Titanic Tuesday - Invitations

Hello everyone.  Today I am starting a new three week long series titled "Titanic Tuesday" to share with you the projects I am creating for an up-coming event.  First, how about a bit of Titanic history:  The  RMS Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland and was the second of three of the White Star Line's luxury fleet. She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. 

The Titanic's maiden voyage begin on April 10, 1912. On board were some of the wealthiest citizens of England, the U.S. and Europe.  Also on board were over 1000 emigrants.   On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm  and sank in under three hours. 710 people survived the disaster and were conveyed to New York, Titanic's original destination, while 1,517 people lost their lives.

The Titanic disaster was the catalyst for many changes and safety features we take for granted in modern day cruising. 

With the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's fated maiden voyage approaching later this month, there is a renewed interest in the ship and the disaster.  There are is also a surge of Titanic related stories, movies, and exhibitions.  Personally I would love the see the new Titanic museum in Belfast!

In honor of the centenary anniversary, my husband and I are planning a Titanic themed party.  Due to previous plans, however, our ship will be sailing and sinking a week late - our party is scheduled for Saturday, April 21st.  I have been planning menus and guest lists and decorations.... And a surprise or two for our guests.  I hope you will enjoy my Titanic Tuesday posts.

Today I am sharing the first of a few projects I plan to make for the party - the invitations.

I used two cartridges to create the invitations:  Art Deco and Life's a Beach.  The ship was cut using Art Deco and aside from a bit too much gold, actually resembles the Titanic.  The anchors were from Life's a Beach and are attached with tiny ribbons and glue dots. 

I used original documents and an editing software to create the two insert pages inside the invitations.  I printed the documents onto white cardstock.  I hope to add a note reminding our guest to BYOLB - Bring Your Own Life Boat!

I will be back with another project later in the week, and this series will continue next Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Flowers and Antiques

Hello everyone!  Since yesterday was my birthday I thought I would share photos of the amazing floral arrangement my hubby gave me!  He spoke with our favorite florist, Cannon House in Aiken, SC and ordered a spring colors centerpiece for our dinning table. 

I photographed my hand with the flowers in an attempt to offer a size reference.  The arrangement is 30" wide x 16" tall.  I absolutely love the colors and the unusual flowers.  One of the new flowers (new to me) is a green-eyed rose.  It is a white rose with a light moss-like center.  Very unusual and very pretty.

The cabinet above is a new antique piece I purchased for our home.  I have decked it out as a bar - filled with alcohol, glassware, bar tools, etc.  It is heavy dark wood, but I do not know what type.  The cabinet is just under 7 ft tall and is 56 inches wide and I LOVE it.

Cruise Layout - Two Ports of Call

It's time for more cruising layouts!!  I have six more pages, or three double page layouts, to share with you today.  These pages are representative of what I did with the shore excursion pages.  The two pages above are of our Freeport visit.  We acted like goof-balls getting off of the ship, playing with the Captain's Wheel.  We then took a tour of the Island and visited some shopping areas.  After we completed our shopping adventure Doug and I enjoyed a local cafe/pub where we cooled off and mingled with locals. 

Above are the first two Key West pages.  I included out City Tour pamphlet as well as various photos from around town.  I wanted this page to be an overview of what we found special about Key West, and that is what I included in my journal block on the left hand page.

Below are our last two Key West pages, but ironically there are at least four more pages that will go between the pages above and those below.  I have yet to complete the pages of the Butterfly Conservatory and our other stops.

 As I said above, these two pages are the final Key West layouts.  These photos were taking at the port, except for the lower two pages on the right page, which were taken from the top of the ship.  The port was so pretty with cute shops, pubs, and a wonderful ice cream shop!  We both enjoyed cooling off in the ice cream shop and sharing out table with one of our fellow passengers.

I may not have a new post tomorrow.  We *just* received a call from Doug's uncle and aunt announcing that they are coming to town tomorrow for a visit!!!  Good thing I did so much house cleaning today!  Yikes.  I will be back by the end of the week.

