Vacation Photo Tray

Karen and I decided we wanted to do photo tray's of our cruise since we had done one last year. We both have bathrooms that are decorated in beach decor and they work well. There were only two white trays when we went to get them and I had to get the one with more slots. Karen said 6 was enough for her to work with...I think she was afraid she might be overwhelmed decorating so many slots and to be truthful I wondered if I could do it.

Supplies Used:
Paper Studio Photo Tray
Make The Cut Software
Tim Holtz bottles
MME Indie Chic 6x6 pad
Stickles
Colorbox Chalk Ink Prussian Blue
Acetate
various embellishments
seashells from Tanio Beach
Creative Imaginations Rub Ons
Mounting Foam
Hot Glue Gun

I put acetate over the photos to keep them free from dust and steam since the tray will go in a bathroom. 

The "Fire In The Hole" is going to be a memory that Karen and I will have since it was the name of a rum we drank...which was not very good.

I cut the life preserver and added some Stickles on the edges of the red.

The charms on the photo at the bottom came from my friend Carmen and they worked great for the tray. I used brads to attach them to the photo.

I thought I should put the year in one of the little slots so that as I grow older and my memory fades I can know what year this vacation took place. The picture of the sandwich is a Conch Burger, it was very good! I added a few rub-ons on the paper with "Bahamas" because it seemed to need something so it wasn't so plain.







The pack of bottles we got at Michaels had several sizes and I thought one of the skinny bottles would look nice with a little note in it. I wrote some gibberish on a piece of paper, rolled it up and then burned the ends.

The anchor was a die cut I had in my stash. The long charm was another one that my friend Carmen gave me.

I thought I needed a ship in the tray and made it in the colors of Carnival ships. I cut two sets of waves and pop dotted them for dimension.

I thought a picture of Karen and I should go in the center of the frame. I added some jute on the acetate piece over the picture and then some shells at the bottom of the picture. I thought it kinda gave the picture an extra little frame besides just the double matting of the photograph.

I picked up some shells on the beach and put those in the tray. Oh and the sand in the bottles came from the beach in the Bahamas as well. The flip flops were in my beach stash of embellies. There is a rum bottle rub-on behind Key West but it is a bit hard to see.

I tried to choose photos that were from each location or something special about our trip.

I found the camera embellishment at Michaels in their $1 bin area. I was glad it fit in the tray as I wasn't sure when I got it but figured I could use it for something. I cut the seaweed for the long area simply because I had to have something there and was running out of ideas.

It took me longer than I thought to finish the tray but I think it was because I was watching "Game of Thrones" while doing this and I kept getting distracted...CONSTANTLY!



I think I might try to pick up some more trays when I am in the city if they are on sale and do one or two as prizes for my Christmas party next year. It did feel good to do some crafting again and I think I will try and get some cards done this coming week. I am running low on birthday cards and I need to replenish my stash!

My Last Weekend In Orlando

Last Saturday I was still in the warmth of Orlando. A dear online friend, Renay, who lives in the area sent me a message saying she and her sister were meeting for lunch and asked if Karen and I would like to join them. Karen has chatted with Renay on Facebook for a few years now, as they both use to play games on Facebook. We had a great time and it felt like meeting up with people we had known in person for years. I am always  amazed how it is so easy to be comfortable with some folks when you finally meet them in person when you have only talked to them over electronic means.

Karen and I went to the HSN outlet and were a bit disappointed because they didn't have much. Of course it was likely due to them getting ready to shut their doors at that location next month. We did see a few papercrafting items, but none of which I was interested in. There was some Flower Soft products and Karen asked if she needed it but I told her "It's pretty cool but to be honest I have had some for a few years and haven't used it" so she passed on it. There were several different packs of Martha Stewart punches, the HUGE ones, and personally I think her punches are a piece of chit *okie still thinks it is odd that she loves EK Success punches and they make MS punches but the quality is definitely not the same* so of course I passed on those. The only other thing we saw that captured our interest was the Fiskar Fuse. I knew I couldn't get it home in my luggage though so it wasn't even much of a consideration for me. After texting my friend Helen, who is like the Papercrafting Shopping Guru, and her telling me it was on clearance in the stores I figured it must be a product that wasn't worth getting so we both passed on it as well.

