Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Volkswagen Night Driving Golf Ad

Two posts in one day?! What the...?

But I was blog trawling and saw a You Tube thing on someone's blog and it reminded me that I just HAD to get THIS ad on mine. Because the first time I heard it, the language of the narration just slooshed and trickled all around my brain and I thought, "Damn, that's beautiful!" And then of course I found out it was written by one of my favourite writers ever, Dylan Thomas. Who was born not a few miles from my very house.

Isn't it just fab?

I am still alive...and I'm scrapping!

I've been missing in Tescos. Someone found me with my legs waving out of the frozen peas trying to reach the last packet of Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire puds...but now I'm back home, safe and sound.

True story.

Been scrapping today...my class for this Saturday's South Wales Crop (12 hours and everyfink). I was having a big tidy the other day (I tidy ALL the time and yet my house always looks catastrophic...why IS that?) and came across these lovely photos that my mate Julia (on the Scrappers Unlimited team) took a couple of summers ago (05) when she and her children were playing at my house. It doesn't seem that long ago...but in the life of a child it's a huge amount of time, and I can't believe how wee Celyn looks in these. Her hair is so short...and she even has a nappy on! Mad. She's stood with Julia's son Aneurin. So when I started to create this layout this morning straight after the school run, I immediately thought of these piccies sitting on my office desk. Awwww.

Anyway...do come to the crop on Saturday if you're free. There's a fish and chip run at supper time and a challenge where you could win a free place at the Swansea Retreat at the end of July.


Talking of which...


I've just opened and HUGE (and quite pricey) box of scrapping papers, brads (lucious metal brads...my my my!), ribbons, die cuts (rub them all over your body and kiss them with pash, they're so gorgeous), chipboard letters and rub ons. Oh my heavens above, there's some lush stuff in there. And it's miiiiiiiine all miiiiiiiine. Well...until it all goes in kits for classes that is *snort*


Right. Off to try the freezer cabinet at Asdas now. See you again in a month. Ha! Or perhaps sooner...

Friday, June 15, 2007

Guess Who?

My mum and I are weak with laughter.

Celyn asked to play a game of Guess Who? If you are familiar with this game, you'll know that you have 24 faces on flip-up cards. You also choose a yellow card with a person's face on. You then have to find out who your opponent's yellow card person is (before they finds out yours) by asking a series of questions. For example, "Does your person have a beard?" If they answer "No" then you flip down all the people with beards because they have been elminated. "Does your person have blond hair?" "Yes". You flip down all the people except those with blond hair. Etc. etc. etc.

Simple.

You'd think.

My FOUR year old Celyn can play this, with ease. I know, because I've just played a game with her.

But then I said, "Oh play with Nana now Celyn, because I have to do some work" and this is where the hysterics started. My mother can't work out the rules of this game for love nor money. I've explained it and explained it, but she just gets confused.

Now, I know my mum is 84 but that has nothing to do with it (because she's as bright as a button). She just doesn't do logical problems! Celyn (my FOUR year old, I would reiterate) is saying "Right Nana, my person DOESN'T have blond hair...so you need to put down all the people with blond hair" and my mum says "No no...we're not playing this right" or "What are you talking about?"

And so I started laughing at her. And then she started laughing. And now we're sitting here completely weak with laughter.

Bless.

Monday, June 11, 2007

I am so hooooooooooot!!!!

Close, humid, restless night's sleep, awakening to 22 degrees at 9am. Man alive. I am so HOT (and not in a good way)! On top of which, a neighbour's car alarm kept going off. FOUR times. There's only so much a sweaty girl can take.

Which reminded me of Sunday in the Park with George which is probably my favourite musical theatre ever. Little known fact about Chrissie...I studied theatre at university in America and used to go to plays and shows galore (GALORE) there and in London. For example, I saw the original cast of Les Mis before anybody outside of 'really into theatre' knew what it was. Them were the days.

This show is about the painter, Georges Seurat (him what painted with dots). Bernadette Peters (singing here) and Mandy Patinkin (who plays Seurat) are quite stunning in their parts (how great is her voice?!) and the music and lyrics touch my whole soul.

I am soooooo hoooooooooooot!

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Of Doughnuts and Nests and Racism (Random Post!)

It's not quite 7.30 in the morning, the promise of a beeeeeeeautiful summer's day, birds are twittering outside the open window, the family is still asleep, and I'm blogging while I have some peace. But now that I start, I feel I don't have anything exciting to say *Oooooh...she's in one of THOSE moods*

But seriously. I read blogs all the time where people create a new scrapbook page or book or altered trumpet or *whatever* every single day almost, and I think 'Where in the HECK do you find the time?!!!' I seem to spend every day wishing I could calmly sit and create lovely things (and believe me, I have enough products around my house to keep any scrapper happy for a year), but life seems to be an endless round of sorting out mon enfant, venues, kits and teachers for future events, trapsing round Tesco for food, making meals and tidying the bottomless untidy house pit.


