I’m soooo excited for this… I’ve long wanted to have my own web domain and I’m pleased to say I finally took the bait. This thanks to my friend, Nick, who suggested I should use this new WordPress theme that was released. So here it is ….

Please CHANGE YOUR BOOKMARKS – www.muffyvan.org !!! Head on over for a little surprise.

So tonight before I got down to scrapping, I decided I needed to organise my scrap area (well actually, it’s more like a heap now). I’ve been buying stuff and have accumulated quite a stash here in Switzerland. And one huge contributor to this stash are my Unity Stamps. Hmmmm…. so I decided to start with them first and can you see how much I love rubber! LOL!

First I created sort of like a catalogue for me to refer to rather than look thru every single stamp. And then I took all the stamps out of the ring they came in and they pretty much looked like this.

I ended up with a pile of wood-mounted stamps and a stack of organza bags filled with unmounted stamps. Problem is many of these stamps consists of both wood and unmounted stamps within the same set. So if I wanted to organize them based on wood/unmounted stamps, I would have to split up some of the sets. But then I thought it would be ok since I have the catalogue, right? Right.

At this stage, I pretty much ran out of ideas of how to store my stamps and here’s how they look now…

Not the best way I’m sure… and this is where I need ideas. Hmmm… how would you store these stamps?? I want to hear… so just leave a comment here and I have a little surprise – I’ll do a random drawing from all the comments made and I have 3 lil’ stamps from Inque Boutique to give away. So post away girls!

How’s everyone doing? We’re halfway through the week and another weekend coming up.

I scrapped this layout last night… had these photos printed out for some time now, but didn’t know what to do with them.

Journalling:
These are the SBB train tickets that you and your brother love collecting on every train ride. And no wonder too – with interesting train pictures on them!

I used the 5th Avenue and Garden Party collections from Making Memories. I love how versatile 5th Avenue is, perfect for boy or girl layouts and I love the contrast with the black. It just ‘pops’, don’t you think?

On the scrappy front, I received 2 emails this week to do some guest design work and I’m thrilled to say the least. So look out for more scrappy goodness come Sep and Oct.

Have a great rest-of-the-week everyone!!

Look what a surprise I found this morning!! I soooo love Sassafras and it’s an honor to be featured.

Thank you Hayley and Rebecca!! You’ve REALLY made my day.

This is my layout for the new sketch over at Creative Scrappers. I loved playing with MM’s Passport on a non-travel layout… just shows how versatile it is!

Journalling:
Hannah, just look at how much you’ve grown. Hardly a baby anymore but a beautiful young lady. You’re also becoming more headstrong – wanting your way all the time. It’s getting harder to tell you what to do. We hope this phase passes… know we only want the best for you.

Supplies:
Patterned Paper – Making Memories
Alphas – American Crafts, Making Memories
Overlay – Hambly Studios
Rubons – 7 Gypsies
Brads, Lace & Canvas Flower – Making Memories

I took a short break after the last few posts on our Italy trip but I’m back! And a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who left comments – I appreciate each and every one of them.

So what’s been up with me this week? Hmmm… I got a big assignment out of the way – the Chatterbox DT Auditions. I had fun working with Chatterbox’s newest collection – Together – with yummy reds, greens, blues and browns. There are some SERIOUSLY talented ladies on the list and it’s been an honour to have my name alongside theirs. Now is the worst part… waiting. The deadline for submissions is actually tomorrow, so I’m early and will be waiting longer. LOL!

I haven’t managed many layouts this week, so far 2… one for the new Creative Scrappers sketch to be revealed this Sunday. I had fun with this sketch and here’s a little peek… and remember to check Creative Scrappers this Sunday for the sketch.

The 2nd layout is one for Christi Snow’s Simply Scrapbook Challenge. It’s based on a sketch posted on her blog. Go check it out!

I wanted to create a fun, colorful layout with a mix of embellishments and color.

