May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Get Inspired for Scrap Therapy!

Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness month? Whether you’re on a long journey with your mental health or the stress of the last few years is weighing heavy on you, art therapy is an amazing way to express some of those emotions and frustrations that can come with just being human!

The TRD team came through with amazing projects in the Mental Health theme to help inspire you!

Theresa - Time To Thrive

Making art is a powerful tool for our mental health! I’ve learned over the years to document the successes – however small or seemingly inconsequential they may be. Sometimes, if I don’t feel I have any successes in the moment, I just create something to remind myself of things I need to hear. My art journal page today started digitally, with the Time to Thrive collection. I opened up a new canvas in Photoshop that was the same size as my notebook, and then I began to place different embellishments from the collection. I also added a few random brush strokes to add more texture where I wanted it. I added my photo, and left space for a bit of physical embellishing like my title.

Once I had the layout planned in PS, I then separated out the layers I wanted to be in dimensional form. This left a wonderful background that looks like a typical art journal page! I printed that along with my embellishments and photo. I adhered the background paper into my notebook and added a few strips of washi tape. Then I adhered the photo and flowers and dimensional embellishments. I always love using stamps in my layouts, so I used my Hero Arts wood alphabet to create the title, along with a Citrus Twist stamp set to add a few more details. I hope you are inspired to create a hybrid art journal page today, to remind you of the best things about yourself!

Cathy - Wildflower

It’s just a lot isn’t it? The last two years? Everything is a lot. And it’s heavy. It’s heavy on me and it’s heavy on you. As a Mom of three, they keep telling me that the “kids are gonna be alright”. Are they? I worry so much about them, I am not so sure. This page documents my feelings surrounding my kids and their education during yet another lockdown in early 2022. It was a time that I felt the world on my shoulders and I began to document some of those feelings like this one in order to help me cope with all the anxieties of the day. Journaling was something that helped get me through that period of my life. Maybe it’s something you could try next time you are feeling the heavy weights of the world. This page is heavy on the storytelling and true to my style clean and simple. It is perfectly embellished with the Wildflower collection.

Caroline - Happy Day + Time To Thrive

Maintaining good mental health is HUGE for me. I’m really big on self-care and self-love and both of these things are essential for my own mental health. I’ve struggled on occasion in the past - with overwhelm, anxiety, feeling low … and one thing that always helped me to come through was reframing my challenges … to deliberately BE positive in my thoughts, even when I didn’t FEEL it in my heart. Positive thoughts always created a shift within me and helped me to heal.
I was SO PROUD to see my teen start to post loads of positive affirmations on her WhatsApp status. She’s been going through a tough time of it lately in the run up to exams. Amazing to see that she has quietly seen what I do and started to do it herself without my suggesting it to her. Who cares what the exams hold for her (although I know she will do FAB) I feeling so happy that she aced a life exam with this bit of self-care! Go girl!

I decided to combine two collections for this project. The current Happy Day collection and also the classic Time to Thrive. Although these collections are very different I think they look gorgeous together! I combined papers and also florals from both collections. Those lovely sentiment word bits are from Time to Thrive - perfect for this page!

Details

Eraizza - Time to Thrive

One of the best ways to take care of our mental health is to remind ourself that we are worthy. Today, I decided to make this mental health tags and decided to place it all around my planners. It serves as decoration and reminder of positivity.

I really love the Time to Thrive Collection as it highlights words that we are sometimes shy to say to ourself.

This project is very simple. I printed out the tags and diecuts from the kit. Put them together and this cute tags. Finished it with some recycled string.

The best way to place it is in planner pockets and I decided to match it with a dashboard too.

I hope you enjoy the simple project I shared with you!

Details

Allie

For today's project on mental health, I used some of the journals that Traci and I worked on together. Traci's gorgeous designs on the front, with some fun and easy ways to document how you're feeling inside the books. (Check out the video HERE to see the insides!)

I then used two of the pages (plus the cover page!) to write a little bit about how I've been feeling... and of course, I also had to decorate with some 3x4 cards and washi! I love how Traci's designs always allow space for *feelings* -- even the ones that don't usually make it in our happy scrapbooks!

Documenting how we are ACTUALLY feeling can do wonders for both us looking back, as well as future generations. Don't just document the "happy and perfect" times!

Details