Featured Blog Post - Sandy Evans

Another repeat Cricut Cruiser is Sandy Evans, aka Sandy from Ukiah. She was on the cruise last year with us and had such a great time she signed up for this year as well.

Here is a picture of Sandy and Sandie. Sandy is on the left.

Sandy has a blog where she has shared her experiences from the cruise so today I am featuring her Day 3 post, discussing the day in Cozumel. To read Sandy's experience click here --> DAY 3 OF CRICUT CRUISE

Featured Blog Post - April 25th 2012

Since I want to share the experience of the Cricut Cruise with everyone I think it is only fair that you guys can read the experiences of others as well. I will be posting links to various blog posts from others who are bloggers and were on the 2012 Cricut Cruise. They are in no sequential order or anything, just randomly chosen.

Today's featured blog post comes from Kat Schriber of KATSCRAPFEVER and was originally posted on her blog in April 12th.

CRICUT CRUISE 2012

contributed by Annette Hindes

Kat was not a winner of the cruise and she was like me and we paid for our cruise and classes. She did travel with husband and I think they had a great time. Here is a great picture of Kat with Cricut and Cuttlebug.

Formal Night

I really can't remember what night formal night was off the top of my head. I am sure I could look in my camera and get the date and when I get ready to scrap it I am sure that is just what I will do. I wanted to share the picture of the whole group that my friend Danita was nice enough to share with the Facebook group of cruisers.

I know there are some people missing from this picture but who all is missing is not certain. It was funny watching us trying to all fit on the stair case without crowding each other too much.

Notice how Cuttlebug and Cricut are dressed to the nines as well! They didn't join us for dinner that night, or any other night come to think of it. I think the reason might be that some folks are just a little edgy about bugs being close to their dinner plates. 

We actually did another group shot of all of us in our Cricut Cruise T-shirts. I will have to see if I can find that one and post it as well.

When we were all trying to find our spots for the group picture some woman and her daughter decided they needed to go down this very staircase for some reason, not that there weren't elevators on both sides of the stinking stairs!! I wanted to slap her and I think I could have smacked her real quick and blamed it on Karen but since we were just ready to go eat I figured I would just verbalize my displeasure in a polite manner...I think something to the tune of "how stupid can some people be".

The meal was good on formal night and I did enjoy seeing everyone dressed up. I made a beeline for my room as soon as dinner was over because I wanted to get out of the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I have ever owned in my life. Okay probably not the most uncomfortable but I will not be wearing them again for sure!

Big Cricut Found His Home!

I got word last night that Big Cricut did indeed find his way home to Treva's house and while Treva might have wondered what to do with such a larger Cricut I hear her daughter knew exactly what to do!

If you would like to read what Treva has to say about this new member of their family just check out Treva's Craft Corner: CRICUT LOVE. This is also the beginning of me linking blog posts of fellow cruisers who also have blogs.

I can't help but start laughing everytime I think about Dan pulling Treva's name out of the hat as the winner for the gigantic Cricut plushie! We all just kept laughing because Treva kept laughing. I really wish she would have taken it home on the plane so we could have seen pictures of people's faces as she went home toting this large one of a kind Cricut!

Cricut Cruise - Closing Social

After dinner the last night there were Cricut Plushies on our beds and each one had a note stating we would be sent a Cricut Mini machine! Now had I been told this before the cruise I likely would have rolled my eyes and thought "oh great another machine I can't use because I have to use Craftroom" but since we had played around with Cricut Craftroom while on the cruise and I got a chance to use one I was rather excited!


We were to meet later that night for the Closing Social. We knew at this point that the last Golden Cricut Expression was going to be given away! I had told Dan "don't put my name in there, if I won it I would have to polish the dang thing all the time because I wouldn't be able to stand the finger prints!". Now whether Dan left my name out or not is unknown to me. However the winner of the Golden Cricut was none other than my friend Sandie!!

contributed by I2BZ2W8

Here is Sandie showing her new Golden Cricut some love. Somehow she managed to pack that thing in her bag and get it home. I don't think she trusted anyone to ship it to her *okie cracks up laughin*. 

