New years eve

Hi Girls!

This is a bit of a "double" sided log. On the one hand I am so happy it's new years eve tonight. We call it "oud en nieuw" (old and new) here. A new year, a new start, a fresh start, new plans etc. But I am sad as well as our bunny Mr Bojangles went up to bunny heaven. His "palace" is empty, no big bunny coming to greet you, that makes my eyes water :-( We only had him since august 5th this year.

I am still not done with my resolutionslist, as I just really want to work with it this coming year. It's actually funny but sometimes confronting to mirror yourself! I just feel this year will be great in all ways possible! I really hope you will have this same feeling and may the new year have in store all that you are hoping for!
Big hugs and loads of love to you all!

My favorite photo's of 2007

Ok here are my fave's of 2007, well actually they are only pics that I took.

Do you feel that this time of year it's all about thinking? I have been thinking a lot the past few days about this past year, and what I want and wish for next year, how to achieve that, making new years resolutions but not the standard kind like "losing weight" (although I wouldn't mind) or exercise more (I know I should) but really like goals or achievements. Please tell me yours?!

xoxo

After Christmas

Well this is for me "the" day after Christmas as we were in a Christmasmood still, yesterday.


How was your Christmas? Ours was great! We had a Christmaslunch with our parents and sister+brother in law. We exchanged gifts and we loved each and every one of them!


Luckily our gifts were a succes too! I think my moms' present the most! I made a little book for her (scrapped ofcourse) with youth pics of here. Moved to tears she was!


The lunch was a great succes as well, they all loved the food and it was all done in time and nothing failed. So happy about that! Hardly had any Christmas stress this year, I am so grateful for that!


We had great conversations, good laughs and stupid me... I hardly made any pics! Strange for a scrapper, I know but too bad! Better luck next time ofcourse!


Here are some pics of our Christmasparty:

me in the kitchen making lunch

our lunch buffet
Lovely pie yummy!! Daisy under the tree watching the gifts

23rd day of Christmas

Do you bake Christmas cookies?

I just did the other day, cinnamon-orange ones they were great! I intend to do more so next year and give them away too!

Well some photosharing here today. Unfortunately the pretty white views are gone so non of them (sorry Jan) but some pics of the cards I made yesterday AND our wedding invitation! Everyone received it now so I can show it!

Here we go, please let me know what you think of them!

Oh and guess what I got for Christmas (ok a bit early!)

update list!

Ok so I made a "28-things-to-do-before-I-turn-29"list, and I still have a little over 3 months to go. I thought it was time to recoup a little (as it is that time of the year again!) so here's my list, all red things are done, all blue things I am working on.

28. Have someone over for dinner
27. Spend more quality time with Igor
26. Start working out and keep it up!
25. Send at least 2 postcards a month (this was the easy part with all the christmascards and invitations!)
24. Set money aside for x-mas
23. Finish my current BOM and start a new one
22. Find a new penpall
21. Eat right!
20. Make more cards
19. Make a painting
18. Improve my photography skills
17. Decrease debt
16. Decrease Wehkamp to 0
15. Visit the sauna
14. Get ready to start my own practise
13. Get at least 3 certificates for bachs (I got 2 out of 3 now)
12. Finish a current certificate so I can do my exams
11. Try out more new cupcake recipes
10. Take more responsability for my own happiness
09. Continue to improve/ get better from illness
08. Meditate and yoga more often
07. Get things straightened out in my head
06. Have a crop with Majootje!
05. Make 3 new mandala's for our hallway
04. Write in my journal more often
03. Get out more often on surprising trips (to find pic-ops!)
02. Take more walks
01. Start saving for an Ikea wardrobe closet!

Well all in all it's not bad! Not there yet but I am getting there! Wow I am a bit surprised to be honest! How are your lists doing?
xoxo

day 22 of Christmas

What's the most important thing that you must do each Christmas season?

Well I think it's not to forget what it's all about. Also think of people who will have less or need help, give a little extra to those who need it most. Not just think about all the food en presents to buy and eat.

Can you believe it's just 3 days away? I love it! Looking forward to it! Well I have been all month so it better be good! The view from our window is still astonishing! It gets prettier every day!

It will be another day of being creative, waiting for my package (that was supposed to be delivered yesterday), cleaning the house and doing the laundry, pretty much boring hehehe Hope you have a more interesting day today!
xoxo

21st day of christmas

Do you have a family get-together during the holidays with extended family?

We will have a big Christmaslunch at our house this year with our parents and siblings and neighbour. Love organising Christmasparty's! I am all done by the way!! Got everything in the house, don't need to go out shopping no more! Got the last groceries and presents this morning! I am so happy! No stress, no worries! Love it!

I am also happy that I am all done and don't need to go outside anymore as it is unpleasantly freezing cold outside! After the shopping I did go out for a walk in the park with my camera as trees are frozen white and this will probably be as close as we get to a white christmas. So I had to capture that on photo! Here are some pics:

a frozen rozebud

a view over the pond
a pretty view, a white lane!
upclose and frozen

Day 20 of Christmas

Do you remember a favorite gift?

