Moving on to 2012.....

I'm just now starting to think about what I'll change in my Project Life (PL) 2012 process.  I already keep my book out on a table in my craft room and have my supplies organized in a 2 shelf wire rack.  I like Margie's idea (see her post at  http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/2011/11/november-12-18-project-life.html )  about date stamping memorabilila as I tend to leave these items on top of my book rather than taking 10 seconds to put it in a pocket!  I also will try to set my weeks up ahead of time so that I don't need to figure that out as I go.  I also want to be more thoughtful and selective about what photos go into my album.  The one thing I have found is that when I have quantity the quality of the album tends to suffer.  By this I mean that the journaling may be more rushed or less complete.  I don't feel as I've always told my stories the way I would like.  So I hope to have more emphasis on the journaling in 2012 and be a little more choosy about the photos I add.  I plan to do a Week in the Life and December Daily again next year so those will give me the opportunity to add the everyday in twice during the year.

Class supplies - the black 12 x 12 bin holds my various page protectors for Project Life and my class albums and papers I've set aside for those individual projects.



A close up my various albums
Black - Twelve, Cobalt - PL, Red - OLW 2011 & 2012 and Move More, Eat Well



Besides PL 2012 I will be doing One Little Word again and adding Stacy Julian's class, Twelve.  I will also be taking the yearlong class Move More, Eat Well with Cathy Zielske.  I plan to remain active with the Library of Memories Community as well.

Busy time of year.....

Here's what I've been up to since I last posted. 
Printing photos for December Daily - been playing with sizes and a few things I wanted to do did not work out so I'm re-thinking some of my page layouts.  Hope to get some solid work done on the pages this weekend.  I'm not going to stress about it as I'm enjoying our holiday activities and will get to the pages as I can. 
We had Christmas caroling around a bonfire at the town park last night with sleigh rides and hot cocoa!   Finally have most of our shopping done although we will be going shopping one last time this Friday.  Tree is decorated.  The cats and dog have left it alone since the ornaments went on. 
I've also been online ordering things I need for some of the Big Picture classes I'm taking or will be taking shortly - Reclaiming My Time, Twelve and Move More, Eat Well along with Project Life 2012 and One Little Word 2012.  I want to have everything ready to go as I'll be in Seattle visiting my youngest son & his family over New Year's.  I don't want to be too far behind when I get home on January 4th. 
I also spent some time cleaning up my craft room as once again it looked like a tornado hit it.  Its back to the point where I can get in there and work.  I need lots of clear space when I work - this is about as good as it gets.
What have you been up to?  Lots of holiday activities?  Have you been able to fit in any crafting/art time?

Santa arriving by horse drawn wagon - no snow here (unusual for southwestern NY!)

December Daily 2011

I'm a little slow getting photos of my December Daily pages posted.  I've found that I need a good deal of quiet time to complete my journaling & photo placement.  And by quiet time I mean a block of time that I don't have to be anywhere or do anything for a few hours and that I can work undisturbed.   This past weekend we were busy with errands Saturday morning and Christmas shopping/dinner in the  afternoon and Sunday we attended a musical and did some more shopping/dinner in the afternoon in a city an hour away.  There went the weekend! 
I'm in awe of those of you who whip out these pages quite quickly!
Here is what I have up to now.....


Title/Day 1 page



Close-up of upper right corner Title/Day 1 page



Lower right corner Title/Day 1 page



Day 2 page

As you can see right now I've just used Cathy Zielske's journaling tags.  At first I thought I really don't need  Ali Edwards' December Daily overlay pages.  Then thinking about it some more I realized I needed a place for more photos and journaling.  I have lots of stories running around in my head that I just need to get down on paper.  I keep thinking of these while I'm at work when I don't have a chance to write them down.  Looking forward to this weekend - my husband is working and we don't have very much planned other than some shopping.
The other difficulty I'm finding is battling the urge to get each day done right away.  However, I don't want to run to CVS each day to print/re-print photos and I don't want to rush the journaling.  I want the pages to be well done and meaningful so I'm just going to have to remind myself to be patient. 
Are you running into challenges with your December Daily?  Tell me how its going....

One Little Word Blog Hop - December 1st

Farewell, Illuminate!

Before we begin I want to finish up some business from the October 1st blog hop.  I'm still looking for scrappnbee - she was one of the winners of last month's blog hop giveaway here.  Please email me at laew@aol.com with your snail mail address so I can send your goodies to you.

For those of you who have been following One Little Word's Blog Hop you know that the last few months I've not fully completed each months' prompt.   I've been upset that I seemed to run out of steam without completing the full year.  In the past month, however, I have come to the realization that its because I'm done with my word, Illuminate.  Its done what I wanted to do for this year and its time to move on.  I've looked at the areas that I wanted illuminated and have taken action in each of those areas - my finances, health, creativity, simplicity, family & clarity.  While there were things I could not change or resolve I have made huge gains in all of these areas.  I have read books, blogs, & websites, and taken classes (live & on-line).  I have made friends and have learned so much from them.  I've tried new things, worked through difficult challenges and celebrated success.  I think my biggest success is in the area of creativity.  I had basically stopped scrapbooking and all other creative endeavors - I didn't even want to go into my craft room - it seemed like one more chore.  I felt completely blocked.  I've completed albums, home decor items and holiday items.  I'm excited again to be creating and look forward to my time in my craft room.  So even though I'm not continuing with the prompts I feel that OLW 2011 has been very succesful for me - my journey with Illuminate was meant to be a shorter one & I'm glad I could recognize that. 

I know my word for 2012 but I'm saving it for awhile yet. Its been hanging around for awhile and I finally recognized it in the last month.  I'm looking forward to experiencing it through another year of OLW.  I considered switching this month to my new word but felt that its best to begin in January.

I hope you're enjoying your journey with your 2011 word!  If you're not participating in this year's OLW check out http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/ for the 2012 version of One Little Word. if you'd like to join us.  You never know where it will take you!

If you are beginning to think about your One Little Word (OLW) for 2012 you may be interested in listening to Lain Ehman (from LayOut A Day) as she discusses the process of choosing a word for OLW in her podcast ....click here
http://www.layoutaday.com/podcast28/

WELCOME __  __  __!

Stay tuned.....

To continue on the blog hop journey go to Cynthia's blog here-

 http://paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com/

Or if you want to start at the beginning and hop through....start with Margie's blog.

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/

Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogpsot.com/

Jill http://jillconyers.typepad.com/

Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/

Debra http://blakleyhomeplace.blogspot.com/

Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/

Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Lynn http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/

Cynthia http://paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com/

Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/

Jenn http://studiojenn.blogspot.com/

Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/

LIsa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog