Summer Road Trip part 10--The Big Man (in more ways than one)

I am going to skip a significant chunk of pages here. Between the Blue Ridge Parkway and today's William Howard Taft National Historic Site entry, I made 2 significant stops. First, I stopped at the Beckley Mine in West Virginia. There were many pages on the mine and the mining village and a lot of reminiscing as it is very similar to the area where I grew up. But the NPS link is small- part of a heritage trail- so to keep progressing through my pages, I'll pass for now. If I get caught up and need more, I can always add it later. Next, my journey took me to Louisville for a Health Professions Network conference. While we did a lot of touring, none of it was related to the NPS. So nearly a week later, we pick up with my journey home.

After leaving Louisville I headed north to Ohio and visited the Taft site. As I said in the title--he was a big man. Not only in size but in accomplishments. He is the only man to hold both the presidency and supreme court justice roles. The house tour was quite interesting and full of a lot of artifacts from his various roles. I was impressed that he also spent time in the Philippines as I did. The chair below is from his visit there.

I did take many more photos than these. However, I was getting to the end of the album and worried I wouldn't have enough room for everything. I chose just a few objects and the seals from the entry (well 3 of the 6 that he had) and decided on just one double-page layout. When I put all the photos together I realized how fancy they seemed. I had earned a free pack of blue and gold papers with some beautiful foiled detail and I wanted to use them for this layout. I made this as part of my February 2022 Scrap Your Stash class with Noreen Smith. The sketch called for six small photos --3 on each page I had originally considered using all 6 emblems but decided to substitute the 3 on the left for the unigrid. By using papers from one pack, they coordinate easily so mixing 4 patterns was simple. Just choose different sizes of patterns (tonal for underneath and the 2nd strip, small print for the top, and larger print as the 3rd strip). The journal box and title sticker are also from that collection and felt "presidential" to me.

Summer Road Trip part 9--The Mill part of Mabry's Mill

The village at Mabry's mill contains a variety of structures. It reminded me a lot of the cluster of cabins at the Great Smoky Mountains. The mill can still function though it was not running at the time of my visit. I was impressed with the variety of machinery the water could power. When I think of a mill I generally think of grinding corn or wheat. However, this was also used to saw and inside is an impressive array of tools and jigs.

This layout is based on a sketch that I cannot find to show you. But you'll see that it's a fairly simple design. Since I had so many photos in a horizontal layout and could trim the rest to 4x4, I could run 2 layered borders through the middle. The layers include an older piece of textured fabric at the back, a middle strip of Reminisce paper, and a border maker cartridge of gears. Given the details of the photos, that was the easiest part to choose.

Another collection of historic structures included a sorghum mill (which was used to get something sweet because refined sugar was less available). I also found some wagons and plows "casually" spread around the clearing. 

This layout was made for my November class. The papers used were not CM. The white print in the middle is actually from the same tablet as the prints used in my comfort food layout last week. But the orange and green tones helped convey the rustic feel I was looking for. The embellishments were from the Homestead pack. One trick I used on this page is to take a slightly larger embellishment like a tree or large collection of leaves and cut it into multiple smaller sections. then you can use those to layer around your objects.

The last layout is of the Blacksmith Shop. There was a reenactor on duty but the forge had not been fired. Still, you can see the wide variety of items that a blacksmith had to be able to make.

I once again turned to the Homestead pack for this layout. There are scraps of a few other heritage packs as well. The sketch I based this layout on is from the CM Virtual Crop posted for a Black Friday Challenge. It wasn't posted on the blog, just on the Facebook group. The sketch has a variety of 12" strips of paper to make the background and then some borders to highlight the photos. I chose a laser-cut border for the middle and then added 2 of the barbed-wire border maker cartridge strips in black cardstock. It gave a nice contrast to the lighter papers. The title came from a mat card in the pack. (It's also my favorite TV Show!)

Summer Road Trip part 8--Why is the Ridge so Blue? (POST #300!)

 That's right! This is my 300th blog post! I thank all of you for joining me in my weekly look at my travels.

After leaving Guilford Courthouse I started heading north/northwest. My next stop took me to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I won't have time to see all of it, but I wanted to do more than accidentally drive along some of it on the way to the Great Smokies! (That story didn't make it into the blog, but we did have an interesting ride in the dark!) I got to see Mabry's Mill village and the Music Center. Somehow I didn't take photos of the Music Center so all I have is the entry sign.

The right page may look familiar to you. It was designed as part of my Guest Designer role from Lasting Memories last summer. You can review that post here. As I started putting pages in the album, I needed the left page for the unigrid and the park signs. I based that layout on a Club Scrap post featuring their National Parks pages. I had some of their paper left so I was able to recreate it fairly closely.

