fresh seeds

{fresh seeds} larkspur + letters {july}

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So it’s official: summer has arrived here in the desert Southwest…we’ve experienced our first “Severe Heat Advisory” warnings of the season which pretty much just means that the heat has evolved from Hot to Ridiculously Hot.  It also means that we spend a lot of time indoors enjoying the blessing of air conditioning (ohhh how grateful I am) daydreaming about if it’s possible to actually fry an egg on the pavement or rapid rise a loaf of bread out on my patio.

But apart from that heat-addled brains kind of daydreaming, I find myself daydreaming about making pretty things and why I love scrapbooking so much.  And it’s both of these…The Pretty and The Crafty…that have inspired this week’s {fresh seeds}.  I’m so happy to share two — yay! — new releases to share this week.

Meet Larkspur.  Larkspur is the latest in the “Full Bloom” series of templates are designed in the spirit of a “fuller” page, richer in layers with many little details and a little more depth.  It’s been awhile since I’ve released a “full bloom” set, and I have to confess I have a soft spot for them.  They are derived from some of my most favorite pages and they can really be so beautiful and well, full while still affording you room to “play” and modify the page to suit your personal scrapping sensibilities.

And here’s a bevvy of beautiful inspiration from the girls and the Pollys:

Annnnnd.  We’re on the precipice of July (yes, seriously.) which means it’s time for the next installment of Grow With Love: Letters Edition with Crystal Livesay.

If you’re not familiar with the Letters Project, Grow With Love: Letters Edition is a fresh regular monthly feature in the Artisan Notebook for the year 2011.   It is a series of templates and journaling prompts rooted in letter writing that we hope will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone a little bit, reflect on your relationships and loves, and love a little more deeply and truly. This is not only a scrap project. This is about changing yourself and your relationships for the better. Still, as ever, these templates can be used apart from the prompts to tell any story and scrap any page tailored to your own scrapping needs and style.

This month’s offering is rooted in our creativity and crafty and scrappy.  It’s fun and happy!

And here’s a spot of inspiration:

Both new releases are available in my store at The Lilypad for 20% off through Sunday 26 June.

As always I looove to see your stories and art too, so please feel free to share with me anytime.  Really!  Just shoot me a mail or share them on my facebook page.  And if you haven’t signed up the 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 maybe a fun summer freebie soon and very soon!)

Also!!!!

Registration for Grow With Love: Staycation has begun!  Staycation is a fun and relaxed and inspired summer adventure in storytelling.  I encourage you to learn more about it {HERE} and listen to Crystal and I yabber about it in this fun post too.  We so hope you’ll join us in this fun adventure!!!

I hope you have a fabulously pretty and crafty weekend!!

{fresh seeds} dandelion

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I was so honored to be featured on The Daily Digi in April and if you missed the fabulous chance to grab Dandelion in the April Digi Files, you can now snag it in my shop at The Lilypad!  I really loved working on this project and I created it with the hope that it would be the best representation of my personal scrapping and design style, so it had a little bit of everything in it: page design templates, {clipped} template masks for papers and photos, a handful of doodley {story seeds}, and a couple of story starting journaling prompts.

You can grab the Dandelion {templates} and prompts or Dandelion {clipped} + {story seeds} OR you can snag the Dandelion {garden} which is the bundle of the two!  All are available at The Lilypad for 20% off through the weekend.

The Dandelion {templates} were designed in the spirit of  wishing, hoping and the promise of beauty and joy found in the every day….with varied design styles ranging from a “fuller” page, richer in layers with many little details and a little more depth to cleaner and more linear designs.

Dandelion {clipped} + {story seeds} include 25 clipping templates for papers or photos.  Simple sentiments are inspired by all things wish{full}.

Love them all? Dandelion {garden} is the wish{full} bundle of the Dandelion collection:

And here’s some amazing inspiration from the girls:

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

Registration for Grow With Love: Staycation has begun.  Staycation is a fun and relaxed and inspired summer adventure in storytelling.  I encourage you to learn more about it {HERE} and keep your eyes peeled for a fun blog post from Crystal and I and a Q&A about the project!

