50-states album part 2--Arizona

My next state to highlight is Arizona. I only chose 1 photo for this page, at least for now. I may decide to add one more photo to the bottom left corner.

This layout was scraplifted from this one. For this state, I cut the outline in black and then mounted it on a backing paper in a sunburst orange. The title was cut with the same paper as the bottom border and the blue dots and other decorative stripes are (to me) reminiscent of Native American designs. The snake and cactus provide a nice balance to the bottom page. I may add another photo in the bottom left corner someday, but I at least can say it is done at this point.

All-American (The 50-states album part 1)

I'm going to side-track a little as I prepare more national park pages. In addition to visiting all the national park units, I want to visit all 50 states (which, if I get to all the parks, I will have done!) To highlight that goal, I'm creating a 50-states album. Each state gets one 12x12 page and I plan on putting 1-3 photos of me in the state (in front of something that represents the state--that's my hardest challenge so far). While most of these pages will have a national park in the photos, not all will. So it's a little off-topic (including today's post). But it will make more sense if you can see all the states!

OK, my first page done (with photos of me) is Alaska. If you see a state out of alphabetical order, I've either not visited or didn't get photos of myself that will demonstrate my visit. These photos were taken on our Inside Passage cruise in July 2014.

The theme for this page was taken from this Pinterest layout. I found multiple free files to cut the state outline on the Cricut and then added just a couple of stickers for "theme" purposes. The bear and totem pole captured that trip perfectly. I do love the font I used for the state name, though each line had to be applied separately (detail work never being my strong suit). The plaid background was a good choice to set off the paper strip and the photos.

Showing Some Love

For my summer Scrap Camp, we were given a sketch and a prompt to scrapbook about a place we love. It didn't have to be a specific place,  but something that we loved to do. I chose, of course, to make a layout about being in the National Parks with my club friends. I chose the 6 photos to pair in 3 categories: Stamping (top 2), In the park (middle left and bottom right), and with NPTC friends (Bottom left and middle right).

I can't post the sketch because of the camp rules, but you can see the line in the middle where the pictures meet. I doubled the sketch and mirrored left and right pages for this layout. The background paper is from an Americana pack and the other paper is just cardstock. I happened to have a basic NPS unigrid on hand and it worked perfectly with the layout. The arrowhead, passport and ranger badge stickers are all from Eastern National's scrapbook kit. The little animals came from a different sticker pack but I think they fit the theme.

Taking the Tour

My next trip was in October 2014. On my way home from an all-day surgical technology conference, I stopped for a few stamps at Manassas National Battlefield. It was getting close to the end of the day so I had a choice of seeing the Stone House or watching the movie. Well, of course, I had to take the tour!

This layout is another sketch challenge from Creative Memories. As you can see, the sketch really focused on vertical photos and I only had 1 for this layout. In fact, the photos I worked on during the entire virtual crop were almost all horizontal. So instead of focusing on the photo arrangement, I focused on the page elements. There were several complimentary strips of paper crossing the pages and a couple of areas for embellishments.  I chose the Timeworn paper for the edging of brick on one page and cut both copies of the sheet at the same time to prevent un-even edges. The rest of the strips were scraps from a previous layout and worked with the tones of the page.

The left page embellishment was made by Creative Memories. I just had to put adhesive on--the components were already layered. I stacked the stickers on the right, though I think I did a pretty good job.

Ghost of the Paramount Ranch

My trip through the Santa Monica Mountains included a stop at the Paramount Ranch. Many western movies have been filmed here, so if it looks familiar you may have been there through film. Sadly, between the time of my visit and today's post, the area was engulfed in one of the California wildfires and most buildings were destroyed.

When I arranged my photos, I wanted to keep them all but they would take up most of the page. So I chose background paper that would not "mind" being covered up. The left page looks a bit like leather but has no other pattern. The right page was mostly dark with just a boot and some hay--and that's what's revealed in the arrangement.

Of course the other way to get a lot of photos on the page is to use Peekaboo pockets! I do like the bottom 3 because it makes me feel like I'm on the street again.

