Second Time at First State

 My friend Robbie planned a meetup in October at the First State National Historical Park. I had just been there in April, but it's always great to get together with friends so I planned to join them. For this trip, it was just a tour of the New Castle Courthouse. A few others went on to Dickinson Plantation and even into Baltimore after the meetup but I went back to Lancaster.

I made this layout as part of the CM Virtual Crop in October 2021. I used this sketch. The paper is from 2 similar packs: Festive Fourth and Star-Spangled. Generally, they bring out a patriotic collection each summer. And they do one for Canada as well so everyone gets represented! I was able to modify the sketch to add more photos as well as include the unigrid at the top.

Our group gathered outside and once we were all together we were greeted by our docent and taken in for the tour. Nothing had changed about the tour in the 6 months since I'd been there but since I knew what was going to be presented I was ready for photos.

This layout was based on one of the Creative Life pajama party layouts. I messed up cutting my papers though. The left page should have the lighter triangle on the top left but somehow mine didn't work out that way. Regardless, the triangles across the bottom look symmetrical so not too distracting. I used a new product on this one--the journaling under the top photo is with a Chalking Pen that CM sent us in a mystery box. It was the same item I used on the Guilford Courthouse embellishments. It does not work as well for journaling because the tip is so thick.

The visit went well and we all gathered on the staircase for a group photo. I still had the club banners so I brought one with me for this particular photo. You can see there were about 15 of us. That can get crowded as you move through the small rooms but we managed. I didn't include the photos of our lunch but it is often the case that after a meetup, there is a gathering for lunch or dinner. We went down the street to a tavern with a historic feel to it. You should have seen the size of my meatloaf dinner!

This was another layout from the pajama party. You can see that we were encouraged to use the decorative trimmer--and both the wave and swell sides! I used up some older Cottage Palette papers. I added more embellishments to this layout than any of the others. I wanted to fill that bottom on the left so I picked a laser-cut border. A few other random tags and swirls helped fill the empty spaces.

Summer Road Trip part 11--Festifall

 My last stop on my way home was a visit to Friendship Hill--the home of Albert Gallatin who was Secretary of the Treasury under Jefferson and Madison. He authorized the expenditures for the Louisiana Purchase and the funding for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His home is in southwest PA and a bit off the highway. But there is a lot of ground space and the tents hosted a wide variety of trades, craftspeople, and food. As I had been here previously I didn't do too much touring in the mansion.

This layout is probably based on a sketch though I can't find which one I used. (On the other hand, maybe I got creative!) The visit was in September and the title of the event had "Fall" in it so I chose fall-themed papers. These are from the Hello Autumn collection. The journal box is Old CM but the orange sort of matched. It's really the only decoration on the page but I think that it's enough.

The array of stands was impressive. There were people spinning, tatting (making lace), weaving, and of course a blacksmith's forge. I liked just observing them but the portrayers would answer any questions on their tasks.

This layout is one that I made at a scrapbook store in Hershey several years ago. I find that as I get to the end of an album, I'm aching to get it finished quickly so I pull out more of my pre-made pages or use a wallpaper technique. When I made the layout I had no plans for how to use it. These photos were colorful enough to stand up to the dots and stripes and the paper colors were muted enough to fit the fall theme. Again, no additional stickers but there is a lot of print on the pages so it's not really missing.

The rear of the property overlooks the Monongahela River. I would love to be able to just sit in that pavilion and watch the water flow by. The house did a decent job of quieting the noise of the festival though there were some firing demonstrations back there. On the right page, you see a fife and drum corps from a nearby college. They played lots of period tunes (revolutionary war style).

So the secret of this layout is that the left page didn't originally go there. I had made that as part of my July class. Our prompt for the day was a photo and it had included some water and trees just like the left photo so that was my inspiration. The background is wallpaper--that is an older piece of CM and the design was pre-printed. I added the title on a large tag sticker and a smaller blue circle but not much else. I used the lines on the paper for journaling directly on the page. And then I put it away in a box to be brought out later. 

My original layout was 2 pages of the fife and drum corps and that used a Croptoberfest layout from a couple of years ago. (You can tell that because I did not use the photo mats as intended--I just used them as pretty paper behind a variety of photos.) I had completed the album when I came across the Monongahela page in my stash. I toyed with having it be inside the back cover of the album but there was no way to put a page protector on it. Eventually, I sacrificed the left page of the fife and drum corps, and looking back, I think I made the right decision.

The last page highlights a banker. This is a vendor I've not seen before at any historic event. What I found unique about this tent was that he did not start when everyone else did. Apparently "bankers hours" was a concept from long ago! I stayed long enough for him to arrive but I did leave shortly after as I had several more hours of driving ahead of me before getting home (and by the time I got home I had driven several thousand miles!) 

As I said, I was getting close to finishing the album so I pulled pre-made pages. This one had been sitting in my stash for a while. I think I picked it up at a scrapbook yard sale. While I could have chosen a bank theme, I decided to keep the Fall pages going right to the end. It is all wallpaper. The leaves are printed on it. The only real embellishment is the title which is a diecut title. I matted the photos a bit and the page (and the album) was done!

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.