An Inside Glimpse

We got an inside view of two important rail cars. On the left page below is the standard display at Steamtown. It's an original US Mail railway car. You can see the bins and sorting table inside the car as the postal workers would sort as they moved from town to town. Then we got a chance to ride in a caboose. The quarters were VERY tight and Thomas ended up sitting on the floor. Like the Dinkie train, it was a quick ride out and back, but still fun.

This was a quick layout to put together. I didn't follow any particular sketch. The pages are from the CM Trains collection and feature the photos at the top and bottom and the red/white border. I just had to place the photos between the striped borders, journal a bit, and add the decorative sticker to the right page.

It's So Small!

In the museum area, we found a rusted-out version of a small engine called a "Dinkie". This was memorable to me as the intersection just below our house was called the Dinkie when we lived in South Fork, PA. We discovered it was so named because when the area was being mined, the employees boarded a small train there to take them to the mining site. That train was called a Dinkie and the name stuck! In addition to that antique though, was a new and functioning engine and they were giving free rides on it behind the museum. We all piled in for a 5-minute ride out and back.

I based this layout on a sketch I had saved from Even More Scrapping. I always like her sketches because she includes measurements. I chose yellow and red as the main colors based on the photos (especially the old caboose and the Dinkie engineer's bright shirt). For the contrast piece, I used a scrap of the train and tunnel paper (which I think is actually for Disney World's Thunder Mountain ride). I debated the small squares on the layout and then, as I was browsing my punch catalog, realized that the engine and cars from the CM train punch would work perfectly. I had to stack the punched shapes on the left as I didn't think a vertical train would look right, but the overall effect worked for me. I added a couple of other train stickers and die cuts from my stash to finish the layout.

The Ring of Fire

One of my favorite parts of the trip was a walk back to the repair shop. They highlighted the process for replacing wheels which have an inner and outer layer. They heat the outer layer by setting it on fire. This expands the ring and then it is maneuvered over the inner wheel. As the fire is extinguished the metal contracts and seals the 2 pieces together. My dad indicated he does something similar when working with model trains, only using a cigarette lighter, not an acetylene torch! To cap off the experience, the engineer and his guitar-playing sidekick sang the Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire". Another highlight was seeing "Connie" written on the engine being repaired.

After joining Meggan and Tessa's August 2023 Power Hour, I made this layout. Meggan's layout included all these circles so when I thought about the "Ring" of fire, I knew I needed to put the layout to work. I chose a few photos that could be cut into circles. I continued to use the CM Trains paper pack but added a few other odds and ends from my stash. By finding some papers with photos or small images that would fit the circles, I could make a richer layout. I had cut one photo (the one of me pointing) into 4x4 before realizing it should stay 4x6. I added a piece of punched train track to fill that gap. You'll notice I turned the papers so that the arcs almost complete a circle across the layout instead of a wave as Meggan's layout did. What's your favorite layout you've made? Feel free to comment here or post on my Facebook page.

On the Right Track

My nephew Thomas was there, but he doesn't like to be photographed so I had him take the group shots. These are just a few of our group photos through the day and a couple of the engines on display. This weekend is a time for Steamtown to highlight how important rail was in building the US.

I based this layout on a pin I had saved. I moved the tracks to the bottom of the page and then added the red and white striped border stickers to the top. Those are supposed to resemble the arms that hold traffic back when a train is coming to a crossing. I used cardstock as the base and cut some train track paper to cover the middle and act as mats for the photos. The right side includes a trading card I obtained at the site. I mounted that with photo corners so that I could remove it in the future if I like. I had one large die cut remaining from the CM Trains pack. I took a cue from another layout and used it as a journal box by mounting it on some ruled paper. The title is created with letters from a very old Club Scrap pack. Though it was to be a school theme, I mixed the fonts to create a little interest along the pages.

Railfest

My next park visit was in September 2018. Steamtown NHS was hosting its annual Railfest. As my dad is a train fan I suggested we meet there to enjoy the day. The visit included both my nephews and my Mom as well. We had a great day exploring all the extra trains and displays for this event.

This was not a particularly fancy layout. I chose a piece of yellow cardstock for the base and just arranged a couple of photos and the brochure to start these pages in my album. I had my wristband for the day so I put that in a memorabilia pocket. I chose to mount that first on train-themed paper and then attached it to the page. My favorite element on this page though is the use of the train die cut as a journal box. I had an extra set of track stickers and it fit that die cut perfectly! When writing on a dark background I use a white gel writing pen.

A Little Surprise

 One of the buildings I visited looked, from the outside, like an adorable cottage. I thought I would walk in and see more beds, cooking items and other memorabilia. But what I got was quite different!

If this looks familiar, you'll probably remember that I posted it as a bonus post a few weeks ago. Click here to see the original post and the sketch it was based on.

And here's the reminder that what I got inside was NOT the cute house but a tool shop! But hey, that's historic too!

