Dutch Dare 112 ~ Lotsa White

I have had a huge blogger and scrapbooking hiatus but I'm scrapping again and determined to blog more and give you the peeks into my life whetheryou want it or not ...

The dare for this month is white, and I decided to make a layout about my Personal Malden Filofax.

I used a faux filofax for years and when I purchased a smart phone decided to neglect my organiser and use the phone, it has a calendar, it can give you reminders, it made sense. But after 2 years (and my second samsung) I felt like i was always playing catch up, one step behind in my planning and important events things had to change.

On Pinterest and Instagram I noticed that there was a new trend arising, decorating your filofax with stickers, washi and lovely colored pens.

Now scrapbookers are people who like to decorate so the spark was lit again. I dug up my faux filofax, bought inserts and started playing and planning again! Lord knows I have plenty of things to decorate with {but to be honest you can never have enough washi, stickie notes or stickers}. We have plenty of fun stores in the Netherlands {HEMA, Flying Tiger, Action, Sostrene Grene, Zeeman, Wibra} but they do not have as much cute things the Walmart 1$ stationary section or cheap deals like Michaels so I try to swap on several FB pages or via Instagram. There are also lot's of fun stores online and on Etsy.

Besides all the hoarding, swapping and rak'ing there's also the desire to own the prettiest filofax there is. I have a few in my collection right now, I don't use them all, some are an investment (no longer available) like the medium Mint Kikki.k planner and the personal rose Finchley. I am currently using the personal purple malden you see in the layout as an organiser and a pocket purple pennybridge as a wallet.





Pennybridge          





















kikki k. (bottom) and rose finchley
< photo courtesy of cafe et papier blog>














 I enjoyed it so much I started joining groups on Facebook and started a Dutch FB Group and a European FB Group with likeminded filofax lovers.

To give you an idea of how I decorate my pages:

Hope I gave you some inspiration, leave me a comment, I'd love to read it !

13 and lovin'it

My oldes boy loves being older, thinks he's so wise but has so much still to learn as he's only turned 13 ....


We try to teach him all he needs to know about life, love, school and all things inbetween.
He usually gives us the look of yeah right what would you know about that you are ancient ... but he gets it most of the time.

The first half of middle school has been quite a challenge for him, school sucks in his opinion and although we were helping him through it he had a hard time accepting our help. We've sent him to homework classes and that seems to be working (although they do & tell him exactly the same as we were doing) his grades are improving and with that his happy bubbly personality is reappearing.

Sweet Michael, please show the world what a wonderful, funny and happy boy you are, enjoy and embrace puberty and it will be a rollercoaster ride that you can look back on with a smile !

2014

Two things I want to share with you to start this year off are

1. 

2. 

Let's make it a great year people ~ !

Another teenager in the making / Nog een tiener in de maak

He can never wait until tomorrow as he always believes that what is coming then is the best ever.
I repeatedly tell him to cherish today and tomorrow comes by too quickly...

He's turned 10 today, going to the final grade of our elementary schoolsystem after the summer. He'll be really young when he goes to secondary school but doesn't care. He loves to be around older kids and wants to be treated like a 12 yr old ...

Sweet bubbly boy you want to be grown so fast and me, I want to enjoy the little boy in you for a bit longer than you do ...

To blog or not to blog ...

Since I started using Facebook it's anoying the ..... out of me that I've been neglected my blog. Are any off my followers experiencing this too ? And if so how did you solve this. I love having my blogs (Since Pinterest I've kept 2 of the 3) and writing fun tidbits about our lives but I just don't seem to get around to it, i really want to make the effort as i love reading other blogs of  friends irl and on the internet.

Pondering over this dillema for a while and I hope to get some ideas from you or maybe come up with some myself.

Celebration ~ There's a party goin' on right here

Wie had gedacht toen we, als design team van het wijlen Memory Lane Scrapbooking,  een dare blog begonnen in 2006 dat we nu zoveel jaar laten nog steeds mensen inspireren met onze dares.

Dus trots ben ik wel op deze 100ste Dutch Dare en op alle design team members die zoveel enthousiasme, energie, tijd en creativiteit in de blog hebben gestoken ! 6 jaar is best een mijlpaal en daarom maken we er een feestje van, bij deze ben je uitgenodigd op het FEESTBLOG van de DUTCH DARES.

