Catching up a very random post

We've been very busy this last week, 2 little boys with the flu, DH busy clearing/sorting the attic (so he can start building next week), preparing for a birthday bash (we always start preparing tooo late on M's celebration), updating the shop, and going to physical therapy. Wow the week went by so fast .... and the weekend even faster with 2 birthdayparties !


I've also been in a bit of indecision about a scrapping tool and needs some help here. I have a silhouette but have found I don't use it enough (Let's face it, it's too pricey not to use) and it does cut out smoother and all swirls and edges are nice and prettier than the small cricut. I'm still opting to maybe sell it and buy a cricut expression instead. Although in the end that is more expensive as a silhouette is just as expensive as a cricut and a cartridge are together and you don't need any cartridges for the silhouette just the pc; the fact that the cricut can cut thin chipboard makes it more worthwile with giving workshops and such ...
So help me out which one do you have and what are your experiences ?


Also I've been so happy that I finally started to use bloglines, I had so many blogs in my favorites but just didn't have enough time to visit all my blogfriends and other blogs I love. Let's face it I'm a busy gal and want to maximize every minute ! I love to keep up with my blogfriends lives and this way I don't have to miss any posts, scrap inspiration or any other lovely eyecandy and it only costs me about 10 minutes a day.... gotta love all the technology that can help us busy women out ;)


And on the blog of a cool scrapping gal (Sarah van Wijk ) I found this:









so glad I didn't miss this and just had to share it with you just in case you haven't spotted her blog yet !

Dutch Dare and Photoshop

I have never worked on such a recent foto (wel at least I don't think i have) and it was fun. I totally thought out of the box with my colorchoice this time and I'm really happy with the result !


The rest of the lo's and the fabbo projects of the dt kan be seen here of course !

And now what would I mean with the photoshop in my titel ? Well I really want to learn to work it and just cannot find an affordable course, don't think I will be disciplined enough for an online course although i know there are some great ones out there. So I think I will have to do it with friends, and that's where you come in. If you have a laptop, photoshop on it and would love to explore the wonderful world of photoshop with me drop me a line and I'll see how many people we can fit around my table. DH is also close and he knows a bit, I have a book or two on photoshop so we should be able to get reasonably far .... I was thinking once every 2 weeks orso or once a month on a wednesday or a friday maybe ... So who of my blogfriends are interested ?

Dutch Sis Crop

I had so much fun saturday, everything was great (except for the weather driving in such hard rain is not funny) I met fun new and old friends, made 2 cards (sorry they are being mailed out and cannot show them or it will spoil it) and changed my last Dutch Dare. You know how you should always go with your gut feeling (in my case use this was the background paper) ? I didn't and the lo didn't make me smile when I looked at it, now it does !


Old version:





New version:








I didn't buy anything that's probably why I got some scrapping done, when you own your own scrapstore it's no fun shopping for scrapbook stuff as much as it used to be.


And I took part in my first round robin ever, wow that was scary but after the 3rd lo I got into it. This is what the girls made with my photo ( I started it off with this lovely photo made by Francien, the scalopped circle and a bit of leftover cardstock) and I love it ! Thanks Linda, Mireille, Martine, Fauve, Iben & Jo-Anne !




I'm looking forward to the next crop, it was a real nice getaway, everyone was really friendly although we didn't know each other, we had a good lunch, yummy foods, I got a cute atc from Lucie and a cute RAK from Corinne.


Oh and if you'd like a chance to win something, check out our monday quiz on the mls dt blog !

I'm off

For the day ! I so hate to pack for crops ... I never know what to bring and always end up bringing too much ...

But now I'm all set and will drive to Ede for the Sis Crop and although I am leaving behing so much work I really need this to keep my sanity, DH has been going to the gym to get some time to himself we're trying to find our way to relax more and endjoy our hobbies. Hope to show you something that I've made this weekend, but then I might just end up chatting and eating way too much and won't get any scrapping done LOL.

So what work am I leaving behind you might ask, well thankfully only a tiny bit of admin, lot's of b'day planning for Michael (he would like pokemon party) but explosions about everywhere else in the house I'm afraid. Today I spent most of the day purging the attic, my god we have so much stuff and I have to make some space so DH can start building a spare room for guests (a special one is coming in march and I hope another in june ...) and we haven't even finished the hallway so you can imagine the state of our home .... This will be continued on sunday and we have to bcause we have so much stuff.... But once it's cleared I'm confident he will get lots done over the next 2 weeks !