Anyway *hffff, pffff*...my bits of excitement this week. I finished part one of an article for ScrapBook Inspirations magazine. The picture above is a clue to the subject of the article (and anyone who's attended one of my classes where they've eaten doughnuts will know what that is all about!). It will be appearing in the issue due out end of August and another article on the same subject will be in the following month's issue too *shiny me*


House Martins have built a nest in the eves of our house. Awwwwwww! I've heard neighbours moaning about bird poo and the noise (honestly...moaning about bird noise!!??) but I think it's GREAT! Celyn and I have really enjoyed watching Mr or Mrs Martin swooping out of their marital abode to go and get dinner for the chickies (sounds like my life - LOL!). At least, I presume there are chicks...maybe just eggs at the moment. Not being a house martin expert or nuffink. But it's all cool and they have so far kindly refrained from crapping on my car. Bless.


I have started walking. Now OBviously I don't mean that I've finally figured out how to walk after all these years. I mean my good mate Anne has decided I need more exercise (which, to be fair, is damn true) and so she comes over every evening and we walk around the delights that are Pontarddulais for about 45 minutes and either covet or criticise all the properties we pass, as you do. Mostly covet (there are some nice houses around here). Isn't she a lovely soul, to come and walk with me? I moan (in my head) every evening when I know she's due, but then I really enjoy it. So perhaps I should stop moaning and just get on with it! What say you?


I have also started watching Big Brother and of course there was the whole Emily Parr 'thing' this week. As a scrapbooker of course I know the Parrs as her mum owns a scrapping business not a million miles from here, but I don't think either of us would say we were the best of friends by a long chalk. However, having considered the situation all week (and watching the incident in context before making a proper judgement), I have to say that I'm not entirely sure she should have been kicked off the show. I feel that the term she used was said with the motivation of trying to be 'street' and hip, and not because she is racist. But Emily simply isn't street...she's white, middle-class and incredibly naive. You simply can't use that term on national TV, even if it's bandied around between blacks themselves in real life, and even then, only some blacks. Personally I've NEVER heard any of my friends use it and I wouldn't dreeeeeeeeeeam of using it ever (it's just not a word in my vocabulary), let alone around my friends...but I'm assured that it definitely is used as a 'buddy' term these days. I can remember a friend of mine going completely ballistic at a guy who was over his apartment one day who said that same term...it was completely unacceptable then (nearly 20 years ago) and although it's crept into slang these days, you have to remember that not everyone watching TV is 18! There are 40+ year olds who would be horrified by that word and who would neither understand nor hear its slang use.


I also think Channel 4's reaction by taking Emily out of the house was definitely in light of the Shilpa Shetty stuff last year which was a trillion times worse and WAS racially motivated. And I also think Big Brother has double standards. They say that housemates mustn't do anything which can offend each other or the viewing public, but then they use language every day that offends me (certain blaspheming being the main sticking point with me (makes me cringe), or the constant use of the F word). Now...no one is remotely reprimanded for that, and even by complaining now I bet someone reading this will think "Well if you don't like it, turn it off then!" So what if you also said that to people offended by Emily's choice of word? It's a double standard, whichever way you look at it. I would be very interested to see if anything was said, let alone done, about English-Welsh put-downs if they occurred between Laura and another housemate. Where do you draw the line?


I'm not justifying her actions though...absolutely not at all. It's an ugly word and she definitely should have been reprimanded in a serious way. But, when push comes to shove, her motivation and attitude were not racist. She was just a very silly girl.


But, on a lighter note...the two housemates that entered last night. I took an instant dislike to that Seany. Eeeuch. Nasty piece of work. The Greek guy is as camp as chicory coffee, and is just making me laugh. And Ziggy's face was a complete picture and had me howling. Awww bless him. He only wants a friend he can chat about football and women with. Love him.


Right. I have a ton of things to do today (tidying the bottomless pit of untidyness being one of them). And the famblee are arousing their bods from their beds now. Back on the gerbil wheel...
Ta ra!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

You've been framed

Just had to show you all these lovely bits of work my team and fellow S Wales scrappers have been creating for Frame Your Scrapbook! (a Cardiff based company who make 12x12 and 8x8 frames to put your special pieces of work on the wall. They send the frames to any part of the UK by the way).

The thing with these frames (which are made completely free from acid and all that anti-scrapbooky stuff) is that you can use much more 3D elements on your page, because they aren't going to be squished flat in an album. And (unlike a canvas), the page is protected under glass. We're loving them!!! We're even going to be having a class on how to create a layout with a frame as part of the deal at our Swansea Retreat soon.

The top picture here is Love by Amber (she of the Basque Book kit fame!). She stamped all over the frame, which had been painted a lovely gold. Apologies for the naffi-naff-naff quality of the photos. It's terribly hard to get a good shot of glass which has the damn habit of reflecting everyfink.


Then Penny's used metal flowers to scrap very much in 3D inside the frame, with a few hanging around on the corners too.








Katie-Jane has scrapped one of the owners of Frame Your Scrapbook's little girl, using a subtle paint stamping effect on the frame. Pretty eh?















And finally (for now), Fi created this simply stunning page and frame around a fab photo of her daughter dancing outside the Millennium Centre a couple of Christmasses ago.










With thanks to lovely Gil who waited so patiently and held the frames while I photographed them after the South Wales Crop today :D Where (by the way) it was gloriously sunny and back here in Swansea it was cold, cloudy and pants. HA!
Off to bed. Night night.