If you have ever "The Seed Story" then you know that The Seed Project was inspired by something as simple as this small piece of cardboard you see in the picture.
A while back I mentioned making these available to you all, but I really wanted to find a better way to make them first. Right now, I just write on them (they do have mustard seeds inside which is basically their only cool-factor). I was trying to make them prettier, but then I realized...it doesn't matter. The point is the message...and this little piece of cardboard speaks volumes for anyone who is willing to listen to it.
I keep a few of these with me at all times and leave them in different places. The only problem with that is that I haven't been anywhere new in a while. I pretty much drive back and forth from work to home, with an occasional stop at the Post Office and grocery store.
So would you like to carry a few of these with you and pass them out, leave them places, or hand them to someone who looks like they are having a bad day?
Send me your address - and I will send you some TSP cards. That simple.
jessicambarnett@hotmail.com
Have a great weekend!
Happy Saturday, folks! My feet hurt. Scratch that, my entire body hurts!! eeekkkk. A month or two ago I started a 2nd part-time job on the weekends. I really enjoy it, and love that it's a switch from what I do Monday through Friday, but my body hasn't quite adjusted yet. My feet are angry with me right now.
The show must go on though, right? I hope you enjoyed the story I posted yesterday. Thanks goes out again to my friend Jen who emailed that to me. Speaking of Jen, she also emailed me a picture to share for 2.Thousnad.11 Bee-U-Ti-Ful Things...in January. Yes, I told you I've been having a hard time keeping up with my emails, didn't I?
So, finally, here it is...
I love how the clouds make their own art in the sky. Thanks for sending, Jen!
Do you have any pictures of bee-u-ti-ful things? (Doesn't have to be a sunset or a flower, look for the not-so-obvious and share it with us!) Or, do you have any inspiring stories (or even something simple about something nice that happened to you recently)? Email me at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com and I will share the goods here! :)
Have a great weekend!
How is everyone's week going? Mine has been exhausting, but I just keep plugging along. Tonight I'm going to let someone else's story do the blogging for me. I actually received this email about a month ago from my friend Jen. She sent it to me and said it reminded her of me because it's about a seed. I love that! :)
Unfortunately, I've been a bad friend & have not been reading my emails lately unless they involve work. I finally read it tonight as I was trying to get through my emails, and I love, love, love this story! So, thank you Jen, and I'm sorry it took me so long to share it!
A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you."
The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives.
They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.
"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.
Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.
All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"
* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment.
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.
Uhhh, not quite. All spam. So far.
Sad, right? Nothing like weeding through over 500 comments only to find that not one of them is an actual person saying somethin' sweet.
Ok, sorry, pity-party over now.
With the The Seed Project's revival I would like to start some new categories for posts, projects, etc. Since I am a busy workin' girl these days, I may need your help! If you don't mind, take a minute to leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite existing categories/projects have been and if you have any grand ideas for new ones.
Input is welcomed...because lately I am sometimes too tired to think.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
Peace, love & don't forget to set your clocks back tonight!
Over a month, yup...I've been MIA. The last time I posted I left you all hanging by asking for your input on whether I should keep TSP going or not. Honestly, I didn't mean to keep you hanging so long.
I actually logged in a few days ago to do a post, and then I just sat here staring at the screen not sure how to re-approach this project. I hate to admit it, but I've felt sort of stuck for a while. I don't know if it's because I've been so overwhelmed with things going on in my own life, or if I've just been suffering from writer's block, but stuck is all I can come up with to explain it.
However, I would like to officially announce that I am un-stuck.
I love this blog. I love the projects I have done via this blog. I love the interaction and the people I have come into contact with via this blog. I love the kind and inspirational messages I receive from those who read this blog. I love knowing, that in some small way, doing what I love may inspire someone else. I started this blog because I felt strongly that I was meant to be doing it. And, while I may have needed a breather to focus on some things in my own life, I don't quit that easily.
TSP will be starting anew, and I hope you will stick with me! I would like to extend a special thank you to those who left comments and gave feedback on my consideration to combine TSP with my other blog. Your words were all so kind and all made me cry, of course.
So, for tonight, I just wanted to let you know that I'm back. And, I've missed this.
Tomorrow, I'll start back to the life of TSP and begin planning posts and projects again.
And I couldn't close this post without this, which inspired The Seed Project:
“Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:20
You guys know I'm a graphic designer, right? Well, for a while now I have been working on my graphic design website (still not ready yet) trying to get my little freelance business going. I have a full time job, but this girl has student loan debt that totals almost what I make in a year, and a wedding coming up that won't happen for free. So, this girl has to work harder to make some more cash and get myself out of this debt I incurred becoming a graphic designer. Somehow, that doesn't seem fair. But, life isn't fair right?
