My Egypt album is finished!!!

Hooray!  It's only taken me a year and a half to do it, but I'm finally done.  I've loved every minute of reliving that wonderful trip, but really, this was a ridiculously slow album.  I guess planning a whirlwind wedding is not conducive to daily scrapbooking, huh?  Anyway, this is going to be a picture heavy post, because I think I'm going to share every single one of these last layouts in this one post.

We visited two mosques during our last two days in Cairo.  The first one was in the old citadel, and is known as the Alabaster Mosque due to the large amount of alabaster used in its decoration.  It was a beautiful piece of architecture.  I have no idea what the religious significance of most of the elements of the building are, but I  was at least able to admire the beauty of the building itself.  The second mosque we saw was the Sultan Ali Hassan Mosque.

Such beautiful, colorful, geometric designs!  We had to remove our shoes to enter each mosque, but weren't required to cover our heads or western clothing, despite the fact that our tour guide warned me that I might be asked to cover up my arms (I think he meant my cleavage but wasn't comfortable saying it).  I did see a few other women who had been put into these long green robes, but no one from our group had to.  We squeezed our visits to these mosques into the afternoon of the day we flew from Luxor to Cairo.  There really wasn't any time alotted for lunch, so our guide jumped off the bus on the way back to the hotel and came back with falafels for each of us.  I don't know if it was because I hadn't eaten in so long, but that falafel was delicious!  I've tried several falafels here in the US since we came back, but nothing has matched the yumminess of that meal.


The next day, our last full day in Egypt, began with a visit to the Cairo Museum.  I think a month would not be long enough to explore the treasures of this amazing museum, and the few hours we had certainly weren't enough.  No cameras were allowed inside the museum, and there were way too many people for me to get a decent photo of the front.  So I made a layout using a backside view taken from our hotel room.  I also used my ticket as an embellishment on this page:

Just driving around the city provided so many interesting things to look at.  (this layout is a QuickQuotes layout that I got at last August's convention... I just waited til now to share it so it wasn't way out of order)

This layout was designed to fit a lot of photos in it.  The following pics are of all those photos.  It shouldn't be hard to see what I mean about there being so much to watch from the bus windows.

 That last, sideways photo shows the entrance to then-President Mubarek's palace.  And in the photo below, those lips you see were on the front of the key card to our hotel room.  Odd, but totally memory-worthy.

From the Cairo Museum, we went to the Hanging Church, which is certainly the oldest church that I have ever visited.  It's the home of the Coptic Church's Pope, and it was beautiful.  It's called the hanging church because it's built over an ancient watergate.

 Our hotel room had a great view.  In addition to being able to see the Cairo Museum, and the site of future demonstrations, we had a wonderful view of the Nile.  In the late evening, the river was filled with the red sails of feluccas, and later, there were dinner boats alight with hundreds of multi-colored lights.

 As you can see, there is some hidden journaling on this layout.  I decided to include a little bit about the revolution and how my experiences in Egypt affected my interest in the whole proceeding.

I also devoted one layout to the wonderful dining experiences of our trip, including the last night when we chose to eat at a local McDonald's to get a break from the spices that are so different from what I eat back here at home.  There are two hidden photos in this layout.  One is of a glass bottled Coke sitting in the window of our boat cabin (I have a special fondness for glass bottled Cokes, and I was thrilled to have one every day at tea time on board our cruise boat).

Well, that's it for the Egyptian album.  What's next?  Wedding albums, pre-wedding albums, and the honeymoon album, of course!  I just hope that I'll be able to get these albums finished a little more quickly than the last one.  Only time will tell, I suppose.  Til next time, I hope everyone in the US has a wonderful 4th.  I'm looking forward to spending some time relaxing with my hubby, who has spent a lot of time on the road here lately.  Happy crafting everybody!

Patriotic finishes and a bit more Egypt

Is everyone managing to stay cool?  It was ridiculously hot yesterday, and today promises more of the same around here.  But the humidity was unusually low yesterday, at least.  Felt more like Egypt than it did home!  Until my recent move, I have suffered from a poorly functioning air conditioning.  If it was in the 90's or 100's outside, my apartment would also be around 90 or so for a few hours in the afternoon every day.  What a blessing that my new home has real a/c units.  Downstairs stayed cool and comfy all day long, and upstairs was only off by 3 or 4 degrees.  Not bad when it's 105 outside!

