Hey all,

It's time for a little reflection, I think. I've been busy yesterday and I'm waiting for more news about a certain event.

Scrapstudio
I've been working hard on my scrapstudio yesterday. I couldn't believe how much trash I've collected in one year time. It's very good that I had planned to rearrange everything. This forces me to clean up and throw away things that are really trash. And no, I'm not throwing away scrap supplies. I hang to these until, in a few years time, I have finally seen the light and discover that I don't these particular peft overs (*grin*).
Anyway, as I said in a previous post, I needed to move several things to other (shorter) shelves in my closet, because these things were weighing too much for the long shelves. I'm in the middle of that process now and it's going okay. I do need to find a proper place to store all my albums, though. Right now I'm keeping them all in the scrapcloset, but that's not an ideal solution. The shelve for those albums is full, so I need to look for something else....
During the move, I'm also moving embellishments from the vegetable jars into the new jars I have bought. I will keep the vegetable jars, though. You never know what they might come in handy for! I'm trying to arrange the embellishments by colors and sorts. I'm storing all the ribbons and fibers from one color into one jar. That way it's easy to find and I think the different shades of that one color do look very nice! There's so much left to do. I think I'll be busy with it this whole week every evening. Well, I do have to work in daytime, so unfortunately I can't work on my scrapstudio during the day........

Scrap-a-Ganza 2007
About two weeks ago we received a newsletter from the Scrap-a-Ganza team telling us they were really busy organizing the event for this year and that they hoped to have the site, including all the workshops, ready about the middle of last week. Scrap-a-Ganza is from June 1 up to June 3. It all begins Friday evening and it last until Sunday late in the afternoon (well, at least that was the case last year).
Those of use who have been to Scrap-a-Ganza previous editions have a week of pre-registration. That's awesome of course! But, we have to register AND PAY before March 15 to receive a registration gift. And this is not only thruth for the early birds, but also for all the others who want to come. So, right now we're living February 26, the site still isn't done and the registration deadline for the gift hasn't changed yet. How are they going to do that? If they're taking a really long time to finish the site, the ones who can't register now, won't even have a chance to register and pay in time for the gift. That's not fair!
I really hope they'll have the site up and running today or tomorrow and that they will extend the registration deadline. It's only fair to the others.
Anyway, Bianca and I are going. And my mom is coming too! Anyone of you going? It would be fun to actually see some people who read my blog. Let me know!

Commenting
Just in case I wasn't clear in one of my previous post. You CAN comment, but all comments have to wait for approval by me at the moment. Don't think I won't do it, 'cause I love getting comments, so I'll approve them and try to answer to all your comments! But it may take a few hours up to a day until your comment has been approved. If you have a Typekey identity, please sign with that and once you've finished your comment, please push "post" instead of "preview". That way I can set you to "Trusted commenter" and all your future comments will automatically be displayed.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is the only work around I know at the moment. I hope someone in the Movabletype community can help me with the particular problems I'm having with the comments.

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:00 AM in Category: Scrap-a-Ganza , scrapping , scrapstudio
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Hey all,

Well, the wallpaper is up and almost dry. Now I can start reorganizing my scrapstudio. I have several things from Scrapping Memories stored in my Scrapstudio too. I'm trying to find a solution so that they're not taking a major part in my room. First I'm going to store everything for inspiration close by my desk. Then I'll start with the embellishments, the xyrons, the Quickutz and Sizzix. Then I'll see what's left and what I'm going to do with it.

I have several ideas to arrange it all. I'll just have to see how I can make everything work. The long shelves in the closet are not shelves to hold really heavy things, so I'm gonna put the magazines, books and scrapbooks somewhere else. They're weighing too much and that's not good for the closet. I'm not sure where to put everything though. I'll see!

If I have a good light (let's say daylight), I'll make photos and show you everything!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 6:52 PM in Category: scrapping , scrapstudio
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Hey all,

Today I visited Deb's Lounge. She blogs about everything that's going on in her life. And she has wonderful tips about "Get Paid Opportunities", as she calls it. One of these opportunities is about generating traffic to your website from BlogExplosion. It's a wonderful thing. You don't have to pay anything. All you have to do is register for free and visit member sites. That way you will earn credits and with these credits you can generate traffic again. How simpler can you get it? But, why should you do this? Well, if you want your blog known by other scrappers, in example. Or if you're looking for possibilities to earn some money, but you do need a steady flow of traffic to your blog. Or just for the heck of it :). I'm just doing it as something fun. If it attracts more visitors, thats nice. But if it doesn't.... oh well, no harm done, right? :)

I've registered and I'll just wait and see what happens. All blogs have to manually approved first, which may take 48 up to 72 hours. I just hope it won't take that long :) And then I can start surfing. It would be fun if I'd come across some scrappers out there!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 4:35 PM in Category: blogs , traffic
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Hey all,

For those of you who stopped by earlier and noticed you couldn't comment (you got an error message):
I was trying to add a new feature so that your comments would be published immediately without having to wait for approval, but also without the risk of spam for me.

Unfortunately, something seems to be wrong, so I had to disable the feature. Hopefully I'll have it running in a few days. Until then, please bare with me as I have to check each and every comment and approve them.

Regards,
Ilse

Babbled by Ilse at 2:08 PM in Category: babble , babble , site
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Hey all,

You know that I was playing the game Fish Tycoon, right? Well, I was breeding fish and unexpectedly I've saved Isola. I just got this message:

You have discovered the 7 Magic fish of Isola! The Lagoon and the ecosysteem are saved and the island has been restored to its former glory! Your work here will live on beyond your time and the living creatures you have saved will tell your story for ages to come.

Yeah!!!!

Okay, I had a bit of help. If you know there are 441 species of fish to breed, it does come in handy to know which fish is the magic one and which fish you need to get the magic one. And luck is with the players! Because the people of Last day of Work have posted a guide to play Fish Tycoon and this really helped me out. And guess what? You have more options to breed then the two per magic fish they come up with. So, while I was waiting for the right fish to pop up so that I could make the combination, I already had the made the right combination for the last fish.

