Madness in the Desert Part 35--The Big House

After watching the movie and exploring the exhibits in the visitor center, we ventured outside (into the heat again) to see the structure. Though it has stood for many years, the NPS is working on protecting it, hence the canopy over the top to protect it a bit from rain and to decrease erosion.

I had thought that I followed a border sketch to create the border across the top of the page. Perhaps I just followed my instincts! The base is plain yellow. The next layer is a strip of the same paper that is featured across the bottom. On top of that are 2 rectangles of blue/orange paper that you've seen on some other pages. The title letters are from a set of 2 punches my mother and I bought at a scrapbook yardsale. I have to say, it looked like a good idea at the time but they were actually rather difficult to use to create the few letters I needed. However, they WERE the right size!

This has been a tourist site much longer than it has been in the National Park Service, and consequently, there is some defacement. Though as that happened in the 1700s and 1800s even that, in some sense, is historic.

This is ALMOST wallpaper. It's 2 pieces of 6x12 paper. The burst at the top reminded me of sunrise/sunset. That set the mood for the sienna tone across the bottom. I wish I had let more of the landscape show. I used a few photo corner stickers on the upper right photo. They do NOT help adhere the photo to the page. They just give that old-fashioned look. Do you like putting stickers on your photos? CM materials are safe for photos so it won't do them any harm.

Madness in the Desert Part 34--In Ruins

On the morning after our Saguaro visit, I dropped Jim off at the Air Museum for a 2nd day of exploring (I was spared that, and had planned a trip to Coronado). However, I barely made it out of the parking lot when my phone rang. The thunderstorm of the night before knocked out power to the museum and closed it for the day. We had already checked out of the hotel, so it made sense that we meander our way to Phoenix where we would fly out the next morning. So we visited the Western National bookstore north of Tucson and then decided on Casa Grande so I would still get another new National Park unit. 

If you have even a smattering of Spanish (as I do, and to which my sister Lisa will attest), you know that this translates to Big House. The people lived in the area over 4000 years ago and the origins of this building remain a mystery. There are hints that it might have been a celestial observatory but it might have been a storehouse or religious site. Additional walls create a surrounding plaza where trade and crafts such as pottery making likely happened.

I had trouble fitting in all that I wanted to on this page, so I chose a 12x6 peekaboo pocket to add the brochure and (as you can see below) a couple of extra photos.

This layout is based on a sketch from my Scrap Your Stash class with Noreen Smith in 2020. The base page is a sheet with a mild yellow tone and I then added a couple of strips of coordinating paper from the CM "Shades of Yellow" paper pack. Luckily, I had a few stickers that matched the items in the photos, so it was a simple layout.