If you are an NPTC member going to the convention this year, here is a preview of the book you will see! There are more layouts in the album than you will see here on the blog since I'm only featuring the National Park pages, so don't miss it!
The next 10 weeks are going to highlight a trip made in July 2012. The NPTC national convention was held at Apostle Islands in Wisconsin and I decided to drive there and back instead of flying. I planned to take a couple of days to get there and a couple of days to drive back, so a week on the road total. I tried to get Jim to come with me, even planned a trip to a HUGE air show in Oshkosh, but nothing would convince him. He said, and I quote: "I am NOT driving to Wisconsin!" As I planned the trip and the stops I would make, somehow Jim started calling this my "Northern Migration" (I guess due to the destination at the top of Wisconsin). Well, the name stuck and I used it in my journal and now in the scrapbook. So here is the kick off page for the trip:
My page was inspired by
this page. I tried using large ovals instead of "free handing" the mountain cuts and it was only partially successful. I definitely manipulated the stickers to spell out my title but I think it is acceptable. The word "Wisconsin" and the state shape were both cut on the Cricut from a free file I found online.
My first stop was in Ohio at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This is nature in the middle of urbania but thus provides a great escape for those living in the area. There are lots of trails to walk and rivers to navigate. I confined my visit to the historical part of the park which covered the making of canal boats and commerce in the area in the 19th century.
The left page is my itinerary. I didn't realize how extensive it was going to be, so if you look closely you'll see the layers of journal paper as I kept adding entries. As I did for the
cruise, I used stickers as bullet points for each day of the trip. One of my postcards came in handy for this page as well (I do like to augment my photos with postcards).
The right page is a fast to fabulous page with just plain green background (matching the left wallpaper) and 2 tan photo boxes. I think the Unigrid works well in a photo box space. The journal box was cut to fit between the photo and the page edge.
Inside the first visitor center were displays of how the canal boats were made and models of the area as it appeared when the boats were in service.
The left page is the reverse of the fast to fabulous page. This was just a beige page with some postage stamp cancellations. I matted the photo and other than journaling, I didn't add much to the page. The right page is wallpaper found to match the beige of the left. I liked the design at the top and thought it represented a ships wheel.
My next stop was at the historic railway in the park. I didn't take time to ride the train because I needed to get to my first hotel stop at a reasonable hour. I did tour the historic depot with manager's office display.
I am rather proud of myself for this page. I like the antique feel of
Graphic 45 papers, but they are so detailed they rather intimidate me. In 2017 I signed up for a year of classes at a local scrapbook store and we used a Graphic 45 kit to make a year of pages (one for each month). By learning how they worked with the papers, I struck out on my own for this layout.
I have a tablet of the "Come Away With Me" papers, now discontinued, and I used that for this layout. I used one of the map-looking papers as borders for the left and right edges. I cut train borders from one page and used the reverse side with blue, brown and pink papers to mat photos and the decorative die cuts. I found both the blue trunk and brown train on a separate page and added them in. A stamp with a train was also on the matching sticker sheet I owned. The brown border under the trains at the top is made with the Creative Memories
Scallop Burst Border Punch. I thought it looked a bit like train wheels. It's not nearly as detailed as my classes, but I'm quite happy with the result!