About Me

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Antwerp, Belgium
Welcome to the new, and improved version of Heaven in Belgium. I am Jientje. "Jientje", like the boys name Gene, followed by "chu"? "Gene-chu", that's how you pronounce my name. Yes!!!!That's it!! So now you know huh? I am an addicted blogger. I was born and raised and am still living in Belgium. Yeah, the "this-is- Tuesday-so-this-must-be-Brussels" kind of Belgium .. There, you see? Maybe you couldn't find it on the map, but at least I'm trying to change that a little by sharing lots of pictures. I really love to cook and create new things, like this blog for instance. I am a mother,a grandmothe and a wife too! They say I'm a traveler, and a photographer. Well that's just what they say, I love to make pictures, but I am far from professional ... If my English is not perfect, that would be because it's my second language. I do hope you'll forgive me any possible misspellings or strange vocabulary ... Now, as a result of all of the above, I get way too little sleep and my days are always much too short!

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Showing posts with label Boyds Bears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boyds Bears. Show all posts

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Jingle, Jangle and Joe ...

My husband bought me a new tripod today, I'm as happy as a clam!
I know I still need to practice with it, so I used it for this photo, which is entry #7 for my Project 366. This photo was made using manual focus instead of auto focus.


Date: 07/01/2012 15:59
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 500
Exposure time: 1/30 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure Bias: - 0.00 EV
Focal Length: 35.0 mm
Metering Mode: center weight
Flash Used: no
Exposure: manual
Exposure mode: manual
White balance: auto


This is Santa Bear with Jingle, Jangle and Joe, they're part of my Boyds Bearstone Collection, and I use it as a piece of my Boyds nativity set. Soon, they're going to be put away again together with the rest of my Christmas decoration ...

The quote at the bottom of it says: " the balance between work and play should always be tipped toward play" I think that's right, I had my fun this afternoon with my new tripod!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Weekly Winners, Snow and Ice

 

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It’s been very cold here in Belgium, we’re even getting our share of snow.

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Snow is not all that often on our weather menu …

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I love it because it creates extra special photo opportunities.

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Icicles make a change from the usual raindrops, don’t they?

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Hanging in there, waiting for Spring.

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A walk along the canal.

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Crisp air and blue skies, I enjoyed it.

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Almost sunset.

  IMG_4720Heavenin365 means playing with the Big Guy, which involves photographing
… anything I can point my camera at!

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From peeling potatoes …

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To boxes of chocolates

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Winter decorations

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Even teddy bears!

I had a great week. And you?
More Weekly Winners at Sarcastic Mom’s. 


Heavenin365 my 365 project and new blog are Heavenin365

Friday, January 8, 2010

Friday’s Fave Five, First Week of 2010

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It’s Friday again, the first week of 2010 is almost over. Friday’s Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is a great meme making us look back at the week that has passed and count our blessings.

It’s been a wonderful week. Most important item this week is …
1.The new challenge I got myself into. My husband’s Canon D40 has hardly been used since he got it, so I’m going to be the one using it. I’ve challenged myself to work with this big guy at least an hour a day trying to get to know him and understand how he works. At the end of the day, I pick one photo a day and post it on my new blog. That way I’m hoping to grow into it a little and to be able to see the progress I’m likely (or should I say hopefully) going to make. I photograph everything and anything now, even while peeling potatoes! ROFL!

Fiday's fave five 1Creativity and photography are the main key words this week I guess.
2. Last Saturday my husband and I went on a photo walk around the castle of Horst. It’s a place he knows well since he spent a lot of his school holidays there with his aunt who lived nearby. We took a long walk around the castle, and something magical happened. The sun came out, making the clouds part which changed the light all the time. It was as if somebody “up there” was playing with the light switches, illuminating the castle and the frozen pond. The castle was bathing in warm sunlight and all the colors started to pop. It was photography heaven. More pictures are to come within the next few days.

