The Great Western Journey Part 6--A Jewel in the NPS

 The next morning we drove to Jewel Cave. We had planned to arrive early to get in line for tickets but had a small delay in some roadwork being done. Interesting that in Wyoming they tear up both sides of the road, down to the dirt and you have to be escorted across the work zone by another truck. So we didn't get an early tour as we wanted. Since we had some extra time we visited nearby Crazy Horse Monument which was a nice diversion (and a good place for lunch) until we could return for the tour.

This cave has small filigree, crystalline structures in the deposits, and some of the walls sparkle from reflected light. A ranger guides you along the path based on the tour you've selected. We chose one that was on a boardwalk through the caves. I was NOT going to have to try to squeeze through the box to prove I could get through some of the tighter passages off the main trails.

This layout is one that I made from a Paper Loft class I took in Lancaster. The only decorations are word boxes. They are so colorful that you don't really need any other decorations. I used the 3 photo spaces on the right for more words, the tickets, and some journaling. It's lovely to use up my pre-made pages.

No one knows just how long the cave system goes. There are still people who find new off-shoot tunnels. In the 5 years since we've been there, they have "added" to the known areas and it is now over 200 miles in length.  Because we had to stay on the walkway, it was difficult to get a lot of close-up photos of the calcite crystals. The brochure does a great job of demonstrating that though.

This layout is from a class I took this fall. I wanted to use the crystals in the brochure as the theme of the page. To do that I chose the Silver and Gold tonal paper pack that was a limited-time purchase from Creative Memories. I used blue background paper and other decorative elements from the Emerald Gemstones pack. There are some blue/green highlights in the photos and it gives a great pop of color to the gold tone papers. The borders are the icicle border maker cartridge. But placed on these pages it works as a stalactite as well! 

The Great Western Journey Part 5--The Devil is in the Details

After leaving Fort Laramie we headed to Devils Tower (cue the Close Encounters theme music). It is truly amazing how much that tower dominates the landscape. The photo on the left page is from miles away from the park. It was a scenic overlook we stopped at to get our first glimpse. We arrived in the afternoon and there was still a line of cars awaiting entrance. We didn't have time to stop and get the traditional sign photo so I just captured that one through the window.

This layout is another Club Scrap layout that I created from their National Park collection. I've been waiting to use this set as I thought that the yellow print WAS Devil's Tower. Turns out it is from Yosemite. Well, it could be either I guess.The card on the 2nd page next to the photo of me was made by my friend Sharon Aubuchon as a table decoration for one of our NPTC conventions. I was able to take several with me and could incorporate it as a decorative mat on the layout. I added the 2 stickers on the bottom right as I didn't have photos to fit that slot. That provides some consistency with the left border.

I talked to the Ranger and said I wanted to get good photographs and avoid a lot of people. The Ranger recommended this trail (I forget the name of it) and though it was a little buggy we were able to get the photos we wanted. The tower and flag photo is just outside the Ranger Station.

This is layouts 3 and 4 from the same Club Scrap link as above. I did switch out the journal box as I liked the quote on this one. When I created the page I opted out of using the burlap strip and instead added a piece of CM paper that had a similar texture to it. 

What I didn't know about before our visit was the extensive Prairie Dog town in the park. I had a great time observing them run around. Jim snuck that photo of me but I didn't really mind. 

This layout is based on a sketch I saved on Pinterest. The paper on the left is from Scrapbook Customs and though it's a really close-up view of the tower, it fits the dirt tone of the prairie dogs. The right-hand page is a striped piece from a South Dakota scrapbook pack I was given. It matched the tower fairly well. The border on the top right is a scrap piece from a 7x7 nature-themed paper from old CM. I had a couple of brown ovals in my scrap bin so I used them in place of the circles on the sketch. The sticker on the upper right one is from a Wind Cave sticker sheet (I didn't notice prairie dogs when we were there). It shows up much better in real life. 

