{we are} storytellers

{writer's notebook} Story with a capital S

I took a brief {work}cation last week -- four days in Washington DC for a national conference to give a presentation on test data analysis for my job. I also took my oldest daughter along with me, as she'd never visited DC before. She was enthralled, and I took photo after photo. I loaded up my laptop with 4 gigs worth of pictures, and then, on our final day, left my laptop on the metro when Cass and I got separated for a (way-too-long) moment. So now my laptop and most of those photos are gone. Of course, I was devastated and my immediate reaction was just to start sobbing. Most of my photos, documents, and such were on our EHD, but there were a month's worth of photos plus most of our DC photos that were now gone forever (lucky for me I've been able to recover some of those pictures from the flash cards). After reporting the loss and almost missing our plane and consoling a worried-sick Cass that everything would be okay, I was finally able to step back and look at the situation a little more objectively.

It could've been worse. While it will be a lot of work to replace those files, they can be replaced, as can the laptop. How amazing that the loss of one material item like this could bring my world crashing down...until that moment, I'd honestly no idea how much I have come to rely on my laptop. I kept thinking about all the scrapbook pages I wouldn't be able to make now, and then it occurred to me: Wait a minute, I was there, I experienced these things. Why do I need photos to record these memories? Aren't the stories themselves enough?

So my challenge to you this week is to scrap a story you don't have pictures for. If you are stuck on where to begin, use this line: "This is a photo I did not take" and then go on to describe this photo. Think about all the information that this photo would reveal if it existed and then work to include that in your journaling. As you create your page, use your journaling as the focal point and treat it in the same manner you would a photo, with embellishments and accents.

Make sure you get your layouts posted in the gallery and then link us up in the forum so we can all see your work. Also, don't forget about this week's book fair:

write on,
{storyteller} aud

{storytelling}

Hello friends!! I wanted to show you my favorite layout this week, it's beautiful!! I just love how Janelle stuck with a neutral color palatte and even turned the big "M" into a sepia toned letter. The photo is just beautiful and the rounded corners added with the pink, give this layout such a soft touch.

{storyteller} emily merritt

{page turner tuesday & shaken but not unraveled}

Well, for all of us in the Southern California area - here's to being reminded that we live in earthquake country - no doubt! We were hit with a 5.8 earthquake centered in Chino Hills, which is about 25 miles from the worldwide headquarters of {we are} storytellers. Not a giant quake, by any standards, but one that makes your heart pound and your legs running for cover. In all my years of living here, I can't recall ever 'losing' anything in an earthquake...until today! a few things leaped (or should i say, "were pushed off") the shelves, a piece of art jumped from the mantel and shattered glass everywhere, but for the most part - all is good. We also know that of course it could have been much worse.

It does make you stop and think, and who knows, maybe it's the reminder we need that we all need a little shakin' up everyone in awhile. Nothing like feeling the earth move beneath your feet to either validate your firm stance, check your balance or stumble. As I watched the pool water slosh and create waves, I wondered if it was going to splash up and over the edges, and if it did, would it be alright. Well, it did and in a short time, the pool was calm again, the water dried on the pool deck, everything was once again at rest; but was it really? I'm taking this as a sign, to stop and asses where my footing is, make sure that I'm solidly planted where I need to be and fluid enough to sway with the ebb and flow of the expected.

Think about this quote from Dale Carnegie and let's live today with gusto!

"Today is life - the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the wins of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto."

take care,
{storyteller} deann

{staycation blogshop week 4}

Staycation Week 3 Random Drawing Winner: Scrap Evangel (Terrie)
Leave her some love!
She won a $10 GC to Emily Merritt's store at the wst boutique! Congrats! Next week's winner will win a GC to Two Sisters Designs' store at the wst boutique. See details in the download at the end of this post.

