Project 52, week 5 + more

I know the week isn't over yet, but I've spent the day doing laundry, and tomorrow will be spent preparing the bedrooms for the arrival of the painters on Monday, so I know there won't be any more photos taken this week.

#05, 2009
My photo this week is of my beautiful baby sister (she isn't a baby of course but she is the youngest, and 15 years my junior, so I will forever see her as my baby) who left to study in Milan for 6 months yesterday. It was taken at the airport when my mum and I saw her off.


I took a bunch of other photos while there and I figured I'd share them here since it was a while since I posted anything else than the project pics.

I liked the light the windows created around the big clock in the check in hall.




This made me chuckle as Sterling went bust a couple of months ago. Apparently changing the ads on the carts haven't been a priority.


The underground train station doesn't have a lot of light but I think this is still a pretty cool shot. I was so close to that train, on the edge of the platform as the train swished by.


I know this one is blurry, but I still love it. I hurled my camera up when mum and Nina said goodbye, not even looking through the viewfinder as I clicked away.

I think she's got it! The paper kit freebie!

So we finally figured out that it's not actually our Internet service that is wonky, but rather our router. Sheesh. We spent a small fortune on that and now it seems there is something wrong with it. My husband has been appointed to work this out with tech support ASAP, but this means I can hook myself up directly to the cable modem and it's back to the land of high speed connection for me. Not a day too soon if I may say so.

So, the freebie then. It's a 10 piece paper set with 5 patterned and 5 solid papers. I wanted to try a new style that was a little cuter than anything I've done before. I don't know that it actually is all that cute, but the colours are bright and spring-y so I think it works well for any Valentine's project as well as for the coming season. Because it took me longer than I planned to get it up here I have also included a bonus PNG tag in the kit. See it as interest rate, lol.

Presenting the Sweet & Fresh Line paper kit


And this is the tag that is included


You can download it all here.

I want to remind you to please follow the TOU. This has been created out of the goodness of my heart (ain't I just a sweetheart, lol) and the products are for personal use only. I love the little comments you leave when you download, so please leave me some love. And as always I would love to see what you do with my stuff, so do link me up.

Now I'm off to work on my Project 52 for this week. I'll be back later.

xoxo

Not having much luck at the moment

I swear I am not holding out on you on purpose. I am sorry that the freebie I promised has not been put up yet. I am having internet issues (again) and that means I can't upload any files to 4shared. Know I am working hard on it and it will up as soon as I can get it fixed. Again, I'm sorry.

Project 52, week 4

It's time again for that weekly photo project post. This week I have been really bad about taking the camera out. I have worked like a madwoman and then come home to a house in a complete state of chaos (painters finished on Friday afternoon). So apart from some snapshots of my family last night this photo is literally the only photo I have take all week. I am trying to not let it phase me though. There are 48 more weeks this year to improve and do better.

#4, 2009
An orchid in our kitchen window. I couldn't be further from having success with plats and flowers, so all but one plant in our house are fake, including this one. It is so well done that my sister almost watered it while house sitting for us this past summer, lol.


In other news there might be some really exciting projects in my future. They are still just figments of my imagination but I am hoping I will be able to do at least some of my ideas this spring. So hopefully I will have some stuff to share here soon.

I'm still working on that paper kit I promised and I think I will be able to put it up here tomorrow or Tuesday.

Thanks so much everyone for the sweet comments you have left me in my posts and at 4shared. Know that it is greatly appreciated.

Bonus freebie - it's Friday after all

Yeah, I don't think I have needed the week to end as much as this week. So TGIF! To celebrate, just a little bit, I am putting up a small bonus freebie.

Remember the last template from the other day? Remember it had a floral photo frame? I decided to put that very same frame up for grabs. You can use it as a photo frame, or clip a photo directly to it, or perhaps even clip a paper to it and use it as a journaling card. Pretty much anything goes! Included is a PNG and an ABR file so that you can choose whichever you prefer.



Click here!

Please do follow the TOU, this is for personal use only. Please leave me some love when you download, and I would love for you to link me up if you use it. Thanks so much!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and I'll see you again next week! Smooches!

6 interesting things about me - a game of tag

I just discovered that my friend Kylee tagged me today. I am asked to write six things that are interesting about me, and then I get to ask five friends to do the same on their blog.

To be completely honest, I am not a real big fan of tagging games. I am also a private person in the sense that I am hesitant to share personal things online. But for you, Kylee, I will do it today. ;)

Let's see, are there indeed six things about me that are interesting?

