Last time this year......

Yesterday it was the last saturday that we were Black Pieters to help St. Nick. It was a pity that the weather was not so good....Not many people and kids in Delfzijl, but we all made the best of it and we all had a lot of fun.
It also is very special and nice to be the helpers of St. Nick as a family! Ingmar is a very good little helper allready! He stay's with mom ( and sometimes with dad) all day to learn HOW TO BECOME A GOOD BLACK PIETER!

Have a great sunday, hug, Jen.

A lovely scrap-model!

Isn't Odie a lovely scrap-model?
I can't wait to make an Odie-album! He is sooooo adorable! He is a very good doggie and we all love him so much! I know....A lot of kids in this world would die to get a treatment like this dog.........

Saint Nick.

I finally did finish my St. Nick's spread!
I used a stamp (right page) from DE STEMPELWINKEL (www.de-stempelwinkel.nl) and a Magnolia stamp (left page).
The gingernuts (Dutch pepernoten) I made with clay. After drying, I used the crop-a-dile to make little circle's. The flower JOY is made with alcohol inkt (also from DE STEMPELWINKEL). Jetske, the alcohol ink is GORGEOUS!!! PRETTY COLORS!!
The black heart, arrow and other embellishments are made with the cricut. St. Nick's hat I made my self with red material.
It is "my story"......How I used to believe in the Dutch Saint Nick and his Black Pietermannen......
How I was singing in the corridor and my dad or mom would fill my shoe with special St. Nick's candy, like chocolate horses, gingernuts and other goodies.
Have a nice day and thank you for leaving a comment!
Hug, Jen.

Paper Challenge ' 08:operation 47> THANKFUL.

Elise is a week behind....
I dislike being behind, but what to do???
I told my self to stick to the job, so....
I am going to get my goal and keep on the job the whole year!
Just five more operations to go and then we are DONE! It was fun: every week an operation!
Perhaps we should start this our selves....And believe me: I will not be late!
Anyway...the operation was:

THANKFUL......
In the United States (tomorrow) they will say THANKS> THANKSGIVING!
I miss this very much over here, but I am a grateful person.....
As you can read.....
This wonderful man makes me a grateful person! Together we have two wonderful sons and in our little house we are grateful for everything we have....
Alway's food.....Alway's love and shelter.....
Friendship! Short to go....
I AM A THANKFUL LITTLE CREATURE!
LIFE IS GOOD, BUT YOU HAVE TO LOOK FOR THE SMALL THINGS!
Love you all,
Jen.

A present for a sweet lady!

One of Björn his teachers is leaving! She has worked her whole life and now she reached a certain age, so she stops working and she's allowed to enjoy the rest of her life with her husband, her children and her grandkids!
Klazien is a very sweet woman! A warm heart and she also has a son who is "different" then healthy kids......
So....Klazien alway's did understand the trouble and the worries.....
I made her a little gift-box and in it a book with pics of Björn, so she will alway's have a nice memory! Have a wonderful day, big hug to all my scrap-friends in the whole, wide world,

Jen.

Twas the night before......

Pretty soon the Dutch Saint Nicholas have to make place for Christmas!
Tineke came over this evening and together we made a big snowball with lights in it and a tree, a boy and a snowman.
Mine is almost done...
I have to make a hat, a scarf and a nose and mouth for Mr. Snowman and I have to pimp the tree a little. Isn't it a wonderful decoration for Christmas?
It will be so much fun to put it in the living-room.
Besides Christmas.....It can also be there during wintertime!
At least three month's it will give us pleasure! Enjoy the day or night,

hug, Jen.

Elise's Challenge 2008:operation 46> SAVE.....

