Lodge Front and Back

I made it to my hotel--the Lake Quinault Lodge. It's a historic hotel right on the edge of the National Park boundaries. This is the front of the lodge and the photo below is behind the lodge. I was most impressed with the redwoods near the entrance.

I based this layout on a sketch in the October CM Virtual Crop. I used paper from the Explore pack including some small paper borders from a cut-apart sheet. I liked the woodgrain background because of the tree photos.

In the morning I was up early and was able to go down to the lakeside behind the lodge and grab a few photos. The birds were cooperating with me and I got a few choice shots.

This is sketch #3 from the same CM Virtual Crop. There are a variety of paper and sticker packs here. I group my supplies by theme so I could just browse through my "nature and camping" folder for pieces that would work.  I used a lot of blue tones for the lake feel. The rounded piece is a circle that I cut punched around the edges. I used the Cloud border maker punch without the straight guide. I just free-punched all around the edge. By turning the punch upside-down I was able to match up the edges for a smooth look. 

Water Water Everywhere

 After leaving Hurricane Ridge, I started driving around the park heading to my hotel for the evening. I stopped at 2 additional locations. Though neither of the stamping centers were open, I was able to see more of the diverse landscape of this unusual park. On the left is Crescent lake and on the right is the beach near Kalaloch. Both were along route 101 as I was driving and well worth the stop.

This layout is really 2 individual pages and yet they are connected by colors. I started with the left page and chose the elements based on a challenge in one of my yearly scrapbooking classes. We were given a chart and had to choose 2 different papers (one from each of 2 lists), a technique to incorporate, an add-on, and a word style. I chose: Paper 1: overall washed/textured look (this is the background blue), Paper 2:cardstock (for the mats), 3) technique: fussy cut (I fussy cut the wavy border along the bottom); 4) add-on: journal card; and 5)word style: Die cut words (the "perfect spot" and "spectacular view are from Paper Loft word sheets). Many times when I see those lists it is daunting to find things that relate but this one came together fairly quickly.

I then chose similar tones to have the beach photos match (same family for the background paper, same cardstock mats and same word die cuts). What you probably didn't even notice is that both papers were from a time when Creative Memories had pages that were slightly under 12x12 (for whatever reason they were 12" x 11.5"). They made "perfect fit paper" (of which these papers are examples) but it is sometimes hard to use them on our newer true 12" pages. So I cut strips from the same paper family and filled in the "gutters" along the outer edges. If you look closely you might see where they fit.

Exciting News!

 A small break from my usual posts to let you know that I've been chosen to be a guest designer for the Lasting Memories Scrapbook layout blog. During the month of July, there will be extra pages posted to this blog as I participate in their challenges. You can follow my progress here or on their blog. I hope I can complete all the challenges with the National Park pages but you may have to excuse something a little more personal during that time. This is my first time being a Guest Designer and I hope it all goes well! I was chosen based on my submission of this layout back in April.

A Hurricane in the Mountains?

My next stop in Olympic National Park was to drive to Hurricane Ridge. I'm not sure why it's such an accomplishment to drive up--I can think of 2 or 3 worse drives I've done in national parks. But since they had a certificate, I was willing to buy it! The ridge provides a magnificent view of the mountains and is definitely worth a visit.

The layout is broken up a little by including the certificate, but the left page that you see above and the right page that is below are from a sketch from my 2019 Scrap Your Stash class. For that reason, I cannot show the sketch but you can see how I used more of the Adventure paper pack to stretch across the layout. I used patterned paper as a background. Choosing a small print works similarly to cardstock or base pages but with less weight than cardstock.

The view was quite amazing and the air quality was pretty good so I could see many of the peaks described on the infographic signs along the patio.

Using the 8 1/2 x 11 certificate holder gave me a little more real estate for photos. I matted 2 more scenic views on matching scrap paper and added a border sticker. One crop that I went to had a table full of scrapbook supplies someone donated and I found a sheet of stickers specifically for Olympic National Park! I held onto them until I made these pages. The large mountain border is from that sheet and was the perfect addition to the layout.

And yet, even with the 2 extra spots on the back, I still had MORE scenic photos! These didn't exactly match for me to create a panorama but on the other hand--they went well enough next to each other to try.

My other favorite way of adding photos is to use the CM Peekaboo pockets. And that's what you see above. By attaching it to the page, I can get 2 more photos to "Flip" open. And it really did help with the panorama look I was going for.

The Beaumont Cabin

 Just behind the visitor center is a historic cabin. While you cannot go inside, you can get a peek in the windows. I was able to get a few shots of the interior through the glass. Some shots were too blurry or had reflections of the windows but you can see quite a bit here.

For this layout, I used a pre-made set of pages from a class I took with Paper Loft. I had mounted the mats for the photos but with a little effort, I got everything to fit the way I wanted it to. My favorite trick (and one I've used a couple of times since) is to cut a 6x4 photo in half. The 2 small photos on the left with the history of the cabin and the image of the occupant were all one photo. By cutting it I feel I got a bit more emphasis on each piece. I think I originally imagined I would use this page for a personal camping trip. I was happy to see that it had more uses though! I know I've had the layout in my stash for several years!

The Old Tree

Continuing with my visit to the Port Angeles Visitor center, I was taken with a cross-section of a very large, very old tree. It was my first taste of how massive trees get in this area. You can see the full shot on the left page and then close-ups of the various arrows indicating historical events such as Columbus' landing in America.

For these photos, I turned to the June 2020 1-2-3 sketch from Noreen Smith (Organized and Creative Mom). I used more of the Adventure pack. Again, with all the brown in the photos, I wanted some green as the base color. The park sign on the top left is fussy-cut from the Eastern National 8 1/2 x 11 papers. I'm not sure where the tree journaling box came from (though I suspect Paper Loft). A handful of stickers finalized the page. The log stickers on the left fill up a gap where I had cut the photo before deciding on the layout. I've sort of stopped cutting photos until I decide on what sketch I'm following. Sometimes I'll leave a photo larger even though I had planned to cut it down.

Not THOSE Olympics!

 It's time to hear about my trip to the Olympic Peninsula in October of 2015. I had been to Seattle for an HPN conference and then drove my way around this MASSIVE park. I started with the main visitor center in Port Angeles and this week (and next week) will focus on sights here. Olympic encompasses a variety of zones from seacoast to rain forest to high mountains. I got a taste of it all but I definitely need a return trip. I think I could easily spend a couple of weeks here!

The impetus for this layout was a Summer Camp scrap class I was taking in August 2020. The topic was to use "Negative Space" meaning use the absence of paper to frame photos. Though unusual, it was a nice way to use up a scrap of paper with a big hole in it! The paper is part of a Creative Memories nature line (I think Adventure) and the green was a nice background for the brown of the "cabin". A variety of stickers helped anchor the elements to the page. Notice, it's just one photo! But the unigrid and the postcard fill in for other main elements.