The Ultimate Scrapbook Cruise Day 3...

... Day 3 of the Ultimate Scrapbook Cruise was Tuesday, Jan. 14, a day at sea as the Carnival Freedom chugged along towards Grand Cayman. And days at sea on the USC cruise means classes! We scrappers were divided into four groups and I was in Group C. That meant I had Donna Downey's "Swatches" class in the morning and Teresa Collin's class "It's a Love Thing" in the afternoon.


Donna's class featured canvas and I love to work with canvas and other home decor items, so learning about new techniques and products was right up my alley. While there was a bit too much pink in the project for my taste (LOL), I still managed to create some cute "hoops." I still need to tape the ends of the canvas behind the project to hide them, but you get the idea We worked with gel medium (think acrylic paint, but without any color in it), gesso to prime the canvas and India ink for writing. Donna really has a unique style and creativity and it was great listening to "the method to her madness." A quick tip we can all use: Donna brought spritzer bottles to the table so we could blend acrylic paint better. As it dries, the paint does not want to blend, but with a little water spritzed on the painted surface you can blend away! And see those white circles? Those were created with toilet paper rolls and spritzer bottle caps dipped in white acrylic paint. Great idea, Donna! I have already tossed a toilet paper roll in my scrap room to use later!


Teresa's class was familiar territory for me, since she, like me, enjoys using transparent elements, the Bind-it-All and different shaped and sized pages in her albums. She was enthusiastic and generous, giving everyone one of her transparent rings to decorate, as well as a large selection of her different lines. We constructed the book in class, but I have not yet had the chance to finish it. I still need to add danglies and bling and other embellishments, but since I am heading off to CHA in Anaheim, CA, in a few days, I have no idea when I will be able to get back to these projects to finish them. So, the photo above is my project, incomplete.

Tuesday was a formal dining night, plus it was my roommate, Michelle's birthday. Time to celebrate! And with celebrations comes pictures, so we sat for some portraits:




And our steward, Amy, from Thailand, was just fabulous. The towel animals began this evening and she left us with a lobster to compliment the turned-down beds and chocolates on the pillow.

On to Georgetown, Grand Cayman tomorrow!