playful.productive.present

Where will you be FIVE years from today?

It's no secret that I am enamored with Compendium books and products. My most recent favorite is a book called "5." This book has been an inspiration and a resource for the presentations I've given over the last year or so. If you haven't seen this book, PLEASE do me a favor and buy it with bllind faith in my honest efforts to NOT lead you astray.

If you're at all hestiant ... then watch this!

  

OK, super inspiring. That's all I'm going to say.

I just happen to have a copy of this book that I'd like to give away, but you're going to have to work for it. Leave me a comment and tell me if TIME or MONEY were not an object, what would you be doing FIVE years from today?

dig deep and be honest.

National Day of Service and Remembrance & Hannah's Tins

've set these words to post at 8:36 am (Eastern Time) in conjunction with a request from our President to observe a moment of silence.

From a statement by President Obama ...

In April, I was proud to sign the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which recognizes September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Originated by the family members of those who lost loved ones on 9/11, the National Day of Service and Remembrance is an opportunity to salute the heroes of 9/11, recapture the spirit of unity and compassion that inspired our Nation following the attacks, and rededicate ourselves to sustained service to our communities.

I call upon all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States to display the flag of the United States at half-staff on Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance in honor of the individuals who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks against the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001.

In honor of Patriot Day I want you to meet Hannah.

Hannah emailed me way back in May and I've been waiting for the perfect time to share her efforts to support and sustain our troops.

Here is a portion of Hannah's email: I thought you would be interested in knowing what your little free class inspired. You gave a class online to make a little "All About Me" accordion album in an Altoids tin. While I was doing it, I thought that it would be a nice kind of album to send to the soldiers that I send cards to in Iraq. I redesigned the interior of the album, putting pictures of Americana on alternate panels and a place to attach pictures of their loved ones on the other panels, using one of the panels to write an encouraging note.

The problem was to get enough tins. To acquire tins, I ate as many Altoids as I could – and yes, they are “Curiously Strong!” I begged empty tins from friends and that first Christmas I managed to make 10 albums to send to the troops. I e-mailed Altoids, now Wrigley Co, to ask if they would donate some empty tins for my project. They sent me 6 empty tins and said that it was an unusual request and not to ask again.

Later, as I was leaving the grocery store, right by our car on the ground I saw an empty tin that looked like the Altoid tin, only it said Cacao Reserve Truffles, by Hershey! It was like a gift from God! Tins that held, not mouth destroying mints but chocolate truffles! I immediately started looking in the stores for the tins of truffles and bought some and urged my family to help me eat the chocolate. It was their “patriotic duty!” I said. They happily complied.

I wondered if Hershey would send me some empty tins as Wrigley had done, so I sent a similar e-mail to Hershey explaining my project and asking for any surplus empty tins. I received an e-mail back saying that they would be happy to send me a couple cases of filled tins – both in light and dark chocolate! One hundred and forty four tins, filled with mouth watering chocolate! I couldn’t believe it! When I wrote back to thank them, they replied with a little note saying that it was the least that they could do!

I sent about 115 albums to the soldiers at Christmas time that they received on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Hershey stopped making the chocolates in tins so I am going to have to find my tins somewhere else so I can continue the project for this Christmas, but the whole idea was all due to your little online class. Thank you, Stacy.

Fondly,
Hannah

Pretty COOL story, huh? No wonder I love BPS and the community that has grown up around it.

• To take the free class that Hannah speaks of, click HERE.
• To contact Hershey and tell them they ROCK, click HERE.
• To purchase hinged tins online, click HERE.

Thank YOU Hannah!
p.s. If you have any ideas for something service-oriented to do with kids after school, let me know!

Ahh, September ...

I LOVE September. 

I LOVE the cooler, darker mornings (really.)

I LOVE that I need to light my candle in the morning (see above.)

I LOVE the smell in the air.

I LOVE the mums on my porch.

I LOVE the urge to clean and organize and make projects I've been wanting to make. NOTE: please don't assume I am cleaning, organizing and projecting. My kids just went back to school and for now I'm just loving the urge to do those things. I am making soup tonight and that is a step in the direction of fall!

I am especially LOVING the chance to look back on last year. Last September, my Have More FUN students and I made something lovely. We made a big, FAT 12x12 album appropriately titled, 30 Days Hath September. This is my second month-long, totally intense daily scrapbook. I did a May Everyday album in 2005. I have to say that I LOVE looking back through albums like these ...

They are so FULL of little details that you simply cannot remember. If you took Have More FUN with me, don't forget to pull out your September album and browse through it -- even if it's NOT all the way done!

