Award!

Look what I got! A Sunshine Award! Which is so useful when you look outside my window right now....I can use a little sunshine, even if it is digital...

I got it from Jolanda. So sweet! Thanks Jo!!!
The quote that goes with this award is: For bloggers who inspire others with their positivity and creativity!
I want to pass on this award to:
Sandra, my biggest fan and I'm so glad we have become friends now too.
Rebekah, a late birthday present and thanks for all the inspiration during the bloghop.
Jenneke, for all the colorful inspiration she gives me.
And to Janis, who is also such a great inspiration to me and because I all want you to check out her blog. She makes beautiful things!

Have a nice day!

Sandra

Saturday Sketch at Kaisercraft: my turn!

As I wrote in a previous blogpost Kaisercraft is having a sketch challenge every Saturday. For the digital fans is there a template, which can be downloaded for free.
This Saturday it was my turn to provide the template. I based it on a layout I made some time ago for the release of the Loire Valley digital kit. Of course, I made another layout too....because I needed to try out my own template! And it worked...
If you want to download the template, head on over to the Kaisercraft blog. Here are my layouts:

(Loire Valley digital kit)

(Candyshop digital kit)

Have a nice day!

Sandra

One Word Each Week: week 5 - 10

Here is an update for my One Word Each Week album, my own project 52 as it is also called. I showed you week 1 - 4 in February already.
Here is week 5 - 10:

Sandra

Update Saturday Sketches at Kaisercraft

Each Saturday is Sketch Saturday at Kaisercraft. There is a normal, traditional sketch to work with but the last few weeks we..that is the Digital CT...provide also a template. We make the template ourselves and the CT members create layouts to illustrate the blog entry.
Here is an update of my digital layouts for these sketches:

('Elegance' digital kit)

('Party Time' digital kit, combined with some elements from the 'Schooldays' kit)

('Camp Stoneybrook' digital kit and 'Flutterby' kit)

('Grunge' digital kit and a paper from the 'Candyshop' kit)

Saturday (March 27) will be my turn to provide the template for the Saturday Sketch.

Of course I already made it and I think it is a great template...my first template by the way...so be sure to check Kaisercraft's blog this Saturday! I would love to see your layout with this template!

Have a nice day!

Sandra

Sketchy thursdays #3.18...and a blind scrap!

Another sketch at Sketchy Thurdays...so another layout from me!
This is my fourth layout with my scrapkit from Scrapfever,made with the Sweet Love collection from Little Yellow Bicycle. I love these colors.
I stayed close to the sketch this time. Here is my entry:

The background paper was already full of prints so I didn't add extra papers, just embellishments.

I put some glossy accents on the flowers, added lots of rhinestones, some flowers and heart shaped brads and used my black marker.

Even the title (perfect for these pictures!) was already printed on the background! I just traced the pink letters with my black marker to make it stand out more.

While I'm writing this blog entry I remembered that I haven't shown you the third layout with these papers yet.

Funny detail is that I used the same pictures as above, only printed in landscape instead of portrait.

I made this layout for my first blind scrap at Scrapfever. Up till then I had never heard of blind scrapping and images of me, blindfolded, feeling my way around my scrapstuff, immediately popped up!

But no...blind scrapping means that you make a layout based on a description, only in words without any pictures as an example. No sketches, nothing! You get the sizes of the papers you need and a 'shoppinglist' which says 3 embellishments, one piece of ribbon, 4 flowers, etc. The description also tells you the number of required pictures, the size and if they need to be printed in portrait or landscape.

Unfortunately I don't have a decent working printer for photo's so I always print them at a direct printservice here in the neighborhood. And because I'm known as 'stubborn'..sorry...I printed my pictures for the blind scrap in landscape, while portrait was required. Of course, I printed them in portrait too, just in case...

The blind scrap was a funny thing to do...lots of reading..over and over again, figuring out what piece belongs where and which had to be on top etc. I tried to make a sketch how the layout must look, before I even cut my papers. And...yes, stubborn as I am...sorry...I flipped the sketch 180 degrees before I started working with it! And when the description says 'vertical'...well, than is a little bit diagonal also ok, right?! 

This is my layout:

I wish I could show you some of the other layouts but of course, that is not possible.

I loved doing this blind scrap. Next month will there be another one at Scrapfever so hop on over and join us!

Have a nice day.

Sandra

Rebekah's Birthday Blog Bash has started!

Hello everyone!

