December Daily

December Daily.

 

I tell myself, year after year, to jump in and document December's tale.  Last year, I recorded some of our December stories...though, they never made it into an album of sorts.

 

The whole idea behind #DecemberDaily is to document the traditions and stories occurring throughout our days this coming month.  Ali Edwards creates foundation pages before the first of the month to streamline the process.  And then simply adds photos and words for each day of the celebratory month, documenting both the big and little things life offers.

 

And while it is last minute...again...I can't help but be infected by the enthusiasm for the project shared across the blogosphere, Pinterest, twitter, flickr, and Facebook.  It's as if social media has lassoed me and is pulling me in.  How can I resist sweet family memories and glittery, shiny Christmas bling?!

 

Do you document your stories?  Do you document December differently than other months through the year?  Do you December Daily?  Yes, it's a verb. ;>

 

I've collected a few links from around the interwebs for #decdaily inspiration:

 

Ali Edwards December Daily pages, of course.

 

December Daily 2012 Flickr group.

 

Becky Higgins shares a delightful compilation of Christmas traditions from her readers.

 

Elise Blaha's 2011 holiday minibook is full of inspiration & she has assembled minibooks in her shop too.

 

A Pinterest search always yields oodles of ideas.

 

And remembering to actually use my own Christmas Pinterest Board is nice too.

 

So, where is December taking you?  Go!

Animate January

 

We're wrapping up January (can you believe it?!) and wanted to share just a bit of my One Little Word's 2012 travels.

I took Ali Edwards' One Little Word Workshop at Big Picture Classes last year and found that it helped me keep my 2011 word: Grow front and center.  So, I'm taking it again this year to keep my 2012 word: Animate dancing on the front burner...so to speak.  And I have the title page, as well as the page for January to share with you.

The title page is sweet and simple.  I used the pdf from Ali's workshop for the small 4x6 title page that highlights my word, Animate.  The gray is the pdf and I used Making Memories glitter stickers in pink & teal from my stash. (Just love it when I use some of the stuff I've been hoarding for far too long!)

Then flip the small title page to reveal the 9 pocket 7 1/2 x 10 page for January.  (This particular pocket page protector is from an assorted set the I ordered extra of last year, but is no longer available.  Though there are other 9 pocket protector options that can easily be found in the 8 1/2 x 11 size.)

Ali's pdf has prompts that encourage us to filter what we want from our words this year and where we think we might go.  And then four open spaces to put in whatever you might like - anything from more writing to pattern paper to doodles to symbols to whatever.  I used acrylic paints, Prismacolor marker, writing, and an old acrylic letter 'a' for animate on top of the words I used in the invitation prompt.

I adore the quote I found for 'Animate' and in case you can't read my scrawl:

"Today, a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it."

~ Ninon de l'Enclos

It felt good to papercraft again, even if in the smallest way.  Though a new year brings new inspiration and I've been dipping my hands in a variety of creative outlets.  And while I'm only sharing one little bit with my one little word, let me tell you, these hands have been covered in ink and paint many of January's days.

And I'm lovin' it!

What about you?  What has been your creative outlet so far in 2012?

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One Little Word 2012

On Friday, I wrapped up my online experience with my 2011 One Little Word and now that we're into the new year, I wanted to share with you my word for 2012.

For the last couple months of 2011, one word had been coming to me, at me, swirling around me, escaping my mouth.  But, when I started thinking about committing to the word for the coming year, it didn't hit all the notes I wanted.  And the search began for a word that would both simmer and excite me.

My 2012 One Little Word is

I am taking Ali Edwards workshop over at Big Picture Classes again this year and am excited to see where my word and I will go.

What about you?  Do you select just one little word to guide you through your year?

 

 

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2011 One Little Word Wrap-Up

For the last two years, I've chosen One Little Word to guide me for the year.  As a fan of Ali Edwards, her thoughts on the effects of choosing just one word, resonated with me.  And so I began the process in the last days of 2009, choosing 'Live' for 2010 and 'Grow' for 2011.

As I began reflecting on this last year, I pleasantly discovered that I had accomplished several of my goals and did indeed, Grow in many ways.  Sharing some of the ways I've grown on here at Time Crafted, seems only appropriate since so many of you have given me both inspiration and support.

I began the year taking Ali Edwards' year long One Little Word workshop at Big Picture Classes.  And while it was great to see Andi, Siri, and other familiar, friendly faces, I mostly worked on this offline.

She's repeating the workshop for 2012 and I'm leaning towards signing up again.  It definitely helped me keep 'Grow' close at heart throughout the year.

One night on Twitter, @thienkim urged me to check out The Sketchbook Challenge.  Her enthusiasm was infectious and I was excited to create along.

Creating an art journal always seemed intimidating to me.  It might sound silly, but many creative bloggers and artists I visit, have mad crazy talent and I fretted about not measuring up...until I realized that the goal isn't to 'measure up', but rather to grow, try new things, learn new skills, and improve on what I already do.  So, I did.

After reading the creative writing goodness that Mandy weaves with her words, I wanted to get back into my own creative writing.  I missed it and knew that it had been far too long since I swam with crazy colored words.

I decided to start small and began with a microfiction meme.  It's the shortest of short fiction, written in 140 characters or less, including spaces & punctuation.  Turns out, microfiction is a whole mess o' fun!

Looking at where Mandy was sharing her fiction with, I headed over to The Red Dress Club, which is now Write on Edge, a virtual writing community.

I began writing and sharing my fiction with their Red Writing Hood prompts, as well as some memoir with their RemembeRED prompts.

