Little Amira won Holland got's talent!

Goodmorning everybody!

The weekend was nice, and quiet, although some work has been done here too! Most of it by Jan, still busy with some painting, but the end is very near.
I managed to do some housework, but will have to do some more today and perhaps tomorrow.
Saturday evening was the final of Holland got's talent, and as we all expected, our little 9 year old Amira won it! That girl is adorable, such a sweetie, and amazed us again with the aria
Nessun dorma!
It gave me shivers again.

Here a link where you can read about it and watch the video. Take those few minutes, turn on your speakers and enjoy the performance of this super talented, wonderful child!


http://www.classicalite.com/articles/4738/20131228/breaking-amira-willighagen-better-than-jackie-evancho-sings-nessun-dorma-to-win-hollands-got-talent.htm

Isn;t it wonderful that we are witnesses every now and then from an extra-ordinairy talent? Which is a good thing, with so much misery going around the world, also sometimes something beautiful enters our lives.

In just a couple of days we will enter a whole new year, with all it's ups and downs for sure, but hopefully there will be a lot of UPS and just, if necessary, a few DOWNS, LOL!
We will be at home at New Years Eve, first because we feel better and second we don;t want to leave our cat alone, with all the fireworks at midnight.!
I am sure there will be a couple of good shows to watch, so it will be no penalty for us. Of course I will see to it, we will have some "oliebollen" at the coffee table, the typical Dutch treat at New years Eve/ I like them, specially with a lot of  powdered sugar( or iced sugar) on it!
May be I will make a good soup for dinner, quick, easy and tasty too!

We had rather nice weather in the weekend, but today it looks a bit less, we have a lot more wind, I don;t like too much wind. I will have to pick my moment to go out later today. May be it will be calmer then.
Any way, that's about all to tell, so we'll hop over to the freebie, a New Year's kit, named "May it be Happy", and a lovely add-on from \Arlene, great quickpage and two sparkling clusters.
Have a wonderful day.

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

My Freebies of April 2014

 DOWNLOAD   N27 IL SILENZIO

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE N27 IL SILENZIO CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   LOCKED IN TIME

 DOWNLOAD   ARLENE LOCKED IN TIME CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   DON;T BE SAD

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE  DON'T BE SAD CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD    N28 A RAINY DAY

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE N28  A RAINY DAY CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   AFTERNOON WITH GRANNY

DOWNLOAD   ARLENE AFTERNOON WITH GRANNY CLUSTERS

DOWNLOAD  LADIE'S ELEGANCY

 DOWNLOAD   ARLENE   LADIE'S ELEGANCY CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   FLIGHT TO SPRING

 DOWNLOAD   ARLENE    FLIGHT TO SPRING CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD    THE LIGHT IN YOUR EYES

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 DOWNLOAD   MUSIC TO MY SOUL

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE   MUSCI TO MY SOUL CLUSTERS

DOWNLOAD    GARDENER'S WORLD

We had great Christmas days!

Goodmorning everybody!

So strange to realize that Christmas is over again, it takes so long to look forward to it and then it's done with in no time!
But we had some great Christmasdays!
First we had on Christmasday great fun opening our presents, and what fun they were!
Santa has been good to us and made our day a bit more special.
One of my presents was a statue of Willow, so lovely and sweet, I will cherish it!
Also there was a soooooo sweet little jigsaw puzzle of a phot by Ann Geddes, perhaps I will glue it onto cardboard when I have made it, and I will have a lovely wall-decoration.
And I had a beautiful shopping bag, all inspring mood, with lots of butterflies on it, all in happy colors. And these are just a few of the bunch of presents I had to open.
 For dinner we had ourselves a fondue, which doesn't take too much work to prepare and it was delicious.
In the afternoon I could see a couple of Christmasshows, and had my Christmas carols to listen too!
After dinner we watched a terrific show of almost 3 hours on the German television, by Helene Fischer. She is a real nice lady, and a wonderful singer and performer, she has it all, beautiful voice, looks great, can dance, can do acrobatics, the whole package!If you don;t know her, you can look her up on Google and youtube. She has always a spectacular show on Christmas day, with lots of guests, in a great variety.
Big treat for me was the performance of the act of Momox Botanical. Breathtaking!
And what about her singing with Il Divo! and so much more, we had a great evening!
Next day in Holland we still have Christmas, so another day of stay quiet and watch some other wonderful things. Like a concert of Andre Rieu, always a treat.
To hear wondeful music always is making you feel happier and we had a lot these past days.

