is it really going to be summer soon?...

they are trying hard to convince us that the summer will arrive at the end of this week...but is that true? When I woke up this morning it was sunny and blue skies out of the window etc, and now at 09.15am it is already clouding over. We have a saying that if it is "bright before 7, dull before 11." and I think it is mostly true. Ah well, I keep looking for holidays in the sun for October...maybe we will get away then. Went to 1619 on Sunday evening, a restaurant at the harbour in Andijk, with Jos and Jenny. Only a small menu but everything was delicious. It poured with rain whilst we were there but inside it had a nice fresh atmosphere and it was a place I'd recommend to others. Finally got more photo paper yesterday but still struggling to find the mood for scrapping..have I got scrappers block?!!! Am I just unsettled still and wondering what, why, where and when...I think it is this work thing that is bugging me, and wanting to get on with it but not yet feeling sorted with hours and clients etc. Sat here waiting for a phonecall this morning, about one client from yesterday, and getting anxious about it. It is only early still, but if they ring me maybe this afternoon I will work; and then I want to know now!!! I am a grumpy old woman...maybe it is because of the book I'm reading at the moment which is quite funny, but about turning sixty. Since I am not yet 50 it may sound odd to be reading it, but I had to laugh out loud last night in bed: she also has "senior moments" but when she stated that her friend has "craft moments" it was hilarious!!! Won't translate that here...rude!!!!! Must try and concentrate today........................

damp and dull sunday...

My mood is rather the same as the weather today I'm afraid! Maybe it is the result of not having any scrapping to do!?!....well, that is NOT strictly true, I have loads of on-going ( I could say "unfinished") stuff I ought to get on with, but I am not in the mood. I think it is probably due to having just come back from England and seeing all my friends and having a bout of homesickness.......and feeling a little hesitant about starting work tomorrow.................................. I think I am unprepared for that right now! and a number of other less interesting things! But ok, I have to do it so I hope it turns out alright! And maybe meeting these new people will cheer me up! I hope so, I am in a proper doldrum it seems! And that is all I wanted to say today. Bye!

back home again

and despite all the rain in England we were mostly dry! Poor Gloucestershire and Shropshire and that area of England suffered this time with the Severn and Thames bursting their banks in spectacular fashion. On the Friday when it happened we were in Staffordshire - the country a bit up from them - seeing Becci, and although it poured down all day, it was still not flooded. Then we went over into Shropshire (only just) to have a pub meal with Stephen and Janette, and it continued to rain, and driving home late at night was no joyride, but we were not stranded like so many people were. Ah well, is it any better here??? How many BBQ's have you had this year?!!! It is a washout that's for sure, but no disaster, so keeping it all in perspective, it could be worst!!

We had a splendid day driving over the north yorkshire moors on Sunday, and it was blue sky around us and black clouds on the horizon all day long. We had a little photo session which Peter turned into a competition but...I feel this photo of mine won!!! (well I would, ok!) Dramatic line of dry stone walling disappearing over the horizon with not a soul in sight!! It is superb up there - I feel my spirit reviving whenever I am up there just soaking up the space and beauty of mother nature. I miss the hills so much, and the wide open spaces it affords me. Not for nothing are the Pennines called The Backbone of England!! We also took a sneak-peak at where we are staying in September, by Haworth, and it was gorgeous! William and Lily will find it rather isolated I think, and the roads leading up to the house...be happy that it is a hire car!!! But it is perfect for me, and I think for them too. Never having been to England before, it is always a delight to show people somewhere OTHER than London!!!

And now I have to prepare for this afternoon's workshop and do the household tasks left before the weekend. As usual the rest of the household are sleeping, and only I and the cats have any activity genes awake in our bodies!!!

ps. run out of photo paper hence no scraps as yet!!! Woe is me!!!

