Just Outside of the New Park

 After our meetup concluded, I chose to explore a few other nearby areas. This is the Bucktown General Store. When Harriet was a small child she was in this store when another enslaved person was trying to run away. That enslaved man's overseer grabbed a weight off the counter and threw it at the escaping man but hit Harriet instead. This is what people attribute to her subsequent "visions" that would propel (and possibly save her) through her life. The store and its shelves are filled with the goods you would have seen in the mid-1800s around the time Harriet was here. And there is a Passport stamp here. 

This is a layout I made at a weekend class for my scrapbook customers. If you haven't been to my CM Facebook page, this is the link: https://www.facebook.com/CorriganCM. Typically I have a class on a Saturday afternoon where I share up to 4 of Noreen Smith's 1-2-3 layouts. (One piece of double-sided paper, 2 sheets of cardstock or base pages, 3 cuts). Anyone is welcome to join but you must email me for the Zoom link and instructions. I cannot record the sessions. 

The papers used here are from a free paper pack I earned called "Timeless". With the yellows and creams of the photos, I think the yellow paper with trees created a nice base. The 2 background pages are also from the pack. That's a new trend for me. I tend to work directly on the strap-hinge pages Creative Memories makes. The sticker clusters are from some older packs I had with a "farm" feel to them. I think the elements would be those found inside the store. I had one non-CM product--the mason jar element. I trimmed a piece of journal paper to create a nice spot to write my notes of the experience.

A Brand New Park!

 In March 2017 I was privileged to attend the Grand Opening of a brand new National Park Unit. Harriet Tubman was born in Maryland and this area has now become a National Historical Park filled with details of her life. One of the club members held a meetup for the event. There were MANY people in attendance besides our group, but because we arrived so early we could park at the NPS site and not be shuttled in from a nearby town. It was so crowded I didn't get a chance to see the visitor center other than the lobby and the bookstore. However, there were 2 excellent presentations that we all attended. First, a Harriet Tubman reenactor gave a talk on her life and answered questions from the audience. She was marvelous.

I used sketch #5 from the November 2021 CM Virtual Crop for this layout. I substituted 2 rows of paper pieces for the punched railroad tracks. Everyone thought that was a great addition to the page. The rest of the paper is scrap from a very old CM paper pack (that I believe is called Discover). Having a few pieces left over, I cut them into ribbons and added them to the blank parts of the page. 

The second speaker is an author who wrote about the life of enslaved people. He had some helpers from the audience but also provided samples. He didn't expect so many people to be in attendance so I'm glad we saw his first presentation as I don't think there was much left for the second one. Though the things he provided to us were rather distasteful--some of the beverages and salted fish common to enslaved people's diet. 

This layout is based on a sketch I saved--though I don't know why I saved it. Typically I save the virtual crop sketches if I don't get them done on the crop weekend. It's possible I saved this as I didn't have a clue what to do with Sorbet (check out the paper in the links on the blog site). I didn't use Sorbet here, but remnants from a "Painted" paper pack that was a bonus pack. By cutting everything into 2-3/4” x 3-3/4” and 5-3/4” x 3-3/4” mats, a background was created that would hold all the photos I wanted. On some of the smaller rectangles, I added decorative cut-outs from a Heritage pack.

He also demonstrated the torture devices used on returned runaways. I applaud the lady from the audience who was the "model". That massive iron frame must have been heavy even for the few minutes she wore it on stage.

This is a bonus sketch provided by CM when they had a promotional paper pack. This is the 2nd sketch on the page. I used some very old Earthy papers and stickers to create the layout. I think those papers captured the somber tone of the images. 

Washington Really Slept Here

 I had an afternoon tour of the mansion and took a little time to see the area around the house as well as photograph the exterior architecture. It's a Georgian-style building from the 1770s. The owner had died but his widow allowed Washington to stay during the winter of 1779-1780. He was here for about 6 months. Martha would stay here as well and of course several other pieces of his entourage,  visiting dignitaries and servants. Mrs. Ford and her children lived in just 2 of the rooms.

