free seeds

{anticipation} elf magic edition

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

 

Happy DSD {fresh seeds} galore and {free seeds}!

I hope that everyone is enjoying a sunny and very scrappy day today!  I know that today is FULL to the brim of fun and new releases and freebies all over the community and I hope you’re enjoying celebrating this hobby we love as much as I am!  I have so so SO much to share today from {fresh seeds} to {free seeds} so let’s dive right in!

You may have found your way here from Michelle Batton’s blog as you’re hopping about on the fantastical blog train sponsored by DigiScrapAddicts but if you’ve missed a spot or lost your way, head on over to the DigiScrapAddicts forum to find the complete list and start fresh.  There are over 40 (ummm…wow!) fabulous freebies along the way and I’m so happy to share a little something with you today.

I was inspired by all things autumny and warm and cozy and I so hope you like it! You can download {HERE} or by clicking the image below.

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Your next stop is Sir Scrapalot’s blog where Aaron has another fantastic freebie for you!

And now on to even MORE DSD fantasticness…

I’m also really thrilled to say my store at The Lilypad is stocked to the brim with most of my products (including Learning Garden which had been previously available during my guest stay at CatScrap) and you can save BIG today.  Everything is 30 % off (excluding my BYOC and my holiday cards which are both offered at 20% — still awesome right?).

And I’m really really excited about my new releases today!!  Crystal and I are thrilled to bring you the second installment in our Grow with Love series.  Meet Grow With Love: Kids Edition.  20 fabulous templates, 20 fabulous journaling prompts.  Grow With Love began with our Marriage Edition this summer and it was borne out of our love for storytelling through out scrapping.  We were inspired by deep reflection of our own loves and relationships to create a series of templates and journaling prompts that we hope will inspire you to share your own stories and create beautiful pages from the heart that you will love. But more than that, we hope, through the process of scrapping and reflecting and writing, the project will have a more tangible effect in our real lives.

This version is (obviously, right? lol) about our children.  And parenthood.  We are SO excited to share it with you all!

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As before Crystal and I will working these prompts with you and expounding on them, diving in a little deeper, giving a few more examples on our blogs. twice a week.  We hope that you will feel inspired and we hope that we will be doing “more” than scrapping together…we hope that we will be growing together. we will be working through the project with you all on our blogs.  It all starts here on Monday.  Yay!!

p.s. If you’d like a chance to win GWL Kids, pop back a little later today.  I’ll be having a giveaway. Woot!

I’m also really thrilled to share another collaboration!!  This one is warm and cozy and fabulously autumny and it makes me smile.  I’m so happy and honored to have worked with my amazing friend Becca of Tickled Pink Studio to bring you Bountiful.  A full kit and a full set of templates that are just perfect for any autumn, Thanksgiving, family or happy page.

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Are you collabed out?  I hope not, because I have one more to share with you today.  Woot!  I’ve teamed up with the amazing Amy Martin to create a series of 4×8, 5×7, and 5×5 holiday card templates (and believe me when I tell you these are SO fun).  They are customizable so you can create just the perfect card to send from your family to loved ones.  We know you’ll love sending something extra special and they will love receiving it.  Here’s a peek at Good Cheer:

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Hope you all have a fabulous day!  I will be back later to giveaway Grow With Love: Kids Edition.  In the mean time, be sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook because I am goofy for sharing coupons and such.

Happy DSD!!! ♥ Happy Scrapping!!!

 

{free seeds} home is where the heart is

Six weeks ago I was feeling reflective and nostalgic for the beach, tearfully saying goodbyes as we headed West to our new home here in the desert.  And now, here we are, finally settled in and starting to venture back into normalcy again.  At the same time, we are focusing on doing all the things that make a house a home: decorating, meeting new friends, continuing traditions and soaking up lots of family time.  As I was feeling a little pang for “home” in Florida the other day, I was reminded afresh how “home” really (and truly) is where your heart is.  And it is what we make of it.  Love, and home, as it were, begins and ends with family.  And so, I find myself feeling blessed to be home.

Speaking of “home”…I am so grateful for my time at After Five Designs and the opportunity to have worked with the women and talent there, but I have some really exciting news I can’t wait to share with you.  As of Friday 5 November, I will be “repotting” Zinnias and Swallowtails — settling in and planting roots at a new “home”…my creative home.

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Think you might know to where I may be “repotting”? planting roots? calling my “home”?  Post your guesses in the comments section before 10pm PST tonight.  Two lucky winners will win 3 products of their choice (except for collabs).

