May 'HOPE' Inspiration from the Inside Out

It's never too late to explore HOPE! Here's what you need to help create great LOs and projects...enjoy! More about our new kit, RENEWAL, tomorrow!

Design Team Layouts: Here!

Journaling Prompts:

I Wish: Being human means that we dream of and wish for things that we don't currently have. Are you more or less satisfied with what you have or do you dream of greener pastures in some areas? What do you hope for in your most private moments? Are your most fervent wishes hidden to others or known by all? If you have had a dream realized, was the grass really greener on the other side, or were your expectations not met? Do you remember wishes from your childhood, and can you remember when the things you wished for changed?

Hope Springs Eternal: You can go a day without food, but can you go a day without hope? Writers and philosophers say that hope is a critical mechanism of the human spirit that allows us to persevere in difficult circumstances. Are you a hopeful and optimistic person? Are you able to handle complex situations with ease because you believe in better days ahead? Or are you more deterministic, believing that life’s ups and downs are just 'the way things are'? Have you experienced hope in a situation where others thought hope was gone? Do you ever hope for things or situations that others think cannot be? Do their opinions matter?

A Real Friend: Sometimes our friends turn to us for support and encouragement – do you tell them the truth every time they ask you what you think, or do you sometimes protect them from the truth? Do you ever change the way you communicate to give them a sense of hope in tough circumstances? Has a friend ever said or done something for you that exemplified hope and helped relieve your despair?

Hope and Charity: Basic human goodness and some religions traditions teach and encourage giving of your time, money and spirit to help bring relief to those in need. What do you do in your day to day life to provide hope for others? What traditions did you learn from your family of origin, and which do you intend to pass on to the next generation? What causes, beliefs and beings do you support by bringing them hope, and how?

Music:

Quotes:

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Allan K. Chalmers

Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. Arundhati Roy

Once you choose hope, anything's possible. Christopher Reeve

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. Dale Carnegie


Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be. Don Quixote


Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow. Dorothy Thompson


I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings. Elie Wiesel


To sit patiently with a yearning that has not yet been fulfilled, and to trust that, that fulfillment will come, is quite possibly one of the most powerful "magic skills" that human beings are capable of. It has been noted by almost every ancient wisdom tradition. Elizabeth Gilbert


Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired. Erik H. Erikson


He who has never hoped can never despair. (Caesar and Cleopatra) George Bernard Shaw


Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. Lin Yutang


Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow them. Louisa May Alcott


If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. Martin Luther King, Jr.


The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination. Marion Zimmer Bradley


I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas. Molly Ivins


You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Mohandas K. Gandhi


To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death. Pearl S. Buck


Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work. Rita Mae Brown


The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope. Samuel Johnson


Never give out while there is hope; but hope not beyond reason, for that shows more desire than judgment. William Penn


Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. Bill Cosby

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. Albert Einstein

In all things it is better to hope than to despair. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hope is the dream of a soul awake. French Proverb

Dum spiro, spero: While I breathe, I hope. Latin Proverb

Hope is the feeling that the feeling you have isn't permanent. Jean Kerr

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. Vaclav Havel

Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all. Emily Dickinson

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. Thich Nhat Hanh

Love floods us with hope. Jareb Teague

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. George Iles

Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic. Norman Cousins

I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair. Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The man who lives only by hope will die with despair. Italian Proverb

We cannot despair of humanity, since we are ourselves human beings. Albert Einstein

I turned to speak to God About the world's despair; But to make bad matters worse, I found God wasn't there . Robert Frost

It's the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, 'till we find our place, on the path unwinding. Elton John

Like strength is felt from hope and from despair. Alexander Pope

A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon Bonaparte

The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again. Sarah Ban Breathnach

Hope is a waking dream. Aristotle

A ship ought not to be held by one anchor, nor life by a single hope. Epictetus

He who does not hope to win has already lost. Jose Joaquin Olmedo

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

At first we hope too much; later on, not enough. Joseph Roux

Beware how you take away hope from any human being. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hope is itself a species of happiness and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords. Samuel Johnson


Links:
Make-a-Wish Foundation: Giving Hope, Strength and Joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions
How Stuff Works: Dreams
Operation Hope – The Move to Eradicate Poverty in Our Lifetime

Ready, Set, CHANGE!

Change is hard. I know that I often need support to get myself going with important lifestyle changes - exercise, eating right...




And it's not about how I look. Since I turned 40 recently, I have been thinking about the importance of my health and well-being for the long term - about how I can make the most of the time I've been given.

What does this have to do with scrapbooking? On Monday, we're launching our June kit, RENEWAL. There are so many ways to look at this topic, but for all of us, renewing our health has to be critical.

What can you commit to this month to start to renew your your body and treat it gently and with care? Perhaps a LO or two could help move you in the right direction?

It's never to late to RENEW your life...come join us Monday at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out!