Another big prize was the rather LARGE Cricut Plushie which my friend Treva won. Treva got such a case of the giggles about winning this and thinking of how she would have to buy another plane ticket to get it home. She just kept giggling and that made all of us start laughing as well! Treva was very lucky since this is the ONLY Cricut Plushie this size! I think she could catch a pretty penny for it on eBay but I have no idea what she plans to do with it or how she got it home.

Here is Christy Carson, one of the fabulous instructors from ProvoCraft giving the giant plushie a little love.

contributed by Danita Kinney

Senor Cricut and Senor Cuttlebug even showed up for the party! Being the suave bugs they are they danced with a few of the ladies! My friend Karen Silva can sure cut a rug as she danced and glided with the Cuttlebug! I will see if I can find a picture later of Karen dancing. I was totally jealous of her skills! A lot of ladies clamored to get their picture taken with the Rico Suave bugs!









There were many other prizes given away that night as well. People were winning Cuttlebugs, Quilling Sets, Cricut Back Packs, Imagine Inks and I don't even know what else. Not everyone won a big prize and those that didn't win were asked to leave while the ones that didn't win were suppose to stay. I thought this was very nice of Dan and the others with ProvoCraft to want to make sure everyone got a little something extra. I mean we had already won the Ole cartridge, a back pack, a scoring tip, got $25 in Cricut.com credit for completing a survey, a Cricut figurine, a small and large Cricut Plushie and a Cricut Mini...how much did they think we needed to win??


Let me tell you something about women and free stuff....it is NOT A GOOD COMBINATION! Well the generosity turned into a fiasco as women started grabbing stuff left to right. One woman grabbed 4 of the quilling kits as others were just trying to get one. People were snatching supplies from here and there off the front table. I offered to hand out the Cricut Mini mats because at this point some of the PC folks were starting to look a little frazzled at the chaos. I don't think they had any idea what ugliness would come out of the situation. There were a few ladies trying to snatch the mats out of my hands. Well if you know anything about me you should know that is never a good idea to try and snatch something from me. One lady told me "you need to put those down" and I told her "you can have them if you pry them out my cold dead hands because I am not letting go until a PC employee tells me to put them down". I knew there were a few ladies that had gotten NOTHING during the, well the only way I can describe it is...SMASH AND GRAB and I was going to go down with the mats if I had to but those ladies were gonna get some extra mats if it was the last thing I did!

The ProvoCraft group was nice enough to donate a tool kit and a cutter for the school where I work. I did actually ask since they had donated an Expression during a promotion a few years ago. I took the items to the school and they were thrilled to get the donation!

After most of the ladies left when they felt they would get nothing else *okie sighs deeply and rolls her eyes just thinking about the chaotic frenzy* some of us stayed to help clean up the room. There was stuff everywhere and we sure didn't feel like the PC folks should have to do it all since we knew they had to be tired as well. We started gathering what was left and tossing stuff in boxes and taping them up. Within no time it was all packed up and we were ready to go finishing packing up our personal belongings and get ready for the trip home the next day....

I will be posting more about the cruise as memory and time allow. I will also be sharing links to blog posts by some other cruiser's. I want you guys to be able to get the experience from the point of view of others as well as I might be a little boring...oh wait, who are we kidding? That is one thing no one can ever accuse me of is being boring!! HA HA HA

Day 7 - At Sea, Project 4

The last day of the cruise was a bit melancholy for me, I was feeling sad about the cruise coming to an end and having to leave my all my friends, not only BFF Karen but also the new friends I had made. I was wishing we could just have two more days to spend together where we had no classes or no plans but just time to relax and hang out together. I know many others were just ready for it to be all over, including BFF Karen, but then again she as stressed about just moving to Florida and starting her new job. Wendi was ready to get home and see her kids as she hadn't been away from them that long before. I think Sandie and I were the only ones ready to just stow away and spend another two weeks on board.


Our last project of the cruise actually took up both class times and the ProvoCraft team was great about not rushing us as we all wanted to make sure we got this one right because it was THE BEST PROJECT EVER! Although, I did accuse Dan of them stealing the idea from my blog when I had done a PHOTOTRAY when I was on Joy's Design Team last year.