It's almost holiday

and I for one can't wait!!! I don't suppose the weather will be any better in the UK than here, but I love seeing my friends and aunt and just being "back home". Peter doesn't appreciate what that means to me and it is difficult to explain, but when I am there I have a sense of belonging and history and place, and that doesn't occur here. Of course I love our home and the friends we have made here, but it is not who I am, and the feeling of displacement only grows I fear, with the passing of the years. The dream of home is exactly that. My career is gone, my knowledge of what is happening there is vague, and things have moved on without me. So the thought of going back to live there in the future is not very realistic. Yet do I want to move to Spain for the better weather as Peter would like to?...no, no thankyou! I try not to think about the long-term future too much as it doesn't help my mood! I take a long time to accept things maybe, but I do hope that we will be frequent visitors to England and enjoy more time there than at the moment. And if Becci stays there and settles down with a family, even more reason to go! But then Tim will stay here I think, and settle down, so we will be travelling in between for the rest of our lives!! So although the rest of the world is a beautiful place, "there is no place like home"!!!!!!!

Faye & Meggy

This is the photo of Faye and Meggy with their door hangers which they made in the workshop. They were delighted with them and I hope they come again soon as they were a pleasure to have here!

Adorable!!!

Isn't he the most adorable baby in the whole world???!! This is Kyrzs, the son of my friend Anna's daughter, from Poland. I am scrapping an album for him and Kasia sent me 500 photos on a disk yesterday...and this one just leapt out at me 'cos he is stunning! At the moment I have got a few pages done, but it is a labour of love so I am not going to rush it. Just thinking about what paper to use and how to set out the page is a treat in itself!! The reason he is so special is that the first time Kasia was pregnant she lost the baby two weeks before her due date, and Peter died without ever being born, if you know what I mean...such an awful experience that I suppose every mother dreads happening whilst pregnant. After a lot of counselling and sharing their experience with support groups etc. Kasia and Marcin tried again. I visited Anna whilst Kasia was pregnant and it was so sad seeing that they dare not enjoy that time, and how they didn't want to talk about it or let happiness in...but finally in January this year baby Kryzs arrived safe and sound, and the joy returned to my friends lives. So, my gift to them is this album which I hope to take over there some time next spring.

scrapping with the twins

Still having problems uploading the photos of this workshop I did with Kate's 6 year old twin daughters last Thursday. It was great fun and Meggy and Faye were very concentrated and focused on their door hangers. Lots of sticky foam pads later.....and vast numbers of silver stars and they were done!!! They seemed to enjoy themselves and want to come again so that is positive feedback for me! Once the internet is working properly again I will post their photo!

Bon voyage Ineke!!!!

My friend and groovy digi-scrapper Ineke, flies to the States on Monday with Jan & Mariska for their holiday in New York! Just wanting to wish you a safe flight and a fantastic experience in NY!!!! Think shopping, musicals, sight seeing, shopping.....it will go so fast I reckon, but she will have plenty of scrap material to work with when she gets home! Dead jealous I am; she might get to accidentally wander into a scrapbook store - and they are HUGE there! You get to walk around with a trolley and not a little basket, (same as in England too), and the prices............to die for! I hope she does find the odd one or two as I am interested to hear what she thinks of them, and whether we need to have a small trip over the pond later this year.....................So pack essentials Ineke and BUY luxuries!!!! BON VOYAGE!!!!! xxx

What makes me happy

I have actually made a LO in response to a dare on a blog! Never done that before, so I don't know what will happen with it.........anyway, the dare was to scrap something describing what makes one happy, and I decided that as lots of things make me happy, this was relatively easy to scrap!!! This is the finished LO: I've probably left out so much, but it was enough with what I had already added and I didn't want to overdo it!

All the small details are possibly difficult to see here but the image is quite clear I think. Have a go yourselves!!! Think happy thoughts today!

Exciting new lines from CHA!