And then I got brave.  In November, a group of writers within the Write on Edge community participated in NaNoWriMo and I joined in.

I didn't hit the word count, but I'm okay with my results.  If you want to know what I thought was so cool about the whole process, check out my really short post: NaNoWriMo in 8 Sentences.

When Bruna, @beeswithhoney, said she wanted to feature me on her Let's BEE Friends series, I was tickled pink.  And when Sarah, @MamaRiceCake, asked me to write a positive guest post for her, I went Dancing with Rainbows.  Mandy asked me to guest post on Makes Fun and I wrote the low down on The Little Red Bear.

And speaking of writing, one more area I wanted to grow was right here on the blog.  In this case, I wanted to literally grow...more posts, that is.  I didn't set a goal or a specific number to hit; simply that I wanted to post more than I had last year.  And with this post, I'm coming in with 51 more posts than in 2010.  Grow Goal, accomplished.

I spent most of 2010 knowing that I needed wanted needed to upgrade my Point & Shoot camera.  I had squeezed out every ounce I could from it and was itching for a DSLR.  In February last year, it was time to take the leap.  I bought a Nikon D3100 and while I'm still learning how the heck to use it in manual, photography is something I've grown to love since beginning this blogging journey.

2011 became the year of the virtual Book Clubs, starting with Andrea (a sweet Book Fairy) leading one on the SITS Girls site, which is now over on her site Great Thoughts. She selects great books and we wrap our reads up with fun monthly Twitter parties, tweeting with the books' authors, using the hashtag #Gr8Books.  You should join us!

This fall, @thienkim asked me to be a From Left to Write Contributor.  What's wonderfully unique about this book club is that we write posts inspired by the books we read.  As a result I was able to share Who Will Tell Your Story?, as well as a favorite artist of ours, Michel LeRoux.  Another unique bit is that the book selection here really varies, widening my viewpoints, and hopefully, others' too.

This was a looong post, I know.  If you're still here, give yourself a pat on the back, a taste of Nutella, a cuppa java, or an ice cold martini.  Thanks for hanging in there!

The One Little Word, Grow, has taken me on quite a journey this year!  How about you?  Do you chose just one little word to hold near your heart, to guide you, to focus you in your year ahead? 

 

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Infusing some December Daily into my days with Her Lost Tooth

Turning on her light, she barely stirred more than a deep breath inhaled.  Other than her hair streaming out, I could see nothing beyond her two colorful quilts, made with love by a grandmother and an auntie, covering her small body.

“I wonder if the Tooth Fairy came?” I mused.

Fast as a cork released, she popped up from her cherry red framed twin bed.  Taking no more than a second to steady herself, she ran down the hall to the blanket folded into a pillow left on the table next to the front door.  The tradition began with her big brother and his first lost tooth.  It was only logical to leave the pillow near the door to make the exchange easy for the welcomed Tooth Fairy.

Not my first rodeo, I had my camera already in hand, turned on, ready to capture her expression as she saw the lump in the blanket pillow.  Already smiling, she rapidly progressed to squealing with delight as she pulled out a present from the fairy who had taken her first lost tooth and left behind a small toy.  In the low light she saw the small Lemon Meringue figure from the Strawberry Shortcake bunch, a tiny comb, itty bitty hair clip, and a long hot pink hair extension.

I might have held a piece of technology in my hand, meant to capture moments in a flash, but the best moment captured was her pure joy burning a place in my heart.  The pictures will record the gap in her mouth, the jammies she wore, her hair pulled back, but my heart will hold her bubbling delight in its treasures.

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I've already shared my excitement for the creative bonanza that is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, but the other creative infusion I get at this time of year is from Ali Edwards' December Daily album.

I've always wanted to create one, in real time, throughout the month of December.  Without a photo printer at home, I've never been able to make the project function for me (same reason I've struggled with Project Life, but I'm toying with some ideas for next year and will get back to you on that! :>).

But, no more excuses!  Whether I jump in and get a December Daily album put together or not, I'm not going to let 2011's December memories fall into the blurred oblivion of one Christmas season fading into the next.  To ensure that, I've been writing a single story (or journaling it, if you're coming from a scrapbooking perspective) to etch the day into our family's preserved memories.

And I thought I'd share today's with you!

How do you preserve your memories?

 

 

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One Little Word 2011

Wooohooo!!!  A new year, there is something so refreshing about that.  I am still in a bit o' shock that we have said good-bye to the first decade of this century.  Ten years ago, I was a newlywed, didn't have kidlets, and in a completely different state of mind.  But, change and hopefully, growth, is not a bad thing.  In fact, it can be a great thing.

Last year, I jumped on the idea of using One Little Word, {Life},to inspire, motivate, guide throughout the year and I am going to again for 2011.  But, I would like to weave my word throughout my life more this year and so I've signed up for Ali Edward's One Little Word workshop at Big Picture Classes.

My word for 2011 has been dancing around in my head since about the end of November and now that its officially the first day of January of the new year, I can't wait to play with it all year long and see where it leads!

{{{GROW}}}

Do you have One Little Word to guide, inspire, motivate you this year?  Do you write or make resolutions?  What do you hope 2011 holds for you?

One Little Word 2010

Anyone else giving Ali Edwards' One Little Word a whirl for 2010? I haven't before, but it sounds like a fab idea for the coming year!

{LIFE}

...to live it, breathe it, try it, adventure through it, eat it, find it, document it, grow from it, share it, celebrate it...

...to love it!!!

Hope your New Year's Eve is safe and anywhere from pleasant to rip roarin'! What do you think or hope 2010 might bring for you?