The Great Western Journey Part 4--Which Came First?

The title for this week's post is a little tongue-in-cheek (well, aren't they all) because the last few photos I had for the Fort were of the bar, the jail, and the Native American display in the visitor center. I'm assuming the use of the bar came before the use of the jail but it could have been otherwise. I'm surprised that the pool table is a period piece. The bar was certainly impressive. 

This layout is based on a Power Hour from Meggan and Tessa. I used the Wide Open Places pack and 2 pieces of paper that were scraps from other layouts. I didn't think far enough ahead and so the one strip has horses running up and down the page instead of across but I couldn't match up the pieces any other way. The True Grit sticker is left from the Dakota CTMH pack. These foiled stickers are very temperamental and fragile. If you don't handle them correctly they will rip--so placement is key as you get only one chance.

Information on the Native Americans was sparse--just one display inside the visitor center. I'm hoping they are augmenting these displays. There was quite a bit of trade with them over the years. And a lot of treaties were signed here.

This layout is based on the October Bonus challenge for the CM virtual crop in October 2022. Instead of a tower of cake (or as some people tried--a Christmas tree), I chose to make a teepee reminiscent of the one in the photos. The background is quite simple--a piece of dark green cardstock and a strip of the brown print from the Wide Open Places pack. I took a separate piece of cardstock and layered my strips of paper on it. Then I cut it with a slight angle from the top to the bottom on each side to get the tent shape. I think the varied stripes are what provide the Native American flair to the decoration. A couple of cactus stickers and a couple of die-cut elements provided the flow through the page.

The Great Western Journey Part 3--All in the Family

 Remember the big white building from last week's pages? This is the inside. There are several floors to visit. You cannot go into the rooms, you can see things from the doorway (and hopefully the glass doesn't create glare as you try to photograph through it). The main areas feature the officer quarters. Junior officers may share a room or set of rooms with space for desks and dining as well as sleeping. The belongings reflect a wide variety from "western" with hides and animal heads to more decorative touches including curtains. On the right page is the kitchen. Likely there would have been a cook to make most of the meals.

This layout is based on one of Meggan and Tessa's Power Hours. The right-hand pages had some long photos after I cobbled the sets together. This layout lets me take advantage of the space across the middle for those photos. I also added a 6x12 Peekaboo pocket to the top on the right for one more long photo. Underneath is also a large journaling box to tell the story. I used the technique of cutting ovals on the top of the peekaboo pocket to maintain consistency with the page when it is opened. These papers are part of the old Earthy power pack that I'm still trying to use up. They do lend themselves to the old-time living quite well though.

More senior officers would travel with their families and so you see high chairs, cradles, and toys among the furnishings. Likely there would have been a small schoolhouse in the area for the older children.

This layout is based on one of my Scrap Your Stash monthly classes. I cut the paper backwards but it works in either direction. I used some of the Paper Loft heritage papers for this layout including that journal card with the "Family" in matching fabric prints. The doll and pram stickers are old CM products. The school books and blocks are from a sheet of stickers I bought a long time ago at a Current outlet in the Poconos. I'm rather surprised they still stick.

Great Western Journey Part 2--Home on the Range

The calvary barracks included the bunks, tack, and prep kitchen. They could house over a hundred soldiers at once in several different units. And look, they even have names on each set of equipment! That's doing your research!

This layout is part of a Western Kit I got from Club Scrap. Truthfully-it's 2 layouts. I mixed the pages together because I thought they fit the photos better. The left page above is the right page from layouts 7&8. The right page is the left page from layouts 1&2. So remember--it's your scrapbook. You can arrange the pages as you like!

On the grounds are numerous buildings where the fort personnel were housed. Some of the barracks are tumbling down. Even the wooden structures are reproductions as it was more likely that people came and took the wood for other houses in the area or just for firewood. But the big building on the left page below held a number of recreated rooms for officers. And of course, there is a home for wildlife.

