AAM Challenge #8: My guilty pleasure

Already the 8th challenge on the AAM-blog...and up till now I managed to do them all! I bought a new album, especially for all my All About Me-layouts. Not only to create an album only about me, but also to separate these layouts from the rest, because they can be quite personal sometimes. Of course, I post them on my blog but showing them in real life to family and friends is much more difficult!
This challenge was about my guilty pleasure:
Almost everyone has a guilty pleasure - - what's that one thing that you can't resist it makes you feel guilty? To me it is scrapbooking! I am so addicted that I realy NEED to scrap, if possible every day. It gives me so much pleasure to do this but it also makes me feel guilty...when my kids want to play a game with me and I say: no, I want to do some scrapping now! Or when the laundry isn't done and my husband needs to iron his own shirts before he can go to work (although he always says it is ok by him, whatever makes me happy! Isn't that sweet?!).I'm still trying to find some balance in all this. But honest..if I could I would scrap the whole day!
Here is my layout:

I used a painting technique from the Collage Unleashed book I recently bought.

I dripped two different colors of acrylic paint on my cardstock and just scraped it with an old creditcard. The difficulty is to know when to stop scraping across the paint because it will blend too much than. It didn't turn out the way I wanted for 100%, but I think 90% will do!

I hope you like it.

This is also my last blogpost for 2009. I had a great year and if I look back I'm more than satisfied. We moved to a beautiful home, I started this blog in March and it has brought me so much. How about my membership to the Kaisercraft Digital Creative Team? And I have won some prizes in challenges! And lots more of good things happened!!

 So I hope and pray that 2010 will be only as good as 2009 and than it is ok by me.

Happy new year to all of you!!!

Sandra

Special AAM Challenge: Inner Peace

The All About Me blog is having a special challenge this month:
How do you find peace? In those moments where you feel your heart racing and your mind filling with too much information - how do you get refocused? What makes you feel the calmest? What triggers that emotion of serenity and quietness? Scrapbook it and use a bird as imagery.
Here is my layout for this challenge:

Behind the picture is some hidden journaling on a tag:

As you can read in the journaling...I love it when there is nothing but silence around me. With three kids running around the house, screaming, yelling or laughing, the TV on most of the times, the telephone ringing etc. I just enjoy the silence...While scrapping I think of all the things swirling through my brain and make sure they 'are stored in the right place in my head'....my way of refocussing!

I tried to scrap the silence by using lots of white and a picture of a silent spot...snow in the park with no one there.

Sandra

Creative Scrappers #83: SnOw CUTE!

Here is my take on the latest sketch at Creative Scrappers, #83:

I used my glimmermist again with a swirl mask from Tim Holtz and I stitched some sequins on my layout to add some bling bling.

I hope you like it!

Sandra

Pencil Lines sketch #166: Snow girl

Another week started so another sketch was up at Pencil Lines. I made a digital layout this time, with some fresh pictures of my cute little Laura, who experienced her first snow last week. And she got lots of snow!!

Funny detail: I used..of course..a digital kit from Kaisercraft, the Hideaway-kit. This kit wasn't meant for snow pictures at all, I think, but it had all those lovely snowflake shaped 'stars' on it and some cool grey blue paper. So I left out all the yellow in the kit and all the curly things and the birds etc. I just added some pink and white rhinestones from another kit. I love how it has turned out!

Happy scrapping!

Sandra

More snow!

After all the snow on Thursday we had more snow today...lots of snow! About 20cm I guess!
It is a chaos on the roads in the Netherlands, airports are closed, trains and busses don't go, weathermen warn everybody to stay at home etc. But here at home we had fun!
We haven't seen so much snow in years!! The snow this morning was not sticky enough, but we could have our snowballfight again. The snow that came later today was much better and we made three snowmen!!
Here are some pictures.

My backyard:

View from my kitchenwindow:

The girls:

And the snowmen:

 

I read that the chances of having a white Christmas this year are 80% !!

Sandra

One word each week!

I told you before how I admire mixed media artist Traci Bautista and scrapping artist Ronda Palazzari. These girls inspired me to start this mini-album. The idea for the mini-album came from Ronda. She made one herself with the theme TIME. Every week she scrapped a photo based on this theme, using one simple formula. I loved it! You can read all about it here. I decided to make one too, although not based on one theme..I'm not so good at that...so I decided I wanted to scrap one picture each week by using one word, starting in the first week in 2010. The album needed a back and front of course and Traci inspired me for these. I used her digital papers and printed the parts that I liked on white cardstock. I cut the printed papers in smaller pieces and collaged a piece of chipboard in the size of the album. I used decoupage glue for this. It was a sticky mess while working with it, because I used also my fingers to spread the glue and get rid of all the bubbles and curly edges. So, don't try this with small kids around! It is hard to correct them with glue all over your hands and on the table...
This is the front and back on the outside:

And this is on the inside:

I can't wait to start filling the album!

