a {creative call}

As I’m venturing deeper in to this New Year and all the evaluating and envisioning and planning and fresh starting that comes along with fresh years I have been considering the evolution of my creativity and my designing and my hopes and visions for Plant Your Story and Zinnias & Swallowtails, I have a special spot of news!  I am having a quick call this weekend during the birthday festivities at The Lilypad!

I am looking for some individuals who love to scrap their stories, who enjoy journaling, playing with paper, making pretty things, documenting the everyday, or sharing their creativity.  And so….{a call}.

Do you love to scrap? Do you love to tell your stories? Do you love to put pen to page?

I’m looking to add a few permanent members and a series of guests to my layout AND storytelling teams.  You may apply to either OR both.

To apply to my layout team please put “Layout Team Creative Call” in the subject line of your email.

To apply to the Storytelling team please put “Storyteller Creative Call” in the subject line of your email.

If applying to BOTH teams put “Storyteller Creative Call” in the subject line of your email.

Requirements are the same for both teams:

– Scrap at least 2 pages (or prompts) monthly in advance of release
– upload your pages to your favorite galleries and/or social media

If you are inspired to plant your story please submit:

– An example of any page created with my designs.  (You may use any freebie, collab contribution or regular release to showcase your scrapbooking and/or storytelling in action).   If you are applying to be a Storyteller, please also include links to 3 of your favorite “storyFULL” pages.

– A link to your favorite gallery
– A list of your current creative team commitments
– A short bio

If this sounds like something you’re interested in please feel free to submit inquiries to creativecallplantyourstory.com by midnight EST 23 January 2012. I will respond to every email I get to confirm receipt.

Can’t wait to hear from you!! ♥

Here’s a few more details:

Q: What do I mean by “storyFULL” pages?

A:  To me, a “storyFULL” page is a page that usually has some semblance of journaling included..it doesn’t have to be gobs of journaling or heartwrenching, cathartic, serious documenting.  Story lives in the silly and in the routine as well as the “deeper” places in our lives and feelings.  So any page where you are documenting your own story, or acting as your family’s historian, or putting pen to paper, or listing or musing..that’s a storyFULL page.  Show me your favorites.

Q: What is the difference between the Layout Team and Storytelling Team?

A:  My layout team receives all releases but is not required to work the prompts in my prompt-driven products.  The focus of the layout team is to play with my products and bring their own style to the page.  I LOVE having a variety of scrapping styles represented on my team and I LOVE it when people play with my page designs in creative ways.

My Storytelling team is everything the Layout team is but it’s primary focus is on actually working prompts in my prompt-driven product releases.  I want to encourage others to put pen to page or scrap prompts with examples beyond my own.  You can see examples of previous prompts I’ve written in the Grow With Love archive.  The Plant Your Story storytellers will have the opportunity to delve into prompts that are heavier and some that are light and fun..it’s a wide range of topics and encouragements, some of which can be challenging.  You don’t have to be a writer.  You don’t have to feel “good” at journaling, but you need a heart for telling your story and a desire to grow in your storytelling.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions at all!

Document Your December

So, I was just waxing poetically about my aspirations for documenting my own December this year and it’s that hope for embracing the moment, the details, the imperfections and the storyMaking that inspired the creation of this week’s fresh release: Pear Tree {the album}.  It is a project that has been in the works for many days and weeks now and that the ever-so-considerate Sick derailed from my hoped-for timeline.  But it’s here.  And I’m really excited about it.  And I hope that you’ll find it’s FULLness and it’s classic and versatile pieces a wonderful stand alone project or supplement to any December storytelling project you are embarking upon this year.

It was created with a heart for giving you options, for creating the kind of pages and/or album that fits the story you will create and document this year.  It is a project full of possibilities and one that lets you embrace your own creative directions while getting to the heart of what matters most to you this time of year: the details.  I really believe that magic lives in the details.

It’s BIG and it’s versatile. It’s full of pages of various sizes, from simple to more layer-y. All with the hope of helping you easily document your December.

Meet Pear Tree {the album}:

This layered template album can be used in whole or in part, for digital or hybrid scrapping of your December stories. Includes templates in varied styles and sizes so you can pick your favorite size or mix and match to create a mixed media kind of album.

Every template design is unique while still carrying a cohesive look for an overall album and classic enough to be able to mesh well with any other projects. They are meant to be built upon with your own style and customization and can be used with any products. You can also re-use any of the design pages throughout the album, flipping and modifying to make them your own and to suit your scrapping or album needs and style.

