San Francisco - BoBunny DT

Way back in 2004 my sister asked if I was interested in going to San Francisco for a couple of weeks holiday.  I was soooo keen it was'nt funny!  All the travelling I did in my twenties I loved but had never been to the States before,  and San Francisco was just one on my wish list to visit.  She wanted to go in November just before Thanks Giving did I have any issues with those dates?  No, could'nt think of anything, so we booked the tickets.  And then I remembered..................................my first wedding anniversary was Nov 29th!!!  Thankfully I have a very understanding husband because the tickets were non-refundable, non-transferable, and it could've turned into a bit of a nightmare!  9years later and I still had'nt got round to scrapping those photos :(  and then BoBunny asked me to create my first project using travel as my theme, problem solved!  

So what to do?  Well, you need a suitcase don't you?  So I covered a wooden box I found at Typo, and added a strap of leather to make my handle.  I also wanted it to be a battered suitcase.  The papers I picked were from the The Avenues range and Double Dot Vintage.

Ive used BoBunny texture stamps to create the water mark effect  and inked around the edges with Frayed Burlap distress ink.

On the inside of the lid I created an 'pocket' to hold brochures and postcards that I had purchased.  Ive also added a custom made envelope from the The Avenues papers to store the extra photos I had.

On the cover I have split the flowers to make them go even further, and used the new Kraft collection embellishments, wooden clocks.

Bubba Gump's restaurant in Monteray Bay was very cool, there was even a bench seat outside with Forrest's shoes and suitcase and box of chocolates - do you think I can find that photo?!!

Tip: change paper patterns to suit your own needs.  This little pennant on the birdcage has been altered, by using a pennant from another page and placing it on top with some foam for dimension.  Now it says amazing, instead of love.  Perfect!

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.  I found this house fascinating, and the history behind its owner Sara Winchester quite sad.  Overcome with grief from the death of her baby daughter and 15yrs later her husband, Sara Winchester began building this house, and kept going for 38 years!  By the time she passed away, she had built, 160 rooms, nine kitchens, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces - no two carved a like.  There were a few quirks too; a spiral staircase has 42 steps, each two inches high.  Other stairways melt into blank walls.  A fascinating place to visit!

The next day we were off to the tourist attractions in San Francisco.  First stop was Alcatraz.  It opened as a federal penitentiary in 1934 and of the 1545 inmates who did time on Alcatraz, only a handful were notorious, one of them being Al Capone.  One of the bits of information I was amazed with was the families who lived there rarely locked their doors!  The average stay for an inmate was 8-10 years.

I had quite a few photos I wanted to include here, so I created a flap.

Golden Gate Bridge.  When we got to the view point to get a good photo, we found a group of highway patrol men gathered.  Perfect photo opportunity!  Their bikes looked just like they did in Chips!  remember that programme?

The Arts Centre. A glorious place, some amazing architecture, just beautiful.

Pop on over to the BoBunny blog today and you'll see another example of travel.  Tracee has done an awesome travel layout using Elf Magic.
Thanks for popping by :)