Speaking of my DH, last week his blog had his 1 yr anniversery, very funny if you think about it as he made this as a joke and a year later he's kinda famous in scrapland and almost being published more than me as his 2nd interview for an e-zine is coming up soon. He is however a bit dissapointed about not getting enough comments as you can tell by his post from today .... So leave him a little comment, he'd love to read who his fans are !

I'll leave you a few photo's from our recent trip to the efteling, that I'd like to share with you, have a nice weekend !

Public anouncements

First off, I so forgot to congratulate Daphne with her birthday, but your card is on the way sweetie !

And psssht have you heard, Florence delivered her baby daughter yesterday, Olivia (beautiful name) !

Did you see our sketch on the blog this week, pretty cool what the girls did !

Oh and I'm going to the SIS crop in Ede saturday, looking forward to it and not, you see I have a hard time packing when going somewhere else to crop. I never know what to take so I take way too much, very frustrating since this is an all day crop so I want to bring enough.
Anybody else going ? What are you taking ? Does anybody need a ride, I'm coming from hoofddorp via Utrecht (Mandy) to Ede....

Presents

I don't often get prezzies but I so love receiving them whether they are expected or unexpected (the latter is of course the most fun LOL). I wanted to share some prezzie's frommy Secret Santa, a friend and myself (also great just giving yourself something because you deserve it ;) don't you agree ?).

In the Secret Santa Swap (I still don't know who had me ...) we were supposed to give scrapbookgifts, a personal gift and a handmade gift and I've shown them here in that order, thanks SSS whoever you are !










I received this gift last week from a sweet friend, because she thought I was a great friend. And to tell you the truth the wrapping and message alone was lovely, but she knows I love movies with lot's of music and dancing so this was right up my alley. Thanks M !

I gave myself this little treat to pimp my new not so girly phone (and I'm all about girly). It made me smile, reminded me of the supercute teddy bears (handmade by her) I had seen over at Jo-Annes and fell in love with. Isn't she cute ?

And this is my new phone I got last month, it has a gps system that I really wanted but didn't think I could afford. Thank goodness it was free with my new mobile subscription, just what I need as I have a hard time finding my way now and then ;)

Healthy Body = Healthy Mind

Or is it the other way around ? Or not ?

I don't care all I can say is I have finally found my word for 2008 ! Health ! I want to take better care of myself not only foodwise but also in the form of relaxation and a bit more fun.

Today I started my day eating healthy and ended it that way too. Tommorow I will go visit the Weight Watchers to lose the 5 kilo's I gained somewhere this year that results into my clothes not fitting .... that somehow I cannot seem to lose. After both boys I lost 12 kilo's following the WW regime (without attending, so I did it all by myself) but at the moment I'm so busy and not in the right state of mind and I cannot seem to do it on my own.
So I need a little help from them and my support group :D
My mother also has (we're jojo's each in our own weightclasses, yes just like boxers LOL) having weight problems (it's definately in the genes we can look at choc, chips etc. and gain weight which results in me always having to make choices) so I dared her to go to and promised ourselves something after 5 kilo's and I'm thinking of jewelry or a wellness centre.
I know that once I fit in my clothes I will feel happier, my leg will have less to carry (you see it should take another 6 weeks to heal WITHOUT surgery phew but in the meantime it's a heavy load for my other not so ok knee) and I can buy some fun new summerclothes. Things could be worse I know, but for me now, this is keeping me busy.

For relaxation I plan to scrap more, get together with friends more and with scrap together with some of them and dinner or dancing with others and go out more with DH and have some fun by going to movies (we LOVE doing this), we already have theatertickets and I want to go away for a romantic weekend together.

So have you found your word yet ?

And for those of you going on the health kick, what are you giving yourself (or receiving) to keep yourself motivated ?

Dutch Dare # 30

I just uploaded the new dutch dares on our blog and they are so great ! I'm still not sure about what the wow factor is in my lo, I'm such a "twijfelkont" when it comes to making lo's always thinking it's missing something and are the colors right etc. (you get the image right ?) , well let's hope my photo is the wow factor this time ....

