Highs of the Low House

After leaving the East Jersey Olde Towne Village, I headed to the campus of Rutgers University. The entrance to the Cornelius Low House is just beyond their football stadium (and the parking lot was undergoing renovation, making driving and finding the path rather interesting). The home has been preserved as one of the earliest examples of Georgian architecture and one of the few remaining from Raritan Landing (you can't see a river nearby now, but this was a port city in the 1700s).

My favorite part of the visit was the outside. The metal "shadow" figures on the lawn and the birdhouse gazebo were used to tell the story of the families who lived here through the years. Inside, the rooms are sparse, and, as the center of the local Historical Society, the upstairs houses a series of rotating displays on New Jersey life in general rather than focusing solely on the Revolutionary War. The Low Family was divided by the Revolutionary War, with some members ostracized and exiled to England afterward.

This layout is loosely based on one of Meggan and Tessa's Power Hour projects. You can see the pin I saved here (follow the links to the video and download). I had a small piece of Vintage Chic paper left that I used to mat the 2 vertical photos on the left page. I found a similarly patterned paper in my stash to use for the right-side page. There is an 8 1/2x11" pocket between the pages, so I wasn't too worried about making the pages match exactly. The black cardstock background allowed the lighter cardstock punches to shine. That is the Elegant Diamond border punch from Creative Memories, and as of the day I'm writing this, it is still available. The mini journal box was also from the Vintage Chic collection. 

After this layout, I "retired" that collection. That means I put all of the smaller remnants into the stash bags rather than keeping them all together. Journal cards went into the journal card box; any remaining paper pieces were placed in scrap envelopes by color; and any remaining stickers and elements went into the theme folder. Any stickers with words on them are cut into individual pieces and stored in my "Words of Wisdom" binder (in alphabetical order).