New Year, New directions, New Plans

Starting my own business has been one big adventure, meeting new people, climbing mountains, putting out fires and building towards something bigger and better, making friends along the way and sometimes doing things you wish you hadn't and learning something new each and every day.

Today the day has come that I have decided that I don't want to be in this adventure anymore, a decision that’s took me quite a while to make but I believe it’s a good one for me and my family. Another step closer to a better balance in our quality of life, more time for each other, for baking, for being creative, for spending with friends, for spontanious ideas and endeavors !

The much needed and positive changes have been made, I’m excited to embrace 2010 and wish you, my blogfriends, the same !!




I will give you all an update on the london trip and how we spent december soon I promise !

I feel good

First of all, something for someone who has a fun blog, is a cupcake & scrapbook lover like me and makes the most fun jump pic's in the world ;

crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager!

Second thanks everyone for your good health wishes, it took me 2,5 weeks but finally I'm kicking this bug in the BU... unfortunately DH is ill now ...

Third, our DT getaway was so much fun. Didn't have much of an appetite so we had way too much food but it was great fun. Got some scrapping done, back in the mood for it, good conversations and lots of laughs always good for the soul !

Fourth, did you see the sketches the girls made on the MLS blog, very cool. I love them all except mine. Oh well that happens a lot ...

Fifth, I've lost a total of 3,5 kilos since the flu started so I'm back on my old weight from before my car vs. knee accident. Very happy about this ! and I'm aiming for another 3 kilo loss before the new year, I'm starting to feel better every day getting back to my old self.

Sixth, I'm set tommorow to get creative for Xmas with the boys and make about 6 orso overdue raks ...

Seventh, so whadaya think of my new banner, my DH made it for me. He's the best (better in photoshop than me that's for sure !) !

That's all for now, hope you have fun creative plans too, thanks for checking in !

My current fave

A layout I made from Evi's sketch posted on the MLS Blog today, you should definately check out what the other girls did here. I'm loving this layout I made with one of my alltime fave pics of Jo-Anne, I guess you're allowed to be really happy when you think you've made a fab one right ;)

You are all invited

LOL this might be a dangerous thing to say but what the heck ....

On May 31st we will be celebrating Memory Lane Scrapbooking 3 year anniversary !

We’ve got make & takes for everyone, extra high price reductions, freebies for all customers, meet & Greet with our design team and cakes (and maybe ice cream if the weather is good)!

We will be open from 11.00-15.00 so if you’ve always wanted to see us in action, or check out the scrapbook supplies up close, or make a make & take come over and join the fun @ MLS, Graan voor Visch 18512, 2132 GW Hoofddorp.

1st Scrap-a-licious Weekend

This weekend was a lot of hard work but we've had fun too ! We had the whole shop packed into 19 moving boxes and boy that was a lot to move but it was worth it as we had just about everything everyone was looking for. Totally need more people to help out next time with the shop though as I didn't have the opportunity to meet people I didn't know, talk to people I did know or finally met IRL :( as I was busy making invoices and dealing with the payments.
Dear Diana, Marije, Astrid, Ingrid, Hanneke, Petra, Sylvia, Fauve I hope next time we meet we'll have more time to chat (next SiS Crop maybe ?) !!
I've almost unpacked everything, already been to the wholesalers for new crayons, skulls and pins, reordered a lot of stock for the shop and now I have some admin to work through.

Thanks DH, Mandy, Wendy & Corinne for helping out in the shop and other stuff and Celine for giving some awesome workshops that I unfortunately totally missed as I was working ;) and thanks everyone for your patience while trying to pay, it was our first big event and I'm taking it all in as a big learning experience for the 2nd Scrap-a-licious workshop ^^)

My toothache is slowly getting less and less, so I guess the dentist was right .... And my back took a turn for the worse over the weekend, hmmm I wonder why ;) but after a good massage on saturday (thx Wendy) and a visit to my fysio yesterday I'm doing much better !

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.

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 !

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 !

Turbulence

This is been a turbulent month for MLS ... A month of saying goodbyes, expressing gratitude but also a chance to reflect, change and new ideas for everyone.

Scraps is starting their own store in Gouda and we wish them lots of success with this !

Daphne is taking a little break with some time for herself and her mini me but not without a fun prenatal scrapafternoon for the dt.

Charlotte will be plunging herself into more schoolwork and Scrap!, we wish her lots of suc6 and of course we will be checking out your work there !

