Month: March 2012

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.