* Traditioneel Gerij *

Today was again a special day @ Castle Warmelo. This time there were old fashioned horse & carriages with people driving the carriage in special "old- fashioned" clothes.
It was a beautiful sight and I am glad I went, but it was rather difficult for me to photograph the quick moving horses, thankfully there was another photographer who gave me some tips, otherwise nothing would have come out of it. I put ISO on 800 but the photos are maybe blurry but still smooth. (I which I had learned this stuff on the course I followed a few years back. I really must practise more, since practise makes perfect.)
But all in all, I have a few nice shots. Please don't pay too much attention to the chopped of heads of the horses, in fact they are fully headed, but the program I use sames to cut off some space of the photos. It was rather a chilly day, appr. 17 degrees and I was glad I had a vest to put on. You can really feel that the end of August has arrived and September is coming. Thought the weather forecast says it will be 25 degrees tomorrow and also Tuesday will be sunny, but then rain will come again.

I started a X mas card yesterday, but didn't finish it. There was too much stuff to do in house and too much household chores. Hopefully I will be able to make some cards in evening next week. I really want to participate in all the challengeblogs, I am really getting addicted to them.

* Dutch Card Lovers Sketch #13 *

Yes, another update today. I finished my good luck card based on a sketch over @ Dutch Card Lovers. I used scraps left over from the layout I finished and ok, I used also some new staples on white from Jillibean Soup. I just love the Jillibean papers and I already ordered and received the new Grandma's Christmas Soup and Alphabet Soup papers. Can hardly wait to use them :) But I first have to go print some more photo's to be able to scrap.
Enjoy the Sunday evening, tomorrow is working Monday already...

* A layout & some reading *

It has been a while since last finished and put up a layout. However, this morning I did some surfing on the net because I really wanted to make a layout and ended over @ Creative Scrappers with sketch 65. It's last weeks sketch and I just saw they put up sketch 66 - also very nice, so maybe I will use that one too.
Anyway, I used Jillibean soup papers here, almost the last scraps from Ministrone soup (Ok and one totally new staples on white orange). All that is left now, are scraps to make some cards and I already saved this weeks sketches of the challenges blogs I follow :) Supplies: Kraft cardstock, Jillibean soup papers, staples on white orange, Basic Grey Ambrosia paper, rope, ribbon, buttons, American Craft thickers.

Also last Friday evening I went to the library to pick up Simone van der Vlugt's Blauw Water. I loved the book, I finished it in one day! (have to say it only has appr. 215 pages, but still) It is a suspensefull story well written considering no real action etc takes place, it kept me turning pages until I finished it :)

* Get Sketchy #02 *

After the wash and the ironing I was happy to find some spare time to make a HB card based on the second sketch of Get Sketchy and it's a great sketch to work with. I even did the bonus challenge by using a punch (one of my fav's Fiskars Apron borderpunch in this case as well as a corner punch). Supplies: pink cardstock, Bo Bunny papers Alyssia, Magnolia stamp, Inkadinkado stamp happy birthday, Kaisercraft pink flower, ribbon, rose, pins.

Last Thursday we have had an extreme hotday, I went to work in the morning it was already 27 degrees, and when I was going home it was 36 degrees!! Thankfully there was some rain in the evening (we didn't have so much real bad weather over here as in the rest of the country) and Friday was ok again in regards of temperature. Tomorrow will be very warm and Monday already they say it will be 30 degrees! For me, I can hardly wait until Autumn begins....

* CPS #129 & DCL #12 *

The new CPS sketch is online and I wanted to try a basic clean card for this one. This is normally not my style, so it turned out to be a real challenge. But in the end I like my card & I had the change to use up some of my older stuff.

Supplies: Basic Grey Ambrosia papers, Fiskars apron borderpunch, Martha stewart rubons.

On to the next card, this time it's a sketch from Dutch Card Lovers blog. Can you believe that I was so planning to keep up with this Dutch challenge blog and that this is sketch nr. 12 and this is the first time I find the time to make a card? Again I used the sketch to make a Christmas card plus again I used some of my older papers.

Supplies: Basic Grey Dasher papers, ribbon, Fiskars apron border punch, Magnolia stamp, black pen.

I ordered a new X mas text stamp and as soon as it has arrived I can add the text to the card.
That's it for now, can you believe that tomorrow is Monday already? Back to work...

* Get Sketchy # 01 *

Finally the first sketch on Get Sketchy was posted and I couldn't wait to get started. The sketch is a real challenge and I used it to make a special card shape. However, my first card ended in the trash bin and this is the second one. I think I will try even a new one tomorrow, since I am not completely 100% satisfied with the endresult.
But I started with my first X mas cards and that is a good thing since last year I had to make them on too short notice before X Mas. Which was of course totally my own fault.

Supplies: October Afternoon Good cheer, Bazzill Basics pink, ribbon, pins, Daisy & Dandelion stamp.

* a bit too late, but here's... CP # 27 *

Unfortunately I am too late with this card, but I didn't find time earlier to play with sketch # 27 of CP. But I liked it so much I couldn't resist using it. I used the last scraps of paper of Bo Bunny's Abbey Road.Supplies: Bo Bunny Patterned papers, buttons, ribbon, McGill flower punch, EK Success flower punch, Mireille butterfly punch, Crafts too round corner punch, white puffy paint, American Craft thickers.

