In Hell...

I made myself a forum, and am working on a gallery of sorts too. I tried moving my blog to my domain, but it shat on the idea, so here it stays. Not much to look at right now, but as I don't feel at home in most forums, I wanted to make my own.

VIP pass for all of you as soon as I'm done.

I wanted to list things together theme/subject based and give some out of the box type suggestions. It's a work in progress to say the least. First time I've had a domain all to myself and there's plenty of things I want to do with it. After I figured out how. I'm pretty good with the graphic side of things, just not so much with the coding.

P.S. The ape is moving!! The ape is moving!! He's going to Boston right after he finishes his residency. They seem to have made him an offer. I've made him plenty of offers, but this one apparently didn't involve a foot and his ass. Hurrah! This doesn't mean I get the whole flat to myself though...Uh-oh Ravioli-O..

Fashion Week Hangover

My feet hurt, my butt's still numb, and my eyes are still recovering from some less-than-stellar sights (Heidi Klum at the Marc Jacobs/Vuitton screening for one! WTF was up with that? And the shoes? The whole thing made me throw up a little bit in my mouth.)

Paper - Shelleyrae Cusbert's Kraft Card (LOVE these!)
Furry C - Dani Mogstad's Monsters Under The Bed (recoloured)
Flowers - Kate Hadfield's Doodled & Stitched Flowers
Cookies - Kate Hadfield & Jacque Larsen's Princess Tea Party
Journal Strip - Kate Hadfield's Journal Blocks Primary
Arrows - Kate Hadfield's Doodled & Stitched Arrows
Arrows - Kate Hadfield's Journal Blocks Primary
Staple Thingies - Kate Hadfield's Messy Staples 2
Cookie Monster Label - Peppermint Creative's
Frames - Kate Pertiet


more to come....
(yes, Uncle Nick was there)

The (wall-to-wall gay) meet & greet party at Beige next...

Sleeps With Prada

Okay, my big love/obsession of Prada isn't a shock to anyone, but the day I get a new pair, I spend hours and hours just examining and holding them, that I usually wake up next to them the next morning.

Alpha - Christy's Cardboard (re-textured)
Bottom Sheet - Dani's Road Trip

Loads of hand-painting, digi-draping and digi-rouching by me and my little smudge brush. (The burn brush got the night off.) THIS is what I like doing most - making something out of almost nothing.
The only photo is my my last precious pair I acquired.

Shoes - Prada (duh!)

Ferosh Or What?

I so deserve this as a loyal Prada customer and devotee. I'll chuck my iPhone in the bin on the day this lovely jewel rests in my hand. I present to you the fabulous LG KE850 Prada Phone & LG KE850 Prada Active Case.

Another NY Treasure - Napkin Notebook

I love the idea of writing down my number/thoughts on a napkin. This is just brilliant. Just saying...

Napkin Notebook, by David Arnold and Jason Kreher, $6.50

Another NY Treasure - Lucky Beggar Purse

One of my favourite NY culture icons, but with a different function this time.

This clever leather change purse is designed in the likeness of the iconic New York paper coffee cup. A portion of the proceeds from each purse is donated to HELP USA, an organization that has helped the homeless since 1986, $30 at MOMA

Coco Would Be Confused...

I already covered the ferosh Chanel ski attire (which would work well in Aspen), but this is a tad more out there. Way out there. I love Chanel dearly. Well, Coco's Chanel anyhow, but this makes me question any medications Karl Lagerfeld might be taking right now. Sometimes The NYT highlights some odd choices.

$195, available at select Chanel Stores and Jeffrey New York (212) 206-3928

Words Cannot Describe...

Remember The Promise

Paper: Jen Ulasiewicz's Down By The Sea Add-On
Paper: Christy Lyle's Too Hip Gotta Go
File Folder: Gina Cabrera's Office Essentials Folios
Twigs: Jen Ulasiewicz's Harvest Potpourri
Ribbons: Amy Martin's Messy Mix Ribbons (modified much)
Pin: Me
Alpha: Laura Deacetis' Just Plane Cute
Heathrow Passport Stamp: Laura Deacetis' Just Plane Cute

Day Without Art/World AIDS Day

Sorry everyone for having to dash on a moment's notice. I had to leave for the airport at 2am - which gave me less than 4 hours to pack. Sure, YOU might be able to pack in 4 hours. Me? Not so much. I've never been asked to do anything like this though.