We hit a Tuesday Morning where I was able to find a few packs of Graphic 45 paper from the Proper Gentleman Collection and one pack from Brides to Babies. I called Linda and asked if she wanted me to pick them up for us to split and of course she said yes. There were about 3 packs from the Curtain Call Collection that I passed on because the patterns were too big for Linda's use and I wasn't interested in them.

Saturday evening was spent getting stuff packed up for going home and getting pictures traded. I got some from a few years ago from Karen that I needed and somehow I missed getting her pictures from this years cruise! *okie bangs head on table* Oh well, at least I have enough pictures to do my memory tray and some layouts and I guess that is all that matters.

On Sunday we decided to go and check out some other Tuesday Morning's to see if they had any Graphic 45, the first one was a total bust and we didn't find anything. But the second one...OH EM GEE! TOTAL MOTHER LODE!

I got papers from Curtain Call, which I had passed on at the other TM but this time they had some that I thought Linda and I could use. There were 3 pages from Wizard of Oz that I liked and picked up, I left the munchkin paper because to be honest it just kinda freaked me out. I got a few more pages of the Proper Gentleman, I had two from the day before, and those will be great for masculine projects. There was only one page from the Brides to Babies, but it has some nice stripes on the back and the front isn't bad and will be good for a layout and some cards. I found 2 pages from Steampunk, we had one that I got about two months ago when in OKC. The big winner was Christmas Emporium and I found 6 pages from this collection. I also picked up two different die cut from a different collection but they go well with the Christmas Emporium and I think Linda can really use those nicely for her Operation Write Home cards. Which reminds me, I need to get Linda's bill totaled and sent to her. She always adds a $300 delivery charge to my bill when she brings me stuff and that is with her driving from 35 miles to my house. I can't wait to see her face when I charge a $2,500 delivery charge since her paper had to be flown 1,700 miles!

I spent the biggest part of Sunday evening organizing Karen's paper. It was funny to hear her say "oh I didn't know I had that" or "I really had that much plain cardstock?". Of course I organized that cardstock by color and explained to her that it is a lot easier to see what she has and to find colors she needs this way.

This picture only shows a little of the mess I had in her living room floor. I also organized her patterened paper by themes so when she pulls out pictures it will be easier for her to grab the paper she should use. I think she was happy with leaving me alone during this task! I was also able to watch the episode of Walking Dead I missed and watch the current episode.

Karen made us a really nice dinner of pork loin, rosemary potatoes and salad. It was AWESOME! I wasn't even sure if Karen could cook! All these years it has always been Karen visiting me, and about the only thing I cook for her is steaks on the grill, and I never thought about if Karen could cook. I have to say she is a fabulous cook!

Monday morning I packed up my last few items and then Karen and I packed and repacked the paper in my bags about 4 times to make sure we had it all spread out and that my two checked bags weren't over the weight limit. Luckily my bags passed, actually they guy didn't even weight them. I tipped him $5 and he just put them on the conveyor belt. I would not recommend this at the Houston airport though...they ALWAYS weigh the dang bags!

After my flight my daughter and sister picked me up at the airport. We went to dinner and then it was time for the hour and a half drive home. Lucy went crazy when she heard my voice and while she has never been a puppy that licked people's faces she was giving me doggy kisses like crazy. I got my bags unpacked and my dirty laundry sorted and then I was ready for bed and to head back to work the next day. I can truly say I am blessed beyond words to have a profession that I love and look forward to leaving vacation to go back to when it is time.

