{ FRANCE }

Last October I won a scrapbooking kit from "C'est Magnifique". It was the most magnificent kit I had ever seen! Truly! It was filled with papers mainly from Inkido (Sunshine collection), 2 sheets from Teresa Collins, shapes from Kaiserkraft, ribbons, flowers (Inkido), stickers and transparencies from MME and an chipboard alphabet from FabScraps ... there was sooo much! The kit was lying on my desk waiting to be used, so when it was time for this sketch from Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge I knew what I was going to use! 

Here's my page:

And some details:

The photos are Instagram photos of our vacation in France last July 2012.

And this is Anne's sketch for January:

I would love for you to join us this month!! There's an awesome prize from Scrapbook Fantasies for grabs or you could win be our guest designer for a month. Hop over to "Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge's" blog and have a look at both the prize and the layouts of the other designers!

Thanks for visiting my blog again today and hope to see you back soon!
Hugs,

Last Inkido layout :(

Today, after 1,5 years, my design team term with Inkido/PCS comes to an end. I'm both happy and grateful to have been on their team and very sad that it's ending. To end in "style" I created one last layout:

For this page I used Inkido's "Forever Christmas", flowers, leaves and some self adhesive pearls. 

Have a look at their blog for more beautiful projects.
I will miss the Lise-Lotte, Petra and the rest of the team AND their products tremendously (especially as the products are still not for sale in The Netherlands), but Lise-Lotte promised me to send me a sample of the new Spring products when they arrive (how sweet is that!)!

Have a fabulous "Oudjaarsavond" everyone and see you again in 2012!!
Hugs,
Monique

Day 8, the Nook's Advent Calendar

My Scrapbook Nook is hosting an Advent Calendar this month. 24 of its members are posting a give-away on their blog each day, leading up to Christmas Day and I'm one of them!

So today is my day to host the Advent Calendar and for this special occasion I created a little Christmas shopping list-booklet:

and if you wonder what's on the inside .... a plain, lined notebook from the supermarket - very easy (and cheap :) ):

Materials I used are all from Papercraft Scandinavia/Inkido and the epoxy stars are from Epiphany Crafts.

And now about my give-away .... leave a comment before Christmas and you might win this:

I'll choose a winner the day after Christmas.
And if you like my work, why not become a follower? I would really love that! (NOT mandatory for the give-away!)

But wait there's more! If you want a chance to win a three month subscription to My Scrapbook Nook kits (Jan-Mar), all you have to do is leave a comment with this blogpost on Leah's blog!

And just in case ... here's a complete list of the days and who is hosting the give-away that day:

1 Hilde http://www.scoobieslilleblog.blogspot.com/
2 Antenucci http://antenucci.blogspot.com/
3 Danielle http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.com/
4 Lisa J http://cutcreateandcare.blogspot.com/
5 Pam http://happytobecreating.blogspot.com/
6 Meg Aaron http://thoughtsoftraveling.blogspot.com/
7 Mag http://magandscrap.blogspot.com/
8 Monique http://moniquesscrapbook.blogspot.com/
9 Sherri http://faithandscraphappiness.blogspot.com/
10 Kate Vickers http://www.scrapsation.com/
11 Lilith Eeckels http://lilithandscrap.blogspot.com/
12 ~jan http://jantatomir.blogspot.com/
13 Carol http://carolmonson.blogspot.com/
14 Arty Carty http://blog.artycarty.com/
15 Tanya http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com/
16 Annelie Maddoc http://swewi.wordpress.com/
17 Nenne http://www.creativenenne.blogspot.com/
18 Nicole http://justnicks.blogspot.com/
19 Andrea Amu http://imlivinonscraps.blogspot.com/
20 Marinette http://www.scraptherapie.com/
21 Pysselpetra http://mittkreativakaos.blogspot.com/
22 Samantha http://samawright.blogspot.com/
23 Anna Sigga http://annasigga.typepad.com/scrappalicious/
24 Jennie http://pappersverk.blogspot.com/
25 Leah http://www.leahkillian.com/

Thanks for stoppng by and have fun with the rest of the Nook's advent calendar!

Hugs,
Monique

I ♥ PCS/Inkido!!

A few weeks ago Lisse-Lotte sent me a whole box of new PCS & Inkido Christmas papers, stamps, flowers and ribbons. I absolutely love the new Christmas lines and have great difficulty to make the first cut in the new papers ... Last week I did it anyway and made this layout:

A page about my dear hubby with his mum. I'm probably not allowed to tell you, but he's a real mummy's boy (which is very sweet I think). The title is Indonesian and means "my mother".
Here're some close-ups of all the fabulous PCS/Inkido products.

