Happy New Year!

Since this is going to be my last post of the year, I thought I would scrap photos of my daughters from New Years 2006. I used papers from Simonetta Rossi Designs new Auld Lang Syne paper pack, available at her Sophia Sarducci store.

As always, clicking my layouts brings you to my DST gallery for details & credits. Clicking the kit brings you to Sue's store.

Garden Fun...

We had such good weather this past spring and early summer that we spent a lot of time in the garden. Lovisa Lin loved it - of course, and the little one did too. It's just that she wasn't even 1 yet and not sure enough on her feet to walk and run on the grass! But she SO wanted to run and follow her big sister everywhere she went. Instead, she just sat in the grass and watched, and it was so obvious on her face how much she looked forward to being able to run too :-)

I used an amazing kit by Mistica Designs called Home Is Where The Heart Is. It's just gorgeous.
As usual, clicking my layouts will bring you to my DST gallery for details and credits and clicking the kit brings you to Monja's store at Digital Scrap Girl.

Fingerpaint...???

I know it's Christmas (LOL) but I just have to scrap!! Well, I didn't do these today, but had to post because I kinda like them! The photos are from a weekend in September when we had some friends for a visit. Lovisa Lin and her friend were into crafts all weekend and finally got to use the fingerpaints - and then Matthildur insisted (loudly!) that she got to paint too :-) We didn't have enough craft aprons for all of them, so Matthildur got an apron but the big girls got to take their shirts off with a promise of a bath when they were done. Of course, since they knew they were going in the tub right after, the temptation to paint more than the paper was just too great. And they had so much fun!

I used papers from Simonetta Rosetti Designs new Basic PaperPack with a whole lot of other awsome stuff from Sue's store.

As usual, clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery for details and complete credits. Clicking the paper pack brings you to Sue's gorgeous store at Sophia Sarducci's

Fall...

I've had enough of snowy layouts and Christmasy layouts so I decided to do a fall layout :-) I haven't scrapped nearly all of my fall photos so I thought I'd take a little break from Christmas. After all - tonight I'll have tons more Christmas photos to scrap, so it's probably my last fall layout possibility for a while LOL!

Anyway, these photos are from September 2006. We were walking home from my older daughter's friend's birthday party, the weather was awsome and the colors of the leaves were just perfect. It didn't hurt that my daughter was in such a good mood that she ran giggling back and forth and had such a good time!

I used a beautiful fall kit that Rebecca Lynn released this fall. It's called Harvest and has the most gorgeous colors.

As usual, clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. Clicking the kit brings you to it in Rebecca's OScraps shop.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

More China...

On our way to the Yilin Caves, which are just north of Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Province in China, our guide asked the driver to stop so that the group could enjoy the amazing scenery. And the scenery was just gorgeous - beautiful mountains and cliffs everywhere. He could have stopped at a slightly better place, though. Not that we minded at all, but there was road construction going on and trucks filled with sand and gravel flew past us on a nearby gravel road, leaving us pretty dusty :-) We did get to see some variations to vehicles and travelling equipment, everything from an ox cart to beat up old trucks. The people with the ox cart were really amused by us, since everyone was standing next to the bus - in the dust cloud - taking pictures of them :-)

I used a really cool kit from The Digi Twins called Sweet Grungyness. It's available at the Designing Moments store - and it's really beautiful. Oh, and the Digi Twins are also having a sale - 25% off everything in their store :-)
As usual, clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery - or it will when I'll get into DST again! In the meantime it brings you to my OScraps gallery for details and credit - you just have to scroll down one row of layouts :-) And clicking the kit brings you to it in the Twins' store.

The New Year

Here are some more blue layouts :-)

Last year, before midnight on December 31, we went to see a firework show and wait for the new year to come. Matthildur Inga was only 6 months old and slept soundly in her carseat. Lovisa Lin had just turned 4 and for a long time she had talked about how she had fallen asleep and missed the fireworks on the previous New Years Eve. She was absolutely NOT going to repeat that! So, she stayed awake, and very patiently waited for the new year to come. When the clock finally struck midnight, she was SO ready to go to bed!

I used an amazing kit by Lauraskathi called Merry Christmas. It's not in her shop at Funky Playground until Monday, December 24, but I am a guest on her CT for January and got to play with it early! Yeah - I still can't believe my luck!

As usual: Clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. Clicking the kit brings you to Kathi's store at FPD.

Christmas Snow

I did a couple of layouts of Lovisa Lin from that day at the beginning of December when it snowed a bit :-) She had so much fun in the snow, made angels, tried to make a snowman but since there was only like an eighth of an inch on the ground, she couldn't do it and just drew it instead! The only problem she had was that she couldn't look up - she was so afraid of the wet snow getting in her eyes.

It seems like all my layouts are blue these days :-) I used, once again, Kiki Halbert's gorgeous All Is Still Paper pack, I'm just amazed at those papers and I'm really never satisfied that I'm doing them justice. I also used her brand new Snowy Overlays and beautiful Die Cuts among other things.

