My Summer Pics, part two

Hello,

Today I'm sharing the second part of my summer vacation.  We visited Cabo Rojo

Lighthouse.  It is called the "Lighthouse of the Red Cliffs".
This historical lighthouse was built in 1881.  As you will see the view is breathtaking!

Our next stop was to a forest called "La Marquesa" in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
Here we enjoyed seeing different species of birds, enjoyed the butterfly conservatory, and hiked
through the forest.

Hiking through the forest.

This is the view from the top of a tower.


Next is our tour of Old San Juan.  There are lots of places to see from the Fort of San
Cristobal and of course  "The Morro"  (Fort of San Felipe del Morro) which is one of our main attractions.  You can enjoy walking down the cobblestone streets
of Old San Juan and the promenade which is lined up with street vendors.

A couple of my friends had mentioned a cave they explored and said that once you
reached the end of the cave the view was extraordinary, a must see.
I had heard of it but to walk inside a cave...where God knows what you might find inside!
Well I made sure we had bottled water, repellent spray and a flashlight.

The cave is called "Cueva Ventana" (the window cave) and
it is in the town of Utuado.

This is a trip we took last year but I wanted to share it with you today since I am posting
various sightseeing places throughout Puerto Rico.

We had to hike up a bit to reach the entrance of the cave.

This is the view once you come to the end of the cave.

You won't believe how fast I snapped this photo and rushed them to walk away
from the ledge lol.


These are only a couple of places in Puerto Rico that I have shown you.

We have a wide range of activities you can do
from kayaking, zipline to sightseeing.

I hope you have enjoyed my photos from my vacation and when you
are planning yours please consider visiting us.

Here is a website to help you plan your vacation to my beautiful island.

http://www.seepuertorico.com

Until next time,
Ana
xoxo

My Summer Pics, part one

Hi everyone,

I can't believe that summer is almost over and school starts next week! 

Well I hope you have all enjoyed your summer vacation.  

It would have been great if my family and I were able to vacation in Europe

 or visit a couple of states, unfortunately we weren't able to but we sure

 had a great time exploring our own island.  Today I will be sharing with 

you the first part of photos from places we went to right here

 in my homeland of Puerto Rico.  

First up is the beach!! We would hit the beach two to three times

a week, which is saying a lot because I'm not a beach person lol.  My

daughters enjoy going so I sacrificed every couple of days to take them.  The

beach we went to  is called "Bridges" in Aguadilla.

The water is so clear that you can actually

see fishes by the shoreline.  

Here my daughter is holding a urchin that my nephew found in the water,
we made sure to carefully put it back.

The Botanical Gardens in Caguas, Puerto Rico was one place I have
been meaning to visit for a while now.  I just love sightseeing so
this is definitely one of my favorite places.
The gardens are so beautiful and peaceful.  I actually took over
three hundred photos if you can believe it, so here are just a few.

This is the entrance to the gardens.

Once you're inside the view is amazing!

I just loved walking the grounds and admiring the flowers and trees.

The pond is so beautiful.

Our next visit was to the Bacardi rum factory located at Cataño, Puerto Rico.
We were greeted by a tour guide who welcomed us.  We were given two
tickets per person to enjoy free drinks.
The coconut Bacardi rum with pineapple juice was my favorite.  When
we finished our drinks we went on the trolley to tour the museum on the grounds.
Inside we were shown a short movie of the history of the owners and
the growth of the company.  Next we were taken to another area where
they explained the process of making the rum and its storage.

The bartender asked my daughters if they wanted to take a photo behind
the bar and of course they agreed wholeheartedly lol.

This is one of the barrels where they store the rum 6 to 10 years.
It weighs 500 pounds when full.

Bacardi's logo is a bat.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of photos from my vacation.  Tomorrow I
will be sharing part two, so stay tuned.

Until next time,
Ana
xoxo

My mini for Mother's Day

Hi scrappers,

Hope everyone had a great Easter.  This month is almost coming to a close

and Mother's Day is just around the corner

so we better start creating some quick handmade gifts for mom.  

Whether it's a card, home decor or a mini album it will be loved 

by the person you give it to.

Today I have a small mini album that would be 

perfect for this occasion. The best part is that we can create it 

from scraps we have and it's fast and easy. So gather all your 

scraps of paper, flowers, embellishments, etc.

and start creating.

I used scraps of card stock, chipboard and pattern paper 

that I had left over from other projects I created to create this mini album.

I distress all the edges of the chipboard and papers with Prima's distress

 tool and inked it with distress ink (black soot).

Here is a video I made of my mini album.

I hope you enjoyed my mini album.  Please leave a comment and happy scrapping!

Until next time,

Ana

xoxo

My Girls Layout

Hi everyone,

As promised, I hope to be writing more on my blog and sharing with you layouts and cards that I have created.  Today I want to show you a layout I made of my daughters, husband and I. Since I like to use 3D embellishments and handmade flowers I display my layouts in shadow boxes throughout my home.  I arrange my frames in groups of three on the wall with other home decor along the sides here and there.  Every couple of months or so I like to change the layouts in the frames to more recent ones that I create.

For the chipboard embellishment I used black enamel acrylic paint and after it was dry I sprayed it with shimmer mist, Perfect Pearl.  I really loved how it came out.  I also used the mists on the doilies and the flowers.

Here's a list of products I used:

Papers: Engraver, Prima and Far & Away, Teresa Collins
Distress Ink: Ranger Walnut Stain
Paint: Folkart, Plaid
Perfect Pearl Mists: Ranger, Perfect Pearl, Heirloom Gold, Forever Red
Flower Punch: EK Success Retro Flower
Chipboard embellishment: Dusty Attic
Eyelets: Making Memories
Metal Flower: Prima
Gem Swirls: Prima
Flowers and wooden leaves: Prima
Doilies: Walmart

I hope you like my layout and please leave a comment.  Have a great day!

Until next time,
xoxo