Cards: Thinking of You

Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window panes, which vanish with the warmth.
~~  Soren Kierkegaard

We all have within us, the desire and ability to help others.  It is too bad that we forget this until adversity strikes.

What small thing can I choose to do today, to help someone else?

Cards: Graduation

This was created with a Stamping Up punch.
The Owls were then chalked.
The Caps are from Cricut: Everyday Paperdolls.
I don't know where I got the stamp from.

I have alot of going for me.

I am more capapble and more creative than I give myself credit for.

Smarter and Stronger.
More loveable and loving.

And better at so many more things than I think.

I have natural born talentsand strengths,
that far out number my "flaws."

I will succeed. 
Because I choose to believe.

Scrapbooking: Going to the Movies

One of our family traditions is to go to the Movies, especially the Drive-in in the summer months. 
We have sat in line for hours for the premiers of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and other family favorites.

This year I am going to track all of the ticket stubs from the movies we see.

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do.
There can be no courage unless you're scarred.

It is okay for me to be afraid. 
To acknowledge my fears, even when doing so may feel embarrassing.
I may be afraid of falling flat on my face,
but I will choose to stand up straight and do my best.

It's okay to be afraid. 
I can admit this to myself and others
and still tackle the things that frighten me.

What is creative courage? by Ali Edwards

What is creative courage? It is the willingness to pursue new forms, new symbols and new patterns of truth with all the risks. The alternative is stagnation. Every profession – technology, diplomacy, business, the arts, medicine, law – requires those who possess a creative courage." William Edelen

This past week I came across a post on SimpleMom.net that was particularly inspiring: 10 Steps To Courageous Hospitality. As I read Sandy's words I kept thinking about how many of her sentiments apply to being creatively courageous as well. I actually re-read the entire article replacing "hospitality" with "creativity" and just kept saying "yes, yes, and yes."

Two of my favorite points from her 10 key points for helping people to open up and share their lives with others stayed with me as I went about my life adventures:

#2. Know that you are unique and people want to know you more.

Many of you reading this are storytellers. Your creative process likely includes taking photos, writing words, and bringing them together in some form to tell the stories of your life and those of the people you care about most. It takes courage to tell your own story. It takes courage to step up and say to the world (and often to those closer to home) that your story is important enough to share. No one can tell your own unique story from your perspective but you.

#6. Learn to take a small hill. Start small and invite people into your life.

It can be easy to think that courage involves only really big leaps when in reality it's those small, simple, everyday acts of courage that are building your creative muscles. Sometimes I find myself forgetting that starting small is a perfectly wonderful option. We live in an age when we tend to want things done now without recognizing the value in taking those small (often methodical) steps in the beginning. Start small and literally invite creativity into your life - schedule it, make room for it, welcome it, choose it (and then choose it again).

Small everyday acts of creative courage can include:

1. Simply showing up. Showing up to your camera, your journal, your canvas, your computer, your life with the knowledge that it's often the journey just as much as it is the destination.
2. Changing your attitude about how you view your creative potential. This can be as small and simple as a mantra whispered to yourself daily: "I am creative." or "My story is worth telling."
3. Taking a different route from the one you normally take each day. Change just one small thing, take a left where you normally take a right, plan dinner in the morning vs. thinking about it at 4:59pm. Choose pink instead of your go-to black.
4. Saying yes.
5. Saying no.
6. Signing up for a class - potentially one outside your creative comfort zone (and then show up for that class). This is on my list for 2012.
7. Actually doing the work. It takes courage to move beyond the planning to the action phase.

How often do you employ courage as a tool for creativity?

Do you think about being courageous as you create? Do you take risks within your own creative practices to help yourself grow? What would it mean to you if you infused a little more courage in your own personal creative practices?

I want to leave you with a great quote I received in an email earlier this week from Laura, a One Little Word workshop participant (her word is dare), from the movie "We Bought A Zoo." Matt Damon's character says,

"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

Additional links about creative courage:

• 100 Golden No's In Just One Year from Tiny Twig. Love this concept of spinning a negative into a positive. She sites Life As An Artistpreneur as inspiration for this idea.
• Creativity Takes Courage: 5 Ways To Build Your Courage via Bit Rebels. How is this for awesome: "I want to encourage you to strengthen your courage muscles and not let anyone else in your life, online or offline, steal your joy or make you question your sense of creativity."
• Creative Courage by William Edelen.
• Reclaiming Your Creative Courage via Creative Success LLC. A good read especially if you struggle with a bunch of unfinished projects. Also appreciated this, "Focusing on the fear of being wrong or criticized clips your creative wings."

Scrapbooking: Your Smile is Contagious

In charity there is no access.

The more we freely and willingly give to others, the more we give to ourselves.

I will offer myself in someway that it is helpful to others,
without resenting the time or effort it takes.

