Two Days at the Shore Back in January

 Hi everyone. 

Today I have 2 pages to share for Chris' Where in the World challenge over at Art Journal Journey.  These pages go back to winter when I made them in my Florida journal. This journal was one I put together during February and March after the hubby and I came home for a week's trip to various parts of Florida in late January.

I haven't posted these pages yet however, so they should work for Art Journal Journey.

This first page has to do with a state park we visited outside of St. Petersburg. We had spent the first part of the day at the Salvador Dali Museum and also at the Sunken Gardens within the city of St. Petersburg. Both my husband and I wanted some out of the city time, and since we still had a few hours until it would be dark, we drove out to this park on the outskirts of the city.  

I sprayed some water on my page to wet it, and then I inked it. The background reminds me of the sky with some clouds and blue.

I die cut the big leaf and stamped the sunglasses. I added in the beach scene.

Fort Desoto State Park is a huge, beautiful oceanside park, and it has some fantastic walking trails. We walked this one along the shore and through the remains of the old fort that had been located here. That fort was what the park has been named after. 

My second spread is also from this same journal. This spread has to do with 2 museums we visited on the East Coast of Florida, about an hour south of the Kennedy Space Center.  One museum was the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum, and the other was the McLarty Treasure Museum.

All of the McLarty Museum and some of the Mel Fisher Museum had to do with the 1715 Fleet. The 1715 Fleet  was a group of 12 Spanish ships that were bringing (to Spain) a lot of looted gold and other treasures from  South America. Havanna (Cuba) was the biggest city in the New World, and it was also the location where all the precious materials arrived after being shipped out of the South American  colonies. From Havana, these commodities would be loaded onto ships to be taken  back to Spain. Some of those fleets sailed up along the coast of Florida.

These 12 ships in the 1715 Fleet were sailing to Spain. One ship's captain chose to sail further offshore, and his ship was able to make the entire journey. The other 11 ships stayed together and then ran into a hurricane when they reached the San Sebastian area of Florida. The ships sunk directly off the shore from where the MacLarty Museum is located. 

This journal page is made mostly with some old stickers. On the right I did stamp the water and the rays at the top. I also used a gold paper ship and a "fake" Spanish Pieces of Eight. These coins were called Pieces of Eight because to make change you would just cut the coin into sections. I have a little bag of these fake coins that I bought at the Mel Fisher Museum in Key West when we visited there several years ago. I thought I needed to add one because of all the treasure I saw in both museums, including many solid silver pieces of eight.

This photo (above)  is the spot where the 11 ships wrecked and where the survivors came ashore. And below, is yours truly in front of  a sign outside the MacLarty Museum.

That's all for me today. I hope your Thursday (or whatever day you are reading this) goes well!