Songbird Scraps LO and I was tagged!

It's time for the second challenge of the month over at Songbird Scraps. Here are the lyrics which hopefully will provide you with some inspiration.

Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
This thing called love, I just can't handle it
This thing called love, I must get around it
I ain't ready
Crazy little thing called love
This thing called love, It cries like a baby
In a cradle all night
It swings, it jives
It shakes all over like a jellyfish
I kinda like it
Crazy little thing called love
There goes my baby
She knows how to rock 'n' roll
She drives me crazy
She gives me hot and cold fever
Then she leaves me in a cool, cool, sweat

Alphaville - Forever Young
Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you going to drop the bomb or not
Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men
Can you imagine when this race is won
Turn our golden faces into the sun
Praising our leaders, we're getting in tune
The music's played by the madmen

I was inspired by a line in the second lyrics: "this race is won". I used pics of my son winning the gold medal in a race between several schools in our district. I used a lot of black inking on this LO, I inked every piece of paper and even the edges of the pics.


I used his medal as the center of one of the flowers, and the ribbon of his medal as the stems.


For the title work, I drew white and black lines to highlight the title and to create a shadow effect. This is really pretty in real life!


And I wanted to show you this one last thing. I punched the holes for a stitched frame around the whole of my LO, but while stitching, I left open some of the holes. I first saw this done by Jenneke (thanks for the inspiration Jenneke!!!!), and I looooove the look of this. I promise you, it's even better in real life!

I don't find it easy to scrap pics of my son ... typical boys' LO's are difficult I think, which for me is kind of strange, because I never make typical girly LO's anyway ... you'd think I'd have less problems with this. However, I do, so if anyone knows some tips to create really cool boys' LO's, please let me know!

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Now onto some other fun things: The one and only Jocelyn, yep, the one we all love and adore, tagged me with this award a while ago:


I'm supposed to share 10 things with you that you probably don't know yet, so here goes:

• I am an only child, a fact I'm not too thrilled about. I used to wish for a brother or sister for christmas, and I'm still not all that happy my wish was never granted.

• Unlike Jocelyn, I don't mind standing in line all that much, though I am one impatient lady. The thing I hate about it though is that I always seem to be standing in the wrong line, mine always seems to be moving the slowest, or even not at all. I mean it, if you see me standing in line, don't go standing behind me LOL.
  

• I'm shy, very much so. I know, I've shared this info before and for you who follow my blog this isn't a new thing, but it is something that even people who know me don't suspect of me (I'm great at hiding it, I have a big mouth), so it should be on this list.

• I didn't get to have a best friend until I was over my thirties. I used to feel jealous whenever I saw an episode of "Friends" or "Sex and the City", I felt I was missing out by not having friends like that! I never thought I would experience such a friendship, you know, where you can tell each other every little detail of your thoughts and feelings. I know have not one but two best friends, and I love them dearly. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them, and I know they feel the same way.
  

• I'm a cocooner. Even on the rare occasion that the kids aren't home, I don't mind it one bit if we don't go out. I love just hanging on the couch with my hubby, enjoying the peace and quiet and each other.
  

• Though I am an only child, I don't value material things all that much. Of course there are things I would love to have and having more money sure would make my life easier, but there are other things in life I value more.
  

• I fall asleep on the couch almost every night, and only go to bed if I wake up in the middle of the night. This habit came to be because I hate going to bed in winter time, I can't stand those cold sheets. Luckily I have my hubby to keep me warm, he's one of those people who never get cold..., but whenever I go to sleep before he does, you'll find me (snoring) on the couch.
  

• I'm a bad loser LOL. This is something my parents never could get out of me. I still don't like to lose, though I'm able to hide this fact a bit better than I used to when I was younger. My son is the same way, and I now see it's not an endearing quality. I do so understand how he feels though.
  

• I love to sing, especially when I'm driving. As soon as I get in the car, I put on the radio or my favorite CD and I start singing along. Although this must drive my hubby crazy (I didn't say I was a good singer!!!), he has never once made a remark about this. Love seems to be not only blind but deaf as well LOL.
  

• I talk too much, but I guess that won't come as a surprise to any of you LOL.

Now I would love to learn some new things about the following people, so consider yourselves tagged!
Keandra
Maryangella
Jenneke
April
Mandy
Come on my friends, tell us some things that might surprise us and grab that award!

Well, that's it for now ... I still have a mini-album and an altered project to share, but I have to sort out my pics first, so I'll leave that for another time.
As always my friends, thank you so much for your sweet and encouraging comments, I so appreciate them and I love to read them. I feel so lucky to have met you all through this wonderful hobby of ours!

mwa xxx Peggy

Brace yourselves - extremely long post!

Good morning ladies,

Phewww, I finally have some time to just sit down and write on my blog. I have been so busy lately, and though much of it has been all about fun, spending time with my kids and having friends over for BBQ's ... a girl still needs some time of her own, don't you think?

Still, this being said, I still have so much cleaning and ironing to go through, so after having updated my blog, that's what I'll be doing. I'm so far behind on my housework ... now, I'm never really caught up, I'll never receive the housewife of the year award, but this time I have let things go far even for my standards LOL. We've had some incredible weather these last few weeks, tropical heat even for Belgian standards (close to 30 degrees Celsius), and it was just too hot to do anything but relaxing and swimming. Just to let you know how hot it was, we had to drag the kids out of the pool in the evenings every night between 9 and 11 pm. If you know what the Belgian weather is like, you know how rare this is! Some pics of the first summer fun:

Our little paradise (still under construction haha, but it'll do for now!)

