Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Making + Keeping Resolutions ::Day 3::

Hello and sorry for the delay! Snow days means kids home which means life take a little detour around the todo list!

Yesterday we were chatting about making something portable that we can use to help keep up engaged and successful with our resolutions. I knew immediately that my best chance for success lay (lie?) in using a notebook I could keep with me.

 

When it comes to portable notebooks, my hands down favorite are mini composition notebooks.

Reasons I love them.

1. They are cheap. Usually under a dollar.
2. Second, they fit in my purse (which is a tiny little thing. My phone once got lost in the bottom of a big purse for more than a week. Since then, it is little purses only!)
3. The pages are secure.
4. The covers are rigid so I can write in them easily.

 

I thought about breaking out my actual paper products to decorate the covers, but I didn't want embellishments that would get tattered or broken, so I opted for a digi cover. Plus a little washi tape to cover up the black tape spine.

Here are my two books.

I have them divided into section and made lists inside of things to get done. I am planning on having a weekly entry in the "Be Still" book to monitor thoughts and ways that I feel still. At the back of the Organize book I made a division for ideas to help me get organized. I'm not sure if I will use it, or if I will just create a pin board. I'm not so good at keeping to a schedule when I go to Pinterest. I'm like an ADHD Alice who slid down the rabbit hole. Not a very efficient use of my time or energies. But so fun. (I think Pinterest and Target are created by people who have tapped into my specific inabilities to resist. haha!)

I spend a lot of time in the car driving my kids to their activities. I believe that having my notebooks handy will help keep me on task. So excited.

Three things before I go.

First, in case you are a pen lover like me, I have found these pens from Jet Pens

to be my favorites for keeping in my purse. Not only are they are click pens (which keeps from losing the lids), but they also have the tiniest tips, terrific colors, and are perfectly sized for small purses. List making is always more fun with colored ink!

 

Second, I made a printable for you for the organized book. I used elements from a kit for the other, so I can't offer you that one, but I thought you might like a little book of organization as well.

As you can see, the colors are much more vibrant than my picture made them seem. Happy colors for a happy life. You can download it here.

 

Lastly, please let me know if have have finished any of the "assignments." I would love to see your projects!

Take care in this cold and I'll be back with more ideas for keeping your resolutions visible!

Scrapbook: Need a Last Minute Gift? How about a CD Case Calendar?

It's Celeste bringing you this year's printable CD Calendar and PNG files! This year I used a set of Commercial Use files from Miss Tiina to create the calendar. I put together an easy printable PDF calendar that you can display in an empty CD case. Please download the ZIP FILE. The zip file includes blank printable PDFs for each month of 2015.You can add paper, photos, or almost anything you'd like to the blank pages.

The PNG file is there for digital scrappers who want to create their very own calendar. You can use these and create any size calendar you’d like. You could even use them to create your own pocket cards!

To start off, I decided to create my CD calendar digitally. I plan on having it printed at an online photo printer. I started with a 5.4 inch by 4.7 inch canvas and then added the calendar stamp and a photo. Easy peasy!

I hope you enjoy the printable and stamps! Happy Holidays to you and yours!

 

Printable Celebration

Today's printable present is the gift of celebration! With only five days until the big day, it is just around the corner!

If you would like, you may download it here. Thank you for stopping by during this busy holiday season!

Printable Peace

Today's printable present is the gift of peace! What a lovely thing for this holiday season. Mmm. Peace.

If you would like, you may download it here. Thank you for stopping by during this busy holiday season!

Printable Joy

The holiday spirit has descended upon us! For the next few Saturdays, we are suspending our Saturday Sketchbooks so that we may bring you the gift of freebies. This week may we present the Gift of Joy!

 

You may download it here. Please enjoy! Happy holidays...

write | prepping for a Thanksgiving page/album

Hello! and welcome to Thanksgiving week. I am so excited to work together to put an album or page together. I think it's going to be plenty of fun.

 

Did you see Sue's post from earlier this month? I did and I loved the idea. I am going to copy it for out Thanksgiving day. You might remember that last year I totally forgot to take any photos. So busy cooking was I. This year, I don't want to repeat that mistake so I thought I might preplan a page/album. I'm not toally sure how I want to put it together, but I know I want to follow Sue's format of documenting hour by hour.

 

To help me with the journaling, I have put together journaling tags that list the hour. I will let the photos guide the stories, and add notes that coincide with the times. I'm so excited.

Here are the tags. I made them a bit generic so that I might reuse them for another project/holiday.