Natuurlijk hebben we inspiratie voor je in de vorm van layouts, een uitdaging waar je zelf aan mee kunt doen, een kaart-schets waarvan je de uitwerkingen op de verschillende blogs van de designteam leden kunt bekijken en als je daar rondkijkt kun je meteen meedoen aan onze BLOGHOP. Tijdens deze bloghop ga je op zoek naar letters die een woord vormen. De oplossing mail je naar dutchdares@gmail.com want we geven superleuke CADEAUS weg omdat wij jarig zijn.

Als je niet via Cynthia op mijn blog bent gekomen, ga (hop) dan naar het blog van Dutch Dares om daar met de bloghop te starten. En ben je wel via Cynthia op mijn blog gekomen kun je op het blog van Jolanda de volgende letter vinden.

Bovendien geven alle leden van het DUTCH DARE DESIGNTEAM een RAK weg, gewoon omdat we het leuk vinden om eens een keertje flink uit te pakken. Om in aanmerking te komen voor het PRIJZENCIRCUS van de (10!) RAK's lees je per blog wat je daarvoor moet doen.

Om kans te maken op deze leuke  RAK incl. chipboard mini album moet je het volgende doen; 

1. Maak een foto van je scrapplek/kamer en deel dit op facebook, link het naar onze dutch dares groep op facebook zodat we het kunnen zien(even liken als je nog geen volger was daar om te kunnen linken/taggen) .
 

3. Laat me weten met hoeveel dutch dares jij hebt meegedaan in de afgelopen 6 jaar en welke je favoriet was en waarom.

Mijn jubileumdare is dutch dare #95, een dare waar het zweet me van uitbrak en waaraan ik niet had meegedaan door omstandigheden. Nu alsnog in de herhaling heb ik de volgende uitwerking gemaakt, en heel toevallig heeft ook een ander dt lid voor deze dare gekozen. (Oh en mocht je meedoen met de bloghop, jubileumdare en sketch maak je extra kansen op mijn RAK). 

Niet iedereen heeft een grote scrapkamer, een nette kamer of tafel maar des te leuker om te zien hoe de anderen erbij zitten. Ik durf mijn kamer voor en na de metamorfose met de hulp van 2 lieve scrapvriendinnen te laten zien die afgelopen februari plaatsvond, en hoop dat jij ook je kamer wilt delen !

Uiteraard hoort er bij een metamorfose een voor en na foto, dus met het schaamrood op mijn kaken heb ik hier 2 voor foto's voor jullie

 En na durf ik met een grote brede glimlach te laten zien

  

 Oh en waar jullie natuurlijk op zoek naar waren is de letter voor de bloghop, nou dat is deze weet je wat het is ?

De letter R ....

Well hello there 2013

I don't think i have any readers left after my dreadful lack of posting in the last year (only 9).
Catching up just wasn't do-able so i've decided to let go, you can't always be a 10 and that's ok too. This is what I've learned in 2012 ! Since my word for 2012 was Embrace I'd say that I chose pretty well.

I've decided not to make new years resolutions for this year, rather I've chosen to make a bucketlist, much more fun and less pressure to live up to (inspired by the greatest blogger & mom I know). Some of the things I have been thinking up/pondering about whether to add to my list are getting a small tattoo (hey I'm 42 so why not) and trying insanity workout (DH found the program) = to be continued ....

Definately going on my bucketlist are ;

• Help sea turtles
• Watch baby sea turtles make their way to the sea
• a trip to NY without the kids (dudes are not happy with this one)
• a trip to NY with the kids (LOL)
• joining Geef jij het door (the whole family is joining btw)
• completing granny a day for a year (cheating a bit on this one since I tried this last year so I already have a few)
• joining in and sticking to it FMSphotoaday 
• take part in a 5 km run possibly 10
• organizing a small local creative market
• Visiting all the Dutch Islands (Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, Schiermonnikoog)
• Mudflat hiking (Wadlopen)
• cuddle a seal
• see some of the worldwonders The Aurora Boreali,  Great Pyramid of Giza,  the great barrier reef, Grand Canyon, Stonehege, pyramids, Colloseum.
•  Book a Romantic trip with my big dude
• Vacation in Hawaii, Mauritius, the ABC Islands
• Actually make things I pin

 I like my list so far, what do you think ?

~ 9 years old ~ Oh my !

Congratulations sweet cuddly boy of mine, every day you become more independent, easygoing, smarter, humerous, happy and special  !

