Slowly easing into reality (& 100th post!)

Is it really Thursday?  Where does time go?  Charlene and I made it back really late Monday night.  I am slowly making my way back into reality! lol


We had a FABULOUS time on THE cruise and staying with Chris and her family after the cruise!  I took a "few" pictures, but don't worry I won't share all of them - there were 1,747 before I started deleting, now I think there are 1,741! lol  (I've only deleted a few I found as I was showing my kids a few pictures I took with them in mind, still have a lot of deleting to do. lol)

To quote Lori "I'll try not to bore you with every little detail, but this blog is my journal", so be warned! lol

We (Charlene & I) left home at 6:00 a.m. (PDT) on Wednesday morning (9/29) and were met at the airport by Gloria A.  Nancy M joined us at our LAX stop.  We were picked up at LaGuardia by John at A Car For Hire.   He was a sweetheart and took us to Little Italy (in NYC) to pick-up dinner (there are pictures of the four of us waiting for our dinner, but my camera was packed so maybe Charlene, Gloria or Nancy will share) and then off to our hotel in New Jersey. 

We made our way to the ship early Thursday afternoon under cloudy skies (because of Tropical Storm Nicole).  (John picked us up at the hotel and dropped us off at the ship)  

First glimpse of the "boat"!

Getting closer!

I actually put the camera away as I madly texted family and friends to say "bon voyage" before we got on the ship and then I was too excited to remember to get the camera out again until we were on board! lol

Our rooms weren't quite ready once we were on board so we made our way to the Windjammer Buffet -

  Then we went on deck to see some sights -

Charlene with the Statue of Liberty in the background (she's really small in the center of the photo) and yes, it was just a bit windy too! lol

Me!

Lady Liberty
(I didn't really get a good picture of her.)

9/11 Memorial at Bayonne's Harbor View Park as seen from the ship.

As soon as our luggage arrived at our room, the first things Charlene & I unpacked were our door signs!  We made 2 so we didn't have to decide who got to keep it!  Charlene's has the red rose, mine the blue!  If you notice the Umbrella Man looks a little bare, it's because we needed Tim to add the finishing touch, his autograph!  He graciously agreed when we asked him! He is the best!!!  

After unpacking,we went to dinner then it was time for the welcoming gathering with TIM et al.  (Sorry no pictures of Tim, they didn't turn out well at all.)  We also picked up our name tags, preordered t-shirts and bags as well as traded ATCs and charms.  

So there you have our first 2 days of  fun!  More to follow in the days ahead including our projects.  Hope you enjoyed the trip so far!

Only one more thing before I go!  This is my 100th post!  You know what that means!  Prize time!   I will make it really easy for you, just comment on this post before 11:59 p.m.(PDT) on Saturday, October 30, 2010!  Only one post per person please, and make sure I have a way to contact you (if you don't want to include your e-mail in your comment, you may email it to me after you post your comment.  There's an e-mail button on my side bar.)  If I get more than 50 comments I will add a 2nd prize package, so go tell your friends! I will ship worldwide so everyone is welcome to comment.

       

The prize includes:

1 pack Ranger 7 x 10 Gloss Paper cards and envelopes (10 ea)

1 pack A4 lavender cards and envelopes

~ 1 yard of peach lace

15 #8 tags

1 each #3 tags die cut with Tim's new Sizzix mover & shaper words
      (Hope, Joy, Love & Wish)

1 Sizzlits "ticket" strip die

1 pack BoBunny Napa Valley Die Cuts

1 pack BoBunny Tuscany Die Cuts

1 pack Cosmo Cricket Jitterbug Collection

1 pack buttons

1 empty vintage "medicine" bottle (from Mario's store on the ship)

1 bottle "perfect pearls mist" - perfect pearl

1 bottle ea red, green and gold "stickles" (these came from the Ranger

       warehouse sale)

1 Ranger Pigment pen (slate)

1 box Hero Arts Vintage Gentlemen stamps (3 stamps total)

1 Ranger Scrubbie (not pictured)

Good luck! 

Linda

Post 99

I am so glad you dropped by!   Most likely while you are reading this I am somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek of the prize for my 100th post when I get home!   

This is only a small peek of the prize package, there will be more!  And since I am spending 10 days with Tim Holtz (and 160 other people) I will bring home something from the trip especially for the prize package.  So watch for my 100th post sometime in mid-October. 