Elise is a little late with the challenges, so this is the one from last week! Operation 46 was save. How do you save money?
In the world we Dutch people are welknown about the fact that we are not throwing our money away! We are not big spenders.....
Well....I guess we Dutch people are carefull with money...It's typical Dutch to save money and put some in the bank! That's why I scrapped this page in typical Dutch colors, with a typical Dutch cow and I used Dutch stamps and I made the wooden shoe (embellishment) my self. The ribbons are also typical Dutch and the picture shows my wooden shoes and yes! I wear them when I do yard-work to save my shoes. The black coal-kit was used by my dad to get the coals out of the basement, because my parents did use a coal-stove in earlier day's. Now I grow plants in it.....That also saves money......growing your own plants and veggies and re-using old things.
Have a nice day, Jen.

More Saint Nicholas.....

When I was a little girl I believed in Saint Nicholas and I asked the Saint every year: PLEASE? CAN I BECOME ONE OF YOUR BLACK PETER'S? Many, many years later.....I got one of his helpers! My dream came true!
But......It makes you a little weird and tired....As you can see......Hi, hi, hi....After a long and crazy day I look like this. MAF is the Dutch word for being a "little"weird! The gorgeous stamp is from www.de-stempelwinkel.nl
and I used soft pencils to give it colour.

Inside decorations for Saint Nicholas.

I have to explain something, because a lot of people outside The netherlands didn't understand my Dutch story with the funny pictures on my blog.

On the fifth of december we celebrate Saint Nicholas his birthday. Saint comes every year to Holland and Belgian by boat. He lives in Spain with his helpers, Black Peters. On the fifth of december all the kids do get presents and if your house has a chimney, Black Peter is throwing the presents in the chimney, while the ol' Saint rides his horse on the roofs. Before bedtime the children have to sing a Saint-song and the put their shoe next to the stove (with water or a carrot for the horse or drawings for Saint and Black Peter) in the hope the old man will give some treats or a small present.

This is a book .....There are hundreds of books about Saint Nicholas and children just love the story! I made this Black Peter myself a long time ago. It is a hand-doll, so you can play with it.

I hope my friends all over the world do understand now, why I was in the harbour! I had to help Saint Nicholas a little and bring him safely to the kids, who were waiting for the boat!

It is quite an event in the whole country! The Saint is very popular and he is on the television and radio every day!

It is HISTORY!
Since hundreds of years the Dutch people celebrate this feast once a year.

We also have Christmas, but Santa is not as popular as our Saint Nicholas.

Though Christmas is getting more and more popular, too.

Have a nice day, Jen.

SiNTERKLAASJE, KOM MAAR BINNEN MET JE KNECHT!

Gisteren, zaterdag, 15 november 2008 was het dan weer zo ver! Sinterklaas en zijn knechten waren weer helemaal uit Spanje gekomen voor de jaarlijkse intocht! ERRUG SPANNEND!!!

Gelukkig had ik ondersteuning, want mijn zussie Vrouwtje Tannie-Tan deed gezellig mee! We waren al om 12.15 uur op de kade en toen stroomde het publiek al van heinde en verre binnen! Zo'n 45 minuten hebben we met de kids en alle vaders/moeders/opa's en oma's/ ooms en tantes/nichten en neven en iedereen, die de SINT een warm hart toe draagt, gezongen, gepraat en andere gezellige dingen gedaan.

En toen? Toen had de boot PECH!!!! Motorpech, want er waren pepernoten in de motor gekomen! Ik moest dus hulp halen en kijken HOE ERG de situatie was! Zou dat betekenen, dat de SInt NIET kon afmeren????
Ondertussen was er ook een hele akelige man op de kade met een zwarte vogel! DE GROTE ONBEKENDE! HIJ NIESTE, omdat hij allergisch was voor kinderen! Hij vond, dat de kinderen WEG moesten, want kids maken rommel en hebben lawaai, aldus deze akelige man. Ik heb hem naar de molen gestuurd, want daar was het rustig....OP DAT MOMENT.......

Zucht....Ik ben dus op een supersnelle speedboot gesprongen en twee hele stoere kapiteins voeren me naar de boot van de Sint en jawel......Niet best! Daar dreef het schip met alle Pieten en cadeau's en de arme Sint stond wat stilletjes op het dek.....

