Rules For Living | Scrapbook & Cards Today Spring 2015 Article

The Spring issue of  Scrapbook & Cards Today is now available and my article this time is all about documenting Rules For Living. We've updated my column for 2015 and it's now called Spark Your Story and each article will include a specific Story Spark to get your storytelling mojo going.

In this issue I'm continuing a collection of layouts I started for my Hello Story workshop a few years back. In that workshop I introduced the idea and for this article I took some time to add more pages that are rooted in the same core concept. I love the idea of building a collection of pages around the same theme. Some of the questions I ask myself as I'm thinking about my own Rules For Living include: What are the life-affirming concepts I want to pass on to my kids? What's important to me and what do I value? What do I hope for them in their lives? What would I want them to know if I was gone tomorrow?  

My friends, scrapbooking is an awesome opportunity to get these kinds of things documented. And please know that you absolutely don't have to have kids to document your own values and or what's important to you in your life. 

Today I'm sharing the full images of my layouts here but invite you to click over and download your own FREE digital copy of the magazine and read my full article that includes more about the concept and ideas related to each layout. You can also become a subscriber and have it delivered to your home address(awesome). They have even set it up where you can download just a PDF of my article: Spark Your Story.

Here's a look at the pages I created for this issue: 

Rules For Living #001 | Give Love

Here's the journaling: 

One of the most important things in life is to feel loved and to give love . Here’s some of my own personal thoughts and observations about giving love throughout your life: Give love by being present. Give love to your family members - sometimes it’s easy to start taking those you care most about for granted. Give them the gift of your love every chance you can get. Give love even when it’s hard. I wish I could tell you it’s always easy and simple to give love and maybe it will be that way for you. For me, sometimes it’s hard, especially when I feel hurt or am having a hard day. Give love to new and old friends. Give love by sharing your life with others. Use your words to tell people what they mean to you. Give love by following your heart. It may lead you to some really amazing places and experiences. Make your own map. Give love as a way to grow. Giving love doesn’t mean that everything has to be (or will be) perfect. Giving love is about being open - to yesterday and today and the possibilities of tomorrow. Give love to yourself - take your time, honor your intuition, give yourself a break when and if you start being too hard on yourself or too rigid. Give love by showing up. Be the one that shows up again and again. Give love in the morning. Give love in the afternoon. Give love in the evening. Give love by going out of your way to do something nice for someone else. Give love by volunteering. Give love by calling a friend just because. Give love even if it’s not immediately given back. Giving love isn’t always as simple and easy as it should be - do it anyway. Pay attention. Give love by asking how you can help. Giving love makes you feel loved. Give your full attention - look each other in the eyes. Give love by hugging just a little tighter and a little longer. Give love by accepting other people as they are and not trying to change them. Give love with big and little deeds. Give love by saying “I love you.” out loud and often. Give love by forgiving. Give love by loving yourself.

Rules For Living #003 | See The World

Here's the journaling:

Get on that airplane or bus or boat or in that car and Go. Say yes to adventures that get you out of your normal everyday. Go see the world. Learn about new places and be open to new experiences. There is so much to see and to experience in this big world. Travel really does open our eyes to so much. Study abroad. Backpack around Europe. Get lost. Have overnight adventures to local places. Close your eyes and take off. Make time to see stuff and be amazed at how awesome this world we live in really is - meet people and ask questions and learn. Breathe it all in. Love you guys.  

"Aka get outta dodge" was cut with the Silhouette. 

Rules For Living #004 | Always Say Please And Thank You

Here's the journaling: 

It's a ridiculously simple rule. Say please and thank you. Every time. Every single time. I would encourage you to err on the side of being overly polite. It shows you are paying attention. It shows you are aware of what's going on around you. And it's the beginning of a life-practice of gratitude. Gratitude is bigger than please and thank you, but I think it might just possibly start there. One of my greatest hopes for you guys is that you will be the kind of people who not only feel but express gratitude. It's a great way to start and end your day. We often do it before dinner and I know sometimes it feels silly or you feel uncomfortable having to come up with something but it is so, so worth it in the long run for your life. Please and thanks is just the beginning. You can do it. I know you can and I believe in you. 

That lovely type treatment on the layout above is a sticker from one of Me & My Big Ideas Big Sticker packages: The Good Life. I am totally loving their giant packages of alphabets and phrases. 

Big thanks to Scrapbook & Cards Today for being so great to work with! 

Join Me For TYPE | 20% Off Offer Ends April 6th

If you are interested in telling more of the stories of your life sure to check out my next 12-week online workshop Type. This class will focus on all kinds of different ways memory keepers can use type/alphabets to help tell the stories of our lives - as you can see from the layouts above, type is a big part of what I use to tell my stories and embellish my layouts. I'll be sharing design and storytelling ideas, tips, inspiration, and how-to's throughout the 12-weeks via handouts and videos. Please remember that regardless of the topic of workshop, all my content tends to come from the place of story. How does type help us to communicate our stories  more effectively? How does playing with type make memory keeping more fun? 

There's just a few more days to register during the 20% off promotional period (ends Monday, April 6th). Click here to watch a short video where I outline the weekly topics and sign up. Class begins April 20th.