Oh, if I have a hundred followers by the time I get home, it will be an even BIGGER prize package.  I will give you all the details when I get back!

Linda

Going digi

I always say I am not a digital "scrapper".  But I think I have to change that.  Lately I find I am using quite a few digital images that I print and use in projects.  I just realized designed a digital layout for some of my ATC backs!!   Who would've thunk it?

I don't know about you, but when I make ATCs, I end up with some that have really neat and clean back sides and others that are, well really messy.  They typically look something like this:

Not sure what I do that some come out looking so bad, but I do it really well, don't you think? lol  I dislike seeing a mess on the back of my ATCs.  I also have issues with leaving brads (or other things) exposed on the backside of ANYTHNG.  For ATCs my solution is to make a full-sized back.  That's where my digital layout comes into play!

Since the "messy" ATCs ended up with an awesome (in my opinion) backing, it just wouldn't be right for the ones with a "clean" backs to have a plain ol' label slapped on them, right?   I had to come up with another great idea.

I was about 5 minutes from home after work today when I got a call from my FAVORITE LSS (Stamper's Corner) telling me my Tim Alteration dies were in!  Of course I HAD to detour by the store to pick them up.  I really had to.  An idea came to me and I had plans for the "Tattered Leaves" die.  It was going to become the background for the "clean" ATCs!

Here they are: my digi design background and the background using my new tattered leaf die (which just happens to fit in my small xyron)!



What do you think?  Besides the fact I need to practice centering the text in the die a little better (it was so much easier to line it up on the practice  sheets [plain copy paper], lol).  I was pretty happy with the results, until I noticed something.   Are you good at spotting differences?  First one to correctly identify the error in the above picture will win a small pack of goodies. (I will ship internationally too!)  Just leave a comment on this post  The error I am looking for is not the centering (or lack thereof).

good luck!

Linda

PS - the leaf image in the full-size back  is from Microsoft Office.


EDIT - Terry is right, the date is wrong on the full background. (Terry please send me an e-mail with your address and I will get a package out to you this weekend!)   I was not too happy with myself when I realized I put the date we are leaving instead of the date of the cruise.  On the bright side, I only mounted 8 backs on ATCs so I don't have a lot of corrections to make.  Not sure if I am going to cross off the "29" and  hand write "30" or print 30  and "patch" them.   Any ideas or sugguestions?

And to answer Lori's question, YES it is a PAIN to try to align the printing in the die hence the off centered look of the leaf.  Not sure if I am going to do a lot that way, if I do, I may switch to plain copy paper as I was able to align the practice one up easier and just use lots of ink to add some fall colors.

Please note, newer posts are below this one.  Thanks for stopping by!

******February 10, 2010, update ***** 
I still plan to have the drawing on February 15, however, we are dealing with a MAJOR family medical issue, that could cause a delay in the drawing. If it is delayed, I will have the drawing as soon as possible after the 15th but no entries after the 14th as stated below will be accepted.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.  Linda

Finally! I finally got my magic carpet ticket! So, are you having FUN yet?  One World One Heart was started in 2007 by Lisa Swifka as a way for bloggers to meet other bloggers!  As I just started my blog about 1 month ago, this is my first year participating!   I am  excited to participate and am happy that you have dropped by!  Please take a look around, leave a comment and come back often for a visit!

What took me the longest to join this awesome event was trying to decide on a prize.  So here is what I came up with, I hope you like the prizes!  The will be two (2) winners.  The first prize package includes 2 gift tags created by me along with a brand new package of Tim Holtz' Visual Artistry "The Journey" stamps.  I have a set of the same stamps and used them to create the 2 tags!

Prize 1

The 2nd prize package is some "process" art.  I made a similar piece for an art class I took last year and had so much fun, I decided to make other pieces!!  I used spray paint and alcohol ink.  (I like it in person much better than the photo.)

Prize 2

To win, just leave a comment by 11:59 p.m. PST ("California" time) on February 14, 2010.  I will use a random number generator to select the winners on February 15, 2010.  The first name chosen will get his or her choice of prizes and the second name chosen will get the other prize.  Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you.   I will contact each winner and will post the winners on my blog.   I look forward to "meeting" you!  Please feel free to "follow me".  

Good luck!  Hope we get a chance to visit soon!

Take care, be safe,

Linda