zondag 30 december 2012

The days in between Christmas and New Yearsday

Hello my dear readers,

Did you have a great Christmas? I did. We had a lovely First day of Christmas at my parents house. They always have a lovely Christmas tree which even looks better with al the Christmas gifts underneath it:

I got spoiled! Really really spoiled. Just like the rest of the family. I enjoyed their faces when they opened their presents and it is what they wanted. :)

Second day of Christmas started lazy and in the afternoon mister R's parents came over. We made a lovely 3 courses diner with a killer dessert! Pavlova's. Sooooo jummie.
They are easy to prepare so you don't have to be in the kitchen that long when its dessert time.
Here's the recipe:
You need: (for 4 persons)
4 whites of the egg
200 grams of suggar.
1 table spoon of vinegar
1 table spoon of potato starch

250 grams of fruit. ( I used 1 kiwi, half a banana, 2 strawberries and a 1/4 apple)
1 lemon
2 table spoons of apricot jam

whipped cream
1 vanilla pod
50 grams of sugar.

Set the oven on 125 decrees Celsius.
Make sure your bowl is very clean, any fat or oil will make sure your egg white won't become stiff.
Whip up the egg whites, gradually add suggar. When its stiff (hold the bowl up side down and it shouldn't fall out)
mix in a seperate bowl the vinegar with starch and spoon it through the whipped eggs.
Make blobs on baking paper. I usually make a little ditch in the middle so the fruits can lay in there. 
Bake in the oven for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Cut the fruit to small pieces.
Put the abricot jam with the juice of the lemon in the microwave for around half a minute and mix it.
Pour the abricot-lemon over the fruits. ( it should taste sour.)

Get the seeds out of the vanilla pod and put it in the cream, whipe it up while adding sugar.
Note: don't whipe it al the way it should be a bit lobbed (thats what the translation program says.)
( don't throw away the vanilla pod, put it in a glass of milk of pan heat it up for a few minutes and make chocolat milk or icecream with the milk. It will be delicious!)

You can put the fruits and whiped cream in the fridge and serve when its time. I usually heat the fruit a bit in the microwave.

Succes guarenteed.

I had too work and then I had to tidy and reorganise all the nice stuff i got. (mostly crafting stuff.) I bougth myself a little cabinet at Ikea. And for the really small stuff a little one at Xenos.
I cleaned a small part of my workdesk and this is the result:


I could use another one of those little wooden cabinets from Ikea :) My inks really like it in there, just like the fimo clay, stickles bottles, distress stain, distress reinkers and containers with embossing pouders.



It's just too bad the dylusions and colorwash bottles are too high. Same goes for the dabbers. :(
If any of you have a suggestion please let me know!

For a good beginning of 2013 I've washed all there was in the binns, ironed every item that was piled up (and that was a lot) and cleaned the rest of my desk.
Tomorrow morning will be spend cleaning and vacuuming the house.
I hope you'll have a great Oud en nieuw. Please be carefull if your lightning firework. (we won't, I don't want too spend soo much money for at most 15 minutes of fun)

And last but nog least:

I wish you a
very creative, fun and healthy 2013!

Love Susan

maandag 17 december 2012

Christmas arrangement - Kerstbloemstuk

Hello,
Hoi,

How are you all doing? Did you decorate your house for Chrismas yet? I started yesterday with a flower arranging course. It just was one morning but we had a lot of fun. I'm very proud of my work:


And here's the cone in detail:


Today we have decorated our huge mirrow in the livingroom with fake green with little lamps and our little "houses".
House, the cat in this case really liked it and did model for this picture. Too bad my phones camera isn't that good.



I still have a lot to do. My Christmas cards still need a place to stay and there are a lot of other decorations who still need a good place to live for the rest of the month.
Christmas presents are all bought and wrapped and Christmas diner is set out. I just hope all the ingredients are in the supermarket. :)

Have a good Christmas,
Love Susan

maandag 10 december 2012

Winner Give Away

Hello my dear readers,

First I want to thank you all for joining! And a warm welcome to Gill!