Card: Happy Birthday - Stamping Bella

12 Topics: Everyday

“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

If I had to pick one topic that I could scrapbook the rest of my life and never grow bored of, it would be everyday life – the “nothing special here” photos and stories that prove with time to be the most rich and the most cherished of all. I’m a recent subscriber to a magazine called, Seeing the Everyday. Here is a patched together (but very profound) excerpt from an article in issue No. 15 … “When I consider the 18 years I spent as a child in my mother’s home it is difficult to recall a single event in its entirety—with a clear beginning, middle and end—which had a meaningful impact on my life. Instead, I remember fragments and snippets … Christmases, balancing with my brother on kitchen chairs, my mother’s aprons tied around our waists, slathering frosting onto sugar cookies … I remember—was it summer?—swiping a stick of taffy from the corner store then, after my theft had been discovered, shuffling back inside with my eyes to the floor and uttering a muffled apology to the munificent clerk. But these aren’t real events, a quiet voice suddenly insists. They’re just splinters, small things which in themselves do not amount to anything … It’s true, I say to myself, nodding once more. These are small things, half-stories, splinters—but they are part of a whole. They are the tiny bits of clay and dirt that formed the bricks of my foundation. Yes, I see it clearly now—my mother gave us the gift of being there. She listened; she worried; she prayed. When we scraped our knees, she was always waiting in the wings. And when, in our adolescent angst, our hearts were sore, she was the first to rush in with words of comfort. At night before bed, she tucked us in, kissed our cheeks, and prayed that in our dreams we would be visited by angels. Then she said goodnight. That was all, but it was everything.” (Author | HM Baker) The process of everyday living may seem fragmented yet wholeness is found in our consistent behaviors and mindful exchanges. ~Seeing the Everyday magazine This week, you get the chance to be a fly on your own wall. You get to step back as often as you can and hit the instant replay button. You get to snap photos, take notes and perhaps even make videos of the very ordinary, untidy, mostly mundane parts of your day. I’ve created another silly movie you can watch, called Whatcha Doin? I’ve also created the expected task list for this week, with some unexpected opportunities... Continue working on your personal set up—you’re NOT behind! Continue filing pictures, notes and other bits and potential pieces of story into your inspiration file. Revisit all of your lists, but take special notice of your Everyday Life list. What specific ideas can you add? Read the Everyday Life handout. Spend 12 minutes (set a timer) with either printed photos or digital images and set aside or tag those that illustrate everyday life. Watch the movie, Whatcha Doin? Keep track of and log one of the following for a 24-hour period: phone calls, emails, text messages or interruptions. In other words, write down every single one and record a detail with each. Slip this observation behind your Everyday Life divider. Use your journal or Compendium notebook to record 3 to 5 activities that are uniquely associated with each day of the week in your home. For example, you might do laundry everyday, but it might also be most associated with Monday. In our family, piano lessons are an activity that has fallen on Wednesday for over 5 years! We go to church on Sunday, eat cookies or popcorn to help us celebrate the weekly unwind on Friday and I schedule most of my work meetings on Tuesdays. I think you get the idea! This week, like most others, will fly by. What will you do to freeze time more often? How will you heighten the radar for the ordinary moments that so quickly evaporate into the patterns of daily living? Definition: Everyday:  Of or pertaining to every day, daily; an everday occurrence, as contrasted with special occassions.  -- Ordinary, common, usual, regular, familiar, conventional, run-of-the-mill, standard, stock. Ah, the monontony of everyday life.  The getting up and going and doing and working, eating, playing, waiting, teaching, helping, sharing and loving.   It is the very essence of what we do and who we are and it should, in my opinion, fill most of the pages of our scrapbook.  If you are not a daily picture taker, I encourage you to be one.  You can train yourself to  pull out your camera and capture the mondane things of every day life.  The messy imperfection of every day life and the "nothing special here" moments, that you share as you go about your daily life.  These things will be just as fun to look back on as the vacations, hoidays and other milestone events. As we learn to document and appreciate the very familiar, there grows in the ability to recognize novelty even in the most predictable part of our lives.  Novelty spurs curoisity, which encourages full engagement, which must exist for full creative expression.  As we scrapbook everyday life, and create a collection of disjointed pages, a pattern will emerge that unify individual pieces .  In and of itself, it might not amount to much, but it becomes significant when part of a common theme, a common purpose, your life.

The best way to cheer yourself up, is to cheer someone else up.

As we help others cope with their problems, ]it somehow seems to make our own less pressing.  Sometimes the advice we gives other, can't help but affect our own thinking.

If we distract others from whatever it is that's weighing on them, we'll be distracted from our own burdens as well.

is there anything we can chose to do today to help another?

Scrapbooking: Weld County Honor Guard

Before Pete retired from the Sheriff's Department, he was the Commander of the Honor Guard.
They performed in ceremonies, paradde and at local sporting events, to include the Broncos and ROckies Games.

Be Thankful,
For if we didn't learn a lot today,
we did learn a little.
And if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick.
And if we didn't get sick,
at least we didn't die.
So let us be thankful.

Our challenge is to appreciate what we have, without a crisis to prompt us.

Family Christmas Album 2011

There are three things in human life that are important.
The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.
The third is to be kind.

Today I will do at least one kind thing for someone else.

Firelight won't let you read fine stories, but it is warm and won't let you see the dust on the floor.

The niceties of life mean nothing when our needs are simple.  Warmth when we are cold, food when we are hungry, sleep when we are tired.

We wish for many things that we think will bring us happiness. 
Yet we often find ourselves looking back fondly at simplier times.

What small things in my life bring me pleasure?
I will recognize them today and be thankful for them.

Life does not cease to be funny when people die,
amy more then it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

How can we laugh and have fun when so many bad things are going on around us?
Laughter is a gift that can get us through difficult times.

Laughter may not solve my concerns today,
but it very well may help me cope with them.

Treasure Box Designs

Found this really cool die cut, paper piecing, web site today.

www.Treasureboxdesigns.com

This is just one of the craft pojects that they are offeering.
Isn't it amazing?
Seriously a place to check out if you like to paper piece or want to learn how.

Family Christmas Album: 2009

The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on water.
But to walk on the Earth.

Today, I choose to remember how extraordinary, even my ordinary life is.

What's the Story? by Ali Edwards

As I was slipping this photo into my Project Life album for this past week I thought about how there's a few different ways you can view/interpret/imagine the story behind this photo:

ONE | Two kids playing nicely & quietly together (or at least parallel to each other) in peace and harmony.

