jake
Jake had an excellent week this week. He worked hard, had several meetings, and did some excellent trading. He’s also been reading a lot lately, mostly Wall Street books, of course. He’s also helped me a ton this week since I had to go to work and I went to the gingerbread house event with David. And last night, we went out since it was the seventeenth anniversary of the day we started dating. I love and adore him so much.
karen
I had a quiet week. Mostly working and doing art and reading a little. I listened to Angle of Repose on audio which was absolutely wonderful and a companion to art. I also went to an offsite with work. It was Bocce and even though I didn’t play, it was fun to be there and I am glad I went. Now that December is officially here, I am starting to make a list of activities for us and also changing my personal routines to incorporate our activities and the time to put together December Daily each day. I love this month so much!
david
David had a great week at school. He brought home and read several of the Treehouse books. He also read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid which he got from the library. He built a circuit at school. He’s been enjoying the family activities we’re doing. I was feeling so grateful on Friday that I decided to make one of David’s big dreams come true and bought us tickets to go to LegoLand during the holidays. He was incredibly happy and jumped up and down quite a bit when we showed him the tickets. I can’t wait to see how much he likes it.
nathaniel
Nathaniel has been talking up a storm. He’s definitely speaking in full sentences now and he’s learning all of his letters at school so he keeps telling me what they are. He’s super-excited about Christmas season, too and loves having his little advent calendar to open each morning. He also loves the twinkle lights I put in his room and falls asleep looking at them each night.
Here are some of my favorite captured moments from this very full week:
my sweet boy.
my other sweet boy.
i just love having the christmas tree behind each of the photos.
terrible photo, but still. David made a circuit this week. It was awesome.
Nathaniel opening his advent calendar.
David opening his.
Nathaniel playing and entertaining himself while I work and David’s at school.
Nathaniel loves touching the tree.
The kids reading together. “The Way Things Work.”
Wonderful art that came in the mail.
David working on the gingerbread house.
and enjoying himself.
our house (before it fell apart.)
David decorating the front yard.
Breakfast with Santa this morning.
Nathaniel was super-scared of Santa. Refused to go anywhere near him.
David, making crafts (he looks sad here but I think he was just focusing.)
Jake played along, too.
Nathaniel did too, of course.
They both focused hard.
My boys.
The daddy and the baby.
and tickle time!
And those are some of the moments from our week. Yet another wonderful week and I am deeply grateful for it.
Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
And here we are for day two. This one has a bunch of flaps.
The top layer is an ornament I made for My Mind’s Eye. Coming later this week:
if you open the flap and pull back to the whole page, you see the kids reading a book together on the right and photos from building gingerbread houses on the left:
and then if you lift up the little photo on the bottom left you see some journaling and our gingerbread house:
this is from the night of gingerbread decorating we went yesterday.
and that’s it for day two.
Ok I will start by saying I took these photos four times! The light here is not so great and it was hard to photograph them. So there we go:
For the last three years, I’ve always begun my first page with “and so it begins.” It’s my personal tradition and I wasn’t breaking it this year:
the back of the page is a reminder to keep my word at the forefront of my mind:
So then the real day one start with the first surprise of Christmas which was the advent calendars. Lego Starwars for David and Playmobil Santa’s Workshop for Nathaniel. Neither kid expected it and they were very surprised. I put only the first photo in the front of the kids opening their gifts.
and the back is all the other ones I took with numbers showing order of time. And a few words from me.
and that’s it for day one. simple. but a delightful moment captured and documented nonetheless.
Well, without really trying I seem to have lost the pound from last week and then more. I have no idea what it is (likely just water) but whatever I’ll take it. I am still going steady. Exercising every morning first thing regardless of how tired, wiped, frustrated I might be. Now that it’s December, I’ve upped it to 2.2 miles a day. It’s hard for me. I have never run this much in my life. But I am working at it.
Day after day after day.
The food situation is not so great. Not that I am eating super-bad or anything but I know my diet is not balanced or super-nutritious. I’ve been lazy and haven’t invested the time into doing it right. One of the things I plan to focus on in 2012 is writing everything down. As cumbersome and annoying (and sometimes embarrassing) as it is I think it will keep me in check more and make me more aware and that’s an important part of the process. And one I didn’t pay enough attention to this year.