Today is 9.09.09 and it's a wonderful September day for Amy Krouse Rosenthal and a 200 person team she has invited to help her create a feature film, called the Beckoning of Lovely. If you've not heard of this entirely delightful project, I encourage you to visit the beckoningoflovely.com -- it's quirky, but it makes you think about the collective good people can do. It also makes you appreciate the creative risks that people (like Amy and her friends) take to more fully engage with life.

If you invited perfect strangers to a park near your home and you promised to carry a yellow umbrella, what would you do when people showed up?

Take August Off + Chase Jarvis

So, I'm here with friendly reminder that August is already half over and you need to spend a few minutes exploring the FREE Summer classroom at Big Picture Scrapbooking. This is a promotion that we do every year and this year Lisa Damrosch, one of our featured teachers shares a source of personal inspiration in the work of photographer Chase Jarvis. Lisa introduced me to Chase several months ago and I've really enjoyed popping onto his blog and following along from time to time, so I thought I'd give you a few additional chances to get to know his work better.

First up is a teaser video that posted on YouTube to promote a talk Chase gave this past June in Denver, CO.

Careful: It has a surprise ending!

 

I was recently interested in the viability of some projects such as a sports directory. And because I love to run (at least on most days) I am very fond of this video that Chase produced for Laura.  Laura (who I do not know) lives and runs in Seattle. Some of the footage is shot at Gas Works Park, which sits directly across Lake Union from the city. The kids and I were just there a week ago (with the Lambsons) In fact, I finished a scrapbook page Wednesday morning with pictures that Taft took at Gas Works. I dropped my layouts off with Angie Lucas yesterday and she and Ella are going to do something very FUN with them, but I digress ... back to Laura.

 

I'm just exceptionally grateful for inspiring people and for the Internet that allows me free access to their inspiration.

Geoff and I are in Utah this weekend, with his best friend (collage roommate) Nolan and his wife. This will be our third year, meeting up with them at BYU for Education Week. I'll be soaking up inspiration ALL Day.

Friday, I'm staying home ...

and kicking off this event. The Inspired Creations Extravaganza is a collaborative effort by three friends (Sheryl, Crystal and Bonnie) with a vision to spread the FUN of scrapbooking. I figured since it is Teach A Friend to Scrapbook month over at Scrapbook.com, I'd better jump at the chance to join them. Seriously, the venue is 10 minutes from my house and Sheryl extended a personal invitation, so I'm there.

If by chance you live in Spokane and need something to do this weekend, there is still room for about 10 or 15 people. The cost is $50 dollars for two full days of cropping. You can come and go as you like and you'll receive $35 dollars worth of product with your registration. There are a variety of technique demonstrations planned for both days. Most importantly, there will be potential friends and lots of space to spread out.

I'll be attending tomorrow (Friday) from 11:00 to 3:00. I'll bring BPS goodies and a handful of other giveaways.

I'll be speaking to anyone and everyone who wants to listen at 11:00. We're going to talk about color inspiration and finding your own happy colors. My hope is that I'll convince you to check your "matchy matchy" tendencies at the door, so you can be more playful and more productive (WARNING: You'll have a lot more FUN too)

If you have any questions at all, feel free to call Sheryl at 991-5393

So sorry for the short notice.

While I've got your attention, we've open registration for our 4Experts workshop with the amazing and talented Jenni Bowlin. Twelve weeks with Jenni will prove to be invaluable in your ability to find and use inspiration in the world around you. I hope you'll check out the details and listen to Jenni talk about her plans.

And then ... stop by Tip Junkie, a delightful blog dedicated to excavating and sharing tips for creative ideas. Laurie is highlighting a mini-book I created for Father's Day last year. If you're new to my blog, you just might want to have a peek!

I also had the GREAT opportunity to write up a little article for Mermaids of the Lake a super-cool online community based right here in Liberty Lake, WA.

In fact, when you Teach a Friend to Scrapbook, tell her NOT to leave her love of photo albums behind. Designing layouts inside a big, beautiful 12x12 album is an amazing opportunity to play with personal expression, but it is NOT a realistic approach for scrapbooking the vast majority of the photos you choose to scrapbook. Yes, I just said that. Once we've been enlightened with the possibilities that blank pages hold, we sometimes we take on a "never look back"  attitude that is often borderline snobbish. Please tell your friend that anytime you pair photos with memories, you are scrapbooking. And when you start with the easy and inviting format of a photo album you can get focus on the memories and still have lots of fun!

I'll be sharing more tips and ideas for Photo Album Scrapbooks, very soon. In the meantime, the next time you see some of these ...