Creative Exploration to Canada & New England - Pre Cruise Fun

 

And that mouthful, my friends, is the official name of the 2010 Tim Holtz cruise.
But the good times began way before we even set foot on the ship.
Weeks before, my cabinmate Pat and I got together to decorate t-shirts, discuss our tiaras (yep, you heard that right), and otherwise build up the excitement.
Even before that I was busy with my ATCs and charms and some gifts.

This is the ATC I did (180 of 'em!)

 And this is the back of the ATC

 One of the charms I made for a swap

I made bags for Pat, Lori, and Elena

Every Paperqueen deserves a tiara 

(Lori and Pat made one too....you'll see more of that later on)

This is the picture that went on our t-shirts (Pat did the sketch)

I used it here on a cabin door sign.  Too bad our room was

at the end of nowhere so few people ever saw it.

Two days before the big day, Lori flew in from Illinois and stayed at my apartment.  The following day we gathered our bags and cabbed it downtown to the Hampton Inn; we met Pat there, left our luggage, and began a long day of running all over New York.  We ran into Kathy at the hotel and she came along.

 Pat, me, Kathy and Lori in front of Anthropologie in the Chelsea Market

 A window display

Inside we had an "I can make that!" moment when we saw these wire letters.

From there we went to The Ink Pad, met Teri for lunch, went back to the hotel to check in, hung out for a while, marched all over the garment district, visited Tinsel Trading, and finished the evening with a great meal at Tony di Napoli's with 20+ other cruisers,  and a walk through a beautifully lit up Times Square. 

Bernie and Elena at the restaurant

Times Square

Next......our adventures getting to New Jersey in a rainstorm, embarkation, and the fun begins on the big boat.