But wait! There’s more!  In honor of perspective and blessings and settling in to home, I hope you’ll enjoy this freebie today!

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And if it strikes your fancy, feel free to snag this little wee bonus freebie too, inspired by making home where your heart is.

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And this is just the beginning of the fun!  In addition to my big debut tomorrow (Friday), I have so many fabulous goodies to share with you this weekend, including several collaboration projects, a sale!, some Twitter giveaways, and a blog hop freebie (yes another one), so be sure to connect with me on Facebook and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter, if you haven’t already.

I hope that everyone has been well!  Can’t wait to see your guesses!

After Five Designs Block Party — {free seeds} Paper Garden: freebie

So…as you’ve probably heard After Five has been having a Summer Block party, with lots of fun happenings in the forums.  Well the reallysuperfun stuff begins this week and continues into the next with lots of amazing new releases and a whole series of fabulous freebies.

And we are now in the midst of the Freebie Hop week!  Many of the designers have created some fabulous free goodies for you to collect.  And along the way you will find a word with each freebie.  Collect all the words and you can have a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to the shoppe!! And ten others will win $10 store coupons too too!  Wooot!

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Today my freebie becomes available and you can find it {here}.  Here’s a peek at Paper Garden (freebie)..it’s a bit of a tease of a BIG set of templates coming soon that highlights play with paper.

If you are hunting for the words to collect, you will find mine in the product description.  And you can snag the freebie simply by scrolling down and clicking the download link or by placing it in your cart.

I so hope you like it!  And I hope you all are having a beautiful weekend!

Stay tuned next week for more Grow With Love fabulousness and some news about some fun {fresh seeds} on the horizon, including a really wonderful collaboration!

{free seeds} Fresh Cut: Fourth

So it’s officially July.  I can’t believe it’s already July! Can you believe it’s July?  Yeah, it’s July.  I hope that wherever this first day of July finds you, you are happy and healthy and having fun!

It’s a holiday weekend for many of us as our Canadian scrapper friends celebrate Canada Day today, and as we in the US celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July!  The fourth has always been one of my most favorite holidays and since falling in love with my husband (who is coming home just in time to celebrate with us — yay!!), it’s struck an even deeper chord upon the patriotic gong in my heart.

And so in honor of this festive and fun holiday I have created this fun little freebie for you!  I so hope you like it!!

Fresh Cut: Fourth is a fun set of templates designed with the 4th of July in mind and in the spirit of my “fresh cut” series of templates: with restraint and cleaner page design as a compass, but which can be modified to suit whatever your scrapping style or needs.  You can use them for your own Independence Day centered pages, or for any general purpose.

Here’s a peek a some inspiration from my girls.  I really love how they showed of the versatility of these simple templates…they can be used for a fantastic 4th of July page or they can so beautifully be used for any story you’re inspired to capture.

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You can download Fresh Cut: Fourth for free {HERE}.

I hope you do enjoy it!  And to those who celebrate, I wish you a very Happy (and safe!) 4th of July!!

{free seeds and a contest} Happy iNSD!!!

It’s an exciting day for us scrapbookers…everywhere you look there are sales and games and giveaways and challenges and chats and fun galore!  And in honor of my debut, I wanted to get in on the fun and share with you a little freebie and a fun little scrapping challenge/contest (with a “she might have gone out of her gourd” kind of prize). This freebie complements an inspired-by-summer template series I am growing now (and the Summer Garden add-on which is available in the grab bag collab).

I so hope you like it!!

You can download by clicking the image or by following the link below.

And now for the fun challenge/contest part:

I would love to see how you make this template blossom for you (yes I *am* that cheesy)! I hope you have fun playing with it!  Let your creativity guide you and make it your own to suit your scrapping style and the story you want to tell.  Upload your page to your favorite gallery(ies).  Then come back here to share a link to your page made with this freebie and you will be eligible to win BIG.

Everyone who scraps and shares will get an extra little something from me for playing along and ** two lucky scrappers will receive a summer guest spot on my creative team where you will be able to play with my products and have fun with us in The Garden for the entire months of June and July!! **

You have you have until 15 May to play along.  Lots of luck and Happy Scrapping!!

Download Summer Garden Freebie HERE

 

Also be sure to visit check out the happenings on the other After Five mixologists blogs (you can find them in the sidebar) for more fun and freebies!

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