Storytelling

today i…

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So.  I love to play with paper.  I love neutral krafty papers.  I love pretty patterned papers.  I love papers with beautiful color palettes.  I love papers with realistic textures.  I love papers that make you want to pet them even if they are digital.  I love layering papers.  I love cutting papers.  I love using papers in fun shapes.  I love using papers to frame photos, to blend photos, to mask photos, to create alphas, to use as mats.

And this love of paper probably goes a long long way in explaining just why I love Liz of Paislee Press so much (beyond the fact that she is completely made of awesome).  She creates gorgeous papers that make my paper-loving heart go all a-twitter.  She’s also a storyteller at heart I find myself effortlessly inspired by her beautiful work.  So needless to say, when I laid eyes on Liz’s newest release (landing in her store on 20 April) I was smitten all over again.

I was instantly inspired to use the beautiful papers in Sorriso to create a design that framed and anchored this photograph of Bugga.  I really wanted to create a balance of letting the photo AND the papers shine without one overpowering the other.  And Liz made it easy by offering a cheerful and vintage-y palette and both big patterned papers and smaller patterned papers,  as well as beautiful neutral papers.

And I knew this kit would really afford itself beautifully to my latest album that showcases a series of “todays” over time.  I am scrapping a page every month or so that simply captures the beauty of one moment and then includes a stream of thoughts and feelings I have on that day.  So this is “today i…” for 4.18.2011.  In the end, these pages will be compiled together into an album mosaic of moments that will reveal the bigger picture and let my daughter and family see themselves and me through my eyes over time.  It’s a fun and simple way to document the everydays and see a progression of our story.

So yeah.  Liz has inspired me to create another page that helps me tell our story.  And I love her for it.

For another peek at Sorriso inspiration that will no doubt WOW you, please wander over to Therese’s blog {HERE}.  Therese is a dear inspiration to me and has such a beautiful and restrained voice in her storytelling.  I think you’ll be taken in by her beautiful photographs and pages too!

 

Planting Roots in the Story

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I suppose I’ve always had a love affair with The Story.  Although I didn’t always realize that’s just what it was.  At least that’s not what I called it.  I knew I loved to write.  I knew I loved all the things that stories are made of:  the characters and character development, the details of the moments, the plot, the tapestry of images and words and art.   I knew I liked to collect memories.  They lived in shoe boxes of stuff and in my photo albums and in my journals.

But it wasn’t until I started to document the characters and the details and the events in my own life, through photographs and through scrapbooking and through journaling, that I realized what I was really doing was: storytelling.  Not in a fictional sense of the word, and not in a “sit right back and you’ll hear a tale” kind of way, or even in a “when I was a young gal, we had to walk uphill (both ways!) in the snow with no shoes” kind of way.  This storytelling isn’t about tall tales or embellishments, it’s not about capturing, keeping or entertaining an audience.

It’s about documenting, about recording, about saying “I was here”, it’s about taking stock in life, it’s about celebrating the every day, it’s about finding your voice and getting to know yourself better, it’s about writing love letters to those I care about, it’s about keeping a family history, writing biographies and an autobiography, and it’s about building a legacy.  It’s about things that matter.  Not to the world.  Not to Tom, Dick or Harry or Lady Gaga.  Not to anyone else but those who matter to me.  The ones I love, the ones I hope to teach and to learn from, the ones I share myself and my life with.  I am recording our stories.  And in the process, I am *writing* my own.

Anyway…all that is to say, I have a spark for telling my story and I feel there is a value in documenting our days that pours out beyond the page and into our lives.  And I hope that this site will emerge as a source of inspiration and encouragement for anyone who finds themselves wanting to tell their own stories, whether they have a “pull” like I do, or if they feel like they don’t know where to start.  I hope that, together, we can tell record our memories and document our days in a more meaningful way by planting our roots in the story.

