Three more Thankful pages

Three more pages of Thankful.  Isn't my grandson adorable?  I can't believe how well he posed - he's only two!

End of vacation week

My vacation week is coming to an end.  I head back to work in the morning. So while I've not been posting my 30 Days of Thankful pages on a a daily basis like I had hoped to, I have been very aware of the many things each day I have to be thankful for.  I think, too, it's important to live your life first and document it, second.  So I've been living and creating this last week.  Now to show you some of my finished pages for my 30 Days of Thankful album. 

 I've been having a lot of fun with Pinterest this year and actually creating/doing several of the ideas I've pinned!

Day 20 - thankful for Pinterest  




Day 21-thankful for Pumpkin (our youngest cat)

Day 22 - thankful for Patch (our oldest cat)

Day 23 - thankful for weather alerts
We've had some snowy weather (a foot of snow one day!) and some really cold temperatures so it's good to be prepared!

The beautiful sunset caught our eye as soon as we walked out of Olive Garden.  I quickly grabbed my camera from the car fearful that I would lose it before I could get the photo.  I got a few funny looks from other people arriving or leaving as I stood in the parking lot taking photos.  As I turned to go back to the car I saw the moon coming up in the west and the sky with a totally different look. 

 I was very thankful to be in the 

right place at the right time.

What were you thankful for today?

As you can see, I did something different with the photos for today.  I placed them in a Close To My Heart 4 x 6 Flip Flap.  It means that I will have to take the page out of the protector to turn the photo to see the second one but this way I didn't have to choose between them or crop them.

Thankful for a warm, cozy home

Just one page today.  

We had an unexpected lake effect snowstorm and I was really happy to get home safely. 

 Home always seems even nicer on nights like this!

30 Days of Thankful - Day 9 through 13

 It's catch-up day!  Day 9 through 13.
And a look at my album that arrived a few days earlier than predicted.

The album is a WeRMemory Keepers 8 x 8 - 3 ring binder in Cinnamon.
Today I am thankful for being caught up.  How is your thankful/gratitude project going?

DIY Gratitude Ornament

To continue your journey of thankfulness and gratitude throught the Christmas season watch the YouTube video DIY Gratitude Ornaments.  Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/v/oXRErciT65o?autohide=1&version=3&attribution_tag=7HH_06oGCBKQuuAVKOezXQ&autohide=1&showinfo=1&feature=share&autoplay=1

I think this would a great Thanksgiving Day activity with the whole family and/or friends.  Just add to your Christmas tree or wreath when done!

It's beginning to look a lot like......

Just like the Christmas music and snowfall I still get excited when I first see our town's Christmas lights lit up at night.  I'm so thankful that the memories of the past remain with me and are kindled each time I see the lights, the snow or hear a favorite Christmas song.  

I found these great "Bee Thankful" free printables at The 36th Avenue.

Here is the link to get them:
http://www.the36thavenue.com/2013/11/free-thanksgiving-printables.html
I'm thinking of using these to give along with some banana bread or cookies to let friends know I'm thankful for them this Thanksgiving.

What are you thankful for today?  Please share in the comments section below.

Today I am thankful for my online friends....

I want to thank my "online" friend Melissa for her wonderful post yesterday.  Melissa and I have not met in in-person yet but through her blog and classes that we have shared at Big Picture classes I feel like I know her.  Here is the link to Melissa's blog  "Daily Life - Bits & Pieces" so you can follow her:

http://melissagross.blogspot.com/

Only a few of my local in-person friends share my passion for all things paper and crafty so 5 years ago or so I was looking online for classes to spread my creative wings and found Big Picture Classes (BPC).  And I'm so glad I did!  Melissa was one of the first people that I met at BPC.  She was (and is) a coach for Stacy Julian's class Finding Photo Freedom. Along with Melissa, who is from Texas, I now count women from all over the world as my "friend".  And you know what?  We aren't all that different no matter where we live.

Here are a few more of my pages that I have completed.  I usually get my journaling done each day but the photo, either taking it or getting it developed takes a few days.  I'm never entirely "caught up" to the day but I'm not feeling anxious about it either.  I'm just thankful for forward motion each day.

We had our second snowfall of the year.  Not much either time and it didn't last past that day.  It amazes me that I still get a thrill when I see the snow start this time of the year and grateful that I still have that feeling.  

What are you thankful for today?

Variation on the Thankful tree

Big Picture Classes if offering a new self-paced class with Amy Powers.  There is a link to more information at the end of the description below.  I thought there may be some interest in learning how to create the Celebration Tree as a Thankful Tree so I wanted to share this information with you.  I plan to sign up this weekend.

Disclosure:  I am not being paid to promote this class nor have any financial interest in this class.  