Well here we go. one more week down.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
Edited to ADD: I changed this project around a bit since this post. You can see my actual 2012 plan here.
During the month of December, I tend to focus on choosing projects for the next year. I’ve been doing this for a few years and it’s been helpful in keeping me focused and centered throughout the year. Throughout the next few weeks, I will share those projects with you and once 2012 starts, I will be tracking them on the blog regularly.
I’m not tied to these projects and over the years, I’ve wandered away from some of them and finished others. I don’t beat myself up if I don’t end up doing them for the full year. They are meant to be guides. Last year, I gave up on the six portraits a week project after a few weeks but then picked up two new projects which were the weeklong art journals and the daily sketching. So all in all, I ended up doing a lot more art than the one project I dropped.
As you will see, many of my projects this year are ones I’ve had last year or even the year before. If something is working (and working well) I like to keep doing it until I’ve either mastered it or I’m bored of it. I do, however, have a few new projects this year. One of them is what I am calling The Savor Project (in honor of my one little word for 2012.)
One of the things I like to do is to test out my projects before I commit to them for a whole year. My first hope was to do a Remains of the Day journal for the full year. After doing one for December, I decided it was too painful. I also originally meant for this project to be collage-related. But, as I started working on it, it morphed into something else and I am very happy with it. I might end up doing a completely separate collage project, too, but The Savor Project is not that.
So here’s what it is. I bought a Moleskine Sketchbook and altered the cover.
I want to take the time for a side-note here. I actually did this a few weeks after I started using the book. It’s always a challenge for me to cover these for some reason and what I ended up with was after quite a few other layers. I got frustrated and dismayed quite a few times. Then I reminded myself that this would likely end up being one of four (or even more) books I would have for this project in 2012 and this particular one’s cover wasn’t nearly as big a deal as I was making it. To be honest, none of the covers matter. Sure, it’s nice to have a pretty cover but, as with most things, it’s what’s inside that counts. So I just gave up fighting with it and let it go.
With that, here’s what I ended up creating:
I used the image of a clock because savoring is all about savoring my time. Reminding me that time is precious and should be spent on what’s most valuable for me. On the side, I dangled a few crystals and a word from Tim Holtz. Reminding myself to Breathe. I could use that reminder more often.
And here’s the back:
Not my favorite, but we’re letting that go.
So let’s talk about what goes inside. The idea is to create something that’s sort of an amalgamation of Project Life and December Daily. I did Project Life a few years ago and really struggled to keep up with it. Because I already process and post photos here weekly, it felt uneventful and like a chore to have to print them all out and do it again each week for my book. However, I liked the idea of keeping the odds and ends of ephemera that come into our life. I wanted something more creative and the setup I use for December Daily seemed ideal to me. My plan is to create a minimum of four pages a week with photos, stories, ephemera from that week. If I do more, great. But there’s no pressure. For now I am using my Polaroid Printer for all the photos. It’s crappy but quick and convenient. And quality is not my number one concern for this book.
Here are a few sample pages I made in November to illustrate:
Here’s a simple spread from November four. The goal is to tell stories:
That page of journaling comes out and you can read more:
Here’s one from November 7:
And here’s one from November 8:
This one is quite involved as the left page flaps down to tell one more story:
And the right side has a top flap and a tag that comes out from the side and the heart is a journaling tag that also comes out:
this is an extreme example and most of my pages are simpler but it does show how far a spread can be taken:
and here’s an example with ephemera. My jury duty papers:
and our safeway (grocery) receipt from that week:
Those are just some of the pages I’ve done in November. I am guessing that I will take a break during December since I will be doing the December Daily and then resume again in January. So I will share the rest of my November pages with you then and continue to share throughout the year.