This is such a fun game to play! From what I have understood, everytime you start a new game, you can get a different set of eggs and thus fish to start with. This makes the game even more interesting. For now, I want to find all the species I haven't found yet. According to the statistics I have found 150 species. Just about 291 more to go :) It's good I'm keeping track of what I'm doing! That way I'll know if I actually have a new fish or if it's one I already have.

If you've played the game, let me know what you think of it!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:38 PM in Category: Fish Tycoon , games
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Hey all,

Yesterday I went shopping during my lunch break and I found the cutest little jars! They came in a variety of sizes. I decided to buy these three:

I've bought five of each. Up until now I always saved the vegetables jars for my embellishments. It's cheap, since I do have to have those vegetables anyway and once the jars are clean, they are perfect for storing embellishments. However, I still felt something was missing. When I cam across these little jars, I thought "This is it! I have to have these and use them for my embellishments!"
So, I'm starting with these fifteen jars and when it turns out it's not enough, I'll buy a few extra! No harm there :) I know soon enough if I'll have enough of these, since we'll have the wallpaper done this weekend. Once that's done I'm going to rearrange everything in the room and then I'll have a real scrapstudio, or so I hope :)

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 1:32 PM in Category: embellishments , scrapping , scrapstudio
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Hey all,

I've been playing Fish Tycoon for a while now and I'm getting results! The game gets funnier with the hour I play it. Right now I've discovered four magical breeds. In total I've discovered 126 new species. And I keep discovering new ones with every new fish combination I make. This is really funny!

I'm glad I decided to make an overview of all my results, so that I could check back to see how I found a certain fish. That really helped me out some tight spots already! How am I supposed to remember what I created several days ago? The list really makes it a lot easier!

I'm still not there yet. I have yet to discover 3 magical fish and about 300 new species. I've learned on the Fish Tycoon website that there are 441 fish species to discover. So, be prepared for a very long list once I've "finished" the game!

The fun thing is that you can continue the game once you've found the seven magic fish. You can just continue making more and more money. *ME LIKES!!!*

Anyway, check out my results here!

Have Fun!

Babbled by Ilse at 3:00 PM in Category: Fish Tycoon , games
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Hey all,

I just read on a blog about a color-code for personalities. I have had other tests through my work with a similar objective (see what you're like), so I thought it would be fun to take this test at The Color Code. It turns out I'm BLUE!

That's funny, because in another test I took at my work I was blue too. Here's what The Color Code said:

Congratulations. You are BLUE.

BLUES are motivated by INTIMACY. They seek to genuinely connect with others, and need to be understood and appreciated. Everything they do is quality-based. They are loyal friends, employers, and employees. Whatever or whomever they commit to is their sole (and soul) focus. They love to serve and give themselves freely in order to nurture others' lives.

BLUES have distinct preferences and have the most controlling personality. Their personal code of ethics is remarkably strong and they expect others to live honest, committed lives as well. They enjoy meaningful moments in conversation as well as paying close attention to special life events (e.g. birthdays and anniversaries).

BLUES are dependable, thoughtful, and analytical; but can also be self-righteous, worry-prone, and moody. They are "sainted pit-bulls" who never let go of something or someone, once they are committed. When you deal with a BLUE, be sincere and make a genuine effort to understand and appreciate them.

Understand that no two BLUES are exactly alike. Although you share the same core motivation as many others, your personality is still unique to you alone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is so exactly me. I already knew I'm in the wrong profession, but this states it again for me. It's funny how you see things after about a decade. I recognize so many things now that I didn't see in myself ten years ago. And everything I see now has given me enough to decide that I need a completely different job then what I do right now. It's good to learn these kind of things about your self!

What's your color?

Babbled by Ilse at 7:00 AM in Category: babble , babble , personality
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Hey all,

I've been collecting scrapbook blog links the last few weeks. I have 22 "famous" scrapbook blogs and 32 "normal" scrapbook blog links. I've seen marvelous works on all blogs and several of them inspired for other projects! For now go and check them out!

Have Fun!

Babbled by Ilse at 6:53 PM in Category: blogs , scrapbook
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Hey all,

I was just browsing Google Blogsearch for new scrapbook blogposts and I found the site Ask the Frugal Decorating Diva and I noticed an article she did about recipe scrapbooks. The question she was asked to answer is:

I am making recipie scrapbooks for my sisters, and sister-in-law for next Christmas of all my great grandmother, grandma, and mom’s recipies. Have you made one before? ?f you have, do you have any suggestions? I want the theme to be something like “generations of good cooking”. I plan on the books only being a 6X6 so when they are cooking they don’t have a big 12×12 on the counter. I just need someone else’s creative mind to help me on how to get started. I have already typed, printed and cut the recipies to the size of a recipe card. Thanks for any ideas!!

And these are her answers and my thoughts about it:

I can help with this one! I just made *8* of these for Christmas gifts for this last Christmas - three for my sisters, one for my mother, one for each of my three kids and one for me. So I have some suggestions I can share!

1. I made mine 8.5 X 11 and I did that because the supplies I wanted to use required no cutting if I did that. You’ll see more about why that was important in just a minute.

I'm still thinking about a 12" scrapbook, because I'll have more in such a scrapbook. Knowing me, that would be a good thing. I know it will be a lot to handle in the kitchen, but on the other hand, having everything quite clearly in a bigger form will accommodate me better, I think. Don't get me wrong, I have good eyesight, but I want to be able to include little details, if necessary, too.

2. I typed all the recipes into my computer and then printed off the number of copies I needed (8). I ALSO made copies of my stained and smudged and obviously used recipe cards to use as embellishments in the albums. They look SO COOL.

Hmmm printing out the recipes. Now there's an idea. That way I can still read what it was meant to say in about ten years. That would be good :)
I have a recipe cards, but I have hardly used them. I was planning on including the recipe itself in my scrapbook, instead of only the recipe card. I'll just have to think about that.