I have to be honest and tell you that I don't remember the last time I have been gone away from home for that length of time and while the time was well spent with my BFF Karen, meeting up with some fabulous friends, seeing new and exotic *okie isn't sure anything was exotic on the trip but figures that sounds really good* places, I am total agreement with Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz - THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Meeting New Friends Who Are Old Friends

Okay maybe that doesn't sound quite right so I should explain. Before leaving for Orlando I posted on Facebook that I would be in the area and asked if anyone in the area would like to meet up for lunch while I was there. After some chit chat back and forth we decided to meet up at The Rain Forest Cafe at Downtown Disney. These gals are new friends in person but old friends from chatting. A couple of the ladies are ones I have chatted with for about 5 years or so and a couple were ones who I have only been chatting with for the last two years or so.

One of the awesome things about Disney World is that people like to vacation there *okie still doesn't quite get the attraction to Disney World but figures to each their own*.  Luckily Jann was there vacationing from Minnesota and Debbie was in from Ohio. I thought all the ladies knew each other and I was quite surprised to find out they didn't really know each other from online.

There were a couple of ladies who planned on meeting up but for one reason or another were not able to make it. Those that did make it were Carol, BFF Karen, Diana, Debbie, Jann, myself and Candy. Candy evidently took this picture since I don't see her in it! *okie also wonders where her picture of the group standing outside went to but can't seem to find it and thinks she is gonna have to beg one of the ladies to send her one*. We had a great time at lunch getting to know each other, well okay them getting to know each other since I have been chatting with them for quite sometime. It was really great to meet Carol in person since she and I were on a design team together and we also have had numerous lengthy phone conversations over the last few years.

Jann is part of the Night Owls group, which originally branched off from the Cricut Messageboard when it started going down hill. The Night Owls have made Mini Me's that travel with each other and get their picture taken. Jann pulled out the Mini Me's during lunch so they could join us! Cheryl from Oz decided to start drinking my slushy drink! *okie thinks Cheryl is quite the lush*. Notice the little Mini Me who is sideways...well that is Camilla, she had too much to drink before we even started lunch! HA HA HA I couldn't believe all the details the ladies put into their Mini Me's and it was fantastic to be able to look at their handiwork.

After lunch we went outside to visit and ended up spending a few hours chatting about different subjects. Candy was nice enough to let me try her caramel apple pie apple, or something like that, from Goofy's Candy shop...IT WAS AWESOME! Too soon it was time for everyone to go. Karen and I had to go meet her brother and his family over by Legoland, they were in the Tampa area on vacation from Tennessee.

Karen and I had parked on the opposite end of Downtown Disney from the Rain Forest Cafe so we decided to hope on the pontoon with Debbie and Jann to get back over to the parking lot. Debbie snapped this picture of us with her phone during the ride. I looked for alligators but didn't see any, actually quite disappointed in my trip to Florida...not one alligator seen!

I feel very blessed to be able to say I have friends all over the country and even more blessed that I actually get to meet them as time goes on! While I may not be a consumer of Cricut products anymore I will forever be grateful for the fantastic friendships that the Cricut has brought into my life.

Our Last Day...Day At Sea

Our last day was a day at sea and we thought we would go sit by the pool. NOT! Every lounge chair was taken so that was out. We finally did find two lounge chairs on the Serenity deck but there was absolutely no breeze at the back of the ship and we felt like we were strips of bacon in a frying pan so only lasted maybe 20 minutes. We spent most of the day just hanging out and enjoying different things on the ship and discussing the pros and cons of this cruise compared to the other two we have taken.

The Punchliner Comedy Club was by far our favorite entertainment of the cruise. We just loved the comedian Chris Wiles and he had me in tears during two different shows. The other comedian Eddie Clark was very good as well but there was just something about Mr. Wiles that hit our funny bones a little more.

Our Utah gals, Ashley and Kacie, joined us the last night for the two adult comedy shows and a girl in front of us was nice enough to take a picture of all four of us. This will definitely have to be made into a scrapbook page!

