Life and Scrapping

December Daily prep

The weather is getting colder over here, en we even had a frosty night or two... Sinterklaas is already in the country and i even got a present from him when Stach put his shoe by the fireplace last Saturday!

Super cozy soft home socks with pompoms... (oh, and a chocolate letter P, but i ate the last piece yesterday evening :)) so now i'm typing away on my new mini keyboard that i bought with some of my B-day money, all cozy in the living room with the house to myself, cozy socks on my feet, festive music playing on the stereo, hot coffee and some 'speculaasjes' (seasonal spiced dutch cookies) to nibble... the perfect setting to fill you in on my December Daily project preparations! (Ha, that makes it the DDpp... funny :))

In my last post i showed that i embellished the cover of my album with a few snowflakes, cut on my Silhouette Cameo... next step was to cover the chipboard cover with white acrylic paint! I did several coats with after the base layer...

My paint of choice was 'winter white' by Folkart... very appropriate, don't you think? I used a very soft brush, to avoid ugly brush stokes... and let the paint airdry in between the layers...

Finally the beam in my attic studio comes in handy, lol!

As we speak, the final protective finish is sprayed on, and the album is hanging out to dry for the last time... and then it's embellishment time... i already cut some glitter paper words and such on the Cameo, and found glitter tape at Hema a few days ago! Yay, love it! And how about those tags? I think these will also look fun in one of my daily spreads, as well as on a gift! The lovely paper is by the uber talented Karla Dudley, from her new brand new digi Holiday kit 'Chris'... i printed one of the papers, after resizing it, and will use it to decorate the inside of my cover!

Time to check my album now... hope it's dry... and if i can find the time, i'll start on some prep of the pages too! Talk to you soon!

 

Gepubliceerd met Blogsy

It's that time of the year...

Stach is at school, I have a couple of hours of piece and quiet ahead that I'm going to spend in my studio, with milk (accompanied by hot coffee), cookies and white, red and gold :-), what can be better???

Don't know how much of the December days I can cover this year in pictures & words, but actually... I don't care... everything I DO cover is eligible for some browny points!!! Better to have some memories saved than none at all, right?

Off to paint my album!!!

 

Gepubliceerd met Blogsy

A bit of DIY for the love of organising...

The other week I came across some wooden wine boxes when collecting another load of chopped wood for our stove in our garden storage...

Now... these little pieces of packaging crates to have ended up under my hammer to be added in the burning fire with the rest of their dried 'nod chopped wooden mates, but...

No, can't waist such a good storage opportunity, now can I? I mean... another cute crate to add to my collection of sweet storage in my studio, come on fellow crafters...

So... up the studio they went, and soon I was happily DIYing... humming away on the sweet sound of the Weepies on the stereo...

The white paint was soon localised...

So all I have to do now is patiently wait for the paint to dry...

Care to see how this all turns out?

Gepubliceerd met Blogsy

For the love of organising...

Don't you love to see how other people have organised their scrap supplies? Or other crafty items, for that matter?

I do... I can peek for hours in the lovely scrap- and craft rooms of total strangers, through the pictures or videos that are posted so freely on the web! Love that about our community of crafty folks! That sharing nature, providing each other with smart storage ideas, fabulous or in- expensive solutions for a great work space, or just sharing the excitement of our own joy about the places we create in!

So I thought I'd share my humble part of storage solution that I started in my last post... the ultimate brad- and eyelet sorting system, sponsored by Flying Tiger and Xenos... (yeah, I wish :-))

Looking good, don't you think?

Love that the round containers (from Flying Tiger) are completely see though, so I can see in one peek which ones I need... no more containers to unpack in search of the right embellishment, yay!!!

And those little 'vintage' crates (from Xenos; they carry white ones now too, if you're interested) look smart in my supply cupboard... bonus!!!! I removed the corner pieces those cute crates come with (see here), because I can fit more in this way...

Hope you find my little storage solution helpful and/or fun... maybe you have a good one to share too? I would love to see...

Gepubliceerd met Blogsy

About brads and eyelets...

