TEA FOR TWO!!

Wow, 2 blog posts in one day!! :):):) (have some catching up to do, LOL).

Last Saturday I attended the SBN crop marathon in Voorburg (finally finished my December album, yay!) and although I swore to myself NOT to buy any more papers, I just couldn't resist this line: Tea for Two from Cosmo Cricket. It was love at first sight! I mean, look at all those chipboard shapes ... teacups, a teapot, flowers, hearts .... sigh! LOVE them!! And because I had these photos from an English Tea my friend Anita organised for me, I knew I just had to have this line!!

Of course I wanted to use it straight away .... and the first layout I had make was for the Dutch Dares sketch challenge, so here's what I made:

Hope you  like it! Here are a few close-ups:

If you feel as inspired by it as I was, why not give it a try too? Place a link to your project on the Dutch Dares' blog and who knows, maybe you'll win this month's RAK or be our next guest designer!! And if you want to see what the other designers made, hop on over to the Dutch Dares' blog!!

And now I'm going to try something the mailman (uh, I mean mailperson) just delivered .... this:

Doesn't this look like fun??? I never ever order something from a shopping chanel on tv, but when I saw this I relented .... I love baking muffins and cakes, but I'm an "easy" kind of person and don't want to bother too much and this looked  sooooo simple on tv. Can't wait to see if it's really as simple as it looked (probably not, LOL).

This is it for now! Thanks for visiting my blog and would love to read your comments!!
Hugs,
Monique

Guest Designer "The Studio Challenges" part II

I really don't know where the time went!! My last blogpost is from 12 days ago! So sorry! I'll try and catch up in the next few days or so....

Let me start with this layout I created for the 2nd challenge of "The Studio Challenges" for which I'm the Guest Designer this month.

The challenge is "create a layout using a song". As I have so many photos of New York AND this song is my favorite song right now, I chose "Empire State of Mind" from Alicia Keys.

Here's what I made:

I decided to use some of my old October Afternoon stash (Road Map) for this page. As I really loved that line (and still do) I bought way too much of it .... feels good to finally use it!
Here are some close-ups:

Thanks Jules for letting me be this month's Guest Designer! I loved it!!!

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

Doodlebug Button Home Decor!

Last Tuesday it was my turn for Doodlebug's "Tuesday Tutorial" and I chose to do this fun home decor project. 

People who know me, know I love buttons! And Doodlebug has buttons …. LOTS of buttons! In all shapes & sizes & colors! To avoid hoarding them (that’s what I do when I love something really bad) I decided to create a tutorial around them. So, here’s what I made: a button heart frame!

Here’s how I did it:

1. Gather your supplies: lots and lots of those fun, brightly colored Doodlebug buttons, a piece of fabric, an embroidery ring, a heart shaped template, a pencil and a photo frame.

2. Place your fabric between the two embroidery rings (using an embroidery ring ensures that the fabric stays even and flat and won’t pull to one side because you sew on it). Make sure you leave enough fabric on all the sides, because you’ll need enough fabric later, to fold around the insert of the photo frame.

3. Take your heart shaped template, place it on the fabric and use a (fabric) pencil to draw around (or on the inside of) the template.

4. Start sewing you buttons on the fabric. I used short threads to adhere only 3 or 4 buttons with one thread, so if ever the thread breaks not ALL buttons will fall off!

5.  Once you’re done sewing all the buttons on your fabric, remove the embroidery ring, place the fabric upside down on your work area and place the insert of the photo frame on the back. Fold the excess fabric over back of the insert, add glue to make sure the fabric won’t shift and place inside the frame.

6. Turn the frame around to add a title. I used Doodlebug’s Shin-Dig alpha stickers, which adhere perfectly to the fabric. To decide where to place the title, I stuck the letter stickers on my see-through ruler, which I then held over my work to see how it looked.

7. And this is how the frame looks in my living room!

Hope you like it! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

You know what I would really LOVE? That, if you like this project, you hop over to my blogpost on Doodlebug's blog and tell them! (so they know they haven't made a "mistake" by choosing me for their team ... :) ).

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and I hope you have a happy Easter!

Hugs,

Monique

Dutch Dares Woensdag!

En toen was het alweer de eerste woensdag van de maand! En dus een nieuwe DARE!! Deze week is de dare "Voor alles is een eerste keer" oftewel "Mijn Eerste .... ".

Ik had net deze schattige foto's van Manon gescand om te scrappen. Ze is hier 6 jaar en speelde elke dag met haar poppen. Tim is die dag jarig en Manon heeft daarom ook een klein cadeautje gekregen: een fietssetje voor haar Baby Born. De titel van de layout is dan ook "Mijn eerste fietsritje" en slaat dus op het eerste fietstochtje van de pop!

Verder lag de nieuwe "Sugar & Spice" lijn van Doodlebug op mijn bureau en die heb ik gelijk gebruikt!

As it's the first Wednesday of the month it's time for a new Dutch Dare! This month the dare is: "My First .... " . I chose these photos of little, 6 year old, Manon. She had just gotten a new bike suit for her Baby Born doll and was about to take the doll for it's very first bike ride ... hence the title! 

I used Doodlebug's "Sugar & Spice" line for the page. Just perfect for little girl photos, don't you think? 

Ik vind dat papier zooo schattig! Zou bijna willen dat Manon nog 6 was!!

I really love this line! Almost wished that Manon was still 6 years old!

Als je wilt zien wat de rest van het team gemaakt heeft, neem dan eens een kijkje op het Dutch Dares blog. Enne mocht je zo geïnspireerd raken dat je mee wilt doen, vergeet dan vooral niet een link naar je layout achterlaten want de RAK is deze maand heel leuk!!

If you want to see what the other DT members made, have a look at the Dutch Dares blog! And if you decide to participate, don't forget to link up your layout! Maybe you'll be the winner of this month's RAK!! 

Thanks for stopping by!! 
Hugs, 
Monique

BIG news!!!!!

Finally I'm able to share my BIG news with you all!!! A few weeks ago I got a really exciting e-mail from Patti Beltran telling me that ..... drumroll .......

I MADE THE MY LITTLE SHOEBOX 2012-2013 DESIGN TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look:

Can you see my name?! It's really there!!

Yay!! A dream come true!!! I'm so happy!! I've been doing a little happy dance!! When I read Patti's email I gave a huge yell and the kids thought I'd won the jackpot! Well, to be honest, that's exactly how it feels!!

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

"The Studio Challenges" April's GDT!

Last week Jules asked me if I would like to be April's Guest Designer for "The Studio Challenges" and of course I said "yes"!! When I had a look at their blog and their designers and "special guests", I felt so honored she asked me! (Thanks again Julie!)

"The Studio Challenges" is a challenge blog from the UK with an amazing DT and very fun challenges. They have 2 challenges a month, one on the 1st of the month and one halfway through.

The first challenge this month is to create a layout using at least 3 (but preferably all) of the following list: kraft, twine, die cuts, ink, a star and washi tape.

Here's the layout I created:

And some details:

LOVE the Washi tape that is so "in" nowadays!

If you want to see what the other designers created, have a look HERE! And maybe you want to play along too? There's a fun prize to be won!

Thanks for stopping by and if you come back tomorrow I have some really BIG news for you, wohoo! :):):) !!!!!!!

Hugs,
Monique