{grow with love: kids} day seven

So we’re headed into the season of crazybusy holiday and we will be diving in to Grow With Love: Holiday this week (so check back tomorrow for the details on that), for those who are wanting to join us in enhancing our family and story throughout the advent and holiday season.

But I have to say that I’m looking forward to keeping up with the Grow With Love: Kids Edition posts to help keep me grounded in what really matters this season.  Continue to check in here on Mondays and at Crystal’s blog on Thursdays for the GWL Kids Edition posts.  And remember, this is a self paced project and you can dive in anytime.  The schedule as mapped out now, has us scrapping the Kids Edition into January so there will be plenty of time to catch up if you find yourselves getting carried away with all things holiday.  If you’re just joining us (Welcome!!!!) feel free to peek at the backstory and summary of everything-you-need-to-know {HERE}.

For now, here we are at the start of Week Four and Day Seven.  This week will challenge us to act in the spirit of YES and scrap with perspective.  Let’s take a look at today’s prompt:

So grab your camera and let yourself fade into the white noise of the day to capture something “everyday”, something candid and “ordinary”, and then let yourself consider just how extraordinary that can be.  Be deliberate in how you ponder the scene (and photos) you see.  What is the story there? ….really.  What can you learn from this moment?  What does this moment reveal to you about your child(ren)?  About yourself?  Try to shift your perspective and really put pen to paper about this everyday.  Take something that may normally feel “superficial” and dive deeper.

What I love about this prompt is that it can really become so many things to each of us.  Because we all live so many little moments that are bigger and fuller and more special than we give them credit for as we hustle and bustle through our days.  These are the things that may just fade into the backgrounds of our minds…but they will be woven together as a backdrop, the kind that gives us (and our kids) a sense of who we are, the values we hold.  They are little pieces of us, pieces of our families.  Here’s a little inspiration…

I decided to quite literally follow my Bugga around for a day, taking photos here and there as she was immersed in whatever it was she was doing.  And the photo I choose to scrap in the end was a detail shot of her soaking up a new favorite book.  A gift from nana.  It was just a regular quiet moment.  But as I considered it, and this shot, it filled me with a renewed sense of just how sponge-y she is.  It’s something we all know as parents, of course, but the import of it just hit me afresh..that she is constantly learning and soaking things in..certainly more than I do, more than my DH does..and that we need to foster that at every turn.  Because really we only “have” her for a finite period of time.  We need to make the most of every moment.  Get “in the pages” with her even more than we already do.

Getting in tight on a shot like this..cropping in camera or in your program, can really bring focus to your page and story.

Crystal captured a beautiful moment of play and interaction with her son and daughter.  And I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this amazing photograph and page.  I imagine that’s how she felt looking through the lens as well.  Mommies and Daddies of more than one child can really seize a beautiful opportunity of a stellar candid capture in a shared moment between your kids, which will lend itself beautifully to the kind of perspective we’re hoping to share on the page with this prompt.

So go forth, grab the camera and capture that candid moment and scrap.  🙂  Can’t wait to see your beautiful pages!  As always, Crystal will be blogging on Thursday, so take a peek there for Day Eight.

Happy Scrapping!  Happy Week!

{blooming creativity} — Grow With Love: Holiday

I'm completely gooped up with that full of anticipation and joy kind of feeling that comes with this time of year.  Crystal and I are so similar in a lot of ways, one of them being our shared love for all things holiday-y. And so we are really excited about the latest in our Grow With Love series: the Holiday EditionGrow With Love: Holiday landed at The Lilypad and Oscraps this weekend and will be available for 20% off for only a few short hours more.  We will dive in to the prompts beginning on 1 December and we hope they will help enrich your holiday scrapping AND your holiday living this year.  You can use GWL in concert with any other holiday-centered scrap project you may be working on, or you can simply play along with us as we dive in to scrap our holidays.

Before we do, here's a peek at some of the amazing inspiration from our teams.  I love how these templates can beautifully be used for holiday pages, but also for any general page! 

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Hope you'll join us on this holiday scrapping adventure as we look at traditions, wishes and hopes, faith, and fun!

Sig

sending {good cheer}

Annnd…ooh ooh! Did you know that you can snag Good Cheer, my holiday card collaboration with Amy Martin for 50% off right now?  These cards are perfect for any holiday cheer you are hoping to share and send this season!  So if you’re still on the hunt for your holiday cards this year, now’s the perfect time to grab these.

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And I’m so thrilled to say that we have been featured at Persnickety Prints as part of their peek at holiday card goodness this season.  And as such we are so happy to share a little coupon from them as well for all your card printing needs.  Woot!

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Awesome right?!  Go forth and send {good cheer}

Sig

{blooming creativity} — Frogger and Bugga

I hope everyone has been enjoying a beautiful weekend!  Did you soak up some good family time?  Do a little shopping? Start decking the halls?  All of the above?  We did a little of each ourselves and I'm feeling more in the holiday mood than ever. 

Before we settle in to a fresh week, I wanted to share a little inspiration from my girls and the Pollys with my {fresh seeds}  Frogger and Bugga collaboration with the ever amazing Amy Martin.

