30 Days of Lists | March 2019 Roundup

You know that I love a mini book, list prompts and finding a little time each day to be crafty. Well, for me, the 30 Days of Lists challenge is a perfect mix of all these things all rolled into one project.

I generally use a mini book from the shop, using the embellishment kit that comes with them to fancy up a few pages before I even begin listing.

I like {love} the process of coordinating bits and baubles to my page designs. And of course I'm always on the hunt for even more goodies to make my texture-loving and layer-loving heart happy.

MINI BOOK SMORGASBORD

The mini books I've listed below have 30 pages, but if you're not opposed to using both the front and back of your journal pages, most any of the mini books in the shop would be fun choices. I've even used a travelers notebook for one of the December 30 Lists challenges, read all about that here, thinking it would be more streamlined for me during a busy time.

List Challenge Smash Book with Rings

Listing Challenge Junk Journal

Mixed Media Journal

Stripes + Glitter Junk Journal

With each new 30 Lists challenge, the next one is in September, I create a unique 30-page journal for me to use and then several more for sale in the shop. So, no worries if there's not one in inventory that you are loving  right now...new journals are always being listed. The journal I'll use for the September challenge will be available for purchase beginning July 30th.

GETTING MY JOURNAL PREPPED

See that folded over kraft bag? I like to tuck a "this is me right now" type of card inside.

Art and Creativity Challenge

I just finished up a free five day online Art and Creativity Challenge hosted by Marieke Blokland. Each day Marieke prepared a video explaining the day's inspiration, her thoughts and methods of interpreting the piece of art all while she shared herself doodling away on her project.

While I don't consider myself artistic, I do think I'm a bit creative. I am certainly no doodler, so this project was definitely outside my comfort zone.

I used a travelers notebook from I Love It All and added a watercolor tag to the cover and inside cover page and then added some embellishments my friend Jeanne gifted me in a birthday goody package.

ART AND CREATIVITY CHALLENGE

Day 1

I had fun interpreting Miro's style into my own style and can see myself doodling away again. I feel that I need to loosen up and let go of perfection. Not that this is perfect, but I was striving more for something perfect and pleasing rather than just going with the flow.

Day 2
Today's doodle project was probably the one that I most resonated with. I liked the search process for inspiraiton, I enjoyed the time I spent interpreting my inspiration piece and I loved adding all the texture.

This is my inspiration:

And this is how it translated to paper:

Day 3
Collage art as inspired by Romare Bearden. If I had spent more time, my interpretation could have been  more artsy, but for now I'm pleased and it put a smile on my face. Personally, if I'm going to play with paper, this would not be my preferred method.

Day 4
Faces have never been my forte, nor my style. Obviously.

Day 5
Blech. I least enjoyed this lesson and didn't really understand how the lesson correlated with the inspiration piece. But, like I said, I am no artist and probably just didn't follow the thought process.

In conclusion, this was a fun, short project and I got to explore some new-to-me art mediums. And that's always a good thing!

Read more of my Art Journaling posts.
Find travelers notebooks in sizes from Micro to A5 in the I Love It All shop here.

I Remember When

I remember when these two beauties wore perfectly pressed cotton Easter dresses with ankle socks and matching Mary Jane shoes.
I remember when the bows in their hair matched their dresses and were {too} big, but so much a part of who they were then.
I remember when we had to pick them up and snuggle them in our arms for a family photo.
I remember when they didn't wear wedge heels or lip gloss.
I remember when their shoe sizes weren't almost the same as mine.

And I will remember this day, too, sometime in the much too near future, when they still lived at home, when they were still my "little" girls and when I was still taller than them.

Trillium | Smoky Mountains

See you next week with another The Sunday Quote!

For the last several years, I have curated the Sunday Photos series, featuring one my photographs  along with a quote or some inspiring words that touched my heart. This year I changed it up to The Sunday Quote, but I do kind of miss sharing photos, too. So, today, it's a photo!

The Possibilities are Endless | This Week in My Gratitude Journal

What a great reminder...the possibilities are endless. We have so many choices, so many options, and there so many different directions life can take us. It can get overwhelming. One thing we can do, though, is to choose joy...and that's when we see how endless the possibilities are.

THIS WEEK IN MY GRATITUDE JOURNAL

In my Original mixed papers journal:
Yay for Mom, she loves being able to see again! And what a blessing it is to have talented doctors and amazing technology that as soon as she woke up, she could already see.

This page comes in the journal with the "possibilities" stamp already on the page for you.

I decided to add some washi tape at the top of the page and was really hoping that the red was more of a magenta like my stamped image. But it wasn't.

I used a marker to make bullet points for 3 things I was grateful for.

In my ring bound journaling card mini:
I've been loving the freedom of journaling a short note, punching a hole and adding it to my ring. These two kissing birds seemed sweet {and the perfect choice} to document that my and my sweetie finally had a chance for a date together. Even if it was only lunch. But wow, was it good!

You can build your own journal like mine with this fun kit to get you started, each kit has a different collection of papers, but they're all fun and colorful. There's even an add-on kit if you're a fan of even more tags and embellishments.

You can see a few more posts showing how I've used the Paper Pack Kit and journaling cards here, here and here.

In my Filofax planner:
This was me trying to be all cool and use the timer feature on my Apple watch to take a photo using my iPhone, which is in a camera grip above my head looking down. Close enough, I say, for the first time!

I keep a small collection of printable planner pages in my Filofax for those times that I have an extra minute or two and can journal on-the-go. See, it jumps from February 4th to March 26th. Nothing wrong with that, I say.

WHAT I USED

This Gratitude Journal.

These personal size planner inserts for my Filofax.

This journaling card set + this DIY journal kit.

WHY I'M USING IT

For 2019, I decided on the Things I Am Grateful For In 2019 cover because I knew that I wouldn't be journaling exclusively in this journal, nor every single day. This cover choice gave me the freedom to go at my own pace without the "guilt" of having to keep up with the '365' promise. You can choose from 4 different cover designs, whatever makes you happiest.

It's never too late to start journaling. And now, the May - December journals are just $28.00.

Here's a blog post with larger photos of the inside pages of the 2019 Gratitude Journal or you can head to the shop and buy it now!

join in

Want to document your own #ilovethursdaythanks? Write down what you're thankful for, it doesn't have to be in a journal or notebook, just list it and then head on over to Instagram to post! Be sure to use the hashtag #ilovethursdaythanks so I can take a peek!