I warned Ashley and Kacie that they would become material for my Facebook page and my website and joked about signing a disclosure statement. I am not sure if they took me seriously but since they are now Facebook friends of mine as well I guess they know by now that I was very serious! LOL

After the cruise Karen and I discussed our cruising experiences we have had in the last few years and made a few decisions. We have decided we like the bigger ships better than the smaller ones. We weren't disappointed with Carnival at all but just think bigger ships have more to offer. We feel like there has not been any service that can compare to the service we had on Holland America. We did like our room with Royal Caribbean the best, but then again we had a balcony then. We decided The Punchliner Comedy club was our favorite entertainment of the cruises we have been on. Who we cruise with next is a mystery to us right now because we don't necessarily  have a favorite line at this time but we do know we would like to cruise again. We prefer the Eastern Caribbean so far over other locations, this much we do know. We figure we have a whole year to decide what to do next so we aren't sweating it right now. We might actually start looking into an All-Inclusive vacation for next year. Eventually we want to go on an Alaskan cruise but that will likely be a few more years before we do that. I think all we know for sure at this point is that we do want to continue to do a vacation together at least once a year for the remainder of our lives...guess that is one thing that makes us BFF's!

Key West...Our Favorite Stop!

Our stop in Key West was by far our favorite. I am sure there are many stories to tell from this day and many that Karen and I will talk about for years, and some of those that we will never tell another soul! HA HA HA...but seriously, not tellin ya'll everything from this day!

We got into port at 12 pm and our excursion of the pub crawl was suppose to start at 12:30. We had to go through immigration here since we had been out of the US ports and this was our first stop back on US soil, this delayed everyone disembarking the ship but luckily since we had an excursion we were priority cruisers and got to go before the masses. After we got off the ship I pulled out our tickets and the excursion had been delayed to 1:30 so we had plenty of time anyway.

I have to say that our tour guide Robert with The Key West Pub Crawl was awesome! He was very upbeat and must have the patience of a saint to put up with the drinkers during the tour. We had a lot of spring breakers in our group and they did get a bit rowdy at times but were great kids over all.  We got to see the studio where Jimmy Buffet did his recordings and the house where Key Lime Pie started. There were great little shops along Duval Street and we had time to browse during our stops as well, although I don't think many did much browsing.

Karen and I wore our shirts proudly! Here we are modeling our tanks. It took us 4,382 stores before we found tank tops! I knew I should have just gotten the ones at my Walmart at home but just knew Florida would have tons of tank tops. Well they did but most were the spaghetti string ones or they were the ribbed ones. Never again will I think "oh I will just pick one up when I get there"...nope, nope, nope! From now on the project will be done before I leave home. I also learned that you really do need a good solid surface to do the heat transfer vinyl. I did these on Karen's ironing board and some of her lettering came off. Or maybe I should just get a heat press! HA HA HA But seriously, I would love to have one!

Ya know how you hear "It's a small world" well see the three guys in this picture...IT IS PROOF! I started talking to them, well simply because I will talk to a dang tree stump if it sits next to me for more than 10 seconds, and found out they were all from Oklahoma. But not only were they from Oklahoma but they graduated from a school called Butner which was only about 10 miles from where I graduated! For the life of me I can't remember their names. I can however remember the name of the delectable drink I have in my hand...Key Lime Colada!! OH EM GEE It was like heaven in a frosty slushy drink! They did tell me it was worth spending a full vacation in Key West instead just of one day in port.

One of the things people say not to miss about Key West is the sunset and as the sun went down I found out why. This was a little island off the island that had some very large expensive homes on it and it was absolutely breath taking. I know my picture doesn't do it justice for sure!



After getting back to the cabin, showering and getting dressed we decided it was time to get a bite to eat and find some entertainment for the evening. We checked the schedule and decided on going to the comedy shows again and to the Hasbro Game Show before the comedy club opened. 

Karen and I ended up sitting up front because the place was crowded and this somehow lead to me being part of the game show! The cruise director was asking questions and if you knew the answer you had to stand up and get his attention and answer the question correctly. He asked where Starbucks started and I knew the answer so I stood up and jumped up and down. Since I got it right I was told to go up on the stage. There were four people to each team, one was the red team and one was the blue team. I was on the red team and I had two kids and a man on my team.