Do you own a Wii? It seems like the NIntendo Wii fever has caught on to almost everyone I know. And so, we focus on Game Night for our staycations this week. Whether you are playing together as a family virtually, or actually going outdoors to play - let's hear about your game plans.  The downloadable prompt for Game Night is below.  You'll want to download it to see all the layouts by the {we are} storytellers creative team including Emily Merritt and Kathryn Wilson.

My Game Night or rather Game Day project was to create an outdoor scavenger hunt as seen through the eyes of an "Alien Robot" (an idea I found on Crayola's website.)  In the pull-out flap, I added what each item translates to through a human's eyes: Planet Bases are Rocks and he needs to find 2 of them. Foliage Flakes are pieces of Bark; Earth Hair Strips are Grass; Insect Landing Bases are Leaves; UFO Shells are Seashells (since I am at the beach); Castle Dust is sand from the beach; Tree Feelers are Sticks from branches.  If you want to have a scavenger hunt, see how far your imagination can take you.

{Credits}: Emily Merritt's Robots and Rockets - The Kid In Me

{storyteller} Valorie shares that she has "been wanting to make a matching game for my daughter and thought this was the perfect opportunity!"



{credits} all from {we are}storytellers: Toadstool, Kabloom, Summer Side Up, New Life, Tutti Fruitti, Once Upon a Time, Felty Spring, Whales and Snails, Olive Avenue, Sportsmania, Safari, Felty Frames and Crafty Trims, Label It, Puffy Glitter Paint, Crafted Journal Shapes, Birdhouse Frames
Font: In My Closet

Visit the Staycation Gallery

Visit the Staycation Forum

Week 1 Download

Week 2 Download

Week 3 Download

Blinkie Help

DOWNLOAD WEEK 4 PROMPT

Enjoy!
{storyteller} Julie Ann Shahin

{book fair}

We're still celebrating kathryn's birthday (her entire shoppe is 25% off through Sunday) and this week's Book Fair kit is keeping the party going...

Also, have you had a chance to see emily powers shoppe this week - wow! Not only does she have amazing new product, her hybrid at home collections is to die for, but she's running a special through Sunday. Spend $2.99 or more in her shoppe and you'll get her latest template, Experiment No.5 for FREE!

With that template, and seriously a few minutes, you can tell a wonderful story...

I'm going to leave you with a quote, I'd like you to ponder as you go through each of your days. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we have to do, what we should be doing, that often, we forget the importance of the choices we make. Keep this quote close at hand, and when deciding the road you will travel, that path you will wander, the friends you will keep, the promises you make, the day that you spend...think about how much a day in your life is really worth...

"What I do today is important because, I am exchanging a day of my life for it." - author unknown.

take care!
{storyteller} deann

{storytime}

This week I wanted to show off some beautiful layouts that have graced our gallery this week that feature one very important thing: journaling. Journaling adds such depth and meaning to layouts. These three ladies not only nailed the design of their layouts but simply made it all the more special by preserving their memories in words as well.

by purple colourz

by cbsplace

by jgus

{storyteller} kelly

{it's kathryn's b-day!}

Now through Sunday, everything in Kathryn's shoppe is 25% off, including brand new goodies. Have you seen these amazing collaboration kits - zen garden with Joanne Brisebois and sugar britches with Creative Confusion.

zen garden even comes with a 15 page 5x7 quick album as a gift with purchase. (which means you can pick it all up this week for only $6.74!!)

sugar britches is so unique and full of beautiful papers and fun elements for only $5.99!!

I'll leave you with a sneak peak of tomorrow's Book Fair kit, created by our birthday girl, Kathryn...

take care!
{storyteller} deann

{confessing to my crime}

This morning I woke up with an idea for a page which involved "interviewing" my son with a series of questions.  Some silly, some serious, but all of them chosen specifically because I knew he'd have opinions on the subjects and would be all too eager to voice them.  Halfway through my list of questions was one that I was already expecting he had asked himself MANY times in his life:  "If you could stop your mom from doing one thing, what would it be?"  I had prepared myself for what seemed like some of his more obvious complaints about me - his mother - the biggest of all kiljoys, enforcer of all unreasonable rules, the preparer of all things vegetable.  His answer was "Stop taking pictures of me!" and for the first time in our game of 20 questions I hesitated before writing his answer down.  I continued on, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still reeling from that one response.