I've used reasearch randomizer to pick a winner. House (the cat) just wasn't interested in the little nameballs I made, not at all. So this is the result:



PrintDownload in ExcelClose Window

Research Randomizer Results
1 Set of 1 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 4 -- Unsorted
Job Status:

Set #1: 1


Congratulations too: Elizabeth!!! Please mail me you adres.

I hope you all had a good start of your week.

Love Susan

vrijdag 30 november 2012

GIVE AWAY

Hello my dear readers!

I have decided too give away:



This is their first international edition, I think you will love it!

So what are the conditions too win:
-  Leave a comment.
-  If your like my blog follow me.
Easy peacy I think.

I will anounce a winner at the 10th of December, so the winner will recieve it just before Christmas.

Love Susan

maandag 19 november 2012

Breakfast

Goodmorning all,
Goedemorgen,

I was wondering do you eat breakfast? I know a lot of people who can't do without  it but also people who cant eat a bite. I'm an "inbetweener" (is that a word??) I can't eat breakfast when its really early. Like 5.15 am, I just drink a glas of milk and off I go. But an hour later I'm always hungry. In the "normal" mornings which start between 6.00 en 6.30 am I start with tea and an hour later I'm ready to have a "light"breakfast like this:
Cappucino and two crackers (Vitalu, meergranen). I love these crackers. They are a bit sweet, so they are yummie without anything on them, thats how I eat them at work. But with cheese ...hmmm makes my day.
However if I don't have to get out of bed at a certain time and I get out when I want, I can eat almost anything.

So just some thoughts this morning. :)
I'm going to have a give-away this week, just to make you wonder, haha.


Love Susan


woensdag 14 november 2012

Altered book lesson 18

Goodmoring,
Goedemorgen,

Here it is, my pop-up for lesson 18 in Elizabeths tutorial
Hier is ie dan de pop-up voor les 18 van Elizabeths tutorial.



I have to admit, I did use an example. In "het Elfen flap-uit boek" (the Fairies pull-out book) is a pop-up castle like this one. It's a lot more detailed. I still have to make flags for the towers. I used my PanPastels to color. They are brand new so it was a fun experiment. And I like the result.

Hij is erg mooi geworden maar ik had een voorbeeld. In "het Elfen flap-uit boek" uit 1980 staat een pop-up kasteel zoals deze. Die is natuurlijk gedetaileerder. Ik moet nog vlaggen maken voor op de torens maar dan is ie echt af. Ik heb PanPastels gebruikt om het geheel te kleuren. Ze zijn net nieuw dus het was een beetje uitproberen en experimenteren. Ik ben blij met het resultaat.

Love Susan






zaterdag 10 november 2012

Altered Book Lesson 15 Decorative edges

Hello,  Hallo,


A day earlier than promised: My work for lesson 15; Decoratieve Edges from the turorial at Elizabeth's blog.
It took me a little longer because I wanted to use home made buttons. I saw the tutorial on Jenny's blog. It's real fun but it took me longer to make them than I expected.

Een dag eerder dan beloofd: Mijn huiswerk voor les 15; Decoratieve randen van de turorial op Elizabeth's blog.
Het koste me wat meer tijd omdat ik mijn zelfgemaakte knopen wilde gebruiken. Ik zag de turorial op Jenny's blog. Het is erg leuk om te doen maar koste me meer tijd dan ik had verwacht.

Homemade buttons - Zelfgemaakte knopen

Decorative edges with the buttons:
Decoratieve randen met knopen:




Close-up button



And another decorative edge with some homemade beads and homemade washi-tape:
En nog eentje met zelfgemaakte knopen en washi-tape:




Close-up beads


I'll be posting Lesson 18 tomorrow!
Ik zet morgen het huiswerk voor les 18 op de blog!

