my bloggity blog.

I am trying to work weekly rhythms in to my life and into my crafting. Trying to have a consistent blog schedule is one way I’m trying to help myself do this.

Today I wanted to share this page. I love the quote! It was just what I needed… because I really need to internalize this:

I just LOVE that the letter Y got messed up when I was stamping it.

I also started work on a tag album for my one little word:

I plan to make one a week with a quote on each page… and then bind it all in the end. Bite-sized goals!

Travis and I have been teaching Sunday School for the past three weeks. Last week, I spotted a snotty kid, pulling his sleeve across his nose.

::cue the Music of Impending Doom::

By Friday, all my kids were seriously sick with fevers and the Massive Crankies.

Saturday night was worse. Benji was miserable and wouldn’t sleep.

I went by myself to teach on Sunday with only a few hours of sleep. Praise the Lord—He made it a sweet day for me.

But now that it’s all over, I am most certainly sick myself. Boo. It’s not terrible—just annoying!

But if I may rant for just a moment:

Friends, we are under Grace, not The Law.

There is no commandment to be at church every Sunday.

If your kids are sick, have compassion on them and stay home. Have mercy on the rest of the class and the families of those class members and stay home.

Yeah, it stinks. Yeah, you want to go. You feel like you need to go. But we aren’t commended to be there. We are, however, told in Scripture what the greatest commandment of all is: Love.

So, please—show love to those around you the next time your family is sick and don’t drag them to church!

/endrant

::cough, sniffle, cough::

#1: I am very happy this week because I have stuck to my cleaning schedule! Monday we cleaned the kitchen. Tuesday I cleaned the bathrooms. Wednesday we went to Target and skipped doing the bedrooms—but Thursday was vacuuming day, so we did them then. Today is laundry day. MAN—this feels goooooood. It’s also taking me less time to clean everything for two reasons: I did it last week (so everything isn’t that dirty or backlogged) and I’m going to do it again next week (I can go fast and not feel like I need to be a perfectionist). Ah, peace of mind. Priceless!

#2: Wednesday we took Travis in to work (so that we could go to Target). We all had breakfast at Panera. At Target, we found this guy for Benji:

His name is Tigee (the kids said “Until Benji is old enough to name him”). He’s a miniature Hobbes. I hope that doesn’t mean that Benjamin is going to be a Calvin!

#3: I was so excited to slip my first photos into my Project Life binder:

I also had an epiphany this week. I’m going to borrow what I wrote and posted on the forums and bring it here:

I wanted to tell you guys something funny… I think I have come up with One Little Word for my scrapbooking! Okay, TWO little words: WHO CARES?!

(I know–I’m acting a little crazy over the whole OLW thing, huh?!)

Anyway, I’m starting to see how I get so hung up on the art and the sharing and the wanting praise that I stop myself from even starting until I know I have the time to “do it right.” I was writing this morning on my blog, posting two pages I made last year (here) and I started to ramble on about my handwriting:

I’m still working on learning to love my own handwriting. Sigh. That is a work in progress.

I’m using my daily journals for Project Life and Writing Motherhood to practice my style and hoping for the best. But I started to also run papers through the printer and I think I will be experimenting more with that. My goal is to record our memories—not worry about my art or even having my handwriting on a page. I need to stop letting these things hold me back from doing what I love and what I think is most important with this hobby. It’s not about impressing other people… it’s about recording life. Of course I want to be happy with my work, too. And scraplifting is one way to get there!

And then, I was just thinking about this:

Over the holidays, I had to use my flash to get some photos for my Dec. Daily album (trimming the tree, Christmas Eve). I was preparing the photos for printing Tuesday and I was like “Ah, man. I wish I had better pictures without a flash. Oh, well… I’ll just use these.”

Yesterday, I went to the store to print them out. And you know what? When I looked at them, they didn’t scream “YOU USED A FLASH!!!” at me. They look normal! They look great! They look like captured memories! Now I’m thinking that they look worse on a monitor than they do in real life. Anyway–lesson learned: “Girl, get out your camera and stop worrying so much!”

So… Take that, Inner Critic! No one cares what you think!