When I finally sat down to complete my interview page this afternoon, I couldn't make it work on paper.  I had the concept in my head and all the materials in front of me but I couldn't figure out where to start, and after taking a break from my computer and distracting myself with other tasks for a while it finally dawned on me that all my focus was still narrowly aimed at that one point in our conversation.  More and more often lately, I start with one idea and then over time it takes on a life of its own. In the end it can be hard to tell where my original concept played a part at all - but I've slowly begun to realize (I am a slow learner, afterall) that when I fight the natural progression of my thought process and try to force that ORIGINAL concept, I'm denying myself the opportunity to explore any "organic" creativity that I have flowing around in my head.  And it's inside those battles between "need to" and "want to" that I flip the switch on my own creativity, and wind up struggling to get my point across. 

I know that we all struggle with our creativity from time to time, and maybe we just need to back away from our screens and ask ourselves "What is REALLY on my mind right now?" and then truly explore that for a few moments.  Sometimes an idea is lurking in there, one that we just need to reach out and grab - without struggle, without frustration.

 

{credits}
Zen Garden by Kathryn Wilson and Joanne Brisboise (coming soon)
Diamond Passion by Kathryn Wilson

Journaling reads: ""If you could stop your mom from doing one thing, what would it be?" I expected a fairly typical answer from you when I asked you this question earlier today. Stop making you go to bed.  Stop making you clean your room. Stop making you accompany me to Target even when you know you won't be getting any new toys. These were the answers I was prepared to hear. So I was surprised when your answer, without hesitation, was "Stop taking pictures of me!" I won't lie, my heart dropped when I heard your answer but I moved on with the rest of my silly questions for you, that answer weighing heavily on me as I did. Is this what you'll complain about to your friends one day? Will this come up in therapy? An image of some ominous camera, appearing from thin air to rob you of little bits of your existence?

My hope is that one day you'll look back through these hundreds of photos I take of you and realize what a gift they are. Little glimpses of your daily life frozen in time, preserved forever.  I never ask you to pose, I believe I capture your true essence in the moments where you're least aware of the camera. In those moments you're the Nicholas I most recognize, your little quirks, the animated way in which you talk, how wide your eyes get when you're excited about what you're doing and even your angry little scowl - so perfectly reminiscent of my own.  This is "Everyday Nicholas". Maybe you believe that you'll remember these things forever, just as I did when I was a kid. I know you can't understand WHY I'm so quick to grab the camera when you're doing the same things you do every day. Trust that I know a little bit more about the advancement of time than you do, as much as it may KILL you to admit that perhaps I know something you don't know. You probably think I take these pictures for myself - and I do - but I also take them for you. Maybe you'll never want them, but I'd rather you one day complain that I have too many pictures of you than not enough. If the worst crime you feel I commit as your mother is that I record too many moments of your life, then I'll gladly enter a plea of "Guilty as Charged"."

As for whether or not I'll stop taking pictures of my poor son?  The answer is "Never". 

{storyteller} peppermint

{staycation blogshop week 3}

Page by {storyteller} Julie Ann Shahin (see this page in her hybrid album below)

It seems our humble little blog is generating quite the excitement as we've been contacted by various news organizations wanting to interview us and our staycation participants. If you are a news organization and would like to speak to our spokesperson regarding our staycation blogshop, please fill out our Concierge form here.  If you are a participant and would like to share your special staycation story, please share it on our forum here.

