Scrapping On The Edge

~*~ Awesome Service ~*~

When it comes to good service that impresses me, regrettably there isn't that much around especially when you think about scrapbook online stores. With that I don't mean that you do not receive good service from the majority of them but that they don't go the extra mile to leave a HUGE impression with you.

Well it happened to me today.

There are shops that I love to use because of their fast and no fuss service, like {artbase} and {atdml} in the UK and {2peas} in the U.S. and as for Monthly Kits the service from Amanda at {scrapmuse} and Tricia of {cocoa daisy} has always been outstanding.

But today I met the MOTHER of a online shopping ->>>  {create my keepsake}

CMK has been around for as long as I can remember and I popped into the forum once in a while but for one reason or the other never stuck around. Now that my sub for Scrapmuse has ended I was on the look for a new monthly Kit club and CMK totally fits the bill.

I only really got over to the forum because I saw on {pub calls} that CMK had a {dt call} - and I am being totally honest, I would love to be part of another Kit Club again, so I checked them out. Regardless of the fact that I have thrown my hat into the race - I fell in love with the Kits straight away when I browsed through the store. In the hope that I was still in time for the June Kit (Scenic Route Liberty Line and Jenni Bowlin...YUM), I signed up for CMK membership and also left a random comment on the CMK blog that I loved the look of the Kit.

Fast forward about an hour and the owner of CMK has emailed me and ensured I would be getting all the benefits that CMK members will be getting. I had problems with my email as well and it only took Lisa a couple of minutes to sort it all out, being constantly available for questions - bear in mind that we are also dealing with the time difference between U.S. and U.K. here.
Additionally I placed an order earlier today for some papers and a stamp and happily paid for all that including postage and as soon as my pre-order availability for the June Kit came through my mailbox and I paid for that, Lisa was quick to let me know that the orders were combined and I would be refunded for any postage overpaid. How cool is that??

There are so many benefits of becoming a member at the CMK Kit Club - you pay a small fee but you will be a member for life. You do NOT have to take every single Kit, but you will receive a newsletter with a full Kit picture and add on availabilities two days before the Kit goes live. It is your choice then to either purchase the Kit or not bother. If you buy the Kit before it goes live on the site, you will get a discount as well in addition to a new member bonus.

For each purchase you make at the CMK store you will be awarded loyalty points as well - can you tell I am terribly excited about this?

Oh and as for the service again - within 10 minutes of ordering my order was already being processed.
I am VERY impressed and think I have found my new fave Kit Club

Now all you talented scrappers out there, get your bums over to the CMK forum and take part in the Last Scrapper Standing DT "scrap off". If anything it gets your mojo going!

~*~ SOW - WOW - POW V ~*~

It is that time of week again when you have to endure strange videos and a lot of silly blabbering - but then again, what's different to any other post I do then *snort*

There will be no SOW - WOW - POW next week as I am on a one week break in Germany to visit my friend {nat} - who will hold a workshop at {scrapbook king}. I look forward getting my fingers dirty and to also finally meet the wonderful {andrea}.

That means of course that this weeks song has to be something really special - and it is, at least for me. Lyndon's most favourite band in the whole world and I have to agree - they are THE ones who ruled rock (and still do)

I couldn't find an exciting Word of the Week, so you have to make do with the "exiting"

sub rosa \suhb-ROH-zuh\, adverb:

1. Secretly; privately; confidentially.
2. Designed to be secret or confidential; secretive; private.

Lastly - here is my {product of the week}, which is a real favourite of mine lately: Vintage book sheets. Gotta love them and they are not always that easy to find in the old writing style. I seem to be using them on almost every project these days and as always you will have the chance to win yourself a set by leaving a comment underneath this post. The winner will be posted after I come back from my holiday around 10th June - good luck!

~*~ POW IV Winner ~*~

You thought I had forgotten, didn't ya?? And if so, then you are right - with yesterday being a bank holiday it seemed like a Monday to me today....

But without further ado I am pleased to announce the winner for the {ticket rak}:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2008-05-27 19:16:38 UTC

This means a little baggie of wonderful tickets will be owned soon by:

"Fab tickets - may have to place my second order within 24 hours!!"
Posted by: jo | May 22, 2008 at 07:47 PM

Congratulations Jo! I still have your addy and will send the lovelies off to you at some time this week. Enjoy them!

