Simply Wonderful

Hi there everyone!  I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I am back across the pond now visiting with my Mom again in Florida.  I got home from the cruise Tuesday around 1pm, did laundry and repacked and caught a plane on Wednesday morning! Not sure if I'm coming or going at the moment, but I'll keep the blog going so don't worry about that!  I've got another "buckle" card for you today.  I've used the Floral Ovals again, but this time I thought that I would turn them so they were going in opposite orientations .  I cut the largest die as the main focal element piece and used a plain oval for the inside cut.  I cut two of the next sized Floral Oval, again using the plain oval die for the inside cuts.  I stamped my sentiment on a strip of gold card and cut both ends into forks.  I matted it with a piece of pale grey card to give it a border.  I laid the Oval frames out with the two smaller ones horizontally and the centre one in a vertical manner.  I used my sentiment strip to weave it through the sides of the frames and hold it in place.  I put a piece of mounting foam across the back of the strip to secure it in place and attach it to my card.   I tied a double bow with the champagne coloured silky crush ribbon and added a fancy button and two crystal stick pins.  I added a few pieces of pearl swirls to the top and bottom of the card for interest and pierced around the edge to complete it.  Very simple layout but one of my favourite ones to do.  I like the way it shows off my favourite background paper too.  I hope you aren't disappointed!

Now for a few of thew cruise pics!  Here is Sam Poole and Sheila Halliwell posing in front of one of the decorated bikes in Amsterdam.  We had a few free hours before our first workshop the day we docked in Amsterdam so the three of us took the opportunity to explore the city a bit.  There were bikes absolutely everywhere!  I suppose that is because there is little parking anywhere around the many canals that run through the city.

The architecture was stunning so I found myself snapping pics of the many beautiful buildings.  I don't actually know what these buildings were, but the work was truly remarkable, especially this one.

Here is another pic of one of the canals in Amsterdam.  You could take a cruise on one of the tourist boats here to really see the city, but we were a bit rushed for time as we had to be back for our workshops.  Our trip into town was a bit of a whirlwind excursion.

This is a pic of the front of our ship the Ocean Countess.  I couldn't get it all in the pic, but it was completely dwarfed by the Royal Caribbean ship(Vision of the Seas)  that was docked in front of it!  Our ship held about 850 to 900 people and about half of them were crafters!  Amsterdam was very pretty and the weather wasn't too bad that day.  I would loved to have time to go see the tulip fields, but maybe another trip!  More      pics tomorrow for you.     All for now, Sue x