dit is eigenlijk een heel leuk lijstje om op een layout te gebruiken.

Nu ga ik weer terug naar mijn was, die wasmand moet wel leeg blijven.

IK HEB GEPROBEERD OM WAT FOTO'S TE UPLOADEN MAAR BLOGGER LAAT DAT NU NIET TOE, MISSCHIEN LATER...................

Our tree is up! / Onze boom staat!

It took us half our day but it's there and we're pretty content: Our Christmas tree! Joram was so eager to set up the tree but I ended doing it by myself while he was doing other stuff. We started at 8 in the morning and were not finished until 2. I did not buy anything extra for the tree this year so nothing more had to go in there (like it's not packed enough anyway, LOL)

There's quite some angels in our tree (even the tree topper is an angel). I have this thing with angels and somehow I feel that angels NEED to be in the Christmas tree.

Last year DH Richard bought an artificial tree. People kept saying: I can't believe that a Canadian is buying a 'fake' tree. I miss the whole process of buying a tree, but I love the fact that the tree is sturdy no matter what heavy stuff you put in there. And we have quite some heavy ornaments in there.

Since this weekend the weather is getting colder and there's even snow in the forecast. Not like there's any chance on having a white Cristmas, our last white Christmas we had in 1981.

My BFF Marjan had the H1N1 flu and is now getting better so we'll be scrapping tonight! Talking about the H1N1 flu; Joram and myself will be getting our second vaccination tomorrow..............

Something else about Christmas: I love to read the Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine and blog and they have some awesome giveaways this holiday season. Beside that they have the cutest Christmas projects posted. I love the cards that the DT made with kids hand prints. You can see them HERE.
Their winter issue came out last week (you can download it in PDF and also pick it up in the stores for free) and together with that there is a great download for Christmas tags. I just love the colors. You can see and download them HERE.

To all of you: Have a great week!

Het heeft een halve dag geduurd, maar nu staat ie er dan weer: Onze kerstboom! Joram wilde zo graag de boom opzetten maar uiteindelijk heb ik het helemaal alleen gedaan terwijl hij andere dingen aan het doen was. We zijn om 8 uur 's ochtends begonnen en we waren pas om twee uur klaar. Ik heb dit jaar geen nieuwe dingen voor in de boom gekocht dus meer hoefde er ook niet in (alsof de boom al niet vol genoeg hangt, hahaha) Er hangen aardig wat engelen in de boom. Ik heb iets met engelen en vind dat er engelen in de kerstboom MOETEN hangen.

Vorig jaar heeft manlief Richard een kunstboom gekocht. Mensen om ons heen zeiden: Hoe kan een Canadees nou een kunstboom kopen. Ik mis het hele ritueel van een boom uitzoeken maar het geweldige aan een kunstboom is dat je er hele zware dingen in kan hangen zonder dat je boom uit 'model' raakt. En we hebben nogal wat zware dingen in de boom hangen.

Sinds dit weekend wordt het kouder en er wordt zelfs sneeuw verwacht. We zullen maar niet rekenen op een witte kerst. Ik las gisteren dat we voor het laatst een witte kerst hadden in 1981.

Mijn vriendin Marjan had de Mexicaanse griep maar is nu aan de beterende hand en we gaan vanavond scrappen. Over de Mexicaanse griep gesproken: Joram en ik moeten morgen onze tweede vaccinatie halen...........

Iets naders over de kerst: Ik lees het graag het tijdschrift en de blog van Scrapbook & Cards Today. Ze geven in deze kersttijd allemaal leuke dingen weg. Maar ze hebben ook de leukste ideeen voor rond de kerst. Ze hebben een geweldig leuk idee voor het maken van kerstkaarten met de afdrukken van kinderhanden Je kunt ze HIER bekijken. Verder is vorige week het winternummer uitgekomen. Je kunt het HIER gratis downloaden in PDF formaat. Met het uitkomen van het winternummer geven ze ook geweldige kerst cadeaulabels weg (digitaal). Je kunt ze HIER bekijken en downloaden.

Voor iedereen: Een hele fijne week!

