Simplify.
My one little word.
Since even before the end of 2014, I had been working to find ways to simplify my processes.
Simplify my daily life.
Simplify the way I go about taking care of tasks for
my business.
And mostly, just simplify and rid myself of things I've been holding on to because I thought that I needed to.
I'm not a hoarder on any level, but I look at those things and feel clutter. And it's taking up space in my head where new ideas and good memories need to be, not the knowledge that there's clutter all around.
In all honesty, our home is not cluttered. We are neat. Yes, I could be better at cleaning the bathrooms, but we are a tidy family with plenty of room to move around and live. But, just the idea that I have things that need to be weeded out and organized is taking up space, physical space and mental space, and I mean to change that.
I usually create one piece of art each year to keep in my Studio, after all I'm there most of the day, to celebrate my word of the year. A few times, I've even bought charms to go on a necklace to wear. I noticed that I did not have one for every year I've chosen a word. Which made a lightbulb go off in my head!
THE AHA MOMENT
I remember ordering a necklace for my BFF from high school, but I mistakenly ordered two charms with the same name. So I kept it {part of the clutter I was talking about earlier}. I found it and drug out the metal stamping kits Papa let me use years ago, but I never did {also part of the clutter} and practiced on a piece of cardboard to see if I could actually do it. It worked!
My first attempt at stamping is not perfect as you might have seen on
Instagram. I share a lot of in progress projects there, if you ever have the time to browse. Nor was my second attempt perfect, but I did it anyway. After all it's just for me, not a gift, and I kind of love that it's imperfect...allowing me to strive for perfection, or not, my choice.
SOURCES
If you're interested, I have a few sources for you:
BE - from an group deal site, but I've seen tons of Etsy shops that do the same. It was just supposed to be the first initial, but the shop owner kindly agreed to have it say BE, instead of just B
DREAM - from a lovely Etsy shop owner, too! I received the small locket, the vintage key, and the pearl charms as a complete design from
KraftyKash.
JOY - this is actually the charm that started it all, and it was a gift from a crafty, charming, lovely blog reader, and blogger,
Vicki. And she's a super, duper Mom, too!
SIMPLIFY - I did it! I actually followed through on my plan and did not let the supplies gather dust as I waited for the moment I had time to do it. I just did it! Now that I look at it again, I like that it's kind of rounded and wonky, it adds some charm and life, don't you think?
EMBRACE - I did that one, too! It's my second attempt at metal stamping and for this charm I used a smaller set Papa had given me to add the word to the lower part of the key, to the left of the heart. On both charms I made, I used a Sharpie marker to fill in the word to make it stand out and be noticed.
WORDS OF THE YEAR at a glance
Read more about my move to simplify and clear my mind.
First five commenters will receive their own "key" charm {no word stamped on it though} as a special little gift from me!