While at Mabry's Mill, I stopped for lunch. I had a "comfort food" meal of meatloaf and mashed potatoes (I even took a photo). I capped it off with a blackberry cobbler (blackberries are my FAVORITE fruit). Honestly, I forgot to photograph my dessert so I pulled a photo of the internet to complete my layout!

I made this layout during my Summer MotherLOAD class. The prompt of the day was Chocolate or Strawberry. I chose "berry" as a more generic term but did include a lot of pinks on the page. I broke out a tablet of cooking-themed papers that I had bought at a scrapbook yard sale. I bought it because my niece had just been accepted to a culinary program at the Vo-Tech school. The pad has some paper that is just colored prints so I was able to mix and match them. The design of the layout was based on a CM sketch from April 2018 that I had saved.

I had time to tour the village. This historic home charmed me. You'll see more of the village next week, but for now, check out the antique checkers set using corn cobs and cut branches! Nostalgic, but do I really want to go back and live in primitive conditions? Probably not!

This layout is based on one of my Scrap Your Stash monthly sketches from September 2021. I used the Home stead collection from Creative Memories. It had a nice shabby chic look to it that went well with this homestead. The bottom border is one of the laser die-cut borders. I love the intricate detail they add to a page!

Summer Road Trip part 7--There's also no Courthouse

 Although the site is named for a real courthouse, there isn't one standing. There WAS a courthouse many years ago, and as you complete the loop around the park you can see an area where it might have stood (they really aren't sure!). But there is not one here currently. I'll be interested to return if they discover the location and recreate it.

This layout was made to enter the Black Friday challenge that Creative Memories held. I used a new pack of papers called Picture Perfect Travels. I also was able to use up a VERY old rick rack border on the bottom. The top border is a Border Maker Cartridge punch.

What is interesting about the monuments you see here, is the way oral histories vary from later historical research. The obelisk below was placed based on where people said the division was situated prior to the battle. Later research indicates that this area was occupied by the British, not the Americans and should be several hundred yards further away!

This layout is another in my November class sketches. I believe the paper is again from Picture Perfect Travels. The journal box is from an older reminisce line that I fussy cut. The rockets are a punch from last year. I like the dark look of them to match the paper. The title is a die-cut from Creative Memories. I felt like it had to be aligned against the corner because the white lettering on top would fade out on the page. I have since realized that I could have colored that with markers so that it was legible.

We come to the last set of monuments. The left page is Nathaniel Greene and is the iconic emblem of this park. The statue is also the main photo of the sticker that goes in the passport book. I enjoyed all the quotes about him around the statue. The other statue is a signer of the Declaration of Independence for North Carolina. They also moved the remains of 2 of the signers to this park, though I don't think the statue is the gravestone for them.

This is a layout I made for a Creative Life Scrapping Pajama Party. I used some brick paper because of the walkway and then some other stone-colored scraps to create the borders. The decoration in the middle uses a new pen that Creative Memories produced. It's called white chalk. When you initially draw with it, you don't see anything. As it dries you will see it become white and chalky. It's better for decoration rather than journaling though. I used a template to trace the designs in the corners. 

Summer Road Trip Part 6--We Lost?!?

 The break between the 2 albums for this trip was sort of the dividing line between the 2 halves of my trip. The first album would have been the same no matter the year--a trip through Richmond, the beach, etc. But the second half was additional traveling so I could get to a work conference in Louisville and then home. That took another week and a half and added some new parks to my checklist.

I wanted to make another kick-off page similar to the first album. I used another Fast-to-Fabulous page from the same line (Adventure, I think), and then made a signpost along the left side. A few luggage pieces and a luggage tag for part of the title, and it was done!

After leaving the beach, I drove west and headed for Guilford Courthouse--a new park for me. When I arrived I had a chance to stop at the visitor center and watch the movie. I had not done any homework on this park so I was awfully confused because it looked to me like we were commemorating a battle that we lost. And we did, but the implications were that we were dragging out the conflict with Britain and this and other skirmishes helped weaken the British as we manipulated them toward the ultimate surrender at Yorktown.

I worked on this layout at my yearly scrapbook weekend retreat. I always provide ideas for the participants in case they get stuck looking for inspiration. I had provided instructions for the border at the right. To make it, you lay out the 4 components and then chop them into 1" strips. Then you arrange them diagonally on another strip to get the woven look. I simply layered that on some green and black star paper. Matting most of the photos allowed them to stand out a bit on the printed background.

After watching the movie, I followed the loop around the park to see the battlefield and the monuments. There are a few silhouettes of soldiers near the visitor center (above right page). I liked the monument below as it was dedicated to a woman (a mother). The white statue reminds me of one of the tents soldiers would use.