1. I keep my three (!) closets organized after a strict and thoroughly thought through scheme; after, in descending order, type of clothing, colour, size. I go through them to straighten everything every week when I put in the fresh laundry.
2. I claimed, with a passion, for 32 years that I hated beetroots (despite never having tasted one). Then my husband forced me to try baked beetroots with goat's cheese and I discovered that I loved it. Funny how things can be.
3. I love red wine but cannot drink it since it gives me terrible migraines. And I have enough of them as it is.
4. I used to be a terrible photographer who cut off people's heads and always produced a blurry photo. I never wanted to even hold a camera. The introduction of digital cameras changed my mind. What a fantastic change for me!
5. If I was offered a job as an event planner I would take it in a heartbeat.
6. I have the books in my bookshelf stacked according to colour and size rather than alphabetically. I just could not stand how cluttered it looked.

Ha! I bet there was something you wouldn't have guessed about me? No?

OK, so to the tagging business, I um, I'm going to be a saint and say:
Anyone who feels like it, please feel free to do so. If you do not, then you are officially off the hook. Good enough compromise? LOL.

And another thing ...

I'm working on a paper kit for Valentines. Keep an eye out for it next week! :D

My thoughts on templates and a freebie

I love templates. I think they work as inspiration injections and get my creative juices flowing. That is also why I started to make templates, to help myself find my creativity, and to make it more tangible and structured. I think they are a great jumping off point for a layout or a project. But the key thing for me personally is that the template is simple. That I don't feel constrained by what the template designer had in mind. That I feel free to let my own mind flow. That is why my templates are always very simple. I want them to be a small start, and then it's up to the users to take it wherever their minds take them.

But enough babbling. Here is the template freebie for this week


Download it here.

I know y'all know this already, but please follow the TOU, this template is for personal use only. I would also be so happy if you would leave me some love here or at 4shared. And, as always, please link me up if you use it. Thanks so much!

Project 52, week 3

This week the weather has been windy, cold, and foggy. In short not exactly making me go outside and take any pictures. The one day that there was a tiny sliver of sunshine I was, of course, busy in a meeting all day. It doesn't help that it still gets dark long before I finish work. But we have had painters over to paint our living room walls this week. One of them forgot his colour chart and I thought it would be a cool thing to shoot. It turned out pretty good I think. Very colourful.

#3, 2009

Thursday party - freebie time

I just realised that due to important family events tomorrow I won't be able to log on and post the template I promised. So instead of waiting until Saturday I decided to post it today. Great decision, right? Right!

So without furhter ado, here it is

And the link.

Please follow the TOU, this is for personal use only. Please leave me some love here or at 4shared, and if you use it in one of your LOs please link me up, I would love to see.

Thanks!

Awesome blog tip

One of my favourite blogs to read every day is Cathy Zielske's. She is hilarious and stylish and sassy. You will not be sorry to follow her blog. Just saying.

Wowie!

I want to give a big shoutout to every single one of you who have visited, downloaded, and commented in the last couple of days. Y'all are the greatest! Thank you so much. I'm grinning from ear to ear right now.

Make sure to check back again because I will have another freebie up on Friday evening (CET).

Now I'm off to celebrate with a glass of Coke Zero and a banana. :D

Question

Does anyone know what is the biggest size I can have my photos on this blog without cutting them off?

I know I could use a different blog template, but I like this one. I just want my photos to be a little bigger and the default "medium" size at Photobucket is too small for my liking.

Ta!

Project 52, week 1 and 2

With the end of 2008 and POTD for December I decided to give myself a break and not take a photo every single day. For a while I contemplated doing 12/12, meaning to take a photo on the 12th of each month. But really, that isn't a perfect idea for a project. If I miss one single day it affects the whole project in a big way. So in the end I settled for Project 52. Here I take one photo a week ... well I am allowed to take more than one, lol. This is a pretty easy project for me. I do usually take more than one photo a week. So I think I will be able to keep up with this one.

So how is this going to work? Well, I figured that each week I will post the photo of the previous week. Pretty simple.

Here are the photos for week 1 and 2.

#01. 2009
The frozen pond by a castle close to here on a gloomy winter's day.


#02. 2009
The steering wheel of our car.


Are you doing a photo project this year?

Monday Party - Another freebie template

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I got busy with fun and happening things as laundry and taking the Christmas tree down (I know, it ended eons ago, but I've been procastinating). I did manage to squeeze in some real fun though so I thought we should continue Friday's party and get a new template up here. :D



This is the download link.

Please follow the TOU, and do link me up if you use it. Thanks so much!

Friday party - a template freebie

So the other day I said I would put up a couple of freebie templates. Just because it's Friday (btw, yay!) I'm celebrating with the first one of three (in the forseable future of course).


Click right here for the download link.

This template is just for personal use and please follow the TOU. As always, I'd love to see your work so link me up.

Enjoy, and check back next week for a new template! Happy weekend everyone!

Snow white

OK, for some reason I have been more productive making layouts than I have been for months. What is up with that? :) And speaking of being productive, I have a couple of freebie templates lined up. Give me a couple of days and I'll have them uploaded.

But now to my latest layout.

