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{fresh seeds} Petals and Dahlia

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It’s that time of year for many of us when Spring is firmly here and we’re beginning to see glimpes of Summer.  It’s very nearly {inter} National Scrapbooking Day so there is just this warm and buzzy energy throughout the community.  And it’s time for a Fresh BYOC.  And it is fan…wait for it…tastic.  It makes me want to scrap.  And I so hope you like it!!

I was inspired by that sunny, happy, crafty feeling that just oozes from it when I decided to continue my love affair with tissue paper.  Meet Petals.

The Petals collection is a colorful, happy, and paper-y collection of 15 different hand-crafted layered paper borders/mats. There are monochromatic, two-toned and multi-colored borders and mats. No two are the same and none are re-colored.  You can use them in combination or alone to dress up your pages and projects with an extra touch of hand-crafted whimy.

Use them as big borders, build mats, use them as accents to create interest on your pages, frame photos.  There are really so many creative possibilities for scrapping with these and  I really think you’ll have fun playing with them!  The colors are versatile enough to coordinate with most any page but they also work so beautifully and seamlessly with the May 2012 BYOC collection at The Lilypad.

I have LOVED and felt SO inspired by every page I’ve seen created with these.  It really makes my heart so happy!

WOW.  Right?!

Also fresh for the BYOC is Dahlia.  I was inspired by a few customer comments to create these fun and simple templates.  Which are created with the hope that they will help you easily build cohesive and customized cards for your Project Life documenting or in the creation of any card or page.

Dahlia is a collection of 20 different 4×6 templates are designed in the spirit of the every day, of fun, sunshine, summer and play..with simple photo centric compositions that can be used alone or as foundations for your pages, or for creating a cohesive and customized look for your project life pages and project scrapping. Can even be used for creating hybrid cards in your blogging.

 

Both the Petals and Dahlia are available in my shoppe for 30% off as part of The Lilypad’s {i}NSD celebrations this weekend!  You can snag them for 30% off through Monday 7 2012.

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.

Here’s to a beautiful start to a fabulously Happy Scrappy weekend!!

And the Everyday Storyteller {giveaway} Goes To….

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Thank you so much to everyone who played along with the Everyday Storyteller {giveaway} yesterday!  Reading the comments — and all those fabulous quotable, scrap-able moments shared there — brought me SUCH joy.  It was like a little gallery of Reasons Why We Scrapbook and it so brightened my day!

And also got me even MORE excited for the launch of Everyday Storyteller, if that were possible.

So.  I sat down with Mr. Random (of Random.org) this morning and he selected the lucky winner!

Congratulations Christine!   I will be passing along your email address and you should hear back shortly!

And thank you again to everyone who participated!  Don’t forget to sign up for the VIP list for the launch party!  Should be a lot of fun!!

Everyday Storyteller {a giveaway}

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Happy Blog Hop!!

Recently I’ve been all a flutter about documenting dialogues.  There is just something so enchanting and so charming and also so revealing about the things we say and hear every day.  These little conversations really color our stories so much.  And it’s that soundtrack of chatterings that I felt compelled to share about in my contribution to Everyday Storyteller (which is so very nearly here!!).

And if there was one little nugget that I would share with you at this moment about documenting dialogue it would be this:  There are always opportunities to preserve the daily “things we hear” if we tune in.  Think outside the box and take advantage of technology when documenting the special sayings and conversations that live in your everyday.

Make use of technology: the notes or voice record capability in your cell phone, applications, and social media to get these things done *as they happen* so you can scrap them later.

For example, on President’s Day when my daughter uttered these words:”Daddy could be president. But he doesn’t have a president outfit.  You really need a tie for that.”  I *knew* I needed to scrap this giggle-worthy moment.  I knew I *needed* to remember just how she delivered these lines.  It was too endearing, too sweet, too humorous and too much an example of who she is at this moment in time for me to risk letting this gem fade into the sea of Other Moments.

But we were out grocery shopping at the time.  So how was I to be sure I would remember this memorable scrappable quotable?  Never fear!  I simply shared the quote as a Facebook status right after I stopped chuckling.  And then I used my Momento app to look back and snag it when I was ready to scrap it:

Today I’m so so thrilled to be sharing this as part of a fantastic blog hop FULL of little tidbits just like this from the contributors to Everyday Storyteller, the new scrapbooking idea e-book (I’ve been excitedly chattering about here and here).

And we’re feeling a little extra celebratory as the launch party  is nearly here!  The whole shebang kicks off at 8:30pm CDT on Friday, May 4. There will be more than $700 in prizes given away from our sponsors during the party.  Which is pretty awesome.  You can join the VIP list {HERE}.

And, AND!  I’m even more thrilled because I have one copy Everyday Storyteller to giveaway today!   

To enter this giveaway: simply comment here telling me your favorite “memorable/scrappable quote” memory

Deadline: 11:59pm CDT on Tuesday, May 1.  

