Ft. Desoto and John's Pass

We loved, absolutely loved Ft. Desoto. Bill is a big history buff and we all had fun exploring the battery of the fort and the surrounding areas. But the best was the beach. It was voted 'most beautiful beach' in the US in 2005 and should be voted that again every year...the sand is soft and a pretty white, the trees and palms are lovely and the sea oats sway oh so nice in the breezes off the Gulf and Tampa Bay. We took a nice long walk and had the best time. I got some great pics of the Light at Egmont Key where parts of Ft. Dade can still be viewed. I loved our trip to Egmont about 4 years ago and want to return now even more.

As we were close, we headed up to John's Pass and had lunch at one of E and my favorite waterside restaurants, Scully's. The food was good as always and we played tourist through the tiny shops up and down the side street and on the boardwalk. One of the fun things to do is to watch the drawbridge go up and down allowing access from the Gulf into John's Pass for large boats. The new bridge is making headway and I will be sorry to lose the little one that I so love.

We have another busy day here planned with our friends and, alas, our last one as they wing their way back to St. Louis on Thurs. They are coming over early afternoon for some exploring on the Sponge Docks and then staying for one of E's amazing suppers. Can't wait.

Have a great one...and yes, I have even gotten some creating done...I started my cigar purse (or whatever it will turn into) and did two layouts on Wed. when our friends just hung around their beach in Clearwater for the day.

Still Crazy after all these years...

What a great time we had. Jo and Bill had not seen the kids since Kristen's wedding four years ago June so everyone had fun talking about the good and the bad ol' days. E fixed too snack trays to hold us over until the bbq which we ended up eating inside as the chilly weather descended upon us once again.

Isn't my son so handsome without all his ZZ Topp facial hair? I'll have to work very hard to keep my vow to not say a word to him from now on even if he regrows that horror all the way to his knees!

Bill and Jo are off on a day trip to Sarasota today and E and I are taking care of somethings we have to do around here. When we get done with our dermatologist appointments tomorrow a.m., we'll head to Clearwater Beach, pick up Bill and Jo and head down to Ft. Dosoto for the day. Did you know that the beach at the fort was declared the best beach in the U.S. (I think I got that right!). We've never been and can't wait.

Enjoy your day and create something!

Update on who comes to visit

Please sign in and let me know who you are...only two brave souls so far have signed in and many thanks to the both of you!
And I keep getting the two same aol IPs...very odd because how can one person visit my blog 3 or 4 times a day and read for up to 5 min. at a visit. Guess I am more entertaining that I thought at least to these 2 certain visitors....lol.

I promise to resume my usual patter tomorrow. Kip's has a wonderful art blog she has set up and I have been drooling over all her eye candy there. I set up a separate blog for my paper art about a month and a half ago but it is not for general viewing. If you would really like to view that, please e mail me for the link at eeickmeier@hotmail.com. I feel that anyone who goes to the trouble to e-mail me, and reveal who they are is sincere in their interest. I will continue to post layouts here as I have always done but most of my art projects are elsewhere. I do share nicely, honest.

1
United States Tarpon Springs, Florida
2
United States
3
United States Clermont, Florida
4
United States Seattle, Washington
5
United States Lake Zurich, Illinois
6
United States Idaho Falls, Idaho
7
United States Atlanta, Georgia
8
United States Bothell, Washington
9
United States
10
United States Modesto, California
11
United States Apex, North Carolina
12
United States Benton, Kentucky
13
United States Jacksonville, Florida
14
United States Wenonah, New Jersey
15
United States Bonita Springs, Florida
16
New Zealand Hamilton
17
United States Dayton, Ohio
18
United States Bellingham, Washington
19
United States Tampa, Florida
20
United States Tampa, Florida
21
United States Spring, Texas
22
United States Pensacola, Florida
23
United States Lakeland, Florida
24
United States Fort Myers, Florida
25
United States Whittier, Californ

Taking a leaf from my pal's blog (great thinking Kipper)!

Sign in please. I get hits on my blog from lots of fun places and I'd love to know who you are and how you found my blog...Kip had the best idea when she posted this on her blog. Hope you don't mind me giving it a shot too, Kip! I'll post again later with another list as this one is the partial list from today.

