One Word 2013

One word.

Just one word to see me through 2013.

2013 marks the fourth year of selecting one to march three hundred sixty-five days forward.  Each word and each year have varying levels of connectivity and impact.

2012 and my word, Animate, didn't gel quite so well...which probably played a factor in my late arrival at 2013's word, this twenty-first day of the first month of this new year.  But, 2011 and my word, Grow, taught me just how much focus a solitary word can bring to a year's journey.

Late last year, the word Imagine called to me, but when January 1st arrived, it was no longer set on the navigator's seat.  Act, Do, Forward all rang at the door, but never fully stepped through.

And then in the most surprising fashion, as I wrote the last paragraph for a book club response earlier today, a word that had only whispered so softly before, charged through the door and rather assertively took the navigator's seat.

Create.

One word, Create.

2013, meet Create.

I'm looking forward to our journey together.

Twenty-Twelve Color Pattern

Last year (actually, beginning at the end of 2010), I seemed to be drawn to pinks, yellows, and reds over and over.  I found myself using them for my own projects and pinning others' projects or photos from that palette.

And I'm quickly seeing a pattern of reaching for pink and teal this year.  I just naturally gravitated towards the two colors, paired with gray, for my One Little Word album - they're great colors for my word Animate, don't you think?

Since I've noticed the emerging color theme, I thought I'd share a page from my art journal that I created last month.

Must admit, it was rather meditative to keep writing nearly the same words over and over again, across the page. I imagine it's similar to what I hear knitters feel like as they repeat a simple pattern.

Add in some pearlescent watercolor paint, my stand-by acrylic paints, and an assortment of black pens for this word doodled page to come together.

For me, it was a simple, colorful way to welcome in the new year. And a month later, I'm realizing that those colors I reached for first thing at the start of Twenty-Twelve, have developed into a personal trend. I'm curious to see where they'll appear again.

Do you ever find yourself riffing on your own personal color trend?

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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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One Little Word meets The Sketchbook Challenge

Yesterday, one of my kidlets said, "Mom, I want to see you get more crafty again." It was out of the blue, as they sat down for breakfast, before I was even really awake.

But, he had a point and I want that too!

A couple weeks ago, inspiration struck for The Sketchbook Challenge's March theme: Spilling Over and last night, I took my kidlet's advice and got to it.

It's the end of the first quarter of 2011 and a great time to check in with my One Little Word: ~Grow~.  And even better, combine it for an art journal page for The Sketchbook Challenge.

Last month, I updated my camera to a DSLR and I'm learning to ~Grow~ in photography.  And while that's a long happy process, I'm having fun clicking.  To include a bit of this growth, I upped the contrast on the photo I took of our now removed ash trees, to make it easier to trace the silhouette onto transparency with a fine tipped Sharpie.

While the simple printout of the pic isn't good quality, I went ahead and included it.

Under the transparency, I included the Her Face piece I wrote for a Red Writing Hood assignment at The Red Dress Club.  Outside of blogging, it has been quite some time since I've written creatively.  Writing along with prompts from The Red Dress Club and Microfiction Monday this year has allowed me to ~Grow~ here as well.

And on top is some simple acrylic paint, topped with my One Little Word: ~Grow~ and the synonyms that I've included in my One Little Word album that I'm working on for Ali Edward's class over at Big Picture Classes...one more area for me to ~Grow~!

Do you have One Little Word for 2011?  How have you incorporated it into your life so far?

  

The Sketchbook Challenge

Have you heard about The Sketchbook Challenge?  I first learned of it from Thien-Kim over at Cup of Creativi-Tea and I'm so glad I did!

The Sketchbook Challenge was launched on January 1st this year and we'll be using monthly themes to guide our creations in our sketchbooks.  January's theme is "Highly Prized" and a new theme to create pages with will follow each month.  There are lots of fantastic prizes that will be randomly awarded as well.

Okay, Confession Time!  I have been wanting to create an art journal for quite awhile now.  But, when I would look at so many others' journal pages heaped upon with creativity & talent, I chickened out (bwak, bwak!).  And then I started one through Jessica Sprague's Inspiration Everywhere class and took that initial guidance & instruction (you know...teacher told me to do it, so I did it...) and ran with it.  And now I don't want to let it die out.

So, when I was chatting with Thien-Kim one night on Twitter and she suggested I check out The Sketchbook Challenge, I ran clicked my way over and found a world to keep creating in!

I hope you'll click on The Sketchbook Challenge badge to check it out & create along.  Let me know if you are, I would love to come visit you, see what you are creating & cheer you on!  I'll be sharing my 'Highly Prized' page later this week and hope you'll come back to join me on this journey to {{{Grow}}}. :>

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?