The visitor center is WHERE?

I continued my visit in the Santa Monica mountains with a trip to the Satwiwa visitor center. I was a little daunted when I found out the parking area was a bit of a hike from the building. The rattlesnake sign did not encourage me. Still, I made the walk easily and spent some time at the site watching the movie and seeing some of the arts and crafts classes for kids.

The left page of this layout is from the CM Virtual Crop. I used the Explorer and Travel Log packs to create the layout. Since I had a second page, I used the scraps from the left to make long mats on the right. The left border is a sticker. The journal box is a bit of white ruled paper that I enhanced with some stickers.

Here's your sign, Hollywood

Another group of stops we made was to visitor centers in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains. Those photos are on the right but I made them part of a double-page layout so you also get to see the Hollywood sign. It was a real challenge to find a spot to take my photo (bottom) so I added a postcard of the sign for good measure.

This layout is another challenge from the CM virtual crop. You can see the sketch on this page. I used paper from the Travel Log pack (paper, stickers, and mats). It makes it so easy to coordinate the items as the kits have a mix of matching tones.  Once I choose the elements, the page comes together fairly quickly.

Mission: San Gabriel

My next trip after Pipestone was actually our 2014 NPTC convention cruise. That album has been shared, so if you want to look chronologically, go to this post.

In September 2014 I went to an HPN conference in Long Beach, CA. After the conference, I traveled a little north to the Los Angeles area. I met up with a club friend who lives nearby and we made several drives around town to get stamps. One of the stops we made was to Mission San Gabriel--part of the Juan Bautista de Anza trail. It's a lovely church and still in use (as we tried to not disturb the baptism going on there).

The left page of this layout was created for the Creative Memories Virtual Crop. You can see the sketch here. The paper is from a new line called Memoirs and Memories. The sun in the center is cut from the center of one of the matching mat packs. The right page uses a mish-mash of older items. The paper is 10x12, so by stacking the photos on the left I hide the fact that it doesn't reach the edge of the page. The border on the right is from the older Archiver's line. The mat is from a Vintage pack from several years ago. I added the title of "Timeless" to the top. It's light in color so still not very prominent. The journal box is from a Club Scrap pack. When I originally cut it my blade was dull and so the edges are pretty rough. On the other hand, they look really rustic and I think that matches the page!

Pipe Dreams

In April I went to a conference in Sioux Falls, SD. After the meeting, I drove to the next state over (Minnesota), and visited Pipestone National Monument. The stones of the park have been used for centuries to create the ends of peace pipes and have been found across the US indicating trade with a variety of other Native American populations. The stones are still quarried and in addition to pipes they carve fetishes and other decorative pieces. It was nice to see one artist actively working in the visitor center.

This sketch uses a 1-2-3 layout from Noreen Smith. The paper is from the CM Textiles line and the stone pack. I used that paper for all 3 of the layouts for this trip and it really helped tie the pages together. The journal mat is a very old CM piece from a Croptoberfest kit and while it really isn't the same stone as either what is being shaped in the photos or in the paper, it still fits.

This set of pages includes stops along the Circle Trail within the park. In addition to the quarries, there are waterfalls, lakes, flora, and fauna. It's a great place to just walk around.

I used another 1-2-3 sketch and you can see it on Pinterest here.

For the left page of the layout, I had 2 photos of quarries and I was struggling with how to identify them. Peekaboo pockets to the rescue! Looking above the left photo is of the Indian Joe Pit. Then you flip the page over and...

It's the Exhibit quarry and Indian Joes' pit is hidden!

The last set of pages shows some of the other interesting stones--including some historical graffiti on the bottom right page.

This last set of pages uses yet another 1-2-3 layout from Noreen Smith. The tree sticker is from an older CM pack of autumn-themed stickers but it seems to work well with the tone of the page and the tribute hanging from a tree in the upper right photo.

And again, Peekaboo pockets help tell the story. The photo on the front says "look through here" and the photo underneath is actually my camera focused through the hole so you can see the Oracle Rock. A little journaling underneath and the page is complete!

