Patty's Stamping Spot

Cruise to Bermuda - NYC Sail Away

The day we left NYC was a gorgeous day.. chilly but beautiful and sunny.  We love sitting in the Crow's Nest to relax, snack, drink, take photos, socialize, etc., and this "sail away" was no exception. 

View from the Crow's Nest windows:

Here are some photos of the NYC skyline as we set sail to Bermuda...

Empire State Building:

Behind the domed top buildings is the "Ground Zero" area where they are building new structures.

Here is the tip of Manhattan where we caught the ferry to the Statue of LIberty:

Going under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.. "out to sea":

Taking part in the manditory Muster Drill as we set out to sea:

Cruise - NYC

Well, no, we didn't cruise TO NYC, but we flew there before our Stampin' Up! cruise to Bermuda.  The Cruise ship left out of NYC, so we spent a day and a half+ in NYC before the Cruise. It was awesome and made it like 2 vacations in one!

Here are some sights from our "pre cruise" days in NYC:

Times Square:

and the M&M store at Times Square.. what a hoot! 

View from our Hotel room:

We took a carriage ride in Central Park:

I LOVED the architectural detail on this building:

More from NY next time....

Bermuda Cruise - dinners, food, fun, friends

The title says it all... dinners, food, fun, friends.... the best parts of the annual Stampin' Up! Cruise!  This year we had a great time dining each night with the McClurgs and Wakelands (Janice & Paul... we MISSED YOU!).

Here are a few photos of our wonderful dinner experiences.

Yummmmmmm the best shrimp cocktail around!

Surf & Turf night:

Dining in the Pinnacle Grill one night:

"OK, wait.. are you serious... no McNuggets on the menu??"

LOL - Just kidding!

Janice.. I had to have an "umbrella drink" for you...

and Eric had a "non" umbrella drink for you..

and just for laughs.. we got a kick out of this "Charlie Brown Tree" sticking out of Jim's potato! What's up with that?

and to leave you on a "yummy note"....

Bermuda Cruise - Fantasy Caves

While in Bermuda in 2002, we visited the Crystal Caves, which were wonderful! So this time, we decided to visit the neighboring Fantasy Caves.  They are really so very interesting, and beautiful inside.  They are 88 steps down to sea level under this piece of property.  (of course, that means 88 steps back up!) 

Here we are before entering the caves:

Here are some of the steep steps descending down to sea level:

Oh ya, did I mention we had to climb the 88 steps back UP?  LOL

Hope you've enjoyed your travelog for today!

Bermuda Cruise - the Unfinished Church

While on our cruise to Bermuda, we ventured to the other end of the island to St. Georges and walked up a little hill to the "Unfinished Church".  It was really a neat place... I could have taken 100 photos in there.  I hope you enjoy these.

L to R: Eric, Jason, Jim and Doug posing on the empty column pedestals.

Bermuda Cruise - calendar gift - new papers

One of the gifts we received on the Stampin' Up! Bermuda cruise was this cute CD holder Calendar.  It goes from April 2008 to April 2009 - (from cruise to the Hawaii Incentive trip). 

What I loved about it was the designs on the calendar pages and all the fun (NEW!?) designer papers on the back!!  Some prints look familiar but are in alternate color schemes from what we have now.. enjoy this sneak peek!

all images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2008

Bermuda Cruise - Stampin' Relay Race

On the last day of the Stampin' Up! cruise, we had an "at sea day" travelling from Bermuda to NYC across the Atlantic Ocean... the boat was "a rockin' " at times... but not nearly as bad as in 2002 when we did the same cruise with Stampin' Up!.  Anyway.. Stampin' Up! organized a "Relay Race" next to the pool on the Lido deck... we weren't sure what it would be, but my friend Deann and I decided to go check it out... FIRST.. we were watching the kids in the pool.. this video (I know.. can you believe I finally uploaded a video? thanks to DAWN!) shows how much the water in the pool was moving... it's NOT a wave pool.. the ship was rockin' and rollin', and the pool was movin'...  now.. keep in mind the ship was moving this much, and then you'll have more appreciation for my "Relay Race" photos below...

They closed the pool shortly after that so the kids wouldn't get tossed against the side of the pool and get hurt!  Now that you've seen what the ship was doing, you'll appreciate how much we were rockin' when we were trying to stamp this card.  Stampin' Up! paired us with another demonstrator and TIED 2 of our hands together...  we had to copy/stamp a card using our 2 tied hands.. and get this ... NO SNAIL.. only Sticky Strip.. that was MEAN!  So here we are in our efforts to stamp a card.. pretty funny!

We each won a Pretties Kit for our stamping efforts.. thanks Stampin' Up!

Bermuda Cruise - Fabulous Colors! and some Samples

Shouldn't every morning begin like this??  Coffee and danish delivered to your Verandah??  I think so!! 