Finally it is time...Rebekah's Birthday Blog Bash has started!
First I would like to congratulate Rebekah with her 33rd birthday this weekend...but that is not all...It is a double party because my sweetest son Mitchell is also having his 12th birthday this weekend!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MITCHELL AND REBEKAH!!!!

Now, let's go on with the party....HOP! HOP! HOP!
For the readers who join this bloghop for the first time via my blog: the bloghop started at the blog of Rebekah Friday night at 7 PM. She kicked things of with her blogpost with a nice project. At the bottom of her post you will be directed to the next blog in this bloghop. There you will find another idea, project, giveaway or challenge and of course, lots of inspiration! Again, on the bottom of this blogpost you will be directed to the next blog and so on.
In total will there be 36 blogs participating in the bloghop: four on Friday, starting at 7pm. On Saturday morning sixteen blogs will kick off again at 8am and again sixteen on Sunday morning. So you have plenty of time to visit all blogs and get inspired!
In case you get lost, Rebekah will also update her blog each time with an introduction about the persons who's blog has gone live and remind you of the blog address you need. She will also tell you if there's a giveaway associated with the blog.
And don't forget: the great thing about blogs is that the ideas, tutorials and challenges will be there for ages and ages so you can pop back over any time! If you can't join in this weekend, please come along some other time and have a look at what's been going on. 
 
Now we have had all this talking about the bloghop...it is time to party!
What do I have in mind for you? How about a challenge????
Because it is also my son's 12th birthday this weekend I thought I'd like to do a comic inspired challenge.
My son Mitchell is a big fan of comics, especially Donald Duck. He reads them over and over again, everywhere and always..ok...when he is not gaming on his Playstation or Wii...
So, for this challenge I would like you to get inspired by comics: the little text balloons, the big SPLASH! or WOW! or BOOM! letters, the colors or just the tiny stripes to express movement...anything!
 
Here is my comic inspired layout:
 

I even edited my picture in PSE with an artistic filter to make it match my layout more.

And how about this card?
 

And don't you just love this layout from Rebekah?!!!

When I told her about my challenge she couldn't wait and created this cute layout in no time.

Way to go, Rebekah!! You rock, girl!!

So, I would love to see what you create, inspired by comics.

You have until April 15th (before Midnight) to link up your creations in the comment section of this entry. If you don't have a blog you can also email me a picture of your work at sandravandergeest@gmail.com. 

And this is my prize for the winner:

A gorgeous vintage kit, filled with lots of flowers, buttons, ribbons, lace, tags, rhinestones, 4 pieces of 6x6 doublesided papers and 3 journaling papers.

The winner will be picked by MY OWN PERSONAL RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR, which is my son Mitchell ;-)  and the result will be posted on my blog on April 18th.

Good luck to all of you! And eh....don't get stuck in reading all those comics!!! They are just to inspire you!! ;-)

Wel, enough about me...it is time to link you to the next blog in this great Birthday Blog Bash.

Thanks for stopping here, feel free to get inspired some more, to come back or to contact me.

Please say hello to Ifa Zainon !!!

Sandra

Some Jillibean projects.

I have wanted to show you my projects I made with the White Bean collection from Jillibean Soup for a long time. I made these projects especially for their DT-call. Now the deadline is over I think I can show you my layout, two cards and a pimped chocolatebox.
Here is my layout:

As you can see...lots of quilling again! The colors and patterns of the papers and the picture made me think about spring so I quilled lots of daisies and some dandelions.

I also made two cards:

Aren't these cute? I was never very fond of frogs..now I love fogs!

And how about this pimped chocolatebox??

I quilled a little jumping frog with a crown to decorate the top of the box.

The text on the inside says: You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince!

I filled the box with lots of candy frogs. Did you notice his little crown between all those candy frogs?!

Sandra

Sketchy Thursdays # 3.11: Double Trouble

A short blogpost today...I'm in a hurry...so here is the sketch for last week's challenge at Sketchy Thursdays:

And here is my layout:

I used the Bella Blvd papers again. I love how the little hearts 'fly off the paper', but still I'm not 100% satisfied. I listened to my hubby...he didn't like the white background I had in mind first, so I changed it to  brown one. Was he right ? Or should I have kept the white one? Let me know!

Sandra

Sketch at Jillibean...and some sneak peeks!