What’s most important here? HAVING the pictures and TELLING the story.

I just wanted to share these ramblings with you, in case you needed to tell your own Little Miss Perfectionist to go jump in a lake.

It’s freeing to be in this place. I want to record memories more than anything else. It’s time to relax, have fun… and get it scrapped!

#4: Last night, coming home from a night out with Travis and the kids, we turned on to our street… and saw smoke. The closer we got to our house, the more it looked like the smoke was coming from our house. I started to enter that surreal, dream-like state where everything is going wrong, yet you can keep on functioning. Once we pulled up closer, we could make out that it was actually a car on the main road, about 50 feet from the back our house, that was on fire. We couldn’t get into our neighborhood at that point. There is only one way in and the police were blocking it. So we took the kids out for ice cream… at 9:00 at night! After that, we were able to get back in to our neighborhood. Several neighbors were hanging out in the side yard so we stopped to talk and got to see a picture of the car engulfed in flames! So weird. No one was hurt. And I went to bed extremely thankful that it was not worse.

#5: I’ve decided on a project for my One Little Word. I’m going to make some sort of tag journal mini album! Thank you, Dearest Erika Martin, for the idea. I will be making one a week. (I’m actually wondering if I have an old deck of cards on hand!) I want it to start off as loose papers/tags and end up bound together. Thanks to my friend, Donna, I now have a Bind-it-All… so this part should be a piece of cake! Since this is my NOW journal, I’m going to go and start that—right NOW!

Over the last four years, I have barely scrapped a paper page, even though it is my most favorite hobby.

I have resolved that this year will be 100% different.

This year, along with my Project Life book, I plan to go back and record as much as I can with the photos I have from the last… 9 1/2 years of my marriage! Yikes. Obviously, I need to streamline my artistic process to make a dent in this goal.

I have two pages that I did make in 2011 that I wanted to share, because I think that they are closer to what I’ve always wanted then ever before. Yay!

This one was totally inspired by the work of karenika (her 2peas gallery). I wanted to try her journaling block style and make a long title out of the stickers and alphas I had on hand:

I will certainly try this minimal style out on other pages, because it’s fast and pretty. Also, if I want to I can make clusters of paper, stickers and stitches and save them for just the right page!

Here is another page I tried, inspired by the work of Jen Jockisch (her 2peas gallery). I love the “quilty” look of her pages and I wanted to mix and match pretty patterns:

I know I will be repeating this layered look—a lot.

I’m still working on learning to love my own handwriting. Sigh. That is a work in progress.

I’m using my daily journals for Project Life and Writing Motherhood to practice my style and hoping for the best. But I started to also run papers through the printer and I think I will be experimenting more with that. My goal is to record our memories—not worry about my art or even having my handwriting on a page. I need to stop letting these things hold me back from doing what I love and what I think is most important with this hobby. It’s not about impressing other people… it’s about recording life. Of course I want to be happy with my work, too. And scraplifting is one way to get there!

Sigh. Now, back to work! Deadlines, deadlines. They are keeping me from playing more!

I love this quote:

I am trying to undo years damage and fear from lots of negative self-talk… this quote is healing for me.

Since I wasn’t “born crafty” (who is—really?!) but I know what I like, I can give myself a really hard time when I don’t measure up to my own standards of perfection.

A big part of my goals with playing and experimenting in my art journal is to allow myself to play, like when I was a kid and I didn’t care. And imperfections in my work are just signs that I tried something new… even if I didn’t do so great with it. I’m just having fun and making a beautiful mess!

Speaking of a beautiful mess, I like all the mess on this page:

When I was stamping the quote for my mom’s canvas, I thought I’d save time and ink by just putting it into my book at the same time! I wasn’t sure I was done with this background yet, but I when I saw the butterflies just sitting there on this page, I knew I wanted to put the quote here.

Love all the craziness.

Here’s something fun you can try: When you’re working on another craft, leave your art journal open to a new page. When you have extra paint on your fingers or an inked up stamp, just use your book! I did this while I was working on my canvas and now I have a background for a page started. It’s full of color because I got rid of my “extras” on there. Love it!

My daughter has been getting in on the action.