Here's a sneakpeak, check out the rest and what the dt made here.

journaling : on 9.12.07 I was hit on the cyclist lane by a driver of a car who was in a hurry. The fact that I was riding with 2 bikes did not help when you want to avoid a collision ...

Back to work

Wow what a difference a good night of sleep will do for me ! Yesterday I went to the orthopedic doc and he gave me some good news (well it's just how you take it but I was so relieved, as you can imagine). Turns out only my cartilage/gristle (?) is badly damaged and needs time to heal (about 6 more weeks orso and a little help from a physiotherapist).
And damaged it is as my knee only started turning blue a week ago (the accident was om dec. 9th) ... I will take a new pic today to show you if you don't belive me.


These 2 weeks holiday have just gone by so fast. What have we been up to you may ask, well loads;


Seen the Bee Movie

Went to the Zoo

Played lots on the new Wii

DH worked hard on our hallway which is coming along nicely


Treated each little boy to a meal of his choice so 1 x NY pizza and 1x Mac Donalds


Spent a lot of time looking for new lampshades (Wendy would you mind if we got the same lovely green ones as you have ? hihi)

Counted the whole MLS stock (had some help from Corinne and DH which helped so much)

Cleaned out the scraproom (again)

Went to visit Nicole in Geleen (a good opportunity to see if the boys liked each other and they did so we can meetup more, get the boys to play so we can scrap LOL and I got to try out my new mobile with navigator and yay it works like a charm)

Organized the boys rooms (again)

Organized a Baby Shower with Nili for Flo

Sent out all overdue RAKS from my old stash

Gained a bit of weight :(

Went to the winter Efteling

Got the admin sorted for 2006 (waaaaaaaay overdue)

Washed numerous laundry piles (and I still do not see the bottom of my 4 laundry baskets)

Spent time with friends

Learned not to play 2 consecutive boxing matches on the wii (ouch)

Thought up/Made fun new workshops for jan/feb


What I still need to do SOON;


Organize a Pokemon Party for Michael (all ideas are welcome)

Clean up the attic so Ed can build a guest room for a special guest in March

Lose weight 5 kg = 1 waistsize = no more tight clothes

Get scrapping again ! I just have not had the time and this has to change this year

Xmas & New Year's impression

Here are some impressions from our christmas. First xmas day we stayed in, pj's only, nice old school tradition : "gourmet" (lot's of meat and the kids cook it themselves with little cooking pans) and playing with the wii the whole family received as a gift from santa ! Second xmas day we went out to the Zoo and walked around a few hours enjoying the nice weather and being together (although I was in pain the rest of the evening ;) ...) and then the boys played some more on the wii while we prepared a chicken roast.

New Years Eve we played with fireworks a bit (Colin found out you cannot touch sparkles even when they stopped burning .... we learned a good lesson here, when we tell children (ours or others) not to do something we need to repeat it specifically to Colin or else it will just not reach him (a problem we run into a LOT with him), before the boys went to bed and then woke them up just before 12 to traditionally eat "oliebollen", toast and watch fireworks from our bedroom. That was fun but after an hour the fireworks died down (really soon this year) and we all went to sleep.

Happy ?

Although I'm headed into the new year with a bit of bad news I'm trying to be positive, trying is the key word here ;)

I want to wish all my family & friends, new & old, blog, internet & realtime a great new year. Full of creative mojo, love, happiness and lot's of warmth in your lives. May all your wishes for 2008 come true !



ps. the bad news is that the doctor told me today she does not like the sound of my knee (knacking sound) and I need to go to an orthopedic surgeon soon ... Great as if my hormones weren't raging enough around xmas and new year....
You see I get really emotional and melancholic at the end of year ....

Happy Birthday to Flo

You are 35 years old.
You are 420 months old.
You are 1,826 weeks old.
You are 12,783 days old.
You are 306,799 hours old.
You are 18,407,950 minutes old.
You are 1,104,477,032 seconds old.

You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Capricorn.
Your Life path number is 5.

Your fortune cookie reads:
Ideas are like children; there are none so wonderful as your own.


Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/15/1972 and ending 2/2/1973.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Rat.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Goose; your plant is Bramble.

Top songs of 1972
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan
American Pie by Don McLean Without You by Nilsson
I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash A Horse with No Name by America
Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me by Mac Davis Me and Mrs. Jones by BillyPaul
The Candy Man by Sammy Davis, Jr. Lean On Me by Bill Withers

Your lucky day is Saturday.
Your lucky number is 8.
Your ruling planet(s) is Saturn & Uranus.
Your lucky dates are 8th, 17th, 26th.
Your opposition sign is Cancer.
Your opposition number(s) is 2 & 7.