Was de Sint bijna in Delfzijl......Gelukkig kwam er een sloep roeiers aan! Zij waren aan het oefenen en tjonge....WAT ZIJN DIE MANNEN STERK!!!! Zonder een aarzeling boden ze de Sint aan: SINT! WIJ ROEIEN U GEWOON BINNEN! ALS EEN LOODSBOOT!!!

Ik moest wel even slikken, want eh.....Pardon??? WAT WEEGT ZO'N BOOT WEL NIET????
Maar de roeiers waren heel erg zeker van hun zaak en .....

Wat een geweldige prestatie van die mannen! ZONDER EEN KIK TE GEVEN ROEIDEN ZE ZO DE BOOT VAN SINT BINNEN!

Toen barstte het feest natuurlijk goed los! In de haven kregen Sint en Pieten vele handjes en prachtige tekeningen en cadeautjes. Met de koets werden Sint en Hoofd-Piet naar de molen gebracht, waar de burgemeester, dhr. Emme Groot, Sint en gevolg van harte welkom heette.

Weer was daar die akelige Grote Onbekende en weer maakte hij enige problemen, maar wij- de twee zussies- waren er zo zat van.....

We hebben hem samen tussen ons ingepakt, opgetild en door de dranghekken naar het bowlingcentrum gestuurd! Dag! Ga maar lekker bowlen in je uppie! Wij gaan lekker pepernoten snoepen en zingen met elkaar en.....

Niet te vergeten: we hebben met Dans-Piet HET DANSJE voor Sint gedaan en Muziek-Piet trad ook nog op!
Iedereen mocht gisteravond de schoen zetten en heerlijke tijden breken weer aan!

Omdat ik het zoooo druk had met Sint en Pieten, kon ik zelf geen foto's maken. En die ene Piet? In zijn gele pak? Ja, daar ben ik zoooo verliefd op! Die is helemaal van mij, maar dat mag zussie niet weten, hoor!

Gelukkig heb ik een hele lieve cursiste, Margarethe, die samen met man en kids op de kade was. Zij maakten deze foto's, renden naar de ......, lieten ze ontwikkelen en terwijl ik gisteravond met een aantal Pieten bij de Pizzeria zat, kwam zij deze leuke foto's brengen, zodat ik ermee kan scrappen!
Margarethe, heel erg bedankt! SUPER VAN JULLIE!!!

Verder kunnen jullie nog hele leuke foto's zien op: http://www.fotoservicerebelion.nl/



Foto-Piet was er namelijk ook en daar kun je gratis je foto opvragen!

Geweldige service toch?
Hulde aan alle mensen en kinderen en aan alle Pieten, Sint en vele anderen!
Het was weer een super-leuke intocht, alhoewel ik toch weer heel erg zenuwachtig was!!!!
Zo...nu ga ik- net als Elly- het huis versieren. De Sinterklaas-vlag is al gehesen.....
Nu de binnenkant van het huis nog! De pepernotenpot moet weer van stal, ha, ha....

Ik wens jullie een fijne zondag verder,
liefs, Jen.

Christmas-cards.

I am very busy with my home made Christmas-cards.

And I must say......It's getting nicer and nicer to do.....

And ofcourse I am using my new stamps all the time! They give me sooo much FUN!

If you are interested in very good and nice stamps, just look at Jetske's webstore:

http://www.de-stempelwinkel.nl/

Have fun and a very nice day,

thanks for stopping by and I would like it when you would leave a comment!

I am going to try my new alcohol inks from http://www.de-stempelwinkel.nl/

See you soon, Jen.

My goodies......

