I am going to soak up the sun.....

Rachel loving the sun.

One gorgeous summer night on the beach

a big cuddle

Me and my hubby.

Ola.

Just a little note from a beautiful sunny Mexico..
We are loving it out here. No snow.. no cold.. no inside days.. I love this whole world out here.. It is warm and colorful and 'gezellig'.

The days are flying by.. the kids are having a blast and so do we.. We are taking in the vitamine D and are loving it.

Don't tell anyone.. but I do miss my card stuff.. Isn't it sad.. There are those moments that I feel inspired to create.. Oh well.. a sand castle will do too!

Cheers, Pauline

Broadsheet Alphabet + some Greenhouse Gala DSP by Stampin Up and me

Good morning dear you!

• Today I saw something new on my Blogger account. I went to Design and one of the buttons said 'Stats'. So I clicked on it and it said that in the last half year I had 12.222 visitors.. ( I know what a fun number) You should have seen the happy surprise on my face! Blogger counted it for me. It also told me through which websites those visitors (you) had found me. OH.. That is so so cool and to me that is so many visitors!!!! Love it! So motivating and fun to know that I am not the only one writing and reading my blog :)

About a week ago I received a Stylish Blogger Award from the talented Penny Hanuszak from 'Penny Tokens Stampin Spot'. She is from Abbotsford BC Canada and has so many beautiful cards on her blog! So to receive this Award from her is really a treat! Please give her a visit. You will not regret it, she will inspire you for sure! Thank you dear Penny, that is so sweet of you to think of me in that way.

To accept this Award I need to tell you 8 things about myself that you might not know. After that I get to pass this Award on to eight other bloggers out there in Blog land, that I enjoy and that I would love you to get to know as well.

• But guess what, there is no way I could ever pick only 8 blogs from the many many that I am following. If each and one of them weren't worthy of the blog Award I wouldn't be following them. :)

Sooo, this is to all of you who come by and support me by showing me the love and by having a blog that I so enjoy following. Grab this badge, post it on your OWN BLOG! You so deserve it!

Okay, I will tell you a few things about myself:

• I simply love Cadbury Mini Eggs. I am so happy they come now in a 943 grams bag instead of the tiny 33 gram bags you were only able to buy during Easter.
• Trendy Trees by Stampin Up is my most favorite stamp set. I finally got myself a Stamp-a-ma-jig thingy to position the top of the tree on its stem in the 'perfect' way. I hope it will help. I wasted enough time trying to align the 2 together without succes.
• I have a huge passion for people with addiction problems. I worked/lived with them for years in the Red light District of Amsterdam and in Utrecht and Dordrecht (Holland), in Belo Horizonte (Brazil), in Winnipeg (Canada). I believe there is hope for them and that in God's dictionary the word hopelessness does not exist. He has plans of hope for everyone! and who am I to argue that with Him! :) I have seen people change and become a new person! So beautiful to be able to walk beside them when they are looking for change in their lives. I learned as much from them as they did from me. That's is grace. Once our 3 kids are a bit older I would love to work again with them here in Calgary.
• I get seasick very easily in a boat, in a plane, on a bus and when I do some snorkeling in the ocean.. It is just to bad.. I still do it.. but I know that after the event you can wipe me up for the rest of the day...
• I used the Baja Breeze color of Stampin Up as a paint color in our kitchen. Love it! Together with the light wood it is just stunning.
• English is my second language.. Dutch is my first language.. In case you were wondering.
• I love biking through the 'dutch Hei '(beautiful area in Holland with trillions of purple little flowers and little hills and trees), through the 'dutch polders' (farm area with bike paths) through the cities and villages and close to the ocean and of course through the forest.
• I love the music of Brian Doerksen, U2, the Violet Burning, Petra, Julie Miller, Van Morrison and Bach. Some of their songs just keep giving me tears in my eyes.
• I love to sing and play the guitar and watch our 3 kids dance and sing along on the music.

well.. thanks for hanging in there with me.

I made this card for a dear friend in Holland. She's the sweetest thing. And I have to say that I am in L-O-V-E with each of the Broadsheet Alphabet letter stamps. They are just perfect for those personal cards!

Well.. life is waiting here! Enjoy your day.

Inky hugs, Pauline

Bloomin' beautiful with some Elegant Eggplant by Stampin Up and me

Good Friday morning dear you.

How is your day going? Didn't this week fly by AGAIN like crazy? I can't keep up.. Well in this household we are so looking forward to the weekend. I would love to get a haircut.. Nothing fancy.. but it needs to be done.. I hope we can fit it in that silly busy schedule of ours.

