Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom

Here's part two of three of the before Christmas trip hubby and I took to Disneyworld. To me no trip to Disney is complete without strolling around Downtown Disney and maybe having a meal or two. Hubby and I ate there the day we arrived (Raglan Road and Irish Pub) and the last night we were there (Wolfgang Puck's). We also headed over there one morning before going out to Epcot. Our hotel (Port Orleans Riverside) was a short shuttle boat ride away, or you could take the bus. On that day I splurged and used one the snack entitlements we had with our meal plan and got a deep fried snickers bar from Cookes of Dublin. Downtown Disney has some great shops with more than Disney memorabilia.

Disney has had this promotion for at least two years where they give you a button so you can tell the world what you are celebrating. Some pins are for 1st Visit or Happy Anniversary. I had a pin for Happy Birthday. I wore it all week and really stretched out the number of times people said "Happy Birthday" to me. Almost all the staff does and so do many other customers. It is a great ice breaker when you are standing in line too. Just about every table service meal presented me with an extra desert or added a special little something to the existing desert. Note the way Wolfgang puck did in with my Key Lime Pie --they wrote it in chocolate.

The first two days of our vacation were quite cold but it was warming up the day we went to Animal Kingdom. We ate a breakfast buffet at the Tusker house in the Africa section of the park. It was better than I thought it would be and we got some one on one with Donald Duck and friends. Hubby found a great place for me to take some photos during the parade and we stayed longer than I thought. All in all a great day!

Until my next post,
Diane

Disney Epcot and Hollywood Studios

As I mentioned in a post a few days ago, hubby and I went out to Disneyworld before Christmas again. I know I'm a bad blogger for not having posted these immediately but the holidays snuck up on me and so did a cold that I fought off for a week or so. Also, we had that monster east coast storm....so that's why I'm late. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway instead of posting a bunch of photos from each park I used this free program called Shape Collage. I first found out about this from another blog I read. It is pretty easy to use. If you want to be able to remove the watermark or use the finished product in Photoshop you will need to purchase either the personal or professional edition.

The first day we arrived it was very cold. We started the day at Epcot because we had lunch reservations at Le Chefs de France. If you look close you can see a little picture of Remi from the Pixar movie Ratatouille. It was so cold and windy that day that after lunch we headed over to Hollywood Studios since it is less exposed to the elements. Besides we had some friends to meet. Before we left I got an email from one of our old neighbors when we were in the USAF. They had gotten my early Christmas card where I mentioned we'd be going to Disney. We finally tracked them down by Mickey's Hat and then rode the Tower of Terror with them. Carol mentioned she thought it was just supposed to be her and her husband but when they arrived she discovered her husband had assembled the entire family together. Great surprise!

Some of the other photos in Epcot are towards the end of the trip when it warmed up so I've got less layers of clothing on.

Until my next post,

Diane

Vintage looking Birthday card

This card was made using a layout by Sheetload, patterned paper by K&Co and a sentiment by Crafty Secrets. Some jewels complete the piece.

Until my next post,
Diane

Good enough to eat 2010

Last year I made a gingerbread house after hubby and I returned from our before Christmas Disneyworld visit. Well we went again and here's the creation I made this year.

I purchased it from the Disney Beach Club resort on the first night we arrived. We had reservations at Raglin Road in Downtown Disney. After having a great meal we took one of the Disney buses to that resort and saw their edible carousel creation and bought a kit for me and one for my neighbor.

Here's the lobby of the Beach Club Resort.

Just in case you are inclined to make one yourself here's your shopping list:

Now maybe you aren't into carousels but you'd really like a little cabin in the woods or a summer cottage. Well how about getting the building plans for this:

This would be the day to use the SUV instead of the Mini Cooper to lug the groceries home to complete this creation:

That's all for today. I'll post some more Disney pictures in the next few days.

Until my next post,

Diane



Happy Blog Anniversary

Today marks the second anniversary of my blog. I think it helps keep me motivated to make "stuff". I look at the posts I have in the cue and then think I need to make something and scan it so I can show the world... OK maybe not the world but at least a few of you. I hope some folks out there get a little inspiration for their creations.

As I mention on my blog header I'm not into tagging or awards and for those of you looking for it... NO blog candy.

Until my next post,
Diane

The weather outside is frightful...

The Hampton Roads/Tidewater area of Virginia (where I live) doesn't usually get that much snow BUT on occasion, if the circumstances are right, (like today) we can get a wallop of snow. Yesterday afternoon we saw some flurries and by 6a.m. this morning when I did my early morning walk we'd had about 3" on the ground. It's been snowing all day and the winter storm watch goes until 7p.m. tonight. When all is said and done we'll likely have about a foot of snow. VDOT has redirected some snow removal equipment from areas unaffected to those that are but they will likely focus on the interstate highways and other major roads. The local communities simply don't have that much snow removal equipment. My little joke is that the guy that drives the snowplow can only work so many hours a day that's why it takes day to get your street plowed...if you do. We generally work on the solar method of snow removal...wait a day or so and the sun will come out an melt it.

I must have the only bird feeders in the area:

I'm not looking forward to shoveling tomorrow, this stuff is going to be heavy not the fluffy snow of the west. Look how is just piles up on anything. Here's my mailboxes at the end of the street and the entry with the snow piled on the faux pine bough garland.



Until my next post,

Diane



Merry Christmas

Here's my second group of Christmas cards for this year. As I mentioned in my previous post I only made a few. I'll look into getting some stamps that are a bit more generic so I can use them for winter cards too. Like the cards in the previous post these were made in a class using paper from The Paper Cut and most of the stamps (maybe all) were by Impression Obsession.

Until my next post,
Diane

A Sad State Of Affairs

It certainly wasn't my intent upon creating this blog to use it as a soapbox to voice my comments or political views but I just can't resist the temptation to express my disgust at what is happening to the youth of this country.

A recent report shows 23% of recent high school graduates don't get the minimum score needed to enlist in the armed services. Now these are kids that WANT to join the military...there isn't a draft so there's no need to try to look stupid. In addition, the Pentagon has recently reported that "75 percent of those aged 17 to 24 don't qualify for the military because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn't graduate high school."

Whether or not you believe in a strong defense for this country or think serving this country is honorable you should be disgusted that our nation's youth is in this deplorable condition.

Merry Christmas preview

This year I made a few Christmas cards, just for immediate family and very close friends. I made them all in classes or make and takes. The thing about Christmas card stamps is that they are difficult to use for anything else. I guess if they aren't too "Christmassy" you can use them for a generic winter card but I hate buying something that I can only use for one thing. Anyway here's the first batch. Most were made using paper from The Paper Cut and stamps from Impression Obsession.

Until my next post,
Diane

Christmas ATCOTM

Here's the ATC I made for the Stampers Corner Yahoo group for the ATCOTM club. Someone (sorry I can't give you credit since I don't remember who) sent me this snowflake background paper with a swap. I layered that on top of to pieces of blue cardstock. On top I stamped the busy shopper and embossed the image. I colored in portions of the image with Sakura glaze pens.Three blingy snow flakes complete the piece.

Until my next post,
Diane