So this was Christmas...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, surrounded by loved ones.
And for those of you who had to miss someone who really couln't be missed yet this Christmas, I hope you were able to make it special too, in the memories of those who are no longer here.
They will be in your hearts forever!

We were supposed to celebrate Christmas Eve at my parents but Marlijn was sick.
And not a little bit sick but really sick! She had a 40*C fever and could hardly walk, besides that she had been vomitting. We really couldn't take her out. Anne went to my parents house by bus in the morning to help my mom preparing all the food.
So I called my mom to ask her if they could come over to our house and bring everything, the presents and the food, to celebrate over here and of course that was no problem at all.
So everybody came to our house, we made Marlijn a little bed in the livingroom and Anne and my mom made a delicious buffet, of course there was way to much, as always :)!
Marlijn was so miserable that she didn't even have the strenght to get out of bed for her presents. The other kids had to bring her the presents and she unpacked them lying down.
I felt so sorry for her since she'd been looking forward to this so much. But I could tell by her smile how happy she was when she got the Baby Born doll she wished for!

On Christmas day my inlaws came over, wich made 17 people in total. Everybody made somethingfor diner and it was wonderful. Marlijn was feeling a little better but stayed in her pj's the whole day. And it was not even 7 pm when she said she wanted to go to bed. She slept until 8.45 the next morning! Everybody stayed the night and we had a great breakfast together in the morning. During the day one by one left except for one BIL who stayed another night.
Boy, did I have a lot of house cleaning to do after they left :) but hey, we had a terrific time together!

I was finally allowed to open the beautiful Secret Santa present that has been lying on my desk for a few weeks now. It was such a nice surprise! My SS made me a beautiful little coaster family minialbum. And the goodies are just yummy! I haven't figured out yet who my SS was but whoever it was: THANKS SO MUCH! I love everything you've send me!!!

Another lovely present I found in my mailbox. All the way from Australia, the other side of the world, Lee Woodside has send me this gorgeous felt. Lee, this is sooo sweet of you!!! I absolutly love it, thank you so much!! You rock!!!

And now it's only a few days untill New Years Eve. While I'm typing this we're in the car driving to Wijchen where almost all my inlaws live and where we will stay untill New Years Day. We will be staying at my PIL's house for 2 nights and then we go to my BIL to celebrate New Years Eve. Only 82km to go...

Guess this will be my last post this year, so I want to wish you a lovely New Years Eve, see you in 2007!!!

Birgit

P.s. I just found out that I was tagged by Saffiertje to tell 6 strange things about myself but I already did that in my entry of dec. 16th. So if you want to know how strange I am, look there :)

A very merry Christmas!

So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And, so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The road is so long

And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begon

And, so happy Xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over,
if you want it,
War is over now.

- John Lennon

Have a very merry Christmas, all of you!!!
Birgit

It's a beautiful day!

Did the test on Danielle's blog and this is my song:

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel likeIt's a beautiful dayDon't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments.And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's" Your Theme Song?

I can totaly relate to this outcome :)
So what is yours? Do the test and let me know!

Have a beautiful day!
Birgit

I was inspired by Monique to do a LO using childhood Christmas pirctures of myself.
So here it is, sweet little me, only 3 years old, celebrating Christmas with my parents and my little sister.
Used the scrap-club january kit for this one too!

Journaling sais:
The merry family gatherings -
The old, the very young;
The strangely lovely way
they harmonize in carols sung.
For Christmas is tradition time -
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.




Also made with the scrap-club kit were this name card and menu to decorate the Christmas table:



I just came back from Christmas shopping. Had to buy the last presents. Got almost everything on my list, only one present left!
Tomorrow I'll go to my parents house with Marlijn to bring all the presents. It's a long year tradition now that we put the presents under the tree as soon as they are wrapped and on Christmas eve we all come together to have a nice meal and unwrap all the gifts.
On Christmas day my family in law is coming over to our house. With just one BIL and his girlfriend missing because they are out of the country, we will be 17 people and everybody is staying the night. Every couple brings something for dinner and this year it´s my turn to make the first course. I decided to make Carpaccio, mmmmmm, delicious :)
And after a big breakfast the next morning everybody goes his own way.
So I might say we have great days ahead!

