Scrapping On The Edge

~*~ OMG, I scrapped!!! ~*~

What is the world coming to?? I can't believe that I actually managed to get out of my funk and right into my scrappin' hole :)

I was prompted by a wonderful challenge posted on {cocoa daisy} to use a poem on a layout and this fun picture of {simone}, {nat} and {christiane} was lying on my table for ages waiting to be scrapped. With the perfect poem, it was done within half an hour.

For the background I painted some bubble wrap with white Gesso and pressed it onto the cardstock. Additionally I brushed the edges with gesso for a shabby look. The papers used on this layout are just scraps from {my minds eye}. Recently I am scrapping with scraps only - I figured until I have used them all up there is no way I am allowed to buy some new stuff (I wonder how long I will last)

~*~ I *heart* NY ~*~

Isn't it funny how just one experience can totally change your attitude towards someone or something? When I first visited {new york} in 1991 I left after only one day as I couldn't take the utter rudeness and unhelpfulness of its people. many of my friends had experienced the same issues and none of us ever thought we would go back there.
Thanks to my work at {cunard} I have been given the opportunity to spend a day in New York a week ago at the {marriott marquis} before joining {queen mary 2} on her voyage back to {southampton}.

It totally changed my attitude towards New Yorkers and I can now say that I truly LOVE NY! I experienced nothing other than sheer friendliness, everyone was helpful and smiling. Even the Immigartion officers upon arrival at Newark were totally sweet - mine even smiled :)

But let's start at the beginning - on Friday morning I had to get up at 2:00 am to get off the Isle of Wight in time for me 9:00 am flight from Heathrow to Newark. The last flight I had with BA was horrible - they staff were rude, we only got one small meal and one drink during a 6 hour flight, so I wasn't really looking forward to this 7 hour flight. But boy, did they pull out all the stops this time. Staff were amazing, the flight left on time, they didn't lose or damage mu luggage - only the landing was something I did not enjoy. Heavy rainfalls in New York made it REALLY bumpy and as I am not a very good flyer anyway, it was freaking me out. Bumpy landing with a little side-skid due to the wet tarmac made me wish I was back home already...

After arrival at the hotel, everything was forgotten - the rooms were lush and overlooking Times Square, it couldn't get any better. Even though the rain kept increasing, a quick tour of the surrounding areas was on the cards and  as soon as I spotted {the chrysler building} , which is my absolute favourite building in the world, I was in heaven....I got as close as my tired feet would drag me after having being awake for 19 hours. Then I saw a "funky" building in the corner of my eye and thought I should take a picture, not even realising it was {the empire state buliding}, which is Lyndon's favourite building. I felt a complete idiot when I noticed the next day that I took a picture of the ESB without figuring out what it was....d'uh - stupid tourists.

The next morning I had about 4 hours for a sight-seeing tour before I was picked up to get to the ship and as it was a glorious sunny day, I made the most of it. First I went to the {hard rock cafe} for breakfast - all you can eat for only $16 (which already included tax), what a fabulous deal. It was great to sit and watch videos of such cool bands like {led zeppelin} and {soundgarden}. After that I went around Times Square, Broadway, 5th Avenue and all that jazz.

I seriously did not want to leave New York and am already planning my trip with Lyndon for his 40th birthday.

Getting on board Queen Mary 2 was almost like coming home as most of the staff were there, who I met last October already, so that was cool. And I got upgraded from an inside stateroom to an outside with a balcony. Guess what was in full view from my balcony - the {statue of liberty} .... how is that for a fantastic view??

The first night started to get a bit "bumpy" and by lunchtime on Sunday we were facing Force 10 gales and 18ft waves, with very rough seas. So much so that even most members of staff had to take sickness injections in order to carry on with their duties. I wasn't sick at all but I just didn't like the fact that we were moving up and down and rolling around a bit. I couldn't help imagining how bad it would have been had I not been on the stable Queen Mary 2...yikes.

Thankfully the next day everything was done and the rest of the voyage continued without any further bumps along the way. Food and service were excellent as always and the entertainment awesome - Lyndon and I are looking into doing a cruise of the Norwegian Fjords at some stage next year, I am totally into cruising....shows my age, hu?

Anyway, that's it for the moment - I am still trying to catch up with my emails and if you are still waiting for an answer from me, I apologise....I get back to you as soon as I can.

P.S. - even though I am utterly in love with New York, I am  very happy to be back home!   

~*~ TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT ~*~

Holy Crap - I am so super-dang happy as I had the most amazing email day today:

I am proud to say that as of now I am part of the Design Team for this wonderful mag

This is one thing I always wanted to write for a magazine and to say that I am part of the ONE and ONLY German Scrapmag (in print form) is the coolest thing EVER!!!!

