Deck the Halls

 Welcome back to the Staatsburg Estate. We took a self-guided tour of the house. There were docents in nearly every room, so if you had questions, they could answer them. The left page shows their library — dark wood and furniture. A cozy room for reading. The right page is the parlor. Much brighter and "feminine" with lots of floral sprigs around the room. 

This layout is based on a sketch that CM posted only on the Virtual Crop Facebook page. Noreen Smith (my idol) retired from her position as Creative Manager in December 2025. To thank her for all she has done, they sponsored this mini challenge. The overall sketch is one of the Simple Page Kits Noreen designed. This demonstrates that if you like a kit, you can replicate it with paper from your stash! I chose Seasonal Sightings, a Christmas pack from a few years ago (2022). There was a bonus pack called "Write On" that included cardinals and other papers. 

Since there was a birdcage as one of the room elements on the right, I felt justified in spreading cardinals around the layout. For the banner element at the top right, I trimmed one of the decorative mats and kept only the ornaments — nearly the same thing! The title is from that card, too, but trimming it meant I didn't have to reserve 4 1/2 x 6 1/2" of space in the corner. 

It's All Greek to Me

Welcome back to my 2021 Hudson River Valley trip. Today, we look at the next house we visited, called Staatsburg. This house is a Greek Revival house--I mean, just look at that portico! It screams Greek Temple. This front entrance is not used by the public to enter the home, so my friends and I walked around the outside to see the details. They decorated it with simple wreaths, and the windows were filled with massive nutcrackers about 5 feet tall.

This layout was created using the CM Virtual Crop sketches from February 2026. Scroll to Sketch #4. I continued using the old CM Reminisce Christmas papers. I had 2 of the green papers left. One of them had to be the base of the right page. The sketch shows an 11 1/2 x 11 1/2" square. Because you cover the right edge, you can get away with a smaller piece of paper — just use the border to seal the 2 pieces together. On the left, I cut the inner circle from the other green page and used the remnant to create the 2 "triangular" pieces at the top and bottom. I trimmed those at 45 degrees and then slipped the tan papers underneath — there's no reason to cut those papers, and you end up with a perfect seam that way! The entire left page is mounted on white cardstock for stability.

Fit for a Queen

Welcome back to the December 2021 Hudson Valley trip. Today, we finish the Home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by looking at the guest quarters. The 2 rooms shown below look fairly standard for the period and much like rooms in traditional homes. So would it surprise you to know that the royalty of Europe, including King George VI, Queen Elizabeth of England, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, stayed here? So did Winston Churchill! I'm sure it was very different from their palaces at home. I wonder what they thought of the accommodations.

This layout is based on one of the sketches in the CM 101 Sketches book (page 61). I returned to the Homestead collection, which was down to just scraps. I used a piece of charcoal cardstock as the base and one strip of paper to create the peekaboo strip on the right. Under that strip is layered several border stickers and a couple of laser-cut borders. A final laser-cut border was cut in half and placed under the edges of the paper to extend the element. Both photos were double-mounted on the mat cards from the collection. A few final stickers complete the layout.

FDR the Boy

Welcome back to my 2021 Hudson River Valley tour. We are continuing our look at the Home of FDR. Upstairs, there is the room where he was born, as well as the room where he lived as a child. This page focuses on the childhood room and the bathroom adjoining. It is the privilege of the oldest son to have this room, and Franklin passed this on to his sons as well. But it is now restored to how FDR would have had it as a boy, including books he collected, framed prints, diplomas, and little trinkets.

This layout is one of the most basic standard layouts. When you have 4 items, 2 vertical and 2 horizontal, you can mimic this layout quite easily. By alternating the directions, you create a visual circle that takes the reader's eye around the page. When I realized I had 2 vertical and 1 horizontal photo, I grabbed a horizontal journal mat to finalize the layout. I chose this historic sports-looking card from the Graphic 45 collection. I like to think that, as a youth, FDR would have been interested in sports, and this card is about the right time frame. I used some of the Homestead collection for the remaining elements. Depending on the size of your photos, you will likely have room for a border at the top or bottom. I used this laser-cut border from the Homestead collection to finish off the page. The arrangement leaves a large square in the center, which is the perfect place to put a title sticker!

Grow Up

Welcome back to the 2021 Hudson River Valley trip. Today, we continue exploring the FDR home in Hyde Park. As you enter the house, the entryway and foyer contain many souvenirs from the Roosevelts' world travels. Large cabinets from Asia and Europe, even a gong. Added later, after the home became a tourist spot, was an interesting statue of FDR as a young man. Not shown in a wheelchair, but not showing his legs either. Interesting juxtaposition of ideas.

This layout is one of Club Scrap's Industrial Evolution kit. Scroll to layouts 7 and 8. When I saw the quote spread across the pages, I thought it was a good match for the life that FDR led after being diagnosed with polio so young. I manipulated the mats a bit by turning 2 of them to horizontal positions and using one of the smaller ones as a journal box.

The rest of the downstairs is shown below. You'll maybe remember this from a bonus post I made for Lasting Memories in early February.

Hyde and Seek

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Welcome back to the 2021 Hudson River Valley trip. Our second stop of the day was the Franklin D. Roosevelt home. This is where he was born and grew up. He kept it as an adult for a country house getaway. He and Eleanor are also buried here. The grounds include the home, some barns, the graveyard, and his Presidential Library. Today's visit is just to the house.

This layout is based on a sketch I saved from Noreen Smith's 2018 Scrap Your Summer Stash Saturdays event. I'm sure I've used this sketch before, but its versatility makes it easy to reuse endlessly! I continued using the Recollections paper pack. The best part of this sketch is that you can use your scraps. It takes just two 10x5 strips and one 12x2.5 strip across the middle. Want to dress it up? Add some borders above and below the 12x2.5 strip. Or across the middle of the strip. 

Dollars for Bowling

Welcome back to Lyndhurst, part of my December 2021 Hudson River Valley trip. Behind the main structure are several outbuildings. This one was a recreation hall that featured a bowling alley. The ball return was primitive, and it looks like they just used cushions to catch the pins. The photos are not too bad, considering we couldn't go inside and had to take them through the porch windows!

This layout was made during a Paper Loft class at one of the Lancaster Scrapbook Conventions. It had been a 2-page layout, but I used the other portion on a different page. I like the argyle pattern for bowling. It has a very 50's feel to it. I added a few bowling embellishments from my stash. I liked that some of the stickers matched the shape and size of the banner pieces.