Why the name CIG Designs? Create.Inspire.Give (the tagline of The Seed Project). For every freelance project I do, I will donate a portion of the proceeeds to a charity.
So here's where I'm torn...I recently combined my personal blogs (2 of them) into one that will also be part of my new website. You can check out my new blog here. I had also planned to combine The Seed Project into that blog. I would still do projects and try to inspire acts of kindness and giving, but the name "The Seed Project" would be gone. Yup, gone. I was fine with it until I started thinking about how passionate I was about TSP when I first started it, and it hasn't even been a year!
As I started to transfer over blog posts, consolidating this blog into the new one, I found myself torn. Should I really do away with TSP? Or, should I keep it as a separate project as it is now? For a while now I have felt stuck with TSP, not sure if anyone even cares about this project and if it makes any difference at all. I don't get much feedback, so I'm just very torn.
With all of that said, I'm going to TAKE A VOTE! Yup, I'm asking for your feedback!
Leave me a comment here or on TSP's Facebook page. Tell me if you think I should keep TSP alive, or if you think I should merge it into CIG. If you think I should keep TSP as it is, tell me why.
Thanks for reading & being a supporter of TSP...and I hope you will follow me on CIG as well. :)
I wish I had some...that would mean I was home. Home with my own refrigerator, my own bed, my own couch, not to mention my very own fiance!
But hey, this post is not about me. I am most definitely fortunate. Others are in not-so-fortunate positions right now. So the simple things...the ones we all take for granted...those are the things they miss.
When was the last time you let the milk in your refrigerator spoil? I shamely admit I do it all the time, because I buy it for one purpose and then we just don't use enough of it before it goes bad. And as I dump it down the sink I feel so guilty.
Right now a local homeless shelter is completely out of powdered milk, a huge staple in the grocery bags they give out daily and use in their own kitchen where they prepare meals every day for the hungry.
I don't know how many readers I have, but say I only have 20 (gosh I hope there are more of you), what if all 21 of us donated one package of powdered milk? We could help 21 families. Maybe the gesture is small, but when you are the one going without, small acts of kindess and giving become so much greater than the material thing you gave.
Right now I'm stuck in the Newark airport, flight delayed, hoping to get home tonight. But tomorrow...tomorrow I'm going to get some milk for someone who may not have a home to go to, or someone who is down on their luck.
Will you join me? Let's see how big of a little difference we can make.
If you are local (Naples, FL) I will pick up your donations. Just email me @ jessicambarnett@hotmail.com.
If you are not, send packages to:
The Seed Project
PO Box 3011
Naples, FL 34106
There's no deadline ... because people always need a hand.
Peace, love, and milk to all ;)
Happy Monday everyone! I know I haven't posted much lately and I do offer my apologies, if anyone even really missed my posts. I have 2 poor excuses to offer: I have been really busy + sick, and the blogger's block hit me. Yes, I sort of haven't known where to go next with The Seed Project.
I have looked into having t-shirts made at the request of a few awesome folks, but I have to put it off a little while longer because apparently having t-shirts made costs $$...and I am low on that. Once I finally get the $$, I will be selling the t-shirts with proceeds towards a certain charity...but, I haven't decided which yet.
Have an idea for who should get the proceeds? Tell me, tell me! If you would like to make a small donation to help get the t-shirt project off the ground, you can make one by using the "Donate" button below. If you are so kind to do that, I will make sure you get something in return (maybe even your own t-shirt!).
Onto my next topic (I warned you in the subject line that this post would be random, right?)...there are a few other things that I want to make sure everyone knows about...
1. If you don't want to keep checking back to see if there have been new posts, sign up to receive our posts via email by clicking here. It's quick, easy, and just be sure to verify your subscription when you get the email back right after signing up.
2. If you haven't "liked" us on Facebook, find The Seed Project on FB here.
3. We are on Twitter too...and will try to post more there in the future (been slacking lately). Find us here.
4. We are starting to offer sponsor spots, so if you have a cool website, blog, or anything equally awesome that you want to advertise just send me an email at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com to find out more!
5. We are always excepting nominations for fabulous people. Email me at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com to nominate someone who has made a difference to you!
6. We are also always looking for submissions for 2.Thousand.11 Bee-U-Ti-Ful Things. Email me at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com with your photo. It can be anything you find to be beautiful!