Moving on to the real purpose of this post, I have two stitching finishes and three new layouts to share.  Since I've already mentioned Egypt in this post, I guess I'll start with the layouts.  This first layout shows some of the pretty sailboats we saw dotting Lake Nasser.  The boats are called feluccas and we were supposed to get a chance to ride on one during our stay in Aswan.  Unfortunately, our guides declared that winds were not strong enough and canceled that part of the trip.  We did see several of the sailboats being towed by small motorized boats later in the day, so I guess they had a point.  Who wants to be stuck on a hot lake with no wind?  But they were beautiful to watch, especially late in the day like in this photo.

From Aswan, we headed back up the river towards Luxor.  I enjoyed my last views of the pastoral river life.

Once we reached Luxor, we boarded yet another airplane and flew back to Cairo.  We checked into the Ramses Hilton for the last few days of our stay in Egypt.  (BTW, our hotel was looking directly down on the square where much of the protesting took place 4 months after our return to the US.  It was fascinating to watch history unfold in a place that we had been just a short time before, and weird to imagine what it would have been like if we had chosen to delay our travels until February.)

We spent the next two days riding around in a tour bus, taking in the sights of Cairo.  One of the things that has always struck me about Islamic decor is the beauty of the geometric designs with which they embellish their buildings.  So I devoted a layout to some of the marvelous architecture and decor that we saw:

That's it for the layouts.  Not too many left for Egypt.  Maybe I'll get them all finished up soon.  Maybe.

I've also had the time this week to finish up two of the patriotic pieces I shared in my last post.  This first one is stitched from a freebie pattern from Chessie and Me using the recommended fibers on a piece of 32 count Silkweavers Cookie Dough linen, and trimmed with Candy Cane R&R Chenille:

It's a pretty small little piece, so I just finished into a little pin pillow.  I'll add it to my pillow basket that sits on one of the living room bookshelves.  This was a really fast, fun stitch.  

The second piece that I have finished is Blackbird Design's "Land of the Free" from one of last year's issues of Cross Stitch and Needlework Magazine.  I stitched it on 36 count Mellow linen from Picture This Plus.  I used the luscious Belle Soie silks that the pattern called for, but I ended up switching colors for the white, blue, and green.  The recommended colors just didn't look anything like what was in the picture (or like what I wanted my piece to look like).  I guess that's just one of the hazards of using overdyed fibers!  I am pretty happy with the end result: 

Again, I used R&R Candy Cane chenille for the edging.  This piece I'm using as a door hanger on our coat closet in the foyer.  I used some pretty fabrics to back each piece:

I don't have any progress photos to show yet, but I'm stitching away on my last patriotic piece for the summer, Penny America.  I hope to have the stitching done by the end of next week.  That might be a stretch though.  We'll see.

Til next time, I hope everyone has a creative and cool weekend!

I finally scrapbooked!!!

After almost 6 months away from scrapbooking (well, except for the shopping part, I never really behind on the shopping part), I have finally gotten back it and gotten a few layouts done.  I used National Scrapbook Day to push me to 1- get the bonus room into some semblance of organization, and 2- get my scrap on!

On the organization front, a great deal of progress has been made, but there's a lot left to go.  I had more scrap and stitching product than I had storage space in the old apartment.  Now I have the room, but I am still in the process of acquiring the storage units that I need.  Hopefully, I'll have the room arranged completely to my liking by the end of the summer.

On the scrapping front, I have SEVEN layouts to share!!!  Yuppers, I am definitely back in the groove.  I am still working for the perfect place to take photos of my layouts.  There's plenty of light in my new room, but the layouts seem to come out way too dark.  I've tried to lighten them up to better capture their true appearance.

First up, and my favorite from the batch, is a layout about a trip Alton and I took to Death Valley back in 2009.

 I guess I like the color combination.  It was a great trip, which began with a girls' only visit to Las Vegas and ended with several days exploring the area with my honey.  Loved it!

This next layout is a quick, simple one showcasing a photo of my maternal grandparents and uncle working on the farm.  I'm not sure exactly when the photo was taken, but it's probably from the late 60's or early 70's.

 And finally, there are a few more layouts from my neverending Egyptian album.  When I last blogged about our vacation, we were spending our time in Aswan, and exploring Lake Nasser.  With these new layouts, we pick back up from the visit to Kitchener Island and head south in a small, motorized boat.  I think we sailed  about 25 miles from the border of Sudan, and maneuvered amidst the rocks and rapids of the first cataract on the river Nile.  The birdlife here was beautiful.

