Of course there's a stamp!

 In the corner, the NPS set up an authentic Ranger Station with real NPS rangers staffing it throughout the show. To prevent overwhelming the Philadelphia staff, additional help was brought in from volunteers across the country. That was probably beneficial as they might have had to field questions about a number of far-flung parks on display.

Creative Memories posted a special sketch challenge for National Sticker Day. They had recently released a second version of the Emoji stickers which had more masked versions due to COVID. I chose to use the original packaging to complete the challenge. It worked so well for this page because it was such a lighthearted topic.I especially love the Indiana Jones emoji--it just seems to go with the ranger page perfectly. The background paper is from the Woodland Whimsy collection. The log paper is some scraps of Adventure I still had. I used the rolling trees border maker cartridge for the edging.

The Rustic Look

One area focused not on a specific park, but on the "Rustic Style" used in many parks to evoke a sense of nature while allowing for groups of people to gather. This stage and campfire ring fall into that category. As I visited on a weeknight, I'm not sure if they used this for classes but I wouldn't be surprised. It has a very cozy feel to it.

I didn't go as far back in time for this layout, but I completed it in March using a sketch from my January class. It's always nice to get caught up! I kept with the "rustic" feel by incorporating textured paper. That doesn't mean it is thick, but rather you can see the depth of a photo or textile on the paper. The background page is from the Secret Garden Fast to Fabulous pack. Again, a lovely washed look helped set the tone. I added a scrap of the stone paper down the middle as an anchor for the elements. Although you don't see much of the middle, it is there. I punched 3 circles out of a gray textured paper for the middle and then layered the photos. The embellishments were a mix of Paper Loft (for the title words) and some old CM rustic (or perhaps they were called Rugged?) stickers. I have to say brackets always stump me but I think it worked well for this title.

A Night at the Flower Show

In March 2016, the Philadelphia Garden Club hosted their annual flower show with the theme of "America's National Parks" in honor of the centennial. I took a night after work to go down and visit. Because it was the evening I only spent a couple of hours there. I did get to see all of the displays but had little time for extras like vendors. The next few months will be the album pages I created for that ONE night! (Yes, there were enough that it got its own album!)

Creative Memories had created a line called "Secret Garden" about the same time as this visit. I thought that the floral theme would work perfectly with the photos. And to some extent it did, though I used quite a few other collections as well. This is the title page of the Secret Garden Fast to Fabulous pack. The matted white square is part of the paper as is the watercolor background. I used the Cricut to cut the letters. There are 2 layers--purple with the letter cut out backed by black circles. In hindsight, I think I should have just put the purple on the white. It's a little difficult to see in the photo--though in real life it isn't that bad.

The first 2 pages are broken up with the addition of the map I saved. I have it folded around a piece of cardstock so that you can see the entire floor by turning the page. 

I took several hundred photos, but even for me, it was difficult to get decent shots of everything. Even though I was touring in the evening it was still very busy and full of people. That's why I also used a few photos from the internet which were used for the promotion of the show, like the top photo on the page below.

For the left side of the layout, I used a sketch from the January 2021 Virtual Crop. I chose the Hello Autumn paper pack because the colors on display had that rich fall coloring. I cut one of the mats into a circle to add my title. I used up some more of the small letter stickers. I was able to mix and match a couple of sheets to spell out the word. Using a variety of colors not only matched my layout but also enabled me to use up stickers that were hard to use to make standard words. By this point, having any "E"s in a sticker sheet is a miracle! 

The right side of the entrance has ME. That is actually pieced together from several photos. My selfie skills were not very good so I asked someone to take the photo for me. However, they zoomed in on me getting little of the entrance! By piecing it with other photos I took, I was able to get a decent shot of myself. 

The layout here is based on another sketch in the virtual crop which you can see here. For this layout, I went far back in my stash for some "Earthy" power palette papers and stickers. This is a collection I want to finish but it seems to multiply like rabbits when I'm not looking. The CM 12" trimmer allowed me to cut smaller frames of each of the 3 papers for the outside. By cutting holes in the middle you reduce the thickness of the page and the weight of the album. I chose stickers from spring, summer, and winter (the tree) for the border across the top. The journal box is a piece of vellum. It allows the background to come through in a soft way but you can still see the writing. I don't know what made me think of that but it did work well on this page.

I know this is a lot of photos for one post but I decided to put all of the entrance photos in one place. Just behind the entrance shown above were these amazing sculptures of a bear and bison. 

And one more layout from the Virtual Crop. I used paper from both Rustic Manor and Woodland Whimsy here. The die-cut animals are quite old but were a good addition to the page given the topic (OK, it's a moose, not a bison--but it still works).