3. I put the recipes on one piece of paper on the LEFT side of the book and a picture of who gave me the recipe on the RIGHT side. So anyone using a recipe would have a picture of who’s recipe it was. And I scrapped both sides - stickers, ribbons, metal embellishments - you name it - I used it.

Since it's not an heirloom album, I don't need the picture on the right. But maybe it comes in handy to make a spread of the recipe. Just in case I really to include more information then I thought. I'm not sure yet. It's not an easy job, figuring out how to this best.

4. I wrote journaling about where the recipes commonly appeared - for instance there is an egg dish I frequently make for Mother’s Day and a cookie my oldest son prefers to cake for his birthday. So I told stories that remind people of times when the recipes were served.

Again, it's not an heirloom, but I do like the idea of including these sort of details, if I can get them, about the recipes or ingredients. This does mean it will take more time to make the album, but it will be more informative than a normal cooking book. I have to admit, it does sound nice!

5. I also wrote journaling about the people. I looked the meaning up online of mine and my sister’s names - and included them in the book on a page with their picture.

In my case this is not necessary. It is, however, something to remember for the future. Maybe if I make such an album for a relative or a friend. In that case it would be nice to include this.

6. I used OVERHEAD TRANSPARENCIES as SPLASH GUARDS for ALL the pages. So if you open the album to a recipe, there is a clear sheet that covers the recipe and another clear sheet that covers the person’s picture. So no mixer throwing cake mix around the kitchen will get anything on the pages. THIS is one reason I went with 8.5X11. All I had to do with the transparency sheets was use a three hole punch on them (which worked just fine)

I'm not sure what she means with overhead transparencies. If she means the ones you can put on a overhead to project something, then I get it. Otherwise, can someone explain it to me? If it means what I think it means, I could use a "normal" binder for my recipe scrapbook. Hmmm, gotta think about that one!

7. I used a standard loose leaf notebook for this.

This doesn't seem practical to me. Knowing me the notebook will be "broken" before I know it. And this is a recipe album I want to keep for a long, long time. So, back to other ideas: an album of some kind.

8. I put pages with pockets inside so people could put recipe cards in them. Clear sheet covers are great for this.

My album will evolve into a big one, I hope, so it would indeed be wise to include extra pages so that I can continue, no matter what. The only exception will be that I won't use recipe cards, but that's okay.

9. I put a family tree and special dedication (with date) in the very front of the book

Not necessary in my case. Something to remember though.

10. For older recipes, like my grand mother’s coconut pie, I used the Internet to get interesting info about old fashioned ingredients. For instance, her recipe called for “sweet milk” and I looked up online what that was and wrote a little blurb about. Did the same thing with my father’s “glop” recipe.

This is fun too. I think I'll include it whenever I can.

11. I added a few “tips” I found in old cookbooks - stuff I didn’t know and thought were interesting

I think I'll do the same. You can never have too many tips while you're cooking, right?

12. I did sections with tabs - soups, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, and misc.

Same idea here. Otherwise it's going to be too much of a hassle.

13. I left “blanks” in the back of the book so people could add more stuff to it if they wanted.

In my case not necessary, but something to remember for gifts.

14. I found , when making so many of the same thing, that doing all eight of the same page at the same time went faster than doing one book at a time (which is how I started doing them).

This will only be the case when I will make several of the same. Good to remember though!

I think these are wonderful tips! Although I'm not making a recipe scrapbook for a family member, I do think I can use several of these tips. I have included all of them, just in case I do like to make a kind of "heirloom" scrapbook in the future, or in case one of you might want to make one. In that case: Have Fun!

Send me your tips if you have more! You can leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at ilse at ilsesjournal dot com {rewrite!}

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 6:00 PM in Category: cooking , recipe album , scrapbook
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Hey all,

My Mini album of the "Heavenly Mud" {or "Hemelse Modder" as we call it in Dutch} got me thinking about a complete scrapbook about cooking. Well, not about cooking, but more the recipes for delicious dishes. I'm gathering embellishments, papers and all other things I can use, but I also have to think about one of the most important things:
1. In what order am I gonna put everything?
2. What kind of album do I use?
3. How to make the pages? (laminate, pageprotectors?)
4. How to make the recipes? What do I include in the page and what not?

I want this to be an album that I can really use in the kitchen. So it has to stand to become a bit dirty, wet, etc.

Here's what I've come up with until now for ideas (please correct me if I have the english terms gotten mixed up / wrong. I'm dutch, so I don't know everything:) ):
1. Order: well, I'll use five different levels.
- En trees: like a "baguette" with butter, a salad and more things like that, which you take as a first course on a diner.
- Soups: Speaks for itself
- Main course: do I need to explain?
- Side dishes: everything you have extra besides the main course, like salads with the main course, potatoes and more things like that.
- Desert: well, that self-explanatory as well, I think.
2. I'm not quite sure about that. I do want to use an album for which it's not such a big deal to get dirty, so easy cleanable. Knowing me, that's a very good idea! But what kind of album? Maybe a postbound? Or one which I make myself? Hmmmm, I'm not sure yet. Maybe I can make one myself with wallpaper left overs. If I'm correct I have leftovers of wallpaper that's easy to clean, so why not use that? Do you have any ideas?
3. Use page protectors. That way I'm always able to get the recipe out and scribble something extra. And the extra benefit is the fact that the recipe is also protected at the same time! When I'd laminate everything, I can't add anything anymore, once the page is done. While I can imagine that sometimes I'd like to change a few things in the recipe during cooking. So, page protectors it is.
4. I'm asking myself (and perhaps you too) this question, because I'm not sure about it. I've made a recipe album in which I took photos of every step, but this became a Mini album. And that's not I'm looking for. So, then what? Limit the number of photos to two: the groceries and the end result? Or maybe an extra one for a small, but important, detail? What's your experience with that?

I haven't started with this album yet, for obvious reasons I think, but I am looking forward to work with it. In the meantime I want to finish our Switzerland album first and after that I'll start with both the Zoo album and the recipe album.

