Welcome to the Just Press Play monthly story challenge for May 2014!!

Just Press Play is a monthly challenge that is story-and-prompt centric.  The spirit of this challenge is inviting and fun and encourages us to take a fresh look at how we are telling our stories.  It’s where story meets creativity.  And journaling meets fun.

My hope is to encourage you to Just.Press.Play.  Just start, just begin — dive in to telling your story one page, one journal prompt at a time and have a lot of fun in the process.

And it works like this:

Each month I will share a basic prompt for journaling (on your scrapbook pages, in your project life pages, or on your blogs, or where ever and however you like to get your story on paper).   Some prompts may be longer and ask us to dig a little deeper in to our story and others will simply be “story starters”.

To join in the challenge each month, simply create a layout or project or post following the posted prompt.  Then, upload to the Plant Your Story gallery and comment in the monthly blog post with a link to your posted page.  You have until the end of the month at midnight EST, to complete the challenge.

Each month one participant will win a $10 gift certificate to my store!!

My vision for these is that there will be room to “play”. The monthly prompt will just be a place to start from.  There will be no product requirements, no parameters beyond the journaling nudge.  You will go where your creativity guides you in design and in words.

If you *do* use my products (remember: this is not required!) you will earn one extra entry and chance to win the gift certificate to my store.

This month’s story nudge is:  

Time of Day 

YOU choose your Time of Day…could be morning routine, evening, quiet time, a moment you have to yourself, a specific appointment or special event, something you look forward to, a moment of every day hustle and bustle, whatever moment in time that inspires you.

You can make a note of a specific time (i.e. 8:37 am), or you can capture a collage of different times throughout the day.

It could be something you think of in advance and plan for, or it could be something you stumble upon..being careful to take note of the *exact when* the moment happens.

You can take a series of photos during your selected time of day..paying particular attention to the details, or you could snap a single shot of a person or place or object that is the focus of your story.  Then, scrap it with as much or as little journaling as suits the story.

Here’s a peek at a little Time of Day inspiration.

In this page, You Love Days Like These (10.17), I documented a collage of specific moments and times throughout a single day in a kind of Day in the Life approach to documenting time.  I love to capture the details that live in The Story and this page was perfect for documenting those little nuances of our day.

journaling (scattered and about these time snapshots in a “day in the life” ) reads: One thing I know for sure is you love days like these. Nana is in town and that means you get lots of extra loves and hugs. You started the day doing just that, sitting with nana as she checked emails. In the morning we went for a walk.. Daddy ran, and you got a ride in your jogging stroller while mommy and nana walked around the neighborhood. Since nana was in town we went out to eat for lunch and you just loved the change in routine. And You were such a good girl sitting quietly and enjoying your drink and lunch while we played “I spy” and colored. Every day we spend time reading our favorite books and playing with your favorite animals. this day was no different. Your imagination flies high as you play.

There is a special kind of magic that lives in the documentation of story details.  And this kind of story nudge — encouraging us to hone in on a specific time of day — is the perfect opportunity to dig deeper and highlight the details that live in our story.

In this page, e.r., I chose to document a specific single event.  In this case it wasn’t a shiny happy kind of event, but it was one of those moments of True Story.  A time of real parent worry, real life cloudy-ness.  And those moments are important to document too.

My approach to this particular brand of Time of Day is to document the happenings and then broaden the lens a little and color it with the lesson that lies in the moment.  Since most of my journaling is written directly to my daughter I find myself writing about the Takeaway, the Lesson Learned, the Big Picture, or the Legacy I’m hoping to sow.  And you can see shades of that in my journaling here.

journaling reads: Well, today was one of those days a parent dreads. A day when your child is in pain and sick and you can’t help them feel better with magic kisses, cuddles, rest, water, or over-the-counter medicines. It was our first visit to the emergency room. Poor Bugga has a urinary tract infection. We had suspected this from the things she was telling us and I’m so glad we listened to our instincts so she could get treatment right away. She was such a trooper at the hospital and (thank goodness) didn’t need to be catheterized to diagnose. We had a fabulous doctor who was thorough and kind. We brought her favorite animal and a few books to read which helped ease her anxiety. And once again we find ourselves counting blessings. We are blessed that this is a relatively minor hiccup as far as health concerns go. We are blessed to have health care coverage so our sweetie can get well. And we are blessed with a strong and sweet little girl

scattered (handwritten): Our first trip to the e.r. You were in a lot of pain and even so, you did SO well listening and helping the dr. figure out what was wrong. you were SO brave. the doctor said “your lungs sound wet” so off you went for an xray too.

Jen beautifully captured her favorite time of day in her page.  The balance and palette here underline her storytelling of “magic” that lives in mornings for her.

Journaling: I am a morning person. There is just something so magical about getting up early in the morning and going for a run when the majority of people are still sleeping. I just love to be out on the trail before the sun comes up, and enjoy being alone with my thoughts. It is my own special time of day. If it is a misty or rainy morning then I get even more excited, and just cannot wait to get out the door. There is nothing more fun than splashing through the puddles and feeling the rain sting my face as I run. It makes me feel like a kid again! Wonderful, magical mornings!

I love Stacy’s take on this prompt.  Here she documents the amazing accuracy of her dog’s internal clock.  And captures the details of Time of Day through the eyes of the family pet. I love the spirit of lighthearted fun here and how she elevated the documentation of something very everyday by making her sweet pooch the star, journaling directly to him.

Journaling reads: I can set my watch by your stomach, Jedi. If you wake up before 7:00 am, you pace back and forth next to my bed whimpering and whining softly… but to no avail. If that clock says less than 7, my answer to you is “too early!” You’ve learned the meaning of those words. You’ll lay down and sigh loudly until it’s time for breakfast. Then promptly at 5:30 pm you go outside Tommy’s door and start barking for him to feed you dinner. I don’t know HOW you do it, your internal clock is amazingly precise, babe.

Angie chose to use this story nudge to document the Best Part of her day.  I love the look-down Where I Stand perspective of the photo and the energy she subtly communicates through the use of color and starburst background paper.

Congratulations to last month’s winner, lorryfach!!   Her page 50 Shades of Red (cleverly titled) documented her cruise experience, including some very hot and sun-burny moments.  I loved her use of color and pattern that seemed to echo the sense of “heat” and sun exposure while capturing an overall summery sense of vacation and relaxation.

I can’t tell you how much I loved seeing all the stories off Happiness Is in the gallery!!  What inspirational storytelling and scrapbooking!  Thank you, thank you all for playing along!  I look forward to seeing the pages for this month’s challenge!!
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To join in the challenge this month, simply create a layout or project or post following the posted prompt. Then, upload to the Plant Your Story gallery and comment here with a link to your posted page.

You have until the Saturday 31 May 2014 at midnight EST, to complete the challenge. I will randomly select one winner to receive a $10 gift certificate to my store!!

I can’t wait to see your Time of Day inspirations!