Friends are my Greatest Fortune

Everyone who knows me well knows that I don't differentiate between family and friends. On the contrary, I believe that friends are the family we choose - and do choose of our own free will. I cherish the wonderful people who have come into my life throughout the years.

Although I work hard to cultivate relationships, I've made my share of mistakes. And there are times that people just aren't meant to be together. As we grow and change we don't always grow in the same direction.

Even when I've been the one to choose to separate from a friend, it's caused me great pain to know that our paths were diverging. 

I made a layout last year with our GRACE kit to explore my feelings about the loss of some valuable friendships over a long period of time...one in 2000, one in 2005 and one in 2008.

And another close friend chose to depart the scene soon after this LO was made...I wondered if I needed to add her to the page.

I like to think that the universe removes relationships that no longer serve us and brings back what we need when we need it.

In the last few months, I've been blessed to reconnect with two of the friends pictured above, and the one who almost made the add on...hearts opened on both sides, and, with time ever marching on, we remembered the value of deep and decades-long friendships. In the interim, marriages ended, some began, careers changed, children were conceived, pets were lost and adopted...and we had missed the opportunity to share our joy, our grief and our human experience with each other.

One of those children was born yesterday, and although the rebuilding of that friendship is still in its early stages, I'm feeling fortunate that I have the opportunity to really see whether our new lives are a fit and our paths are truly crossing for our benefit once more.

Because with that sweet new baby girl, with those beloved new spouses and cherished new companion animals, new family is born. Their families, my family, the family I choose to enrich my life.

So what's your greatest FORTUNE? Put it out there, open your heart, take responsibility for whatever part you've played in the separations you've experienced. Express it on a LO during your creative time this weekend, and maybe the good FORTUNE of loving friends will visit you too. 

I sure hope so!

Wishing you a weekend filled with love and creativity.

Is There Such a Thing as 'Luck'?

Happy Friday friends! It's been a busy week here by the beach at SFTIO HQ as we received (almost) the last of our shipments from Winter CHA orders. Our DT is about to begin work on the May and June kits and these kits are full of gorgeous paper lines and unique embellishments - I'm personally really excited to get my creative hands on them!

I hope you're loving the behind the scenes look shared this week on the blog into symbolism and design of the layouts and art journal spreads created by our DT with the April FORTUNE kit. I'm always amazed at how our designers are able to create their own interpretations of the symbols we include in the kits. There's always something new to discover.

Yesterday, Kai shared with us a cloud of synonyms and offered some thoughts on her favorites. One of the definitions that jumped right out at me is luck. As I get ready to post this month's challenges, I've been thinking...is there such a thing as luck, or is what we call luck actually the residue of hard work.

The use of the word 'luck' sounds to me to be an expression of things, good or bad, being somewhat out of our control or beyond our ability to make an impact.

Am I lucky if I get a great job, or did I work to create the circumstances that led me to it? If I find the love of my life, is it because I'm lucky, or because I put myself in situations where I was likely to encounter people with similar values?

And of course all of this begs a larger question - is what we call luck actually what comes our way by design from a higher power?

Random...impacted by my actions...or destined...

I don't know for sure. Maybe it's some of all three.

As I've grown and changed as a person, I've increased how much responsibility I want to take for my own circumstances. Generally, I don't want to believe that life is a series of random events...so I vacillate between seeing life as the direct outcome of my choices and it being a series of blessings and challenges - brought to me by whatever force binds us together.

I want to believe that there's a purpose and a meaning in all of what life brings me. There are just too many magical, connected and mysterious events in our lives for me to believe it's all a roll of the dice. And I want to have an impact on those events by making the choices that feel authentic to my soul.

So let the chips fall where they may...as long as they're my chips and they were given to me by a loving power that wants the best for me.

Enjoy the coming weekend and the FORTUNE kits that are zipping their way across the globe to your doorsteps. Our deep and meaningful challenges begin next week!

I look forward to welcoming you soon...

Weekend Warmup and an INNOCENCE Challenge

Hi friends! Hope you've scheduled some creative time this weekend...last Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the day with my pal (and Teen DT Coordinator) Sofia at the lovely Scrapbook Daisies.

We were having a belated celebration of Sofia's 17th birthday (which was all the way back in April.) We cropped our tushies off and had a really fun time.