Dec 1 is World AIDS Day and...Day Without Art - something I whole-heartedly support. I pretty much assumed that I'd be here in the city doing prep work for it, and watching confused tourists at museums, and going to a benefit or two. (I have some nifty shoes to prance around in.)

That was not to be. Got a call from a friend wondering if I'd be interested in helping with some of the prep work for the first ever London HIV/AIDS Conference (17 Dec - 19 Dec). There are also quite a few small events coinciding with the big conference that were trying to pull things together in record time. Being a poofy Brit, what could I say? For what it's worth, Virgin Airlines is a dream. How often can you say that about air travel these days?

I basically ended up doing bitch work. Nothing too fabulous. Many trips to the print shop. Then, many more. I didn't even have time to shop. No tea at Harrod's. Nothing. Zilch.

My hotel didn't have internet access, but I brought my laptop which had some of my favourite kits to work with. Since I don't do the pubs anymore, I sat in my room fiddling with layouts. I'll get those up today and tomorrow. Managed to avoid my mother too. I rang her up, but who knows where she got off to. It wasn't worth a train trip to Portsmouth to find out either.

(Above: A huge red ribbon made up of 6,000 red flowers in Parliament Square, representing the number of people who die every day from AIDS-related diseases.)

Layouts to follow...just transferring stuff from the laptop to the normal computer so I can fine tune and tweak. It's not as if I brought everything possible to work with. LOL. Just about 400 gigs of stuff. Not nearly enough!

Make Your Own Jukebox Labels

This is pretty damn cool, especially if you're big on retro things like I am. Check it out here. I'm thinking of using them as tags for holiday gifts. (This also happens to be what I'm listening to right now.)

I'm slowly recovering my from noxious sinus infection too. What a giant pain in the ass it's been too, although I can do a pretty good Brando impression right now. I learned a pretty groovy home remedy though, and trust me, I was trying them all -- as this hit me bad in the middle of the night. Mix cinnamon in water, swish around your mouth. It tastes like the weakest apple cider ever made, but it's not as gross as half the cocktails suggested. I will remember this one for sure. Couldn't even eat Thanksgiving dinner (or dinner the night before for that matter). Too swollen. Too nauseous. Too blah in general.

Finally!

I was just whining about how cool it would be if you could pick your own custom wordy bits, and then like magic - now you can! 10 bucks for 20 words, or 7 bucks for 10, I think. So, I made a list of 20 words, but that didn't fill all my needs. So I bought another 20, and almost got everything I wanted on the list. But, third time's a charm, so I went back for 20 more words. Yup, I spent 30 bucks for 60 words. LOL.

I have most of the other packs, and there were always a few that I thought should have there, but weren't. And I wanted some flexible words to use with the ones from Basic Bits to create a whole batch of new combinations.

About, Adventure. Adventures, Anatomy, Best, Birthday, Blimey, Brilliant, Brit, Brooklyn, Chicago, Chuffed, City, Coast, Coney Island, Cor, Create, Day, Definition, Downtown, East, Favourite, Friend, Friends, Here, Imagine, Interview, Library, Life, Liverpool, London, Look, Los Angeles, Lower, Manchester, Memo, Memories, Menu, North, Notes, NYC, Parade, Portrait, Shopping, Side, South, Strummer, Thing, Things, This, Thoughts, UK, Upper, Uptown, Village, Week, West, Wishlist, Worst, Year. (That should count up to 60, I hope.)

Trying To Get The Balance Right

Almost Everything - Lauren Grier & Robin Carlton's Crazy Little Thing

Tag - Robin Carlton's Collaged Neutrals Alpha
Tutus - Jen Wilson's Tuile Flowers
Brushes made from rubber stamps by Teesha Moore

Myopic

Paper - Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton's Girl Next Door Nerdy
Cardboard - Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton's Girl Next Door Nerdy
Cardboard - Trish Jones' Senses - Soothing
Cardboard - Rebecca Digrazio's 100% Recycled
Numbered Ribbon - Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton's Girl Next Door Nerdy
Round Tag - Christy Lyle's Graphic Shapes over Mandabean's Hanging By A Thread
Rubber Bands - Nancy Wilkins's Rubber Bands (blog freebie)
Envelope - Paper Moons' Scrapz (blog freebie)
Paper in Envelope - Ilona Hemp's Spring Time
Ruler - Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton's Girl Next Door Nerdy
Protractor - Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton's Girl Next Door Nerdy
Coffee Stains - Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton's Girl Next Door Nerdy
Blueprint - Ann Hetzel Gunkel's Arts & Crafts over Victoria Feemster's Solid Drama paper
Alpha - Robin Carlton's He's Krafty
Index Tabs - Robin Carlton's Tab You're It
Gamble House Stamp - Me

1984

Okay, I think you're going to have to click the picture to enlarge to see the animation. This whole animation thing on here is cheesing me off. (Big thanks to Traci Reed for putting my frames together!)

