...and the winner is!

The winner of the Ella Publishing e-Book, Double-Page Design, is...

Andrea said...

hi there! i get the ella newsletter, like ella on facebook.. and have your blog button on my blog of course!!
what project did i like the most??? thats so hard! i did the halloween treat bags, christmas tags, printed out the "each day is a gift" art.. bought some art.. am working on my ornament/decorations mini album.. and finally completed my summer in the life book!!! that one was probably my favorite!

December 28, 2010 9:35 AM 

Contact me and I'll send your winner's code along to you. Congrats!

Getting ready to watch a movie with my Sweetie now, so Happy New Year to you all! Come back here at 12:01 a.m. tonight, this morning {????} when I'll be posting an exciting new project I'm participating in!

Oh, and if you're still looking for a cute {at least I think it is} calendar, check this out!

ready for the new year :: subway art calendar

Hmmm, do you notice how well the LILAC, MANDARIN, CARIBBEAN and PINK SORBET twine from The Twinery coordinates so well with the calendar pages? You can buy the colors individually, or in a Sampler Pack. All I did was wrap two strands of each color through the hole in my magnet clip...instant cuteness!

These will print 4 to an 8.5x11 page. You could also have this printed on photo paper if you don't have a color printer at home. If you are planning to print at home, be sure to choose the borderless page option so that the image will print to the edges.

You'll also want to check out this post with calendar creations from Cheryl and Francine Clouden and this one and this one, too! I tell you, the gals at write.click.scrapbook. are amazingly talented...love their creativity! And there's an adorable calendar download from The Twinery that has room for you to jot down a thing or two...oh, and here's another cute one.

Here's you're free subway art calendar download. I'll post the May-August page in mid-April, so check back with me then. Until then...here's a look a look at January-April trimmed and corners rounded!

Enjoy and Happy New Year to you all!

snapshots in time | featured at creativity prompt

I was so pleased to have been guest hosting over at Creativity Prompt. I have used Avital’s downloads and have even been featured there on the blog before! 

I love the fact that I can capture memories in a format that is lovely and pleasing to the eye. While I do create scrapbook layouts, my first love is really the mini-album. I love that I can create little snippets of our family history in a format that is user-friendly…no one minds flipping through a mini whereas it is somewhat more difficult to pull out the 12×12 scrapbook.

Snapshots In Time 

A new year is almost upon us, can you believe it? With a new year, it almost always has us thinking of new ways to reinvent ourselves, to make ourselves better versions of who we already are. With that in mind, I’m sharing with you today a mini-book to help you track your progress throughout 2011.

There are a number of options for this lovely little journal and I’d like to suggest a few ways you might want to use the downloads I’ve designed for you. They are titled "month-in-review" and these and other downloads are all available in the sidebar of my blog. I’m using this mini-album kit from my shop as the base for my journal.

EDITED TO ADD:  This free download has now expired, but here's where you can find the 2013 Month-In-Review mini book. 

A sweet way to track and remember the monthly milestones of your newborn baby:

Never forget birthdays again! Use these pages as a place to permanently record important birthdates and anniversaries:

Resolutions? Weight loss goals? Highlight your monthly accomplishments as a reminder of how strong you really are:

Journal your One Little Word each month {my word is JOY} or even Gratitudes:

Jot family highlights each month as they happen and include photos adhered back-to-back:

School related topics:
Begin this journal at the start of the school year and highlight the activities, achievements and milestones of your student

Use it to chronicle the months leading up to your child’s Senior Year of high school

journal your gratitudes :: the album

Goodness...I just wasn't feeling the mojo with my journal. I adored my 2010 album so, so  much that I was having a hard time recreating something that I thought could even compare.

In real life, the green is not quite as "pukey" as it appears here although the cover is bright and cheerful for sure. I used a 5x7 Canvas Art Board cover from Zutter {which I also used on this mini album} first painting it light blue, then dabbing some paint off and coating it with lime green. After dabbing and swishing the paint brush around, I brushed some red paint at the edges and used a tissue to dab most of it off.

The turquoise numbers and wording are American Crafts rub-ons and I used my letter stamps to spell out gratitude, blessing and joy. You might notice that I wrapped Lemondrop baker's twine from The Twinery around my 2" binder ring and through the holes of my bookplate.