7. We are still selling bookmarks, get yours here!
8. Finally, we are always excited to hear stories of inspiration & kindness, so send them on over! We are also always open to ideas and suggestions for posts and any feedback you may have for The Seed Project.
9. We always appreciate comments...even if they are short & sweet. Heck, they don't even have to be sweet...just say something! All kidding aside, TSP hasn't been getting much but spam comments lately, so any feedback you have, even if your feedback is on why we don't get many comments, is much appreciated.
Thanks for reading, and I promise to try to post more this week. I am leaving for a work trip to NJ tomorrow, so I will make special time at night in my hotel room just for posts, promise! It will give me a break from work! :)
Have a wonderful week, and send us something nice to share with others if you have time!
Peace, love, & warm weather to all :)
Good morning everyone! This is a very chilly Saturday morning here in Florida. But, I don't care how much I have to bundle up to go outside because I'm going wedding dress shopping today!
The #3 submission for 2.Thousand.11 Bee-U-Ti-Ful Things came from Jennifer in Tupelo, MS. This was the sunrise on Thursday, Jan. 13th in Tupelo, MS. Isn't it beautiful...or should I say bee-u-ti-ful?!
Thanks for sharing, Jennifer! Would you like to submit a photo? Just email me at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com.
I love the ocean...and all the strang and beautiful things that come from it. It's so amazing and crazy to me to see the life that comes from the ocean, each so unique.
This is something we found on the beach, and unfortunately you can't appreciate it's actual size from this picture...this thing was big.
As beautiful as it was, it's home was in the ocean, so that is where we put it after we found it washed up on shore.
See something beautiful lately? Submit your pictures of life's simple beauties and I will include them in the 2.Thousand.11 Bee-U-Ti-Ful Things! Just email me at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com (my other email address has been giving me problems lately).
Happy Monday!
In case you weren't aware, January 8-14th is Universal Letter-Writing Week! Oh how exciting that is to me!
If you have read my blogs in the past, or know me at all, you know I am a huge fan of snail mail! When I get a card or letter in the mail from someone, especially "just because", it makes me the happiest girl in the world.
I truly believe in the power of a few kind words, and what's better then showing someone that you took the time to not only think of them, but to write it down on paper and mail it to them! Love it!
I will definitely be sending a few letters this week...will you? If you do plan on sending letters, you may want to purchase these cute note-cards, designed by yours truly. They would be perfect for sending "just because" notes and the proceeds benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (a cause near & dear to my heart). If you would like to purchase a set of note cards, just email me at jessicambarnett@hotmail.com for more info!
Since I wasn't very prepared for letter-writing week this year, I was so glad when I happened upon the blog Honey and Cheese. Rebekah, the blogger, has all sorts of fun things for this week, including a give-a-way! You should definitely go check that out since I unfortunately having nothin' to give this week!
Speaking of give-a-ways...remember my post about the anderson crew? Well Emily, the fabulous blogger, is hosting a give-a-way today with all of her sponsors. The Seed Project happens to be one of those proud sponsors giving stuff away! How fun! Check it out here!
This was the view of the sky outside my outside my house on the last day of 2010. Pretty, huh? I had to snap it... it was cloudy here that day, but somehow still so bee-u-ti-ful.
So, this is The Seed Project's first post of 2011. Unfortunately, I don't have anything particularly exciting or inspiring to say to you today. I know, what a let down.
There was a guy though, named Albert Schweitzer, and he had something inspiring to say once. Since I'm tired today, I'm going to let his words do the work:
"In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet."
You can take from it what you will...all I ask you to do is take a look around, and tell me what you see that is beautiful. Don't venture far, you don't even have to move at all from where you're sitting. I promise you can find something.
OK...change of plans..while I was typing this, I came up with an ingenious idea (yes!! I really thought I had nothin' to say until I started typing). So, instead of editing this post to make it seem like I thought of this and planned it out really well, I'm just going to roll with it. See how my crazy mind works sometimes? This is why I just started carrying a small notebook with me...to write down my nutty ideas that only come at the wrong times.
So...I have just created a new category of posts called 2.Thousand.11 Bee-U-Ti-Ful Things and within that category I will post, all through the year, bee-u-ti-ful sights I find, until I get to 2011.
This will be The Seed Project's way of showing you the beautiful things in the world, that you may look over and miss if you move too fast.
So, the picture above is #1. Look up in the sky...sometimes it looks like it's shining just for you.
P.S. I will also be taking submissions for this project, so if you see something bee-u-ti-ful, snap it and send it my way...yours could make the list! And yes, just thought of that too! :)