Here is a picture of Christy showing us the project before we got started.

I swear that woman has the patience of a saint putting up with everyone in class. She seemed to fret, as did Richard and Sharon when I would sit and do nothing and tell them "it's okay" when I didn't have all my pieces or room to work. I guess I should have explained to them that I don't scrap well with others. Hmmm, maybe some thank you notes are in order! Sounds like a good weekend project!

Here is the example we had for reference. I would like to thank Annette, a fellow cruiser for allowing me to use some of her pictures. I am sure there will be others I will thank in following posts about the cruise since there were a lot of things I didn't get pictures of.

Here is the photo tray I completed, again once I got home. I did get some of the parts done during class but I knew I wanted to add pictures so I chose to finish up at home.


The ProvoCraft team pulled all the stops out on this one. We used pleather, vinyl, sand, and even did etching!!


We added sand that we gathered from the beaches on the words Mexico and Jamaica. This was done by adding Glossy Accents on the lettering and then covering with sand. If you try this method I will say don't over use the Glossy Accents or it will be hard to read the letters. We also added sand in the little bottles, one for each place we ported.


I wanted to choose pictures from each place that meant something to me so for the Cozumel I chose the picture of us in front of the ship when we were going to board.


I used my photo program to size the pictures to the correct space I had allowed. I love the passport embellishment!












For the picture at the Caymans I chose the picture of Karen and I with the pirate, it just seemed like a fun picture to use! It's a bit hard to see and you might have to click on the picture and make it bigger, the year 2012 is etched on the bottle of sand. I actually didn't have enough shells to finish this project from what I got on this trip but luckily I had some from my stash from last year's trip. I figure at least they all did come from the Caribbean Sea so it is still pretty authentic.






For the Jamaica picture how could I not use the one of me and our taxi driver? Although, I might have to cover his eyes when I take a shower or go to the bathroom!

The picture was a little more difficult to do because of the shape. I had put plastic over each of the pictures since this will find a home in my "beach" bathroom and I don't want steam messing up the pictures. I did finally decide that brads around the picture would hold the plastic in place.

The embellishment in this little area was designed so nicely and I absolutely love it!

I did add one other little special thing to my photo tray! My friend Sandie had made me this little chotchkey and brought it to me on the cruise. Since it had an ocean theme, it was given to me on the cruise and Sandie was on the cruise I thought it was a perfect way to display it!


I loved it so much that I ordered a bunch of the Memory slides, frames and other supplies from Blitsy so I can make some of my own!


Tomorrow's post will be about the Closing Social and the fabulous gifts we all received! So stay tuned, it isn't quite over yet!

Day 6 - At Sea, Project 3

Our project 3 was an Autograph book, although I am not sure anyone got an autograph in their book. I of course didn't finish mine until I got home. I didn't finish any project until I got home. Why you ask? BECAUSE I DO NOT SCRAP WELL WITH OTHERS! I am too dang nosy and too dang social to sit down and finish a project. I did work on my projects so at least I looked like I was doing something, at least for a few minutes I did. Then I would become engrossed in thoughts about one thing or another *okie knows she better not even try to explain her deep thoughts to folks or she will either be sent to a hospital for a nice little inpatient stay or be landing in jail*, or be walking around looking at what others were doing or just yakking with someone.

Luckily I do have pictures of the project since I did finish it at home!

When we were shown the project there was a lot of "oohs and aahs" going on for sure! I thought this one looked fairly easy and I would get it done during class...YEAH RIGHT! I did get some inking done and my flowers cut with the Cuttlebug and put together, but once again I had to bring the project home so I could finish it.

This is the book that was displayed for us to look and use as an example. Very pretty isn't it!!

We used the Chrysanthemum quilling kit to make our flowers for the book and they were simple to make, even though I was told by a classmate "oh you did your flowers wrong...but they are pretty anyway". Of course since it was my book I figured I could have artistic license to make my dang flowers however I wanted! *okie won't say she read the directions wrong...especially since she believes "there are no mistakes in crafting, only creative opportunities"*. Evidently I didn't cut my papers correctly or something because I had to make snips on each line with scissors. I think it was because my kit had cardstock instead of paper and it is more difficult to cut cardstock with the kit.

