Okay...here's the low-down, the hi-down, and the inbetween-ground ;-) on the...
My dear husband finally told me to just quit. Quit tweaking it. Quit messing with it. Quit changing it. Leave it alone. You're done.
What bystanders don't usually understand is that all that tweaking and messing and playing and changing and butt-sitting aren't only in creating the planner. They're part of the website and the order page and the go-to Facebook page and random playing with photos and the constant changing of price tags because we want so badly to make it affordable to many without pricing our creation out of existence.
I was planning a BIG launch date because they sound and look so fun. I was also keeping my eye on the calendar...wanting to make sure everyone has the Winter Issue of SBP in the palms of their hands by November in time to use it by December 1st.
The beautiful thing with this first issue of SBP is that it doesn't begin or end with this one issue. It carries on. It moves on. It lives on. It's as fluent as...honey. At least that's what I'm hoping. ;-)
I get to move on and plan again and live on again in the next issue...and the next...and the next.
NO...WE GET TO...move on...plan again...live again in a new season. Isn't that a positive thought to realize? to claim for your own? to breath in the possibilities?
And I get to share it with you throughout a whole year of living...hopefully living well. That's the purpose of this planner.
We BOTH get to move forward (forget the dirty, messiness of life)...we BOTH get to carry on (despite the scribbled pages and unsolved problems jotted down)...we BOTH get to plan again (ignoring crowded boxes with false promises and empty notions that didn't go as planned)...we BOTH get to move on (afterall, tomorrow is another day!)...we BOTH get to live again (because we can)...and we BOTH get to inhale the newness of seasons past, present, and future (as well as creamy fresh pages taken from life).
And I'm embracing that decision.
I'm moving on into the Spring Issue as you gather the rich ideal that began this new planner in a rather plentiful woodland forest of planners. Because I know there's many of them and I don't want to disappoint.
My intent was to create something totally different. I'm ever so thankful and grateful if you trust me enough to come inside this beehive with me and see what I've created.
Until word and samples of this new planner get out and about on the Internet, I can only promise you what I have delivered before in my educational resources: Literature Alive!, the Mosaic series, and A Picture Perfect Childhood.
You can find reviews on all my books and know that what I create and share is done with a lot of heart and joy behind it. I've created and written resources to be used and shared and written in and fancied in. They are not just books to sit on your shelf. They are resources intended to light a fire inside your soul, wrap ideas around your mind, spread meaning on your intent, and capture joy within your life.
Today I've heard a couple of women tell me "I need this." That is such music to my ears and honey to my lips. If I've create something that is not needed, not useful, not of value...well...we can all fill in that void blank. For me that creates a lonely life, a lonely existence.
I am trying my hardest to fill the world with a spirit of resourcefulness and beauty and meaning.
Seriously...I want this little journal to breath your life anew. If it is not used, written in, read throughout, pondered over, thought about, tucked inside your purse then...perhaps it is true. You don't need it.
Because of this...and because I'm forever learning on a slow-curve...it continues to be a process of giving. What the Winter Issue lacks, I hope you'll share with me so I can see about spreading it through future issues. You might see it in the Spring or Summer or Autumn Issue.
While the Winter Issue promises many things, even now I'm realigning and planning the Spring Issue. There will be an encouragement chart for kids (still deciding what that chart might encompass) and I'm thinking monthly dividers might be a good idea, a liturgical year bullet-point checklist, and a Hidden Life column. (You don't want to miss the column on Hidden Corners found in the Winter Issue.)
It's all a work in progress. As excited as I am about beginning a new issue, I want you to be excited about receiving the one I sent to the printer recently. The one my husband told me to quit lingering over and pondering over and toying with like a cat with a moth. Don't do that to yourself. ;-)
If you wait to see what's coming in spring, you might miss out on something you need to see, hear, or use in the issue that is sitting on my desk right now.
I know we live in a world that promises to define you and simplify your life and give your life meaning. And there's so many things telling us You Need This!
