Moving On!

I am excited. Shocked, but excited. I was choosen to move on to Round 2 in the ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge. Every time I checked the gallery I went: "O my God, there are so many talented new designers out there!". To be amongst those that I considered to be top notch, is more than just an honor. No matter where it goes from here, I am proud of what I have accomplished.

Don't get me wrong: I am not one to sit and "see what happens". I am very serious about everything I do (not sure if it is that good, lol) and I will apply myself fully to go as far as I can go. What I mean is, I won't be moping or be disillusioned if this is the end of the line. As far as I know, this is only the beginning! :)

I am in a rather strange mood today. It is a glorious day: soft sunrays are entering my room through the half-opened blinds as we speak, and the temperature is lovely. I took advantage of the nice weather by washing the car and cleaning up the pathways at the front and side of the house - yucky spider webs and dust had been gathering for way too long now. Feels good. Feels liberating. I am by no means a 'clean freak' but I do enjoy it when everything looks neat and tidy.

Cleaning also helps me to 'liberate' my mind: way too much clutter had been gathering in there also. I even get overwhelmed with the constant influx of 'great ideas' at times, much so that I end up not knowing what to do at all. Have you ever felt this way?

Philosophical. That is the word. That is how I feel. Pondering, questionning, reflecting... I do feel the need to do this once in a while. Put myself and my life back in perspective. Have a look at where I am right now: have I achieved what I wanted? Where do I want to go now? What do I need to do to get where I want to go?

:)

On a lighter note: I went to watch Shyamalan's new movie "The Lady In The Water" yesterday with my husband. And I loved it! Much to the confusion of hubby dear who claims that, while the movie did have the typical Shyamalan twists and turns, he had a hard time getting into the whole 'fairytale' thing. Whereas I was totally enchanted with it. Has anyone seen the movie? I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

I feel like going to the kitchen right now, and whip up a delicious dinner: I have some pork grind meat, capsicums (peppers) and onions... I am curious to see what I will come up with, lol. Will let you know tomorrow!

Have a great Thursday everybody!

Nancy

Look What I Made! (and a gift)

So I finally finished my mini-kit for the ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge. Have a look:

It's in my favorite color: Orange! Lol, I have been an orange lover since I was a little baby. My mom told me it is because my very first little teddy bear was totally orange... how cute! My mom even had orange tiles and wallpaper in her kitchen! They revamped the whole house, after 30 years, just this summer and now the colors are a little more muted, very pretty!
But I will always be an 'orange' girl, I just love the vibrancy, it makes me feel happy and alive, and that is the type of 'mood' I want to set around me all the time!

Anyway, go check out the rest of the amazing entries in the gallery, you won't believe your eyes when you see all the talent on display.

Ah, there's a little something for everybody here:

It was meant to go in the above mentioned free kit, however the file was way too large and I had to take the lower case alpha out. So I offer it to you now, here.

If you grab it, and I really hope you do, I would appreciate you leave me a comment to say you did. And if you use it in any of your layouts, let me know! You never know what might come your way ...

:)

Download here (from Mytempdir) and here (from Rapidshare).

The links will remain available for 7 days, giving you plenty of time to download).

Have fun creating!

Nancy

WebFind Of The Week

Time for another great website: Huetopia !

What's not to love about this website? The display is just beautiful and the designs are gorgeous! I just love their combination of soft, pastel colors, beautiful fonts and real life embellishments. This is eye candy of the purest kind! :)

Have a look at these ( and drool!) :


Was I right? Aren't these the most beautiful creations ever? If I were to still get married (hey, maybe I should renew my vows!) I would definitely have my invitations done by this studio!

Huetopia Studios.

All right, I hope you enjoyed this weeks WebFind!

Nancy

Just sharing a layout.

I am franticaly trying to finish my submision for the ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge... too critical of my own work, lol, and that s*l*o*w*s me down! There are quite some astonishing entries already, way to go girls!

Here's my latest layout to share with you:

It is my week four entry for Jen Wilson's Meaningful contest: If I Could Turn Back Time. I am quite happy with how this turned out.

