When do Stampers not Stamp?

The last day of our Poconos getaway was a return to the Delaware Water Gap. This time we are heading for a local waterfall. On the way, we stopped at the visitor center/administration building. Unfortunately, with COVID and staffing issues, the building was not open. Instead, they placed a table outside with pre-stamped copies of passport stamps and the most requested brochures. I picked up almost all of the stamps that the database said should be there. Have you ever had to use a pre-stamped image? Were you afraid that all of them would be gone by the time you arrived?

This layout is based on one of the CM Virtual Crop sketches from October 2025. Scroll to Sketch #2. I chose some papers from the Shades of Golden Harvest paper pack. The cardstock base is Autumn Hay shimmer. That creates a soft glow in the back. White would have been too stark. The papers are cut to the same width, but to different lengths, so you get a symmetrical pattern across the page. The sketch called for 3 photos, but I chose to use the longer mat for the Unigrid. I used a coordinating vellum for the mats, also punching a leaf border to match the mat. The blue mat picks up the color in my sweatsuit, while the orange/red mat coordinates with the orange papers. A few stickers from my stash provided the titles and leaves.

Playing in the Forest

Today's blog looks at more of our Poconos trip from October 2021. Our last images of PEEC are of our second trail. The brochure called this an "everyone" trail. Likely that means it's for kids, which, for me, speaks to my inner child! There were lots of touch points--cement pressings, tree-tac-toe, and the best part--instruments to play! Jim doesn't care for it, but I had a great time!

This layout is based on an older Project Recipe pattern from CM called "Adventure". I returned to the Set Up Camp paper pack that you saw when I made the National Park Puzzle page. The light-hearted paper matched the emotion of the photos. There isn't a lot of intricate cutting — truly, most of the cuts are for photo mats. I chose to use the pre-printed mats that came with the kit as much as possible. In that way, you can make the 2 strips for the left page by using 2 sides of a single sheet of decorative paper. One of the mats I chose became a title and a mat by trimming the photo appropriately. A couple of embellishment clusters finished the page.

A Gap in the Water

Welcome back to my Poconos trip in October 2021. Today's blog continues our walk around the Poconos Environmental Education Center. There were a few more lovely shots of the leaves (not totally changed over yet, but you can see them starting) and a photo of the official Delaware Water Gap NRA sign. Delaware Water Gap is an interesting park. It formed over many years when local residents objected to Congress's plans for damming the river, arguing that there was enough recreational use without building a manmade reservoir. In the process, 2 separate but conjoined parks were created. Delaware Water Gap came first, and then the river itself was made into the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River. That eliminated any threat from the development of dams, and so this lovely natural landscape will be enjoyed by all as intended by nature. While the Middle Delaware NSRR helps protect the 40 miles along the river between Milford and the village of Delaware Water Gap, additional protections to the north and south ensure that further development there will not impact this location.

This was another layout in the Meggan and Tessa Croptoberfest class. The link is in the previous blog post. The left page is another of the laser-cut pages. It looks more complicated than it is. The hardest part is stringing the thin paper along the border edges. The leaves and acorns are backfilled with circles of colored cardstock. Luckily, they figured out the right size, so there wasn't much trimming.

A Peek at the Poconos

Today we'll begin the October 2021 trip to the Poconos. For the second year in a row, Jim and I decided to do a fall "leaf peeping" getaway. This time, we stayed a little closer to home by heading to the Delaware Water Gap NRA area. While there, we spent a day walking, first around the Airbnb we rented and then at the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) — pronounced PEEK. This non-profit is aligned with the National Park Service, and it has a passport stamp at the visitor center. I chose the Two Ponds trail as our walking path, and the first part was quite lovely. Being near the end of the season, though, it was a little tricky to follow (even with the blazes Jim is pointing out below) and got pretty muddy. We backtracked and chose a different trail, which you will see in a future blog.

I worked on these pages while at a crop. My packing strategy for taking supplies from home is to focus on one album, and this time it was the Fall 2021 trip. Doing that makes it easier to grab coordinating papers and stickers. I just had to grab my boxes with "Fall" and "Camping and nature". (All of my paper packs are sorted by theme or color, just like Tiffany Spaulding recommends.) Since I had all of my older Croptoberfest packs with me, I decided to purchase a class from Meggan and Tessa. Their 2022 Croptoberfest Page Makers Workshop helped me use up some of my extra supplies and create six new 2-page layouts. This is one of the creations from that class. The left page features a laser-cut frame from the Croptoberfest Bundle. I usually struggle with how to incorporate those on a page, so I'm thankful that they had 3 ideas for using them in this class. 