~*~ STM #38 and a truly Perfect Day ~*~

How fitting that the prompt for this weeks {scrapping the music} is "Perfect Day", because yesterday was truly that - perfect in every way.


Lyndon's mum and auntie came for a visit and we decided to go to {osbourne house}, which we always wanted to do but never gotten round to it. as luck would have it, the day turned out to be glorious, even though the weather forecast predicted downpours of rain and stormy winds....it was a perfect day! Sunshine, blue skies and not one bit of wind in sight.
There is so much to see inside and outside Osbourne house that we vowed to go back soon to get the full benefit of the humongous gardens - it took us almost 2 hours just to walk through the house, by the time the grounds closed we had no time left to get the full views of the gardens.
If you are ever on the Isle of Wight please DO go to Osbourne House - it is SO worth the entrance money.

I also managed to finish quite a couple of projects during t th weekend (and as it is bank holiday Monday in the UK I will be able to do some more today...)

First off is a little alterable box, which I received as part of the altered item swap on {scrapitude}. I was so lucky that the wonderful {audrey} was assigned to be my swapee as I received the most amazing stuff from her and I will create many more projects with the yummy stash. The little box holds all my trinkets which will eventually show up on some of my projects. It was such fun to do the wee box.
 
Then I managed to finish the second {mid-month challenge} on Cocoa Daisy. This time we were asked to frame page elements in a different way.  I thought it was about time to use some of millions of buttons and so I framed Lyndon's picture with a plethora of them. I really love how this layout turned out.

Now I need to get ready for  {the sound of music} which will be on the telly in a minute. Gotta LOVE that musical

~*~ SOW - WOW - POW IV ~*~

Now tell me - how on earth did you survive the last two weeks without my words of wisdom, hu? HU??

I know it must have been so dang hard and I try to make up for it with some extra special stuff today *snigger*

First off is one of my all-time favourite bands with one of my all-time favourite song of theirs. Gosh they take me back to the fun filled 80's but have a look for yourselves

They are just the coolest EVAH!!!!

My Word of the Day is kinda lame, compared to the ones I found before, but still - it's something different I guess:

lionize \LY-uh-nyz\, transitive verb:

To treat or regard as an object of great interest or importance

I guess no one is lionizing this blog entry right now *lmbo*

Last but as always by no means least is my Product of the Week and I have to say that one of my favourite things to work with on any kind of projects are {tags and tickets}  - so, if you leave a comment under this post you will be put into the draw to win a selection of my favourite tags and tickets.

Thanks for reading as always and have a Happy Humpday

~*~ #37 STM "Breathe In" ~*~

Our latest challenge went up at {scrapping the music} and I loved loved LOVED scrapping to this fantastic song.

The picture is of our family when we returned from winning 10,000 German Marks on a TV show and we had to constantly remind ourselves to keep breathing - we were so pumped!!

Products used: Papers - Frances Meyer * Tag - Unknown * Stamp - Fontwerks * Buttons, Stickers - Rusty Pickle * Rub Ons - 7Gypsies * Flowers - Bazzill, Queen & Co

~*~ OMG, I scrapped!!! ~*~

What is the world coming to?? I can't believe that I actually managed to get out of my funk and right into my scrappin' hole :)

I was prompted by a wonderful challenge posted on {cocoa daisy} to use a poem on a layout and this fun picture of {simone}, {nat} and {christiane} was lying on my table for ages waiting to be scrapped. With the perfect poem, it was done within half an hour.

For the background I painted some bubble wrap with white Gesso and pressed it onto the cardstock. Additionally I brushed the edges with gesso for a shabby look. The papers used on this layout are just scraps from {my minds eye}. Recently I am scrapping with scraps only - I figured until I have used them all up there is no way I am allowed to buy some new stuff (I wonder how long I will last)

~*~ I *heart* NY ~*~

Isn't it funny how just one experience can totally change your attitude towards someone or something? When I first visited {new york} in 1991 I left after only one day as I couldn't take the utter rudeness and unhelpfulness of its people. many of my friends had experienced the same issues and none of us ever thought we would go back there.
Thanks to my work at {cunard} I have been given the opportunity to spend a day in New York a week ago at the {marriott marquis} before joining {queen mary 2} on her voyage back to {southampton}.