We were told our challenge was to play Connect Four, but it was a HUGE game! We were actually tossing volleyballs in the large game piece to win. I was rather nervous since I haven't played basketball in years and wasn't sure I could even hit the ball in the top of the panel. HOWEVER, if you will look at the picture and see the red ball on the far right of the game panel moving down...YES! Yours truly made the shot and got it in! Our team won that lead us to getting a large card and having a seat off the stage. We later went up and put our game pieces in to see what our points were, mine was something like 9,200 but the winner had like 21,000 so I didn't win all the fabulous prizes but I did get a $20 gift card to HasbroToys.com and a  Monopoly card game. I asked if I got a free drink as consolation prize and the cruise director said "A free drink? This is a family show...go sit down". He didn't like anyone getting  more laughs than he did HA HA.

The rest of the evening was spent at the comedy show and visiting with other cruisers.

Nassau...Not Impressed

Our stop in Nassau was so short it was hard to do anything and basically we walked off the ship, went out the port looked down the street, went back through the port thing and went back to the ship....bingo bango done!

In all fairness we didn't wake up until about 9:30 that morning and by the time we got ready, went and ate breakfast and got off the ship it was after 11 and everyone had to be back on the ship by 1:30pm so there wasn't much we could do.

We did find a few things to take our pictures by just so we could have some proof we were there. Karen is standing by some kind of very decorative thing that we have no idea what it is. She did have a picture of me by a big bird looking thing but that picture is on her camera and I don't have her pictures edited yet on my computer.  We are thinking these things are used for parades or something. There were little tables of trinket things in this area so you could get some souvenirs if you liked but we passed as we thought most looked like stuff made in China but had Bahamas or Nassau printed on it.

I do have to say the ride out of the port was beautiful and we did stand out on the dock just enjoying the view for awhile before getting on the ship. This picture was taken as we were going out of the port. I believe that big tall building on the right hand side of the picture is the famous Atlantis resort.

We did enjoy a great comedy show this night and after that we went the rest of the remaining nights to the comedy shows. The Punchliner as it is called featured a comic named Eddie Clark and another, who was our favorite by the name of Chris Wiles. We turned in fairly early this night because Key West was our next stop and we had a Pub Crawl to attend! Here is a picture of our sting ray that our room stewards made for us. We did have great room stewards by the names of Julius, Noorad and Stephanus. Stephanus was quite intrigued with our vaporizers and while we were on the cruise he told us he quit smoking "cold goose", which caused Karen and I to giggle and tell him it was cold turkey. I didn't get to see him before I left and ask him if he was still going cold goose with the smoking.

I will be back home in Oklahoma tonight but I will continue with the posts of the vacation. If you are getting bored then too bad, I can't just stop right now and not finish the vacation posts...it's just how I roll ya know! HA HA HA

Freeport Harbour Grand Bahama

When Karen and I decided to find a cruise while I was going to be in Orlando I went looking at the stops available and told Karen "hey have you ever tried a conch burger" and she said she hadn't. I told her "well let's cruise to the Bahama's and go to this little place in Freeport called Tony Macaroni's. It's got great reviews". And this is how we decided on which cruise to take!

We got into Freeport early on Saturday morning and we were up and ready to find Junkanoo beach. We found a taxi for $14 round trip, which isn't too bad since the cruise line wanted to charge $65 for their excursion to the same place and it included a ride over and a beach chair. We paid $2.50 for our chairs over in front of Tony Macaroni's.

The ride over took about 20 minutes and wasn't a bad ride at all. The folks in the little van were all friendly and we chit chatted the whole way over. When we walked down the beach a bit to Tony Macaroni's Karen said "This is it? You gotta be kiddin me!" and I told her "I told you it was a little shack on the beach!". And yes folks, what you see in the picture is the whole establishment! A man walked up right after we did and evidently he is a regular as he started giving the two women there hugs and talking about how he was sad to leave once again and he told us "this is the best place in all of the Bahamas". We quickly found out that he was probably right!

