A Poet's House

My next stop in Dayton is the Dunbar House. This house is run by the NPS but has nothing to do with the Wright Brothers or aviation (well, he did go to school with Orville and Wilbur but that's as close as it comes). He is known as one of the first African-American poets and is highly regarded for his ability to understand the lived experience of African-Americans and express them in prose. The tour starts in the visitor center but quickly traverses the distance to the house next door. One of the most striking features of the house is the use of wallpaper EVERYWHERE--even on the ceilings. 

This layout is based on a 1-2-3 sketch from Noreen Smith. I taught the class where we put a bunch of these together. Let me know if you want to join us for the next one! The background is just Spargo CM pages. The paper is a sheet from the Literary Romance pack--appropriate since he's a poet, right? I thought the floral side matched the wallpaper of the parlor and the wood side gave it an "anchor" for the pages. The stickers are from a pack I bought years ago at a Current outlet center. Not sure Current even sells scrapbook items any longer but these definitely worked with the era of this house.

The tour continued into the dining room. We could peek into the pantry from the dining room but we got a better view from the kitchen. There are areas where you cannot walk so that they can preserve the original floors so getting the right angles is tricky. Notice there is more wallpaper here!

This layout is based on a sketch I saved to Pinterest. I wanted to use up scraps from my Earthy papers (and yet there are still MORE in the package!) All of those are 1" x 11" strips and then the ends are covered with a punched border. I think the black paper really sets off the edges. It also sort of matches one of the wallpapers in the photos! I did use a few embellishments from the Earthy line to finish up the page.

...Must come down...

Attached to the visitor center in Dayton is a museum devoted to parachutes. I liked the tactile part where you could compare nylon and silk chute materials. 

I based this layout on an older Virtual Crop challenge that I saved. I didn't need to focus on Covid like the blog suggested, I just followed the sketch--though I did flip it upside down and left to right. The background paper includes a sheet of a fabric textile--while neither nylon nor silk, I thought it went well with the fabric concept and matched the tone of the photos/brochures. A few embellishments from my stash rounded out the page.

Inside the exhibits are a variety of informative panels and samples of parachute packing tools. The most important thing is to have a properly packed chute if you want to get to the ground in one piece. They included ejector seats as part of the display as they are attached to parachutes as well.

I made this layout as part of a class. It was a great layout for a lot of horizontal photos. I used papers from an Australia-themed pack as well as Travelog from a few years ago. I filled in a couple of the blank spaces with mats. The bottom left is an envelope, I just chose not to add anything to the inside. The mat in the upper right is probably a formation found in Australia but the color worked with the photo next to it so without proper context, it's just another journal mat!

Printers, Grocers, Cycle repair---Oh yes, and they flew too.

 After our formal tour was over, I had a chance to walk through the rest of the spaces in downtown Dayton. Before they flew, the brothers had many careers including owning a grocery store, a print shop, and a cycle shop (creation and repair). All of these premises are recreated. I think the grocery store was my favorite. 

This layout was made as part of a class I took so I cannot show the sketch. I'm using up some Vintage Chic paper from old CM here. I typically would use these colors for mid-century modern but it spoke to me and I think it turned out quite nicely. Blue and orange are complementary colors but purple also works with those tones though not a "triadic" team if you look at the color wheel. Not a lot of embellishments here--just a few tags and titles. But the print on the background is a bit bold so it doesn't need much embellishing.

Next stop--print shop. You know that it's second only to medical history as a place where I'll spend some time in a museum. I think it's because my father had a print shop when I was growing up and so it's very nostalgic for me. 

This layout was a 1-2-3 class that I taught for my scrapbook customers. We can get 8 pages done in less than 2 hours (not including the time it takes to pick the right paper). These papers came from, oddly enough, the Keep the Faith tonal papers. I was looking for something with a brown base but also wanted a contrast on the reverse side. Tonal packs can be used for anything so don't let the "faith" stop you from putting the paper to good use!

The last focus for the brothers is their cycle shop. The original shop is with their home at Henry Ford's museum so this is another recreation. Because it was rebuilt they could move it closer to the original home site so the distance between the 2 is much shorter. 

This layout is also from a class (same as the first layout). I chose an old Croptoberfest pack from 2017 (ironically--the same year I took these photos! How appropriate!) I was short a few photos so on the right page I substituted a large square mat and a journal box. I've had that journal box for a while now--it is from the Archivers line from many years ago. I do love that line but I have just a few pieces left. I augmented the stickers from the Croptoberfest pack with things that looked like gears and a small ephemera piece of a historic bicycle. 

National Scrapbook Day bonus post! Morristown Grand Opening

 Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! I'm posting today because I am playing along with one of the Lasting Memories challenges for May. I am currently working on a trip to Morristown in 2018, and you'll hear more about that in a few months. For now, this is the ribbon cutting and a few photos of the newest museum space called the Discovery History Center.

This layout is based on a sketch I saved from Creative Memories. I saved it because Noreen Smith created it! 😀 I used Creative Memories Americana paper for the background and a few of the borders. This was an older kit from 2017 and I only have a few pieces left, but what a great way to use up my scraps! I added a few pieces from Paper Loft's Euphoria papers as well. The stars are from a VERY old scrap pad I had and had to be fussy cut before I paper pieced them together. 

To participate in the Lasting Memories Challenge I needed to use a row from their tic-tac-toe board so I chose the bottom row.

There are more than 2 pattern papers but I think that's OK 😀 The circle became my journal space and I added a punched border in pale ivory to the bottom patterned paper. I hope you enjoy it!