So, I'm looking for any and all ideas for the scrap recipe album! Not only ideas for how to make the album are welcome, ideas for recipes are very welcome too! Please send them to:
ilse at ilsesjournal dot com {please rewrite!} or write them in the comments here! If you happen to have any examples, I'd love to see them!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 5:37 PM in Category: cooking , recipe album , scrapbooking
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Hey all,

I totally forgot to actually publish this, so here goes.

I've finally cleaned up my scraproom. I've brought several things from the shop to the attic. That way I have more "playroom", if you get my point :). James and I moved the black closet to another wall. That way the one wall which has to be wallpapered is free. And I'm keeping it free. The black closet has found a very good place against the other wall. This way I'll have a full view on my beautiful new wallpaper.

Don't you just love it? I want my scraproom to have a nature theme and this wallpaper fits perfectly with it. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the wall is a bit shorter than needed, we'll have to cut off a part on each side and downunder. But the remainder will be awesome! After we've put the wallpaper on this weekend, I can start reorganizing my scraproom (what the heck, let's call it my Scrap studio, it's surely big enough for that, isn't it?). I want to clean all the remaining things. I have to decide what I want to keep and what I'm going to throw away (or send to a charity fund). And then I can really start scrapping in my studio again! I'm gonna love it, I already know that!

Maybe I'll add some extra decoration, but I'll just wait and see about that. First things first.

Once it's all done, I'll show the photos in the gallery!

Babbled by Ilse at 12:35 PM in Category: scrapstudio
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Hey all,

In my post about my Creative Manifesto I stated I have a certain scrapbook style. So, what is this style? Is it all fluffy and with lots of extra;s, is it simple and basic, or is it something in between? I was inspired to write by the entry from americanmom Let's see and then I'd like to hear about your scrapbook style!

Photos
On scrapbook pages photos are the main ingredient, but the question is, how you use your photos. And do you use only one photo or do you use many photos? In my case I use many photos. When it happens that I'm only using one photo, it will be because it's a big photo. In the beginning I started scrapping with photos I had printed from film roles, so no digital photo editing there. Nowadays I have a digital camera so I do have the opportunity to edit my photos. However, I will only edit in the way that I'll crop (and in case it's necessary, red-eye removal). I haven't tried any real editing with photo software yet. Maybe I will do this in the future. It does seem an interesting concept to me and I have seen beautiful results from others. For my Switzerland photos and Zoo photos I won't do it (or better: I haven't done it). The main point: I'm using a lot of photos and I'm enjoying it!

Journaling
Since I've started with Holiday Diary in 1993, I've made it a habit to make a diary or somehow include journaling in one way or the other in my albums. With our album about Italy I've written extensive journaling! This came in very handy, because it took me three years to complete the album of the holiday. Due to my diary, I could include journaling in my album fairly easy. And lots of it! You'll hardly find a layout from me without any journaling. Although a picture tells a thousand words, I do believe in journaling for supporting the story. The photo and the journaling are two parts of the complete story. You can't separate them!

Sizes
When I started with scrapping in my very early years I hadn't even heard of the 12" albums and pages. So scrapped in a, for me, normal photo album from Henzo. I didn't know about mini albums either. Right now I scrap with a variety of sizes. Our Italy is still in a "normal" photo album. My "Hikes in Nature" has started in a 12" album and I think it works great! So does it for our Switzerland album. I have made a few mini albums too. These vary in sizes. I use a mini album for just one topic with a few photos. Or in example for a recipe with step by step descriptions and photos. So, I don't have just ONE size I use. I use the size that fits at that moment for the specific photos or theme.

Papers
I usually use solid background papers. Call me crazy but I'm not that much into patterned papers. I'll sometimes use it when it fits with the photos, but that's not often. It's not that I don't like the patterned papers (there are patterned papers I really love!), but since I also frequently use a lot of photos in my layout, I want to keep everything else as calm as possible. Otherwise it tends to get too busy and the photos will not form the main attraction on the page. So, solid background papers it is.

Embellishments
As I said above, I want to keep everything outside the photos and the journaling as calm as possible. This does also mean I don't use many embellishments. The more embellishments, the busier it gets and the more the attention is drawn away from the photos as starting points. With so many photos that would be a shame and I want to prevent it. I'll only use embellishments that really support the photos and the story and that do not immediately draw the attention, instead of the photos. So, yes I do use embellishments but only in as supporting fashion.

I think this is about it for my style. Do you want to know more? Let me know!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:00 PM in Category: scrapbooking
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Hey all,

I have stored everything from Scrapping Memories in my scraproom for a a long time. But that's finished now. James and I picked out wallpaper for the last wall. We expect we will have it sometime this weekend. And to do the last wall, everything needs be cleaned. So I have a big job ahead of me. I have to find a place for all the boxes which hold everything from the shop, so that the room is cleaned and then I can start cleaning my scrap closet. Once the room is completely done, I'll show you photos of it!

Talk to you later. Gotta go now!

Babbled by Ilse at 1:39 PM in Category: babble , babble , scrapbooking , scrapstudio
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Hey all,

I'm often looking for nice things for in the house or as a present. Usually I don't look for art in specific. If something I see happens to be art, that's nice. Now I stumbled upon the site of Artisans Market, a site for and by artist lovers and art makers. They sell unique handcrafted art and gifts by independent artists. I saw beautiful cabinets that would fit perfectly in my scraproom (too bad I already have a really big closet for that! :) Which is beautiful by the way! I wouldn't trade it for anything else!). And how about handmade soap? With a scent? They also have paintings, beautiful bowls for use in the kitchen and much more. And it's all handmade!

Their products range from apparel and Jewelry to real art for your pets! It's really incredible and very beautiful. Shopping is fairly easy to. They have an automated shopping system, that leads you through everything step by step. You can choose from five different payment options and it's secure! I'm not sure if they deliver outside the US, though. That I can't tell from the site. Maybe they already do that, or if you ask for it. I'm not sure.

