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{fresh seeds} ooey-gooey

February 12, 2011 By Mrs. Gleason

Soooo, by now you know I’m pretty much a complete goob with a soft spot for cheesyness. And so it’s probably no surprise that I rather like this lovey time of year swirling around Valentine’s Day here in the U.S. I know the holiday itself is pretty much manufactured and yes, things can get a little *too* sweet, but it’s the whole spirit of it that makes me smile…the focusing a little more on the loves in our lives, the spreading of smile-y cheer, the giving of extra hugs. And the chocolate. All of that gives me warm fuzzies. And it can really brighten some of hub-bub and some of the doldrums of winter and if we let it, it can really refocus us on what really matters in the world….LOVE.

So it was this spirit of the warm fuzzy, of all things lovey-dovey that I was inspired to create this week’s {fresh seeds}. Meet Ooey-Gooey:

Ooey-Gooey {clipped} + {story seeds} is a collection of clipping masks and doodle-y sentiments that can be used together or separately for any of your love-inspired pages.

And here’s a closer look at the components…

Ooey-Gooey {clipped}

Ooey-Gooey {story seeds}

Ooey-Gooey {clipped} + {story seeds} is available at The Lilypad for 20% off through Sunday 13 February.

Ooey-Gooey {chalky alpha + words} is a collection of love-inspired word clouds that includes a complete hand-chalked stampy alpha.

You can use the word clouds as mats behind photos and papers, to accent your papers and photos or as a stamp. The alpha can be used in all these ways and more!

Ooey-Gooey {chalky alpha + words} is also available at The Lilypad for 20% off through Sunday 13 February.

The Ooey-Gooey line can be used for any of your own love-inspired pages but are versatile enough to be used in any project. The possibilities for your creativity to bloom with these are really countless. Here’s a peek at some of the amazing amazing Ooey-Gooey inspiration:

I so hope everyone has a wonderful and ooey-gooey weekend!

Happy Scrapping!

{grow with love: kids} day twenty

February 7, 2011 By Mrs. Gleason

Well, goodness. I can hardly believe we’ve arrived at the end of this Grow With Love: Kids adventure. But here I am nonetheless to present the final prompt for the project. Crystal and I have loved every moment of this project and I know we’ve felt as though we’ve created some of our most favorite pages in the process. We hope you feel that way too! There were times, in moments of introspection, we felt challenged in the process and other times, in moments of remembering and general parental gushing that we felt energized and full of love. In the end, we hope you are left with a series of pages you can be proud of — both for the creative expression and the story you’re telling. And hopefully even for the growth you’ve experienced along the way.

Don’t forget, if you’re just now finding us, that’s ok. There is no “right” time to start telling your story or diving in to a fresh scrapping adventure. These posts will remain up and accessible on our blogs via the Grow With Love Archive until the cows come home, so please feel free to visit and re-visit the prompts at your own pace.

Crystal took us in to the home stretch with Day 19 as we wrote letters from the heart to our children. Today, we wrap up the project with another reflective prompt that has us really reflecting and getting introspective. It is, in a way, the core of this project. It is, in some ways, the whole point of parenting. And so as challenging as it may be, it is also empowering:

This prompt was inspired by an article my own mother shared with me, that asks parents to consider — really consider — just what kind of example, what kind of model we are for our children. It challenges us to think about what we say and do and what our children see every day in all the little moments. What are they learning from us today? Are our actions reflective of what we aim to teach them?

Prompts like this can be challenging because sometime, in introspection, we are confronted with things that are disappointing. But prompts like these can also be energizing and invigorating as we are reminded about the importance of what we “do” as parents. We are shaping people in to who they will become. We are shaping their stories with our own. And we have the opportunity to do better. Better than we experienced. Better than we did the day before. Scrap about what your child sees in you, or what you hope they will see. Scrap about the role model you aim to be for them.