I have a spread in my journal that I’m letting her play with.

So often as a mom I hear myself saying “No. No. No.” I know that it means a lot when I say “Yes!”

So, in the spirit of playfulness and not caring about perfection, I let her make a page. She loves to craft. She has since she was old enough to touch whatever Mommy was crafting with. I have pictures of her stamping when she was 18 months old. Ha ha!

Here’s what it looks like so far:

By the way, you can click on these images to enlarge them. They were just quick little grainy Instagram pics.

I’ve been using Instagram a lot this week. It’s a fun way for me to remember to capture the little details of life!

She’s a pro, huh? Well, the name of the game is playing and making a mess… something eight year olds know a lot about!

Our crafty times are some of our favorite times together. We can talk and show each other the cool things we are doing. If you’re not crafting with your kids, I’d highly recommend you find a way to let them in to what you’re doing. It’s magical. Messy, unpredictable… but magical.

I once had a Blogger blog with a list of 101 things I hoped to do in 1001 days. I loved the concept. And it was really cool to come back and see what had changed in my life and how many things I had wished for had naturally come to pass over that time.

Many things still haven’t happened. We’ve yet to go camping. I still, after 10 years, do not have a full set of dishes. But so many other things did happen. It’s a really fun exercise to make yourself a list like this. I will certainly have to do it again one day…

But today, I wanted to focus just on 2012. Here are some of my specific wishes, hopes and dreams for this year:

FAMILY & HOME

• Capture one family photo a month (love this idea from Tara Whitney: 6 people, 12 times).
• Continue to enjoy family story time // Help Travis find great books.
• Do more that the kids enjoy during school // Worry less about cold, hard facts and make more messes.
• Get back to a regular MWF Outside/Bath night schedule.
• Make Saturdays more about outings, less about work and/or TV and video games.
• Stick to a good, old-fashioned cleaning schedule // No, really—this time, I mean it.

WORK

• Get out of the house with my notebook and draw out ideas (at least once a week; Saturdays or even early weekday mornings).
• Stay off Social Media sites until after I’m done with high priority items.
• When e-mails or requests come in, either reply right away OR make a note in my planner.
• Get into the rhythms of blogging to take advantage of the beauty of organization.

HEALTH

• Eat more fruits and veggies e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y. // More trips to the store.
• Start moving more // Specifically, get outside and walk/run.
• Lose 10 pounds before my birthday in four months.
• Lose 10 more before the year is up (and thereby become a Lifetime Member with WW).

MEMORY KEEPING

• Do something scrappy every day.
• Backscrap when inspired
• Enjoy Project Life
• Print more photos (see above).
• Journal stories in my daily diary.
• Blog the Friday Five to help record weekly highlights and memories.

ART

• Play in my art journal every day // Collect quotes.
• Make a mini art book for my One Little Word with meaningful quotes.
• Make a canvas just for me.

PERSONAL

• Whatever organizational systems work for me, I want use them until they break. I need them in my life. If I’m going to keep up with all I have to do in a day, I need structure and lots of aides, since I can’t have a personal assistant move in to my house… LOL!
• Where ever I am, be all there.
• Stop the yelling // Be a scary whisperer instead (in all seriousness, it does make me calmer).
• Stop and listen to the little ones when they interrupt whatever it is that I’m doing.
• Smooch my husband. Always.

I mentioned in a previous post that I am excited to get back to scrapping and that I plan to get involved with a big project this year: Project Life!

I’ve been a member of Pinterest for over a year now and I have to tell you—for me, that has been one of the most life changing sites I’ve ever been a part of!

Anyway, it was through Pinterest that I started to see all these beautiful PL spreads popping up. It was via a pin that I discovered my PL hero, Marcy Penner. I loooove her clean and simple hipster style.

So, for Christmas I strongly hinted that I would be pouting and crying and someone would be in big trouble if I didn’t get some stuff from my Amazon wishlist under the tree. There wasn’t anything else I wanted more than a binder and some page protectors!

Well, Mr. Santa did not disappoint! My Bear knows what makes me happy. Ha ha! (And it’s a good thing, because most items are now sold out!) o_O

Here’s what I’m using:

An American Crafts D-ring Binder and PL page protectors A and D.

