{ Working 9 to 5 }

Working with October Afternoon's 9 to 5 that is, LOL! (Not my joke btw, but Danni's from the Nook and OA :) ). She was the one who pointed out the fun October Afternoon challenge for which I created this layout!

The challenge is: use the "9 to 5" line to create a project based on this sketch:

And because I bought a LOT of this collection that same day I started on the challenge straight away!
Here's my layout:

The journaling is about how I worked as a secretary for many years, but after completing a parttime study (of 5 years!) I changed my career and became an HR officer. The photo was taken the very first day I started working as an HR Officer with Allseas Engineering. Looking back this job was the most fantastic job I ever had! Working in an offshore company was really something special. I still recall the fun "office" parties and outings we had on board of their pipelaying vessels :).


Some close-ups:

How I love everything that October Afternoon carries .... the papers, the diecuts, the buttons, the stickers .... LOVE it all!! Oh and above all I ADORE their Washi Tape!! (I used it to create the border around the circles).

Okay, this is it for now. Have a fab weekend and thank you so much for stopping by!
Hugs,
Monique

My Little Shoebox layout

Today I want to share the layout I created for My Little Shoebox with you!

Here's "Have a Drink & Relax", a page about my lovely dd! For this page I used the wonderful "Keepsake" line. What I love about the Keepsake collection is that all the papers are double sided. Because of that there are so many fabulous designs to choose from for your project and they all match so perfectly!

My favorite techniques are layering and machine stitching. I love to layer papers with different designs and colors and then stitch them all together. :)

To create the epoxy banners I used the Pennant tool from "Epiphany Crafts". To adhere the banners to the page I used 3D Foam Squares to raise them a bit to create dimension.

For this layout I used a sheet of cardstock as my base and layered 3 Keepsake sheets on top of it (“Razzleberry & Chiffon”, ”Garden Delight” and “Sound of Music”). The photo is placed on a matt of yet another sheet of the Keepsake line: “Windowview”. Behind the photo I placed two pieces of patterned paper, which were machine stitched first. I then added the title on top using two different sets of alphabet stickers (Sprinkle Glaze and Mini Alphabet Stickers).


MLS Supplies: Keepsake: Sound of Music, Garden Delight, Music to my Ears, Window View, Razzleberry & Chiffon, Cardstock Stickers, 3D Dimensional Roll Up Flower; Alphabet Stickers: Sprinkle Glaze (Whoopie Pies), Mini Alphabet Stickers (Chocolate Cake & Kiss); Clear Stamps: Sew Cute

Other supplies: Cardstock: Core’dinations; Ribbon: Webster’s; Epoxy shapes: Epiphany Crafts Bubble Caps Pennant 25; Flowers: Petaloo; Pearl Swirl: ZVA Creative; Twine: Divine Twine; Liquid Pearls: Perlen Pen Viva; Adhesive: Tacky Tape, Scrapbook Adhesives, Scotch.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
Monique

A card, a pub & a prize!

I've been a fan of Shellye's work for quite some time and as she has a card challenge going on at the Nook right now, I decided to play.

For the challenge you have to use the next sketch, include a "dovetail or pennant" look on your card and use the most recent Nook kit you have. Upload the finished card by May 23rd.

The sketch:

 And my take on it using the Nook's May kit:

Love this collection (This and That) by Echo Park! Love it so much I really had trouble deciding which papers to use (as some were way too beautiful to cut up for a "mere" card, LOL) and which papers to "hoard".

Hope you like it.

Then I have some other news .... one of my layouts got published again! and yet again in "UK's Scrapbook Magazine", this time in issue #63. Jules was so sweet to send me a scan of the page. The 2nd layout is mine! 

And last but not least ... with the layout I created for Jillibean's NSD challenge I won a few goodies! Check out this post: Jill chose a few winners and one of them was me! I'm so happy!

This is it! Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back soon!
Hugs,
Monique

Queen's Day

A quick post from me today.... it's almost midnight and for me that's late. Tomorrow it's my hubby's birthday and I still have to "decorate" the room (had to wait until he went upstairs and that took a while) and then I realized I hadn't posted my layout for the Dutch Dares new sketch challenge yet!!

So here we go! The sketch:

And my take:

At first glance my impression was "what a difficult sketch", but then the ideas came flooding in and guess what? My page was finished in only half an hour!!

The photo collage was created in Picasa. The papers are from My Mind's Eye, the orange banner is made from the crushed velvet cardstock from Doodlebug, the alphabet stickers and twine is from Doodlebug too and the mini alpha stickers are from My Little Shoebox. Add 2 buttons and 5 staples and you're done!!

Want to see what the other designers created, or maybe even join us?? Hop on over to the Dutch Dares blog!!

Thanks for visiting my blog today and see you soon!
Hugs,
Monique

I'm so happy I can READ!

Today it's Day 1 of the Alphabet Projects at DOODLEBUG!!!!! Check out the blogpost here!

Here's what I created with all the super fabulous alphabet stickers Doodlebug has to offer (and there are so so many!):

A page of my youngest with his latest toy: an iPod he got from his grandparents. He's so happy with it because he can finally read everything that's on it, even most of the English texts! He started group 3 in September last year and in no time he could read. I'm still amazed at the speed of that! He downloads games on his own, he plays Wordfeut with us, he sends me text messages .... he does it all, at the age of 7!!

But enough about my kid ... Let me show you how I created the background of my layout. 

First I started peeling off the "negative" sticker sheet of the a "Hopscotch" Alphabet.

