A brandspanking new LO

I was going to work on another LO but I misplaced a photo so I couldn't work on that one. So instead I worked on effer dare # 18:



I'll try to explain the journaling as the title is hard to explain in english (yes I did one in dutch !). Journaling: After you've brushed your teeth you're drinking some water from your favourite cup and very focussed on the picture. Then very seriously you say: "Mommy this says aapsoluut "!(aapsoluut : aap = monkey, absoluut = absolutely) Colin, March 3rd, 2006.

I thought it was so funny and believe me in dutch it is !

Tommorow I'll give the other LO a go. TFL !

It's official

If I hear the soundtrack of Shrek one more time I'll go crazy ... The m&m's have discovered their sing a long machine again ... Michael has a love for soundtracks and at the moment one specific song from shrek.

On a positive note Ed is busy building away this weekend (or creating a lot of dust, it's just how you interpret it) so we are in one big messy state and everyting is packed into the living room. We ate from the coffetable which of course was very adventourus to m&m, it reminded us of the days without kids hihi.

I keep escaping with the boys, birthday parties, clothes shopping and playdates, swimming tommorow and then we'll do it al again next week :-0.

I'm working on my lo, and the title is "Time, Time, Time, see what's become of me" Curious ? wait and see !

Oh and I've been thinking of investing in a cricut at the end of this year... Since my sizzix has broken down (well I did get a new one but I sold it) I've been thinking about a big shot or a cricut. What do you think ?

I'll leave you with this cute picture made by someone some time ago at a Donna Downey workshop(20 march) and she finally sent me the photo, yeah !

So how you doin’

Got a really fun phonecall yesterday, so unexpected and so nice made my day !

And today I received more good news, it has been found, my lost camerabag (yes the mothersdaysgift 2006), I’m so happy about this my week is getting better al the time !

Tommorow and Friday no work and although the weather is terrible we’re going to enjoy these days, Ed is starting on the studio and I’m going to play with my M&M’s.

So how you doin’ ? (try to imagine Joey’s voice from friends....)

How weird are you ?

So I found this on Birgits log and decided to do the test, actually I thought I was weirder ...

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird...But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

So how weird are U ??

Having fun is extremely tiring

So 3 days of scrapping fun results into this when I got home (and of course lots of hugs and kisses from my m&m's and Ed) :



Most projects have to be finished and tweaked a bit but I will post them asap. In the meantime I'll show you some photo's of the weekend here and there.

I met so many lovely people from the Netherlands, UK, Canada, USA, Sweden, some from last year and some new. And of course it was great to see all the friends I already know, some personally and some only online like Corinne and Astrid. We had an extra bed so Angelique stayed over since her last workshop was a bit late on saturday, that was lots of fun. So curious how Bionda, Martine and Revlie got on but I'm sure I'll hear it soon !






Most classes I took lived up to my expectations, only one didn't and it wasn't that I learned so many new things but more how to apply certain materials. I did 2 Ranger workshops; Alcoholics Anonymous and All stressed out and nowhere to go (about distressing ink and alcohol inkt), 2 Heidi Swapp workshops ; Urban Lifestyle Album in 3 days and Think Pink (cute Lo's for in an album and a frame album), check out these pants that Emily Waters had on (Heidi put the flowers on them) :



So Corinne, you really have to tell me how I can photoshop the shiny parts of me, this is really bad !!!!

=>


Oh and a Scenic Route workshop (I made a LO). Couple of make 'n takes and one of them was really inspirational about phototinting with distressing inkt !

I filled 3 pizzaboxes in the sale of the organization and I'm shared this with my mother and friends.this is wat fit into them 247 items:



I bought some nice paper Urban Lily (Urban boy & girl), CI karen russel (beachlike paper), Sassafrass Lass, AMM studio collection, Crate Paper. I bought a Heidi Swapp foam alfabet and won one in the workshop (yeah) but I also found out I "forgot" one Rusty Pickle kit after paying Lance .... and I lost my camerabag that the boys gave me for mothersday ... (totally bummed about that) I will be calling the hotel but I'm not hopefull about that ....


Now I really need some well deserved sleep .....

Scrap-A-Ganza

Ok I'm off to the Scrap-A-Ganza in Egmond at the Sea (www.scrap-a-ganza.com) scrapping & shopping till I drop. If you're there please introduce yourself (come on don't be scared) !

Will post the results on sunday !

Just a few things I want to share

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY MARTINE !! See you tonight !

Check out these pics my friend Wendy made last friday, they are so reflective of the boys as they are :



And this is soooooooo cute our boys looking at nature stuff together:





Lovin' them pictures, there are more but these are my fave's. Boy wish I could get them like this ... allas my talents lie elsewhere (LOL). Wendy, I'm looking forward to the shoot with my mom & my brother !

It's all about the MOJO

DT Challenge May - effer dare 11


Journaling: I just love these photo's Sirkka* made of mom and me. We have books full of them and I secretly hope that I was one of her favourite supermodels.

(* Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen - http://www.amber-online.com/gallery/photographers/photographer51.html)

relaxed = good

I had a really relaxing weekend ! I wasn’t feeling very wel so I stayed close to home and didn’t do too much on Saturday. Ed on the other hand worked his but off in the garden, taking all the grass out (forgot to take before pictures ….) and repositioning some border flowers, part I of the garden reorganisation is done (we have to do it in parts otherwise the boys cannot play in the garden and there is so much work to do in the garden it is impossible to do in one day so rather than making one big mess it will be done in parts.

Sunday I got breakfast & gorgeous self-made presents from the boys (I’m very emotional at the moment so tears came fast) and a lowe-pro case for my new dig pocketcamera from all of them. Colin loved the pasta necklace so much he kept saying it was his and not mine ....Michael was a bit upset because his butterfly had lost on eye but I loved it all !



We went for a bike ride, to practice Michael’s route to school and then went on to Ed’s parents to give his mom a present, she got the last book in a Vriginia Andrews series she was looking for (kept asking if we’d found it on internet yet, and yes we found all 3 of them but since she only got 2 until now she thought the 3rd couldn’t be found, yes we can keep a secret J ) and some Merci chocolates. Ed cooked (we had Chinese take out, hadn’t had that in a while). The bikeride proved to be very tiring for Colin (or was it that he got up at 6.00 again today ??) on the way back he fell asleep ....

I spent the whole evening scrapping little presents for my mother. We gave them to her today and she really liked them all, of course I forgot to make pictures but I'll add them in tommorow.



A joint project, inside made by me, outside made by the boys.

OTHER PICS TO BE POSTED SOON ....

So happy I’m getting my scrapbooking mojo back, I’ve been so busy with the store sale, newsletters etc. that I just haven’t been scrapping at all…. I’ve been scrapping at least 1 or 2 nights last week, over the weekend and that helps getting the rhythm back. Ed picked some new challenges out of the can and I already have a good idea for one of them (effer dare #18).

a GOOD day

Today was a good day (and I'm still talking about FRIDAY).

Sometimes you just feel like it was a good day !

Started with a run, didn't go so well but hey I did it = GOOD....
Uncluttered our bedrom so it looks like a bedroom = GOOD....
Washed laundrey and the weather was nice enough to hang it outside (with help from Colin) = GOOD
Cleaned up the kitchen & living room = GOOD
Had lunch with Wendy & the kids in the sun = GOOD
Bought some new ribbon at the wholesalers, love ribbon = GOOD
Met Revlie, we clicked, it was fun, she's fun, it was late, she's joining the design team = GOOD
No plans for the weekend, so Ed is going to work in the garden, our terras is a hard hat area = GOOD

Surfer Dudes

Here are some before and after pics of my 2 M&M's, they are not too good as I'm testing my new camera and Colin never stands still !

Surfer dudes : As you can see by the smiles, perfectly trained kids of a scrapper ........

Fresh clean cut's but not too short:

As you can see on the 1st photo, they always scream cheese for the camera (which always cracks up strangers) but they got candy here so there's no time to smile for mommy.....

I've just been to the theater, really funny, dutch guy called Jochem Myjer, very busy guy who almost peed his pants himself tonight because part of a sketch didn't quite go like the script. Always great going out for a laugh.

I'm meeting Revlie friday evening, to chat about her scrapbooking and I'm looking forward to it ! See you then, I'll have thee, the Blond Mugs and cookies waiting for you !

Oh and some good news, Ed will be starting on the studio this weekend, fingers crossed !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY !!

Hope you have a wonderfull day.

So here’s my other weekend project a birthday card for mommy (total scraplift) which I think is pretty darn cute ….

Craig David was soo much fun yesterday, pretty sexy smile ;-), thanks for arranging the tickets Martine (just a little drowsy today …)! When I got home and was checking on the M&M’s and while I gave Colin a goodnight kiss I got a big smile and 2 arms reached out for me as he exclaimed “Mommy” ! in his sleep … sigh

I’ve decided not to run the Dam to Dam, sorry Wendy (but I’ll try to see you at the finish to congratulate you, and for the pics of course.) I’m finally getting everything in balance and don’t want too many distractions at the moment.

The M&M’s are getting a haircut but not too much or they won’t be 2 little surfer dudes anymore, I’ll show some before and after pics tommorow.

Oh BTW I have some inside info about the scrapaganza, so who is curious ?

Finally some time to scrap & other stuff

Finally I had some time to scrap last week and over the weekend, finished one project that’s been in the breeding chamber for a while and another (will show this tomorrow since it’s more appropriate then) that I scraplifted. Journaling to follow, still need to put it to paper (it's all in the head baby !) A photo made on the morning of our wedding day when Michael was a bit overwhealmed with the business in our home. He just wanted a cuddle and was told to stay away from us as we were dressing (I wish we had known as we didn't think it was a problem), luckily Ed was ready quite fast so he went down and comforted Michael.

