huge happy welcomes!

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Crystal and I wanted to take a moment to again thank everyone who submitted applications to our Grow With Love creative call.  To say we were overwhelmed with awe and impress at the talent and amazing storytelling submitted would be an understatement.  Thank you sincerely to all who put themselves (and their stories) out there to us.  The decision making process was so SO difficult and every.single.application was amazing.

Today, we are very happy to announce with warm welcome these amazing artists and storytellers to our team:

 

We can’t wait for you to see their beautiful work!

{honor and gratitude}

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It is with both {honor and gratitude} that I have contributed to a couple recent charity collaboration efforts in the community.  It was sincerely an honor, to share creatively along side other amazing and inspiring artists and friends for causes that move me.  Causes that remind me of all that really matters.  Of reasons I love scrapbooking and storytelling in the first place: family and friendship and faith of expression and creation all wrapped up in a great big beautiful bow of gratitude.

Please check out these fabulous collaborations which-apart from being an expression of support and love – are really fantastic in all the best scrappy ways.

Brighter Days Ahead available at Sweet Shoppe Designs is full of warm and beautiful tones and benefits one of the community’s own: Zoe Pearn who lost her home in the recent flood disaster in Australia.

Reach for the Sun available at Ninth and Bloom, is packed full of HAPPY and is a fundraiser for a sweet and happy girl who has cerebral palsy.

Both kits are FULL of gorgeous papers.  I mean FULL.  And as a paper lover, this just calls to my creative heart.

Here are the pages I’ve created with both:

{fresh seeds} Grow With Love: Letters {march} & Cut

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I feel as though I’ve blinked and now *whamokazamo* we are on the verge of March.  And March is a big month.  I’m really really excited for what is to bloom in March.  Things I’ve been planting for a very long time.

The first special peek at what is to come in March I can share with you today!  It is the latest release in my Grow With Love: Letters project with Crystal Livesay.

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gift – noun

1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

2. the act of giving.

3. something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned: Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.

4. a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.

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For the month of March in our Grow With Love Letters series, we are reflecting on gifts. Gifts received, gifts given, gifts of character, gifts of talent.  As always, Crystal and I will be expounding on the prompts on our blogs every Wednesday throughout the month.

Meet Grow With Love: Letters Edition {march}:

Grow With Love: Letters Edition {march} is available for 20% off through Sunday 27 February at The Lilypad.

And I’m also really happy to share another fabulously fun and funky template collaboration with the amazing Amy Martin.  Inspired by one of those “oh-no-my-child-has-the-scissors-and-used-them-on-his-hair” moments, the Cut series of templates is inspired by all things paper-y and cutty. Full of fun and funky “hand-cut” paper, shapes and angles and still versatile enough to adapt to any scrapping style.

Meet Cut:

Cut is also available for 20% off through the Sunday 27 February.  Woot!

And here is a peek at some amazing inspiration:

As always I looove to see your stories and art too, so please feel free to share with me anytime.  Just shoot me a mail or share them on my facebook page.  And if you haven’t signed up for my 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.  Woot!

As I mentioned, I am working hard on a couple very special projects which have me feeling really invigorated and inspired and a little bit nervous.  Can’t wait to share more in the coming days and weeks!

And don’t forget, there are only a few days left to share your pages made with the 2.11 newsletter exclusive on my facebook page for your chance to win a shot at acting as Z&S creative director!  I’ve looved what I’ve seen so far! You can see {THIS} post for details.

Hope you all have a beautiful Friday and weekend! Happy Scrapping!

{fresh seeds} sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite

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“Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite”….somehow these words have glued themselves to my thoughts when I think of goodnights and bedtimes and splashes of silly at the end of the day.  And that’s just what I love most about Sandra’s fabulous creations in the kit: the sleepytime mood with a splash of silly and adorable.

It’s that imaginative touch that inspired me as I created the templates to coordinate with this fun kit and it’s what makes me so excited about this collaboration.  Allow me to introduce Sleep Tight, Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite:

Here’s a closer look at the elements, papers, alpha and my templates…

And here’s a bit of inspiration with the templates and kit.  I really loved to see how the girls positively rocked this kit in sleepy time storytelling ways, in “battling-the-sicky” storytelling ways, and in general page ways too!

