My Wish For You | December Stories 2022 | Story No.1

 

December Stories + documenting now

How To | Making Pocket Cards Into a Fabulous Graduation Banner

tis the season to be awesome

How To : Create Easy Pocket Card Tags

pocket cards are not just for pockets, you know...

hello ~ sizzix digital cut files

Just when you think I have given up on ProjectLife and pocket scrapping...
alas...
I have not...

This page is part of a Sizzix blog post found here...

My newest digital cut collection is called Hello.



You can purchase as a collection or individual cuts.

It's just a cute little set that invites spring into our every day projects.

Hope you check it out!

one little word ~ jan

So here we are and it's February.
Was that not the fastest January to pass through our fingers ever?

With that in mind there are a few things I am thankful for.
first off Heidi Swapp's Capture 30. That was the best way to start off this year with daily prompts intended to inspire intention. And for me that is just what it did. I am deeply grateful to Heidi for all the work and love and time she shared with that class and how it will impact the rest of my year by way of #onelittlethingeveryday as well as the Memory Planner that will walk with me daily and be a documented reminder of the blur.

I am thankful next for Ali Edward's class One Little Word.
I have taken this class for several years now. I have always started strong and then fizzled at the end. Just when I should be paying more attention TO my word and seeing it through the very end. Sometimes you just get tired of a word. Not last year, SEEK was the best intention I could have come up with. Probably the most powerful of all my olw's.

Sharing the beginning of this year's prompts from Ali's class:

To start is sort of a follow-through with Ali's process. I kept going back and forth with whether I wanted to do a smaller album this year or not. But in the spirit of keeping things simple right now, I went ahead and opted to add this new word to an existing album and keep with the same size format.

Following the prompts from the class, cards were filled out to guide us through the beginning introduction to our word and help us to get acquainted. I delayed on purpose to work through these january prompts as I really wanted to think on my own terms about this word and what I was goaling for with it this year.

Not only is this a great mental exercise, the creativity aspect is always a plus. It slows one down a bit to think through as hands are busy putting the parts together in a please and aesthetic manner. This is always the part of the process about creativity that I love the most. The thinking that comes through with the creativity.

So what is going on here creatively:
Yet another form of pocket scrapbooking. The visual basis for this first month was lots of gold, black and touches of mintish-blue.  A photograph of me, taken by Maggie Massey, is part of the prompt. Me right now to trigger what is going on with the right now. Another photo that for me sort of depicts a bit about my word. Lots of gold paint on the card prompts. A confetti pocket with sequins, a foiled butterfly as well as extra little punches. Of course there is my word that I created digitally that is my mantra for the year. And then lastly a card I painted with gold metallic paint and added butterflies, one of my favorite icons, and a great example of fly.

So welcome to a new year. A new month. A new word.
If you have not followed this process before, I invite you to do just that. There are aspects to be discovered about you that can be found in this creative, emotional and mental process.

Here is to a beautiful Monday.

hello december ~ stampin up project life

hello lovely friends...
you say, 'well it's not december yet'...
and you are not wrong.

however, today I am showin' off what I did with Stampin' Up's Hello December Project Life Collection.

This was such a fun kit to play with. There is a wide assortment of color offering in the Project Life Card Collection. I went with the kraft and black and white. I love how the neutrals played together so well with my family photos for the year.

The first double page spread starts with a sort of title page that includes a 6x4 card. I stamped 'hello December'  using a Project Life December Wonder Stamp.

And check those cork striped numbers...um...can we say adorable?

All of a sudden I am a brand new fan of the 6x8 Envelope Pages. I love these for all the ephemera one collects this time of year.

Plus a cutie little pocket on the very front that you can actually utilize or just dress it up and make it pretty. It just covers all the bases.

This second double page spread has all my favorite parts...recent photo shoot of my fam!

So this just might be my favorite of all the pages...I mean...seriously! How could it not!