It's been a while since I went to Philadelphia!

Wow, it seemed at the beginning of my blog that every other post was about Philadelphia. Now it's a rare treat! This was my annual trip with my students though.

This page is one of the Fast to Fabulous pages from a travel collection of CM. I used this once before for the same sort of photos taken during the NPTC Centennial Convention. Since that's in a different album I figured I could do this again. I added a page from a 6x6 tablet featuring the Declaration of Independence--it's one of the things they print here daily. The journal box is from the CM Archivers line. I augmented it with a sticker from the EN scrapbook kit. Sorry it's blurry!

A chamber of horrors?

Not for me! But if you are at all squeamish, perhaps you don't want to see this page. I'll add some extra space to give you time to go away.

















OK, if you made it this far, allow me to present a museum I was eager to see. To my knowledge, it's the only one that focuses on the medicine of the civil war and therefore, was on my bucket list. It does not disappoint if you're into that sort of thing.

This layout is based on a challenge from my monthly scrap class. We were challenged to use up scraps by making squares/diamonds and covering half the page. I doubled the original sketch and used some of my reminisce type papers for the diamonds. I chose one extra to mount the museum admission tag in a memorabilia pocket. The other page remnants are from a Graphic 45 line called Curiosity shoppe. Finally, I found a scrap to mount the title. I used small ABC letters but had to outline the yellow ones to get them to show up on the page. I mounted one brochure that does a nice job of discussing the apothecary wagon. After I was done with this layout and on to the next one, I actually found the museum brochure. Still, it's not detracting from the page with that item missing.

Most Wanted

The C&O canal stretches across the top of Maryland and I made my way to several of the stamping stations. One of them was their headquarters--an office building open only Monday through Friday. They have a HUGE box of stamps and I enjoyed getting impressions of all of them in my passport. I uploaded them to the NPTC database when I returned and found out that one of the stamps I collected there was a Most Wanted!  That's a stamp that was thought to exist but no one has seen in over a year. In fact, this one had been retired as possibly never to be found. I earned the certificate below for my find.

I really like what I did with this page. The EN scrapbook pack has a page with the stickers and stamps as a border, but it's 8 1/2 x 11. So I cut the pieces apart and stretched them around two 12x12 pages. I added a few other strips of paper and stickers to complete the border and then filled the middle with my photos and memorabilia. The Most Wanted certificate is in a Portrait Sleeve and that gave me another bit of scrapbook real estate to cover.

One of the other stops I made was out in Cumberland, MD. There was a lovely little museum and a few outdoor pieces to explore. I like that I was able to use a sticker I picked up at the visitor center as part of my page.

This shows the backside of the portrait sleeve. I wanted to marry it to the rest of the layout so I used additional strips of the NPS arrowhead paper on top and bottom. It is a little "off" the larger page but I think it makes a good transition.

Antietam part 2--Featured monuments

Last week I highlighted the tour I took through Antietam Battlefield. There are a couple of interesting markers that caught my eye and I wanted to give each their own page. First, just outside the farmhouse that served as a hospital was this memorial to Clara Barton. As a nurse, she's a favorite of mine and so here is a tribute to her work.
The background of this page is a piece of heritage paper from an old CM Reminisce line. The mats for the photo on the upper left and bottom right came from the same pack, just a little lighter in color. The concept for putting the page together came from this Pinterest page. I took the tone of the paper and a little of the theme of the embellishments (but toned it down to my taste level). The flowers came from a variety of packages. The middles were in a prize pack I got at a crop a few years ago. The purple colors and the pearl middles are from various CM embellishment kits. The mat with Clara on it is cut from an EN 8 1/2 x 11 page that normally has a variety of people along the edge. I decided to trim it down to just Ms. Barton and I like that not only does it highlight her for this page but that I can use the remaining images on future pages.

