Creative Exploration to Canada & New England - Boston!

Waaaay before we ever set foot on the ship, there'd been chatter about finding a way to get to Absolutely Everything, a scrapbook store outside of Boston.   Patti (who works at the store, and was on the cruise) stepped up and made the arrangements, and we had our dream excursion all set to go!
Now, before you start thinking that I should have been sightseeing instead of finding yet another way to spend my money, I should point out that I have been to Boston many times and though it is one of my favorite cities, I didn't feel the need to see the sights again.  And I REALLY wanted to visit what people have described as the best scrapbook store in the world!
And I had another motive.  One of my online friends lives in the area and she was planning to be at the store when we arrived.
At about 9:15 we left the ship and found the area in the terminal where we'd be meeting our bus.  
No, this is not the bus we rode.  Hah!  I just thought it was cool looking.

 Milling about, waiting for the bus to arrive:

 No guessing which group Wendy and Maurene belonged to:

 Stephanie (AKA the Mad Woman of NJ) and our list mom Gloria:

Our bus was right on time and we are off!  Don't know (or maybe I did know and just don't remember) what bridge this is, but I love bridges and think this is a beauty:

 We were lucky not to run into any of the notorious Boston traffic, and arrived at the store in under an hour.

I only took a couple of photos inside the shop, but trust me.....it does have absolutely everything!  

Clara and I, meeting for the first time after being online friends for quite a while:

The store was huge!

The following shots were taken in their BATHROOM!

Kate, the owner came on the bus before we left to thank us for coming.  She thought I wanted a photo of her breasts, but honestly, it was the necklace I was interested in.

We were back in Boston before 2, and our very cooperative driver dropped some people off to do a little sightseeing.  The rest of us were taken to the ship.

After a nice lunch with Pat, Lori, Wendy and Maurene we went up to Dizzy's Jazzy Lounge for drinks and a free scrapbooking event.  Well, truth be told, we went up there for drinks and the free pack of paper.   Because we hadn't already bought/received enough.  Hah!

That night Pat and I had dinner at Portofino, the Italian specialty restaurant.   It was just lovely, and the food was wonderful.

I didn't take pictures of the food (too busy eating it), but did manage to catch Pat just as she was about to catch me.

And we enjoyed another beautiful sunset while dining.

Tomorrow is our final day at sea, our last class with Tim, and our farewell cocktail party.  Sigh.......

Creative Exploration to Canada & New England - A Day At Sea & Another Class

We're at sea today, slowly heading back south.  My group has the class with Tim this afternoon, from 1-5.  Everyone has been wondering what we'll be doing in this four hour workshop.  When we finally entered the classroom and saw the raw wood curio cabinet, it was very exciting.  I've wanted to do this project since the first time I saw it on Tim's blog.

Along with the cabinet we each received a bag full of various objects that could be used to fill the compartments.....some idea-ology pieces, a bird's nest with eggs, a vintage toy car, glass vials, a frozen charlotte head, and so much more.  Also, from the first class, Tim had been hinting that we should be collecting souvenirs and small trinkets in our travels around ports and even on the ship.  And of course, many of us had acquired some cool vintage pieces right in Mario's shop onboard.

We adhered paper from one of Tim's paper stacks to the inside and back of the cabinet, and wrapped the edges with tissue tape.  After that it was just a matter of arranging our objects into little vignettes within each compartment.

I finished a few areas in class, but left some empty to work on when I got home, where I knew I had some things I wanted to include to make the piece really my own.

Here is my finished curio cabinet and close-ups of each section.

With the door closed:

With the door opened:

The clock face, spinner, wooden hand and bingo piece were all

in the class kit.  At home I cut some of the fabric I'd received from 

Naomi and wrapped it around a wooden spool.  I'll always think

of my new friend from Japan when I look at it:

 The birdcage and bird were in the kit.  I added rocks I picked up

at Peggy's Cove, and the filmstrip is part of the ATC I made for

swapping:

The numeral, key and chain were part of the class kit.  The background of the first

compartment is another piece of my ATC, and the compass I added at home.

The broken rulers were purchased in the shop. The little sign that says, "this is what

ART looks like," was stamped and attached with a memo pin.

The letter tile with my initial is something I had in my stash at home.  Behind it,

a bottlecap I filled with watch parts (all in the class kit) and sealed with glossy accents.

The large glass vial, charlotte head, rusty screen and twine were all in the kit as well,

but I like to think I put them together in an original way:

The nest and eggs were in the kit.  The other bits of nature were added:

In this last compartment I used the butterfly, glass vials and old

viewmaster piece from the class kit.  Inside the vials I put some sand and 

shells from Bar Harbor.  The mussel shell and sea glass were contributions

from someone in class, and there is some dried grass and more rocks

from Peggy's Cove here:

This cabinet can hang on a wall or sit on a shelf.  Tim also gave us foundations (metal feet) to attach to the bottom corners if we want, and a very cool knob for the front cover.