Hope you're all looking forward to Christmas likeI do!
Have fun!
Birgit

My mailman... aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

Saturday my January kit of scrap-club arrived. "Well, that must have made you happy!" you'll probably think. And it should have... but it didn't!
What happend?

I was out to do some groceries and when I came back the kit was on my doorstep... on my doorstep!!! The kit was as usual in a pizza box and we all know a pizza box is a little bigger then 12x12 inch, right? Well, my mailbox is 11 inches.... and yet the box was inside... Can you imagine what it looked like??? @#%$^%$%^&## Fortunatly all the goodies where on the undamaged side of the box, only the paper was a little crumpled, but still... It even sais on the box "DO NOT BEND"! What was this mailman thinking??? Why would someone pay 6,20 € to mail something in a box if it would fit in an envelop wich is much cheaper and does fit in the mailbox?? And you know what upsets me most in this? It was not necessary! Anne and Lennart were home and my husband and brother in law were working in the backyard!

The contents of the box made me smile though... what an awesome kit!

Something else that made me smile was the other parcel that was delivered by the same mailman. It was a Christmas present from Christiane. Along with a lovely handmade card she's send me this gorgeous felt. Thanks so much Christiane, I love it!



Sunday I started to work with the Scrap-club kit and so far I've got 2 LO's finished!



To make the balls I cut up a rubber coaster from IKEA. It had just the right color. I glued a piece of Christiane's felt on a cardstock circle and layered the rubber circles on top. In the balls I've put little strips of paper with my DD's wishes written down on them.



I know... this is a picture of last year, but it still is one of my favourites and it matched the paper so perfectly! and I know... I used the same technique as on my *I wonder...* LO, stamping the snow flakes, but it gives these LO's such a nice wintery feel! I always have my pictures in a straight angle, never used it like this before so it was quite a challenge for me, but I really like how this LO turned out!

This morning a big box from Kars arrived filled with the most beautiful stuff of the 2 newest K&Co. lines. I will be demonstrating at the "Knallende Karsdagen" in february and now I got al these great things to make examples, isn't that just great???

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by!

Birgit

I was tagged...

by Corinne and by Vicky to do the ABC they have on their blogs, so here it is:

A - Available or single: married to the best husband ever!!!
B - Best Friend: my hubby!
C - Cake or Pie: Both!
D - Drink of choice: Regular Pepsi
E - Essential item you use everyday: at the moment my heating blanket to make sure my bed is nice and warm every evening!
F - Favorite color: limegreen, wich is the accent color in my new house, you’ll find it in almost every room!
G- Gummy Bears or worms: Gummi bears
H - Hometown: Winsum (Groningen)
I - Indulgence: chocolate, potato chips
J - January or February: It depends, I’m a summergirl to be honest, but if there’s snow in January it’s January and if there’s snow in February it has to be February. The only good thing in winter is snow! :) ... and Christmas of course :)
K - Kids & Names: 2 girls, Anne (12) and Marlijn (4) and 1 boy, Lennart (11)
L - Life is Incomplete without? Color!
M - Marriage Date: march 23, 1993
N - Number of Siblings: One sister, Esther
O - Oranges or Apples: apples
P - Phobias or Fears: I have to admit I don’t really like spiders although I only fear the really big ones!
Q - Fave Quote: I wish I could say it was: “A place for everything and everything in it’s place” LOL, that’s not how it works with me, would make life much easier sometimes... Well, since it can't be that quote it has to be: "We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open".
R - Reason to Smile: everything that doesn’t make me cry :) So more reasons to smile then I could ever write down here!
S - Season: Summer!!!!
T - Tag 3 or 4 people:I will be tagging: Christiane, Nat, Florence, Brigitta.
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I grind my teeth when I sleep. (tandenknarsen).
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: Spinache
W - Worst Habit: I forget everything unless I write a note... and then I forget about the note...
X - X-rays: luckely only at the dentist so far
Y - Your Fave Food: Pizza, cheese fondue, lamacun with chicken shoarma or a good steak!
Z - Zodiac Sign: Saggitarius

Since Corinne tagged me for the same ABC as Vicky did I will take the second part of her entry from yesterday too: I have to name 6 strange things about myself!