TWO | One kid playing at his desk making lots of light-saber or sword-fighting noises while the little sister quietly snuck into the bedroom and is wrecking havoc on the in-progress lego organization.

Which one seems most plausible?

In this case, on this particular day, it was actually a little of both. There were moments of quiet and moments of kindness and then moments of frustration and lessons about sharing and a little bit of Mom intervention. "It's okay for her to touch your legos. It is not okay for her to break things you've built." "She's learning to play and build just like you learned how when you were younger." "Anna, let's go play with something else and let Simon have some privacy." Sound familiar?

Sometimes I see other people's photos and my mind immediately jumps to conclusions about what was actually happening when the shutter snapped. Things appear "perfect" or I assume they must be when in reality the story behind the photo could be something entirely different. What's the real story?

This is one of the reasons why words are such a gift in addition to the photos. The infuse reality and emotion and perspective.

My second thought, after slipping the photo into the page protector, was how many different stories could be told with this single photo.

I'm often prompted by photos to tell stories other than what's visible on the surface. Rather than a story that sticks to the basics such as "Simon and Anna were playing legos in his room" I'm given the opportunity to share more meaningful words about our life right now.

From the photo above I could write any number of stories including:

• a story about their overall relationship at this moment in time - the good and the so-totally-normal-not-so-good and how it's evolving and changing.
• a story about their relationship to their bedrooms: part refuge, part playroom, part portal to adventure (through their books & play), part storage, part dreamland, etc.
• a story about how much Anna wants so much to be a part of Simon's world and the things he does and watches and talks about.
• a story about legos and the organization process or how they are really one of Simon's most favorite things.
• a story about the differences in each of my kid's personalities.
• a story detailing memories of my bedroom(s) as a child. What did each one look like? What did I like/dislike about them?
• a story about Anna right now - how into imaginary play she is and how she loves to make up her own stories about the lego guys adventures (lots of weddings) and how she's working hard to figure out her place in this world.

YOUR STORY DOESN'T HAVE TO "MATCH" THE PHOTOS

Sometimes it's easy to get stuck being too literal with memory keeping. This photo matches this story or thinking that there's only one story to tell (whatever was happening in the moment). In reality each photo can be a really wonderful jumping off point to tell a variety of different stories.

Here are a few tips and ideas for generating stories and creating scrapbook layouts/blog posts from a photo:

1. Make a list of stories that could be told from that one photo (just like I did above). I love lists like that which include both facts and feelings. Make a layout that includes all those stories in list format and include the photo. You could begin each sentence with the phrase "right now" or "I want to remember." Check out One Very Big Boy and His Big Boy Room via Marta Writes for a great example using short phrases. I'm a big fan of writing journaling directly to my kids and I love how Marta did that here and I especially love that long list of oh-so-simple but oh-s0-wonderful things she wants to remember about her son right now. I need to do this for both my kids asap - things change so fast and these sorts of lists are so fun to compare over time to see how things have changed and have stayed the same.
2. Ask the people (or person) in the photo to tell you about what was happening or what memories are evoked for them. If they are willing, have them write something for you in their own voice.
3. You can also ask someone who is not in the photo to tell you what story they would tell - a spouse, parent, child, friend, etc. When I was working on the newsletter for this week I asked our nanny Katie what story she would tell from the photo of Anna & Simon in his bedroom. Her answer was the one about how Anna wants so much to be a part of Simon's world. It was cool to listen to her share what story she would tell.
4. Use who, what, why, when, where, and how as a jumping off point. It's a great way to initiate the writing process. You might find as you start addressing each of these topics that a whole different story emerges that's really the heart of why you are taking time to scrapbook this story at all. Be open to that change and the possibilities for richer story.
5. Know that there's no right or wrong way to choose what story to tell, pick one and just start writing. Write from that place where you head and your heart meet.

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.
OF the possible battles I may face today, which really matter?
And of those that matter, which will make the biggest difference if I choose to fight them?

Family Christmas Album: 2007

12 Topics: Places

Oh The Places You’ll Go …

You’ll likely recognize this phrase as the title of a beloved Dr. Seuss book that is often given to those who are graduating from high school or college or who are approaching some other crossroad in life—the idea of going places is often equated with the potential we have to discover, explore or aspire to greatness. Places, and especially the cognitive exploration of past place, are central to the process of mining memories because we so readily associate experiences and feelings with a particular location. I believe places fall into two major “memory” categories: familiar and novel. If you think about it, we tend to form strong memories or attach vivid mental imagery to those places that are either very familiar or those places that represent brand new experiences—so, for example a childhood home vs. a first-ever trip to the ocean or Disneyland

We have gazillians of memories that are tied to specific locations and yet we often neglect these places in our scrapbooks. 

Wether it is a destination of a "once in a lifetime" moment, or the very familiar curve of your favoirte chair to sit and read.  They are scenic destinations, but also the grocery aisle that you know by heart and the exact place where your favorite treat is kept. 

 Any place that is loved and often visited or even just fondly remembered, deserves to be told as part of your story.

Pay particulat attention to those destinations and locations that you can tag as a "happy place."  Remember that the visual information and the written information of why these places make you feel are equally important.

Definition:
A particular position of place in space, that can be used for a specific purpose or activity.

“Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could;
some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.”

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

People, even more than things, have to be restored, reviewed, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.  Never throw out anyone. 

What friend, or family matter, have I not talked to in a while?
 I choose today to recognize the people of value in my life.

Family Christmas Album: 2006

You didn't really understand, did you?

 

 I hoped you would feel the truth, but you didn’t understand. You were given a chance, and you walked away from it.