Edit for 10-14-19--OK, I'm going to edit the page to add how I met the challenge for Lasting Memories who is asking us to use items to highlight the word "CRISP" (for the fall). Here is my list:
C: Clara Barton
R: Red Cross/red brick/red flower
I: Ink (around the chipboard word "Legacy")
S: Stickers (key and pitcher/basin)
P: Pearls in the flowers

Near the observation tower was this tribute to General Meagher. I heard of him when Jim and I traveled to Ireland in 2001. The other side of his memorial is to the Irish Brigade he led. As Jim's family has a strong Irish heritage, I decided to include the tributes in the album.

This layout is part of the scrapbook class I'm taking so I cannot post the sketch. However, the idea was to use up our stash of papers. CM had, in its early days, provided triangles and paper strips and the class instructor came up with a fresh take on how to layer them to make a page. I like that it almost makes a chevron/arrow pointing to the photos. The strip down the middle here is not cardstock, but a remnant of paper ribbon. I thought the green tones went a long way to highlighting the Irish heritage.

Below is the same page but I'm highlighting the history of the battle.

I've discussed the peekaboo pockets before. What a great way to add a touch of journaling and the story imprinted on the stone but not make it the focus of the page.

Antietam part 1--the beginning and the end

Another part of my spring break trip was to visit Antietam. I have still not been able to get into the Pry Field house as the visiting window is just May to October, so I'm sure I'll have to go back. This week we look at the beginning and end of my auto tour. Next week we'll look at some of the monuments I saw.

This layout is scraplifted from Pinterest. I turned this into a 2-page layout by doubling the stars and the blue banner across the middle. The base pages are from Graphic 45 (see, they do make pages without too much embellishment!) On the flip side is one of the months from Places in Time. I bought a bunch of them to use this reverse side with just some corner flourishes. The large corner stars were cut on the Cricut from basic shapes while the smaller ones were scraps from various sticker and die-cut packs.

Part of the tour included a stop near this LONG fence and I took a LOT of photos though only 2 made it into the scrapbook. I also climbed a viewing tower for a nice overlook of the battlefield.

The left page is a paper I had printed. I downloaded the design with some Gettysburg Civil War pages from someone on Etsy but this one will work for a variety of pages. The right is some civil war canon paper I picked up at one of the scrapbook conventions I visited. The bottom right of the red star page and the journal box are all decorated with stickers from the EN scrapbook kit. Notice that I spaced them so the canon stickers are on the opposite page and the sticker of Burnsides Bridge is on the top of the page while the photo is on the bottom. That helps with the movement of the reader's eyes across the layout.

Locked up

My trek through the Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia area took me to one of the C&O canal locations. Visiting in March, several locations were closed, but Williamsport was open. The visitor center had a movie that was taken in the early 1900s showing traffic along the canal. It was a cold day but I took a walk up to Lock 44 and the keeper's house there. The house wasn't open for tours so I just looked around before heading back to my car.

This layout is scraplifted from this layout that I found on Pinterest. All of the small bits around the top and sides of the pages are scraps (yay for using up scraps!) I debated including the scavenger hunt booklet as the color is so much brighter than the photos, but wanted to fill up the page so I left it in. The sticker below the brochure is from the EN scrapbook kit.

A Short Walk on a Long Trail

While at Harpers Ferry I decided to visit the Appalachian Trail office. It was a bit longer than I anticipated walking from the lower town. AT Hikers stop here for a photo before heading north again and I was able to find a photo of a friend who stopped by in the early 90s.

I scraplifted this layout from the paper manufacturer's post on Scrapbook.com. I've found that when you have a lot of printed paper, using small amounts and layering keeps the page from being too busy.

RAID!

In March 2014 I spent my spring break vacation on a stamp trip. My first stop was Harpers Ferry NHP. While the most famous happening here was John Brown's raid, I wouldn't say it was the predominant story told. Yes there are plaques about it and some parts of the museum discuss his actions but there is much more to see.

The layout above is one that I purchased from Scrapbook Concierge. It came with the pieces in a bag and I had to layer them together. That was a little challenging actually, but I do like the layout. My contribution was the journal box which came from an older CM Croptoberfest kit.

