Those Missing Pieces

June 15, 2018November 7, 2019

Guest Digital Designer – Kellie Stamps

Along with my other guest creative team spots, I was honored with a guest spot for Kellie Stamps and asked to work with a few of her digital stamp releases. We had just had a camping trip and a family vacation, so the two sets I worked with were perfect timing for documenting those adventures.

My first layout is using the Go, See, Do Set – an awesome combo of travel and adventure stamps that allowed me to document my son and my nephew’s first trip to see tide pools.

My second layout uses the Camp Life Set. Camping and the shenanigans that come with it. Again a first trip for my son!

These were so fun to work with, I couldn’t help but order some physical sets too!

June 2, 2018November 7, 2019

Guest Storyteller – Ali Edwards Designs

I have the distinct honor of being a Guest Storyteller for none other than Ali Edwards Designs. To say I was over the moon about this opportunity is a total understatement. This is a life goal of mine and to be a guest was such an honor. And what better subject to have for the month’s story kit to work with than Grow.

This was the perfect kit to document my little man’s growth, and his recent obsession with his height an weight. I knew that was a story I needed to get documented and this kit presented the perfect opportunity.

When I first got the kit, I absolutely LOVED the timeline acetate piece and knew immediately that I wanted to incorporate the birthday photos I had of my son through the past years. And I loved how this one came out.

I have to admit, I did a full-on happy dance when the classroom launched on June 1st. Seeing my name, my article, and my layouts posted on Ali’s site still make me quite giddy!

↑↑↑ OMG! That’s me! That’s me!!!

See, still giddy!

April 9, 2018

Sahin Designs Berry Much Collection

I am super excited that I was chosen to be part of the Sahin Designs Creative Team for 2018. It happened so fast, I barely had to time to breathe before I was already creating!

My first submission is using the Berry Much Collection, which is one sale all this weekend.

I am looking forward to creating with more collections this year!

March 7, 2018March 7, 2018

Paislee Press Guest Designer

I have been a secret stalker of Liz Tamanaha’s designs at Paislee Press for many years, so when I got a note from her asking me to be a guest designer for her team this year, I was over the moon elated!!!!

I fell in love with the Messy Beautiful kit as soon as it came out and knew I had to use it. Once I gathered some photos of my son for my 2018 Project Life Album from a random week in January, I knew this would be the perfect kit to pair with them.

So without further ado, here are my first guest creative team submissions for Paislee Press Designs using the Messy Beautiful Journal Cards and Messy Beautiful Elements.

Now I’m off to keep creating!

January 25, 2018January 21, 2018

The Great Purge!

I spent a few days last week purging a good 2/3 of my craft room. I have five plastic tubs of stuff to give away/donate and also got rid of an extra desk and bookcase. I now smile when I go into my craft room instead of feeling overwhelmed. The space has opened up and created a place for me to find joy and inspiration instead of stress.

For those on the fence about purging, do it! It does suck that I see so much money wasted in stuff I am just going to give away but I find that if the stuff I have left brings me more joy, I will actually use it and not have wasted money on creating nothing at all because I am overwhelmed by so much stuff!

I was spending waaaaay too much time trying to look for stuff or find that “perfect” little thing in my stash. I found that when I limited myself to only what was in my Raskog cart, I actually created 2-3 times as many layouts because I just stuck with what I had on hand instead of wasting time searching. My style has totally changed too and there was stuff I was still holding onto that was over 10 years old. It was definitely time to let go of some of this. I was pretty ruthless!

I started this hobby to create, not to be overwhelmed or feel guilty or constantly feel like I need to organize. I feel so much better now and excited to create again!

I wish I had a before photo but I keep forgetting those. Here is the after!

Apparently my doggies love it too!

January 23, 2018January 21, 2018

One Little Word Album in the Works

This is my first year doing One Little Word and I am totally hooked. I love this project already. I am witnessing my word in daily life and making small (and large) changes as I reflect on it. Making the album is a great reminder and a great inspiration for keeping it going.

Here are my cover and my first few pages.

I enlarged a 3×4 card from the Ali Edwards One Little Word Main Digital Kit to 6×8 and added the one little word word art (also from Ali). The black star tab at the top is from one of Ali’s story kits and the black polka dot paper is a recolored Ali card from a digital story kit, and the black stickers are from the One Little Word sticker kit (currently sold out but the stickers are also part of the digital kit.) The COMMIT alphas and gray patterned paper that is the background frame for the page as well as the scalloped strip behind my word are from Felicity Jane.

