One Little Word - 2018

Every year for about the last ten, I've been participating in some fashion in the One Little Word adventure created by Ali Edwards. Although every word I've chosen has not been a great success, I have learned so much about myself in the process of choosing and working with a single word each year. The words I've chosen, in no particular order, were joy, organize, focus, write, solace, me, time, and create. For some of those, I did almost nothing besides choose a word; with some, I worked regularly on prompts in Ali's class, which I found more rewarding than simply choosing a word I didn't think much about for the rest of the year.

2017's One Little Word

Last year's word was create, and I had a fair amount of success with it, though I admit it was less action-inspiring than I originally thought when I chose it in early 2017. My main intention for this word was to be more creative in my daily life--to create more generally, but also to take a more active role in my life, rather than being a sort of passive observer.

I was successful in that endeavor in several ways, and I created a lot of scrapbook pages, finally finishing the Florida vacation album from 2014, completing the October vacation album from that same year, and wrapping up the 2014's yearbook as well. I also made great progress on 2015, which I hope to finish in early this year.

Choosing 2018's Word

As last year began its descent towards December, I started thinking about what I wanted in my life for 2018, and one word kept swimming to the top of my mind.

This year, I will turn 50.

I still have to let that sink in!

I've always wanted to "grow old gracefully," but I admit, the prospect of this particular milestone has caused me some emotional turbulence. And the truth is, grace is simply not the energy I need to successfully proceed through this particular transition.

I need to be strong, resilient, passionate, energized, and brave.

I need to be, in One Little Word, FIERCE.

And so, that is the word I have chosen to guide me through 2018, a word that encompasses all of those other words and more, as I cross the finish line of my forites, and begin the journey into my fifties.

So Far, So Good

I wasn't going to take Ali's class this year, but I changed my mind. I know that I could work with previous class content myself, create my own project, but I also know that I will be more likely to do the work on a monthly basis if I pay for the class. I also bought some supplies from Ali's shop, including the pink album and the main kit. I hope to share my progress with the album as I go.

And I've watched the class videos and begun work on the prompts. Keeping a One Little Word journal has worked well for me in the past, so I'm continuing that practice. I set up a Pinterest board for my word, as I've done in previous years, and I've discovered some amazing quotes already. 

Working with this word so far, it's been quite abundantly obvious that I made the right choice for me, for this year. (I also have an idea of how to augment my One Little Word class work by selecting some fierce women to feature in my album somehow, but more on that as I develop the idea.)

I'm super excited to see where FIERCE takes me this year and how my life is influenced by the choice to develop my own fierceness in the months to come.

What about you? What's your word for 2018?

2017 Awesome Ladies Project Album

Doesn't it feel great to complete a project? I mean, I love the process, too, but finishing a project makes me feel such a sense of satisfaction.

On Friday, I finished my 2017 Awesome Ladies Project album, admittedly a little late, but I'm so happy with the finished pages. Early in the year, I chose a mini album with a variety of page bases by Dear Lizzy to contain my layouts, one topic per month, and I put together a kit of supplies, based on a Dear Lizzy collection full of lovely pastel colors, including one of my favorite shades of purple. I added some other bits and pieces to give myself a wider selection of embellishments, and I created some unity by scattering those throughout the album.


The Intro Pages

The page on the left is an acrylic stripe, and I layered all kinds of die cuts, most from Elle's Studio, and a ticket I punched from patterned paper. In the album, the left page lays on top of the right pocket page, the introduction to the album, which also contains some puffy camera stickers by Freckled Fawn which pop up again and again.


January - Right Now

For this topic, all about my right-now life at the beginning of 2017, I did a fair amount of writing, probably more than for any of ther other pages. I love that I had an "I Love Right Now" journaling card to use! The photo is a mirror selfie, part of the challenge for this month, and the canvas page on the right adds a great texture background.


February - Favorites

For simplicity's sake, I chose just one favorite for this topic--coffee--though I am drinking out of my favorite cup in the photo, so I suppose that counts as two. I so love that background patterned paper! And I liked including so many different kinds of embellishments on this page.