Finally I can show you something again. I haven been scrapping a lot last week but I cannot show you all of my projects yet....I wish I could...
At the blog of Jillibean was a sketch last Friday. Yesterday I found some time to work with it and thought I'd challenge myself by making a card. Here is the sketch:

And this is my card:

I love the combination of red, yellow, green en black!

As you might have read in my previous blogpost I'm participating in a bloghop this weekend (19 and 20 March). I will be doing a challenge so make sure you hop to my blog to read all about it!

Here is a little sneak peek:

Does this make you curious? Good!

And last but certainly not least I have some great news!

I am chosen to be one of the 40 guestdesigners in April at Creative Scrappers . They will be having lots of festivities because of their second anniversary, starting on the first of April.

Here is a sneak peek of my layout for them:

Have a nice day!

Sandra

You're invited!!

When:   19th and 20th March

Time:    7pm GMT

Where:  the bloghop will start here.

What:    Rebekah is celebrating her 33rd birthday with a Birthday Blog Bash.

A bloghop with 33 blogs to visit, to get inspired, with challenges and giveaways!

I will be participating in this bloghop also with a fun challenge and a great prize for the winner.

I hope to see you then!

Do you like it?

I pimped my blog today! While I was bloghopping I found Sweet Shoppe Designs, a nice shop with lots of digital scrapping stuff. Curious as I am, I looked around of course, with no intention to buy something...just searching for inspiration (lol)...and than I saw this amazing Blog in a Box concept. This was completely new to me since I haven't done much attempts for pimping my blog, except for the easy, almost standard templates. With this Blog in a Box design I could make my blog a little bit more personal and unique...so that is what I've been up to all morning! The download comes with a complete tutorial but somehow I didn't copy the right URL's and I managed to delete my list of favorite blogs. The first problem was solved after putting my computer aside, do some real shopping (we gotta eat, right?) and try again. The second problem wasn't that difficult only it took me a lot of time to copy and paste all the URL's again.
So I did it... I'm pretty proud of myself because I hate it when things don't do what they are supposed to be doing....I would love to hear what you think of my blog's new look!

Sandra

Sketchy Thursdays goes digital! (Sketch #3.4)

Yesterday was Thursday so it was time for a new sketch reveal at Sketchy Thursdays. And this week the DT went digital! Although I'm not their GDT any longer I still love to work with their sketches of course. I hadn't done a digital layout for some time so this was the perfect moment to start again!
Here is the sketch:

And here is my digital layout:

I used the Beach Glass digital kit from ScrapStreet.com and I loved this kit!!!

I really need to express my compliments to the designer of this kit. So much beautiful elements and I love the colors. And can you believe this kit is a freebee????

The kit had also an alphabet included. My intention, while making this layout, was to clip a paper to the title to make them stand out more, because the letters were the same color as the background. But when I placed the letters in my layout and added the dropshadow I loved the results. So I decided not to recolor them.

I'm so happy how it all turned out!

Sandra

Sketch challenge at Scrapfever: Pretty in Pink

The dutch forum Scrapfever is having a sketch challenge this month. This is the sketch:

And this is my layout:

I used the Sweet Love papercollection from Little Yellow Bicycle again. The tag on the right is a designer label from a shirt I bought for Danique a while ago.

The green ribbon with leaves was originally white but I glimmermisted these (colour Forrest Green), to make them more natural and because of the green in the picture.I found some small hot pink fabric roses in my stash to 'grow' on this twig.

The small flowers between the chipboardletters are made of Kaisercraft flowers.

The inspiration for the title and the rest of the chipboard letters came from Prima girl Ingvild Bolme. Of course, I couldn't make these just as gorgeous as she did but I'm satisfied...for now..

I hope you are too!

Sandra

GDT at Scrappassion this month

A new month has started so this means new challenges! It also means the reveal of my layout for my GDT-spot at Scrappassion this month. No sketch, no scraplift, no theme but 5 restrictions: 5 flowers, 4 stamps, 3 patterned papers, 2 pictures and a one word title! I love these kind of challenges!

So here is my layout:

And in case you start counting now to check if I didn't use too much:

The biggest flower on the left of the picture is cut out from the patterned paper. The stamps are the two swirls, the journaling box (in which I wrote You + Me=) and the little text 'You give me wings'. The rest speaks for itself!

I used the Sweet Love papercollection from Little Yellow Bicycle which I got in the latest scrapkit from Scrapfever.

I hope to show you another layout with this papercollection soon so stay tuned!

Sandra