My 2014 Life Album

This year I can't call my album, my Project Life album, as it's a mix of Project Life, Project Real Life, One Little Word and traditional scrapbooking. I've chosen the Honey edition of Project Life to start with. 

Title Page

I chose this Honey album - there are two that coordinate with the
Honey edition Project Life cards

In the past I've done very little journaling in my
Project Life albums so this year I'm hoping to
change it

Rather than using a separate album for One Little Word as I
have done for the last 4 years, this year it's part of my
2014Life  album

Journaling on this and the next page goes along with One Little Word

This page and the next are part of the Project Real Life class I took
2-3 years ago

It's just my husband, our pets and me at home so I don't
have as many photos as younger families do

A page in progress - I use post-it notes
to remind myself what I need for a space or
what I want to put there

The beginning of another Project Real Life page

In progress

I'm trying to be very flexible in my 2014 Life album this year.  So far there's not as much focus on photos as there is on my journaling.  There's more about what I'm thinking and feeling.  A lot about my intentions and what I would like to accomplish this year.  I'm trying to use what I'm putting in my album to drive those intentions and accomplishments. (I hope that makes sense)
I purchased the Midnight edition of Project Life today and will be mixing some of those cards in with the Honey set.  I also have Close To My Heart's Picture My Life Balloon Ride set that I'll be using - I'm still figuring out how I want to use that set.  
And thanks to my Big Picture Classes' friend, Melissa, I'm trying to have more FUN with my album - and my life!
What changes have you made in your scrapbooking, crafting or art this year?

2013 One Little Word Blog Hop

Welcome to the first One Little Word (OLW) Blog Hop for 2013!

This is my third year living with a word.  The first year was "illuminate" and guided me in aligning my values with my actions. Last year's word was "JOY" and while I kept the word close all year long I never made it past the January OLW prompt.  My word for 2013 is SEEK.

Originally, I thought my word should be "complete" but I felt it was too one-dimensional and did not allow for enough flexibility as the year went on and life brought its little surprises.  After a couple of weeks of lists of words and research I chose "seek". 

Almost one month in and I'm really happy with my word. It's helping me define  what I really want to accomplish this year - to complete all those things on my "to do" list - some that have been there since my first OLW journey.  For "Seek Friendship" I'm looking to expand my circle of friends that share my passion for scrapbooking and mixed media.  I'm hoping to get more involved in the local arts group.  I'm also looking to connect with some friends I've lost touch with.  For "Seek Health" I'm hoping to lose some weight and get walking.  I'd like to add more there but am trying to focus on one or two things in each area at a time.  For Seek Learning" I want to finish BPC classes that I haven't finished and to either finish or read books I've started or are sitting in a pile.  One of them is The Happiness Project which fits very well with my plans.  "Seek to decrease debt" speaks for itself.  I'm compiling very lengthy lists of all my unfinished projects, books, goals etc. for "Seek Completion" and I hope to track my progress using my Project Life album. I'm working my way through Project Real Life (which I didn't finish last year) and I'm finding this also fits with what I'm trying to accomplish.  I'm not expecting to finish "friendship" in January or "health" in April  but will work towards all these intentions throughout the year.
'

  I apologize for some glare on the photos above but the weather here has been gloomy when I've been home during the day and I usually get home from work after dark.  It makes it tough to find good light for photos.  I'm still looking to add some elements for the second page - it seems a little bare to me but I haven't found anything that speaks to me yet.  So I'll wait until I find the right thing. Thank you for stopping by!

First up on the OLW Blog Hop is Lee.  Follow the links below to each blog; hopping from one blog to the next.  Comments are welcome and appreciated.  It's always great to get feedback!

