* Jaaroverzicht cards *

This whole year I participated in a weekly challenge over at a forum I visit. Even though I had drop backs and over the year had to catch up several times (I am now working on the 4th turn to get everything up-to-date. I still have to make 6 cards, but I am confident I will still be able to make them this year.) And even for the "fall backs in productivity", I am glad I joined over to make these cards weekly, but even more happier I did them digi. Otherwise I would have failed, just like happened with Paper Adventure 08.

Week 51 presents: Week 50 darker days, longer evenings:

Week 49 Sinterklaas:

I even liked it so much, that I am searching on the net for something to do next year. On one of the forums they are organizing a ABC of me next year, so I am thinking about either that or 52Q which was held by Emily Falconbridge this year. (Or maybe I should try both?? Nah, I don't think I will be able to manage that) If someone who is reading this, happen to know something challeging for next year, just leave a comment.)

* Jaaroverzicht * new cards *

Last weekend I made the layout for the theme of the yearoverview. The theme as want you wanted most that week. Since I am feeling not good for quite some time, I made a layout based on that I really wanted to get either sick, or better now. (not knowing I would be sick the next week, how odd it that?)I also finished my first cards in WEEKS!! again. The first one is lifted from a card from Ingrid in the latest issue of Cards Only. I liked her design very much, but I am not completely happy with my end result and I cannot put my finger on it what it is. Maybe the papers used, or my bow is not big enough? I plan to do another sample with different papers and give it a twist.

Supplies: white cardstock Making Memories Fa La La papers American Crafts Thickers Letter stickers ribbon Crafts too corner punch.

Plus I made a card for a colleague who has moved to a new house. I thought the houses papers from My Little Shoebox would be very nice for this occassion. Design is based on an older sketch from Get Sketchy.

Supplies: whote cardstock My Little Shoebox papers Kaisercraft flowers ribbon buttons scrappers floss white puffy paint Crafts Too corner punch.

* Back to blogging *

It has been a while since I last blogged and I missed it. I have been feeling not well for some time now; headaches every other day, couching, cold etc and hardly any energy left to blog or scrap for that matter. My last project was a card and it's been 3 weeks ago. (Shame on my for neglecting my fav challenge blogs all that time.)
Now I am feeling a bit better, I have had some days of of which I have been feeling 5 days ill and 2 days down with a heavy migraine attack. So let's hope the headaches are now gone for good.

I have finished a digi layout last week though (quick and easy! :) ) for the yearoverview. Theme of that week was prepare yourself and I gave it a funny twist saying that I am preparing to win the lotery :) I am still behind 3 pages and also have to make this weeks assignment, I have it planned in my head, but still need to find time to make it.
Last few days were lots of fun; buying some new plants and stuff for the garden.

And going for walks in the woods. I mentioned already, but I LOVE autumn; the colors, the wind and even sometimes the rain. With sometimes I mean when I don't have to ride my bike through this weather. But nature is so beautiful, take a look at the pictures I took. Think they will make a great autumn layout this year.

Plus I did some pumpkin carving, but still need to take some shots of it in the evening, so you will get those photo's later.

Gotta go now, because I still want to try to find time and make a card. I want to make one for one of my colleagues who is about to move to a new home.

Have a nice sunday!

PS I changed the look of my blog to be fitting to the Autumn. What do you think?

* New layouts for jaaroverzicht 2009 *

I am busy trying to catch up with the yearoverview and the weekly assignments.
Yesterday evening I finished this week's assignment; best day of the week. And this morning I made week 39; phone calls you had made this week, but I twisted the theme a bit so I could do a layout I wanted.

Thankfully it looks like it will be dry today and Sunday so I can go outside and take some autumn photo's in the woods. With all the rain going on, there must be growing some beautiful mushrooms. Yesterday I got the latest novel of Mary Higgins Clark, just take my heart, from the library, so I will have some nice reading to do this weekend.

* Jaaroverzicht * SBM *

No cards today. I am full of shame to admit that I have not made cards for the Jaaroverzicht in MONTHS!! How bad is that, really! And since I planned to make it this time I picked it up. For the third time this year I am running behind for weeks. I managed to finished 3 today. I will only put up 2, since the last one is to personal to post.
So this is week 37, subject view from your window, home, backyard etc. I chose for a photo I made near the end of september in the early morning when I go to work. Around this time of year you can stumble into magnificent views and thankfully I always have a pocket camera with me so I was lucky enough to get this shot.
This layout was shamelessly lifted from one of the layouts of Hanneke van der Linde in the latest issue of Scrapbookmagazine. I love the layouts she makes and this one fitted so perfectly for this photo. So thanks a lot for the inspiration. Next one is for this week; subject Autumn. So that was a piece of cake for me since I LOVE AUTUMN. I used some photos also from September when we made the autumn decoration.

