Flashback to Freedom

In July 2008, when Scrapbooking from the Inside Out was just starting out, they explored the topic of Freedom.  Today, I thought this was a great topic to revisit, especially with our current topic of Communication.  What is better than Freedom to Communicate?  I think that's truly what we're all about here at Inside Out... have complete freedom to communicate.  Where else can you go and feel so save to express all of the amazing emotions that swirl around inside of us?  I have found that the freedom to express myself... to explore my inner world... always starts HERE.

So.  I bounced back to our gallery from then, and found some amazing layouts by some people you may recognize... our founder, Rachel and Paige, our Special Projects Coordinator. 

Free to Choose - Rachel Kaufman

I Am Who I Am - Paige Ramos

In addition, a couple layouts by Nancy Doren and Bjay Jaminal. members of our very first design team, expressing Freedom from their perspectives:

Express Yourself - Bjay Jaminal

That Black Cloud - Nancy Doren

Wow.  Just some very cool stories being communicated there, expressing freedom or lack of freedom. 

That is what we're all about here.  Freedom and communication.  Do you feel free?  Do you feel free to communicate?  I know that in my every day life, I wear a mask... I hide and show only certain "faces" to certain people.  But here at Inside Out, I do feel a lot more free to express myself.

Please, join us.  We have so much going on over in our community with great supports and open hearts.  And lots, and lots, and lots of inspiration for all topics, including our galleries all the way back to from the day we were "born".  Come and be free...

Rebel with a Cause

If you're like me, and grew up in a religious home, you probably can relate to my intrinsic drive to be 'good' all the time. I was really concerned with 'right' and 'wrong' - and consumed by my own fear of making a mistake in the eyes of whoever was in charge. There was quite a long list of rules and regulations, a lot of DO's and DON'T's. I could write a book (oh right, someone already did...)

This month at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out, with the SPIRIT kit, we're exploring that 'bad girl' side of ourselves...you know, the voice inside telling you to blow off work and go ride a Harley. Or maybe your rebellion is more subtle. I feel quite liberated when I sit and do nothing for a day...checking off nothing on the list, just being.

Seems like this trend is BIG these says in the scrapbook world...rebellion is in:

Glitz Designs' Rebel Collection:

The Rebellious collection from Adrienne Looman for Prima:

The SPIRIT kit has lots of images to evoke that feeling of freedom, rebellion and being truly and totally yourself. There are grunge, graffiti, rock, bohemian and surfing images - perfect for your free and wild spirit.

We have just a few left for sale now! Click here to buy one before they're all gone...

What do you do to strike a blow for individual liberty?

Freedom July 2008 Inspiration Page

Journaling Prompts:

Be yourself: How have you released yourselves from the shackles that so many of us experience early on – those voices that told us we couldn’t be or do what we saw in our hears? Unchain yourself – what would you do, what would your life be if you didn’t care what anyone said or thought? What could you do to let your true self shine though? What are some of the ways in which you can free yourself right now, and which ways would take work?

The living is easy: summer is a season of freedom – kids are out of school (and you were too as a child – summer was a time of freedom for you then) and you felt it in your bones. It was a time of sea and sky – rolling waves and warm breezes. You played with abandon and shared with your friends. You camped out in the woods, ran on the beach and ate ice cream every day. Today that feeling still creeps in as summer approaches. July 4th rolled around, and sparklers and fireflies filled the air. You can almost smell the BBQ going, the soft green grass and the dirt below filled with life. You feel like you can fly, soar and spread your wings. What does freedom mean to you today? Is it a day off or a true vacation?

A complex world: With Independence Day in July, you may be thinking of some of the freedoms we share as Americans. We’re lucky to have those. Not all of us are so lucky, though – we live with poverty and hunger in our own backyard. So many people around the world are not free either – to worship as they believe, to provide for their children in a harsh climate or a poor country, to live free of political control. We’re more free to make choices that many around the world will never experience because of abject poverty. What do we sometimes take for granted?

Who inspires you and whom can you inspire to be free? It could be a grandparent who taught you by their example that you could be anything you wanted; or your new puppy playing with such abandon that you’re reminded that you can be free as well. Sometimes it’s the other way around – you may have memories of being constrained. If you feel more free today, how did you make that happen? Tell your story. Who would you like to inspire to be free? Your children, a close friend, your Mom?

Music:

Click on pop-out player to open the music list in a new window and play it!


Quotes:

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
Soren Kierkegaard

Without freedom from the past, there is no freedom at all, because the mind is never new, fresh, innocent.
Krishnamurti

I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.
Mahatma Gandhi

The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom...
Bell Hooks

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
Mahatma Gandhi

Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.
Benjamin Cardozo

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.
Albert Camus

The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage.
Thucydides

Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of fear is a freedom.
Marilyn Ferguson

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.
Sophocles

To freely bloom - that is my definition of success.
Gerry Spence

Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism; the way you play it is free will.
Jawaharlal Nehru

Our thoughts are free.
Cicero

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
Jean-Paul Sartre

Freedom lies in being bold.
Robert Frost

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
Victor Frankl

I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.
Simone de Beauvoir

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. Moshe Dayan

All good things are wild and free.
Henry David Thoreau

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.
Charles Dickens

I imagine, therefore I belong and am free.
Emily Dickinson

Photos:









Links:

Free to Be You and Me – TV Special and Album

National Women’s Hall of Fame

Mr. Rogers: Be Yourself

Amnesty International USA

Tolerance – Teach Freedom

Oprah’s Summer Reading List

We're Gettin' Lots of Love! - UPDATED!

I am so thrilled at the response we've been getting to the July kit and to the whole Inside Out concept! Many fabulous celebrity scrapbookers are working with us on future Guest Design stints - I'll be announcing all this good news soon.


Check out these great links where Inside Out has been publicized or reviewed - and please leave a comment there if you visit - and tell them what you think about Inside Out!


All of these wonderful designers, bloggers and business owners are doing great work in the Scrapbook Industry - please bookmark them and visit often - I know you'll be inspired!

Leah Fung

Scrap Scene
Craft Gossip
Gretchen Schmidt
Scrap Clubs
Donna Salazar
Andrea Wiebe
Pampered Scrapper
Wilna Furstenberg

There are still July kits available, but they're going fast! Below are some photos of the kit and projects made with the kit to whet your appetite...

For those of you who subscribe for 3 or 6 months, you'll be receiving a password for the Subscribers-only Message Board. The girls have put together GREAT stuff for you there - a set of step by step tips from Amanda for using alchohol inks in different ways, amazing paint techniques and a how-to for the gorgeous mobile by Nancy, and tips and tricks from the whole team....and with your subscription, you'll get two more free gifts - two micro albums from Maya Road - chipboard birds and sheer birds...they're adorable, and make lovely little keepsakes, gifts and can also be integrated into your layouts.

By subscribing, you also get a generous price break.

And our kits are BIG. You'll be able to create at least 10 layouts and a project or two..

Aqua, Green, Orange, Blue, Butterflies, Birds, Sky, Sea, Air, Sparkle, Shine, FREEDOM!