On a wing and a font...

While I love fonts, I'm not normally a font challenge kinda girl, but even I couldn't resist the rather gorgeous one chosen for this month's font challenge at SAS - it's called Adine Kirnberg. And after oodles of fun playing with different effects, I finally settled on a nice cracked stone finish - and it's so nice I'd be seriously tempted to make an alpha with it. (Click on the picture for a closer look at the stone, it's really lovely.)

So for the first time in an awfully long while, I had an incentive to scrap, and for the first time I scrapped with something I created. Well, no that's not technically correct, because I've created papers etc to make cards before...but this is the first time I've scrapped with something I've released as a freebie...which seemed weird.

So, while I'm here I'd best take a moment to answer some questions etc...

Firstly a word of thanks for all the supportive comments - they're very much appreciated - and I'm so pleased that you're enjoying Grow & Grow Too, they were fun to make and helped cheer me up a little, and your comments have multiplied that effect - many thanks!!! I'm especially pleased that the little grasshoppers and flower pots have received such a warm response - I kinda liked them, but I just never know if others will feel the same!

Betty asked about my Funky Furs ... to be honest, that was so long ago I'd all but forgotten them! But yes, I'm probably going to release them, but I want to see if I can create some elements to go with them first...maybe some art deco jewellery might be nice...if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Chris Allport asked about Celtic Mysts ... and the truth is I feel both guilty and resentful about all things Celtic at the moment. Guilty because I said I'd release more, I created loads and all it really needs is a bit of finessing, packaging and uploading - which wouldn't really take much time at all. But I feel resentful because I was on such a high when I released the first part and while creating the rest...but then things in real life took a downward plunge and everything I was working on got tainted by the events and feelings which left me with a very irrational aversion to finishing it. So every time I think I must get it sorted, I find more pressing things to do (like surf the net, make tea, buy bread, call my mom, do a crossword...you get the idea).

It's a bit like getting run over while eating your favourite sandwich, and now you'll starve yourself rather than face cheese and pickle ever again (or whatever your favourite happens to be) because it triggers unpleasant memories. I know it's daft, and as a fairly logical person I find it particularly frustrating, but I will overcome it eventually, it just might take a couple of months. So for those I've disappointed, I can only say, I'm human and I'm sorry!!

I'd also like to say a great big thank you to the Pinkies for all their support recently, just so that you know it hasn't gone unnoticed or unappreciated, and I am actually trying to drag myself back to a reasonable stable frame of mind, and when I do, I'll be back. The good news is that I started taking a variety of herbal supplements recently, one of which is St Johns Wort, which I think is actually beginning to make a difference - I am feeling much more positive (as evidenced by Grow lol!) and while the circumstances haven't changed, I just feel a bit more able to cope than before, if you know what I mean. So I'm feeling a bit hopeful that while I haven't turned the corner as yet, it is at least in sight.

Hugz to all!

Still Growing...

This weekend is certainly not going as originally planned - but at least the last minute change of plans has given me the chance to finish my kit for KimB's colour challenge at DSO. The palette was kinda similar to SAS, so I figured I'd simply continue the Grow theme - hence this one's called

Belanna's Grow Too


Again I've been concentrating on the elements to see what I can create with the tools I have, and while some items are similar to those in Grow, none are actually the same. So contents are:

• 2 stone textured papers
• 6 patterned fabric papers
• 2 deco edged mats
• 2 curvy embroidered felt frames
• 2 textured flowers
• 2 little buttons
• 2 star diamond brads
• 2 embroidered fabric tags
• 2 curvy lace ribbons
• 2 embroidered felt vine panels
• 2 fabric plant pot borders
• 2 chipboard flower pots
• 3 plant marker strips
• 1 flower pot sticker

Links are here:

Belanna's Grow Too - Papers

Belanna's Grow Too - Elements

I like the flower pot borders, the vine panels and the flowers - but I'd love to know what y'all think.

Time to Grow?

So I swung by Boo's colour challenge this week at SAS and thought the colours would be challenging, so I found some time to play and this is the result...simply called Grow...

I concentrated more on the elements, so you might find the papers a little....er, boring, but such is life eh? And I must admit, I kinda like how the elements turned out, especially the grasshoppers (which is saying something since I have a morbid fear of bugs!). Plus I it gave me a chance to play with a few of Atomic Cupcake's actions that I hadn't tried previously - so lots of credit due to AC!