Now a bit back to ordinairy life, not too much, but for a part LOL.
We had not all too bad weather, although some storms came over and today it looks not real nice utside either, again a real fierce wind, some rain, oh well, we just will have to cope with it. In our part we are still the lucky ones, we don;t have the real bad weather conditions like in England, or Switzerland, or parts of the USA,and also Asia, people have rough times there!
So probably I will take my chance later today to go out, just for a couple of things, also will be good to take a little walk, after two days of staying home!

Before I post the last Christmas freebie, I want to thank all who left me their wonderful Christmaswishes!

Here is now the last Christmaskit of this year, we had quite a few, didn;t we?
Well, once I start with them, it seems I have trouble to stop designing them LOL.
This one is named "Long Ago Christmas", in vintage style, with another lovely add-on from Arlene!
Have a wonderful day and weekend!

Download   HERE

Download    HERE

Merry Christmas to all!!

Goodmorning everybody!

Just a very quick post today, just to post still another Christmaskit for you.
And then finally Christmas day has arrived. After waiting for so long suddenly Christmas is there.
I've seen already a few good programs yesterday evening on tv, but certainly will watch a few more Christmas shows today. Just have to do that and hear all the old and so well known Christmas carols and songs, otherwise somehow it doesn;t feel like Christmas for me.
Jan and I soon finally can take a look what Santa has brought us under the tree!
Wishing you once more a very merry, and peaceful Christmas, filled with love!

Download   HERE

Download   HERE

Amazing talent Amira!!!

Goodmorning everybody!

Nice weekend we had,  In short:
Jan did a bit of work in the extension(some painting and preparing for painting too) I was lot less active, although I did a little bit of housework, but also watched some great darts. Yes, world championship is on now, and I really like to watch the games. Specially when the players stay close and a match can get real exciting! still some Dutchmen in the race, which makes it more exciting, but I also have some others I am a bit of fan of.
But the best moment was on Saturday evening, when we watched Holland Got Talent show!
There were a couple of real good acts, that deserved to be i the final, but without any discussion our little Amira was exceptional, she was even better than her last performance.
She was invited by Andre Rieu to have a masterclass, and I could tell that she learned a lot from it.
So if you are in the mood to hear something wonderful, amazing and beautiful, I have the link for you where you can listen to Amira's Ave Maria! it gave us shovers and believe it or not, I had tears in my eyes and also had Jan!!
It;s also a lovely child, still a "real child", and I believe her parents are wonderful too, giving her good guidance and protection.
But oh my God, she is unbelievable, only 9 years old, and such a talent, and also adorable to see. 

http://www.classicalite.com/articles/4590/20131222/the-new-jackie-evancho-amira-willighagen-sings-ave-maria-advances-to-finals-of-hollands-got-talent.htm

Only two days to go and it will be Christmas, and we can finally open our gifts under the tree LOL!
I still have some small things to do, in the house and some last thing shopping, but it's not much and then I hope to see some great Christmas shows ( I insist on watching at the least one or two each year LOL), because I love to hear some Christmas carols, ohterwise it doesn't feel like Christmas for me.
 Oh last week, I already did listen to some Christmas music, there were a few moments, Jan went out for a little walk, and I sat down at the computer, all the lights on and I was all happy!
You don;t need all the time big things to feel great, and I am thankful I still can enjoy those little moments of joy and then I forget all about the real world for a short time, it are the best times in life ROFL.

I don;t know if I will be posting on Christmas, so I better post my card for all of you now.
And want to thank all of you, who visited my blog, and left your wonderful comments, without that I wouldn;t be there already for so long. Amazing how you endure my rambling about my daily life , and still come back LOL!
Thanks again and I hope you all will have a blessed, merry and peaceful Christmas!

