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!