This blog, hosted by a free version of Typepad, will no longer be available after August 23rd.
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I'm in the process of moving all the old posts from this blog to the new one… I'm hoping that it will work out but I'm not very technical so I have to keep my fingers crossed!
Greetings!
Liesbeth
I love Ali Edwards' project. I participated last year and I was so happy when she announced to do one this year! The week of all the documenting couldn't have been any better for us. Two days prior, our new kittens arrived. Nemo had a hard time adjusting to the new situation. It was school holiday for the kids, and Johan and Suzanne left on Friday for a week's vacation to Italy. And it was just me and Dennis at home with the three cats, all nurses but one being on vacation… Soooo there was MORE than enough stuff going on!
I did the project on 8.5×11 inch last year but on some days I felt like I had a hard time to fill it with photos. So before the week started I decided on another size, which would make it easier for me. I chose the size 21 x 17 cms portrait. In the end, I had way too many photos and the album is 2 inches thick… 
For each day I used the same components:
Photos are taken with both my DLSR and i-phone. OK I think I covered it… Here are all the photos! Enjoy! Click on any photo to see it bigger.
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday – I added another pocket page protector here because I had too many photos:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Supplies: Studio Calico exclusive papers, several other patterned papers (October Afternoon, 7Gypsies), dotted cardstock by Bazzill, die cuts, borderstickers, tabs and letterstickers (Basic Grey), stamps (Studio Calico), tapes, rubons and little black label stickers (7Gypsies), brads (American Crafts), kraft doilies and tickets (Maya Road), letterstickers for the cover (Prima Marketing).
Pfew! Did you make it all to the end? Then give yourself a big pat on the back!!!
I'm off – playing with the cats!
From my trip to London a while back, I created a mini album just for me. With photos, memorabilia and a lot of journaling. I love journaling. I would even go a step further: I think that mini's and layouts without or with hardly any text, are not OK. Where are the details in 10 years from now? You won't remember without having them written (or typed) down! And I see so much layouts like that, and so very little meaningful journaling! I just don't get it. OK – end of rant, I'll step down from my soap box now…
The mini turned out "not so mini" because it's kinda thick. But I love it and it's exactly how I like it.
Enjoy!
This album is on my dinner table and I still browse through it very few days. I also love that other people pick it up and look at it, the ladies that come over to do Dennis' bandages, my mom, my friends etc.
Don't only take the photographs – use them to record your story!
Right now I'm working on an article for Creatief met Foto's. I'm almost done and then it will be "me" time! I have TWO untouched Studio Calico kits lying around and they are calling my name… What are YOU working on right now?!
And then this Saturday we'll go over to the breeder and pick up our two new kittens! Yay! We're sooooo excited!
Liesbeth
The new magazine Creatief met Foto's has been released so I can post what has been published in the previous one. I usually forget that, but not this time! I had THREE articles in issue 47, I will just post a selection here.
First off, an article with Teresa Collins Sports Edition II line. The two layouts I made about swimming are my favorites:
Second article: Basic Grey Life of the Party. A colorful line and cool to work with! My favorites:
And then lastly, I did an article with KaiserCraft's Seaside Collection. I did two mini albums, one of them was with gorgeous photos from my neighbors vacation to Italy:
Right now I'm working on two articles for the next issue (nr. 49) so I'm off to the basement for a whole day of scrapping! What else can you do when it's raining all day?
Make sure to check back in the next few days for my London mini album!
Liesbeth
Remember that I had a weekend getaway with 7 friends of mine back in March? It seems so long ago… since then over 3 months have passed and tons of things happened! One of the big changes: ME. More on that soon.
But now – the mini I created to remember my wonderful weekend:
Supplies used: patterned paper, chipboard, tissue paper, transparency, washi tape, letter stickers, spray ink, punches, corner rounder, cards, journaling spots, sewing machine and more.
This was such a cool album to make! And flipping through the pages, it's as if I'm there all over again. What do YOU make to preserve your memories?!
Liesbeth
For a while now, we just had one cat. Little Nemo joined our family when Casper died three (!!) years ago. Unfortunately, Simba died three weeks later and then we found out that they died from the infectuous disease FIP (which is a very contageous virus) and it could even be that Nemo catched the virus as well. But we are here, more than three years later, and he is just the healthiest cat that we could wish for. This breed loves company more than anything else and because I'm at home & around a lot, it was ok. But we always had more than one cat, so secretly we've always been dreaming about getting another one. So after dreaming for some time, and thinking about it, and discussing it, we decided to get on the lookout for another Siamese/Oriental shorthair kitten. And we found a breeder with several female cats, and one of them was expecting a litter at the end of April. Five kittens were born, 3 males and 2 females. Three of them were Oriental Shorthair Havanas (chocolate brown fur/green eyes) and the other two were Siamese Chocolate-point (creme fur with chocolate brown extremities/blue eyes). Since we had our first cat of this breed (way back in 1990 I think), I have always wanted a havana so I was in heaven when I found out that there were THREE in the litter! We opted for a male one, because we don't breed and they are usually laid-back in character (which is what we really love). Last week, we could finally go over and visit (they need to be at least 6 weeks). When we arrived, all five were sleeping in a big basket. My heart melted (I already expected that) – I wanted to take them all! They were soooo sweet.
