50 states part 14--New Jersey

Next stop--NewJersey! This is another state that I've been to many times, but one of my favorite weekends was taking part in the Lighthouse Challenge. You visit all the participating lighthouses and get commemorative swag and of course, a passport stamp. The last stop for me was Sandy Hook lighthouse which is part of Gateway NRA (a new park for me that day!).

I based this layout on a blog post from Creative Memories. I got to use up some letter stickers on the title at the bottom. One of my favorite elements is the use of the corner punch on the photo mats. It allows me to tuck the corners in for a vintage photo look. The elements are from the Great Escape embellishments and paper. Unfortunately, that line has already been retired. Lucky for me, I picked up the digital elements so I can cut more lighthouses on my Cricut whenever I want!

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.

50-states part 12--Minnesota

For my next state, I highlight a trip to the Health Professions Network conference. Frankly, they are the reason I've been to so many states. They have 2 meetings a year and they are always someplace new. The hotel I stayed at faced the Mayo Clinic and it was a highlight of my visit. I wanted to throw a National Park Unit in as well so I included my photo from the Mississippi NRRA visitor center. It's really me against a green screen, but trust me--the snow was appropriate, even though I visited in April!

I based this page on this Pinterest Layout. It's not your traditional state visit page but as I noted above, I really enjoyed seeing the Mayo Clinic. So I looked through my medical pages and came up with this. I replaced the journaling with the state cut out a bit, but also threw in some medical cuts from the Cricut machine.

50 States Album part 11--Massachusetts

The photos here are from my first trip to the NPTC convention in Lowell, MA. In addition to national parks, Jim and I went on a whale-watching cruise. It was the inaugural run of our first GPS unit as well-nicknamed Wall-E for the movie.

I based my layout on this page from Scrapbook.com that I saved to Pinterest. I found free cuts for the larger shells and fish along the bottom. The trickiest part was cutting the whelk shells--they are very intricate. I also got to use up some older CM shell stickers to help vary the size along the bottom.

The state outline was tricky because as I peeled it off the Cricut sheet it lost its form. I had to sort of trace the outline as I pasted it to the page. A layout like this gave me a chance to use a remnant paper since I wanted a blank space on the left to write the state name.

50 States Album Part 10--Maryland

I found it interesting that my best photos for Maryland came from 2 different anniversary trips. I guess living close to the state line, it made a foray down south feel like a getaway.

I modeled this page after the left page of this pin. I thought the use of an old English style font appropriate for the state name. I actually pieced together the state flag--it was sort of like putting a puzzle together. That, the crab and the state cut-out were all free Cricut cuts I found online. The base page of wood reminds me of OCMD even though none of the photos were from there.

50 States Part 9--Louisiana

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
My next completed state is Louisiana. Jim and I took a trip in January 2017 and while there I was able to reach my 100th National Park Unit! I carried signs with me for parks 99 and 100 and Jim dutifully took photos for me.

This layout is based on this idea. I used a Fast-to-Fabulous page from the Gallivant line as the base. That included the bottom two borders of pink and the compasses. I liked using the shape of the state for the "L" in the state name. All of the letters were cut from the Cricut as was the mask. I didn't size the mask right so it covers a bit of the state name, but I think viewers can figure it out. The little dots were supposed to be mardi gras bead necklaces but they were cut so small I had difficulty putting them together successfully. I decided to just sprinkle them across the page since I had run them through the Xyron sticker maker and they were already sticky.

50 States Album Part 8--Is this heaven? Nope, it's Iowa

I only chose 1 photo for Iowa. This was a trip I took for a conference in Dubuque. I made a side trip to Effigy Mounds. Although I didn't arrive early enough to get into the visitor center, I was able to hike the trails and see the mounds. They were less impressive than I thought they would be and actually didn't photograph well. Maybe it was that it was spring and there were still a lot of leaves on the ground.

I used this pin as inspiration. I found a better background with the barn wall and window and then used the Cricut to create a set of barnyard animals. To change up the journaling I used strips of white paper layered around the animals. There typically isn't a need for a lot of journaling on my state pages since they focus on place.