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{grow with love: holiday} day one

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Happy Friday!  And welcome to the first post of our Grow With Love: Holiday Edition. Crystal and I are really happy to be walking along side you in storytelling as we navigate this very special time of year!  We hope that you are enjoying the moments of anticipation and preparation and advent and all things holiday-y so far and that you’re not feeling as though the month is getting away from you yet.  I always end up feeling that way at some point during this season (usually when I’m contemplating my to-do lists).  It is my hope that this project will help me to slow a bit, to pause a bit, to go with the flow a bit more, to smile a bit more and to just soak everything up.

We’ve mapped out the schedule for our blogging {here}…and let’s not get caught up in the word “schedule” or the whole idea of it really.  This project doesn’t need to be another item on your to-do list..in fact we hope, rather, that it will be something you can unwind with as you reflect and as you walk through these holly jolly days.  Remember, this is (as are all the Grow With Love projects) a self-paced workshop.  We will blog (and hopefully inspire) and you check in when at your own pace.  The prompts can be your jumping off point for documenting your holiday in and of itself or in conjunction with any other holiday project.  We can’t wait to see your pages and process as we go along!  So..let’s get started!

Here’s our prompt for {Day One}:

This is a lay-the-groundwork kind of prompt.  It may, at first glance, seem an almost obvious or “easy” something to scrap about…like “well of course THIS is why the holiday is important to me” because the meaning we each find in the holidays is something that is so within us and so a part of our history that we don’t often give it second thoughts.  It’s just a given.

But we really want you to give this a good think.  We really want to get you thinking about what you love about the holidays.  And more importantly, why.  Because it will be the why that will help you stay focused on what you love most and really enjoy everything all the more.  This kind of foundation building can really be a game-changer.  It can turn something “unpleasant” into something appreciated for its blessing.  It can change the way you consider others’ actions and intentions.  It can change the way you consider your own.  It can help give you a fresh perspective on the “old”. It can help you re-focus throughout the busy.  It can really transform and enrich your holidays.

So..whatever it is that you think of, whatever it is that you feel when you consider the holidays, scrap about it.  Get to the meat of it.  For a lot of us, it could be our faith that guides our attitudes and actions and traditions and everything about this time of year.  For others it could be family.  It could be a whole mosaic of things that really give the holidays meaning for you.  Whatever it is, map that out.

Here’s where this prompt lead me:

And Crystal:

We hope that you let yourself get a little lost in the reflecting and have fun scrapping your own “why” and then let it guide you through the holidays..and the next prompts.  The very next of which will be coming tomorrow.  Can’t wait to see your pages!

Hope you have a beautiful weekend!  Happy Scrapping!

 

{fresh seeds} Paper Garden {volume two} and Cranberry

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Happy Friday!! I hope that everyone has had a beautiful week!

December is, quite literally, THE busiest month for us in our house and family.  Apart from all the holiday-y fabulousness (which you already know makes my heart so happy), there are no fewer than 9 birthdays to be celebrated this month.  And not even like John Doe the random neighbor down the street birthdays.  I’m talking family and such-close-friends-they-should-be-family kinds of birthdays.  Today was my dear husband’s birthday.  He’s one of the reasons I love scrapping so much.  He makes me laugh every.single.day.  He makes life beautiful.  You have a person in your life like that?  I hope so.

All this to say…it only seemed fitting to smooosh lots of news into one post, since December is all about smooshing as many celebrations and as much love and happy into each day as is humanely possible.  And so today I’m happy to share two {fresh seeds} arriving in two different places.  That’s right…I say two, because I’m so very happy to be guesting at Scrap Orchard for the month of December!!  I am so lucky to be among such wonderful company there and all the fun happening this month with their wonderful Advent Calendar event.

And today I’ve released Paper Garden {volume two} there.  I am a paper lover.  I love pretty paper.  I love paper play and fun with shapes and all things paper-y and layer-y.  Paper Garden is inspired by all of that.  And this is the latest.

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You can snag Paper Garden {volume two} at Scrap Orchard for 20% off through the weekend. Woot!

Next, it’s BYOC time at The Pad!!  I have always loved the amazing and unique products the girls release at the start of the month, and this month’s BYOC is no exception.  I am in love.  And, as ever, so grateful to be a part of this amazing team of designers.

Meet my offering for the December BYOC: Cranberry

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I so hope you like it!  And as always you can grab Cranberry for 20% off through the weekend.  Double woot!

If you are a newsletter subscriber, you will have received special coupon for a bit of 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 I will leave you this evening with a smattering of amazing inspiration from the girls and Pollys.  Wow!

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I hope you all enjoy your Friday!  I am unplugging a bit to say “yes” to my Bugga as part of the latest Grow With Love:Kids prompt and challenge, but I’ll be back later with our first Grow With Love: Holiday post and some encouragement for the busy weekend.