My girls having fun together

My son (on the right) and his two best friends

The tropical heat is gone now, and the temperature has dropped to 20 degrees max. Although this is more comfortable if you're planning to stand behind an ironing board, I do hope summer will be back soon. We've had such bad summers these last few years, and I do hope this one will be so much better. We got off to a good start anyway.

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On to some scrapping news then. The new challenge is up at Songbird Scraps. We have our own Ning site now, be sure to check it out. You can click on the badge in the right column if you'd like to join in in the fun. These were the first of this month's lyrics:

Mint Car - The Cure The sun is up
I'm so happy I could scream
And there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be
And here with you it's perfect
It's all I ever wanted, oh
Almost can't believe that it's for real

I really don't think it gets any better than this
Vanilla smile and a gorgeous strawberry kiss!
Birds sing; we swing
Clouds shift by and everything is like a dream
It's everything I wished...

99 Luftalloons (English Translation) 99 red balloons.
floating in the summer sky.
Panic bells, it's red alert.
There's something here from somewhere else.
The war machine springs to life.
Opens up one eager eye.
Focusing it on the sky.
Where 99 red balloons go by.
99 dreams I have had.
In every one a red balloon.
It's all over and I'm standing pretty.
In this dust that was a city.
If I could find a souvenier.
Just to prove the world was here.
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.

I was inspired by the first lyrics and this is what I came up with:


I had very little time to work on this one, and it didn't come out exactly as I had hoped, though it does look better IRL. I do like the page though, especially those flowers give a gorgeous effect IRL. That bottom pic isn't the best pic ever, but it means so much to me, as it's the first pic I took of my three kids together (and my hubby even managed a smile, which is rare ... he hates having his picture taken!), which is why I wanted it to stand out a bit. I did think about scrapping the two top pics, which were taken only minutes after Christina was born, seperately, because I love them soooo much, but that bottom pic just wasn't good enough to be scrapped on its own I think.

I used:
* Basic Grey - Granola - Vanilla Bean (background paper).
* Basic Grey - Lilykate - Chocolate (brown paper)
* Basic Grey - Oh Baby - Marigold (yellow paper)
* Little Yellow Bicycle - Vita Bella Collection - Green Floral
* Scalloped strip from one of the Sassafras papers
* Core'dinations cardstock - Vintage collection, canvas texture (purplish cardstock)
* American Crafts Thickers - Subway white

I distressed all the papers with my scissors and inked them with Ranger distress inks and layered the papers. I made the flowers out of plain white cardstock, inked them and distressed the edges and sewed the stems. The pics as well as the cardstock has been sanded, but that's much more obvious IRL. Not much more to tell about the how-to's of this LO.

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I still have to thank some people. First of all, I would like to thank the gorgeous Julie for that awesome RAK she sent me. She's giving away another one, and if I were you, I'd play along! She is so generous and her RAK's are filled with gorgeous goodies. Go check it out if you haven't already!

I also want the thank the wonderful ladies of "The Next Step" for my prize RAK, I love all of it and can't wait to find some time to start experimenting with the glimmer mist and the fabrics you sent me. And thanks for the continued inspiration. Lucy, your new tutorial on the bobbin stitching is awesome, just what I wanted to know, thanks!

Also a big thank you to the ladies from "Aussie Scrap Jack" for the package you sent Christina. She was absolutely thrilled with "her very own" goodies, and she has lots of ideas already to start creating. This was a very nice gesture of you, and I want you to know how much I appreciate it!

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Finally, the fabulous, sweet, incredibly talented Jenneke gave me these awards some time ago, thanks a lot girlfriend!!!



I'm supposed to pass these along to five other bloggers, and I picked these wonderful ladies:

Jocelyn - I noticed you already have the second award on your blog, but I couldn't find the first one, so that one's for you my rockin' friend. I guess you know by now how much I value our online friendship. You keep inspiring me, not only because of your work, but also with your continued positive attitude towards life and people. You're one sweet lady Jocelyn, and I love you!

Lisa - I first noticed your blog because of the hilarious stories you tell, but it didn't take me long to figure out that there's so much more to you than funny stories. You brighten my day with every post and comment, and I thank you for that my sweet friend. You're the best!
PS. Did I frighten you off with my long and depressing email?? It's been so long since I've heard from you :-(

Keandra - I love you girl!!! I'm always so excited to see you've made a new entry in your blog, because then I know I'm in for a treat. Not only do you make some of the best LO's around (I adore your work!!!!), but you share so much of your personal life on your blog that I sometimes feel like I know you personally. You make me laugh, you make me cry, you make me feel proud of your boys, and with those pics of your food you put on your blog, a lot of the times you make me want to come over for dinner LOL. I feel this is a true friendship, and I want you to know how fortunate I feel to have met you, even though it's a cyberspace friendship!

Maryangella - we haven't known each other that long, but already you're at the top of my favorite people's list. You're sweet, you never fail to leave a sweet and encouraging comment, and you're work rocks!!!!! I sure hope this is the beginning of a new friendship.