This project looks a lot more involved than it is. What I do is sit and prep a bunch of empty pages once a week. Usually takes me about an hour or so. And then I print photos throughout the week when I know I want to tell the stories behind them. Here are some sample prep pages I made and photos I printed:
Then, once a week or so, I sit and match the photos with the pages and write down the stories. I generally add the date and maybe a title. That’s it. If I am really inspired I might add an embellishment. But I don’t mind if it’s super-simple. I then tape the finished page to the Moleskine and I am done! Doing a week’s worth of photos takes me about an hour. (Sometimes two if I get carried away and have too much fun.)
One side note, I generally pick the smaller moments to put in this book. If it’s a big moment or some trend, I save those for my scrap pages. I imagine there will be a few occasions where a story goes here and in a layout but I don’t envision a huge overlap.
The reason this is called The Savor Project is because I choose to write longer stories about little moments in my day where I am filled with gratitude. I think savoring life is all about paying attention to those moments more and more. The greatest thing about this project is that I appreciate my daily life, my simple moments, the “ordinariness” of my life that much more. I cherish these moments more. I am more thankful and aware of everything I have. I get to appreciate my kids, our life, right now. It’s like getting to look back up on the “good old days” while they are still happening. It increases awareness, gratitude, and joy.
Since I process my photos daily, I get to savor the moments as they happen, once again as I process the photos and then a third time when I am putting them in my book. That’s a lot of gratitude!
Continuing on the thread of using what I have on hand, I had two sheets of Fabriano Artistico Watercolor papers. I had one sheet of hot press(smooth surface) and one sheet of cold press (rough surface). You will see what I did with them over the next few weeks. I haven’t bound them yet and have no idea what I will do. For now, I am just focusing on creating.
So here’s the first set:
The full text reads: Believe in your dreams even if no one else does.
This is another with Julie’s face stencils. I used pan pastels and my fun new stencils.
And here’s the next page:
The full text reads: Always surround yourself with love.
I used acrylics on this page.
And here’s the next page:
I posted this one a few weeks ago for Julie’s stencil hop, too.
The full text reads: It is ok to feel broken. You are not alone.
I used pan pastels on this one.
And here’s the next page:
The full text reads: The key to happiness is to look for what’s right in your life.
I’ve been wanting to use this stencil for quite some time. This one is all pan pastels.
Well here we go. That’s the four for this week. More coming next week.
This morning, as I woke up and started writing my journal, I realized that I was still feeling a bit off. Nothing specific was wrong but I felt out of sorts. I spent half the page writing about how I was feeling unprepared for December, frustrated, tired, worried, etc. I wrote that I hoped my December Daily would put me in the mood. I whined and whined.
Then I stopped.
I wrote that what I needed to do was to “slow down.” I wrote that if my goal for 2012 was to savor, I might as well start right now. By whining, I was wasting this very moment. I wrote that if I couldn’t do it for one month, I was surely not going to be able to do it for a year.
“Be quiet,” I wrote. “Calm. calm. calm.” (I laugh as I type this because seeing it repeated like that makes it sound not calm to me!) “Today I start to officially savor. Great way to welcome the best month of the year.”
And then my mood shifted.
David was making lunch for both himself and for his brother. He’d asked me if he could and I told him he was welcome to try. He was so excited to do something that I usually consider a chore. His delight made me happy. He did it all and did it wonderfully. I was proud of him and joyful to see him proud of himself.
After I dropped off the kids at their schools, my good mood persisted. I did my daily tasks, tackled work problems, drove to work, went to the offsite, came back home, put up the Christmas decorations outside, put the kids to bed and wrote my newsletter, all in a good mood.
I am smiling as I write this.
Almost nothing changed since this morning. I still haven’t done the many preparations I make for December. I am still behind and tired. But the difference is that I changed my lens. I am not looking at it through grouchy eyes anymore. I am letting it be. I am savoring the good. I am having faith that things will work out and that if they don’t, I will adapt.
Because you know what? I always do.
So instead of torturing myself ahead of time or reprimanding myself for being behind, or whining, I chose to pick up a different way to look at things. I believe we all look at the world through a lens. Sometimes it’s rosy and other times it’s gray. Sometimes it goes back and forth in a day. But almost all the time we have the choice. We can pick up the lens we want.