For this layout, I dug into my saved sketches and found one from December 2021. I used one of the border maker cartridges to punch a border (as it's double-sided paper, I could use both colors and the border wouldn't disappear into the background.) The paper is the old Cottage line from Old CM. I'm just about done using that pack!

Inside, the rooms have been returned to how they would have looked in that winter (which by all accounts was one of the worst on record for heavy snowfall). Though Washington's bedroom attracted attention, I was interested in the camp beds used by his aides. It gave it almost a circus feel! The kitchen had to feed a lot of people but at least it would have been warm there.

This layout is a kit I purchased from Paper Loft. I thought that since there was a bit of food the teapot theme would work well. I had to fussy-cut the medallion papers but I do like the effect it gave to the borders. 

MorrisTOWN

I live in MorrisVILLE and sometimes I get it wrong and say I live in MorrisTOWN. I don't, but I did visit there. This was the winter encampment for Washington's troops in the winter of 1779-1780. It was one of the worst winters on record. While the park includes some reproduction huts from the encampment, this trip was specifically to Washington's Headquarters in the Ford Mansion. I started in the Visitor Center where there is a video and several rooms of artifacts. I traveled there as it was a special weekend and they had an author doing a reading and discussion of his book based on the life of a slave that was Washington's valet. It was geared to middle-school students so I bought an autographed copy for my nephew Thomas.

This layout is loosely based on a CM Virtual Crop sketch from February 2022. I did the long strips at the top and bottom but did NOT include the large square on the right side. I had more photos to include and did not feel a need to include any more paper. The decorative paper along the top is the rest of my Reminisce paper. It's bordered by some plain brown strips. I debated adding my Cricut cut of Washington. I thought he was too "cartoonish" but as I was completing this at a crop with my Mom and Sister, they assured me it worked fine. And well--there he is.

One area of the museum held paper artifacts such as manuscripts, booklets, and even money. Alexander Hamilton's writings are on display here. In another area, they extend the museum to include a bit of everything else from the revolutionary war. The large oval is a single link from a chain that was used to protect the Hudson River from British vessels. The size and weight were astonishing.

This page is also a layout from the CM virtual crop. This was Sketch #6. I thought for quite a while about what base paper to use. Eventually, I decided on a page from the wedding pack that had a journal appearance. I added a Cricut cut of the quill and ink and that gave it the heritage feel i was looking for. The border at the bottom is again the Reminisce line. I fussy cut the title box from another piece of paper but it layers well with the dark strip.

Who is David Wills?

After lunch, I decided to add a visit to the David Wills House. I knew it was part of the park but never the significance. This is the house that Lincoln stayed at the night before giving his Gettysburg Address. David Wills was instrumental in getting the National Cemetery established and then played host when Lincoln came to do the dedication. His house is on the square in Gettysburg.

I based this page on a CM Virtual Crop sketch. When I looked at the sketch I realized that one of the Fast-to-Fabulous pages that matched the one I used for the Eisenhower page was quite similar to the sketch. Instead of banners, it was white pine branches! I added a piece of white snow paper to the middle of the page so that the bricks wouldn't get lost in the red of the page. (Making it just wide enough to hold the unigrid). Since the ticket was too close in color to the white paper I mounted it on one of the tags from the embellishment pack. The left border is a laser-cut border from the Seasons Greetings line.

The downstairs rooms describe the Wills family and their daily life. Also included are period pieces salvaged from the battlefield such as the medical kit. In some ways, the rooms were stark as a lot of the details were on glass panels around the edges of the room. The NPS site has an excellent virtual tour on the website. If you've not been there in person, it's a great way to explore the site.

I decided to keep going with the F2F pages. The corner stripes were pre-printed. I added 2 laser cut borders to finish framing the page. I added a couple of embellishments from my Paper House pack of vintage die cuts. The top hat, the carriage, and the family walking (near the journal box) are all from that pad. Since the pages were a little light I used the decorative mats behind many of the photos to add some more depth.