 

You were presented with a friend, a trusting friend who harbored absolutely no expectations of you, but you walked away. The universe does not offer that opportunity very often, but you didn’t really understand, did you? Your fear kept you from the truth, as fear will often do.

 

 But there are memories. We did share memories, and you can have them forever if you choose. We didn't last long enough, but memories live on.

 

I only pray you learn to understand next time a trusting friend is sent to you. You really didn’t understand, but that is okay.

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.

Everyday is filled with amusing moments, if we take the time to notice them..

I choose to laugh today, even if it is at myself.

Family Christmas Album: 2005

Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.
I will keep my expectations high and look for what excites me.  I choose to risk disappointment to follow my heart.

Family Christmas Album: 2004

Project: Paint Chip Notebooks

My daughter wanted a gift that she could give her friends for Valentine's Day.

I have a punch that creates the holes across the top of the pad.
I collected some paint chip card from Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc...
Bought some small notepads from Office Depot,
Punch the holes in the cards, lined them up with the wire on the notebook.
Adhered and trimmed.

Very fun and inexpensive gift. 

Project: Valentine's Day Table Runner

Could not sleep today, after a long night at work.
Really needed to work on my "Twelve" class layout for the holiday assignment, but felt like working with fabric instead of paper.  

After I completed sewing, I thought, "Man, I should have ttaken a picture of the process." 
That would of made a great layout.

I created this project using my cricut imagine to cut out the heart shapes.
Using painters' tape to hold the material to the mat, as I wanted he material to remain flexible.
I then took a piece of musling and sewed the hearts in place.

The ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.

Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl . Viktor Frankl, is an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, but more importantly, he survived the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. He had what he called, "…my inborn optimism." He was a positive thinker who believed that "life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones."

Read the first half of this book. The second half is about his psychotherapy theories and, although it is interesting, it's not really important to what I am going to talk about here.

While spending so much time in the concentration camps during the Holocaust, in horrible conditions, Viktor Frankl made observations about humans and how they deal with adversity, himself included. He believed that life has purpose and because it does, suffering must also have a purpose. He noticed that everyone has a choice of how they are going to approach difficult situations, and when we have a sense as to what our ultimate purpose is in life, we can overcome any challenge.

Each of us has such an intimate understanding of adversity. Each of us has adversity in our lives. Our lives are just filled with challenge. When we understand and really believe that we can overcome any challenge, I think that's incredibly empowering and invaluable to our lives.

So his whole point, Viktor Frankl's whole point, is that in order to overcome these challenges, is that we have to understand our ultimate purpose. He has identified the ultimate purpose as "our ability to overcome our suffering and to be happy." That's what our purpose is. He observed that when we decide in our own minds to be happy, that we can be, no matter what is happening around us. He said, "The last of human freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances."

I think what is really powerful about that quote is the word "choose".

The whole idea of being able to choose joy and choose happiness in our lives, and he found purpose in helping others understand this same principle and their own potential, that life was beyond their living conditions, no matter what they were. He helped them "realize that life was still expecting something from them" and with this sense of purpose, they found greater hope to live instead of giving up.

Viktor Frankl's search for a pattern of survival and ultimately, personal happiness, had very little to do with his circumstances. As a matter of fact, one could argue that his life circumstances are some of the direst ever faced by human beings. Yet, despite their abusive environment, they were able to rise to the occasion and face the suffering and hardship that they were subject to.

Viktor Frankl who said, "Man's inner strength may raise him above his outward fate."
His thought process, this whole way of thinking and his quiet dignity and his personal integrity were humbling and empowering at the same time.

What about me? How can I internalize Viktor Frankl's strength of character as I work through the highs and lows of my own life?

Each of us can figure out a way to overcome our circumstances and still find happiness. We may not be perfect at it, but as Viktor Frankl teaches us, we can try.

As young children, each of us are taught that we are as different as the snowflakes that fall from the sky. I think that that's true, but what I also believe to be true is that our adversities are also as different. Each of us has different challenges and struggles, and they are as different as the snowflakes that fall from the sky. Some have health issues, some financial worries, some critical emergencies, some have natural disasters, some family troubles, some have issues at work, or at the home. Parenting can be a problem. There can be issues with weight, addiction, there are so many out there, each one specific to every person.

Life Journals. This journal can take the form of anything you want, any size, any shape, any color. Choose a notebook that you like to look at because it will make it easier to write in. We all like to write in those books that we feel comfortable with.

So, take out your Life Journal and write down today's date. Then write: Life Challenges. List three of those specific-to-you challenges that you see in your life right now. Things that you want to be different, that you want to change, that you want to overcome. We will come back to your list in a few minutes.

So the question becomes then, how do we rise to the occasion when we are faced with these big struggles that we encounter, as well as the little day-to-day challenges? One of the big secrets is to keep things in perspective. Sometimes it's hard to see the challenges in front of us when they are right in front of us and we need to take a step back. It might seem like the biggest challenge ever, but then we take a step back and we realize that although difficult, they might not be as large as we thought them to be at the beginning. As we deal with adversity, it is critical that we keep perspective. Perspective also helps us to do the little things first, even when they seem big.

"Baby Steps". If you haven't seen that movie, go out and rent it because then you will get it even better. Not every experience that we are trying to get through or work through is necessarily going to lead us to a silver medal or trying to survive a concentration camp. We have to break it up into smaller parts, concentrate on one section at a time and clean it completely before moving on to the next area, then work toward finishing one piece at a time.

In the novel The American, Henry James wrote, "In his darkest days he had but one simple, practical impulse - the desire, as he would have phrased it, to see the thing through." Step by step, moment by moment, decision by decision, we have the power to see it through, whatever the situation the task or miserable struggle. We have the chance to tackle that honeysuckle fence and decide who we are going to be.

