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Friday March 30, 2007

We've been to the zoo!

Hey all,

James and I went to the zoo today. This time we went to "Diergaarde Blijdorp". Lucky for me my headache was finally away so that I could really enjoy today's trip! I hadn't been to Blijdorp before, so I was I glad James suggested to go. It was a very nice trip. The zoo has a lot of variety of animals and lots of information with all the animals. And they have a beautiful "Oceanium". It's like a very big aquarium under which you can walk and watch all the fish swim. And Blijdorp is one of the zoo's where they are actually growing Coral (officially accorded by all the necessary authorities!!!). They have done an amazing job with it. I really like the zoos where they take good care of the animals and which are participating in programs to get back almost extinguished species! And Blijdorp does that! It's wonderful to see!

I've made hundreds of photos again! This time I'm going to chose a little bit less to have printed and scrapped. Or at least that's what I think now. I still have a stack of Switzerland photos to scrap and I have a lot of photos from our last trip to the zoo (Emmen) to scrap. Well, it's just another week and then I'll have two weeks of holidays. I think I'm going to spend a considerable amount of time scrapping so that I'll at least have our Switzerland album finished and maybe the Zoo album of Emmen partially. That would be nice!

Anyway, I really had a wonderful day and I'm very happy James suggested this trip!

Have a nice weekend and talk to you later!

Thursday March 29, 2007

Bloodwork and having to be sober: not suitable for me

Hey all,

I went to the hospital last Tuesday to have my blood taken for tests. For these tests I had to be sober, meaning no drinking (besides some water and tea without sugar) and no eating. Well, this shouldn't be too hard, right? You're right about that. Not eating and not drinking is not too hard. The only problem is that I'm used to eating about 06:00h in the morning and they couldn't take blood sooner then 08:45h. Before I was doen it was three hours after my normal eating time. And when I eat too late (or too little) I get a headache. And this it was no different. I've had something to eat, right after they took my blood. The headache still came, but seemed to be managable. But then I had a meeting from 12:00h until 13:30h and afterwards no time to eat. And so I ended up with a raging headache. And unfortunately it's still not over. It's managable now (mind you with painkillers), but I can work........ I hope I don't have to have my blood taken for tests again any time soon.

As for the rest, I'm still working :) And tomorrow, James and I are going to a zoo here in the Netherlands (Diergaarde Blijdorp). I'm looking forward to that! And of course I'm still working on my SAG-album!

Talk to you later!

Monday March 26, 2007

Working on first layout for SAG-album

Hey all,

I've been working on my Scrap-a-Ganza album again! Yes I do continue with it :grin:. Right now I'm working on the layout for the workshop Weather comes to Mind with Karen Burniston as the teacher. I'm going to include a few things she's already learned last year and the year before about interactivity. And on top of that I'm doing a few extra things. I saw one interesting thing on one of her projects that I want to include here too and I have one fun original thing of my own.

Once I've finished this layout, I'll start with the beginning of the album. As I told you before I've already chosen the paper line I'm going to work with, Basic Grey's Urban Couture, and I want to see where I can place the papers. The beauty of the measurements I have is the fact that I can use one paper twice, instead of having remaining pieces after this project is finished. I do however think I will be needing more then I have right now. So maybe I have to open up another package. Or maybe I'll just use something completely different........ Don't know yet :)

Anyway, this is it for now. Talk to you later!

Sunday March 25, 2007

I've been working in the garden

Hey all,

I've been working in the garden this afternoon. I've taken out three dead threes / bushes. They really needed to go. And I've done some weeding. The spring cleaning isn't done yet with this, but every little bit helps. Pending the weather I'll continue next weekend. I hope we have good weather. That would be fun!

We have more weeding to do and our Apple tree needs to be replanted in the garden in front of our house. It should do better there! I think I'll take a few more things out next week and do some more weeding. After that the spring clean will be done and we can enjoy the garden again!

This is it for now. I'm going to work on my SAG-album again. Talk to you later!

On the way with my SAG album

Hey all,

Yesterday I've done quite a few things for my SAG album. I've been looking through the last magazines again and found two more ideas for interactivity. And I've made a design sketch for all the layouts in the album. I've roughly said where I want to have what. Of course it still can change, but this way I've lined it all out and now I can really start making the pages. I don't want them to look all the same, so I tried to vary things throughout my album. That way it'll all still be interesting, or so I hope anyway.

And today I've started with the layout for my weekend schedule and a few more things. I've really got the feeling I'm progressing right now! I love it!

To top it all SAG had added more descriptions and I found the supplies list for Weather comes to Mind from Karen Burniston. It's good that I found it, cause now I know I have to take at least 1 cd with me. Just an empty one, nonetheless it's good to know!

I'll give you a few sneak peeks later on!

Talk to you later!

New Roommate: Nitty Gritty New York

Hey all,

As you can see on the right handside, I have a new roommate again! Please welcome Otilius from Nitty Gritty New York. He's got an amazing photoblog with photos of interesting and wonderful things of New York. And occasionally he gives you photos that really gets you thinking! I love it!

