2022 Disney Inspired Frames for Kimmie – The tradition continues: Installment 1 – Aladdin inspired part one.

Every year for Christmas, my daughter asks me to make a Disney inspired frame to use for her kids annual picture with Santa. Who am I to turn down her request. I have already told her that the frame for 2022 will be Aladdin. Then I started thinking, why stop there?

So, this will be the first installment of what I hope to be many Disney inspired frames I make this year. All of the frames will be for my daughter to use for Christmas. But now, hopefully, she will have more than one to chose frame.

This is the inspiration I am using… sort of.

I initially thought maybe I could paint the frame to look similar to the inspiration photo. Then I realized that there was no way it would work or that I could do it. So I decided on the next best thing… SHOPPING!!!!

While looking around on Etsy, I found some Aladdin die cuts that I thought would work so I purchased them from twinpapercreations. I am so happy I found her. These die cuts are exactly what I was wanting to use for the frame.

Before I received the die cuts, I looked around on Oriental Trading to see if they had any party decorations that I could possibly use. Mostly napkins and paper tablecloths. I found a couple of napkins I liked and a tablecloth so I ordered them.

Once they arrived, I realized that one of the napkins although cute just would not work for what I had in mind. When I ordered them, I loved the colors on it and hoped the colors would continue when the napkin was opened. Sadly, it was not that way. I may, however, be able to use the napkin border for something. If it doesn’t work like I’m thinking, they will be save for another time.

The other napkins have the color I feel would work best for the vision I have in mind. The color and the gold elements are very nice.

The table cloth may or may not have a purpose. It is definitely too large for the frame I currently have, but if I go with a larger frame, like an 8 x 10, I could use the light blue area as a matt for the photo. It just depends on the frame I use.

The frame I currently have on hand is for a 4 x 6 photo which is what she usually gets. But now I need to decide if it will work or not. I will let my daughter make that decision. By the way, this frame was given to me by my daughter when she asked me to do this project for her a couple of years ago. I do not remember how many frames we started out with, but there are only 3 left at this time. I have purchased a two other frames because I was wanting something different to go with the theme for that particular frame.

Until we make a decision about the frame, I will keep the items I know I will use in a pocket sleeve for safe keeping.

Carnival Breeze 2022 – Purchases not from Amazon

There are time when you need to go outside of Amazon to find items you need. Or perhaps you just find them by accident while shopping. Some of the items I purchased because I knew it would be needed and used. Others, I just happened to see while shopping at Target. That store gets me every time, just like Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

So, let’s go shopping.

The first thing I purchased was 2 cardigan sweaters from Walmart online. I forgot to bring a sweater on our Carnival Vista cruise and I regretted not having it in the evening. The MDR tends to be chilly.

I purchased some nautical themed face masks on Etsy. The Seller/maker is Handmade By Lady Dianna. I love the style of the face mask and they are so cute! The definitely show my obesssion of anchors.

Since we are cruising on Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to find a red dress to wear. I found one on Venus online that was on sale and definitely what I was looking for. I initially purchased it to wear to the steakhouse on embarkation day but I have since changed my mind and will be wearing on cruise elegant night. It fits great which I knew it would. I have been shopping with Venus online for years and I always seem to NEED to purchase something before every cruise. Last year I think I bought 5 swimsuits!!!!

I read on our Facebook cruise group something about wearing red beads so we would be able to recognize everyone. I found these cute red heart necklace while looking for items for an Aladdin project. For obvious reasons, they ended up in my possession!

And then there was Target. Everything single thing I purchased was not on my shopping list at all. Some impulse buys are necessary, like socks. Others, not so much. But I did it anyway.

Besides the socks, I purchased Sugarfix by Baublebar red heart earrings. I will be wearing them on embarkation day along with the the Sugarfix by Baublebar heart necklace.

I also purchased some Sugarfix by Bauble earrings that came in a set. I was looking for simple gold hoops, it just happened that the blingy set was attached to the gold earrings!!!!

This should be everything I will be purchasing for this cruise. That is unless something catches my eyes that I just have to have!!!

Carnival Vista 2021 – Precruise #2 Shopping an independent shop and 3 Etsy shops

One thing for is for certain, small shops and/or shops owned by an individual ALWAYS have amazing customer service. And they always want to make sure you are completely satisfied with their products. I will continue to use the shops I’m about to talk about.