Our Wedding day

10 years ago I married my best friend and we shared that special day with friends and family, looking through the wedding day pics I remember it wasn't the perfect day I had envisioned (not good when you're a controlfreak) but spending it with loved friends and family made it perfect for me and I let it all go..... I have been in  <3 with my husband longer than I have been without him, pretty special !

 

Forever in my heart

A sketch for the Dutch Dares goes online today and I scrapped a very special photo of my grandmother and me on my wedding day. Today she would have turned 92 but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. But she is forever in my <3, the only grandmother I had and i think about her and miss her every day.

I really like how it turned out, haven't had that in a while. I put the eulogy that I held at her funeral in the envelope, words I never want to forget......

11 already ???!!!

Congratulations sweet son of mine, every day you are becoming more wonderful, goofy, happy & special person !

My Nanna ~ Mijn Oma

My nanna (Ali Rosbergen - van der Ende) passed away last friday, she was 89, and we will be saying our goodbye's to her today.

It's hard to be honest I've been numb since friday .... I will miss her, she was the only Oma I had and for the boys it's their first loss to deal with so that's pretty difficult too.

I've had many sweet messages when i told people via FB, and one person said this and I thought it was so true as I did feel that. I hope when I have grandchildren I can make them feel this too, I know my parents make sure my boys do !

Grandpa's and grandma's are special, they are unconditionally proud of their grandchildren and as a grandchild you feel that.

This is a totally spontanious picture a friend took on my wedding day as I was chatting with my oma.

Organizing a household

So we've been trying hard for the last year to get our house decluttered and more organized and I must say (I haven't thought this for the longest time) but we're making progress. It's a very slow and painfull one you see it's going way to slow for my taste... But even with baby steps we will get there one day.

One of the things that helped us get on track this last year was a menu planner. After using it this past year and me switching to low carb food the planner just wasn't working as it could so we adapted it, made a dry erase version by putting it in a frame and there you have it our menu planner 2.0. If anyone's interested I can email it to you so you can adapt to suit it to your lifestyle.



We also made a home management binder ( I was so inspired with the ones I saw on pinterest) in which every bit of info we could need that is at our fingertips (which would normaly be everywhere and nowhere) . Things like emergency contact numbers, finance info, insurance refund forms, stamps, id & library cards, discount coupons, school information, fave take out menu's, adres list etc.

We also made a new calendar for 2012 ourselves. The family planner that we usually bought changed in format and we didn't like it one bit. We couldn't find one that was similar or if it was that fitted our budget (purchase and shipping costs :( were too much) so again we made one ourselves. It's based on this calendar below (i will show our version as soon as we've assembled it) and if you're interested I can email it to you, again so you can adapt it to suit your lifestyle and family names.



And instead of buying the boys a weekly planner, they will be getting a dry erase version (still in concept) with their chores on it so they can check them off and re-use it the next week. Less paper :) Will share when they are done.

Gwen McCrae Keep The Fire Burning

22 years and we still keep the fire burning

One little Word

I am aiming to work hard on my one little word this year, I chose the word EMBRACE.

I want to embrace that I cannot be perfect, embrace that I can let go more and let the flow take me along, embrace my loved ones more, embrace the fun things in life more, embrace the slow proces of decluttering my house (Rome was not built in a day i am told), embrace blogging again (looking at my stats I have been blogging less and less since 2006 when I started), embrace that I have to say NO even if people don't like it (i cannot be friends with everyone), embrace my blog more, embrace my body more, embrace 2012 !

What's your word for 2012 ?

Dutch Dare #85 a Q&A

I have no clue if there is anyone still reading my blog (leave me a comment if u do ) since I've been slacking in the blogdept bigtime .... ???

I blame facebook, goodreads & pinterest, it's so easy to keep everyone updated with my life through short bursts of info and/or pics there that I forget to update here ....

So there's a big gap between june and november which I will try to update over the next week !

Until then I leave you with my most current layout for the dutch dare of this month, a Q&A that was a lot of fun to work with !




If you like to scrap, please join our dare and show us your work. Who knows you might win a guest dt spot or a fab RAK !

Give away @ the vintage pearl

Trying my hardest to win a certificate from the vintage pearl, they have a fab giveaway going on, you can win a gift certificate of 75 dollars ! I would <3 to win her messy nest necklace and square names with <3 necklace. I never win give aways so I've got my fingers crossed !