We have a lot more choice than we might like to admit. And today, I chose to let the gray one go. I chose to let myself off the hook. I chose to stop whining and start savoring.
And, today, it made all the difference.
I know Ship Breaker won awards and it was also highly recommended by several friends. But I found it hard to get through for some reason. I didn’t feel a lot of connection to any of the characters and maybe that played the biggest role in my not caring too much for the book. I find that I need to connect with at least one character if I want to care about the story.
I know it’s a series and I have the other books. It was pretty violent and I decided I needed a break before I read the others so I haven’t tackled them yet.
However, I do think I will.
More illustrations and some girls.
Sunday :
Monday:
Tuesday: (step by step)
Wednesday:
Thursday: (this one turned out odd.)
Friday:
And Saturday:
And there we go.
Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2011. You can see a detailed post on my steps here.
I know we’re still over a month away from 2012. However, I generally use the time from Thanksgiving to New Years Day planning for the next year. I am already mentally done with 2011 and ready to think about the new year. And the first thing I like to do is choose a word to represent the theme for my year.
This year, I decided to share my word and my projects with you early in case one of them tickles your fancy and you like to do it, too. It also gives me a chance to get organized earlier. So as we wind down 2011, I will be sharing them with you. (I will also do recaps for my 2011 projects.)
I really struggled with my word for next year. As I thought about my projects and what I wanted next year to represent, here are a list of words that I considered:
- mindful
- grateful
- slow
- calm
- enjoy
- present
- joy
- thrive
- pay attention
- appreciate
Gratitude has been a big theme for me since 2009 and I loved the idea of putting it upfront and center. But it wasn’t enough. I felt like I really embraced my word for 2011 and I wanted the one for 2012 to be just as powerful. While gratitude is a powerful concept, I felt like I was already embracing it and I wanted to challenge myself more. The second theme in my words was about being in the present more. Being more aware, noticing things, slowing down, paying attention. If you read my blog regularly, it’s easy to guess that this is a big challenge for me. I am pretty type-a and I am result-focused. So I don’t always pay as much attention to the process as I would like to. I liked the idea of challenging myself to purposefully slow down. And the last theme I noticed was one of embracing joy. Thriving, appreciating happiness. This is another challenge for my usually self-critical and worrying self. I am often anxious and tend to focus on the negative. So, seeking joy would be a welcome improvement.
I liked all three themes of gratitude, mindfulness, and joy. I didn’t want to give any of them up. So I kept searching and searching.
And I finally settled upon: savor.
Savor.
I like that the one word somehow combines all of my themes. Savoring something often implies slowness and calm. It implies joy and appreciation. And even gratitude. I considered other words like bask that didn’t have heavy food-implications. But savor felt just right.
So savor it is.
To keep my word upfront and center this year, I already changed my blog banner. (If you’re reading this in email or on an RSS feed, come take a look.) I also started a new project called The Savor Project (more on this on Thursday) and I ordered two little rings.
They are both from the Cinnamon Sticks shop. It’s the heart stacking ring and the silver stacking ring. I ordered two the silver ones a few years ago. One of them says “Karen & Jake” and the other one says “David & Nathaniel” and I wear them on my left index finger all the time. I will now add the heart and the new silver (which will say “savor”) on top of the two I have. I haven’t received them yet but will take a photo and add it here when I do.
Following on my tradition from last year, I also made my Priority List for 2012. Just to remind the idea behind this is:
I was listening to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and one of the things the author mentions is managing our time and how we spend much of it doing what’s urgent instead of doing what’s important. As in, we’re often reacting instead of thinking ahead and calmly acting in the direction of our dreams and priorities.
So I decided it would beneficial for me to make a “Priority List”. A list of goals and people I want to prioritize during the year. This way, when an opportunity or request came my way, I could check my list and make sure it is aligned with my priorities before I accepted it. It’s easy to lose sight of things and take on projects that end up eating a lot of my time and not making me fulfilled. If I had my list to look at each time, I could keep what’s important at the forefront of my mind and make sure to prioritize it.