And with that, we say a fond farewell to Grow With Love: Kids. We hope that you have enjoyed walking with us in this scrapping adventure. And we hope you will continue to Grow With Love with us as we take steps into fresh story-driven journeys in future.

{fresh seeds} birchwood

February 4, 2011 By Mrs. Gleason

Happy Friday, Happy February, and Happy BYOC!

Once upon a time I was intimidated by photo-less scrapbooking. Now, I’m positively in love with it. I find myself feeling even more creative and loving my pages even more when I let myself scrap without photos. And that photo-less spirit and empowerment I feel when I focus on the words and the visual story is what inspired my fresh February BYOC release.

The Birchwood templates are designed in the spirit of story-centric and story-driven pages…inspired by my own photo-less layouts. This set is perfect for anyone who enjoys scrapping without photos, anyone who loves story-centered scrapping, or anyone who loves the look of a photo-less page, but needs a little outline to get started. As always, Birchwood is verstile enough to be adapted to scrap any general page and gives you room to “play” and modify each page to suit your personal scrapping sensibilities.

Meet Birchwood:

And then there is Birchwood {clipped}:

Birchwood {clipped} is a collection of paper/photo mat clipping masks (in .png format) that can be used with your favorite papers and photos to give your pages, blog posts, and cards a little extra fun touch of whimsy. Includes 30 clipping masks in .png format. These photo/paper clipping masks are big enough to be comfortably down-sized to suit your page and story. Ranging from more simple and classic (scalloped and deckled and bracket mats) to fun and funky and paper cut-y and doodle-y.

And some “made of awesome” Birchwood and Birchwood {clipped} inspiration from the girls:

Birchwood and Birchwood {clipped} are available in my shoppe at The Lilypad through Sunday for 20% off!

If you are a newsletter subscriber, you will have received special coupon for extra exclusive subscriber savings. If you aren’t, feel free to sign up so you can get extra little gifties too in the future. And as a heads up I will say “maybe there will be a special freebie included in next week’s newsletter and maybe there will.” ♥

Lastly, I’ve revamped my Facebook page and now there are exclusive goodies available to all my FB “likers” too! All you need to do is “like” Zinnias and Swallowtails on Facebook and click on the “Exclusive” tab to access the exclusive content. I will be updating the page and the goodies periodically.

Annnd we are into the final days of our Grow With Love creative team call. Thank you to all who have applied so far! If you are interested and inspired to join us in our Grow With Love projects, check this post for all the details! The call ends on 5 February.

{grow with love: letters} day five

February 2, 2011 By Mrs. Gleason

Welcome to the first post of Grow With Love: Letters for February!! As I outlined in our first post of the Letters series in January…Grow With Love: Letters is a series of templates and journaling prompts inspired by letter writing that will be featured in the Artisan Notebook throughout 2011.

Last month we put pen to paper writing letters to ourselves: letters of encouragement, of determination and compass setting. We built a kind of foundation for the year with our pages. And now, as we step in to February, we are inspired by the mood of the month: LOVE.

There is, after all, something romantic and so personal in letter writing. And so we will let our hearts be full of all things love-inspired as we write letters to those we love…our significant others, our children, our families. As we reflect on our relationships, we will be considering where we’ve come from, where we are, and where we hope to go. We think you’ll find these prompts uplifting and, in the end, you’ll have some heartfelt pages that emerge as a kind of love song to those you love and hold dear.

As always, Crystal and I will share each prompt and some inspiration on our blogs each week:

Week One: Wednesday 2 February – join us on Sara’s blog: http://www.zinniasandswallowtails.com

Week Two: Wednesday 9 February – join us on Crystal’s blog: http://www.liveyourstories.com

Week Three: Wednesday 16 February – join us on Sara’s blog: http://www.zinniasandswallowtails.com

Week Four: Wednesday 23 February – join us on Crystal’s blog: http://www.liveyourstories.com

Also, as with all our GWL projects, Letters is ultimately a self-paced journey and whatever you hope to make of it. So you are welcome to follow along and jump in at any time, using the templates or not, scrapping digi or paper, or simply just journaling or creating an art journal: whatever inspires you. You will be able to find all our posts as we complete them listed {here}.

