Happy Halloween Jacksonville Starz Blog Hop

     

Welcome to the Happy Halloween Blog Hop with the Jacksonville Starz.  You should have arrived here from Lee Conrey's blog. 

It's that time of year when the ghosts, witches and goblins are beginning to prowl and the skeletons are rattling their bones.  Listen closely and you will hear all their moans and groans (oh wait, that's just me!!!!!)  But seriously, don't you just love the Fall/Halloween season?  Finally a reprieve from summer heat, the leaves are changing and Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

My share for the Blog Hop is a trio of very happy Jack-o-Lanterns using the Stampin' Up! Fall Fest stamp set.  All my middle pumpkin needs is a Smokey the Bear hat just like Pharrell and they could all sing Happy.  I know they make me happy, happy, happy! 

 





If you would like to recreate this card I used the following supplies:

Fall Fest Photopolymer Stamp Set

$15.95

Fun Fall Framelits Dies

$24.95

Fall Fest Photopolymer Bundle

$34.75

Good Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$17.00

Bitty Banners Big Shot Die Framelits

$14.95

Large Oval Punch

$15.95

Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$7.95

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$8.50

Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Pumpkin Pie 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker

$3.50

Pumpkin Pie 1/4" Cotton Ribbon

$5.95

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments

$4.95

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

$5.95

Stampin' Dimensionals

$3.95

That cute little Trick or Treat greeting is from the Good Greetings Stampin' Up! stamp set that you can get for FREE with a $300 workshop or a "book party".  Contact me if you would like to get this wonderful FREE set for your very own.  I would love to help you with your Stampin' Up! needs.

 

To continue on the Blog Hop just click below to go to Lisa Tyndall's blog.

 

                             

 

Just in case you get lost along the way, following are all participants in the Jacksonville Starz blog hop:

Amanda Sevall

Priscilla Thoreson

Maria Willis

Cari Verschueren

Amy Unick

Lee Conrey

Susan Best (you are here)

Lisa Tyndall
Monique Zimmer

Thanks for stopping in to visit today.  I hope you come back again soon.

Stampin' Up! Washington DC Getaway Incentive Trip (Installment 3)

I loved earning this Stampin' Up! Getaway Incentive Trip.  Today is going to be the final installment of photos (unless I find a few later on that I just have to share)

We had other plans for Sunday, but we put those on hold when fellow demo, Susan Rodgers, gave us tickets to Newseum.  I believe Newseum opened in 2007 so it is among the newest kids on the DC block.  

Newseum covers the history of "news" from printed papers to radio to TV to computer.  So many interesting displays are housed here.  We spent the whole day and could have spent a lot more time but they closed down at 5 PM.

Here is the outside of the building where they have displays of 50 newspaper front pages from around the country.  These are changed on a daily basis so if you are lucky enough to have your local paper displayed there you won't miss the front page news of the day.

This next picture was taken in the FBI section of the building.  Couldn't resist having our photo taken with Machine Gun Kelly, J Edgar Hoover and John Dillinger.

 

These are original sections from the Berlin Wall and are the only ones outside of Germany.

 

The section dedicated to 9/11 was as gut wrenching to see now as it was the day it all happened.  This photo is the mangled broadcast antenna from atop one of the Twin Towers and those frames in the background are front pages from various newspapers the day of and day after the attacks. 

 

Again, thanks for stopping by my blog.  Come back again soon.

Stampin' Up! Washington DC Trip (Installment 2)

I'm back with a few more photos from the Stampin' Up! Washington DC Getaway Incentive Trip that I was fortunate enough to earn thanks to all of you.

Day Three found us brave enough to travel by Metro. 

Question:  How many times can you go the wrong direction on the Metro?
Answer:  More times than I will admit to.

I honestly don't know how people who live there can do this every day.  I'm sure after awhile it becomes second nature, but for a newbie it sure was confusing.  There were 6 different lines to get you around the city...Orange, Blue, Silver, Red, Green and Yellow and some of them rode the same rails.  You had to make darned sure you caught the right color train.    

We went to several of the Smithsonian Museums on Day Three.  This photo is the Smithsonian Castle and is the resting place of Englishman James Smithson who funded these wonderful museums. 

James Smithson died in 1829 and although he had never traveled to the US he left an inheritance of $500,000+ to the American government.  President Polk established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust and the establishment of the museums started.  Smithson's remains were moved from Genoa Italy to the Smithsonian Castle in 1904.

It's kind of a strange story, but we should all be very grateful to him for this legacy. 

Here are a few more pictures from our Smithsonian travels.....

This is the Hope Diamond.  Can I have just one of the surrounding diamonds please?

 

This is a modern art piece just outside the original Star Spangled Banner display.

 

This place was where we ate dinner on Friday evening with Chad Richards (from Stampin' Up! home office) and 3 other demos: Rhonda Wade, Jan McClurg and Christine Miller.  It was so nice meeting these ladies and I hope to see them again in January at Leadership. 

 

And this is what I had for dinner.  Chicken Pot Pie and it was awesome!!!! 

 

That's all for today.  Thanks for coming back and reading about my travels.  See you soon.

     

Stampin' Up! Washington DC Trip

Thanks to all of you I was able to earn the Stampin' Up! Getaway Incentive Trip to Washington DC this year.  I just got back on Monday afternoon and thought I would share a few photos with you.

Stampin' Up! put us up at the Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue.  The hotel was proclaimed by President Truman to be the "Second Best Address" after the White House.  Upon opening in 1925, it was said the hotel had more gold leaf than any other U.S. building except the Library of Congress, and through careful preservation, these luxurious details still tell this Washington, DC hotel's history.   The hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Historic Hotels of America.

This is me right after check-in on the first day.  I was sitting at the desk with a map trying to figure out a plan of attack.  We only noticed later that I was photo-bombed in the mirror.  LOL.  Love this photo!!!

 

Day One found us just walking and walking and walking around the Dupont Circle area.

 

Day Two - We took a tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  According to this chart, I found out that I'm worth about $1.5 to $1.6 million.  My husband is so excited about that news.   I was hoping for samples at the end of the tour, but my hopes were in vain.  No lovely new money was passed out to the tourists.

 

We also toured the Holocaust Museum the first day.  No photos to share on that one.  Much too depressing.

 

Day Three was spent touring most of the monuments.  Stampin' Up! provided buses for us that day.  The buses dropped you off at street corners and you walked and walked some more.  After one bus stop we decided that just wasn't for us.  So, we hired a chariot for the afternoon.  I'd like you to meet our charioteer.  This young man was wonderful...so knowledgeable about the area and all the monuments.  He served as a Marine and is a history buff so he decided to spend the summer running a pedicab.  He was fabulous and definitely not hard on the eyes. 

 

The next photo is a portion of the WWII Memorial.  I so wish my dad would have been with us to see this.  He served in WWII as a Chief Gunner's Mate.  He would have been so proud. 

 

As you all know, the final photo for today is the Washington Monument and I took this photo from the FDR Monument across the river.  Such a beautiful sight.

 

Thanks for stopping by today and sharing my travels.  I'll stop in again tomorrow with a few more photos and a little commentary.