The main attraction is of course the Lincoln Bedroom (the one in Gettysburg, not the one in the White House). They claim this is the original bed though most of the other items are just similar to how they would have looked during his stay. This is the room where he finished the speech that I would memorize in elementary school.

This layout is the end of the album and it worked out that there were just a few photos of the house left. I merged the 2 together so that there was a panorama view of the bed. It's a fairly simple layout with just a wallpaper background (some old Reminisce paper that rather matches the carpet) and white mats under the photos to keep them from getting lost. I added 2 corners to the journal box. These are die cuts from a very old CM Heritage kit. 

Some Retro Pages

As the tour moved upstairs we saw fewer Christmas touches. Mamie and Dwight kept separate bedrooms. Hers all in pink! I guess the general needed his own side to escape the pink. 😁

This layout is based on another CLS PJ party idea. Using the CM Custom Cutting system I cut progressive sizes of shapes and used the positive (shape) and negative (hole) to layer into different pages. I used some retro paper from older CM (I think this is the Vintage pack but it could be something else). The paper matched the decor but to me it all sort of blends together and I don't see the different papers as much as I thought I would. Well, done is better than perfect!

Back downstairs we visited the kitchen (where they are making Christmas Cookies!) and the den (where they are wrapping Christmas Presents). I remember seeing the kitchen on my previous tour but had not known it was state-of-the-art when installed! I always enjoy the den. There's such a warm, homey quality to the space.

The left page is a continuation of the negative/positive papers from the last layout. They were leftover from my cuts so I thought I could stack them in a similar fashion. Again, not my favorite but it does match the kitchen decor. I got to use up some non-CM stash with the stickers of the kitchen goods. The right page is wallpaper. That argyle/border/decorated circle was from a similar pack and since it matched the left page I used it for the den. I think that the paper matches the photos well. 

Just before you exit the house is Eisenhower's workspace for his presidential years. It's a small space as he preferred this home for relaxation. But he could never escape the "football"--yep, that briefcase was the nuclear armament codes! It's of course empty now (or is it!?!). After our tour, some of the group had lunch at the Lincoln Diner in Gettysburg.

This page is my take on a Creative Scrapbooker sketch. This is the link to a page with a step-by-step layout. I used some scraps of paper for the border across the middle and then some longer border stickers from a very old CM Christmas-themed gift pack (it had some strips of paper but never full sheets). I liked that the border helped differentiate between the house and the lunch. Since there was just one photo of the lunch I was worried about making a page. This solved that problem!

A Christmas Twist

Inside the house was made ready for Christmas eve! There were even presents under the tree! I love the way the room was lit and the tree was glowing even though it was in the afternoon.

As I said last week, this is the page I made for my stint as a guest designer with Lasting Memories. The change is that the door photo that you saw last week was originally on this page in the top left. When I got to the remaining photos I realized that I could add another indoor photo here so I carefully peeled the door off and replaced it with the poinsettias. I love collecting memorabilia and added an 8 1/2 x 11 pocket to include the tour brochure. You may recall that the left page is a Fast-to-Fabulous base in the Season's Greetings collection. I have some paper from this line too so I was able to add a bit to the pocket to help match the decorations of the left side.

The living room and dining areas were also heavily decorated for Christmas. Poinsettias were everywhere but so too were vintage decor like the Santa bottom right.

For this layout, I used CM Virtual Crop Sketch #8 from the June Worldwide Virtual Crop. Because the left page is 8 1/2 x 11 I had to modify the proportions. The large butterfly-looking piece in the middle of the sketch was reduced to just the bell on the right page. (I made that bell once before--it's several ovals stacked together). The sketch has borders around the bottom and sides. I used 2 different borders and alternated the colors so each page is a little different. I did keep the stacked corners--just a couple of scrap pieces from the Season's Greetings line. I also used mats from that collection on the right under the photos. The tree and sleigh were fussy-cut from the mats as well. I think I nearly completed this collection!