I am really looking forward to the prompts for this month as I have the tendency to get a little sentimental and love to reflect on the love stories in my life: with my faith, my husband, my daughter, my family, the history…and because I am basically one big Ooey Gooey Cheesetastic Love-Guided person, I feel that (as they say in the movie of the same name) “Love Actually is all around”. And this month we really dive in to that sentiment. But not in a fluffy-bunny and rainbows kind of way, but an authentic and heartfelt kind of way.

So let’s dive right in to the prompt for Day 5:

Right from the off I am really excited about this prompt because music and lyrics have always had a special place in my storytelling. I have been creating pages for my daughter, inspired by music and lyrics, for two years now. There is something that can be so powerful in storytelling through songs that I love, songs that I hope she will love too, songs that say what my heart feels.

Here are a few examples of my most favorite songs that have become heartsongs to my daughter…

This one features “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and in this case I didn’t expound upon the lyrics because they so beautifully reflected just the message I want my daughter to hold in her heart:

“Don’t worry about a thing…
‘cause every little thing is
gonna be alright. Singin:
don’t worry about a thing
‘cause every little thing is
gonna be alright….
Rise up this morning, smiled
at the risin’ sun, three little
birds pitch at my doorstep
singing sweet songs, of
melodies pure and true
saying this is my message
to you ooh ooh…….singing don’t
worry about a thing…”

I chose a photo of her in a completely carefree moment because it suited the mood of the page.

And another where I just let the lyrics speak my heart. This one features, “I Hope You Dance” by Le Ann Womack

“I hope you never lose your sense of wonder, You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger, May you never take one single breath for granted, God forbid love ever leave you empty handed, I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean, Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens, Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance, And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. I hope you dance….I hope you dance. I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance, Never settle for the path of least resistance Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’, Lovin’ might be a mistake but it’s worth makin’, Don’t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter, When you come close to sellin’ out reconsider, Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance, And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. I hope you dance….I hope you dance. I hope you dance….I hope you dance.”

Sometimes there would be just a portion of a lyric that would say all I hoped to say. Like this one, which features snippets of Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic”: “We live in a beautiful world, yeah we do yeah we do.”

And then there were times when there was a song that I love…but the entire song wouldn’t carry a meaning I wanted to be a heartsong…so I would scrap just that a tidbit (a phrase or title). For example, here I scrapped a phrase from within the song “Northern Lad” by Tori Amos. The song itself is rather haunting and melancholy and it’s about loss, about broken love. But there is a brief little line in there that carries strong power I wanted to share with Bugga: “I feel the West in you”. The West. Hope. Possibility. And so my journaling here, also brief, reflects the power of that statement to me: “I feel the West in you. In you I see hope horizons, possibility. I see the West in you”.

Other times I would share some lyrics and then journal about what they mean to me and what I hope they will communicate to her…

This one features a song by JJ Heller “What Love Really Means”. The entire song inspires and touches me but the lyrics I share with Bugga are: “I will love you for you
not for what you have done or what you will become. I will love you for you.”

Journaling: Dear Darling, I wish I could say that you will go through life and not ever know the pain of loss, the sting of disappointment, or the weight of guilt…but the truth is, life is not guaranteed to be trouble free. Though I pray you always feel the deep love we have for you and that God has for you..there may very well be moments when you find yourself wondering: who will love me for me? Not for what I have done or who I will become who will love me for me? My wish is that you can close your eyes and pray and feel the answer like a warm wave passing over you: the truth is we will always love you for you, no matter what you have done or what you become. And so will Jesus. Always. Forever.