I broke my personal 12 hour crop record by completing 5 pages (even with a run to Starbucks) and one of them is my take on this month's first challenge up on the SFTIO site message board.

Infancy: Do you have photos of yourself as a very new person – hospital photos, or ones taken when you first came home from the hospital? How does it feel to see yourself as an infant? Does the photo resemble you today, or does it seem like a different person? Looking at (or imagining) your infant self, what do you imagine was ahead? What do you think were your parents’ dreams for you, and did you fulfill them? Were you a clean slate or were there expectations already on you? Do you believe that you already had a destiny in you?

For the design twist, please use a number in your design in a prominent way.

Here's my LO. It was especially fun and interesting to create given that while visiting my parents in NY last month I was the recipient (at least until they're all scanned) of a huge number of photos of me from birth until I graduated from high school. As a new mom, I cherish these photos and can't wait to share them with Huxley. This one was among my favorites:

And it helped inspire this:

I love the thought of starting with a clean slate - that we are all born innocent and pure. It's been said that we are born with everything we need to survive already inside us. On tough days I wonder, do I really have everything I need for my journey? I hope so...

My beautiful son turned nine months old today. I see in him the innocence that I wish we could all hold on to. I wish I could shield him from every pain and from all suffering, but I know that's not a realistic goal. I hope I can imbue him with the confidence to keep getting up when life inevitably hands him challenges. When I look into those sweet eyes, I see his gentle soul. When I encounter his strong will (do I ever) I believe he has the spirit to persevere.

Do you have a baby picture of yourself to scrapbook? If you don't, how about scrapbooking what it feels like to not have a record of your first moments. You can still tell a great story about your beginnings and your destiny. Come share it at the link to the message board above.

Do I want you to dig deep? Guilty as charged...

Have a good one.

Weekend Warmup: Is New Better?

Our prompts for the COMMUNICATION kit are up on our Inspiration Page. Here's one of my faves, and it's really got me thinking:

Newfangled communication methods are all the rage – Facebook, Twitter, texting, the list could go on forever. Which methods do you use regularly and how do they impact your life? Has this kind of communication helped or hindered your relationships? What old-school method of communicating do you still employ, or miss most if you don’t?

I'm not someone who typically looks back at 'stuff' and misses it. I do miss people, places and memories, but I don't long for the 'good old days.' 

When it comes to communication, though, I think it's a toss-up.

Remember these?

I remember being tethered to the wall in the kitchen if I wanted to talk to my friends, swinging around in our plastic 1970's era swivel chairs surrounding our Formica table.

Then, my dreams came true. I got my own phone! It was still on the main line, so there was always the danger of being in the middle of a private conversation and being interrupted my my parents, or worse, my annoying little sister (sorry Budge!)

But I got to lounge on the bed and talk as late as I wanted to. My best friend and I used to stay up half the night talking and fall asleep on the phone! 

The best thing about an old fashioned phone call was that you weren't multitasking - most of the time you were totally invested in your conversation. You might have had a TV or radio on in the background, but you weren't getting another call (until call waiting, that is) or reading text messages, surfing the internet on a computer or your phone, or checking email.

The connection may have been over the miles, but it felt close. Remember saying to a relative a world away, "you sound like you're right next door!"?

I loved those late night phone calls with my friends, not only for the content, but because it evokes a time when I it was all about me - I had lots of rights and very few responsibilities. I loved talking about my feelings, dreaming about the future and wondering what would be.

The good news? There's nothing better to me today than (as a verb) scrapbooking from the inside out to think about my life, dream about my future and wonder...what's next?

And with the amazing photos I can take now by pulling my phone out of my pocket, not to mention Instagram, Photoshop, Popbooth and all the other apps out there, I can now use my phone to call a friend and reconnect, but also to capture my life and what matters most to me. And keep it forever.

 

 

Have a great weekend, and come join us online for our first challenge using the prompt above. 

Also, don't miss our DT layouts on the subject of new tech and how it impacts connection in my piece on the Creating Keepsakes Blog. You could win the COMMUNICATION kit!

Have You Spoken Your Truth? Be You and Win (In Every Way)

As our TRUTH kit month draws to a close, I want to remind you that the end of the month doesn't need to mean the end of your exploration. 

This month's challenges have really made me think.

