Caribbean Cruise!

Oh my pinch me will ya? I can't believe it but went on a cruise! And it was to warm sandy beaches in the Caribbean too! What a dream come true. Thanks to my friend Mike, I was able to have 7 days of cruising in the Caribbean for free.

It was awesome. The ship was beautiful and huge. It's not one of the biggest cruise ships, but it is quite large - 2000 passengers. But I didn't feel crowded at all. There is so much to do and see on the ship, everyone is spread everywhere. The food was superb and plentiful. Norwegian Cruise Lines has a FreeStyle program where there are no set dinner times. It's more like a restaurant -- first come first served. If you want to be seated with others, that's fine, and if you prefer to be alone, that's fine too.

Islands I visited:

St Thomas

Dominica

Barbados

St Lucia

St Kitts

The islands were all pretty. For each port we took one of the shore excursions the ship offered. At St Thomas is had just rained heavily, so our trip was canceled. But our cab driver was the resourceful one and gave us a 2 hour tour for a nominal charge. I liked Dominica the most but it might have been because it was the only island that I took a land tour. We traveled into the rainforest and saw so many plants and trees in bloom. There were also waterfalls too. Just gorgeous. In St Kitts I canceled my train trip in favor of a snorkeling tour. I have never snorkeled before, so I was a bit apprehensive. But I loved it and so canceled the next days excursion for another snorkel trip! Both were nice, but the first site was so clear and beautiful. I saw different fish each time. I took a bunch of pictures with my digital camera and some with an underwater camera too. I haven't gotten the underwater pics developed yet, but when I do they will be loaded with the others.

Purchases: I bought a bunch of stuff. Hey it's a cruise and Christmas is coming up.

Tanzanite ring and earrings

The islands have jewelry shops everywhere. I found a pretty tanzanite ring set in white gold tha I liked and wasn't too expensive. It's a beautiful blue that reminds me of the ocean surrounding the islands. I also found a pair of tanzanite earrings to match.

Diamond stud earrings

I picked up a few freebie sets of diamond stud earrings; the diamond is so small but they are set in gold and look good. I wear them every now and then and I gave the other pair to Grace.

Binoculars

The set I bought online and brought with me were just too big. This new one has a good range and they are so small I can carry them anywhere. Plus they were only $25.

Del Sol: Tshirts, nail polish, tote bags

A company by the name of Del Sol produces items that change color when they are under sunlight. The designs are pretty and I'm sure the kids will get a kick out of the shirts. I also picked up a few bottles of nail polish for Grace. I thought she'd like having color change polish. They also gave every cabin a free tote bag. It is fun to watch the colors change so vibrantly.

soap and eggs

I bought a few bars of olive oil soap, Castille soap, and one other moisturizing soap in Dominica. They smell lovely and I've wanted to buy some before but never did. One of the vendors at the rainforest waterfall had a basket full of tiny rock eggs. I instantly thought of my long haired online friends and bought a few.

I think cruising is the best way to vacation. It's relaxing and everything is within reach.

MGM Studios

MGM Studios was my least favorite at first glance, but after going there, we came back an extra afternoon. Grace wanted to ride the Tower of Terror again; we got there early enough to ride it twice that morning! I liked all the movie structures, the ride inside the studios, and the backstage tour.

This page was made using a page layout stencil. I printed the title from my computer. I picked this dull blue to match the cloudy sky. It makes the page ugly, I should have chosen another color.

Once Upon a Time

There is a tunnel going under Cinderella's Castle and along the walls of the tunnel is a beautiful mosaic. The tiny tiles form a lovely picture of castle life among princes and princesses.

To make the photo border, I used a punch on a strip of paper and cut it to fit the photo. The title was printed on the paper from my computer and redrawn in gold ink.

Main Street Electrical Parade

Oops, I was wrong, we also planned on seeing this parade too. It is certainly popular; there were people lining the streets 90 minutes before the start time! But it was worth it, the music is very contagious, the lights sparkle and the cast members are so friendly and fun. I let the kids sit up close to the action while Mike and I watched from much further behind. You can see Alan's blonde head in the lower left corner of the photo of the pirate ship on the second page. Thanks goodness for those walkie talkie radios!