Monique is still rebuilding her new house but promises to give a housewarming party so we can admire her lovely Scraproom. We will be keeping her close though as a regular guestdesigner !


Francine will be plunging herself onto a adventure @ work with a new client and cannot help us out with our newsletter. A loss for us but luckily we do not have to miss her writing style as we can read, laugh and cry along with her on her blog.

Jo-Anne has a lot of great opportunities for workshops, ScapinStyle TV and within her job @ Nike that doesn’t give her enought time for MLS. We totally understand and don’t have to miss her too much as we all can check out SISTV, ask her as a guestdt every now and then and check out her blog (and since I’m a bff LOL I don’t have to miss her at all).


So that leaves a bit of a small dt that made the dutch dare this week, but they are still fab as usual. Here's a sneakpeak of mine, lot's of bling in this one !

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Never underestimate the power of the irate customer.
It takes a lot of time and energy to win over a customer and losing one only takes a few seconds .....

Remember my post of May 25th ? This was due to some orders around Pentecost that went wrong with some customers due to my moving/organising at home and Pentecost itself. Unfortunately one customer that had a Murphy's Law thing going on was so upset that she said she would do something about it and unfortunately she is on some messageboards..... And there are always people who add a little to the story. So I'm getting a bad rep at the moment which is quite disturbing to me being the perfectionist & virgo that I am.

Luckily I have loads of satisfied customers that keep coming back, but hey its tough competition out there in the land of online shops so if you do see some bad reviews and you've had good experiences please share this as it's nice to hear about a good review too :)

Scrapbooking stuff can you ever have enough ?

well NO haha but you can have way tooo much in boxes ......

I had ordered stuff and brought home stuff from the wholesalers that I just hadn't gotten around to upload in the shop so I've been very busy with that last week ! Can I tempt you with some new hambly rubons (stars are almost sold out) ? Or with all of the other new yummy stuff in my store.....

Now I'm off to make a lot of invoices so I've you're due one it is on it's way ;)

Tommorow I will be sharing some photo's of stuff that has been happening in our lives lately !

Sunday

MLS team lunch was fun (strawberries on sugarbread is delicious !!) and at the end of the day (had to go on in the evening though) I had 1 project finished and another one just waiting for the right Thickers to come in. Unfortunately not every one could make it but here's a pic of the girls



And my project, a photoframe before & after & the inspiration page(I have one more frame and I will make a variation on this for colin);

psssssssssssssssssst

I have a box full of yummy vanilla scented somethings over here ! Wanna know what it is ?

check over here !

Updates everywhere

So for a recap what we did over the weekend, (not just partying but bad luck times 3) check this out (no sense in writing the same thing twice ;) ...)

And other than that, I have just been updating & uploading fun new stuff into the shop like crazy.... Would you like to know what ??? OK I don't care if you want to know or not it was a lot of work so I'm telling you anyway, just some shameless promotion;

Uni Posca Pennen, Daisy D's Modern Romance, Beacon Hill, Rouge De Garance Jardin Secret, Daphnis & Cloe, Tinkering Ink Perfectly Posh, MME Magnolia

And I went to the wholesalers today and bought some more yummy stuff ! I'll give you a couple of hints, I love scalloped, altering clocks is more fun with these, supercute felt albums 10x10 (and A4) the small ones would make an aweseome motherday gift and there are just some XL ghost shapes you cannot resist like wings & butterflies ...

Wat a saturday !

Wow our first big workshopday @ Memory Lane Scrapbooking, it was so exciting, stressful and fun (yes it can be all of this together ;) ! ) to organise and execute.

I learned so much about planning, how to set up a big workshop and about how valuable help from friends is !

Big shout out to Bubbah, Martine, Nicole, Monique and Mandy for helping me out before, during and after the workshop. Couldn't have done it without you all, you rock !

With thanks to Ilona's blog I have some pics to show, hope to have some more soon (if you made any please email them to me as I just didn't have time to take any ....);

Hope everyone had a blast, it was great meeting you all (again) !

So Excited

About Corinne's morning workshop @ MLS on April 7th:







About Corinne's afternoon workshop @ MLS on April 7th:







If you haven't registered yet, we have a few more spots left for the morning or the afternoon workshop. Book both and we'll treat you to a nice lunch !

And this starting tommorow:

And if I feel better tommorow I will be doing this :

Fancypants Heaven

CLEAR STAMPS, CHIPBPOARD and CREATIVE CARDS are here in my living room EVERYWHERE .... :D oh and even more american crafts thickers ....