It's hard to sufficiently explore truth without exploring the concept of lying...especially the lies we tell ourselves - telling ourselves something positive that might not be 100% accurate to protect ourselves from pain, or telling ourselves blatant falsehoods that undermine our self-confidence, out of habit.

Here are a few of the challenges up for this month on our message board. If you'd like to submit a LO to share, we'd love to see it. Any LO posted before 12:00 noon PDT (UTC/GMT-8) on July 3rd will be entered to win one of our monthly challenge giveaways.

And you don't need to be a subscriber to play. Everyone is welcome!

Challenge 1: Be True to You/Pinterest 

If you wanted to REALLY be true to you, what might you change about your life? For the design twist, please pick an image or quote from our TRUTH Pinterest Board and use it in your LO. 

The lovely TC, a long time subscriber, submitted this beautiful LO for challenge 1:

Why is it so hard for us to believe we are enough? Love mulling this over.

Challenge #2: Honesty/White

Honesty and Integrity: Have you ever lied in an important situation? Is there such a thing a ‘white lie’? When, if ever, can a lie be justified? How do you feel about someone lying to you? Are you honest to a fault? For the design twist, use something bright white to define your LO – stitching, either by hand or machine, white marker or white space.

Here's my take on this challenge:

I do hide certain things from myself to keep things feeling good. Sometimes. Do you?

We've got three more great challenges on the message board that are just as deep. It just takes a moment to register and you'll be good to go.

Even if you DON'T want to share a personal LO just yet, please do at least one for your eyes only. 

I promise, the TRUTH will set you free. Not in a second, not in a month, but in a lifetime. It's a goal worth pursuing.

I can't wait to see what you do.

 

PS: Make sure to join us tomorrow for the launch of the COMMUNICATION kit!

What is Delight, Anyway?

I'll be honest. It's not automatic for me to see the DELIGHT in life. I've often imagined that great, blissful happiness would come with the big picture 'wins' - success, love, etc...whatever those things mean.

In our culture, it's easy to compare yourself to others, as we discussed last month with our April theme, CONTENTMENT. There will always be someone, no, let's face the truth, millions of 'someones' who have more, do more and accomplish more. And of course, millions upon millions who are on the other side of you, struggling, in pain and dealing with very difficult life circumstances.

It's taken a number of things, some in my control and some out of my control, to improve my ability to see the joy and mirth in life, to go beyond CONTENTMENT and touch DELIGHT. If you're struggling with seeing the positive, here are some suggestions...

• Consider therapy. It's not the same as talking to a friend. Having someone on your team who is completely focused on helping you achieve clarity, with no personal stake other than your happiness and growth, is amazing. It's the best financial (and other) investment I have ever made. And if money is what's stopping you, look into your insurance and then ask around for referrals. Someone I know is on an insurance panel and charges $20 a visit as a copay. You're worth it. There are some amazing, loving, healing people out there waiting to be of service.
• Remember that life isn't a bed of roses, but it's not a giant thorn bush either, although it feels that way at times. Yes, there are losses...but there are gains too. Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I lost two of the great loves of my life in 2010 and suffered greatly. I think of Bart and Barry every single day. I missed them especially yesterday on my birthday.

• Scrapbook about your journey. Telling these stories has helped me consolidate my emotions and express pain in a way that enables healing...and it took me time. I couldn't scrapbook about either of these losses for just under a year.

As seen in Creating Keepsakes' January/February 2012 issue. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

• And (not BUT) I also choose to take delight in the new additions to my life. Georgie and Huxley are so precious, in part because I am now so keenly aware of the fragility of life and the quick passage of time.

 

And when you see these smiles, it's hard not to join in, if you let yourself; it hasn't been easy, but a slow, gentle allowance and patience with myself has opened my heart to the great blessings the universe has bestowed.

 
So what is DELIGHT? It's the big things, it's the small things, but mostly it's giving yourself the gift of seeing what's in front of you...and jumping in.


Love,

Rachel's Ramblings: Dreams Do Come True!

I'm a dreamer. 

No doubt about it. I am frequently found, while I should be working on something 'productive', thinking about what could be. It's a blessing and a curse, my tendency to be able to conjure up a new future in my mind. Not every dream is reachable (at least at one time) but I am a firm believer that without that ability to imagine what never was, you can't truly CREATE. 