10 in 2010

2010 has been an eventful & busy year for us. And since with the close of 2010 (in seven hours here), we will also have said goodbye to the first decade of this century, I thought I'd look back a bit and celebrate 10 in 2010!

* After a few attempts, I created a new blog header this year and finally created a matching blog button.  Come & grab it, if you'd like!

<center><a href="http://timecrafted.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Time Crafted" src="http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n547/TimeCrafted/TmeCraftedBlogButton.jpg"/></a></center>

*  Time Crafted celebrated its first blog birthday in 2010 and I'm looking forward to celebrating number two quite soon!

*  We, as a family, fulfilled one of my main goals behind choosing the One Little Word {Life} for 2010 with our veggie and herb garden.  We all enjoyed planting, tending, watering, and harvesting summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes and many other tasty delights.  Looking forward to continuing this family activity in 2011 as well!

*  Created a page dedicated to Autism & GF/CF Links and have recently updated with three fab mama bloggers who share their stories (they are most definitely Worth the Click).  I'll be adding some fantastic gluten free, GF/CF, and other food allergy/sensitivity bloggers on that page in the coming weeks!

*  2010 had me spreading my wings creatively through photos & fun Flickr play, altering journals (I didn't do a lot of altering in the past & now I'm loving it, with more altered projects in the works!), writing & bringing story back into  my words, and while I've stalled a bit in my journey with paint, I'm looking forward to pushing through in 2011.

*  Signed up for a social media hot spot that I never thought I would get into:  Twitter.  And can I tell you a little secret?  Lean in and I'll tell ya.......I really like it!  Come find me @timecrafted!

*  Found some uber fun weekly hops to participate in, including Tickled Pink at 504 Main, Writer's Workshop at Mama's Losin' It, and SITS Back 2 Blogging event in September.

*  Speaking of 504 Main, Holly has put together "THE BEST of Tickled Pink 2010" this week, with five different categories and I was incredibly honored that my story Meet Grandma meets Jerry Rice has been included in Part 3A Cool Ideas!

Thanks so much, Holly!

*  Holly is also doing a Tickled Pink link up today for this Best of 2010 party and I very quickly knew which post o' mine is my favorite this year.  I've linked up with a story of my Four Musketeers and our adventures through over twenty years of friendship:  A Special Day...Five years in the Making.

*  And I've saved the best for last.  What's that you ask??  YOU!!  You are the part of the blogging equation.  And I'm grateful for all the connections I've made in the beginning, the new people I've connected with in 2010, and I can't wait to continue in 2011!

Thank you for each of your visits and every comment, tweet, and email!  I can be a chatterbox in real life and I love chatting with you! :> 

Here's to a wonderful 2011 for all of us!  What plans do you have for the coming year?

'Mater Moment

Our garden is growing with gusto and Hubby & I enjoyed the first tomato of the season, off the organic vine. 

Our sweet boy got so excited when he saw the first tomato turn red, that he promptly picked it....probably a couple of days early.  No worries, it ripened up the rest of the way on the counter.  Hubby sliced it up, passed around the sweetest tasters for all of us to try, and then made us BLTs for lunch with the rest of it.  Would you believe that was my very first BLT?!

Here's another question for you, what kind of tomato is this?!  We have no idea.  Its shaped like a heart, super red, sweet, and this one is almost, but not quite, the size of a tennis ball.  The vine is between four and five feet tall (its hard to tell because after it grew out the top of the tomato cage, it started following along the low 'fence' we have around the garden to keep the cats & critters out of it).  Whatever it is, its delish and producing like crazy.  Now, we're just waiting for more to turn red!

Oh yea....as spoiled as I am to be able to go outside to take pics most of the time, there is one challenging aspect...our kitty cat, Bonnie.  Bonnie, meet Tomato.  I'm sure she was mighty disappointed that what I had brought out was a treat for us and not her!

Does anyone have a tasty tomato recipe they want to share?  Please do!  It looks like we're going to have quite a bit this summer to slice, dice, and taste. :>

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If you were coming here, looking for something creative....say, that composition book that I said I started (in my last post)?!  It will be going up on Tuesday or Wednesday, so please do come back.  I think its coming out pretty cute! :>

Celebrating {Life} & Independence Day

* * * * * *

Wishing all of my friends in the United States a very

Happy 4th of July!

Guess what greeted Hubby when he was checking on our veggie garden last night?!  This beautiful and scrumptious organic crooked neck squash literally popped off when he moved a large leaf to see what might be growing!  We were already roasting some organic zucchini (purchased, as our zucchini are still growing), so we added this beauty!  You can't get more Garden to Table than that!!