Talk to you later!

Saturday March 24, 2007

SAG-Album again!

Hey all,

I've gone through my stash and I've found no suitable embellishments for my SAG-album. I've been checking online stores here in the Netherlands, but I can't seem to find anything here either. That's why I decided to seek another solution. I've heard people talking on list about JoAnn.com and scrapbook products there, so I decided to give it a try. Since I had a fun experience through Coupon Chief I wanted to see if I'd find a discount coupon there. And boy, did I find nice JoAnn Coupons there. What about 20 % off from the total order? Or 50 % off one item? It's very nice! I've seen several I like. I'm going to think about it some more though. So many things to choose from! It's hard to make a good choice. What do I need now and what might be useful later on but not necessarily now....... Choices, choices.

And not only am I looking for embellishments, but I'm looking for ideas for interactivity in my album too. That's why I decided to look for an Amazon Coupon too to see if Amazon has new books with this subject. I found a nice coupon for free shipping and went looking. Unfortunately I didn't find anything there that was appealing to me at the moment, but I have bought several books there already that were really useful. So I'm keeping my hopes up and I'll check back regularly.

Let me know if you have any ideas on this subject!

Talk to you later!

Holiday coming up......

Hey all,

I have a holiday coming up. Let's just say I have it planned in my schedule (no, not the Scrap-a-Ganza Planner I was talking about earlier!) and I still hope that James can arrange it with his work too. We're both so much in need of some rest!

We've been talking a couple of times about a holiday in the sun. We're not "sunbathers" but we do like warm weather. Albeit not too hot! A few colleagues of mine have been on a holiday last to year to Spain, the Canary Islands to be exact. I'd like to go there one day too! It seems so perfect! Warm weather, nice people, good food, in short: all you can wish for! Maybe this is also what we need at the moment. A nice warm country without too much hassle. And mind you no too expensive either! And with work on our house, our wedding and Scrap-a-Ganza coming up, it might be nice to have a "cheap" holiday, don't you think so?

I remember when we were in Italy 4 years ago, James stated at one point he'd be willing to live there. We saw some houses (no, not on the inside) that looked very nice. Well, maybe he'll say the same about Spain. Ah, but we've seen this British television show where people we're moving to Spain to build a new life there. And they we're mostly buying houses that needed a lot of work to make it for what they wanted. That makes it a bit more unattractive to go there. Maybe they should have looked at Spanish Venture. They are professionals in selling a wide variety of houses in Spain. As they say on their site:


Spanish Venture welcomes you to the foremost selection of property for sale throughout Spain, with expert advice on hand from highly experienced Spanish property consultants.
Our website is updated daily in order to bring to you the latest offers including apartments, townhouses, villas, fincas, beach property in Spain and Golf property in Spain.
What more can you wish for? I've been browsing their site for a bit (you'll never know what idea James might have if we were going to visit Spain!!!) and I came across the Costa de la Luz Property, a few vary nice houses! Can you imagine having a house with a view on the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal? I can just see it right in front of me! There are several things in development there. If I look at this:

I can only imagine what life would be there. But I think it would be very nice, don't you think? I think with this company those people from England who moved to Spain, wouldn't have had to live in such disastrous circumstances! Better yet, if they would have been willing to, they could have bought themselves a house with this in the backyard:

Back to OUR holiday instead of someone else's life. This is just too much daydreaming! I've got to stay focussed, but it is something to keep in mind. You'll never know when you hit the jackpot! And Spain does sound nice!

Almost no interactivity ideas in magazines for my SAG album

Hey all,

I've been browsing through dozens of magazines, but up until now I've hardly found any new ideas for my SAG album. I'm really looking for new ideas for my album, but it's not that easy. I found out the people who submit pages to Creating Keepsakes are not really into interactivity (at least so it seems) and even in the dutch magazines I haven't found many new ideas. It was mostly more of the same I was already using. So, it's not easy..... I'll have to think of new things myself. Oh well, let's get on with it, shall we?

Or at least I'm going to do that :)

Talk to you later!

Friday March 23, 2007

Subscribed to and sent in submission for: Creating Keepsakes

Hey all,

I have subscriptions on two dutch scrapbooking magazines already. But not on one from the States. And it gives me the feeling that I'm missing some things. That's why I started looking for another (extra) magazine.

Creating Keepsakes
Over a year ago I canceled my Creating Keepsakes subscription. I thought I'd get it in the store, so I didn't have to buy it online and have it sent to me from the States. In the end I don't have it in the store, so now I missed an entire year. And I find myself flipping through the old magazines every now and then. So, I decided to subscribe to the magazine again. I can expect my first issue in about 4 - 6 weeks.