{grow with love: letters} Day Fourteen

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Happy Wednesday!  I’m happy to be sharing today’s prompt from Grow With Love: Letters.  This month we are considering the stories of beginnings.  In Day Thirteen we let ourselves get reflective in our remembering and we captured the feelings that come with the beginning of a new season of life (married life, parenthood, stepping in to the world on your own for the first time..).  Today we will build upon that reflectiveness and the exciting energy of “begninning”:

This is what Crystal and I call an “act and scrap” prompt.  These prompts are designed with the hope of encouraging you to let the story touch your life in a tangible way…to actually *write* your story, so to speak.

And there are so many possibilities for this prompt, so you can have fun with it!  What little something (or big something) have you been thinking about beginning, but haven’t found the time or made the time for?  What something New would you like to try?  Try something new today.

Sara was inspired to share about a new lifestyle she is embarking on:

And Kelly documented her adventure in trying a new crafty project:

For more inspiration on scrapping the story of  “trying something new” I encourage you to visit Peppermint and Christine as they document an entire year of New in a project called New 52.  Each week they try something new to them and really embrace the journey of living life fully, trying new things and embracing change.

And be sure to visit next Wednesday for the next installment in the Letters series.  We can’t wait to see your pages!

Happy New and Happy Scrapping!

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Grow With Love is a story-centric scrapbooking and journaling project.  We hope it will inspire you to document your stories in a meaningful way that helps you live life more meaningfully too.  Please remember anyone is welcome to join in and follow along at any time.  You can access the complete Grow With Love archive and hop in to the Letters project which will be highlighted here every Wednesday.

{grow with love: letters} Day Thirteen

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Happy April!  And welcome to the first Grow With Love: Letters post of this month!

If you’re just finding us here’s a smidge of backstory: “Grow With Love: Letters Edition” is a collaboration of templates and journaling prompts presented by Crystal Livesay and Sara Gleason and rooted in and inspired by letter writing as featured in the Artisan Notebook throughout 2011.  We will really explore the beauty of letter writing in our scrapbooking through letters to loved ones, letters to ourselves, letters as words into the cosmos.  Letters that help us set our hearts to paper, help us to get introspective, challenge us to bring words and thoughts to action in our days and letters that guide us to share the fun, the little moments, the every day.   So far we have penned letters that reflect upon setting direction and setting compasses, loves and relationships, and gifts.    This month’s project has us considering fresh beginnings.

We hope you will enjoy continuing in this scrapbooking and storytelling journey with us!  Please remember anyone is welcome to join in and follow along at any time.  You can access the complete Grow With Love archive and hop in to the Letters project which will be highlighted here every Wednesday.  The schedule for April is as follows, with all posts found right here on the Plant Your Story blog:

Week One: Wednesday 6 April – join Sara for Day Thirteen
Week Two: Wednesday 13 April – join Crystal with Day Fourteen
Week Three: Wednesday 20 April – join Sara with Day Fifteen
Week Four: Wednesday 27 April – join Crystal for Day Sixteen

Each day we will post a prompt and delve into it a bit more, sharing our own inspirations and pages and hopefully giving you a bit of a creative push for your own pages.  We are thrilled to share in this adventure in scrapping and in storytelling with you!

So let’s get into April!  April is a time when we feel the beginnings of change in the seasons.  For many of us we are starting to feel the onset of Spring, for others we are feeling Summer’s end.  With the arrival of sunnier days and warmer climes for Crystal and I, we began to reflect on beginnings.  And how fun it is to look back and remember where things started.  We grow so much in our lives in every area and as we move from season to season in our days, and it’s good to take a little time to pause and reflect.   It’s good to  to record where everything started and to reflect on our changes from the beginnings.

This month, we will reflect on the fresh beginnings, and the endings.  We will take stock of the journey and our growth, how things have changed, what we have learned and what we have gained.  There is a lot of story to be told when we go back to the beginning.  And we are eager to do that this month.

Here is the prompt for today, Day Thirteen:

When you think of those moments of stepping in to fresh adventure, experiences, life seasons, what did you feel?  Try to capture the essence of your fresh beginning in this page..be it through art journaling or pulling out a few “vintage” photographs, getting nostalgic and diving into your personal history, or reflecting on something new right in this moment.