The Flat Hat Award

In October 2017, I traveled to Dayton Ohio to present the NPTC Flat Hat Award to Joe Raterman. We had a small group of club members attend plus some co-workers and friends of the recipient. We were able to use the upstairs lounge of the visitor center but the ceremony was also live-streamed on the club's Facebook page. 

This layout is based on one of Noreen Smith's 1-2-3 layouts. I made the layout BEFORE I realized that I would need to add an 8 1/2 x 11 pocket page in between. It ended up working out but I wish the 2 pages could be seen side-by-side. The paper is from the Gemtones collection that was part of a secret box. That kit worked very well for the heritage-type layouts on this trip.

After the ceremony, Joe took us on a tour including the bike shop and the area where the Wright Birthplace was. Yes, it's gone. Not destroyed or anything--Henry Ford took it and the top layer of soil for his own museum in Michigan. Somehow I find that rude but at least it is still preserved. The house where the Wright brothers lived as adults is still in Dayton though I didn't get there on this trip.

If you compare the top and bottom photos you will see a large white square on each page. The idea behind the layout is to align photos with that paper so that it looks like all one sheet of paper. This is why I do not trim my photos until I decide on the sketch I'm working with. I don't want to have to mat things to get back to 4x6 sizes. 

Pronounce it as you like

 I stayed outside of Richmond Saturday night and Sunday I drove out to a part of the battlefield I'd not seen previously--the Rural Plains area. There was a Harvest Days event, and I love visiting during those events as it's more than just the house tour. I did tour the house but it requires some repair work and all the furnishings are missing. Like the Thomas Stone home, there is graffiti carved into the bricks.

I used a pin I had saved which you can see here. I used papers from Paper Loft as the kit I had on hand had extra banners. I interspersed those with a couple of the phrases from their cut-apart sheet and that filled the space. Granted the left side is a little wonky but it sort of works. The bottom borders are VERY old rick rack shortcuts from Old CM. I have a TON of those to use up and periodically I pull them out and throw them on a bunch of pages. I like that the Paper Loft pages have an antique feel to them but can also be used for a jazzier page due to the designs. It's multi-purpose!

The living encampment was a Confederate Group. It took a while for me to realize this as I'm so used to seeing Union forces on display. Additionally, they had soldiers from the Revolutionary period. Virginia has been bloodied a lot I suppose.

This layout is separated by the pocket page which holds the memorabilia. It's based on a VERY old CM virtual crop challenge (March 2017) (flipped upside-down). While the left and right backgrounds are the same (though I can't remember what pack they are from), since the soldiers were from different periods, the bottom borders are different. And since the pocket page is in the middle it isn't a noticeable change. The left page is a sticker from an old Reminisce Sticker sheet for the Civil War. The right side is a laser-cut border from the Welcome Home pack. On each side, I substituted an item for the other upright photo. On the left, it was the journal card. On the right, I took a few embellishments and filled the area. Those were left from the Gemtones pack.

Some of the other living history displays included a still--not for alcohol, but for making rose water! It was not only a scent to wear but would be used in medicines as well. Part of the Union's strategy was cutting off supply lines to the South.  The shortage of supplies forced people to substitute. One table displayed a variety of common substitutions. It was a particularly interesting point of view for my visit. This page ended the album.

This layout is based on another pin I had saved which you can see here. I did not round the highlight section (the grid pattern paper), but the rest of the items are pretty close. I used a cluster of photos and journaling for the larger photo on the sketch. For the title bar, I clustered some embellishments from the Welcome Home collection and then used a couple of the title stickers--I love how the scroll stickers make a frame for the title.

The Thomas Stone Affair

My next trip was in September 2017. I was heading to North Carolina for a family wedding and of course, took 2 days to reach there so I could visit a few parks along the way. This was a new park for me and one that I was very unfamiliar with. This house is a memorial to one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence. The visitor center is easy enough to find. But it's daunting to realize that you must walk through that field to get to the house. It's worth it though.

This layout is based on a sketch from Creative Memories. They posted three options and you will see 2 of them in this blog post. The first is actually the third option if you look at this page from the blog. I wanted to use up my Reminisce line from Old CM and while I did use quite a bit, I still have a few items left! The focus of this layout is the border across the bottom (you'll see that I doubled the sketch). I used a Noreen Smith technique for "crazy squares" to get the shapes I wanted. Just a few stickers finished the layout.

I took one of the Ranger-guided tours of the house. I've seen many historic homes so I know about older structures. They did focus quite a bit on Thomas Stone's legal work and who would have visited them at Habadaventure (the name of the house). Some of the original pieces are on display at the Maryland Museum of History and so his house has to make do with reproductions.

These are 2 different layouts that are next to each other in the album. I based the color scheme on the wallpaper and the bedding fabrics. The left page is based on an Even More sketch. I chose an Aqua Combo pack for the layout. All of the papers coordinate and you can see that I was able to mix 5 different sheets for this layout (plus a touch of cardstock). The stickers are older CM and I think are supposed to be Easter stickers. But they have a nice vintage look to them. The right page is the second of the bonus sketches from CM (see link above). The top shapes were a little tedious to cut but worth it for the effect. I used the contents of one of our secret boxes called "Gemtones". The papers and embellishments worked perfectly for the layout. You'll see for both pages that I welded several photos together to get a single continuous room photo.

On my way back to the visitor center, I stopped at the family graveyard. The wrought iron is nice. The graves have all been updated with new plaques so not as interesting to me from a historical point of view. 

This layout is based on a sketch I saved. I was using up some of my Fast-to-Fabulous pages in the Secret Garden line. I also have some of the coordinating paper so I used those to layer on the background. Because the background is so light, the watercolor circle isn't as noticeable. But that's OK as it doesn't detract from the photos. I found a few flowers in my stash that matched the tone of the papers to create some clusters around the pages.