Clicking the layout brings you to my gallery at DST.

It's COLD!

It's cold here in Iowa! It's getting slightly better - and it's DEFINATELY not as cold as it was in Minneapolis when we landed there on Thursday night. But, it's COLD!! We took our 18 month old for a spin around the block on Sunday. It was so cold that we couldn't handle more than a square block :-) However, I love the look of everything when it's freezing. Everything looks so still and clean. I did a couple of layouts with photos I took after our walk.

I used Monica Verkland's Let It Snow kit, available at Digital Candy. It's just gorgeous.

As usual, clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery and clicking the kit brings you to it in Monica's store in Candyland :-)

China

When we were in China in 2004 we visited Mt Quingxiu just outside of Nanning in Guangxi Province. Up on top there is a gorgeous Padoga and when we came back down there is a lake where locals and tourists feed the oversized "goldfish" or water karp. They were fun to watch when they crowded around the feeders trying to get at the food that was thrown into the lake. All the girls in our group were just mesmerized by it all.

I used a gorgeous paperpack by Kiki Halbert called Graphical Botanicals and her Now That's News! Frames along with a couple of things from her Firestorm kit.

As usual: Clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery for details & credits. Clicking the kit brings you to it in Kiki's store at Scrapbook-Elements.

Grandpa

These photos are of Lovisa Lin with her grandfather. They adore each other. On the first layout she is dragging him all over the pier and getting to do whatever she wanted - to the greatest amusement of them both! The second layout has my most favorite photo of the two of them, since you can just see the mutual admiration shining from their eyes :-)

I used a kit released today by Simonetta Rossi Designs. It's gorgeous and it's called The Queen Jewels.
Clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. Clicking the kit brings you to it in Simonetta's store at Sophia Sarducci's

O Christmas Tree...

We are in Iowa right now and are going to stay here with my brother and SIL for Christmas and New Years. We got here Friday morning, and they were so nice as to wait with decorating until then. Lovisa Lin was so excited and wanted to do it right away. So, Friday afternoon they decorated the tree. It was so much fun - of course, I was no help, except with picture taking :-) But she did a great job decorating with uncle Siggi and aunt Jennie. And the result was great!

I did these two layouts, one with them decorating and the other with Lovisa Lin admiring her work, with Monica Verkland's (Flow's) gorgeous Christmas Surprise kit. It's available at Digital Candy. She does some amazing work. I also used Chrissy Williams' beautiful templates on both layouts.

Here's the kit I used:

As always, clicking the layout brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits, and clicking the kit brings you to the Digital Candy Store. I miss my Blushbutter display book templates - I accidentally left them at home on my EHD.

Digital Candy...

I got my fourth CT job this weekend. It's with Digital Candy and they have some wonderful products! I just finished this double layout with a gorgeous kit from Rebecca Gold. The photos are from last August when we went on a trip to a remote part of North-west Iceland. There is an outdoor museum - an indoor one as well, but the pictures are from outdoors :-) The museum specializes in vehicles; boats, planes and cars.The kit I used is called Bomber Boy and is really beautiful. Gorgeous papers and beautiful elements. On the right side, it's my little one enjoying herself. I didn't think she would, but she loved it. Outside, that is, inside she just wanted to get everything out of it's place :-) What 14 month old wouldn't?

Here's the kit I used. Gorgeous, isn't it?

As usual: Clicking the layout brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. Clicking the kit brings you to where it is at the Digital Candy shop. And the display book is by Blushbutter.

The glittery pink...

Lovisa Lin's five year old birthday party was this past Saturday. We had 11 5-year olds + Matthildur Inga, our 17 month old, in the house. And no adults except for my husband and myself. It was so much fun! Rowdy and noisy - but SO much fun! It's much easier to have only kids in the house than have a mix of kids and grown-ups. At least there were no hard to please adults that we had to entertain while also taking care of the kids and making sure that everyone had something to eat and drink at the table. After that, they just played! Then, later, the family came over for a relaxed birthday party.

Anyway, before the party we blew up some balloons to hang on our fence for the birthday girl. Before we hung them out we kept them on the living room couch - and our little one got hold of them. And she LOVED them! She ran all over, laughing and giggling, swinging the balloons around. This layout is about her and the balloons :-)

I used an amazingly girly girly kit by Rebecca Lynn and Anita Stergiou. It's called Army Brat and it's full of glittery pink stuff. Perfect for my pinker than pink glitter girls :-) And a little plug: It's 25% off right now!!

As usual, clicking the layout brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. Clicking the kit brings you to Rebecca Lynn's OScraps shop. And, the display book is by Blushbutter.

Snow, snow, snow!

We got snow on Friday - like real Christmas snow! We didn't get much, only about quarter of an inch that stuck - but the snowfall itself was fun. Matthildur Inga, my younger daughter, isn't used to snow (can you believe it - we live in ICELAND!) - she has obviously seen it and been out in it, but not too much. She was in total awe of the snowfall! Instead of running around in the snow like Lovisa Lin, my older one, she just stood there and watched. She just kept looking up to catch the flakes on her face or tried to catch them in her hand. Finally she found the snow too wet and too cold and wanted to go inside.

