Missing in Action

We are continuing to review the layouts for the 2021 Washington, DC convention. My next stop on my travels was a visit to the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers office. In 1865, Clara was appointed by the government to coordinate the efforts of locating prisoners of war, recovering wounded, identifying the dead, and matching them with the families who were searching. For over three years, she occupied rooms on the third floor of this building, using them as a storeroom, office, and lodging. After she left this location, most of her supplies were still stored here. Nothing was moved through the early 1900s. In 1911, the building's owners were worried about mandated updates due to safety concerns (if you haven't read about the Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York, I encourage you to learn more about it). Their solution was to board over the entire set of stairs and rooms on the third floor. For 85 years, no one knew there was anything more than the first and second floors. In the 1990s, the building was slated for demolition. One of the workers felt a "tap" on his shoulder and when he turned around, an envelope was poking from the ceiling. This led to an exploration and the rediscovery of these rooms. Deterioration had occurred, so they spent several years restoring the space to its original appearance as it was when Clara Barton used it. It is now a museum, and definitely worth a visit!

This layout is one of the Paper Loft layouts I made at a class in Lancaster. The large, folder-shaped mat was initially intended to serve as the base for a mini album. I don't usually need that, so I used the base as a mat (there's a peek-a-boo pocket on top, so it could be a mini album). I added the wood-toned journal box and then used a similar paper to mat the vertical photos on the right. The title area is one of the Civil War trading cards. I mounted it with photo corners so I can look at both sides.

Here's a look at the upstairs rooms. They arranged the furniture much as Barton would have used it in the late 1800s.

This layout should look familiar. I posted it as a bonus post on June 14th. You can read about the layout creation here.

Water Water Everywhere

Today, we continue with my NPTC Convention Trip to Washington, DC, in 2021. The stamps for the Navy Memorial that you saw in the last blog post are inside the Navy Memorial Visitor Center. They have a small museum downstairs. I initially thought the statue represented the iconic image from Life Magazine of a World War II sailor returning home and kissing a nurse. It's not far from that, but it has a more family-friendly feel to it when seen from the correct angle. There were also a few displays of diving gear and life on some of the naval vessels.

I started creating this layout by reviewing this pin from Split Coast Stampers. If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you're likely familiar with my frequent use of sketches by Cheryl Even. I discovered that she had initially created sketches for the Split Coast Stampers group. That's a message board where scrapbookers challenge each other and display their work. I scrolled through their gallery and found all of Cheryl's early sketches, pinning them for future use. As I considered which papers to use, I realized I wanted a nautical feel, so I pulled a recent bonus pack from CM called "Boat Life." It's just 6 pieces of paper, a few mats, and some embellishments. The stormy seas background was exactly what I wanted for these photos. The paper came with the borders printed at the top. All I had to do was mat the pictures and the title card and add a little journaling.

In the Navy Memorial

Happy Independence Day, everyone! How appropriate that we are using patriotic-themed papers and photos in today's blog! This entry continues our exploration of Washington, DC for the NPTC 2021 convention. 

After leaving the National Archives, I walked back to Pennsylvania Avenue. One of the stamp locations is connected to the US Navy Memorial at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street. There is a large circle in the middle. It's tough to tell from the ground, but an aerial view would show an image of the globe. Around that circle is a bas-relief sculpture depicting historic moments in the US Navy from the Revolutionary War to the present day. There is also a Lone Seaman statue. There are several of these around the world, and I've now seen 2 of them (one in Normandy). If you've seen any, let me know in the comments below!

This layout was one of my 1-2-3-4 Pack Classes. I cannot show you the sketch, but the overall technique created the 2 banners at the bottom of the page and the 1" borders across their middles. After layering in the photos, I realized that I had some large chunks of blue at the top and bottom. I also had a scrap of paper with the 2 borders diagonally printed across the page. I cut them and rearranged them to be horizontal, layering the pieces where the pattern overlapped. (Another solution to that problem would be to use those 1" borders across the top for some extra interest.) Those gold and white borders were the best additions, though. Since the borders had some gold tones, I could add the gold anchor sticker (a recent addition to my stash from a goodie bag exchange on my latest cruise). The paper for the banners was from a CM pack specifically themed for Washington, DC trips. I love it when their paper matches my trip so perfectly! 