Still on my wish list:

The 6 x 12 page protectors, grid notecards and a Selphy!

Nothing much is in my album yet. I did cut up some cards and insert them, just for fun. I heard that it’s good to work ahead!

I did want to show you this little idea I had that I stuck in my book on Monday: index notecards, for place holders, so I could journal in my book!

I plan to head to Target sometime soon to print off photos for my December Daily and also pick up a notebook for keeping notes in. But for now, I thought that this was fun and easy.

Last night I made my first note card and worked on this week’s title card:

I am undecided if I like the title card as is, because it is pretty in it’s simplicity, or if I want to add more embellishments. I left it alone for now. I can pull it out again any time!

I have a few personal challenges for myself this year with Project Life:

• I want to informally do Project 365/366, so my mindset is geared towards recording everyday life and I’m getting my camera out each day—even if I’m using my iPod and Instagram.
• I want to take a headshot of each one of us this week. Then I want to take a headshot of us all at the end of the year. This will be my first and my last pages.
• Each month I want to try to capture all four kids in one snapshot (and all six of us, if I can swing it!)
• At least once a month, I want to take a picture of myself.
• Every week, I want to get involved in the picture somehow–even if it’s just a part of me.
• Every Friday, I want to wrap up a spread and blog about Project Life in some way. (Welcome to the first one of those! Ha ha!)

Most people probably start with their title page, but I felt like I needed to wait until 2012 started. I want to use 2012 pictures for everyone, if I can swing it. I might cheat and use one from Dec. 31st for Benjamin.

So far this week, I have only been able to capture one gem for the title page:

Joshua and Benji have not cooperated. I figure Katie will be easy, so I’m saving her for last.

And I took a snapshot of myself that I thought was cute:

“Yay!” for feeling cute!

I have yet to print a photo that I have taken with my iPod. We’ll have to see how the quality is.

I’m sure that iPhone cameras are better… there’s more room in an iPhone for better components. Still, Instagram is fun and addicting and a great way to do Project 365.

Even if the prints stink, I might still take them all year long, just to be in the habit of taking pics!

And now for the Friday Five:

#1: The goal of this week was “Getting Back to Normal Life.” Monday was full of running errands. Tuesday was full of housecleaning. Wednesday was the first day back to school. Thursday was a mix of cleaning and schooling.

#2: Somewhere in the middle of all this there would be 5 minutes of painting in the art journal, 10 minutes of blogging, 15 minutes of creative writing, 5 more minutes of painting in the art journal, taking 20 pictures just to get one good one, stamping in the art journal… Life happens in bits and pieces around here. I feel like I have lived in the backend of WordPress this week, between writing posts here, at Sugarplum Paperie and at Tell Your Story Every Day. And if I’m not there, I’m in the kitchen, creating something. Starting to miss Photoshop this week…

#3: My one little word is NOW. I would like to get more intentional about my word next week. This week, there were only a handful of moments where I pressed pause and spent some time fully enjoying the moment. I have a nebulous project in mind to make a journal for my OLW and through it find ways to remind myself to slow down and be all here. Still thinking over the hows and whats of that…

#4: I went back to Weight Watchers this week. The last time I weighed in was on 12/14 (I missed two weeks of meetings—one thanks to food poisoning). Looks like the food poisoning canceled out all the negative effects of all the trips to Starbucks I made this holiday season… because there was no change in my weight. I’m trying to look at this as a good thing. At least I do not have more weight to fight. But currently, I am at a total 15.8 lost… but I’m thinking more about the 2.2 I gained, because right before Thanksgiving, I had hit a total of 18 pounds lost. ::thinking positively, thinking positively::

#5: This week I got out my Love Your Handwriting book for the first time since 2007. I practiced more and did some exercises. I tried writing faster and making my letter taller, aiming for a pretty but messy look, since my neat and clean is neither neat or clean. I’m continuing to practice this style when I write in my daily journal. I’m hoping that I’ve really latched on to something here that will help me love my handwriting… because the more I love it, the easier it’s going to be for me to write on my pages and scrap a lot faster!