But we (I had Suzanne with me) sat down for a while, and drank coffee. And we just couldn't decide. Suzanne wanted Vasko (one of the Siamese) and I wanted Fresco (one of the havanas). It was so hard… but with adding two cats we would have a total of THREE!!! We decided to go home and think about it. Yeah – right. In our hearts we had already decided… and when we came back we showed the little video that we made to Dennis and Johan and they both agreed on taking both kittens. Yay! In another six weeks Nemo will have TWO new friends to play with!
Some photos that I took when we were visiting. This is how we first saw them:
After a while they came alive and there was time for some:
Little Vasko:
Little Fresco:
And after a while they climbed on Suzanne's lap and fell asleep. Ahhhhhh:
I can't wait until they are here! Lots of love and cuddles – plus something to look forward to!
Liesbeth
I did this mini album (8×8 inch) for Creatief met Foto's a while back, I taught it as a workshop at their store yesterday and realized I had never shared it here… So here we go!
????I used the WeRMemoryKeepers' Sew Easy Tool for this project, a very easy (and cheap!!!) tool that is used for piercing holes. Each color head has its own piercing pattern: yellow for a zigzag, green for a scallop and so forth. New heads have been released since, with cute hearts, flowers, leaves and banners. Too cute! I also used the CropADile III. You can switch plates on this tool so you can emboss, die cut and even attach corners! Very versatile (though you need strong hands to use it). I used the flower embossing plates for the cover, the die cut plates for the labels and the flowers, and the corner attaching plates for the metal corners on the covers. – I obviously took these photos BEFORE I attached the metal corners on the covers! In the final print they were definitely there!
The album I made is about my bestie Revlie's kids… or muppets, as she often calls them – heehee. Her two kids are VERY close and protective towards eachother. So it was time to feature that special bond in a mini.
Supplies: papers, stickers, rubons, brads American Crafts, Sew Easy Stitch Piercer, CropADile III and the Cinch (WeRMemoryKeepers), circle punch, glitter cardstock, embroidery floss (DMC), edge distresser, sewing machine.
Have a fun day!
Liesbeth
Soooo… Dennis turned 18 last Saturday. Now he's officially a "man"… heehee. He is now allowed to: drive a car, vote, marry and drink alcohol (oh wait he could when he turned 16 – ah well).
It's weird but all I see when I look at him, is a little boy. His physical development is WAY behind - he has the body of a 12 year old. Even his voice is still the same… one of the things he really doesn't like. His body may not have reached puberty, his behavior certainly has. It's a weird and not-funny-at-all discrepancy. Because his mind is growing up (instead of his body, or better yet, both like they are supposed to), and his physical abilities/possibilities are declining at high speed, he's getting more and more depressed. 
You don't even want to know what kind of conversations we've had over the last few weeks… more than any parent ever should have to handle. We knew from the beginning, that Dennis had a life threatening disease and that his chances to reach adulthood were small. The fact that he just turned 18, is more than we've ever dared hoping for. But we see the changes happen. His body is slowly giving up. If your stomach can handle it, take a look at his hands HERE and HERE. These are minor damages, and he has major ones on his entire body. I'm not at all surprised that he is depressed and down, and that he wants to give up. He's just plain tired. EB sucks big time.
That said, he's still a child that loves his Legos. He can't build anymore, he can't play anymore, but he still loves to look at it. It's his own, safe little world. And we let him – as much as he wants.
We still have laughs around the house, although they are less frequent these days. We all do our very best to be his cheerleader – the sad thing is, that it's getting harder and harder each day. The photo I want to share today, is one that we took back in February. He had a good day that day – hopefully he will get some more.
Liesbeth
I had the pleasure of photographing my neighbor's twin girls. Oh my, are these girls photogenic or what?! When we finished shooting they asked me for a few more – with my daughter (and their friend) Suzanne included in the photos. So there you have it:
Liesbeth
I promised I'd be back with more photos right? So here we go:
Inside the Levi's store:
Inside another clothing store, where EVERYTHING was decorated with antique sewing machines, spools and other textile/garment stuff (and they even let us take photos of the whole store - besides the clothes of course!):
And a few in the Underground:
Westminster Abbey:
A crazy photo just in front of Buckingham Palace:
A very cute coffeehouse, cafe, I don't know how you would call it. Too cute with all the vintage stuff:
The London Eye - I wanted to go on, but Corinne is afraid of heights. So proud of her that she did it anyway:
And here are a few photos taken by Corinne - PLEASE DO NOT COPY!!! On the London Eye:
In the gorgeous store Anthropologie:
Of course – there is way more. But it would take like FOREVER to get them all on the blog…
Have a nice weekend! I'm doing my first "official" photoshoot this very evening… I'm soooo excited!!!
