Monumental Memories

 I walked from the Mall toward the Tidal Basin, passing a few well-known statues. I made my way to the MLK memorial where I would meet with a ranger for a guided tour of the larger units along the path. This will be the first time I see it in this direction.

For this layout, I followed the 1-2-3 layout for February 2021. The video of the sketch being put together can be found on YouTube here. The download is available through her Facebook group. I used a paper from the CM texture pack "Stone". The black marble and tan stone on the opposing sides reminded me of the materials used in these monuments. Even though they don't all stand together, it brings them together on the layout. The cuts were simple and I had just a few embellishments to add. The ship on John Paul Jones' statue is from the Eastern National Scrapbook pack. The "Monumental Memories" title is a die-cut from that pack as well. The small honor and star stickers were from a different patriotic sticker sheet.

On the Mall

After lunch, I stuck around to take a tour of the tidal basin. As we passed the NPS Information booth on the mall, we were disappointed that it wasn't staffed and the stamps were locked away from us! I stopped for a moment to take my photo with the Washington Monument. It was being renovated during my visit so I was unable to go to the top.

This page is a leftover sketch from a summer camp. The main idea was to do some stitching. While the class leader advocated using real thread, I stuck with faux stitching. I outlined the banner by holding a ruler against the edge and dotting every other block along the path. Then I free-handed the cross-stitch look along the bottom. I used a bit of my non-CM stash here. The background paper was just shy of 12x12 and I don't know if I bought it that way or if I trimmed it previously. I layered with the grid paper so I could do my stitching and then cut a scrap of light blue for the banner. I used some star and heart stickers from various sticker packs. The title is from a Paper House sticker sheet. Does that make too many monuments? (2 photos and a sticker). I don't think so!

As I usually do, I visited the WWII memorial briefly. I managed to find someone to take my photo with one of the title pillars but strolled along the outside mostly. 

I bought this kit from Scrapbook Concierge. They create elaborate layouts that you buy as a kit and assemble at home. They look straightforward, but I always end up looking at some pieces and saying "What do I do with this?" For this kit it was the small gray rectangles. It turned out they were to create shadows on the pillars around the reflecting pool. I really had to concentrate on aligning them from smallest to largest and matching the left and right sides. While I like their layouts they don't leave a lot of room for photos, though I was able to add one more by covering some of those pillars. I don't always use the photo corners provided but I did like them here. I used one photo spot as a journal box so I was able to get all the components I wanted included.

A day in the Life

Our tour downstairs included the space used as an office. It was a large 4-person desk and there were typical office supplies still in evidence. My favorite were the stamps. I wonder how many Park Traveler folks are disappointed that these particular stamps do NOT go in our passport books! 

I used the remnant of an Archivers paper (I used the left side on the New Castle courthouse page) because it had the typewriter on the bottom and that went well with the office theme of the page. I then included the phone and typewriter die cuts and some old stamp stickers I had. It's a fairly simple page but highlights the important work done here.

Upstairs is one of the bedrooms Alice Paul used. You can still see her dresses and correspondence ready to go! You have to wonder if they knew at the time how important their legacy would be. No one really knows how much influence they have on others. You just have to keep working at what you believe in!

For Earth Day, CM hosted a special challenge that would help use up scraps (a sort of focus on reduce, reuse, recycle). One of the sketches was this mosaic pattern. The original video had various papers abutting each other and then using thin strips of black cardstock to create the "leaded" effect. I decided to try a variation. I used a black base page for the layout and then used a technique that Noreen Smith showed called "Crazy Squares" spacing the pieces so that the black showed through. There are some uneven pieces but I like the way it turned out. I was able to use up strips of the Reminisce line from OLD CM. The tones of the page went well with that paper.

Finally, we went outside and took a group photo. It was a pretty good-sized group! Afterward, most of us went to the Museum of the American Indian which was said to have a great cafeteria. My lunch was fabulous and I even took a photo of it! Though we went our separate ways after lunch, my time in DC wasn't done. Look for more of this trip next week!

This page fulfilled my April challenge for my monthly scrapbook class. We were given a tic-tac-toe page and I chose a diagonal with Purple, Stripe, and die-cut. I think I may have cheated a bit using purple striped paper (from a special pack CM had recently released) but I like the monotone look of the piece. The die-cut is the title and although it was from a different collection, an older travel collection, it matched the tone of the paper so I used it. I was impressed that I even found a "Circa 2016" sticker to include in one of my groupings. I like that I was able to include 2 rather random photos on one page. I was really impressed with lunch that day and was glad to include it.

Women Warriors

How appropriate that March is Women's History Month and my first blog of the month starts with the Women's Suffrage Movement!

Perhaps you have heard of the Sewall-Belmont house? Up until 2016, that was the name of this house. The National Women's Party, who had owned the house, donated it to the National Park Service and through a Presidential Proclamation, the new unit was formed. They changed the name to Belmont-Paul to highlight the work of the NWP crusaders. Several members of the National Park Travelers Club met there in April to see the new unit. We began our tour in the main entryway (though you don't come in the door under the stained glass transom) and you can see all of the busts and statues of prominent women in the suffrage movement.

This layout is based on one of my year-long class sketches. Since I didn't have to use CM papers, I used Paper Loft and Graphic 45 for the components. With the door, I thought the old key paper was a good choice for the layout. The box on the upper left is actually to be used for genealogy or family trees, but they make great title boxes. The title is from one of the CM die-cut sentiments packs. I've been turning to them more frequently.

Throughout the house, they have included "Selfie Stations" in mirrors. I tried to take advantage of them though you end up getting caught with the camera in front of your face. There are plenty of historical items such as banners and sashes used for various marches. They are kept in great condition considering the use and age of the items.

This layout is based on a bonus sketch for the April CM Virtual Crop. Bonus sketches tend to appear on Monday and you have about a week to put them together (vs. the weekend for the actual crop). But because they don't post the sketch on the blog, it's harder to link. For this sketch, I did upload it to Pinterest so you can see it here. The paper is from the CM Reminisce line--a rather old collection. Because they are so decorative I find them hard to use. I ended up cutting the decorations off the original pages and rearranging them into a semblance of the sketch on 2 background pages. I used mats to punch the embellishments or to create ribbons.