Lee: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/

Cheri: cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Lisa: http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/

Lynn: www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com       YOU ARE HERE

Nikki: www.inkyart.com.au

Kathryn: www.katlodesigns.com

Missus Wookie: mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com

Veronica: www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Eydie: www.whatwecreate.net

Karen: http://womenontractors.blogspot.com

Kelly: http://www.septemberblue.net

Melanie: http://mellybirddesigns.wordpress.com

Valerie: http://naughtystamper.blogspot.com/

Marya: www.lotustreecrafts.com

Nupur: http://woodpeckertales.com

Angela: angelanoel.com

Janet: http://lifeinsideascrapbookroom.blogspot.com

Dona: http://orangegearle.blogspot.com/

Ruth: http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com/

Naomi: http://www.poeticaperture.com/

Pam: http://pammiek.blogspot.com/

Kara: http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com

Clare: http://claresthomas.blogspot.co.uk/

Margareta: http://www.paperpilekitten.com/

Tricia: http://onecreativemom.wordpress.com/

Jacqueline: http://goodwolve.blogs.com/jacqueline/

Project Life Week 1

Week 1 left side

Week 1 right side

2013 Week 1 Project Life and Project Real Life

Project Real Life started last October and about 2-3 weeks into

the class it felt like it was something I should do at the

beginning of the year rather than the end.  

I didn't have the time to really put into the class anyway so

that worked out well.

So here I am starting Project Life 2013 with 

Project Real Life. 

Another great reason for doing this now is I don't have to have a third year of snow and bird pictures filling the first 2 months of my Project Life album!

 Project Real Life is a Big Picture Class (BPC) by Becky Higgins.

The first week's theme is Begin with the End in Mind.

What I have in mind for 2013 is to complete things.

Finish books, fill empty picture frames, do all the little things

on my "to do" list for the house, finish projects, finish classes, and more.

I originally was going to have "Complete" as my One Little Word OLW) for 2013 but 

it felt too limiting.  With further reflection and research into various words

I chose "Seek".  More on that in other posts.

Nothing fancy here.  More journaling than I usually do which is a good thing.

I did some stamping on the date card.  Added two fortunes to the date card from fortune cookies we had on New Year's Eve.

I numbered the journaling cards so that the reader could follow the story.

I added a journaling card with my OLW word and definitions.

The quote card and theme of the week cards from Project Real Life 

are in the layout as well.  

I'm using bits and pieces from 2 different year's Project Life supplies along with an extra album I ended up with. 

I'll eventually add my goals sheets from Project Real Life in between Week 1's pages.  For now I'm using them as I work on Week 2's materials.  

Did you set any goals or intentions for 2013?  What are they? 

One Little Word - January 2013

Here's a look at how my One Little Word (OLW) pages are shaping up for January.  I mostly stuck to Ali Edwards' instructions for the prompt.  All the materials I've used I had on on hand.  They include:
Close To My Heart's My Acrylix stamp set "Atomic Caps" for the word "SEEK" on each of the cards.  I had some trouble figuring out how to include the other words on the cards since mine were much longer words than Ali's 3-4 letter words.  I used Creative Memories Mini Alphabet stickers that I've had forever and changed up the colors to match the kraft cardstock and the Cranberry ink (from Close To My Heart) on the word "SEEK".  The washi tape is some I got in a SMASH pack.  I had some problems with that as it did not want to stick very well on the cardstock.  I've heard that's a problem with washi tape.  I used Close To My Heart ink "White Daisy" for the months on the kraft cardstock. For the months I used Close To My Heart's Nov. 2012 Stamp of the Month "Capture the Date".  My color scheme developed from the kraft cardstock and the washi tape I had on hand and built from there with other materials in my stash.  That's how its worked in the last 2 years as well.  Other than the page protectors and album I've never bought anything specifically for OLW.
For the print paper I had DCWV's Tradewinds Matstack tucked away.  It was another purchase made just because I like the look of it.  I do have to say though that I don't have a lot of print paper on hand so my choices were limited.  Even so this paper really spoke to me.  I originally had pulled some of Tim Holtz's papers out for this but once I saw these there was no question this was the right one.
While this isn't finished yet I'm going to set it aside for the week and revisit this next weekend.  In the meantime I need to find or take a photo of myself (never one of my favorite activities).  I want to sit with my word for a few days.  I'll probably add more thoughts to my month cards.  I'll be looking through my stash more - I think I have a key somewhere I'd like to add to the one print card.  I'm not a fan of butterflies or birds just because they are everywhere(...gasp...I know its such a big trend...but up to this point butterflies/birds just haven't done anything for me) so I don't think I have any of those but I'll check to be sure. They certainly would work symbolically for my word "SEEK"
So that's it for now....Are you doing One Little Word or a variation of it for 2013?  Please share....