I decided to mix in a variety of page sizes and shapes to give my journal more interest, that was one feature of my 2010 album that I really enjoyed. So, as I was assembling my album to write this post, I actually ended up creating a few more pages!

Making Memories journal spot | Anna Griffin journal spot

Martha Stewart label | manila shipping tag and transparency from Hobby Lobby

Anna Griffin journal spot | menu planner from Michael's Dollar bin

Teresa Collins journal spot | studio g stamp

Colorbok {?} journal spot | ek success real estate punch

Avery labels | Anna Griffin journal spot and Hobby Lobby transparency

Hello label from WalMart | Cosmo Cricket journal spot

Colorbok {?} journal spots | time card from Office Depot

Stampin' Up scallop punch | Avery labels

Michael's Dollar bin | Fiskars punch

Teresa Collins journal spot | {?}

Teresa Collins journal spot | ek success Real Estate punch

Post-It Notes | journaling card

Colorbok journal spots | ek success Real Estate punch

Cosmo Cricket journal spot | Fiskars Threading Waters border punch

craft supply | Martha Stewart label

Top Note die cut | craft supply

label from Dollar Tree | back cover made by adhering two pieces of chipboard together

sweet little touches achieved by using baker's twine from The Twinery

I'm not sure how often I will write in my journal...not as often as daily but more often than weekly. And for the one-sided patterned papers, I might include a photo on the reverse side and just add journaling on top of that. I'll be sharing my pages throughout the year and how I've included bits of memorabilia and photos to tell the story of my 2011 gratitudes.

If you think you'd like to journal your gratitudes, but aren't into making a journal this involved, you could try to embellish a spiral bound index notebook, make a cover for a notepad or even use a composition book and pretty up the cover a bit.  You might want to do a digital album, much like Karen Grunberg's {she provides a free template for you}. Don't let the "pretty" stop you, after all, that's not what it's all about. It is about making ourselves more aware of the bounties in our life.

I would love it if you would share a link with me to your own Gratitude Journal so that I can be inspired by you! Don't forget that clicking on the photos brings them up in a new window in a larger size.

Here, here, and here are links to other posts referring to the Gratitude Journal.

NOTE  |  The new Gratitude Journal is now available in the shop!

journal your gratitudes :: the prep

Call it what you like...journal, diary, mini-album or a combination of all three. I'm using mine to journal my gratitudes for 2o11. Would you like to join me in being aware of the little things in our life that bring joy?

the mess called my desk  ::  lots of projects waiting for completion

The secret to the success of this journal, for me at least, was the small size. I didn't feel compelled to chronicle every detail of my day, I just chose one thing that made me feel happy and fulfilled. My journal stayed on my craft desk, as I spend quite a bit of time there during the day, and when the whim struck me, I wrote. I had more success capturing my thoughts during the day whereas you might have better luck keeping yours on your nightstand and write before nodding off to sleep. Do what works for you.

The mini-album I made to journal my 2010 Gratitudes has been one of my most viewed  projects on the blog and in my Flickr gallery. Thanks for your kind words, it warms my heart and makes me smile!

I finally decided on a format and layout for my journal, here are the measurements and supplies:

• 2 5x7 chipboard covers 
• patterned cardstock sized to 6.50 x 4.50 {like you would find in a matte stack} - most pages are this size
• patterned paper sized to 6x4, since I already had a large supply cut to that size - just a few in this size
• scrap pieces of patterned transparencies {from my December Daily}that are sized to 6.50 x 4.00
• numerous journaling spots, stickers, labels, journaling cards and tags
• 2 binder rings
• corner rounder, border punch, scalloped craft scissors, chipboard letter, letter stickers, stamps
• journaling card downloads from Karen Grunberg {the same ones I used in the Graduation Album for my son, Zach}

 Here are the pages with bare embellishments and no holes punched:

Don't forget that clicking on the photos will open them up in a new window in a larger size.

Hoping that you'll have some time to get some pages created before we meet back up with one another later this afternoon when I'll show you the completed Gratitudes Journal, 2011 edition. And here's the link to leave your comments for 5 chances at your very own copy of the latest Ella Publishing e-Book!

EDITED TO ADD | The new Gratitude Journal is in the shop and ready to ship!