To Paris and Back

Lest you think I have given up the ghost, I thought I better show up here today and let you know I am alive and well.  My absence was due to the fact that we went just spent almost 2 weeks in London and Paris over the Easter break.  For those who follow me on Facebook or Instagram you will have already seen a few of these pictures, so please bear with me while I share a little about the journey.
We promised our niece Britney we would take her overseas (first time), to a city of her choosing (just like we did for her little sister Maddie, two years ago).  Britney picked London and Jay and I added Paris since we wanted to ride the Eurostar train that travels across the English Channel.  Looking back I wish we would have stayed a little longer in London, but that gives a a reason to visit again.
As you can imagine, we went a lot of places and took a lot of pictures, so I will only give you a highlight or two of what we saw and did.  Hopefully I won't bore you to death.

First stop after arrival, Paddington Station to take the train to Windsor Castle.

The day was a bit overcast but still beautiful.  We loved seeing the giant (and I mean giant) dollhouse and the grounds.
We also met up with the lovely Brenda Brown for hot chocolate at the Windsor Starbucks.  I have known Brenda from The Vintage Journey blog for at least a couple years, so we thought we would meet in person since I was going to be so close to her home.  What a nice surprise to find that she is just as lovely in person, as she is in blog world.

The next day we were off to the British museum to see the mummies.  I have always wanted to see the mummies so I was the one that dragged everyone there.  Turns out it's a spectacular museum! So much to see and yet we could only fit in about 3 hours before we needed to move on for the day.
This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.  We had just walked in and she was staring at the beautiful glass ceiling.  No staging here...just joy.

 

We walked around town, shopped at Cath Kidston, got caught in a rain shower and had hot chocolate to get warm.  We ended the day by surprising miss b with tickets to see Wicked.  She had never seen a big production play before so this was a huge treat.  What a great night for all of us.

The next day we were up super early to meet our tour that would take us to the Tour of London to see the crown jewels (another thing on my wish to see list).  Then a boat ride on the Thames, Buckingham Palace (bigger than I thought it was going to be) and St Paul's Cathedral which has a huge gold dome, that unfortunately cannot be seen in the picture below.

Out of literally thousands of pavers in front of St Paul's, only one of them had a name on it.  I wonder if it was a sign?

 Lets see, after that we stopped by Parliament and Westminster Abbey and then on to the London Eye.

That was VERY fun.

The next day we took a bus about an hour outside London to the Warner Bros Studio where Harry Potter was filmed.  Another surprise for miss b who is a fan of the books and has read the series more than once.  The online recommendation was 2-3 hours to do the tour.  We were there 3 1 /2 hours and felt rushed to get to the end.  Way better than I thought it would be.  Very interesting as far as set decoration, "how did they do that?" kind of stuff, and seeing the real sets/costumes in person.
Worth every single penny. 

The studio had everything from the Great Hall, to the sorting hat, Dumbledore's office, the Covered Bridge and the Knight Bus...really, every significant prop including all the wands and the Horcruxes seen below.  Absolutely fascinating stuff if you like the book series.

Ministry of Magic - Floo Network fireplaces

 Diagon Alley...talk about attention to detail.

Oh and the flying car too.
What a great way to end our London portion of the trip!

Now on to Paris...first stop, the Eiffel Tower of course!

We took in Musee d'Orsay

to see some of my favorite paintings...“Starry Night over the Rhone,” by Van Gogh (a forerunner to the more famous, "The Starry Night" painted a year later).

And his Self-portrait from 1889.  The photo does not do the color or texture of the painting justice.

I was happy to see "The Floor Scrappers" by Gustave Caillebotte hanging on the wall again.  It was out on loan when I was in Paris 2 years ago.  Something about this painting I find fascinating.  I think it has to do with the light coming from the window and how I shines onto the floor and the backs of the men laboring.  I know Caillebotte has much more famous paintings of Paris street scenes, but I still like this one best.

 

After the museum were off to tour the Opera Garnier.  I have been here before, but our guide was so knowledgeable that it was worth another visit to learn more details.  We were even lucky enough to see the grand hall with hardly anyone even there.

We also visited the Eiffel Tower - it was a beautiful day, hardly any wind up on the 2 second floor which was great.  On our way down, the elevator stopped at the 1st floor which I had never been to.  The last trip it was closed for renovations but now it's open for visitors, so we got off the elevator to take a little tour around (And I am so glad we did!)
They have created a glass barrier or wall so you can look right down the center of the tower.

And on each corner there are glass pieces you can walk on.  See all the people in line down below?  We had a good time taking pictures on the glass and watching people when they walked out on it.

