Month: November 2011

Honor :: Documenting Veteran’s Day

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“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

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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!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

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I had delayed posting this until now because unfortunately the store at The Lilypad was positively overloaded, despite the best efforts of the girls to prepare for the uptick in site traffic in advance of this weekend. What a blessing though, to be SO busy that the site couldn’t handle it for a little bit there. We all thank you so much for all your support and especially your patience. I know this is a busy day for everyone and we are so sorry for the delay and troubles and even more grateful for your hanging in there with us today!   It looks like the site is now up and functioning (ever so slowly with peak usage). Yay!
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Happy Digital Scrapbooking day!!

It’s that time of year again…that special time dedicated to celebrating this craft and art we love so much and we honor our penchant for telling our stories and playing with programs by shopping and scrapping and chatting and browsing and soaking up all the fun to be had in the digital community. It’s a day full of busy and creativity and I love it so much because in the end, after all the hubbub, it’s all about Getting Excited To Tell Our Stories.

So here’s what I have going on this weekend.

The Lilypad is positively hopping with games, challenges, forum fun, and sales and sales and TONS of new releases and more sales.

And it all starts with the release of the November BYOC, which is full and gorgeous.

Meet, Milkweed:

The Milkweed templates are designed with a heart for capturing the details of your story, a series of photos and the warmth that lives in the every day moments.   Inspired by autumn sun and color and the layers of fallen leaves with varied design styles ranging from a “fuller” page, richer in layers with many little details and a little more depth to cleaner and more linear designs.  And they give you the chance to scrap some photo centric stories that feature a series of photos or play with paper in fresh ways!

Also new for the November BYOC is the Thankful Collection:

The Thankful collection is a warm, happy, and positive collection of  clipping mask templates, word art, text paths and stamps/brushes designed in the spirit of simple happinesses, and autumn.

Here’s a closer look at the components of this wonderful collection of details to add to your pages:

Here is some beautiful inspiration from the girls:

As if the BYOC goodies weren’t enough in the way of gorgeous goodies…The Pad is overflowing with amazing fun and tons (over 60!!) new releases for Digital Scrapbooking Day!

I have several new releases myself including a couple collaboration projects with Crystal Livesay!  We have teamed up for a fun and fabulous Grab Bag of 8 page design templates.  And since Grab Bags are all about the deep savings, you can snag this collection of templates for only $3 through DSD weekend and Monday.

Here’s a peek at the iDSD Grab Bag‘s innards:

And also new this weekend is the November installment of our Grow With Love: Letters collection:

And here’s some inspiration with the Grab Bag designs and November letters designs:

The best part of all this yummyness is that they are all available through the weekend and Monday for 30% off (except the new BYOC which is available for 20% off OR 30% off if you are a newsletter subscriber and use the coupon for exclusive savings found there).  In fact, my entire store is available for 30% off through Monday 7 November.   Woot!

Not to mention this seriously gorgeous Free With Purchase kit from The Lilypad designers, which is free with any purchase of $15 or more in the store:

And for a little something extra here’s a fun chance to win a gift that keeps on giving (like the jelly of the month club, lol!).  Every order of more than $10 this weekend will be entered to win a membership in the Seeds of the Month club — which entitles the winner to a $10 GC to my shop for every.single.month in 2012! 🙂

Not only that, there is a fun and fabulous free download available on the Plant Your Story facebook page.  If you’ve never scrapped with a template or never used a journaling prompt to get your creative thought process going and to encourage you to plant your story on your art and pages, here is the perfect opportunity to get a taste of both…for FREE.  You can snag this Grow With Love sampler — a set of templates which are accompanied by two thoughtful journal prompts — on the PYS facebook page. Just check the left sidebar and click the Happy DSD tab. ♥

Annnnd. This warm set of autumny sweet tags is still available as an exclusive download on the Zinnias and Swallowtails facebook page.  Simply click on the “exclusive” tab to snag it if you haven’t already. (It will be removed on Tuesday).

So hope you all have a beautiful weekend!   And please, feel free to share any of your art and stories with me via email or on my facebook page.  I LOVE to see your work!!

Happy scrapping!!