frosty mornings and cups of tea!

Oh dear, I feel a sore throat starting!! I seem to be so vunerable to these things in recent years. I went to work on Tuesday at the garden centre with our clients, and there was only outside work for us............in the pouring rain!!! I think that is when I caught this chill. Thankfully I was able to get us taken back to the centre quite quickly as I was not happy to allow us to freeze to the bone there! And I have choir this evening and I want to sing ok! I am feeling a little under pressure at the moment with all the prep for our workshop. It is taking SO LONG to cut and pack and work out all the little details etc. My hat off to those that do this on a regular basis!!! I only hope they love what we are doing and will all turn up and enjoy the evening. Loes keeps reassuring me that it will all be ok.............and that the white wine will be in the fridge for when it is all over!! She is such a sweet friend - helping me so much and always so cheerful and happy. A kinder friend I can't think of at the moment. xx Almost November. And I can start officially thinking about CHRISTMAS! I am already looking for present ideas etc and making some hand-made packaging etc. I want to be original and creative this year, that's the goal. I have decided to go all folk arty as that is my preference; I don't do glam!!! I am sure in a former life I was either scandinavian or from new England or Canada...those wonderful wooden houses with their porches and veranda's are so me! I want a porch here but Peter says that is not typical Dutch..who cares?! We have the perfect spot for one and it would be so handy and warm for the house. I will have to pursuade him eventually. At the moment we are busy with chosing a new door curtain for the front door. I have found the most perfect material and it has been measured etc but I think they have too much material and we don't need that there. I will go in today and tell them that. The English way of curtain making is different; we can use less material and still make it fit because we have other taping for the tabs etc. I dread to think how much it will cost to do the living room when we get around to finding the right material for there!!!! I am waffling rather and I ought to be roasting the tomatoes for our soup! So that is where you can find me for the next hour or so, in the kitchen, music on, humming as I go! have a great day, Suzannex

more cards etc!

This is a clear album cover I am making for my Christmas photos this year. It is one that fits the bind-it-all. I am still experimenting with clear albums as I am not sure how fond I am of them, but the cover will at least be see-through!!

The new Basic Grey papers are what I have chosen to use right now - more mellow and a little vintage style instead of the cute and sweet papers that are also around. This reminds me of a plum pudding!!!

Again the wonderful Purple Onion designs stamp - see their site for great unmounted stamps that are really well priced and arrive very swiftly indeed!

More heart-shaped nestie...this time a larger one but very sweet. The sentiments stamp I just think is great!

Sinple but effective I think? Making good use of my Christmas stamps right now, and not going for the magnolias. high hopes, whiff of joy, you name it sort that are so hip here. I like to be different!!! bye, off to enjoy a day of scrapping with Loes upstairs in my room, music on, coffee at the ready..what a life, eh?!!!!

Suex

cards and projects.

This is a card pocket idea that I saw on a couple of other blogs - one is Jeanet's and the other is a Norwegian girls blog. I can also give the dimensions for this one if anyone is interested? It is going to be filled with some small gift ideas for Christmas, a voucher, anything that is flatish! and a couple of greeting tags etc.

The back view with the gorgeous stap from Purple Onion designs!!! Love it!

This is the front view with a tag and some heart shapes I cut out with my new nesties - delightful! I stamped NOEL on them and strung them along the front which I think is cute. INSTRUCTIONS:

you need cardstock cut out at 30cmx14cm and 2 smaller pieces cut out at 5.5cmx 7cm. These you need to concertina fold at 1cm intervals. The top fold is at 10cms and the bottom fold at 6cm, that leaves the middle at 14cmx14cm. Voila!!

'christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat!

....who'll put a penny in the old man's hat?!!' It continues: 'if you haven't got a penny, a h'penny will do, and if you haven't got a h'penny, God bless you!' I wonder how many youngsters know this rhyme from my youth?....It suddenly sprung into mind when I was getting ready to show you some christmas cards I've made now. But first, a quick update from the weekend: Freek won Joseph so I am happy and my neighbour will be disappointed as she supported John! I had told her that Freek resembled our Joseph in the UK, Lee Mead, so I was pleased that she got to see him too, to know what I meant. I think I am just quite good at picking the right person for the role as I have now got all the right winners to these competitions both here and at home!! Or is it because I just love singing and musicals especially............anyway, I am sure he will be superb. Ann and I are supposed to be going to London to see Oliver next year so I will have to think about planning that trip after Christmas has come and gone. Next one down in our household is Tim, he is poorly and in bed today. He has got the bug I think, but at the moment more fever and tummy ache and a very sore throat. Peter is in Cairo in a wonderful hotel but right next to a noisy motorway so he hasn't slept!! He rang just now to complain about no internet connection, no idea when he would be collected to start his training, and lacking in sleep! Good morning, darling!!!! Anyway, here are the cards and projects I am busy with right now, enjoy! Suzanne. ( still haven't figured out how I get the signature at the end of every post. Help?)

all better!!!