Kim - I love your blog! I love the combination of scrap stuff and personal stuff, and the way you challenge us with every-day questions. You always leave us with something to think about a little bit more.
PS. Did you read the comment in which I said I would love to play along with you and Lisa in the challenges you're doing? Still don't know how it works though, could you let me know?

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On a last note, I do want to tell you about a huge coincidence. You know how I always say scrapbooking isn't all that popular in Belgium, or maybe it is but just not that many have a blog. Anyway, about a year ago, new people moved into the house next door. We said our hellos and goodbyes, but we never really talked before. This might be hard to believe for some of you who follow my blog and who know how much I like to talk and leave huge comments, but I'm actually a very shy person. Once someone starts talking to me, I talk right back and the shyness disappears, but I'm still afraid (this was a huge problem in my childhood) to make the first move. I had thought about welcoming these people into our neighbourhood, you know, like you see in the movies, with a piece of pie and everything LOL, but I couldn't bring myself to do this.
This week, we started talking. Well actually, Britt, my "new" neighbour, started talking to me. She's a really nice person, and I'm so looking forward to getting to know her a little bit better. And now here's the coincidence: she likes scrapping!!!! She's the first person I've met in my circle of friends who even knows what scrapbooking is!!!! And she's living right next door!!!! How about that huh! I'm so hoping we can get together sometime and scrap, I don't have a scrap buddy, so that would be sooo great!

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Thanks for working your way through this long post. It had been much too long since I had posted anything, I really have to do it more and make the posts a bit shorter. But I really wanted to include everything right now, this way I can make a fresh start.

Hugs
xxx Peggy

Gutter Girlz/Ad This and Songbird Scraps

GUTTER GIRLZ / AD THIS CHALLENGES

I should be outside... the sun is shining, I really should mow the lawn and pull out some (very stubborn) weeds, but ... I don't feel like it hehe. I've been longing for some sun for days now, and now that she's finally paying us a long overdue visit (which is predicted not to last very long), I'm here, behind my pc, looking at your beautiful blogs and feeling a need, an urge to scrap. Sounds familiar to anyone???

This is the LO I made yesterday, and I did manage to do some cleaning as well, so I'm feeling incredibly proud of myself today LOL.



After the rather "childish" LO I made previously (a style which I like as well, don't get me wrong!), I really wanted to create something funky, and what better sites to visit when you want funkyness than Gutter Girlz and Ad This!

The Prompt #25 over at Gutter Girlz was the song "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks and the specified technique was "black". I think I got that covered.

For the challenge over at Ad This we had to use 5 diffferent mediums. I used distress inks (1), black acrylic paint (2), black felt (3), ribbon (4) and puffy stickers by Making Memories (5) ... got those covered as well!

I was also inspired by the latest technique over at The Next Step, which is to alter your patterned paper. However, as I started out with plain white cardstock, I don't think I can enter this one for their challenge. I you haven't visited their blog yet, go and check it out. The wonderful ladies over there highlight a new technique every month, and update the blog weekly with new tips and variations on that technique. I love that site!

Usually distress inks are used to give a distressed look (doh!!!) to the pages, but since I don't own any funky-coloured paints, and I didn't feel like mixing them up, I decided to find out if the distress inks would work for a funky look as well ... and I think it worked surprisingly well! I started out by printing and cutting out different words to be used as masks and reverse masks. I used following distress inks all over the page: Broken China, Fired Brick, Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint. The black shade visible around the word "Saint" is due to the ink of my printer, so watch out for that. In this case it worked out fine because I wanted a lot of black on my LO, but I can imagine in other circumstances I wouldn't have been at all happy with this unexpected effect! However, this didn't happen with the words "mother" and "lover" ... I have no idea why not?? Oh yes, I also randomly applied some masking tape over the page, just to add some extra visual interest.

I immediately knew which papers I wanted to use, which is rare for me. Usually I spend hours contemplating what papers and other embellies to use, but this LO just seemed to make itself. I didn't think, I just grabbed what I wanted and adhered it to the page. Anyway, I tore the papers, inked the edges with black soot distress ink and curled their edges. I then used mesh as a mask for my black acrylic paint around the edges of the background. After that, all I needed to do was add my pics and some embellies and stitch on the ribbons. That's it really, I don't think I've ever completed a LO so quickly before.

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2ND JUNE SONGBIRD SCRAPS CHALLENGE

The new songs are up over at Songbird Scraps. I do hope you'll join us this month. This is my DT example:


This is a song about how releaved we are that our kids have switched over from children's songs (although that period of time certainly had it's charm as well) to "regular" songs. This LO features my youngest daughter Christina who's constantly singing along with the songs on her mp3, and who shares my kind of music, thank goodness. My other two children favor their father's music and let me tell you, my music and his are not compatible LOL!!!!!!!!!!

Again I was inpired by "The Next Step" to alter my pp ... I drew and coloured the stars, and also coloured parts of the journaling. Thanks for that tip Bethany, it made a huge difference to the overall look of the page!!!
To mimic CD's I simply cut out some circles and painted them with silver dabber paint by Ranger.