Harpers Ferry has an upper and a lower town. The lower town is mostly just historic buildings, but it still surprised me that it had a western feel. The city is near where West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland connect and that doesn't remind me of western life.

I started this layout on the right as I wanted to mimic that western feel. I found the paper with the wagon wheels and layered the photos on. A couple of the photo mats actually came from the layout I purchased above (saved because of putting the  journal mat in place of a photo). The left paper was out of my stash of heritage sheets but the brown and gold seemed a good fit for the subjects.

The photo of the inside of the General Store proved too long for the page, so I placed the third photo in a peekaboo pocket so that it could be folded out to make one long panoramic photo.

Baby, it's Cold Outside!

I was leaving the conference on Friday because I was scheduled to go to my annual scrapbook weekend. That meant I could go to one of the office buildings to get the stamps you can't get on the weekends, so I chose the Department of the Interior. Constitution Gardens is very close to their building and so I made an effort (in the chilly weather and on icy paths) to visit this park. I'm sure I've walked through it previously but I wanted to actually stop and see the markers.

This layout is based on a sketch from my Scrapbooking Class. Ironically, the template was from June and had a beach theme to demonstrate the technique! My beach ball area became a journaling circle. The background is a piece of rounded corner cardstock that CM provided as a Christmas treat many years ago. The bottom right corner has a circle with a snowflake on it and I intended to use that where the dark blue one was but decided I wanted more contrast. I covered the hole with the vertical paper (an older piece of CM from a winter collection). The border is one I've had for a long time. I didn't have to do each square individually, it comes as one unit. The extra, dark-blue snowflake helps add some color to the top of the page. I thought my use of 2 sizes of letters inspired for this layout. It gives it that frosty look!

Not So Fun with Flags

My next park trip began in January 2014. I was driving toward Washington DC. This house was listed on the trail map and I assumed (incorrectly) that there was a passport stamp there. But I did find the story interesting and so made a layout about the brief visit.

This layout was created for a scrapbook summer camp I joined online. The camp started at the end of June and our first challenge was to make a patriotic layout and use a sketch. I can't post the sketch here but I did turn it 90-degrees to match the direction of my photos. The papers are from an older CM line called "Americana". I liked the duller/historic look of the paper for this layout. Stickers (border, upper left and the 3 arrows) are from a Reminisce sticker page.

A Prickly Subject

My last stop of the day was the western side of Saguaro National Park. This park is split into 2 sections and as I was nearing the end of the day I could only  visit one. After watching the park movie I drove along a nature trail. It got a little scary as I was in a rental car and the road turned to dirt about halfway through! But I got to see all stages of saguaro life.

The borders on this layout have been in my stash for a while. The paper and stickers come from an older CM kit called Cabana. I liked the southwest feel to the paper colors and the stickers of a camera and car fit the details of my visit nicely. The matching journal box was made at the same time as the borders. I added a little collection of cactus and coyote stickers and a couple of peekaboo pockets to get all the photos into the layout.

Below is a close-up of the left page peekaboo pockets. I used one to partially cover the unigrid, though I trimmed the photo to allow the title to show through.

Below is the right side close-up of the peekaboo pockets.

By using peekaboo pockets I could show the great variety of cacti without having to create a second layout. This will keep my album to a much more manageable size.

Inside the Gates

Continuing my drive along the Juan Bautista de Anza trail, I went to another presidio--this one in Tucson. This restored building highlights life in the 18th century in the west with reproduction arms, furniture and even brickwork. This is a much smaller area than the original fort because the city has encroached on the historic area.

This layout is another entry in the CM Virtual Crop. I went very literal with the layout, and in hindsight I probably should have used a different shape than the heart for the right side photo. The top border uses an arrow border cartridge from CM. I used the part that is cut out rather than the border itself which is a nice way to get double duty from a cut! Works well for the stars and chevrons too! The papers are much older CM paper but are still in keeping with my southwest tones. The tag used for a journal box is actually from the vintage papers but the orange tone matched the paper. And by turning it so the orange is at the bottom it creates a nice flow down the page.