I had SO much fun collaborating with Amy to bring you these adorable and playful templates inspired by boys and girls. The name comes from our nicknames for own little loves..Amy's "Frogger" and my "Bugga".  You can purchase the entire set or just "Bugga" or just "Frogger"..both are full to the brim with versatile and fun templates from me and from Amy, that you can use for any kid-centric page, or any general page.  Here's a little {blooming creativity} with Frogger and Bugga.  The girls really had fun with this one and completely ROCKED it…

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I will be back in a bit to share some inspiration with Grow With Love: Holiday.  Squee!

Don't forget today is the last chance to save at The Lilypad's Black Friday weekend o' savings.  So you can snag these new releases and *everything else* in my shoppe for 20% off through tonight.  Woot!

Happy Scrapping!

Sig

a positive cornucopia of goodness

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the US celebrating today!!  I hope that your days were full: of friends and family, of good food and good memories!! We nestled in to a good day with friends and enjoyed some good eats.  I always feel so reflective and so grateful today and throughout the holiday season.  I am so very blessed and my heart is full of thanks.

Thank you to you too, for all the warm support and inspiration and kindness!

As today’s holiday wanes into Black Friday I know there is a lot of busy and family and noshing and shopping so I’ll try not to ramble on too much today.  I did want to let you know about the amazing goings on at The Pad this weekend, including Black Friday sales (as in completely crazy sales — and you know those don’t happen too very often at The Lilypad) and two {fresh seeds} from me that I am really excited to share.

Here’s a peek at the happending at The Lilypad.

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I have a few things available among the amazing Doorbusters, including Heirloom Garden which is making its debut at The Lilypad.  If you haven’t had a chance to snag this collection of templates inspired family, heritage, history, and stories in varied scrapping styles, now’s the best chance to do so.  My bundles and my fantastic holiday card collaboration with Amy Martin, Good Cheer, will also be available for 50% off.  These sales activate at 4am EST and run through 10am EST.  Woot!

The sales continue throughout the weekend (40% off of Friday, 30% off on Saturday, and 20% off on Sunday), so if you miss the doorbusters never fear there are still chances to save BIG.  Everything in my store will be on sale (new releases excluded, which are available for 20% off through the weekend).

So speaking of new releases.  Let’s take a peek at this week’s {fresh seeds}.  You already had a peek at Grow With Love: Holiday, my latest collaboration with Crystal.  We are so excited to share this with you and hope it will help you dive into the holidays with a storytelling focus and a heart full of perspective.

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I wanted to thank everyone who played along for the {giveaway} of Grow With Love: Holiday.  I really loved reading through all the responses and hearing about your favorite holiday tunes!!  I kept nodding my head in agreement with so many (O Holy Night for example — which still manages to give me chills every.single.time. I hear it) and giggled aloud just thinking about a few (Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer).  So thanks for a bright little spot in my evening tonight.

I turned to Mr. Random again to help me select our winner.  And I want to say a big Congratulations to…….

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Congratulations, Carrie!  Please send me an email to claim you prize.  ♥  If you missed out on this giveaway, head over to Crystal’s blog for a last moment chance to win..there’s still time to squeak in for a chance {HERE}.

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Ok…I know I said I wouldn’t ramble too much, but I can’t close without showing you what else is in store for this weekend.  I have teamed up again with the very fabulous Amy Martin.  We have been conceiving and working on this fun and playful set of templates for weeks now and I’m so happy to share them with you today!

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You can snag the full set or just Bugga or just Frogger.  All are available throughout the weekend for 20% off.

Also, as if that weren’t enough..there is an amazing Free With Purchase collaboration, Fall Moments, between The Lilypad and Sweet Shoppe Designs.  Seriously.  And it’s gorgeous.

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I’ll be back tomorrow with a closer look and some inspiration.  For now, I hope you all have a beautiful Friday!  And for those venturing out for the sales, have fun and be safe!

Sig

fa.la.la.la.la — a {grow with love} giveaway

I'm so in the holiday mood.  I know it's still not even turkey day here in the states, but I can't help it.  I'm completely and totally gooped up about the approaching advent and holiday season.  It just makes me happy.  In a totally cheesy, memory making, legacy driven kind of way.  I love the traditions, I love the sights and smells, I love the anticipation, the giving, the caring just a little more, I even love the busy. 

And so when my sweet Crystal and I were contemplating a holiday Grow With Love series, there was no hesitation.  We both just knew we wanted to develop and share a holiday-centered project.  And so we've created a shortened version of Grow With Love for the holidays, so I guess you could say it's more a Twelve Days of Christmas kind of thing.  We are excited to share some wonderfully holiday-centric prompts with you all and they can be used in concert with and to enhance any other holiday project you may be pursuing!  As always we hope this holiday edition will help guide you through the season in a memory-minded way so that you can capture your stories and let them make your holiday a little something extra special this year.

Here's a peek at what's to come:

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And our prompts for this are really wonderful for preserving this beautiful time of year in a special way — I can't wait to scrap them all!

So I'm rambling on and on like this because, as always, we are so eager to share Grow With Love with you.  And we like to make you smile.  Soooo….I will be giving away our new Grow With Love: Holiday to one lucky commenter.  If you like to win, just leave a comment below telling me what your favorite holiday song is, for a chance to win before Thursday 25 November at 7pm (PST).   You can increase your chances at winning by posting about the giveaway on Twitter and Facebook.  Be sure to come back here with a link in the comments.

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