Be back soon with more! Cross your fingers I get my mini-kit ready on time! :)

Hugs,

Nancy oxoxo

We Have A Winner!

Demetria (ladysw00) has guessed the Magic Number 29 and is therefor the proud winner of this gorgeous set! Congratulations, Demetria!

She has already been notified by email and I am waiting for her to send me her address, so I can pop this little gift in the mail.

Thank you all so very much for playing. I am just a teeny bit sad because I would have loved to give a little something to each and every one of you.

But hey, I swear, this was so much fun! I will definitely have another give-away soon, so stay tuned!

Hugs,

Nancy

Guess The Magic Number!

**Please note that this is not a gimmick to get more traffic to my blog! Whilst I enjoy reading your comments very much, the way I feel about myself and what I do -or even writing on my blog- is completely independent of and unrelated to how many or little comments I get. This is an act of kindness made available to you with the purest of heart.**

Recently I have been bitten by the bug to create my own jewelry. It started when I was looking for some nice gifts I could take home to Belgium for the women in my life: I figured something I made was going to be far more special than anything I could buy. So I printed out some of my best layouts and created some jewelry (unfortunately I did not take any photos of my creations.. duh!).

What can I say, they absolutely loved it! Seeing the stunned look on their faces and hearing their words of joy and praise was enough for me to continue creating some more.

What does this have to do with me, you might ask.

:)

Well, ever since I started scrapbooking and becoming more and more part of this amazing community, I have been flattered by all of your sweet comments on my work and I have been stunned by the amount of generosity encountered by many of you fellow scrappers. Those things really touch me and I want to give something back.

So here it is: I have created a long necklace with a matching pair of earrings in acqua/blue/lime/green and I want to give it away to the first lucky girl that guesses the "magic number" between 1 and 100. Easy enough, right? :)

This is what you will be getting:

(c) 2006 Nancy Comelab
vases not included - for display purposes only

The colors might vary slightly due to the bad photography, lol, however it is a close match.

So what are you waiting for? Get guessing before Friday September 22, 2006 and this little gift will be on its way to the first person who guesses the magic number (remember: between 1 and 100!). Good luck!

:)

Nancy

WebFind Of The Week and a new layout.

Hello sweet girls!

Time for another WebFind Of The Week. This week I have found another gem of a stationery site: Joy by Mel Lim.

Oh oh oh, what a joy indeed! Apart from it being such a gorgeous site to browse, every single goodie is just divine! I specially like this:

and this:

Lol, I better stop now and urge you to go have a look for yourself, before Blogger gives up on me! Joy by Mel Lim.

Time for me to show another layout, one I completed for the third week of Jen's Meaningful contest. Have a looksy:

For full credits, click here.

I am very happy with how this one turned out, and it describes very well who I am and how I feel, even with so little words.

That's it for me again today. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Hugs,

Nancy

Exciting Opportunity!

Have you seen this?

Designer wannabees, make sure you don't miss this great opportunity! I for one am going to give it a go. It sounds like fun! :)

You can read more about it here: ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge.

I really can't wait to see what everyone (including myself) will come up with! Now go, go, GO!

Talk soon,

Nancy

Look what I just picked up!

I got this email this morning from emailcash.com.au with a $10 discount voucher on my first purchase at bidz.com . I checked it out and placed a bid on this gorgeous Sterling Silver Genuine Amethyst bracelet...

... and won! Woohoo... I got this little beauty fo $25. After the $10 discount that is only $15!
The only downfall is the shipping costs to Australia. Lol, they ended up costing me more than the bracelet itself. But even so, I do think I got a great bargain!

If you are living in the US, I suggest you check this site out! bidz.com.

Be back later!

Nancy

Toooooot!

May I?

:)

My layout Simplicity is the featured layout on the image gallery of Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Magazine!

Click on the image to be taken to the LO.

Aw, it makes me all fuzzy inside. Lol.

Back tomorrow with another layout and .... something special!

Hugs,
Nancy

WebFind Of The Week

If a magnificently designed website is your thing, and you happen to love stationery, you must check out Greer Chicago !