An Apple A Day

Today's post takes a look at a trip my husband and I made in September 2021. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is not too far from our house. In their quest to create an authentic historic village, they have recreated an 1800s apple orchard. This means that the varietals are different than what you'll find in today's grocery store. The apples are a little smaller and on the tart side, so they're better for baking than for eating out of hand. The Park allows the public to come and pick apples (though you are not allowed to take any that have fallen to the ground). You pay by the pound, but that includes the tools for picking, like the picker that looks like a Lacrosse stick and the collection bucket. We had fun searching the trees for ripe apples and ended up with a little over a pound to take home! I made a pie with them, which was rather tasty.

This layout was made during the 2020 Creative Memories Croptoberfest event. If you have not participated in an event, a "Project Recipe" kit is available, which includes the papers and embellishments for two double-page layouts. The theme usually coordinates with the fall collection, and indeed, this recipe coordinated with Hello Autumn, which was launched around the same time. I cannot find the sample of how the photos were to be arranged on the page, but I know I had to move some mats around to accommodate my photos and used one as the base for journaling by adding the white Write Strips. I also added a small blurb from one of their brochures that describes the apple orchard. It blends in on the top right page, but I didn't need it to be too obvious.

Mama's Little Helper

Hello all! Today's blog is about a page featuring a National Park puzzle that I received as a birthday present in the summer of 2021. We decided to set up a large table in the living room to have space to assemble it whenever we had time to work on it. Our cat, Murphy, was always on hand to help us out! She is quite the supervisor. The finished puzzle was glued and framed for my scrapbook room.

This layout is based on one of the Creative Memories Virtual Crop sketches from July 2025 (scroll to Sketch #1). I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the right to fit the layout of my photos, then swapped the circle for the puzzle punch pieces. I chose to use the "Set Up Camp" pack because it is a lighthearted layout, and I wanted the bright, 'campy' feel of the papers. Assembling this is not as complicated as it appears. I punched the puzzle pieces from two different patterns, and layered them on cardstock (with a dark brown paper between for contrast). Then just cut one of the borders in half with the 12" trimmer and spread to the top and bottom (or left and right sides) of the page! I made sure to highlight the cat with arrows in each photo, using just a few other enamel stickers as embellishments. The puzzle pieces are visually busy, so it doesn't need clusters of larger stickers. 

A General Layout

Folks, we have reached the last entry for the 2021 NPTC convention! The Night Tour on golf carts came to a close by driving past the White House and then on to Pershing Park. This is the site of one of the newer memorials dedicated to World War I. The statue of General Pershing had been there, making it the perfect spot to add more material and rename the memorial. You can see the intended look in the photo on the far right. However, the monument isn't quite done! That's a canvas rendering of what the statue will look like. Since I took this photo, the project has been completed, and you will see the results in a future blog post.

I based this layout on an old Project Recipe from Creative Memories called Mix and Match. This is the older of the 2 Mix-and-match collections (2017). I used papers from the "Called to Serve" collection, as well as the back side of a Scrapbook Customs DC page with a map of the National Mall area. I liked the concept of the sketch with mirrored border punches, so I chose a patriotic version with the Flag Banner punch. It mimics the canvas's reflection in the memorial photo.

After the tour, the golf carts returned us to our hotel. It was late and I went right to sleep! It had been a long day. On Monday morning, I had a leisurely breakfast, then packed and headed to Union Station to catch my train back home.

For this layout, I modified an idea posted on the CM blog for creating travel borders (see the 2nd border on the page). The example focused on the Scenic Route travel pack, which I have used up. But the concept of the Passport to Adventure used here is very similar, and there was a lovely premade layered border with a train and a station. I followed all the other directions for the layers. After adding the embellishments, I wanted to point toward our next convention, so I fussy-cut an image of the St. Louis Arch from an Eastern National paper and added the small numbers for the following year.

I hope you enjoyed the journey through DC. Next time, we'll look at some unique park experiences closer to home!