 At one point, we could see caravans of camels.  Some of them resting on the edge of the desert on the shore of the Nile, and others loaded up and walking along narrow desert trails.  It was surely something to see.  

 Our boat pulled up to the shore, and we had a few short minutes to walk on the yellow sands of the desert. A few of us dared to take our shoes off and wade into the Nile.  It was refreshingly cool, and amazingly clear and clean looking, especially considering the amount of trash we had seen floating on parts of the river earlier in our trip.

From there, we cruised on, and eventually docked at a small Nubian village.  We were greeted by several young girls trying to sell us wooden dolls.  I bought one because I thought they looked so cute.  We were taken to a local family's home where we had some tea, and then they brought out the Nile Crocodiles.  Apparently many Nubian villagers rescue the baby crocs from the river, keep them in their homes until they are larger  and better able to protect themselves in the wild.  It was really something to have the chance to hold one in my arms.  Yes, its little mouth was tied shut for my protection, but it was still awe inspiring.

It was getting later in the afternoon, and as we left the village, the camels were coming home for the night.  Have you ever seen a string of camels come swaying by on their way home for dinner?  They are very focused on their route, and don't pay too much attention to anything in their way.  Including tourists.  It made for some interesting moments.

So that's it for my new layouts.  Next post will either be some more honeymoon photos, or some stitching photos.  I'm not sure which yet.  I did finally pick up my wedding proofs this weekend.  There are only about 800 of them.  I don't know how I'm ever going to choose which ones to scrap, which to get bigger images of, etc etc.  Maybe my next post will be wedding photos.  Who knows.  Tee hee.  Til next time, happy crafting everyone!

A family layout and, of course, more from Egypt!

Is everyone ready for Christmas yet? I know I'm not/am, well, a little bit of both, really. The mad rush at work is (mostly) over. There are a few last minute gifts to acquire, and our annual charity event to get in order. I made a point over the weekend and the first half of this week to find some time for a few layouts, but this may be it until the year is done and over.

Websters Pages has a monthly challenge on their Ning board. This month, the challenge was a fairly simple one: create a layout using their Western Romance line and some of their stick pins. I pulled an old picture of my sister and I and one of our first cousins. We're hugging Champ, who was a great dog, and standing in MaMa and PaPa's barnyard. We're so young! I used the fussy cut flowers and stick pins to cover a funny glare on the right hand side of the photo.

I also made 3 more layouts for my Egypt album... The end is in sight! This first one is a layout about the challenges of negotiating the barter system. I have to say, this was one of the most overwhelming things about the trip. At every temple or monument, you must run a veritable gauntlet of shops and touts, all of whom will try to catch your attention and press you to enter their shop or make a purchase. And they name some crazy prices! And if you aren't careful, they try to trick you... switching the nice display item with a poorer, wrapped item, claiming that a price in pounds was in English not Egyptian pounds after several minutes of negotiation, telling you banana leaves are more expensive papyrus, painted concrete is basalt or alabaster, and on and on. To be honest, I'd have probably bought, but sometimes, after a few hot hours in the sun, I just couldn't handle the mental stress of driving a hard bargain with these veterans of hustle and deals.

On one of the evenings that we were in Aswan, we enjoyed dance performances by a whirling dervish and a belly dancer on board our boat. The dervish guy was really cool. Round and round he spun, and when he turned on the lights in his skirt, it looked really cool, especially in the ceiling mirrors of the boat's lounge. The belly dancer was interesting, but she wasn't nearly as skillful as the dervish was.

The afternoon of our to the High Dam, we boarded little, shaded motor boats and headed for Kitchener Island, also known as Cat Island, to visit the botanical gardens. We were actually supposed to take a felucca ride, but this particular event was cancelled due to low winds on the lake that day. We actually saw one or two feluccas being towed by motor boats after they got stranded on the lake.

Once on Kitchener Island, we had some time to wander through the gardens. We saw lots of cats. I was kind of surprised that they were so small. Based on the stories Elizabeth Peters told about her fictional family's cats, I expected huge animals, but none of the cats I saw have anything on the beasts I'm harboring in my apartment! It wasn't too long into our stroll through the gardens that we noticed something odd: there were a lot of men with submachine guns walking around. After one of them kindly pointed out a couple of birds nesting in a tree, we concluded that they were some sort of hybrid docent/security guard. Alton's imitation of a guide pointing out a bit of vegetation by firing his gun at said vegetation still makes me giggle.