I hope your wishes come true this weekend!!

{fresh seeds} Liatris

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Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. — James M. Barrie

The Warm is most certainly upon us here in the desert Southwest and it won’t be long before The Warm melts into The Hot and then into The Oven Hot From Which There Is No Escape….and so I am happily soaking up the warm rays and enjoying the sunshine and blue skies before I feel compelled to lock myself in my house just so as to get some relief from it.  LOL!

And it is that happy kind of sunshiney mood and warm that has inspired Liatris and Liatris {story seeds}, my contributions to this month’s (amazing) BYOC at The Lilypad.

Liatris is designed in the spirit of the every day, of fun, sunshine, summer and play…with varied design styles ranging from a “fuller” page, richer in layers with many little details and a little more depth to cleaner and more linear designs. This set is perfect for any summer or vacation page, everyday page, all about me, or event page and gives you room to “play” and modify each page to suit your personal scrapping sensibilities.

Liatris {story seeds} is a collection of 21 different fun fun fun and playful word art strips and bits (in colored, b/w plain + distressed .png versions and in .abr brush format) and 6 4×6 photo clipping templates (in .png format).  They are the perfect little touches for your every day, summer or vacation pages or photos.   Inspired by fun, sun, warm rays, and the every day. Liatris {story seeds} will give your pages, blog posts, and cards a little extra fun touch of fun and whimsy.

 

And here’s a spot of Liatris inspiration from the Z&S team and the Pollys.  These pages make me smile!!!

Liatris and Liatris {story seeds} are available for 20% off through Sunday 5 June at The Lilypad.

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

There are a few fun sunshiney and summery happenings on the horizon, including Grow With Love: Staycation — a fun and relaxed and inspired summer adventure in storytelling.  I encourage you to learn more about it {HERE} and mark your calendars for the upcoming registration period.

I hope you are enjoying a happy sunshine-y day!

{fresh seeds} grow with Love: letters edition {june}

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Well goodness another month is drawing to a close and many of us find ourselves saying goodbyes to school years and hellos to summer.  And as this season of travels and staycations draws near, Crystal and I were inspired by journeys, getaways.  And we threw in a little taste of fatherhood too (since June *is* the month o’ Dads here in the U.S.) as we created June’s Grow With Love: Letters templates and prompts.

Meet Grow With Love: Letters Edition {June} — a set of four layered templates created in the spirit of journeys, adventures, getaways and vacations.  As always, these Grow With Love templates are accompanied by a series of thoughtful story-driven journaling prompts which are borne from the hope of helping you tell your stories and put pen to page.

We hope you’ll have fun getting inspired with these!  You can use the templates and prompts together or separately to suit your own story and pages.

And here’s a touch of inspiration:

Grow With Love: Letters Edition {June} is available at The Lilypad for 20% off through Sunday May 29.

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

There are quite a few fun goings on on the horizon including fresh collaborations, a wonderfully fun summer Grow With Love experience, and more giveaways!

Speaking of giveaways.  There is still time to check out and participate in the ongoing Scrap Your Theme song giveaway sponsored by the amazing Kristin Cronin-Barrow.  Not only will you walk away having created a fun page, the winner of this one will receive a $25 gift certificate to her store!!!  Which is pretty WOW, right?!!

{fresh seeds} Preserved

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It probably goes without saying that one of my most favorite things about scrapbooking and memory keeping is The Story.  Okay, it’s the most fulfilling, challenging, heartfelt, emotional, beautiful reason I love it so much.  And so when I have the opportunity to work on a project that is rooted in the inspiration of storytelling my heart does a little happy dance.  Which is just what it did last summer when I collaborated with my dear friend Sandra to create Preserved.  And it remains the one set of templates that I receive inquiries about: when will you bring this to The Pad?  Or seriously, woman why haven’t you brought Preserved to The Pad yet?!  So I’m really happy to say that today is the day!

My Preserved templates have landed at The Pad:

These templates can be used in myriad ways really from any themed page to all about me pages and any story centric pages.  You can make use of the journaling spots in the designs or you can scrap without them.  And if you love pages with quite a lot of room for journaling…these really make it easy to focus on The Story.