Yes I do! When I was (just) a little girl..... I got my first walkman! A red kiddy walkman and I was sooooo happy and proud! Within 2 days the battery died! My parents bought rechargables and every other day we had to put them in the thingy because we used it all day every day!

And I don't know if it was the same year or not but we got a whole lot of barbiestuff then too! A studio, hair salon, camper etc! Sooooo happy again!

This year my biggest gift will be the bind-it-all (if it arrives in time that is!).

I baked some christmascookies the other day. Cinnamon-orange ones and they are yummy but I really just HAD to decorate them! Here they are

Yesterday I also made 2 lovely magnolia cards! Didn't use an example, just figured it out myself and I am so proud (again) of them, that I really don't want to send them out but ofcourse I will!
This is what I came up with!:

christmas and weddingupdate!!!

Do you take neighbor gifts/treats to anyone, everyone, a select few?

Preferably to everyone we love or carry in our hearts but as finances don't allow that... we bought our parents gifts, our neighbour and friend, ourselves, our pets and that's about it! We also make gifts to give away to people who visit us near christmas.

Is your big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning or Christmas afternoon?

Christmasafternoon this year! We will have a romantic dinner just the two of us on 25th and the 26th we'll have a christmasparty with family and make a christmaslunch!

How do you decorate your tree?

This year is the first actual "tree" year. Last year was a trial with the cats but they acted nice so this year we bought some lovely deco! With lights, ornaments and even home made chipboard ornaments!

Snow? Love it? Dread it? Tolerate it

YES PLEAAAASSSEEEE!!! The last year we had a white christmas was in 2001 so yes I'd love snow this year! It's freezing cold but no snow yet unfortunately boohooo!

So still making christmascards and they are nicer and nicer along the way! Too bad I have a fever now and not feeling all that well but hopefully it will pass. Great excuse as I actually had to go to the dentist today and I am frightened of that!

Weddingupdate:

Yesterday I mailed our wedding invitations, tomorrow I will post a pic of them. I promised a sneak peak of my dress well here we go! Please leave a comment!!!

xoxo

Day 14+15 of Christmas

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yep we do, we usually unwrap gifts on Christmas Eve as we buy each other fun stuff and a lot as well and we don't want our family to feel awkward about it that we only buy them 1 gift each. So on 25th and 26th we give them their presents before the Christmas meal

Is there a special ornament or Christmas decoration that you wouldn't feel like Christmas without?
Oh definately our Christmastree and lights! Oh and candles, well just any Christmasdeco I think! I love them! I won't get them down before January 15th and the lights around our windows probably even later! It's so cozy and fun!

Tomorrow I will post a sneak of my weddingdress! Some of you asked for it and I will grant you your wish ;-) It's so pretty!!! I know some people will be surprised! Love it!
No pics today sorry! Just lazy and not feeling all that well today!
xoxo

Day 13 of Christmas

When did you learn the truth about the "magic" of Christmas?
As a child we always celebrated a Dutch holiday similar to Santa Claus. So we didn't have Santa bringing us presents. We do have a " magic" feeling at Christmas as it is so bright and lovely down the streets with Christmaslights all around the place! I love decorating a lot, but Igor doesn't (yet ;-)). This year we bought some real Christmasornaments. Last year it was a trial as we have cats and didn't know how they would behave around the ornaments and all, but they left it!!! So this year I bought some cute stuff!

Weddingupdate:
Igors shoppingplans with Adam have been pushed back 1 week. And... my weddingdress will be delivered today! So excited! Hopefully it will be soooo pretty!! I also bought the shoes today! Lovely colored! Ssstttt won't tell anymore now
xoxo

Day 12 of christmas

What is your favorite christmassong?
I don't have 1 favorite, there are mutiple songs I just love around christmastime and love to listen to them! (as I am now! Mud is playing "lonely this christmas")
Yesterday I finished 4 christmascards and love them! Here are the pics (not all that great quality), I almost don't want to send them out now! Inspired by Magnolia Creations btw. Love love love it! Have great day!!
xoxo

Day 11 of christmas

What's your favorite holiday goodie to make and share?

Christmascards! I just finished a Magnolia one and I love it, it's my first magnoliacards by the way.

Then there are christmasornaments I love to make, this year I made some of chipboard snowflakes.

Hmm home made presents ofcourse are cute. I made some of my christmasgifts this year but can't share them yet as I don't know who will visit this blog of my family!

Today I finally did some deco shopping!! Here's what my tree looks like now. It's pretty ok but not all that yet, maybe next year!

Now I am off scrapping just 3 more christmascards and I am done and tomorrow I will mail them!
xoxo

Day 10 of Christmas

Candy Canes, traditional or flavored? Or Chocolate Covered Cherries?


