Our Vacation

And Re-Writing History! Okay our Vacation wasn't history changing, but what we saw will change the way history books are written. I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since we went on our very small trip of 2 nights away to the northern part of Greece.

The Heart is our Home and the Box is where we went.

  What I love about traveling is:

• Seeing Historical Sights
• Seeing Natural Sights
• And Eating!

We had plenty of food to eat, first stopping for lunch at the mall in Thessaloniki for our bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken (we eat this any time we are there).  Then we ate dinner in Asprovalta, calamari and tzatiziki (if you need a tzatziki recipe you can get it here).

 Enjoying Calamari

Yes, I get 2 Ice-Creams!

The shop owners offered the kids ice-cream and they of course said Yes, but it was a Mastika ( μαστίχα) flavored, which is pretty good in ice-cream form, not sure how to describe the taste, but this is something they only make in Greece, specifically Chios Island. The next night we enjoyed Gyros in Nea Peramos

I don't have many pictures of the beaches, since I am always in the water.

This is near Nea Peramos, the beach is called Sand Dunes (but in Greek)

The 2 places we stayed at are starred and the little teardrop is where the find of the century has been discovered.

The signage at Amfipoli

The top sign says Macedonian Tomb, we wanted to see it, but when we crossed the road, there was nothing there, the nicely paved road turned into a dirt road.  We thought the Greeks must have gotten the signage wrong, but what it is is something that they didn't announce till this week.  They have discovered a new tomb to rival that of Vergina.  Here is an article in Greek(pictures are nice) and here is a smaller article in English(my husband and I have been arguing all week about who is buried there). Amfipoli (amphipolis-Αμφίπολη)  is an Ancient City, if you have watched the Movie 300 with the Persian King Xerxes, this is where he was defeated.  And where Alexander the Great's wife and son were executed. (I believe they are the ones in the tomb)  My husband thinks that Alexander the Great is in it.  We can't wait to find out WHO is inside, I also believe that Alexander the Great's mother could possibly be inside.

Ancient Aqueduct.

Rolling Hills and the river meeting the Sea.

The most popular sight of Amfipoli right now is the Lion, it is right off of the old road from Asprovalta to Kavala.

The Lion Monument, was found in 1912 and rebuilt in the 30's.  I am using this as my color palette and the story behind it and the region Amfipoli to Design my Surface Pattern for my class that I took with Bonnie Christine at Creativelive.

I made this on Adobe Illustrator, aren't you proud.

It only took me an hour to figure out how to do the color swatch, lol, not very computer literate!

The class was great, you can take it too, I watched it live, from 7pm to 2am for 3 days to see it for free.  But you can pay just $79 to watch it anytime.  I was a little scared when on Friday we didn't have any electricity all afternoon and then boom at exactly 7:05 the electricity was back on, phew. Now I didn't know anything about Adobe Illustrator and it is a definite learning curve, but the I would have been really lost with out Bonnie's lessons.  The other cool thing is that you can use the Illustrator for FREE for 30 days.  Sign me up right, I have always wanted to make my own fabric line. (you will need to sign up for Adobe first and then the Creative Cloud and then you can download Illustrator for free) You can find more info on the Design Surface Challenge from Bonnie's web site, Going Home to Roost. Of course no trip is complete with out some fun!

Vote For Me!

Okay total Self Promotion and only 1 day left.
On my Meteora Greece, Roka post I showed you an English Paper Piece that I made and now they are voting on the best one, it might not be the best one but it is fun.

And I plan on making more, 2 more to be exact in the next upcoming blog hop "In Your Words"

But right now they are voting on the Travellin' Pic Stitch over at Quokka Quilts, I am of course in the Europe division.  You can also check out the ones done in Australasia and Americas.  SO GET ON OVER THERE AND VOTE FOR #17.

Thanks Mara

Meteora Greece, Roka

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the World, or at least that's what I think.

Would you like to know where I live?

Between these 2 big rocks and a little tiny rock in the middle called Roka.

Where do I live?
In Kalampaka, Greece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Meteora, surrounded by these wonderful rocks and several monasteries
When I heard about the Travelling PicStitch Bloghop, I got very excited what better place to come visit than Greece and wouldn't it be fun to make something that looks like home.  I used the Palette Builder from Play Crafts.

Of course when I first read about it I thought that the idea was to make something look like a place.  When I started seeing all of the other blogs during the blog hop I was like oops, but I already had my idea and once I get an idea it's hard to change it.
So I made my own little EPP's in a design that I thought looked like the above pictures.

