Mental Health Awareness Instagram Hop

Hi there! Today, I am taking part in an Instagram hop to help increase awareness of mental health and normalize mental health issues. So many of us struggle with depression, anxiety, and a whole host of other potential issues, but to talk about them can be quite problematic. I myself have been lucky to only experience mild anxiety, especially during this past year, but some of the people closest to me deal with severe depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, manic depression, and other difficulties on a day to day basis. Letting my dear ones know that they are not alone, that they are loved, that I hear them and see them, and that they are important are some ways that I can support them through dark days.

Hello and welcome to our Mental Health Awareness Hop, where we strive toincrease awareness and decrease the stigma associated with mental illness.We will share our mental health journey, facts and resources on mental illness, and beautiful, inspirational cards! We hope that together, we can end the stigma and talk freely about mental health. After all, 1 in 5 individuals have a mental health condition, so chances are you know someone who is struggling with it. We invite you to share your mental health journey using the hashtag #NotAlone so that we can all support and encourage you! So many sponsors have generously contributed a gift for the winners of this hop!

For my project, I chose to do some no-line watercoloring with one of my new sets from Pinkfresh Studio: It’s A New Day. When the outside world is troubling me (or when my kiddos are overwhelming my senses by being rambunctious kids), I can always turn to watercolor to try to bring some peace to my brain and calm the constantly turning mental and emotional wheels. I stamped the butterfly ranunculus images from It’s A New Day using no-line coloring ink onto some Arches cold press watercolor paper. I then used my Sennelier watercolor palette to add some shades of coral, pink, and red to the images, as well as some details using handmade metallic watercolors from Etsy. Once I’d finished watercoloring, I used the coordinating die to die cut the images.

For the greeting, I white embossed the one-piece, multi-greeting stamp from Pinkfresh Studios called Celebrating You. I thought this sentiment was perfect to remind those close to me who might be in a dark place that they are beloved by me, by many. I die cut it with the coordinating die (conveniently leaving several leftover sentiments to be used on future projects). I also die cut a frame using the Essentials: Pretty Frames 2 die from some more of the same deep coral-pink cardstock that I used for the greeting.

I also stamped a subtle, tone-on-tone background using the Floral Focus stamp set (designed to work cohesively with the It’s A New Day stamps), again on the deep coral-pink cardstock. I adhered all of the die cuts to the card front using lots of foam adhesive, adding some iridescent gems for sparkle.

There are lots and lots of prizes generously donated to the Instagram hop, so please be sure to look at the information in my Instagram post. Leaving a comment here on my blog will NOT enter you in the giveaways! (I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I just don’t want anybody to be left out of the giveaways if they are trying to enter them!)

I’m proud to take part in this hop, and I’m so honored that I was asked to do so. I think that we can all stand to be a little kinder and more understanding of each other, and caring about our fellow humans’ mental health is a great way to start. Everyone has their own struggles to deal with, and we should all care for each other and try to lift each other up. If you are struggling, I am sending you the biggest hugs. Thank you so much for reading this far, and have a marvelous day.