well, I think it is exciting!!!

So, about Becci. No, Ineke she is not getting married!! She has no plans to do that for years....so she says, too many other things she and Roy want to do first etc. What she is doing is moving into her first 'home' with her friend Anna!!! As of 30 August, they will be sharing a small terraced house together in Stafford. It is unfurnished but looks nice and clean etc and very suitable for the two of them. Becci absolutely loves it already and has been to Ikea with Roy dreaming of what she wants to buy for it etc. and how she wants it to look... as it has no furniture etc she and Anna are going to go around the second-hand shops for chairs etc and they have already got their bedroom stuff from their own homes to bring over etc. Becci wants us to go in the beginning of October when, as she says " I will have no money and no food and I'll need you to help"!! She'd like us to take her bike over with ' new pretty saddlebags please" and various other items including Peters tool kit and DIY skills. It will be so strange visiting my baby in her first home.............I am so proud of her. She is also starting to do more work with her probation cases, teaching basic literacy and numeracy to them which she adores so her career is also going in a direction she wants to take now. At the moment she and Roy are 'recovering' from their weekend at the Leeds Music Festival. We saw the mud and rain on TV so it was not a pretty sight, but she said it was ok. They are back at Roys this evening and then back to Stafford tomorrow so she can start packing!!!! I have made her a small picture in a scrapped frame and have been buying small things she will like to have there - not being able to be with her all the time this makes me feel a bit better about living so far away. Peter keeps finding little packages and saying ' what is this?' and I say ' oh, something for Becci'!!!! Luckily I know her taste so I can get them for her, and she can then do what she wants with them re. where they go etc. When we go over I suspect we will be going to Ikea with her, and other shopping expeditions - I can't wait!!! So this was the exciting news folks, my baby is growing up!!!

Almost able to catch up on my blogging!

It has been a fantastic 2 weeks having friends and family visiting us but tomorrow they go home again and I can start thinking about doing something on my blog!!! Lots to tell and so many photos to organise etc, and exciting news from my daughter - so hopefully you'll be hearing from me very soon!!!!! cheers, Suzanne.

How to make an Explosion card

Cut a strip of cardstock 30,5cm x20cm long. Make a fold line down the centre, and one at 5cm and 10 cm on either side. Fold the left-hand corner down to the middle line and score. Repeat with the right hand side. Once you have done this, turn it over and the other way round and repeat the previous step. If you look at the last photo you will see the fully folded card out flat. You need to squeeze the upper and lower small triangles together so that it looks like the shape above this text. This allows the front large diamond to pop out and be the front of your card! The 2 outside 5cm strips are then folded forward. Cut out different coloured design papers for each section of the card and glue in place. Decorate as you please. I hope this is clear for everyone? Any queries let me know and I will try to explain it another way......I hope!!

and the last pages..

Genghis Khan. Alexander the Great. My good friend Clare. A bit of journaling about Clare and me!

Peter and his pond!!! Just a nice relaxed photo of him which is quite rare! There is the back cover but that is not necessary here. Hope you like it!!

continued...

My Children....need I say more? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Tim and his grandmother who is 89 years old. Me and my best friend Peter. Tim and his girlfriend Alicia.

Peter wearing his football 'hat' !!!! Not that he is a football fan, but that he was going to meet his Swedish colleague at the airport!!!

My Album about us!

The front cover and a spread of all the pages. Peter sitting in the garden trying to fix his old video recorder. Me on the boat over to Denmark. Peter drinking beer in the evening in Copenhagen.

Becci and Roy in Deventer.

TIm & Alicia

This is a lovely layout of my son and his girlfriend that I have framed for them. The dappled light on the photo was gorgeous and the dotty paper directly under the photo reflected this perfectly. I chose the green colours as it was taken in the garden and I just loved the effect they gave the photo. Everyone say 'ah...'!!!!

Suzanne & Clare

This layout is really all about the journaling so the photo itself is only fixed on the left hand side. It lifts up so that you can read all the text. I used the text paper as a background to reflect the fact that Clare and I have been friends all our lives and have therefore talked a lot!!!! It is a different style for me I think, but it just felt right for what I wanted to say in this layout so it happened all by itself!!!!