Submission to Creating Keepsakes
While browsing the Creating Keepsakes site I read about the Hall of Fame contest (Congrats to all the winners, btw) and other contest. Then I came across the page where they ask you for your pages and my eye caught a call for Italy layouts. The deadline for submissions is March 24, this year! With 400 photos I made and about 300 of them eventually scrapped, I thought I had to have some layouts that were good enough to submit. So I sent them several layouts! Now let's wait and see what they think of it. I hope they think it's okay! It would be fun to see a layout of me published in Creating Keepsakes! I'd really love that! But if it doesn't happen, that's okay too! At least I've tried!

I almost forgot to tell you, I've sent in the following layouts:




And I've sent the accompanying photos of the detailed parts. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

This is it for now. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please!!!!! Talk to you later!

Thursday March 22, 2007

Working on my SAG-planner or better: SAG-album

Hey all,

I've been working on my Scrap-a-Ganza-planner last weekend. It's becoming more and more an album instead of a workshop planner. I've decided to include virtually everything about the weekend. I've planned in chronological order (I've got a tick for that!) starting with our trip to Hotel Zuiderduin and ending somewhere with the diner and trip back on Sunday evening (or afternoon.....).

I've already made the front and back cover, at least the basics of it. Now I have to embellish it. I'm still thinking about that. I hope to find some ideas on the internet and in magazines I have. I've already browsed through the gallery of Two peas in a bucket (at least through the hundreds of layouts that have been uploaded the last 24 hours) and through several hundred of layouts at Scrapbook.com. So far I haven't found anything useful. I was looking for mini albums, but I haven't found many of them.

And because I'm really into interactivity in my albums (see our Italy album for several examples of that and our Switzerland album for that matter) I've been browsing the above galleries with the subject of interactivity in the back of my mind too. Although I've seen hundreds of layouts, there were hardly any, what I call, interactive layouts. You know, the ones with the pull-outs, sliding things, turning, hidden and more. And just when I was looking for new ideas for the SAG-album! Can you believe that?! I couldn't. So I decided to pull out several books I have as well as my stack of magazines to see if I can find something new there.

And concluding....... I still can't show you anything, because of the simple fact that I have nothing to show yet. And on second thought, maybe I shouldn't show the album yet once it's finished. Maybe SAG will hold another contest, like they did last year. And I'd like my album to be a surprise. That would be fun, don't you think so? If they're indeed going to do another Planner contest, I'll give you sneak peeks until I can show you the entire album. That's a promise!

If you happen to have examples of interactive things or nice examples of front covers of mini album, please send them to me at ilse at ilsesjournal dot com (or post the address here in the comments). I'd highly appreciate it! I'm always looking for new ideas.

Thanks again and talk to you later!

My Essentials

Hey all,

I've been doing some Catching up again and read one of Ali's newsletters again. She's been talking about Essentials. What's essential to you for scrapping? The challenge she sent us, is:


What are your essentials? If you had to get rid of everything and just keep a modest amount, what would be on your list? The challenge this week is easy: draft up a list of your essentials. What do you reach for time after time?

This shouldn't be too hard to do.........

1. Solid Cardstock
If you've seen several of my layouts you'll see I'm a bit like James. I'm not "into" overdoing with embellishments and patterned papers. Usually I use solid cardstocks. Since I'm using quite a lot of photos on my layout I prefer not to have many patterns with them, so as not to distract the attention away from the photos. The solid cardstocks work best to keep the attention on the photos and the journaling, exactly where I want the attention to be.

2. Journaling pen
As you can see on many of my layouts, I'm very fond of journaling. Hidden, in plain view, standing alone or with photos, I'm convinced that journaling is very important in an album. And for that I do need pens! I usually start writing straight with my pen, no pencils first......

3. Glue-itt rollers
Usually I use the "Glue-Itt" rollers from Pritt to attach everything to my layouts. In certain cases, when I know that a certain item will be turned frequently or an item is heavy, I will use something else. I've tried several glue rollers and other products like glue in a tube and the glue sticks, but none of them work as good for me as the Glue rollers do. I prefer them above everything else! I've also tried glue rollers from other brands than Pritt, but I didn't like them. That's why I decided to stick with the Pritt roller.

4. Double sided tape
In case I want to include something interactive (read: sliding out, flipping or something else) I usually turn to double sided tape. That way I know for sure that everything I want to include will stick to the layout, instead of falling off.

5. Trimmer
For cutting papers I'm using the Fiskars 12" trimmer. I really love this tool! The only time I don't use it, is when I need to cut something in a circle shape or an odd angle or something like that. All the other times I think the trimmer is IDEAL for cutting my cardstock to the right size!

Well, I think these are my true Essentials. Of course this may evolve in the future, just like my Manifesto, but that's okay! Things don't need to stay the same always!

What are your essentials when it comes to scrapbooking? Let me know!

Talk to you later!

Wednesday March 21, 2007

Thanks again......

.....for all the lovely comments about the album "ABC of love" and my Scrapstudio! I love receiving your comments, so keep them going!

This is just a short little note. Talk to you later!