Okay, does it show that I'm home alone (my husband's at work), that my kids are playing by themselves and that I desperately want someone to talk to LOL???????? Still, I'm not finished talking ... I want to share a funny story with you:
Remember that post in which I told you we planned on going to the "Efteling" (a theme park), and we turned back home because of a traffic jam ... well, two days laters we got up real early and this time arrived at that same theme park even before opening time. Anyway, we were standing in line waiting to go on our first attraction of the day, when Chloë said: "oh, if I had fairy godparents (she's a big fan of "Fairly Odd Parents") I'd wish it was our turn already" ... and then she put up her finger and added "oh yes ... and world peace of course" ... haha, this cracked me up.

Talk to you later my sweet friends
Big hugs xxx Peggy

All good news + New Song Bird Scraps Challenge

My sweet friends, first of all I would like to thank all of you who left those wonderful comments for my daughter Christina. She too says "thanks"! She was sooo excited and proud when she read the things you wrote to her, and she can't wait to start on her next LO! The people over at Aussie Scrap Jack have generously said they would send her a little something ... you should have seen her little face when I told her about that!

Other good news, I won my sweet friend Julie's RAK give-away ... lots of yummy stuff AND some handmade cards, original Julie's haha, superexcited about that!!!!! I so want to see some of her work IRL, you know, I'm sure it will even look better than on pics.

I also won a doorprize (you know, a prize you win just by commenting) over at OLW when they were celebrating their 2nd anniversary! Pretty excited about that too.

And this news I'm most excited about, because for the very first time I won a prize with one of my LO's!!!! This is the one (haha, just had to post this one one more time):

I entered this LO for the "painting using stamps as a guide" technique challenge over at "The Next Step" and I won ... well not exactly for using their technique ... since I don't own any stamps that could be used for this challenge, I drew ... but well, they said because they thought my entry was ... wow! Isn't that the best reaction ever haha!!!! They actually gave away four prizes, so you might want to participate in their next challenge as well!!!!! Go and check it out.

I also found some tutorials I would like to share ... as soon as I figure out how to put them on my blog :-( Technology is a wonderful thing, if you know how to use it!!!! So, if anyone knows how to do this, let me know, I could use the help.

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The June Challenge over at Song Bird Scraps is up! Take a look and see if this month's lyrics can inspire you ...

Lullaby - Matt Costa

Don't you cry, no don't you cry

Sing this lullaby to yourself

Cause when I arrive dear it won't be that long

No it won't seem like anytime that I've been gone

It ain't the first time it won't be the last

Won't you remember these words to help the time pass?

So when you're so lonely lying in bed

Night's closed it's eyes but you can't rest your head

Everyone's sleeping all through the house

You wish you could dream but forgot to somehow

Sing this lullaby to yourself

Sing this lullaby to yourself

When You Dream - Barenaked Ladies

With life just begun, my sleeping new son

Has eyes that roll back in his head

They flutter and dart, he slows down his heart

And pictures a world past his bed

Its hard to believe

As I watch you breathe

Your mind drifts and weaves

When you dream, What do you dream about?

When you dream, What do you dream about?

Do you dream about Music or mathematics

Or planets too far for the eye?

Do you dream about Jesus or quantum mechanics

Or angels who sing lullabies?

I was inspired by "my sleeping new son" in the second lyrics, and this is my DT example, I hope it will inspire you to give this challenge a try:

I always loved seeing my babies asleep with their daddy like that.
This wasn't an easy pic to scrap ... I wanted a soft look but I also wanted bold colours. Like I said before, I find it much easier to scrap without a definite look in my head. Anyway, I like the result, especially that hobby rope I stitched on to create a frame is really pretty IRL.

Does it show I have become addicted to paint on my LO's??? It's such an easy solution when the look of the LO isn't quite right yet.

Talk to you later!
Love you mwa mwa xxxx Peggy

Song Bird Scraps Second May Lyrics/ and altered project

Song Bird Scraps DT example / Entry Aussie Scrapjacked May Challenge

A bit too late, but my DT example for the second Song Bird Scraps May Lyrics finally got finished. Thanks you Skye again for being so understanding.

The lyrics to choose from were:

Angel - Jack Johnson

I've got an Angel,

She doesn't wear any wings

She wears a heart that could melt my own,

She wears a smile that makes me wanna sing

She gives me presents

With her presence alone

She gives me everything I could wish for

She gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home.

So Beautiful - Darren Hayes

Whether I'm up or down
There's no crowd to please
I'm like a faith without a clause to believe in it
And if all the world was smiling
I would only ever want to see your frown
You know they can sail away in sunsets
We'll be right here stranded on the ground
Just happy to be found
You make me feel so beautiful
Nowhere else in the world I wanna be
You make me feel so beautiful

I used the first lyrics as inspiration for my LO:

I wrote the full lyrics given in the challenge on the right side of my page. My husband remarked that he couldn't read them well enough, and totally didn't get it when I said this was how it was supposed to be LOL. The lyrics in fact aren't that important, I just wanted to create a messy, chaotic look, and I thought a bit of writing would do the trick. As I said, even after explaining, he still didn't get it LOL. It works for me though LOL. I actually got the idea from the Aussie Scrapjacked may challenge. The LO to be jacked this month is this beautiful LO by the fabulous Ruby Bisson. Take a minute to check out her blog, this girl is certain to blow you away with her amazing art. Especially, brace yourself for this, when you realize she just turned 15!!!!!!!! This is her LO which has to be jacked:

Isn't this amazing?? As you can see, there's some text used as a background, hence my writing. You get it don't you LOL???????
So, I will be entering their challenge with my She/Angel LO. It turned out a bit different, but it was totally inspired by above example. I just don't have it in me to be this messy yet, though I really tried.