While I was browsing blogs a few days ago I saw a few people who were thinking about selling their crafts online. Well, maybe Artisans Market is something for those crafters. They are looking for people who are interested in selling their art online. I've checked it out and I think Artisans Market offers an interesting opportunity. {Too bad I don't have those art skills at all!} You can sell your art through them.
You'll get a personal gallery which you can manage yourself. You can include a description to go with your product and you can upload photos. The last part of the management is the price. You can set the price yourself! Of course you have to make sure it's reasonable price, otherwise it won't sell, but you are the one who's handling the price. That's a whole lot different than when you would sell your art to a store where they can sell it and set the price!
Artisans Market will do the marketing for you, including the actual sell and they'll handle customers service. You will be notified with an e-mail with the order and then you have to ship it. So, all you have to do is make your art and watch your e-mails! Where can you find it any easier?
On top of it all you can sell the materials you don't need anymore to other artists from Artisans Market and you can buy materials you need from the other artists. You'll also receive discount from, i.e. "Cheap Joes Art Stuff" and "The Bead Museum".
And last, but certainly not least (!), you get 80 % of your gross sales (and of course coverage for the shipping costs).
I think that's very interesting. And all of this for only $10,- to start with per month.
It is tempting......... The only downside I see here is that you don't have a personal contact with your customers. I can imagine you'd like to have contact with these people. You'd like to know where your art is going. On the other hand, you wouldn't know that either if you sell your art through a shop or an art gallery. In the end there's no difference?

I've checked out several pages of their site and I think they've done quite a good job. However the the menu links could be better. I think it's not really handy that you have to choose between two different menus. One in the top of the site (Home and miscellaneous stuff) and one in a separate piece below that (the product categories). The positive thing for all the pages is the fact that the products are displayed wonderful and have a lot of information with them. I'm glad to see that. It makes it so much easier to decide if you would like to buy that piece of art.

Well, this is all can say to you now about Artisans Market. I'll definitely keep an eye on that site!

Babbled by Ilse at 11:50 AM in Category: art , babble , babble
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Hey all,

Ali Edwards wrote about her Creative Manifesto in her AEZine of 7 February, 2007. A creative Manifesto is important. She's looked into the subject. According to the dictionary, a Creative Manifesto is:

a public declaration of policy and aims, esp. one issued before an election by a political party or candidate."

Now, what does this mean? To put it simple (according to Ali), it's a statement of beliefs. In this case your own believes of creativity. It reminds you of what you stand for, it lets others know what you stand for, what is important for you and where you inspire to be. So why should we make a Creative Manifesto?

Because taking the time to lay out and define the creative you want to be is a big part of actually becoming that person.
Because outlining your creative belief system gives you permission to grow and evolve as a life artist.
Because making lists are fun.
Source: Ali Edwards: February 7, 2007

This all got me thinking. What is my Creative Manifesto? I think it's a good idea to write it down for me. And to remind myself in about a year that I have to update this manifesto. Hmmmm, let's have a look at the here and now first.

I've tried to answer the questions Ali asked:

Why do I create?
What is the most important part of a scrapbook page for me?
How does my attitude effect the outcome of my projects?
What are my personal truths related to scrapbooking and creativity?
What do I tell myself each time I am working on a project? (something positive, not negative - if the first thing you think of is negative then that is a good indication that you should be telling yourself just the opposite...add it to your list).

This is what popped into my mind:
1. It's perfect the way I've created it.
2. Have fun!
3. Preserve Memories
4. Photos & Journaling
5. Whenever, Where ever
6. Personal
7. Interactive

I guess I'll come up with a few more things by tomorrow, but that's okay. I'll just update my Manifesto! Now that I have my Manifesto, I'll try to keep up with it. Ah, but how to do this, when all I have is a list? I should clarify a few things, I think.

1. It's perfect the way I've created
I read this statement in americanmom's blog and I thought this is the only thing that matters. I have a certain style, I use it in all my layouts and I'm very happy with it! This style does not necessarily reflect the way I normally work with other things, but it is me. I'll tell you all about my style later.

2. Have fun!
Scrapbooking is a hobby. To me this means I have to have to have fun with it. Not in the way that its obligated to have fun while I'm scrapping, but in the way that I'll only scrap when I'm in the mood for it. That's the time I'll have fun in doing it. It's not so different from my other hobbies. I'll only read when I'm mood for it and more things like that. When I can't have fun in scrapping, I don't do it.

3. Preserve Memories
The question as to why I scrapbook is an easy to answer: I want to preserve my memories. I know memories will fade while we grow older. And although I know this is part of the process of growing older, I do want to have a good recollection of my memories. Albeit through my scrapbooks and not only in my mind. Better yet, I prefer to have them in my scrapbooks, because in my mind they will fade and I won't know those small little (but important or funny) details anymore in about ten years. SO yes, I scrap to preserve my memories!

4. Photos & Journaling
What is the most important part of my scrapbook pages? There's no other option then photos in combination with journaling. Either one usually part hidden, due to everything I want to include in my layouts. There's just no doubt about that. I usually have a lot of photos to include in my layouts. Next to that I do believe that a picture tells a thousand words, but a few words accompanying the picture will tell you the whole story. That's why I simple have to have journaling in my layouts!

5. Whenever, Where ever
Scrapping is for me more then the actually cropping and pasting of photos, papers and embellishments. It's also thinking about the subjects, the layouts and everything else that comes with it. That's why I "scrap" whenever and where ever. It is very well possible I think of something while I'm at work. Then I'll jot it down, so as not to forget, and I continue with my work. Or for example when I'm looking Television. How easy can things pop into your mind? Or early in the morning while having breakfast? That's why it's for me: whenever, where ever.

6. Personal
This may sound weird, but I see scrapbooking as a very personal hobby. You can crop with friends, but you are working on your own project. And although you show your projects to others, it is your project. The only exception is when you're making something as a present (or for your children, I guess). Usually I wouldn't show off something really personal, but my scrapbooks are things I'm proud of and I'll gladly show them to someone. So even though it is personal, I don't mind to give other's a view in my personal life this way.