DailyCamera writer Laura Snider  posted  some tips to help you BUDGET YOUR STAYCATION - this week's theme. She wrote that "a recent report by the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation that found the average picnic costs $3.50 a person. They included all kinds of eats from hot dogs and hamburgers to potato salad and corn chips. Of course, if you decide to get brats from the Boulder Sausage Co. or buy sprouted wheat organic buns, it'll cost a little more." 

She also points out "gas prices are calculated using the average mpg rating for American cars, which the Environmental Protection Agency reports is 20. Gas prices are assumed to be $4 per gallon."

Using her figures, I researched a place for us to take a staycation within 200 miles of our home. I chose the outdoor museum Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY.

The place: Erie Canal Village is an outdoor living history museum. It is a reconstructed 19th century settlement on the site where, on July 4, 1817, the first shovelful of earth was turned for the construction of the original Erie Canal. Relax as our horse drawn Packet Boat plies a section of the enlarged canal giving visitors a taste of early 19th century water travel.

The plan: Sleep in before hitting the road to Rome, NY. Go on the boat cruise, then have a picnic lunch. Check out the Blacksmith demonstrations, then tour the village. Tour the museum buildings before dinner.

The cost:

Gas from Rochester to Rome, NY:  $34.40

Admission for two to the Erie Canal Museum, includes boat cruise: $30.00

Picnic for two: $7.00

Total: $74.40

Here is how I translated this into a layout for my mini-album, using photos from the Erie Canal Village's website:

{supplies}

**digital**all at we are storytellers
Template: Photopalooza Templates by Two Sisters Designs at wst (retired)
Truly Modly Deeply by Emily Merritt
Tall & Skinny Alpha by Emily Merritt
Retro Quirk by Emily Merritt
Messy Machine Stitches-Straight by Emily Merritt
Once Upon a Dream by Emily Merritt
Olive Avenue by Emily Merritt
Things That Make You Go ZOOM! by Two Sisters Designs
Chasing Rainbows-The Kid in Me Collection by Emily Merritt
Scrap Stash-- Buttons by Two Sisters Designs

**physical**
Creative Imaginations Bare Elements Brook Peek O Book Album
7Gypsies tag, stickers and rubons
Spiral clip

Here are more staycation pages by our {storytellers] creative team:

Page by {storyteller} flipflop - "we started off the summer by grabbing a tye dye kit at Wally World.  We had
plenty of bags and for some reason rubber bands too.  we dyed everything white in the house from underwear to socks. All the sinks were full and the kids had a blast"

Everything from {we are} storytellers
Kraft Paper
Things That Make You Go Zoom
Storytellers Essential Paper (Tiff Brady)
Once Upon A Dream
Im Free
Chipboard Alpha (recolored)
Joy to the Fishes
Mark That Date

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Page by {storyteller} Mandy

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Page by {storyteller} kriscrosby: "I've taken this from a slightly different approach... because we just moved to a new state, we're making it a point to take the kids to as many local areas as possible. My kids are still really young, so it doesn't require much planning. To them, "staycation" is anything out of the normal daily routine, even if it means grabbing McDonalds and eating at a local park!"

Most is from Tutti Frutti
Paper block template vol. 1
scrapstash tiny stitches
puddle jumper (retired)
boy wonder (retired)

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Page by {storyteller} stephk: "They were SO excited about planning and cooking dinner. They looked through cookbooks to plan the meal. They shopped for the ingredients. Then they cooked the meal themselves. We have been meaning to do this for a long time and I’m so glad that we finally did. They did such a great job! This is something that we will start doing more often. Definitely the start of more happy memories!"

available at {we are} storytellers:

inbe{TWEEN} by Emily Powers and Nikki Beaudreau
Classic Cardstock Neutral; I Am Free ; Acrylic Stickers 1; Blossom (retired-MM Blog freebie) by Emily Powers
Keep it Simple Sweetie-- May, Scrap Stash-- Glitter Paper by Two Sisters Designs
Kraftastic by Emily Powers and Emily Merritt
Tutti Fruttiby Emily Powers and Paislee Press
Stars and Stripes by Emily Merritt