O.k...let's get back to the product show here...so that polka dot washi tape...yep...I could eat it...it is part of the very generous Hello December Project Life Accessory Pack. And all the fun fun wood pieces are part of that pack too. I mean it's just so darn cute.

And my favorite 3x4 card HAS to be the 'fa la la la...' card. It just makes me happy.

So seriously, this is a really fun and versatile Project Life themed for December and all things festive and Christmasy. Lots of product is included. And I am sure it will make you happy just like it did me.

october memory planner ~ heidi swapp

Hey everyone...
Yes...I am still here...
still loving. loving. loving the Heidi Swapp Memory Planner. Did I say I loved it?

Here are my completed pages for October. This was just the best and most celebratory month in it feels like evah!
So much happened to our family this month and all in all it was just a fabulous time.
The weather here in the Rockies for October was indeed the very most beautiful in the 11 years we have lived here. Everyone agreed. I think it truly added to the festiveness that was the month of October.
If you would be interested in the other months you can click HERE to view the rest.

This month my numbered list was composed of quippy sayings that inspired me during the day. I read some place. Or someone sent to me. It was a great space to keep those little thoughts.

In the pocket page I shared photos from our family photo shoot. A family hike. And my daughters birthday. I used the Heidi Swapp Project Life Interactive Card to point to her photo and add sentiments about her.

I also had extra photos from our pumpkin patching day and added them by way of a mini accordion album slipped into the last 3x4 pocket. I love adding these extra interactive elements of photos that I simply want to keep for easy view. Ya like the ink on my fingers there?

The back of the pockets includes one of my daughter's and her academic progress. We are on a journey to discover some unique things about how God created her brain in particular. The Memory Planner has served to be a great spot to add those little monthly updates. Also notice the Heidi Swapp October Freebie, and a landscape photo of the area in all it's autumnal glory.

 I used this technique found here to add in a Heidi Swapp Project Life Gold Foil Kit journaling card. This was where I shared the big event of the month: my son's performance in our community theater's production of Little Women.

 On the back side I added a few posed as well as candid shots from after the show.

And that's the story of the October edition of the 2014 Memory Planner.

Be sure and catch Heidi today on My Craft Channel as she shares another twist to an interactive card. Simply amazing.

Enjoy...

desktop calendar ~ heidi swapp

did you see this at MyCraftChannel this week?

it's the Desktop Calendar from the JoAnn Collection.
heidi shares by way of video in her own 'make pretty stuff' way...
and she gives me a little o' shout out. (shameful display of personal recognition)

now while heidi's is this fabulous inspirational organizer...

which is such a brilliant idea...i mean...she kills me!

mine is highlighting fav photos from that particular month...

...like the sweet and fun photo of my youngest girlie in the snow back in january.
i used the 3x4 pocket protectors and slipped photos inside or mounted photos to the outside...whichever suited my fancy at the moment.

then i added another pocket that would over lap the previous. stamps and ephemera were used to make these little mini layouts fun and celebratory. just like the photos themselves.

i mean clearly...i do not think i have enough photos of us around here...yeah right...

this is one of my all time fav photos from may...these are priceless to me. i love that i can stick them in here and have them looking at me any moment of the day on my desk.  i started adding funny sayings to these pages too to remember all the quirk that goes on inside these walls.

i love mixing the stamps and my writing within these pages too. think of each section as it's own little scrapbook page. its' pocket scrapbooking at it's best.

this organizer is a perfect way to print off instagram photos and get them OUT of your camera and into your life. did i say that loud enough?

i just consider this a way to further my search for #onelittlethingeveryday. life is hard and relentless right now with many circumstances in my life weighing very heavily on me. keeping my eyes up and focused on the good and beautiful, even if it is a silly little desktop organizer on my table, reminding me of just that, the good and beautiful. well then that is what i will continue to do as i continue to choose happy.

i challenge you to do the same and to enjoy the journey.