Location
26
United States Tampa, Florida
27
United States Dunedin, Florida
28
United States Rochester, Michigan
29
United States Lancaster, California
30
United States Orlando, Florida
31
United States Assonet, Massachusetts
32
United States Simpsonville, South Carolina
33
United States Bellevue, Nebraska
34
United States
35
United States Sussex, Wisconsin
36
United States Hagerstown, Maryland
37
United States Karlstad, Minnesota
38
United States Saint Petersburg, Florida
39
United States
40
United States Dayton, Ohio
41
United States Milan, Indiana
42
United States Bradenton, Florida
43
United States East Bank, West Virginia
44
United States Wesley Chapel, Florida
45
United States
46
United States New Berlin, Wisconsin
47
Spain Irn, Pais Vasco
48
United States Fairbanks, Alaska
49
United States
50
United States Clearwater, Florida

To Good Friends and good times...

We spent another wonderful day with our St. Louis pals, Jo and Bill. We met them in Dunedin at Flannigan's Bar that we discovered with Steve and DeeDee (another set of our St. L pals who were here over New Year's Eve). This first pic is of my oldest friend, JoAnn...oldest in terms of endurance, not years as she is quick to remind any and all I am her older friend (by 39 days)! This is also the picture I told her I would not take! lol
We shopped our way around Dunedin with E and I picking up the info we needed for Feb 5th...Fat Tuesday. We were so relieved to find out that there was a Mardi Gras celebration somewhere around here. Ft. Myers had nada and we so missed the one in St. L.

We headed to Ozona, a small small town hidden away between the Gulf and Alt 19 but home to two of the best restaurants around: Molly Goodheads and The Ozona Pig...actually, everyone here just calls it The Pig. We had a great lunch at Molly's and then parted ways. E and I made a second visit to Molly's as I discovered I had left my camera with all these wonderful shots of Wood Storks on the roofs of small cottage shops in Dunedin sitting on the restaurant table. Our waitress had place the camera behind the bar for safe keeping until we could get back to pick it up.

The last picture is one of the tree chambered streets of Ozona! So lovely and there are such cute cottages here...a true taste of old Florida.

Tomorrow brings another adventure with a visit to the Oldsmar Flea Market followed by a bbq with all the kids.

I've been tagged by Chris

the rules.....
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)So - here are my answers:

My middle name is Kay

K-Krazy? Kan't spell? Kute? lol

A-absolutely addicted to paper crafts

y- young at heart

And I tag Kip, Anne and Yvonne (in keeping with the letters in my middle name but you don't have to!) I did it for fun!

Look Quick...my room is spanky clean....

I was down to less than a 2 sq ft. space in which to work...now I don't mind a little mess as I usually have two or three projects going on at the same time but this was downright crazy. So, for the last five hours, I have been purging, organizing and putting things where they belong. This will probably last until the day after our company goes home but, for right now, my room is so damn pretty, it almost hurts my eyes. Now, ask me where anything is ...go ahead! I double dog dare you. 'Cause I know where everything is! Hah!

Lovely papers

Now, you know I love my PDQ papers by Bisous.biz for fun but for a softer, dreamier paper, I love the College Press line. Carman has tons of these pretties in her store at www.creativescrapshack.com. And look what Gerri-anne (owner of knk) found for me that goes with the papers so well: Craft n Craftin's Chipboard Style flowers and swirls (www.bestcreations.com). (edited to give photo credit to the Kipster for the top pic of me! and to E for the pic of Goof and I a post below).

I am also in the market for some fun chipboard books and am itching to try Zsiage's Peek A Book chipboard book. If you remember, Kip did a marvelous Scrap O Dex by Zsiage and they had it on their web site for a good long time as it was so cool. They also make a variety of chipboard books like the Stadium book I am using for the Cruise class. And they have several fun paper lines out as well.

All this talk about wonderful products has made me want to dive into my stash and scrap...so bye for now!

I've hired an assistant

With my opportunities increasing in the biz, I thought it time to get some help. I have hired this gray haired assistant and, as you can see, he is very good at supervising. Now, if I could just get him to think outside of the box....or even get out of the box so I could put my things away...lol

I often roam in and find one or the other of the cats perched on either a layout on the worktable, curled next to the computer, or asleep on my favorite work chair. I am starting to wonder exactly whose room this really is.

It is pouring down rain here in Paradise. It is a good day to stay inside, have soup for lunch and scrap the day away. I have a fantastic kit from Knk to work on from March and my tech to finish for the Tech Reveal there on March 1st with the Feb kit.

BTW: the DT call for Creative Scrap Shack ends the 31st. of this month so don't delay. Come on over and see what this cyber paradise is all about. www.creativescrapshack.com.