Thank you {andrea} and {jana} for inviting me to become part of your wonderful vision!

~*~ POW III Winner ~*~

First of let me start by saying that this will be my last post for a while as I will be leaving for New York 2am Friday morning to go on another Transatlantic Voyage on board Queen Mary 2 - yeah, I know, it's a very tough life I lead....but someone's gotta do it *snigger*

So, I shall be back {icebergs permitting} by Friday 16th May.

Whilst I am gone there will be no POW, SOW or WOW {I just love writing those abbreviations....makes me snigger}, so let' celebrate last weeks winner with a song anyway!

And now I won't keep you longer in suspense, the winner of the crochet flowers is:

Ich schließe mich Nat an,haha!!!
Aber ganz,ganz goldig geworden!!!
(Du Streberin ;))  )
Posted by: Simone | May 01, 2008 at 09:26 AM

Simone, email me your addy and I get the flowers in the post to you once I return from being a Globetrotter

And I leave you with a layout that only took me a whole freakin' day to complete {no more speed scrappin' here....} but I enjoyed the process of creating something just for me

~*~ Fun Weekend ~*~

Who would have thought that I celebrate NSD by NOT scrapping?? Nah, me neither....
Seeing that I will be away for a week on another {transatlantic crossing} this coming Friday, and then only a month later I leave for a week in {hamburg} - so when Lyndon told me that on the 3rd of May there would be a {beer festival} at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, how could I say "well Sweetie  that's really great but I am staying home and scrap..."
Uhm, yeah that would have gone down a TREAT, seeing this is what I do each weekend anyway.

And then there was the weather forecast, predicting only nice weather for Saturday and rain for Sunday and Monday - so, no choice really.

You know what? This turned out the be one of the best days out we had in a long time! The weather was wonderful (we even got sunburnt, even though the sun wasn't really strong) and we had such a blast. I had some real ale, which I actually enjoyed and we walked on trails we never walked before. I also got to see the Steam Railway for the first time and our day ended with homemade pizza...yum!

As we left at 11:00hrs  we were already back before 21:00hrs, which meant I was even able to catch up a bit on NSD (and when Lyndon found out about NSD he basically told me off "why didn't you tell me, we would have stayed at home so you could have had all day to celebrate" - isn't he the sweetest?? But seriously, I wouldn't have enjoyed my day as much had I stayed at home. But now i am knackered from all that walking - the way back from the Railway to our house took us over three solid hours of walking....but we made some friends a long the way

~*~ Ooooooohhhhhh ~*~

Lookey what the wonderful inspiring {pam} presented me with - an award for having an inspiring blog. Really?? Seriously I just post some random stuff on there and I am tickled pink to think that anyone would be inspired by my bloggy - I am totally thrilled to receive this wee little award.

The problem I have now is that all the scrappers who inspired me with their blogs and their work of art have already received this award, so what am I gonna do??

I will list for you again the girls and boys who inspire me to no end and I hope it is not against the rules to nominate peeps for the same award more than once...{hey, I am a rebel anyway - so who cares what is allowed and what isn't, right??}

My main inspiration has always been and will always be the one scrapper who's fault it is that I layer and ink until the cows come home. She still rocks my world and she was the first one I know of who used the dotted circle stamps on her layouts - so that alone is worth an award. You can check out my friend {jenn} here.

Now, this woman doesn't scrap but she inspired me with her witty style of writing, the way she tackles live and she has some AWESOME tips on how to tweak your photos (and she doesn't charge you for sharing what she knows). Thank heaven for {pioneer woman}

As for general crafting and blowing me away with EVERYTHING that she does (where the heck does she get all these ideas?? Superwoman she is in my humble opinion), in my next life I do want to come back as {vicki chrisman} . Tell me you can look at her work and not be inspired - impossible.

As for the next lady - if her email wouldn't have been eaten by my Spam folder, I would have never had the privilege to get to know the incredible {donna salazar} . Had her submission for one of the {rusty pickle} challenges gone right through I would have never started an email conversation with her. Many emails and blog comments later and I am proud to call her an online friend who inspires me with all her art.

Last but by no means least is the one chick who totally changed my way of looking at my hobby. No one else makes me wanna just dive right in and get dirty. {nat} is not afraid of trying new techniques and is totally doing her thing - regardless of what the industry tells us the "fashion" should be. I used masking tape on layouts thanks to Nat, I used bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard as a stamp. Now everybody is doing it.

