Obscure Monuments Tour part 4--The end of the Road

After clearing FDR we came back to our main purpose of obscure monuments. One of the smallest monuments in the area is the Japanese Pagoda monument. Given in 1957, it commemorates the treaty signed by the US and Japan in 1854. It is undoubtedly at home among the cherry blossoms in the spring. This particular monument gave me a great perspective of the Jefferson Memorial as well.

This layout is based on a CM sketch. I'm not really sure why I did this one. Usually, I only save the Virtual Crops or the Weekend Challenges for advisors but it doesn't seem to have been in either of those. Still, the layout worked as I wanted it to. I chose a lot of pink scraps to create the borders on the edges. That goes back to my Cherry Blossom theme. I could even pull in one of the decorative mats from the Eastern National scrapbook pack.

Continuing on around the Tidal Basin, we crossed a bridge with decorative troughs. Though it looks much older, it was installed in the late 1980s. The image is "Jack Fish" who was the Park Superintendent and was about to retire. The staff decided to immortalize him on the bridge. Our tour continued on and headed to the George Mason Memorial (skipping the Jefferson Memorial). George Mason was the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which served as an inspiration to Thomas Jefferson while drafting the Declaration of Independence, so it's appropriately placed. In addition to the collonade and his statue there is a lovely garden (well, lovely in the summer).

This layout is based on a CM Virtual Crop sketch. I rather liked this one as it was created all from one sheet of double-sided paper. I added some laser-cut borders to the bottom. All of this is from the Homestead collection from CM.

We had an option to follow the Ranger to one more stop--East Potomac Park. Having no other plans, I went along. It is a short walk from the Mason Memorial. It's a bit of a forgotten park and only has a few benches and a small bit of grass. This urn was given to us by Cuba (back when we were talking to them). The monument originally stood in Cuba to honor the American deaths aboard the USS Maine preceding the Spanish–American War in 1898. The Ranger told us that this monument had been located elsewhere on the Tidal Basin and was subsequently put into storage. It was rediscovered in the 1990s and placed in this park.

I used another CM Virtual Crop Sketch (October #3). There was a hint of fall color in the photos so I went back to the Hello Autumn. That was a good choice for another reason-I'd used it so much that I had a lot of scraps and this is one of those layouts that will use up your scraps! The border strip hides any slight inconsistencies in the lengths of the bottom row. 

Obscure Monuments Tour part 3--Men with 3 letters

 We needed to walk to the end of the FDR memorial for our next obscure monument and the ranger just couldn't resist doing a short presentation on both MLK and FDR (see? 3-letter men). I always learn or see something new. This time it was the signature of the artist on the MLK memorial. So even if you've taken a tour before, sometimes it's worth it to go again!

The left page is my own creation (it happens). I had pulled some of my "Patriotic" stash for the MLK page. I added a mat as a photo to keep the balance around the page. The tag "Liberty and Justice" was the basis for the layout. It's matted on red and then to make it the same size as the photo and journal on top it's matted on a remnant of the paper I used for the half-circle. The thin border at the bottom is the bar code strip for the background paper. I don't have a lot of paper from places other than CM but I do use some. It's nice when they give you that extra border to decorate the page. I added a ticket (I think it is supposed to be a tag when folded) and then found the 3 letters for the title (pretty sure the M was originally a W). I used a sketch from the August Scrap Your Stash Class on the right. It uses a border maker cartridge to decorate all 3 photos. This uses up some ancient CM paper.

The walk through FDR took a bit longer (it's 4 terms after all). The ranger talked a bit about the funeral procession and the relief panels depicting it along one of the walls. 

I am not sure what sketch I was following for this layout. It might be an older virtual crop sketch. In the beginning, those sketches didn't have much paper manipulation. So by using just 3 borders (beige at the top and bottom, yellow gingham, and border stickers at the top) there is a "frame" for the photos. Using photo corners in the angles between the photos helps draw the eye around the page. My favorite cluster is the bottom left--I fussy-cut a bunch of elements from one of the Eastern National scrapbook papers. The rest of the elements are from Art Nouveau and yes, the flowers really go well with stone and brass!