Anyhow, the set includes:

• 4 patterned and 4 textured solid papers
• 4 little bows in two styles (thanks to Royanna Fritschmann)
• 3 flowers with gem centres (from a potpourri mix, thought it was cute)
• 3 curvy enamelled frames
• 2 matching ornamental panels in silver & coloured glass (not previewed)
• 2 silver & gemstone grasshoppers
• 3 aged and stained stickers
• 3 tooled leather tags
• 1 quirky caterpillar on cardboard

Which makes this probably the most varied set I've come up with - so hopefully you'll find something in it that appeals. If you've got any constructive criticism of Grow, I'd be happy to hear it, and of course I'd love to know if you actually use it.

Belanna's Grow - Papers

Belanna's Grow - Elements

ETA: Thanks to Connie for pointing out my ooops with the links - think they're both correct now - fingers crossed.

To eat or not to eat...

I made the mistake of telling my other half that Vix had tagged me with this food meme, and he nagged me to do it - so I tagged him to do it too....both sets of answers follow:

What food do you consider the best "date" food? In other words what meal or food item do you think is sexiest to eat in the company of someone you would like to look sexy around?

Me: Fajitas - sexy food has to be tactile, a little messy and a little hot
Him: Champagne, strawberries and cream...sexy has to include bubbles!!!

What well-known person would you like to share a meal with—with or without clothing. (saying whether or not clothes are involved is optional).

Me: Apart from Him? Hmm, Connor Trinneer aka Trip from Enterprise...or Alan Tudyk aka Wash from Firefly/Serenity - with clothes...in fact, in uniform if possible...
Him: Lisa Edelstein aka Cuddy from House, or Jewel Staite aka Kaylee from Firefly...and whatever they want to wear (or not) is fine by me...
Me: Didn't you mean to say, 'Apart from Belanna?', dear?
Him: Erm, I thought that went without saying...

Left to right: Connor Trinneer, Alan Tudyk, Lisa Edelstein, Jewel Staite (Frame Strip by Misty Cato)

What does your perfect breakfast-in-bed look like? (Food AND the details, please. Candles? Music? Flowers? Hot tub? Dancing girls?

Me & Him in perfect agreement on this one: Breakfast in bed on our anniversary a few years back at Longueville Manor in Jersey - with bubbles, nibbles and naughtiness....

What do you consider the best application of whipped cream to be?

Me: Intravenously...no kidding, I adore whipped cream on anything, with anything, anytime, any place, any where...
Him: As an environmentally-friendly bikini

Oh-God-No, Biff, the yacht is sinking! You are sent to the galley to retrieve the food. What luxury food items do you snatch first? The champagne? The caviar? Smoked Salmon? Truffles? Chocolate? Or something else?

Me: Hmm, has to be the champagne...and if there's time, chocolate macaroon bars!
Him: Ditto, champagne is a basic necessity, together with some Cheese & Onion crisps!

Me: So that about wraps up our first joint posting, so it's goodnight from him
Him: And it's goodnight from her.

(Forgive the feeble Two Ronnies joke!)

Sundance made my heart dance...

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you about Designs by Krista ... a woman with a rare talent for both design and generosity ... and the other day she released a magnificent free kit called Sundance from her blog.

Well, I recently bought one of those lovely little chipboard bracket albums at Michaels craft store and I'd been dithering about what to do with it, particularly as I'm sans mojo at the moment. But when I saw this kit I just knew it was perfect for it. So I started by tracing the outline of the album on paper and then scanning it in (cause I had no idea how to make that shape otherwise lol!) and it was all plain sailing from there. I was so pleased with the results that I sent Krista the preview and she's very kindly posted them on her blog.

So if you fancy making your own bracket album (or dropping them onto larger layouts) you'll find the complete set of 8 here: Designs by Krista ...and if you scroll back a couple of days you might still be lucky enough to snag the kit itself. Don't forget to leave her some love!

If the links for the kit have expired by the time you read this, don't panic, Krista usually posts her freebies in her store within a week or so for about $1.50 - which is the next best thing to free in my opinion. You'll find the link to her store on the main blog page.

Out of the Mysts...

Here's a kit I've been longing to release for ages...I created it last month but decided to enter it for the Little Dreamer Designs' Apprentice contest. Sadly my little effort didn't even make it through the qualifying stage, but I really like it and wanted to share it with you anyway. I think it will be perfect for St Patrick's Day, but also pretty useful for Easter or heritage stuff.