Sinterklaas in Tongelre

Here in The Netherlands December 5th is a special day for children; We celebrate Sinterklaas. Here in Tongelre we have a special tradition; Sinterklaas comes by on his horse every year and all children can come to him and will get a gift. This year was Joram's first year as a 'non-believer'. I thought it was a shame that that magic was over, but alas, kids grow up. And we have another 8 years to go with Jinte............

After he visited our street and both jinte and Joram sat on the horse we went inside to unwrap all the gifts. Joram was spoiled, he finally got his Wii (DH Richard did get his Wii too, he wanted it just as bad as Joram did, LOL). He also got his microscope (a long wished gift) and so many more gifts. He fell asleep exhausted.

Yesterday we celebrated Richard's 40th birthday (his birthday is on December 5th, but as you can understand, nobody will be able to visit him at that day) Even though the 6th is also a hard day for lots of people (there's families that celebrate on different days with both sets of grandparents) still lots of people showed up for a drink and a snack.

It was a busy weekend, but I guess it was all worth it.

I am still trying to work on some christmas cards. I got a couple finished but only I am really satisfied about. Somehow I am not capable of making 20 the same ones. I am going to try to make some tonight.

Het weekend van 5 december is altijd druk. Hier in Tongelre komt Sinterklaas nog op zijn paard door de wijk, ieder kind mag op het paard bij Sinterklaas en krijgt dan een cadeautje. En dan moeten er thuis natuurlijk ook nog cadeautjes uitgepakt worden. Dit jaar was het eerste jaar van Joram als 'ongelovige'. Ik vond het jammer dat dat stukje magie verdwenen is, maar kleine kinderen worden nu eenmaal groot en we hebben ook nog acht jaar te gaan met Jinte.

Nadat de kids bij de sint op het paard hadden gezeten gingen we naar binnen om daar (heel veel) cadeautjes uit te pakken. Joram is vreselijk verwend en kreeg eindelijk zijn Wii (en papa Richard ook. Uitleg: Hij wilde net zo graag een Wii als Joram) Hij kreeg ook zijn langgevraagde microscoop en nog heel veel meer cadeautjes. Hij viel zaterdagavond dan ook als een blok in slaap.

Gisteren hebben we Richard zijn 40e verjaardag gevierd. Hij is op vijf december jarig, maar je snapt dat er dan helemaal niemand kan komen. De 6e is ook een hele moeilijke dag omdat heel veel mensen dan ook nog Sinterklaas vieren maar toch waren er veel vrienden om een borrel te drinken.

Al met al een heel druk weekend, maar de moeite waard......................

Ik ben nog steeds aan het proberen om kerstkaarten te maken. Ik heb er nu een paar af, maar er is er mar eentje waar ik echt tevreden over ben. Op een een of andere manier ben ik niet in staat om twintig dezelfde kerstkaarten te maken. Vanavond ga ik maar weer eens een poging wagen.

Baby Halloween costume / Baby Halloween costume

Last Saturday we went to 't Oude Schuurtje' (the Ol' Shed) in Hamont (Belgium) where they had a Halloween fright night. I ordered some stuff from their website and I read about the fright nights so we thought we would give it a try. Joram was really looking forward to it. After 30 minutes in the car we arrived and it all looked so well made. They had an old fashioned funenal home car with an actual coffin in there and there was a cemetary and tons of very nice carved pumpkins.

You could go into a funeral home to check coffins out (with, no surprise mummies talking in there) When we went to the cooling area of the funeral home Joram got scared and wanted to go out. The last little bit of the tour we walked on Styrofoam (tell you, that feels really weird..........) and Joram just made it without crying.

For Jinte it was her chance to wear her Halloween outfit (Okay, mom liked it better...........) and I must admit she looked the cutest. I bought it a couple of weeks ago on Ebay.

It did give me the opportunity to shoot some Halloween pics so I finally will be able to use that Halloween paper I bought three years ago. After visiting their store we went home, but not after stopping for a real meal of Belgian fries.

By the way: If you take a look at the picture where Joram is in the cooling area you see this kind of mummie standing in the back. After Joram passed him he scared the crap out of me: It was a real man in there and he jumped right at me. I am so glad he did not do that to Joram. He would not be able to sleep for the next couple of weeks.