The Quilter's Cottage

 I found the quilting ladies in the building marked as a boarding house. You can tell if they are present as they hang that red and yellow quilt flag. They were very nice but had almost finished for the day so I didn't spend too much time with them. I did enjoy walking around the boarding house. I'm rather proud of my perspective shot of the pump through one of the window panes. 

I based this layout on one of the CM Summer Challenges. The idea was to use a border punch in multiple ways. I used 2 punches to make the borders across the top (the home punch and a barn punch). I then used the home punch to make a decorative mat (not crazy about the ones on their sides but it worked out in the end). And then I used the heart punch-outs from the houses to decorate the bottom of the page. The paper design is based on a sketch from the June 2023 CM Virtual Crop (scroll to sketch 3). I continued to use the Burlap and Lace papers and stickers. The red cardstock was almost a perfect match for the red in the quilter flag and the water pump handle.

A Cozy Little Village

I made a weekend trip to Hopewell Furnace because they were having a quilting bee and I had never really explored the outbuildings in the park. There is a group of ladies who meet regularly and work on quilts. The park incorporates them into the "living village" concept and allows them to work inside one of the buildings that had previously been a boarding house. There is a large room for them to work together on their quilts.

I was starting this visit on the right page of my album because of ending the prior event on the left in the chronological album. I decided that the best use of space was to add an 8 1/2 x 11 pocket page to hold the brochure and a few photos. I worked on the layout below first and then wanted this to coordinate. I had an extra laser-cut border and some wood grain paper to put across the bottom to be similar to the borders I made for the next page.

I visited several of the buildings and found lots of vignettes of life when the furnace was a booming business. Since the focus at the furnace was on the work the men did, this side focused on the women and children. How they cooked, learned, and did their own work during the day.

I chose this pin of borders made with the Burlap and Lace papers from one of the 2023 secret boxes (one of my favorites). You'll notice that I switched the orientation to horizontal and put one at the top and one at the bottom to frame my photos. The background paper is wood grain though it may be hard for you to see as it blends into the wood floor where I take my photos! The left side is the back of the 8 1/2 x 11 seen above. I matted the photos with a bit of burlap paper and added a few more stickers to the page to make a cohesive layout.

2018 Convention Part 12--A Prudent Visit

On our way home on Sunday we made one final stop for a stamp--the Prudence Crandall House in Canterbury Connecticut. This home was a school for African-American girls in the pre-Civil War era. You would think in the north that there would be more understanding and tolerance, but there was not. The home was targeted frequently and almost burned to the ground. Prudence was jailed for her efforts as well. However, the students she taught turned out to be some of the educators and reformers who led the charge for the passing of the 14th Amendment.

This layout is based on the pin that I saved. I just used the right side of the layout and used papers from the Welcome Home collection and the Gem Tones collection. Both of those are running out and may need to go into the recycling bin soon.

We toured the home and could see a few original pieces but many more that were period or recreated items. They tried to describe what it looked like while it was a school. It was a nice visit but we soon had to head for home.

This layout is based on the October 4th video from Creative Memories and Noreen Smith. You can catch the full video here. She was demonstrating one of the sketches from the new bonus book 101 Sketches. CM posted a challenge to try all 101 sketches. The layout matched the sketch quite well, so I went to town! I used some of the Welcome Home elements and papers as well as a few stickers from the Art Nouveau collection. There are 3 lines representing borders in the sketch so I used 2 border stickers and a laser-cut border to create the element along the left side. I chose one of the few remaining papers, cut the edges a bit, and mounted it on dark green cardstock. The layout did not take long at all! This was a great page to finish the convention album. Back to my regular adventures next week!

2018 Convention Part 11--Rain Rain Go Away

Sunday morning our club had planned to have a Ranger Talk focusing on the life of Frederick Douglass in New Bedford. Mother Nature had other ideas and due to the rain, the walk was canceled. Instead, we met in the visitor center and looked at the displays while we talked about the life and times of Frederick Douglass. While we did that I also had a chance to complete the junior ranger books for both the New Bedford Whaling and Frederick Douglass in Massachusetts.

For this layout, I turned to an older Virtual Crop sketch from Creative Memories. I turned the sketch 90 degrees so that I could use the 3 photos for the park brochure. There was just one photo of me in my rain poncho in front of the museum so I highlighted that (see the photo below). I wanted to include both of my junior ranger books so I chose to add a large (6x12) Peekaboo pocket. I used a piece of coordinating paper and attached the brochures with photo corners.

The vertical border is from one of the border maker cartridges. I punched 3 borders total--one in ivory as the front piece. I then layered black "shadow" strips to the left and right. To save paper you can also cut one in half and "stretch" it across the item.

2018 Convention Part 10--Food and Fun

During the convention meeting, we had a short break where we served cake and punch. I also had my scrapbook on display so people could look through it (I think it was the 2016 convention from Philadelphia). 

The left page above and the right page below are the 2 sides of one layout which you can see here. Scroll to layout #2. I was making these pages while on vacation so continuing to use the nautical theme even though it's not truly nautical photos because that is all that I had with me. I used some of my Graphic 45 papers from an old line called "By the Sea". I added some CM papers that coordinated so I could get the mix of the blues and the reds. Otherwise, it would look like someone bled all over the pages! I wanted to include the program/Stamp Pad so I needed to use a pocket page. That gave me a little more room on the back to add more dinner photos below.

After the meeting, many of the attendees attended the President's Dinner. We were fortunate this year that one of the superintendents came. As the president, I asked him to join my table, and I enjoyed our dinner and talk.

By the time I got to the back of the pocket page, I was running out of scraps! I ended up trimming this blue gingham into 2 rectangles with a small gap between them since it would not cover the entire surface of the cardstock. The note cards I used for journaling were from a pack that I won in a different Graphic 45 contest.

2018 Convention Part 9--the Meeting

It's time to talk about the convention meeting! We gathered in the auditorium of the Whaling Museum. Registration was just outside under the whale bones. As people came in they got a name tag, ribbons designating the region in which you live, and the number of parks visited if over 100. Other ribbons exist for new members, charter members, and those attending their first convention. It makes for a great icebreaker when meeting new people.

This layout is based on challenge 8 from the September World-wide Virtual Crop. I surprised myself by being able to trim all of the photos to 4x4 blocks without losing any of the details of the image. I trimmed a mat card (bottom right) to fill in the last spot. I had hoped for a journal card there but nothing looked right so I journaled under a photo. The vertical photo in the sketch was replaced with a slightly larger block to accommodate the name badges for me and my husband. The row across the middle is comprised of small blocks punched from a variety of mat cards and scrap paper, all with nautical themes. It was a great way to use up scraps.

One of the highlights of the convention meeting is awarding club members. On the left page, we awarded those who completed "Platinum" status--that's visiting all of the national parks in the country by the date of their last visit. A few people have had to extend their quest as a new park was announced before getting to what they had hoped was their last park. There are over 400 park units (including not only the BIG national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, but battlefields such as Gettysburg, seashores, historic homes, and monuments). It is definitely an achievement! 

On the right page, we presented David Kroese (Cardinal Dave) with the Dennis Bandley Award. This was named in honor of one of the charter member's husbands who was always helpful to other club members. Dave had posted a humorous anecdote in the forums about meeting a mountain lion. When another club member realized that Dave was going to get the award he wanted to also present him with a stuffed mountain lion. It was a great addition to the event!

This layout is Challenge 7 from the CM Virtual Crop. The papers and stickers are from an older National Scrapbook Day pack. I've bought extra of the paper over the years to make all the borders in the original kit but decided against the borders later. Now I'm just using the papers to finish beach pages or party pages based on the colors and decor. I chose the pink/coral background based on the shirts we wore at the convention (the North Atlantic ink color is sort of yellow/orange). The brown banners across the top are stickers from the kit.

Bonus post--What Sharp Teeth You Have

Hello all! I'm cropping this weekend and took time to post for the Lasting Memories Challenge #675--Thankful for Die Cuts. This layout is part of a long vacation I took in September 2018. I am on an air boat ride in the Everglades and in addition to the great landscapes and flowers, we saw lots of Alligators! You can see in the bottom right photo how close they came to the boat! You'll see more of this trip in a few months.

I based this sketch on an October 2023 CM Virtual Crop challenge. I'm using up an older pack of CM papers and embellishments called Cool Serenity. I loved the die-cut leaves in the pack and it was a great match for the edge circles in the sketch. The border across the middle of the pages is one of the Border Maker cartridges. I thought the grass journal card matched even though it's probably supposed to be more for sports and front yards. In this context it certainly matches the sea grass.

2018 Convention Part 8--Arty Facts

Before we get to tonight's layout, I wanted to let you know that soon there will be MORE of my blog to enjoy. I have so many layouts made and waiting to be shared that I'm going to add a Tuesday drop each week. And you never know when I'll be participating in a challenge that will give even more bonus posts! Hope you are enjoying this! Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts about the blog.

And now back to our convention trip!

The museum has the most impressive display of scrimshaw. There are cases and cases of everything from decorated busks (used to go inside corsets) to cane toppers and even the musical instrument fret! Amazing what you can do with bones and teeth. I think I could have stood in there for hours just looking at all the items but we had to keep moving to get to the convention setup.

This layout is based on one of the Virtual Crop challenges from September 2023. Scroll to Sketch #5 to see the design. I used some texture pages for the 11" square. Although it's oyster shells, I thought the pattern resembled the scrimshaw. Using a dark background and another lighter tonal paper to sandwich the shells helped to keep the paper from overwhelming the layout. I used a light gray to punch the rope borders and added just 2 clusters of stickers and word art. The tonal paper was light enough that I could journal right on the page.

