Horsing Around at the Blacksmith Shop

Welcome back to my tour of East Jersey Olde Towne in October 2021. The next location I visited was also unstaffed — the blacksmith's shop. I've seen forges working at other parks, so I didn't need the details, though it is usually a nice program. Additional rusty farm equipment was just outside the barn, so you get a whole idea of all the items they had to work on. Lots of horseshoes are lined up as well.

I based this layout on one of the CM virtual crop sketches from November 2025. Look at sketch #1 (I doubled it for this layout). I wanted to focus on the red barn and the brick chimney. The background paper is cranberry cardstock, and I had 2 matching pieces of brick paper for the mat area. I punched the barbed wire fence with a CM Border Making Cartridge. I trimmed off one link so that it fit just over the mat area. I found a mat with a distressed gray pattern and trimmed it into 4 equal segments. By tucking those under the brick paper, it looks like a single long piece extending across the page. Saves paper that way! I found a border sticker that I cut into short lengths to use as a title, and then mimicked that effect by putting my journaling on white write strips on the right page. A few stickers from the CM On the Farm pack rounded out the layout. 

Up a Steep and Very Narrow Stairway

This blog post is a continuation of the Indian Queen Tavern tour. The upstairs is more reminiscent of family life than of an inn, but it still houses some wonderful pieces. I especially liked the piano (which might be a harpsichord, I forget the details). The stairway itself is a special historic artifact. The period style called for a very sturdy yet winding, narrow staircase. This saves room in the floor plan, but can be treacherous on the climb. Watch your step if you visit!

I based this layout on a pin I had saved. Noreen Smith made the original pages you can see in this pin, but she only posted a photo of the design, no directions. I tried to emulate her style from the one clue in the original post—it's all from one sheet of paper. I chose the last piece of paper in my Literary Romance collection and used the woodgrained side. I started by cutting an 8" square from the center of the paper. That piece is placed as a diamond on the right side of the layout. The remaining piece of paper is turned so the corners hang over the left page edges. I tried to center the paper as best I could, then turned it over and cut off the sides, leaving me with the 4 corner elements for the right-side page. I couldn't tell whether Noreen meant the center mat sections were also from the same sheet of paper, but I don't think they are. For that reason, I found 2 8" square remnants in my stash and used them to mount the photos in the center of the pages. The title element and the corner stickers on the left page are from Creative Memories. The remaining embellishments are from the Paper Loft collection.

In the Inn

Welcome back to my extended fall break from 2021. The first building I walked through in the East Jersey Olde Towne Village was this tavern. It started as a private residence, but with the addition of rooms and remodeling, it eventually became a tavern and inn. The first floor focuses on the tavern portion with the bar room and dining room set up for travelers. As with many other locations, Washington is reputed to have dined here on his journey between New York and Virginia. The manikin below is supposed to represent him. I love that they included a mock-up of the food served, too!

This layout is based on a Club Scrap layout that I saved. The link to the layout sample is here. I found a link to the PDF directions that include the cutting guides (email me if you would like a copy). I chose papers from Paper Loft. Isn't the teapot design simply the best fit for the background? The directions call for several decorative papers. I used 1 sheet for the stripes, 1 for the border bases, and 1 for the small squares. The green tonal paper didn't precisely match the teapot background, so it creates the visual separation needed for the layout to work. There are a dozen 1" squares on the layout. You could use all one pattern, or use this as an excuse to use up a variety of scraps. Just make sure the tones match. The small journal box and the other embellishment cluster were remnants I found in my stash pile.

It Takes a Village

My fall 2021 vacation extended through the weekend, though my husband returned to our home. Union County holds its Four Centuries in a Weekend event on the 2nd weekend of October. I planned to attend those events, but since they don't start until Saturday, I used Friday to schedule visits along my travel route. New Brunswick, NJ, is in Middlesex County (not far from Rutgers University), so I made plans to pick up a few more stamps there. The East Jersey Olde Towne is a collection of buildings that would have been found in Colonial America, but like the Appalachian village in the Great Smoky Mountains, gathered from various sites and moved to a central location. They have a regular supply of living history actors, and I got to meet several of them.

