Besides making scrapbooking projects I also like to make other creative projects. Yesterday I went to a glass workshop and made this lovely hanger. It was a great workshop and I would love to make another hanger with an angel figure.

As you can see I have also finished the mini album about Sweden. Well I haven't finished it completely because I still have to write down our adventures on the right pages but I want to keep the journaling private.

I've had a stressfull week with my son. He refused to go to school, claiming that he felt sick. He didn't have a temperature though. After a couple of days (not going to school) he told me that school was very stressfull for him and that he had way too much home work to do. Because he didn't go to school and also didn't want to make his home work, I had to take away his computer and X-box (that's a rule we have here). Normally he gets very angry when I take away his favorite toys but this time he didn't care at all. So now I'm getting more worried about what is going on. It looks like a depression to me! I've already talked about my concerns with Hendri and we're going to decide about what to do next this Tuesday. I don't want to give him medication (he would refuse to take them anyway!) but we have to find something else that'll help him to overcome this depressive mood that he's in. Any suggestions??

Working slowly but steadily ....

on my mini album about Sweden!! Just want to show you the pages I made thusfar!

It's going slowly because I get distracted a lot by the daily problems I'm having with my son (like getting him to school) and ofcourse my relationship. It takes a lot of time to be in a new relationship! But I love every minute of it and it feels so great to be with him. I sometimes just can't believe that I finally have a relationship with a man who accepts me for who I am and who even wants to deal with my autistic son, whom for now, doesn't want to have anything to do with him. But there are some signs that my son is caving in and that he will accept Cor before X-mas dinner at my parents! So, fingers crossed!!!

Finished the front cover of my mini album!!!

I'm finally into scrapbooking again!!! Last night I finished the front cover of my mini album about Sweden. To make the pattern with the flowers I used a grip mat (anti-slip mat) I bought at a Dutch store called Action (I love to go there!) and I used red spray paint. For the green circles I used the inside of a roll of glue dots. To get white mesh I just painted the blue mesh I have and cut it in pieces. I sanded the edges of the photo and the outside of the cover.

I'm using a cheap album I bought at Action. I'm going to use all kind of different papers in fall colors and a lot of spray paint and paint, using the pattern of the grip mat, the circles and the mesh over and over again.

Pffffff, long time!!!

It has been quite some time that I made my last blog post!! I just wasn't feeling up to give my blog my complete interest.
I'm doing fine now, but it has been a bit of a struggle with my son ever since Ad and Pia died. He didn't want to go to school and his behaviour towards me wasn't (and still isn't) very positive. But things are going better for me now. Much better even!! It's probably because I'm in love with a really nice man. He's my angel!!! I met him through a dating site a couple of months ago. I read his profile and invited him to read mine. We started to send eachother long messages and it felt so good that we soon made an appointment for a live meeting. It wasn't love at first sight but he felt very safe and after a while he found his way to my heart.
Two weeks ago we went on a vacation to Sweden together. We had a great time!!! The only negative thing about it is, that we can't be together all the time anymore. He's living in another part of Drenthe and has a dog that doesn't like cats, and I have a son who doesn't want to know anything about this new man in my life!! He told me that I betrayed him. For a long time he was the only man in my life and it hurts that his mother has found another love!! So Cor and I are being very cautious and aren't pushing him in anyway. Every change for someone with autism is difficult and it needs time, a lot of time, to accept this new situation.
When we were in Sweden I also met 4 Swedish ladies whom I met at Scrap-A-Licious in March of this year. It was nice to meet them again and to see the 2 week old baby of Meri! Cor and I (and the other 3 ladies) were invited at Stella's, who lives in a gorgeous house outside of Upplands-Väsby close to Stockholm, with deer walking around in her garden! Stella has a scrapbookstore at her house and I finally bought some new scrapbooking supplies!!!
Sweden is a huge country compared to the Netherlands and we were only able to see a few interesting things near Jonkoping where we stayed at the house of the mother of a former girlfriend of Cor. We went to a glass factory in Målarås where things are made of the artist Mats Jonasson. We also visited the national parc of Tiveden and a protected Swedish village, somewhere between Jonkoping and Gränna. It is so protected that I can't find a name on Google maps. It is very close to the hotel Gyllene Uttern. Edited: The name of the village is Rottle (with 2 dots on the o)!!!

We also visited Stockholm and went to see the old city (Gamla Stan) and the Vasa museum. I discovered a very nice Swedish shop called Indiska, where I bought some really nice clothes.