The folks were super friendly there and Tony was nice enough to even show us how he prepares the conch by "Crack It. Stick It. Pull It.". I think Tony was laughing in this picture at Karen getting the heebie jeebies from the slimy looking creature that lived in the shell. He was very patient with our questions and told us step by step on how the process works and how the creature lives in the ocean. He even told us we get a free conch shell with every purchase. Mine will be going in my beach bathroom when I get home!

While we were waiting for it to be time for the conch to be prepared we decided to go sit on the beach. They charged us $5 for beach chairs, 2 for 1, in our case *okie so loves a bargain*. There were not as many people in this area of the beach as there was closer down to the Junkanoo beach club. Some young guys tried to get us to play volleyball and we told them we would be right over after they warmed up the net...and NO, we did not go play volleyball. This is the gorgeous view we had in front of Tony's place.

The tables were starting to fill up and we thought we better go make our order. We found a spot next to a really nice couple who have a long distance relationship. The man lived in area and works as a pilot while she lives in Ft. Lauderdale. She said with him being a pilot it helped a lot with them being able to see each other often *okie was sure to tell everyone she is nosy and likes to know about folks to ease their shock at okie's questions about personal lives*. This is a picture of the Conch Burger, Karen and I decided to share in case we didn't like it but we really did like it! It was rather filling so we didn't need to order another.

Here is Karen biting into the Conch Burger for the first time. I think we were both surprised at the wonderful taste. Someone asked us if it tasted like chicken and we both said no but weren't sure what it tasted like. It was tender and didn't even really have a fishy taste to it. Some parts were a little chewy but it was still delicious!

After eating we decided we should head back to where the van would pick us up so we could get back to the ship. Once we got back to the port area we ran into Kacie and Ashley and decided to sit and enjoy a drink. Ashley and Kacie told us about their adventures of the day and we got to know each other a bit more before going back aboard.

Here is a picture of Ashley and Karen. Notice Karen's St. Patricks Day attire! We had some other beads but gave a few strands away during the day. Some guy wanted to flash us for beads and we told him no...later that night he did flash us, along with doing the worm on the deck of the ship but we still didn't give him any beads. 

This is a picture of me and Kacie and it was quite a cowinkydink that she works in a similar field as myself! After polishing off our slushy drinks we were ready to get back on the ship and get cleaned up for the St. Patrick's day party that was planned for the night.

There was a small celebration in the Grand Atrium for St. Patrick's Day before everyone went to the Lido deck for a night of music and dancing. The coolest part of the small celebration was the streamers that fell from high above us. Most of the items they were tossing to the folks were probably left over from a Mardi Gras celebration as it didn't much look like St. Patrick's day items but everyone was trying to catch beads and masks just the same.

I got covered in the streamers and decided to just go with it and wear them. This is Karen and I before we left for the Lido deck. I have found the one drawback of vacationing with just Karen and I is that we have to take pictures of ourselves...well...ourselves! LOL Although there are always folks around who are willing to snap a shot or two. I think I did more picture taking for other people than I did for myself.

Here is a picture of some of the people dancing on the stage on Lido deck. It does not show the full picture of the masses of people that were on the deck dancing. Everyone was having a great time for sure. Karen and I found a couple from Ohio who were using vaporizers like we had. They said they had smoked for years and started vaping in January and haven't had a cigarette since. Oh and by the way...I am still vaping away!

ALL ABOARD!

Okay I think that is for when you get on a train. Not really sure what is called out to tell everyone to get their butts on a ship...ya think I would know that by now but I guess I am always too busy people watching to pay attention!

Our first day on board the Carnival Ecstasy was good. It only took about an hour to get from the Karen's house to the port and the lines to get on board went a lot faster than last year. We got several comments/compliments on our shirts and people wanted to know where we got them. Karen was quick to tell them that I made them.