Let’s take a peek at how the GWL Storytellers were inspired by this prompt.  I really loved how each was inspired to reflect on different seasons in their lives:

Coila:

Jacq:

Lex:

Nicole:

Teresa:

How will you let this prompt inspire you?  Feel free to share with us in the comments or in the Plant Your Story gallery!

Happy Day and Happy Scrapping!

 

 

{grow with love: letters} Day Eleven

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I woke up this morning to bright sunny skies and we are in that beautiful interim period of nice warm, but-not-too-hot weather, so it was like being greeted with a “nature smile”.  Which always puts me in a mood of gratefulness and pondersomeness.  And cheese-yness, and make-up-my-own-wordness, apparently.  But truthfully, it’s been one of those weeks where days aren’t really going as planned, or falling into line.  When tasks don’t get crossed off the list, where bumps come up in the road, and where worries clog the mind…so this sunny perspective was like a breath of fresh air, this morning.  Instead of thinking of obstacles, I was thinking of gifts.  Isn’t it amazing how moments like that can re-frame your days?  When you are reminded that you can choose how to react to the cards you’ve been dealt?  And that it’s actually a good hand you’re holding?

ANYway..all this to say I was so happy to be pondering gifts today, as it so beautifully meshes with our current journey in Grow With Love.  Today is a letter writing day!  And we are considering gifts this month.  So far we’ve reflected about memorable gifts and written letters that celebrate the gifts in those we love.  Today, we will take a moment to pause, much like I did this morning.  And in that quiet space, we will let ourselves consider our own gifts.

Let’s take a look at today’s prompt:

Do you find it difficult to consider and celebrate your personal gifts?  Do you feel as though you know your strengths?  When you look at your life, are you using them?  How do others describe your gifts?  Think of these things as you put together a page and write about a gift that you have…something that makes you YOU.  Something you feel defines who you are or points you in the direction you hope to go.

I love how the GWL Storytellers captured the spirit of this prompt.  Each in their own way.  I find so much inspiration in these pages:

Coila:

Kelly:

Mandi:

Teresa:

Tracie:

 

If you are new to Grow With Love, we hope you’ll feel inspired to join us any time!  You can find an archive of posts and prompts {HERE}.  Crystal and I love to see your pages and we can’t wait to continue in this journey with you!

A couple things to note about GWL happenings on the horizon.  Starting in April, Crystal and I will be posting these GWL: Letters posts at Plant Your Story every Wednesday.  The archive will continue to be available and everything will remain the same, just a wee different venue.  Annnnd…we will be launching the next BIG Grow With Love project with expanded content and inspiration and much much more very soon!  Can’t wait to tell you more!

In the meantime be sure to swing by Crystal’s blog for Day 12 next Wednesday 30 March.  Happy Scrapping!

{grow with love: letters} Day Nine

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Welcome to the first post of the Grow With Love: Letters Edition {March}!  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.

In January, 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 last month, we were inspired by the mood of the month: LOVE.  We considered our own love stories and those the relationships and loves that have impacted us and shaped our personal stories.

This month, we find ourselves pondering “gifts”.  Gifts received, gifts given, gifts of character, gifts of talent.

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gift – noun

1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

2. the act of giving.

3. something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned: Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.

4. a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.

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Let’s take a peek at the first prompt of the month.  This is Day Nine:

There are so many options for where this prompt can guide you.  Do your thoughts immediately land on a tangible gift you’ve received?  Or do you think of gifts of moments, gifts of trust, gifts of blessing?  Do you find yourself drawn to scrapping a photoless page?  One that shines the spotlight on a “thing”?  One that focuses on people and relationships? A little of everything?

Let’s take a look at some of the amazing inspiration from the Storytellers…

Coila:

Lex:

Mandi:

Mel:

 

I love how each “gift” highlighted set the mood of the page, from the photo selections to the element and color choices.  The meaning and the emotion of each just jumps from the page.  What gift will you scrap?  We can’t wait to see!

Be sure to join Crystal on her blog next Wednesday 16 March for the next prompt.

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