The Intentions page is part of the main digital kit, the I can do this sticker from the sticker kit, and the Gray stars are Gossamer Blue (out of business now – boo hoo!). I used some more of the black polka dot strips to both sides of this spread to create some uniformity. I see a color palette definitely repeating throughout the rest of my album! I also added an Avery Index tab to a 3×8 page protector where my self portrait is housed (of half of a self-portrait!) and added the embrace your word sticker into the tab from the sticker kit. Here is a close up of the tab. I actually really like this portrait, which is rare for me! I took it as part of the #Thursday3 that I am participating in this year.

The One Little Word transparency behind the photo is from the One Little Word physical Main Kit (also sold out.)

This is the back side of the 3×8 self-portrait. I created this in Photoshop using the twenty eighteen word art by Paislee Press. I added my word as a text layer behind the year word art and then typed some quotes on a rectangular clipping mask.

These are my opening pages for the January prompts. The Jan card is from the physical One Little Word Main kit and the card below it was included in my Powersheets order from Cultivate What Matters. The Powersheets are an awesome goal setting (and accountability) tracing system and I am excited to try them out this year. When I got the card in the package with my order, I knew I had to include it in my OLW album. The saying is the perfect quote for the reason why I chose Commit as my word this year!

These cards are all from the One Little Word Main Digital Kit with the labels and stickers from the physical main kit.

I can’t wait to fill in the rest of January with all of my accomplishments!

January 21, 2018January 21, 2018

2018 Project Life Title Page

I am super stoked to be using 6×8 size for my 2018 album. I already have ideas for the first few weeks of the year and the stories I want to tell. But first, I held out for the twenty eighteen word art by Paislee Press knowing it would be released this weekend. And as soon as it was, I created my 2018 opening page. The photos are technically from November but I think they are a good snapshot of what we look like to start our year.

The little hearts and Stories of life stickers are from Ali Edwards and the Remember This card is also from a collaboration kit called Foundation that include Paislee Press as one of the designers.

Here is a close up of the twenty eighteen word art. I love it so much I also used it in my One Little Word album and I am sure I will use it several more times this year. Love love love!

January 11, 2018January 10, 2018

My Crafty Plans for 2018

I started scrapbooking in 2005. When my son was born in December of 2011, Project Life® made perfect sense for 2012 to document his first year. Somehow I managed a weekly spread for that entire year but I knew it wouldn’t be manageable long-term and I knew I missed making traditional layouts.

For 2013, 2014, and 2015, I did a two page spread per month and that was a lot more manageable. But I missed some of those every day moments and capturing some of those details that I just wasn’t documenting in a monthly format.

Enter the Project Life^® App in 2016. A godsend! I managed to go back to weekly and capture some of those details I felt were missing in the prior years. And miracle of all miracles, I made the 2017 Project Life^® Creative Team for the app. I loved participating in the Creative Team and it really helped reinvigorate me with this hobby all together. But my motivation to do weekly spreads fizzled about mid-year. I felt I was forcing it just to fill in the slots in the pocket page instead of actually documenting what I wanted to remember and look back on.

I am not sure where the shift happened, but I am sure it had a LOT to do with getting in to Story Camp last year. I religiously went back and watched a lot of my Ali Edwards’ videos from the Story Kits and other classes I had taken from her. I started really considering what I got into this hobby for and what I really want to get from it. I created several 6×8 layouts last year. Some from the present, some from my past of stories I just knew I wanted to tell. I realized I was finally shifting my vision to starting with a story or letting the story guide me, not just filling in the slots. You can read more about my re-invention HERE

This year, I just want to go with the flow. I plan to stick with 6×8. I did a bunch of 6×8 layouts in 2017 and fell in love with the size! Here are some of my favorites from the year:

What I am really changing up this year is embracing that I am a hybrid scrapper through and through. I am definitely not a print my photos without a plan kind of girl. I need to know what size I am planning on using and generally have a layout or sketch in mind. I can wing it from there when it comes to product, but I like to lay it all out digitally first and then print everything at home. Typically laying it out digitally also means I try to find coordinating cards and/or paper digitally as well. That way I can recolor or type my journaling to match (since I really don’t like my handwriting anyway), so it just seems easier for me to do it this way. I have never been one to just print a whole bunch of 4×6 photos and stick them in the pockets. I always want to see how they will layout first and maybe add some stamps or other elements before printing. So I am learning to embrace this and just realize that this is the way it is. GO WITH IT!