The last stops on the tour included some period clothing. I love this dress! The museum details who wore it and how the dress changed as it moved through the hands of several family members. We also had a chance to step onto the balcony to see the harbor. Imagine that it was filled with whaling ships as it would have been in the 1800s!

This layout used the same virtual crop, but this time was Sketch #10. While the sketch calls for banners of 9 and 3 inches, you won't get any space between the 2 parts. That's why I trimmed them to 11". To ensure that all of your banners match, stack the papers and cut them all at once. I flipped the pages so that my vertical photos were on the left. This is a very versatile sketch. You could use all vertical or all horizontal--just duplicate the layout suggestion for that side.

2018 Convention Part 7--A Whale of a Tale

 As part of the board, and this year as president, I've found that during conventions there is so much to be done for the meeting that I don't always get a chance to explore and visit as much as I'd like. This year we made a special tour time of the Whaling Museum just for the board and the volunteers. This was early enough that we had time to set up after the tour and still look at all the amazing displays. Entering the museum, you immediately get a sense of size as you look up and see the large Right Whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling. The photos on the left page show you this from 2 angles. The inner skeleton is a baby whale. And look closely at the left photo--that's an accurately sized heart model on the floor!

I made this layout to complete one of the CM Sizzlin Summer Challenges. You can catch the replay on this YouTube video. I created this page while I was on the 2023 Convention trip! Have any of you scrapbooked while traveling? I've learned a few tricks for packing and selecting items that will allow me to take a bag of supplies to just about anywhere! But I didn't have a tag punch with me. No problem, I cut the decorative pieces along the bottom row with a trimmer and then notched the top 2 corners with the 2-way corner rounder. Now they looked like a tag! It was one of the tips I got from Noreen's video.  You'll see the sketch that I followed for the right-hand page in the video. By adding a mat to the middle photo spot I had plenty of journaling space. Doubling the sketch allowed me to add the brochure on the left.

We had a tour guide, which was great as that kept us on pace to see the museum and still finish in time to set up the convention. She took us to a room where there was a full-sized whaling ship! Yes, it was a huge room but at the same time, I kept thinking that the ship was too small to catch a whale!

This layout was based on a sketch from the September Worldwide Virtual Crop by CM. Scroll to sketch #6 to see the design. I also completed this layout while traveling, but this time to the Corrigan family beach house in September. In fact, I was able to complete a dozen more pages that week. I would secure a space for myself at the dining table after dinner and complete a few pages when we had a quiet evening at home. You'll see here that I also doubled the sketch to create a symmetrical 2-page layout. I again used a mat card to fill in for one of the photos (once on each side). The papers came from several nautical-themed packs I had but still coordinated nicely!

2018 Convention Part 6--Religious Freedom

Touro Synagogue in Newport was the next stop on the bus trip. This is designated as a National Historic Site but is not one of the NPS units, most likely because it is still an active congregation. The history of the community is one of perseverance and faith. I do recommend taking the guided tour to hear the entire story. The most notable occurrence in the congregation's history is their concern for religious persecution after the colonies won their independence. Their letter to Washington and his reply is reprinted today to demonstrate what religious tolerance should be for everyone. Copies are available in the visitor center. When I visit active houses of worship, regardless of the faith, I tend not to take a lot of interior photos as it can be considered disrespectful. In this temple, they did ask us to refrain from photos until the end and to take photos only from the rear of the building. The vertical photo on the left page is my photo. The remaining images are all postcards that I bought in the gift shop.

This layout is based on one of the CM Virtual Crop sketches that I saved. The paper and stickers are from a Judaic pack that I purchased from CM a few years ago. When it was first sold, two of my fellow advisors held a class to help those unfamiliar with the Jewish faith to understand what the designs were and why they were included in the pack. I'm very glad I took that class as I felt much better choosing the papers and stickers to correspond to the sketch. Now the red matches the photos but is really supposed to represent pomegranates for one of the holidays. You don't see the fruit on the tonal paper so I think it worked well for a non-holiday layout. A special thanks to the Rabois (friends of mine from the NPTC) who also looked over this after I completed it and assured me that I did not inadvertently make a faux pas on any religious icon usage.

2018 Convention Part 5--Sew what?

One of the highlights of the tour is the machine shop. Not only was water used to power the looms, but to run all of the power tools as well. And the tools were HUGE! Saws and drills the size of a human body! That one water wheel turned a series of pulleys and drives so that the power was portioned to where it was needed. 

You might remember this layout as it was posted for one of the Lasting Moments Challenges. Refer to this post to refresh your memory of the layout. Oh, and Jim says he was definitely NOT loafing 😁.

