50 States Album-Part 4: Colorado

Jim and I have been to Colorado a few times. Our most recent trip was summer 2017 when we flew in and out of Denver for our Great Western Loop. Before flying home we went to visit my aunt and uncle who live near Florissant and so, of course, stopped at the NPS Unit there (Florissant Fossil Beds).

I used the left side of this layout as the basis for the page. Instead of buying the kit, I made or had all the components. The title is reminiscent of the Colorado flag and I did have to hand-cut the red circle for the "C". The rest of the large letters I actually had from an old CM pack. I used the same red and yellow for photo and journal mats to bring the page together.
The trees at the bottom were all die-cuts that I had, including the group of 4 that forms the back of the lake. I am not sure why I have a border that is less than 12" but it worked out in this setting. I chalked the outline of each to show on the dark blue background. I hand cut the lake and added a moose sticker I had on hand to complete the page.

50-states album part 3--California

My next entry in the 50-states album is California. Both photos came from the 2014 trip recently posted. Stops included Long Beach, Los Angeles and the Santa Monica Mountains.

This layout was scraplifted from this design. To keep the weight of the page down, I used 1" strips of red cardstock along the edges of the page and then cut the blue dot background paper down to fit the opening. The state shape was created in the same way the Arizona state was, only this time I used a dark tan over a light tan paper. The filmstrip was created using the CM Border Maker cartridge and the state name was cut on the Cricut. The one lonely sticker is a leftover CM Cottage sticker from many years ago. I liked it better than a die-cut though.

50-states album part 2--Arizona

My next state to highlight is Arizona. I only chose 1 photo for this page, at least for now. I may decide to add one more photo to the bottom left corner.

This layout was scraplifted from this one. For this state, I cut the outline in black and then mounted it on a backing paper in a sunburst orange. The title was cut with the same paper as the bottom border and the blue dots and other decorative stripes are (to me) reminiscent of Native American designs. The snake and cactus provide a nice balance to the bottom page. I may add another photo in the bottom left corner someday, but I at least can say it is done at this point.

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.