{Life} is my One Little Word for 2010 and this beautiful veggie is a product of part of what and why I chose {Life} as my word this year.  The whole family has been in on this veggie garden, from planting it, to tending & watering it, to now harvesting & eating from it.  We are growing life, living life, and personally, loving the life that this small garden is bringing into our lives as a family.

Hubby will be barbequeing later today and even later, we will pull the telescope out to stargaze and watch some of the high fireworks set off for the show at the high school from our backyard.  What fun have you been having this weekend?  And if this is your holiday too, what does it hold for you?

One Little Word Update

When I chose my One Little Word for 2010, I chose {Life}, and while there were many reasons to choose that word, one particular reason swayed me. Before our daughter arrived a few years ago, we had our veggie garden and loved it! We loved planting it as a family, watering it, checking on it, picking from it, and cooking with what we grew.....all as a family. Once we had our wee girl, we didn't replant. And I have missed it....a lot.

So, to remedy that, my wee girl (who loves her fruits and veggies so much that we often have to bribe her with a veggie to get her to eat the main course on her plate) and I have been bringing home 2 1/2" organic starter plants the last couple weeks.

And now, tomatoes, chives, and parsley are in the ground, in planters on the deck, and in an old antique wash basin. Sharing those homes are a few other herbs & veggies, including:

Sage

Yellow Bell Pepper
(that was a wee bit chewed up by the time it got into the ground
...not sure that it happened before or after it arrived home)

Red Bell Pepper



And our boy's sweet strawberry plant! Can you believe it was only a couple of leaves big when he brought it home in his backpack from a local Ag Fair??!!

And since I took these pics, zucchini, rosemary, Japanese eggplant, peppermint, crooked neck yellow squash, and artichoke organic 2 1/2" starter plants have followed my wee girl and I home and are waiting to stretch their roots out in some deeper soil!

We are all having a lot of fun and enjoying having a veggie garden again.....or in the case of our wee girl, for the first time. It feels good to plant {life}, help it grow, eventually harvest it, and bring it into our kitchen to better our lives!

What's growing in your garden this season?

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Oh yes....one last thing, my wee girl, our Princess, came running up to me the other day with excited words spilling out of her wee mouth, "Look Mom!! I spelled 'Disney'!!!"


When I told her what it really spelled, she was tickled and proceeded to write 'Princess' on every single thing she could get her hands on! That was one great big little thing that made me Smile!!

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?

Papertrey Ink {Texting} Blog Hop

Edited to Add: Okay, so you all are gonna think I'm either color blind or just plain nuts! When I craft in the living room, which I have been doing a lot of lately (to be with the fam), I do not have the best lighting. And when I'm cooking something up paper style and on the fly when I realize late in the game that oh my, Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop is that night after paying Miss Dawn McVey a visit earlier in the day, it would seem my ability to see color goes down the drain (well, I really don't think that is it.....more like I needed to shake my marble jar and make sure all all those marbles are in there are ready to play!) Okay........sooooo.............here it comes...........are you ready for it?? (I'm not) Okay, holding my head in shame here..........it would seem the reason the photo was coming out so stinkin' pink is........because.....that cardstock was not really Melon Berry.....but, rather, Berry Sorbet!!!! (I'm rapidly melting into a puddle of goo right now as I type this.) Please forgive me for forgetting to shake that marble jar as I was racing to create, post, and link in time! I must go now as my kidlets are asking why there is nothing but a puddle of goo where their Mama once was.

Hop, Hop, Hop! Its time to blog hop, Papertrey Ink style! This month we are to include text on our creations. And here is what I came up with!! I love text and fonts and the whole nine-yards, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created! :>


Just as an FYI, the cardstock that looks pink here, really is Melon Berry. I do not know why it is reading so pink...except for the button! I used the CPS 125 sketch for this Papertrey Ink Blog Hop challenge.


This is a Pure Poppy card base, layered with a text stamped piece of Melon Berry. The next piece of Pure Poppy is stamped with a script (its hard to see) with Versamark and then stamped some of Life's fabulous images on top with Versafine, Sepia. A piece of chocolate ribbon (the very ribbon I use to sew new tags onto a kidlet's Teddy Bear as they are worn out :>) is run across the card. I stamped Melon Berry and Pure Poppy cardstocks with the flower stamps from Everyday Classics in Versamark and cut them out. I layered them with foam tape and glued a Melon Berry button tied off with some chocolate embroidery floss on top.

Here's a close-up in the hopes of trying to show that script stamp. Have fun hopping tonight and I look forward to visiting you! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versamark & Versafine
Stamps: Life & Everyday Classics - Papertrey Ink; French Script & By Definition - Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: Offray
Button: Papertrey Ink