And time to post another Christmaskit.
All different, I think, from the other ones I already posted, this one named "A Serene Christmas"with a wonderful addo-on from Arlene too!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

Cats have funny sleeping places!

Goodmorning everybody!

Just a few things left left to buy at the supermarket, probably will do that today, then may be next Tuesday one or two things I want to get as fresh as prossible, but I am almost done for Christmas.
That is a good feeling, and I avoided a bit the big crowds, yoho!!

The other day Jan told me something funny. I already was sleeping, as Jan was, but he woke up to do a "nature calls"thing LOL. So he went to do just that, though he might sit for a moment in the room, did so and then saw Brodski, all sound asleep and perfectly situated in the middle of our Christmas village ROFL. There wasn;t much place between the little houses, but somehow he managed to crawl in between, without pushing down any of the small houses! I can understand why he had chosen this spot, the village is placed on a small side table covered with  a rather thick "snow"blanket, which makes it warm and soft to sleep on.
Of course Jan chased this stupid cat away from this place( he has more than enough places he can choose from to have a nice and warm sleep), but imagine how he managed to wriggle himself in that village, just too funny!
Pity Jan didn't think off taking a photo.

Yes, I did get my haircut, yesterday! Oh, I felt a bit ashamed when I entered the shop, with my hair much too long( I've waited again too long ), but how much lighter i felt after she cut my hair, I have a "shape"in it again, it's nice short, as it should be and suddenly I felt a lot better LOL!

As I don;t have much more to tell, I only want to direct you to Linda's blog, where you can pick up a couple of beautiful quickpages, she always makes them so tasteful!

Let's finish the post with another Christmas kit. I know, I have offered many of them, I think in about every post of this month, but I always get carried away when I start designing them and suddenly I end up with lots of them.
This one is all in purples and lila's, named Shimmering Purple Christmas, and again Arlene has made some wonderful and beautiful things with and to it.

Have a lovely weekend!

Download   HERE

Download    HERE

Heading towards "" the darkest days"

Goodmorning everybody!

We are really getting into the darkest days of the year. Somehow I hate it, but at the same time I love it, because of Christmastime and the lights and decorations and all.
I just love it to be up at about 8 or 8.30 in the morning, by then it still is kind of dark outside, specially when it is cloudy, then it appears to be a bit gloomy.
But first I put on the coffee, put some food into the bowl of Brodski, walk into the room to open the curtains. And then the best moment of the day: I switch on the lights on the Christmastree!
With my coffee at hand, I sit down on the couch, listen to the news, read some teletext, and every now and then cast an eye on the shining and shimmering tree and I just feel happy at those moments. Yes, I sound like a little child, but we are entitled to do so, and it's good to be able to feel that way once in a while ROFL.

Just love those quiet moments in the morning, don;t have to be fully awake yet, can let that happen steadily, sit in my little computer corner, read the mails, and blogs and the lovely comments I get from my blogvisitors, design a bit and then for some time life is just good.

I did even some housework yesterday(laundry!) but will do some more today. Also must not forget to make a call to my hairdresser, I really do need a haircut, and want it to be done this week., so I will be pretty again at Christmas, grin!

Then this week I also should try and have a quick visit to Heidi, or perhaps she can come over to me, because with Christmas she and her family will be away for a few days.
I am kind of nerd, I suppose, but I always like to be home with Christmas. I don;t mind people coming over to me, like we did some years ago every Christmas with the circle of friends we had.
Many of them already have passed away( and they were all too young).
I enjoyed making a dinner, dress the table real pretty, and such fun we had in the afternoon, when we unwrapped all the presents, everybody had for eveybody! And it were just small things, we always put a limit on it, you had to find something between € 5,00-€ 10,00. It was more about "thinking of somebody, making an effort to find something funny or useful, it was all about the joy of giving(and a bit of receiving too LOL) and yes, it was great to see all those different wrapped presents lying under the tree and later see all the smiles on the faces!
Pity, it is overbecause the group isn;t there anymore.
But we still remember at Christmas those moments and it always brings a smile on our face.