How do we do this? How do we rise up, with baby steps, and get the job done?

How could I ever find perfection. What it was teaching me was that perfection doesn't come all at once. We learn step by step. Each step got me closer to perfection. Each step got me closer to my goals.

I remember that I would set my goals to do a little better every day. In my life today, that same principle rings true…do a little better every day.

New Year's resolutions are death, I think. We so often fail at them. We set big goals at the beginning of the year and then by the end of January we are ready to quit because we're so far behind and it's only one month away. People who are successful at setting New Year's resolutions or goals of any kind have to set little tiny small goals so they get that smell of success and that desire to do more.

What if it would have been all or nothing? I would have had no desire to try and better my services the next time. So, how do we find little rewards, little peaks. If you want to lose 50 pounds in a year, you're going to get frustrated…two pounds a month is doable and gives you the taste of success.

List 3 challenges you are facing, choose one area that you would like to work on this month. Then write the words January Baby Step. Now, think about what you want your first month's goal or resolution to be. Think about how you want to improve or change that challenge. If you don't know it right now then come back to this. If you do, write it down. Either way is fine, but sometime in the next few days take the time to write down a baby step that will help you overcome that challenge, that will help you accomplish something this month and give you that taste of success, helping you in your quest to change or improve your life, some way that you are going to be happier by rising up to the occasion, become a little better, a little stronger, and a little more happy.

Each month you will need to be accountable by talking about your goal, reminding you to look at the goal that you set and help you to succeed. Share your goal in a positive relationship. So that you all know what each other's goals are each month, and can give each other support, help and encouragement. It can only help. The more accountable you become, the more dedicated to reaching that goal you will be. They can keep you accountable, and when we're accountable we succeed. When we're not accountable we fail so much more because there is no consequence.

This whole idea of Baby Step resolving or deciding to do something small each month is a much better approach for me. It's more realistic, and it helps me become better at being myself as each month is a fresh and manageable start.

It's tough when you're in difficult circumstances to remember all of the things you are capable of. So the whole point of journaling was I wanted to remember who I am no matter what else. I wanted o know and remember who I will always was, and who I will always would be.

So the inspiration behind this month's project is a way to remind each of us that we are capable, that we have qualities, that we have a strong spirit, that we have attributes that make us who we are as capable, strong people.

My mom told me once regarding my five siblings and I, "You kids are so much more than we ever thought of being." I have those same thoughts about our own children. I hope that they are more than we ever thought of being. I hope that we will be able to teach them that no matter what happens in their lives, that they have the choice to be happy in spite of the circumstances. I hope they chooses to rise up and become all that is possible.

As I think about that quote, I think it's important for each of us to turn it around a little bit and remember that not only is there somebody who hopes that we can be so much more than they ever thought, but I think it's important that we remember that we can be "so much more than we ever thought of being". We know that your human potential is great and strong, even beyond what you might be able to imagine. We know that you can be a champion of your own life, a medalist in the race of the daily grind that is fraught with barriers and obstacles and higher peaks to reach.

Rise to the occasion. Rise up and become all that is good and happy. Now is the time and here is the place to that that first baby step with us. You can do it. We believe in you!

Family Christmas Album: 2003

The best way to have a good idea, is to have lots of ideas.

I will free my mind today and see how many interesting ideas I can come up with.  Even if it turns out that none of them are practical value.  I will still benefit from the creativity that I have set free.

Family Christmas Album: 2002

They say that time changes thiings.
But you have to actually change them yourself.

If I'll know that I will feel bretter about something six months from now,what can I choose to do today that will help me feel a little better now.

Family Christmas Album: 2001

Subtraction and the Red Pen by Ali Edwards

As we begin a new year it often feels like everyone is wanting to add something to their lives.

A new project, a new list, a new goal, a new way of seeing. I totally do it too. There's so much possibility and potential wrapped up in the choice to add this or that.

Yet, this past week I've been thinking about the concept of subtraction.

What if rather than focusing on adding things I emphasized subtracting? What would that mean for my creative endeavors? For my life?

• I thought about it as I was making a scrapbook layout, consciously wondering what I could take away without losing what I most wanted to say.
• I thought about it as I cleaned out a toy closet and pondered not adding something new but allowing some of the other toys room to be front and center.
• I thought about it as I visited websites this past week, monitoring how I felt as I visited sites (positive, negative, neutral) and thinking about other things I could be doing when I find myself mindlessly browsing. There are times when I get overwhelmed with twitterfacebookblogslivesphotoswords and the noise of the internet. It can be such an easy distraction. When I feel that way I try to take a step back and refocus on what's most meaningful to me in my work - telling stories with photos and words. These days when I start feeling anxious or competitive or just "yuck," I take it as a reminder to log-out, head back to my work table, print out my photos, type up stories and make something that's meaningful to me and my own family.
• I thought about it as I looked through the lens of my camera, wondering how I can change my view to get to the essence of what I want to communicate?
• I thought about it as I encountered negative thoughts about myself and others, questioning how could I consciously subtract those negative thoughts.
• I thought about it as I said yes and no to projects and invitations, pondering the pros and cons to my schedule and workload.
• I thought about it as I worked on this newsletter, wondering what I could leave out and still communicate what I was hoping to say.

Subtraction is really about getting to the heart of the matter.

What's the heart of what you do as a creative person (scrapbooker, writer, artist, photographer, mother, wife, etc)? How can you take a metaphorical (or maybe a real) red pen and remove the extra stuff to get to the core of your own personal who, what, why, when, where, etc?

(I just deleted about six lines of text. Remember that no one ever really tells you about the things they subtracted - we just see the finished project.)

