I finally finished the beach-themed scrapbook I’ve been working on for more than a month. It features a ton of photos like this one:
My daughter adores the sun, sand and surf. She swims like a fish; however her new passion is boogie boarding. I really tried to highlight her love of riding waves in several layouts, though the rest of the memory album is dedicated to other beach adventures.
One of my most favorite page designs pays homage to our last day at a beloved beach in Hawaii. I tried to recreate the topography of Hapuna Beach by covering the entire scrapbook page with sand. It’s a technique I may regret employing down the road, but for now, I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
I started by creating frames for all of the photos I planned to showcase on the page. Next, I selected my embellishments (such as die cuts in the shape of palm trees, beach umbrellas and sand toys) and placed them on the layout. Finally, I sketched a wave shape and included two poems in it that summed up the good times we shared during our trip to Hawaii. Finally, I carefully covered the remainder of the page with adhesive and gently sprinkled sand over it. I pressed the grains down a bit with the palm of my hand, waited about 20 minutes, and then shook off the excess.
So far so good.
I then went back and highlighted the wave-shaped journaling block with blue glitter. Now the following poems I chose to feature there shine as brightly as the summer sun:
Life’s a Beach
Author: Patricia Polka
At the beach, life’s different.
Time doesn’t move
Waves crash the ocean front,
Kissing my feet.
Sea glass glistens in the sun,
The warm air dances around me
Giving a new start to the world.
The sand tingles under my feet
Like being tickled by love.
Laying on the beach shore,
Tanning the day away.
The tans may fade,
But memories
Never do.
Ode to Surfing
While herein words I cannot put
Nor in frame may cameras capture
Those hallowed waves through which we slip
And ride this life of rapture.
To be or not
The state of me
Rests on a vexing question.
Were not I dealt this salty deck
“Not to be” leads in which misdirection?
Yet here we are
While lost are thee
If not aboard and riding free
For we may fleeting lines convey
The pulse which guides a surfer’s way.