All Aboard!

I next stopped at the visitor center and had the place nearly to myself. Much different than the grand opening! It's a fairly small museum but with a lot of 3D components like the sheds or the boat, you see below. I had not realized that not only did she usher enslaved people north, but she also served as a spy and scout for the Union Army during the Civil War. 

The inspiration for this layout came from this pin that I saved. It uses the 4 squares as the base. The pin reminded me to use some "scruffy" paper for the heritage feel. When I cut my squares I wasn't quite as even as I had hoped, so to hide the flaws, I added the strips to the bottom of the pages (that is Washi tape). The black and white of the Washi tape mimic the coloring of the postcard and the unigrid and helps give balance to the page. Not much in the way of decoration--just one-word sticker.

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.

Just Outside of the New Park

 After our meetup concluded, I chose to explore a few other nearby areas. This is the Bucktown General Store. When Harriet was a small child she was in this store when another enslaved person was trying to run away. That enslaved man's overseer grabbed a weight off the counter and threw it at the escaping man but hit Harriet instead. This is what people attribute to her subsequent "visions" that would propel (and possibly save her) through her life. The store and its shelves are filled with the goods you would have seen in the mid-1800s around the time Harriet was here. And there is a Passport stamp here. 

This is a layout I made at a weekend class for my scrapbook customers. If you haven't been to my CM Facebook page, this is the link: https://www.facebook.com/CorriganCM. Typically I have a class on a Saturday afternoon where I share up to 4 of Noreen Smith's 1-2-3 layouts. (One piece of double-sided paper, 2 sheets of cardstock or base pages, 3 cuts). Anyone is welcome to join but you must email me for the Zoom link and instructions. I cannot record the sessions. 

The papers used here are from a free paper pack I earned called "Timeless". With the yellows and creams of the photos, I think the yellow paper with trees created a nice base. The 2 background pages are also from the pack. That's a new trend for me. I tend to work directly on the strap-hinge pages Creative Memories makes. The sticker clusters are from some older packs I had with a "farm" feel to them. I think the elements would be those found inside the store. I had one non-CM product--the mason jar element. I trimmed a piece of journal paper to create a nice spot to write my notes of the experience.

A Brand New Park!

 In March 2017 I was privileged to attend the Grand Opening of a brand new National Park Unit. Harriet Tubman was born in Maryland and this area has now become a National Historical Park filled with details of her life. One of the club members held a meetup for the event. There were MANY people in attendance besides our group, but because we arrived so early we could park at the NPS site and not be shuttled in from a nearby town. It was so crowded I didn't get a chance to see the visitor center other than the lobby and the bookstore. However, there were 2 excellent presentations that we all attended. First, a Harriet Tubman reenactor gave a talk on her life and answered questions from the audience. She was marvelous.

I used sketch #5 from the November 2021 CM Virtual Crop for this layout. I substituted 2 rows of paper pieces for the punched railroad tracks. Everyone thought that was a great addition to the page. The rest of the paper is scrap from a very old CM paper pack (that I believe is called Discover). Having a few pieces left over, I cut them into ribbons and added them to the blank parts of the page. 

The second speaker is an author who wrote about the life of enslaved people. He had some helpers from the audience but also provided samples. He didn't expect so many people to be in attendance so I'm glad we saw his first presentation as I don't think there was much left for the second one. Though the things he provided to us were rather distasteful--some of the beverages and salted fish common to enslaved people's diet. 

This layout is based on a sketch I saved--though I don't know why I saved it. Typically I save the virtual crop sketches if I don't get them done on the crop weekend. It's possible I saved this as I didn't have a clue what to do with Sorbet (check out the paper in the links on the blog site). I didn't use Sorbet here, but remnants from a "Painted" paper pack that was a bonus pack. By cutting everything into 2-3/4” x 3-3/4” and 5-3/4” x 3-3/4” mats, a background was created that would hold all the photos I wanted. On some of the smaller rectangles, I added decorative cut-outs from a Heritage pack.

He also demonstrated the torture devices used on returned runaways. I applaud the lady from the audience who was the "model". That massive iron frame must have been heavy even for the few minutes she wore it on stage.

This is a bonus sketch provided by CM when they had a promotional paper pack. This is the 2nd sketch on the page. I used some very old Earthy papers and stickers to create the layout. I think those papers captured the somber tone of the images.