I used a layout from the Disney scrapbook. It really shows off the bright lights of the parade. I used corner photo punches to hold the photos in the frame. I saved the punchouts and used them to form the circle of the title. I traced the title text from a computer font. The Mickey shape I drew onto paper using a quarter and two dimes.

A Train in Germany

In EPCOT's World Showcase there is a railroad and village in the Germany section. The kids loved playing with the controls and watching the train travel through the village and countryside.

I need a title for these pages! I made this pair at a local scrapbook store's crop night. I saw the train design in a Disney scrapbook and wanted to use it. One of the teachers there had been extolling the wonders of torn paper and I thought it would be a good idea in this page.

A Tapestry of Nations

I think this was the only parade we planned on seeing. This parade happens along the countries in World Showcase. They have two shows every evening, but canceled the first due to winds. It wasn't windy, but after seeing the tall characters I understood the concern for wind. The music was very captivating, so much so that I bought the CD. One thing that I remembered was the HUGE drums that rolled along and the drummers. They were exactly like the drums I remember seeing in parades when I lived in Japan.

I hope by now you can see that I've used this scrapbook to try a lot of different layouts, styles and formats. The background is two papers - first the blue paper then a page of vellum over the top. I thought the vellum was similar to the breezy floating characters in translucence and in the stars and swirls too. I was very mad that the photos came out much darker than I wanted. I admit I'm not much of a photographer. The title was printed on the computer and then torn. I tried to handwrite a lot of the paragraphs throughout the scrapbook, but this time I printed it from the computer so that I could get all that I wanted to tell on the page.

Test Track

I think Alan loved Test Track more than anything. It was a very popular ride. The neat thing that Disney does is provide you with something to see and think about while you are waiting (and waiting) in line for a ride. Test track's waiting line was all about the testing process and the famous test dummies. We rode in a car that took us along a simulated test track, and then we circled around the outside of the building for a really fast ride. I admit it was a good ride. After the ride, you are taken to the sponsor's area where a bunch of new cars are shown and there are some simulated driving games.

This was a fun page yet simple in design. I had an easy inspiration - the steering wheel. To get the rough cut I used deckle scissors. The font is a StarWars font printed from the computer.

World Showcase

		World Showcase was very interesting. Too bad we didn't stay there longer, but then I could say that about everything at Disney. At each country there is a kids stop where the kids are invited to add something related to the country to a mask they make. At one stop they might add feathers, or beads, and so on. Then the cast members there, write the kids' name in their native tongue on the back. Each country's cast members are residents of that country and have come to work at World Showcase for a year. It's a great opportunity for the cast member and a great one for us to visit with the citizens of each country. In between the EPCOT ball and World Showcase is a huge lagoon, it doesn't seem so distant, but it is. When we were there, they had constructed this citrus pyramid from oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. It smelled wonderful.

This set of pages was a belated joy. I wanted something simple and basic and then got the idea to silouette the panoramic shots of World Showcase and use it for a bottom. Then I wrote in the countries as a sort of map of the Showcase. The title was printed from my computer. To replicate the large masks the kids made, I cut out smaller versions and asked the kids to make mini masks. The initial caps on the second set of pages were traced with a light board from a computer font. The Mickey shape I drew onto paper using a quarter and two dimes.

A Bug's Life

This little area in MGM Studios was a lucky find. We were tired and the kids wanted a break; I can't remember where Mike was at the time. There was a playground that was of gigantic proportions to make you seem small. It was very innovative - a roll of film was a slide, blades of grass were slides. And the giant grashopper and fly were so real looking. It was a lot of fun.

I was very happy with the way this page turned out. I think it's because it is an easy layout and the colors are so bright. The grass paper was an easy choice for this page. I then found the vellum leaves and thought it would be a good addition. I also like how the one page matches the other but they both don't have the same page color. Having two pages with the grass paper would have made for a busy set of pages.

Minnie's House

Minnie's House was about the only pictures I took while we were in the Magic Kingdom. I guess it is because there was so much to do, I didn't have time to place the shots.

