Disapointed?

Yes, a little. Am I going to quit? No, not at all. What am I talking about? I did not make it through to the next round at the ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge. Round 3 was the final round for me. Ever since I have been thinking of not pursuing designing, but then I re-read the comments of all you wonderful girls who have downloaded my stuff and I say to myself: Why not? If I can create something that people can and want to use to preserve their precious moments, what have I got to lose? Nothing. Gain? Everything. And I am not talking financials here, but the fact that I am able to use my creativity for something worthwhile.

So thank you. You inspire me.




P.S.: Make sure you go and support the 10 remaining artists in the challenge! They have all done such an outstanding job so far, and I expect even more greatness!

Back In The Game!

Before anything, I would love to thank you all for your kind comments and your well wishes during my stressful HD crash. It feels so good to have such amazing women care so much, it always leaves me with teary eyes and a heart so filled with love it feels like it is going to explode!

I *HEART* YOU ALL! STAY TUNED FOR ANOTHER RAWKING RAK!!!

My computer is finally back up and running. It feels rather weird though to have it so empty. I don't know where to start to refill it, lol. Fortunately I had backed up some zip files of the kits that I bought recently, so that's a start.

Now, there was a lot of catching up to do, and first on my list was completing the 10 day photography challenge at My Digital Muse. Hey.. for once I was committed to actually finishing a challenge I started, I will finish it! So here are my photos for the days 5 to 9:

Day 5
Ever have anything in your home that is just priceless, something that you adore and would hate to part with?
Alfie, my teddybear, is the only thing I was able to bring with me when I moved to Australia. He was tied to my hand-luggage with a belt. Needless to say we drew a lot of attention! :)

My dad got this teddy for me in London airport on one of his trips and it has been by my side ever since. :)

Day 6

Nature where you live. Surely you have some sort of foilage around you. Shoot it!
Grass and weeds, that is the only foliage adorning the house on the outside right now. We did not have the chance to get some landscaping done yet, hopefully somewhere next year! But I love the soft, natural flow of greenerie the way nature intended it...

Day 7
Where do you relax? Bed? Bathtub? In front of the tube? On the porch? Take a picture of your getaway spot that makes you feel relaxed and happy.
My favorite spot to relax is in my one-seater next to my huge window that lets in the beautiful sunrays all afternoon! Nothing like grabbing a magazine and a tall glass of cool water and losing myself for a couple of hours, with the blinds opened just enough to let a soft ray of sunshine through!
Ah.. life is beautiful!

Day 8
What’s in your fridge? Are there certain things you always have on hand? Your favorite things? Share them with us whether it be an individual item or the entire fridge!
What you will always find in my fridge is fresh, organic egges; strawberries; my favorite mayonnaise, Ricotta cheese; bread rolls to bake and fresh fish and meats. Together with a pantry that stocks all the basics, I always have what I need to whip up a quick meal. Talk about organized! :)

Day 9
Tools of the trade. Are you a photographer or digital scrapbooker? Neither? Both? Snap some shots of your tools of the trade.

**forgive me, forgot to take this one**

Day 10
Take a picture of something you did today - or are doing. Going to the park? Snap it! Taking a nap, photograph it. Just document your day.
You might all think I am lazy, lol, however I woke up this morning feeling a little "off". Like I might be coming down with something.. so I relaxed a little in bed, and ended up falling asleep for another 3 hours! Imagine my surprise when I woke up with sleeplines all over my face and sweaty, rosy cheeks. But I enjoyed it!


So that's it for this challenge. I notice that I forgot to take a photo for Day 9, but it is late now and I am sleepy again (lol) so I am heading to bed in a minute.

Before I go, however, a short list of what I still need to do, before the end of the week:

- finish off kit to submit for designer opening at Plain Digital Wrapper
- write tutorials for my Photoshop mentoring
- do 3 sets of 10 minutes of squats (!) for the Biggest Loser Challenge
- take my measurements for the Biggest Loser Challenge
- create layout with 3 of the above and below photos for My Digital Muse
- create layout with gorgeous new kit from IOD: Oogelie Boogelie
- create layout with stunning new kit from Kim Hill: Pretty In Pink
- re-install Dreamweaver
- re-create website nancycomelab.com

My my, if I was sleepy before, right now I am downright tired! Lol.. so much to do, so little time!

Goodnight girls!

On The Road To Recovery.