No Relation

We are continuing with my exploration of Washington, DC, during the 2021 convention for the National Park Travelers Club. On Thursday morning, I had scheduled a tour of the National Archives. I was awake far earlier than I needed to be, so I leisurely made my way down to the building. Along the way, I came to this statue of Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. To the best of my knowledge, he is not related to either Winfield Scott or John Hancock. At the time, I was not sure what he was known for or why there was a statue of him. My investigation later revealed an impressive resume, including a notable distinction at the Gettysburg battlefield. If you want to read more about him, start with this page from the National Park Service.

I based this layout on a Creative Memories Blog Post. I noticed that Meggan Jacks had created a video of her version of this layout, so I decided to play along. Well,  I started a bit before turning on her video. Trust me, you want to watch her video before tackling this layout. She has some great tips on avoiding my mistakes. (If you can't see them, I'm not going to point them out.) 😀 I used papers from the Bedazzled Geometrics pack. There are no embellishments for that paper, so I pulled some mats from my stash and then opened the Rainbow Binder to look for blue-ish embellishments. I thought the laser-cut remnants of the stars worked well once I covered some of the uneven edges with the title words.

Shining Bright

You'll recall that the last post mentioned the new Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. My visit was not only to count the new park (though that didn't hurt), but it was because three of my National Park Travelers Club friends were reaching our ultimate goal. When you have visited EVERY park in the system at the time you reach the last park, you have reached our Platinum Status. It's highly coveted and challenging to achieve. In July 2021, there were 423 units in existence (as of this blog post, it's now 433), and you have to travel to remote places like Guam or the most northern and complex parts of Alaska. Jen "Oma" Baxter, as well as Cheryl and Mike Carver, reached that goal by visiting this unit, and so we held a Meetup to celebrate with them. Jennifer even had her grandchildren with her to help commemorate the event. 

I made this layout during one of my 1-2-3-4 classes for my scrapbooking customers. Due to the way I purchased the sketch, I am unable to share it with you. However, the placement of the photos is crucial in this case. The middle block of 4 is taking up space on the page, allowing you to use the decorative paper to S-T-R-E-T-C-H across the page. Because the platinum status was so important to this page, I used silver shimmer cardstock as the base and a piece of gray patterned paper from the Silver and Gold pack. Matching embellishments were from the same kit. I used some shimmer ABC-123 numbers to highlight their park visit achievement on the title card. You probably can't tell from the photo, but I also used one of the shimmer pens to add some sparkle to the rest of the embellishments.

I Like Ike

This post continues our examination of the 2021 NPTC Convention in Washington, D.C. After arriving by train, I checked into my hotel and then took the Metro to the newest unit — the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. It sits between the Air and Space Museum and the Department of Education (he created both NASA and the Department of Education during his presidency). It's an open-air memorial and has several installations tracing his life from farm boy to soldier and then president. 

I created this layout based on a pair of pins. Sometimes the only way to pin an idea is to pin the left and right sides separately. I used olive cardstock as the base (a perfect match to Army green, don't you think?) Sadly, they are my last 2 pieces. You will notice that I cut my side triangles incorrectly. It's a 3" piece of paper cut corner-to-corner. I actually did cut it right, but when I turned it over to apply the adhesive, I realized that the stars would be even better than the blue words on the other side. Luckily, the angle isn't crucial to the overall design. I added 2 borders from a cutapart page I bought at the Lancaster Convention. I was aiming for a military theme, and the stars and Jeeps fit nicely. I filled the gap on the bottom right with a few soldier stickers. Look closely, and you might catch that those are actually "Green Army Men" toy soldiers. I figured if I lined up their "bases," it would resemble a strip of ground. The remaining word and star stickers came from the CM Military Service pack.

Bonus Post--Up on the Hill

I'm adding another post based on a Lasting Moments Challenge. This is from the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site and is part of the 2021 NPTC convention, which we are now highlighting on the blog. He chose his house site so that he could look down on Washington, DC (from a literal and figurative point of view!) One of my favorite sites at his house is the little cabin behind the main house that he called the Growlery. It was a place for him to sit and ponder, and he used it quite a lot, from what I hear. 

I used the Lasting Moments Challenge #754 for this layout. Cheryl Even cleverly pointed out that the pieces (2 6x6 squares, 2 3x11 strips and 2 3x1 strips) fit together to make a 12x12 page like a jigsaw puzzle! I chose to place the 6x6 squares across the middle and the longer strips at the top and bottom to create a border-like effect. The paper is from the Our Moments line from CM. The journaling is on the new Write-On strips that are available in ivory. I love them for this heritage feel. I cut apart the leafy laser-cut borders to help decorate the page.