Here is my book finished. I did add a few things extra on mine, including stamping the "create" definition in the yellow area. BFF Karen cut a "K" out of the pleather *okie thinks pleather is such a fun little word* and added to her yellow area and it was really nice looking. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I don't.


I also added the bling and the little bird out of my own supplies at home.

In the close up picture you can see where my big flower has 4 layers, I think it was only suppose to have 3, if I remember correctly. I added some Liquid Pearl dots in the center of the flowers because, well I just love the heel out of some Liquid Pearls! I think the bling swirls really added a lot as well.

In this picture you can see the dimension a little better and also see the little closure ban that we put on the book. All the pages in the book are blank. I showed a picture of this to my friend Carmen, aka ScrapperDelighted, and she wanted to know if I was going to use this as a prize at my next Annual Girlfriend Christmas Party. I told her "I think I will keep it for myself", she sounded a little disappointed with that but I did tell her "ya know you can make your own dang book!".

Another "okie addition" was inking the book. It was white...just plain stark white, and in my world that just will not do! I dotted Chestnut Roan and Creamy Brown Chalk Inks on the back and then smeared, yes that is a technical art term, with a paper towel to get the effect shown in the picture.






The book was a lot of fun to make and I think BFF Karen was really proud of her book she completed. She was afraid of the flowers getting smashed on the way home but as far as I know it made it home safe and sound.

Day 6 - At Sea, Project 2

Our sixth day on the cruise was spent at sea and attending Cricut Project Classes. It was nice to feel like we had a little time to relax instead of running off the boat, enjoying off shore activities, running back to the boat, running to the bar, running to get ready for dinner, running to the bar, running to get ready for Cricut events, running to the bar and running to bed so we could rest for the next day! *okie hopes no one notices all the running to the bar*. I will be breaking down day 6 into two segments since we had two projects that day and I want to show off the great projects in a detailed way and feel each deserves their own post.


Due to the size of the group the classes were broken into Group A and Group B so there would be room for everyone to work. Group A, the group I was in had class at 9:30 am and 3:00 pm. That left us plenty of time to do other things in between classes, which we decided to walk around the ship a little and also enjoy the sun up on one of the decks.

Here is a picture of our room we worked in while on the cruise. I think it was by this time, or likely a few days before that some ladies found I was not their cup of tea. Not that I want to be everyone's cup of tea because that would make life boring wouldn't it? But there are some folks that don't condone to drinking, and I guess don't like people drinking in classes. I however feel it's my vacation and if that is what I want to do then I shall do it...and I did *okie smiles triumphantly*. Not that I stayed drunk the whole time, but when there is a different drink of the day each day I thought it rude not to try at least one or two of them during the day so I could give the bartenders my review on their concoctions.


To be honest I had not been excited about the projects and classes until this point, although I was still having a blast with my friends and the new friends I made so far! I did realize that most of it was not ProvoCraft's fault but rather issues with the server and some of us not being able to use the CricutCraft Room software, which was essential for doing the projects. But like I mentioned before, Dan was awesome and was able to get everyone up and running before we were buckling down to do the next few projects.  Our first project was a layout and when I saw the finished product they had as an example I thought "YES! THIS IS WHY WE PAID FOR THE CLASSES!"

As I said earlier I finished mine at home. I knew there were things I wanted to add to the layout to make it my own, and as most of my readers know...I am heavily addicted to embellishing with ink, glitter, pop dots, etc. This is the finished project. I would love to tell you the supply list but it varied greatly and I honestly just don't remember!

I did add the Cozumel title since I chose pictures from that stop to use on the layout.
 

The background paper on the kit was plain light blue and I just couldn't deal with the starkness of it so I used "SKY" paper I had in my stash at home for the background and it made the world of difference to me.









  

I did some variations on the second page as well and will explain those in the next few photos.