The long road to recovery has begun, lol. My computer is back home, with a brand new 200G hard disk, like a blank canvas, ready for me to fill again. My graphic programs and plugins have been re-installed first, so I could re-create my entry for Round 3 of the ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge. A big thank you to Nancie and Michelle, and my fellow contestants, who have patiently waited for me to submit my elements pass the deadline.

So here it is, not 100% what I initially created, but close enough:

If you would like to play with these, you can download them temporarily from Depositfiles here, until I have my own website up and running again.

I hope you like them!

Nancy

My Hard Disk Is No More.

OMG I am in total shock right now. Five minutes ago, I get a call from the computer shop and my worst fears have come true: my hard disk is declared dead. OMG I so can't believe this! All those hours, days, months, years! of research, of creating, all my photos, my layouts... Some have been backed up but I have always been so slack in that department.. and now it's too late! I don't know what I am going to do! Luckily a part of my files were on an external HD, including my scrapping goodies (thank God!).

I never knew a piece of equipment could make me feel like this: so empty and in total despair.

Now they tell me there are ways my lost data might be recovered, but the costs are going to be very steep. Is it worth it? Yes. Do I want my files back? Yes. Can I afford it? No. This could not have come at a worst time.

I know I will never get those designs and layouts I created back - all that's left from most of them is a thumbnail in the online galleries, but I guess it is time now to stop crying and dwelling on what has happened, there's nothing I can do to change that. I have to concentrate now on rebuilding, start over...

I am sorry this was such a long post and I thank you all so very much for allowing me to express my thoughts. It really does help to put things back in perspective.

Nancy

Computer Woes.

Since last night, my computer fails to start up. When I switch it on, all I get is a black screen. I have tried changing monitors, booting with a start-up disk... so far all has failed. I am taking my CPU to the shop this morning to see what the problem is and -hopefully- have it repaired. I pray to God it is not one of those viruses that has whiped out my hard disk. That would be catastrophic: hours and hours of research, my designs, my layouts, all my photos... I cannot even begin to imagine what I would lose if that was the case. I know, I have forever been procrastinating backing up all my files... and even if this is just a minor glitch, it sure has given me a scare big enough to start changing my habits and back up all my files regularly.

Please spare a thought for me today. I feel really lost without my computer, as if life itself has come to a halt.

I will update as soon as I know more.

Hugs,
Nancy

Border by Nancie Rowe Janitz (scrapartist.com)

This is my entry for Day 4 of the 10-day photography challenge at My Digital Muse.

Yep... since recently my main workspace is at home, and this is what you find on the shelf on top of my computer, next to my negative scanner and printer: boxes with stationery and mailing items, journals, a small collection of my beads, back-ups of my HD and computer programs on CD/DVD. The main colors in my room are blue and white: for their sense of calmness and serenity. I believe these values are important to contribute to a healthy workspace.

The rest of my room is usually even more cluttered than what you see on the above photo. As organized as I am (or proclaim to be!) I sometimes feel the need to gather everything I own around me (lol): magazines, books, stationery, craft supplies... you name it, it's on my floor or my desk!

This reminds me... I have to clean up a little. :)

See you later, girls!

Look What I Finally Picked Up!

I have been drooling over these two gems for a while now... and today I finally succumbed. Holly McCaig rocks. What more can I say?

Welcome...

Border by Nancie Rowe Janitz (scrapartist.com)

Here's day 3 of the photo challenge at My Digital Muse: What Does Your Front Door Look Like?

In one word: awful! Lol. It's grey. Dull, dull grey. No peephole. Nothing. The only thing I like is the golden doorhandle. Hence the photo. I guess it does it's job as a door... who cares about the aestethics? :)

So are you participating? Go check it out now, and join in the fun! MDM.

Toodles!

Warning... May Offend!

Border by Nancie Rowe Janitz (scrapartist.com)

Day 2 of the challenge at My Digital Muse : Where Do You Get Your News?

:)

If the photo needs explanation at all: ever since I started reading the newspaper to catch up on current affairs, I have been withdrawing to that one place in everyones home where there's always peace and quiet: the toilet. It has become a habit and now I would not dream of reading my newspaper anywhere else but here. Lol.

This is so much fun!

The First Thing I See When I Wake Up...

Border by Nancie Rowe Janitz (scrapartist.com)

... is one of my stacks of magazines. I swear, I have piles of these all round the house. These are my Home And Garden mags, and they quietly sit on my bedside table for either early morning or late evening reading.