After finding our cabin we went out to explore the ship and have a drink on deck and relax while waiting for the rest of the luggage to make it to the cabin. One of the first things I have to do after getting our luggage is unpack. I figure that way we are good to go for the rest of the cruise and not digging through suitcases to find clothing. Karen doesn't fuss too much about this because she knows I can't enjoy myself until it is done.

Our cabin was smaller than the others we have stayed in but it was fine for the two of us. We didn't have a mini-fridge in the cabin, which was a bit odd to me and we also only had one outlet by the big mirror. We knew this was an issue and meant to bring an extension cord but forgot to pack it. It wasn't too much of an issue though. We had to laugh at the nice curtain on the wall and then when you pulled it back there was a nice view of...THE WALL! We put our water bottles on the ledge so we could have "a view of the water" HA HA HA. Okay, we are dorks!

After going to the muster drill we went back to the room to see if our luggage was in our cabin and Karen had to try out the life jacket to see if she could remember what to do...she did quite well. Especially since we were both feeling pretty good by this time. She blew the whistle and asked if she did it well and I told her she did but it wasn't very loud and she said "this isn't gonna save my azz". One of my bags didn't make it to the cabin. Instead I got a nice little letter saying I had to go down below and check in because I had a lock on my suitcase. Well no chit I had a lock, I had a big bottle of Sweet Tea Vodka in that suitcase! The man asked if I packed and I said "I had my stuff laid out and my daughter packed for me *okie hopes her daughter doesn't read this post since her daughter didn't pack any suitcase*. It's been packed up for days because I stayed with my friend (pointing to Karen) for a few days before the cruise". He of course found the bottle and tagged it and said I could get it at the end of the cruise. I turned to Karen and said "well I guess I didn't forget your housewarming gift after all! It was just in the wrong suitcase".

We went back to the room and got ready for dinner. We ate in the dining room the first night and since we had "any time dining" we decided to go early. We were seated with a mother and daughter from Alabama or somewhere, they weren't very talkative and then a few minutes later an older couple was seated at our table, their names were Tony and Judith, but call her Judy please. They were a great couple. They use to live in New Jersey, and I was totally amazed that they lived in the country...I thought there was only industrial cities in New Jersey, but are retired to Florida now. We had a wonderful conversation with them and they told us all about how they had a big plow to get rid of the snow in their driveway and how they don't miss that plow one bit. I can't remember what this drink was, but it was the drink special of the day and it was very good!

After dinner we walked around the ship and checked things out...which is short for I can't really remember what we did. I know we decided to turn in a bit early because we had an early morning departure from the ship to enjoy our stop in Freeport Bahamas. We did met two great gals from Salt Lake City Utah, Kacie and Ashley, who become great friends to hang out with during the cruise...you will read and see more about them in later posts!

Quick Check In!!

Thought I better do a quick check in before everyone thinks I fell off the face of the earth!

I made it to Orlando last week. I was suppose to get in on Wednesday night around 9:30 but my flight got delayed due to mechanical difficulties, which I am glad they decided to get a different plane. It is one thing to go down the street in a car when you are having engine trouble but in a plane...DON'T THINK SO! I didn't make it in until after midnight and luckily BFF Karen was able to stay awake long enough to come and get me. We spent two days shopping and taking back things to different stores. I have decided I don't care for her method of shopping. She buys stuff, brings it home, tries it on, decides she doesn't like how it fits and returns it, finds something else, buys it, brings it home and tries it on, doesn't like how it fits....well you get the picture *okie cringes about how tired her feet were from this process happening for two days*. We both did find a few articles of clothing we thought we needed for the cruise.

We left for the cruise on the 16th and came back yesterday. It was a lot of fun and we have decided that 5 day cruises are pretty nice, not too short and not too long. We had stops in Freeport, Nassau and Key West. I will be posting pictures and tellin the stories after I get the pictures all edited.

Today we have a busy day. We are meeting up with some of our crafty friends from the Florida area, and a few who are in Florida for vacation right now, at Downtown Disney. I am excited about meeting some of these ladies that I have been talking and crafting with for a few years now and haven't met in person. I believe we are going to be heading up to the Lego Land area to meet BFF Karen's brother for a quick visit, he has is family in the area on vacation from Tennessee.