Throughout the 52 Weeks this year I want to create a list of what's inside my own personal creative toolbox. What techniques, supplies, methods, and thought-patterns are included in that box? Three reasons to do this: (1) simply identify what's actually in there (2) subtract things that might be in there that really don't need to be (thoughts, outdated methods, stuff that I'm hanging on to that's not helping me move forward as a creative person, etc,) and (3) investigate things I might want to add. We'll revisit this topic throughout the year from time to time as I identify the contents.

The first item in my toolbox is a red pen.

My red pen is for subtracting - editing out the things that don't really matter. Editing words. Editing photos. Editing routines. Editing supplies. Editing possessions. Editing thoughts. Sometimes it's easy to see the things that should or could be subtracted and other times it takes time and effort to decide what to remove. Sometimes I literally use a red pen to strike through my words and other times the red pen is just in my mind or heart as I decide to eliminate one thing or another.

One thing I love most about my red pen is that through the process of crossing things out I learn what I might not want to include next time.

"Creativity isn’t just the things we chose to put in, it’s also the things we chose to leave out."
Austin Kleon from "How to Steal Like an Artist (And 9 Other things Nobody Told Me)"

I tend to use subtraction as a way to create breathing room in my life, white space on my layouts, clarity in my thoughts and focus in my photography.

If subtracting is new to you, you might consider starting small. Removing just one thing (one element from your page, one word from a sentence, one item of clothing from your closet, one piece of furniture, one toy) and see what happens. How do you feel? Everyone is going to have a different level of comfort with the red pen. When you are just starting out subtracting removing just one thing can be monumental in how it re-frames the way you see and feel and create.

What if you took things away without filling up that beautiful, empty white space? What would that mean for you and your creative journey?

Subtraction is not always about taking things away to make room for more. Sometimes it's simply to create space. Space to breathe. Space to listen. Space to see.

A few links for more ideas about subtraction:

• 28 Ways To Stop Complicating Your Life from Marc And Angel Hack Life. One of the things I'm working on is #15. Marc and Angel's archive is full of really great posts.
• Clutterfree by Courtney Carver of Be More With Less and Leo Babauta of ZenHabits. Clutterfree is an e-book and a course that's as much about decluttering your stuff as it about decluttering your m
• 100 Things Challenge by Dave Bruno. I Dave's The 100 Things Challenge book in 2011 and found it to be interesting and inspiring. What I like about Dave is that he's in progress (just like everyone else) and he's sharing his story along the way. I didn't take on the challenge, but I am continuing to let go of things we don't need.
• Clearing Your Life For A New Year by Leo Babauta. This one came in my inbox after I started working on this week's newsletter - all about clearing and subtraction.
• The Art of Subtraction by Ron Bigelow. This one deals specifically with photography. He begins with the tenant that "all great photography is about communicating an emotion."
• Creativity Is Just Like Mathematics - Addition And Subtraction-no, Wait! Come Back! by Dan Goodwin

Start by doing what is necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Instead of thinking about how I can't possibly do something I want to do.  I choose to do what I can and see where it leads.

Family Christmas Album: 2000

12 Topics: Holidays

Definition:
a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or honor.  A day of festivity or recreation when no work is done.

Holidays sometimes get a bad rap in scrapbooking.  We often emphasize the importance of everyday life to the detriment of holidays, when in reality, countless wonderful and happy memories and traditions are made, as we celebrate with family and friends.  Cherished family traditions often center on annual holidays, or the days leading up to that specific holiday.  

What do you celebrate?
 How do you celebrate?
Where do You celebrate?
Why do you celebrate?
With whom do you celebrate?

There are as many nights as days.And one is just as long as the other.
Even a happy life cannot be withourt a measure of darkness.
And the word happy, would lose its meaning if it were not balanced with sadness.

If I feel like things are not going well right now.  I'll think about how good it's going to feel when I get through this - and I choose to get through this.

Family Christmas Album: 1999

Angels can fly, because they take themselves lightly.
Devils fall because of their gravity.
~~  GK Chesterton

At the center of the drama that is our life, and like an actor hamming it up, , we sometimes play our roles with excessive amounts of emotions, self importance, and shouting.

We would be alot more effective, and alot more fun to be around, if we thought of our lives as a comedy.  A comedy with a moral, and filled with gentle laughter rather then howls.  A story line that recognizes that there is more to the world than what we do or think.

I recognize that the things I do, my accomplishments and my mistakes, are not insignificant, but if I take things too seriously, life won't be fun.  Humor can help me to keep thins in perspective.

Family Christmas Album: 1998

12: Dozen Day for January 2012

Today is a day of celebration. First of all, it’s our very first Dozen Day, which we will celebrate on the 12th of every month.

In a 12-week class called Twelve., that in actuality lasts 12 months, you simply must do something unique or anticipated on the 12th day of each month. So today there is a  BONUS Dozen Day handout posted that shares 12 photo-taking prompts and 12 page-making ideas.

You may do what you will with these ideas. They needn’t be tracked and you shouldn’t feel any specific obligation to them. They are simply additional ideas that you can consider—ideas that will hopefully move you to action with your camera and your scrapbooking skills.