CU Susan

vrijdag 9 november 2012

Altered book lesson 13 and 16 and progres update

Hey,
Hoi,

How are you all doing? I've had super hectic week. I had to work a lot and there was the pressure of finishing my last pages of Elizabeth's Altered Book turorial.
Hoe gaat het met jullie? Ik heb een super hectische week gehad, veel gewerkt en dan nog de druk om mijn laatste pagina's van Elizabeth's Altered Book lessen af te maken.

So here are lesson 13; Windows and Doors. And again I didn't follow the instructions quite right..instead of a window/door in a page between pages I've made this "pop-up" door. The door opens when you pull the wooden leaf to the right.
Dus hier is les 13; Windows and Doors. Ik moet zeggen dat ik weer niet helemaal heb gedaan wat de opdracht was; een raam/deur in een pagina tussen twee pagina's. Ik heb deze deur gemaakt die opengaat als je het houten blad naar rechts trekt.

Lesson 13 - Les 13
I love the result but I might make an attempt on the original instruction.
Ik ben super blij met het eindresultaat maar misschien doe ik nog wel een poging met de originele instructies.
I made this lesson together with lesson 16; Fabric. I just love how my fairy looks. Do you see she has the key to the lock on the door?1
Ik heb les 13 samen met les 16; fabric (stof) gemaakt. Ja dat is het voordeel van achter lopen natuurlijk :). Ik ben helemaal gelukkig met hoe het elfje eruitziet. Zie je dat zij de sleutel van het slot op de deur vast heeft?!




Lesson 16 - Les 16

Since I'm working on making the last lessons for the turorial I'm half way lesson 15; Decorative Edges and lesson 18; Image transfers and a pop-up. I'm making a super fantastic pop-up if it will be working the way I want it too!!
I'll be posting these two lesson on sunday.

Omdat ik de lessen van de tutorial af wil ronden ben ik ook halverwege les 15; Decorative Edges en les 18; Image transfers and a pop-up. Ik ben bezig met een super gave pop-up, zolang het gaat werken als ik wil!
Ik zal deze twee lessen zondag op de blog zetten.

So now I'm only missing Lesson 14: Zippers and Lesson 17: Polymer Clay. But now I'm thinking about it... I've used Fimo clay in lesson 11:

Dan mis ik dus nog les 14: Zippers (ritsen) en les 17: Polymer Clay (oa fimo klei)
Maar nu zat ik me net te bedenken dat ik fimo klei al heb gebruikt in les 11:

The bottles on the table and 4 of the bottles in the cubboard are made from fimo clay.
De flessen op tafel en 4 van de flessen in de kast zijn gemaakt van fimoklei.

So I guess the only lesson I still have to start and finish is lesson 14. I've been looking for a zipper today but couldn't find one at the stores nearby. So I don't think I will be able too finish that lesson before Elizabeth makes a post about al the students homework :(. Still 17 lessons out of the 18, I think I did a good job :).

Dus volgens mij komt het er op neer dat ik alleen nog les 14 moet maken. Ik ben vandaag op zoek geweest naar een rits maar kon er geen vinden bij mij op het winkelcentrum. Ik denk dan ook niet dat ik deze les op tijd klaar krijg voor het blogbericht op elizabeth's blog over het huiswerk van alle studenten. Maar goed 17 van de 18 lessen daar ben ik toch best trots op!

Don't forget to check out the 3 Blog Candy/ Give aways:
- Christmas Giveaway at Tina's Bog
- complete set of promarkers at Going Buggy
- Panpastels at BNL

  
 Love Susan

donderdag 8 november 2012

Give away

Hi there,

Just read about this fantastic giveaway on Going Buggy where you can win the complete set of promarkers! Wouldn't that be fantastic?!!
So go on and give it a try!

