Relax!

So I am laying here in this beautiful hospital, the sun is shining in and this perfect little young man is sleeping on my tummy.

I am being pampered to the maximum and I am healing well.
Poor DH is so sick that he cannot come to the hospital, my angel sister is taking care of DD.

To all a Happy New Year.
All the best,
Elisabeth

Introducing Michael Daniel

What a day! Woke up with a high fever, which would not go down despite medication. The water broke at 10. Had to go to the hospital with the ambulance (flashing lights, horns, running all red lights at the crossings) just to agonize if we should wait or not. Then the decision for the emergency Caesarian. But now he is safe and sound and Sarah is so proud to be the big sister. DH was so brave- usually he just can't see blood but he was with me in operation room- I squeezed his hand so much he is all bruised!
The staff here at the hospital are wonderful and take very good care of me. It will take a while to heal but I a so glad that this difficult pregnancy came to a good end.


In a few weeks, you will probably see a whole bunch of baby boy layouts!!!
Thanks for all those you kept asking how I was doing. It is much appreciated.
All the best,
Elisabeth

I love my new camera!

For Christmas, my DH gave me a new camera - well, I chose the model....and I am so happy with it. It is a small pocket camera, knowing that I would NEVER take any pictures if I have to carry around a big, professional camera. It had to be fast (I was getting tired of pictures with a bit of hair of DD or half a leg!) and it needed a big zoom. So I got the Casio Exilim zr100. The zoom rocks! (12x optical zoom) the settings are super easy and it is fast!

Here is a LO featuring the zoom. Simply perfect for what I need.

The LO is based on the Pencillines Sketch 263. You can find it HERE.

Not my usual style, but I find the bright and clean style more appropriate for playground photos and since I am waiting for my Swirlydoos Kit and CHA before I buy anything new, I am using up my old papers. These are some Lilly Bees from the "hello sunshine" collection. The little butterflies up in the corner are eyelets which I had for a gazillion years.

No news on the baby - due date is next week. Yesterday's check up showed that he is doing great and I just have to be patient. Yeah right - me and patient - these two words don't go well together! Will keep you posted!

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Museum visit and a card

I live right next door of the Belvedere. It is a great museum just 5 minutes walking distance. It is surrounded by a wonderful park and the botanical garden.


We go there very often. They also have a fabulous children's program. There are special guided tours which my DD loves. These photos were taken 2 months ago. I used up all my bits and pieces of purple paper for this LO. The only "new" paper is the basis by creative imaginations. Since the eggs in the bird nest (Prima) were originally blue, I used my copic markers to adapt the color.


The card is inspired by Ozmagi (THANKS!). She had the great idea to combine the laurel leaf punch with the gate. It just looks sweet as a Spring card.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Big gift Creative Scrappers

Creative Scrappers Nr 187 was the perfect kit start for this LO. Just love how it came together - the black, grey and red is a color combination I really like a lot.



And here is my sweet DD ready for church! We had such a nice Christmas, very easy, gemütlich and peaceful.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Big christmas gift - still all wrapped up

Our biggest Christmas gift will be the birth of our baby boy. DD thought it would be funny to wrap it as well! Officially, we have 11 days to my due date.

We have also put up our tree today. Very traditional with mostly straw ornaments.


We had lots of fun decorating it today!
Thanks for stopping by- MERRY CHRISTMAS and
All the best,
Elisabeth

More cards

Since my printer is not working properly (I will get a new one for Christmas as soon as I have chosen the model), and can't make any photo layouts, I decided to make a few cards. It is always great to have a few around - usually, I leave the sentiment to the last second, when I actually need the card!

Thanks for stopping by and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Lost tooth - Frosted Design

I have never been so calm before Christmas. Due to the pregnancy difficulties, I had almost everything ready beginning of November. Now, I have time to scrap, take care of my DD and enjoy the advent season, while still resting enough.

I used the sketch of Frosted Designs as a basis for this "lost tooth" layout. I really liked using the Welcome Home serious from Bo Bunny for it.

Wishing you all the best for the upcoming holidays - Hannukah starts today - Happy Hannukah for those who celebrate it!
All the best,
Elisabeth

School photo - using up my bits and pieces

While cleaning up my scrap place (or should I call it scrap mess?), I found some bits and pieces. I always find it very difficult ot scrap the school photos of my DD, simply because of the multitude of colors in the pictures. So, I just put together the leftover papers and tried to match it to the photos. Together with the last elements of the Bo Bunny Learning Curve, I am actually quite happy how it came together.

The photos show my sweet DD at their "math morning" where they show the parents what they have learnt in the past few weeks. It was great to see her so engaged and excited about math! We are so thankful that she has such great teachers. This is when I don't mind paying all those school fees for her to go to this special school.

The LO is based on this weeks "Sketchy Thursday"

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the last few days before Christmas!
All the best,
Elisabeth

3 cards CPS 248

Much to my surprise, there has been a high demand for cards in my family lately. So I am getting to work.

The first one is based on the sketch 248 by CPS. I used the last bits of my November Swirlydoos kit to make this card.

