More Cruise Memories

Just some photos from the rest of the cruise.....

This is the beautiful sunset as we were heading out of Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday night.

Al is enjoying the view of Cabo San Lucas....it was the most beautiful morning and the rest of the day was perfect. I let Al go ashore with the rest of the family and I stayed behind with his parents. The ship doesn't dock in Cabo and taking a tender boat ashore wasn't in the cards for Mom and Dad....I had a wonderful time checking out the view from the deck with two of my favorite people.

I loved this chess set....I'm thinking of putting one in my backyard.

Family portrait on the last night of the cruise.

All the girls modeling our matching dresses from Cabo.

And let me leave you with some wonderful shots of the scenery.......

 Mazatlan...it wasn't my favorite stop on the trip......

 The Corona brewing plant dominated the scenery from the dock.

Leaving Mazatlan

 At sea on Friday....don't know which island this might be....

The view from my favorite spot on the upper deck.....

I did have company while lounging on deck......

Thanks for indulging this travelogue; I'm sure this won't be my last cruise.

Another passage from my study of Titus

~ Titus 3: 3-7 ~

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. 

We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. 

Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.

But- "When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, He saved us, 

not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.

He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Because of His grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life."

blessings,
nancy

I'm Back!

Rested, refreshed, relaxed with a suitcase full of dirty laundry and lots of pictures to share! The hubster and I joined several members of his family and family friends on a cruise to Mexico this last week. We had the most glorious weather...high 70s and not a cloud in the sky all week. We were on the Sapphire Princess that made stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.


This first photo clearly illustrates how I spent the majority of my time.....

I would stake out a perfect spot to read and doze....what could be better?  The rest of the time I was busy eating...lol!! I was literally waddling off the ship on Saturday. And this in spite of power walking around the deck about 2 miles every day. Buffets are dangerous places. Delicious but dangerous.

We're off to do some shopping in Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday with all the rest of the tourists.

We got a kick out this sign....I can understand banning drugs, weapons and such but what's so dangerous about a cute little Corgi? 

Here I am with from left, my nieces Amanda and Brittany and Al's sisters Marji and Carol.

Funny story....our first stop once we disembarked in Puerto Vallarta was the WalMart directly across the street from the dock. My father in law left his suitcase at home (not sure how that happened) so we all went shopping to get him some spiffy clothes for rest of the trip. How many people do you know who travel all that way just to shop at WalMart? Just one of our fun adventures in family living.

Monday all the women in our group attended the fancy afternoon tea (we fit it in between the lunch buffet and the four-course evening meal.....we obviously weren't getting enough food so we needed another occasion to eat!)  Seated at the table on the left is my wonderful mother in law, Beverly.

I'll have more photos to share with you tomorrow, I hope you'll come back.

~ Titus 2:11-14 ~

"For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 

And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. 

We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 

while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day 

when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. 

He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, 

and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

blessings,

nancy

Time for some R & R

Hi all....Wasn't the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop a blast? Oh golly, my pulse is just starting to return to normal after taking in all those gorgeous cards and projects. I'm so proud of all of my Hostess buddies and I'm so happy to among this wonderful group of women. Thank you to Hero Arts for being so generous and for providing us all with wonderful stamp designs and quality products, you are the best!

So anyhoo, I'm going to be taking a little break from blogging between now and CHA.  I'll be leaving things in the capable hands (paws) of Tia the attack Chihuahua, along with her large and quite earnest sidekick Digby....oh and they will be supervised by the former Marine.

In the meantime here's a couple of cards to share.....

I just love the old-time-y look of the Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 paper with the fabulous antique bicycle stamp.
(All stamps Hero Arts: CL481, CL497, CG125)

And here is a Valentine/Thank you card...just something a little different....

(Stamps from Hero Arts: CL497,CL404,S5507)

~ Joshua 1:9 ~

"Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, 

for the Lord your God is with you wherever go."

 

I'm sending love, prayers and lots of warm thoughts to all my friends who may be experiencing some difficult weather situations. Just wanted to remind you that God is with you in whatever circumstances you might find yourself.

blessings,

nancy

Hero Arts Blog Hop!

Welcome, I'm so glad you've dropped by!  How thrilled am I to be a part of this 2011 Catalog Blog Hop?!!
I just love all the new 2011 Hero Arts stamps, I couldn't wait to ink them up and have some fun!

Hopefully you've just come from sweet and wonderful Judy's Living the Dream blog. If you've missed anybody or if you find a broken link, you can always go back to the Hero Arts blog for the master list of blog links: http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/.  Also, please email tami@heroarts.com and provide the blog address that has the bad link so we can fix it. Thanks!

So on to the fun....I was head over heels when I saw the fabulous clear set Wish You Were Here CL480; it features some fabulous chairs! 

Don't you just love this chair? I paired it with a new cling background stamp, Classic Fabric Design CG245. The frame is cut out from a piece of Teresa Collins patterned paper and I added the border stickers from Crate Paper's Restoration Collection. The sentiment is from the Wish You Were Here stamp set.


Next I made a trio of framed chairs using the same stamps: Wish You Were Here and Classic Fabric Design.
I also used an idea from Jennifer McGuire to add texture to the chair with the Envelope Pattern stamp S5507. The chairs were colored using Copic markers, layered with the stamped background and put in dollar store frames. I think they will look perfect randomly placed among the books in my bookcase.

I went soft and romantic with this last card using the new Bird Collage stamp K5503.

 First I made a background by stamping with an older Hero Arts stamp, the Shadow Stamp 1. I created a tiled pattern using Antique Linen Distress ink. Then I over-stamped with  Envelope Pattern S5507 in Tea Dye Distress ink. Then I stamped the Bird Collage using ArtPrint Brown Memories Dye ink. Color was added using pencils. I stamped a couple extra flowers to add to the bottom left side. The stamped image is layered with a piece of polka dot paper from Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 Mini Deck. The sentiment is a favorite one from an older HA set called Anytime Messages.. 

~ Philippians 4:8 ~

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, 

and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. 

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

I hope you enjoyed your visit...I want to encourage you to leave a comment because every comment left along the hop gives you a chance to win new Hero Arts 2011 stamps!
Now I'll send you off to your next destination .....the lovely and talented Robin is up next.


blessings,
nancy

Sorry about the word verification...I've been having a real difficult time with awful spam. Thanks for understanding.

Trio of Cards

I've just been playing with some new paper from October Afternoon called Modern Homemaker. I love anything retro 50s, if it's kitschy and cute it catches my eye. I thought the paper would look good paired with my new Hero Arts Scalloped Flower stamp. It has a fun whimsical style that pairs well with the nostalgic paper. So when you have the perfect paper and the perfect stamp, you do some paper piecing!

I thought it would be fun to make a set of cards with slight variations.....

I used some Hero Hues layering paper in Powder for the background which was trimmed, border punched and stamped with another new stamp, Envelope Pattern. I added the sentiments with my absolute favorite: Essential Messages a clear set from Hero Arts. I just love the happy typewriter font.

Hero Arts Stamps: CL371, S5507, H5492

~ 2 Thessalonians 3:5~

"May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ."

blessings,
nancy