Then I sprinkled some flour on the sticky back side so it didn't stick anymore:

Next I placed this non-sticky alpha sheet on a (almost) white background and sprayed "yellowish" paint on it:

and got this result, isn't it beautiful? 

And the next step is easy .... create your page using patterned paper, diecuts and lots of different alphabets!

Here's what I used: Patterned Paper, Cute Cuts and Cardstock Stickers: Snips and Snails; Alphabet Stickers: Simply Sweet, Shin-Dig, Hopscotch and Teensy Type. Other supplies: Sprinklers (Lemon Drop) from October Afternoon.

Some close-ups:

This is it! Easy Peasy!!

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear what you think!!
Big hug!
Monique

What my Mother taught me!

Part of being "AFSC" guest designer was completing a layout with the following sketch along with this challenge - Mother’s Day is celebrated in May in some countries – scrap a memory of your mother or grandmother, or another lady who has influenced your life greatly.

The sketch looks like this:

And this is the layout I created, using the Nook's April 2012 kit (filled with Crate Paper) and the "Vintage Typewriter" die from Tim Holtz (love it!):

some details:

My page is about my mom. My mother passed away 3 years ago but what I remember best about her is that she was always telling my sister and me that "independency" was one of the most important things in life! I think she was actually one of the first feminists in The Netherlands. When we grew up my mother always had a job and thus had her own income and she was the one with the drivers license (and not my dad)! And that's what my layout is about!!

If you like the challenge or if you want to see what the other designers made, have a look at "Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge" blog.

This was my contribution this month. Thanks Anne for asking me to be your guest designer. Loved it!!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back soon!

Hugs,

Monique

{ Mother's Day Card }

This week the theme at Doodlebug is "Mother's Day" (no surprise there, right?). And because I think my mil (mother-in-law) definitely deserves a card I created this one for her!! (Wish I could still create cards for my own mum .... miss her every day :( ). To give the card an extra twist I turned it into a little mini album with photos of my 3 kids.

For this card I used Jessy's "Doodles Card Sketch":

I used a "Create-A-Card" from the "Slim Sunburst Assortment" and as this card is folded twice it's just perfect for this purpose! I just love all the glitter cardstock stickers of little birds and butterflies that come with this collection!!

And a collage:

Materials used: Patterned Paper: Hello Spring Collection & Petite Prints; Cardstock Stickers: Hello Spring; Cardstock Alphabet Stickers: Hopscotch (Bubblegum).

If you want to see the cards of the other designers and what they did with Jessy's sketch and all those fun Mother's Day gifts, then hop over to Doodlebug's blog!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back soon!!
Hugs,
Monique

This calls for a CELEBRATION!

Yesterday, on National Scrapbook Day (NSD), I blog hopped a lot! and on Jillibean Soup's blog I found a sketch challenge I really loved. They had 3 sketches you could choose from and I loved them all.

In the end I went with this one:

I had an untouched Jillibean Soup line sitting in my brand new paper rack: Spotted Owl Soup. Originally a line for birthday celebrations, but if you leave out the word "birthday", you can use it for any celebration!! And as you know I LOVE owls .... So I decided to use this line for the photos of Mats' Swimming Test A, which he passed last month!

Here's the layout I created:

And of course I couldn't resist my Pennant Tool from Epiphany Crafts:

I added one item from another manu, a whale from Imaginisce (isn't he cute?):

Of course I (machine) stitched a lot: 

And did you do a lot of scrapping this weekend? Any challenges you entered?? Can't wait to see!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back soon!
Hugs,
Monique

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

.. or should I say "Happy International Scrapbook Day"? I don't know, but what I do know is that in the US today it's National Scrapbook Day and because of that My Little Shoebox is having a fun sketch challenge with a wonderful prize to be won!!

As we have our own Sketch Diva among our midst finding the perfect sketch for today was no problem! Here's what Liz (from The Scrappiest) created for us:

and here's my take on it:

For this layout I used My Little Shoebox' "Up in the Trees" collection.
Here are a few close-ups ... first, the banner made with my favorite Pennant tool from Epiphany Crafts.

Also made with the Shape Studio Tools from Epiphany Crafts (round 25), the epoxy birds:

I love stitching! .... also through titles:

 This MLS collection comes with a sheet full of die cuts, a.o. roll-up flowers like this one:

If you want to see what the other MLS designers did with this sketch or if you want to read more about the challenge have a look at My Little Shoebox' blog.

And you? Are you celebrating National Scrapbook Day too? or do you live in The Netherlands like me and are you celebrating "Bevrijdingsdag" (Liberation Day). I would love to know! If you leave me a comment, I'll make sure to stop by your blogs too!!

This is it for now, thanks for stopping by and HAPPY NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY!!!!!

Hugs,
Monique

Spring in '65!

Remember I told you I'm May's Guest Designer at "Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge"? Well, here's the layout I created for their challenge. The challenge is "Scrap something about your garden .... etc.".

I decided to use these photos of my early childhood. When I was little, my parents didn't have a house with a garden, but my (German) grandparents did. So every time we stayed with my grandparents, we spent days in their garden. Here it's "Whitsun" (Pinksteren) and the weather is really warm.

And some close-ups:

I used the March 2012 kit from My Scrapbook Nook. The buttons were made with the Button Studio Tool from Epiphany Crafts.

I would really appreciate it if you visited the blog of "Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge" and had a look at the projects of all the other designers. They are absolutely wonderful! And maybe you could join us and give this challenge a try?!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back soon!
Hugs,
Monique