One Little Word 2013 and more

Over the last couple of months my One Little Word (OLW) for 2012 JOY was in the forefront of mind as we enjoyed the holidays and a new word for 2013 started making its presence known.  At first the word was complete and that was perfectly understandable as I took a record number of Big Picture Classes in 2012 and ended up not finishing several.  I also have several books to finish, picture frames that need pictures, other projects that remain unfinished and so on.  As I began researching and learning more about the word complete it didn't seem to cover enough of what I was hoping for in 2013 so as one word led to another to another I have chosen the word SEEK for 2013.  I'll be working on learning more about this word as I begin preparing for OLW 2013.
As 2013 is shaping up to be a year of completing, repeating and re-taking classes and projects I'm also planning on taking May Flaum's The Curious Scrapbooker's Field Guide.  I loved this class last year - one of the classes I actually finished except for the final project.  I want to repeat this class for a couple of reasons.  First, May is an enthusiastic teacher and is very inspiring.  By the end of the class I was really becoming more adventurous and doing more mixed media types of art then ever before so I'm hoping to continue that type of work and incorporating it into my scrapbook pages.

I would really like to integrate my OLW 2013 journey into my everyday Project Life or if that doesn't seem possible an album that really helps me focus on those things I am seeking.  I'm really looking for a process that helps move me forward.  Helps me be more accountable to what I'm looking for in 2013.  I'd love to hear your ideas and plans for 2013.                                                          

The red albums are my OLW and Move More, Eat Well albums.
The pink album is an 8 x 8 album that I haven't used yet.
My Twelve and Finding Photo Freedrom notebooks
are on the chest of drawers as well as
I try to get organized for the new year!

Here comes 2013!

So here is what my craft room looks like as we approach the new year.  I'm slowly working on my 12/12/12 album(top photo) from Big Picture Classes (BPC) Twelve class.  I didn't complete 144 layouts (12/month) as part of the class but I learned a lot about storytelling thanks to Stacy Julian!  I'll be reviewing this class with several other class members as we continue to dig into the enormous amount of material that was part of this class. I love the Simple Stories album that we are using for this project.  I'm trying to think how I want to do Project Life and also do another Simple Stories album in 2013.  I love the idea of a Year in Review album like this.

The middle photo shows my December Daily album in progress.  Several snowstorms have prevented me from getting to CVS to print my latest photos but hope to get that done today before more snow tomorrow!  I'm enjoying this process and have several ideas for how I would like to do this next year.  I think I'm changing it to a Holiday album and include Thanksgiving through the New Year next year.  I'm also working my way through Journaling Your Christmas with Shimelle.  Shimelle provides two prompts a day - there is a lot of material and I need to catch up with those as well.  (Can you tell I have a large "to-do" list for the next five days?)

Bottom photo is a look at my three work tables.  Can you see my Project Life album buried and shoved up against the wall in the photo?  That's on my "to-do" list too.

What's on your "to-do" list for this last week of 2012?  And what are your plans for 2013?  Stop back tomorrow as I talk about my One Little Word for 2013 and what that means for my goals and plans for 2013.

One Little Word Blog Hop 2012 Edition begins 2/1/12 at 11am ET

Title page

JOY

Hello!  Welcome to my blog.  I am very excited to be participating again this year in Ali Edwards' One Little Word(OLW) and Margie's OLW Blog Hop.    I can already tell that my second year is going to be a very different experience and that I've grown (personally and artistically) from the first year.  The word JOY chose me this year.  Its been hanging around me for several months and popping up almost every where I look.  I'm looking forward to finding & enjoying the JOY present in everyday life - the small and not so small moments that can be easily missed in our busy lives.  At this stage in my life I am not where I planned or expected to be & there are many things I can't change.  So rather than feeling fustrated or unhappy (been there, done that) I am looking for the JOY that is in my life.  And the JOY that I can invite into my life.  On to my project for this month.....