One word

Hey all,

I have so much catching up to do with reading mails. I thought it would be best to start with a few newsletters, so I've just been reading one of Ali Edwards' old newsletters. I really like her newsletters (too bad it's on a short break right now....) because of the wonderful examples she gives us and because of the weekly challenges she gives us. One of the challenges was:


This week your challenge is to create something, anything, that celebrates your chosen word for 2007. Maybe a layout. Maybe a blog posting or a journal entry or a simple post-it note that you put somewhere you can see it each day. Make sure to journal about why you chose your word and what it means for you - the more you let yourself explore the more benefit you will receive in the end.

I've been thinking about it for quite some time. It's easy to pick a word to which I'm familiar to, but it's more challenging to pick something I'm not used to. Since there's so much going on in my life right now, I chose the word DIFFERENT. Let's have a closer look at that. Let's peel it off. What does it really mean for me? And what am I going to do with it?

One huge difference is the fact that I'm looking for a new job with a completely new focus and work process: Job coach. Since I haven't been educated in this area of expertise yet, this will be a huge difference for me. A job coach is so much different from a Traffic Engineer, that you can even hardly make a comparison of the two. So I won't do it here. Maybe I'll do it in the future once I've been working as a job coach for some time.

One of the other things that I want to be different in / do different is my scrapbooking. My usual style is the usage of:
* basic, solid background cardstock
* hardly any patterned papers
* hardly any embellishments
* a lot of interactive things
I guess you've all noticed these things in my layouts lately!
I do want to keep these things, but I want to challenge myself too. So, instead of changing my style completely all of a sudden, I decided to start with my Scrap-a-Ganza planner. I've picked an entire kit of patterned paper out of my supplies for the shop: Urban Couture from Basic Grey. And I'm already thinking about embellishments. I am sticking to the interactive things. It's way too funny to not do that.
So, this going to be different for me too. Not making an entire album with mostly solid cardstock and hardly any embellishments. As I said, it's not meant as a complete change in style, but I do like to do something different every once and a while. And who knows, maybe it is so much fun to do, I'll do it more often!
And maybe I'll take a few workshops at Scrap-a-Ganza that don't really fit my style. That would be a challenge, wouldn't it? It definitely would teach me something, whether I like the workshop in the end or not.

And last but not least I want my health to be different. Now that's a real challenge. Right now I don't seem have a lot of influence in it, but I'm still not feeling really healthy. I'm still way to tired. So that's why the doctor ordered a full blood check. Maybe we'll find something there. I do hope my health will be different (read: BETTER) by the end of this year. I am going to work on it, somehow.......

Well, that's it. There's nothing more for me to tell about the word DIFFERENT. What's YOUR word for 2007? Let me know what it is and why it's this word!

Talk to you later!

Tuesday March 20, 2007

Still tired.... not Pfeiffer.....

Hey all,

Forgot to actually post this, so here goes.....

I'm still tired a lot and the medical people can't seem t find what it is. It may have something to do with my asthma (reduced lung function), but improving my lung function doesn't automatically mean that I will not be so tired anymore. According to my doctors at least. So I was tested for Pfeiffer last week, just to be sure and the verdict?: I have had Pfeiffer in the past, but not the recent past (from now up to half a year ago), so it's earlier then half a year ago. The only thing is, they can't tell how much earlier. It's possible that it's a year ago, but it's also possible it has been ten or fifteen years ago....
That's why I went to see my own doctor (in dutch we call them "huisarts") to see if he can do anything. He's ordered a full blood work to see if something else can be found. I'll just wait and see....

Talk to you later!

Sunday March 18, 2007

ABC of Love mini album

Hey all,

Yesterday I promised you I'd show you the mini album once I had given James his gifts. This morning I gave it to him and he was happy with both gifts! So here's the mini album:

Just click ont he thumbnail. From there you can view all the pages of the mini album
I've kept the album basic, because I know he loves the basics. He's not into all the embellishments and extra things. So, with only the letters as embellishments and a few stickers I managed to make a nice mini album about our love.
With each letter I've described a thing or two that's special for our love. It's things we use a lot, like a name or a saying. I think I've captured it quite well. Of course we're going to keep this mini album save, just as all the others :)

Thanks for looking! And don't forget to leave your comments!

I've also made a gift "coupon":

With this coupon he can "buy" a new tool. Well, actually he goes looking for one, with me, and I buy it for him, but you get the principal :)
He's been needing this tool for a while now, so I thought I'd finally give it to him. But since there are so many version of this tool (it's called a "schroefboormachine" in Dutch) I thought he'd rather go looking for it himself before I buy the wrong one. He was really happy with this gift!

Well, this is it for now. I have to find a few things for my mom in the Scrapping Memories stash and then I continue to work on my Scrap-a-Ganza Planner.

Talk to you later!

New roommate

Hey all,

Here in my little corner of the world I have a new roommate since today! She's here to stay for a week, so please give a warm welcome to Much more than a Mom! She talks about everything in her daily life! Her blog is very fun to read and I think many parents can recognize certain things about their children in everything she writes!

Have fun!

Saturday March 17, 2007

Thanks for all the nice comments!

