All On Board!!!!

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas! By the time I signed up for this cruise it was almost sold out. Despite being thrilled to have gotten on the cruise I was bummed about getting an inner cabin but I was thrilled about our room which was quite a pleasant surprise!

Our welcome aboard reunion is at 7:30. Its a meet and greet type thing where we will receive a commerative tote bag, name tags. Everyone gets to meet Tim and his gang and should be a fun way to start this party.





















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On our way! Well... Almost!

Picture this: close to one hundred sleep deprived excited women trying to go down to the lobby with hundreds of bags in an elevator which at best fit 3 people and a suitcase. Not good. The bitchiness is off the charts!

So here we all are waiting for the buses to take us to the port and the beginning of this adventure!

These two wonderful ladies came all the way from Tokyo!

Bon voyage!











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One more sleep!

I have been in New York since last night and absolutely love this place! I Dont think I would want to live here but what an amazing city!!!! A big group of Timaholics are meeting for dinner tonight and tomorrow we are off!!! I am so looking forward to this! This is my buddy Eileen! She lives here and im so excited that she is in thus cruise!

My poor husband is yhe only man in this group! I am so proud of him for not running away!










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LEAVING ON THE CRUISE IN JUST 4 MORE DAYS!!

It's finally here! I leave for New York on Tuesday and will be onboard the Tim Holtz cruise to Canada and New England for ten days as of Thursday, September 30th! We get back to New York on the 9th and will fly back to Miami on the 11th! It's been a while since I've had a "real" vacation and I am so looking forward to this!

My buddy Eileen (who lives in New York and who I ADORE) will also be on this cruise and I can't wait!!! As my grand daughter would say.... two more sleeps!!!

I will post while on the cruise if I can or definitely upon my return. I plan to do nothing but relax and have fun! See you guys upon my return!

THE LOST ART OF THE PERSONAL TOUCH

This week has been enlightening in many ways but one of the nicest things was to come across business owners that have not forgotten the value of a personal touch in running their businesses.

Let's face it, there are NUMEROUS online sites for art, scrapbooking, mixed media ... just about everything. I have come across businesses with very rude customer service which of course I don't go back to. You would think that with economy the way it is in our country, business owners would understand that we have choices and that choice may not be them if they don't know how to treat their customers.

Anyway, this weekend I ordered stamps from CHARACTERS CONSTRUCTION. These stamps are for making paper dolls and they are absolutely wonderful. I was having trouble paying through paypal and me, being me, I wanted them NOW. So I sent an email advising the company that Paypal was having a bad day and could I pay some other way so I could get them quickly. Well, not only did the owner Catherine Moore, respond immediately, she sent me her telephone number and asked that I call her. When I told her about the problem she took my info and I had my stamps in 2 days! Catherine is amazingly nice and helpful. I thought that was just great and I would recommend her and her stamps to everyone.

Then yesterday I made a big order from BLUE MOON SCRAPBOOKING. They have WONDERFUL products including the full line of Graphics 45 which is my new "favorite". Yesterday I received a wonderfully cheerful message from Scott, the owner of Blue Moon Scrapbooking thanking me for my order and advising me that a couple of the things i ordered were not in stock. He asked me to call him back and let him know if I wanted it to be treated as a back order and wanted him to credit my card. I have to tell you that I was so surprised I called him back and told him so!!! Blue Moon has a new and loyal customer in Key Largo now!

The point being that if other businesses, online and mortar, would realize how important that little personal touch is, how much people appreciate them taking the time to say - hey, you matter! - they would do a lot more business!!!

NEW BOOK

I just today received Lynne Perella's new book ART MAKING & STUDIO SPACES and have to tell you it is FANTASTIC.



I tend to buy lots and lots of books. There are times when I am not very happy at all with the purchase. But Lynne Perella has never let me down! Every time I buy one of her books I love it.

If you want some wonderful eye candy, some amazing advice on storage and a book you will go back to time and time again, this is definitely IT.

Now I am ANXIOUSLY (read that to mean extremely impatiently) waiting for Pam Carriker's book ART AT THE SPEED OF LIFE which I have pre-ordered.



I love Pam Carriker. She is not only an amazing artist but the nicest person you will ever meet. She is a "star" in the world of mixed media art and yet never ever hesitates to answer emails and just be so unbelievably nice! If you are not familiar with Pam, there is an amazing class called JOURNAL 365 where she teaches new techniques for an entire year. Usually once a month. Check her out! You will love her! The class is not cheap but if you break it down into the 12 months of classes you are paying only $10 per class!! No way to beat that! Besides, she is totally amazing.

(Yes, I am an enabler!!! LOL!!!)

Enjoy!

GRAPHICS 45 STEAMPUNK

I absolutely adore the Graphics 45 products and have to say that their Steampunk series is my favorite one yet!!! I LOVE THESE PAPERS. They are absolutely gorgeous and the staples that go with are totally amazing! I came across this WONDERFUL project by Stephanie Miller using the steampunk papers and though I would share it with you.



Yes.... I KNOW!!! Go ahead.... run out and get all these wonderful products!!! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!!!! LOL!!!