Uhmmm, well I guess it depends on what you consider strange... but ok,
1. I talk out loud to myself. When I'm scrapbooking I have complete conversations with myself about the things I do, should do, or better hadn't done. Sometimes my children come ak me who I'm talking to. And you know what, I even do it when I'm crropping and there are other people around. They always laugh when I do it but assure me that it's not strange....
2. When I go shopping for cloth I hardly ever find something I really like, when I don't need anything I always see the shops overloaded with nice things.... strange....
3. I grind my teeth when I'm sleeping and I passed it on to my son who's doing it also.
4. I can't say NO! when people ask me a favor, even if I really don't like to do something I have a hard time saying no when I know people will be dissapointed!
5. I could eat potato chips for breakfast..... I don't.... but I could.... that IS strange, isn't it?
6. I can't think of more strange things about myself, really I can't. That's strange too, right?

So if any of you think you know something strange about me, please let me know :)

Have a great weekend!
Birgit

AND THE WINNER IS...

First of all I want to thank you all for leaving so many sweet comments on my last post! It's so nice to have an idea who you are but something else I love about this is that because you left a message I found YOUR blogs! Wow, so many talented people having great blogs with lovely stories and gorgeous pictures to look at! I can tell you my favourite blog list has grown a lot in the past two days! I have to say I don't visit my favourite blogs every day but I usualy do 2 or 3 times a week. And if I do I always try to leave a message, so be prepared :)

But, now... the most important thing today... who is the lucky winner of the kit?????

I wrote down all your names on strips of paper and put them in a basket, just before my DD Marlijn left for school this morning she took one strip out and here it is:





MARISKA HOFMANN! Congratulations, you're the lucky one! Please e-mail me your adress at scrappen@birgitkoopsen.nl and I will mail it to you! Hope you have fun with it!

Well, I think this was fun, so thanks again! Hope to "see" you again soon :)
Have a wonderful Thursday!
Birgit

(btw. some people have asked to see the result of the kit but for some reason I can't show you yet.... I will be in about two weeks :))

hellooooo you...

lurkers.... I know you are out there! I know a lot of people are visiting my blog on a regular base. Some of you even several times a day! Obviously you like to read about my life or see my LO's. You get to know me a little by reading about me and my family when I share little bits of our personal life.... but I know nothing about YOU! You never leave a message, I have no names, no faces, no idea what brings you here, do you have your own blog? The only thing I can see in my counter is the city you live in.
I want to know who you are! So here's the deal:
A few weeks ago I made a nice little kit for a workshop I thaught. It holds everything you need to make a lovely little chipboard X-mas mini album in a cartboard box.



If you leave a message on this post, even if it's just a quick hello, you have the chance of getting this kit. I will ask my 4 year old DD (who can't read yet, honestly :)) to pick one name. I will post this person's name on my blog on thursday and ask her to e-mail me her full adress and I will send her this kit!
So come on ladies, step out in the open and let me know who you are! (it's ok if you want to do this in your own language... well, as long if it's in dutch, english, german or french :))

*** edited: Of course you can also winn the prize if you're not a lurker but a visitor that DOES leave a message every once in a while, so to all of you I DO know, please say hello too!***

Now something totaly different. As a lot of other people with me, I'm getting ready for Christmas. Wich means decorating the house. So last sunday Marlijn and I decorated the tree. Well, one of them, 'couse I've got two! One big one in the living room wich is traditionaly dressed in red, and a little one in my kitchen that I decorated in lime/green, wich is THE color in my house at the moment.





