First stop: Perth

Hello,
While I'm brewing on another batch of cards, I 'll quickly upload some more LO of our 2004 Scotland holiday. These 2 pages are made with BG Euphoria paper. The first page is as we just arrived in Perth in the evening. We stayed a few nights and the drove on to Inverness.

I used some cuts from the Graphically Speaking cartridge on this page and inked and layered the flowers.

Here I cut some decoupage butterflies to create a 3 D-effect. The sentiment is printed on vellum.

The top picture seems a bit odd as we put the camera on the top of the car roof to take the picture, part of the roof came in the picture, which I just cut off. This picture is taken along our journey further up north. Scotland is a lovely place to visit. It had almost become our new home, but then we decided to move to the South so we're closer to Belgium incase our parents are not well.

Thanks for stopping bye. Night, night.

My little Valentine project

Hi everyone,
I have reached the finish, well almost. I still have to write the little lovenotes to my DH. I'll get him to write one to me too.
I'll show some pictures from the beginning of the project, well at least when I remembered to.

Remember this is an empty chocolate box, originally black. I painted it white and added some champagne gold colour. Here 's my craft desk. I'm using K&Co paper and some Crafty secret stuff.

Some punched cardstock flowers, card is from Papermania. I used GlimmerMist on the flowers and some of the diecuts.

Here 's the work in progress. I use an old parcel box to spray in, -keeps my bathtub clean now-...

I even sprayed on the lace to make it look old.

The finished box.

Top view with the Cricut cut.

What 's inside; the surprise gift to us as a couple: a tag mini album.

I hope you don't mind me making this quite a long post. Not usually my habbit, so please bare with me.

This is the first page of the tag album. The cartridged used are Plantin Schoolbook and A Child's Year.

Tag 1(back) and 2. The front and back of each tag is decorated. I'll take them off the bookring to be able to photograph them better.

The back of tag 2 has a mini envelope with a little notecard where I will write a lovenote to my DH.

Tag 3 with another diecut.

That' s the back of Tag 3. I painted some Prima flowers gold and glittered them.

Tag 4.

The back of tag 4 with notecard.

Tag 5 with my DH on his bicycle. I stamped a sentiment and gold embossed it, but it didn't come out very well. I used the same stamp on the back of the tag. The stamps are 99p and from G Studio.

The label is also cut with A Child's Year. I forgot to mention that the vintage paper is from Provocraft and comes in a 12x12 stack.

Tag 6 with more stamping and embossing. All the stickers are by Crafty Secrets. The little heart button was mine when I was 3. My mom had knitted a little red cardigan for me and it had a whole row of thes buttons, which I now own thanks to my mom. Keep her in mind 'cause she's back in the hospital for another heart operation.  I love you, mom.

The back of tag 6.

Last Tag 7 with my sweetie.

The end. The little embellishment group on the left are 2 buttons a rose , a leaf and a ribbon attached to a safety pin. I then put everything back together on the bookring.

Thanks for looking and I'm posting this on the BBTB2 blog for a Valentine chalenge with purple and on Flutter By Wednesdays challenge #93 embossing and butterfly, angel and fairies as I 've used it all on my project. Actually my angels are cherubs. Take care everyone. Bye.

First scrapbook pages - summer 2004

Hello,
Got a late shift coming up today plus a ward meeting so got to start a bit earlier then usual. So just this quick post of something I've had for a while.
After so many months, I have finally decided to post my very first holiday layouts. Before I had a real scrapbook album, I used to decorate ordinary photoalbums. I used to stick the photos in or mat them. Decorated with punches and journaling, but I never had the challenge of doing a 12x 12 page. These pages date a few years ago, but they still bring happy memories.

This is the first page of my album. I just used some scraps from a tourist brochure that I picked up on the boat from Zeebrugge, Belgium to Rosyth, Scotland. The title is made with Fimo and I traced with red gel pen our roadtrip.
We took our car over on the boat and I hired an inside cabin, because it was a night trip. It was quite a luxurious cabin with a spacious bathroom, we even had 4 beds. Although it was July, it wasn't really that warm, but we were lucky, on our 16 day trip we had only 2 days rain and then it poured...

Here 2 pictures taken on the boat and again a scrap from a brochure. The paper is K&Co Cut N Paste, actually I had originally made this page on different scrapbook paper that I bought in Belgium, but after moving to the UK, I found prettier ones and ripped the photos of the old sheet. As the years go by I know there's now nice paper available over there too. I added some stamping on the postcard and journalled on the little note. I even kept the boarding ticket and stitched on it.