Hey all,

Before I forget (again) I want to thank you all for your nice comments about my scrapstudio! I love it indeed and I have already spent a good time in my new studio. I'll tell you about it later on. Right now I can't show the project I've been working on (and finished) yesterday, because it's a gift for James. It's his birthday tomorrow. I'm giving him a mini album and a homemade coupon for a new tool. He wants this tool, but I don't know which version. So what better way than let him choose it and I pay for it, right? :)

I'll show you the mini album tomorrow.

Talk to you later!

My new greeting Cards have arrived!

Hey all,

My new greeting cards have arrived! My neighbor accepted them for me yesterday! That's really fast. When I gave the order, the shipping would take about two weeks. Well, apparently everything went smoothly, since it arrived so soon! And they look great, don't you think?:

This is the card I'll use as one of the things in my Forum Friendship Card Swap. This way everyone will have all the data they need in an instant! I need to make 24 cards for this swap. Since I have 250 greeting cards, I won't have a problem there :)

I'm soooo happy!!!

Talk to you later!

Sunday March 11, 2007

My Scrapstudio is finished!

Hey all,

Remember all my talk about my "Scrapstudio"? What did you think? Is she all making it up? When are we going to see anything? Well, this afternoon I finally managed to finish all the cleaning work in my scrapstudio! I'm so happy I can finally use it as a real scrapstudio. As you can see below, it looks a lot better than all the old versions.
I've taken this photo from the doorway. On the right, you can see supplies from Scrapping Memories. In the middle is the big closet James and his colleague made last year and on the left you can see a small part of the table. Take a look at the next picture in my gallery for a view of everything under the windows :)




The Desk
With a lot of thanks to James for the bright idea I have workplace, lets call it a desk, in my closet. That's far more better than working on the small table. The desk is really big as you can see.
I believe it's about 1 meter in depth. And it's 1 meter wide. So I have a really huge area to work on. I won't have t worry about the desk getting too cluttered, because I have everything else in the closet. This is so wonderful! And of course I have some essentials right under reach. What to think of the glue, scissors and pencils? And my Trimmer? As you can see in the picture above I've already placed the project I was working on downstairs on my desk. And it all fits perfectly! Ah, but there is one thing a true scrapper can't do without and that's..............

The M & M's!
I did make myself make a promise. Now, how does that sound? Weird, doesn't it? Anyway, I've made the promise to myself that I'm only allowed to take a few M & M's once I have a page finished. And since that may take a while with me, the jar shouldn't be empty right away, right? So let's see how I'm hanging on to that in a few weeks time, shall we?



Embellishments Jars
Now, although the M & M's are very important in a scrapper's life, there are more things important too. So let's have a look at the rest, shall we? I've made one shelve especially for most of my die cutting machines and other things, like the Xyron. The only thing is that the Sizzix is simply too heavy to put on the same shelve, so that one is somewhere else. Of course I have my finished and unfinished projects on shelves in my closet. Where else would I have to put them? But that's not all. Remember the jars for the embellishments? Remember that I told you I had bought five of each a few weeks ago? Well, not long after that I bought some more of these little jars. They are just perfect. This week I started putting all the embellishments in jars and I found out I didn't have enough jars, so I bought a few big ones for all my ribbons and fibers. That would fix it, or so I thought. Well, in the end here's the result. I ended up with 14 jars like this one filled up (and I have a few left!) and more little jars for the little embellishments!:
And let's not forget the other jars I had already and the grocery jars! I have so many embellishments! I'm glad I've put in reach, on the shelves right next to my desk. That way the colors will inspire me and I'll get inspired to use more embellishments than I've done so far, simply because I'll actually know I have them right now. It makes sense, doesn't it?




Stamps
So, anything left that's interesting? Let's think..... Oh, right, my Stamps! I've collected quite some stamps with Clubscrap (and no, I was NOT a member of Clubstamp!) but I haven't used them often. Maybe, just maybe, that was because they were.... well...... in some place where I didn't have a full view on them? So, I managed to change that. I have placed them in full view, so I can hardly miss them right now. It's time I start using these stamps! So, what do you think of my solution?


More wishes?
Okay, so it took me several days to clean everything up, I had to use five garbage bags (the BIG ones!!!) and I've been cleaning up everything until I thought there would be no end to it. BUT, the result is worth all this. I'm so glad I did this! And now it's all clean, I'm really enjoying my scrapstudio. Of course, there are a few things I'd like to change, like the table, i.e.:
This table is just to small to work on it with several people. I'd like to have a table (and accompanying chairs) for at least four people in my Scrapstudio, NOT including my desk. It all depends on the space I have left if I'd be able to fit in a table (and chairs) for six people. For now, I don't really need it. Usually it's just the three of us (Bianca, my mother and I), so a table of four will do. Maybe it will be different in the future, but that's a whole other story! I'll tell you about it some other time. Once I've found a nice table, I'll show it to you!



