Hello, and Happy Monday! Emily here to start off a fun St. Patrick's Day week here on the October Afternoon blog! This week we will be focusing on the color green and/or the idea of luck. For my challenge, I decided to step outside the box a bit and asked my talented friend Patricia Roebuck to create a layout using the theme, "It's not easy being green." I told her that her layout should include a topic about something difficult...perhaps something she wouldn't ordinarily scrapbook. We as scrapbookers are always making page after page of our smiling kids, our fun cup of coffee, or our favorite travel destination. However, life isn't perfect, and sometimes we all need a little push to make a layout about something not so pleasant. The color green, I told Patricia, was optional. Patricia didn't use green on her layout...and, boy am I glad she didn't...because it's amazing:
I know. Your jaw is on the ground right now, isn't it? It's AMAZING! I love rainbows and this is just perfect!! Here is what Patricia had to say about her layout:
"Emily’s challenge had me thinking of so many ideas, and then the phrase, ‘it’s not always rainbows and unicorns’ popped in my head. I used the Scones pattern paper from Saturday Mornings to create a ‘pinwheel’ of rainbow colors. I used the Daily Flash alphas to do the title. And then repeated the rainbow theme throughout. Even though my journaling is ‘real’ and not about happy things, I wanted to keep the layout positive and cheery, but kept the journaling brief. I have a process video you can watch here. Thank you so much Emily for this challenge!"
When I created this challenge, I also had tons of ideas in mind for a layout. Let's face it...I have lots of less than perfect moments every day!! I decided to use my challenge title, "It's not easy being green" as my inspiration - and I changed it to "It's not easy being 3" instead. I searched high and low for a photo of my three year old having a tantrum, because, let's face it, he has them often, so there is probably a photo somewhere. But, I couldn't find one, so I decided instead to use on looking down on him from above that I took last fall. I wasn't planning on creating a green layout, however I've been on a bit of a monochromatic layout kick lately, and I had fun choosing some green papers and elements from various different OA lines. I've discovered that green is one color that October Afternoon surprisingly doesn't have a ton of, so I added some aqua into the mix, as well! That big "3" is a leftover from the December Story kit!
The best part about this layout, in my opinion, is that while I was finishing it up, my three year old just happened to come upstairs to "help" me scrapbook. As I was typing my journaling onto the two tags, he "helped" me by turning the handle while I was typing a few times, typing an extra letter or two for me, and thoroughly distracting me enough to totally screw up in a few places, which is rough when your typewriter doesn't have a correction ribbon! I decided to leave it all as is, thus the errors and the crossed out word. It makes this totally authentic!
He also really, really wanted to "help" me take the picture of the layout. He sat just as close as he possibly could...and did manage to move it around a few times...
We would love for you to play along with our "It's not easy being green" challenge! Upload your layout to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon. Happy Monday, and happy scrapping!