Beach Time

To say that this is a crazy time is an understatement. However, if there is one thing that my life has taught me is to count my blessings, and one of my biggest blessings during our quarantine is that I have more time to scrapbook. When I was upset, stressed or worried, Dave would always take care of the boys and would send me to my scrapbooking area and tell me to just, “Scrap it out!” And that is what I’m doing with all my extra time, and I am so grateful for this creative outlet that is such a stress reliever! Looking at photos of my family is one way I can count my many blessings.

This past weekend I participated in my first online crop through Scrapbook Generation’s Scrap Squad, which is a Facebook group run by my all-time favorite scrapbookers, Allison Davis and Debbie Sanders. They presented a couple of scrapbooking challenges, giving us until Sunday at midnight to complete. When our pages were done, we’d upload a picture and it was so much fun to see all the amazing layouts completed! Talk about scrapbooking inspiration!

I’m sharing the layout I created for the 8x8 paper challenge. Debbie Sanders had created multiple sketches featuring 8x8 blocks of paper. Our challenge was to pick one sketch and design our layout. 

I pulled out some photos and paper I had set aside for an upcoming vacation album I’ll be working on. Using different colored papers, I cut my 8x8 squares and adhered them on my white card stock.

Then I arranged my 6x4 photos and 4x4 photos on my layout. One element I added that wasn’t on the original sketch was a ¼” striped border on top of the 6x4 photos. I LOVE using stripes on my layout because it’s a quick easy way to add a lot of color.

My favorite element on my layout were the hibiscus flowers and leaves. I made these flowers using the tropical2stamp dies from my all-time favorite stamping company, The Stamps of Life. You can purchase your own hibiscus stamps and dies here: tropical2stamp dies

I matched the color of my hibiscus flowers to the colors in the striped paper. I framed the upper left corner of the photos and the title. But to create a visual triangle, I added one more flower on the bottom row of photos.

This layout was so easy to put together and I loved the results! If you’re looking for a quick and easy layout to get your creative juices flowing you should check out these free sketches from Scrapbook Generation: Sketches Using 8x8 Paper. Happy Scrapping!