Okay, let's go back to the present and bore you with another Christmaskit hahahaha!
This one is in a completely different color palette, it is named "Cool and Chic Christmas"and I just love the gorgeous framecluster Arlene made with i, as well as the two gogrous pageborders !
Hope you will have a fantastic day!

Download   HERE

Download     HERE

.

Quiet days, quiet nights, quiet weather.

Goodmorning everybody!

It was a quiet weekend, but a nice one. The weather here is still trying to do its best, no snow, not too much rain, temps around 48-52F, I can digg that!
Friday evening we were almost  installed on the couch to have a nice tv evening and suddenly the bell rang.
So I went to the door and whooooooo, it was the postman with a package for me!
And even nicer, it was a Christmas box!
I put it on wait on a chair, because I was busy chaning the Christmaslights in our manger, they died finally, after years of use, but we still had another string, so all is as it should be again.
Then I unpacked the box. Oh, my, it was full of beautiful wrapped presents, just taking them out was already great fun!
Jan and i stayed "good"and only placed them under our tree, Santa wants us to wait opening them till Christmasday!
But it made our weekend.
I made a photo of the tree with the presents, and it looks so nice.

I made it with full flash, so you can see them well. There was almost not enough room under the tree, to arrane them nicely, LOL.
We are just like little children, throwing every now and then an eye at the presents, counting how many days we still have to wait ROFL.
But isn;t that also part of the fun at Christmas? I think so!

The weekend was a real quiet one, I did do a little bit of housekeeping, but I cannot say it wore me out, grin!
Saturday evening/night I went to sleep much too late, it was far into the night, but we just couldn't stop watiching the detective we recorded on dvd earlier the evening(because we wanted to watch another program), so Sunday I did sleep a bit longer, but not enough. Got myself into a kind of allright shape after a long, warm shower, but after I prepared most of our dinner to be finished at dinner time I kind of collapsed and fell asleep in the chair. Jan already was stretched out on the couch, catching up some sleep.
Okay, yesterday I went to bed a whee bit earlier, had a good sleep, so I feel already a lot better.
We may go to the market today, a fresh sniff of air will do us good, then we can take from there some veggies and such, already some probably for Christmas, waiting in the freezer.
Better to do it now, because the market will not be so crowded yet.

Time almost to make a small pot of coffee, when that is ready I will wake up Jan, we will have a cup of the delicious dark brown stuff and then take off to the market.
So I should finish this post now, not without leaving you a freebie, and yes, another Christmas kit.
This is a more vintage one, as you can tell by the name"Santa with Vintage Charm".
Hope you still have some place one your harddrive. Arlene made another beautiful pageborder, a cluster and frame for you!
Have a lovely day!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

My Freebies of March 2014

 DOWNLOAD    CHERUBINI

 DOWNLOAD   ARLENE   CHERUBINI CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   FAMILY STORIES TO BE TOLD

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE FAMILY STORIES TO BE TOLD CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   PLUNGED IN THOUGHT

 DOWNLOAD   ARLENE PLUNGED IN THOUGHT CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD    ADORABLE COMPANIONS

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE ADORABLE COMPANIONS CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD   N'OUBLIEZ PAS LE PASSé

 DOWNLOAD   ARLENE N'OUBLIEZ PAS LE PASSE CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD    TEATIME IN THE GARDEN

DOWNLOAD   ARLENE TEATIME IN THE GARDEN CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD    EMPIRE OF THE FLOWERS

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE EMPIRE OF THE FLOWERS CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD     FREE BIRDS

 DOWNLLOAD     N25  EASTER FUN

DOWNLOAD    ARLENE N25 EASTER FUN CLUSTERS

 DOWNLOAD    NEFERTARI'S DREAM

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 DOWNLOAD   N 26 CAREFREE CHILDHOOD

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 DOWNLOAD   SUDDENLY IT'S SRPING

 DOWNLOAD    ARLENE SUDDENLY IT'S SPRING CLUSTERS