Will post some layouts I did with the wonderful and delish Collage Press papers later today...these are so soft and dreamy. Just what tons of us have been wanting. And for edgier and fun fun fun papers, take a look at my all time fave, PDQ by Bisous.Biz

Sorry about the lack of posting here

It has been one of those weeks, where I hit the ground running! Had such fun with G-a, Barb, Sonia and Kip starting last Friday and ending Sunday that I my sides are just now starting to not hurt so much from all the laughing. You gals are something else!

I wanted to finish E's Valentine project and then got waylaid doing rub on transfers onto glass containers and using up some of my stash of PDQ papers from Bisous.Biz that I completely forgot to blog.

We have company coming to visit and I got a wee bit confused on the dates. Senior moments I guess. JoAnne and Bill arrive Thrus. not Wed. as I had thought and will come over to spend the day with us on Friday when we will give them our $1.50 tour of Tarpon Springs and play.

Jo and I have been friends since we were 15! It is amazing to me that we can go weeks and even months sometimes without talking and when we do, it seems not a day has passed. We have our ancient jokes (Let's be Frank and Ernest and neither one of us wanted to be Ernest so we'd fight over who got to be Frank)and our silly memories....like the time my mom went out of town and we told her I could stay at Jo's. We told Jo's mom she'd be spending the night with me. We bought a pack of cigarettes and stayed up all night! Silly us.

She is Rob's godmother and Kristen's by proxy so we will have everyone over for a bbq on Sunday. Rob has even agreed to trim his ZZ Topp beard for the occasion. (Memo to self: get lots of pics of Rob with his neat and tidy beard)!

Off to run some errands and I promise to do better with this blog! Love to all

Antique and Boutique finds with the Kipster

We had such fun yesterday. We explored all the antique shops on the main streets here in Tarpon Springs, had a great lunch that E fixed and then moved on to Dunedin where I had made a few fun finds a couple of weekends ago with my pal, DeeDee from St. Louis.

Kip and I found one store where we could pick through stacks and mounds of vintage costume jewelry for a quarter each and we each just had to have one of the darling silver filigree purse necklaces (a way bit over a quarter but well worth it)that actually open.

I had been wanting a vintage glass bottle to try out a technique I read about in Somerset Life but want to add my own twist...and voila! There it is.

And if you would like to know what I am going to do that that lovely tile upon which all the goodies are resting...well, watch this spot!

Off to Sarasota with the Kipster in a bit...waiting on her dog sitter. We'll meet up with G-a, our beloved Barb, and our new friend, Sonia plus all the wonderful other Hilltop Memories gals.

Later, gator!

TGIF everyone!

(a couple more pictures from Anna Maria Island)

I was in a mad scrapping frenzy yesterday. I did two layouts, two cards and altered something fun for the Reveal Feb 1 at the Creative Scrap Shack. I still have my sketch to do but that is all. When I picked up my altered item for the DT Reveal, I found a nice sized wooden tray that I am going to paint and gild and do something fun and Victorian with next week before our next round of company arrives. They will be staying down on Clearwater Beach and we'll travel back and forth to visit.

Today starts a whole lot of fun going on. Kip is coming over this morning and we are hitting the many antique stores here in Tarpon Springs. I am looking for vintage lace, ribbons, small books and illustrated song music sheets. She is looking for ephemera for future projects. E is cooking us muffalata sandwiches for lunch and Kip has promised to help me set up an Esty shop. Yeah!

Early early tomorrow morning, I pick up Kip and we head to Sarasota for a Hilltop Memories Day crop. It will good to see Stacey and all the gang and guess who is going to meet us there? Gerri-anne, Barb and our new friend, Sonia...yeah! We'll all spend the night at Kip's as G-a and the gang want to show Sonia Ruban Rouge on Sunday before they head back to Ft. Myers. Can't wait gals.

I'll post pics when I can! Until then, go forth and create!

A Day with Janet and Bob

We had the best of intentions and would have been on time today getting to Anna Maria Island for our visit with our pals, Janet and Bob, but the best laid plans of mice and mere mortals...alas, we were a trifle bit late in our scheduled launch. We headed over the Sunshine Skyway and saw the most glorious sight. The sun was trying so bravely to break through the dark and dismal clouds and it was so magestic.

E had never seen the house and new things had been added since our Gathering of the Goddesses weekend so we took the house tour after coffee on their logia (or whatever the Italians call a balcony over looking a vision)!

It was so good to see our friend Bob again and to see how good he looked. Bob has had one hell of a year with health problems but was his spunky self and the twinkle was in his eyes!