 They even have a place to kiss (like France needed that).

We wandered by the door to the new restaurant called "58 Tour Eiffel" - it was 10 minutes to opening so we waited and went in.  You can order from the menu or get a "combo" (that is my word, not theirs - the French would never serve a combo anything) 
main + dessert = 22.50 Euros
starter + main + desert = 27 Euros
I thought the price was quite reasonable because we all know you could easily spend that much on lunch at Disneyland. 

We got the main + dessert combo.
I ordered the salmon with polenta and broad beans.  Seriously the best polenta I have ever eaten (I am quite sure it had a pint of heavy cream added, lol).  Dessert was panna cotta with Passion Fruit puree on top, miss b had chocolate mousse and Jay had creme brulee.  All were wonderful.
I keep talking about the food and have not even mentioned the view.  From the picture above it looks like there is an open wall, but it's really glass and all enclosed.  You cannot fall over the side or throw food down to the people in line, but it would make for a great story!

 We ended that day by visiting Sainte-Chapelle, my favorite church in Paris.

They windows are stunning.  Two years ago one side was being restored...now it is done, so all the windows are free from scaffolding!

We saw many other things like the Louvre and Chartres Cathredral (about an hour outside of Paris) to see the monumental screen that surrounds the choir stalls.
We ended our trip back at the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle. 

 It truly was a magical journey.

Lest you think I am now sitting around enjoying the California sunshine, I am not.  In just a few short hours I will be off on another adventure for a few days.  I'll keep you posted!  
now carry on,
paula

I wish I could have gotten to go to Paris with Paula, but it just wasn't my turn to get to go this time.  It got me thinking about the time I was able to go to Paris and since that is the running theme this week..... 

Steve and Donna Smylie (originators of 7gypsies) and I were invited to teach at a big scrapbooking event in the UK.  We were also right in the middle of doing the book

 "7gypsies in Paris."  

 Steve was overseeing this book, it was to include not only the creative projects, but they were layered with artwork, sketches, pages of printed vellum and multiple fold outs and interactive pieces.  

(Steve's sketching inside the little fold out book shown above)

It also included cute and clever little stories, comments, quotes and sayings.  The cover of the book was debossed to look like an old book cover.  Usually my favorite part of the books we have done were the creative projects, but for this book it was all the details and whimsy that came out of Steve's head.  It almost didn't matter what the projects were, with all the creative layers he put into the book design...he is an amazing artist!

I was the only artist working on that book that hadn't been to Paris.  Steve and Donna felt it was important that I have that experience to make the project more authentic, and I certainly wasn't going to argue with that!  So, it was decided that since we were going to be that close we would make the trip and spend several days in Paris.  

This is where we stayed....

 The Smylie's had a connection and we got to stay at the Paris Mariott right on the Champs-Elysees.  It was unbelievable, we would have never been able to afford such luxury!  

I was curious and looked up the going rate today, it would be in the range of $700 - $1400 a night....so nice to have good connections!

Seeing Paris with the Smylie's as tour guides was incredible.  Their insight and knowledge of all the places to eat, see and experience were amazing.  We road the metro and hiked and hiked and hiked.  I loved all the museums, the flea markets and even a couple of Donna's favorite, lesser known shops that she would go to for inspiration in creating 7g product.  Thank you Smylie's for the wonderful memory!

After we got home we had to get on with getting the 7gypsies in Paris book finished.  One of my favorite projects in the book were these "mini" projects that were all created from vintage postcards, most purchased at the flea market in  Paris.  The thought was that I would put them all in a shadowbox as remembrance of our trip.  

This one, I sewed a gusset between two postcards to make a little bag and rolled all my receipts from purchases in Paris and put them inside along with tags and ephemera gathered while there.  

Here's few more up close.....

 Postcards as covers to make a mini book

The Laduree...loved that place!  The logo from the napkin was decoupaged to the postcard.  I like that it was sheer enough to still see the writing on the postcard.

 ....more ephemera from Laduree

Little bits from the trip....

All the maps and tickets I saved slipped under the twill stitched to the postcard.

One of the sketches Steve did....I managed to get to keep this one.

The book has been long out of print, so I checked out Amazon to see if it was still available.  

I found some used copies for sale from $11 - $82.....that's quite a price range!  I got a kick out of some of the sellers commenting that the owner of the book had written their name and on the first page, and in the margins.  So funny, as those were actually part of the printing...along with what appears to be a water mark stain on the inside cover....all part of the fun of this book!

