Tour T-Shirts
OK after last nights Nerina gig I got to thinking about the "merchandise" sold at gigs, you know the little stall with T-Shirts, Programmes and other assorted stuff. It's usually got another stall next to it offering financial advice as all the stuff is so frickin expensive. Not so our Nerina, it was all very resonably priced!

Anyway my experience of buying merchandise is usually that it is a complete waste of money. They must pump something into the air at gigs which makes you think "ohhhh how cool will I look wearing a tour t-shirt for XXX artist, everyone will be soooo jealous that I went to that gig" In reality tour t-shirts are worn by people who favour stonewashed denim and bum bags - so be warned...........these people are also the sorts who spend every penny they earn on going to EVERY gig on a tour. This I believe borders on psychotic\stalker behaviour that nerdy types exhibit.

Gosh and I wonder why my blog is soooo low on the "hit parade" after re-reading this waffle!

Nerina Rocks

Gosh I think I have become a "special occasion" blogger. Like I ain't had nuffink fab and groovy to say for a few days but today I have!

Tonight I went to see Nerina Pallot. Now this girl is TALENTED, she is a singer songwriter but this does her little justice she is talent personified. The gig I had got tickets for cancelled in Nov last year and was rescheduled for tonight, was meant to be going with my best mate, but she is poorly (get well soon matey!) so I begged DH to come with and he did me proud.

Soo the gig was at Manchester Academy which is slap bang in the middle of Manchester Uni students Union - I am 39 for god's sake but I tried my best to look hip and trendy with my "smocky type" top that looks great if you are skinny and 15 but I just look "up the duff".

No matter I spent a blissfull evening quaffing Bud out of a plastic pint pot, reliving my youth and listening to the fabby Nerina. You've probably never heard of her, but may have heard her toons - I URGE you to pop on over to iTunes and download her album "Fires (Remastered), no I mean REALLY go on and do it..............you will thank me for it I promise. She is up for a Brit Award and if she doesn't win, I am gonna chain myself to the railings in front of the House of Commons...........cos there will be no justice in the world. I am now off to read her blog......

Talk About Unpopular..............

OK , do I smell or summat? I am now at the before now unplumbed depths of being number 78 in the crafty blogs chart. I wish I hadn't added the darned thing to my blog cos now I just feel unloved and boring. I mean this whole blog thing was just meant to make me internationally famous and a household name, I failed the X-Factor audition ( I kid you not) and now this is just another blow.

I wanna be an Elsie, a Cathy or a Kirsty....................hang on, I think I have sussed it. I need to change my name to end in "e", it seems to be the winning formula, from now on I shall be known as Sammie. Or maybe I just need to write something interesting, or hey hang on to your hats, ACTUALLY post a PHOTO or 2. hmmmmmmmmmmm now there's a thought..........

Saturday Morning

Phew! What a week, what about that wind?? Here in sunny Cheshire there were loads of trees blown over, mostly on my way home from work. I had friends stuck on the M56 for 3 hours not moving , what a mare.

The worst news for us crafters is that Thorpe Park is cancelled this weekend, not that I was going but hey ho!

Talking of crafting, you HAVE to check this video out, it has been posted on UKS but in case you haven't seen it, give it a whirl it's hysterical

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbXLIniGz24&eurl

I was cropping again on Wednesday with the crop I co-host with my pal Sarah and she didn't even let me open my laptop! I was instead working on a design for an altered clipboard for her retreat on the 3-4th March. I am really looking forward to it and with 50 ladies to teach my knees are knocking a bit too. Who knows, I could really take to it and I could be the new Elsie Flannigan - you read it here first folks.

Right I am off upstairs to carry on with the craft room refurb...........it's only been in progress since September

I've Been A Croppin'

Oh flip - look at me back at 69 in the Crafty Blog Hit Parade...............I was up there at the dizzy heights of 43 and now look at me back on the scrap heap

Not to worry eh?

I went to my first crop in about 400 years yesterday, it was in "Wozza". Wozza for the uninitiated is short for Warrington where I was born and bred. Great crop hosted by Sarah, Lianne and Rebecca who hauled all their luverly stash there for us all to drool over. Met loads of lovely gals including 2 other Sam's. There was a gang from Anglesey, one of my fave places. They really made an effort coming from there what crazy chicks!

I ended up taking my laptop and DIGI scrapped BOY did I get abuse, good job I am not sensitive. Someone (you know who you are) said "DIGI scrapping - THAT's cheating!!"