There's the Roka Rock between the 2 big rocks

 I thought I would make this into a pillow but my sewing machine is out for a little while until I can find another converter, I blew my last one up using a crock pot.  This is another reason why I did this EPP (English Paper Piecing) project because my sewing machine was not in working order and I also spent several hours in the hospital and this is an awesome way to while away the hours keeping busy.  I cut my paper pieces and my fabric before I left and I got the first part of the project done in the Hospital (sewing the paper to the fabric), while Nik my son slept.

I finished it at home, this is my first attempt at EPP and I love it.
You can find more examples of Travellin" Pic Stitch here.

Donkey Layout

I swear this is the last Donkey post and my last Donkey page layout, you can see the others here and here.

 

I even didn't use 5 photos and cut up several more to make this layout a grid style that Scraptastic talked about.
I am so happy to have found challenges they help me step out of the habit of using just 2 papers, here I have used 7 different ones, okay only 2 are print and the rest plain paper, but still an improvement.

2 comic bubbles

Linking up to:

Purple Pumpkin November Sketch Challenge
Scraptastic November Challenge #2

Double Donkey Layout

This is a continuation of Kamaki Ass, with my pictures of when I was on Santorini and rode a donkey up from the old Thira port to Thira.
Both Layouts are using the November Color Challenge from Scraptastic "When Skies are Grey" .
The background pages are blue and then a strip of gold/yellow and grey on top and the donkey tails are in black.  It's raining and the skies are grey here right now so I could not take good photos.

Double Layout, on the left showing the sheer cliff to climb and on the right with the donkeys.

The Layout on the left is for the Studio Calico Nov. 15th challenge, with a Donkey Tail in the top right hand corner.  The 2 photos show the trail that you either have to walk, take a tram or by Donkey, well I picked the fun one, the donkey.

 The Layout on the Right is for Creative Craft World's Scrap Map Challenge, I used 4 photos and a banner in the right top corner with donkey tails (using pop up stickies) and then pinned a blue donkey tail on the picture in the middle with a brad.  A little journaling at the bottom and I drew on the island map that was already on the background paper.

Linking up to: Scraptastic Color Challenge -both layouts
                      Studio Calico's Sunday Sketch-layout on left
               and  Creative Craft World Scrap Map Challenge- layout on right

Is this okay if I do double layouts?

More Santorini Info:

The old port is not where you will be dropped off if you come by ferry, instead they unload and pick up travelers from the new port and this is fairly far away from Thira (the main town) so you will need to find transportation to your destination. 
At the bottom of the old port they have boats that will take you to the volcano as a day trip, loads of fun and I suggest going with an old bathing suit and towel because the boat will drop you off at some Thermal Springs that have a yellowish color and sulferish smell (it ruined my bathing suit).  They also have Tavernas located in the old Port, walking down is easy and walking up not so hard either, but really who wants to when you can ride a donkey!

Kamaki Ass

I just had to make another Sock Donkey from the tutorial over at Missy Mac Creations (Sock Donkey),
they are so easy to make and the kids really like them, plus they use up some old sock that have holes in them.  I love to up-cycle and this is one of the best and cutest projects to do just that.

Now you may be wondering at his title, Kamaki (καμακι) means harpoon, and it's what they call the Greek men that try to get foreign women into bed with them.  Some of them can be real asses, I mean donkeys.  If a Greek man says to you "Would you like to get some coffee?", he is hitting on you.  A little word of warning, most of them are harmless and will go away when you say no, but some can be persistent, then you just head for somewhere else and hopefully he won't follow.
Here are some real Donkeys (maybe mules too) in Greece, they still use them for transportation in some areas, we always see a few when we drive around, carrying wood or just pinned up outside.

This man was selling vegetables off of his donkey in Pireas (Athens area)

In Santorini I rode one of these babies up from Thira Port.

If you get a chance you should make your own little Sock Donkey, you will get hooked fast.  You have until Friday, November 16 to make one of these Donkeys and you can join the Donktober Festivities.  It was super easy to put together and would make great Christmas gifts, so check it out.

New Clock

I took a standard IKEA clock and made it into a pretty one of a kind clock to go into my daughter's room and since she is my little Ladybug, it only made sense to make the face numbers with ladybugs.