You can mix and match the sizes with each other, you can mix and match the background paper pieces, the photo spot design layers, the overlays or trims here and there to make this album completely your own. Or you can use it in a straight-forward way too. Have fun playing with all the components to create what suits your story best!

The album contents include:

* 25 12×12 layered templates (in .psd + .tiff formats). These can be used as is or easily sized down to suit whatever album size you may be after (I’m going 8×8!)

* 15 6×8 layered templates (in .psd + .tiff formats). These can be used alone or as a supplement to the larger pages or any other pages you may be creating this holiday season.

* 10 5×7 layered templates (in .psd + .tiff formats). These too can be used alone as a mini album or as a supplement to the larger page sizes or any other pages you may be creating this holiday season.

Pear Tree also includes some additional album designing goodies:

* 10 BIG word transparency overlays (made to fit 6×8 pages or photos but can be resized to suit your needs) sentiments include: Bright, Family, Favorite, Happy, Holiday, Joy, Laugh, Love, Merry, Tradition, Tree, Wish

* 10 transparency overlays in various sizes (5×7, 6×8, 12×12) which can be used to overlay papers or photos or printed on transparencies. Patterns are classic and versatile.

* BIG number transparency overlays for the entire month (December 1 – 31)

* 12 simple frames for photos or paper/journaling spaces in various sizes (2×2 instagram size, 3×3, 5×7, 6×8, and 12×12)

* 12 word stamps for stamping photos or papers. Sentiments include: Advent, Anticipation, Deck the Halls, Fa la la, Giving, Laughter, Magic, Memories, Merry, Noel, Tradition, Twinkle

* 17 clippable trims for clipping papers or photos (in .png format and sized BIG for easy resizing)

All the transparency overlays can be used to create actual printed transparencies for hybrid or traditional paper scrapping projects or they can be used digitally in a variety of ways.

The pages and the extras are created with a heart for Documenting YOUR December. And I so hope you have fun with them!

In total, when all is said and done this is a collection of 50 templates and oodles of extra details and tools.  I can’t wait to use it myself and share the process with you!

I hope you find Pear Tree a lot of fun to work with and make your own!  And something that will help you document your stories with a boost of ease and time!

Pear Tree {the album} is available for $10 (and only $8 through Sunday 4 December!) at The Lilypad

In other news, and something that is equally special to me…this week marks the release of the final installment of the Grow With Love: Letters project.

This is Grow With Love: Letters Edition {December}:

The {December} installment is inspired by the holiday season and by the close of another year. We explore sentimental, silly and more traditional takes on documenting our stories of “reflection”, tradition, and holiday in encouraging journaling prompts.

And here’s a spot of GWL inspiration {so gorgeous}:

Pear Tree {the album} and Grow With Love: Letters Edition {December} are available in my shoppe at The Lilypad through Monday 5 September for 20% off through Sunday 4 December!

As always I looove to see your stories and art too, so please feel free to share with me anytime.  Really!  Just shoot me a mail or share them on my facebook page.  And if you haven’t signed up the newsletter yet you may want to do that so you can be the first to hear the latest news and get the latest exclusive savings.
Happy December!  Happy Scrapping!!!

The Most Wonderful Time of Year

If there were one period of time that perfectly encapsulates the meaning of one of my favorite “isms” Gooped Up on the Gop, it would be this time right here.  From mid autumn through the end of year.  It’s my most favorite time of year.  To me, it really is: The Most Wonderful Time of Year.  And the beginning of December marks the start of the most most favorite and most most wonderful.

I just love all the anticipation, the eager excitement, the beautiful resurgence of kid-at-heart feeling, the traditions, the sights and smells and sounds…it’s a time of year where it feels like story lives even more vigorously than “usual”.  Of course I would contend story lives in the same way all the year long, but this holiday time of year is special I think, because we are more aware of it’s steady heartbeat.  We are more conscious, through our nostalgia, of the history of the story.  We are more thoughtful about the present *creation* of the story.  And while there is so much hustle and bustle, we seem to be more willing to intentionally take notice of the story that happens amid all the clatter.  We try to slow down a little and capture it because there is that….feeling.  And sometimes it’s even hard to describe what that feeling is.  It’s the Story.

And that is amazing.

