St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, and I don’t know about you, but this year it was particularly hard to get in the spirit. It may be a minor holiday but it’s such a fun one with all the green, and four leafed clovers, and smiles on everyone’s faces as they embrace the remotest piece of their Irish heritage. It’s also a great time to think about how LUCKY we are!
In today’s Pandemic Reality, remembering and celebrating how lucky we are has suddenly become all the more relevant. Our wonderful, creative hobby gives us the perfect opportunity to do just that by documenting past happier, luckier memories.
We put the call out to our ScrapHappy members and they came through in grand style! Let’s take a look at some of the gorgeous layouts submitted. How will they inspire your scrapbook creativity today?
First up we’ve got four St. Patrick’s Day layouts for you.
St. Patrick's Theme
I love how different each layout is. Leslie Smith found a clever way to incorporate a ton of journaling and from first glance, you wouldn’t think this was a St. Patrick’s Day layout. Just goes to show that it’s not always necessary to use overly themed products to tell your story.
Both Alice Boll and Karen Schwieger use rainbows on their layouts (an accepted St. Patrick’s Day icon) but in such a fun way. I love how they’ve both included art pieces from children on their layouts. This is a great way to both save and document those precious pieces that come home from daycare or school but that can take over your home if you’re not careful! Karen’s second layout is definitely more along the lines of what you’d think of when you think of activities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and yet, her colour choices only subtly introduce the green you typically expect from this day.
Now let’s take a look at a few more layouts from our ScrapHappy members – this time an emphasis on being or feeilng Lucky
Lucky Theme
Can you believe that all of the above layouts were created digitally? They are so layered and detailed.
Melissa Shanhun is the first to really embrace green. I love how it pulls your eye to the green jelly dessert. She spent a lot of time making that so it’s only fitting that it get the spotlight.
Cheryl Ashcraft embraces her love of her family and how lucky she feels to have them in her life. At this time in history, these layouts really speak to what I think a lot of us are feeling. Hopefully they can give you inspiration for documenting similar warm fuzzies! You’ll notice that Cheryl’s last layout includes many St. Patrick’s Day themed pieces too. This is a great use of those themed kits or ephemera packs we sometimes pick up with the greatest of intentions but then never use.
Natalie Schmidt takes time to recognize some lucky events in her life and creates a page that uses symbols of luck, like four-leaf clovers and shamrocks to really make the theme of the layout shine.
More layouts about how lucky we feel being with and having our loved ones in our lives.
Alice Boll clearly loves her husband Jonas, and I’d have to agree with her that she’s one lucky gal to have him in her life. And so are we! It’s thanks to him that we are lucky enough to have her videos from the Creativation floor documenting all the new and fabulous paper crafting products being released. Thank you Jonas! And thank you Alice!
Our last two layout examples today both come from Alice Boll and are both stories that feel slightly unexpected. I can not tell you how much I love the giant photo with the torn edge on her ‘the Lucky Ones’ layout. Having the inset photo of Alice leaning on the hood of their rental car overlaid on that giant picture of the highway in Maui really gives you a sense of being there. Can’t you just feel the wind in your hair? And the watercolor journaling block evokes Hawaiian blue skies and beaches. Simply gorgeous.
So as we practice Social Distancing right now, and are forced to spend more time at home with our families, what can you find to feel lucky about? Do you have a favourite pet, or reading nook, or crafting supply that you can talk about or use on your next layout? Is the sun shining where you are to allow you to get some fresh air and see the season change. Take the time to document that change – either the new growth, melting snows, and cherry blossoms of spring in the northern hemisphere, or cooler days and changing leaves in the southern hemisphere. How about your online friends? Are you gathering over Zoom or Google Hangout? Grab a screenshot of all your smiling faces and document that in your scrapbooks.
Or maybe you’ve got years of St. Patrick’s Day parties, parades, Leprechaun Traps, and Guinness pints to talk about. Now’s the time to “catch up”! However you are feeling lucky, share it with us by posting a layout in our gallery. Not a ScrapHappy member? No problem. Leave us a link to your layout in the comments. And if you’re interested in membership please visit https://scraphappy.org/join/. You can sign up today and become a part of the best scrapbook family on the internet!
By Alison Day.