Thank goodness that is over! I had a very uncomfortable night Tuesday and awoke to violent sickness and diarrhoea........NOT NICE! My friend told me it is a bug that is going around, so my sympathies to anyone else who is unfortunate enough to also get it. But I am ok now - feel a cold percolating around in my chest but so far no problems. The weather has really shifted into autumnal grey this morning and the wind is whipping around here quite fiercely at the moment. Peter is off shortly to sunnier climes ie. Egypt for the week, with his work. At the moment he is busy sorting out all the information he wants to stuff into the already over-full suitcase, but I have got his clothes all packed and so my task is over until I get my taxi chauffeurs hat out! And this is where men and women differ: he is taking brochures etc and has a weight restriction of 20kgs. He now thinks a larger suitcase is called for but as I told him, the weight restriction remains the same! My suggestion is to take his info out of the hard binders that take up too much space and put them into the flexible flat ones, and get the other binders when he is there. Too logical maybe??? I think so. He is getting into stress mode and then reason goes out of the window!!!!! Mutter, mutter, is all I can hear behind me right now, poor lamb!! Well, he has to decide for himself in the end so I think the larger suitcase argument will be the one he goes with...don't you?! Tim is away this weekend with Alicia in Meppel. Visiting her family there...must be serious!! It is going to be oh so quiet once Pete has left, and I have lots of time to get on with my own thing. Still knee deep in the workshop sets - I need to get them completed this week, so there is some urgency creeping in now! Loes should be here tomorrow to help if she is feeling recovered enough. I will be happy when it is over! Peter did go out and buy me a hobby lamp yesterday so that helps a lot. I can now see at night and it is helpful that it swings in all directions, and is clamped on the back of the desk so no space taken up!! Not quite the daylight lightbulb I wanted but it is fine. And Strictly is progressing nicely, but what happened to Len last night? All of a sudden Mr Nice Guy turned nasty and was commenting in a very non-Len manner. Quite shocking actually! I was disappointed by Cherie's paso - the acting let her down after she forgot the entrance sequence, and it was rather flat from there on in. But I still think that Vincent and his partner are delightful!!! I love watching them as their partnership is so sweet. And what about John?!!!! Great fun laughing at him but I respect him for never forgetting his routine and his fantastic sense of humour. I hope they stay in a while longer, but I fear that Mark might be going tonight. That's my guess anyway. Do let me know if you are fans too - and who your favourites are etc. Going to help Pete some more now................ bye!

poorly,sick....

just to tell you that I am ill right now, and not up to scrapping or anything else! hope to be back here soon! suex

50th wedding anniversary box set

The front of the set including a sepia photo of the bride & groom. The backside of the set. The tags are for the 3 sisters who are each giving a money gift to the couple. Close up of the couple. Either side of the middle carton with the dates on. As you can see, I am indulging my pleasures at the moment and making these gift box sets! This is one I have been asked to make for my neighbours mother and her 2 sisters, who were looking for a nice way to package their money gifts for their sisters' 50 wedding anniversary. I enjoy making something specifically for someone as the challenge is then to personalise it in such a way that it adds more meaning to the work. I think I have achieved this here!!! Let me know your comments or other ideas for this scrap! Have a great morning..............by the way, have you seen that Scrapbookdepot has got new NESTABILITIES in their shop?!!! Get them quick I say!!! I have ordered the hearts and squares as they are SO handy for christmas cards! Suzannex

A sunny weekend

We were at our friends 25th wedding anniversary last night and I made this "milk carton" to put their present in, instead of a boring old envelope!! I am loving making these at the moment - so easy! I downloaded the template from the internet ( google 'template for a milk carton') and then size shape to fit an A4 sheet of printer paper. Once you have the pattern you can resize the height etc as you like. I had made some examples for myself and when I showed them to our neighbours, they asked me to make some for another present, so I have to do a 50th wedding anniversary now! Is my inspiration coming back I hope?!! After a summer of virtually no scrapping it is delightful to have re-discovered my mojo, and be happy in my scraps. This is the idea for the workshop I am giving next month by the way....only then they are making 3 and I've got a case for them to stand it etc. Anyway, have a go - it's fun! suzannex

update about the choir shinanigins!!!