I wasn't too happy with this page. It looks like a child did it, and I'm sure a child could do much better. I had the two photos and thought about using the stencils along the edge, but the markers made it look fat and fuzzy. I printed the title from the computer and cut out the letters in pink and blue.

Winnie the Pooh!

		In Animal Kingdom, there is an area specfically for snapping pics with the characters. We found all the gang from the Hundred Acre Woods there. Then in MGM Studios, we found Piglet who gave Grace a big hug. I can't remember where Tigger was, I think he was in the Magic Kingdom. Eeyore was in Magic Kingdom right around Minnie's House. It was a very busy line, and we couldn't get all the pictures we wanted

Another set of ugly pages. I had bought the papers knowing I had some Pooh photos. The problem with the busy papers was that I couldn't think of good layouts. In the Piglet and Tigger pages I used a pen to make photo borders that resembled the background paper design. In the Pooh and Eeyore pages I tried to find paper to match for borders.

The Itinerary

It took a lot of planning to be able to see so much and we still didn't see it all. Since we stayed onsite, we could easily return to the room for naps and a quick swim in the Mickey shaped pool after lunch. The kids complained furiously the first day, but were happy afterwards and even looked forward to it in the days to come.

I think this is my favorite set of pages. I like red, white, black and a splash of yellow. I copied it from the Disney Scrapbook, I wish I could say it was my own idea, but it isn't. I used my computer to type the info on the pages and also to print the title letters. I used a big dot for bullets in the list for each day and then penned in the Mickey ears. I purchased the punchies from Ebay for pennies. The three tickets were our park hopper passes, the other card on the second page was our room key, and the Mickey was a cutout from a set of Mickey papers.

Animal Kingdom

This was a new park at WDW. We went in the morning hoping that the animals would be more active before the heat of the day. The show in the Tree of Life was very good, the kids absolutely loved "A Bugs Life."

I really worked a long time on this layout. I am happy with it but I realized that I need to speed up my page creation or I'll be doing this scrapbook for years. Finding that great animal print paper was lucky and it fit so well. I had a photo receipt that a cast member gave me when he took our photo at the entrance. We didn't like the photo, but I kept the receipt. I used it for the Animal Kingdom title. The monkey and giraffe were copied from a coloring book and cut out of a sage green paper. For the second page, I used a layout stencil and cut the ends of the pictures to fit within the animal print border of the page.

This is the first page of our scrapbook. We went in the summer of 2000; it was hot but still very enjoyable. This trip takes planning because there is so much to see and do. I read through the guidebook I bought and talked to the kids to choose our top choices for each park - the things we absolutely had to do. After that we filled in the trip with rides and shows. We decided to take advantage of the park hopper passes we bought and see two parks in a day. I chose parks that had Early Entry for those mornings, and we stayed at Magic Kingdom for the late hours. In between parks, we went back to the hotel to nap or swim. Also on some days we visited the water parks. I bought autograph books and large fat pens (the kind that can write in several different colors) so the characters can sign with their big fists. Each one of us wore a fanny bag. In the kid's fanny bags were their Gameboys, candy, disposable camera, and autograph book and pen. Also, a water bottle fit on the outside of the bag. My bag had my keys, money, some snacks, glasses, wipes, and my camera. The bags were crucial to our enjoyment of the parks. During long wait lines the kids would play on their Gameboys. Many families commented that this was a smart idea, and the kids were very happy to show the other kids their games - instant friends. The snacks were helpful for those times when someone gets hungry and you know it will be an hour or two before you have a chance to stand in another line at a restaurant. If you want to see a larger picture of the page, click on the image. To return, hit your browser's back button.

At the bottom of each set of pages I'll try to describe the scrapbooking involved. This is my very first scrapbook, I'm sure you can see the amateur work but hopefully you can see the progression I've made in reading and looking at other's works. I tried to use a lot of different methods and layouts to see the variety in scrapbooking as a hobby.
This page was made at my very first scrapbooking 101 class. I cut out the Mickey character from a set of Disney papers I bought. The lettering for the title was a royal pain. I cut out each letter by hand (and knife) and then cut it out again but larger the second time. I have forgotten where the letters came from: a stencil I think. Or was it a diecut? The Mickey head was made from a quarter and two dimes.