Go!

Sundays are often my best chance to play in my scrap room.  And it seems like the ideas tend to dry right up.  So the first thing I do on Sunday mornings is go to my favorite inspiration spots to get that creative spark going.  And today it worked!

One of the places I check every Sunday is the Studio Calico blog.  SC publishes 3 sketches on Sunday - a scrapbook sketch, a documenter (project life) sketch and a card sketch.  This week I liked all the sketches but the documenter sketch was the one that inspired a layout right away.  (I think it is a lot of fun to adapt a sketch to a different type of project.)

I'm not sure what drew my eye - maybe the arrows - but I looked at the sketch and immediately had an idea for a layout about my daughter getting her temps.   I turned the sketch on its side for purposes of a traditional layout (though I think it would work well with a horizontal orientation too).

I just received the Jolly Holiday kit last week and started with supplies from that kit.  Then I went to my stsh for some arrows, some oversized letters and some scraps of neutral papers.  And I ended up with this.

I still seriously love the giant chipboard letters - these are from the Ali Edwards shop - the color is Astoria.  I just wish I could be more vowels (and maybe a few other letters).  And I have been hoarding those arrow die cuts - now I know why.  They were perfect for this layout.

Hope you find time to play today.  Have an amazing Sunday.

One Little Word

The concept behind the One Little Word class Ali Edward's offers fascinates me.  Pick a word and use it to help shape your year.  Learn about yourself, grow and accomplish through a relationship with your word.  So this year I decided to give it a try.

The first thing that I learned is that picking a word is hard!  There are so many choices and, because I am me, I was sure I could find a perfect word.  I was really about 90% sure that I was going to use "intent(ion)"  because I wanted to to focus and make intentional choices about where I was going.  But it also didn't seem quite right.

Then I explained the class to my husband - he generally teases me about my "crafty endeavors" and complains about the time and money.  But not this time.  He listened and immediately said "FORGE."  I asked why - he said he didn't know but that the word popped right into his head.

So I did a little research and it turns out that this is the perfect word for me.

• to make
• to move forward
• to build connections

I've spent the last week or so using my crafty time to work through the January prompts in my album. I am using the 6x8 gold striped album available on the Ali Edwards website.

Here is my title page - I am using a wonky heart on its side throughout my album to represent an arrow and a strong heart (somehow both seem relevant to my word in my mind). 

I used the back of the 3x8 title insert to document the story of how I chose my word.  Writing it down made me wonder why my husband thought of this word - maybe I will figure it out this year.  Carson Riutta inspired the use of the floral paper for my definitions page - I loved it when it came in a kit but had no idea what to do with it.  But I love it for this project. 

The next page is titled "The Year Ahead."  I used Ali's prompts but retyped it so that I could use a consistent font throughout my pages.  And I printed it on a piece of pale pink cardstock (the smooth side), and of course couldn't reisst adding a few embellishments.

I love this quote that Ali provided (in her handwriting) in the class materials.  I printed it on a piece of vellum I had been hoarding from the Studio Calico Atlantic collection.

The next page talks about the reason why I chose this word (a little different than the story of how I chose my word) and includes a quote that speaks to my word.  I also included a photo of me (taken on December 30 when I finished work for the year.)  Including a photo of yourself was one of Ali's prompts and might have been the hardest thing for me.

The next pages talk about things I am trying to bring into my life in 2016 and things I am trying to let go of this year.  The page beside it begins to document my intentions for the new year.

The last page related to the prompts is the rest of my intentions.  I include a photo I took on a weekend away with my husband when we were sitting by the fire just being together here - one of my biggest things to work on is transitioning back to being a couple as our last child gets close to moving out.  We have been so busy being parents for the last 23 years that we have forgotten how to be "two."

A 3x8 insert next to it includes a list of action items for the month.  The action items were my own addition.  After I finished the prompts I felt like I had document very aspirational thoughts and nothing very concrete.  I think I will make better progress if I have some very specific things to work on written down. 

On the back of the action items I printed a quote Ali Edwards shared on her  blog at the end of the year about changing your ending - it seemed like the perfect way to end the January pages.

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This post got long and wordy - thanks for taking the time to read it.  I am planning to share my pages each month and hoping it helps keep me on track this year.

Hope you have a great Tuesday

Shades of Blue

I have this picture of the harbor in Ashtabula, the town where I grew up, that I seem to use in layouts over and over.  Its not that I don't have othr pictures printed.  I just am drawn to this photo.  I've used it in color and in black and white.  I think it just goes to show that the things we love are inspiring when we get ready to create.

This time I started with a black and white 4x6 print.  I knew I wanted to play with layering and use a soft color palette.  The first thing I did was choose the Amy Tangerine base paper and soften the pattern at the edges with gesso (boy, have I come a long way).  Then I hit my scrap pile for pieces of paper in blue, gray or white and played with the layers-  I added some project life cards, an SC Sundrifter journal card, some shipping tags, a small envelope and a transparency from Basic Grey.

After I attached the major pieces I added a title using naked chipboard thickers, a piece of Dear Lizzy flair, some arrows, some vellum hearts and sequins.  It still needed something at the bottom to balance the layout so I added a Cosmo Cricket fabric sticker, more vellum hearts and some sequins.

I have more projects from this weekend's festivities to share later this week.  Hope you have a great monday!