I did another layout of her snow photos. Unfortunately I didn't get any good ones, somehow they all turned out bad. Which is why I tried to disguise them by blending them into Kiki Halbert's gorgeous All Is Still papers. The blue is her papers - completely. I extracted the photos so none of what's in the blue is any of mine :-) She does make the most beautiful papers. I also used one of her Icy Journal Frames and her Painted Wonderland Alpha.

Clicking the layout brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. The display book is by Blushbutter.

Zhuang Village

Somehow everything is happening these days. I just got a CT job with Simonetta Rossi!!! Yeah!! Have you seen her designs? Absolutely amazing and gorgeous in every way! I'm really excited about working with her stuff!Anyway, I did my first couple of layouts with Simonetta's products today. The photos are from our China trip in 2004. We went to visit this small Zhuang village in the Guangxi Province in southern China. It is so beautiful there, I can't wait to go again!

I used a paperpack called Paris Café, her Grungy Blending Masks and Tea Stained Alpha. On the first one I also used some of her Eclectic Mix Extras which will be available in Simonetta's store at Sophia Sarducci's on Monday.

The Walk

These photos are from late August 2004. Lovisa Lin was 20 months old and we went on a walk without her stroller. It wasn't long, but it was loooooooong :-) There were so many things to discover and investigate. Aren't they just the sweetest when they are discovering the world?

The kit I used is by Kiki Halbert at SBE. It's called Firestorm and it's gorgeous! The papers are so beautiful that it's almost a shame to cover them up with photos and elements! Anyway, here's the kit:

As usual, clicking the layout brings you to my DST gallery for details and credits. Clicking the kit brings you to it in Kiki's store at SBE. And the display book is by Blushbutter.

Sliding...

We took a little weekend trip with some friends at the end of November. We stayed at a summer house close to the Geysir and Golden Waterfall area. They are big tourist attractions here in Iceland. Since we were so close and the weather on the Saturday was just beautiful, we decided to visit Geysir. The sun was shining but it was freezing cold and the road was really icy. The walking path to the Geysir was really icy too - and the three girls loved it!! They had so much fun sliding and falling the whole way. They laughed and giggled and their joy was so contagious that they gathered quite a crowd of tourists who giggled with them and took lots of photos of them :-)I did the first of the two pages for a scraplift challenge over at Vera Lim's blog. She has the most amazing stuff! The second page is just that: the second page :-) I didn't really know where I was going with it, but I think it turned out ok.

As usual, clicking the layouts brings you to my DST gallery for a closer look and credits. The display book is by Blushbutter.

Krossavík

I did a layout using Rebecca Lynn's gorgeous kit, From This Day On. It's an elegant and beautiful wedding kit.

I thought it would be perfect for pictures from my brother's wedding. My SIL wore a traditional Norwegian gown which she hand embroidered herself. The main color of the skirt and vest is black, but the embroidery is really colorful and beautiful.

Anyway, when I had loaded the kit into PSE, I found out that the wedding photos are somewhere in a box - and I didn't want to dig too deep to find them, so I decided to try to find other photos to use with this kit. And I found beach photos of Lovisa Lin that I took last Easter Monday. The kit was perfect for them :-)

Clicking the kit brings you to it in Rebecca's shop at OScraps. Clicking the layouts brings you to my gallery at DST for more detailed images and credits.

Oh, and by the way, I probably should mention that the book template I use to display my layouts is by Blushbutter. Since I always scrap 2 pages at a time from each kit, I like to display them this way - it gives me an idea of how my layouts are going to look together in an album.

Kiki Halbert

I have a new CT!! I am a guest on Kiki Halbert's CT for three months, from December until February. I'm really excited about that. I love her products. Kiki sells her products exclusively at Scrapbook-Elements.

She has a kit called Asian Harmony, and I decided to use that first since I'm scrapping our 2004 trip to China. It's an amazing kit with gorgeous papers and elements.

Clicking the image brings you to my DST gallery where you can see the layouts more clearly and see detailed credit.

Here's Kiki's gorgeous kit - clicking it brings you to the kit in her shop at SBE:

Christmas morning

I just won the blog challenge over at Vera Lim's blog. Yeah!! A gift card to spend at one of my favorite stores! I haven't received it yet, but I've already decided what to spend it on :-)
Anyway, the challenge was to use a patterned paper, two frames, at least three flowers, a ribbon, stitching and two different alphas. Here are my layouts - it's the first one that won the prize, the other one is just the second page - I always scrap two-pagers!

These are my girls on Christmas morning 2006, enjoying our traditional Christmas breakfast of spicy cake and hot chocolate. The older one enjoyed it immensely. The younger one was only 6 months old and had just started to experience with solid food, so she only got to taste the tiniest bit of hot chocolate on my finger - but she LOVED it!!
Clicking the image will bring you to my gallery for complete and detailed credit.