Marlijn was so excited and did a great job helping me. The older two kids had less then no interest in helping but when it was ready the said we have a wonderful tree! And I agree! I think I've never had such a big tree before, there was no room for in the old house, but now I have the perfect place. The peak touches the ceiling!
When I woke up the first morning we had the tree I could smell it in my bed. I love the smell of Christmas trees, I love the candles, all the little lights, the music, reading Marlijn the Christmas story before bed... ohhh, I love Christmas!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Enjoy Christmas time!
Birgit

HAMBLY ROCKS!

This week my desparetly awaited Hambly-order arrived so I finally got to try this hot stuff that everybody is raving about. Someone even told me she thought it looks so good she wanted to lick it.... seriously :) and I have to admit... tempting, very tempting, haha!
But serious - it looks and feels wonderful, so I had to use it right away. And here's my first LO using the amazingly Hambly:


(sorry for the bad picture, the light is terrible today!)

Some of you will recognise this picture from a previous post. My DD Marlijn reading a magazine in the supermarket. Since she turned 4 and goes to school we don't go that often to the supermarket together anymore but before that we used to go almost every day to do some groceries. She had the same ritual every time we went. First she ran to the butcher to get a slice of sausage and then to the magazines to sit down on the bottom shelf and read. Can you imagine all the comments she (and I) got, especially from older people who thought she was such a sweet little girl?! Of course I agreed :)

Tonight Lennart celebrates his birthday kids party. He invited his whole class... wich is only 11 children :) He wanted to stay at home, the kids come for dinner and then we will transform our livingroom to a cinema. Lennart said he wanted to have a break half way the movie, just like in real and make popcorn and drinks, and maybe after the movie a little disco in his room. This is what he wants and I'm so glad that these "simple" things still make his best birthday party and we don't have to take the whole bunch to MacDonalds, lasergame shows or whatever! And the nice thing is, all his class mates are just as excited as he is!

And now I'm off to go buy a christmas tree with Marlijn. Hope they can deliver it tomorrow so we can decorate it sunday morning!

Have a great day!
Birgit

Happy birthday Lennart!

Today we celebrate DS Lennart's 11th. birthday!
Happy birthday sweety, hope you have a wonderful day!!!



and a wonderful day to all of you too!
Birgit

OK, the GetInspired! kit was released saturday and I heard it was a big succes :)
So here are the LO's I made with it:

Journaling on the first one reads:
Nov. 27, 2006. I turned 39 and nothing changed.
I still feel happy, I still feel young, I still feel creative, I still feel loved, I still feel blessed, I still feel full of life, I still feel like I'm on top of the world!



The second one is featuring an old picture of DS Lennart with our friends newborn baby Pim. The picture was taken febr. 2002. I thought the text of the 7Gypsies paper makes a great advice to a newborn baby:
"Live is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Be strong, go with your heart and believe in miracles because anything anything can happen. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth."



And another mud picture.... sorry... I have so many of these and they are all so great, just can't stop using them! The stars are punched out of self adhesive felt. Sorry for the bad picture.



The last one is about Marlijn who's wearing her glasses like a queen.
Journaling is in dutch and says:
Marlijn doesn't mind at all that she has to wear glasses.
On the contrary, she's very proud of it and wears them like a queen!



The last LO (8x8) today is another one made using the december kit of Scrap-Club.
I thought this was funny :)



Yesterday a package from my Secret Santa (from the Secret Santa swapp at Scrap-club) was delivered! It looks soooo gorgeous that I can hardly wait untill Christmas. Honestly... I can't promiss I'll make it :)
I will post a picture tomorrow!

Now I'm off to write some Sinterklaas poems, only 2 nights left before the big day!
For those who don't know what Sinterklaas is and are curious read my Sinterklaas post of last year! click here!

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!
Birgit

Voor informatie over de paperbag mini albums workshop op 20 januari klik hier!
For information about the mini paperbag albums workshop on the 20th. of januari click here!