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!