Love,
Rachel

Hope and Charity from the Inside Out

We're exploring HOPE this month at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out...here's one of this month's prompts:

Basic human goodness and some religious traditions teach and encourage giving of your time, money and spirit to help bring relief to those in need. What do you do in your day to day life to provide HOPE for others? What traditions did you learn from your family of origin, and which do you intend to pass on to the next generation? What causes, beliefs and beings do you support by bringing them HOPE, and how?

My parents chose to share an important Jewish tradition with my sister and myself. We put money in a 'tzedakah' (charity) box frequently, and most often made a point of doing it each Friday night before we lit the Sabbath candles. One of my best memories of my childhood was sitting with my dad twice a year, counting the money in the box and deciding as a family where we'd like to send the money. It made us partners in giving, and empowered us to clarify our goals and express our core values.



And I guess it worked! In my day job, I am Vice President of a large charity in Los Angeles which raises $50 million a year in support of social services here and overseas. Our agencies provide low-cost day care, afterschool programs, mammograms, drug treatment, and elder care, among other things. I am proud of playing even a small part in making people's lives better by providing HOPE and the tools for change.

I also deeply love animals, and a few years ago, found Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. They are a sanctuary of last resort for animals of all types who might be euthanized in other shelters becase of age, temperament or sickness. Their work is amazing...and now you can see their efforts up close and personal on National Geographic Network's 'Dogtown'. The show follows the stories of dogs, many of whom are considered by others impossible to rehabilitate, and how they return to physical and mental health, often to be adopted into loving forever homes. This includes puppy mill dogs and a number of the dogs held and tortured by Michael Vick...now known at Best Friends as the VICKtory dogs. Go check it out! It will renew your hope in humanity...





What causes mean the most to you? How do you bring HOPE to the world? Go do it, and scrap it...

Love,

Rachel

June Kit Sneak Peek - Renewal

What do you do each day to renew your spirit, your soul, your body? Come explore RENEWAL with our new kit, launching June 1, 2009 at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out...

The perfect summer colors of sky, ocean, pool and grass...with a ton of chipboard and felt, and 'turning' elements to symbolize your evolution and rebirth!







I feel renewed by visiting the ocean, luckily for me, a short 10 blocks from my home. The Pacific feels like a cleansing presence in my life - whenever I need to hit the 'restart' button, that's where I go. Maybe it's the view going out forever, maybe it's the smell of the air...not sure, but it works for me.

What renews you?

Wishing you a meaningful day,
Rachel

HOPElessly Devoted to Scrapbooking

Do you remember your first love? What it felt like to be head over heels for someone - you know, in pure, unADULTerated puppy love? I sure do...his name was Jeffrey Friedman, and he was the cutest thing ever! Being the anxious little gal that I was at 12, I never told him how I felt...but in the spirit of embracing the past, I'm speaking my truth. So Jeffrey Friedman from Yeshiva Dov Revel, if you're out there, there it is!

I think Grease was even popular then...so this song meant a lot!

I'm lucky now to be married almost 15 years (wow) and still in love! Then there's the puppy (OK, he's almost 15 too!) who is the canine love of my life.

And in truth, there's no other way to describe my feelings about this craft of Scrapbooking than to call it love. I think about it all the time...when I'm not doing the business of it, I am imagining layouts, jotting down journaling, and thinking about products. A new SB magazine arriving in the mail makes my heart go pitter-patter. When I stay away from scrapbooking too long, I miss it. Seeing everyone's new layouts at the SFTIO gallery fills me with glee! Yup, if this isn't love, I don't know what is.

To tell the truth, it wasn't love at first sight...it was a slow process. It was speeded up by my discovery of the emotional component of the craft. It is unbelievably satisfying to me to put my heart onto a page - it is indeed theraputic, cathartic and makes me feel more clear. It's what make Scrapbooking from the Inside Out my dream come true...

What do you love most about scrapbooking? I'd love to know...

Wishing you a creative holiday weekend here in the US and UK, and a creative 'regular' weekend everywhere else!

Love,

Rachel

What are you most HOPEFUL about?

I am a new devotee of acupuncture...I have had 7 treatments so far and it has been extremely helpful in controlling my migraines and a nagging shoulder/back pain. While it's hard to be completely 'thumbs up' about it yet, as it takes time, I am trying to be hopeful about the success of this endeavor...



In a larger way, I am hopeful about the direction in which I see our culture heading - more holistic, more thoughtful and more globally minded.



Here's some of what our team is HOPEFUL about:

Anam: Breaking cycles to create a better life for her children:



Nancy: Finding more of herself:



Nic: Creating a safe and warm home for her son:



What are you most hopeful about? I'd love to know!

Love,
Rachel

Our New Design Team at Inside Out

I'm so excited to announce the three new ladies who are joining our Design Team at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out starting with the July kit:

Andrea Davenport of Fayetteville, NC



Rita Barakat of Fruita, CO


Siobhan Fry of Reading, UK



I am so excited to share their work with you - they are full of talent, heart, and soul...this is going to be a wonderful six months ahead. Go check out their blogs and congratulate them!

I have much to say about our outgoing designers, but I shall leave that for another day very soon.

