Madness in the Desert Part 34--In Ruins

On the morning after our Saguaro visit, I dropped Jim off at the Air Museum for a 2nd day of exploring (I was spared that, and had planned a trip to Coronado). However, I barely made it out of the parking lot when my phone rang. The thunderstorm of the night before knocked out power to the museum and closed it for the day. We had already checked out of the hotel, so it made sense that we meander our way to Phoenix where we would fly out the next morning. So we visited the Western National bookstore north of Tucson and then decided on Casa Grande so I would still get another new National Park unit. 

If you have even a smattering of Spanish (as I do, and to which my sister Lisa will attest), you know that this translates to Big House. The people lived in the area over 4000 years ago and the origins of this building remain a mystery. There are hints that it might have been a celestial observatory but it might have been a storehouse or religious site. Additional walls create a surrounding plaza where trade and crafts such as pottery making likely happened.

I had trouble fitting in all that I wanted to on this page, so I chose a 12x6 peekaboo pocket to add the brochure and (as you can see below) a couple of extra photos.

This layout is based on a sketch from my Scrap Your Stash class with Noreen Smith in 2020. The base page is a sheet with a mild yellow tone and I then added a couple of strips of coordinating paper from the CM "Shades of Yellow" paper pack. Luckily, I had a few stickers that matched the items in the photos, so it was a simple layout.

Lasting Memories Post 3--A Day at the Museum

Hello all! I'm serving as a Guest Designer for Lasting Memories all through October! I'll be posting an extra layout each Sunday at noon for the next 2 weeks. Each is following the weekly challenge posted at Lasting Memories and I hope you join the challenge! Post your version through the link at the bottom of their post.

Still from my New Mexico trip in October 2019, this layout features a museum I went to near Santa Fe. My NPTC friend Robbie lives near there so we met to get a few stamps, and this museum covers 2 different trails. Some of the displays were lovely examples of colonial life such as furniture and religious icons. Then there was the display of Paul Pletka's art. Some of which I found quite disturbing. I told Robbie that it was her fault if I had nightmares after seeing that gallery!

Today's challenge is LM #724  - Harvest - be inspired by those growing crops by using ascending sizes of paper strips or shapes OR use a colorful ombre design. I used a sketch from Cheryl Even for this layout. I had remnants from several collections here but the floral print is some of the last of the Creative Memories Mexico theme pack. the cactus border is from that pack as well and I cut it in half to spread across the layout. I liked this sketch as it had room for a large 5x7 photo. I inadvertently made that size when I stitched 2 photos together to show the living space all at once. The outside of the museum is a postcard I purchased in their gift shop.

Madness in the Desert Part 33--Cactus Loop

I had visited Saguaro NP previously but had only seen the park's western side. You can see that post here. This time we visited the eastern end and drove their auto loop (which I'm happy to say is paved!) 

I wanted to make this layout after I saw this post on the Farmhouse Memories blog. I don't use fabric a lot, but they have a few examples that have enticed me to include it. Even though I know it isn't lignin-free, sometimes it just makes the right statement and this page is a good example of that. Farmhouse Memories sells a sheet of sticky paper that you use to stiffen the fabric so that it lies flat and gives you a surface so that you can attach adhesive just like you would for photos or other papers. My hardest decision was where to cut the fabric as I didn't want it to cover the photos. So I ended up cutting off the tops of some of the cacti. There are just 2 photos on this page. The image on the top left is a panoramic postcard I purchased in the gift shop.

Madness in the Desert part 32--Looking Sharp

To refresh, my last post on this trip looked at Montezuma Castle. After leaving there, we finished our drive to Tucson and then spent a day looking at planes. Jim's excitement over that trip was that we would go to the Pima Air & Space Museum, the starting point for a "Boneyard" tour of the nearby Air Force base. All those photos (and there are a LOT) are in the album at home. As they don't focus on national parks, I'll skip them (you're welcome). 😁

After leaving that museum though, we had some time in the early evening so we made an impromptu visit to Saguaro National Park.We did have time for a few photos near the entrance so I could get my sign photo and Jim could pose with the cacti.  