This theme has repeated itself in my life over and over, and of course has shown up as part of my scrapbooking many times. I do struggle - asking myself if I should curb my future-oriented fantasies to make today more 'real.' It's easy to be disappointed when you're a dreamer. "But I'm not the only one." :) 

I've always loved this quote:  

“Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?” Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) 

Kennedy was paraphrasing the original, a little known quote from the George Bernard Shaw’s otherwise forgotten play Back to Methuselah (1921)

“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’”

I saw this necklace:

and was inspired to create this from our POSSIBILITY kit:

Sometimes dreams don't come true. I think these experiences are important to capture too. Here's a piece on dreams that don't come true. I am tenacious, even when my desires are thwarted. This is from our PURPOSE kit, and explores my disappointment with the boundaries of an important relationship and the stubbornness I cannot help but maintain.

And of course, it would be great to know which of my dreams would come to fruition...or would it? I explored this idea on the following layout from the ANTICIPATION kit, prepared as a feature for the Creating Keepsakes blog.

But today, I want to share that some dreams do come true! 

Finally time to share my great news and let you all know that my wife Leslie (of 21 years) and I have adopted a wonderful, beautiful baby boy!

For some of you I know that the 'wife' part is a surprise too...I've always been private about my personal life in the scrapbook industry (and only in our industry) purely because I wanted people to hear my message and mission first, but I want my son to know that I always have been and continue to be proud of my family and our choices.

I am excited to have the opportunity to walk my talk and be honest...if I'M not authentic, I can't very well ask you to be as I do each day at SFTIO. All of you are an integral part of making my dream of changing the scrapbook world one page at a time a reality. And I thank you.

Photos of the gorgeous Huxley Harris attached...and more to come...thank you for your love and support! Dream pages from me to follow...as soon as he sleeps a few more hours at a time!

 Love,

Rachel's Ramblings...On Individuality and How to Source Kits that Matter

Each year as we get ready for the Craft and Hobby Association winter show, also known as CHA, we start thinking about themes and concepts to share with our members in the coming months. For those of you new to the scrapbook world, CHA is the for-the-trade only show where manufacturers display their upcoming products and buyers (like us) make their decisions about what to bring to market as retailers.

For our SFTIO team in particular, ordering is not a matter of simply finding the prettiest and most innovative materials, but ones that tell a story in a cohesive way. We don't make definitive buying decisions at the show itself; we meet as a team after the show for three to four days and analyze our choices based on paper lines that caught our eye. We then look at the paper lines with an emotional bent - what paper lines fit together in color and mood? What do we feel when we see those papers? What can we imagine scrapbooking about with those supplies? Afterwards, we seek out brand new embellishments - alphas, unique media, great color, and of course, icons and symbols that evoke expression and truth.

I'm always amazed that we never seem to run out of ideas...we typically end the week of CHA with more themes than we can handle - and then need to narrow down from 9 or 10 potential themes to 6...always difficult as we get so attached to the ideas we've generated! They often find a home in the following six months.

So why am I rambling on about all this? It's because I am uber-proud of the amazing women who support me and help find you not just the best of the best, but the most meaningful. There are other good kits out there...but too often I find them looking the same month after month, with those retailers sticking to an aesthetic rather than going for something deeper.

I love what we stand for...and how each of our kits contains only the latest releases, matched with an artist's eye and a poet's heart.

Does it make sourcing kits harder? Yes! We can't just pick out our favorite lovelies and mix and match 'em whenever they arrive. But I'd never trade the fun, the discussion, the variety that makes each kit a unique creation that doesn't mirror the previous months' kit. Each one stands alone as a testament to INDIVIDUALITY! We promise to keep bringing you the best kits and the most meaning...never looking for the easy route, but the one that will help YOU create layouts that speak to your soul and leave you feeling fully expressed and free to create the future you wish for.

What emotions would you love to see in upcoming kits? Let us know here in comments and we'll pick a winner who will receive our current kit, INDIVIDUALITY...we'll have our giveaway open until Sunday 1-22 at noon Pacific.

 

Stick with us...we've got SO much more to share! Thanks for your business and support. Stand out...be you...don't be one of the crowd, express your INDIVIDUALITY and be a part of SFTIO!

Love,