The morning of our arrival, passing under the Forth Bridge. I used my Cricut for the letters and some little stamps to create a border effect and a journalling tag.. I think they are by Royal & Langnickel and were only 99p.
I might upload the whole album. I quite like the idea of a blog, since my laptop broke down last summer and I lost whatever I had on the C drive. I didn't realise a laptop will only last 6-7 years, especially because I only used mine as a desk computer. Now I'm planning to save everything on an external harddisk and upload more onto my blog.

Sneak peek

Aha, you thought I was gone...
I'm in the middle of a project that I'm creating for the BBTB2 challenge; something for Valentine and something with purple. First I thought "purple for Valentine?"... I do love purple for my clothing but not for Valentine. Oh dear! But then I started digging out some stuff I had lying around and a little light went up...
Aha... So this project is a bit more work then usual, so I give you only a little sneak peek. I can tell you it's a box with something inside... Not telling what is going to be inside yet. Patience....

Although my purple in the picture looks blue, it is in fact real purple combined with lilac to soften it down. Some distressing, some glimmer mist,....lalalalala.... Not telling you anymore, just keep in touch. Ciao.
PS: I 've reloaded the picture in previous post as the background was too blue and didn't do my card justice.

Tons of Fun

What a busy week it has been. First week back to work and I'm already exhausted.
I was glad to have the weekend off and I had tons of fun yesterday making this card. I didn't manage to get a very good picture though. It kept turning out a bit blue in the background, even when I put it in the window. Winterlight... I love these cheeky fellowes. like they had all the honey...

Supplies: Whoop-de-doo from GSD Studio paper, Prima flowers, BG button, rub-on from K&Co Raspberry collection, MS punch, Nesties and my sewing machine. The stamp is woodmounted from Stamps Happen.
I'm off to make something for BBTB2 if I manage, because we're going to go shopping in town too.

Fall in love with me

My first Valentine card for 2010.

I made this one with the valentine cuts from the Cricut "A Child's Year cart, the card + overlay, the girl and dog and the rose heart. I also used some glitter, Stickles and liquid pearls together with some embossing, paper roses, pearls, lace and some inking. The sentiment is from DCWV text paper, punched out with a tag punch from Fiskars.

This time no stamping, just a little scrapcard with limited colours. Loving this cartridge. I hope they 'll do a challenge with this one on BBTB2 soon.

PS: Just noticed they are using the cart on this weeks challenge. It was posted 6 hours earlier than my post. Oh my God! I just used the cut minus the shift key. As I can't find any indication of it having to be the boy and girl cut, I 'm entering mine too. If work and time allows, I might enter a second one this week with the cut everyone seems to have used in the DT. This is fun!
PS2: Entered this one on "A Spoon full of Sugar" challenge too, as you had to have "hearts on your card". Happy Valentine, my dear.

Rock the farm

Hi there,

I've been crafting my Sunday away. Tomorrow is back to work. Managed to shake off the bugs.

I used this cute stamp from TGF, she's fun to colour. I had to use some paper from BG Offbeat, I thought all the pears and apples and turnips worked well with the farm theme. I cut some ducks from the "A childs' Year" cartridge. Some fun designs on there!

I 've used a lot of different craft goodies on this one, I even got out my sewing machine again. Phew!

I kept the inside nice and simple, but added some stitching. All the duckies are layered 3 to 4 times to give them extra dimension. I'm going to upload this one to my TGF Gallery.

Have a nice week!

Butterfly kisses

I'm starting to long for a bit of color and warmth. I know it's not yet spring, but with this exceptional cold weather we 're experiencing, I just yearn for some warm sunshine.
The forecast for Sunday and Monday is more snow, I just hope not for the South of England. Although they say it's less cold when it snows. Hmm... Sorry, I just don't take the cold very well.
I've cheered myself up a bit by making this next card. Just had to use oranges, yellows and greens. Haha!
I've added my card to the Gallery at the Greeting Farm  http://www.thegreetingfarm.com/galleria/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=837
and have joined for their first Saturday Sketch Challenge and on the Flutter by Wednesdays Challenge as you have to make something with "NEW" and butterflies, fairies and angels. Don't have the last 2, so made something with Butterflies.

It's another new Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm -out of my Christmas stocking-, the butterfly and hummingbird are from Artemio -a Belgian breed, hihi-. I forgot to mention the flower and the leaves, also from the same set. I stamped the white cardstock first with different colors of Distress Ink. The butterflies and bird are just stamped in one color and cut out, then I added some glitter and pearls. The rub-ons are from Doodlebug, the patterned paper is from BG Offbeat collection. I've added some Spiced Cider Blingz to the paper roses and some brown polka dot ribbon around the card.
I'm still experimenting with my Copic colouring. I've seen some lovely Manga colouring on You Tube. I wish I could colour that way. It was a girl with a kitten in her arms. Beautifully done!
Something from the homefront; my mom needs to have another coronary op on Monday and I'm already worried sick about her. I can't go over yet. I just pray that she isn't scared and all goes well with her. So terrible that I live so far. I wish I could find a way so she could live with me.