Today is not one of your lucky days! (oops ....)

Your birthstone is Blue Zircon

The Mystical properties of Blue Zircon

Zircon helps one be more at peace with oneself.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Blue Topaz, Ruby, Lapis Lazuli

Your birth tree is Apple Tree,
the Love Of slight build, lots of charm, appeal and attraction, pleasant aura, flirtatious, adventurous, sensitive, always in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, scientific talents, lives for today, a carefree philosopher with imagination.

From us to you

This is the xmas card that we sent out this year (pic made by the wonderful Flo) but not all have arrived yet as we've been pretty late sending them out.....

DD #29

Thanks everyone for their concern about my knee. It's still a bit stiff and awkward but getting better every day. Driving the car is no option yet and I won't be jogging anyday soon though .... I've been a bit stressed about getting the christmas cards and because I was in such a hurry I totally forgot to add a personal message and didn't realize till I had posted them ... pffff ... please don't take it personal anyone ! I really wanted to make my own this year as I do every year but I was running out of time and really needed to mail them.

Michael had to have a short stay in the hospital yesterday, 2 baby moulders had to be removed (due to repeated abces) under a short anesthetic and it went really well.




The new Dutch Dare is online and I have been wanting to make a lo with this picture for the longest time but never got around to it. And with our dare I just had to use it, and it's working out really nice. I still have to add the journaling somewhere/somehow so if you have any suggestions please let me know, I just couldn't figure it out anymore yesterday, unfortunately I always make the dares on a tightdeadline. Oh and I love what the other girls made ! Here's a sneak peak, check out the rest of my LO & the other girls here.

Crafty not necessarily Scrappy

I've been sharing lot's of inspirational links with friends over the last week (sitting on a couch gives you some more time than usual being immobile and all ...) and I thought I'd share one or two with you, enjoy !

Have to make these when we've finished all our rebuilding at home Snowmen

This link gave Elwira a new obsession for bags (the bags are cute and I like her paintings too) Dutch Colours

And for fun ideas to make with the kids (for those of us that have them):
Het lieveheersbeestje (check out the eggbox flowers)

Her interior decorating inspires me to get my house back into shape in 2008 after a hybernation mode of about 10 years .... My everyday things

Enjoy !

btw We're watching the movie Elf right now this is such a fun movie, too bad I haven't got a dutch version for the kids, going to look into that !

Music that makes me happy

I like everything about this song, the video (how many celebs can you spot ?) and the lyrics are just too funny. Check out the video on sidebar and the lyrics below, promises to be good for a laugh ! And speaking of music and funny, check out DH's blog !

I'm through with standing in line
To clubs we'll never get inIt's like the bottom of the ninth
And I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out
Quite the way I want it to be

(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house
On an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough For ten plus me

(So what you need?)

I'll need a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet

(Been there, done that)

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name

[Chorus:]

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat

And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographsSo I can eat my meals for free

(I'll have the quesadilla, uh huh)

I'm gonna dress my ass
With the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves toBlow my money for me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name

[Chorus]

And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and today's who's who
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

I'm gonna sing those songs
That offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser
I'll get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync em every night so I don't get 'em wrong

[Chorus]

And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and today's who's who
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

You're either a scrapbook maniac or not :)

You either photograph everything or not :)

Can you spot the difference (sorry for the scar overdose ....)

I had a little accident

I was riding my bicycle home (and another one that was still at my work so me and 2 bikes) and whilst on the path a car swirled out of a driveway and instead of going directly accross the path onto the road he thought he'd cut off a bit and drove towards me over the bike path. He saw me quite late and got the shock of a lifetime and since we both couldn't change directions quick enough we collided a bit ...... But that bit was enough to make me fall to the ground (thank god against his car and not under) and hit my knee on the pavement. So here I am, on the couch feeling a bit sorry for myself as I'm in pain with a BIG & sore knee (blue, scraped & bloody oh and did I mention pain ?) ...