Obscure Monuments Tour part 2--Obscure or Hard to Reach?

 The ranger met us at the WWII memorial kiosk and our first stop was the John Paul Jones memorial. I've seen this statue many times so I'm not sure how obscure it is. However, crossing 17th street to get there was the tricky bit. We all arrived safely though and the ranger was able to tell us about his naval exploits (noting he was sometimes thought more of a pirate than a naval officer).

This layout is based on a sketch from my October class. I had remnants of the star paper which served as the borders. I chose 2 other papers for a naval feel, even though they don't really have a Revolutionary War feel to the papers. The left side is a page I bought for our visit to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The right side is a blue-toned camouflage. I was a little afraid that all the patterns would clash but after questioning it on the Facebook page, everyone assured me it worked so I left it. I added a couple of embellishments from the Deep Blue Sea pack as well for the title and journal card. The anchor is a VERY old CM die cut.

We walked along Independence Avenue and came to the monument recognizing the first delivery of the Japanese Cherry trees that make the tidal basin so famous. The lantern was recently moved to this location so that it would be less obscure (sort of ironic). This area has the original trees (or at least the ones that didn't die). They are a slightly different species than the ones along the tidal basin.

I had purchased a kit from Club Scrap with an oriental/Cherry Blossom theme to it. I chose one of the pages from that kit for the photos. Even though it's fall and the trees are not blooming, I wanted to highlight that the story is about Cherry Trees. My photos matched the layout well and I only needed to add a few more flowers to the small top boxes to complete the page.

Obscure Monuments Tour part 1--Mall Time Again

 In November 2016 I made a trip down to DC again. I traveled after my Saturday morning Zumba class (which is why I look frazzled in the photo). Since there is a meetup planned for Sunday morning I thought I would stay overnight, and if I was going to do that well then maybe I should visit some DC sites on Saturday. I found a Ranger Talk for Saturday afternoon focused on "Obscure Monuments". I thought that would be an excellent way to see something new and I signed up for it. After getting off the metro I took a moment to post a quick selfie on Facebook with the Washington Monument in the background.

This layout is based on one of my October class sketches. I used the Hello Autumn papers mostly because I was there in the fall. I added 2 embellishments from the Eastern National scrapbook packs. The Greetings tag is from the DC pack and the Monument sticker is from their regular pack. Perfect accompaniments to the page. Also detailed enough that I didn't need to layer additional stickers or embellishments with them.

I made my usual stop at the World War II memorial. There were a couple of re-enactors but I didn't get a chance to talk to them at all. I did see the plaque to Bob Dole for the first time so I snapped a photo of it.

The left page of the layout is a simple wallpaper technique. The paper is from Scrapbook Customs and I just had to throw a couple of photos on it to introduce the memorial. The right page is another sketch from my October class. The red and yellow border on the right was leftover from a page I had made about Russian Migs. The re-enactors spurred my design--I wanted the red/browns to match their uniforms. The red photo mat is a scrap from a very old patriotic 8 1/2 x 11 pad. I tied the 2 together with the blue star paper from the Americana pack (I think I've used that on EVERY layout featuring WWII due to the fountain). My sticker clusters were from a Revolutionary War pack (the eagle and "Proud") and from a military pack.

While at the monument I focused on the fountain. Luckily it was November and no one was swimming in it (which people do even though there is a sign asking people to refrain). I had some fun getting photos of the water including the reflecting pool with the Lincoln Monument.

This layout was made for one of the pajama party events from Creative Life Scrapbooking. The triangles across the top should be straighter and had I drawn a line across the page in pencil it might not slope up. Still, the angle is fairly slight. The papers were all from blue-toned paper packs to reflect the water scenes. The embellishments were from "Picture This" which not only matches the blue theme, it captures the spirit that I was playing with photography. 

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.