Ik las net over een geweldige giveaway op de blog van Going Buggy waar je een complete set Promakers kan winnen. Zou dat niet fantastisch zijn?
Het proberen zeker waard!

Love Susan

zondag 4 november 2012

AB lesson 8 UPDATE

While Elizabeth's 2 weekly lessons has finished and I'm 6 lessons late...(there are 19 lessons). Here's an update on lesson 8.
I've finally completed my color wheel. I was set on only using colors out of pictures (in magazines) that's why it took sooooo long, getting the color right isn't easy AND it didn't work for the dark purple, so I made that one my self.
First time I thought the pages where ready, they just didn't feel right. I left them a couple of days because I'm also working on lesson 13 and 15. So today I was wondering my magazines for some new images and there it was, the piece that was missing from my colorwheel. Its in the center now and with a few more adjustments ... I'm totally happy!!
 
Terwijl Elizabeth's tutorial op zijn eind loopt, loop ik 6 lessen achter. (van de 19 dus dat best een boel). Maar hier is de beloofde update voor les 8. Ik heb mijn kleurenwiel eindelijk af. Ik wilde eigenlijk alleen kleuren uit foto's  gebruiken, dat is waarom het zo lang duurde want de goede kleur vinden is erg lastig. Het is dan ook niet helemaal gelukt want de donker paarse kleur heb ik zelf gemaakt.

Toen het kleurenwiel af was, was ik toch niet helemaal tevreden over de pagina's dus heb ik het een tijdje laten liggen aangezien ik ook bezig ben met les 13 en 15. Maar vandaag was ik weer op zoek naar wat nieuwe plaatjes en toen vond ik zomaar ineens HET missende onderdeel voor mijn kleurenwiel. Dat zit nu in het midden en met nog een paar veranderingen op de pagina's zelf is les 8 nu echt af!
 
Finished pages!
 
Finished but not just jet...!
 
 
Lesson 13 and 15 will follow this week!
Les 13 en 15 komen deze week online!
 
Have a great week,
Fijne week,
 
Love Susan

vrijdag 2 november 2012

Blog Candy, give away

While my first set of panpastels will arive any day now, I've already started my research on the web and I found this fabulous dutch site: Pan Pastel BNL and you can win a complete set of panpastels when they have 500 followers!! Woh I just might be lucky....:)
But even then with every 50 new followers they pick a lucky winner for a starterset panpastels.. really super blogcandy :)

Terwijl ik wacht op mijn eerste set panpastels, ben ik het web vast af gaan struinen op leuke sites met goede uitleg over mogelijke technieken. Al struinend kwam ik op Pan Pastel BNL terrecht. Leuke site waar meerdere designers hun kunsten laten zien. En nog de mogelijkheid om een complete kleuren set te winnen ook!! Ze verloten de set zodra ze 500 volgers hebben. Dus wie weet heb ik geluk .....:)
De kansen worden zelfs nog groter want bij elke 50 extra volgers verloten ze proefset panpastels, echt super! Dus wie weet nu maar hopen he....!

Nu maar wachten tot het pakketje afgeleverd wordt, wie weet morgen al....kan nauwelijks wachten.

Liefs Susan

donderdag 1 november 2012

Give away at Tijano's blog

Go to Tijano's blog and enter this fun give away!!
She has a lovely blog and is a frequent blogger, so she will be writing something interesting, fun or lovely almost everyday!!
And who doesn't want an extra Christmas present!

So go and check it out!!   click HERE

Love Susan

Altered book lesson 12

Hi there,

It's been a while I'm sooooo sorry. I've worked and worked and worked. Early days and that's not a good thing for me. (yeah waking up at 5.00 am just isn't my thing)
So a couple of things first:
My homework for Lesson 12, folded pages. I didn't really follow instructions here. I really liked the spinning cirkle though so I went for an alternative:


It has 6 funny pictures inside. I'm really happy with the end result :)

Love Susan

woensdag 12 september 2012

Some flower beauties

 
From my mom's garden
absolutely stunning
 




Short one this time :)

Love Susan

dinsdag 21 augustus 2012

Sea, beach and a nice suprice for me!