Here’s my Priority List for 2012:
* Family
* Health
* Work
* Art
* Storytelling
* Reading
* Self-Reflection
* Learning
* Community
Like last year, these are not in order. Yes, most of the time my family comes first. However, there are times when work takes higher priority because it has to for a brief time. Or sometimes I might choose to exercise even if my son wants to play at that moment. These priorities are fluid for me. They are all a part of me and I want to make sure I value them and dedicate time to each. I also want to make sure I turn down anything that doesn’t line up with one of these.
The list is similar to last year but not exactly the same. And like last time, I know you could make everything fit into one of these categories but, in my heart, I know what these mean. And I know when something comes along that doesn’t fit. Above everything, I want to stay true to my gut. I’ve made the mistake of doing something that will look good and make others think well of me before and it was a lot of heartache for me and so I want to listen to myself more and trust my gut and know that if I turn down something that feels wrong, other opportunities will still come my way and I will know when the right one is there. So I will have faith in myself and in the universe.
And I will prioritize the important.
And there we are.
Here’s to an amazing 2012: The year I will SAVOR each moment.
for this week, i started with very little. just a bunch of color and pattern:
And I added slowly little bits here and there but it still stayed pretty chaotic with no central image.
here is the left:
here is the right:
And here’s the filled page:
It ended up pretty simple, too.
I decided this would be the end of the weeklong project for now. I am doing something a little different for 2012 and I wanted to get an early start on it to test it. So that’s my project for November and then December means December Daily so I need the creative time for that project. I’ve loved this project and might bring it back later. Let’s see.
Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.
I know I haven’t written an evening post in a while and I apologize. I decided I wanted to take time off for Thanksgiving and be with my family, rest, etc. But I hadn’t fully planned on it, which is why I didn’t mention it sooner. Alas, it is what it is.
I did write up a lot of new posts coming in the next few weeks which talk about my plans for 2012. I picked my word and my projects for next year. Of course, they might still change but I am pretty attached to most of them. I am continuing some of my favorites from this year and adding a few new ones. Some challenges. Some to honor my word. I haven’t done a full-year-lookback yet but I feel like I’ve done a lot of service to my word this year. I don’t know if I will actually follow through but, for now I am planning on doing the OLW album with Ali next year. I think it’s a good way to pay even more attention to my word. And the one for next year (as with the one for this year) is near and dear to my heart and will need a lot of “keeping it in the forefront.” Much more on my word coming tomorrow.
Besides planning for next year, I spent a lot of my four-day weekend reading (two book club books: Winesburg, Ohio and Angle of Repose), sketching, art journaling, thinking, and being with family, of course. I also started my drawing class this week. It’s called I Heart Drawing and it’s by the wonderful Jane Davenport. It’s excellent so far. And I signed up for two more classes (yes, I can’t stop!). One is Christy’s 12 Ornaments class and then the other is for next year. It’s Body Restoration by Melody and Kathy. I loved both of the Soul Restoration classes and have no doubt I will love this one, too. Melody’s way of thinking and teaching resonates with me. I think that’s the trick with taking classes: finding a teacher that just does it in a way that speaks to you. (and knowing what that is, of course!)
I also signed up for a local class for next year. I think I need to get out more and this class is on Monday nights at a local collage so I will have to leave the house each Monday night. It’s on Willpower and by the author of this book. I expect it to be both useful and interesting. It should hopefully give me some stuff to write about here, too.
I haven’t written my December newsletter yet and cannot decide if I will continue them or not. If you’re subscribed to it, let me know your thoughts. This is not a quest to get compliments, I would love to know the truth since they are time-consuming. Feel free to email me if you don’t want to leave negative comments on the blog.
I am also not ready for December yet. I feel like I haven’t spent enough time planning my calendar of activities. I am not even excited about December Daily yet. Just feeling behind, I think. It’s ok, I keep telling myself. Everything will fall into place. It always does.
My class starts in two days. If you’re on the fence, I recommend you take it. I don’t think I will teach it again. Chances are very low. I am excited for it. This is one of my all-time favorite classes because it applies to every single person, not just crafters. And if you do the work, I have absolutely no doubt it will change your life.
And there you go, that’s a completely random update from me. Much more coming this week, I promise.
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projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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