7. Interactive
Due to the fact that I usually include many photos in my layout, I need to find new ways of doing that, every time. This means I have to be creative and go look for interactive ways. This means I include a lot of things that you can fold open, slide out or something similar. And I like it. It really gives the people something extra and it makes them curious.

I think this is my Creative Manifesto. Whenever I feel I'll need to add, remove, change something in my Manifesto, I'll do that. Until then, this is it.

What's your manifesto? I'm always curious to know!

Babbled by Ilse at 7:30 PM in Category: challenge , creative manifesto , scrapbooking
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Hey all,

I'm slowly making it a habit of checking Google and Technorati for blogs about scrapbooking. I'm always interested in what other people come up with for scrapbooking, like ideas, layouts, paper piecings and much more. A few days ago I read in the Just Me Blog about some Scrapbook blog debacle in 2006. I haven't heard anything about it, but maybe that's just because I wasn't really looking for scrapbook blogs at that time. It did give me the impression, though, that someone had said something (I guess his or her honest opinion) about someone or a product and that this honest opinion wasn't appreciated. This with the result that apparently no one was writing what they wanted to write in their blogs. This confuses me.

It led me to the following question:
What do you look for in a scrapbook blog? Let's discuss about that, shall we? I'll start with giving you the things I'm looking for in a scrapbook blog.

Scrapbook subjects
Although I've already been scrapbooking for a few years, I'm always looking for new subjects to scrap about. Sometimes I find a subject on someone's blog that makes me think: of course, why didn't I think of it?. And sometimes I find a subject that so good that I keep it in mind for the next time and I try to make special photos for it. One example of this is the scrapbook about the zoo that I'm going to make. Someone had posted a layout about elephants and had included a detail of an elephants feet. That got me thinking that I could take that kind of photos the next time I would be in the zoo. And so I did :)

Layouts
I'm always looking for inspirational sketches for layouts. That way I can try to prevent that I'll always use the same basic sketch for a layout. If I'll find an inspirational layout, I'll download it and keep it on my hard drive. That way I can always have a look to see if I can use something.
I also always look for ideas for journaling, cause that's what I use a lot in my albums nowadays! I'm always looking for the balance between my photos and my journaling. And that's not always easy, I can assure you that! Especially when you're using so much journaling like I am. I'm always looking for creative ideas to somehow include all the journaling I want to include.

Mini albums
I like making mini albums. I've made a few for myself and one for a friend of mine {which she really appreciated, btw!}. Currently I am working on a mini album for James. I know it's not always possible to include all the photos I've made in scrapbook and that's why I'm looking for ideas for mini albums. And not only ideas for subjects, but also for how to make the mini album (the project description) and the result of it.

Experience
When a new tool has come in the market I always see if I can find someone who has had experience with it. That way I can determine if this is worth buying for myself. Also someone's experience with certain producers of scrapbook supplies, with shops and more things like are very interesting.

Opinions
I always highly appreciate someones opinion. Also about scrapbooking. It doesn't mean I always agree with them, but I do appreciate the opinion. That's also why I'm looking for other's opinions about product and more things. And it's fun to see how one can think this way and how another one can think another way about something. And that's perfectly okay. After all, we're all humans, aren't we? And it wouldn't be good if we'd all have the same opinion.

Conclusion
All taken together I think I'm looking in blogs for everything I chat with friends about when were talking about scrapbooking. Is this bad? No, I don't think so. This gives you more experience, more knowledge and that way you'll be better prepared and you can evolve. And is that a bad thing?

I'm looking forward to the things you look for in a blog about scrapbooking!

Babbled by Ilse at 8:00 AM in Category: blogs , scrapbooking
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Hey all,

I've just visited the CKU Events blog and they're asking where CKU should come in 2008. I think they're really doing an awesome thing in asking us where we'd like them to come! Of course we'd love it if CKU would come here to the Netherlands for once. Wouldn't that be awesome?! Are you willing to vote for that? Leave a comment and maybe they will indeed come! They say:

Come be a part of our planning process! Take a look at the map and post a comment letting us know where you think CKU should come in 2008. We will randomly select 5 responses and they will receive a CKU prize! We can’t wait to hear from you!

Do you live in Europe? Well, the Netherlands is pretty easy to reach, we are friendly people and Scrapbooking is becoming a real trend! So reasons enough to vote with us for CKU coming to the Netherlands!
Come on: VOTE!

Talk to you later!

Regards,
Ilse

Babbled by Ilse at 7:05 PM in Category: events , scrapbooking
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Hey all,

You can now comment on my posts while you're logged in with Typekey without the error message. Happy commenting!

Oh, and before I forget, don't preview your comment. There's still a minor bug in Movabletype which causes your logged in data to get lost when you hit the preview button. Just post your comment directly with the button post. Your Typekey information will be kept.

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 7:48 AM in Category: babble , babble
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Hey all,

I'm not sure how I found Fish Tycoon. I believe I was looking for the producer of another game when I came across the site of Last Day of Work. I was just browsing through their games,w hen I noticed Fish Tycoon. A game that's real-time. I've downloaded and tried the game. It didn't take me long before I knew this was the perfect game for me! You don't need your mouse too much, there's no fighting and you learn new things every time you're busy with the game. Don't just take my word for it! I can imagine you want to have more information, so let's have a look at the game, shall we?

The story
Now that we know that several species of organismen have been extinguished, many people are looking for ways to safe the current species which are on the brink of extinguish. With Fish Tycoon you have the chance to deliver your part! Because, according to the story, several magic fish species have gone lost. And it's YOUR job to find them!

"There was once a hidden and mysterious island called ISOLA. Hidden in this island was a magical lagoon where the most rare and wonderful fish swam. These fish lived in a delicate balance held together by 7 special magical fish.... One day something happened... Where have all the fish gone? You must find the 7 Magic Fish and restore the balance. You must save Isola!....."

Okay, I have to admit it. The first I read this, I thought: "How am I supposed to do that? Is this even gonna be worth trying?" I decided to give it try, after all, trying is not definitely buying, right? I installed the game and tried it. Well, the short story above does give you something. And while your playing the game and discovering more fish species, the continuance of the story gets more and more interesting.