During the weekend I have to get Karen's craftroom in order...I MUST DO THIS....IT IS MY MISSION! I will be sure to take before and after pictures to share with you guys. On thing is already organized - the paper I brought her! HA HA HA

See ya'll soon!!

Getting Ready For Vacation!

I've been busy lately getting things in order for vacation and haven't had much time to craft. There is always so much to do before vacation and sometimes I feel like I need a vacation before and after the real vacation!

I got my order from Happy N Scrappin in the other day and had to get my cardstock all put away. The prices were just too awesome to pass up. I was talking to Linda on the phone and telling her and she went in and ordered some of the 12x24 packs of cardstock. We discussed how it can be cut down easily and the price was too good to resist. I don't think they had as many colors as they did when I first saw it but Linda was still able to stock up on some really good colors. She also ordered some of the patterned papers and I had her order me a few of the Jillibean Soup collections. I think we lost track of what I ordered, at least I know I did. That is nothing new for us though, I am often surprised at what Linda brings to my house and tells me I had her order it and she tells me to pay up *okie is beginning to wonder if maybe Linda just does this to get rid of stuff she doesn't want*.

I have another design for a shirt to make for BFF Karen and I, this time think of Pirates of the Carribean! I was looking through the excursions available for the cruise we are going on and there was a Pub Crawl at the Key West stop. I knew this was mine and BFF Karen's kind of excursion! We don't normally do the excursions but this one had 4.9 stars out of 5 stars...how could we NOT sign up? Now the issues is finding tank tops this time of year! I might have to cut the design and take it to Florida with me and find tank tops there. I mean it is summer all year long there isn't it?

Tonight is stamp club so Linda will be down and we will have our evening of fun with the ladies. Hopefully there won't be any little kids in the area this time. Last time I had to sit quietly in the corner. Anytime there are kids in attendance I have to sit in the corner quietly or suffer being chastised throughout the evening for saying inappropriate things. I also got an email this week reminding me about Stamp Club but also pointing out that I can't make any X-rated cards. *DEEP SIGH* I think it might be time for me to stop going to stamp club if they are going to put such limitations on my creativity!

T-shirts For Me and BFF Karen!

BFF Karen is a lover of everything flip flops! I don't think she travels anywhere without her "flips" as she calls them. I am always on the look out for things with flip flops on them but usually I don't find anything that I think is worthy of our friendship. Since I will be going to visit her and we will be going on vacation together I wanted to make something for us to wear and decided that I would do some T-shirts. I searched the internet for ideas and came across the phrase "Flip Floptimist". I am always trying to get Karen to be an optimist and since she loves her Flips I thought it was perfect so of I went to designing something.

This is the original design I made with the idea i my head. I played around with different fonts and I thought this one welded well. I can't even remember the name of it now. After I got it all done I kept thinking it need something else to emphasize more of a beachy summer theme. So off I went to search images on the internet to see what I could come up with to dress up the design a little more.

After searching around I found an image of a life preserver and decided the words in the life preserver might look nice. After importing the image and doing the pixel trace of the image I had to do a little tweaking to get the circle to where I could put the words on there. It also took some time for me to figure out how to get the text in the circle like I wanted. I mentioned this on the Make The Cut forum and Rob from ScrappyDew posted a link to an awesome tutorial on how to make circular text in MTC. Here is link to the video if you are interested WRAPPING TEXT AROUND A PATH.

I posted the design on Facebook and a few people said they would like a car decal made with the design so I do have some of those cut out of regular vinyl. BFF Karen said she needed one for her car as well. Here is the picture of the final design on the t-shirts. I found the t-shirts at Walmart for $4.97 and they are very light weight so will be great for the cruise. I started to make ours the same color but thought we were a little old for being twinkies so I went with blue for Karen and pink for me. Okay I actually wanted pink because to me honest I look smashing in pink!!