And I got so inspired while doing this, wondering how she created all these funky, colorful designs that I bought her book yesterday:

I hope it is here before Christmas!

Have a nice day.

Sandra

Pencil Lines sketch #165: Girls

After the funky, graffity papers from Traci Bautista and a couple of digital layouts I scrapped retro! I got these Blooming Retro papers from Prima in the scrapkit from Scrapfever. Got them already in October but had no inspiration how to use them..untill this week! The papers fit prefectly for sketch #165 at Pencil Lines. The colors and the scalloped borders everywhere on the papers were just what I needed. My layout almost made it self, no brainwork required...

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Sandra

New digital Kaisercraft kit: Loire Valley

Kaisercraft released their newest digital kit this week. I made two layouts for this kit, but had to wait untill they published mine on their blog before I could show them here.
Today they did! Please take a look here and find out all about my layouts! In the first one are a lot of hidden techniques and you can read all about it.
This is the first:

And this is the second:

Have a nice day!

Sandra

Snow!

This morning when we woke up we found out that everything outside was covered with a thick layer of snow! About 7 cm! Most of the times when we have snow it is gone in a few hours and leaves nothing but a muddy, brown grey mess. Today it is still freezing..only a little bit..but enough to make sure the snow stays where it is. When it normally takes a lot of 'hurry up!'s and 'come on, you will be too late!'s to get the kids out of bed and ready for school...this morning they were up, completely dressed, had breakfast, brushed their teeths etc. in 15 minutes!!! So they had almost 30 minutes to play in the snow before they had to go to school. Of course, I wanted to join them (I didn't have a chance to eat my breakfast yet), so we were having a snowball-fight at 7.30 am !!! It was still dark outside...

Later this morning I realy wanted to go out and shoot some nice pictures. So I decided to go to the old castle here in the neighbourhood. It also has a big, beautiful garden. An no cars or houses etc. to disturb a realy good picture! My mom loved to go with me and Laura so we had a very nice walk there.

I shot a lot of pictures and wish I could show them all...but here a some:

Laura enjoyed her first meeting with the snowy world too!

And doesn't she look cute?!

She learned how to make and throw snowballs this morning...Mommy, catch!!

At these times it is great being a full time mom and not having to go to work or get stuck in traffic with this beautiful weather!

Sandra

Creative Scrappers: sketch #82

After all the digital scrapping I wanted to do some traditional paperscrapping this time. ( Yes, Sandra...I still do this...just like to switch now and than!). I made sketch #82 for Creative Scrappers.
Here it is:

I used my digital papers from Traci Bautista again. Love to work with these! I just print the parts that I want. I love the collage pattern with all the circles and lines, funky skratching with paint and the stamped bubble-plastic (is that how it is called in english??). This time I repeated the blue stamped bubbles in green. I sew over the printed stitches to make it all more 3D and added some rhinestones. I arranged some buttons on my layout and sprayed some graphite glimmermist. After removing the buttons I colored the circles with my souffle-pen and a black marker.

And if you knew that my printer has to come out of the bottom of my cupboard, that I have to connect all the cables each time, that I had to get my sewing machine from upstairs, connect it all, that I had to wait till the glimmermist and the paint was dry....This layout took a lot of time but you hardly see it! (Now you understand why I would love to have my own little scrapcorner..or room!...where I can have it all nearby...)

Have a nice day!

Sandra

Creative Scrappers #81: Pretty in Pink

Just like I'm following the Pencil Lines blog for a while now, I have also been following the Creative Scrappers blog for some time, another sketch-blog. I thought I might as well send in my take on their sketch, #81.
Here it is:

It is a digital layout again. I love digi-scrapping more and more! Especially now Laura doesn't want to do her nap in the afternoon anymore...Most days I do about everything to get her to sleep because |I need these two hours of peace so much. It mostly turns out to a half-an-hour 'fight' before she finally sleeps.

Today I decided to go with the flow and try scrapping while having her around me. And than digi-scrapping is the perfect way...no papers, scissors, pencils and knifes lying around for her. Just me and my computerfiles! This layout is the result of my complete Saturday...and I baked some muffins with the kids too! I'm pretty satisfied with this layout!

