Back to the Future! Or at least 2013

Hello from Scrap Central! As you read this I am at my yearly getaway weekend with my family and friends. We'll be creating new pages and I'm sure some of them will appear in a later blog.

Before taking a 24-week look at the NPTC Centennial convention in 2016, I was posting about my Oklahoma trip in September 2012. My next adventure in a National Park didn't occur until March 2013, so that's where we are picking up.

Jim and I had traveled to DC for a Spring Break getaway. I was hoping to see the Cherry Blossoms but we were a bit early (and it was still pretty chilly!) My first stop was at the southeast side of Pennsylvania Avenue at the Navy Memorial.

I made the left page for a Creative Memories virtual crop from this sketch. (You may have to scroll down a little to see it). To me this is similar to the sketch I used to make the Clara Barton page (again, you'll have to scroll a little). This uses the "Brave" pack from CM (now discontinued, and I just made the page in October 2018 so you can see how fast they sell out!). I liked the camouflage background in blue since this was more of a nautical theme. The bottom right flag is a cut-apart mat from the Stars and Stripes paper pack (also discontinued). The blue and red cardstock help to highlight the photos and provide a calm part of the page to put some stickers. The border at the top uses the CM Border Maker system with the star cartridge. The card in the middle is actually a piece from a postcard I picked up at the site. It turned into a nice title box.

After I finished the left page I realized I had more photos to include of the murals. I used another page from Brave for the right side, and stuck to all red mats to highlight the photos. I journaled directly on the paper with a silver pen. The 2 blue stickers (anchor and ship) are ANCIENT CM stickers from my stash. Don't you love the feeling of finishing up using a page of stickers? :) The red stars at the top were the ones punched from the border on the left! How easy to use up those scraps!

Centennial part 24--The Final Entry

Wow! It's been a 6-month journey showing the week I spent in and around Philadelphia for our NPTC convention during the NPS Centennial. Thanks for joining me and enjoy the last few layouts!

After Elfreth's Alley I returned to the Independence Visitor Center for the evening picnic (which was also a club meetup event). I did enough walking that day to complete a 5K race! (In 8 hours, but who's counting?)

The club members and I pulled out chairs and blankets and settled on the lawn area just outside the visitor center. The re-enactors were around and now included Teddy Roosevelt, Ben Franklin, and a few others. There was music and food and the components for a time capsule.

This layout is another kit that I purchased from Our Memories For Life, so most of the work was pre-designed. I placed some of the stars and the photos. Easy!

One highlight of the event was the free ice cream.

One more of the pre-purchased kits. I had bought a series for the summer and frankly was worried I would never get a chance to use it as I don't have kids and there are few opportunities to photograph a trip to the ice cream stand. Again, an easy layout and as I was close to the end of the book, a welcome way to finish.

We posed for a group photo with our new banners and I thought this was a great way to end the book.

The last page is simply blue gingham wallpaper (for the picnic feel) and a trimmed large group photo. The title stickers at the top you've seen before. As I'm getting close to the end of the pack I did have to modify them a bit to get all the letters I wanted, but I love that green leafy background for this layout. And that was all there was to it! (I even managed to lay them in a straight line this time).

Next week we'll return to 2013 and my ongoing National Park Adventures.

Centennial part 23--A Tiny Alley

After Christ Church, I consulted the map and realized I was quite close to Elfreth's Alley. Not truly part of the park system, but one of the earliest settled areas in Philadelphia. In fact you can still see the Fire Association markers on the houses dating back to the 18th century! And if you want a tiny link to the NPS, Ben Franklin was one of the city leaders who brought "modern" firefighting to Philadelphia.

The left page is wallpaper with a brick toned paper. I thought that appropriate to the venue! The right page is scraplifted from this image. The background paper is from Graphic 45. I bought quite a few sheets of that as it works well with all the historic photos I have. I think I purchased the brick on the left to use as the middle of this layout but I liked it for the houses better and I used a piece of brick colored cardstock for the center on the right. I chalked the edges with black ink to give it a little smoky essence. I trimmed the fire association photos to ovals to match the emblems and to fit more on one page. For that I used the CM oval custom cutting system templates.

Centennial part 22--Christ Church

The ranger walk ended at the historic Christ Church. I chose to go inside and listened to one of the tour guides for a bit but mostly looked around on my own.

This layout is scraplifted from this layout. It's an older Noreen Smith layout using the CM Reminisce papers. I turned it into a 2-page layout by stretching out the corner components. The left sheet of paper has the oval decoration pre-printed at the top. I added a "blessings" sticker (since it's a church) and created a 4-point oval. I ended up finding a similar item in my Cricut files and was able to turn it into a journal box. The remaining photos were matted with paper from the kit to give a little contrast around the page.

Centennial part 21--the Ranger Walk

Finally it was time for the Ranger Walk. I met the ranger and a few other people in the Signer's Garden but we quickly moved down to Carpenter's Hall. We didn't go inside (most likely because it isn't part of the NPS), just sat and listened to the ranger a bit. It wasn't a formally planned walk and since the people with me hadn't seen much of Franklin's Court, we walked over there.

This layout is from Paper Loft and is one I made at a scrapbook convention in Lancaster. The paper is called Happenstance (I think). It had just enough of a vintage feel to work with these historic places. Since the class included placing the photo mats, I just used them as part of the background putting a sticker or larger photo over several mats to make the layout work.

We toured a house that Franklin owned but sublet, his book binding office and of course the print shop. Though I'd seen much of this before, it was still a nice visit.

For the left page I used a wallpaper that is all old postcards. I thought that with the book and post office images it was a good fit. The right side page is a fast to fabulous from the Adventure pack by CM. I had been SAVING this for these photos specifically as it is all about set type. The letter embellishments are from Club Scrap and there really isn't any reason that the letters are spaced around like that other than I needed some page fillers. :) Those embellishments have been "chalked" around the edges. This means I dragged an ink pad lightly over the cut edges. This is a good thing to do when your embellishment and the paper it rests on are of similar or matching tones. You get a touch of definition but nothing too overt. I have some old CM chalk (of course) but there are many companies that sell something similar.

Centennial part 20--Military Hall

My next stop was just down the street from the portrait gallery. This small museum highlights the history of the US military, though more specifically the navy and marines.

I bought this kit, though  I cannot remember the name of the company that produced it. I liked that there were some nautical themes so that it worked for the navy/marines component of this museum. The anchor and the ship's wheel/rocket mats use the "polaroid" style mats that came with the kit. Another is used for a photo on the top of the right page. Several other photos got a white mat to help them pop from the background though a few didn't need the help. Because it was a pre-designed kit it went together fairly quickly but I was still able to modify it to work with my photos and needs.

Centennial Part 19--The Portrait Gallery

After lunch I started to wander around the Independence sites. I wanted to take a ranger tour in the afternoon and then return to the visitor center for a picnic. Until the ranger talk started I walked over to the Second National Bank which is now a portrait gallery. There is an entire gallery of Peale portraits, but so much more!

This layout was scraplifted from this layout. I spent quite a bit of time putting small strips of scraps together to underlie the right central box, and then ended up covering up almost all of it with the journal box at the top. Well, I did get rid of some scraps this way!