This sketch was from my November class bundle from Noreen Smith. I used some fall-themed papers including a very old border strip along the right-hand side. I think that strip was a Croptoberfest pack from around 2010. I love how simple her directions are but it creates pages with lots of interest! You can explore her products at Organizedandcreativemom.com.

Summer Road Trip Part 5--More of Moore's Creek

The rest of my day at Moore's Creek included more "manly" pursuits. First I got to watch the blacksmith and his apprentice working at a forge. Everything had a Scottish flair to it from their kilts to the sgian dubh (pronounced Skee-n, Doo). The latter is a small knife tucked into the sock. You can see it below with the red fringe hanging over the sock.

I made this layout as part of the Creative Life Scrapbooking July 21 pajama party. I was using plaid paper from a Christmas stash but it certainly worked with the tartan theme of the reenactors well. I don't know why my borders are facing different directions on the 2 pages. I think that might have been a late-night gaff. The purple flowers are from a VERY old CM border kit. I think it was a gift for National Scrapbook Day in the early 2000s. I thought that they resembled the thistle (Scotland's national flower") and I liked the accent they gave to the page.

There were plenty of explosions as they did musket firing and cannon firing demonstrations. They take quite a while to describe the steps and perform them for us. I'm sure in a real fight the process goes MUCH faster. But I like the pageantry of the demonstrations. The reenactors love their roles and it shows.

I made the right-hand page during my July MotherLOAD class. We were given the word "Freedom" as inspiration for our page. I thought about it a while and decided that "Sounds of Freedom" (which I hear more frequently as it relates to modern warfare) was an apt title for the page. I cut the title on the Cricut and decorated the page simply with white stars. The punch creates 2 at a time--the frame and the smaller inside stars. To counteract the red background I used some older CM designer stickers. The sheets come in sets of blue (strips, squares, etc.). As I completed the album I realized that there were additional gun photos to include so I created the left side as a companion piece. I thought the blue background with fireworks was appropriate to the topic. I had red stickers similar to the blue ones and that balanced the 2 pages. I used the same punch to position the stars similar to the red page. I even had room for journaling!

One of the last events of my day was to listen to the piper play. He gave us some traditional songs as well as music from Outlander (based on one of my favorite novels). I'm glad I got to go to the living history. It's a great way to expand your ideas of the park as well as life in the 18th century. This was the last page of my album for the first half of the trip. Next stop--Guilford Courthouse!

This page is from the CM Virtual crop in July 2021. You can see the sketch here. I continued to use up the plaid paper from the Christmas pack. I incorporated more red here since there was a bit of red in the photos. I didn't want it to look Christmas-y so I added the black and white and not much green. I thought that the flower with musical notes on it worked well. It's a little more pink than red, but I kept it. 

Summer Road Trip Part 4--Moore's Creek

Near the end of the first week, I took some time to return to Moore's Creek National Battlefield. They were having a special event, a Living History Weekend, and I wanted to see what they had planned. I parked near the visitor center and walked the first part of the battlefield trail to get to the encampment. 

The left photo was created for the Summer MotherLOAD class. The daily prompt asked if we were "city" or "country". I chose "Country" and used that prompt to spur this page of the fields entering the walking trail. The papers came from Spring Medley. I was working in a hotel room on layouts for the last week of August so my options were a bit limited. I believe I took this collection because the tones matched some of the seaside papers I had also pulled. Just goes to show you, don't pick the collection because of the name, use the papers to guide the layout! (Well, so long as they match the photos).

The right page was one of the August Classes also from Noreen Smith. I liked that I could use some non-CM scraps for this page. the background is supposed to be mint, I think. But it gives a nice "green" base for the rest of the page. The orange is a remnant of a Club Scrap paper. The pattern is supposed to be "wheat" but I think that the rest of the garden works well with that as the focus. The border on the right is from a farm pack of stickers. There are a few random vegetable stickers that I think are from the CM "Locally Grown" pack.

The next layout may look familiar to you. I created it last summer when I was a guest designer for the Lasting Memories blog. My blog entry can be reviewed here.

Between the Guest Designer work and the Summer MotherLOAD challenges, I was doing a lot of my pages out of order. That's not how I typically work so it was interesting to try to fit all the bits and pieces together when I was ready to complete the album.

In addition to the games and entertainment on display, there was a lot of information on foods and cooking in the 18th century. Some of that I know from watching A Taste of History on PBS, but it was nice to see it all up close. I didn't eat any of the food, but the re-enactors did eat their lunch from the stew being made over the fire pit.

This layout was from one of the Creative Life pajama parties. The concept was to make the tiered squares, cut them in half, and layer with a border. Since there was dining, I chose a new punch with plates and silverware. The papers are from the very old Earthy palette. I think they matched the tone of the period well. The clusters of diamonds were cut from one of the papers. The half-circle was a large sticker that filled the empty space nicely.