Happy Scrapping!

{grow with love: holiday} details and a {freebie}

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So it’s officially that time of year.  That beautiful time of year.  And we are about to embark upon Grow With Love: Holiday.  As per usual, Crystal and I will alternate blog postings, wherein we share the prompts, a smattering of inspiration and some insight and encouragement along the way.  All the while we *will* be continuing with GWL: Kids posts on Mondays (here) and Thursdays (at Crystal’s blog)…yes, we may very well be totally cuckoo.  BUT, as always all the Grow With Love posts and projects will remain on our blogs indefinitely so anyone can dive in anytime or come back when the time suits them best.  We know it’s quite a lot to be getting on with, but we wanted to get these holiday posts up during the holidays and hope they will enrich and encourage you in your storytelling and in your living this season.  And so without further ado the holiday blog schedule will look like this:

Day One: Friday 3 December at Sara’s blog (plantyourstory.com/blog)

Day Two: Saturday 4 December at Crystal’s blog (liveyourstories.com)

Day Three: Tuesday 7 December at Sara’s

Day Four: Wednesday 8 December at Crystal’s

Day Five: Friday 10 December at Sara’s

Day Six: Saturday 11 December at Crystal’s

Day Seven: Tuesday 14 December at Sara’s

Day Eight: Wednesday 15 December at Crystal’s

Day Nine: Friday 17 December at Sara’s

Day Ten: Saturday 18 December at Crystal’s

Day Eleven: Tuesday 21 December at Sara’s

Day Twelve: Wednesday 22 December at Crystal’s

Whew!  Wish us luck!  Hope to see you along the way!

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if you are coming to this post anytime after the end of year 2011, you can now find all the posts in one happy, coordinated place in the Grow With Love: Archive {HERE}

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Also wanted to point you in the direction of a fabulous post from Crystal over at Vanillabees.  She created a compilation of her favorite picks for all the latest and greatest holiday kits..which will be a great resource for picking kits for this or any other holiday project.  Woot!

Now for another little something fun…I created these layered tag templates that can be used for this or any holiday project and pages.  They are completely customizable (and completely free!) and each tag includes many options for building your own tag.  You can create tags with scalloped edges, with punched edges, with alphas, with cut-out numbers and combinations of each.  Lots of possibilities to create tags that really fit your page design.

You can snag them by clicking the image below or by clicking {HERE}

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So hope you like them and have fun with them!  Happy Scrapping!

Ooh and stay tuned because I have two fabulous {fresh seeds} coming Friday. Can’t wait to show you!

 

{anticipation} elf magic edition

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So I know I’ve mentioned once or twice 191 times how much I love this time of year and everything advent-y and holiday-y: all the anticipation and fun and family and tradition infused into every day of the season.  One of our (very) new favorite holiday experiences is Elf Magic.

Last year we decided to add this extra element of fun into our December.  Elf Magic, for those who aren’t familiar, is quite a lot like the Elf on a Shelf only maybe a little more “cutesy” in appearance and a little less focused on the “I’m-watching-you-and-reporting-back-to-Santa”.  It’s a little more on “let’s-make-holiday-memories-and-have-mischief-and-fun” and said fun can really be tailored to underscore what is most important to you and your family during this season.

So, last year, shortly before Thanksgiving, we wrote a letter to Santa asking if one of his elves could stay with us during December in the time leading up to Christmas.  We had heard that some elves do just that and they always have tons of fun.  So we wrote and we left out some ice water and crackers (which apparently are the favorite eats of elves) and then we waited patiently to see if the elf would arrive.  And sure enough, our elf arrived at the start of December!!  Her name is “Rachel”, which we thought was pretty special because Rachael was my grandmother’s name.

ANYway…so throughout the month we would wake each morning to see what fun and adventures Rachel (isn’t she cute?!) had been having.  One morning we woke to see she had set up our nativity sets, another we saw that she spent the evening watching A Charlie Brown Christmas while eating popcorn (both of which she brought for us from the North Pole).  Yet another, she had built a huge tower out of Bugga’s blocks and “repelled” from the ceiling fan.  Some of our favorite elf adventures were when she: took a bath in a sink full of marshmallows, went for a joyride on Bugga’s tricycle, went “fishing” for Goldfish crackers, wrapped presents, made a candy cane reindeer and left instructions for us to make some too, read the Christmas story in the Bible, and made a candy train and set up a cottonball winter wonderland.  Well, as you can tell, she really had loads of fun.  And so did Bugga.  And so did we.  It was a fun way to create fun with David and for us to really enrich our holidaytime with Bugga.