And so as many of us are creative types and are in love with documenting the pulse of our story, it’s not surprising that there is a lot going on this month:  A lot of memory making.  A lot of documenting.  A lot of opportunity for cultivating your story.  From the quintessential core of holiday storytelling in Ali Edwards December Daily to the journal centric holiday Grow With Love project here at Plant Your Story to projects from Tiffany Tillman and Shimelle and back, there are pockets of true inspiration to be had if you’re hoping for nudges and encouragement in capturing your story this time of year.

My personal hope for this season is to focus on *making* memories and *creating* my story.  With intention, with sincerity and with a heart for letting the story my family and I are creating guide my documentation of it.  I’ll snap some photos, reflect on the traditions and the history of our holiday story,  I’ll pet some pretty paper and play with some paint, I’ll write.  But mostly I am striving for my focus to be on the StoryMaking..and the storytelling will come from that.

I’m not going to stress about the timeline or about the perfect photo.  I’m going to embrace imperfection and give myself permission to chase creative butterflies and not be married to my notions of what my December documenting is *supposed* to look like.  I’m going to focus on remembering the details throughout the day and treasuring even the “smallest” memory.  I’m going to hold tight to the moment.

And I’m going to share encouragements throughout the month from fresh storytelling prompts and inspirations to a few freebies.  This month is going to be about the details and moments.  So hope you’ll join me!

Honor :: Documenting Veteran’s Day

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Veteran’s Day is a day that holds a special place in my heart.  Not only because I am wife to a man who has chosen to dedicate his life to the service of his country in a way that few ever do.  Not only because I am the grand-daughter of a man who, together with his entire generation, sacrificed and served for something greater than himself.  But also because I know that I am blessed to live freely and live safely and live with choice and opportunity because of the men and women in uniform who have lived and died so that I could.

That is a kind of service that could never be adequately honored.  It is the kind of service for which I give gratitude with my whole heart.  It is the kind of service I hope to never take for granted.

And so with a humble heart full of thanks to all those who have served and who serve today, I say “thank you”.

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And in honor of this day, I’d like to offer a fresh free download.    It was inspired by the service of those in uniform.  And created with a heart full of gratitude and hope to honor our veterans here in the U.S. but can certainly be used for any page or project.   And I got a little help from my kindred spirit and the fabulously talented Amy too!  She contributed some of her amazing mishmashed sentiments!

I so hope you enjoy!  Feel free to click the images or {this link} to download (everything shown is shown in separate previews, but available in a single download).

Feel free to click the images or {this link} to download (everything shown is shown in separate previews, but available in a single download).

Happy Scrapping! ♥

eleven.eleven.eleven

Tomorrow is 11.11.11 — isn’t that neat?  It is somehow a little bit romantic, a little bit exciting, a little bit inspiring and a little bit fun all at once.   It’s the rarity of it I think.  And the neat symmetry of it all, makes this day seem like it could be something a little extra special.  It’s full of potential…the potential to be a little bit more deliberate and intentional with how you spend and document your day.

And it seems to be the perfect kind of day for documenting in lists!  You can scrap or photograph:

• 11 things that make you laugh
• 11 things that you are grateful for
• 11 favorite foods
• 11 favorite quotes (from famous persons, from music, from within your family)
• 11 favorite movies, songs, books
• 11 pet peeves
• 11 special people in your life
• 11 dreams you’ve had in your life (dreams of what you want to be when you grow up, dreams of where to travel)
• 11 reasons to smile

The possibilities for documenting Eleven Things this day are endless.  Settle upon a set of 11 and have fun getting listy!

Or you could focus on action and :

• Be sure to capture the moment your clock reads 11:11 am or 11:11 pm
• Engage in 11 Random Acts of Kindness (much like Robyn did 38 on her 38th birthday)
• Send 11 thank yous to friends and loved ones or 11 little notes of encouragement, affirmation, hello or fun
• Dance to 11 of your favorite songs in your living room with your daughter.  Or husband.  Or yourself.
• Challenge yourself to spend exactly $11 somewhere (the craft store? The grocery?)
• Leave 11 little notes for your spouse to find in the future
• Take photos of 11 details of your day, your surroundings, your actions of the day (maybe use Instagram to help you document)
• Join in on the One Day on Earth project where people set out to document this day and capture the world’s story

And then of course there is lots of fun to be had creating art or decor or menus that reflect the number eleven.

Channel your best Count from Sesame Street and really embrace the day.  Set out to make it something special, something different.  Set out to *make* memories and document them.  Set out to have fun!