And yesterday I bought the special issue of Scrapbookmagazine, if you haven't bought it yet, you better do it quick. It is jammed with lovely layouts and projects and full of inspiration. And above all there are 16 pages extra! I really love this issue and am leaving through it constantly and everytime I see something new.

Enjoy the rest of your sunday.

* 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.

* Jaaroverzicht 2009 *

I am way behing with the weekly assigments for the Yearoverview I work on. I have to make 10!! cards still and I must say that the subjects don't always inspire me to create. I think they are real difficult, but I do want to try to make up for it so that I am ready after the holidays.
Here are the first 2:
Week 27 subject Micheal Jackson Week 23 life's small pleasures.

Also I got a mail saying that my order at creatief scrapwork is being send out (finally) today. It took longer due to holidays, but now my basic grey papers are underway as well as an older line from October Afternoon. I can hardly wait :)

* Gehaktratatouille * Jaaroverzicht *

This weeks theme voor the Jaaroverzicht is reading/books. A very easy one for me since I have been reading since I was a little girl. Over time the taste of books changed but unfortunately the page is too small to put in more pictures also from childhood books.
I used a kit of Summertime Designs.

Even voor het gemak het recept in het Nederlands.
Vandaag gemaakt en superlekker; mijn versie van gehaktratatouille:

Ingredienten:
* olie
*300 gr rundergehakt
* 1 zkje silvo stroganoff kruiden voor gehakt
* 1 teentje knoflook
* 750 gr Italiaanse wokmix
* 250 gr. champignons
* 400 gr (1 blikje) gepelde tomaten
* 400 gr. witte rijst
* maggi tuinkruiden voor bouillon
* zout en peper

Werkwijze:
* Verhit de olie in een wok. Bak hierin het gehakt met mix voor stroganoff kruiden (300 gram, bewaar de rest) in ca. 5 min. rul.
* Voeg de Italiaanse wokmix groente toe en roerbak deze ca. 5 min. mee.
* Voeg de champignons toe en wok mee.
* Voeg de gepelde tomaten toe
* pers de knoflook boven de mix uit en wok.
* Laat de saus op zacht vuur nog ca. 5 min. afgedekt sudderen.
* Kook intussen de rijst (met beetje zout en eetlepel maggi tuinkruiden voor bouillon) in een pan met ruim kokend water met zout in ca. 8 min. gaar. Giet de rijst af en laat deze even staan.
* Breng de gehaktratatouille op smaak met zout en peper, en verdeel deze, met de rijst, over vier borden.
Eet smakelijk!

* Jaaroverzicht * Card * Reading *

I slept like a rose last night, in my bed and in my room which is feeling like my room again. So happy!

For the forum I visit and make a layout every week, one of the themes was "Koninginnedag" Every wednesday the new theme is given, so it was before the Attack on the Royal Family, but of course that was the theme of the card for me. It isn't a happy theme, but it still belongs to this year. (However, I decided not to use a photo of the attack)
And I am behind the weekly submissions, so this one is of week 15 when the theme was Easter. I like the fun colors and little chickens :)

I didn't make any cards recently, this one is a Congrats Card of march. One of my colleagues gave birth to a baby girl on 29/03/2009. I also put a pair of little socks in the enveloppe :) So cute. They came in a set of 3 pairs so I still have 2 pairs left and I plan to make a little box with it. Soon... when time allows.

During the last weeks I still managed to do some reading, in between of the works on the rooms; I finished Nora Roberts Eerbetoon & Peter Tremaynes De Listige Slang.

Currently I am reading Saskia Noort; Nieuwe Buren.

Yesterday, one the blog rounds readingI found a new Design Team Call. This time from Card Patterns. They always have very nice sketches which I try to make every time. The DT position is for June 2009 - Sep 2009, so for 4 months. The sketch they put up is nice again and I really want to try to enter....

* Scrapdelight goodies * layout * JO09 * macro lens *

Yesterday it was as warm as it can get in summer; around 22 degrees. So already really hot for me. @ morning I went to the city; bought a new pair of summer shoes @ scapino and a new aqua blouse @ H&M. Love it and am soooo happy wiht the summer shoes, till now I wore the boots from winter, but it was really getting too warm for me.

In the afternoon I went also shopping with mom. We both bought a pair of summer shoes (so my second pair :D) white "wolky like shoes" and again @ Scapino. We went into the better shoe stores as well (Schuurmans Schoenen, Tiptoe) but found nothing to our liking so happy we found at least one pair (leather and at a decent price) shoes. And I also bought a new jeans. I gave up loosing my 3 kilo's after X Mas. I cannot seem to get ride of it and I found a new series of Jeans at my favorite store which fits quite well. (With the previous line Sabrine, I fell between 2 sizes, one to small and one to big. With this new line Sanne, I buy a larger size but the cutting is some what smaller so it fits ok.)