Let me tell you, Bugga’s face and anticipation each morning was a treasure.  She LOVED this experience.  And so we were excited to write Santa again last week to see if Rachel could spend time with us again this year.  I made a fun little template for us to write and then Bugga signed it and we gave it to Daddy to mail to the North Pole.

Tonight we put out the ice water and crackers.  Here’s hoping Rachel arrives tonight.  I have a good feeling she will.  🙂

Let the magic begin!

Since I created it for us and for fun anyway, I thought I’d share our “Dear Santa” template with you.  It’s just a simple little something you can customize for your own Elf experience or just for writing Santa in general.

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Anyone who wants to can snag it by clicking the image above or by clicking {here}.

Hope you have a fabulous and fun first day of December!

 

Sig

 

{grow with love: kids} day seven

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So we’re headed into the season of crazybusy holiday and we will be diving in to Grow With Love: Holiday this week (so check back tomorrow for the details on that), for those who are wanting to join us in enhancing our family and story throughout the advent and holiday season.

But I have to say that I’m looking forward to keeping up with the Grow With Love: Kids Edition posts to help keep me grounded in what really matters this season.  Continue to check in here on Mondays and at Crystal’s blog on Thursdays for the GWL Kids Edition posts.  And remember, this is a self paced project and you can dive in anytime.  The schedule as mapped out now, has us scrapping the Kids Edition into January so there will be plenty of time to catch up if you find yourselves getting carried away with all things holiday.  If you’re just joining us (Welcome!!!!) feel free to peek at the backstory and summary of everything-you-need-to-know {HERE}.

For now, here we are at the start of Week Four and Day Seven.  This week will challenge us to act in the spirit of YES and scrap with perspective.  Let’s take a look at today’s prompt:

So grab your camera and let yourself fade into the white noise of the day to capture something “everyday”, something candid and “ordinary”, and then let yourself consider just how extraordinary that can be.  Be deliberate in how you ponder the scene (and photos) you see.  What is the story there? ….really.  What can you learn from this moment?  What does this moment reveal to you about your child(ren)?  About yourself?  Try to shift your perspective and really put pen to paper about this everyday.  Take something that may normally feel “superficial” and dive deeper.

What I love about this prompt is that it can really become so many things to each of us.  Because we all live so many little moments that are bigger and fuller and more special than we give them credit for as we hustle and bustle through our days.  These are the things that may just fade into the backgrounds of our minds…but they will be woven together as a backdrop, the kind that gives us (and our kids) a sense of who we are, the values we hold.  They are little pieces of us, pieces of our families.  Here’s a little inspiration…

I decided to quite literally follow my Bugga around for a day, taking photos here and there as she was immersed in whatever it was she was doing.  And the photo I choose to scrap in the end was a detail shot of her soaking up a new favorite book.  A gift from nana.  It was just a regular quiet moment.  But as I considered it, and this shot, it filled me with a renewed sense of just how sponge-y she is.  It’s something we all know as parents, of course, but the import of it just hit me afresh..that she is constantly learning and soaking things in..certainly more than I do, more than my DH does..and that we need to foster that at every turn.  Because really we only “have” her for a finite period of time.  We need to make the most of every moment.  Get “in the pages” with her even more than we already do.

Getting in tight on a shot like this..cropping in camera or in your program, can really bring focus to your page and story.

Crystal captured a beautiful moment of play and interaction with her son and daughter.  And I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this amazing photograph and page.  I imagine that’s how she felt looking through the lens as well.  Mommies and Daddies of more than one child can really seize a beautiful opportunity of a stellar candid capture in a shared moment between your kids, which will lend itself beautifully to the kind of perspective we’re hoping to share on the page with this prompt.

So go forth, grab the camera and capture that candid moment and scrap.  🙂  Can’t wait to see your beautiful pages!  As always, Crystal will be blogging on Thursday, so take a peek there for Day Eight.

Happy Scrapping!  Happy Week!

{blooming creativity} — Grow With Love: Holiday

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I'm completely gooped up with that full of anticipation and joy kind of feeling that comes with this time of year.  Crystal and I are so similar in a lot of ways, one of them being our shared love for all things holiday-y. And so we are really excited about the latest in our Grow With Love series: the Holiday Edition.  Grow With Love: Holiday landed at The Lilypad and Oscraps this weekend and will be available for 20% off for only a few short hours more.  We will dive in to the prompts beginning on 1 December and we hope they will help enrich your holiday scrapping AND your holiday living this year.  You can use GWL in concert with any other holiday-centered scrap project you may be working on, or you can simply play along with us as we dive in to scrap our holidays.

Before we do, here's a peek at some of the amazing inspiration from our teams.  I love how these templates can beautifully be used for holiday pages, but also for any general page! 

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Hope you'll join us on this holiday scrapping adventure as we look at traditions, wishes and hopes, faith, and fun!

Sig

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