Blazing a Trail

After my "dip" in the Bluestone River, we decided to take the River Trail. They had not maintained all of the trail, which was confusing, but we did manage a nice walk. I found some hanging vines along the trail and persuaded Jim to do a little "Tarzan" impersonation. Although it is called the River Trail (and does start near the river), we ended up on a path further into the hills for the return part of the trip.

I chose one of Cheryl Even's sketches for this layout (I love that she allows so many photos on the layouts). You can see a copy of it here. The sketch calls for a border at the bottom. I chose the one on the left page that I had made in one of my Saturday classes with my customers. The technique will work with any paper pack and is great for using up scraps. Cut any color of cardstock to 1 1/2" wide, then cut a bunch of 1" strips of paper. Start away from a corner, lay one of the strips diagonally across the cardstock, and then trim the ends. Continue mixing and matching strips along the length, cutting off the extra at the edges. For the left side, I added a small title and embellishments from the coordinating sticker pack (this is all from Hello Autumn). When I decided to use the border, I found more papers and created another matching one. (I matched the angle of the paper from the first border so that there was consistency across the page. After that, I simply mounted the highlight photo on a mat and arranged the rest of the pictures and memorabilia. I found that lovely mat card and turned it into a journal box. I switched to a white pen when I got to the dark green section of the card.

Am I Bluestone

Once we reached the resort, I headed over to where the river flowed and could put my hand in the river. Now I have officially visited the park!😀 What's interesting is that while Pipestem is the official location of the park, there are no stamps here. I obtained the stamp about 40 miles from here, at the New River Gorge Visitor Center. 

I used the CM Virtual Crop Sketch from September 2024 for this layout. Scroll to layout #5. I chose a vibrant background cardstock (Goldenrod), so my designer papers are more tonal, and the colors are muted. These are scraps from Hello Autumn, which is just about gone. I did add some embellishments from Leave Nothing Behind, but the photos do most of the work on this layout.

Risky Business

On the 3rd day of our vacation, we traveled south to get to the 3rd and last National Park, the Bluestone National Scenic River. Our best way to visit was to go to Pipestem State Park. During the trip, my sister-in-law Kristin was considering trying a zip line, but we never arranged that. This was the next best thing. To get to the river and the resort, take an aerial tram (gondola) down the mountain. The "Ride at your own risk" sign gave us a little pause, but it was a very comfortable and pretty ride down. 

This layout was made using a 1-page (12x12) sketch by Cheryl Even. I doubled it by creating a mirror image of the page on the left. I wish I could tell you the name of the paper packs I used for this. I was going through scraps, and I could only identify the tan strips in the middle. That's part of Hello Autumn. The leaves are part of an older "Fall In" collection. I liked how bright and cheery they were on this layout. 

Serenely Silent

 Our visit ended with the main Patterson House and burial ground. There were a few more stories of the battle and a description of why someone not family is buried here. The story of the fight in the cornfield reminds me of other battlefields I've seen. Imagine the devastation to a family's income for the year or starvation in the area because the crops were crushed in the fighting.

This is another layout from the Croptoberfest 2016 pack. This layout does something I RARELY do--the background papers are different! They are, of course, coordinated, and the softened tones of the pattern lent themselves to the reflective mood of the photos.

That's a Deep Subject

Near the farmhouse stood a gazebo-like building. Further investigation revealed that it was the site of the well. Oddly, the structure would not have been historically present during the battle. In 2000, a "witness tree" fell over in a windstorm. To preserve the memory of the tree, they cut it into lumber and constructed this well covering. I suppose that's a thoughtful way to keep the story going.

This layout is a page from a 2016 Creative Memories Croptoberfest (if you sense a theme to these pages, you're right--they are all part of the same box of "Fall" themed papers). When I assembled this kit (and it pre-dates me as an advisor, so I never taught it to anyone), I put the photo mats in place as directed in the recipe. And, of course, when I added my photos, they were all in the wrong direction. So I used my Multi-purpose tool to pull them up. A few remnants of paper or tears were still visible, but most of them could be covered by strategically relocating the mats. I then added the "having FUN!" card (leftover from a Paper Loft kit) to cover some additional goofs. 

Same Old Story

Happy Valentine's Day to all! I hope you LOVE my layout 😁💕😊 

After leaving the woods, we found ourselves at the edge of the plantation. We could see the canon and many signs regarding the Civil War battle fought here. I was surprised not only that the battle took place (I'd never heard of Carnifex Ferry before our trip) but also that it secured the division of the states to create West Virginia! There must also be other factors, but it's undoubtedly part of the story.

This page is part of a kit I got as a visit to a scrapbook store during the Buggies and Buds Shop Hop. This was a fun activity that my mom and I often did. At the end of September through Columbus Day, a small group of stores in Central Pennsylvania connected and hosted an event where we would travel from store to store getting our book stamped (guess why I enjoyed it). Along the way, we got "Make and Take" kits, usually greeting card kits but occasionally scrapbook layouts. This had been a 2-page layout, but I used the other side of the design previously. I liked the old wagon here as a 'tip of the hat' to the Civil War era.

There's a Fungus Among Us

After leaving the falls overlook, we continued the trail. The foliage was lovely, and since we weren't hurrying, we could stop and look around. The yellow diamond is the blaze for this trail. You can see in one photo below that we were amidst some very tall trees (that's Jim compared to the tree heights). And then I came across that stump that was just COVERED in mushrooms! 

This layout is from the Creative Memories 2022 Croptoberfest collection. And believe it or not, you can STILL order it! Check out this link. Below are the sample layouts that the Project Recipe kit makes. You can see that I rearranged where I wanted my photos on the pages (this layout is at the bottom of the 2 samples). When I help people create the pages, we always stop before attaching the photo mats. That way, when you are ready to use them, you can adjust the layouts to your photos. But since the tree had mushrooms and the layout had mushrooms--it's almost like they were meant to happen together!