How is it September already? For real! The boy starts school today, and if I’m being honest I think it couldn’t come soon enough for either of us. The last couple of weeks of summer vacation are grueling – you just know that the start of the school year is out there, looming, but you have to keep waiting and waiting for it.
The great news about September, though, is that I’m a guest designer over at 9th & Bloom this month! If you haven’t been over there yet you really need to check it out. Holly Griego opened the doors to 9th & Bloom at the beginning of August and it’s positively brimming with great designers, challenges and outgoing community members.
For my debut I created Instinct, and I love the Autumn palette. I’m a huge proponent of following your gut, and I’ve become something of an (annoying) evangelist about it. I’m resistant to change, I fear the unknown and I have quite a bit of self-doubt – but sometimes my heart is just pulling me distinctly in one direction and I really try not to let all of those negative things get in my way. The saying “fate loves the fearless” is one of my new favorite mantras – and it’s included within, of course!
Instinct is 20% off for the first 48 hours, no coupons necessary!
(Doesn’t the dark packaging just blow your mind? Haha. It really threw me for a loop.)
Congratulations Corinna! I’ll be sending you an email with instructions for claiming your prize!
I’ll be back tomorrow with inspiration from The Flock! Enjoy your day!
For the month of September I’ll be popping up in an additional store here in digiland. My cover has already been blown there, so it’s not too hard to find me if you visit their forums – I’m not very good at being sneaky, I guess!To kick off my guest spot I’ve created Instinct, which is another “one word inspiration” that I jotted down a few months ago so that I could collect ideas and inspiration. A kit to remind you and the ones you love that anything is possible, if you just follow your heart.
Once again, you have the chance to win it by leaving a comment here. See the details below!
Layout by Steffi:
To enter for your chance to win this digital kit, simply leave a comment below by Tuesday, August 31st at 12:00 (Noon) EST. You can improve your odds of winning by posting about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook or your blog – or all three. Just make sure you come back here and post links in the comments section (please post as a new comment each time) so every entry counts towards your chance to win.
To make things a little more fun I decided to add more winners every time the comment count rolls over into the next set of hundreds. So at 101-200 comments, 2 winners will be chosen. Comments 201-300 will guarantee three winners, etc. So spreading the word increases everyone’s odds. 
I will announce the winner when I announce which store I will be a guest at , along with the release of Instinct.
(comments are now closed, check back tomorrow to see if you’ve won!)
Anyone who frequents the Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl blog should be able to make sense of the title of my post. Christine and I met through scrapbooking back in 2008 and became fast friends, and in 2009 we flew out to San Diego to blind them with our pasty white midwestern skin and geekiness. Her blog regularly features snapshots from their daily life, accounts of their fitness goals and accomplishments, and – my favorite – a whole lot of food photos. Todd and Christine don’t mess around when it comes to food, and it’s one of the biggest motivations we had for flying our lily white carcasses out there last year. Have stretchy pants – will travel.
Out of the masses of food photography that Christine featured, a single trend started to reappear that came to be known – in our house – as “The Todd Shot”.
We. Love. The Todd Shot.
Many people try to capture the essence of The Todd Shot, but few succeed.
Todd goes for it 100%. Mouth wide open, hunger crazed eyes – it’s a tough shot to pull off. It’s about 10% love of food, 90% complete lack of self-consciousness.
See what I mean? I wasn’t “all in”. I started laughing so I couldn’t pull off the crazy eyes, I was self-conscious about the Internet seeing my dental work. Todd Shot FAIL.
I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I didn’t DESERVE to.
Later that same trip, Todd had to right my enormous WRONG by attempting the Never Before Seen High Risk Of Being Bludgeoned By A Life-Size Vegetable (or Fruit?) Todd Shot – which will forever go down in history as one of the funniest moments of my life. Watching him stalk this giant tomato in order to achieve the shot was one of the highlights of my life.
The other day when I was working from home I sat down to eat lunch with Nicholas. I made “seven ingredient sandwiches” because Nicholas likes to have a name for his food and I’m really creative like that, can’t you tell? He and I don’t get many chances to sit down and have an actual homemade lunch together. When he’s out of school we pick up a lot of food on the go (bad mom!) and on the weekends our eating schedule is all over the place. While we ate we had a chance to talk about what he was looking forward to this coming school year and his favorite highlights of this past summer – and because I appreciated the moment so much I ran into One Little Bird World Headquarters (a.k.a. my new office) and grabbed my trusty Nikon.
And Internet, I am here to inform you that out of the ASHES OF MY SHAME has risen a phoenix. Granted, it’s just a little baby phoenix – but I have hope. Because completely unprompted, and despite the fact that he has never read the Listgirl Blog (sorry Christine!), he struck this pose:
We still need to work on the crazy eyes, but I figure a few days of starvation will cure that. You have to SUFFER for ART, child!
My Blog Feed
One Little Bird Flickr Group
Follow Me on Twitter!
Become a Fan on Facebook
Email Me
Visit The Pool
Bird Seeds Vol. 1 | Back to School
I have a brand new product for you today! But I can’t take all the credit for the idea. For a while now I’ve been trying to think of ways to make storytelling a little easier, and then a few days ago Liz Tamanaha (of Paislee Press) said to me “You should create an element pack of your handwritten words with journaling blocks.” And when Liz tells you that you should do something – you do it.
But I also wanted to make sure that it was really helpful in some way when it comes to actually telling your story, otherwise it’s just another pack of word art. So instead of the boring old sample text that I stick into most templates, this sample text in these files include ideas and tips to jumpstart your journaling. So whether you’re a seasoned storyteller or just starting to dabble in journaling, they’ll make the process a little easier for you. Consider them story starters, just add you!
These little gems are a little bit word art, a little bit template, and a BIG help when it comes to telling your story. Since it’s Back-to-School time for my little one, that’s where I started! I’m sure a lot of us have a stack of photos we took this year on the first day and we need to get them into the album. Each layered file contains handwritten word art and a customized text path to wrap around it, plus journaling tips to start you on your way.
In addition I wrote out 20 words to accompany this back-to-school theme – pictured below.
There is also a Professional Use version of this product HERE.
Subscribe and Save!
Subscribers to my newsletter, The Cage Liner, receive an exclusive discount on this product
through Friday, September 10th.
Current subscribers, make sure you check your email to retrieve your coupon code.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe now and save!
Have a great week! シ