I hope your week has been going great so far and the weekend’s approaching.. yay!! 

This is gonna be quite a picture-intensive post simply because Venice is truly beautiful and I couldn’t resist taking all those pictures.

It was a 3hr train ride from Florence but as we approached, I knew it was just going to be wonderful… clear blue skies and Venice’s world-famous lagoon and canals. This was the view from the train as we were approaching Santa Lucia railway station.

Santa Lucia station

And I’m sooo glad we splurged a bit on the hotel we chose in Venice. It made the visit all the more memorable. We stayed a the Ca’Gottardi boutique hotel… and it was worth every penny. Our room was spacious and well-decorated…

Venice is still one of the most interesting and lovely places in the world. This sanctuary on a lagoon is virtually the same as it was six hundred years ago, which adds to the fascinating character. And the best way is still by taking the vaporetti (water buses) which ply the Grand Canal. And here’s where all the photos come in.. Enjoy!

It was just amazing to see the different styles of architecture as you travel down the canal… no wonder Venice remains one of the most popular cities in the world to visit!

The famed Gondola ride

Rialto Bridge

San Giorgio Maggiore Island

Did you know that the city Venice stretches over 118 small islands?

So once we set foot on land once again, we headed to Piazza San Marco… Piazza San Marco, often known in English as St Mark’s Square, is the principal square of Venice. As the central landmark and gathering place for Venice, Piazza San Marco is extremely popular with tourists, photographers and Venetian pigeons.

Here are more pictures from our exploring on foot (and if you haven’t realised, Venice is a car-free city! )

One of the many, many shops selling Venetian masks. They are a centuries-old tradition in Venice. Worn during the Carnevale (the Carnival of Venice, elsewhere known as Mardi Gras), they come in all different colors and they can be full-face masks or eye masks. Here is Miss H picking the one she likes. :p

Well, that concludes Venice. I loved the city although I think some may think it’s just over-hyped. And I don’t think there will be a blog post on Milan, we had a short stop-over there (about 2 hours) to grab lunch and have a break from the long train journey. So, THIS IS IT! We had a great time in Italy and hope you had fun ‘going’ on this trip with us. And my apologies for the lack of photos of me, haha, I’m the official family photographer… until I can train someone in the family to do it! And oh yes, you can see the almost 500 pictures of our whole trip here.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Before I continue with today’s post, I just want to thank those who left comments on the previous posts.. so glad to be able to share our trip with you and that you have been enjoying these recounts. So.. our next stop was…

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. The city lies on the Arno River and is known for its history and its importance in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, especially for its art and architecture.

We arrived at Florence by train and our first was to find our hotel, but it wasn’t as easy as we thought.. just look at this…

It was a tight network of roads and small streets around the city centre and our hotel was located on one of these obscure streets. Took us more than half and hour to find it even though we had a map in hand! After we had FINALLY settled our bags, we were out on the streets again.

The best-known site and crowning architectural jewel of Florence is the domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore known as The Duomo. The dome, 600 years after its completion, is still the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world.

Also in the heart of the city is the Piazza della Signoria which is an L-shaped square.

Here are some of the eye-catching statues in the Piazza…

Bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I (1594)

Hercules and Cacus (1533)

Fountain of Neptune (1575)

There is also a replica of Michelangelo’s David (which I did not manage to capture).

And a bit of interesting history about this square… In 1497 Girolamo Savonarola and his followers carried out on this square the famous Bonfire of the Vanities, burning in a large pile books, gaming tables, fine dresses, and works of poets. In front of the fountain of Neptune, this round marble plaque marks the exact spot where Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned on May 23, 1498.

The Arno River which cuts through the old part of the city, is as much a character in Florentine history as many of the men who lived there. Historically, the locals have had a love-hate relationship with the Arno — which alternated from nourishing the city with commerce, and destroying it by flood.

One of the bridges in particular stands out as being unique — The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), whose most striking feature is the multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts. I think I have never seen so many jewelery shops at one place before. The whole bridge was lined with them.