Sandra

Pencil Lines sketch #164

Pencil Lines is having Kaisercraft's creative director Melissa Kennedy as their guest designer this month. Well, than I couldn't stay away, right?
Here is my layout with sketch #164. I used the digital kit Argentella from Kaisercraft for this one:

The journaling is a part of the lyrics of a song of Ilse de Lange, one of my favourite singers.

I took this picture a while ago, while holding the camera on my stretched arm. It turned out pretty ok!

Sandra

AAM Challenge #7: Processing the holidays

Already the 7th challenge at the All About Me blog. This time..of course...it is about Christmas and the times and traditions that go with it:
As the holidays begin to settle in, this time of year always brings up unique emotions for each of us. Whether they be happy and joy-filled or memories that bring sorrow and grief. Maybe there is a mixture of both! For our first challenge prompt in December, we want you to process your holiday memories through a layout and focus on your journaling. I realize that this may come very difficult to some and that is why this site exists. To challenge you and to allow to "go there".
To be honest..I'm not into Christmas at all! I like the beginning of December, when we celebrate the typical dutch tradition on the 5th: the birthday of 'Sinterklaas' (the dutch Santa). After that day everybody is getting ready for Christmas. Sometimes I feel if complete neighbourhoods have a contest for the best (read: over the top!) decorated house. People are shopping all the time to buy the most expensive christmaspresents, preparing for the best christmas dinner. Finally the home made Christmas cards can be sent. (I still don't understand these cardmakers, which start in July making their Christmas cards...sorry...). So much expectations and social obligations these days!
Every year, by the time it is finally Christmas, I feel like I want to lock myself up with Mike and the kids and do nothing all day...just relax with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book. Of course, this has a lot to do with all the extra working hours of my hubby in this month...
Still I try to make the best out of it every December, just to create happy Christmas memories for the kids. I decorate the house, daddy buys a tree with them and I decorate it with them. We buy some extra presents (like if they haven't been spoiled on the 5th allready!), we have a nice Christmasdinner. We make Christmas decorations. I prepare something for their Christmasdinner at school. I make some more time to play games with them, etc.
This 'double feeling' is what I tried to express with my layout. If you look at it you see happy pictures, surrounded by happy colors. If you look closer and read the journaling at the sides of the layout, you read my real Christmas feeling!
And last but not least: this month sponsor at AAM is Ronda Palazzari. I didn't know her yet but after I saw her work and her blog I was a fan! Go check it out! So I scraplifted one of her layouts!
And...all the black lines are handstitched...
Here is my layout:

 I hope you like it!

Sandra

Sketches at Pencillines.com #162 and #163

I started following the sketchblog Pencillines a few weeks ago. I love all the inspiration that can be found here! When I saw sketch #162 I decided to use this for the new digital kit Flutterby at Kaisercraft. They provide also a digital template of the sketch, which makes digital scrapping so much easier.
Here is my layout:

Every Sunday there is a new sketch at Pencillines. Yesterday I made the newest one, #163, with the Jingles digital kit from Kaisercraft:

Cute, isn't it?

Sandra

AAM Challenge #6: My mark

Finally....I made my layout for the challenge at the All About Me blog. You always have two weeks to make the challenge and the new challenge already starts tomorrow! So I'm just in time! I made a lot of layouts last week (four!) but I cannot show them because I have to wait till Kaisercraft publishes them...and some of these will not be published before January...
But here is my take on the sixth challenge at AAM. This was the challenge:
We all have a mark. We all leave a mark. And these marks say something about us all. Do you have a scar or tattoo or birthmark? Is it in a fun place? Does it make you happy or does it bring up sad memories? Have you left your mark on someone else? Someplace else? Well, we want to hear all about it. The good. The bad. The happy. The sad. Tell us about your mark and what it says about you!

And this is my layout:

The paper is a part of the digital papers I bought a while ago on Etsy.com. It's from Tracy Bautista. I printed it and used it as an inspiration for my layout. I had some black sort of lace cut plastic (don't know how it is called..sorry!) which was also on the paper, so I used this. I added some extra circles with black and blue paint. I also created a felt heart, stamped some paint on it with bubble plastic and did some stitching.

Because the pictures of our tattoos were not that good I used them in a small size on the layout.

By the way, this was a quick layout for me. I forced myself not to think too long about every step and just glued everything down. It turned out ok, I think!

Sandra

Searching for some 'good feeling'..?!