We have already made plans for them to visit us,and the boys to wear their matching Multo Mario aprons and cook yummmies for Janet and I while we sip foo foo drinks in the hot tub...or something like that. And Bob wants to get fishing poles so he and E can sit by the surf with a cooler and "fish"...uh huh! lol

I'll put some more yummy pics on the blog tomorrow am of our great day with great people!

Happy Wed. all

We are off to visit our friends, Janet and Bob, at their beach house on Anna Maria Island. It will be good to see Bob again and glad to hear he is feeling oh so much better. Fun day ahead.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd leave you with some eye candy. KnK just revealed the Feb. kit and it is yummy (and lo cal too!). Here is my first layout for the Reveal.




Have a great day!

Finished! Yeah!

I have finished the album for the cruise at the end of March. All I have left are the dreaded directions...lol. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I despise writing directions. It must come from thirty years of writing daily lesson plans or tests or work sheets or just plain writing anything but I really put this part of the process off as long as I can. I teach much better than I give written directions (I can see Kip and Linda nodding vigorously here!). So, here ya go...any comments either way will be greatly appreciated on the album...suggestions etc. What you can't see is that I used Stickles, Glossy Elements, and GlimmerMist on many of the elements. I've worked in about 3 different techniques so I think everyone will have a good time. I've designed it so the gals can add insert pages for each day so they have plenty of space for journaling and photos.

See the slide show here:
http://jules-atoasttoalteredart.blogspot.com/

Cruise Album: take one

Did I tell you I am going on a cruise? Not just any cruise, mind you. This is one organized by Linda at Hilltop Memories Retreat and Traveling Store which makes it a guaranteed fun adventure. This will be the 3rd. cruise I have gone on with the Hilltop Girls and believe me, fun is the word!

I have taught a class on each of the cruises so far and this is this year's class in the planning stages. The stadium book has sections for each day of our cruise and additional inserts can be made to provide even more room for journaling and photos. I have yet to add all the goodies but I always work in a technique or two and have lots of fun things to add to each project. This one will include those things too.

________

The boys are coming over today to help E take down a tree in the back that is blocking our solar panels on the roof enough to keep the panels from working at their best to heat the pool. We are also concerned that the tree's roots may grow into the pool wall or that the tree could fall into the pool and cage with a high wind...so down it comes. I actually will be hiding out in the house with my eyes shut and my ears covered as I do not want to witness any of the three most important men in my life up in the tree while the others stand under it, saws in hand! I think you can understand my reluctance to observe this.

Great crop at Creative Scrap Shack yesterday if you missed it. The cyber event was filled with much laughter and a whole lotta scrappin' going on (to paraphrase the late, great Elvis)!

Off to read the Sunday paper and pray heartily for the guys as they take down the tree.

When one door closes

I have often found that at least one more if not more than one opens! This has been a wild month for me. We closed Hang Ten Paper Arts and the very same day, I got an e-mail from the new ezine (scrapbooknewsandreview.blogspot.com) saying one of my favorite layouts had been selected for publication. Then, with the encouragement of one of my pals from Kit N Kaboodle (knk.club), I sent off a scan of one of my layouts to Bisous.Biz whose papers are the focus of my newest crush. Yesterday, the owner, Suzanne Carillo, asked if she could have me as the 'featured designer' and put up that layout plus a Valentine's Card and linked to both KnK and Creative Scrap Shack where I had used the product. And, as if that were not enough, Basic Grey accepted one of my layouts for publication in their gallery(http://www.basicgrey.com/catalog/idea_gallery.php?PHPSESSID=981cdd2336921596e575cc61bc215f13).

Speaking of product, I just got my kits from both the Shack for Feb. (they are all sold out!) and from knk (ooh lala). To see these, please visit the sites. I am going to be a scrap happy fool for the next couple of weeks for sure.

Don't forget that the crop starts at the Shack (www.creativescrapshack.com) tomorrow morning. The DT has tons of great fun, inspiration and challenges for you....not to mention some super prizes. Come on over and join in!

My head cold is still plaguing me with coughing at night and congestion the rest of the time but it appears to be lessening a bit. Living in Fl., this is the equivent of a summer cold...ick!

Off to play with all my new papers and goodies!

Guess what is blooming (besides me?)lol

I can never get my amaryllis to bloom by Christmas but I have found they provide me with a wonderful pick me up after the holidays. The double one (first 2 pics) are hard to find and we have been nurturing this one for over four years. The red one just caught my fancy this year and 'she' is a newbie to my collection. I have 2 more down in the back yard but they are sluggish and may never come to flower.