Here are some pics we took on the bridge…

And so that concludes our visit to Florence, before I end this post, just want to share my 2 favourite photos taken in Florence. Nope, it wasn’t of any landmark but of Miss H of course! As a sidenote, I do wish E would be as enthusiastic about posing for mummy as his sister.

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Day 4 on our trip to Italy and we headed for Siena.

Siena is a medieval city of brick. From a vantage point such as the Palazzo Pubblico’s tower, its sea of roof tiles blends into a landscape of steep, twisting stone alleys. This cityscape hides dozens of Gothic palaces and pastry shops galore, unseen neighborhood rivalries, and altarpieces of unsurpassed beauty.

Of course the steep hills and narrow streets were no mean feat to navigate. And as said in our guide, there is no shortcut to get from one place to another in Siena, and there are no buses in these narrow streets. After arriving, first stop was to find food!

This is where we had lunch… funny name for a restaurant, ain’t it? And I had my Carpaccio… yumm!

With only one day in the city, we wasted no time in checking in out. After we had the luggages placed in the room, we went out exploring.

There were streets lined with shops and cafes… and especially these specialty food shops. I didn’t have much time to shop but I did get some stuff from here. How could I resist?

One of the attractions in Siena is the Piazza del Campo, hailed as one of Europe’s most beautiful medieval squares.

It was beautiful, couples and families out strolling and sitting around. We sat for a while too and E had fun with the pigeons. This was also where I captured probably my fav shots of the whole trip.

Here’s an aerial view of the Piazza I took the internet… beautiful isn’t it?

And this is the Palazzo Pubblico (town hall) which is a palace in the city of Siena.

The medieval cathedral in Siena is the Duomo. It is distinctive in it’s black and white tiles on it’s facade.

And you know what?? I didn’t get a picture of the full building, so here’s one I found.

We managed to see the major sites by the end of the day and early next morning, we would be on the train to Florence. In all, I loved Siena. It was quaint and different from the cities we’ve visited so far.

Thank you sooo much to all who left comments on my previous post… glad you are enjoying the pictures and stories. Here is the next update…

On our final day in Rome, we went to the Vatican. Got up early and had breakfast at our usual cafe before taking the metro there.

While we were walking towards the Vatican, we could already see throngs of people so we knew we would have to queue (again) to get tickets in. Anyway, we were approached by one of those tour guides and we decided to go on a guided tour… we could skip the queues (yay!) and we’d have someone walk us round and give us info. LOL! If not, we’d be walking around without knowing what we’re looking at.

Yup, we each got one of those earphone thingys again.

So after clearing the security checks, we entered this big open space with a huge, shiny, globe sculpture in the middle. It’s suppose the be rotating but apparently not on the day we were there.

There were ancient art pieces, statues…

This is a statue of Laocoön and his sons. There’s an interesting story behind this sculpture. Go check it out!

Ok.. we entered the museums next, many rooms, many many exhibits and I can’t remember all of them. Sorry but here are the pics.

Beautiful, exquisite ceiling art.

This is the Belvedere Torso. It is a fragment of a nude male statue. The contorted pose of the torso and musculature were highly influential on late Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque artists, including Michelangelo and Raphael.

I personally was in awe of the tapestries gallery… panels upon panels of handwoven tapestries. It is quite awesome! This last picture is the story where King Herod ordered all male infants to be killed.

Painting of Peter in the cells and being rescued by an angel.

After the galleries, we entered the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside. But is was just magical to see it in real life. The ceiling painting by Michelangelo were amazing. And the painting (2nd below) of the Last Judgement behind the altar was incredible. I took these pictures off Wikipedia…

The exit of the Sistine Chapel led us out and into St. Peter’s Basilica. It was magnificent.. I think the pictures will tell the story.

Hmmm.. so that was day 3. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant near our hotel and after getting back we got our stuff packed for our train early the next morning to Siena.