It totally changed my attitude towards New Yorkers and I can now say that I truly LOVE NY! I experienced nothing other than sheer friendliness, everyone was helpful and smiling. Even the Immigartion officers upon arrival at Newark were totally sweet - mine even smiled :)

But let's start at the beginning - on Friday morning I had to get up at 2:00 am to get off the Isle of Wight in time for me 9:00 am flight from Heathrow to Newark. The last flight I had with BA was horrible - they staff were rude, we only got one small meal and one drink during a 6 hour flight, so I wasn't really looking forward to this 7 hour flight. But boy, did they pull out all the stops this time. Staff were amazing, the flight left on time, they didn't lose or damage mu luggage - only the landing was something I did not enjoy. Heavy rainfalls in New York made it REALLY bumpy and as I am not a very good flyer anyway, it was freaking me out. Bumpy landing with a little side-skid due to the wet tarmac made me wish I was back home already...

After arrival at the hotel, everything was forgotten - the rooms were lush and overlooking Times Square, it couldn't get any better. Even though the rain kept increasing, a quick tour of the surrounding areas was on the cards and  as soon as I spotted {the chrysler building} , which is my absolute favourite building in the world, I was in heaven....I got as close as my tired feet would drag me after having being awake for 19 hours. Then I saw a "funky" building in the corner of my eye and thought I should take a picture, not even realising it was {the empire state buliding}, which is Lyndon's favourite building. I felt a complete idiot when I noticed the next day that I took a picture of the ESB without figuring out what it was....d'uh - stupid tourists.

The next morning I had about 4 hours for a sight-seeing tour before I was picked up to get to the ship and as it was a glorious sunny day, I made the most of it. First I went to the {hard rock cafe} for breakfast - all you can eat for only $16 (which already included tax), what a fabulous deal. It was great to sit and watch videos of such cool bands like {led zeppelin} and {soundgarden}. After that I went around Times Square, Broadway, 5th Avenue and all that jazz.

I seriously did not want to leave New York and am already planning my trip with Lyndon for his 40th birthday.

Getting on board Queen Mary 2 was almost like coming home as most of the staff were there, who I met last October already, so that was cool. And I got upgraded from an inside stateroom to an outside with a balcony. Guess what was in full view from my balcony - the {statue of liberty} .... how is that for a fantastic view??

The first night started to get a bit "bumpy" and by lunchtime on Sunday we were facing Force 10 gales and 18ft waves, with very rough seas. So much so that even most members of staff had to take sickness injections in order to carry on with their duties. I wasn't sick at all but I just didn't like the fact that we were moving up and down and rolling around a bit. I couldn't help imagining how bad it would have been had I not been on the stable Queen Mary 2...yikes.

Thankfully the next day everything was done and the rest of the voyage continued without any further bumps along the way. Food and service were excellent as always and the entertainment awesome - Lyndon and I are looking into doing a cruise of the Norwegian Fjords at some stage next year, I am totally into cruising....shows my age, hu?

Anyway, that's it for the moment - I am still trying to catch up with my emails and if you are still waiting for an answer from me, I apologise....I get back to you as soon as I can.

P.S. - even though I am utterly in love with New York, I am  very happy to be back home!   

~*~ TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT ~*~

Holy Crap - I am so super-dang happy as I had the most amazing email day today:

I am proud to say that as of now I am part of the Design Team for this wonderful mag

This is one thing I always wanted to write for a magazine and to say that I am part of the ONE and ONLY German Scrapmag (in print form) is the coolest thing EVER!!!!

Thank you {andrea} and {jana} for inviting me to become part of your wonderful vision!

~*~ POW III Winner ~*~

First of let me start by saying that this will be my last post for a while as I will be leaving for New York 2am Friday morning to go on another Transatlantic Voyage on board Queen Mary 2 - yeah, I know, it's a very tough life I lead....but someone's gotta do it *snigger*

So, I shall be back {icebergs permitting} by Friday 16th May.

Whilst I am gone there will be no POW, SOW or WOW {I just love writing those abbreviations....makes me snigger}, so let' celebrate last weeks winner with a song anyway!

And now I won't keep you longer in suspense, the winner of the crochet flowers is:

Ich schließe mich Nat an,haha!!!
Aber ganz,ganz goldig geworden!!!
(Du Streberin ;))  )
Posted by: Simone | May 01, 2008 at 09:26 AM

Simone, email me your addy and I get the flowers in the post to you once I return from being a Globetrotter

And I leave you with a layout that only took me a whole freakin' day to complete {no more speed scrappin' here....} but I enjoyed the process of creating something just for me