Happy-Go-Lucky Celebration Tree Another cheerful craft project with Amy Powers

Celebrate life every day of the year with an elegant Celebration Tree! The craft-tacular Amy Powers will help you craft a unique and beautiful potted tree using fallen branches from around your town (or found online).

Then, through detailed videos and downloadable handouts, she'll help you dress it up for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween, as well as other holidays and occasions throughout the year!

Glitter acorns and gratitude spools will gladden your heart at Thanksgiving time, while pom-pom spiders and black-and-orange garlands will make you smile at Halloween. And let's not forget decorating it for Christmas, using a special ornament collection that you'd like to put on prominent display. Find out more here.

Today I am thankful for.....

 Welcome back!  I am thankful that you are here reading my blog.
I got my photos processed and picked up from CVS. So I was able to catch up on my pages.
You've seen Day 1 without the photo and as you can see from the photo I added my desk is a mess!  It's a little less messy today but not a lot. 

 Day 6 I'm thankful for being out on the road working with the primary care practices I work with.  Urban to rural areas, lots of great views, a road I've never traveled, lots of hills and 2 lakes make for a great day out of the office!

Day 7 I'm thankful for the Christmas music radio station.

I showed you the Daily Log sheets that Cathy Zielske provided and I had partially filled them in prior to starting.  I keep forgetting about them but I took some time today to update them, add items I want a photo of on certain days and did a general list of possibilities.  I'm hoping that it will help on the weekdays when I have less time to focus on being thankful.
How about you?  What are you thankful for today?

Gratitude inspiration

The first few days of my 30 Days of Thankful have been fairly easy to find what I am thankful for.  My challenge has been finding the time to sit and thoughtfully consider what comes to mind.  And time to work on my pages.  I did, finally, get my album ordered (see the Amazon box on the right for a photo of it).  I already had the page protectors on hand.  I think I'm going to need to carve out some time in the morning before I go to work to look at my pages with a fresh mind!
I can see, too, that as the days go by I may be in need of some fresh ideas.  So I cruised Pinterest for some journaling prompt ideas last night and I really didn't find much which suprised me.  
So I need to do some brainstorming....feel free to share your ideas in the comment section.
I'll leave you with this thought..................

Day 6 and more

I wanted to mention that a good friend of mine from the online world, Melissa, will be doing a Guest Post on Sunday with a wonderful story about Gratitude. You won't want to miss it.

My apologies to my readers...I did not realize that the rest of my post went missing...not sure what happened. Guess I will need to start typing it in Word and transferring it over.  

Day 2 through 5 with photos

 After work yesterday I was finally able to get my photos printed and added them to my pages and journaling.  Now that I've added my photos I really happy with the white border around the photos.  If I printed the pages correctly and they were 6 x 6 pages I would not have that border.  I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it but I know I want to add a little something more to the pages.

 If you have any thoughts or ideas, let me know them in the comment section.  This is fairly typical of how I work on projects.  Pretty much working it out as things develop.  Occasionally I can see the whole "vision" of what I want to do but it's usually developing the next step once I can see where I am.  How do your projects progress?

 If you've started a "thankful" project or "gratitude" project I'd love to hear from you.  Email me at laew@aol.com if you would like to share your project here.

Today I am thankful that you are here...

Thankful Boxes and more..,,

I wanted to share a link to the blog Cottage in the Oaks:

http://cottageintheoaks.com/2013/10/thankful-boxes-thanksgiving-2013/

She shares a wonderful story about how a beautiful tradition developed and continues in her family.

30 Days of Thankful begins tomorrow

Tomorrow I will begin my version of Cathy Zielske's 30 Days of Thankful Project.
This is the second year that Cathy has documented one thing she is grateful for each day in November and pairs it with a photo.  

While Cathy does her pages digitally I'll be doing a paper version.  You can see the package I purchased  at Designer Digitals here:
http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/14881
I downloaded the pdf files and printed them.  My one caution is to make sure you read the directions thoroughly so that they print out the correct size.  I failed to so and ended up with pages that are 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"!  I've chosen not to reprint them and will be doing an 8" x 8" album instead of a 6" x  6".

For those of you who want more information on how Cathy does this project digitally her blog  announcement regarding  30 Days of Thankful is here:
http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/10/announcing-the-30-days-of-thankful-album-project-for-2013.html

And you can follow this link for Cathy's instructions on how to use the digital files here:
http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/30-days-of-thankful/

During the month of November I will be sharing posts about gratitude and thankfulness including why I decided to do this project.  I'll share some of my pages and photos along the way.  I'm also very excited to say that I have a very special guest who will be sharing a story about gratitude with us on November 10th.  
I'll be very thankful if you follow along....