Wednesday Sponsor Giveaway: Freehand Scraps, Big Picture Scrapbooking, + Paper & Co. Show
First, I want to pass along a thought for today that I came across on my friend Alex's blog about courage & leaps:
What I realized is that there is not just one big moment of courage in
our lives. There are many. These moments come to us in different ways.
At times we are forced into a leap (unexpected pregnancy, when parents
or partners pass away, when we loose our job). At times we are called
into a leap (when someone invites us for a trip of a lifetime, when our
partner wants to move to a new city, when we are offered a chance, when
we take the "money maker" role to support our family). Then there are
also the daily tiny leaps we take for the sake of adventure (when we
try new types of food, music, when we go out on a date, when we talk to
a stranger, when we transition from blogger friends to real life
friends). No matter how small, silly or hard, tiny, dramatic or
forgotten... All leaps are important because little by little, we live
through change, we figure out how to cope, we move forward, we learn
who we are, and we build our confidence for the bigger leaps, the ones
we seek for ourselves.
Maybe someone else out there needed to hear this today too...
And now, three cool midweek sponsor giveaways are on tap for today:
• One person will receive a February Kit from Freehand Scraps.
• Two people will receive passes to Stacy Julian's fantastic online Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Focused on getting your scrapbook albums in working order and organizing your photos (in a very "you-centered" way), I highly recommend the class and/or Stacy's book Photo Freedom. Class begins February 12th and runs for 16 weeks. This class is only offered once a year.
• One person will receive 4 classes for the Paper & Co. event in Italy on March 27, 28, and 29 (giveaway does not include travel, accommodations, or food for the event). You can check out a list of the classes here. Italy sure sounds good to me right about now :).
To be included in the drawing today please leave a comment below and share your most recent "leap" or act of courage. Comments will be closed at 8pm Pacific tonight with the winners posted shortly after.
I would also like to take a minute to welcome and thank my newest blog sponsors:
Digital Birdhouse : digital scrapbook products
Scarlet Lime : monthly kit club
The Paper Pixie : paper embellishments
The Digital Scrapbook Teacher : photoshop tutorials and classes for hybrid + digital scrapbooking
Lettergirls : delightful hand-created address stamps
For more information on sponsor opportunities send me an email: ali at aliedwardsdesign dot com
My latest leap is to keep a gratitude journal. I had gotten into the habit of focusing most of my time and energy in either worrying mode or 'crisis management' mode. Since New Year's, I have consciously been writing down 5 things that I am grateful for each day. My perspective has changes so much! By focusing on the positive, I find that it is easier to let the small stuff go and worry less. And as my attitude has become more relaxed, I have had to go into 'crisis mode' much less often. I am amazed and so thankful.
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My most recent leap of faith was when I decided to stay home with my grandson instead of working. My daughter works nights as a nurse and usually works 80+ hours per week. My grandson is 9 and I had to decide that he needed me home for him all the time. I had an opportunity to take a really good job, but after being home for a couple of years and my daughter taking care of all the money making and me taking care of the homemaking and childrearing, my grandson needs me here more than I need to be working in the outside world. This was a huge leap of faith for me.
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BIG leap of courage returning to work FULL TIME!!! Not being around through the day for my kids is really tearing me up....
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okay, well i forgot to post along with my holy cow remark.....
my biggest leap has been with pushing myself in nursing school. i stuck someone with an IV needle for the first time last night, and actually hit a vein! i am thankful that i did not shake the entire time.
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I think my most recent leap is that I am expecting baby number 4. I am a stay at home mom to 3 boys 6 and under. Some days I am at my wits end but I know it will all work out. And truthfully I cannot wait for number 4 to arrive.
Teresa
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My most recent leap was making the decision to use a midwife instead of a doctor for the delivery of our third child. I think my husband is still a bit unsure about the decision, which makes me glad we will still be delivering in a hospital. I know that this was the right decision for our family, but it's still a little weird to think about all the what-ifs more than I did with my first child.