Just browsing early this morning and I found a scrapblog that had LOTS of pictures of the latest lines to come out of CHA in America, and just fell in love with SOooo many of them!!! If you want to see them too, check out this blog: http://catsies.web-log.nl She has got many of the new lines on her blog and I just adore the new Basic Grey ones! Heavenly! And Chantal tells me she will be getting them in around the end of this month..........ohh, can't wait!!! When I was out shopping this morning I was called on my mobile by a care agency about the possibility of some work at the end of July, so maybe this will enable me to buy all these great goodies....that's what I am thinking folks!!! To heck with clothes and shoes and undies, give me PAPER!!!!!! So what did I really, really fancy out of the new products: WISH LIST coming up! (Oh boy, this is long!) Daisy D's whole line is DIVINE! want it, want it, want it! Basic Grey have got 4 new lines called Obscure/periphery/recess/mellow, each one a delight. Technique Tuesday have rub-ons to die for! Want then ALL!! Urban Lily Christmas good to see the Christmas lines are trickling in slowly and they are good. It is their Oh So Merry collection. Crafters Workshop have got THE most fabulous doodle templates - great for non-doodlers as well as we who have always doodled on something! Cosmo Cricket have some super christmas metallic rub-ons which are a MUST HAVE as far as I am concerned! Their new lines are also really great - Gretal especially. MM's Eye a new bohemia is FANTASTIC!! What can I say, I just lurve their papers etc and these are outstanding. I also like: Daisy Bucket's Garden Gate collection; Heidi Grace rub-ons and christmas paper; and Thinkering Ink as well as We R Memory Keepers and Prima Marketing's Rue 88 and build-a-frame packets. So I suppose everyone knows what to get me for Christmas then????? The power to buy all this and squirrel it away in my scrap room for my own use!!! And now I am going to sit down and re-visit all the scrap-sites that have these things on show and savour the moment!! I've made my list; have you done yours?!

Sara's wing'd layout!

This is another photo of Sara with her wings which I took this morning when it was sunny! Again, along the lines of "K.I.S.S" as I said about Peter's LO, which was SO easy as the Daisy D paper no.27 didn't require much work! I knew I had some wings lurking in my box, so having found them (eventually) and liking the text that came with them, it was a very quick LO from start to finish. I've mounted the LO on cream cardstock as I intend to frame it, but it is just one whole piece of paper with some added embellishments.....can't get more "kissier" than that!!!!ha!

Peter with his camera at Uiterdijk

My reward for being up early to take Peter to the train station in Hoorn was being able to scrap this afternoon! Since we had a huge thunderstorm as well, I needed to stay indoors ( didn't I?..) This photo was taken on Saturday at the beach at Schellinkhout: Uiterdijk. It's the perfect place for kite and wind surfing and there were so many people there due to the very windy conditions. I've been reading one of the american blogs this morning which was recommending K.I.S.S. which translates as "Keep it simple, silly". So my two layouts today have been along those lines. A large photo with perfectly complimenting paper colours, a stamp and a rub-on and then really small little additions which are dificult to see!! 3 heart brads and some text written on the framing, and a small stamp around the paper. I am going to frame it for our bedroom as the colours are just what we have there!! I think Peter will like it too.

the wind beneath Sara's wings...

Sitting drinking coffee in the garden this morning I heard Sara saying her "wings were fluttering", so I looked over into next door's garden, and sure enough, Sara was sitting on the swing wearing delightful feathery wings!!! She was swinging away and laughing, which was adorable. Immediately rushed indoors for the camera ( of course), and took this photo and a few others. Great scrap material!!! I have made a couple in black and white which are nice too, but I am not yet sure what sort of layout I will make with them. I'd like to use some transparancies and wings of course, but colour/b&w..size..not sure. Just thought you'd love this photo as well!!!

http://ineke62@blogspot.com This is my friend Ineke's digital scrapping site for those who are interested. She is excellent, and has many links on her site to other interesting digi-sites etc. She is busy making her own kits at the moment which I find amazing, and she is the person who helps me out with this form of scrapping!!! Enjoy looking at it!

Phew! Glad that's done!