The goals of the game
The introduction of the story already told you about the seven magical species you have to find to safe Isola, right? So that's our goal. Find the seven Magical species and with that safe Isola! You have to this by breeding fishes. You have to keep breeding fishes until you've found the seven magical breeds.
And this is not the only goal. Fish Tycoon is also a Virtual aquarium. You can look at it as your virtual pet. Only you don't need to clean your aquarium. "You won't get your hands dirty". While your keeping your Virtual pet aquarium, you can also earn money. You can make lots of it!
This double goal makes the game very interesting to me. If I don't find the seven magical fishes in a short time, so what? The virtual aquarium in itself already is very funny, so no harm there!

Breeding the species
As I told you before, you have to breed fishes in order to get the seven magical fishes from Isola. So, breeding, what is it all about? Well, in fact it's quite simple. That's the beauty of this game. There's no harm in experimenting, cause that's what this game is all about. You can keep trying for as long as you want. You won't loose any points if it doesn't happen to work. All that happens is that sometimes a few fish may die on you, but hey, what's experimenting for if these things wouldn't happen? Okay, this is experimenting in a virtual aquarium. I have to admit I don't think I would feel the same if it was in real life.
So, how do you actually breed? You put one fish in the isolation tank, you put another fish in it and the first fish is pregnant. There's also an alternative way: buy eggs and let those hatch. In the beginning it's best however to start breeding with the eggs you start with and breed with the fish that come out of it. Also, it's best to keep a record of all the breeding you do. Make a list of the fishes you combine and the results it gives you. And, if your interested in making a lot of money, maybe you should keep track of the money you can make with a certain kind of species.
It's not always easy to breed fish. Especially in the beginning when you have the basic food and the basic environment it is very well possible your crossbreeds will die, just because the food isn't good enough or because the environment isn't good enough. Don't worry about! Try breeding with fish of the same species (the fins may vary, that's no problem) in the beginning. These fish are more likely to survive and you can start making money with these fish. Once you have enough money to research food, start with that. The research will take a while. You don't need to wait in the Supplies screen, because it really takes a lot longer. You can go on breeding fish.
Once you've good better food and a better environment the more fragile fish will have more chance of survival and you can really start the crossbreeding process. The better environment and better food also gives the eggs a better survival chance. You can now start buying the eggs and breed with them too.
Keep in mind that the eggs might give different fish each time you let them hatch. You don't have the guarantee you'll always get the same fish. So try the pink eggs a few times, just like the purple and the yellow-green eggs. It's fun! I think this is just one of the extra perks in the game which makes it fun!

Taking care of the fish
It all starts with the feeding. This is done fairly easy in this game. You click on the food jar that's completely on the left in the upper bar. You have to keep your mouse on the jar and move it to the tank. There you can let it go. Now you've fed the fish. Isn't that easy? And, as in real life, you'll see all the fish swim to the food that you've dropped in the water. This game is as real as it can get!
Like every "real life" pet, these fish can get sick. Sometimes you'll see green spots on a fish, or white ones. These can be cleared with medicine that you can buy in your supplies screen. When you put a fish in the isolation tank, you can also see if the fish is sick or not. Every fish has a health bar and a fed bar. It's not a disaster if the fed bar isn't full. In fact, if you've been away from your computer the whole day and you check back with your fish, you'll probably see that your fish only have half of the fed bar filled. That's okay. Just feed them, and the bar will be filled again.
A whole other point is the health bar. When the fish are obviously sick (the green or white spots on their bodies) the bar isn't always less filled. And this is a state that you can cure. However, it can happen that a fish has nothing obvious. When you put it in the isolation tank (or just hold), you'll notice that the health has gone down. The information will not say that the fish is sick, but the green bar of health has become less extended and the color will have gone to a light yellow or even red. Unfortunately the game doesn't tell why this is the case. That's a flaw I found in it. This way you have no idea what you can do about. Probably the food isn't good or the environment isn't good. When that's the case, you can't do anything about it. The fish will die.
There's one thing you have to keep in mind while feeding the fish. It does occasionally happen that you overfeed the fish. The health will go down too. However, this is something you can act upon. Just don't feed the fish for a while and you will their health going up. Unfortunately, due to the fact that you're not told why the health of the fish is going down, you can't tell if it's because too much, bad food or a bad environment. You'll have to experiment on that one.

The Graphics
A game isn't only nice because of the things you can do, but also due to the graphics used in the game. I think the graphics are very nice. The tanks look quite realistic, the store is great, with all the cartoons of customers and the supplies screen is also very good. In total, the graphics are also worth your money.

Bonuses
Many games have bonuses, like new characters you can play with (Tradewinds versions, Feeding Frenzy 2), screen savers (Feeding Frenzy), Wallpapers (Harvest Mania to go) and more thing like that.
In this game you'll have a bonus in the screen saver of the tanks you can instantly set. It's wonderful. You'll see your computer screen as if it were a fish tank!

Conclusion
I think this is just about everything I can tell. All taken together I really like the game. It's absolutely worth your money! If you want a second opinion, check out Gamezebo Review here about Fish Tycoon!
I'm keeping a record of all the breeding result. You can find the list here

Have fun playing!

Babbled by Ilse at 7:00 AM in Category: Fish Tycoon , games
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Hey all,

When I first started scrapbooking, I didn't wonder if there were any rules. I simply tried several things I liked. Along the line I started using "real" scrapbook supplies and still I didn't wonder about any rules. I did what I liked, I used what I liked and I was happy with the results.

When I started giving workshops, people asked me what the "scrapbook rules" are. Well, as far as I'm concerned, there aren't any real scrapbook rules. If I really have to give some, I usually give the rules as I've stated them hereunder.

There are no rules
The first rule is that are no rules. Do whatever you like. You have to like the result. Others don't. It's your project, it's your hobby and, as with all hobbies, you play it by your rules.