I'm not such a music fan..I just don't listen to it that much and most of the time I prefer the silence. But sometimes....there are songs that make you feel so good, everytime you listen to them! And it gets even better when there is a nice clip to go with it on You Tube...

I love flashmobs and really would like to 'experience' one!!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do everytime!

Sandra

Beautiful Dreamer

Kaisercraft released a new digital kit today, called Elegance.

If your curious, go check it out on their blog.

This is the layout I made with it:

Sandra

Hybrid scrapping: cards

I'm glad I can show you some cards I made last week! I made these for the Kaisercraft CT, just like some digital layouts but I can't show you these yet.

The cards are 'hybrid', which means that I printed elements of the digital kit and mixed these with traditional scrapping supplies, like cardstock, buttons, ribbon and rhinestones. I used the Rustic Charm digital kit. The colors and the style of this kit are not really my favourites but I think I managed to make some pretty cards!

If you would like to know how I made them, please check the Kaisercraft blog!

Sandra

AAM-Challenge #5: I just can't live without...

I had done a lot of digital scrapping lately, so I really wanted to do the 5th challenge at AllAboutMe ...with scissors, glue etc...just traditional scrapping! While I was working on my layout I realized again that traditional scrapping is so much more difficult. No mistakes allowed, no resizing, no deleting, no trying out....Ok, I'll be honest...the layout which I had in my head turned out completely different because I was too quick using my glue...

For this challenge you had to scrap something you can't live without. Of course, the answers that pop up first are my family and friends, fresh air, water, etc. But I choose to think a little bit further and I realized I couldn't live without my daily 'Me'-time...time to do what I want, time to be alone with my thoughts. Being just me, not a mom or a wife or whatever. I made a picture of the things I prefer to do in my Me-time and scrapped these...I didn't feel like scrapping another picture of me..sorry...

Nice detail: the sponsor of the challenges in November is Nikki Sivils, so I thought it would be fun to use some papers of Nikki Sivils Boo-tiful collection. I love the colors in this range!

Here is my layout:

I hope you like it!

Sandra

It's my party

Another layout with a digital kit from Kaisercraft: Partytime!
I have to give some credit to Janis, because I scraplifted one of her layouts. Please, check her blog. She makes such great things.

Here is mine:

Because there were no flowers and bling bling in this digi-kit, I took these from the free available Tag This-kit and recolored the flowers.
Happy scrapping!

Sandra

Wild thing

I finished another layout this week..this time with the Rough and Tough-digikit from Kaisercraft.

This kit is made for boys originally....stubborn as I am, I asked myself: Why only for boys? Let's try and use it with a girl in the picture. That is to say: my tough daughter Danique! A 100% girl with a certain attitude...

This is my layout:

Kaisercraft featured this layout on their blog today and I got some great comments.

And if you want to start digi-scrapping...Kaisercraft is having a digital super sale! 50% off everything, untill Friday! Go check it out here !

Sandra

Fly on the wings of love

This is a digital layout I made for the Saturday Sketches at the Kaisercraft blog.

I used their digital kits 'Bloom' and the 'Distressed Alphabet' brushes. The pretty young thing in the picture is Laura at the age of one, flying on daddy's arms!

Sandra

Dream...

Finally I can show you my layout I sent in for my application for the Digital Team at Kaisercraft. You already could see a sneek peak this week.
It is an hybrid layout. Hybrid scrapping is the combination of traditional scrapping and digital scrapping by using elements from a digital scrapkit on an normal paper layout.
For this layout I printed the 'BOYZ'-wordart from the kit, cut it out and used it as a mask for my glimmermist. I also printed parts of all the digital papers and the title-letters. I covered some wooden stars with the patterned paper.
Before I printed the photo I photoshopped it a little bit. I finished the layout by using staples, stitches, brads and my black marker. I love hybrid scrapping!



Here it is:


I hope you like it!

Sandra

I won! And I won again...and blogcandy!

After the good news about being chosen in the Digital Creative Team of Kaisercraft I felt so happy! I'm still smiling!

But it got better and better this week...I also won the monthly challenge at Kaisercraft! And so I had to choose which collection-pack of the Q2-range I would like to receive as a prize...of course, since the release of the Q2-papercollections I was totally in love with the Rewind-collection, so this wasn't a difficult choice!

And it got even better....yesterday I found out that I won the challenge of October at the All About Me-blog! I won an online PDF-class from Kara Haupt about how to write down your life story. I'm very curious about this prize!