I am sorry if I am talking about the weather way to much on my blog.. But it is +9 Celsius today in Calgary Alberta. I have to tell someone! Wowsy! I feel so blessed. We are going for a walk today that is for sure.. Breath in some fresh air. My windows are open in the house.. Yip, if you see a house with all the windows open.. That's ours! Don't laugh though.. It is like out with the old and in with the new air!

I visited the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge blog this morning and saw that their main focus is on Psalm 23. The Lord is my Shepherd. They inspired us to use blues and greens to remind us of the still waters and the green pastures. Although life is so not like that all the time.. it is a blessing when we can walk in it sometimes. God is with us in the deeps and the lows! Whatever that sometimes means.

• As a base for my card I used the Baja Breeze. Yes a very familiar color on my blog.
• The next layers of card stock you see is the Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White from stampin Up.
• I rolled my Whisper White card stock together with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder (#120175 - $10.95) through my Big Shot to add some pretty texture.
• Then I used my Extra Large 2 3/8 Scallop Circle punch (#118874 - $23.95) to create a nice flowery border around the main picture of my card.
• The 1 3/4 Extra Large Circle punch (# 119850 - $23.95) fitted perfectly inside that one.
• I am a layer girl, what can I say. I love it when the 'thingy' on my card gets all study because of the layering. So for the last two layers I used the 1 3/8 circle punch + the 1 1/4 large circle punch from Stampin Up.
• The Whisper White Organze Ribbon from Stampin Up (#114319 - $8.95) gave it that beautiful final touch.
• That silver little flower that you see is from the Designer Brads from Stampin Up. (#112579 - $7.95 for 16 flowers) Isn't it the cutest thing ever?
• I inked up the sentiment of the retired 'Bloomin Beautiful' stampset by Stampin Up in the Elegant eggplant ink and stamped it about 4 times on the Whisper white Card stock. I love how it turned out! Very elegant.

Well.. I got to make some luch here and feed my 3 kiddo's.

Enjoy the rest of your day and have a beautiful weekend.

Inky hugs, Pauline

Fancy Flower Punch with some Early Espresso by Stampin Up and me

Good second February morning to you!

Do you realise that it is only 3 more months and we can go camping again :) Unless you like winter camping of course, then you're probable fine with anything.

• I have to admit here .. I am not the best camper.. Yes.. confession time. But I really want to give it a try again this year. It will hopefully help if we have a bigger tent.. and if it doesn't rain the whole time.. I just don't like that feeling that I am on the wrong side of the zoo. You know.. the side where all the wild animals roam around. I am dutch.. I have the skills to be a great dutch camper.. I am just not much of a Canadian camper.. yet.

I do have to say I admire those people that camp out in the winter. My hubby is one of them. He made his own snow cave / igloo one day in the middle of nowhere with some of his friends (who were trained to do this) and 'camped' with -35 Celsius.. He couldn't sleep at all that night , he was just to cold.. duh... :)

He was glad that I had I refused to go with him.. I know, I would not be a good sport, being that fre-aky cold.. Isn't it silly what we will do to have good memories? Now he laughs about it.. and I will laugh with him.. but that is as far as I will go when it's about winter camping.

Anyway.. With all that snow that came down here in the last couple of days in Calgary, I was really tempted to make something flowery! Something happy and 'light'. What do you think of it? It really is a 5 minute card. I love when that happens. You should give it a try.

I made this card with 2 Challenges in mind.

• The first one is for the: Just us girls card Challenge #69. They inspired us to create a 3D flower on our card. Well, if you look closely you will see that the flower on the right is popped up and is made out of 3 layers.
• The other challenge is for the ColourQ Challenge #70. They wanted us to use: Poppy Parade, Cameo Coral, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso and very Vanilla. they are all stunning Stampin Up colors.

The card ingredients:

• I used the Fancy Flower extra large punch from Stampin Up. (#118073 - $23.95)
• + the 1" SU Circle punch (#119868 - $15.95)
• + the 1 1/4" SU Large Circle punch (#119861 - $22.95)
• + the 1 3/8" SU Large Circle punch (#119860 - $22.95)
• + the Word window SU punch (#119857 - $22.95)
• + the Modern Label extra large SU punch (#119849 - $23.95)
• For the inside of the card I used SU Top Note die (#113463 - $$29.95) and my Big Shot machine (#113439 - $132.95) to cut out that beautiful shape to finish it all of.

Remember, if you spend $60 on Stampin Up products, you can earn a beautiful free stampset. This offer is valid untill March 31, 2011 with the Sale-a-Bration celebration that is going on right now in the SU world!

Well.. I hope you don't have to go snow camping :) I hope you are reading this in your warm comfy home with the ones you love around you!

Inky hugs, Pauline