Some pics

I haven't been sharing a lot of photo's lately so I thought I'd share some of my favorites from the last month and this month;


School trip with Michael:





A fun t-shirt we bought for Colin a while back and since he's growing out of it we had to make some pics, this one says it all really :





Sinterklaas Part I (a visit from Sint and Pieten):




Sinterklaas Part II (school and some small gifts left over from the day before):





And finally some pics taken on the Alliance weekend by the fab Bonnette:




and the crazy but fab too Corinne :



So many pic's to scrap so little time :D

you may have noticed

I've been a bit busy ....

We've anounced a super sale in the webshop last weekend and with Sinterklaas (this year we rented a sinterklaas with pieten together with my friend Martine and it was so cool) and all the orders I've been swamped. I will show some pics this weekend, just have to work on them as it's really hard to take a decent pic inside with kids jumping up and down, running around and opening prezzies ... pfff how does anybody get a decent few around sinterklaas or xmas ???

I received a nice gift from sinterklaas yesterday, I was so inspired by Ali (ok who isn't LOL) with this project and thought it would be nice to have a dutch version for the boys. After a little googling I found a translation, but even better I then found this: a book with the dutch and english version how cool is that ? I won't be able to make the rolodex this year but will enjoy the preparations for next year.

This year I will just make some styropor xmas trees with paper (I love the traditional Daisy D's xmas paper), buttons and maybe felt or fabric.

Unfortunately Angelique (with a heavy heart) has handed in her resignation as she needs some more time to scrap just for fun. I'm so gratefull she was part of the team from the beginning and stuck by me this year eventhough it was busy, she truly is my BFF and very dear to me.
So we've also been very busy scouting all the online galleries, blogs etc. looking for a new dt member that have a style that will complement the team and has plenty of free time on her hands ;) ...

RAK

I sent out quite a few yesterday and have been getting thank you messages all through the day. So happy I made your days, it is nice to send out a surprise even though it took a while to reach you. The ones to addresses abroad are leaving this week too....

You're very welcome ladies !

ps. There are only a few spots left for the srcap-a-licious workshops, wow !

Scrap-a-Licious

You've been getting little hints here and there but it's finally happening.

Corinne Delis and MLS are collaborating on workshops & events and the first one will start om March 8/9 2008. You can find more info here and register as of monday 26.11 from 6 am, don't be late registering as we have a limited number of spaces for the workshops.

Have you seen our new blog ???

We decided after having so much fun the 1st year we would make a blog that's even more fun, combining the dutch dares with an interactive newsletter. You can sign up to get feeds from our posts that you won't want to miss; the dutch dares, inside stories, shop news about Memory Lane Scrapbooking, and other fun projects, techniques, etc. We will be posting 3 times a week.
Pssst there's another rak to be won this week !

6 women, one cottage and loads of scrapsupplies

Stick the above in one place and you get a scrapfest !

This weekend was the annual alliance weekend and it was great fun. Lot's of good food, inspiration, singing, photography, sharing and late nights ;)

This is what I brought with me although I forgot to get my weekendbag and 2 cases in the pic.

And this is what I made with it, a recordnumber of lo's, with one left that's 95% so I won't show that yet. So happy with these since I wanted to scap a lot of lo's with pic's I had printed of in a wimb and did not realize that of some I had only one to make a lo with. Then Corinne suggested I scrap on 8,5 x 11 and that was it I went crazy ;) This is a fab size I must admit and will definately be doing this more often.

**edited ** I removed the MAD lo as everyone loved it so (thanks) I have decided to send it in for publication, will be my 1st time but I'd love to try ......

Can't wait to show you the great photo's that Bonnette, Birgit & Corinne made of me. It always takes me a while to warm up to the camera so we did some shots on saturday so I was ready for the photoshoot on sunday @ the Hunebedden in Drouwenerzand.

a LONG post of all sorts

I've been a bit busy have you noticed LOL. I promised you some pics from our weekend away and here's a compilation, I really like the giraffe one (i have more of those), and the one of colin with the giraffe in the background is awesome except picasa chopped of the sides. There are many many more but I didn't want to bore you....



Here are some of my other fave's :






I've been really busy with admin and workshops but have managed to scrap a little bit, made a small canvas last night and a cute fall mini album for a workshop I teach. I really love how the album turned out and there aren't even any pic's in it yet... Lol. This is a joint project between me and Nicole, we threw some idea's together and set the sizes and then each of us made it into our own, can't wait to see her version. Love sharing like this and that's why I love having such a fab team, we share and don't mind it if we get inspired from each other and make our own version. Will show a peak soon !