This layout is based on one of the CM Virtual Crop layouts from October 2025. Scroll to layout #1. The secret to the long strip that flows off the bottom of the page is to use 2 mats that are 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". You need to pick 2 that match and tape them together in the middle (you'll cover that with the photos). That gives you 13 inches of length, so you can position it with the ends just hanging off the sides, then trim the excess. I also used some paper from the collection (I'm using Legacy of Love again) because there were decorations in the middle that I wanted to cover, and it wasn't quite covered by the photos, as they were trimmed to 5 1/2" long each. The base is a sheet of  Hot Fudge Brown cardstock. I gutted the middle so I could use it for the mats on the smaller photos. There is a companion page on the right with the village map, and there will be lots more journaling as I go, so I was OK with the small journal box under the photo.

Falling For You

This is the last entry for our Poconos trip, though my vacation continued into the weekend. Our last stop was at Dingman's Falls. The trail is a boardwalk taking you past Silver Thread Falls and on to Dingman's Falls. This was a lovely little trail and not too busy for a Thursday morning. After enjoying the sights, we headed home. You will see my upcoming adventures in New Jersey in the next blog posts.

This is another layout I made from the class I took with Meggan and Tessa. When I created the layouts, I didn't add the mats or any embellishments. When I decided to use the layout, I could fit my photos without forcing them into any particular mat pattern. That means that I didn't have to have 3 horizontal photos on the right page. The left page has one extra "photo"—the map I cut from a brochure. It gives the area's overall look, and then you can see the specifics in the photo. The instructions from Meggan and Tessa included a different border punch, but one that I didn't have with me. I thought the wavy one that I chose would be reminiscent of the wind. When I pulled it from the bag as I created this layout, I realized that it was also perfect for water falling over rocks. And I FINALLY got to use that journal box with the waterfall! I have been saving that for years!

When do Stampers not Stamp?

The last day of our Poconos getaway was a return to the Delaware Water Gap. This time we are heading for a local waterfall. On the way, we stopped at the visitor center/administration building. Unfortunately, with COVID and staffing issues, the building was not open. Instead, they placed a table outside with pre-stamped copies of passport stamps and the most requested brochures. I picked up almost all of the stamps that the database said should be there. Have you ever had to use a pre-stamped image? Were you afraid that all of them would be gone by the time you arrived?

This layout is based on one of the CM Virtual Crop sketches from October 2025. Scroll to Sketch #2. I chose some papers from the Shades of Golden Harvest paper pack. The cardstock base is Autumn Hay shimmer. That creates a soft glow in the back. White would have been too stark. The papers are cut to the same width, but to different lengths, so you get a symmetrical pattern across the page. The sketch called for 3 photos, but I chose to use the longer mat for the Unigrid. I used a coordinating vellum for the mats, also punching a leaf border to match the mat. The blue mat picks up the color in my sweatsuit, while the orange/red mat coordinates with the orange papers. A few stickers from my stash provided the titles and leaves.

Playing in the Forest

Today's blog looks at more of our Poconos trip from October 2021. Our last images of PEEC are of our second trail. The brochure called this an "everyone" trail. Likely that means it's for kids, which, for me, speaks to my inner child! There were lots of touch points--cement pressings, tree-tac-toe, and the best part--instruments to play! Jim doesn't care for it, but I had a great time!

This layout is based on an older Project Recipe pattern from CM called "Adventure". I returned to the Set Up Camp paper pack that you saw when I made the National Park Puzzle page. The light-hearted paper matched the emotion of the photos. There isn't a lot of intricate cutting — truly, most of the cuts are for photo mats. I chose to use the pre-printed mats that came with the kit as much as possible. In that way, you can make the 2 strips for the left page by using 2 sides of a single sheet of decorative paper. One of the mats I chose became a title and a mat by trimming the photo appropriately. A couple of embellishment clusters finished the page.