Twelve Photos:

1. What you are wearing
2. Your cell phone
3. 3 things together
4. something blue
5. a bedroom, before you pick it up
6. a snack
7. the view out a window
8. looking down
9. a smile
10. weather
11. homemade
12. shoes

12 page ideas

1. Three decades of you - find 3 pictures from different times, at least 10 years apart.
2. begin a layout of one picture of each Holiday in 2012
3. Where do you spend most of your time and why?
4. take 12 pictures of your everyday routine
5. Whati s the favorite thing you like to do every January?
6. Who is your best friend and why?
7. Create a layout inspired by an advertisement, a song, a book, or a movie
8. Make a list of the things that interest you right now
9. Photograph something that has personal value to you, and list why.
10. Create a layout of the day you purchased your current home
11. Scrapbook your current life season.  What is your current life focus, and how well are you doing.  What do you feel is most rewarding, what to you hope to achieve.
12.  Pull out a product or tool that you thought was super fun.  And create a scrapbook page with it.  What is it, why did you buy it, what are you going to create or have created with it.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.~~  Thomas Edison

How can I create my own opportunity, at work or in my personal life?
What steps do I need to take?

Family Christmas Album: 1997

You didn't really understand, did you? I hoped you would feel the truth, but you didn’t understand. You were given a chance, and you walked away from it. You were presented with a friend, a trusting friend who harbored absolutely no expectations of you, but you walked away. The universe does not offer that opportunity very often, but you didn’t really understand, did you? Your fear kept you from the truth, as fear will often do. But there are memories. We did share memories, and you can have them forever if you choose. We didn't last long enough, but memories live on. I only pray you learn to understand next time a trusting friend is sent to you. You really didn’t understand, but that is okay.

How we spend our day is, of course, how we spend our lives.~~  Annie Dillard

I'll give myself a few minutes to appreciate a beautiful sunrise, the comfort of my warm bed, the sheer joy of laughter, or even the pleasure of solitude -- whatever my life holds today.

Family Christams Album: 1996

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
~~  Thich Nhat Hanh

As silly as it may seem, I'm going to remind myself to smile regularly today, and then I'll see what happens. 

Family Christmas Album: 1995

I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.~~  Jewish proverb

I have learned alot from the most difficult times in my life, and I am a stronger person as a result.

Family Christmas Album: 1994

Creative Practice by Ali Edwards

CREATIVE PRACTICE

As we embark on 2012 I want to begin with the idea of developing a creative practice.

The word practice for me immediately brings to mind memories of soccer and swim team practice. My growing up years were filled with sports practices, most specifically swimming. As a competitive swimmer, daily practice was a huge part of my life.

Anything we want to develop in ourselves, whether a physical skill, a mental shift, or a creative passion begins with saying yes. After that yes comes practice. Practice is what gets you where you want to go. Practice is the art of repeatedly engaging in an activity to develop a skill.

It takes effort and commitment and energy and self-discipline. Practice is often, especially in the beginning, doing something we don't really know how in order to learn. It's how we improve and how we come to find and develop our own gifts.

In 2011, Project Life was my creative practice. Each week I began and completed (for the most part) a week of documentation and it definitely became habit. It was very true that there were weeks when I didn't really feel like getting it done. But I did it anyway, knowing that it was a part of my creative practice for the year and knowing that the end result (all those weeks together) was really going to be my reward.

What I learned through the discipline of a weekly practice, is that it's that basic getting it done that's really quite valuable. I learned that I can do it. I learned that the commitment to the project was actually quite important to me. I learned that even when pieces of my life were crumbling I could continue to make it happen. I think I was surprised to feel so proud of myself at the end of the year.

Establishing a creative practice for yourself doesn't have to be complicated. Here's a few examples and ideas:

• Write a personal daily gratitude. I've started doing this using a great little One Line A Day 5-year Memory Book. Before I go to sleep I'm thinking back on the day and documenting one gratitude with just a couple lines of text. This is a practice I've thought about doing for years and I'm finally taking action on it.
• Scrapbook a layout or take a photo a day for a specific amount of time. If you're interested in the practice of a layout a day, check out Lain Ehman's February Layout A Day workshop that includes daily prompts, videos, a message board and gallery. Joining a class like this is a great way to get support for your creative practice. If a photo-a-day is more your speed check out Katrina Kennedy's Capture Your 365 site for tons of inspiration and ideas.
• Set a weekly artist date (for more on that read Julia Cameron's The Artist Way).
• Get together once a month with creative friends to share ideas, stories, products, etc. The practice of coming together can be meaningful in so many respects.
• Run or walk a mile a day. Okay this one's not really a creative practice, or is it? I loved reading about Elise Blaha Cripe's adventure in running a mile a day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Creating a practice for yourself can begin with something small - rather than three miles a day how about one? It's really more about forming the habit. And I can definitely argue that exercise makes a difference in my own personal creativity - it's one of my favorite times to generate ideas (or simply just give them the space to begin).
• Start something totally new - a departure from whatever it is that you've been doing (we all need creative wake ups from time to time - actually I think that's a really healthy way to approach creativity). If you usually write, try developing a painting practice. If you usually scrapbook with a focus on the products try focusing more on the story. Switch things up as a way to exercise your creative muscles and do it in the form of a practice with a specific beginning and end (see more about that below).
• Develop a practice of looking or listening. So much creative stimulus comes through our eyes and our ears and a lot of it is just noise - both the audio and the visual. What would it mean for you if you embarked on a practice of really seeing or hearing things in your daily life? What would you see and hear differently from what you do right now? In many this is a practice of slowing down in order to see more clearly and hear more deeply.
• Photo a day with a friend. I've always loved the 3191 Project started by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes as a daily photo conversation (each took a photo during their morning hours and they posted them together on a blog for a year - they live 3191 miles apart). You can check out their current weekly project here. How cool to embark on a specific creative practice with a friend.

I'm a fan of structure in setting up my creative practices. I find I'm more successful at sticking with a particular practice if I set a deadline and find some way to hold myself accountable. Consider setting up a beginning date and an ending date. Having a beginning and an end and then following through within those parameters is a great way to gain confidence in addition to building your skills. At the end you can always decide to continue on or start something new. Remember that it doesn't have to be year long or even month long - a shorter duration practice can be just as valuable (think of the practice of taking photos at hour intervals on one particular day in your life).