I wanted to share some fun SAMPLES with you from the display boards on the cruise, but also wanted to share the gorgeous COLORS of BERMUDA...  and no.. I did not retouch these with photoshop.. the sky really IS this blue!

And now for some fun samples from the cruise:

more tomorrow... stay tuned.. or keep checking back I guess I should say!

Bermuda Cruise - Husband Swap

Remember the card my husband made to swap on the Stampin' Up! cruise? (view HERE)  Well, with Ann Clemmer at the helm, the Husband Swap went very smoothly and they all swapped their creations in an orderly manner!

That's my husband in the stripes.. check out that one-handed swapping action!

Thanks ANN for hosting this swap! She made sure everyone lined up properly for an orderly swap!

Pick a card - any card... oh.. they are all the same.. well, pick one anyway! :)

The Husband Swap group and their cards!

FABULOUS JOB men!!!  We are proud of you!

The cards:

My husband's favorite one:

Survival Guide book by John Poehnelt.  Boxes from Oriental Trading Company.  VERY clever John!

Bermuda Cruise - Make & Takes

EDIT 4/8/08: many of you have asked if the new set we got on the cruise was die cut.. YES IT WAS!!  We were speculating if that meant all the sets in the new (Aug. 11, 2008) catalog would be die cut... they did not tell us.. but it would appear that at least THIS new set will be!  yahoo!

One of the highlights on the Stampin' Up! Cruise each year is our Make & Take session. Stampin' Up! gives us a new set and some accessories to make our projects.  This year we got a new set called  "Owl Together Now", seen here:

We were also given the markers and 2 pads in the CUTE tote!!

Here are the projects we worked on during our "at sea day" make & take session.

EDIT: several of you have asked for the pattern for the card below... it couldn't be easier.. it's our mini 3x3 envelope with the flap tucked inside!!  yahooo!  too cute, huh?  :)

enjoy!

Bermuda Cruise - Swaps, samples, new sets

Stampin' Up! displayed and demonstrated some new stamp sets, DSP and cool ideas on the cruise.. FUN new ideas coming our way in the new catalog!! 

New set used on jeans with craft paint.. REALLY cute!

They said that there would be a punch to make this scallop edge.... can you say YAHOO??!!!?? 

Thanks for the photo, Sherrie! :)

I hosted the 6x6 swap so that cruisers could go home and fill a 6x6 brag book with cruise photos.. I asked everyone who swapped to donate one set of their pages to Stampin' Up! and I took photos of them before giving them to the Hospitality Desk.  You can view ALL THE 6x6 samples in my Photo Album HERE. 

Bermuda Cruise - our cabin, gifts from SU! and the NEW IN COLORS!

Here are some photos of our cabin (Superior Verandah Suite) and some of the gifts SU! gave us each night.  I must not have photographed every gift, because I'm missing a few... but this gives you an idea of how Stampin' Up! loves to spoil us on the cruise!

The first gift is an SU! logo blanket which was on our bed (rolled up between red pillows) to keep us warm on deck as we sailed past the Statue of Liberty when we departed NYC:

CUTEST orange tote/purse filled with our Make & Take supplies WITH A NEW SET!

Adorable personalized water bottle with a pack Rub-ons inside... we filled our bottle with pink sand from the beach! :)

Fruit basket with a note that we'll receive the cruise DVD free!

There were a few more gifts... cute BIG tote bag, a calendar, a huge cello filled with snacks... they really treat us well!

AND.. are you ready for this????? HERE are the NEW IN COLORS that will be in the catalog this August!  Aren't they fun and peppy?!?

Bermuda - Day 1 - King's Wharf Dockyard

Data from our Cruise:

• approx. miles flown: 5200
• approx. miles cruised round trip NYC to Bermuda: 1400
• ferry rides taken: 2
• taxi rides taken: 1
• bus rides taken: lots
• photos taken: over 1,400
• a week on a cruise ship with family and friends: PRICELESS!

I hope you enjoy some photos from our cruise to Bermuda last week... I will be sharing a few each day.

We docked at King's Wharf Naval Dockyard in Bermuda and stayed docked there the entire week. On the first day, we just walked around this area and looked in shops and took TONS of pix.   

View from our Balcony as we docked:

Left: Commissioners house (museum now)

Right: new dock they are building for larger ships.

hmmmmmmmmm how did Jason's name get on the dock?  We HAVE been here before.. but I don't think he did this. :)

Photos from the Dockyard Glassworks:

he was making glass fishies

I thought this was hysterical.. they painted his legs on the wall in front of where he sits, so it looks like he's underwater!  LOL

I just love all the great photo opps everywhere I turned! 

That's all for now... I'll be posting every chance I get in the coming week. 

Hello from NYC!

Wow... WHAT A WEEK!  We just arrived  back in NYC this morning from our cruise to Bermuda and we had a FABULOUS TIM