I added the glitter to the clouds by running them through my Xyron and then sprinkling with Doodlebug glitter. Perfect Pearls and Stickles were put on the waves, they shimmer quite nicely now. I colored the orange on the smoke stacks on the ships as my orange pieces didn't make it home and I was too lazy to go back in and cut them when I could just use some markers and color them much more quickly.





 

I dotted some Liquid Pearl dots to the palm tree, birds and the sun. I inked the trunk of the palm tree diagonally.

The arms of the chair were orange and since I managed to lose them as well I cut them in white.I also inked in between the slats of the chair for depth. I know, I know, sometimes I have the tendency to over do it and simpler is better...but hey, this is MY project so I will ink if I want to! *okie cracks up laughing*.

 

That little cute Cricut head is very tiny and believe it or not, I did make it home with it! However, another cruiser didn't make it home with it and I mailed mine to her since I own the cartridge it was cut from and was able to easily cut another. I think it is adorable on the life preserver and definitely ties in the Cricut Cruise theme in the layout without being over powering!




















I didn't have all the pieces for the sun when I got home and I did have to cut that again, it's actually smaller than the original and I am not sure if it is cut right but it works for me. There was a bottle cap the glitter center was suppose to go in, yet another item I managed to lose.












While I didn't finish my project until I got home there were plenty that did and I don't think there was one bad review about the Layout Project!

Tomorrow will be about the second project on day 6, the Autograph Book and learning to use the Cuttlebug Quilling kits!

Day 5 - Jamaica Mon!

Our fifth day on the cruise and last port stop was Jamaica. I had a mission in Jamaica of finding Ginger Beer for a friend of mine, other than that I just wanted to find a beach but once again we were not close to a beach and there is a story behind this one!

We had a great view of the port from our balcony and things looked so nice with the little shops and cobble stone paths. I thought this isn't the Jamaica I have seen on TV where people live in plywood houses with tin roofs! We got off the ship and shopped around a bit in the port area. The group of gals I was with decided that we needed to leave the immediate port area and see if we could find where a beach was. We stopped at the information booth and they said it was like $60 to go to the beach area. That just wouldn't do! Some how we lost the Canadian's in the quest but we gained Danita and Keith.

Danita showed us the beautiful bracelet she got, she was so proud of the gorgeous beads. I looked at the bracelet and then looked at her and said "nice marijuana bracelet you got there girl" and she was shocked and stated "I THOUGHT THEY WERE FLOWERS!". She then told us she had wanted to get a few more for her husbands aunts as presents. I think she was relieved that she didn't find more after she knew what was on the beads *okie falls out her chair laughin, picks herself up and catches her breath*.

This is a picture of Danita's gorgeous bracelet! *falls out of chair again*.





We left the compound, as I guess I would refer to it because it had walls and fences all around it and as soon as we left out there were local vendors wanting to braid our hair or sell us their wares and that is when we got to see the plywood houses with the tin roofs as well! Danita and Keith weren't sure they wanted to go to the beach since they had done a trolley tour. There were a few taxi drivers that came up and asking us if we wanted a taxi and we would refuse. Finally this gorgeous smooth skinned man came up and asked if we needed a taxi. I smiled at him and said "you are kinda cute and sexy ain't ya!". Well that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship, if ever so brief! He introduced himself as Michael Johnson and told us the company he worked for. He wanted $20 each for the trip to the beach. I flirted a little more...okay A LOT MORE, and he said he would take us to a nice beach and it was $5 to get in. Keith said "so you want $20 and then we have to pay $5 and $20 to get back?". Michael said the $20 was round trip. I kicked into the ever so Oklahoma southern charm flirting mode and got Michael down to $10 each round trip, and he would stay at the beach area with us so we didn't worry about getting back *okie smiles to herself remember how last year at St. Thomas she flirted her way into a cheaper taxi ride to Megean's Bay beach with Roberto*. I think what really got our fare cheaper was when I smiled so seductively at Michael and told him "Ya know I did come to Jamaica to get my groove on!". Of course it might have been him feeling sorry for me not wanting my old fat azz to be walking 20 miles to a beach, but I am going to choose to believe my version of seduction!