My computer
You may have missed my personal computer. Well, that's correct. We have a separate room (we like to call it the "Study") where both my computer as the computer from James is. It's perfectly because that way my computer won't take much space from my desk! Ah well, I guess that's one of the benefits of not having children (yet?).

Well, this is it for now. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or e-mail me at:
ilse at ilsesjournal dot com.

Let me know how your scrap space is! What do you have and what don't have? Do you have specific reasons to have or don't have certain things? What are your wishes for the future?

Talk to you later!

Friday March 9, 2007

SAG 2007 is open to register!

Hey all,

I've been watching the Scrap-a-Ganza for my mom and YOU CAN NOW REGISTER!!! Go ahead and have fun. Hope to see you in June!

SAG 2007 not open yet & Greeting cards have been shipped

Hey all,

A few things keeping me busy today :)

SAG 2007
I've been checking my mails and the SAG site regularly now for news about SAG 2007, but so far there's still no news for the "newbies". When it's open, I'll let you know immediately!

My new greeting cards
I got a message from Vistaprint, telling me that my greeting cards have been shipped. So, I hope I'll have them in a few weeks. That way I can include them in my Forum Friendship Card swap. I've already made a design for it. Now I'll have to try it out. See if that what I have in mind will really work... but first.......

My scrapstudio
I'm still not done with my scrapstudio. This is mainly because I was too tired to work on it the last few evenings. My work has been really hectic the last few weeks and it's draining my energy. Have to think of a way to make it better.......... Back to the original topic: My scrapstudio. Right, I have bought several new jars for all my embellishments. I thought I had enough of them. Better yet, a few of them were still empty and that came in handy for the future. But then I found out I had completely forgot one drawer that has tons of embellishments in it! So, I went back to the store in my lunch break and bought several new jars including a few big ones to hold all my ribbons and fibers.
This does mean I have to move around a few things again. Now I'll need two shelves with embellishments instead of the one I had in mind. But that's okay. Now I'll finally be able to see them and thus use them :) I do have to find another place for other things though :)

Well, this it for now! Talk to you later!

Tuesday March 6, 2007

New greeting cards

Hey all,

While I was cleaning up my closet a bit further yesterday evening, I found an old box with greeting (or business) cards which I use for RAK's and other scrapping things. These cards had old information on them. The design was not the problem, in fact it was very nice. But the cards stated my old website and e-mail, so I decided to get new cards. I've heard about people using coupons for this, so I thought I'd give it a try. As we in the Netherlands:
“Niet geschoten is altijd misgeschoten”. If I’d translate it, it would mean something like, if you haven’t bought the ticket, you surely know you won’t win a thing.

On Coupon Chief site I found a 75% reduction Vistaprint coupon. I have ordered my previous greeting cards there and for Scrapping Memories I’ve ordered Business cards. My experience with them is very good! And with the coupon it went perfectly fine too! This is really a good finding! I know Vistaprint delivers great work. If you don’t mind waiting a few weeks for your order, you can have it shipped cheap. If you really need a rush order, you’ll pay more, but you’ll have it shipped in no time. The quality of their products are also very good. That’s why this company is one of my favourites! And shopping with coupons makes it even more attractive to shop with them!

So, if you need greeting cards (or stationary or anything like that), I’d recommend Vistaprint!

Since I don't need the cards right now, I choose the option to have it delivered in about three weeks. That's soon enough. I think I'll use them in my Forum Friends Swap book too. That way it's easy to exchange information and I'm sure the others can read everything properly, without having to decipher my handwriting. :)
I did choose a different design then last time, however. I wanted to have something different and the design I choose this time is really wonderful!

Talk to you later.

Ketting mails "misbuiken" vader

Hey all,

Sorry, this post is in dutch because this is a specific dutch problem.

Hoi allemaal,

Ik heb zojuist doorgekregen dat een vader van twee gezonden kinderen de dupe is geworden van een hele nare kettingbrief die via de e-mail wordt verstuurd. Het gaat om het volgende:


de mails:
Johan Devadder uit Burst is al acht maanden het slachtoffer van kettingmail
,,Ik heb helemaal geen doodzieke dochter Rachel!''
De teller stond gisteren op 5.371, want zoveel mails kreeg Johan Devadder uit Burst in acht maanden tijd. Naïeve surfers denken dat Johan geld inzamelt om de operatie van zijn doodzieke dochtertje mee te betalen. In werkelijkheid heeft Johan twee gezonde kinderen en heeft hij geen flauw benul hoe zijn gegevens onder de hardnekkige Rachel-mail zijn gekomen.

Lees dit tot het einde.!!!!! Goeiedag, ik ben een jonge papa van 29 jaar. Mijn vrouw en mezelf hebben samen een schitterend leven gehad. We hebben een kind. Haar naam is Rachel en ze is 10 jaar. Onlangs heeft de dokter een hersenkanker in haar kleine lichaam gedetecteerd.

