Blog | Plant Your Story

{free seeds} Fresh Cut: Fourth

July 1, 2010 By Mrs. Gleason

So it’s officially July. I can’t believe it’s already July! Can you believe it’s July? Yeah, it’s July. I hope that wherever this first day of July finds you, you are happy and healthy and having fun!

It’s a holiday weekend for many of us as our Canadian scrapper friends celebrate Canada Day today, and as we in the US celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July! The fourth has always been one of my most favorite holidays and since falling in love with my husband (who is coming home just in time to celebrate with us — yay!!), it’s struck an even deeper chord upon the patriotic gong in my heart.

And so in honor of this festive and fun holiday I have created this fun little freebie for you! I so hope you like it!!

Fresh Cut: Fourth is a fun set of templates designed with the 4th of July in mind and in the spirit of my “fresh cut” series of templates: with restraint and cleaner page design as a compass, but which can be modified to suit whatever your scrapping style or needs. You can use them for your own Independence Day centered pages, or for any general purpose.

Here’s a peek a some inspiration from my girls. I really love how they showed of the versatility of these simple templates…they can be used for a fantastic 4th of July page or they can so beautifully be used for any story you’re inspired to capture.

You can download Fresh Cut: Fourth for free {HERE}.

I hope you do enjoy it! And to those who celebrate, I wish you a very Happy (and safe!) 4th of July!!

{zinnia and swallowtail CT girls}

May 29, 2010 By Mrs. Gleason

I feel all a bubbling with emotions…overwhelmed by all the support and all those who played along with my NSD freebie for a chance at a summer guest CT spot. SO grateful and humbled that such talented scrappers would want to work with me and the girls. SO excited and energized about those who will be joining us.

And also a little heavy-hearted for those who I can’t say “yes” to this time. As a scrapper-at-heart I know how hard it can be to put yourself out there and how deflating it can be to hear “not this time”. And now, as someone having to say it and not hear it, I just want everyone to know that hearing a “not this time” never, ever means that your pages aren’t amazing or important. Because they are. Sincerely, every page and every gallery I looked at was special and inspiring to me in some way. The talent in this digi scrapping community is mind boggling. So thank you for putting yourself out there. And no matter what “just keep swimming” and just keep scrapping.

ANYhoo…before I get too rambly I wanted to say again a HUGE thank you to everyone who played along!! I loooved seeing all the fabulous plays with the template! And I have to tell you there was no way I could keep it to just “3”..goodness if I could have taken everyone on I would have. Seriously. SO I picked a few more than that. And also a few for an autumn term too (September, October, and November). Woot!

I’d like to say a HUGE congratulations and welcome to the summer guest CT zinnia girls!!!

And the autumn guest CT swallowtail girls!!

YAY!!!! Thanks again to EVERYONE! Since this was centered around the blog and not email, I had to do things a little differently than I might otherwise, but hopefully everyone who played along should have received a message from me (at the location of the gallery they linked your page to me) and everyone should have received a little goodie too too. If you have not received a message and goodie please email me. Thank you.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! Keep your eyes peeled here for a special freebie later in the holiday weekend.

{free seeds and a contest} Happy iNSD!!!

May 1, 2010 By Mrs. Gleason

It’s an exciting day for us scrapbookers…everywhere you look there are sales and games and giveaways and challenges and chats and fun galore! And in honor of my debut, I wanted to get in on the fun and share with you a little freebie and a fun little scrapping challenge/contest (with a “she might have gone out of her gourd” kind of prize). This freebie complements an inspired-by-summer template series I am growing now (and the Summer Garden add-on which is available in the grab bag collab).

I so hope you like it!!

You can download by clicking the image or by following the link below.

And now for the fun challenge/contest part:

I would love to see how you make this template blossom for you (yes I *am* that cheesy)! I hope you have fun playing with it! Let your creativity guide you and make it your own to suit your scrapping style and the story you want to tell. Upload your page to your favorite gallery(ies). Then come back here to share a link to your page made with this freebie and you will be eligible to win BIG.

Everyone who scraps and shares will get an extra little something from me for playing along and ** two lucky scrappers will receive a summer guest spot on my creative team where you will be able to play with my products and have fun with us in The Garden for the entire months of June and July!! **

You have you have until 15 May to play along. Lots of luck and Happy Scrapping!!

Download Summer Garden Freebie HERE ♥

Also be sure to visit check out the happenings on the other After Five mixologists blogs (you can find them in the sidebar) for more fun and freebies!

{bloom}

May 1, 2010 By Mrs. Gleason

Well so I guess now I’m fully bloomed. LOL!! That’s right, it’s official…you can visit me at zinnias and swallowtails at After Five Designs! I’m really excited and a little bit nauseous, but mostly I’m so honored to have been
encouraged and supported on this fresh journey along side the kind and
talented designers there! Can’t wait for you to get to know me and my template designs. And I so hope you love them!

a wee peek

April 30, 2010 By Mrs. Gleason

Everything will be going live in just a few short hours and I can’t wait for you to see what’s to come! Just to wet your whistle a little I thought I share with you a quick wee peek of what’s to come….

And I can’t resist sharing just a couple pages from my team…they have been inspiring me all week with their creativity and talent as they’ve been playing with my template designs.

Soon soon soon I’ll be able to post more inspiration and tell you all about where I’m going to be making my debut…plus I’ll be posting a freebie for you and sharing fun giveaways and special codes, on twitter and on facebook. So stay tuned!!

{ blooming soon}

April 29, 2010 By Mrs. Gleason

So here I am taking the first steps (or planting the first seeds, if you will) of a fresh adventure and journey and just like with any new venture I’m feeling SO very excited and a little apprehensive. But most of all I’m thrilled and grateful for this opportunity to grow and I can’t wait to share it all with you!

If you know me, you probably know that I’m completely out-of-my-gourd in love with scrapbooking. It all started many years ago when I was first drawn to explore my creativity and storytelling as a paper scrapper (which I’m sad to say I was never terribly good at, but oh how I loved it). Then in May 2008 I finally delved into digital scrapbooking. And I haven’t looked back since. I was smitten from the very first
click. The digital medium has given me the confidence to really explore
my own creativity in ways I hadn’t been able to with other crafty
projects. I love love LOVE capturing the everyday moments of my family
and sharing our stories through my scrapping.

Recently, I was encouraged by friends and loved ones to explore template design.
In some ways designing templates seemed like a new evolution for me and
my creativity. But ultimately, it comes down to this: if I can be a
part of, and encourage others to scrap their memories, share their
stories, or create their art in any small way…I would love that.
Because to me, the creation and the remembering–it’s one of the most
beautiful expressions of ourselves for those we love.

And so my goal is to create template designs that will help you do just that: plant your story, scrap your memories, write your love song to your loved ones, express your creativity. My hope is, through varied offerings — of both “cleaner” and more detailed designs and some that focus on storytelling, or playing with techniques — scrappers of every style will be encouraged and supported in their scrapping.

In just two days I will be debuting my template designs at an established digital scrapbooking shoppe. I can’t tell you *just* yet where that will be, but I can say that will be working along side some fabulously talented and sweet designers. Stay tuned here for lots of news, sneak peeks, information, giveaways, and an exclusive freebie in the coming days.

On Saturday 1 May everything will go live and the fun begins!