We had a 40 minute ride to Montego Bay and Michael was great telling us about the things we saw and answered all the questions we had. One of the cool things were the goats next to the road. He told us they come down from the hills during the day and eat the grass along the highway and then evening time they go back up to where their owners live. Keith asked if they ever lose a goat and Michael said "oh every now and then, just like we lose one of you" and we all cracked up laughing.


The beach area was gorgeous and there were a lot of people but not too many to make it crowded. We soon found a spot to set our towels and claim as our own. I didn't waste anytime getting in the water and looking at the fish swimming in the clear ocean. The other gals falled suit pretty quickly. Keith joined us after he went and watched the gals in bikini's dancing on the stage *okie isn't sure that is what Keith was doing but since he is a man she figures that was where Keith was hiding*. We got to see quite a sight while at the beach. There were two rather plump women swimming and they had on shorts and white wife beater T-shirts *okie hopes everyone knows what those are* and nothing under them. They came out the water and were all like OH EM GEE! Of course we had to point them out to Keith and I think I remember him shaking his head and mumbling something like "that just ain't right".

We stayed at the beach for a few hours and then found Michael for the ride home. Of course I had to get a picture of me and my new true love! he told me "put your hand on my heart so it looks good" and I am not one to be impolite and refuse such a nice person! *okie smiles devilishly remember it was a way to get even closer to him*.  I am sure some of you are wondering about the ring on his finger...well yes he is married and has two daughters. But I did make sure to tell him that if his wife ever leaves him to give me a call! Michael laughed and said "Shirley I love you!", and that ain't no lie, he did say that! *okie smiles and nods her head up and down* Michael did give me his phone number and I told him I would share it so that if anyone was in Jamaica and they needed a driver they could call him. So if you want a great driver while visiting Jamaica call Michael Johnson at 1-876-408-4107, he really was awesome and the rest of the group totally agreed!

We had to go through the security check like the other ports but at this one there was a slight problem. One of our duties was to gather sand and shells at the beaches we visited and BFF Karen got caught with hers and they took it. Well Sandie came back to see what the problem was and told one of the security people "That man over there let me bring mine in" and showed them her bag of sand....and then security took that as well! So there we were without sand! Once back to the cabin Wendi who was smart enough to keep her mouth shut showed us the little bit of sand she was able to smuggle in *okie wonders if Wendi is gonna have to be deported to Jamaica if this goes public* and luckily we didn't need a whole lot and were able to share it. To be honest we probably could have shaken out or bathing suits, shoes and towels and used that sand. So just a fair warning, if ya want sand from the beaches of Jamaica you better hide it in your shorts!



Our night back on the cruise was spent with the second Surprise Event which was Cricut Bingo. The winners got cartridges and I think there were a few other prizes as well but after Michael I just don't remember much *okie drifts of dreaming of her Jamaican man*. I didn't win at bingo, that much I do remember. We had open crop that night as well. BFF Karen, Wendi, Sandie and I went to The Savoy Theatre and watched the Late Night Adult Comedy and the comedian was pretty darn funny! We were ready for bed after that...at least I think we were.


The next two days were spent at sea and in classes doing our Cricut projects!!

Day 4 - Grand Caymans

Sorry for the interruption of the posts about the 2012 Cricut Cruise. I got busy taking care of some other things and haven't had time to post!

On the 4th day we stopped at the Grand Caymans. We had to be tendered, which means ride a little boat, over to the island. The boats were actually pretty fast so it didn't take long to get to shore.

We walked around a little while before heading off to find a beach. We all took turns getting pictures with some pirate statues.

We were determined to hit the sand and sea since we missed it at Cozumel. We stopped at one place and they wanted $49 to enjoy the beach and we declined rather quickly. There were taxi drivers out everywhere and the cost to ride to 7 Mile Beach was only $2.  The beach wasn't too crowded and while we didn't have lounge chairs or other luxuries we still enjoyed the sand. It was pretty cloudy that day and we wondered if we would get any tan...I succeeded quite well! Here is Sandie, Annette and her daughter looking for shells while Margie floated in her blow up ring enjoying the cool water.