I love both byt chocolate covered cherries will get me nausiated in a few :-(

I have to go with Candy Canes! And I love both, traditional ánd flavored! I really love candy hehehe

Last saturday my package from twopeas came in! Within a week! I loved what I found in that huge box! It's even prettier in real life than on my screen! Here are some pics:

Some lovely Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants overlay My Valentine, already for our wedding album
Me and my big ideas
A heartshaped box for our wedding memories

Jenni Bowlin Studios and K&Company very lovely glittered paper!
Creative Imaginations
Cosmo Cricket ofcourse can't be left out! Great shiny loving Hambly prints! Musthave!

Day 9 of Christmas

Do you have a nativity displayed through the holidays?

No actually we don't have that. We are not raised with the believe, the church or the story behind all holidays that come from the Bible.

I know it's about Jezus being born and I know the story and it's beautiful, for me as a Christmasstory.

We celebrate Christmas to be thankfull, to have a great time with family all together. For me over the past few years discovered it's also a time to review the year, what happened and set goals for the new year. A thoughtfull period but in another way.

Ofcourse lots of food is involved and we all have part in that, why? I really don't know! This

year we decided to do things differently. We wil throw a big Christmasparty on 26th of December. (in Holland we've got 2 days of christmas, or actually 3 as christmaseve is 24th).

We will invite people to come over for this big lunch! How fun wil that be. I think I will be stuffed already before we will start eating though as I will be in the kitchen days before the party! But I am really looking forward to it!

Day 8 of Christmas

What's on the top of your tree?

Well nothing yet! I hope this monday that will change! Now there are just 3 raindeer mini stuffed animals haning in there! So I hope to find a wonderful pretty thing!

I did some christmas shopping today and got pretty much all gifts in now! Just 1 more gift. Then there are a few people not certain if they will make it so if they do, I need to do more shopping!
And then there's food; I already know what we will make and even bought some stuff that can be kept in the freezer or have a long expiredate. That saves me a lot of stressfull shopping near christmas when stores are crowded! Love it! I even went out to buy the wines already, bought a lovely white and red one. A gift and Bacardi for Igor and now I am at home, everything wrapped, put away and ready! Now I will go and do an hour of Pilates and maybe some yoga after that as well. We'll see! Have a great saturday everyone!!
love
angela

Day 7 of Christmas

What's your favorite holiday tradition?
Well I love everything around Christmas! First of all unpacking all the deco and ornaments. We used to have these very old silver with glitter houses. They were from my mothers grandmother. We loved unpacking those!

Then there were Christmassocks that were in our closets waiting for Christmas all year and around that time we could finally wear them again!
Oh ofcourse making Christmas centerpieces at school with candles and all! And Christmasdinner at school as well.

Let's see what else? Oh this year (or actually last year) I decided that we are going to buy a few christmasornaments each year, just what we like best so we have a whole different set of ornaments, not all in 1 color or design! Now our tree is still a bit bold as last year we first had a christmastree. We have cat's you see and I thought they would love to hit all the balls out! But they don't! So I hope this monday we will go and visit the Christmasshow at the local garden centre and buy some pretties!

I got 1 recipe finished for the swap now, I will try and get the other one finished today. I used my cricut and the "christmas cheer" cartridge and thought it would be easy, well guess again! But it looks lovely though! Have a great day all!
xoxo

Day 6 of Christmas

Day 6: When do you put up your decorations?
Here in Holland we've got this holiday called "Sinterklaar" which is like Santa, but after this man has left (6 december) most of the people put up their decorations as am I! I started yesterday to be honest! I love this time of year so I just couldn't wait anymore! I know I said I would be back with pics of our tree but it's ugly and empty so I really hope Igor and I will visit the gardencentre this afternoon which has a huge christmasdeco show! Oh I already hear my wallet scream!


What else? Well I have tons of ideas for scrapping but non of them seem to get out of my hands so I will leave my computer alone today, and do some scrapping! I already finished half of my "thank you" gifts for the wedding. Now I am short of ribbon so I will have to go to the market again next tuesday. Yay again 1 step closer!!!

Day 5 of Christmas

Day 5: Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope sorry no mistletoe but I do have lots of other deco though! I am already putting them up. In Holland we are "allowed" to put them up now, after "Sinterklaas" has left so I am off decorating my home!!! Really love the lights and cosy feeling it brings! Today I will also try and finish recipe's. Christmasrecipe's to be exact for a swap I entered on Scrapfever. Well bye for now, back later with pics of our tree!!!
xxx

25 days of christmas

I just read on a blog about 25 days of christmas and as I am really in a christmasmood at the moment, I really wanted to jump on that wagon too! But it's already the 4th day of christmas so I have some catching up to do!!! Here we go!!!!

Day 1: Colored lights or white lights on your house or not at all?

Well I love those white little bright lights, and that's the only one we have, but sometimes colored ones are soooo sweet too!


Day 2:Hot chocolate or Egg Nog?
Definately Hot Chocolate as I have never had Egg Nog! And as far as I know it contains alcohol and I don't take that very well hehe


Day 3: What's your favorite holiday dish?
a tough one! I love turkey with and orange sauce, lots of different veggies, and ofcourse a lovely big dessert!


Day 4:Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree?
Well I really have painfull fingers after all that wrapping so I think he only sits them under the tree ;-).