My last stop was in the weaving rooms. I had never seen such complicated looms. They could make argyle patterns, tube-shaped cloth, and a wide variety of other sizes and shapes to fit the needs of the everyday housewife or workman. And again, it all worked thanks to the water power nearby. I wonder if we will return to that as a power source for industry with the problems we have with fossil fuels. Not that there were no environmental issues with water, but at least it didn't produce as many air pollutants.

I'm fairly certain I followed a sketch for this layout, but I cannot find a copy of it. I do know that the papers are from the Paper Loft Euphoria collection. I had saved the diamond papers specifically for these pages as I wanted to highlight the argyle photo. I made this at a crop in Lancaster and while I had taken the rope border maker cartridge for the nautical aspect (those pages are coming soon) it certainly worked for the weaving room as well! The embellishments are mixed from several different collections.

2018 Convention Part 4--What Once Was Modern

 Our bus trip headed to Pawtucket, RI to see the Slater Mill. This is one of the large weaving mills found along the rivers in the Northeast. They've gathered several buildings into the complex and we split into a couple of groups to take a guided tour. 

I created this layout based on an idea in my summer class. I saved this photo from when I originally posted my take on the challenge but I have added punched fence borders along the bottom. I didn't have them with me at the crop when I made the pages. I used Eureka papers from the Paper Loft. The word art is theirs as well but the rest of the embellishments come from an older Croptoberfest pack.

The site covers the history of the area for several hundred years and shows a variety of daily life examples from fancy houses to worker houses. One thing I learned here is that tea was shipped in decorative bricks--there's a sample on the table on the left page. I just assumed everything was loose but it made more sense to compact it to save space. They also went into the weaving process before industrialization. 

The challenge I mentioned above created remnant arcs, so the second part of the challenge was to use them in a follow-up layout. I added a couple of laser-cut borders to finish the pages and more of the Croptoberfest stickers.

2018 Convention Part 3--Well, Well, Well

On Friday Jim and I participated in the club's all-day bus trip. These events are a standard part of our club activities now and offer a way to get to some far-reaching park sites with minimal environmental impact (1 bus rather than 58 cars for example). Our first stop was the Roger Williams National Memorial. I had confused him with Will Rogers and kept thinking this was someone who "never met a man he didn't like". No, Roger Williams is the founder of Rhode Island. The visitor center is sort of small so we split the group in two with one half staying at the site and the other half touring the state capitol up the street, then we switched. My state capital pages won't be part of the blog, but the building itself is quite interesting.

In the visitor center, we watched a movie on the founding of the state. Supposedly he chose this site due to a natural well supplying water for the colony. There is a well in the courtyard but it is symbolic. Roger Williams built the colony on religious tolerance (after getting kicked out of several other puritanical villages). This was even earlier than William Penn's similar concerns when founding Pennsylvania. It's also a premise that found its way into the Declaration of Independence. Truly remarkable and historic.

I made this layout during a summer challenge class. The handout did call for 3 different double-sided pages. I ended up with 3 papers but with the same designs so there was less variety in my cuts. So when I made the layouts, I decided to use them a little more symmetrically, creating wide bands stretching across two pages. The papers are from a very old Croptoberfest kit but I liked the striped paper and floral design. I thought they went well with the garden photos and the heavy yellow presence in the interior photos.

2018 Convention Part 2--Back to School

Our first stop was in Norwich, CT. I had not heard of the Last Green Valley Heritage Corridor until I started planning this trip. The agency protects cultural, historical, and natural heritage in the Connecticut and Massachusetts areas. Our stop at the visitor center was brief. I did enjoy their displays of the historic school furniture but much of it had been turned into a visitor center with racks of brochures of the area. 

It doesn't happen often, but this is a page of my own creation! This uses Graphic 45 papers. I had purchased a sheet and cut it apart to rearrange it onto a base cardstock. I didn't plan this ahead and in hindsight, I wish I had not cut every object from the sheet individually as I could have used more of the larger sections for matting. I did get a little of the yellow/red by turning over a few of the items I wouldn't use on the page. Of course, that means I can't use them on a future page so I'll have to be on the lookout for more of this paper. I've seen a number of old schoolhouses in my travels.

2018 Convention Part 1--title and itinerary

It's time to highlight the 2018 National Park Travelers Club Convention. This trip did not get one of Jim's special monikers because it was really just a long weekend. I had just started a new job and didn't have much vacation time saved up so I minimized my days off. The host park for this convention was New Bedford Whaling. That's a unique concept as it doesn't commemorate just one individual, but an entire industry that was mainly housed in that area. Even if it's a short trip, I still had enough photos to warrant its own album. 

The album cover also has a ship's wheel, so I thought this was a great title page. It's based on this layout from the CM Blog. My first plan was to cut a ship's wheel on the Cricut. However, I was at a crop when it was time to make the page and I didn't have a Cricut available. I did use a Cricut to cut out the letters, but after I returned to my scrap room. 

