Rejoice

Easter 2024 was early this year - it seemed to sneak in between snowstorms in upstate NY! But even though the spring weather was non-existent, I will always associate Easter with spring, flowers, new life but most importantly an empty tomb.

While our kids have received Easter baskets, decorated Easter eggs, and visited the Easter bunny, I am confident they know they true meaning of this celebration - Jesus' death and resurrection. Our faith is not something we put on the shelf and dust off for Christmas and Easter, but something we live and practice each day.

I do love the celebratory feel of Easter as we stop and meditate on the reason for the celebration and fun traditions. One tradition we have, along with so many other families, is taking a family picture. Here is 2023’s family picture - the first with Azzy - and I always try to create a layout that celebrates not only the season, but the joy we feel because of Easter.

Scrapbooking Tips

I absolutely loved the pattern paper in Echo Park's My Favorite Easter collection, I and picked out the floral pattern paper for the focal point of my layout. Because the print and colors are so bold, I decided to keep everything else simple. I used the coordinating solid papers to mat my photo, and it created some contrast to the pattern.

To create my title, I used one of the coordinating stickers that said, "Rejoice." Before adhering, I overlapped the word sticker onto a floral sticker. Then, I added this to the bottom right corner of my layout with foam adhesive. One of the phrase stickers from the sticker sheet said, “It’s Easter!” and I added it under the word rejoice.

For the opposite corner of the photo mat, I wanted to create a mirror effect. The only problem was there was only one floral sticker like the one I had already used. There were single flower stickers left, and I created the floral cluster in the top corner. I learned from many other scrapbookers, when creating clusters, start with the largest elements first and add to it. Getting it to look “just right” was a trial-and-error process. It took a couple attempts, but I finally settled on the look shown here. I added foam adhesive to give it dimension and added it to the top left corner. I added one more word sticker to help “wrap” the cluster around the corner and then I left well enough alone!

A simple stitched border around the floral rectangle was the only other embellishing I did, following the suggestion of the sketch I was working from. I like creating layouts like this because they are not time or work intensive, but the finished product still has a simple and sweet look.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock - Simple stories

Pattern paper, Stickers - Echo Park

Embroidery Floss - DMC