Although I have no photos to show, stitching does continue apace. I hope to start and finish an ornament for a co-worker over this weekend (ha! This may be an EXTREMELY ambitious goal). I am also going on the hunt for some fabric to back a large pillow that I'm working on and want to finish by Christmas (again, probably an overly ambitious goal). Til then, I hope everyone is able to take some time to relax and enjoy some quality family time.

The calm part of the trip

Okay, I figured it was about time I shared another story about our trip to Egypt last year. I can't believe it's been over a year and I still haven't finished my album! It's good that life keeps me busy, I suppose, but this is the longest it's ever taken me to finish an overseas vacation album!

The evening of our Galabea Party, we docked in Aswan, which was the southernmost part of our cruise. The differences between Aswan and Cairo (as well as most of the rest of our trip) were striking. The stall owners were less agressive, things seemed less hectic in general, and it was a wee bit warmer (okay, a lot bit warmer). Goods were cheaper, and there were items for sale here that you didn't see in the north like woven baskets and camel bone jewelry. Most of my favorite parts of the trip took place in and around this city.

We started our first day in Aswan with a boat ride to the island temple of Philae:


It was a beautiful spot in the middle of the lake, with pretty plants and flowers on the edges of the island. The temple, on the other hand, looked pretty much like most of the other temples we had seen on the trip. The novelty was starting to wear off. Just a little. Turns out, this temple, well, really, the entire island, had been transplanted when the dam was built to save it from being completely flooded. It's kind of weird to be someplace that's so old, looks so old, but really, hasn't been in its current location for even a full century.

Aswan is situated on Lake Nasser, and much of our time in Aswan was centered on the lake. I'll post more about our other trips on the lake in another post, but here's a layout I did trying to catch some of the color that I think of when I remember the lake:

Once we returned from Philae to the mainland, we boarded our bus and headed to the Aswan High Dam. We stopped for just a few moments to walk around on the top of the dam and take a few photos. The lotus style monument you see is a gift from the Russians in honor of the workers who built the dam.

From there, we walked through the Aswan rock quarry and took a look at the giant unfinished obelisk, still stuck in the ground after all these centuries. It would have been huge, but it cracked before they finished their work. The small picture of what looks like a little city is actually a cemetery. They built these little miniature homes for their dead, and will come out to their relatives' tombs to have picnics with their dead family. Quite different from what I'm used to back here at home!

I also made a layout to memorialize our tour guide, Mohammed. He was a true fount of knowledge, although there were times when I suspected he made a few things up. He definitely made the trip as wonderful as it could be. I never felt like he was rushing us, he was funny, and he was an excellent source of medicine for tummy troubles! Alton and I still quote him from time to time, our favorite phrase being "yummy shrimps" something Mohammed talked about repeatedly during our time in Cairo.

Sketch contest

I found this sketch blog while browsing through some of the fabulous scrapbooking blogs that I follow. The blog is called My Creative Sketches and they're having a contest over the next 3 months where you create a layout using their sketch for a chance to win prizes. Here's this month's sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

In keeping with my never-ending efforts to scrapbook my trip to Egypt, this layout is going in that album. I used a ton of G45 and Prima product. The photo is of a door in a spice stall at the bazaar in Aswan. Alton and I both agreed that walking through the market was one of the highlights of the trip. So many exotic and interesting things to see! I'll share more about it once I finish all my layouts from that part of the trip, hopefully sometime later this week.

Til then, hope everyone has a creative week, and if you're in NC, take some time to visit the State Fair... Alton and I had a blast there over the weekend!

Kom Ombo and a birthday celebration

Okay, I want to share some more layouts from my Egyptian vacation that I finished in August, but hadn't gotten around to posting.


After leaving Edfu, we continued our journey south on the Nile, and, late in the afternoon, we docked at a temple called Kom Ombo. This temple is dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek, and I thought the carvings here were pretty cool. As we left the temple, we took a few minutes to pause and watch the sun set over the Nile. Kind of an awesome thing to see.