I first masked the "she" with different colours of distress inks (peeled paint, dried marigold and vintage photo). Then I used Ranger's Acrylic Paint Dabber (copper) on the background paper, which is daisy d's Garden Green Gingham (I so love that paper, I wish I had bought some more of this...). I then placed the "angel" thickers (American Crafts - Rootbeer float) over the mask, in the hope to make the whole look a bit more interesting.

I should mention that the copper paint is much darker in real life. The paint caught the sun when I took a photograph of the LO, which gives it that shiny look. It really depends on how you position the page...

To really jack the original, I probably just should have placed my pics and be done with it, but like I said, sometimes things just have to look a bit more "dressed up". So I placed some white paper under the photos (which is the paper they wrap new shoes in - so wonderful to work with, don't throw it away!!!!!), and stitched it to the background paper. It added to the feel of the page, since these are pics we took for Chloë's first communion.
The wings are grungeboard, inked with mustard seed and vintage photo distress inks, and given a coat of glossy accents. Really, inked grungeboard on itself is real pretty, but with a coat of glossy accents they just become irresistable!!!!!!! And that's it really, a simple LO, but I like it. Especially the combination of inks and paints, I'll definitely be doing that again.


My first altered project and my very first card!

Yes, you heard right, I made my very first altered project, and it shows that it's my first LOL. The kids love it though, and Kurt thought it looked very cool and he loved the bright colours, so I couldn't be happier with it.

I started out with a remote-control box (I don't know the word for this, sorry, I'm gonna keep calling it "the box"), and I painted the parts that would remain visible with white gesso (twice).


This is what it looked like after putting papers on all of the surfaces:


It looked pretty great then (to me at least LOL), but the child in me wanted to add some extra's:


Fun, isn't it? Haha, I know, I'm just a big kid LOL.


I really like this, which is more than I can say for my very first card. I almost didn't want to post it, but decided to do it anyway, we all had to start somewhere, no? It looks really simple and yes, again a bit childish, but I think my SIL (I made it for her to thank her for a wonderful weekend we spent together) will be happy with it. She might think the kids made it though LOL, still deciding on telling her the truth or not if she does haha.


Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike it, it just doesn't measure up when you compare it to other cards shown on the net (oh yes Julie (scrapnut), I'm definitely thinking of your wonderful creations!!!). I actually quite like the birds. I painted them with a waterbrush and distress inks (broken china, peeled paint and worn lipstick). I loved how bright and cheery the colours came out ... I hadn't expected that, using distress inks...

Well that's it. Did you make it all the way down here ... congratulations!!!!! You're a true friend LOL.

Love you all
xxx Peggy

Second LO for Songbird Scraps April Challenge

Hi everyone,

The lyrics for the second challenge this month over at Songbird Scraps are up, so be sure to check them out, you just might find the inspiration you need to make yourself a little masterpiece and win a prize while doing it!

Here's my example. I was inspired by these lyrics:
"I found the place I'm meant to be, I figured out my destiny at last" from the song "The Captain" by Kasey Chambers.


Not much to tell about the how-to of this LO, I layered, distressed and inked the papers, and for the fence I painted and inked some clothes-pegs.

I will try to translate my journaling for those who are interested:

When I was young, I only had one vision of the future: house, garden, tree, kids, ... But when I had it all, I started to doubt...

Staying at home to raise the kids wasn't my idea, but my husband refused even to think about children otherwise. Against all expectations (I really loved my work...) I loved staying at home and look after the children. Still, I felt guilty most of the time. To me, it felt like I was "being kept" by my husband, and though I worked long hours - that happens when you have 3 children in a 2,5 year period - I didn't feel at all comfortable with the fact I wasn't contributing anything financially and with being so totally dependant on my husband.

When my third child started school, I immediately took a job to go cleaning houses several times a week, nobody was going to blame me to be a lazy wife with too much spare time on her hands! However, my life started to not feel right ... I was always cleaning, if not someone else's house, I was cleaning my own ... had I gone to school and get a nice diploma for that? The domestic chores which in the past I liked doing didn't give me any satisfaction anymore. On the other hand, I was feeling so guilty about my own negative feelings about my life ... I had a home, 3 healthy children, a happy marriage, what more can you want?

Now I love my life again and I'm feeling happier than ever. What has changed then? For starters, I've given up my cleaning work, and that has been my best decision ever! I'm back to enjoying my housework here in my own home, and I'm finally starting to realise that what I do here at home is important as well, and that how I feel and act has an effect on my entire family. Not everyone should stay at home to raise their children, but for us this has been the best solution, I realise that now. And should it ever be necessary financially for me to start working again, I'll try and find something I learned for, a place of work I can enjoy and which will satisfy me. I have spent to much time worrying about my duties, ignoring me in the process. I finally realise I matter in this family too. I'm finally making time for me (scrapping and fitness), something I haven't done for so long, and that has made all the difference in the world. I now realise how fortunate I am. I'm happy, my husband's happy, my children are happy ... I LOVE MY LIFE!