Now I'm assuming everyone reads Corinne's blog which will mean you will all have read the news we're planning to get around Holland in the coming year and to start it all off we're organising a superfun event in 7 & 8 March with the fab Celine Navarro. So excited it's really going to be well worth it !

On a personal front Michael has been needing a lot of hugs this week as his mouth is really sore ... Feel so sorry for him, switching from "babyteeth" to "grown up" is just no fun .... He has another huge abces next to his moulder and we told the dentist we're not pulling again, it's just no option he keeps getting this we can't simply pull them all ..... So we have to go to the hospital and get a surgeon to look at it and take pic's. Let's hope he has a solution .....

Also I seem to have aquired an award this week for the webshop with the worst service ever according to one forum. Again another case of "broodje aap" (urban legend), someone starts a thread and states something that wasn't entirely true and everyone jumps in to shit over it (excuse my language). Oh well you know I'm handling it better than the last time (this is the 2nd thread on the same forum ...) and have decided not to let it influence me, I know that people get good service @ MLS. I'm not saying I don't make a mistake this happens every now and then, as we all can make @ work, but it's how you deal with it that counts !

I'm busy making preparations to go to the Alliance retreat, trying not to pack as much as last year but DH keeps laughing (as well as the girls when I say this ....) I'll have to try my hardest I must admit ..... I will try to share my projects and cards before I go !

Happy Birthday

It's our Dutch Dare 1 year anniversary this month and we are celebrating this with a fun theme on the blog with great prizes !

Here's my take on this special dare :

Check out the rest of this LO here, hope you like it and don't forget to play along !

Photo's

Yes I know you were curious about the photoshoot so I decided to show you some of the previews, can you imagine how I'm dying to see the rest after getting these cuties in the mail ?

Really Florence is so good with the kids, it was trialing at times (colin is not the most quiet and easiest with his bouncy/jumpy lifestyle ....) but she got them to do everything she wanted and they told me they thought is was such a fun day !

Friends

make life more fun and I should know as I had a lot of getting together with them this weekend;

A dinner fridaynight with girlfriends and my bro (he survived dinner with 4 women, he's a doll).

A photoshoot saturday afternoon done by florence, wow that was fun & hard work too ;)

A very short crop but a very long lunch today with scrapfriends !

Thanks everyone !

a nice start of the day

I was real busy this morning getting ready to go to work and all of a sudden I looked up and I saw this ....

We were away for the weekend and it was fun, we went to the Zoo in Emmen, a long walk in the forrest, took a gazillion photos (Me, DH and Michael ;) all had our camera's with) and I scrapped lots of cards that I will show soon!

Dutch Dare

Ok so I cheated a bit, 1 photo less but it is a great dare nonetheless, using 9 photo's.

Check out what the rest here !

A Revamp

We've been very busy revamping the MLS website and I am so happy with how it turned out.

Credit has to be given to Corinne for redesigning the MLS brand and DH for making it all work online as usual they rock !! The dutch dares are next in line and of course there will be some fab blinkies to follow. ...

I'm so happy and I hope you all like it too !

ps. I've been working on a revamp of our living room, lot's of painting but it's nowhere near finished so I'm not sharing it yet ;)

So cool

I'm really excited with some new stuff concerning the site & the dutch dares blog. We are working really hard and have already improved some stuff on the site but wait till it's all done, it is going to change a LOT.

Haven't been able to scrap but I'm cheating a little on the next dutch dare, it's a lo I was working on already so you'll be able to see that next wednesday. And I've been working on some scrap a little sunshine books with some other people.

Hopefully the weather will be ok enough for a photoshoot as we had to cancel last wednesday due to rain :( And then there is a lot of painting to be done in the living room this weekend .... I'm really excited as I have been wanting to do this even before Colin was born but there's always something else to be done ....

SO what are you doing this weekend ?

New Products rolling in

**edited ... it's heeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeee a box of yummy vanilla ...**

Wow it's so busy with all the new shop products, newsletter and taxes I hardly have time to do anything else...

We're eagerly awaiting the new Hambly today, I have to upload Jack & Abby, some cute Autumn Leaves epiphany and we've got some cute tag pads from K&Co and I have the new Ali book, really cool ! And that's just a little bit of what's in all the boxes in the hallway ....