Supplies:
           Buttons of your choice from Button Mad ( I needed 3 button cards to put in 12 places) 4 Large Ladybugs L6, and 8 small ladybugs L530
           IKEA clock         

          The clock cost 2 euros, or in the States it is $2

IKEA Clock

Incomparable Buttons

 I especially love the sticker on the back of the card, "handmade fully washable giving employment to women in South Africa".  The quality of the clay button is really hard to believe, they charge 2 euros for a plastic button here, I couldn't believe I got a whole button card of these hand crafted beauties for 6 euros.

small ones for the 1,2,4,5,7,8,10 &11 spot, big ones on the 12,3,6 &9 numbers

 My picture really doesn't do them justice, you have to go and see their catalog and all of the cute buttons they make.  If your a dog lover a cute idea would be to use these button cards on a clock.

L43

L55

Okay So Let's get down to making one.

  Carefully remove the plastic lid, I popped the 3 clips from the back and then slowly lifted the lid with a screwdriver.  Next take the second hand off by unscrewing it going counter clock-wise, then pop the battery off from the back and the minute and hour hand will come off also.

Next trace a circle on your colored paper from the plastic lid, and cut just inside of the line you traced.

Make a little hole in the center.

 Place dots, where you want the buttons to go, I just followed the ones on the clock, I put mine a little to close to the edge to begin with- you will want to be careful because you need to leave room so the plastic lid will fit back on without bumping the buttons.

I placed my buttons on using Zots Dots, medium for the large buttons and small for the smaller ladybugs.
I also cut my hour and minute hand a little bit so as not to hit the buttons, the second hand just skims over them so I didn't cut it.  Put everything back in making sure everything is secure with your choice of adhesive and viola you have a pretty one of a kind clock that will fit your decor.

A special clock just for my kids.

I had a couple of extra buttons so I used the 2 small ones to make this project.
And have not decided yet what to do with the big ladybug, maybe add it to an outfit for my daughter or in a quote that will go in a frame for the wall, when I do I will let you know, or if you have any great ideas please let me know.

Thank you Button Mad for giving me one of your lovely button cards to make this project.

DCWV Upcycled Cereal Box

I love re-purposing items and especially if I can make them look prettier.
I really like DCWV Scrapbooking supplies, they make my life so much easier, there isn't a page that goes by that I don't use at least one of their products.  Especially their adhesive backed matstacks, I always, always have to put a mat behind my photos, it is like an obsession and the adhesive part helps in making it adhere so much easier, and no measuring because it is already at a perfect 6.5"x4.5" to go behind my 6"x4" photos.

SO on to the project, check out this cute transformation.

 Supplies used:
              DCWV Holiday Collection Adhesive Cardstock Matstack
              DCWV Nana's Kids with Glitter Cardstock
              DCWV Children Clear Stickers-"Quote Sticker Stack" black and white
                          (like using Vellum with out having to figure out how to attach the quote)

               Mini box of Cereal
               Ladybug button from Button Mad
               A rhinestone that fell off of my daughter's clothes
               EK Success Ladybug Stickers (my mom sent them for my little ladybaby daughter :)
               Ribbon (picked mine up at Michael's dollar bin)
               Scissors and your choice of adhesive
              

 First I covered the box with Adhesive backed Cardstock, starting from the bottom of the box and then up the side(back of the box), for the front I covered the front and the lid of the box, tucking in the edges at top and folding over the sides.  The cardstock did not cover all of the side so I added a cute ribbon down one side and around the bottom to the other side, tucking the ends inside of the box.

down the side

tucked inside of the box

Next I added a sticker that I found in my DCWV quote sticker stack, love all of the quotes in the pack, and a couple of ladybugs from EK.

 For the front of the box, I cut out a glitter cardstock frame from DCWV's Nana's Kids 8x8 cardstock (sent to me from my Aunt Jeanie).

 I added 2 ladybugs that I purchased from Incomparable Buttons (Button Mad) that I had leftover from making my ladybug clock.  And a little tiny rhinestone that fell off of my daughter's pants, probably not archival safe but it's not going into a scrapbook page so I thought it would be okay.  No need to add glitter it is already on the cardstock.

Love adding a little bit of 3D to my projects.

Tie it down for a little bit to make sure things stick.

 Ta-dah a cute addition to my kids room, for their future desk.

Back of box, filled

Front of Box, filled.

DCWV even has adhesive cardstock in 12"x 24", so you could do large cereal boxes with it too, I just want to let you know that you shouldn't score the cardstock, because it has a white base and this will show through, but even though the cardstock is very thick, it bends really easily making the edges smooth.

I'm linking up to:
Creative Craft World-mini challenge
The Squirrel and The Fox -use ribbon
Repeat Impressions DCC1024 ~ Anything Other Than A Card
I also entered it in the CREATE , DCWV challenge