Late in the afternoon I sat in the sun for about an hour or so. Not long and it was after 16.00 but still I had to pay with serious headache afterwards. The night was a hell and this morning I woke with even more headache than yesterday evening. I took 2 paracetamols and it's over 3 hours later and finally I am feeling better. So no more sun tanning for me. I am completely over that. the nice brown tan isn't worth getting headaches everytime, so i will simply stay pale. (Mayby try some bodylotion with self tanning creme)

On to more, nicer stuff :)
Friday last, my parcel from ScrapDelight arrived with the latest goodies I ordered. Unfortunately they forgot my Doily lace punch and the hotfix stones were still unpacked after a fair , so that will be send later.
First some puffy thickers, they are thick and shiny, so more bling to add to a layout. There was no black so I went for white and brown. My Mind's Eye; Maggie May from the Penny Lane line.

My Mind's Eye; Tiny Dancer as well from the Penny Lane line.

And finally the yummy minestrone papers from Jillibean Soup. Wonderful new manufacturer. These papers are great for fall photo's which lacked inspiration because I had so many layouts made already with Basic Grey Ambrosia papers. Now I can continue with the photo's and use the puffy brown thickers with them. :)

Next I want to show a layout I made with some left overs from the Bittersweet papers from Basic Grey. I only bought 4 papers from that line; made 4 layouts with it, many, many cards, made some altered items with them and still not all is gone. I still have some scraps for a card or 2. Will try to use it today for a "new baby Girl" card.

And as well the latest card I made this week after work for the Jaaroverzicht 2009. I used another freebie "Friends" from Designs by Krista. Just simply adore all her work.

Recently I have been doing research for a new lens for my camera. Specially now with all the blooms and nice weather, I want to buy a macro lens; i have been looking into 3 lenses but still cannot made op my mind which one to choose:

* tamron 90 mm F2.8

* tamron 180mm F3.5

* tokina 100 mm F2.8

Also not all internet shops have all the lenses on stock and I really don't want to wait too long with ordering, because I want to use it this spring & summer. Also I don't want to spend too much on the lens since I am not sure if Marco photography is something I am really getting into.

* Jaaroverzicht 2009 * CMF 36 * layout *

Yesterday it was about and around 20 degrees, quite lovely almost hot summer weather. (in our living it was already 23.3 degrees!) So I already had my first icecream of this year :)
But today when I woke the sun wasn't shining, it was dark and misty and.... raining....I wanted to try to take some photo's later today of flowers and blooms and spring thingies, which should go ok as long as I don't have to bend. But now... the weather is dark, let's hope it will be better this afternoon.
I really need to take some spring photo's, there is a challenge over at one of my fav's digishops Digital crea and I want to participate. Deadline is 18 April next.

Speaking of digi; remember I already put up the layout I made using a quickpage for celebrate spring. Even though the template is stunningly beautiful I wanted to create a page made by myself. So last weekend I sat down and re did this layout. See below.
I used a kit from Summertime Designs. She makes beautiful stuff.
Since I was on a roll, I did make some layouts more because I had to make up for some missing subject weeks.

Another subject was money; this is my take on it. I cannot remember from who I used this kit (sorry) the journaling tag is from Designs by Krista.
The final subject was Spring, again I used the latest freebie "Blooms" from Designs by Krista. I just love her digi kits and tend to use them over and over again. I like the fresh pastel colors of this kit it fits well with the photo's.

This weeks subject is long for.... Which I find a very difficult one to make, so I have to think a little about it before I know what to make.

Also on one of my walks I went into the Readshop in town because I spotted on the net that the new Creatief met Foto's nr. 36 already, was selling already and I think I wanted to spoil myself a little because I think I deserve (with the backache and all)

I like this issue very much. I don't always buy them anymore, because their new style isn't my style anymore and also the paper use is different from the ones I grap to know. I have changed my scrapping style and with it also comes a different kind of magazine to buy. I don't always like the layouts in Scrapbookmagazine, but the use of papers is more my style.
Also I wanted to share another layout I did using photo's of Within Temptations concert I went to last year. Photo's are not mine, but used with permission of Metal ways.com.
Supplies: Bazzill Basics white, green, pink; Basic Grey Eva papers; McGill flower punch; Mireille Butterfly punch; other: puffy paint white, ribbon pink, green, flower jewels green, pink, stamps, ink, paperclips, hotfix with stones, pins.