You can visit the rest of the hop for more practical tips and chances to win!

  1. Cheryl Ashcraft
  2. Anna Aspnes
  3. Katie Clemons
  4. Elise Blaha
  5. Paula Gilarde
  6. Sara Gleason << YOU ARE HERE
  7. Michelle Hernandez
  8. Debbie Hodge
  9. Katrina Kennedy
  10. Amy Kingsford
  11. Cindy Liebel
  12. Crystal Livesay
  13. Robyn Meierotto
  14. CD Muckosky
  15. Nancy Nally
  16. Christine Newman
  17. Ashli Oliver
  18. Amanda Padgett
  19. Renee Pearson
  20. Lynnette Penacho
  21. Elle Price
  22. Heather Prins
  23. Traci Reed
  24. Lauren Reid
  25. Amber Ries
  26. Kristin Rutten
  27. Betsy Sammarco
  28. Jenn Smith-Sloane
  29. Jessica Sprague
  30. Melissa Stinson
  31. Amy Tan
  32. Tiffany Tillman
  33. Jennifer Wilson

Be sure to enter here before you go.  If you’d like to win a copy of Everyday Storyteller before it’s available to the public, simply comment here telling me your favorite “memorable/scrappable quote” memory  before 11:59pm CDT on Tuesday, May 1.  

 And don’t forget to Sign up for the VIP list to join the exclusive launch party on May 4 and get in on the pre-party fun too.

Lots of luck! <3

Everyday Storyteller :: The Trailer

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Everyday Storyteller

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It’s probably no secret that I am completely In Love with The Story.  I get all kinds of ooey gooey for it.  And one of my most favorite aspects of scrapbooking and storytelling is the documentation of the every day — the little details that when woven together create a beautiful tapestry that is the history and the narrative of our lives.

And so I am so completely honored and humbled and thrilled and grateful and excited (read: gooped up on the gop) to announce that I was asked to lend my voice to Everyday Storyteller — a new scrapbooking idea e-book featuring 33 practical ideas from real world scrapbookers, landing in May.

Discover practical, real-world approaches for scrapbooking with Everyday Storyteller, a new idea book arriving this May. Sign up for the VIP list to be the first to find out how your favorite memory keepers document everyday life.

Take a peek at the list of contributors {HERE}.  Wow.  Right?  I’m feeling at once starstruck and so so excited to be among these inspirational scrapbookers as part of this fabulous project!  You can see a wee peek of my contribution by clicking on the wee banner next to my name.

There will be more details to come as we get closer to {inter}National Scrapbooking Day and the launch of Everyday Storyteller.  Don’t forget to Sign up for the VIP list to join the exclusive launch party on May 4 and be the first to hear the latest details.

Putting Pen to Paper

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One of the wellsprings of inspiration you’ll find here at Plant Your Story is a project in storytelling called Papyrus.  It’s all about Putting Pen to Paper and I hope you’ll find it both inspiring and encouraging in your own scrapbooking and storytelling.

You can find Papyrus products in my store as well as inspiration in the Anthology; each release includes a set of page design templates accompanied by a a series of story driven journaling prompts and a spot of content in printable .pdf format.  These printable .pdf pages will contain a sprinkling of story starters, a dash of encouragement with a side of creative inspiration designed to meet you right where you are, as you are, whether you love to write or not with the hope of nudging you to put pen to paper.

My personal philosophy for scrapbooking, storytelling, memory keeping, documenting, capturing, goodness…even *living* can essentially be boiled down to these 6 words:

everyone has a story worth telling.

The longer, spill my heart version of that can be found here: Planting Roots in the Story wherein I share in true Wordy McGee style my heart for documenting our stories.  And that big fat ooey gooey heart is that storytelling and scrapbooking, for me,  is about documenting and recording, it’s about remembering.  It’s about saying “I was here”, it’s about taking stock in life, it’s about celebrating the every day, it’s about finding your voice and getting to know yourself better, it’s about writing love letters to those we care about, it’s about keeping a family history, writing biographies and an autobiography, and it’s about building a legacy. It’s about things that matter. Not to the world. Not to Tom, Dick or Harry or Lady Gaga. Not to anyone else but those who matter to me, to YOU. The ones we love, the ones we hope to teach and to learn from, the ones we share ourselves and our lives with. We are recording our stories. And in the process, we are *writing* our own.

And that’s what Papyrus and Putting Pen to Paper is all about.

The process of “putting pen to paper” comes easily for some..the words just flow like water. There is a comfort there. Others are less comfortable in their journaling skin. But the “how” is the same for everybody and it’s really simple. As with anything else in life, the growth and the fulfillment lives in: practice. So our motto is: “just press record”, “just start”. Today is the best time. And the comfort and the ease lives in: being authentic. Just be YOU. Doubts and hesitations live in comparisons. It doesn’t matter how much or how “well” anyone else journals their story. This is YOUR story. You are the author. And you’re the *only one* who can tell it.

So please do.

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