Zo begint de kettingmail, waarvan veel ontvangers spontaan tranen in de ogen krijgen. Iets later in de mail wordt gevraagd om dit bericht door te sturen naar zoveel mensen mogelijk, want per doorgestuurde mail leggen AOL (internetprovider American On Line) en ZDNet (een magazine over internet) 32 eurocent in een pot die dient om de operatie van Rachel mee te bekostigen. De mail is ondertekend met Johan Devadder, waarna zijn volledige adres en telefoonnummer worden vermeld. Alleen heeft Johan, 54 trouwens, er niets mee te maken. Hij heeft geen idee hoe zijn naam onder de hardnekkige kettingmail is terecht gekomen.

Dagelijks veertig e-mails

De gevolgen voor Johan zijn niet te overzien. Dagelijks krijgt hij een veertigtal mailtjes. Soms krijgt hij allerlei verwijten naar zijn hoofd geslingerd, meestal krijgt hij een bemoedigende schouderklop en wordt hem naar zijn rekeningnummer gevraagd. ,,Ik krijg vaak mails van jonge moeders, kinderen en gebedsgenezers. Eén keer kreeg ik een e-mail van een meisje dat zo door het verhaal was aangegrepen dat ze het spaarpotje dat ze had aangelegd voor de aankoop van een tweedehands minibus wou uitgeven aan de operatie van mijn zogezegde dochter. Ik probeer op elke mail te antwoorden en duidelijk te maken dat ik niets met dit verhaal heb te maken.''

Dat de Rachel-mail blijft voortleven heeft alles te maken met het feit dat er altijd mensen zijn die het verhaal geloven en de mail doorsturen. In Johans mailbox staat een bericht van zo'n enthousiasteling: ,,Ik heb 434 contactpersonen in mijn adresboek. Maak je geen zorgen; ik heb ze allemaal jouw mail doorgestuurd. Succes!'' De kinderen van Johan, die gescheiden is, zijn 10 en 12. ,,Ik heb toch maar mijn familie verwittigd, want voor je het weet, krijgen ze die mail ook en vragen ze zich af waar ik in godsnaam mee bezig ben.''

Een kleine beetje zoekwerk leert je al gauw dat dit een mail is die al zeker zes jaar circuleert en ook nog in diverse talen, zoals in Frans en het Engels. De basis van het verhaal is het zelfde, alleen de namen zijn aangepast. Daarnaast wordt ook de "verzender" geregeld aangepast met de daadwerkelijke gegevens van de verzender. Verbreek deze cyclus en stuur een dergelijke mail niet meer door. Hoe zielig het verhaal ook lijkt!

Talk to you later!

Bollywood is getting known more in the world

Hey all,

I love to go to the movies and see movies on television. Usually these movies are from European or American producers. Sometimes you'll "foreigners" doing the producing. But have you seen any movies produced in "not-western" countries and by "foreign" producers and casts? To be honest, it's been a few years since I saw one. I can't remember which was the last one I saw. I do know however that the Bollywood Awards have been awarded and that the ceremony was held in Amsterdam, here in the Netherlands. I think that's great! And the idea that this film industry is getting better known is very good too. Finally these countries are "picking it up" and the movies are spread around the world!

But where do you find information about the stars and the movies? Well, I've just discovered a site where you can find a lot of details! Desi Baba about the site: "We bring you the latest news from Bollywood, including all the gossip you want to know about YOUR favorite stars! We spot their favorite places to hang out, to go shopping and much more! And of course we deliver you the best things you can get about Bollywood."

So, next time you see a Bollywood movie and you're intrigued about an actress or the producer, go and see Desi Baba

Have Fun!

Monday March 5, 2007

Lees hier de Nederlandse versie van »

Personal data online "available" for everyone :)

Hey all,

My aunt sent me some "disturbing news" this morning:
Apparently there is a site where you can fill out your name and all of your personal data will be displayed. Think about your passport data. And it's for EU residents........ Hmmmm...... Do you really think.....? I have to test this. Really, I do. And if it's truth I'll sue them and get my data removed. They'll think twice before doing this again! Really, I'll make them pay!

Just click on the link "Lees hier de Nederlandse Versie" to see the outcome.

What to do with the money earned with my blog?

Hey all,

Well, I've written about this before. Thought I'd let you know about Pay per Post. My journal has been approved to participate in their blogs program recently. *Three times Hurray*!!! So, now I'm participating in two programs, but that's fun! One for which I can choose all the posts myself and one for which I get assignments.

And what am I going to do with all the money I'm going to earn with these programs? Well, I can think of a lot of things. One of the things is certainly trying to earn enough money to pay all the expenses for my blog, so for the web space and for the domain name. All in all this is about $100,-. Once I have that, I want to earn enough money for Scrapbooking. I have so many things I want. Let's have a look at that, shall we?