I enjoyed the trip back in time but also the juxtaposition of the city buildings rising above the fort walls.

For this layout I used a 1-2-3 sketch from Noreen Smith. The striped/orange paper didn't end up the way I thought because the stripes run in 2 different directions so I had to play with the cuts to see which worked best (the inner larger pieces or the smaller corner pieces). the larger won out! Additional embellishments include a journal box that came from a sheet of tags I bought and a photo border of chile peppers from a scrapbooking calendar I got for Christmas many years ago. The sun is from the Everyday Photo Decor kit which is a new collection that provides a gift frame for 3 photos. I had used most of one kit for my Administrative Assistant Day cards and the sun was leftover. I think the variety came together nicely though.

Southwestern Life

The word Presidio means "fort". Tubac is a small town just north of the Tumacacori site. Although this is a state park, it is associated with Juan Bautista de Anza and had a stamp from the trail. I spent a bit of time looking through the museum. There are several buildings to tour.

This layout was another one created for the CM Virtual Crop in April. You can see the sketch here. It was a great way to use up scraps of paper. You can probably recognize the tan and red checked papers from  the Tumacacori page. There are remnants of other papers from my southwest trip as well. I even found a similarly toned journal box. The lesson on color stuck with me from the Tumacacori mortuary chapel layout and I found more of the purple and yellow stickers to layer. The stickers were more transparent than I would have thought, but I think the overall effect is nice.

One of the other buildings on the site is a vintage 1-room school house.

I used one more CM Virtual crop sketch. For this layout I used a very old pack of paper from the original CM called "Cottage". The papers were not quite 12" square so this was a good use of them--using smaller bits to trim a layout. I also had coordinating stickers with a school theme and I think they paired well with the photos. I'm working hard on using up my sticker letters. I added the "School Days" letters to the books sticker as a title. The letters are all the same size, but match the variety of paper colors rather than being monochromatic. I believe I'll be doing this a lot more in the future as I whittle down my stash.

On the Trail of History

My travels in Arizona followed the Juan Bautista de Anza trail. He was a Spanish officer who was charged with leading groups of people from Mexico to establish towns in California. The journeys happened right around the same time that the eastern states were fighting for independence from Great Britain. He successfully led groups all the way to Monterey California.
I made this layout during the Creative Memories virtual crop in April 2019. The sketch can be seen here. The background paper is part of the CM Stone pack. The middle yellow (which I thought matched the sign in the photo well) is an older piece of CM paper. On top is a remnant of white brick also from the CM Stone pack. Since this was a story about settlers traveling I figured they would have taken some livestock with them and found a few horse and sheep stickers to decorate the middle of the page.

Next week I will share pages from the Tubac Presidio (that's where the blue and yellow signs were photographed). I visited a number of sites along the trail and this was sort of the kick-off page for that journey.

One of the other sites I stopped at was this church--Mission San Xavier del Bac. It is actually a notecard I picked up with scenes from the area. It made a good addition to the page but I couldn't make this a 2-page layout and still wanted to include the cover photo and some journaling. Peekaboo pockets to the rescue!

Just North of the Border

In September 2013 I traveled to the Tucson, AZ area for a conference. Afterward I did a bit of touring. One of my first stops was this little National Park Site near the Mexican border (I had to pass through a checkpoint to prove I was a citizen before returning north). It's a lovely old mission and well preserved.

The left page was made for a Creative Memories virtual crop. You can see the sketch here on my Pinterest board. Because this crop allowed us to use any Creative Memories product, not just from the previous 6-months released items, I dug deep into my stash and found the beige checkerboard print for the borders. The stickers are also older CM items. I'm learning now to figure out my background and THEN cut the photos. In this way I can crop to the same height for a nice, symmetrical page.The right page was made as a companion piece. I had a piece of the Mix and Match orange left with a nice ombre effect. I chose to add red checkerboard to give a bit more color.