I want to start off by letting you know that the piece looks better in person than in the photos.  The sun had been shining aIl day here until I got home from work!  So I lost my natural light for the photo taking.  Also the Prisma glitter looks slightly yellow rather than silver in some of the photos because of my lighting.  Because of all the glitter I did not want to put the piece in my scanner.  On to the details of my creation....

I started preparing my "canvases" to go into the 9 pocket page when I decided to go in a slightly different direction.  I took my 9 pieces of cardstock, chipboard and paper and adhered them to a piece of white cardstock.  My color choices for last year were red, black, white and gold to go with my red We R Memory Keepers 8 1/2" x 11" 3 ring album.  This year I changed it a little going with red, white and silver.  I was so happy with the collage at this point it was amazing!  I took Claudine Hellmuth's Composition for Collage class at Big Picture Classes last year and decided to continue working on this as a grid collage piece.  In the middle rectangle (white paper with red dots) I did add some Close To My Heart's Liquid Glass to each dot for a dimensional effect.

I used Claudine Hellmuth's Studio acrylic paint to cover my chipboard letter pieces and then sprinkled the letters with Prisma Glitter (also from Close To My Heart) while the paint was still wet.  I love how creamy and smooth Claudine's paint is and it covers easily and quickly.  Dries fast too!

I then added my defintion, quote and  invitation to the piece.

For the synonyms I typed them out in Word, printed them on white cardstock and cut them out.  At first I was just going to add them to the piece the same way I did the definition, invitation and quote. 



Synonyms and definition



Synonyms & quote



Synonyms and invitation

Then I saw these metal rimmed circle tags in my stash and decided to use those. I had some silver ribbon I added and then I used silver stickles to the rim to continue the glittery look on the tags.  After I added the synonyms to the inside part of the tags I used a little glue on the white part of the tag and sprinkled a little more Prisma glitter on them.  And here's the finished piece....

I'm pIacing my collage in a frame to hang on the wall in my studio as I feel such JOY just looking at this. I encourage you to make your own grid collage with your word.  As I have time I'll recreate this in my 9 pocket page protector. 

You most likely got here from Jill's blog so your next stop will be Jenn's blog at

www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Here is the full list of all 46 blog hop participants for you to visit.  I know I'll have to work on visiting all these talented ladies over the next few days. 

Margie             http://xnomads.typepad.com/

Sharyn            www.lavieenchic.com           

Jill                   http://jillconyers.com/

Lynn                www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Jenn                www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Carmen            http://www.carmenpaulsorthner.com/

Marilee            http://rose-brier.blogspot.com      

Kristina            http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/

Cindy C            http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com/

Kelly                 http://mindingmynest.com

Cheri                 http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Amanda            http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Cindy                http://seriousplay.typepad.com/

Brooke              http://www.everysnapshot.com/

Naomi               http://www.poeticaperture.com/

Melissa             http://www.smudgetime.com/

Karen                http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com/

Melissa S          http://blog.mshanhun.com

Devon                http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com

Donna                http://holimess.blogspot.com/

Dawn                 sunshineandcreativity.com

Katrina               http://www.katrinasimeck.com/

Sam                   http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Monica               http://scrapinspired.com/

Kimberlee           http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com

Missus W           http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/

Kaylea                http://www.myscrappylife.com/

Nikki                   Www.inkyart.com.au

Erin                     http://erinsparkes.typepad.com/optimstic-fascination/

Jo                        www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com

Coley                   http://coleybelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/focus-word-for-2012.html

Beth                     http://www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com/

Veronica               www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Jamie                    http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/

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

Lisa                http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Rebekah         http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Jan                 http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com

Veronica               http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/