Well girls,
Ofcourse Tineke and me went to the KreaDoe in Utrecht last friday.....
We had a lot of fun and traveling with the train was very nice.....
Much better then when I have to drive myself.
It's BUSY in Utrecht and that's not the worsed part, but.....PARKING your car a whole day IS!
So.....it was a nice day with a lot of goodies on our shoppinglist's......
Here are my goodies: pretty paper stacks! A lot of Christmas, because Christmas is "my thing"I guess......
The Creamotion's were TWO for the price of one! That was a great OFFER!
Ofcourse I bought some Magnolia stamps......And a Sarah Key stamp, because when I was a teenager Holly Hobbie was number one.....But.....the most prettiest stamps I bought at De Stempelwinkel.......
Jetske brought again the most beautiful stamps with her and her daughter was there also to do a lot of stamping with all kinds of ink! I also bought great ALCOHOL INK! Jetske has such beautiful and bright colors! I will make some example's, so you can see for yourself!
You can also check it out on: http://www.de-stempelwinkel.nl/
Then I bought some papers from My Minds Eye and Sassafras.

Hierbij enige aankopen op de KreaDoe, die ik afgelopen vrijdag bezocht met Tineke. We gingen lekker treinen, want ik vind het rijden in Utrecht dan wel geen bezwaar, maar het parkeren van je auto is niet zo makkelijk en bovendien duur, zo.....Dan maar met de trein: lekker relaxed ook.
Ik heb heel veel mooie papierpaketten gekocht, oa een blauwe bloemen en verder veel kerst, want dat is toch wel "mijn dingetje"......
Verder My Minds Eye en Sassafras.....Prachtig zijn die lijnen!
Natuurlijk moest ik wel een paar Magnolia stempels kopen en een Sarah Kay, want Holly Hobbie was in mijn tienertijd DE HIPSTE! Ik had er alles van: schriftjes, pennen, tas enz.
Maar de mooiste stempels blijf ik toch bij Jetske scoren! Jetske had weer zulke prachtige dingen mee! Gezellig met haar dochter was ze druk-druk en wat heeft ze ook mooi kleuren alcohol inkten! Ik heb de mooiste kleuren gekocht en ik ga er straks mee bezig, zodat jullie het kunnen zien!
Je kunt natuurlijk ook op haar web kijken: http://www.de-stempelwinkel.nl/
Ik kocht oa een kasteel- en een ridderstempel bij haar, een hele lap kerststempels, een hele lap
vintage kinderen, een tak, een tweetal kinderen uit de oude doos, enz....ZO MOOI....zucht...Ik moet er gewoon mee aan de slag, zodat jullie het kunnen zien! Ik ben mezelf helemaal verloren in die mooie stempels!
Dank Jetske!!!!
Je bent zo'n schat en je hebt prachtige dingen!!!!!

Nou lieverds all over the world......
Natuurlijk heb ik ook nog lintjes, knoopjes en thickers gekocht, maar goed......Ik blijf aan het fotograferen, ha, ha...
Hier moeten jullie het even mee doen.
Misschien blog ik vanavond nog wat kerstkaarten....
Heb geduld, maar dit was het voor nu even, want ik moet gewoon aan het werk: m'n handen jeuken!
Geniet van je zondag en fijn, waneer je een commentje achter laat,

hug, Jen.

Paper Challenge '08: operation 45> HISTORY!

They say: America has NO HISTORY! Man, oh man....How wrong this is! The United States of America have a GREAT and interesting history! Not so long ago there was the Oregon Trail and this is quite A HISTORY! What about the Indian people? They wrote HISTORY!

And now......Mr. BARACK OBAMA.....

GREAT NEWS FOR THE WORLD!

Martin Luther King and all the other people who died for the good case: in honour to you>
My contribute to write a little history.....

HERE IT IS: challenge 45> HOPE.......

We believe in you, mr. Obama and GOD BLESS YOU and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
UNITED WE STAND FOR NOW AND IN FUTURE!

Have a wonderful day, Jen.

November......

Today, the third of november it is my dad's Birthday......

He died seventeen years ago and I think of him every day, because he was such a wonderful dad: a warm, helpful, caring and lovely man!
Our youngest, Ingmar was born in 1996.....On 22 november!
He has the same gifts as my dad: he's also very helpful, polite, sweet and caring....

