Cruisin’ to Alaska!

Since Monday was our full day at sea, we had our first and longest class with Tim. We made a 4x4.5 album to use on our trip. What fun to experiment with lots of new products!

I really like using grungeboard for covers of albums! It is flexible and can be embossed in the cuttlebug! I was surprise to learn you can sew grunge and even laundered it. We slathered on the crackle paint and after drying added distress ink. As I worked to make it my own I added dabbler sail blue paint. It was amazing to have all the pages precut with some with pockets and others with flaps. It gave us plenty of opportunity to learn how to use the ink blending applicator as we distress all the edges with ink and the distress tonic tool as well as a hands on try with the bind-it-all.

Tuesday-Juneau, Alaska!
We only had the morning for classes so this one was short, easy and fun. These products are just now being shipped to stores, so we were the first to play with Tim’s new hardware. We each receive a wonderful sacks full of sprockets, spinners, tokens, chains, latch hooks, clips…etc. We had such fun putting together combinations to wear as jewelry or to add to our crafting projects. Here I made a book spine hanger for my friend Lesley.

We were in Juneau, Alaska's capital and 3rd largest city (pop. approx 30,000) for the afternoon and evening. When I directed the Girl Scouts in northern Alaska, I had a wonderful colleague and friend, Lesley, who directed the Girl Scouts in southeast Alaska. She still lives in Juneau and enthusiastically gave us a personal tour of the area. We enjoyed hearing the stories of our state's government as we travelled through downtown and the senic ride to Medenhall Glacier where we got to touch the glacier ice (pic on left).

We made a stop along the coast to visit St Theresa’s retreat center where we enjoyed the peaceful walk among these tall trees along the water. What beautiful stone work!

Lesley saved the best treat for last! We met her husband for a lovely private dinner at the inn on top of the mountain that is gotten to by tram. While I am uncomfortable with heights I decided to be a "traveler" and try the new things of the trip. To my surprise I felt very secure in the tram and the views were spectacular. A quick special thanks to Lesley (red jacket) and Don (not in picture) from me (black jacket) and Peggy (blue jacket) for sharing the sites of Juneau.