I’ve shared lyrics and songs from the Beatles, Van Morrison to Dave Matthews Band, Ani DiFranco to Billy Joel to Frank Sinatra to Lenny Kravitz and Ben Harper to Christmas carols and back. Really, the possibilities for sharing your heart through music and lyrics are endless. I found myself often creating more artistic-y pages, but this is the kind of prompt that would suit any scrapping style. And it can share so much: personal music tastes as well as stories and hopes and fears and…emotion. For yourself, for your child, for your spouse, for any loved one.

What songs and lyrics speak to you? We so hope you have fun with this one! Can’t wait to see your pages!!

Crystal will be sharing Day 6 of Letters next Wednesday on her blog. And she will also be hosting Day 19 of GWL: Kids tomorrow.

{grow with love: kids} day eighteen

January 31, 2011 By Mrs. Gleason

Well, here we are. A mere three prompts from completing this round of Grow With Love. The Kids edition has inspired me to create some of my most favorite pages and I hope it has you as well!

And if you happen to be finding us for the first time, we hope you will be encouraged by all the posts and prompts so far (you can find them here) to dive in at any time. There is never a “wrong time” or “too late” for telling your story.

So let’s take a peek at the Day Eighteen. We have journeyed into some heavier hope and “big picture” centered pages as well as some little moment and everyday pages. And today we will let ourselves relish the moments across the years. We will allow ourselves to get nostalgic and compare the yesterday and today:

I have a couple different pages for this brewing in my brain…and that’s what I think I love most about this prompt. There are so many different creative avenues to take as we get retrospective. Oodles of photos? A handful of “key” photos and oodles of journaling? A mix of both? A compare and contrast kind of page? A then and now? Graphic in style? Traditional paper in style? Clustery and whimsical in style? I found myself going in all these different directions and that was exciting! I love when inspiration fills me to the brim, so to speak. And so I started in one place and I look forward to going in others as well.

I think many of us have pages of our children that capture them in the moment in time…or even in a “summary of the time” kind of page where we reflect on them generally at a certain age or in a certain month. We have done both in this project alone. This page encourages us to reflect on the whole story. The then and now, the across time, the yesterday and today kind of goodness. It has us whipping out the old photos AND the new ones. Thinking about the bygone memories AND the one’s we just planted yesterday. And that’s storytelling on a different dimension.

And you’ve probably noticed by now that I’m a BIG fan of “and” not “or” so this makes my creative heart happy.

So here’s a page that captures the spirit of the prompt. And I am eager to explore the other avenues I feel tugging on me.

journaling: Every now and then I am struck with a flood of nostalgia and sentimentality, thinking about how blessed I have been over the years and how quickly time passes by. I remember my grandma telling me that every year time passes faster, and I was so young at the time that it didn’t resonate with me. But now I see exactly what she meant. It seems only a blink ago and I was holding you in my arms for the first time. There are days I wish everything would slow down so I could savor you a little longer.

We so hope you have fun with this one! You will be hopping over to Crystal on Thursday for Day 19 of GWL:Kids and I will be posting the first prompt for GWL: Letters {february} on Wednesday!

a {grow with love} creative call

January 28, 2011 By Mrs. Gleason

Floating by with a spot of special storyteller news on this fine Friday. Crystal and I are hoping to assemble a small team of digital and/or paper scrappers exclusively for our Grow With Love projects and releases. We are looking for individuals who value scrapping their stories as much as we do, who love to journal, or who want to grow in their journaling with us. And so…a {call}.

specifically we are looking for digital or paper scrapbook artists that:

consider themselves storytellers and enjoy journaling
can work with a deadline
are active in the community or social media/blogging

our Grow With Love team requirements are:

work with each new Grow With Love series prior to release (you will typically have access to new products at least one week in advance)
upload to your page(s) to your favorite gallery and /or social media

if you are inspired to plant your story with us please submit:

three layouts that showcase your storytelling
a link to your favorite gallery
a list of your current CT commitments
a short bio about yourself

If this sounds like something you’re interested in please feel free to submit inquiries to creativecall@plantyourstory.com by 5 February 2011. We will respond to every email we get to confirm receipt.

Can’t wait to hear from you!! ♥

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