While at the site I watched the video and walked through many of the buildings that were open. Amazing to see some of the original art work still visible.

These pages are also a sketch from the virtual crop and this time it was a 2-page layout. Again, I used the Mix and Match orange papers (this time the diamond print paper). I found the cute cut-out of a mission-style church as a free SVG. It only cut the black lines and the white "stucco" of the building. I backed the windows and doors with colored paper to give it a little definition. The journal box also had some brown tones and I really wanted the pages to pop. After sleeping on it, I realized that what I needed to add was more color. I had some older CM sticker packs which were just design lines and squares. Then I looked through my paper flower stash and found a few that I could stack that matched my purple and red tones. I really like the way it turned out.

Gorge-ous!

My mother and I had stopped at my cousin's house to visit with family. After we left, I managed to get my mom to agree to some more sight seeing and we drove up to the Columbia River Gorge. This is part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail and we had a great time seeing some of the waterfalls. We didn't see them all because some of the trails were a little too wet or steep and we didn't bring sufficient gear for that.

The left page of the layout actually goes along with the single page below (which ends the album). Periodically Creative Memories distributes incentives for people to join as advisors. As a current advisor I'm allowed to purchase one for my own use or to show to people so that they understand what is available. For this period, it was a special project recipe with papers unavailable in the regular line. I put the kit together and thought that these scenes from nature would be a good fit.

The right page is a new technique I bought. The company is called Photo Dies and they make metal cutting guides that can be arranged into decorative patterns on the page. What excited me about this is that the dies make the cuts for you and so you are ensured of having straight edges. If you've seen some of the trendy templates that make something similar you know that you need to use an exacto knife or fussy cut to get the pieces. I am not really good at that and so when I've tried it I've always been upset with my jagged pieces that don't look neat. This takes care of it for me and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I made this at the retreat house where the machine is so that I could test it out and I'll be looking for my own machine now and more dies!

The composition of the pages was a little different for me. The Multnomah Falls are actually in the middle of the drive, but as the most elegant and photo-generating, they got their own page. I like that this ends the album as it highlights the visit with my mom.

As I mentioned above, this is the right side of the layout. I did actually turn it 90-degrees though because I had more vertical photos. I think having this as a stand-alone page allowed my brain to think about how to utilize the background. I also could have just used the mats in a different direction as I completed the layout very close to the time that I mounted it in the album, but I like this technique better. It helped that the chevrons now look a little like a waterfall next to the title picture.

A Park that Crosses the Line

While in Oregon City, my mother and I visited McLoughlin House. This residence is the original house of a physician and politician from the days of early settlement. It actually was positioned further toward the river but had to be relocated due to land movement. However, it has been restored to it's appearance from the 1800s.

This 2-page layout is actually taken from a 1-page idea which you can see here. The border is on the left page and the journal box is on the right. The border and right page papers are all from the discontinued Archivers line from CM. The left side paper that looks a bit like diamonds is from a very old CM line which actually didn't fit the entire page. That's why I picked this layout--the border covered the missing space! The photos on the right are actually all postcards that I purchased at the house. They were matted with some tan paper so that they didn't get lost on the dark background.

On Sunday morning, after dropping my mom at church I visited the other half of the Fort Vancouver unit which is actually in the state of Washington. Portland is very near the border so I didn't have to go far, but it is odd that the unit is comprised of sites in 2 states even though they are close in distance. I did not get to see much of the fort as I needed to return to pick up my mom and rejoin the family festivities but I did see the movie and tour the museum.

This page is a pre-designed cardstock from the previous CM company. You can see that I didn't really follow the suggested photo spaces, but I don't really think that it is quite as noticeable. The kit came with matching journaling cards and I was able to use one with a car to describe my visit. The other 2 items are just memorabilia--postcard and unigrid. Quick completion!

The End of the Trail

My next trip was in the fall of 2013 to my cousin's wedding in Portland Oregon. I traveled with my mom and we had some time to go sightseeing between the various events. One morning we headed to Oregon City and found the museum that represents the end of the Oregon Trail. This city is where pioneers would have to register their land claim so all of them had to come through here even if their destination was farther west. This isn't part of a national park, but does have a passport stamp (at least it was supposed to, I only got a bonus stamp).