One cool thing we did see at the beach were some tiny hermit crabs! I came out of the water and BFF Karen was showing them to me. We put them on a towel to take a picture and was wanting to show how small they were so someone laid a dime out next to them. I think they said some little boy bought them over. I am pretty sure none of us would have seen them with our bad old lady eyesight!

That night was first Surprise Event. We didn't know what we were going to be doing as a surprise but soon found out we were going to play the Memory Game. Each time someone found a match they got a surprise and the person who got the most matches won a cartridge.

I didn't want to play because I actually suck at the Memory Game but I did find a match my first try. Of course it was because I kept moving around in the ring of people and was one of the last ones and I knew where one was. I actually found a champagne bottle and glass so that one was easy for me to remember! HA HA This is my friend Karen Silva playing the Memory Game.

After the Surprise Event we had open crop and the Make N Take was a washcloth bunny head. I opted to work on a layout kit I had taken but most of the women did make the bunny head. After that we met up with the Canadians at our favorite lounge, Bolero's for a round of slushy drinks as they called them. We had a lot of slushy drinks in Bolero's as they were Jennifer and Leila's favorites and we didn't like them drinking alone! That's my story and I'm stickin to it!




We were all ready for bed that night and excited about heading off to Jamaica! Boy did that turn into quite the adventure...but that is for tomorrow!

Day 3 - Cozumel And More Presents!

Day 3 of the cruise was spent docked at Cozumel. The weather was really overcast as you can see with this picture of Wendi being excited about arriving in Mexico. We weren't really sure what we would do while there but we did know we would get off the ship and at least look around. Which was about all we did there. We soon found out we were on the wrong side of the island to hit a beach. There was a private beach but it would have cost us around $50 each to go in and enjoy it so we opted to just walk around a little and then go back to the ship.


We ran into Danita Kinney and her husband Keith while walking in Cozumel. Her husband had went to rent a jeep for them to drive around in and I guess they had quite the adventure as they got lost and ended up doing a U-turn in front of some type of military complex. We all were laughing until our sides hurt and she was explaining how the men had guns and were laughing at them as the men realized that she and her husband must have been lost.




 

BFF Karen, Shirley, Wendi, Sand

One of our tasks was to find sand from each location we docked. We got some sand from Senor Frogs and called it good. This is a picture of our ship as we were going back to board and enjoy the pool while most people were ashore.

Wendi and Sandie

Once we got back on the ship we had a little lunch and then hit the pool. We found Shirley Schaeffer there and enjoyed her company while soaking up some rays. Wendi jumped in the pool and said it was cold and she came back out really quick. 

The evening was spent doing our first project which was an apron and we learned how you cut fabric using the Cricut. Class A was given the choice of choosing a black apron or a white apron. I chose the black one. When Group B came in most of the black apron's were gone and Danita was wanting a black one so I gave her my finished apron *okie thinks she can be nice sometimes, but not often*. I forgot to take a picture of my apron and had to get a hold of Danita and she was nice enough to go take a picture of the apron and email it to me so I could post it. I did find it was very easy to cut fabric as long as you use decent fabric that has a good thread count. We were told to make sure you first adhere the fabric to Heat And Bond and then cut. We were given the file so we could cut the fish and turtle ourselves. The flower was already cut for us and that made it easier to finish the project.



We also received the coolest little Cricut rolling totes that had a little Cricut plushie in it and also the new Cricut Scoring Tip with Housing! I can attest that these little bags are quite durable since I toted it all over the Grand Caymans and Jamaica! I also know it will hold two liters of alcohol, clothing, crafting supplies and water bottles on the side, because that is what I had in it when I got ready to go home. Boy did that little rolling tote come in handy!

Jennifer & Leila, my new Canadian friends!

I was able to snap a picture of Jennifer and her sister Leila proudly displaying their new bags. During open crop the project was a washcloth bunny head. I worked on the layout kits I brought so I could at least say I accomplished something. I will have to post those at a later date.

Next stop...Grand Cayman!