Also: Bakers Dozen by Kate Hadfield and Jacque Larsen

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Page by {storyteller} Peppermint:

Credits:
Experiment No. 3 by Emily Powers
I Am Free by Emily Powers
Tutti Frutti by Emily Powers and Paislee Press
Alphabet Soup - Acrylic by Emily Powers
Alphabet Soup - Foam Stamp by Emily Powers
{STORYTELLER ESSENTIALS} Lots of Lines by Emily Powers
Classic Cardstock: Neutral by Emily Powers
Olive Avenue by Emily Merritt

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Page by {artist in residence} Emily Powers: "who needs to vacation at the beach or swim at the pool when you have your own backyard water park! you, aiden and asher love to squirt each other with the canon and zoom down the slide into the water below. staycation 2008."

credits: joy to the fishes kit by angela powers and amy hutchinson. brush strokes by michelle coleman. scrap stash: chipboard by two sisters designs. itty bitty epoxy alpha 2 by emily powers. NEW KIT Kabloom by two sisters designs. classic cardstock: funky by emily powers. puddle jumper kit (retired) by emily powers. summer side up by tiff brady

Week 3 Downloadable Prompt

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WEEK 2 RANDOM DRAWING WINNER: star74

Visit the Staycation Gallery

Visit the Staycation Forum

Week 1 Download

Week 2 Download

Blinkie Help

{writer's notebook} recipes

We had a great turnout for last week's challenge. I think the idea of writing a poem intimidated some folks -- but let me set aside some common misconceptions about poetry. First of all, it doesn't have to rhyme to be a poem (it's fine if it does, but that's not a requirement). Secondly, there's no need for dense language or overdone descriptions -- some of my favorite poets use a really simple, everyday type of language and their work is just beautiful.

We had several great entries in our challenge; make sure to visit the {writer's notebook} gallery and leave them some praise. Several of our {storytellers} participated in the challenge also; you can view their layouts as linked in this thread in the forum.

Our random drawing winner of a $10.00 {we are} storytellers gift card is Tania with her layout, El Santuario.

Now, on to this week's writing lesson. I'm always looking for fun and creative ways to journal on my page. I also try to make sure that I don't leave my journaling as one of the final aspects of page design, too, so when I'm able to find a creative journaling focus and a kit that match up -- well, I get pretty darn excited. That's what happened when I first laid eyes on Tiff Brady's new kit, Summer Side Up. It has such a great old-fashioned "Grandma's Kitchen" feel to it, so I thought the perfect journaling format would be a fun recipe. This is a great way to practice working with specific language (cookbooks have such fantastic, vigorous verbs in them) and it's also a great way to practice using figurative language. By using the language of cooking and substituting another activity in its place, you're making your words pull double duty. It's an easy way to learn to be more playful with language, to loosen up and free yourself from worrying about how something sounds. Here's my layout; scroll down to read the journaling.

Take 4 cousins (3 girls, 1 boy, ages 3-11) and mix with various aunts, uncles, parents, and
grandparents. Remove shoes and mix into river exhibit slowly at first, then with wilder
strokes. Expect some splashing. Add a dash of floating leaves (some cousins may prefer
double handfuls), then set aside for a few minutes to let the mixture rest. (Ignore whining
pleas for paddleboat rides, as all cousins are not big enough.) Transfer cousins to large pool
and fountain area. Add wind in small gusts, and position cousins for optimal coverage.
Sprinkle a few drops onto cousins. (Cover ears to protect against squealing.) Continue sprinkling
cousins, being careful not to oversoak. If soaking does occur (see illustration above), place cousins
in direct sunlight at 85 degrees until dry.

As always, we'd love to see the fun ways you find to incorporate recipes into your layouts. Post them in the gallery and link them up in our forum; check out the latest threads for fun links and more information on writing recipes. And don't forget about our Book Fair!

write on,
{storyteller} aud