I made these layouts in the spring of 2020 using the Creative Memories National Scrapbook Day kits. Each year, we celebrate National Scrapbook Day on the first Saturday in May (truly--Creative Memories invented this day!) The kit this year featured a strawberry theme. Here's a photo of the kit:

The strawberries were not all that prominent so I was able to show my crop friends that you could really use the pages for anything. The kit makes 2 double-page layouts and the other one I used for some of the photos from the Air Museum. Have you made an unusual choice of pages for a layout? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Lasting Memories Post 2--Historic Pictures

Hello all! I'm serving as a Guest Designer for Lasting Memories all through October! I'll be posting an extra layout each Sunday at noon for the next 3 weeks. Each is following the weekly challenge posted at Lasting Memories and I hope you join the challenge! Post your version through the link at the bottom of their post.

Continuing from last Sunday, this is from Petroglyph National Monument. It seems like you have to walk quite a way along the trail before getting to the petroglyphs, but then they are EVERYWHERE! Some of these are clearly newer than the others (and I do hope that face is historic and not some joker's idea of graffiti). These photos show you just a taste of what you can see in the park. Some resembled the items clearly (like the crosses and maybe that animal). Some were so abstract that I wonder if it was animal, vegetable, or mineral! 

This week we follow LM #723 - Falling Leaves - say out with the old by using an item you've had in your stash for at least two years. I used "Botanical Bliss" from Creative Memories and the date on the package is 2019 so--almost 5 years! (Ironically the same year I took these photos though!) I followed Sketch #2 from the September Worldwide Virtual Crop. There are a few non-CM items here--the title is from the Eastern National scrapbook kit and a couple of the stickers are from the Junior Ranger sticker book.

Madness in the Desert Part 31--The Castle on the Hill

We made our way down to the main part of the park and Montezuma Castle. I can say we were both happy to view the exhibits in the visitor center as it was air-conditioned. Jim felt well enough to join me for a short walk to see the "castle" which is another cliff dwelling but HIGH in the cliffs! I guess I should never complain about my daily commute ever again 😀.

This layout is based on a pin that I saved (and doubled). I was able to use 3 papers for this--2 for the base and one that I tore horizontally to cover the tops. (Had I simply cut it I likely could have welded the 2 halves together, but it doesn't give as much interest as the torn edge.) The 2 ancient pots are cuts I made on the Cricut. If I had the page to do over, I think I would put them both either in the middle or on the edges. It would probably add more symmetry. 

Madness in the Desert Part 30--Well, Well, Well

After leaving Walnut Canyon, we headed south toward Tucson. Along the way, we stopped for a delicious meal (I had elk meatloaf!) and then we drove to Montezuma Well. This is a part of Montezuma's Castle but we are going there after our stop here. Jim did not get out of the car here. With the heat and altitude sickness, he just sat in the air conditioning. I did not want to stay too long but I wanted to explore the park so I walked the loop from the visitor center around the lake and through the scrub brush. Like Walnut Canyon to the north, the local inhabitants eked out a living by housing themselves in caves along the cliffs. Clearly, this was a fortunate spot as there was a decent water source. They were able to create a canal system to irrigate crops. As late as the 1800s, settlers still gravitated to this site to use the dwellings and canal system.

The inspiration for this layout came from a photo I pinned. Instead of making spirals from dot stickers, I chose to cut them from an older paper pack from CM. I've used this pack previously as it has a nature theme to it. I prefer the botanical papers and didn't really know what to do with all the dark brown. I started by punching the argyle borders for the outside edges of the layout. The zig-zag and the spirals were brown-on-brown patterns that I fussy cut. A few other botanical borders gave a little more definition to the page.