MY first ever explosion card!!

This is an explosion card!! Which means that it is folded in such a way that the front square pops out towards you when you open it. Clever, eh?!!!! I had added the greeting on the back right hand side of the card and the stamp of hand-made authenticity on the right. It worked well so I think I will make some more!!!

More cards!

A card for a birthday in September. There is a Happy Birthday stamp from Catslife Press hidden behind the flower that is a pull-out one. This is for my friend Anne who I am visiting next month. I wanted to send her a letter with a nice card as she is not very well right now. Hope it cheers her up! This is a card for my cousin and his wife who are arriving here tomorrow. I took these photos of their children on the day they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary so I have made a keepsake card for them. I love these flowers that I had in the august kit from AMM. And the metal rings around the brads were in the Simpel Scrappen card kit; they are used for making jewellry so I guess you can buy them in bead shops too. If you like my cards I'd love to get a comment from you please?!

Two layouts using the JULY SCRAPKIT from SCRAPFEVER

Tim and Oma together; the youngest and oldest members of the Kalkman family at present. Tim is 15 and Oma is 89! She thought it was so great to have this photo taken of them together. Me and my best friend Peter on his 50th birthday in June - you remember we went to England to surprise him?! We have been friends since we were 11 and 10 respectively, so worth celebrating this with one another! We are so alike in many ways that we could be twins!! ( I mean in our ways and habits and thought patterns etc!). Last time we spoke I said something to him and then said " I know what you are thinking!!" and Peter said " how did you know that?" and I said we have been able to read each others thoughts for so many years it was easy!!! Our sense of humour is also very similar but under NO CIRCUMSTANCES could one say our musical taste is the same!!!! His is a very unusual eclectic one that no-one would WANT to imitate it!!!! But I still love him dearly!!! xx

My room is getting there slowly!!

Filling up my IKEA cupboard slowly! It is fantastic to have this wall of scrap!!! Some of my books etc are now on shelves etc and my stereo from downstairs is now in situ so I can enjoy music while I work! Just been hanging a few of my precious things up where I can get them at the moment. I like to surround myself with the gifts my friends give me, as this is my special place in our house. At the moment I am here under the window which is great. I have got a workspace that runs the whole length of the wall so room for friends!!! Loking at my space from another angle!!! I am so happy to be getting it all sorted out finally. I can now access the majority of my stuff but still need to set up the tools etc so I can use the Cricut and my Cuttlebug again. But getting there is half the fun!!!!

Some little treats for me and my friend!

THIS IS THE FLIP CAMERA!!!Peter has ordered me one of these!! I love it to bits already and it is only just been put in the post! I saw it on a blog.. dangerous things these blogs, I see too much! and I decided that it was ideal for someone like me who has NEVER shot a video EVER!!!! And it looks so easy and fits into my handbag etc and is CUTE!!! So that is what is making me happy today - and I think it is wonderful of Peter to get me it. Thanks darling!xx

As another treat I have booked for a pedicure next week as doing anything to my toenails at the moment is impossible! I cannot touch them as I cannot bend that far yet! So I felt it was in order to get a pedicure and solve that problem in a very relaxing manner! And then I have booked for Lindsey and I to have a treatment afternoon together when she is here in September. She is feeling rather stressed at the moment so I thought it would be nice to treat her to a little something during her stay. We are going to a local beauty place so it is only small, hence the need to book well in advance! I think it will do us both good.

3 cards using the simpel scrappen card kit for this month.

For my aunt who has had a knee replacement operation this week! For my colleagues and clients at the day centre where I work. For my friend Karin, who turns 50 this month! These cards are all made with the papers and embellishments in my cardkit which arrived yesterday. I am not a red and black fan at all, so it made a change to be using colours and patterns I would otherwise avoid. It was a challenge! but I enjoyed it just the same. The kit is a monthly one, and has got enough materials for a minimum of 3 cards and certainly more, or tags etc. that you want to make as well. I think it is super! I have not used any stamps this time as they are a bit over-done at the moment - just about any and everyone is bringing out a line of stamps and I have had enough!!! I have my favourites but cards without stamps are just as pretty and wonderful I think. These have got text rub-ons on them and some stickers instead.