The layout pictured above is one of two double paged layouts that I finished in my QuickQuotes class at CKC Charlotte in August. I thought the colors on the paper were perfect to match the dreamy feel of the Nile River, with the mist rising low over the horizon. And believe me, this layout had tons of room for sticking extra photos on it. Here's a few that I tucked into a pocket we created on the layout:

That evening, as our boat headed for Aswan, everyone on the tour prepared for that night's "Galabea Party." We all bought galabeas... some had more elaborate garments than others, and a few of us bought scarves or headdresses to finish our ensembles. In full regalia, we paraded down to the dining room:

Ahem, you may have noticed that there was one person who chose not to dress in costume. What can I say? My man is certainly not a follower. At any rate, we all got a good laugh out of admiring one another's outfits. During dinner, Mohammed stopped by our table and asked a question. I forget exactly what the question was, but I knew what it meant. See, when we first boarded the boat, we had to provide a copy of our passport. And our passport contains things like... our date of birth. And the boat crew uses that information against you in the most nefarious of manners:

Yep, my birthday just conveniently happened to take place on the night of the galabea party! As dinner was wrapping up, the dining room and kitchen staff would come out beating on pots and pans and singing in Arabic. The maitre d' walked around the room, showing the birthday cake with a lit candle to each table, until he finally came to a stop in front of me. Then he drug me to the front of the room where everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and who knows what else, and one of the staff danced me around a little bit. I have to admit that, while it was a little embarassing, it was certainly the most memorable birthday celebration I think that I will ever have. Please excuse the craptastic photo. It was very dark in the dining room, we were moving around a lot, and poor Alton was trying to cope with my camera.

After dinner, we headed up to the lounge area and hung around for a while, dancing and just having a good time. All in all, a pretty awesome birthday! And on that note, I think I'll call this post complete. Still lots more finished layouts to share, and more silly stories from my journey down the Nile. Til next time, stay safe, stay creative!

Cruising South on the Nile

Hello everyone! Time for another story from my Egyptian adventures. After leaving the Valley of the Kings and the alabaster store, our tour group made its way to the reconstructed temple of Hatshepsut, the queen who would be Pharoah.

My first, most striking impression of the temple is that it was a long, long walk from where the bus dropped us off to the temple itself. And hot. Really hot. Thankfully, there was a little trolly that we could ride for most of the distance. But I could really feel the heat as we climbed up the steps of the temple.

Our guide told us to pronounce the queen's name "hat cheap suit." Alton and I both thought that was pretty funny, especially since pronouncing her name didn't seem all that difficult to either of us. But the funny pronunciation stuck with us, which is why I chose to title my layout with the odd pronunciation:

There isn't too much else to say about our visit to this temple. It was interesting to see images of the queen portrayed as a man. And I was grateful to Alton for buying me a hat at one of the ever-present kiosks at the exit to the temple. The temple is stunning to see.

When we returned to our boat, we set sail south, towards Aswan. As evening approached, our boat slowed on the approach to the Esna Lock. I was looking forward to watching the process of moving through a lock, something I'd read about in history books, but never seen myself. But the real show happened before we entered the lock. We had to wait our turn to enter the lock, so we slowed down a good deal. Still, we were moving much faster than a little row boat could move. Which is why it was simply stunning to watch these brave merchants in their little boats push off from shore and rope themselves to the side of our boat. As the sailors on our boat caught the ropes from the merchants and tied them down, the little rowboats would jerk around as the rope drew taught and they were drug up to our speed. They would then attach to one another, creating a tail of rowboats, weaving alongside our cruise boat. The merchants would then throw plastic bags with scarves or caftans or other merchandise at those of us on the upper deck (or occasionally, people with open windows). Sometimes, they threw their product up even when no one had asked for it, causing some rather hilarious moments as people were assaulted by flying bags. If anyone reached a shouted bargain with them, they put their money in the plastic bag and threw it back down. Otherwise, we returned the unwanted merchandise. The men in the rowboats were very good at catching the bags. And when they missed, the bag would float long enough for them to retrieve it. It was truly a stunning thing to watch.

The next morning began with a trip to Edfu Temple. This is supposed to be the best preserved temple in Egypt. I really liked the bird statues guarding the entrance to the temple (which is why I posed for a picture with one). We wandered all over the site, and even got to see a hint of what the 'holy of holies' would have looked like in ancient times... a darkened room in the innermost part of the temple, with a golden statue inside that would have shined at certain times of day when a shaft of light shone through.
The temple was begun by one of the Ptolemies, and continued to be worked on up through the time of Cleopatra. Our guide pointed out Cleopatra's cartouche on one of the temple walls, and went through the symbols phonetically with us. I've used that cartouche as an embellishment next to the title on my layout:

The little guy went to the vet's this afternoon for an unscheduled checkup. His little mouth had a funny bulge on one side, and I wanted to be sure that there wasn't an infection or something going on. The vet took a quick look, even gave it a little squeeze, and pronounced the little guy to be in fine shape. Turns out, the funny bulge is just a callous, which could or could not be a result of the injury, could or could not go away, but was DEFINITELY not anything to worry about. The little guy showed his appreciation of my care and concern for my well being by helping me snap a photo of my most recent layout:

Sigh, he's cute, but he has so much energy! I hope everyone else has plenty of energy as well, whether it's for stitching, scrapping, or just plain living. Have a great rest of the week!