Well that's it. I wish I could have expressed myself a bit better, I'm not a very good writer, I tend to jump from one thought to the other without any structure at all, and that shows in my writing, but I think I've said it all here. This feeling of guilt about not going to work has been something I had been struggling for for years. There aren't all that many SAHM here in Belgium, and there have been times I was ashamed to admit I did not have a job. Long written conversations with some new-found scrapping American friends have made me come to terms with it though. More than that, they have made me realise how fortunate I am to be living the life I'm leading. I would especially like to thank April, Jodi and Marta, you have no idea how much impact you've had on my life! I feel so lucky to have met you!

Wow, I'm getting all emotional here. If you've made it all the way down here, thanks for listening, I appreciate it. Support has been given to me from such unexpected places, I feel so grateful to have met all you wonderful ladies.

xxx Peggy

Songbird Scraps April Challenge

The first lyrics for this month's challenge over at Songbird Scraps are up, go check it out, the girls of the design team have done their best to inspire you, and hopefully some of you will give this challenge a try... The April prize for the winner hasn't been revealed yet, but I'll keep you posted on that one!

April lyrics:

Pete Murray – Opportunity…
Don't be scared of what you cannot see
Your only fear is possibility
Never wonder what the hell went wrong
Your second chance may never come along
Hold on now your exits here
It's waiting just for you
Don't pause too long
It's fading nowIt's ending all too soon you'll see

Hunters and Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me...
I dreamed of you at night time
And I watched you in your sleep
I met you in high places
I touched your head and touched your feet
So if you disappear out of view
You know I will never say goodbye
And though I try to forget it
You will make me call your name
And I'll shout it to the blue summer sky

When I read the lyrics of this first song, it's first two sentences immediately made me think of this awesome quote by Marianne Williamson. I first heard this quote in the movie "Coach Carter" with Samuel L. Jackson, and I remember being so struck by this I just had to write it down in my little quote book. I definitely wanted to use this in my LO, and at first I intended to make a journaling tag, but later on decided to make it the main part of the LO and use it as a background. If you click on the pic, you should be able to read it.


Though it doesn't look like anything I've made before, I'm so happy with the way this LO turned out. I probably shouldn't say this about my own work, but I just love this one!

How to:

For the background, I started out with really ugly (and really cheap) pp featuring some kind of landscape and a huge blue skye. I really didn't like it and thought I'd never use it. To my own surprise, it was the first paper I reached out for, and though I didn't have a clear view of what I was going to do beforehand, when I saw this paper, inspiration hit me. I first layered some parts of the paper with a slight layer of gesso, just to make sure my paints would stick, but leaving some of the background visible. I then started masking the butterflies, first with blue, later on adding different colours. I was actually very surprised how easy it is to mask with paints, there's even no need to attach the mask to the page. I simply put it on and started painting, taking it away and putting it back on if I wanted to add another colour. I added some blues to the rest of the sky, just light touches, to give it some more depth.
I knew I wanted to use chipboard frames for the smaller pics, so I painted them in the same colours I had used for masking the butterflies. This presented the problem that the smaller pics had a beautiful frame, which left the big picture kind of lost on the LO, which is why I painted some sort of red "frame" on the background paper. It still looked a bit unbalanced, but a quick white doodled frame solved that problem.
There was still too much blue, overwhelming the LO, so I added some reds and yellows on top.
I was now ready to write down the quote, a pretty scary moment, so much can go wrong there! I decided to make straight lines and was pretty surprised to find that you can simply erase pencil lines off of the paint.
I had expected this pretty lengthy quote to go all the way down, but was left with a huge open space at the bottom. I thought about adding some flowers to give the LO some more texture (it's a pretty flat LO), but decided to stick with painting... I painted some green stripes, added some red and yellow dots and voila, my flowers were created. I actually felt proud that my childlike dabbering could turn out so perfect (in my eyes anyway LOL).

Now though I wanted this LO to be messy and chaotic, I just can't help myself, I need structure!!!!! Without some sort of frame around the LO, it just doesn't look finished in my eyes, so I started painting some of the edges in the corners and added some stamped swirls.

It's not so visible here, but on the large photo I added the first two lines of the lyrics. I deliberately used white because I wanted the lines to be in the LO, but I still wanted the main focus to be on the quote I used.

To finish it of, I wrote the title down on a cereals' box, cut it out and painted it, easy peasy.

Wow, quite a lengthy post, I think by now I've bored you long enough ... that can happen when you wake up at 5 in the morning and decide against going back to bed LOL, blame it on my insomnia!! Well, time to officially start my day and get some work done...

Love xxx Peggy

2nd March Challenge Songbird Scraps

The second lyrics for the March Challenge over at Songbird Scraps are up (actually, they have been up for a few days now, I'm sooooo far behind, sorry....):

Little Victories - Matt Nathanson

This time, I'll have no fear
I'll be standing strong and tall
Turn my back towards them all
And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
And I'll learn to get by
On the little victories
And if the world decides to catch up with me
It's a little victory.

The Book of Love - Peter Gabriel

The book of love has music in it In fact that's where music comes from Some of it is just transcendental Some of it is just really dumb But I I love it when you sing to me And you You can sing me anything.