Ok, so you know that the whole choir thing is not going anywhere sadly, but there has been some movement on that score since I last wrote my blog. I was asked whether I was interested in a small group getting together so I said yes, that was ok; I also contacted Marike about her choirs and she leads a gospel one in Enkhuizen to which she has invited me to go to to see whether it is for me or not, and it looks like we are going to give it a try with our small group after all! We have a pianist and 5 singers, so who knows - oak trees grow from little acorns after all! We are able to use the room in the Nieuwe Doelen for a couple of months,very cheaply to see whether we get any more interest or not, which is very kind of them, and we can at least have time to sing together and have some fun if nothing else! So, if you are interested in a small group on a thursday evening....let me know! Apart from all this I am busy trying to make kits for the large workshop I am hosting together with Loes on 10 November for a womans club. I went to get the cardstock today and have started with the examples, after work, which is the nice part of it all! Guess what everyone will be getting for Christmas this year!!!??? I cannot let you see a photo until I have given the workshop so that it remains a surprise for the ladies, but it is quite good even if I say so myself! Hard to imagine having between 25 and 36 ladies all making something I have designed?! I had heard via the grapevine where my favourite glue was in a local shop so I went there today and bought the lot! I have not found any other glue that is better, and for so many people I cannot provide tape etc. willy nilly, so I was very happy to have got it stashed upstairs this evening!!! It is actually just a huge relief that the workshop was approved this week and that that decision is now made and I can prepare for it. Well, the evening is moving on, and I am working tomorrow so no late night for me! hope alls well with you all out there, suzanne.

ALICIA's Photoshoot

Doesn't she look wonderful?! Tim thinks so for sure, and so do we!

getting off the treadmill and relaxing!

Whoa, time to myself!!???? I am utterly enjoying just 'being' at home (even though that entails housework too), and not having to do anything I have not decided to do for myself! Sounds a bit over the top maybe, but I am in need of solitude my friends! It has been too long since I had an actual day or two to decide what I want to do in, and I am really glad that time has come! Probably the fact that autumn has been replaced with the monsoon season here in Holland is helping me to stick around the house and not go off on any 'trips' to various little, small, uninteresting craft stores.................dying to get over to them really but no cash! Added to the awful rain here, it is weather for ducks only folks! Peter is planing a trip to Egypt for his work and tempting though it is, I am staying here and getting on with stuff I have in the diary for this and next month. I am doing a huge workshop on 10 November for a womans club, and it is time to get the kits together and decide what they will be making! Something christmassy for sure... My mobile suddenly upped and died at the start of the week so I lost all my contact numbers in one swoop. Tim told me about saving to the sim card....obviously I didn't know about that earlier or I would have done that, but Peter had a spare phone to put my card in and so I am able to continue using it when people let me have their numbers again!! Thanks to those who have already let me have them! I went to the new choir last night but only 5 of us turned up, which probably means that it is over before it got really started which is a shame. However, last night a lovely 'conductress' came along to see us and she had trained with Maarten from Enjoy, in Zoetermeer so it was wonderful! She did all the same things as he used to do, so it felt very comfortable with her. Maybe there is a possibility that she has got another choir locally, so I hope something nice comes of it. What else? Tims girlfriend has had a photoshoot for her birthday and she looks gorgeous in her photos! Really professional standard, so I will add a couple here so you can see Alicia in all her glory! I am looking forward to a card workshop in Den Helder on 18 October, as I want to find inspiration for my own cards soon! It feels as though it has all got so 'busy' in the designing of cards - bigger, brighter, and more embellised that ever, that I think I am going to be simple and clean this year, and not over-fussy. I have done a couple of simple designs that appeal to me, so I think that is the direction I will be going in. It is all getting a bit 'samey' I feel, and the originality of someones own designs is being lost. It isn't a competition after all ladies!! Inspiration can come from all directions but the personal touch is the one that is most valued by friends and family alike. I saw a great book when I was in Simpel Scrappen last time, and I think I will get it for christmas for myself. Not my usual style at all, but it was such a relief to see simplicity in every layout! I am a fan of Melodee Langworthy and Ali Edwards, so you can see where I am coming from!!! But time for lunch and then some scrapping!!! The monsoon persists.....going nowhere today!