Short to go: in my son I see all the good things my dad had also!
This LO I made today for my son and I just showed it to him.

His reaction was: "OOOOOOHHHHHHH, mom! I love it!"

I tried to lift a LO out of the Scrapbookmagazine, but I am a lousy lifter......

I used my own.......The sketch was allright though.

I used felt, my cricut, prima flowers, petaloo flowers, bling-bling, gelpens and ink, a pin and a piece of ribbon, white cardstock and some left over paper.

The doodles are just from my own hand.

Hope you like it!

Have a nice evening,

Jen.

Paper Challenge "08: operation 44> PRETEND.

The operation for this week was: PRETEND> Who or what do you pretend to be?
Well, girls.....I am a dreamer......I reall dreamer......Just can't help it! I know...Keep on dreamin' ,
Jen.....
But I can understand why little girls dream away when they see the pretty princesses in night-gowns.....That's what I am dreaming of, toooooooo.....
I never have had a night of the prom........I wish I could have a Disney princess gown......
They are all too smalllllllll.............................................
In my heart I will alway's remain a little girl .....that dreams of being a princess......once upon a time.....And ofcourse I am dreaming of getting a job in the scrap-world, but .....When your not dreaming anymore and when you get without goals......Life is not nice then! We all need dreams and goals to go for!
Have a wonderful sunday and keep on dreaming......
Just like I do!
Wish you all the best,
hug, Jen.

Got my goodies!

I mentioned a new webstore: http://www.scrapshoprosa.nl/

and I got my order from this scrapshop rosa.

LOOK! Isn't it PRETTY???

This is a Christmas scrap-kit!
There's cardstock and double sited papers (K&Company), flowers and brads, a stamp (Imaginisce) , ink (vibrance archival pigment) , ribbons and an frame (Enchanting "My Love").

I was sooooo happy with this....I ordered TWO!

As you can see I turned the papers, so you can also see the back of the papers! The big brads and the brown and pink ribbon ribbon I also bought it at scrapshop rosa. The cute snowman-stamp and the blue ink were in my second kit.
I can't wait to get started with these great things!
Soon there will be MORE GREAT PAPER KITS at SCRAPSHOP ROSA!
There will be the BASIC GREY "WASSAIL"from Basic Grey and SCRAPSHOP ROSA will make complete kits with these new paper-line!! So...that means: BASIC GREY "WASSAIL", a stamp (I guess), ink, ribbons.....????
It will be a nice surprise, so I keep looking at her site!
Don't forget, girls: http://www.scrapshoprosa.nl/

Bye, Jen.

Ik had het al genoemd! Had een nieuw en leuk webwinkeltje op het net ontdekt!
SCRAPSHOP ROSA!

Zulke mooie spulletjes! Ik heb dus direkt maar een bestelling gedaan!
En.....Dat viel GOED! Zo goed, dat ik er maar extra pakketten heb besteld.

En......Oh.....WAT MOOIE PAKKETTEN! Echt! Hier zie je een pakket!
Er zit cardstock in van de beste kwaliteit, dubbelzijdig kerstpapier van K&Company, een prachtige stempel, inkt, lint en bloemen met brads en een prachtig frame.

Je leest het al: het is een KERSTPAKKET en je kunt er schitterende kaarten mee maken of...gewoon....lekker mee scrappen!

Omdat de pakketten zo'n enorm SUCCES zijn en zelfs al uitverkocht dreigen te raken (MY MINDS EYE oa.....snik....), komen er zeer binnenkort de NIEUWSTE KERSTPAKKETTTEN met de prachtige NIEUWSTE lijn van Basic Grey: "WASSAIL"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ik hou het in de gaten, want dat zal ongetwijfeld ook weer een superpakket worden!

Dus meiden.....

Niet vergeten!
http://www.scrapshoprosa.nl

Echt de moeite waard!

Fijne zondag, Jen.