My second card is a really simple one, which I needed for a friend in exactly 10 minutes.... Still like how it turned out! Simple but I like the colors.


My last card took for ever to make. My nephew is saving money to do his driver's license. So all the aunts are helping him out and I made this card to put the money in.


I downloaded a clipart from the internet of a Ferrari, transferred it onto red cardstock and cut it out. The "apples" in the tree are brads...

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best and Happy Advent!
Elisabeth

The Tower Construction - pencillines

On the 8th of December, I always bake Christmas cookies with my sister who lives in Vienna. Each year, the kids help (more or less) This year DD managed to stay on task for 30 minutes - pretty good for a very active 5year old. However, after that time, she built this great tower - all by herself. She was so proud of it! The Eiffel tower from the November Kit from Swirlydoos matched perfectly. I based it on the pencillines sketch Nr 262.

No news on the baby - everything is calm and it looks like we will be waiting for another 3 weeks. After all the commotion and worry, everything is back to normal. He is thriving and will decide by himself when it is time to make an appearance.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy Advent!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Love - DCWV sketch challenge

Another page for my sister's wedding album. This time, I used the botanical stack from DCWV. I used their monthly sketch challenge to get my creative juices flowing. I love the big bow on the side, I think it looks pretty cool.

Here is my take on it. I only placed the title in the other corner because of the super sweet birdcage on the paper.



Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

School photo - artful delight

Happy Sunday, everybody! I love advent in Austria. There are advent markets (Christkindlmarkt) everywhere - I have 2 in walking distance. Today we went to one with a Medieval/Renaissance focus.

DD loved the music and we also met Nikolaus and Krampus.


The pregnancy is going well - looks like he will hang in there until January.

To scrap this year's school photo of DD, I used the November kit of swirlydoos and the sketch of Artful delight. I had to flip the sketch but I loved the fuzzy cutting - Debbie did a great job on this one.



Here is my take on it. I cut all the vines at the bottom and used 3d glue pads for more dimension.



Thanks for stopping by.
All the best,
Elisabeth

Good-looking - Frosted Designs

I enjoy the waiting time while DD is in school to get some layouts done. This one uses the November Kit from Swirlydoos and I based it on the sketch by Frosted Designs.

And here is my take on it.

DD and DH all ready for my sister's wedding. I am truly blessed with those two.
Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Declaration of love and tooth gone!

Oh my goodness. Two days of absolute drama. That wobbly tooth just did not want to come out. DD was suffering - she even refused to eat a doughnut! It was really bad. Last night it FINALLY came out. It was a very stubborn tooth. Now she is so proud and smiling all the time.

I finally received my November kit from Swirlydoos. It is just fabulous!!!
The first one shows DD and DH fooling around during a walk in Upper Austria in October. I based it on the monthly sketch by Beggahuna.



This one is a declaration of love to my DD. Journaling reads: I am so thankful to be your mother. You are everything I could wish for: smart, pretty, sweet, caring and funny. I love you, your mom.

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great week.
All the best,
Elisabeth

Practice -Sketch Support

We have new neighbours in our house with a sweet little girl. DD loves to play with her - "babysitting". It is a bit like being "the big sister in training" until our little boy arrives. They love each other dearly. Since my neighbor is pregnant as well (just a few weeks due after me), we are both very happy when the kids play together. DD is already so responsible that both moms get a bit of a break while they play. Talking about a win-win situation!

I used the latest Sketch Support Sketch to document this precious moment.

On other news - no news is good news. The contractions have not come back and I might be able to go full term with our baby boy - due 4.1.2012! Pretty happy about that.

All the best and "besinnlichen Advent" (peaceful advent)
Elisabeth

The firbst wobbly tooth - Sketchy Thursday

My little girl is growing up so fast. Last week, she had her first wobbly tooth. Needless to say that she is terribly proud of it and shows it to EVERYBODY!

Since I am still waiting for my November Kit of Swirlydoos, I decided to dig in to my stash. As you can see, this totally changes my scrapping style, but then again, I change it all the time anyway. I admire the ladies who have got their own style - you can recognize the artist by looking at the LO. Not me!

I loved the inspiration from Sketchy Thursday. It provided the perfect sketch to document this very precious moment!
Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

The BIG bag

My big girl is already 5 and started Grade Primary this year (Vorschule or grade Kindergarten). I thought that a small bag would be enough - she is only 5, right? Oh boy, was I wrong. Since the school lunch is really not good, I pack her lunch every day, add the PE bag, the library bag, the ballet bag, the Friday folder and the daily reading book.....you see where I was wrong!! So, during fall break we went and got her a big, real school bag. She is so proud of it and loves showing it off!

Thanks for stopping by,
All the best,
Elisabeth

2 cards

I rarely make cards - usually only when I really need one. This one is for my nephew's 17th birthday. He has discovered photography as his hobby and of course, I fully support him - morally and financially. I will simply slip a bit of money in this card so he can buy a new lens.

The second card is the birth announcement which I might need soon. I kept it very, very simple since I made 40 of it.


Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Hanging in there and Swirlydoos

I had a very good check up yesterday. No more contractions. Now it is a wait-and-see situation! (Not my forte, I have do admit! I love planning ahead and getting everything organized)

I still have a LO to share, using the October kit from Swirlydoos. I made it before going to the hospital. I based it on a sketch by Sketchy Thursday but could not submit it anymore.....

The real challenge of a wedding album is the sheer volume of photos. So I am trying to get all the guests on a photo, at least once. I had this piece of lace for a very long time, it just never matched. Now I added a bit of red twine on the side and I really like the effect. I cut up the bling swirl since it was too bulky for the layout.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Finally Home!

After 5 days in hospital, I am home again. They managed to stop contractions - the real challenge will be to do NOTHING for 10 more days. Not even scrapping : (
Thanks for all your sweet comments.
All the best,
Elisabeth

Just a little bit longer

Why don't you stay..... just a little bit longer! I am in hospital since our little boy thought it was time to make an appearance. Now with medication and bed rest, we are trying to convince him to stay 10 more days in hotel belly. Looking good so far, DH is keeping the fort and lots of friends are helping out with getting DD to school and back.

I do still have a LO to share. Another one for my sister's wedding album. All goodies are from my swirlydoos October kit. It is based on the October sketch by Beggahuna.

Thanks for stopping by.
All the best,
Elisabeth

Getting ready

Offiially, I am due in 55 days. I am soo happy I made it that far. Yesterday, at the checkup, I found out that he will be a big boy. He already weighs 2,3 kg (about 5 pounds) and his head is in start position.

I have been busy getting ready for the big day. During our trip to Upper Austria, we picked up the family crib. It was build in 1930 and our little baby will be the 21st baby sleeping in it.


I also got the Christening gown ready. It is over 100 years old and we treasure it a lot.



Carseat, stroller, clothes (all hand me downs) are washed and ready to go, diapers bought. Today I will pack my hospital bag. I am sooo thankful for that pregnancy. After the miscarriage and the rough ride during the pregnancy, everything seems to come to a happy end.

On the scrapping side, I have been busy working on my sister's wedding album. I started off with the great sketch by Juliana Michaels Creative Scrappers 181 but it turned out totally different. I don't think I can submit it since I do not see a resemblance anymore between the sketch and the final LO. Does that ever happen to you???



I used the October kit from Swirlydoos for this LO. Just love the neutral colors - they seem to go with everything. I left the journaling spot empty so that my sister can record her feelings and memories herself.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Alles Walzer - Frosted Designs-SWIRLYDOOS

Another page for my sister's wedding album. I used the stunning October Kit from Swirlydoos for this LO. At her wedding, there was so much dancing. We started out with a classical waltz, played by the string group, then the pop group came on and later the traditional Columbian group. At the end, everybody was dancing with everybody

To get all these photos onto one LO (otherwise the album wont be ready until their golden anniversary!) I used my scrore pal to zig zag the 9 photos.




I based this LO on the great sketch 27 by Frosted Designs. You can find it HERE. I am always thankful for new (and free) inspiration! It keeps my mojo flowing.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

My beautiful sister - wedding LO

Still working on the wedding album of my sister. I think I need to speed it up bit - considering I am due in 58 days.

I had this paper for quite some time - it was in one of the swirlydoos kits and I have horded it for this special photo.

I dressed up the model a bit, played around with molding paste for the circle ornament, double matted the photo and added a few flowers. Since the paper itself is already so interesting, I had to remove a lot of planned embellishments. It just looked crowded. Good thing that I learned to only glue down l´things as the last step! (Learned it the hard way LOL!!!!)

Thanks for stopping by
All the best,
Elisabeth

Golden fall in Upper Austria

DH and I have just spent 3 days in Bad Ischl. Our last mini vacation before the baby comes. Two of my wonderful sisters took care of my little, I mean BIG girl. We were so lucky - had the most fantastic fall one can imagine. The leaves were almost "burning" from the intensity of the colors. The hotel was really sweat as well. A villa from 1881 with a modern and luxurious annex for the guest rooms and spa. Every night, we had a 6 course dinner, which was simply mind blowing. Sigh. Life is good! This photo is from a small mountain (Gahberg) on Attersee. We took a walk there with my father. Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the last bits of fall All the best, Elisabeth

Tagagna - Sketchy Thursday

During our trip to Columbia, we also spent a few days in the Caribbean. Santa Marta is a great place to be. We also drove to this little fisher village Taganga. We saw the sunset of our lifetime.


I mostly used the tradewind stack from DCWV. The sketch is provided by Sketchy Thursday. Also, for the first time, I played around with gesso. I really love the extra dimension it gives to a LO.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Let the countdown begin!!!

Or actually, two!
There are only 58 days left until Christmas and only 68 days left until the due date of my sweet little baby boy!

To make sure, I will have at least the cards ready for these events, I got started.
Here is my Christmas card: I used last years BoBunny Noel collection and a stamp.


And here is the card for the arrival of my baby boy:


Both cards are very simple since I would like to make many of them.

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth