DT projects

Since I do not have to work for 2 weeks...well only 10 days left now :(.... I have plenty of time to scrap and relax :)
I am working on several different projects which I will not show until they are completely finished.
So for now I will share 2 projects I made earlier this month for Memory Lane Scrapbooking

The first project is an altered block.
I first painted it with paint dabbers (thanks Monique :)!)
stamped on it with a contrasting colour with this stamp.
I then attached love-couples from a TopHat Design collagesheet to the block using Gel Medium from Golden.
Adhered some Chipboard letters and nailed the love bird on top of it.
The butterflies are rubons.





















The other project is a 3d wooden box from Ikea. I showed a different project with this idea before. This one was made for the December Challenge of MLS, we had to make a project/LO using only Christmas articles....
Of course I used some PP...but only from Basic Grey's Christmas line.

Christmas is over......

...... but my Christmas tree is here to stay for AT LEAST another 2 weeks :)

I love to lie on the couch...with a book and the lights of the tree lighting up the living room (or at least they are supposed to do so...have to buy more lights for next year).

I love to look out of my window and see all the Christmas lighting in the neighbourhood. It is always such a dissapointment when it is time to remove the tree.. and all the other decorations... this makes me feel a little depressed....

But for now... I am still enjoying the Holiday season and so is my cat

Sneak Peek

of the new Dutch Dare...which will be posted on the Dutch Dare blog tomorrow.

Hope everybody has enjoyed Christmas....I know I have.....went to sleep at 3.30 AM after having a really nice Japanese sushi dinner at my place with some friends and a lot of sake :)

Will take a nap now.....hihi.

This is just one of the Christmas cards I made...

using the collagesheets of Top Hat Design and Basic Grey Dasher.

wanna see more?

Check out all my Christmas Cards here

My Elfamorphosis

Thanks to Malou I just made a total elf of myself.

Check me out by clicking this link and turn up the volume!
Don't laugh too hard!

And be careful, this might be contagious......

Time flies....

... when you are not having fun at work :).

Anyway... besides working I have been busy working on some stuff for the Memory Lane Design Team; the monthly DT challenge... an altered block.
These can be seen soon on the Memory Lane website.
And of course I have also been working on Dutch Dare #3... which will be posted on the Dutch Dare blog tomorrow morning! Just click on the Dutch Dare blinkie on the right and you will see the latest Dutch Dare LO's!

To make you all a little bit curious...my LO for this weeks Dutch Dare was inspired by this painting:

Collage on Canvas

For the 80st birthday of my father in law I made this collage on 30x30 cm canvas; inspired by techniques seen in the collage discovery books of Claudine Hellmuth.

When you click on her books in the sidebar you will be redirected to her website and have a look at her art. These books are an absolute must for everyone who plays with paper and scissors... great and mostly easy to do techniques can be found in these books.














I used 3 layers of patterned paper, Golden gel medium, masking tape, Amsterdam acrylic paint, paper kitchen towels, a transparancy and and a printed inkjet photo. and notice the little Hambly touch on the left....

I am not suprised at all...........

You are The Fool

The Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. The bag on the staff indicates that he has all he need to do or be anything he wants, he has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning. But the card carries a little bark of warning as well. Stop daydreaming and fantasising and watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I have tarot cards at home... and I used to draw one card each day... and guess which card I drew 7 out of 10 times?.....
I stopped reading the cards because I got too nervous of it....

Retrospective #5 & Dutch Dare #2

What a busy week I've had.... but not busy with work thank god!
Last Sunday we had the first DT meeting of Memory Lane. It was so fun to meet all the girls in real life.. also a bit strange because you already have the feeling you know them because we had some online meetings on MSN before.

Anyway for the DT meeting we agreed to make a circle journal; we had to make 8 introduction pages about ourselves to give to the other DT members on Sunday... Well.. what can I say. There were only 3 girls who finished them all...and surprise suprise.. I wasn't one of them hihi!
When everybody is done we will all have a book with different pages from all the DT members. A fun idea!

I have also been working on the 2nd Dutch Dare! Also a last minute project of course.. but with a great outcome. Check out www.dutchdares.blogspot.com or click on the blinkie in my sidebar to see what this weeks dare is about and all the LO's of the other DT members. Feel free to play along with these dares. Everyone can play and there is a RAK involved!

For the Retrospective Challenge #5 I made the following LO:



Check out the website of Nat to see all the beautiful interpretations of this challenge. And if you are not already playing along, you should definitely do so. These challenges are such a great way to use your old pictures.. and they also give the opportunity for some reflection haha...I mean.. I feel really good looking at this LO... wow.. these summers in Playa d'Aro were GREAT!

Wedding LO's continued

On the pictures; the band which I arranged for our party! The band members are all friends from my husband, with some of them he plays regularly.
Check out his website to listen to some music samples!
It was supposed to be a surprise for my husband that his friends would play at our wedding but unfortunately I was stupid enough to forward an email to him from the manager of the partylocation in which we also spoke about the band...
Only a few weeks ago I told one of the band members that my husband already knew about it... HA.. and they were thinking he was sooooooooooo surprised!

Look.....

... what I found in my mailbox!



An early Chrismas greeting card!
I saw it in the gallery on 2peas and left a comment that my mailbox would really enjoy this card!
Thank you very much Luv_My_Boyz! I love this card!!!!!!

Good news for Dutch Scrappers!

Have you been drooling all over the beautiful LO's made with Hambly that you have seen on sites like 2 peas in a bucket? Be sure to check out this link to see all the pieces of art created with Hambly!