Have Fun!
Scrapbooking is all about having fun! Remember, it's not something you're obligated to do. You have to have fun while doing it. After all, it's hobby, not your job (at least in most cases!).

Make your own rules
If you do want some basics to work with, start with trying out a few things. You'll notice soon enough if it's something that fits you or not. The things that don't match your needs or your taste, you won't use them anymore. Make that one of your rules.

I've made a few rules of my own, just for me. Maybe you can use them too. See what you think of it!

Main focus point in your layout
You may make a few photos or a lot, like I do (about 300 - 500 for one holiday?). It doesn't really matter how many photos you've made. The point is you want to include them in your album (scrapbook). And of course you want to include nice background papers, embellishments, journaling and more. What I try to do is make sure that the photos are still the main focus of the layout. All the embellishments and background papers are nice, but shouldn't be the first thing to draw attention. I see background papers and embellishments as a supporting element in my scrapbook. It helps to make the photo draw even more attention, instead of less.

Safe for archiving or not?
I've seen and heard many discussions about archival safe products being used in scrapbooking. It even goes as far as scrapbookers using gloves while they're scrapbooking to make sure their photos won't be "damaged" by the oil on your hands (or something like that). Well, to be perfectly honest with you I really don't care about that. One of the beautiful things in life is the fact that you can see that a person is aging, a building has a certain age or whatever, just because no one has done a major lift or taken special measures or special care to prevent this. Also, do YOU think you're great-grandchildren will view your albums and see they're not beautiful? Will they even look into your albums? Or won't we have them anymore? That's why I don't care about products being archival safe or not. On the contrary, when they're not archival safe I may even use them on purpose because I'd like to see, in the years to come, that my scrapbooks were made a pretty amount of time ago. That's what makes it special!

Details
In my early years of making photo albums I was just shooting pictures and not really paying any attention to details in photos. Now I've learned that it can be very interesting to highlight a detail in a photo or even to take a picture of a certain detail instead of only from the whole thing. Like, i.e. photos I've taken from a crocodile in the zoo. I did not only take photos of the whole crocodile, but also from it's feet and eyes. That way you can give that little something extra!

Embellishments from your holiday
I've learned it's best to gather as much embellishments you can from your holiday. After all, you won't be back (in a long time) and all those things maybe gone by then. Just gather all the napkins, roadmaps, tickets, postcards and anything else you can get. You may have way too much of these things once you get home, but this way you can be sure you will at least have several things you can use in your scrapbook.

Diary
Since we all know memories fade with time, a diary comes in handy. For your everyday life you can keep a diary like I do, here on my journal. For holidays, however, I always buy a separate little diary, so that I can write down my notes of each day. That way I will still know everything about the holiday and it's easier to add my journaling in my scrapbook, although it's been months since that holiday. It makes such a difference!

Well, these are my rules for now. If I think of anymore, I'll let you know!

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 7:00 AM in Category: scrapbooking
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Hey all,

I've decided to give LoudLaunch a try in earning money through my blog too. I hope they will approve my blog. I'll just wait and see. The good thing about them is that you can choose the campaigns you need to write about. I saw someone posted something about a campaign of free downloadable fonts. That's always good, isn't it?

Anyway, I'll just wait and see.

I'll keep you updated about my experiences.

Regards,
Ilse

Babbled by Ilse at 5:11 PM in Category: blogs , LoudLaunch
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Hey all,

It was a rainy day today. When I got up this morning, the rain was pouring out of the sky. It was like they dropped a bucket full of rain. And it hasn't really improved today. I was hoping it would clear up a bit so that I could go for a walk, but it's just not a real option today. I've been outside for ten minutes because it didn't really seem to rain at that moment. Unfortunately it started raining harder as I went on and within ten minutes I was pretty wet. That's when I decided to go back home.

I'm looking out of the window right now and the sky isn't promising. I can see dark clouds, while I was hoping the sun would finally break through. I don't think I'll be able to go outside for a walk without getting soaked. So, instead, I'll stay instead and do some cleaning. That needs to be done too, so let's start with that, shall we..... :(

Talk to you later!

Babbled by Ilse at 4:06 PM in Category: babble , babble
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Hey all,

Are you, like me, looking for down loadable fonts on a regular basis? Then I might have a solution for you. I'm a member of mailing list where the owner of the group sends a pack filled with dozens (sometimes hundreds) of down loadable fonts to the list. He is the only one who sends these messages (an average of 2 or 3 per month), so you won't be swamped with mails.
If you'd like I can send your e-mail to the owner of the group. He will send you an invitation to join the group. If many people join the group by me giving the addresses, I will receive a font pack of 1000 fonts. Will you help me with that? I'd like it very much! Just send me your e-mail address. You can send it to: ilse at ilsesjournal dot com with the subject "e-mail for fonts".

Thanks so much for your help!

Talk to you later.

Babbled by Ilse at 8:00 AM in Category: fonts , scrapbooking
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Hey all,

Yesterday I read a short article about a woman who was scrapbooking for her newspaper blog. It was fun to learn that you can actually make money while blogging that way. Later on I found an article on another site from someone who wrote a review about a site. I saw that this was a way to make a little money for your site. Now that's an interesting concept. I was curious how I could make money for my site, at least enough to cover my costs. That would be awesome. So, dug deeper into the subject. I found the site Disclosure Policy. Of course there are different ways of making money through your site. You can have the general ads from Amazon or other companies a like, you can actual sell your own things (scrapbook things, digital things, you name it, you can sell it), you can let other people sell things through your site and more.

I found out it is possible that companies will pay you for a blog entry about their product of site. Through Disclosure Policy I found the site of Blogsvertise. Blogsvertise is a sort of middle person between you (the blogowner) and the company (the blogadvertiser). And they have many Blogadvertisers. You don't need much to be able to participate in their program. You do need to have blog (well duh.... ) and you do need a Paypal account. You will get paid through Paypal for your blog entries.

Let me tell you a little bit about how this works. You cannot "just" write something about some company. You will be paid for writing about the blogadvertisers. How can