All-American (The 50-states album part 1)

I'm going to side-track a little as I prepare more national park pages. In addition to visiting all the national park units, I want to visit all 50 states (which, if I get to all the parks, I will have done!) To highlight that goal, I'm creating a 50-states album. Each state gets one 12x12 page and I plan on putting 1-3 photos of me in the state (in front of something that represents the state--that's my hardest challenge so far). While most of these pages will have a national park in the photos, not all will. So it's a little off-topic (including today's post). But it will make more sense if you can see all the states!

OK, my first page done (with photos of me) is Alaska. If you see a state out of alphabetical order, I've either not visited or didn't get photos of myself that will demonstrate my visit. These photos were taken on our Inside Passage cruise in July 2014.

The theme for this page was taken from this Pinterest layout. I found multiple free files to cut the state outline on the Cricut and then added just a couple of stickers for "theme" purposes. The bear and totem pole captured that trip perfectly. I do love the font I used for the state name, though each line had to be applied separately (detail work never being my strong suit). The plaid background was a good choice to set off the paper strip and the photos.

Showing Some Love

For my summer Scrap Camp, we were given a sketch and a prompt to scrapbook about a place we love. It didn't have to be a specific place,  but something that we loved to do. I chose, of course, to make a layout about being in the National Parks with my club friends. I chose the 6 photos to pair in 3 categories: Stamping (top 2), In the park (middle left and bottom right), and with NPTC friends (Bottom left and middle right).

I can't post the sketch because of the camp rules, but you can see the line in the middle where the pictures meet. I doubled the sketch and mirrored left and right pages for this layout. The background paper is from an Americana pack and the other paper is just cardstock. I happened to have a basic NPS unigrid on hand and it worked perfectly with the layout. The arrowhead, passport and ranger badge stickers are all from Eastern National's scrapbook kit. The little animals came from a different sticker pack but I think they fit the theme.

Taking the Tour

My next trip was in October 2014. On my way home from an all-day surgical technology conference, I stopped for a few stamps at Manassas National Battlefield. It was getting close to the end of the day so I had a choice of seeing the Stone House or watching the movie. Well, of course, I had to take the tour!

This layout is another sketch challenge from Creative Memories. As you can see, the sketch really focused on vertical photos and I only had 1 for this layout. In fact, the photos I worked on during the entire virtual crop were almost all horizontal. So instead of focusing on the photo arrangement, I focused on the page elements. There were several complimentary strips of paper crossing the pages and a couple of areas for embellishments.  I chose the Timeworn paper for the edging of brick on one page and cut both copies of the sheet at the same time to prevent un-even edges. The rest of the strips were scraps from a previous layout and worked with the tones of the page.

The left page embellishment was made by Creative Memories. I just had to put adhesive on--the components were already layered. I stacked the stickers on the right, though I think I did a pretty good job.

Ghost of the Paramount Ranch

My trip through the Santa Monica Mountains included a stop at the Paramount Ranch. Many western movies have been filmed here, so if it looks familiar you may have been there through film. Sadly, between the time of my visit and today's post, the area was engulfed in one of the California wildfires and most buildings were destroyed.

When I arranged my photos, I wanted to keep them all but they would take up most of the page. So I chose background paper that would not "mind" being covered up. The left page looks a bit like leather but has no other pattern. The right page was mostly dark with just a boot and some hay--and that's what's revealed in the arrangement.

Of course the other way to get a lot of photos on the page is to use Peekaboo pockets! I do like the bottom 3 because it makes me feel like I'm on the street again.

The visitor center is WHERE?

I continued my visit in the Santa Monica mountains with a trip to the Satwiwa visitor center. I was a little daunted when I found out the parking area was a bit of a hike from the building. The rattlesnake sign did not encourage me. Still, I made the walk easily and spent some time at the site watching the movie and seeing some of the arts and crafts classes for kids.

The left page of this layout is from the CM Virtual Crop. I used the Explorer and Travel Log packs to create the layout. Since I had a second page, I used the scraps from the left to make long mats on the right. The left border is a sticker. The journal box is a bit of white ruled paper that I enhanced with some stickers.

Here's your sign, Hollywood

Another group of stops we made was to visitor centers in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains. Those photos are on the right but I made them part of a double-page layout so you also get to see the Hollywood sign. It was a real challenge to find a spot to take my photo (bottom) so I added a postcard of the sign for good measure.

This layout is another challenge from the CM virtual crop. You can see the sketch on this page. I used paper from the Travel Log pack (paper, stickers, and mats). It makes it so easy to coordinate the items as the kits have a mix of matching tones.  Once I choose the elements, the page comes together fairly quickly.

Mission: San Gabriel

My next trip after Pipestone was actually our 2014 NPTC convention cruise. That album has been shared, so if you want to look chronologically, go to this post.

In September 2014 I went to an HPN conference in Long Beach, CA. After the conference, I traveled a little north to the Los Angeles area. I met up with a club friend who lives nearby and we made several drives around town to get stamps. One of the stops we made was to Mission San Gabriel--part of the Juan Bautista de Anza trail. It's a lovely church and still in use (as we tried to not disturb the baptism going on there).

The left page of this layout was created for the Creative Memories Virtual Crop. You can see the sketch here. The paper is from a new line called Memoirs and Memories. The sun in the center is cut from the center of one of the matching mat packs. The right page uses a mish-mash of older items. The paper is 10x12, so by stacking the photos on the left I hide the fact that it doesn't reach the edge of the page. The border on the right is from the older Archiver's line. The mat is from a Vintage pack from several years ago. I added the title of "Timeless" to the top. It's light in color so still not very prominent. The journal box is from a Club Scrap pack. When I originally cut it my blade was dull and so the edges are pretty rough. On the other hand, they look really rustic and I think that matches the page!