2 Challenges in one

Boy, did I enjoy this one!
I wanted to play on 2 challenges at once. This is my entry for BBTB2 and the Copic Colour Challenge.
Now I just hope I can link them properly.

Supplies: Miss Anya Dressy Greeting Farm stamp, Graphically Speaking cart, Swirl embossing folder Cuttlebug, DCWV Spring Glitter stack, Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist, MS border punches, Carla Craft corner punch, scalloped oval Nestabilities.

3 cute dolly nurses

Hi,
I finished my next set of cards. Made them in notecard size of 9 x 9 cm, so I was happy to make 3 in one go.
The paper is from June Bug by BG, stamps are Crafty Secrets Feeling Yucky and Making Memories Passport. They were fun and easy to make.
Hope you like them.

Maybe another view is better;

Sorry you are ill

Winter is beautiful in it's own way.
I look outside this morning and the frost is in the air, on the trees and bushes, on the ground,... It gives the whole scenery a shabby chic look.
I do love it, although I hate the cold and what it brings. I'm still not 100%, the GP gave me Doxycyclin yesterday, after a week Amoxycillin. Hope that will do the trick. I'm still very short of breath, a lot of coughing and tiredness. I'll be home for another week. I 've already broken my record. I 've not been off work for a week before, usually back after 2-3 days. The last time when I had pneumonia, I was still in Belgium and studying. Seems like in another life...
Yesterday I fiddled this card together, between lying in the sofa and dozing off -was going to watch QVC, scrapbooking with Rosemary Merry-. Didn't see much of it, got a shock when I realised DH had finished work. Enough with the babbel.
This is my interpretation for Kazan's Sketch 43 on 2S4Y.

Supplies: AC and DCWV cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Vintage Brand Rosebud ink from Ranger, K&Co paper scrap, Copics, Crafty Secrets Feeling Yucky stamp set, Passport stamp set from Making Memories, Cuttlebug embossing folder and Nestabilities, Xcut large corner rounder punch, white Brilliance ink, vintage blue button, pink buttons from Autumn Leaves, DMC embroidery thread, yellow satin ribbon, card cut with Plantin Schoolbook. I used 3D dots to adhere the little stamped images.
Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy the card. Feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you think.
Have a nice day.

Happy Birthday, my love!

I made a birthday card for my dear man. He's turning 47 on Wednesday. Oh, yeah!

I had to make this very "young" card for him and because he still feels like "the animal" -wink, wink-, it had to be a lion.

I used several carts to get all the cuts. Plantin Schoolbook for the grass and hills and numbers, Doodlecharms for the sun and tree, animal Kingdom for the lion and the sentiments, Graphically Speaking for the clouds.

I used K&Co paper and the Cut'N Paste stack, cardstock is from Papermania and Coordinations. The inside is stamped with Hero Arts sentiment stamps in Midnight Blue. I also distressed a few edges and shapes with Tim Holz inks. I used Woodware scalloped circle punches to create a backdrop on the inside of the card.

I'm quite sure that he will find it funny. I just hope he doesn't peek on my blog before his birthday. Sometimes he will have a look on his job during his break, but I hope this time he'll be playing games with his colleagues.
Love you, my sweetheart.

First Tilda for 2010 - One of a kind

Goodmorning,
I wrestled this little card together. I'm still feeling under the weather, but a least I can sit and do something.
I joined 2 stamps to form a scene. I wanted to keep the colors soft and mellow, so it's turned out with quite some pink and rosey accents.

Supplies: Black Memento ink, Hero Arts sentiment stamp, Storybook cartridge for the frame and swirls, medaillion and heart shapes on the inside of the card, heart punch, Deco Art Metallics Champagne Gold paint, Papermania and American Crafts cardstock, paper from Marianne Design and K&CO, lace is vintage, satin roses and pink bow from stash, paper flowers from Marianne Design, felt and organza flower from Making Memories, pearls from Papermania, pearl and sand Glimmer Mist, Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut labels for the sentiment, tea dye Distress ink.

This time I decided to also decorate the inside of the card. I had done so much to the front, I could not leave the inside bare.
I really enjoyed making this one. Hope you like it as much, thanks for looking.