What's in Store?

My journey continued into Maryland, my destination the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad NHP. I had been to the area when that site opened its visitor center (and you can see that post here). My first stop was at the Bucktown Village Store. This is the site where Harriet was hit by a small weight when she was a young child. That event caused a life-long problem with headaches but is also credited with giving her visions. I had not called ahead so I was happy to find the site open. In fact, the people who man the store were awaiting someone who HAD made a reservation. They never showed up so I benefitted by getting a private store tour. I enjoyed this visit much more as there were no crowds and I could ask questions to my heart's content. I gave them a good-sized donation for the privilege. If you are in the area, don't miss this stop!

For this layout I wanted to use the large General Store cut that I made on the Cricut. The yellow is layered on top and the windows and doors are outlined in black ink to provide some depth. I wanted yellow based on the color of the building but also blue because of the interior. I found a nice sheet of yellow textured paper and a weathered wood paper with a blue tint. By cutting them both at 6" and "welding" them with a strip of cardstock along the seam in the back, I was able to generate 2 pages for the background. The little heart embellishment is an old stencil that I inked. There are a few word blocks from the Paper Loft that completed the layout.

Bay Window

My next set of park visits occurred when I went on vacation with Jim's family in September 2019. We had returned to the Rehoboth Beach area and I took a day to drive west toward the Chesapeake Bay. I drove to the small town of Vienna, MD where the Nanticoke River Discovery Center had a stamp (of course) and a small display of Captain John Smith and his travels. I also visited the nearby waterfront to get a look at the water. It was late morning but a beautiful day to be outside. 

The trail follows the historic route taken by John Smith (yes, the one that married Pocohantas) and his crew in the summer of 1608. He is credited with mapping much of the East Coast and those detailed records, published in England, were the impetus for many to migrate to the New World. In essence, he might more rightfully be considered the man who Discovered America!

This sketch is based on the June 2024 Virtual Crop from Creative Memories (scroll to sketch #2). You can see that I doubled the sketch to reach 2 pages. The paper is from Creative Memories' Serene Water collection. The coordinating cardstock colors include orange. While that is a color I don't use much, it gives the perfect POP to the middle square. As you can see in the directions, there are 4 strips of 3" decorative paper underneath. This type of sketch is a great way to use scraps if you have them.