I never want my creations to come across like this.
If I could offer it freely, I would. And I did do that...for the past year...without having a single plan in mind. I shared and conversed at The Seasonal Beehive Group. That group is now open publicly for us to converse, discuss, exchange and support one another. Only one day this past summer, I realized what I intended to do and what I wanted to share through this outreach.
This little planner is about sharing a meal and reading a book. It's about counting our blessings and being intentional about our family traditions. It's about being thoughtful over our finances and encouraging during our challenges. It's about keeping track of our unheralded successes and mindful of our Scripture reading together. It's about taking time for a daybook notation (or two) and taking a walk (or two) together. It's about finding community from within our hidden corners.
And it's on paper because good old-fashion pencil to paper forms a connection between the mind that flows through the heart and creates a community of sharing.
I have to make it count.
You have to make it count.
I have to be accountable to my family for how I spend my time. You have to be accountable to yours for what you invest your time in. I'm hoping the SBP blesses both of us for the good of our families.
A full-color issue is now available at Cajun Cottage Press. I really, truly wanted to make it affordable (I changed the price at least five times) but ink products are even more costly now since the web of the Internet filters through everything and full-color doubles everything. In a very big, heartfelt way, I'd rather not offer anything but the full-color. It's what I envisioned and the color helps to define our plans and imprint the ideals on our plans better than just black and white.
Life should be colorful. Right? I'm hoping it blesses you and your loved ones and your life sweetly and richly. Keep abreast of updates and newness here: Seasonal Beehive Planner
Order now before winter's chill takes your breath away:
Seasonal Beehive Planner.
What bystanders don't usually understand is that all that tweaking and messing and playing and changing and butt-sitting aren't only in creating the planner. They're part of the website and the order page and the go-to Facebook page and random playing with photos and the constant changing of price tags because we want so badly to make it affordable to many without pricing our creation out of existence.
I was planning a BIG launch date because they sound and look so fun. I was also keeping my eye on the calendar...wanting to make sure everyone has the Winter Issue of SBP in the palms of their hands by November in time to use it by December 1st.
The beautiful thing with this first issue of SBP is that it doesn't begin or end with this one issue. It carries on. It moves on. It lives on. It's as fluent as...honey. At least that's what I'm hoping. ;-)
I get to move on and plan again and live on again in the next issue...and the next...and the next.
NO...WE GET TO...move on...plan again...live again in a new season. Isn't that a positive thought to realize? to claim for your own? to breath in the possibilities?
And I get to share it with you throughout a whole year of living...hopefully living well. That's the purpose of this planner.
We BOTH get to move forward (forget the dirty, messiness of life)...we BOTH get to carry on (despite the scribbled pages and unsolved problems jotted down)...we BOTH get to plan again (ignoring crowded boxes with false promises and empty notions that didn't go as planned)...we BOTH get to move on (afterall, tomorrow is another day!)...we BOTH get to live again (because we can)...and we BOTH get to inhale the newness of seasons past, present, and future (as well as creamy fresh pages taken from life).
And I'm embracing that decision.
I'm moving on into the Spring Issue as you gather the rich ideal that began this new planner in a rather plentiful woodland forest of planners. Because I know there's many of them and I don't want to disappoint.
My intent was to create something totally different. I'm ever so thankful and grateful if you trust me enough to come inside this beehive with me and see what I've created.
Until word and samples of this new planner get out and about on the Internet, I can only promise you what I have delivered before in my educational resources: Literature Alive!, the Mosaic series, and A Picture Perfect Childhood.
You can find reviews on all my books and know that what I create and share is done with a lot of heart and joy behind it. I've created and written resources to be used and shared and written in and fancied in. They are not just books to sit on your shelf. They are resources intended to light a fire inside your soul, wrap ideas around your mind, spread meaning on your intent, and capture joy within your life.