The original entry was limited to just three papers and three elements, but in order to actually decide on three papers, I made quite a few more...and I'm working on lots more elements to go with it, hoping to get some of them finished and uploaded over the weekend, or early next week. (Curious what I'm working on? Well there's a mixture of celtic knotwork, mythical beasts, lace, precious metals, sheer fabric and stonework...and that's just for starters lol! There might even be a shamrock or two, but I'm afraid if you're hoping for leprechauns and rainbows, you'll be out of luck lol!)

But for now it consists of 9 papers, four elements and my first ever alpha...it's a very simple uncial alpha but I rather like it and hope you will too.

And I have a question for you! I seem to recall seeing an action somewhere that automatically separates letters and saves them individually...but can't remember where! If anyone has any ideas or can point me in the right direction, it'd be much appreciated, cause it's a boring task to do manually lol!!! I've managed to create one myself that tackles half the job which saved me some time, but I'd love one that does the whole thing (and maybe makes some tea while I'm waiting, good idea eh?)

But without any further ado, here are the links, and I'd love to know what you think of it, or if you use it, so please let me know!

Belanna's Celtic Mysts - Alpha
Belanna's Celtic Mysts - Elements
Belanna's Celtic Mysts - Papers 1
Belanna's Celtic Mysts - Papers 2

Slainte!

Carol recently tagged me to divulge 7 random facts about myself....

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

I've pondered this and can really only half-comply...since I don't know seven other people with blogs, and even the handful I know have probably already been tagged, so let's just say if you wanna be tagged by me, leave a link in a comment and consider yourself tagged lol!

So here are my seven facts, and some are a little weird so don't say you weren't warned...

• My first computer was a Commodore 64, which I programmed to play tic-tac-toe and respond with dialogue akin to WOPR in the movie War Games....it seemed really neat at the time.

• My first kiss was with a boy I met in a psychiatric ward....I was 17 and he was 19. He was admitted after he put his fists through a window in an attempt to slit his wrists after being told that his ex-girlfriend had been pregnant with his child but had an abortion...all of which later turned out to be untrue. I was there because I had (and still have) a dog phobia which nearly caused a complete breakdown. We spent most nights sneaking into the kitchen of the ward late at night to make coffee and exchange tales of woe. We only met once briefly after we were discharged (since he didn't live in Dublin), and before he left, he kissed me and told me I was beautiful...which I think was kind of a turning point for me.

• I spent two years in drama-school on a part-time basis and one day, following a series of videoed screen-test exercises, was told by my drama-teacher in a very grudging fashion that the camera loved me...think the rest of the class hated me after that lol!

• At around that time, I applied to work as an assistant dogsbody for a touring company called Renaissance Shakespeare, started and run by no other than Kenneth Brannagh, and was utterly shocked and thrilled when I had a handwritten reply from him urging me to keep up my studies and reapply to the company as a jobbing actor when I'd finished. Sometimes wish I had!

• I worked in retail for nearly ten years and for a short spell had the pleasure of counting Brian Dennehy amongst my regular customers, while he was appearing in the Iceman Cometh in Dublin. The first time I saw him, he allowed himself to be elbowed out of his place in a queue by an aggressive little grannie and smiled at me over her head in amusement, and I was always impressed by how genuinely pleasant, gentle, soft-spoken, good-humoured and polite he was, a real gent (such a rarity in Dublin even in those days!).

• I type in my sleep...no kidding! When I quit retail, I retrained to acquire some office skills including typing. Due to the intensive nature of the course we were encouraged to 'type' as often as we could i.e. to move your fingers as if typing while doing other things....so I would 'type' shop names and billboard ads while on the bus for example...this habit became so ingrained that I still do it...apparently even in my sleep...I just wish I could find out what it is I'm typing when I'm asleep lol!

• My earliest childhood memory is of a particularly vivid recurring dream in which I was weeping against a man's shoulder, and while I could not see his face, I could feel the texture of his jacket and smell his aftershave, and I knew he loved me and would keep me safe. The dream continued with decreasing frequency into my twenties. But the experience in the dream actually happened some months after I met my other half, and that was the moment I knew we were meant to be together...and I've never told him.

Well that's probably more info than you ever expected or wanted! I'm working on a freebie that I hope to get posted tomorrow...so I'd best get back to it....cheery all!