So I am scheduling digi time two days per week after my son goes to bed. I will sit down with my iPad or my computer and prep photos or other elements and get them ready for the opportunities I get to actually sit down and scrap. That may not be every weekend but I hope to have Scrap Saturdays at least once per month, whether I go to a crop or stay home. If it’s on the calendar, I know I will be more likely to stick to it. As I said in my last post, my planner is my friend this year!

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018

I think I’m in love!!!!

A lot of my goals this year revolve around scheduling time each week or each month to do what I need to do to work toward them. I had a friend come over for the holidays that was the one that got into planning last year (enabler!) and we spent some time working on our planners. I phased in and out of using it in 2017 and couldn’t really find my groove. But because so much of this year is going to be schedule related, I knew I needed a resource to record all that. I made my own Frankenplanner (crossing elements of multiple planners) out of two Me and My Big Ideas Happy Planners, the 2018 Modern Simple Happy Planner and the Happy Planner Goal Getter gearing this section more toward scheduled appointments and work tasks.

I decorated my monthly spread and a few weeks and told myself it was ok to use some of my Felicity Jane stash (you know, that stuff I have been hoarding because it is too pretty to use, so I never use it!). So I did!

And then I realized I have some other cut files on my Silhouette. So I cut some and decided to use them. So I did!

And THEN I realized I have other png’s that I can print and cut. So I did!

And THEN Felicity Jane’s January release “Reagan” was posted and I actually GASPED when I saw they were finally offering a digital version of their kits. MORE STICKERS!!!

And then… I was in heaven and fell in love with my Silhouette Cameo all over again. I spent HOURS tracing png’s and printing on label paper over New Year’s weekend, then cutting the stickers with the Silhouette.

I am realizing the possibilities are endless! I think I finally found planner peace!

January 9, 2018January 9, 2018

One Little Word 2018

If you have not heard about One Little Word®, it is a tradition developed by my soul sister, spirit animal, and scrapbook guru, Ali Edwards where you pick one word for the year that you want to be your focus for the year to reflect upon and incorporate into your life. I have never been one on New Year’s resolutions because they always seems to fizzle out within a few months (or even a few weeks in some cases). But over the last few months, I was reflecting upon the year 2010 when I created a monthly challenge for myself for the year. I called it my To Do List and each month I challenged myself in specific categories:

1. Try a new recipe
2. Learn something new
3. Read More
4. Take More Pictures
5. Move More

I did a lot better on 1-3 then on 4 or 5. But I posted every month what my progress was and held myself accountable. I tried some recipes I still love, read some new books, learned how to quilt and some sign language, and much more. I look back on this year as a great accomplishment and knew I wanted to do something like that again for 2018. So when I attended Story Camp in October and was surrounded by others who do One Little Word® regularly, my word hit me, and I knew I wanted to participate.

So this year, my very first, my One Little Word® is Commit.

Because of all the things that I say “One day I want to…” or “One day I am going to…,” now that day has come. I will commit to those things that I keep saying I want to do. I will commit to myself and my happiness and the happiness of my family above all. I will commit to better myself and make 2018 a great year.

There were three specific categories I wanted to focus on: Happiness, Health, and Household. Then I broke those categories into SMART goals that are more specific and measurable.

Happiness
• Schedule Craft Time – at least 30 minutes per week
• Schedule Blog Time every Sunday
• One week per month no phone/disconnect
• READ at least two books per months (and blog about it!)
• Participate in photo challenges to improve photo skills and GET IN THE PICTURE
• Schedule a family camping trip

Health
• Walk every day and get to 70,000 steps per week.
• Meditate at least once per week
• Stretch or Yoga at least once a week
• Listen to the Happiness Podcast and do one “try this at home” exercise per month

Household
• Declutter one room per month (where I listed what room I am going to tackle in which month).
• Purchase one new decorative item per quarter
• Install a dog door
• Get carpet replaced!

That is quite a list to tackle but I feel it is very manageable. Scheduling in my planner is going to be my friend this year! I have felt a change in me (for the better!) in the last few months and I feel like One Little Word® is just the momentum I need to keep that going and stay on track.

I had a bracelet made by Laurel Denise who I discovered while at Story Camp. My Story Sisters and I each got a bracelet by Laurel Denise from the local jewelry shop as a reminder of our fabulous weekend and I knew when I saw it that I wanted one with my word for 2018.

Are you participating? What is your One Little Word®?