(Credits: Papers:SummerDriggs_Giving_BlueSnowflakesPaper, AASPN_SPLima_3 (recoloured)
Elements: MCO_SilverFlake01, MCO_SilverFlake02, AASPN_SimpleTorn3_3, KPertiet_ScrapPinkNoteStrip
Font: Garamond
Photo: Linda Roos)

Two new layouts

(Credits: Template by Ali Edwards, Bubble brush by Hawkesmont, Photo by Linda Roos)


(Credits: Papers: FreshBotanicalsNo2-7 from Fresh Botanicals kit by Katie Pertiet, Pattern2 and patternedONE from Flutter fresh kit by Vinnie Pearce
Elements: Funky_Vintage8 ornament by Nancie Rowe Janitz, Staple Pair by Katie Pertiet
Fonts: Garamond, VTPortable Remington
Photo: Linda Roos)

The first freebie of the year

I was inspired the other day when I made my resolution layout. I loved how the background paper turned out once I had played around with it and so I thought I would make a paper like it from scratch. I made two other matching papers and all of a sudden I had myself a small little mini kit.

So here we go with the first freebie of the year.


If you like it, click the link.

Please read and follow the TOU. Please leave me some love when you download. And please link me up with your creations with my products.

Enjoy!

Layout of a beautiful woman

I made this layout a while ago but for some reason I never uploaded it here. It is of my beautiful sister. She is such a wonderful girl; intelligent, pretty, caring and funny. I wanted to make a layout worthy of her. I like the dreamy feeling of the blended layers.

(Credits: Butterfly extracted from KPertiet_FreshBotanicalsNo2-1, paper, brush, and photo by me)

Resolution

I don't make resolutions. Ever. I can't keep them. I just end up feeling stupid and like a failure. So I live my life happier without them.

But then this week there is a challenge at the Spraground to scrap about three resolutions. So I bit the bullet and here is what I came up with.

(credits: Papers: AdChallenge4-20_argyle by Jesse Edwards, I_live_for_page by Vinnie Pearce
Elements: GrungyClusters-5g by Katie Pertiet, StaplePair by Katie Pertiet, emerald (recoloured) from Lucky Kit by Heather Ann Meltzer, watercolour brush by someone who I forget the name of
Fonts: VTPortable Remington, Century Gothic
Photo: Johan Roos)

The three resolutions are: love much, have fun, live life.
Enough said.

Holiday table scapes

We had two dinner parties over the holidays. With the first one I wanted a classic, rustic Christmas-y feel, and I also needed to save space on the table for food platters. So simple it had to be.

The base was a beige linen table cloth and white linen napkins, both with a checkered pattern. I used silver chargers and then matched that with all white china. I put a faux garland across the length of the table and tied red satin ribbons in it. I went with all white candles in both round and square shapes and combined the low centerpiece with two tall holders at the edges of the table. I tied the same ribbon on all the candles as I used on the garland. The napkin rings are little santa girls made of porcelain. I scattered glass beads on the table to pick up on the flicker of the lights.









For the second one I wanted to go with my favourite theme; snowflakes. I had planned on a few projects that fell through due to lack of time. So practicality had to win since I needed my beauty sleep.

I went with a white linen table cloth and white linen napkins. I used the same center piece as on the first one but changed the garland to a strand of snowflake shaped lights. The silver chargers combined with black snowflake adorned plates served as the canvas for the rest of the china which was white and silver. I used my favourite napkin rings that have delicate snowflakes on them and tied glittery white snowflakes to the tall candle holders. I scattered the same glass beads on the table but also used some really thin silvery twine around the strand of lights.









I also printed menus that I put at each setting but that is not pictured because I only remembered them right before we sat down to eat. Yeah, a bit of a blonde moment there. :D

By changing just a few details I was able to produce two completely different table scapes. My husband calls me a hoarder, and maybe he is right, but by having a lot of different things I am also able to change things up quite a bit.

POTD - December 29-31

So here we are, the last installment of the December POTD series. I feel pretty accomplished because I was able to take a picture almost every day (with only two misses) despite illnesses, travels, holidays, and a busy, busy month at work.

2008-12-29, Monday
Johan made saffron semi freddo for our dinner party on the 23rd. We had two portions too many and forgot about them in the freezer. We took them out on Monday. Of course, by then they were way past semi and pretty much just freddo, lol. But they still tasted good. Well, the first three spoonfulls. Then all the cream got to me and I started to feel a little sick. I got a photo out of it though.


2008-12-30, Tuesday
I got a package from my dear friend Karri with some pretty awesome Christmas (and belated birthday) presents. In the package there were, amongst other things, two place card holders that had the most beautiful snowflakes at the base. This is one of them.


2008-12-31, Wednesday
The last day of the year was a flurry of activity in order to get ready for the big birthday party we were going to in the evening. So I only had time to sneak in a photo of the flower I have in my bathroom.


And that, my friends, concludes the POTD challenge for this time. I will without a doubt do this again, but now I need a break from "musts".

I am wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2009!