The Great Tragedy

Today's blog completes my visit to the Ford's Theater historic site, but don't worry. There are more entries for the 2021 National Park Travelers Club convention coming! In the last blog, we saw that after Booth shot Lincoln, he managed to escape. Lincoln, meanwhile, was rushed out of the theater and across the street to the Peterson House. If you take the right tour, you can also see the rooms of this house, which have been replicated to depict the night and the following day when Lincoln passed away. One of the pillows that was under Lincoln's head is in the museum. I'm assuming they didn't want to display one covered in blood, although some clear stains remain here. The house was purchased by the government in 1895 and is one of the earliest bits of American History preserved.

This layout is based on an idea from Melissa Ullman, the Creative Chatterbox. You can watch a video where she puts a layout together similar to this. It uses several small blocks of decorative paper. Due to the brick building, I selected three shades of brick: red, white, and black. Small strips are used to outline the papers and extend a bit to give them a planned ragged look. I'd like to see what papers you choose when you try this, so send me a link when you do!

After the Fall

Welcome back to the exploration of Ford's Theater during my 2021 NPTC convention trip. You probably know that Booth jumped from the box to the stage, breaking his leg in the process, and still managed to make his escape out the back of the building. He went to a physician named Dr. Mudd. Dr. Mudd treated Booth's broken leg and, in the process, cut off Booth's boot. The boot and the surgical kit are on display in the museum (and as a nurse, one of the more interesting displays in my opinion). And, no, this is NOT from where the phrase "your name is mud" is derived. That phrase had been around for more than 40 years before this event.

This layout is based on one of the CM Advisor project recipes. At the end of 2023, they released an Advisor-only paper pack and this recipe to accompany it. It's not QUITE a 1-2-3 like Noreen Smith usually makes, but it is close. You can see from the cutting guide that you trim four 1" strips from a piece of double-sided paper, then turn the paper 90 degrees and cut at 6". That creates the borders at the top and bottom, and 2 larger pieces for the sides. You place four 4x6 photos in the center to cover the cardstock and make it appear as though the large blocks extend all the way across the page. I only had 3 horizontal photos, so I added a journal mat in the exact same colors as the paper. I also added 2 sets of border stickers to dress up the 1" strips. The round stickers are to simulate gunshots. The title pieces aren't from the same collection, but I didn't mind adding blue and green here because I really wanted those titles for my story.

Booth in the Booth

Today, we're continuing a look at Ford's Theater. As I mentioned in the last post, I had been to the theater before, and so I was familiar with the preservation of the box in which the Lincolns were seated. However, I was previously unable to see inside. Part of the door has been replaced with plexiglass, allowing you to see the space. Down in the museum is the original door, as well as a piece of wood that John Wilkes Booth used to jam the door from the inside, allowing him to complete his plan.

This layout is based on Cheryl Even's sketch #114. I returned to the CM Legacy collection for papers and embellishments. One of the key features of this sketch is a 12" border cut in half and used at the edge of the photos. One change I made to the layout was to use a stack of 4x4 photos where her sketch called for 4x6 images. That gave me more space between those photos and the vertical photo on the page to add some small embellishments. The title circle was trimmed from one of the collection's mats.

A Night to Remember

Today, we continue with the NPTC 2021 convention. On Sunday morning, I arranged a tour of Ford's Theater. Although I had been here once before, the only ticket I could obtain then was for a staged play in the theater (the theater still puts on productions throughout the year). For my 2021 visit, I arranged a tour that included a visit to the museum and a look at the Lincoln Box. 

I chose to organize the photos not so much by when I saw them on the tour, but based on the timeline of the evening. This layout sets the stage by showing the theater, a pair of tickets from that evening's performance (although it is unclear whether they belonged to the Lincolns), and items that would have been part of the evening, such as opera glasses and fans. 

The layout is based on the CM Project Recipe for the Fresh Fusion collection. The use of such dark papers for a recipe layout that was bright and cheery is a little incongruous, but I chose it for the photo array, not the paper colors. The papers are from the Paper Loft collection. Their heritage pack includes some brown and gray tones with wonderful old-time patterns. One pattern features ivory with vines, providing some contrast in the two-layered borders (made with the CM Border Maker System).  

All the Presidents Men and Women

Today, we finalize the layouts for the President's Dinner at the 2021 NPTC convention. One photo we try to get each year is a group of all the presidents who have served in the organization over the years. This photo is missing John, as he doesn't seem to attend the convention much anymore, but the other five of us were happy to be together again. This is the order in which we served: Mike at the far right, then Nancy, then Roland, then me, and currently, Yvonne. (John would be between Nancy and Roland).

This layout is based on an Original CM sketch. I replaced the block of 3 photos in the center with the 5x7 photo of our group. The papers are from the same collection as my dinner companions' layout in the last blog (Our Moments). I do love that tiled paper! The border is a laser-cut border from the collection. The base is bronze shimmer cardstock, providing a rich tone to the layout. The top word (Friendship) is a laser-cut title. The bottom phrase (Capture the Moment) is a sticker from the original CM collections. This page finishes volume 1 of my convention trip. There were so many photos over the 6 days of my journey that I had to put the rest of the material in another album. The end of the dinner served as a suitable stopping point for this album.

Dinner Companions

Welcome back to the President's Dinner at the 2021 NPTC Convention. I don't have many photos from the event. We began with a cocktail reception and then proceeded to dinner. You can see the menu below. I joined Carl and Marla Raboi, Carl's mom, and her significant other, along with Melania, Nicole, Brian Bailey, and a new member named Allan Randall. We had a great time talking over dinner and were able to get a couple of group shots in before the night came to an end.

For this layout, I chose one of Cheryl Even's Split Coast Stampers sketches. I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the right to align with the direction of my photos. I used the Our Moments collection from Creative Memories because I felt the colors matched the tone of the restaurant — the rich browns and reds are reflected in the wood tones of the walls and columns. I really like the paper with the tiles on it, so I made that the base for the 2 group photos. I used one of the tonal papers for the background and added 2 thin strips of gray for the outline of the square. This way, I didn't have to cover up the gray paper unnecessarily — paper saver! I didn't need much journaling, so I chose one of the mats with a smaller circle in the middle. The gray of the card matches the gray strips, which helps tie the layout together.

The Train Gang

Welcome back to the 2021 NPTC Convention in Washington, DC. This post marks the beginning of a look at the President's Dinner — the traditional meal served after the convention meeting. The dinner was held at a restaurant across town from the hotel, but we were able to ride the Metro to a nearby station. Not everyone was as familiar with Metro, and I found myself leading a large group of club members. I had to turn around periodically to take photos of them behind me. 

This layout is based on one of Meggan and Tessa's Power Hours (May 2025). I pulled more of the red-white-and-blue papers from my stash, but I also borrowed embellishments from the Passport to Adventure pack. That pack had the nice Metro Train sticker and a 'Now Boarding' title. There was also a mat with the title that I liked for this particular layout. I chose to utilize the circular element as a journal box. I have some lined paper that can be cut with the Custom Cutting System. Cutting a slightly larger circle mat is a nice touch. There are three blades in that set — red, green, and blue. Each is about 1/4" difference in width from the pins to the blade, so you can easily create multiple layers. The left border is the same punch (Chevron) that I used on the cannon firing event at Fort Washington. Now it's backed with blue for a much different look!