I hadn't planned on doing this, but talking about our fun little book, I thought it might be fun to give one away.  If you would like a chance to win a copy of the 7gypsies in Paris, please leave a comment.  Be sure to post by Monday at midnight.  we will announce the winner on Tuesday morning when Paula tells us about her fun at the Paris Flea Market.

Here's to memories of Paris!

deb

Dreaming of....

Please click to read

 

A lovely little book for dreams.

Let's make one together.

Print out a Vintage Frame from the free printable section at World Label.  I printed mine on white cardstock.  I did have to change the printer setting where it says "fit to page".   I am quite sure if you explore World Label you will find label paper that matches the template which could be very convenient for many projects.  But today, I don't have any so I have to stick with cardstock.  And that's okay.

 I actually printed quite a few just to test out the different styles. 

Once I decided on which one I wanted to use, I just cut it out.  You could leave the center intact but I chose to make it a window. 

 Now back to the computer with my frame and a ruler.  I need an image or saying at least 2" across.

 I found a picture of the Eiffel Tower on The Graphics Fairy.  I am sure many of you already use this site (because it's great).   She has so many images that you can use for free.  I love it when there are no strings attached to an image!  Use at will!
You can find this image of the Eiffel Tower by going to The Graphics Fairy and clicking on the word, SEARCH at the top tool bar.  All the categories of images will come up.  Now click on Travel.  Now just download the image you want.
Once I had the image, I opened a new document and placed two of the same image on the page.  You never know what size will be just what you need (especially in a round opening) so I printed one slightly bigger than the one I thought would work.  Does that make sense?

Sure enough, the larger one was the ticket.

 The smaller looked great in this one.

I want to seal the image with Mod Podge before I put it on the cover of the little book.  If you are going to use Distress Ink, you need to do it now, before the Mod Podge layer.  I took this picture to show you that the Distress will color the Mod Podge, but not to worry it stays looking nice and vintage if that's the route you want to go.

I changed it up and did not use Distress on the frame I picked (I know Sue from Florida is going to think I have lost my marbles).  I just wanted to see what it would look like (probably better with Distress, right?). Oh well, too late.

 So while that is drying...I cut two pieces of chipboard for the cover.   They are 4  3/4 x 6".

I cut a piece of Sticky Back Canvas in Natural color a bit bigger than the two pieces of chipboard.  I left a good 1/2" between the boards for a spine.

 Once cut, I just peeled off the paper backing...

 then arrange the chipboard on top, pressing them down so they are adhered.

 Now fold down the top and press down.  Then the bottom.

 For the sides, there are multiple ways to finish them off.  I just clipped off the corner and then folded it around.

I cut a piece of fabric so it would fit the book cover with a 1/2" edge showing.

 Working quickly, I painted on an even layer of Mod Podge (once side at a time).

Adhere the fabric.
I know the edges are raw.  But once the Mod Podge goes on you can hardly tell. I admit I was quite surprised at how good it looked and I was glad I didn't waste the time the fold edges under. 
btw, I did not put Mod Podge on top of the fabric, only under it.

Now repeat on the other side.  Press down with your hands or you could use a brayer.  Be sure to press down in the center of the spine.

I turned the cover over and sprayed with one of the new 7gypsies glimmer mists (post card) to give it an aged look.

 Back to the Frame.
I added the Eiffel Tower to the center with a tape runner.

 Then added more Mod Podge to the back.  Make sure you go all the way to the edge.

I centered the frame on the cover (when the book was closed) and then opened it up so I could press it down really good.  You might even put a heavy book on it for 5 minutes just to really secure it.

Now lets make some pages.
I cut 6 pieces of cardstock to fit the book.  Basically the same size as the fabric piece.

 Fold each in half and score with a bone folder.

 Gather 3 pages and stitch them together following the score line.  I did use a bit bigger stitch length than standard.

 repeat on the second set of 3 pages.

 Time to sew it to the spine.  Needed: one big needle and some waxed linen.

Make 3 holes in each set of pages (signature) with an awl.

Now start sewing.
I start from the outside (because that where I want the tail to be).  So it up through hole 2 and down through hole 1.

 From hole 1, go all the way down to hole 3.

 Now from 3, back to two where we started.

 And now the two tails are together so you can tie them together.

Just like this.
Clip off the tails.

Repeat for the second set of pages.

And the last thing...a bit of old lace as a closure.  I just slipped it under the waxed linen to keep it in place when the book is opened.

I have my little book right here with me in Paris.  I am filling it up with ideas and sketches of things I see.  I am sure when I get back I will finish the cover with numbers, words and a bit of glitter.  Because what's Paris with out a bit of glitter?

Cheers!

paula