Today I've heard a couple of women tell me "I need this." That is such music to my ears and honey to my lips. If I've create something that is not needed, not useful, not of value...well...we can all fill in that void blank. For me that creates a lonely life, a lonely existence.
I am trying my hardest to fill the world with a spirit of resourcefulness and beauty and meaning.
Seriously...I want this little journal to breath your life anew. If it is not used, written in, read throughout, pondered over, thought about, tucked inside your purse then...perhaps it is true. You don't need it.
Because of this...and because I'm forever learning on a slow-curve...it continues to be a process of giving. What the Winter Issue lacks, I hope you'll share with me so I can see about spreading it through future issues. You might see it in the Spring or Summer or Autumn Issue.
While the Winter Issue promises many things, even now I'm realigning and planning the Spring Issue. There will be an encouragement chart for kids (still deciding what that chart might encompass) and I'm thinking monthly dividers might be a good idea, a liturgical year bullet-point checklist, and a Hidden Life column. (You don't want to miss the column on Hidden Corners found in the Winter Issue.)
It's all a work in progress. As excited as I am about beginning a new issue, I want you to be excited about receiving the one I sent to the printer recently. The one my husband told me to quit lingering over and pondering over and toying with like a cat with a moth. Don't do that to yourself. ;-)
If you wait to see what's coming in spring, you might miss out on something you need to see, hear, or use in the issue that is sitting on my desk right now.
I know we live in a world that promises to define you and simplify your life and give your life meaning. And there's so many things telling us You Need This!
I never want my creations to come across like this.
If I could offer it freely, I would. And I did do that...for the past year...without having a single plan in mind. I shared and conversed at The Seasonal Beehive Group. That group is now open publicly for us to converse, discuss, exchange and support one another. Only one day this past summer, I realized what I intended to do and what I wanted to share through this outreach.
This little planner is about sharing a meal and reading a book. It's about counting our blessings and being intentional about our family traditions. It's about being thoughtful over our finances and encouraging during our challenges. It's about keeping track of our unheralded successes and mindful of our Scripture reading together. It's about taking time for a daybook notation (or two) and taking a walk (or two) together. It's about finding community from within our hidden corners.
And it's on paper because good old-fashion pencil to paper forms a connection between the mind that flows through the heart and creates a community of sharing.
I have to make it count.
You have to make it count.
I have to be accountable to my family for how I spend my time. You have to be accountable to yours for what you invest your time in. I'm hoping the SBP blesses both of us for the good of our families.
A full-color issue is now available at Cajun Cottage Press. I really, truly wanted to make it affordable (I changed the price at least five times) but ink products are even more costly now since the web of the Internet filters through everything and full-color doubles everything. In a very big, heartfelt way, I'd rather not offer anything but the full-color. It's what I envisioned and the color helps to define our plans and imprint the ideals on our plans better than just black and white.
Life should be colorful. Right? I'm hoping it blesses you and your loved ones and your life sweetly and richly. Keep abreast of updates and newness here: Seasonal Beehive Planner
Order now before winter's chill takes your breath away:
~ Winter Issue ~
The Seasonal Beehive Planner
(Covers all the meal planning, traditions, and shopping of Christmas/ an Advent meditation/ complete with a section for beginning the New Year/ a column on finding our hidden corners this winter/ a shared article by the lovely Aimee Kollmansberger over @ living learning and loving simply because heaven knows we all need a dose of simple living, learning, and loving/ a fun "snow" section to enjoy with your children/ articles and quotes on "gratitude" for your heart/ and many lists and bits (some listed here: Make Your Life Count) to help you make your life intentional and meaningful)
* * * * *
Please pray for the spring issue as Anna works on the new sketches and I work on the interior. It's the place where I'm able to think my best. Being able to share it with you is a blessing.
#makeitcount
#seasonalbeehiveplanner
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| {Cover design and waterpaint by Anna Cantrell} |
Love, love, love this! It is so very beautiful and something I really need ...
ReplyDeleteThanks for spending so much of your time creating beauty for us!