It ain't and I love it, and I will soon be carted off to the flipping poor house if I carry on downloading kits etc. My PC is groaning with the gazillion Gigabytes of digi wotsits it has to bear now.

Will post some of em soon

DIGI DIVA

OK so my hard drive is full and my paypal account is in tatters, I have downloaded lots of free and not so free stuff from t'interweb over the weekend, so I think I'd better do some more layouts.

I have had an idea for a one day "retreat" - I am an IT trainer "by day" and I am investigating the possibility of hiring an IT training room for a day to teach folks about using a PC to craft and DIGI scrapping. OK I hear you say "who the heck does she think she is......she's only just started digi scrapping!" Well I am a bit of a dab hand with training Paint Shop Pro and just about to launch a Photoshop course at work, so you'd be in safe hands, honest.

If you would be interested please leave me a comment and I will go for it. I am based in Cheshire but could set up a day elsewhere when the time is right.

OK so I'd better go find a pic to digi scrap and use up all the yummy stuff I have.

More DIGI

Here's my second attempt at DIGI, oooohhhh downloading freebs and other stuff like a maddie! Seems like Kirsty Wiseman is at it too! It's all catching on eh?

Check this one out..................

Worra Geek

Oh Lordy, I have become OBSESSED with technology. OK I am a computer trainer - that's my day job, but I really do lust after all things new in the technology world. SO I have hit on this digi scrapping thing. Now I know a lot of traditional paper scrappers hate hate hate digi scrapping, but I have a real problem with paper scrapping. I stare blankly at photos and paper for hours and just can't "do it" - anyone who has ever been to a crop with me will know I am a complete waste of space. I have oodles of scrapping supplies and I pore over scrapping mags, but mostly I use the stuff for my cards.

I have done 2 more digi layouts today with the most gorgeous kits I downloaded last night. Now of course I am beginning to think I am gonna need a bigger hard drive to store all this new stuff (see there is always money to be spent however you scrap)

Digi scrapping is still fairly small in the UK, but I have found a really talented artist called Kate Hadfield who lives near to me - gonna meet up with her soon hopefully. Check out her wonderful blog to check out her stuff. Kate has done some wonderful articles for Creative Scrapbooking Mag which is sadly no more. Let's hope someone else snaps her up pronto.

I haven't given up on real "lumpy" stuff, my lovely pal Sazzles aka Sarahs Cards has the most gorgeous chipboard flowers and I got some today - fabbo - check them out here.

Right just off to download more digi stuff heh, heh, heh

A New Obsession.............

UH-OH deep trub, after months of reading and thinking about digital scrapbooking I finally decided to have a go. My first attempt isn't brill and won't win any prizes, but I have at last sussed out how to use Photoshop. I have been learning to use it to teach it at work. Little do my unsuspecting users know they will be forced to digi-scrap - ha ha

Well here it is, please feel free to cackle cos it ain't "all that", but we all have to start somewhere.

What a Grump........

Feeling very grumpy today, I hate everything, the house is a tip and DH has a viral throat infection. Desperately trying to sand those bloody beams in "my room" and it is a MAMMOTH job.In my spare time I am reading the IKEA catalogue so much I swear I am rubbing off the text. I am dying to "create" but can't face my old office, it's a tip too.

The upside of today is that one of my cards was published in Making Cards magazine. It's a card made with the Xyron Personal Cutting Machine that the lovely people at Xyron let me have to road test. So there's a plus.

I am back to work tomorrow boo- hiss - I like my job but I am being such a "Kevin the teenager" that I don't wanna go.............................

Let's hope I cheer up tomorrow

Happy New Year

Well its 2007 - been looking forward to it so I can start my new Autumn Leaves calendar ha ha ha

Anyway I went to a party last night, check out pic of DH and I below

THe party hosts were the Mum and Dad of DS best friend from school. It was a "shooters" party, each couple had to being a bottle of summat disgusting to drink from a shot glass, and at an allocated time the couple had to fill 14 shot glasses and make everyone drink one. It was funny and I got very adept at "losing" my drink - there was no way I could drink all that! I was particularly impressed when I managed to ditch my shot of sloe gin in a plastic bowl full of fruit pastilles ha ha. The ouzo went down the loo and grappa (nasty nasty) got chucked out of the front door.......I hate to think how the rest of the party are feeling!

Anyway happy 2007.................I ain't making any resolutions this year...............January is dreary enough (hee hee)