If I could choose again I'd still choose you...

Happy 22nd anniversary babe !

May update

Stuff that happened in Daan's life this month (photo & info overload):

Ed finally tried his first cakepop and was surprised he liked it more than my cupcakes .... pffff

Queensday was a bit of a dissapointment, my total score has never been so low; 4 boxes of embroidery floss & 2 tupperware items.... I'm going to Alkmaar next year with Corinne Delis ;)

I went to the Beautician for the first time in years, i used to go every month but since the kids this became less and less. It was only a basic appointment but I definately want to go again and for an extensive one soon !

My paypall account was hacked, that is not a joke people ... It takes all kinds of hassle to get this fixed !

The boys took part in the peanutball school tournament, they won :) Although Ed, who played coach for both their teams, told the boys all games were a draw ;) They loved being the best in their team and sometimes it feels great to rock and show off for your classmates.

I went to the springmarket in Heemstede with my mom, sun was shining, it was fun ! Said hi to Danielle Muit-Krusel who was working there and ran into my friend Leonieke, it was a huge market with a wide variety of stalls.

We gave the garage a good reorganisation, basically it was a lot of trash and putting shelves in to give things a new place; we can finally fit all of our bikes.

We watched a bunch of movies; Toy story 3 (1/2), the hobbit, TRON, transporter 3, SITC 2, Soulmen, the wolfman and Cadillac Records.

We spent the weekend in germany for mom's bday, it was great to spend some time with my aunt & uncle and their kids. We went siteseeing, shopping and had a bbq. Funny thing was that my brother and his girlfriend drove up with us and the kids went a day earlier with my parents, turns outthere's no difference between having them on the backseat or our kids LOL just as quiet ... They really should stop making out in public, but since they're so young & in love and such a cute couple, they're forgiven ....



Colin <3 any kind of school sports activity that is offered so when they asked who wanted to be in the waterpolo schooltournament he couldn't wait and they did real well, they came in 3rd ! there were about 29 teams in their age category (but since Colin skipped a grade he was by far the youngest) so that's awesome ! He was really tired as they started around 18.00 and the last match was @ 22.00 ....



Made a bunch of felt hearts, cause i fell in love with Revlie's forest of felt hearts. Just need to find some time to attach them to sticks to make a forest.....



At 40 years old I still have never been to the Zuiderzeemuseum, so we wanted to do something cultural and took the kids. It was fun, and not so busy so we got a great tour in one of the fishers family homes, the kids got to lie in a bedstead and play some oldfashioned kids games.



The kids had a schooltrip to Archeon, i volunteerd to go along accompanying Colin & a few classmates. We saw almost everything there was and did some fun things like make fire, drink tea from a fire, make pre historic jewelry, repair pots, played a viking game, archery, make a felt bracelet and speer throwing. I gave the kids some extra lunch because the lunch provided wasn't enought and I was the best, according to the kids....



The boys had a day off from school and since Michael was going away for the day so we went out for lunch with Colin at a goatsfarm in Amstelveen, he got to feed them bottles, play a little on the playground and we had a good walk in the woods. But mind you goats are not only cute, playfull and they like to eat your clothes ...




Colin & I both got glasses, Colin needed them for school and watching tv from a distance. Appearantly he has trouble reading beyond 4 mtrs, the letters are distorted to him but he refused to admit it even after tests. He can grow out of it but for now he has a pair at school (orang/black) and a pair at home (green/black). I got mine as I kept getting headaches at work because of my increased computer screen work. Here they are :



We had a spontanious dinner with Michael's bball team, wow that was a big group but we sat all the kids at one table and all the adults at one and it worked out fine @ a wok restaurant.

You know what can really make my day ? When I pipe a perfect rose swirl on a cupcake, makes me smile every time I see the pic



That's it for May folks, sorry for not keeping up weekly updates ...

Scrapping can heal

I'm making a mini album about my childhood, just scrapping some feelings, memories and sometimes that's just as healing as therapy. This is my second page and I think it's funny that I even dared to put this feeling to paper, but it makes me laugh and it's real !




This page was for the sketch dare over at our dutch dares, for some inspiration come check out the great pages the team made !



This is another page I made a while back but forgot to share, hope you like it, photo's are from a photo shoot from last year (Corinne Delis).

Oh and I also helped my mom make some new cupcakes, but you can find those at my other blog ;)