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