If these lyrics are getting your creative juices flowing, and if you would like to win the Fiskars Knife that's up for grabs this month, head on over to the Songbird Scraps site and post your take on the challenge! You'll find some wonderful examples from our DT as well. Here's my LO for the challenge:


This picture was taken on our wedding day in 1998. I realise we look a bit orange in this pic LOL, I tried to change this in Photoshop but couldn't do much about it. This pic wasn't taken with a digital camera and has been developed the "old" way ... I scanned it, and this is how it came out! Anyway, we did have a nice tan that day, seeing as we had been in Crete for 10 days already before our wedding day, so the colour might be even more accurate than my memory is allowing it to be LOL.

I love this picture, always have, and I have been wanting to scrap this forever. I never had any inspiration though, until I saw those lyrics by Peter Gabriel, I thought they were perfect! Here we are lying on our bed in our hotelroom, which our Greek friends had covered with money and rose petals... this seems to be a Greek tradition to wish us love and prosperity throughout our married life ... sweet isn't it?

How to:
I started out by sanding the edges of the picture and adhering it to black cardstock.
I then layered my different papers. I used three different pp's on this LO:
* Basic Grey - Boxer - Vintage tee (box-1167) (background)
* Basic Grey - Offbeat - Light Hearted (ofb-1387) (blue paper)
* Sassafras Lass - Serendipity Collection - Woodland Whimsy - Rose Thicket
I googled "music sheets", and came across the "weading march", which seemed perfect for this LO, and used a small portion of it to slip between the pp's, just to add some extra interest.
I distressed all the papers with my scissors and inked the edges with Tim Holtz "vintage photo" distress ink.
After glueing everything to my white background (corrugated paper which I painted with white gesso), I added some embellies: I drew the birds on the branch and cut them out, I drew a heart on white cardstock and inked it with Tim Holtz "tattered Rose" and " Aged Mahogany" distress inks, and added wings made out of left-overs from the music sheet. I googled "book of love" - images - and couldn't believe my luck when I found this beautiful image of a book with a rose.
I then cut out the title out of white cardstock, added a little bit of vintage photo distress ink, outlined the alphas with a black marker, crumbled the edges a bit, and glued it to the page. Although it was looking almost finished, I still felt it needed something, so I stitched along the edges of the background pp. I chose white because I didn't want this stitching to be overwhelming, I wanted it to give the LO a soft finishing touch, to counter all that black.

All in all, not a difficult LO to make but I just love how it turned out! A good start to finally start on my wedding album maybe ... about time, seeing as we have been married for over 10 years now LOL! I'm finding it hard to scrap my wedding pictures, there seems to be more stress involved to get them just right, you know what I mean?

One more thing: I add this how-to's for all of the scrappers out there who sometimes get overwhelmed by all the beautiful LO's posted on the various blogging sites. I wish people would do this more often. To me, it's sometimes so difficult to tell how these wonderful creations are made, I wouldn't have a clue as to where to start ... I'm hoping this will start a trend LOL... Is this useful to anyone, should I keep adding them, or is it just annoying to read it all? I would love to hear your opinions on this matter!!!!!!

TFL and talk to you later!
xxx Peggy

Song Bird Scraps March Challenge

Every-day-life has been keeping me busy and has gotten totally in the way of my scrapping life, don't you just hate it when that happens! Anyway, it's Saturday, the kids are couching in front of the TV, which is a shame, because it's a nice day today here, they should be playing outside, but I'm fine with it, because it's giving me some well needed me-time.

I finally started the (long overdue) battle against my (over)weight, and I joined a gym. To get some results, I have to go three times a week, which I have done this last week. Unfortunately, I hadn't realised how time-consuming this would be. I'm struggling to get everything done around the house and to keep the kids happy, and there hasn't been any time left to do the things I love, like scrapping, surfing the net and commenting on my friends' LO's, and I miss it! But I'm just like that, once a change comes along, it takes me a while to get into a new routine, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

Anyway, exercising and doing something about my weight is too important and it has to be dealt with, I've postponed this for too long already. And I'm getting some early results already, so I'm happy about that.

Enough wined, it's high time I showed you my LO for the Song Bird Scraps. Check out the lyrics for the March Challenge and try to play along!


It's kind of strange, because this LO turned out exactly like I had envisioned it in my head, but I don't like it all that much, I think it's one of my least favorite I have done so far. Normally I start without a clear picture in my head, I just work on it as I go along, and usually I'm pretty happy with the result, so this is kind of worrying to me. It has actually refrained me from trying another LO, I've kind of lost my confidence and I'm trying hard to overcome this.

Anyway, I'll tell you a bit more about this LO.

I cut the photos to a square size, outlined the edges with a black marker, and matted them on a piece of black cardstock.

For the background I wanted a big pink heart, but with some texture. I think crackle paint would have looked great, but since I don't have that, I glued tissue paper to some light cardboard (cereals' packaging) and painted over it with watercolour paint. I glued it to the background paper and added some black stitches just for fun.

I searched for an image of cupid on the net, printed it out and cut it out with my scissors and cutting knife.

For the little hearts I used plain cardboard from cereals' packaging again, which I covered (twice) with blue stickles.

