{Prettige Feestdagen}

Merry Christmas girls! i wish i have more time to craft these days. i surely havent forgotten about all you girls, that's for sure. i have been extremely busy studying and mothering and preparing myself for some serious new exciting adventure next year (you guys will know in time!), thus the lack of blogging.

I had one big order, and managed to finish them on time. i've made around 50 cards alltogether, and here are some of them. i used traditional christmas colours for this year's cards. they look pretty simple with lots of scallops!




It has been snowing last week. it was simply gorgeous to see everything white. temp was way below freezing and we had lots of frost and snow. thick white fluffy snow. the boys and i enjoyed building snowcastles and snowmen, throwing snowballs at each other and sleighing! i had to wrap Aidan up really thick almost looking like the snowman himself!

Like every other year, we spend christmas with my family. we drove to UK last wednesday, the weather was clear and traffic was calm and flowing, despite the heavy warnings due to the frost and snow, but as soon as we reached the M25 in England, it was mad! we were stuck in the jam for an hour and a half! we reached my sister's house safely almost 2 hours later than we expected. and tomorrow, the big boxing day sale will start!

It's surely nice to be reunited with my family. my nephew ferran adores aidan and cant seem to let him go anywhere! they do everything together! such a joy to watch them two! the boys are getting ready for bed now, and i think i should go and tuck them to bed...

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas, or as we say it in dutch, Prettige Feestdagen! it is trully the most wonderful time of the year. hope all of you will enjoy yourselves, wrap warm if you're at this part of the world. enjoy the last few days of 2009 and may next year will be a good, healthy year to all of us!

Love,

Sweet ♥

Just thought i should share a couple of cards with you sweets out there before i call it a day. today's been rather productive. been doing a lot of work today. and then, we went out for dinner the 3 of us since its koopavond (late night shopping- where shops close at 9 instead of 6pm). in need of some new clothes for winter and i was in luck!

Anyway... back to the cards. i simply love working with pastels. stitched the papers and used some of my newest laces.

Here's another simple card i made. this time i used some bold colours.

That's it. i'm going to do a little bit of reading before i call it a day. again, thanks for hopping by! we hope to host a dinner this weekend for our dear, dear friends from den haag. will share what i did for them, soon. have a super fine and fun friday and a wonderful weekend!

{loved}

It was a crazy couple of weeks. we decided to slow it down a bit by taking a short brake from it all and drove to france. we went to fontainebleau and lyon and had a brilliant time. i so needed a break from it all and i think it did us (me at least) good. lots been happening and i'm really thankful for opportunities and bigger possibilities.

Anyway, there's this one post i've been wanting to write and share. it's about my mum and what i did for her birthday this year.

Mum turned 63 last october. i am extremely fortunate to have her in my life. like most mums, she cares and loves and she carries a big heart. i cant begin to tell you how much she means to all of us- my dad, me and my sister. she is indeed beautiful always, in all ways.

the saying says it all

There was this one day, when we went out to the park to enjoy the last bit of summer, coming into autumn. i managed to catch some candid photos of my parents together with aidan. looking at each and every one of them, you can tell from the photos the amount of love that they have. i'm very proud to be their daughter and i want to give them all the happiness they deserve.

I enjoyed every moment with my mum. i'm ever so grateful that both my parents come and visit us frequently. i cherish every moment when they're playing joyfully with my son. the talks, the giggles, the tickles, the hugs and the touch. i adore them and the times they're together.

The book and a little present i got her was wrapped in a damask fabric. i added a brooch and a little saying that describes her. i hope she liked it.

You're looking (and feeling) good at 63 mum! we all love you loads and wish ALL your sweet, good dreams, wishes, visualisations will be fulfilled.

I'm off to give her a call now... thanks for hopping by today guys.

Love always,

More will be written in my other blog with pictures of our day in the park, soon.