A couple additional thoughts and links on developing a creative practice:

1. It's easy to spend your "practice" time researching, reading, looking at images online, getting lost in other people's work and inspiration, etc. While I think there's definitely some value in that process, for me the real value is in actually doing/making/writing/photographing/etc. Don't spend all your practice time watching other people's practice.
2. In 2010 artist Lisa Congdon photographed and blogged a collection a day for a year. This was a super cool (in my humble opinion) creative practice and ended up being published as a book. This year she began a new practice called 365 Days Of Hand Lettering.
3. How To Develop A Creative Practice (And Why It Actually Does Make You More Creative) by Justine Musk. Awesome, in-depth article.

Do you have a specific creative practice right now? Is there something you'd like to begin this year, this month, this week to exercise your creative skills?

You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going.
Because you might not get there.
~~  Yogi Berra

Do I have a clear vision of where I want my life to go?
Or do I react to things as they happen?
Sometimes, I need a little of both.

I can spend a little time today thinking about how my daily activities fit with my goals.  Am I spending too much time on distractions and not enough time on the things that will help me get where I want to go?  Am I open to new opportunities when they present themselves?

Family Christmas Album: 1993

12 Topics: You

Definition: 
The pronoun of the second person singular;
 used of the person being addressed:   yourself. 
Something identified with or resembling the person addressed: That hat is so you!
The nature of the character being addressed:  Try to discover the hidden you.

There really is just one story you are most qualified to tell and that is our own story.

Some of your scrapbook pages will have photos, and some may not.  What a page about you needs most, is your perspective, your thoughts.

The longest journey you will ever take is the 18 inches from your head to your heart.

Be yourself.  Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through in every sentence you write, every page you finish.

Think for yourself no one else is qualified.

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.~~  Henry Ford


Instead of panicking over how much I have to do, I'm going to pick one thing and do it.  When it's done, I will pick something else and do it.

Family Christmas Album: 1992

Bingo Cards

This is an organizational tool for the Big Picture Class "12".

IN the upper left hand corner is the number 12.  Next to that number is the number 1. 

The 12 represents the twelve triggers that will be sent at the first of each month.  These triggers are to help inspire layouts or journaling though out the month.

The number 1 represents the "Story Telling" Feature available in the online classroom.  These lessons are to help develop skills in story telling.

The numbers 2-22 are scattered through out the card and represent the daily emails.  Another series of sparks.

The Star represents the completion of the twelve scrapbook layouts each month.

When I have completed the tasks that correspond with the number on the Bingo card.  I can then "X" out the number, eventually creating a "Bingo", when everything is completed.

Happines is a perfume, you cannot poor on others without getting a few drops on yourself.~~  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is there something I can do today, that will positively impact another?
It doesn't have to be big or spectacular.  Just somethign that says, "I appreciate you."

Family Christmas Album:1991

Organizing and Scrapping by color

Part of "12" is to organize and scrap by color.  We will be using 12 colors to reflect 12 topics.

Color can influence emotions, actions and how we respond to people, places, things and ideas.  When you research "color meaning" on the Internet, there are thousands of results.  Depending on culture and experience, each color represents different things to different people. 

I made my choices based on what I like and what supplies I have on hand, or those that can easily be purchased.  Also based on color combinations, what I thought would look good together, for when themes are combined.

CTMH Cardstock Color:  Topics
Baby Pink:  ME
White:  Holidays
Olive:  Places
Outdoor Denim:  Everyday life
Honey:  Rituals
Black:  People
Sky Blue:  Inspiration
Hollyhock:  Personality
Sunflower:  Things
Pacifica:  Family
Sunset:  Season
Grey Flannel:  Fun

When I hear somebody sigh that life is hard.I am often tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"

TIme to keep the perspective.  It really could be worse.

Family Christmas Album: 1990

Inspirational FIle

Today, I received my pre-class assignment for "12".   The assignment is to create an Inspiriational FIle.  This is to be used to collect photos, and bits & pieces of everyday life for potetenial materials for scrapbooking layouts over the next year.

Naturally, the creative process will be different for everyone and different for each page you make, but I'd like to outline some general steps to get you moving in the right direction.

1. Draft a list of possible page ideas/subjects on each topic card.

2. Clip this list to the appropriate divider on your inspiration file.

3. Review your lists often and begin prioritizing ideas by the degree of effort required and the level of interest you have -- in other words, which subjects do you feel like tackling before others?

4.Start curating photos and other pieces of information and ideas that might be helpful in the design/assembly phase. Slip these items/notes into your inspiration file.

5. As you go about your life, pay attention. Memories and little details will come to you, as you watch, listen, read, converse--interact with everything in your day. Note any specific ideas and hang onto things that might have relevance to subjects on your list. Pay attention also, to other possible subjects that you need to add to your topic lists.

6. When you get excited about one particular page subject or at least settle on a subject, transfer it to your monthly checklist, so it's actually in your cue for the current month. At this point, it's time to begin to ruminate about the details of the design or specifics of the story--how many photos do you envision using and how lengthy (or not) will the journaling need to be?

7. Once you have a few specific ideas on your checklist, revisit the 12 Triggers and see if there is anything there that triggers something for you. I view these a little like design challenges, for example I kept mulling around the idea of a white one word title

Big Pictrue Class: Move More, Eat Well

I am taking a Big Picture Class for 2012 called "Move More, Eat Well"

The first assignment was to create a cover page for my Self Album for the year.

The second assignment was to create a page of where I started and what my goals were for the month.