Another month almost over. Another theme done. This Journaling theme was a great theme. I hope everyone was really inspired by all the pages the Garden Girls did for this theme.

This last month really made me want to scrap. I loved the theme, the whole journaling thing really gets me right in the heart everytime. and then the coming of fall, the cooler weather, the football on tv and the kids playing after school. they all make me want to be inside, with the windows open to the cool breeze and me firmly planted in my scrap space. So I settled myself in for a long weekend of just scrapping. and It Was Heaven. I had some amazing photos to work with, taken by Tara Whitney, photography wizard god-dess, that just inspired me to do something. and the journaling theme had me wanting to get things down on paper. With all the stuff I have been busy with lately I have not had a chance to write in my own personal journal, my blog, or even notes/cards to my kids and husband. so I set out to do all of my pages with thoughts and feelings, observations and comments that I felt like I needed to get down for them. It was so freeing. If that's even a word. It just had been sitting there, waiting for me to get it down, expressed in some form. and I felt like I had then accomplished something that had been weighing me down. One more thing I needed to do that I didn't have time for, was finally done. and I loved it. I love scrapbooking all over again it seems---for the last month or more it feels like I have discovered the hobby all over again, and am for once in a very long time, feeling the joy of creating. and the joy of journaling. I am not a great writer. I write like I talk--fragmented sentences, run on sentences, overly emotional, words that I make up as I go along, and usually with some sort of side comment that is often times sarcastic. But I do like to write, and journal. and I love that I can do that at the same time that I am creating. what a great hobby.

Next month, we touch upon a theme that is definitely not new, nothing ground breaking, but a subject we all do at some point or another in our scrapbooks. A lot of us avoid it. But we are doing it, facing this challenge dead on and coming up with some great ideas!! Watch for it on the first.

We have added a new project to the Creating Garden: A GG Digital Project. We are challenging a small group of girls to use a certain part of the Digital kits each month in their paper projects. It is really exciting to see all of the paper artists use and master this new media in their work. See below to learn more about this new project.

We have some great new products coming in available for preorder right now. Order them soon to be sure to be in line for the first shipment!!

Our Offline Supersale has continued online, with some amazing deals. In the last week, we reduced the already low price by another 50%!!! Everything must go!! If you have not already checked this out, do so now! There are some super deals on products. For instance, the C-Thru Open Windows packs are less than $2!! And looking at them with new eyes, I have thought up a bunch of super great ideas for them---mini book pages, tags, cards, frames, etc. Allison Kimball did a great little project with one set this month.....

This is probably one of my favorite themes ever. I find the revitalization of journaling to be so refreshing. I love the honesty-- the reality of things that people journal about. It makes me think of all the great journal keepers in our world and how much their words have trickled down through the ages to effect us today. the quotes, the stories, the lives. Maybe a single scrapbook page is not as life changing as a whole journal full of words, but at the same time, its a document of the times of our lives. Sometimes even the simplist of details, or the smallest of quotes, are all it takes to make the difference in a page. I have always been a big journaler about feelings, but terrible about events and details of the days of our lives. But each is as important as the other. Do you ever feel that way? Like you stay away from certain types of pages in order to avoid having to do the long journaling that is required? Do you just avoid journaling all together?

As much as I love the new age of computers, internet, digital media and so forth, there is nothing I like better than a hand journaled page. I love that leaving of your personality on your work. I have always thought of your handwriting as your own personal stamp, like a finger print. Its yours and yours alone. and it represents you. and I love to use it on my scrapbooks. I love seeing others use their own hand on their pages. I have always been a big supporter of handjournaling, loving to do hand lettering...one of the first and actually, only, classes I taught was on hand lettering. I still remember the basics that I taught then, and still employ them today. If you have not already seen or picked up the new book by Heidi Swapp, check it out. She has great tips and ideas for working with your own handwriting. Everyone should learn to love their handwriting. It is such a personal connection. The art of taking the time to hand-write something. I love hand written notes and cards. I have said this before, and still think about it all the time-- for the rest of my life, I will always recognize my Grandmother's handwriting, from cards and letters sent on birthdays and holidays. My Mom's handwriting on all the notes she wrote while I lived at home, and the cards she gives now. No one could duplicate them. and I love that. I have such a strong feeling about leaving this personal stamp for my children, writing my notes to them, so they always recognize my handwriting, and know that I took the time to do it just for them. This theme has just given me a great excuse to deliver this heart felt message again, and I hope you will forgive me for it.

With all of the great layouts this month, I hope these new layouts inspire you as much as they inspired me!!

We decided to try something new for the midmonth Garden. a new project we are going to do each month---a digital scrapbooking challenge. We wanted a way to show people the versitility of the digital kits and products, and ways to use them in your paper arts. There are a ton of ideas for using these cool new tools and products in your scrapbooking. We are lucky to have such a talented group of girls who get to work with some amazing artists' work. With their help working with the programs, we hope to do some amazing things. Watch this area each month for great ideas and some really helpful tips from our experts.
For September, the assignment was to use the digital paper in your paper projects.