I also loved to see how the templates were used on their own:

sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite is available in my shop throughout the weekend for 20% off.  You can pick it up at ninth and bloom too!

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I wanted to thank everyone who played along for the {giveaway} of Sleep Tight, Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite.

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

Blogwinner218 Congratulations Shellie!  Please send me an email to claim your prize.  ♥

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As always I looove to see your stories and art too, so please feel free to share with me anytime.  Just shoot me a mail or share them on my facebook page.  And if you haven’t signed up for my 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 and goodies.  Woot!

Crystal and I will be announcing our creative team for the Grow With Love series this weekend and soon and very soon we will be embarking on the next GWL releases.  I also have another fun collaboration in the works and some other wonderful surprises and projects are germinating as I type.  Can’t wait to share it all with you!!

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!  Happy Scrapping!

{blooming soon} sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite and a {giveaway!}

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So I’ve always had one of those really active imaginations…the kind where I am completely capable of scaring myself silly if I think too much..do you know what I mean?  On the other hand, I love that my imagination carries me to fun and sweet lands with my Bugga, who is Miss Imagination right now.  She is immersed much of the day in the beautiful, whimsical, innocent lands of her imaginative play.  And one of our special moments these days, comes just before bedtime, just before we say “sleep tight”…she will launch in to a wonderfully spun tale of rescue dragons and unicorns and animals of all sorts.

It’s that spirit of imagination and bedtimes that guided my steps when sweet sweet Sandra aka (FruitLoOp Sally) first shared her amazingly adorable and imaginative creations for our latest collaboration:

We’d love to share with one lucky commenter!   If you like to win this digital kit + set of templates, just leave a comment below, for a chance to win before Thursday 17 February at 10pm (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 (please post as a new comment each time).

I will announce the winner here on the blog and in my newsletter on Friday 18 February when Sleep Tight, Don’t Let The Bedbugs Bite hits The Lilypad and Ninth and Bloom.

Lots of luck!

 

{grow with love: letters} day seven

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So I have a confession.  I’m kind of a wordy girl.  I heard it said somewhere “anyone who uses one word, when they could have used ten, just isn’t trying hard enough” and I felt like that line was written just for me.  I wouldn’t say I am “windbaggy” per se, but let’s just say conciseness is not my cup of tea.  Apparently.

While I’m confessing, I should probably also tell you that I am kind of a cheesey, sentimental, traditional, ooey-gooey girl.  I appreciate words that edify and uplift and support and encourage and make people smile.  Words of praise and love make my heart all a flutter.  I guess you could say “words of affirmation” is one of my “love languages”.  I’m the kind of person who has kept every letter, note, and scrap of paper exchanged between my husband and me over the years.

Love-always

Anyway, so I tend to write a lot and I also really love to give words of affirmation and that means I always really love prompts like today’s prompt for Grow With Love: Letters.  The kind where I can just write from my heart, say everything that’s on my mind and shower love and praise on someone I love very much.

Let’s take a peek at today’s prompt to see what I mean:

Maybe this is just the kind of challenge that would appeal to you too.  Or maybe it comes at a time when it feels difficult or uncomfortable.  But I promise you these are the prompts that really end up meaning the most to us, in the end and in the big picture. And so I hope you’ll really dive in to this with an open heart.

And the possibilities for scrapping this are fabulously numerous.  You can write to your spouse, you can write to a child, to a dear friend, to a parent or family member.  And you can set the mood with your papers and elements, your photo treatment, your typography.  You can scan the letter you’ve written, you can scrap it, you can photograph it.  No matter what avenue you choose, I hope you will let your loved one read your words.  See how it touches them and uplifts them, and maybe even feel how it does the same to you in the uplifting.

Here are a few examples from our brand new Grow With Love creative team…I love the range of emotion they have captured here.

from Kelly:

Kelleannelettersday7

Mandi:

Mandiletters7

Jacq:

Jacqlettersday7

Coila:

Coilalettersday7

Nettie:

Nettielettersday7

How will you let this prompt inspire you?

We’d love to see your pages if you’d like to share!   And remember, you can jump in to this Grow With Love journey with us anytime.  This is a self-paced project and the prompts will remain available {HERE} indefinitely.

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