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my most recent act of courage was to ...forgive my mom. I have been hanging onto how yucky my childhood was, but it wasn't trauma bad. just a lot of ugly moments and I was determined NOt to repeat them with my kiddies. But here I am with two little ones and daily, am starting to realize I had a lot of good moments with my mom growing up. for me to be a great mom, I cannot stay mad at her- my kids love their Nana and I need to love her to and appreciate the great times with her instead of keeping track of all the yucky ones!
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My latest "leap of courage"....I am taking on a teaching position at my sons elementary school. I will be holding workshops for the pre-Kindergartens to help them integrate into the school system more smoothly. I am excited and scared of this new adventure. It has been many years since I last worked, so this will be kinda scary, but I know this will be an excellent opportunity to get my feet "wet" again.
Thanks Ali for this...and for the giveaway chances.
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My most recent leap of courage was sending a letter to a long lost friend from almost 20yrs ago. We had parted ways over my marital problems which she had difficulty dealing with...long story. Anyway, I missed my friend and wanted to mend fences. It worked, she emailed me back and we both shared our lives, our troubles, and reasons why we drifted apart. It was great!
Cheers,
Karen
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my most recent leap of faith is deciding to become "mrs. dannah deguzman" and marrying my best friend...
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i leaped into a runnng program where the first time we gathered was to run 8 miles. every saturday morning we run 10 - 15 miles a week. There are weeks where i am the last one to finish.
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My leap? Today was a little crazy,I worked all day,found out my son [22]who just moved out a couple weeks ago needs surgery.I went into tiger mom mode,only to find out after work per phone call on my machine that my mother who lives 45 mins away ,her house burnt down[she's fine].I will be leaping & leaping for days to come ,but we are all alive & well.And thats ALL that counts !
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My most recent leap of faith was deciding to get married to the man of my dreams. : )
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Pushing myself to take my three kids to the childrens museum. Since I had my third baby this last summer I have had a harder time getting out with all three. I have avoided doing so because I have felt like it would just be too much work. Going today was so fun!! It gave me courage to know I could do more fun things with all my kids on my own. I know this is a small, but step by step the small things make a big differenc.
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Our forced "leap" was when our daughter was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. This wasn't necessarily recent, but it changed our lives. We found out today the doctors want us to take the "leap" into long term care program instead of seeing our oncologist, because she is doing so well and has been cancer free for 3 years!! What a wonderful day :)
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My biggest leap lately is to stop spending money and think about whether I need that thing to be the person I need to be. If the answer is no, I move on and save the money.
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You have an award on my blog, love your stuff!
http://purelypixels.blogspot.com
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In 2006, my husband and I quit our jobs, sold our house, and followed our family from MA to NC. It was THE MOST scariest leap we had ever made, but we missed our family and were really struggling in MA. We knew that our love for family and each other, along with faith and hope would make it work. Ya know what - it worked out better than we ever could imagine. We got great jobs, a beautiful house close to our family, and have made wonderful friendships. I never regret taking this leap:)
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My leap was starting my own business by becoming a lia sophia advisor. It's not something I thought I'd ever do, but I love it and am so glad that I took the leap. It's paying off bigtime now! :)
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My recent leap was to undergo the rigorous work of becoming board certified in my field...I am pleased to say I certified and need to push myself to take more leaps like this!
Kristine
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My biggest leap is going to college 11 years after graduating. i didn't eve know what I wanted to do when I started, I just knew that I needed growth in my life.
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My most recent act of courage was my first outing with three kids! Carrying a 4 month old in the baby carrier, and an 18 month old that needs to be carried is hard enough on a daily basis. But adding in my autistic 6 year old to the mix has just not been a dream outing for me!!! I did it today though, and surprisingly it went pretty OK. So possibly it's been an unnecessary fear... as I find out that many of my fears are!!!
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My biggest leap was having my first child...and it has been really good!
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I'm all about the big leaps this year. I've just moved from the city to the country to spend more time with my boyfriend of six months and see if we have a future. I moved out of my apartment, I quit my job, said goodbye to my friends and moved with nowhere to live and no job to support me it's not so much a leap as a free fall - here's hoping it pays off.
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My big leap was agreeing to baby #4. We can't imagine our lives without Asher!!
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