A PLACE TO BREATHE

The older I get the more I dream about owning a bed and breakfast. A place for artists, not the "real" ones that make money off their art, but women like me who just like to create - to use art journals for their daily lives; for their sanity. I dream of retiring when I am still young enough to enjoy this. To spend my days reading, listening to music, painting and drawing for noone else but me.

I did these two pages for Heather's Journal of Dreams.

IPad Warning!

Like everyone else I know who owns an iPad, I am obsessed with mine. I take it everywhere for EVERYTHING. It has become as much a permanent fixture with me as my cell phone!

My friend Teri sent me this little video on why the iPad can never replace the newspaper. I thought I would share it with you!

ENJOY!

TRYING TO CATCH UP AGAIN!

I am once again a little backlogged with journals and projects! It's not too bad this time, thank God! I have Heather's Dream Journal, Lil's I Dream in Colors Journal and two Marie Antoinette Journals in line for the weekend. My goal is to at least do one of the Marie's (they are the most time consuming!) and the two smaller ones (the dream journal and the color journal). You know what they say about the best of intentions............?

This was exactly my goal last weekend when I had six journals! Had all the kids (my 4 plus the 4 significant others!) and my grand daughters here all last weekend so it was a full house but it was wonderful to have all my chickens in the nest even if just for a couple of days.

I did get two journals done and out the door this week so that wasn't too bad.

This is the layout I did for Lee's Frida Kahlo Journal - subject of the journal? You guessed it! FRIDA KAHLO. This woman had a very interesting though short and unhappy life. Her physical pain - excruciating and relentless - was only compounded by her love for a man who didn't know how to love in return. Her self portraits reflected the pain, both physical and emotional, that she endured throughout her short life.




" There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst. "
Frida Kahlo

ALI'S STORY BOOK PROJECT

On September 3rd I posted a picture of the story book I made for Ali's Story Book Project. That one is on it's way to Lee in Australia. I received Ali's story book and have now completed my contribution.

Ali's starts the story like this:

"I want to share with you my journey of how I became a gypsy. It was 1901 and I was visiting my grandmother in Costantinople. I had been touring in the area when I came upon a small town called Iznik, situated on the eastern shore of Lake Iznik. As I entered the town a woman in her fifties approached me and said "Oh, Alexa! You've come home!!" I looked puzzled, I had never been there before and she knew me?"

These two pages are my contribution to her story book:




I continue the story:

Then a much younger and very beautiful gypsy woman approached me and holding my hand said softly, "No, you are not Alexa are you? You are much too young."

"Where are you from my dear?" asked the older gypsy woman.

"I really don't know" I replied, "I was brought up in an orphanage and don't know who my parents were or where they were from. I was only told my mother was merely a child when she gave birth to me ... That she died in labor and the nuns took me in at birth."

The older gypsy woman, with a strange look of happiness on her face took my hand and led me to their gypsy trailer.

"Let me read your cards my child, there is much that we must know."

"It is she," the younger gypsy woman whispered to herself "she has come home."

You see, the grandmother was not REALLY her grandmother after all but a kindly old lady who loved her as such.

Ali's story book will be on its way to Lee tomorrow for her contribution to the story!

GET READY LEE!!!!

A TAG FOR SARAH

I've always loved tags. Loved making them, loved using them, loved receiving them! For some reason I have not made tags in a while. (That could have something to do with the fact that I do have to sleep sometimes!)

Well, I was in the mood to make a tag today so I made one for Sarah's Dream Journal to match the pages I did for her today. I think the tags give the journals a little extra something when they are completed.

JOURNAL OF DREAMS

This was the third collaborative project I hosted and it's almost complete. The journals are just amazing. I don't know why this one has moved along so much faster than the others except maybe it's because there are no rules. Anything goes in these journals. The pages are to reflect a dream of that particular artist.

My one biggest dream - and I have few that I have not accomplished - is my dream of owning a bed and breakfast. I would want it to be in the mountains where it's quiet and serene. It would be small and cozy - not fancy at all. Somewhere where you would feel comfortable curling up with your feet under you on the couch in front of a fireplace. And it would be for artists. Not big fancy well known artists, but women like us who love to just sit and create. A place to have workshops. A place to have space. A place to breathe. A place with like minded women to "get" us.

ALI'S STORY BOOK PROJECT

My friend Ali from the UK has once again recruited us for one of her wonderful projects. This is another STORY BOOK. We each make a mini journal. We decorate it and start a story in the first two pages. All subsequent artists do a two page spread from there on developing the story.

I send to my buddy Lee in Australia. This is my journal and the beginning of my story:

Cant figure out how to upload more than one picture from my phone!

Okay, this whole "app" thing is awesome. I love the ability to post to my blog from my phone and its really easy.... But I cant figure out how to upload more than one picture at a time so here is the picture of Kaitlynn I was referring to in the last post!




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Baby Maddie's first football game!

My son on law Derrick, lime my husband, are avid fans of the University of Miami football team. And, once again, football season is here.

Kaitlynn has been attending football games since she was a few months old and yesterday was Maddie's first game.

With green and orange ribbons and bows they were off! Kaitlynn shares her dad"s excitement and gives the "U" sign of the UM fans.




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