The Great Western Journey part 16--I'm not bluffing (no Foolin Post!)

 Happy April Fool's day! Here's my annual No Fooling post! 

Our loop took us south into Nebraska and so we stopped for the night and the next morning visited Scotts Bluff. This area is part of many trails as indicated by the variety of unigrids and passport stamps.

There are 4 total unigrids to include and it turned out that 2 of them were horizontal and 2 vertical. I chose an 8 1/2 x 11 pocket page and mounted them on pages from the Wildflower textured paper pack (textured paper means photographic). Now pay attention to that background page, as you will see it again soon.

While at the park we toured the museum in the visitor center and then headed outside for sign photos. 

The right-hand page is based on this sketch that I saved on Pinterest. Remember the front of the 8 1/2 x 11 pocket? The strip I cut off is on the right side of the page. I chose a complimenting scrap to cut the bracket (it's made with an older part of the Creative Memories Custom Cutting System). I liked this sketch as I had quite a bit of journaling to do and there was a long area in the middle of the bracket that worked well.

We did finally drive to the top of the bluff so we could take in the view. We walked the short nature trail up there as well. I can see why this was a popular (as well as noticeable) place for everyone to stop as they migrated west. If they could talk, the rocks could certainly tell many stories.

This layout is based on one of the last sketches from my year-long class with Noreen Smith. I used an Advisor Exclusive pack called Painted Prairie (appropriate enough!) for the base pages. I've always liked the technique of cutting 2 different background papers and then spreading the pages across the layout. I so rarely have 2 matching background papers that this technique makes it easier to keep scrapping. Similarly, the horizontal strip is one sheet. Keeping the paper against the photos and other papers gives the illusion that I used more paper but stretches your stash! My embellishments were a little loose as I went with ropes and guitars to highlight trail life. Not completely accurate but I'm getting to the end of the Wide Open Places pack!

50 States Album part 13--Nebraska

Our trip to Nebraska was the later part of the "Great Western Loop"--the NPTC convention in 2017. We flew into Denver, drove through Wyoming up to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and then south through Nebraska to return to Colorado.

This was an unusual inspiration. I based this page on a greeting card. It's not the first time I've done that, but usually, it's a sketch that I transform. I like the thought of corn for Nebraska. Indeed we drove through farmland and it was about all we did see other than Scott's Bluff. The bottom of the page, the green gingham, was cut and layered over the black cardstock to highlight the bottom. The letters to spell the state name were from a kit. The tiny letters do not fare well in my stash and so I had to edit a "4" for the letter "A". The bottom corn stalks are border punches from a vine punch that CM makes. Those corn ears are actually cut from a VERY old calendar with scrapbook mats. They were the center of the green mat. You can't tell it's cut because the photo blocks the holes nicely. The top corn ear was a random sticker I had.