Day Of Classes - Day 2 of the 2012 Cricut Cruise

Our first full day on the ship was spent at sea and also spent in various Cricut classes. We had a Gypsy class at 9:30, and I don’t think I learned anything I didn’t know and I still don’t care for the Gypsy. BFF Karen did work with my Gypsy a little bit. She kept saying I was going to break the screen and I told her "I have to bang on it like that for it to work". I don't think she believed me until she tried it herself *okie felt so vindicated*. 

BFF Karen & Sandie at Meet & Mingle

After the Gypsy class some of us went to the Meet & Mingle that was hosted by Cruise Critic and Royal Caribbean. They gave us some nice cheese and fruit for a snack and talked about the entertainment and shopping on the ship. They did a raffle and several people from the Cricut group won some prizes…I was not one of them, but at least I did get free cheese! Oh and I tried some caviar, wasn't impressed but at least I can say I have had caviar before. We headed to the buffet for lunch after the Meet & Mingle and ate with Danita and her husband. We actually thought the food was better in the buffet than what we got in the dining room the night before. 

The next class was the Imagine class. We were late for that one due to eating lunch but I didn’t mind since I don’t have an Imagine and don’t care to have one. I know there are a lot of people that love theirs and that is great, I just really like my pretty paper. I think I spent most of the class looking around at everyone and dreaming of finding a beach the next day at Cozumel.

Dan being frustrated with network problems

I was so excited about the Cricut Craftroom/Cricut Mini Machine class but was quite disappointed. I thought we were going to be able to follow along using our own computers while they taught the class but this was not to be. There were two large screens for us to watch as the instructor taught but the one on the side of the room where we were sitting was not focused and hurt my eyes. I did move to the front on the other side of the room but still found it hard to go along with since I couldn’t do the hands on with the program on my laptop that I toted on the ship with me just for this purpose. I will say Dan worked hard getting everyone set up but there was some type of network problem and he wasn’t able to get everyone set up. I think I would have enjoyed learning if I had been able to have it up on my own screen and follow along and might have learned something. At this point I was feeling CCR is not worth my time and would be sticking to my Design Studio for the rest of my life.

BFF Karen, Me and Wendi

We all met for a group picture, since it was formal night we were all dressed to the nines, before dinner. Okay I will be honest and say not everyone was dressed up since there was a couple that came in with t-shirts, shorts and ball caps on their heads. I was rather shocked that they allowed them in the dining room dressed that way since last year a man was not able to get in on formal night without a tie, but I guess each cruise line is different. I was having problems keeping "the girls" in my top but a little ATG tape took care of that problem. Who said that dang ATG gun was for crafting only? It was a little hard to remove from my skin afterwards but I just had to be careful to peel slowly to get it off.

I think there might have been a class after dinner, I can't really remember. You always think you are going to remember everything but since so much happens in such a short period of time it makes it hard to remember. We did attend the nightly crop that night and the Make And Take project was a little frame that included a title of "Mexico".

Lined up for Make N Take supplies

Here are some of the ladies lined up to get their supplies for the Make N Take project.The instructors were great in answering all the questions and helping each individual. They were constantly walking around and asking if anyone need any extra help or instruction.

Brianna and Richard, AWESOME!

I got to visit a little with Brianna and Richard during the crop that night. Richard works for PC as a graphic designer and he was so super helpful and sweet. I did find out he also had a great sense of humor. His wife Brianna must surely be a saint because I think Richard has quite an ornery side!

All the folks that came representing Provo Craft were friendly helpful and amazingly patient! I know there were a few times I think they thought I was upset when I couldn't get something to work and I would just say "I can do it at home, it's fine" and they would say "it's not fine". I guess I should have explained I love to socialize during such things and am too dang nosy to finish anything I do and always have to finish projects at home where I am undisturbed and can concentrate. 

We were very lucky not to have to tote our belongings back and forth from the conference center to our rooms if we chose not to do so. They were able to lock up the room so no one could get in. Since PC had several thousand dollars worth of supplies in the room I figured my hundred dollars worth of supplies were probably safe but just to be sure I made a little sign to make sure no one touched my CHIT! HA HA HA HA HA

This was the night we were all given a certificate saying we would be receiving the new Cricut Art Cartridge Ole, which will be great to do some layouts of our trip to Cozumel...which will be my post for tomorrow!