Obsessed - January 2014

I'm starting a monthly "Obsessed" post series.  Each month I'll share some things I've been enjoying.  I will include all sorts of things: food, music, tv shows, movies, concepts, scrapbook supplies, blog posts...the sky's the limit!

Here is the January edition:

1. This TV show.  James Spader is magic.

2. Also been marathoning this TV show.  Timothy Olyphant = perfection!

3. This song.

4. This mini album by Wilna is so dreamy.  I wish I could make something as stunning as this.

5. Elise Blaha Cripe's Project Life title page.  WOWZA!

6. This month I took a weekend trip to Vegas with some girlfriends. We stayed at the New York New York hotel and it was AWESOME! There is an Irish pub inside the hotel where we ate lunch and the fish and chips were.....so ridiculously delicious. I'm still thinking about them.

Project Life 2014 - Title Page

If you've been here before, you know that I do Project Life.  I can't even describe how much I love this project and how it has changed my idea of memory keeping.  When I started scrapbooking in 2003, I fell for it hard. The idea of playing with pretty paper and supplies and recording our family's memories was infectious for me.  It became my creative outlet and I realized I had a talent for it. For a long time, I basically focused on big events with a few little mini albums thrown in here and there.  I didn't think about our everyday memories.  When I discovered Project Life a few years ago, I was floored.  I lurked around for awhile to see other's albums and in 2012, I decided to dive in.  And I haven't looked back!  I love the idea of recording our everyday, even in a small way.  The pockets are small to help keep me from being overwhelmed, all while I'm recording things that my family would normally forget.  My husband and I love looking back through the albums and remembering the little things that we take for granted on a daily basis.  I still do 12x12 layouts of special things I want to record, but Project Life has helped to take the pressure off of doing a huge page of every single thing I want to remember.

For 2014, I'm continuing to record our everyday on a weekly basis and I will stick to mainly the Design A page protector (seen below).  I try to make each two page spread span one week.  Sometimes, we have low key weeks, and only one side is enough to record it, and that's fine with me.  It doesn't bother me when that happens.  I don't want to force anything with this project or I will stress out and it will become a chore, which I don't want.

Today, I want to share my title page for my 2014 album and some of the supplies I'm using for this year.

Supplies used here:
12x12 We R Memory Keepers album in Aqua
Becky Higgins Design A page protector
Cards are a mix from:
Studio Calico PL kits  (this link is for the current kit - mine are from past kits)
Seafoam PL core kit
"Life Documented" card was handmade by a friend
2014 card and our last name is cut from my Silhouette Cameo
Random supplies from my stash - wood veneer, enamel dots, stamps, cork arrow
Pictures printed on a Canon Selphy CP900 printer
Creative Memories corner rounder

I'm working on playing a little catch up for January right now.  My plan is to share each month here all at once.  This week I'm working on catching up on January and I will share all my weeks when they are finished.  Thanks for taking the time to take a look!

If you want more information on the Project Life system of scrapbooking, please check out Becky Higgin's site!

One Little Word 2014 - FINISH

This will be my second go at One Little Word.  I picked one in 2011 and I'm not sure why, but I just wasn't feeling it.  So I tossed it and moved on, convinced this wasn't the project for me.  Now, I'm rethinking that.  For some reason, the word FINISH popped into my head one day and I couldn't shake it.  It might have been because I've been looking at all of my unfinished projects lying around and thought, "I should really finish these..."  Then I got an email from Ali Edwards announcing the One Little Word workshop for 2014.  And I kept the email and kept reading it.  And this word just kept sticking around.  I decided to give it another go and signed up.  And to be serious about it this time.

With this word, my goals are to finish a lot of unfinished projects.  Mostly crafty stuff, but also my ultimate unfinished project - my weight loss journey.  As far as crafty stuff, I've made a list of my unfinished projects and projects that are still in the brainstorming phase.  I plan to revisit these projects and make a firm decision on whether I'm going to FINISH them or be FINISHED with them and move on from them.  This will not only declutter my space a bit, but it will also declutter my head.  Too many unfinished things tend to stress me out and overwhelm me.  I want to be realistic about my projects.  If it's not something I will finish and love, then it's not worth my time.

I'm going to take my time with this project (as it's a year long workshop) and explore my word and invite it into my life to help me make positive progress.  I'm excited!

I'm Blogging - It's a Freaking Miracle!

Wow - it's literally been almost a full year since my last blog post.  I'll be honest - I have a love/hate relationship with this space.  I love blogs....I love reading blogs....I love other people's blogs (see my favorites in the right margin).  When it comes to mine, I guess I just get lazy.  I have the best intentions, but when it comes time to actually do it, nope.  It's just not a priority.  And that's something I want to change.  I went into 2014 with the attitude of "I'm just a terrible blogger, and I need to accept that."  But over the past couple of days, something has shifted.  I'm getting the desire to write and to share.  I'm getting ideas for blog posts in my head that I can't shake.  I'm enjoying other people's posts and being inspired by them.  I'm wanting to be here.  That being said, I'm ready to give this another go.  I'm making notes and setting ideas to paper.  I'm inspired by others who blog all the time and have a religious following (like me).  I know that it won't happen overnight.  I also know that these other people didn't start off that way either.  I'm just starting.  I want to inspire others and share my ideas and things that are happening.  Even to just a few people.  

I know I won't be able to blog five times a week, but at least a couple times a week would be amazing, so that's what I'll strive for.  I know my goals will change as I work my way into regular blogging and that's great.  I want it to become a natural and organic thing.  I'm making notes now and working on some ideas to share.  I WILL be back this week to get things started by sharing my One Little Word for 2014.  Thanks for joining me here and I hope that 2014 will be an amazing blogging year!