 

Materials used for this line: pp Christmas Wishes and Light a Candle and a little bit of Autumn Friendship (leaves), ribbon, charms, rhinestones, flowers and a stamp (don't you just LOVE the stamp?)

The Christmas trees are made with a Martha Stewart punch and the lantern with the Tim Holtz Alterations Holiday Lamp Post die.

If you want to see more creations visit PCS' facebook page HERE!

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving me a comment!
Hugs,
Monique

Let it Snow!!

.. well no, not yet please! but creating a layout about the snow was super fun!!

Last week I received a box full of Christmas goodies from PCS/Inkido and I just had to create a layout about Christmas and the snow!!!!

Here's what I made: a page about Manon and her niece Julia playing in the snow after having had brunch at their grandfather's/my stepdad =) (December 2010).

I used the new Inkido Christmas lines: "Forever Christmas" (Christmas News) and "Forever Santa" (Merry Music, Seasons Greetings, Christmas Starts and Christmas Greetings)!! Love these lines!!

Some close-ups:

Don't you just love that Christmas is approaching??? I love these last two months of the year; in November celebrating Sint Maarten, Manon's and my birthdays, the arrival of Sinterklaas and then in December December 5th, Christmas and Mats' birthday and hopefully snow and ice(skating)!!!

For more PCS/Inkido projects please visit our FB page or the Inkido blog!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Monique

{Christmas cards} for Papercraftscandinavia!!

Do you create your own Christmas cards or do you buy them? I usually buy them or order photo cards, but this year I decided to create a few Christmas cards for my family, relatives and some close friends.  The papers & embellishments from PCS/Inkido are perfect for these cards!!

For today I created these 3:

Products used: Inkido's "Forever Christmas", images from "Light a Candle" and "Vintage Santa", ribbons, charms, pearls and flowers. If you want to see all products from PCS/Inkido have a look HERE and if you want to see what the other designers create with their products why not visit their facebook page??

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and see you soon!
Hugs,
Monique

Another {HEART} and a GIVE-AWAY!!!

Yesterday was my day off and this is how I spent it:

punching out butterflies to create this heart. I made it for my PCS/Inkido dt assignment and used assorted Inkido Xmas papers, rhinestones, flowers, a charm and a ribbon. The photo is of Mats' hand (then 4 years old) offering me a daisy he just found.

Here's a close-up:

and here are some step-by-step instructions:

1. Choose a heart to alter (this one is from the local garden centre Intratuin).

2. Choose 4 different scraps of paper and start punching. I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

3. Use a hot glue gun to adhere the butterflies to the heart shape.

 4. Cut out a heart shape for the sentre and ink the edges. Choose a photo and adhere to this centre heart. Punch a hole in the top centre. Choose assorted flowers, rhinestones and a charm.

5. Adhere rhinestones to the edge of the heart. Put a ribbon through the punched hole and adhere flowers and charm around the hole.

6. And done!! Here's the end result!

And now it's hanging in my dining room:

Hope you like it!!!!

Now about the give-away .... because I had my mini album published in the August issue of SCRAPBOOK TRENDS the publisher sent me 2 complimentary copies!! So if you want to have a copy of this issue:

just become a follower and leave a comment. That's it!! I'll draw a winner on Monday October 31!!

Btw, this is my published album:

and one of the pages (my dad and me, 1964):

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment to win the August ST!!!

Hugs,
Monique

Early Christmas Cards

Everyone always tells me that if I want to send handmade Christmas cards I should start creating early! .... so I did! Here are two of them, created for Paper Craft Scandinavia/Inkido:

Materials used: Inkido's Winter Red Snowball, Christmas Dots, a card from A4 Vintage Santa, chipboard star, pearls and a flower.

And the other one:

For this card I used: Inkido's: Winter Christmas Heart Red, Christmas Swirls, Christmas Dots and pearls, ribbon, flowers and chipboard frame.

Thanks for looking!!

Hugs,

Monique

Home Decor (for a change)

While browsing through our garden centre (Intratuin) a while back, I found this wonderful wooden heart and instantly knew that I wanted to buy it for altering purposes!!

And look how beautiful it turned out!!!

Wanna see how it looked when I bought it?? and maybe also how I turned it into what it looks like now??? Okay, here we go:

That's it!! Very simple!! I attached a photo of my grandparents to twine, but if I want another photo I simply unclip this one and change it for another one :).

The papers and all the other products (flowers, leaves, adhesive pearls & ribbon) are from Paper Craft Scandinavia (Inkido).

Thanks for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Monique