50-States Album part 19--Oklahoma

I've just had one trip to Oklahoma--my first HPN conference. We visited the memorial during our trip--several people in the group knew one of the victims which made for a very emotional tour. I also went to Chickasaw as well as the State Fair. Luckily I got a selfie with one of the weird characters walking around.

This layout is based on this image. The background paper has a leathery look to it and I found denim, bandana and some red houndstooth to make the layers. I used a tearing tool to get the rough edges. It gives it a  bit of a rustic look. I thought cutting the shape of the state from Denim helped tie the top and bottom of the page. I also like that I just used the state abbreviation instead of writing out Oklahoma.

50-states Album Part 18--Ohio

This post highlights a trip from last year in which I made an effort to get photos of myself as I did my travels. I was returning from an HPN conference in Cincinnati. While I had been to the Taft park unit previously, I had no photos of my visit which included ME. Hopewell Culture was a new park for me. Ironically I SHOULD be returning from this year's HPN conference except that with COVID-19 we held it electronically and I stayed home.

This isn't the most updated photo of this page. I took the photo and posted it to a Facebook group where we share scrapbook layouts and someone commented that I was missing something from Ohio University--a Buckeye. So I searched the internet and managed to find a cut file and made their mascot from cardstock. It's just above the state image.

The page idea came from this layout idea. I only used the left-side ideas. Cutting the state flag and shape turned out to be relatively easy. The lettering on the state is from a plastic template I have with an alphabet. I've used it a few times, and it makes a nice title.

50-States Album Part 17--North Carolina

 Jim's family traditionally takes a week vacation in North Carolina each summer so I've made many trips to that state--generally in the Atlantic Beach area. That is very close to Cape Lookout so I've made several visits to the visitor center as well as the lighthouse which is on an island offshore. The Old Burying Ground is in nearby Beaufort and is another favorite spot to visit while we are in the area. There are some very interesting characters buried there.

The background paper is from Keller's Creations. I discovered that company at a scrapbook convention in Lancaster. They teach a class on quick layouts with their paper packs. They have some pre-cut shapes that help things come together quickly. I used the 6" square technique to create the background.
The polaroid looking photos on the left were from a different kit that I used and had leftover. The center one with the die cuts was meant as decoration. The other 2 were empty. I matted them with coordinating blue cardstock and added some embellishments from the cut-out page included with the paper. The letters were also part of the kit and I like the way I arranged the state name.

50-states album Part 16--New York

Some of my favorite trips to New York are shown below. Mom, my sister Sue and I took a bus trip to New York City for a day and we got to go to the Statue of Liberty. This was pre-9-11 and you could just take a ferry over and line up to get inside. Another trip was when Jim and I took a long weekend and drove randomly to the Finger Lakes and then ended up in Niagara Falls.

The basis for this page was this quilt block. I know that's a bit unusual, but you can get inspiration from just about anywhere. I know I've seen challenges where you interpret a magazine ad and transform it into a scrapbook layout. In reality, it isn't much different from following a sketch. What I took from that block was the icons for Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty and the state shape. I used a piece of paper that has a watery look to it so the backdrop behind the Cricut cut of the falls would be more realistic.

The top of the page is a  border maker cartridge from Our Memories For Life (OMFL) which was an offshoot of the original Creative Memories. The pattern in that direction echoed the falls to me. The  Statue of Liberty cut came from a Destinations cartridge for the Cricut.

50 States Album Part 15--New Mexico

My foray into New Mexico has so far been limited to my NPTC convention trip in 2015. The convention itself was in El Paso, TX, but our weekend events extended into the surrounding area. El Paso is not that far from the New Mexico line and I spent a full day exploring various NPS sites.

This page is based on the elements of this layout. I merged the state flag and the state cutout so I could include the photo of the Welcome sign--even though I'm not in it. It serves as the title of the page in a way. I rather like the desert structures in the bottom right corner It was a free cut and I think the tones of yellow give it depth for such a simple cut. Yellow mats tied the rest of the page together. It was a fairly quick layout.

50 states part 14--New Jersey

Next stop--NewJersey! This is another state that I've been to many times, but one of my favorite weekends was taking part in the Lighthouse Challenge. You visit all the participating lighthouses and get commemorative swag and of course, a passport stamp. The last stop for me was Sandy Hook lighthouse which is part of Gateway NRA (a new park for me that day!).

I based this layout on a blog post from Creative Memories. I got to use up some letter stickers on the title at the bottom. One of my favorite elements is the use of the corner punch on the photo mats. It allows me to tuck the corners in for a vintage photo look. The elements are from the Great Escape embellishments and paper. Unfortunately, that line has already been retired. Lucky for me, I picked up the digital elements so I can cut more lighthouses on my Cricut whenever I want!

50 States Album part 13--Nebraska

Our trip to Nebraska was the later part of the "Great Western Loop"--the NPTC convention in 2017. We flew into Denver, drove through Wyoming up to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and then south through Nebraska to return to Colorado.

This was an unusual inspiration. I based this page on a greeting card. It's not the first time I've done that, but usually, it's a sketch that I transform. I like the thought of corn for Nebraska. Indeed we drove through farmland and it was about all we did see other than Scott's Bluff. The bottom of the page, the green gingham, was cut and layered over the black cardstock to highlight the bottom. The letters to spell the state name were from a kit. The tiny letters do not fare well in my stash and so I had to edit a "4" for the letter "A". The bottom corn stalks are border punches from a vine punch that CM makes. Those corn ears are actually cut from a VERY old calendar with scrapbook mats. They were the center of the green mat. You can't tell it's cut because the photo blocks the holes nicely. The top corn ear was a random sticker I had.