At Home with Natasja Verbeek

Happy Wednesday, friends! I hope your day is going well. I'm having a great day because I've been so excited to share this blog post with you!

I have known "of" Natasja Verbeek for quite a while now due to her work with Cosmo Cricket. You know how you do--you go to a favorite manufacturer's blog, you click on the links to their design team members, and you become familiar with a person, and their style, and you become a fan.

And then one day I got to meet Natasja. It was at CHA Winter this past February and she was demonstrating Cosmo Cricket's new Glubers. The Glubers are a fascinating product, so that was certainly a draw, but  I was also moxie excited to meet this fantastic paper crafter who is mostly a scrapbooker that I had been admiring from across the Internetal universe.

We hit it off instantly, and became fast friends. I'm sure you're going to like her just as much as I do. Join me in welcoming Natasja to the Moxie Fab World. Take it away, Natasja!

Just over 3 years ago, we moved from a big city nearby Amsterdam where our life was chaotic and we made long hours traveling for work, to a smaller town in the south of our small country. Even though the Netherlands is such a small country, life is so much different here. People are so much more relaxed and now we live close by our work which gives us more family time...we felt at home right away and 3 years later we haven't regretted moving here for one single moment.

In our home we have this mantle. On it are the letters H-O-M-E because we really felt at home here from moment one. There are also some old books, just because I love everything old.

On this mantle is also a small blue vase and a blue glass. They belonged to my grandmother. She was such a great woman, strong and caring. Just after she turned 85, she moved to a home for the elderly about which she only had one comment to share with us: "One shouldn't move an old oak tree." She wasn't happy there and when I was pregnant with my daughter, Noa, she got really sick. Sadly, two months before Noa was born, my grandmother died. Since we knew I was pregnant with a girl, it was only logical that Noa's middle name should be Louisa, after my grandma.

Taking this mantle, and more precisely the vase and glass as my inspiration, my project came together rather easily.

I started with pulling out some vintage bits, like the two spools, the clothespin and lace.

As a base for the project I used a bingo card on which I layered cardboard, mini paper and a label. I had this cute picture of Noa and normally I never cut out my pictures, but I thought it would look great with that rub-on frame inspired by the silhouette on the blue glass.

The frame rub-on was first applied to a separate piece of paper and then hand-cut. The flowers were than handmade and added as well, together with some small embellishments.

I punched out some butterflies to give some extra demension to the project. I finished the project by attaching the lace and the title. I love how it turned out and that it fits so well with the items that lead as an inspiration to create this.

Supplies:
Bingo Card, Mini Papers, Label, Pin, Rub-On: Jenni Bowlin
Veneer Hearts: Studio Calico
Chipboard Alphabet: Cosmo Cricket
Wooden spools, clothpin: private stash
Adhesive: Glue Arts

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I'd like to thank Natasja for taking the time to work on this feature for us. I just love how unique her project is, and how much dimension she has created by not only layering, but also by cutting out the picture of her daughter and having her step through the frame. I think it's always so wonderful to see how heartfelt pieces in our home can inspire our paper crafting, and I appreciate the way Natasja has shared her home, her memories, and her talent with all of us today.

Grateful for Natasja,

~Cath