I had such a great weekend, my M&M’s went to grandma & grandpa on Friday so I had plenty of time to prepare for Saturday, the shopping day was quite busy until about 13.00 and after that we had a fun afternoon with the design team, in the evening we checked out an Italian restaurant here in Hoofddorp and the food was delicious and after we went to see “Inside Man”, not as good as “V for Vendetta” but a good movie nonetheless (I just didn’t like the character DW was playing). On Sunday we slept in cleaned up the last mess from Saturday and I made the scraplift for mommy and we had a bbq to celebrate my mothers b’day (which is tomorrow). She was happy with the gifts (BH sketches 1 & 2, SR design Paper & matching cardstock and a Barbara Streisand DVD) and we enjoyed her new swinging couch (hmmm or did the boys like it more ????) I would really like one or a big hammock when the playtower in the backyard disappears in a few years !

Tonight’s the Craig David concert with Martine & Bionda, that ‘ll be fun and I’m contemplating running the Dam to Dam run in September with my friend Wendy. I’ve done it before but 16 km is not really my thing. I’m more a 5 – 10 km kinda gal. Oh and Corinne, I finally made some photo’s of me, but you know what, I don’t like myself so up close, my head looks too big hahaha

I’ve also made some tough decisions, difficult letter to my father and for the business which I will be sending out this week ….. Makes my shoulders lighter !

Thanks everyone for their competition suggestions, keep em coming !!!!

A fairytale without a happy ending ?

There was once a LO without a titel, it was at least 4 months old. The maker could not come up with one because she was afraid it wouldn't do the LO justice. And so she made up a contest with a goodie bag prize, surely that would result in the perfect titel ? But allas, the lo has been waiting for 2 weeks and the perfect titel still hasn't been found..... Many a suggestion has been made but not that oh so perfect one ... Whereohwhere is that special title and why has it not been posted or emailed to me ?


ps. this is Colin, 1,5 and this is his first visit to the beach in Noordwijk, and he is very curiously scrunching the sand in his hands .....

Where am I ?

This morning I was uploading the pics from our weekend and I noticed that there was one photo with me on it, and one of the other husbands made it …. So he Ed what’s the deal, I wasn’t shopping all of the weekend …..;-) Maybe I need to follow Corinne’s path and take lots of photo’s of myself with my camera.

I was tagged by Revlie ages ago to say 5 things about someone I know and I want to say 5 things about my friend Angelique:

1. She’s my best friend ever since we went to UB40 together in 1988, yikes I was 18 then ….
2. She’s become a beautiful & wonderful woman, mother & friend
3. She lives too far away to visit every day/week but we email a lot, phone & use msn video
4. I’m so happy I got her hooked on scrapbooking ;-)
5. I’m desperately waiting for the day she starts her own blog, because she sends the funniest emails with photo’s & video’s about herself & her men …...

I don’t know that many people with a blog that weren’t tagged by revlie so I tag Emine & MarieJose.

Mini holidays rule !

Our weekend away was so fun, so relaxed that I wish we could do this more often.

The kids had a blast, can you imagine 7 kids in one house and no fights …. I cannot imagine 7 kids in one family period ….



We did too much in a short amount of time, most of it as a group but sometimes the men took the kids and gave us women some time off (aren’t they sweet !) activities : swimming (3 days in a row), bowling, shopping, darts, jogging (guess who), walk on the beach, scrapbooking (I helped the girls make a canvas), going to the parks entertainment and living on the 3 P’s (Patat = French fries, pancakes & pizza ….) very healthy ….. The weather was better than expected partly sun & clouds and the temp. kept going up, it only rained on the last day so packing the car wasn’t too much fun for Ed.
Freddie, Yolanda, Charel, Tobias, Tijmen, Henk, Mariska, Jurre, Milan we can’t wait till next year for our annual “holiday friends” trip !
I didn’t get any scrapping done but I did read a few chapters in Cathy Z’s book and I love it !

Since we’re back Colin is crying at night wanting to go on holiday again and keeps asking all day long when we will be going again. Getting flashbacks to our trip to EuroDisney with Michael ;-) ….



Michael was happy to go back as he was missing his gamecomputer (he wanted to bring it and I forgot to pack it) so he got to play it when we got home that day (which used up his computer time for the whole week….)

I’m not having a fun time at work at the moment, nothing dramatic, yet, so I’m in no rush, but I’m keeping my eyes and ears open to new opportunities.

On a good note, I’m almost finished with all the preparations for Saturday, 1 year anniversary of MLS, US National Scrapbookday and our spring sale ! Hope a lot of people stop by and join the competition & lint swap. Did you know we have a competition ? One everyone can enter as it is a “title search” for a lo. So take a peek in my forum at MLS and enter ! ( geez I have to figure out how to make a link in the text …… haha but you can find the link on the left….)