There are so many more creative peeps who inspire me and I would like to name a couple more whose blogs are on my most watched list :

{danyeela} - who produces her own patterned paper
{sir tim}  - need I explain??
{anam} - purely amazing

~*~ SOW - WOW - POW III ~*~

It is that time of the week again - Wacky Wednesday....wooooohooooo

Right now I am totally into the following song and I just love the video to bits. It's really nothing exiting and done so many times before but somehow it just hit a nerve with me.

Somehow I think my Word Of the Week fits neatly with the above rock song, watcha think?
lionize \LY-uh-nyz\, transitive verb:
To treat or regard as an object of great interest or importance.

And it also fits perfectly well with my Product Of the Week. This Wednesday I showing of my {bad} crochet skills *snigger* The other day, when I was bored and without computer I sat and did a couple of crochet flowers for upcoming projects. Little did I know those suckers are so quick to do and all of a sudden I was surrounded by them....so, what better idea than to put them up for sale.

You are in with a chance to win a set of 4 flowers {2 beige and 2 brown} if you leave a comment under this post. Alternatively, if you don't trust my Random Number Generator, you can of course buy some of the flowers {here}

~*~ POW Winner II ~*~

The gorgeous little butterfly stamp from {this} post will soon be winging it's way to a new home because I have just drawn a random number from all the comments made.

dude I just have four little words for you....you.are.a.dork. :) But I love ya!! And it's very entertaining although I can't see the video at work..dang scumbag corporate!!
Posted by: JENN | April 24, 2008 at 09:14 PM

So Jenn, as I still have your addy (I just presume it hasn't changed) the little beauty will spread its wings across the pond this weekend. Congratulations Dude!

And for those of you who might think "heck, she is picking her friends to win"....uh uh think again - I am using {this} nifty generator to determine my winners. All I need to do is put in the number of comments made and the friendly puter rattles and rolls and spits out a random number for me. Gotta love modern technology

~*~ STM #34 Shine ~*~

Another sunday and another challenge has gone live at my fave haunt for inspiration at the moment {scrapping the music}. It just amazes me how different we all create when using a song as the main source of a starting point. #34 is the song {shine} by Anna Nalick. I can't say that I knew the song, but that's the beauty of it - you don't need to know the songs to get your creative juices flowing.

If you have no particular plans for NSD weekend yet, why not come and check us out at {scrapitude} - we have some fun challenges planned for everyone and as we are just a small community, you have enough time to scrap along and still chat with like-minded peeps. In honor of NSD we also have a fabulous raffle. A ticket for a chance to win {this} fabby Kit is only £2.50 - you don't want to miss the opportunity to possibly win a prize pack worth approx £30...
International participants are welcome if they are willing to pay the difference in postage between UK and their country of destination should they have the winning ticket.

Good luck!

~*~ SOW - WOW - POW II ~*~

No, I haven't gone cartoony on you, I just can't be bothered  to write Song Of the Week, Word Of the Week and Product Of the Week out in the title....yeah, I know not only am I beautiful but also very clever...ha ha ha ha ha (and so dang funny)

Are you ready for another Wednesday full of incredibly important information?? I am sure you're itching to know which pearls of wisdom I am going to throw at you so I am not gonna drag this out any longer.

You have to excuse the next video - in my defense when those boys were around I was a in full puberty mode and therefore I didn't know any better. I was sooooooooooo in love, sat crying in front of the telly when they came on (Lyndon says it's probably because deep down I knew they were ugly...but he's a bloke so what does he know). Granted, when I look at them today I do wonder what puberty does to do because quite frankly - they are NOT good looking AT ALL (and yes I WAS that shallow in my teenage years - I liked bands because of their looks and not because of their music)...but their music still rocks my world today *sigh*

How can I top that performance with the Word Of the Day you might wonder?? Hold on to your knickers, because you don't want to miss this:

salubrious \suh-LOO-bree-us\, adjective:
Favorable to health; promoting health; healthful.

Definitely something I am NOT doing unless you count having a bottle of wine every weekend to be salubrious. Now try teaming that with last weeks objurgate and you have wonderful possibilties:
If you don't live a more salubrious life I will objurgate all knowledge of you!

Wow, where did that come from?? I am a closet poet, me.

I better get back to serious matters otherwise I might  just lose the few readers I have left *snigger*

Soooooo, you wanna know what my POW is this week?? And you want another chance of winning said POW? Of course you do...

You might have noticed that of late I am terribly addicted to stamps and my new firm favourite are definitely the singles from (autumn leaves) . So reasonable to buy and so cute. My favourite at the moment has to be the butterfly (scroll to the bottom on above mentioned link to see) and if you leave a comment under this post your name will be entered into next weeks draw for this particular stamp.

Of course, you can always stop by the shop and buy the other designs :)

Happy Humpday everyone