Scrapstudio
For my scrapstudio I want to have a large table where I can scrap with my friends. And of course some chairs to go with that. I think the table needs to be at least 1.50 meters x 1.50 meters. And I'd at least need four chairs. And if more people would like to join us scrapping on our Sunday afternoons, a larger table and more chairs would come in handy :)
I already have a huge photo, namely the wallpaper, on my wall, so I don't need that one, but I have seen some other ideas that are nice to include in my scrapstudio. Like big letters from wood, or the words "Create", "Imagine" and "Fun" in big letters. I could keep them at the top of the closet (I have some room left there), or I could keep them somewhere else where their visible.

Scrap supplies
If I say scrap supplies, what do you say? SHOP! Well, that's exactly what I'd like to do with the money I earn with these programs. I'd go shopping and buy........
* (mini) albums
* mini album kits
* quarterly or monthly kits like Club Scrap
* cardstock in a great variety of solid colors
* background papers
* fibers & ribbons
* eyelets in a great variety of colors
* alphabet stickers
* other stickers
* adhesives (you can never have enough of these....)
* Oh, and save money for a Cricut machine and cartridges to go with it
* or more Quickutz or Sizzix dies or any of the other machines. How nice would that be?
* Any more????

Besides scrapbooking
Of course I have other hobbies too! I can't name everything I'd like to spend my money on, but here are a few things:
* Digital Camera (Canon EOS300d or something like that)
* Books. I can't name them now, but when I'm in a bookstore...... oh, I'd like to buy all of it!
* DVD's. I just love the movie DVD's. I'm always going for the special (extended) editions, because they have so much more! We already have several movies on DVD, but I have a big list of everything we'd still like to have. Well, to be honest, I like them more then James.......
* Get my loan paid off. Now that would a very nice thing! If I could do that with earning enough money with blogging..............................

Well, I guess that's about it for now. If I've bought something with the money I earned while blogging, I'll let you know!

And what would you do, or what do you do with the money you've earned while blogging? I'm always curious!

Talk to you later!

Sunday March 4, 2007

A crop afternoon

Hey all,

Both Bianca and my mom have just left after a cropafternoon. We've been chatting a lot, the three of us. That's one of the things I love so much about cropping! And of course the inspiration we give each other, exchanging ideas, helping each other out when we're stuck and more things like that!
One of our subjects was Scrap-a-Ganza. Unfortunately the "SAG Virgins" still can't register! This is too bad. I just hope my mom will be able to choose some fun workshops for June by the end of this week.
Of course we've also talked about extra things, like the Forum Friends Swap book from the Scrap-a-Ganza Countdown Forum. Bianca has already registered for the forum and my mom will probably register too, although her English is not always quite right. But hé, it's not something she was good at and I think she'll be able to manage with a bit of help from our side. :) Anyway, this means we'll all participate in the swap. I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm slowly progressing with my album for James. Last time I had finished the flagbook itself. This afternoon I've painted all the letters. With 26 letters to paint and to choose which color to use, I've spent quite some time doing this. In the meantime I've also finished a Switzerland layout, so that's okay. James won't suspect a thing :) :) Next Friday I'll work on the album again. I hope to have it finished after that. Three times hurray for the free days!

Unfortunately I can't show you the new layout, because it's too dark to make a good photo right now. I'll show it to you later on this week. I can't show you any photos of my scrapstudio either, cause I haven't finished cleaning my closet yet. I'm going to work on the closet this evening again and I think a few evenings this week, so that I'll have it ready by the end of this week. Then I'll show you the pictures!

This is it for now. Talk to you later!

Cropping

Hey all,

This afternoon Bianca and my mom will come cropping again. Lucky for me James is with my father to the boat, so now I'll have time to work on the ABC of Love I want to give him for his birthday. I just need to get a few extra things downstairs and then I'll be ready. And just in case they'll be back early like last time, I'll have our Switzerland things with me too, so that I can pretend I've been working on that album. Of course I need to make at least one Switzerland layout, because James saw the last layouts I made. If I want to pretend I've been working on the Switzerland album, I need to be able to show him a new one, right?

This is gonna be fun! I'll let you know how it turned out!

Saturday March 3, 2007

Icon for forums

Hey all,

I'm not usually using any icons in forums, but now I came across a site that really tempted me to make one. I've seen so many very nice avatars / icons in the signature of posts, so I thought I'd get one myself. It's so funny! With Dress Up Games you can make your own Avatar in just a few minutes. You don't need anything fancy, you don't need special programs, nothing at all! All you need is an internet connection. And well, I guess access to forums if you want to use it in forums, but if you like, you can use the avatar anywhere you like.
And you have a lot of possibilities to choose from too! How about a Greek Goddes or a princess, like these:

Or a pirate, like I did?

Like I said, you don't need much. All you really need is your imagination with these Dress Up Games! You can choose from a wide variety of dolls, clothing, hair, accessories and more. And you can even start your own story!

You have several options to include this avatar. Just copy the HTML code you're given, have the picture e-mailed to you, save the picture somewhere on the internet and, last but certainly not least, have your avatar stored with Dress Up Games. That way you can access your avatars where ever you are.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity to have the avatar you want, without having too much to do or having to search the entire web to find just that one avatar!

So, have fun!