If you would like to download them, you may do so here. I hope that you might use them to put together your own Thanksgiving project!

See you tomorrow!

Sketchbook Saturday

Welcome! Today we are here with our final summer sketch. I hope you have had a lovely summer of memory making. And today we have a sketch to help you have a successful time of memory keeping! This week I have thought been thinking a lot about how much I love scrapbooking and how grateful I am to have a way to preserve our daily life. As we begin three new grades this year, I am so very excited for all that is to come. And on Monday when the house is quiet, I can sit with my scrapbooks and remember times past. To see how much they have changed. And to know that their milestones are recorded. Such peace it brings to know that when I forget the stories it will be okay, as they are written down! 

 

This week, to help me knock out a page and a memory, I made a sketch from Cristina's layout, The Best.

I might have been beguiled by the ice cream: :) No, really, I was drawn to the asymmetry and all the little bits of patterned paper. I thought it would make for a fun sketch and layout. (And I thought maybe it would work as well for four photos as two. We'll have to see...)

 

Here is how the sketch turned out.

 

Here is how my layout turned out.

Oddly, one of the things I loved most was the big title, and then I had a long one that couldn't fit being that big. Sigh. I do love the campfire from Crystal Wilkerson though. Does finding the right embellishment make you as happy as it makes me?

 

Kate used the sketch to create a lovely layout that makes me want to pack up and go back to the beach.

It also made me want to use the sketch again with three photos. So I did!

This was last year. Good to get the page done before this new year starts!

 

If you would like to purchase a limited time offering of the layered template, you may do so by clicking below!

Thank you for choosing to spend some time with us this weekend!! I adore you!

Sketchbook Saturday

As we head into the final month of summer, I am so excited to finish a few things that we haven't done yet. Including a few layouts. And to help me (and you!) do that we have three more sketches this month! They will, of course come from our August gallery, and hopefully they are going to help you want to do lots of layouts, too!

 

The layout that inspired our first sketch is from Jenny. I loved the five photos and the even margins between the elements.

 

I added lots of detail to the sketch to make it as easy as possible and as close to the sketch as possible.

 

As I made my layout, I stuck to the sketch pretty closely as I just really liked it. We all know that I prefer my horizontal photos to my vertical, so I did try to tip the layout on its side. I quickly found that it just worked better as built. So instead I went on a hunt for four vertical photos. And surprisingly found some!

I am so happy to have this day recorded. These photos really did need a home. And Jenny's layout was the best home, ever!

If you would like to take home this sketch for a mere 99 cents, click below!

Don't forget the sketches are available for a limited time only. Don't delay! I hope that you will find the sketch helpful and fun! Thank you, Jenny!

Sketchbook Saturday

This has been such a wonderful month. I have learned so many things from our lovely collective. They have the most wonderful ideas. I have been at this for a long time, and yet I always find something new to learn each day. I wish there were hours enough in the day to implement all the new techniques, write all the stories, and take all the photos that I want to.

But with summer at its middle, the kids come first. So I sneak in my time here and there and do my best to keep taking pictures, and keep my notes nearby. To help put a quick page together, I looked in the gallery for a layout that would help me make a layout using a group of photos I took at our jazz and blues festival. With room for six photos, Jennifer's layout was the perfect choice.

 

Here is how the sketch came together.

 

I stayed pretty basic, letting the photos shine without much fanfare of embellishment.

Oh how I love the photo of her little bbq sauce 'stache. :) I liked the layered photos and the strip of four. Really a great design. Jennifer is so very talented. (Being the queen of horizontal photos that I am, you know this one is going to get some mileage in my books. Over and over...)

 

I hope you will be able to put this sketch to great use! If you are interested in purchasing a layered template, you may do so by clicking the button below. It will only be available for a limited time, so don't wait too long!

Thank you so berry much for stopping by today! I hope you have a lovely weekend!

write.

Hello! Lately I have been thinking about happiness. How it ebbs and flows. How it seems to be a choice. How it affects us. How it affects those around us. With a teenager in my house, we have lots of discussions about cultivating the ability to choose happiness. I really do believe it is a skill. One that can be learned, and one that can grow as we practice. 

How about you? Do you come by happiness naturally? Or do you think it is something that others are born with? Are you happy? I hope so. Really.

To help us all journal a little bit about our happiness, I put together a printable for us. I hope you like it--I hope it makes you happy!

 

You may download the printable here. Please just use it for personal use. And be sure to leave us a link to your layout when you do!

happy day!