The Valley of the Kings

Hi! I know it's been a little while since I talked about my vacation in Egypt. My camera and I have been having a little disagreement. I'm still not sure that I've won the battle, but at least I was able to upload photos of some of the layouts I've created recently.

This first layout I created shows the view of Luxor as we approached from the river. In the top photo, you can see the ruins of Luxor Temple on the banks of the Nile. Can you imagine how majestic that sight must have been for ancient Egyptians sailing in to worship their gods? The second photo shows the Winter Palace. Opened in the 1880's, this hotel was THE place for the European tourists of the era to gather and socialize. The Winter Palace features frequently in the adventures of my fictional heroine, Amelia Peabody, so once again, I enjoyed putting a physical image to the imaginary one in my head. We weren't allowed to go into the building, but it was great to see it all the same.

The day after our return to Luxor, we woke before the sun rose to prepare for our visit to the west bank of the Nile. It was a struggle to be up so early, but we needed/wanted to be at the Valley of the Kings as early as possible so as to avoid the hottest part of the day. We began the morning with a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon. These two statues are just sitting there, surrounded by nothing particular (except a few tourist kiosks, of course). We left the bus, took a few quick photos, and continued on our way:

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring cameras into the Valley of the Kings, and it was one of only two places that we visited during our vacation that actually strictly enforced their photography policy. So, I have no photos of the actual valley. It was a hot, dry, rather miserable place, with almost no shade. As we wandered up and down through the valleys, we could see large, gated entrances to the tombs. Many were open for exploration, but several were not. You had to pay extra to visit King Tut's tomb, and Alton and I opted not to go inside that one. Our general admission allowed us to visit three other tombs. We chose to visit the tombs of Ramses III, Ramses IX, and Thutmose IV. That last tomb required a long, hot climb up a tall hill to reach the entrance. As we approached the tomb, we could see workers on the other side of the rise, working on excavations at another tomb. Oh how I wish I could have taken photos of that!

Inside the tombs, it was still hot, but with absolutely no moving air. And the more popular the tomb, the more crowded it was. And the more crowded it was, the higher the humidity inside the passageways. So we ended up drenched in sweat as we slowly followed the crowds through the tombs. But, oh, what beautiful artwork on the walls! And I should mention that the tomb of Thutmose IV, which was so much work to get to, was not so crowded inside. In fact, it was quite empty, except for our little group, which was kind of disturbing in its own little way. Each tomb would wind down, down, down inside the mountain, to the burial chamber, often with various little rooms tucked on each side of the passageway. It was truly an amazing thing to see what the ancient Egyptians were able to create without any modern technology.

I ended up using some images that Alton bought at the Valley in order to create my layout about the Valley of the Kings. Neither are from tombs that we actually visited, but they do give an idea of what we were getting to see:

We left the Valley of the Kings feeling hot and exhausted. But of course the day wasn't over yet! We next stopped at an alabaster store and factory. We watched a short demonstration of how they shaped the stone into beautiful vases and other vessels, and then had a chance to purchase some gifts (of course there was a chance to spend some money!). There were many beautiful pieces for sale inside the store. I got several pieces as gifts for friends and family, included some little Bastet statuettes made of moonstone, which glows in the dark, and pretty little alabaster vase for my mother. I didn't end up with any alabaster for myself, which I kind of regret. Instead, I'll just have to admire Mom's piece when I go to visit her. I took some photos of the workers through the bus window. Why didn't I take them outside? Because I was grumpy and didn't want to have to pay money for the privilege of taking photos! So some of my pictures look rather crappy. Here's the layout:

I made this layout with the July challenge over at Websters Pages ning site, Inspire Me! . The challenge was to create a layout using Bloomers, which are one of my favorite products from the company. I used some older WP papers, and filled the center of the upper Bloomer with some WP trim and a hat pin:

I created the butterflies by punching them out of WP paper, inking up the edges, and adding some bling down the center of the bodies.

Okay, this post is long enough already, so I think I'll save the rest of the day's adventures for another time. And maybe the camera and I will get along long enough to take photos of some of my stitching finishes as well! Until then, happy creating everyone!