Afgelopen zaterdag zijn we naar ''t Oude Schuurtje' in Hamont (Belgie) geweest waar ze Halloween griezel avonden hadden. I had wat spullen in hun online winkel besteld en gelezen over de griezelavonden en we besloten dat het misschien wel de moeite waard was om er naar toe te gaan. Na 30 minuten in de auto waren we er. Joram was zo enthousiast. Ze hadden het geweldig mooi opgezet, er was een ouderwetse lijkwagen met een kist er in en zelf een begraafplaats met kuilen en stenen. Ook waren er geweldig mooie uitgesneden pompoenen.

Je kon een begrafenisondernemer bezoeken en daar waren doodskisten (met natuurlijk pratende mummies er in). Daarna mochten we naar de koelcel en daar werd Joram bang en wilde naar buiten. Maar dat ging niet zo maar, je moest wel het pad volgen. En het laatste stukje van het pad was gemaakt van piepschuim. Ik zal je vertellen; dat loopt heel raar.

Het was voor Jinte de kans om haar Halloween kostuum te dragen (OK, mama vond het geweldig) en ik moet zeggen; ze zag er echt schattig uit. Ik heb het een paar weken geleden op Ebay gekocht.

En ik kreeg natuurlijk de gelegenheid om Halloween foto's te maken zodat ik eindelijk eens dat Halloween papier kan gebruiken dat ik drie jaar geleden heb gekocht.

Nadat we de winkel bezocht hadden zijn we weer naar huis gereden, maar niet nadat we eerst gestopt zijn voor een portie echte Belgische friet............

Oh ja, als je naar de foto kijkt waar Joram op staat in de koelcel dan zie je achter hem een soort mummie staan. Nou, daar bleek een echte man in te zitten en toen ik langs hem kwam (Joram was al voorbij) sprong hij naar me toe en ik schrok me natuurlijk een hoedje. Aan de andere kant was ik allang blij dat ie het niet bij Joram had gedaan, die had weken lang niet kunnen slapen.

More Halloween decor / Nog meer Halloween decoratie

Joram and myself really got the hang of making those little Halloween bottles with all kinds of creepy stuff in there. We made three new ones last weekend. The one tiny bottle we made with seasalt and bath salt and the bigger one beside it was lotso f fun. We put babyshampoo in there and some glitter and to top it off we added some artificial flies. Looks really cool. I could not tell you where the graphics for the labels came from, I had them stored om my computer.

The big jar has a plastic skeleton in there and the fluid is tea (not urine, as a friend said..........) The graphic hanging on there is from the Graphics Fairy and you can find it HERE. The only thing I did to it was ink it with old paper distress ink from Ranger. 

The little bottles were just here and there around the house and even though Richard is complaining that I keep to much junk, I was glad I kept them!

This morning Joram and myself decorated the ront yard, with some spiderweb, some styrofoam tombstones (love those ones) and some bats in the plants. Looks pretty good. I will take some pics later.

Right now I have to talk to my DH Richard to get him to hang the frames in Jinte's room............

Joram en ik hebben ons helemaal verloren in het maken van halloween flesjes met vreemde inhoud. Het afgelopen weekend hebben we weer drie nieuwe gemaakt. Het kleintje is gevuld met zeezout en badzout en de grotere was leuk om tem aken: Er zit babyshampoo in en glitter en om het af te maken: nepvliegen! Ziet er geweldig uit. Ik weet niet waar de etiketten vandaan komen, die had ik opgeslagen op mijn PC. In de grotere pot zit een plastic skelet en de vloeistof die er in zit is thee (en geen urine zoals een vriendin vanmorgen zei.............) Het label wat er aan hangt is van de Graphics Fairy en die kun je HIER vinden. Het enige wat ik eraan gedaan heb is het label bewerken met old paper distress inkt van Ranger.

De flesjes had ik nog hier en daar in het huis staan en ondanks dat Ricahrd altijd klaagt dat ik alles maar bewaar; Ik ben blij dat ik ze niet heb weggegooid!

Vanmorgen hebben Joram en ik de voortuin een beetje versierd met spinnenrag, piepschuim grafstenen (die zijn zo leuk) en een paar vleermuizen in de struiken. Het ziet er leuk uit, ik zal later een paar foto's nemen.

Nu moet Richard eens vriendelijk aan gaan kijken of hij de lijstjes in Jinte haar kamer op wil hangen...............