As I mentioned, this was a long weekend. You can see from the itinerary that it was a total of 4 days. And 2 of them were driving back and forth to Massachusetts from our home north of Philly. And I still grit my teeth remembering the traffic going through Connecticut.

This layout is based on a sketch from Sketches in Thyme's July challenges. The sketch included a place for an 8x10 photo. I took that space and made the itinerary from a large piece of journal paper. Such a short trip that I had MORE than enough space to detail our wanderings. That meant I could add a few larger stickers and die cuts to the bottom. I split a laser-cut border from the CM Automobiles pack to frame the edges of the journal box. The background paper is a page I've had in my collection for YEARS! I was so happy to figure out a way to use it. I still have 1 more piece (as I usually by everything in twos) so be on the lookout for the next usage!

A Girlsie in Boise

 My other new state page is for Idaho. In June 2023 I hosted a meetup for National Parks Across America. While I did not get enough members to make it an official meetup, the 5 of us who got together did have a great experience. We had a ranger talk and then explored several of the overlooks. One couple and I had lunch at a nearby diner before heading on our way. That event is now the 2nd Saturday in June so if you want to join us, check the forums. We are already planning the 2024 event!

I based this page on a layout I found on Pinterest. The background paper on the original layout reminded me of this yellow vacation paper from Old CM. I like the cartoon nature of the paper--it is such a happy design! I used a Cricut to cut the border for the state. While I couldn't make it a frame to my selfie, I was able to use it for the backdrop to one photo and as a journal box as well. The baked potato and title were also cut from the Cricut. The baked potato usually requires some explanation when people look at the page. Hopefully, now that I have a photo of a baked potato next to it, people will figure out what it is supposed to be.

Misery Loves Company--that's why it's such a crowded state

We're going to take a little detour from my travels to add to my 50-states album. First up is a page from July 2022 when I made my first visit to Missouri by attending the NPTC Convention. The host park was the Gateway Arch but we also visited a few other parks such as Grant's home. The Arch was my 150th park so it was great to be able to hit that milestone with friends. There was a LOT to see inside the visitor center in addition to our car ride up to the top of the Arch. The ride itself is memorable. If you've been there, you know what I mean!

The idea for this page came from a kit. While I didn't buy it, I did pin the image so I could recreate it myself. I don't remember exactly what paper pack this background page came from but the ombre effect was a great way to make it look like sky. I made this well before I had photos so it was serendipitous that my photos matched so well. The bottom border is a punch from CM. I used the CM Custom Cutting System to make an oval ring and then trimmed it to resemble the arch. It's not quite the same but you get the effect. The cut-out of the state shape turned into a perfect journal box. Since it was black cardstock, I used a white gel pen. The state name is in stickers. Amazingly I had enough to spell out the state without "manufacturing" letters!

On the Green

My next NPS trip was on July 7, 2018. I had a free day for a Saturday so decided to pick up the Delaware capitol stamp as well as re-visit First State. While I had been to Dover previously, I had not focused on the actual "Green" which is a large park-like space in front of the Old Courthouse. They have guided tours on the weekends so I timed my visit to see one. It was a warm day but we were able to keep to the shade as much as possible. 

Does this layout look familiar? That's because I posted it a few weeks ago when it was made. Check this blog post for details on the creation.

The tour continued through several blocks. We didn't go inside any of the buildings (other than a gift shop) so I only have the doors and porches for many of the buildings. We did get to visit a cemetery and while that is probably not someone's idea of a great tour, I love to look at old gravestones. 

For this layout, I used a sketch from my summer class. As I posted when done, I felt like I "fought" with these photos for several days before figuring out how to make them work. I kept the Avocado cardstock as a base to have continuity between the first and second layouts. The contrasting paper is from Paper Loft. Since I doubled the sketch I couldn't use one of the large triangles for mats, so I used similarly toned paper scraps from Paper Loft. The stickers were from a Serenity sticker pack from CM.

That's Wild!

We finish up the trip to Minnesota with a few pages of the Coon Rapids Dam which is a little farther north of the city. On the west shore (where I started) the stamp is located at the nature center and I spent a little time observing the goldfinches and other birds from the giant picture windows. 

I made this layout for my 2023 summer class that I'm taking with Meggan Jacks and Tessa Chapple. This was a kick-off crop and they shared this idea for blocks and small photos. This worked out well because the birds didn't take up much of the photo space so I could crop them to about 3" square to fit the blocks. I left one large photo for emphasis. The paper is an Old CM kit. I thought the pastel colors were a good backdrop for the photos. The embellishments were from a different pack but they matched the colors well and had the Springtime sentiments I was looking for.

I was able to cross the river here (the motivation is that there is a stamp on the OTHER side so....) On my journey across I saw 2 unique things. First is this duck with a blue bill. I thought I was seeing things but this was real! It turns out to be called a Ruddy Duck. It was the only one I saw in the group.