I adore Orwell, so it's no shock that my favourite movie/book is 1984. Here's my tribute to it, prompted by the SSD Pop Rocks challenge for Fall TV Line Up. ( I don't do YV. Period.)

So Simple To Do, And Yet...

Miss Tara Beckons!

Miss Tara finally found me on Yahoo last night. (She's only been on the link list here forever.) There's a spot open on her CT, and it might have my name on it. We shall see. She's really good, plus anyone who does a full-on NYC kit can do no wrong. (I don't know why this damn preview won't animate, but the elements are AWESOME. Nuff said.)

I may be entirely biased about this kit, but I don't think so, most of it would work with any city, but for me there is NO other city -- so it hardly matters.

Blue Ribbon Bakery

This is the yummiest smelling place! I had to do a LO with it for Traci Reed's blog challenge. I want more food/cooking related goodies to play with! Please! (I want it noted there was a requirement for the glitter and stars.)

Paper - Gina Maria's Christmas Baking (altered quite a bit)
Bread Sticks - Dnadryad's Bread Stick Alpha
Frame - Nancy Comelab's Ultimate Frame Collection - Vintage
Bread Tags - Peppermint Creative's Recycle Bin
Date Sticker - Jenna Nelson's Thrift Dates
Journalling Block - Traci Reed's Graphically Grunged
Ribbon (Bow & to make Circle) - Mary's Scrapgalerie's Flower Dreams
Glitter - Amy Wolff's Artiste
Alphas - Kate Hadfield & Corina Nielsen's Fun & Fancy Free
Word Bits - Kate Hadfield & Tiff Brady's Wordy Bits Basic
Brushwork & Stars - Me

SSD Hottie & Nugget Chat

Paper - Laura Deacetis' Pink Lemonade
Paper - Fee Jardine's Pippi
Paper - Scarlet Heels' Graphtastic
Paper - Dani Mogstad's Lil Sunshine
Paper - Dani Mogstad's MVP
Alpha - Ronna Penner's Mr Bubbles (Clear)
Bubble Blower - Traci Reed's Blow Me A Bubble
Ribbon Tie - Natalie Braxton's Knotty Little Ribbons
Bubbles - Some converted PSP tube
And, everyone needs a bitch pill...

Got Snow?

I'd like to put the blame for tedium of this layout squarely on the shoulders of Dani Mogstad! I bought her kick ass Winter Thrill kit at SSD, and I didn't really have anything special in mind for it...until I saw the zipper. Which then make me think "Ski Jacket!" and led to the unrealistic thought to hand quilt one of her papers to look more like a down jacket. *Shakes fist at Dani*

There was a nice plain black paper in her Halloween collab (Scared Silly) to use for a base for the quilting. So that was a start. Slapped on a diagonal grid on it (that would later be replaced with stitching) and got to work with the airbrush tool to give each diamond in the grid it's own amount of puff and some little tension puckers from the stitching. The ski lift tickets are just scans. (I'm a big ski nut.)

Paper - Kay Miller's Arctic Antics

Paper - Dani Mogstad & Jacque Larsen's Scared Silly

Paper - Dani Mogstad's Winter Thrill
Zipper - Dani Mogstad's Winter Thrill
Stitching - Me
Lanyards - Kim Jensen's Date Beads (shortened & modified a bit)
Snowflake Brushes - Michelle Coleman's Snowflakes
Lift Tickets - Me
Alpha - Me (below)

I didn't have the right alpha to use for it, so I had to make one. I figured with all the newspaper, map and whatnot alphas floating about -- winter needed one made from ski trail maps. (I wanted just to use the ones from Brokeback Mountain's ski trails, but I didn't think you all would find it as amusing as I do.)

Poke Here to Download (it will only be here for a limited time!)

If you use it, I'd love to see what you did with it.
Enjoy. I don't give a shit if you share it, just don't rip it off and claim as your own. Got it? Good.