I will let you know when it's all uploaded now I'm off to the forest with the kids soak up a bit of sun & fresh air !

So relaxed

Almost better from the flu ... thank god but now Bubbah is ill poor guy .... I have to get better otherwise I cannot get the anti-flu injection. I asked the doctor if I could get it because I'm always in a bad state during the fall and winter. She agreed as long as I pay for it myself, and then we'll have to see if it helps as unfortunately it's not the sollution for everybody.

I've been so good in working towards my balance ! I'm up to speed with most of my admin, next up is preparing our taxes to go to the bookkeeper. Which is actually a good thing as they owe us .....

Things I've implemented to get that balance back were quite simple really, I finally figured out how my calender works on my mobile and set alarms for several things, like time to "leave the house to bring the boys to school" to insure we actually get there on time rather than letting me be distracted and leaving the house too late ..... Same thing for picking the boys up from school.

And another important thing a "Go to bed" alarm, now this may sound silly but I know you've all had that, you think oh I'll go to bed in a bit and a bit later when you look at your clock it's all of a sudden 1 or 2 hours later. Well this happens to me all the time, so engrossed with what I'm doing or want to finish and I go to bed way past my normal bedtime. Now I get a little reminder, finish what I'm doing and actually make it to bed by a reasonable time and can even read or just relax .... An easy fix as I feel much better instantly the next day since I just need a lot of sleep.

NO playdates for me on my day off from work but just another workday doing stuff for MLS which frees up my evening time to go to the gym (ahum i plan to anyway), get some household stuff sorted, spend time with Ed, make a date with a friend or just scrap ....

So by doing this for one week, I already feel much more relaxed, feel like I have my stuff sorted and actually have time tonight to work on my dutch dare, which most of the girls got done in time but not me. It's a fun dare again, so check out what they made and I hope to show you something I did soon !

Where are you

And I don't mean logistically .... Things have been quiet on the snailmail, email and blogfront so what's everyone been up to ?

I've had the flu over the last week and you know what happens when you're lying around feeling sorry for yourself on all fronts .... You take an overview of your life checking to see how the scale is balanced, well at least I do ....

I have been resenting my living room setup and even more being ill lying here on the couch ..... So my mom came over and helped us rearrange the living room furniture, I love this but this raises new issues LOL ... makes me want to change the colors, new lamps, curtains ( i want me some panels from ikea), new couch, new cupboards, accesoires etc. etc. even more but we have to do this one step at a time and I'm not a very patient person .....

My everlasting hate relationship with my backed up admin pile really got the better of me (now you may have noticed a pattern here if you're a regular reader .....) bcause with all the moving into my scraproom, making RAKS (yes finally ....), giving new workshops, getting all the products uploaded it's sort of gotten onto the backburner.

So i've decided to be stricter in how I spend my time on my 2 days off on weekdays. I love hanging out with friends and since I returned to work after the summer holiday and Colin started going to kindergarten I really haven't been using these days for what I should have and that is for admin but have been hanging out with friends or doing a lot of shopping for the webshop (superfun !!). But this has consequences and after one month I've decided that if I don't use these days more effectively I will start to resent MLS.

I want to spend more time enjoying the things around me and the webshop/site is taking up too much time bcause I am not using my time effectively. So by organizing my admin on my days of this will free up more time in the afternoons/evenings/weekends to spend more time with the boys, my friends and all my lovely scrapstuff. Easy choice right ?

So this is my attempt at getting a better balance on the scale ... How is your balance doing ?

The other Blog

Hmmm which one am I talking about, well our DT'blog the Dutch Dares one !

We have some fun plans for it and have been changing it in babysteps. First we started with the regular postings of the "inside story" and we will also be sharing techniques and projects on a regular basis. To start it off Mandy has now shown a step by step guide through a fab project !

Keep visiting us as we are almost 1 year old now and you know what happens with anniversaries ;)

New DT member

Still the flu but didn't want to miss posting this : I am happy to anounce that Natasja has accepted our offer to join the MLS design team ! She's a talented lady with a lovely style and we cannot wait to see her projects she will create for MLS.

If you want to see the story behind my Dutch dare you can read it here.

We have lot's of plans for the DD blog and MLS for the next year! If you want to be kept up to date send us an email and we will add you to our mailinglist !