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. 

Lasting Memories Post 1--Wild Life

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 4 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.

This post is part of my Albuquerque trip in October 2019. I chose one of the less popular trails at Petroglyph National Monument as I wanted some solitude as I explored. There were few others on the trail but I did come across some interesting wildlife, including the coyote featured in the camera below. 

For Sunday, October 6th, the challenge is LM #722 - Pumpkins - use at least 50% orange and include something round. This layout is based on a 1-2-3 sketch from Noreen Smith. You can watch the video of her layout here. It's a pretty straightforward cut, but I did make some adjustments. Knowing that one of the paper blocks would be 4x6, I substituted the one from the printed paper with a mat I had from the matching collection. The page that I cut is the one on the far left--it's a page from the Mellow Meadows pack and is a photographic paper. I thought the thin stalks (wheat?) would match the scant vegetation of the trail I walked. I also used a laser cut title over the base cardstock where another mat was to go (Upper Right). I had thought about stretching it across the photos and the decorative mat in the middle but I decided I wanted it to be all one color. I added a coordinating journal box to keep the orange "count" up on the page. Do you think I made it to 50%? 

Madness in the Desert Part 29--Gardens in the Desert

 There was more to see than just the cliff dwellings. I enjoyed seeing the different plants along the nature trail as well as an old foundation from a "pit house". This was the original dwelling spot (recreated now) for the Puebloans of the area. They would migrate down to the cliffs later. They lived in this area for over 800 years.

This layout is a project recipe. I acquired the paper and instructions when someone signed on as a consultant under me. It was a total surprise as I didn't even know the person. So I enjoyed putting the kit together and I liked how it matched the tones of the desert life.