At Long Last - A Few Cruise Layouts

At long last I am finally ready to begin sharing some of the layouts from my cruise scrapbook. I still have eight or ten pages more to scrap but I have 18 pages that are ready to share. I will share a few layouts today and then more next week.

I am not sharing the opening page as I did not use the Cricut on page one. I ordered a custom die-cut ship with custom wording from Scrap Your Trip for the first page. After page one, I tried to present an over view of each aspect of the cruise: The ship, our stateroom, activities on board, food, night life, and ports of call.

The photograph at the top of the post is pages two and three in the scrapbook.  I used gray-blue cardstock as a base.  I cut a postage stamp trimmed sheet of decorative cardstock in half and used it as base mats for my four photographs.  Each photo is double matted with a white matting in addition to the decorative layer. 

Pages three and four offer an overview of the ship and includes our sail and sign cards which we reserved to use as memorabilia.  These two pages began with printed cardstock.  I added lime green mats and navy blue border stamps to add to the page.  The Welcome Aboard die cut was ordered from Scrap Your Trip.  These two pages also feature border stamping.

Pages four and five are an overview of our cabin and includes photos of our towel animals.  I used blue and yellow mats, as well as fun trim at the top of the page.  I added the multi colored stripes and the yellow ribbon to finish the page.  As on previous pages, I printed my journaling on vellum and added it to the page.

Pages six and seven are the first of two double page spreads featuring on-board dining.  In the photo on the left page we are celebrating our anniversary.  The other photos were foods or beverages that we actually consumed.  Each of the other nights on the cruise we sat with other couples.  Each time I photographed one of our plates I had to explain that I am a major scrapbooker and that food photos were a must!  They seemed indulgently amused though I could tell that they did not get it.  However, I am equally sure that each of you understands my need to photograph everything.

I will be back on Monday with another BBTB2 project to share and next week I will share more of the cruise layouts.  I hope you each have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Anniversary to ME!

I must apologize for being away for so long!  I so enjoyed our 30th Anniversary cruise; neither Doug nor I wanted to exit the ship!  We are already talking about our next cruise. 

We arrived home last weekend and after unpacking and making my way through a mountain of laundry, I began to settle back into normal life.  Or so I thought. On Monday I came down with a virus - an unpleasant virus.  I am feeling totally, completely recovered today, which is wonderful as today is my actual anniversary! 

30 years ago today this cute little couple married:

I think we were 12.  Okay, maybe we just look 12!!!  We were 21 and 22!

I am going to share a few photos of the cruise with you and offer a promise that by cyber Monday I will be paper crafting again! 

View of the Lido deck from deck 12:

View of the Atlantic Ocean:

The Atlantic by night:

The food was AMAZING:

Loved the towel animals:

More dessert:

Key West:

First formal dinner:

 A tiny Key:

Goofing off in the Bahamas!!

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

My Crazy Dog's Craziest Moment Yet....

I have mentioned my dog Duncan so often in the past that I could not pass up the opportunity to share his craziest moment ever... Or at least his craziest moment to date. 

You may recall that I told you how Duncan reacts when I receive a delivery, barking and whining, trying to get to the box and open it for himself.  Well today's delivery from UPS (my new Creative Memories Cartridge, by the way) arrived, Duncan immediately went into delivery dog mode! 

I took the package and put it on the kitchen counter, stupidly thinking that would discourage Duncan's crazy behavior.  In the meantime I went into the next room.  I heard Duncan made a couple of jumps and yelps at the box, but I thought he would realize that he could not get the box.  Then I heard a drawer open and Duncan gave a little bark.  The photo above is what I found when I went back into the kitchen to investigate. 

There he hung by his harness, looking pathetic.  After screatching OH MY GOSH, DUNCAN!  I ran to the other room and grabbed the camera to snap a couple of photos.  If I had taken the time to check I would have realized the camera was set on micro mode - so the photos were a bit grainy.  However, at least I captured the moment!

And here he is, Duncan the wonder dog, resting atop dad, getting his tummy petted. None the worse for wear, and still my crazy fur-boy!!