As long as I can remember, I have loved mags! I love the process of browsing through hundreds of different magazines at the NewsAgency, smelling the ink on the paper (is that weird? lol), picking the one - or two, or three - I like for the day and then get home, curl up on the couch and start the exploration of the words and images and colors of my newly acquired little gems. I basically love every mag (ha, except for the ones with the neeked ladies) but cooking, crafts, home and garden, woman's interest, photography, photoshop and design would be amongst my favorites.

Yes, my magazines and I, we are inseparable. LOL.

This entry was kindly prepared by yours truly for Day 1 of the October Challenge at My Digital Muse : My World Around Me. This is the new and wonderul new pet project by Holly, Kristy, Tracy and Lauren - four uber talented and sweet gals. Go check it out and participate in this fun challenge! :)

This is it for now, my friends. Have a marvellous day!

Look What I Received Today!

A while ago I signed up for a couple of swaps on swap-bot.com, a website where people swap goodies with other people from around the world. The first one I participated in was the stationery swap, and I received my package today!

Look at all the yummie things I got:

Thanks, Gracienne! I love everything you sent me! There really is nothing like receiving a package like this in the mail...

Hope you are all doing well!

Rainy Day.

Summer is nearing here in Australia and the temperatures are rising quickly. This morning I woke up with the sun caressing my face, but as soon as I stepped into my office I was greeted with this wonderful sight:

Rain... pouring down from the skies, splashing vigorously against the window... ah, I *heart* it. As much as I love the sun, there is just something magical about rain: the sound, the smell (there's nothing I like more than the smell of nature right after it has rained)... And you know what? You can be certain, absolutely certain, that after it stops raining, the sun will shine again!

Nancy

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by our sweet and delightfull New Zealand girl, Kelly -aka Marmy with the cool avatar and a CT member for Jen Wilson- and I, of course, happily oblige. Thanks Kelly! :)

Hm.. I have to share 5 weird things about me. Let's see:

1. I do not eat any type of fish/seafood. Nothing. Zilch. If it comes out of the water, I don't want it. Never have. Never will.

2. I love classical music. Is that weird you ask? Well, my friends seem to think so! I just love to listen to it really, really loud, until I can "feel" it.

3. I watch movies that I love 3, 4, sometimes even 5 times! Can't get enough! I saw the first Lord Of The Rings 8 (eight!) times!

4. I have this habit of responding to questions with songs! If what I want to answer reminds me of a song, I will sing the reply. Lol.

5. I love eating baby food! (ouch - that was hard to admit!)

:) There. Bet you did not know these things about me before. Geez.. I am surprised it was not even hard. At first I thought I would never come up with 5 weird things... now I have to force myself to stop. Lol.

Here comes the best part, I get to tag 5 people. Woohoo! Let's see... I think the "lucky" ones will be: Holly (yes, girl, and don't dare say no!); Amy (I am dying to know 5 weird things about you!), Michelle (let's get ya bloggin, busy girl!), Jennifer (coz I just like her) and last but not least: Shawna (coz I want to know 5 weird things about this gem of a person too!).

And here are the rules:

List 5 Weird things about yourself or your pets.
Tag 5 Friends and list them.
Those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, state the rules, and tag 5 more people.
Don’t forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

That was fun!

Just One Of Those Days.

My Lucky Angel is lavishly spoiling me today! Ah, I am glowing!

First my day started of with the mailman bringing me a package that contains the whole first season of The X Files on DVD! Woohoo! I won it somewhere I can't even remember!

Then I became one of the lucky people to create for the uber talented and fun IOD girls! I'm on their CT! Woohoo again!

And it get's better... I join in their chat today and I WIN A SET OF TROUVE!!! Seriously, can it get any better than this?

Oh, and then Demetria emails me that her package with the necklace I gave away last month has arrived!

And the sun is shining, and my sweet husband is home and ... oh... I am just so very happy!!!

Sending beautiful vibes your way,

WebFind Of The Week

So who amongst you loves giving and receiving gifts? Me! Me! Me! I just love beautifully wrapped packages, and in my quest to find the ultimate wrapping paper I came across this site: Whimsy Press Inc.

If you're anything like me, you should really check this site out! Specially with the gift season approaching.. woohoo. my favorite time of the year!

Here's a couple of my favorites:

I wouldn't mind seeing these under the Christmas Tree!

Love you all!

Round Two Submitted.

Hey girls!

I've just uploaded my entry for the ScrapArtist Challenge Round Two: Texture.
Here is a preview:

Wish me luck! :)

And if you have some time, please go and check out all the amazing entries for this week, my jaw is still on the floor from all the talent in the gallery! Round Two: Texture.

Hope you are all having a marvellous Sunday!

Nancy