January is particularly the month for new starts, cleaning out closets and organising the clutter various parts of our home!

I feel the need too, every first month of the year... especially when it comes to my Scraproom. Those of you who know me will probably say: "What's the need? Your room is só nice and well organised...!" And that's right, it is (insert huge smile here...) but i can always find the need for seeking some improvement, here or there...

I used to be part of another design team before I joined Karla Dudley's CT, and one of the basics when creating projects as such is knowing all about the products you use (so you can give proper credit etc.) That's why I store a lot of supplies for many years know in their original package... take my brads and eyelet collection...

Not practical at all, when you need to find a matching brad or eyelet in a hurry (the ones you want are always down at the bottom, and then there's the fuss of getting them out of that blister pack...

See... I need some improvement here!!!

So I got myself a bunch of these stackable storage jars... stuck a little label at the back of the jar to remember the brand, and after getting rid of a lot of packaging it became a mighty fine and well sorted stack of brads and eyelets... easy to see what I have, and easy to get the right ones right away! And -before buying- I kept in mind that I have to get these tiny suckers out again too, so I got the bigger sized ones instead of the small boxes...

I might keep them in those little clear containers (from Hema) but I have my mind secretly set on of these 'vintage' cute boxes...

How cute would it be to have all 50 (and i might need to get some more, whoops!) boxes all neatly tucked away in there????

And... did you got the cleaning and organising bug too? If so, what project are you tackling?

 

Gepubliceerd met Blogsy

Just a day in January

How's life in 2013 so far? Is it treating you well?

I myself cannot believe how fast the days go by... we're in the fourth week of this year already!!! My plan was to complete my December Daily project this month, besides doing some other fun hybrid CT work for Karla D... that, while trying to get into a new work rhythm at the office (I'm still trying to get back into 'normal life mode' after being ill for so long)... but all of a sudden I see myself occupied with visits to my re-integration case manager and a new company doctor and several other getting back-to-work related meetings! Yaikes... apparently it's a big deal these days to get back into a job these days after a 15 month of sick leave! Not fun, and it costs a lot of energy that I cannot put into the things I had planned...

Ah well, I suppose it's a good thing, all that focus on getting me back into a working life! And I'm slowly adapting to it, and nourishing my creative mojo too... Karla Dudley is a great help in that department :-) She moved recently to the brand new and über cool digi store Pixels-and-Company!

 

Check it out at Pixels and Company... and while you there, check out Karla's cool new kits in the on sale section! They're only €1,00... now that's what I call a great deal!

I'm currently playing with the Coded Love ($1 kit) and the Fickle kit. Thought the fun barcode words were perfect to make a few sweet cards... that's the fun thing with digi stuff, you can easily twist elements so they fit your project perfectly!

Love hybrid play! Adding some tiny glass beads, use my circle punches and my sewing machine... fun fun fun!

 

Gepubliceerd met Blogsy

Merry...

New kit...

Sometimes life leads you in other directions than you initially planned... sounds familiar? I for instance had thought spending my December month on making my December Daily album (and a few crafty Seasonal decor thingies) with the sweet hybrid KD Cherished Holiday collection...  but instead of  crafting in my studio, i found myself at the office all of a sudden... after being at home on sick leave for a whole year!!!

Seems i'm back to work for a couple of hours a week... not in my former job (to heavy for me in this state of  after-cancer-treatment-and-such-but-still-mental-recovering-from-it-all) but a bit low profile administrative work, but hey, i'm back! And that's good progress people!

But the downside for me (and for you guys :)) is that i'm not sharing cute 'nd crafty December album pages... i just cannot find the energy to both, apparently!  But i've got my album ready, and i soon hope to combine work, home ánd crafty goodness all together...

But i can share this...

Some hybrid goodness i made with the super fun and brand new 'Change' collection by Karla Dudley... check it out... papers, album cards, photoframes, wordart, stickers, brushes, wire words... this digi kit has it all!

And the theme of this collection fitted with my current work situation perfectly!

No page of mine is done without some die cutting with my Cameo  :)... the doily, the 'restroom girl' and the uber cute swirly mini tab card (that one is a Karla Dudley shape) are all from the Silhouette store...