-Heart and Body Warmers-

I have just had one of the best weekend! we went to see Thomas the train on friday at Simpleveld, we were in Roermond outlet yesterday and today, where did we go? to the kermis (fun fair)!!

Did this out the blue. i have been resting from crafting for more than a couple of days now. i've just finished a big order for cute little Rosey's 1st birthday party. and after a couple of days resting, i have missed my scissors, papers and ribbons and so decided i should sit down and do a little something.

I drew a heart shape on a thick cardstock and make the scalloped edges. lined the olive green paper and backed the back with another sheet of cardstock. embellished with one of my blue fabric roses, lots of thin ribbons and laces at the side, yellow bicycle's fabric sticker.. added a crystal at the bottom and that was it!

I've just had a complete day. amore!

Weather's cooler now that we're in mid autumn. temp between 10-16c, it's gorgeous outside with yellow, brown and golden leaves all scattered. we've been taking walks too and after a long day outside, i had to keep the boys warm. we grow quite a few veges and herbs in our garden. nothing beats the feeling of pulling your own veges from your very own garden! (photo of aidan with our carrots in the garden here).

The best way to keep them warm (and healthy for that matter) is cooking them good warm food! chowders are hearty and filling, they are full of immunieboosting antioxidants, a perfect antidote to cold weather.

My Chunky Vegetable Chowder

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 big onion, finely chopped

1 leek, finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

8-10 carrots (ours in the garden was rather small sized) chopped

1/2 squash, peeled and diced

3-4 medium sized potatoes (ours was slightly small compared to normal) peeled and diced

1 ltr of vegetable stock

2 handfuls of broccoli florets

1/2 canned of canned tomatoes

150ml soya/fresh melk

salt and pepper

basil leaves to garnish

1. Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy pan. add the onion, leek, celery and garlic and cook gently until softened.

2. Add the carrots, squash and potatoes and stir for about 5 mins.

3. Add the stock and cover with lid. allow to cook for about 10-15 mins.

4. Add the broccoli, tomatoes and cook for 3 mins.

5. Remove from heat and let it to cool slightly.

6. Stir in milk and season with salt and pepper

7. Blend with food processor or handblander to a rough pouree. (the chunkier the better, so dont over do it).

8. Serve with scattered fresh basil leaves.

The boys loved it and so did i! it was filling indeed plus a couple of slices of bruchettas, fuh! we were full!

How was your weekend? i enjoyed my extra hour (clock goes backward an hour today). hope you enjoyed your weekend as well!

Love,

09♥09♥09

I have a beautiful friend (whom i wish to meet again very soon) who tied the knot on the 9th of september. she ordered her wedding cards and a guest book a year ago, when we met at a Raya gathering in Eindhoven. she was still waiting for some papers back then and for the gementee to confirm with her on the dates available. and in august this year, i received an email from her. the date's been confirmed and it was 9th of september 2009!

The names of the beautiful couple

I've always love creating things for weddings. i used to be in the business for a while when i was back home and loved all the planning and executing involved. i seriously missed those days..

The guest book

I used a lot of pastel papers. my kind of colours. they're very very soft. used lots of trimmings, ribbons and laces as well. different pages had different layouts for their guests to sign and write their best wishes. i had to think of a way so that it'll be easy for them to write and not come up with buldging bows that'd put them in an awkward postition to write!

The pages inside

The last page of the guest book

My stamp at the back

They asked for a pastel sweet cards. that's all they said and left everything all up to me. i'm glad they did cause i was able to explore on a lot of possibilities. glad they had confidence in me! i was toying around with some lanterns in the beginning but opted to go with this one instead. i just love it when everything works together!

The wedding invites

The front details

The scallops

The inside of the card

The envelopes

I snapped way too many photos of them, i just didnt know which ones to share! it was so difficult parting with them, but nothing beats the feeling of a satisfied bride and groom.

Here's to Shannen & Arthur, the wonderful newlyweds. Congratulations! and may your lives be filled with love always. best wishes always!