Use Your Stuff | Around The Table with the Foodie Collection

This whole thing started with a conversation. 

I mentioned something to Katie about how much I loved these little rubber food icons we recently in the last few months with the Foodie Collection. I told her that I thought I was probably hoarding them because I liked them so much. I figured some of you guys might understand this sentiment. She reminded me, like I often remind you, to use your stuff to get the stories told. 

So that's what I'm doing today.

We make products to help you tell your stories - that is our goal. We don't have any plans to stop doing this anytime soon and we want you to actually use the stuff and celebrate your life and pay attention and enjoy the process of documenting and tell stories for yourself and your family. 

With all that in mind I'm starting a new occasional series that I'm calling Use Your Stuff. 

Today's focus is on incorporating those Foodie Collection rubber pieces as a jumping off point or support for my story. 

I decided to create a 2 page 12x12 traditional scrapbook layout to hold an "around the table" story. I gathered photos from the beginning of this year until now and printed them as vertical 4x6 images on my Epson PictureMate PM400. I love using photos as the foundation of my story. 

This isn't the first time I've told an "around the table" story and it won't likely be the last. These stories can be about food, eating, conversation, or something different entirely. It's about using the table as a lens for stories we encounter in our daily lives. 

Here's a story I told way back in the beginning of the Story Kit™ subscription for the theme of Gatherings: 

I so totally love a good yesterday + comparison and these two pages fill that need for me. 

Stories matter. 

Here's a look at the full spread I created: 

As you'll see in the process video below, one of my first steps was to use the Foodie Collection 4x6 Stamp and black Memento ink to create a home for each one of the rubber food pieces. I used red line tape to adhere the rubber pieces onto the handout circles. 

For the title I cut out the large "around the table" circle from the 4x6 journaling card set and added a heart chipboard. 

For the 4x6 vertical journaling card I used one of the Foodie Collection Digital Journal Card files and adjusted it to a vertical 4x6 and added my story. I added the "feed me please" chipboard to the top. 

THE STORY

Family and food and tables and breakfasts and lunches and snacks and dinner and homework and conversations and reading and sometimes screens. This is where we show up when it’s time to eat. Sometimes we are all there at the same time, but many times these days it’s a random combination of one or two or three or more. It’s what is real in our lives right now. Sometimes I cook, sometimes Aaron cooks, and sometimes we get something delivered. The constant here right now is that it’s never the same and we all just embrace it. There’s laughter, there’s lectures, there’s reminders to wash hands and put your plate in the dishwasher and grab a napkin, there’s sharing about school, there’s planning for the day, there’s vacation dreaming, there’s reading the paper, there’s looking outside and seeing squirrels and birds and cats tails swishing back and forth. It’s our own around the table right now in 2019. Loving us as we are right now.

PROCESS VIDEO

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions and I hope this encourages you to dive into the stuff you have to start/continue getting your stories told. 

SUPPLIES
Foodie Collection Rubber Shapes Foodie Collection Journal Card Set Foodie Collection 4x6 Stamp Set Foodie Collection Chipboard Bundle Foodie Collection Digital Journal Cards Foodie Collection Bundle (option if you are interested in all the things) Epson PictureMate PM400 Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad White Cardstock Redline Adhesive Tape