Friday's Fave Five  33. Snow and cold weather. I never thought I would ever hear myself say this, but I’m actually enjoying the snow and the cold Winter weather we’re getting here the last couple of days. It makes me want to go out for a walk in the cold crisp air. Coming home to real old fashioned cold weather comfort food after that is just wonderful.
4. Isn’t it great when you can find a great bargain, especially when you were not even looking for it? I went to the supermarket to buy bread baking flour when I stumbled upon this book. It’s a real baking “bible”, with old fashioned recipes and newer ones, a book I always wanted to have but somehow never bought. It was on sale yesterday! I paid 5€ instead of 25€ normal price. It was the next to last one, the last one still wrapped in plastic! I’m so happy with it!

Friday's Fave Five 2
5. I packed all the Christmas stuff and redecorated the living room yesterday, and I’m VERY happy how it looks. I made little arrangements with a snowy theme .
I’ll tell you how I did it: I used dried leaves and Hydrangea flowers - leftovers from my fall decoration - and silk roses. I sprayed them with snow spray. I sprinkled some artificial snow on while the paint was still wet and left them to dry. I used these ingredients to create flower arrangements and decorations throughout the living room. A little more snow here and there, an art book, Boyds Bears all dressed up for Winter … ( They even have skies and a sprinkle of snow on their noses! ) I had fun!

It’s been a great week, how was yours?

More Fave Five posts at Susanne’s Living to Tell the Story.
More pictures of me on my new blog Heavenin365.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Photo Hunt #5 December

 

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I did not think of it until way past Christmas, and I never thought I would pull it off, but I did. I had fun with this hunt, especially since I challenged myself to use my husband’s Canon D40 DSLR. I’m very anxious to get acquainted with this big guy. I can’t wait to find out what I can get out of him when I push the right buttons!
Only a couple were taken with the D40 though, I used the SX-1S to do most of the work, but it’s a beginning. I’ll mark the D40 pictures with *

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Holliday lights at the shopping mall

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Holliday Spirit  *

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a Holiday Treat, home baked Christmas Stollen

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An ornament *
From Lisa’s Christmas ornament swap, thank you Lisa!
 

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A Gift-Wrapped package 

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A Window Display

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A Winter Holiday Icon

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A Tree

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A Tradition

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Something that says Noel *

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Something Precious *

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Something Peaceful 

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Something Hot *

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Something Cold

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Something Red

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Something Green *: Fun in the kitchen

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Motion Blur 

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Black and White with selective coloring:  Honest, I made this photo in December, and photographed the very last  daisies on my patio. Two days later it started to snow …


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Infrared : I took this picture ( and only this one) from my archives and used it to fool around play with my Corel Paint Shop x 12 and the tutorial on infrared photography Kirsti added in one of her previous posts. 

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Macro : a rose from the bouquet of roses my hubby surprised me with just before Christmas.

 

More Photo Hunt participants at Photo Hunt Challenges, hosted by Kirsti.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Ruby Tuesday, The Story of the Boyds Bears Nativity Scene

 

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Not many of you might know I used to own an interior decorating shop a couple of years ago. Among other things, I used to sell cute teddy bear collectables and Christmas decorations. That’s how I came across Boyds Bears. It was love at first sight.
Boyds Bears were not very well known here in Belgium at that time and I dare say it took a little bit of pioneering to introduce them to my public, but I loved it.   
My customers soon shared the love I had for these cute little bears, and started collecting them. It was charming to have them (or their husbands) drop by to buy a new character as a gift to their loved ones. Christmas, birthdays, Valentines  Day or even wedding anniversaries, I loved helping them pick “just the right one”. 
It became inevitable that I started a collection of my own. One by one I took them home with me and I’ve been treasuring this set for almost ten years now …

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The nativity scene is set up as a play on a stage, and the little bears are all dressed up to perform the role they’re playing.  
Allow me to introduce some of the main characters to you … 

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Neville … as Joseph

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Baldwin … as the little Child Jesus

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Theresa … as Mary

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Bruce … as the Shepherd

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and Essex … dressed up as the donkey.

 

Find more Ruby Tuesday posts at Mary’s Work of the Poet.

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