Here’s some fresh Preserved inspiration from the girls and the Pollys:

You can grab Preserved at The Lilypad for 20% off through Sunday May 22.

So hope you like them!  Happy Scrapping!  Happy Preserving!!

Happy {inter}National Scrapbooking Day

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Happy Happy {i}NSD!!  I hope that everyone is well and enjoying a happy and scrappy day today enjoying all the fun on blogs, and in the stores and forums!!  And I hope that you get to enjoy some time scrapping your stories this weekend too!

This weekend is one that not only celebrates this hobby and storytelling journey I love so much, it is also the anniversary of my design debut!  This time last year marked the beginning of Zinnias and Swallowtails and I am SO very grateful for all the support and inspiration I have received from all of you along the way!  Thank you!

There is SO much to share today so I’ll dive right in!!  I have some {fresh seeds} share and some blog hoppy {free seed} goodness too!

You may have found your way here from Laura’s blog as you travel the fabulous DSA iNSD blog train but if you’ve missed a spot or lost your way, you can head to the DigiScrapAddicts forum to find the complete list and start fresh.

Or you may be visiting today as part of the amazing hoppity hop-ness of The Lilypad blog hop.  In which case you probably found your way here after visiting Krista’s blog.  If you get missed a stop on the TLP hop or have lost your way you can find a complete list {HERE}.

Either way there are a bevvy of amazing freebies to snag today and I’m so happy to share a little something with you too!

I was inspired by all things fresh and sunny and celebratory to create something fun and versatile.  I so hope you like it!  You can {download here} or click on the image below.

Your next stop on The DSA {i}NSD train is Live Your Stories which is home to my dear Crystal where she has a couple fabulous somethings for you today! Don’t forget if you’ve missed a spot or lost your way on the DSA train, you can head to the DigiScrapAddicts forum to find the complete list and start fresh.

Your next stop on The Lilypad hop is Rebecca’s blog.  I know you’ll love what she has to share too!  And remember if you get missed a stop on the TLP hop or have lost your way you can find a complete list {HERE}.

And now on to even more {i}NSD fantasticness…

I have two, nay three amazing collaborations coming to The Lilypad today!  And I hope that you will find they are just what you need to help you scrap all the amazing goodies you are snagging this weekend!

One year ago, NSD marked my designing debut and I celebrated with the support and cooperation of my dear friend Crystal as we released a special template-only grab bag together.  And we thought it would be fun to revisit the grab baggy spirit and fun!  So I’m happy to present the 2nd Annual {i}NSD Grab Bag collaboration from Zinnias and Swallowtails and Crystal Livesay.  This is a versatile set of 8 layered templates inspired by layers and a play with paper.

And here is a full reveal of what you will find inside this fun little grab bag:

You can grab this bag o’ templatey goodness in my store for $3 throughout the weekend.  After this time it will return to it’s original price of $9.

Here is a spot of grab bag inspiration:

I have also teamed up with the ever amazing Amy Martin to create a set of templates inspired by the process of moving, packing and unpacking.  We always have fun collaborating together and this set was no exception.

Meet Packed, a set of 10 layered templates created in the spirit of  tighter, layery, stacky compositions:

And Unpacked, a complementing set of 10 templates created in the spirit of  airier, looser compositions in mind:

You can also grab the bundle, Packed and Unpacked to enjoy the full set of 20 templates.

And here’s some amazing Packed and Unpacked inspiration:

And lastly, Amy and I have created this fun set of Thankful cards, which are perfect for creating heartfelt custom thank{full} greetings for those people in your lives whom you’d like to shower with thanks!

And don’t forget to check out all the fresh goodness at the Pad for this month’s BYOC.

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  the 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.

There are also two giveaways happening now.

Be sure to check out:

Brought To You By the Letter J for your chance to win a gift certificate provided by Jacque Larsen

Scrap Your Theme Song for your chance to win a gift certificate provided by Kristin Cronin-Barrow

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And with that, I shall send you on your way with wishes for a beautiful weekend full of all things scrappy!

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