I made this layout for the June 2023 CM Virtual Crop. Scroll to Challenge #1 to see the sketch. I decided to make my Ruddy Duck the focus of the page so I chose a blue and orange set of papers that would match his coloring. The scalloped orange is from a pack of decorative cardstock that Old CM released. I had just found the pack at a scrapbook yard sale so the timing was perfect! I know that the stickers are geese and not ducks (did you just go and see that for yourself?) You'll notice that I "turned" the sketch. But as a square, it's so symmetrical that it doesn't really matter which way the photos go, though it does look better if they are facing the same direction.

My last set of photos is more about the dam (and you can see the walkway as it stretches across the Mississippi). Flowing water not only makes for good photos, but it's also just beautiful to watch! As I walked across, I noticed a snag that created some additional interest in the water patterns. But I was also amazed that it didn't move! You would think that the power of the water would push it over the edge, but it didn't! 

This layout was the OTHER kick-off crop sketch from the summer class I mentioned above. I used the final scraps from the Deep Blue paper. I liked that the laser border could be turned vertically and mirror the falling water. Because the 6x4 photos do not need to be trimmed, this layout came together very quickly. I substituted one of the 4x3 photos for a journal box. This was the last page of the album. It is actually 1/2 of the sketch. The right page would be turned 90 degrees for vertical photos with the smaller photos at the bottom. But this was all I needed and it worked perfectly!

Bonus Post--What Lies Beneath

Hello and welcome to another bonus post as I play along with Lasting Memories Challenges. I'm using this month's sketch challenge to finish off some pages of a visit to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in 2018. You'll see more of this visit soon. In the meantime, here are the photos. 

I wanted to make this as surprising for my reader as it was for me, so I put the outside of the lovely little shed first. Underneath, you can see that I walked into a dirty, dusty tool shed!

Here is a photo of the sketch they posted.

I chose Paper Loft papers for this sketch. I had a remnant with a large striped pattern at the bottom reminiscent of the pattern in the sketch so that saved a bit of time putting it all together. I added just a hint of red since there is red in the shed's roof and trim. Mostly I stuck to the greens and browns. Another scrap I had included those medallions. I used a circle punch to make individual elements and sprinkled them across the page. The title is also from Paper Loft's quote pages.

Here you can see the lifted flap. I do love using Peekaboo Pockets from Creative Memories.

Outside Mill City

 These photos are from the top viewing platform of the Mill City museum. Again, you can see the scorch marks from previous fires and the remnants of the original building walls. Nearby is the St. Anthony's Lock and Dam. I took photos from here but it's closed in the winter (April is still winter--see previous posts) so I didn't bother going to the visitor center.

This layout was made for the CM virtual Crop in June 2023. Look at this page and scroll to layout #4. I liked this layout because the wavy papers in the middle reminded me of the river. that's why I chose a peach color for the edges and blue in the middle (look closely, that blue paper ALSO has a wavy pattern running through it! I added a few stickers from the Travel Log collection and a couple from a very OLD CM travel pack. I used up a couple of photo corners as well to highlight a few photos (2 corners each).

Inside Mill City

My next visit in Minneapolis was to the Mill City Museum. This location hosts a Mississippi NRRA stamp as it backs up to St. Anthony Lock and Dam. For a long time, this area had been THE center for flour milling in the US, partly because of the massive water power coming off the river. For that reason, I'm including a tour of the inside of the building. There is an interesting movie about the area which feels sort of like you are in an elevator and you move floor to floor. In reality, I think the dioramas and movie screens move up and down. On the main floor are some excellent exhibits about flour from harvesting to processing to baking. Love the giant box of Bisquick!

This layout is based on a CM Virtual Crop from October 2021. I used a paper pack called Baked with Love which was free to my customers if they spent $250 with me. CM now includes some sort of embellishment--either tags, stickers or die-cuts--with the free packs. They change each quarter. I made this while away at my weekend crop and it was a good thing I had these on hand as I had forgotten to bring my folder of food scrapbook items. 

This is part of the exhibit focused on the milling process. You can see one of the grinding heads on the right page as well as grain elevators. 

This layout is somewhat based on the May 2023 CM Virtual Crop sketch #4. This month CM focused on Fast-to-Fabulous pages so all 4 sketches were double-page layouts. Again, I was at the crop house so I needed to use what I brought and the best choice turned out to be papers from 2 different kits. On the left, I had previously cut a circle from the Picture Perfect travel kit (a special kit from a few years ago). I backed that with some paper scraps. On the right is a SUPER old CM page from when they first introduced the concept of pre-printed layouts. However, there was a strip of foreign clocks. So turning to the sketch, I Covered those and any gaps on the far left with 2 strips of coordinating paper (also scraps). I did twist a photo as suggested in the sketch on the left. I replaced 2 photos with larger embellishments on the right (camera die-cut and an arrow tag). Using the title die-cut completed my paper pack! Feels so good to use up stock!