That mini tab card was the perfect place for my journaling!!!

I'm really getting the hang off this hybrid way of scrapping (if i say so myself, wink) and i SOOOOOOO love it!

And if you like to try some of  the KD goodness yourself, check out her fantastic sale: 50% off her entire store right now!!! How great is that? But hurry... sale ends tomorrow!!!

One of the perks of being part of an international community of scrapbookers is being exposed to various customs and celebrations that are not your own... always good to broaden your mind, right?

Last week for example was Thanksgiving in the USA... not something we celebrate over here, but i really like the thought of dedicating one day in the year to think about all the blessings and good in your life! 

So i celebrated in my own way, and made this one... having this beautiful boy in my life is one thing i'm so blessed with, among other things!!!

I used a very appropriate set of papers and goodies... the Give Thanks '12 collection!

And i mixed and matched it with papers from another favorite, the Jubilee kit, square frames from the Insta.luv kit and some word art from the Be You kit... all Karla Dudley (Yep, can you tell that i'm a CT member, wink?!)

Cut the title on my Cameo, and added a bit of glitter and shine!

Cute homemade brad (Give Thanks word art), a Silhouette leaf shape and some beads to give it all a finished look!

And there you have it... some ponderings about my happy reading son captured on a 12x12 canvas! 

I was lucky to be able to capture it, because Stach doesn't want to have a camera sticking upon his nose all the time... and i cannot blame him, he's reaching that age that his privacy is getting more and more important, and you don't want your mum putting  your everyday, cool or cutsie stuff all over the www, right?!)

On another creative note... it's almost December folks! Can you believe it? I thought i had plenty of time to prepare myself for another challenging  round of December Daily, but somehow i totally didn't get the opportinity (... and Karla kept me busy with so many new goodies in her store :)!

But i got my plain binder ready for some re-decorating, i bought extra ink for my printer and i put a load of various papers and such that i can run through my printer on my wishlist for Sinterklaas! And, most important... i got this uber cute Cherished Holiday hybrid kit to work with!

 

So i guess it will turn out perfect after all!!!

Jubilee kit...

Remember this post? I was playing with that uber cute Jubilee digital kit by Karla Dudley... did a bit of resizing, printing on different papers...

I even made a few 'epoxy' brads from the digital flair buttons in this kit... what do you think? Looking good or what???

And after all that playing on the good old notebook it was time to get the actual page together... as soon as i saw the frames that come in the whole collection, i knew i wanted to make a minibook out of them... and so i did...

I used the Everyday Story teller kit as my base, and put some pieces of digital Jubilee paper in the pockets...

I printed the frames and several square pictures seperately... i assembled those together, and then started on the accordion minibook... i cut a page protector in strips, stitched those into pockets with clear thread on my sewing machine, and sewed a few strips with pockets together to get a long strip with pockets... after filling it with my photo frames and matching pieces of pre-printed Jubilee paper, i folded the whole thing so i became an accordion mini booklet... i sewed a matching pocket from a piece of left over page protector... eh voila!!!

Then the page had to be dressed a few bits 'nd pieces... cut a few shapes (hello, october, leaves (that one is by Karla Dudley) and the little doily) from the Silhouette store on my Cameo...

Oh, and there is one of the epoxy brads i made... love the look of it!

Another tiny shape that's cut with the Cameo (also by KD)...

It's easy to pull the booklet out of the pocket like this... it's filled with some of my favorite photo's and stories of October...

For the journaling i used another cute KD kit: Noted (discontinued)... before printing i typed my journaling on them...

Divided page protectors are quite THE thing these days, but it's often difficult (or very expensive) to get the right protector for your project... well, know you know that you can make your own! All you need is plain page protector, clear thread and a sewing machine!

Oh, and on another crafty note (for you American peeps)... hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! We don't celebrate it over here, but i love the thought of dedicating a day to thinking about the things you're gratefull for... such a good tradition! And so i made myself a small thanksgiving celebration page... wonder how that one turned out???

Well, then i guess i see you back here on my next post :)