We're coming up on our one year anniversary at Inside Out...and what an amazing year it has been...stay tuned for our big plans, announcements and more!

Love,

Rachel

Catching up on Clarity 1-2-3 and a Great Deal

I am so grateful to be part of a community of scrapbook artists at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out who want to explore who they are inside. I spent a few days scrapping this week (finally!) using some of our prompts from the April kit, Clarity.

Here are three Clarity challenges and the LOs I created:

CHALLENGE 1: For our first challenge, please create a LO about who you see when you look in the mirror. What is most clear about the pretty lady looking back at you? Do you even know or think she's a pretty lady? Is it her inside or outside that makes the greatest impression on you? Tell us about what your reflection is clear.

And the design twist? Please use a photo taken, you guessed it, in the mirror! This is a fun chance to play with light and reflection, angles, hidden camera vs. showing it...



CHALLENGE 2:For challenge #2, please create a LO about something you have learned about yourself through someone else's view of you. It could be a friend who 'gets' something special from you that you don't recognize in yourself, or maybe a teacher saw something in you that changed your life and your path...or something completely different...

For the design twist, please use a photo of you taken by someone else - current or an older photo. And please place your photo in a different part of your page than is your style. Use that corner that you never use to change YOUR perspective.







CHALLENGE 3:For our third clarity challenge, please create a LO about what your eyes say. Are you more guarded or more transparent? Can you conceal your feelings, or do you wear them on your sleeve? Do you have a specific moment in mind when your eyes gave you away?

For the design twist, please use a photo that highlights your eyes and the image of a window - either a photo, a stylized window or cut out a window from your LO. This is a great chance to use the hambly overlay or some other creative method to demonstrate a window look...glass? shutters? blinds?



What about you - whom do you see in the mirror? What have you learned through other people's view of you? What do your eyes say?

If you're loving these papers and embellishments, we still have a few of these fantastic kits available at 10% off: the reviews have been wonderful! And our previous kits are on a super-blow out at a whopping 25% off! Click here to see everything...

We'd love for you to join us and share your emotions on and off the page.

Love,
Rachel

Does HOPE really spring eternal?

You can go a day without food, but can you go a day without hope?

Writers and philosophers say that hope is a critical mechanism of the human spirit that allows us to persevere in difficult circumstances. Are you a hopeful and optimistic person? Are you able to handle complex situations with ease because you believe in better days ahead? Or are you more deterministic, believing that life’s ups and downs are just 'the way things are'?

Have you experienced hope in a situation where others thought that hope was gone? Do you ever hope for things or situations that others think cannot be? Do their opinions matter?

To me, hope is the invisible currency of the human experience - you can hold onto it, give it up, or provide it for others; having hope can keep you alive - literally and figuratively - in the even most dire circumstances.

To make this life have meaning, you must have hope - that your dreams will be realized, that there is something greater than us, that tomorrow can always be better. Hope is the belief that things can change for the better and that what we can't see may truly exist...



How cool is this LO? I found it searching on this topic in the flikr stream of sunray_sunray, who did it as part of a class with Rachel Denbow. Go check out her stream! Wow...

Does HOPE spring eternal in your mind?

Love,

Rachel

Wishful Winner and 'Three Wishes' Layout Challenge

We Have a Winner!

cindy H said...
I have been looking back at my childhood and always remembering that I wanted to travel and teach. Now that I have had the opportunity to travel to some of the places I dreamed about - travel is still high on my list. I hope to have more time to travel and an opportunity to teach k-6

Thanks for playing, Cindy! Email me at rachinla@aol.com and I'll help you out with that HOPE kit discount!

And check out our first Challenge, "Three Wishes", at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out for May:

Please create a layout about what three wishes you'd make if you found a lamp with a Genie in it. They can be light and fun-loving or deep and meaningful - just one caveat - you CAN'T wish for three more (or unlimited) wishes! Like with all wishes, be careful what you wish for...have you thought about the ramifications? For the design twist, please use some imagery, directly or indirectly, that implies magic...a genie bottle, smoke, wand, a flash, a nose wiggle or blink...

If you'd like to play along, come check out the Message Board and post your LO in our Gallery...as always, we'll have great prizes to share at the end of the month, and the love and admiration of a fantastic community of deep women...

It's Magic!

Love,

Rachel

'What I Wish' Journaling Prompts from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out

We're exploring HOPE at SFTIO this month...what do you wish for?




I Wish: Being human means that we dream of and wish for things that we don't currently have.

• Are you more or less satisfied with what you have or do you dream of greener pastures in some areas?



• What do you hope for in your most private moments?



• Are your most fervent wishes hidden to others or known by all?



• If you have had a dream realized, was the grass really greener on the other side, or were your expectations not met?



• Do you remember wishes from your childhood, and can you remember when the things you wished for changed?

Tell us what you wish for and you could win 25% off the HOPE kit...we'll pick a winner from comments at noon PDT on Sunday. Click on the photo to learn more...

Hope your weekend is filled with creativity and all YOU wish for.

Love,

Rachel