I then added the title, which I wrote on white cardstock, coloured in with regular colouring markers and cut out with scissors and a craft knife, together with the lyrics from the Song Bird Scraps March Challenge, which I thought were perfect for this picture. After 18 years of being together with my husband, I still feel it's alright!

It still looked a bit unfinished to me, so I glued pink hobby rope around the outer edges and stitched around them with black yarn. This is the same 3D-stitching technique I used on my previous LO. Though it adds the perfect finishing touch to a LO (it really is a pretty frame), I think in this case the pink is a bit too overwhelming. I'm still thinking about cutting it off and adhering the then smaller LO on plain black cardstock, what do you think? Let me know, please, I so would appreciate your thoughts about this!

Well, that's it as far as this LO is concerned. I did finally work on some pages for my project 365. I'm so far behind on that project, but I so desperately want to keep doing this. So this time I've been working on the pages of this week in stead of those of ... don't laugh ... January (told you I was soooooo far behind LOL), and I'm hoping to be able to post them tomorrow.

Finally I wanted to thank Lynn and Aimee for checking up on me, it's a nice feeling to know you're being missed, thanks my friends!

xxx
Peggy

Two LO's to share:

Hi everybody,

Today I have two things to share:

Song Bird Scraps Challenge example:

Challenge #2 is up at Song Bird Scraps, so if you want to win the February prize pack, go on over there and play along! Here's my example for the challenge:



For this LO I used a piece of cardboard which I tried to strip, but that didn't go very well. The result wasn't to my liking, so I painted it with white gesso, which gave a fabulous result IRL.
I painted the edges with copper (using Adirondack Metallics Arcrylic Paint Dabber), using a piece of mesh as a mask because I still wanted a lot of white to come through.
This pic of me pregnant was of terrible quality, because it was taken against the sun, and all you could see was my silhouette, so I edited the pic in PSE using the "graphic pen" option. I made holes in the upper right corner with my eyelet setter tools, and distressed the edges with Ranger distress inks (walnut stain and black soot). I then glued the pic to the right side of the page.
I cut the papers (Daisy D's - The Autumn Collection) following the shape of my belly, distressed the edges with my scissors, and glued them to the page, as well as the ultra-sound pics, of which I had first sanded the edges.
I then stitched a frame around the edges of the papers and pic and also around part of my silhouette, as I wanted to accentuate my pregant belly.
I cut out the flowers from a pp with my craft knife and added some gems from a local store.
For the title I used American Craft Thickers "Subway".
I added a quote onto the pic: "A mother's joy begins when she feels new life stirring inside".
To finish, I added some corners to the ultrasound pics and added 2 grungeboard hearts from the Tim Holtz mixed minis plain collection. I inked them with Ranger distress inks (worn lipstick and fired brick), and added a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents. You can see a close-up of that result in the sneak peeks in one of my earlier posts. This is really pretty, and I'll doing this again for sure!


Method Playground Challenge #38




For the challenge over at Method Playground, we had to use a collage. I used a collage of some pics my daughter Chloë took of herself. Not bad for an 8-year old huh!
I used 2 Sassafras Lass papers, Woodland Whimsy Rose Thicket and Woodland Whimsy Golden Love. The other papers I used were scraps.
I matted my pics on black cardstock and glued it to the Golden Love paper.
I then glued some light green hobby rope around the Golden Love paper and stitched around it with red and black yarn to add some dimension.
I added some ribbons (the pink is from a local shop and the blue one is from Webster's Pages.
I drew the crown and heart on a piece a cardboard (cereals' packaging), covered it with some bright pink pp and covered the whole surface with Ranger Glossy Accents. This makes it nice and shiny, like you can see here:


I added some felt flowers from a local store, on which I stitched some small red flowers, again to add some extra dimension.

I handwrote the title, coloured it in with regular colouring markers and again added a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents... at this rate, that bottle isn't going to last very long LOL.



The journaling reads:
As soon as I start to take pictures, Chloë wants to take some as well, and she's good at it too! She keeps this up until people start to get fed up with being photographed. She then starts taking pics of her toys, the furniture, ... and of herself. And also those pics always turn out pretty cool!!

TFL!
xxx Peggy

My LO for Songbirds Scraps!

Check out the newest challenge at the brandnew challenge site Songbirds Scraps! They will be posting 2 challenges a month, and there are beautiful prizes to be won, so do join in the fun!! All the members of the CT did their best to provide examples to inspire you to give this challenge a try. I already showed you some sneak peeks of mine, here's the LO in full:

Because of the lyrics, my first thought was to make a very romantic LO ... but as usual, it didn't turn out at all as I had envisioned it in my mind ... The word "lucky" made me think of playing cards, bingo cards, four-leaf clovers (I know I know, they're actually three-leaf clovers but never mind LOL). And of course, my husband being my best friend, I wanted to make a LO about us, but then I found these wonderful pics of my parents, which I thought were perfect for both the love as the friend part, so I decided to give those a try. Once I had made up my mind about the pictures and the embellies, I went through my paper stack, and no matter how hard I tried, I kept reaching for these rather funky papers in stead of the romantic ones ... it was like I didn't have a choice really, my mind was made up for me.
After putting everything in it's place, I felt something was still missing, so I decided to stitch, mimicking the pattern of the papers. That made a huge difference to the page.

I hope you like it, TFL!
xxx Peggy