I am not a patient person for a variety of reasons but these flowers teach so much about waiting and capturing the moment at the perfect time.

I don't submit much any more but I really bought into the concept of the new e-zine by Katie Scarlett ( a nom d' plume ) and her Scrapbook News and Review. She said this e-mag is to be generated by those of us who scrap. I submitted a few of my layouts and lo! and behold! one will appear in the Feb. issue. And it is one of my all time favorites too as it is a tribute to the lessons I have learned from my dear friend, Barb. The layout is called, "Waiting to Exhale".

And some other wonderful things have been happening to me lately sb wise...but I don't kiss and tell, you know! So, guess you'll just have to check back often and see!

Thanks to all of you who have e-mailed me and left the comments on the blog about Hang Ten. To answer a few of the questions: no, I am not quitting sbing; no, I am not upset about anything; yes, I have plans; yes, you will be able to buy my kits after my much needed break; and, many thanks to all of you!

Surfing the last wave...

With deep regrets, we are closing shop on Hang Ten Paper Arts. We
would like to thank all of you who have purchased our kits the past
fifteen months. The three of us will continue to teach our classes
for Hilltop Memories.
Thank you all again,
Your surfer girls,
Di, Elle and Jules

Long time no post....

I have been wanting to share some of the pictures I took from last Sunday's Greek Orthodox Church Epiphany Ceremony here in Tarpon Springs but time has gotten away from me. The ceremony was beautiful, well attended and joyous. There were 59 young men between the ages of 16 and 18 who dive into Spring Bayou, swim to the tied boats and wait to dive for a cross thrown by the Archbishop of North and South America. The boys were so excited and they had to be cold from the water. The funniest part was when police divers had to enter the water and chase away three manatee who were investigating the goings on right where the boys were to swim and dive.

I am hoping that next year we can stay for the Glendi (hope I spelled that correctly) which is the festivities that follow the ceremony. The boy who finds the cross is believed to receive a special blessing for that year. This is the 102nd. Epiphany Dive for Tarpon Springs and the largest event of its kind in the nation.

All good times must end....

Steve and DeeDee are home sleeping in their own bed right now I am sure. While it is always fun to travel and see old friends, I know they will agree when I echo Dorothy from the W.O.Oz and say, "There is no place like home".

We headed out about 1pm yesterday for a toddy at Captain Jack's which is a fun place on the water just up the street from us. Usually on Sat.'s there is some kind of music but not yesterday and we may have been a bit too early for that. We next headed to Ozona for some good eatin' at Molly Goodhead's. Steve and Dee Dee bought some cute tee shirts and we met up with the kids for lunch. Steve and Gene had the shooter cocktails (a raw clam, cocktail sauce and horseradish...YUCK)! The rest of us joined them for real food.

Our next stop was the airport and we came home to some football for E and a nice long nap for me. I am getting a cold and have put it off all week so I would not miss any of the fun. I think I need to get into the hot tub and steam away some of the headache, stuffed nose and raspy lung stuff.

We have schedules very little today despite the fact that the trees are still up and we have assorted holiday decor all over the house. We do want to bike into town to watch the throwing of the cross into the bayou and the diving for it by the young boys for the Greek Church celebration of the Epiphany
Other than that, I'll be playing in my workroom and E will be glued to the tv...there is football on AGAIN....lol.

Sat. in Dunedin

When we lived in St. Louis, we would go to some of the local micro brewerys with our pals. And in May we would head to Forest Park to the Brew Festival. We had been to the micro brewery in Dunedin a couple of years back with Kristen but had not been back since. Sat. was our day for this. There was also a big farmers' market on the village green with tons of fresh fruit and veggies....yum! I tried and Apricot Beer and DeeDee tried the sampler tray. After some snacks we headed back to our favorite hang out here in Tarpon Springs, Snookers. The outside bar where we normally hand out was closed so we had lunch inside. The bar is shaped like a boat complete with the captain wheel house...such a fun place.

Today we are having E's famous (or infamous) caramel pancakes with pecans and ice cream for breakfast. Around one we will meet the kids for lunch at Molly Goodheads (cute place in Ozona) and then off to the airport. This visit has been so much fun. We've gone some places we would not have and eaten at some new restaurants. We have always had a good time with our pals Steve and DeeDee...hurry up and retire you two and join us here!