I started this page using this layout. I found some free cuts for the Cricut and fashioned the cowboy, cowgirl, horse and wagon from various shades of cardstock. The wagon wheels turned out a little thin but I didn't feel like re-cutting them. The layers of desert and mountain were made with 2 shades of brown shaped with a tearing tool similar to this one (though with a bit of a rugged edge instead). You can also use a q-tip lightly dampened with water to create a path to tear paper.

In the Hills of Shiloh

Sunday morning before heading home we stopped in Tennessee for a ranger talk at our host park--Shiloh National Military Park.

I have used this technique before and I think it is especially useful here. I took one piece of 12x12 paper and cut it in half vertically. I mounted each to the outside edges of the two pages and then used the inside area for mounting photos, journaling and memorabilia. The journal box is one of the pieces from the Eastern National scrapbook kit, and was the epitome of this layout! The remaining blank spaces were filled with some random Civil War stickers from other packs.

Also at Shiloh is a national cemetery, very similar to Arlington. I didn't explore too far, but did find a few notable headstones. I also completed a scavenger hunt so that I could earn the Civil War trading cards. This one seemed to fit the page so I added it with photo corners.

This layout is another in the stash-busting course I am taking (the February edition). Again, I cannot post the actual sketch, but the paper cutting uses one entire sheet of 12x12 paper. I actually used remnants from 3 different papers from the retired CM Archivers pack. I hope they bring something similar back as the papers are very useful for my travels. The top left corner is another vine sticker. I tore it in half and layered it into the corner to get the angle. The fence is a single punch from a border maker. I wanted to fill the gap under the title and took inspiration from the iron gates to the cemetery.

Newsworthy

We made the newspaper! On Saturday we held the convention in a meeting room at one of our hotels.

For the news article, I found a background page that was newsprint. Oddly enough it came from a tablet of Christmas papers. I had a couple of 5x7 photo sleeves to preserve the actual newspaper. Creative Memories products are great at protecting from the high acid content found in newspapers. Keeping them in these protective sleeves will prevent decay from leaching to other parts of the page. I'm hoping it also keeps them readable for many years. You can also scan newspaper and use photos of the page to keep stories.

On the right page, I used my handy sketch seen in previous weeks but used only the left hand side. I only had the 2 photos (one of the convention and one of the hotel welcome sign). I used my nametag and a journal box for two of the right hand elements and then dug out a tag and used a couple of ranger stickers from the EN pack as an embellishment.

Contraband

On Saturday morning Jim and I drove to the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center. The path from the parking lot to the front doors is strewn with cast bronze items reminiscent of items found during an archeological dig. Inside the center are exhibits about how freed slaves struggled to begin a new life after emancipation. The term used for those refugees at the time was "Contraband".

Do you recognize the layout? If you look closely it is the 1-2-3 sketch I've used in each of the past few weeks. This time I squeezed a journal box between the left side photos, and used 2 full 4x6 photos on the bottom right. The paper is not actually double sided. I chose 2 scraps of black and white patterned paper and cut them to the sizes of the sketch. I added a few antique stickers and some ivy for the upper right corner. Since the items along the path were of such variety, just about any sticker I owned worked on the page.

While at the center we had 2 ranger talks. The first one was a musket firing demonstration in authentic wool uniform. In Mississippi. In July. Brave man! (Though in all seriousness the weather was quite mild). When done, he changed into his NPS uniform and talked about battles around the city.

Since the primary theme is the musket firing demo, I pulled out the musket paper on the right as well as other gun stickers. The left page was in a similar brown tone and had pre-pasted blue and dark brown paper. To be able to see the "Ranger Talk" stickers, I mounted them on a piece of vellum. The background still shows through but the letters stand out. When adhering vellum, Creative Memories makes a great adhesive that turns invisible when rubbed to adhere to the page.