We are currently at 20 days away from our cruise. At least that is the plan for now but we all know that could change in a moment’s notice.

The first time I ordered from customcruisewear.com was for our four-generation family cruise on the Carnival Vista in 2018. I found myself in a jam and needed to make an order for 9 shirts that I needed within a couple of weeks. Angela made sure our order was taken care of and was beyond helpful. Our shirts were amazing!

In 2019 after I Carnival Dream cruise, I started looking at cruises for 2020. I found an 8-day that I thought would be perfect as we have not been on a Bahamas cruise on the Carnival Freedom and the bonus was that there was an inside stateroom with walkway view available on deck 7. It was a no-brainer, especially since there was currently a $50 deposit special going on. So we were scheduled to sail in August 2020. As a Christmas present, I got my husband a t-shirt from customcruisewear.com that says HUSBAND & WIFE CRUISING PARTNERS FOR LIFE. Of course, I got one for myself as well. This was going to be the shirt we would wear when we boarded the Carnival Freedom!!! And we would have worn them except, COVID had other ideas.

On June 22, 2020, our cruise was cancelled. We had prepared ourselves for this possibility and we had a back-up plan in place. We had already decided that if it were to cancel, which it did, we would book on the Carnival Radiance and would upgrade our stateroom to a balcony cabin with the extra large balcony. I knew one was available and I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would still be available when I spoke to my PVP. It was!!! So now we were booked on the Carnival Radiance for August 2021. We had a year to prepare for it. Surely everything would be back to normal in 2021.

We were wrong. On July 23rd, 2020, we received a letter stating that our cruise was being cancelled as it would not be finished with dry dock. Thanks, COVID. I quickly looked at other options for August 2021 and we decided on an 8-day Bahamas cruise on the Carnival Dream. We booked it on July 23rd, 2020 in a balcony stateroom with the extra large balcony on deck 7.

During this time, it became obvious that the mom and pop shops were really suffering. And I’m sure they are still struggling to keep their heads above water.

Once June 2021 came around, I felt more confident that our cruise on the Carnival Dream would happen. I was so confident that on June 4th, 2021, I ordered a shirt from customcruisewear.com that says VACCINATED AND READY TO CRUISE. On that day, I decided that this would be the shirts that Jim and I would wear on embarkation day!!!

After a few days, I started thinking that I really wanted a shirt that says EMBARKATION HERE I COME and another shirt that says FINALLY ON A FUN SHIP. Since I knew that Angela at customcruisewear.com does custom shirts, I looked at all of the designs she has on here website and decided on the backgrounds I liked then sent her an email asking if my request could be done. And within a day or 2 I had the designs. So, I ordered 2 of each shirt. These shirts were ordered on June 9th, 2021 and I could not be more happy with these purchases from customcruisewear.com and will continue to order shirts from her.

On June 10th, 2021, we received an email stating that our cruise was being cancelled. And now we are booked on the Carnival Vista. I feel more confident with this as she has already started sailing. But I am fully aware that this too could change. But I’m still shopping!!!

After purchasing the shirts, I decided I really wanted to find some earrings with a nautical theme. I wasn’t finding anything on Amazon that I really wanted so I turned to Etsy and did a search for nautical theme jewelry. There was so much to choose from but I narrowed down my options to 3 pairs of earrings. And since I couldn’t pick just one, I picked all 3!!!

The first one is a pair of Anchor Earrings that are studs. The name of the shop is JustaGirlintheGarage. The earrings are perfect and I would highly recommend her shop. I will be wearing these earrings when I’m wearing my swimsuit, so almost every day!

The second one is a pair of Flip Flor Anchor hardboard earrings. The shop name is PaintedPugCreations. I love these earrings. In fact, I’m wearing them today. They are not heavy at all and will definitely be worn a lot!!!

The final one is a pair of Nautical Earrings from the shop MichelleLynneJewelry. I will definitely be wearing these earrings when I wear my FINALLY ON A FUN SHIP shirt.

In the future when I’m looking for earrings for a special theme, I will first look at these shops. They are fantastic and the quality if perfect.

So now I ask that you please come back for the next shopping installment.