This is a layout I made based on the October Power Hour by Meggan and Tessa. I used a combination of Mellow Meadows (the background), earthy (the strips), and a homey-type paper with a green and wood-grain look to it (I can't remember which kit). The top borders are some VERY old Close to My Heart stickers from their Dakota pack. I still have a few sheets of stickers though the papers are gone (which is a shame--I really liked that pack). The bottom strips are from a sheet I picked up that had the words of the song on it--each line with a different 1" border. I thought these 2 would be great for this layout though I am still determining how I'll finish using the words. 

Great Western Journey Part 1--Fort Laramie

Our first park stop on the trip was Fort Laramie. We had quite an adventure GETTING there (just remember to follow the directions on the park website and NOT the GPS or you too will enjoy the rutted dirt road path to the park. And possibly get stopped by cattle moving across the road.) Fort Laramie is an important historic site as it was both a trading post and a military installation. 

This layout is based on this sketch from Creative Memories October 2022 Virtual Crop. I organize my papers by theme so I pulled my "Western" folder out and found the Wide Open Places from Creative Memories this summer. The wood-grained background sets off the myriad of entry plaques and signs. The middle is the Field Fence border punch that coordinates so well. All of those items are currently available on my CM store site (see right column). The sketch calls for a halved circle to augment the photos. I chose instead to cut a journal box in half that had a diamond-shaped opening. That left some space to mount my very old CM stickers.

Fort Laramie was also one of the stops on the Pony express. Those signs matched the beginning photos of our first building (even before we got to the visitor center) which was a calvary barracks. We could see through the windows for some of the rooms and could stop at the doorways for the larger barracks rooms.

This is another Virtual Crop sketch from October. I continued using the Wide Open Places papers. I "gutted" the 2 background papers and just turned the inside square over to provide 2 contrasting colors. I love the horse paper as the accent strips! The kit contained the western themed journal box and stickers to finish off the layout.

Is it a Loop or a Journey?

 Our next few months will follow the journey Jim and I took in the summer of 2017 to the NPTC convention in the Rocky Mountain Region (the host park is Mount Rushmore). Jim tends to name the big trips (you'll remember Connie's Northern Migration? That was his brainchild). And I really thought this one was called the Great Western Loop. But my notes and photo albums call it a Journey. So we'll pick one and use that as we move through the pages. 

For the kick-off page, I based this on an idea I pinned. It says Project Recipe, but it was created by a fellow consultant so it's not an authentic Project Recipe. It does use up a calendar page and I have a few of those in my stash to use up. I used scrap papers from the Scenic Route collection (and scraps are about all I have left!). I cut the squares as directed and arranged them so the colors were mixed across the page. The directions leave a couple of blocks open and I used those to handwrite the title and date. The top and bottom are filled with laser-cut borders from the pack. The top one reflects our long drive. The bottom was for all the farms we passed in the midwest. I hardly ever put more than a title on kick-off pages, but I had no idea how else to incorporate that unigrid for the Midwest. Even though this is a Rocky Mountain Region convention, we also saw sites in the Midwest so I decided to mount it to the page with a large memorabilia pocket.

The next 2 pages are, as usual, the itinerary of the trip. I had two other random photos of our flight out (doesn't Jim look cute?) that I wanted to include. I also mapped our route on Google Maps and took a screenshot that I printed on photo paper. 

The background pages are a fold-over technique. I taught a class one weekend where we made an entire pack of decorative papers into layouts by folding them in various ways and mounting them on cardstock. I wanted to use these 2 as they had the clouds and I thought it perfect for the flight photos. I added the borders across the top. Both are border-maker cartridges and given how much I travel, they are well-used. I thought the Journey of a Thousand Miles quote worked perfectly for this page. When mounting vellum, I use the CM Vellum adhesive. When you rub over the vellum to adhere it to the page, the adhesive disappears. A few more random travel stickers from my stash completed the layout.