The booklet is completed and on the sites so that is a relief. I feel satisfied with it and would make the same style book again as it works really well. As with the first time of doing anything, one learns better ways of doing things so next time I will add some changes! I've sent for a train book ready for the box I am making for James' son Benjamin. As I don't use ready-made/bought albums this will also be different for me. I hope I can cut the papers out with a steady hand!!! If anyone wants to know how I did it, give me a sign and I will write it up here. info@thepaperlady.nl is my e-mail address.

Front & back covers of booklet.

simple folding booklet

I've been beavering away with my new Basic Grey Infuse/Pheobe papers and made this booklet about My Blessings. I still can't face doing a Book of Me...just can't find the right way to start it...and other excuses! But, I do enjoy featuring my friends and family in my scraps so this was EASY!!!!! I started out not knowing how it was going to be made, and then found that if I overlapped the longer strips of paper onto the next page, it would become a folding book without the need for any rings or fasteners. Yippe thought I....this is going to be ok. And it is so simple to set out and with the papers running from one page to the other it gives a great continuity that I think works superbly. I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I did making it yesterday and this morning.

Summer Scrappin'

This weather is awful; cold, wet and windy so there is nothing else for it but to sit in my room and scrap! Dreadful hardship I know, but I got my new basis grey paper in the post this morning and with the super photos I have made of the cats it was on with the show! This black 'n white layout uses only one paper and then lots of rub-ons ( what would we do without them?!) The paper is called Sonnets and arrived with my scrapkit from Dolls & Decorations this month. Not my usual colourful style but it was fun to try for a change..

I also wanted to do a LO of Becci using a photo from when she was about one year old and combining it with one I took this year, now she is twenty! I went with a more vintage look as Becci really likes this style and it went well with the paper and red and brown tones I used. It is great using old photos with more recent ones; amazing how much she has altered over the years, yet her personality is still the same as it was when she was tiny! "Friday's child is loving and giving" and she is just that!

I had also discovered a site in Germany that has got different papers available and a fantastic range of Crate papers as I love 'em! I've ordered a "few" things to see what the paper is like etc and what their service/delivery time is going to be. oh, and Chantal is going to order me the Ribbon Iron - yippee!!!!!! Now I just have to get some work and I will be able to pay for this expensive hobby of mine!!!!..........

managing my site, gulp..by myself??!!!!!

Well, Jos came on Saturday and showed me how to update my website and run it for myself. Do I remember what he told me..maybe, not sure, will find out when I try to change something on my own!! It looks so simple, not too many steps each time but it is when it goes wrong that bothers me!! He will still update my gallery but the rest is up to me. It only worked on my laptop which is a bummer as I hate using that one - give me my old PC anyday! I love the keyboard here and the wrist-rest and the little mouse......and the laptop is more awkward I find. Still, never mind I have to be brave and give it a go. But not today! Only 18 days til we go to England! Hope it has stopped flooding by then. We are going up to Leeds so it hasn't been so bad there as yet, but it continues to be awful in the south of the county. I am hoping to sneak a few visits to the craft stores in whilst we are there...don't tell Peter!! I subscribe to an English scrap magazine and get to know where the shops are in the areas we visit - smart or what?! There are several in Yorkshire actually and it is very popular there. Also we have the huge hobbycraft chainstore which is enormous and all over the country. They have a reasonable range of scrap materials and usually good tools and stamps. I also go into the cheap remainder bookstores as they usually have a little corner for "embellishments" and they are very cheap to buy. There is another good shop called Lakeland which has its main shop in Windermere in the Lake District. Brilliant for household items and very clever solutions for that sort of thing in the house, but they also have a craft section where I get nice things sometimes. We can travel there in under 2 hours from Leeds and it is a great day out. Wonderful photo opportunities there!! Ah well, it is pouring down with rain here at the moment so it is ironing and shopping and then scrapping..busy with a LO of my daughter with a photo of her age one and another age 20. It is looking good so far. Becci loves vintage/eclectic styles so it reflects her personality well I think. Happy scrapping everyone!!