Cate                      www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Stephanie              www.scrapworthylives.com

Orange Gearle        http://orangegearle.blogspot.com

Tere                 http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Junelle             http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/ 

Ruth                 http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com

Becky              http://www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting!  Please leave a comment if you can - I love them!  If you want to follow my/our progress through the year sign up to follow my blog.  I plan on sharing projects from various Big Picture Classes including Reclaiming My Time, Project Life, Move More, Eat Well, Library of Memories/Finding Photo Freedom, Twelve, and  the Curious Scapbooker's Field Guide as well as layouts for my various albums. Other projects I hope to work on this year include doing a photo tray, a Wendy Vecchi type project and a Tim Holtz configurations piece. Hope to see you soon.

One Little Word Blog Hop - Wednesday, February 1st at 11am ET

Just wanted to send out a reminder that our first One Little Word Blog Hop for 2012 is this Wednesday, February 1st starting at 11am ET.  There are 46 bloggers participating!!  One Little Word is a Big Picture Classes class with Ali Edwards.  This is my second year of choosing a word - this year it chose me.  Participants live with their word for an entire year - learning about it, living intentionally with it and hopefully growing with it throughout the year.  Visit the various blogs to learn more....its not too late to join us...you can start anytime...

Final 2011 One Little Word Blog Hop & 2012 One Little Word

Welcome to Crafty-Creativity! 

Thank you for stopping by during the final 2011 One Little Word Blog Hop!    I am very grateful for the One Little Word (OLW) experience this past year.  It was my first year with One Little Word and I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had a fair amount of trouble deciding on a word.  I had some ideas of what I wanted to happen or change so I decided on ILLUMINATE. 

Illuminate - OLW 2011

I was looking for some answers to some on-going issues in my life and wanted to get to the heart of them.  I wasn't looking for easy solutions or quick answers.  One of the issues was creativity.  I'd become so blocked I'd barely done any scrapbooking for the last 2-3 years.  I had lots of other projects I wanted to complete but could not make myself sit down & create.  So I needed to look at this and find out what was really going on.  And this was basically what I wanted for various other issues. 

Its funny how this OLW works in your life.  Some days its very much on your mind and other days not so much.  Its hard to even describe it.  I think you are more open to seeing answers in various ways and places. 

By September I was beginning to struggle with the prompts.  I didn't know why.  By October I realized that I was done with my word.  It did what I had asked of it.  It had illuminated  answers to the issues I was struggling with.   I continued to work on the prompts but I didn't worry about finishing them as my new word had already come into my life and made itself known. 

Here is November's page that I just recently finished up.



November 2011 page

And here is December's page:



December 2011 page



For 2011 these two projects represent my favorite months' prompts from Ali. I really liked trying new things

February 1st Blog Hop  http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/2011/07/one-little-word-july-1st-blog-hop.html

July 1st Blog Hop      http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/2011/07/one-little-word-july-1st-blog-hop.html 

 I had just taken Claudine Hellmuth's BPC Composition for Collage and I was able to use what learned in that class for this project.

My word for 2012 is JOY

My title page for One Little Word 2012



The next stop on the Blog Hop is 

Monica at  http://scrapinspired.com/

The entire Blog Hop list is here if you want to start at the beginning and work your way through the list:

Margie              http://xnomads.typepad.com

Cheri                         http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Veronica            www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Kara                          http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com/

Rebekah            http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Sharyn            http://www.LaVieEnChic.com

Jill                          http://jillconyers.com

Lynn                        www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Monica            http://scrapinspired.com/

Lisa                        http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Cynthia H            http://paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com

Lee                        http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/

Abbey                        http://athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/

Monica B            www.questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com

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

Tere                        http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Melissa S            http://blog.mshanhun.com

Nicky                        http://seejanebake.blogspot.com

Stephanie              http://www.scrapworthylives.com/

Jenn L            www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Cindy                        http://seriousplay.typepad.com

Amanda            http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Sam                  http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Jan                        http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com

Jamie                        http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com

Karen                        http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

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.