And last but not least.... Carrin is giving away some amazing blogcandy! Be sure to check her blog...she is inspiring me so much. Maybe she can inspire you too?

This is her blogcandy:

Sandra

Kaisercraft Digital Creative Team

I have some big exciting news to share with you....I was chosen to be one of the 11 members of Kaisercraft's Digital Creative Team!!!

Yes, that's right: Digital...If you followed my blogposts recently you know that I started digi-scrapping a few weeks ago. About a week ago I sent in my layout for the digital challenge at the Kaisercraft-blog. They liked it so much and invited me to apply for the digital creative team. The deadline was last Friday and I had to send in two layouts, one about me and one of my best work. I had to create both layouts last week because my 'digital portfolio' isn't that big yet.

This is the layout 'about me':

I don't know if I can show the other layout now because it hasn't been published by Kaisercraft yet...but I can give you a sneek peak:

I'm so excited to be part of this creative team! Please check the Kaisercraft blog and read more about the team! I can hardly believe my name is in the same list...

Have a nice day!

Sandra

Online card class

The All About Me-blog is offering a free online card class on their messageboard this week. I'm not a great cardmaker so this is exactly what I needed.

This first card was pretty easy to make, with great results!

This is my card:

The picture is not showing the acetate on the right side of the card. (Believe me, it is there!)

The purple patterned paper is on the inside of the card, showing through the acetate.

I used the scraps of one of my favourite Kaisercraft-collections, the Airy Fairy-papers.

The quote is a rub-on, also from Kaisercraft. The butterfly is a clearstamp from Basic Grey which I decorated with rhinestones (from Kaisercraft of course..) and some silver beads.

I hope you like it!

Sandra

AAM Challenge #4: Turning Point

The second October challenge at AllAboutMe was to scrap about the turning point in your life.

A moment your life changed, even if you didn't realize it at the moment. It can be something small, a big event, a choice you made that influenced your life and had a huge impact.

Well, my turning point wasn't that difficult! We decided to move to Sweden in 2006 and intended to stay there forever.... We sold our house in the Netherlands, bought a new one in Sweden (which is on the picture of my layout!).We ended our jobs and started our own company in Sweden. Mitchell and Danique had to say goodbye to their friends and schoolmates and went to a normal swedish school, not knowing what to expect, not speaking swedish or english at all! It was one big adventure!

Unfortunately, I got homesick....in combination with a lot of setbacks and realizing that the life we lived in Sweden wasn't what we had in mind...and we decided to go back to the Netherlands!

(Which was 100 times more difficult than our decision to move to Sweden..)

Anyway...this is a long story and I will not bore you with that.

But it is a fact that this Sweden-adventure changed my life forever! It didn't only make me stronger, it learnt me a lot about myself! Before this turning point I was never satisfied with the things I had. When we bought a house I wanted to move to a bigger house after a while. When I had a setback in my job, I immediately started searching for an other job. I tried to be the perfect mother and wife. Michael was working so hard, at irregular times and we didn't have time for eachother at all. We thought moving to Sweden would bring us a quiet life in a beautiful country (not as crowded as the Netherlands), no commitments to employers, spending more time together, etc.

Now, three years later we still are looking back a it as a great adventure. No regrets at all! It was a good thing that we went to Sweden, but also a good thing to go back! And this is also what the journaling on my layout is about: we appreciate the little thing so much more. Being healthy, happy and doing the things that you love, is all that matters!

So, this is my layout....

I sort of mixed two styles...wanted to try something different...A little bit of vintage in combination with bright happy colors.

And for those who love details: the title is made of chipboard covered with paper from an old swedish book (Shakespeare!) I bought at a swedish 'loppis' (sort of garage sale) this summer. Because the paper was very thin and fragile I covered the letters with some paperglaze.

The journaling tab is hidden behind the picture.

Have a nice day!

Sandra

I can't stop smiling!

It started as a morning like always...after the kids were in school I started up my computer, read my emails and started reading my favourite blogs. And than I read THIS ! (You have to scroll down a little bit...)

I'm sorry but I can't stop smiling...

Have a nice day!
Sandra

Puzzle me

I promised to show you my paper scrapping layout I made this week. I made it for the DT-Call for AllAboutMe. I didn't make it to the DT unfortunately but I didn't expect to either because I have still so much to learn as a scrapper.

This is my layout:

The title and journaling are from a song of Ilse De Lange, one of my favourite singers. Right after I heard this song for the first time I wanted to make a layout with this title.

So here it is!

Sandra