I absolutely LOVE this project!  And I can't wait to get some of Tim's new configurations to make more.  I can imagine doing one as a very specific and personal gift for a special person, or to commemorate a special occasion, or a seasonal one, or a heritage one with lots of old family photos, or......well, you get the idea.  The possibilities are endless.

And tomorrow......Boston, and what everyone says is the greatest scrapbook store,  Absolutely Everything.

Compendium of Curiosities, Week 18 and Simon Says Stamp And Show

Dabber Resist

It seems like I haven't done a challenge piece in forever.  This week's CCC challenge is "dabber resist."  Click on the above link to check out Linda's fab creation and learn more about the whole CCC thing.  Not to mention the fantastic prize up for grabs.

Over at Simon Says Stamp And Show, the challenge is "anything but a card." 
Well, I received my order of Wendy Vecchi's "art parts" just before I left on the cruise, and have been dying to play with them.  The "anything but a card" phrase made that lightbulb go off over my head, and here's what I came up with to satisfy both challenges. 

 The bottom layer is white dabber and wild honey distress ink.  The next layer (the technique doesn't show up too well on this layer) is white dabber and crushed olive distress ink.  Both of these layers are art parts.
The final layer is white dabber and rusty hinge distress ink, done on a tattered floral die cut made of a scrap from a tag.
The center of the flower is a fragment with some patterned paper underneath.
The stem is an art part and it is wrapped with Tim's tissue tape.

The flower is in a stand made from art parts (the circles) and an actual old spool (which was painted and also wrapped with tissue tape).  The circles are covered with some more patterned paper (brand unknown), and I finished the top circle with some beautiful trim.  The gathered ribbon on the top I found at a stamp expo this past summer, and the lovely ribbon with the beaded danglies I bought when the cruise ship docked in Boston and I went on a fantastic bus trip to Absolutely Everything......the best scrapbook store I've ever been in!

Creative Exploration to Canada & New England - Halifax

Things change in a heartbeat.  When I woke up this morning I had no idea how I'd be spending my day in Halifax.  This would be my fourth visit here.  The only thing Pat and I had decided was that we didn't need to sign up for an excursion.

Then, a call from Elena.....Bernie's father had suffered a major stroke, and they would be leaving the cruise to fly back home to Florida.  One of the things I love about Elena is how even in the middle of a personal crisis, she can think about others.  The next thing I knew, Pat and I had Elena's and Bernie's excursion tickets for the day......and not just any excursion.......the SEVEN hour tour!

**(Real time update:   although the initial prognosis was really bleak, I just heard from Elena yesterday that Bernie's dad is showing signs of improvement, and even the doctors are calling it a miracle!)**

This is Robert, our guide for the day.  Very personable and knowledgeable man....a retired high school teacher.  Why the kilt?  Well, for those amongst us who don't speak Latin, in that language, Nova Scotia means New Scotland.

Come along on our seven hour tour (now why does the theme song from Gilligan's Island pop into my head whenever I say those words?)

First stop, Victoria Public Gardens.

Then after a brief stop at the Citadel we spent an hour at the waterfront, where Pat and I had some fish 'n chips at Murphy's Pub, on their deck, where I was able to snap some good shots.

(I couldn't resist zooming in on this pin-laden cap while in the restaurant.)

The bus then left the city and our next visit was Acadian Maple Products, a small factory/gift shop where genuine maple syrup is bottled and turned into various other products.

 

Back on the bus (after sampling some maple peanut brittle), and we're off to Peggy's Cove, a remote and beautiful fishing village and home of Nova Scotia's most famous lighthouse.

 

Our last stop was Fairview Lawn Cemetery, final resting place for many victims of the Titanic.  In case you didn't know, the good people of Halifax were tireless in their rescue/recovery efforts.  There is even a museum in the city dedicated to all things Titanic.

We barely returned to the ship in time for dinner.  Quite the long day!  That night there was a chocolate buffet on the Promenade deck.  I'm sorry I have no photos to document the insanity that is several hundred people who probably only just finished dinner, jostling for position, attempting to fill two plates at one time with mountains of chocolate creations.  I witnessed a woman tripping over a blind person's cane, and I myself was very nearly decapitated by a tray of truffles.  Enough said.  Chocolate does not necessarily bring out the best in people.
Tomorrow is a day at sea.....and our next class with Tim.  Yea!