2018 Convention Part 12--A Prudent Visit

On our way home on Sunday we made one final stop for a stamp--the Prudence Crandall House in Canterbury Connecticut. This home was a school for African-American girls in the pre-Civil War era. You would think in the north that there would be more understanding and tolerance, but there was not. The home was targeted frequently and almost burned to the ground. Prudence was jailed for her efforts as well. However, the students she taught turned out to be some of the educators and reformers who led the charge for the passing of the 14th Amendment.

This layout is based on the pin that I saved. I just used the right side of the layout and used papers from the Welcome Home collection and the Gem Tones collection. Both of those are running out and may need to go into the recycling bin soon.

We toured the home and could see a few original pieces but many more that were period or recreated items. They tried to describe what it looked like while it was a school. It was a nice visit but we soon had to head for home.

This layout is based on the October 4th video from Creative Memories and Noreen Smith. You can catch the full video here. She was demonstrating one of the sketches from the new bonus book 101 Sketches. CM posted a challenge to try all 101 sketches. The layout matched the sketch quite well, so I went to town! I used some of the Welcome Home elements and papers as well as a few stickers from the Art Nouveau collection. There are 3 lines representing borders in the sketch so I used 2 border stickers and a laser-cut border to create the element along the left side. I chose one of the few remaining papers, cut the edges a bit, and mounted it on dark green cardstock. The layout did not take long at all! This was a great page to finish the convention album. Back to my regular adventures next week!

2018 Convention Part 2--Back to School

Our first stop was in Norwich, CT. I had not heard of the Last Green Valley Heritage Corridor until I started planning this trip. The agency protects cultural, historical, and natural heritage in the Connecticut and Massachusetts areas. Our stop at the visitor center was brief. I did enjoy their displays of the historic school furniture but much of it had been turned into a visitor center with racks of brochures of the area. 

It doesn't happen often, but this is a page of my own creation! This uses Graphic 45 papers. I had purchased a sheet and cut it apart to rearrange it onto a base cardstock. I didn't plan this ahead and in hindsight, I wish I had not cut every object from the sheet individually as I could have used more of the larger sections for matting. I did get a little of the yellow/red by turning over a few of the items I wouldn't use on the page. Of course, that means I can't use them on a future page so I'll have to be on the lookout for more of this paper. I've seen a number of old schoolhouses in my travels.