Now is your chance to create such wonderful LO's yourself!
From now on you can order all your beautiful Hambly papers and overlays @ Memory Lane Scrapbooking!!!
So have a look and order some for yourself... and be sure to act quickly... I have a gut feeling that they will be sold out in no time!

Have fun scrapping and if you like you can send your creation to Memory Lane... your LO might be published on the website's gallery!

THE SECRET....

..... is online!!!!

Go check it out! HURRY!!!

Everybody likes secrets....

.....so if you are a curious person take a look here and leave a comment

Placed myself in my mom's shoes...

Patterned Paper Challenge # 16 - Like father like son

I just love how this LO turned out. The challenge was to create a striped background of several patterned papers. I had great difficulty combining papers this week. My first try is now staring at me from the garbage bin beneath my scraptable.... This is my 2nd try and I love it!

On the picture you see my husband and his father (who is nearly 80 years old!!!).
I printed out some characteristics that they share and glued them vertically to the bottom of the page as opposite to the horizontally placed "strips".
I guess I am not supposed to tell you this but my husband almost had tears in his eyes when I showed him this LO...hihi...

Patterned Paper Challenge # 9

This is a LO I did for the Patterned Paper Challenges, based on the 2nd book of Ali Edwards. Check them out and play along; they are fun! You can also play if you do not have the book. You can scrap about any subject you like, it is only about the use of patterned papers. Since I started these challenges I use them differently than I did before.

I am actually a bit late posting this one. I already had it done for quite a while, but lately I am not too active on posting... just scrapping and brainstorming with the new designteam! I am enjoying this a lot! We are making big plans which I cannot reveal yet but it will be a lot of fun! Great to see that when you come together in a group great things can happen!!

I also made a LO for the November Challenge for the Memory Lane Scrapbooking DT. Go check it out on the MLS website; it will not be posted here on my blog!

Hope everybody had a great weekend! I am bit tired since I went to several museums last night; it was the annual !Amsterdam Museumnight , with 40 museums / cultural institutions participating and opening until 02.00 AM on Sunday Morning. Take a look at my Dutch blog for some pictures.

I hope everybody has a good start for the coming week tomorrow! Back to work..blehhh

Diego & Frida - Art Inspiration Challenge How Dare You # 9

When I saw the latest challenge on the Aussie Challenge Blog How dare you I immediately ran to my bookshelf to grab one of the several FRIDA KAHLO books I have collected in the last few years.

My love for her art started during my time at the university (I studied Latin American history, culture & literature for 5 years) and has only grown since.
Last year I saw her work in London in TATE MODERN in real life and by standing in front of some of the painting my eyes just filled with tears. Not only because of the beauty and the craftsmanship of the paintings, but also because you just "feel" her paintings and experience all her suffering.....
Difficult to explain.... Just LOVE her work
Follow the links to find out more about her life and work.

The painting that I used for the Art Inspiration Challenge is only 13 x 8 centimeters big. It is definitely not my favorite Kahlo painting but it immediately gave me inspiration for the LO I made of me and my husband.
The text accompanying this painting in the exhibition catalogue reads as follows:
"In Diego and Frida Kahlo paints half of her own face and half of Rivera's joined together, suggesting that neither one is whole without the other. Yet, although they are portrayed as two halves of the same being, the parts are uncomfortably matched and therefore remain distinct from one another."
(ed. Emma Dexter & Tanya Barson;2005; Frida Kahlo; page 64.)

In my LO I added words that express dualism; like day vs night; male vs female. So the journaling says what Frida wanted to say with her painting.
The title I used is from an old Eurythmics album..

Elsie Challenge #10

Fase 1 was fun... but nothing happened.. so now we move on the fase 2 and hopefully fase 3!

UPDATE 10/27/06:I think I should have given some extra information.... we are not yet making the baby... for me that would be "fase 3". For now we are both being checked if everything "works" the way it should work..LOL!
And the container you see on the picture is for my husband.. do I need to explain further?

A busy week

Last week was one of the busiest weeks of the year at work. We had to pack and ship all the orders that we received on the London Edge Trade Show.

Anyway, I still managed to do some scrapping.
You can see my first challenge for the
MLS Design Team posted here. The challenge was to let a cd cover inspire you for a LO. I more or less just lifted it....

On the LO you see me and Michiel looking towards a Cenote. If you want an experience you will never forget... book a holiday to Mexico and do a snorkeling tour in these cenotes. We have been swimming and snorkeling in cenotes on private land from old Maya families. This was soooo cool (actually.. the water was freezing!) and I can recommend it to everybody. Just have a look at the Cenote link for more info.

I made a LO for Francine (one of the DT members of MLS), who was celebrating her birthday last tuesday. I thought it was kind of difficult to make a LO for somebody you've never met but I'm pleased with the result.




Yesterday I went to a "goodbye party" of an ex colleague of mine. We have worked at the same company for a few years and yesterday it was her turn to say goodbye and to enjoy her new job.
I made this LO for her



A lot of other people from the company had made a LO for her.. and it was fun to see that there is scrapper in everybody; some of them had done a wonderful job cutting, pasting and journaling. So she left a big book full of memories!

Also some dissapointing news to share... I just bought Heidi Swapps new rolling stamps (date and year version).... and to be honest... it looks great but it is hard to use!
The rolling mechanism to switch the dates is soo hard to move that my thumb is numb now. I also have a rolling letter stamp from Making Memories and I have no problem whatsoever with the rolling mechanism... it turns without forcing it too much. I just hate when this happens. You unpack it, want to use, are feeling all happy... and then.. dissapointment because it is not working the way it should be working.

And apparently I should have read
this thread before I bought them...