Hi everyone,

A short message from me. Short because it is tooooooo hot. My study/crafting room is right under the roof of our house and with the current weather like a sauna. I just can't be here too long.

I won a really cool writing paperset at http://su-pyo.blogspot.nl/ and guess what she has two other writing sets in her second give away!! So go check it out and leave a comment :)

To escape the heat we went to the beach. And this is the clearest the weather was the whole day, at one point there was no sun at all and it became cold, well too cold for bikini wear. At home it's really hot again but well we had some cooling....Here are some pictures.
Beach / strand

Dunes / Duinen
It was sooo cold, or I just didn't bring any warm clothes, so I bought this sweater. I really like it, the color is perfect and I'm gona use it a lot!



Till next time,

Love Susan

maandag 13 augustus 2012

Knutselen met m'n nichtje - Crafting with my niece

Long time no message but I had a good reason! My niece has stayed with us. We have been crafting  for 3 days. Paint, Fimo clay etc all in the living room, we've had a blast!
Here is what she made, with some help from me. I couldn't have done a better job. And she's only 11!!
She made the cover and pages from old cerialboxes. The bead are made from Fimo Clay which she made also.



Although she made a lot of beads herself, the seals where a bit too difficult so they're made by me.







I got the idea from Jennibellie The making of the book (the way of sewing it together, the way to use beads and pockets) she has a lovely blog so visit her some times!!

Love Susan

woensdag 25 juli 2012

Summer music in the park - Zomerconcerten in het park

Every tuesday evening there are free music conscrts in the Valkenbergpark, the central park of my city. (google maps, Nederland, Valkenberg breda. Use the yellow guy on the left to walk around) A lovely concept especially when its nice weather. And this week summer arrived (the weatherforcast says till friday, but I'm not complaning after all the rain) it's around 28 C. We bought some salads, wine, water and chocolat raisins, spread our plaids and rested our buts in the evening sun. The music starts at 20.15, experience learn us that its really crowded at that time so we found our place on the green at 18.30. Totaly worth it. I had a great evening!



Love Susan

woensdag 18 juli 2012

Altered book lesson 11 - Altered book les 11

Hello,
Hallo,

How are you all doing? Nice weather and good spirits?? Wel we haven't have good weather, days on end with rain, rain and more rain. Today will be a nice day and the weatherman said next week will be one with summer weather (remind you dutch summer weather so there still may be some rain).
Throughout last weeks of rain, every time my spirit went down hill I've been crafting. And up the spirtit went :). Ive bought a great book: Artist's Journal Workshop, creating your life in words and pictures written by Cathy Johnson. It's a really practical book with lots of examples, ideas and tips.
I love it!
I've also started another project: to draw a face every day. I haven't draw, sketched, painted faces since highschool which is a long long time ago :). I've been collecting faces from magazines and folders to inprove my skill. Haven't used them jet. Maybe I will show the whole sketchbook in a video when it's finished.
Oh and of course I've been working in my altered book. This two weeks lesson was about pockets.
Elizabeth showed lots and lots of examples on her blog and it was so much fun to make some!

The one on the right is kind of a secret pocket.
Degene aan de rechterkant is semi-verborgen


I've prepared the left page for another page with secret pockets. I've the idea just have to figure out how to make it :)
De linkerpagina is geprepareerd voor een pagina met verborgen pockets. Het idee zit in m'n hoofd maar ik moet nog even uitzoeken hoe ik het ga maken.
And the one I'm sooooo proud of. It worked out so well. :)  :)  :)  :)
En degene waar ik super trots op ben. Gewoon omdat hij helemaal gelukt is. :)  :)  :)  :)


Want to know where the secret pocket is???




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Nice isn't it!
Leuk he!

Love Susan