I love everything about this website, from the design, colors and layout to the stunning array of gorgeous paper goods and home finds. Recommended!

Be back next week with another WebFind. Take care!

Nancy

I won... again!

There's like tears in my eyes.. I swear! :) I submitted my entry for Jen Wilson's MeaningFul contest just in time, and I am one of the winners again! Woohoo!

First round I won a $20 voucher toward Kim Christen's designs at Scrapartist (OMG! I so love her stuff!) and this time I got a $5 voucher for the Jen Wilson boutique!

It was so totally unexpected, since I literally had to throw this layout together in less than an hour (trust me, for me that is fast!) cuz I so wanted to meet the posting deadline and I was still re-installing all the programs on my computer. :)

This is the layout:

Jen Wilson MeaningFull 2. For full credits, click here.

Isn't she the cutest little angel? :)

This layout, and last week's, are really the only layouts I have made ever since I returned from Belgium. I feel so bad, I am on two design teams and I have not submitted any work recently. I am surprised they want to keep me, lol. I am still racing against the clock to get something happening (a funky little business of my own) and I'd say " I haven't got time to create" but then it's about making time isn't it? Perhaps I should watch less TV at night and focus on gettingmore things done. Not "perhaps".. I should.. I will!

:) always trying to motivate myself.

Be back soon with some more news!

Hugs,

Nancy

Good golly!

I still can't believe it: I actually won something! LOL.
Did you see my previous post with the LO I did for Jen Wilson's MeaningFull contest?
She and her CT choose 8 LO's as the winners for week one.. and I am one of them! :)
I feel so honored... thank you so much, girls!

Ah, that's it for today. I have to re-format my computer. Darn, it will take me a full day again to get everything back to the way it was. Oh well...

Talk soon!

oxxo Nancy

The world mourns with Australia.

The world says goodbye to one of the most charismatic, fearless Australians it has ever known.


Steve Irwin (44) - better known as The Crocodile Hunter - died yesterday morning when a stingray barb punctured his heart while he was filming a nature documentary off the coast of Port Douglas in north Queensland.

Steve made his career toying with some of the most aggressive and deadly animals on the planet. But what killed Steve Irwin in the end was quite unexpected, a freakishly unlucky accident involving a creature more prone to timidity than aggression.

You can read more about Steve here.


Personally I find it hard to believe. I have watched him struggle with the fiercest looking crocodiles, handle the biggest snakes and spiders I had ever seen... countless times did I yell: "Man, you must be crazy!". But is was utterly fascinating to see his relationship with those animals so many of us fear. He was truly and amazing man, and he will be deeply missed. I know I will miss him.

My thoughts go out to his beautiful wife and kids.

Nancy

WebFind Of The Week

Hi peeps,

Trying to introduce something new here (Hopefully that will force me to up*date this little baby a little more often!) --> WebFind Of The Week.

I could surf the internet for hours... one link takes me to the next, and the next... you get the picture. Whilst doing that, I usually bump into some terrific websites. I bookmark them, and refer to them regularly whenever I am in need for inspiration - of any kind. So I thought I'd just share them with you, perhaps they can open doors you never knew existed either! :)

First in line is Elum Designs : a gorgeous website featuring some of the most beautiful letterpress stationery I have ever seen (ah, I *heart* stationery).

Definetely worth checking this site out!

On the scrapbook front, I have not been scrapping much lately. There are many other things occupying my mind at the moment (still a surprise!) and my MOJO is just not flowing!
The only thing I did manage to create is my entry for Jen Wilson's first week of the Meaning.full contest. This is what I came up with:

For full credits, click here.

Another thing that caught my interest this week is swapping. I stumbled upon this website swap-bot that allows you to register (f*ree!) for hundreds of different swaps! Oh... the thought of receiving packages in the mail that might have travelled all around the world! And preparing the packages to be sent out to someone on the other side of the world... I am currently registering for a Stationery swap. Go have a look! :)

Have a wonderful Sunday, everybody!

00xx Nancy