The most interesting part of the tour was finding out that one problem with milling flour is that it is flammable! And there were many fires over the years. One in particular burned not only its own mill but 3 or 4 nearby ones. You can still see the scorch marks on the walls!

This is a layout I made for a class I took and I cannot show you the sketch. The left side was to be a flower so I tried to take the technique and make it look like the explosion described above (and on the layout). The small "v" looking bits are remnants of a punch (punch poop as some say) and I was trying to make it look like flour was flying through the air. I had some paper from the fireman kit so I was able to introduce flames and the fireman's helmet and badge. It's not my best work but I think it is effective in telling the story.

Let's Just Go To The Lobby

Another stamping stop is the Mississippi River Visitor Center which is inside a museum in Minneapolis. Luckily you do not need to buy admission to the museum to get to the visitor center. It's a small space with a little bit of information about the river. There is a cool green screen to create a postcard image of yourself at the visitor center where you can choose the background. Given the snow of this week, I chose the winter photo. Outside the museum you can see a bit of the river but there are more interesting views to come!

This layout is based on the August 2022 Power Hour layout from Meggan and Tessa. I used the Ice Blue tonal pack from Creative Memories. They issue a new Tonal collection each quarter and they are quite handy for completing pages that don't necessarily have an obvious theme. The pack had a print that reminded me of a river and the river border punch helped carry that theme across the pages. The matching stickers for the tonal collections are somewhat generic but I was able to find several word stickers that matched the layout. I used one photo spot for a journaling box pulled from a winter collection with the same tones. The other benefit of the tonal collection is that it matches our design papers so you can extend the use of those kits!

Oh the Things I Will do for a Stamp--Part 3

My next trip was in April 2018 to the HPN conference in Minnesota. After I was done with the conference I stayed and saw a little of Minneapolis. My first stop was Fort Snelling but just for a stamp. I drove up the river to Coldwater Spring. I did not walk out to the spring house as it was a cold day (if you see the full album you'll know that even in April it can snow in Minnesota!) I was quite interested to see the stamp that is accessed from behind the sign and only by entering the secret code! (found on the NPTC database of course). It took me a while to find the appropriate sign but I did, and I entered the code and got the stamp! I didn't have ink (if you try this you really should bring your own) so I used some snow to wet the bottom of the stamper and got enough residual ink to stamp my book!

I based this layout on a pinned sketch. I used more papers from the Outdoor packs but while I like this overall, there are a few changes I would make. First, the title at the bottom right should have been trimmed from both the top and bottom so it didn't look like it was falling off the page. Next, I would have done a little something else with the border that runs through the middle. It's mostly covered up. I probably could have made it go OVER the photo on the bottom left. I do like that I cut a ring from white cardstock to highlight where the lock box is on the photo--a great way to draw the eye. And I like my use of a few random stickers and embellishments from Gallivant (a collection that is almost used up).

Big Wheel Keep on Turning!

Hello all! It's time for another bonus post to join a Lasting Memories Challenge! Tonight I worked on this section of the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI. It's part of the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park and was part of the bus trip in July 2018. You'll see more of this trip in a few weeks. Meanwhile, see if you think Jim is loafing in that photo below!

So, as I said, I'm working on a challenge for Lasting Memories (and tonight is the last night to get it in!) For the challenge, we needed to use 3 items beginning with 3 sequential letters and then 1, 2, and 3 items. So, I am using the letters "C" for Cornice, "D" for Die Cuts, and "E" for Enamel dots. And I used 1 corner, 2 rulers, and 3 enamel dots! (Also 3 die cuts.) The overall layout is based on this pin from my sketch board. There will be a peekaboo pocket on the bottom left corner of the right side of the layout with more photos of the pulleys and belts. The papers are a mix of CM design kits. I'm close to using up many of the "Home" based packs. There will be some consolidating and "Recycling" coming soon!

Resting but not Relaxing

 For this visit, I drove to the Jockey Hollow cabins area. The distance between where the enlisted men stayed and where General Washington stayed is considerable but I suppose they couldn't put all the men in town. They have recreated several cabins and outfitted them with daily rations. The bunks are just boards but I imagine they also pulled in some pine branches to cushion the beds. Up to 12 men in a cabin at once! Perhaps all the body heat helped them stay warm. My favorite photo is the plaster cast of a soldier in his bunk.

This layout is based on an idea I pinned. I used some of the paper from the Deep in the Woods collection from CM. The page is actually quite simple--there are just 3 papers (double-sided) and the squares are 4" tall by 3" wide. I just staggered them across the bottom of the cardstock and topped each with a border sticker that resembled a birch log (hides any non-uniform cuts). I added a journal box from my stash and topped it with a few other stickers. A quick page to end the visit.