Enjoy your weekend, it will be a very warm day here today...

* CS Sketch #64 & Got Sketch #88 *

I finished a new layout loosely based on the latest sketch over @ Creative Scrappers. Supplies: Kraft cardstock, Bo Bunny Alyssia papers, Kaisercraft flowers, American craft Thickers, whtie puffy paint, buttons, scrappersflos, ribbon, Fiskars Threading water borderpunch.

And just now I finished a card based on sketch 88 over @ the Got Sketch blog. I have combined it with the Card-A-Licious #25 challenge.

I used scrap papers left over from 2 pages and guess what, I think I still might have enough for one more card so I am hopping over to my fav card challengesites after this post to find some inspiration.

Supplies: Bazzill Kraft & Brown & blue, Bo Bonny Abbey Road, Hero Art stamp, Studio G Stamp, pin, organza, ribbon, Fiskars apron punch, Crafts too corner punch.

Almost this whole week it has been raining... really to bad, because I bought myself a brandnew large camerabag so I want to go out and try it out. But maybe tomorrow or Saturday the weather will be better.

* the scrappiest sketch 24*

Yesterday evening I finished a layout based on sketch 24 over @ the scrappiest. I just found about this blog and plan to do more of their sketches.
This is the sketch. And this is my take on it. Since I used a photo of someone who doesn't want his picture on on the internet, I blended it out.

Supplies: Kraft cardstock, Bo Bunny patterned papers, Jillibean soup sprout, Americal craft thickers, ribbon, pins, Fiskars borderpunch, puffy paint white, buttons.

Thank god the heat is gone since last Saturday, but until now we have had 2 rainy days, so I hope the weather will be dry at least the rest of this week, so I can go out and take more photo's to scrap them later on :)

* CP 26 * Layouts * Books *

I have bought the most gorgeous small paper pack from We R memory keepers and I love the designs and the small size of the papers to use for cards. It works more easy and I think I am hooked on this small size now.
Anyway, I finished sketch 26 for CardPatterns yesterday evening. Supplies: design papers We R Memory Keepers, purple ribbon, Martha Stewart doily lace border punch, puffy paint, American Craft Thickers, pins.

This week I also finished some layouts for the yearoverview. I still have 3 I must catch up and I think the new theme for this week is already up, so still 4 layouts to make.
Since the weather is so hot I don't want to sit too long behind the pc because it becomes only hotter in my bedroom, so lets hope this extreme weather will soon be gone.

Anyway, week 28 Summer:
Week 24 Never Again:

Week 23 Small things in live that make you happy:

Since I now have some more time to catch up on my reading, I already finished some books in only a matter of days. Currently reading Dwaalspoor and thankfully it has 350 + pages, so I won't be finishing it too soon. The story is real interesting.

I loved Herfstlied; a mother who is trying to become a writer has a thread in her neighbourhood and it can be 2 men, only near the end you find out it is her best girlfriend.

Nicolet Steemers was also an unknown writer to me, I finished the book rather quickly the beginning in terms of suspense is real slow, only near the end the space quickens but than the last pages are a real turn down because you know who is behind it and it is about other things.

It was a bit of a disappointment to me.

Well, that's it for now.

* Castle Warmelo *

It is hot, hot, hot in the Netherlands! Too hot for my liking, today will be 30 degrees or over it!! Thankfully I went about 2 days ago to Warmelo, before the extreme heat came See above the photo collage I made from the over 155 photos!! I took in that few hours. I was real beautiful though it was a bit late for most of the flowers to be in full bloom and there were gardeners working in the garden which is always a bit disappointing, because the natural photo's cannot be taking at that spot then. But it was still a nice afternoon well spend.

* Digi Kit Summer Kisses *

Finally I am putting up the Kit. It is based on the color challenge over at DSO. The colors were great to work with and give a real summer fealing.
I have been trying for hours to get a decent ribbon (one that really looks "real") but it didn't work out so I decided to leave the kit as it is and try again next time (or maybe later on)Anyway, I hope you all like it; here are the links:

Embellishments
Solid papers
Patterned papers

* digi kit*

Today I was planning to visit Castle day in Diepenheim, however the weather forecast was already very bad and this morning when I woke... yep it was already raining. I send a mail to ask if it would go on or if it would be rescheduled (so hoping for that) But no, it did continue as planned. So I didn't go, really a pity because I was looking forward to it. But it turned out for the good because most of the time it rained.
Instead I worked all day on a new digi kit challenge over at digi scrap obsession. It has been long time ago since my first (bad) attemps for making my own kit. And I am still far from really happy with it. But there is progress noticable. I like this one far better than the last. I am not quite finished because I am still trying out to make a realistic ribbon bow in Photoshop and I cannot find a good tut on the net and my own attemps were in vain.
Anyway, this is a small preview on the kit. I was so planning to use my new BG lemonade papers for a page. Let's see if I can find some time this evening. Or maybe a card... Or make a new layout for the yearoverview... Or maybe I will watch some DVD I brought from the libary :)