March - Routine

A simple little pocket page for this topic, all about a daily routine that changed when my husband took a different job. Without this prompt, I might not have documented this part of our daily life that is so very different, now, and I'm glad I did.


April - Weather

Three different photos, all in the month of April, three different kinds of weather. That's Michigan for you, and spring is a time when the weather can be all over the place. I used the yellow patterned paper on the right side page to echo the bright sunshine in that photo, as well as coordinate with the forsythia in the #2 photo on the left. I did go a little astray with the color scheme to include that fabric frame, but I think it works, and I like how there's both coordination and contrast between the two pages, just like the contrast between the weather on three different April days.


May - Family

The page on the right is another patterned acrylic page, and at first, I didn't have that pink polka dot patterned paper (say that three times fast!) there. But while I liked the placement of the journaling card, the gap looked odd, both on the front and back, so I added paper. I also went back and forth on whether to add anything to that strip, deciding to go simple and leave it blank. It is a lovely color, I think.


June - Travel

The left side being the back of the previous page, the same thing goes with that strip of paper. Originally, I thought I might use it for journaling, but I decided the right page would be plenty of room for the story of a special weekend trip I took to East Lansing, Michigan, for my birthday last year.


July - Home

I think this was the only topic that prompted two stories, and I decided to go with it and tell them both.


August - Outdoors

Originally, I only had two photos selected for this story about one of my favorite outdoor places where I spent a lot of time in 2017. But then I decided to add that photo of me with that contented smile that expresses my feelings about this lovely park. I only had one O left in the package of Thickers I used for the title, so I used zeros instead. I also used a hashtag and period from that set as embellishments on the right side page.


September - Read

Of all the layouts, this one is my favorite. I used an rukristin stamp to create the labels for journaling (I used the same stamp on the August layout, too.) Since my personal story about reading in 2017 had to do with my struggle with progressive lenses, I included two glasses stickers, though one of those may be hard to see--it serves as the shelf on which the title is situated. Have I mentioned how much I love that floral patterned paper? And the purple, of course. I love that color of purple. I did have to use an older Stampin' Up! marker as ink to stamp the labels, as I didn't have any other ink that matched.


October - Self

The content for October prompted the most ideas. There are so many stories I want to tell about me, which is a good thing. But because I chose a photo of myself from a trip my husband and I took for our 15th anniversary last October, me on the beach in Naragansett, Rhode Island, I decided to focus on just one story semi-related to the photo. (There will be many other albums to contain all those stories!) I chose patterned papers reminiscent of the sea, and the yellow heart paper as a hint of autumn. I think this is my second favorite layout.


November - Food

Okay, I had trouble with this page. That's why it looks so oddly shaped in the photo. I didn't have enough of either patterned paper to span the whole 6x8 canvas, so I had to use strips, and when I adhered the patterned papers down, somehow, the card stock backing got curled. I don't think I could do that again if I tried, but I couldn't really find a way to fix it. I just brayered it to get as much of the curl out as I could and stubbornly soldiered on.

I also used an rukristin stamp on this page, one from the Currently List set. The sentiment on the cork piece goes along nicely with the story about how I made Thanksgiving more enjoyable by going out to eat with my husband and my nephew, rather than forcing myself to cook the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Honestly, though there are things I like about this page, it's probably my least favorite.


December - Tradition

This one, I love. Kind of a monochrome scheme with just a little bit of color in the puffy sticker and the enamel hearts. I used that same rukristin stamp to create the labels for journaling, and I love that gold star vellum in the background, how the stars echo the lights in the photo. This was a story that didn't make it into my Journal Your Christmas album this year, but perfectly rounded out my Awesome Ladies Project.


Overall, this was a fun and meaningful album of stories that came together easily (for the most part). I liked having a kit to work from, though I admit it was a challenge to create autumn-flavored pages for October and November with the pastel papers and embellishments I chose. I like challenges, though, because that's how I stretch my creativity and grow my skills in telling my stories, my way.

Please take a few moments to check out the Awesome Ladies website. Kristin creates amazing, inspiring content that will definitely make you want to tell your stories your way, and there's a whole community of support there, too.

Welcome, 2018!

In my last post, I caught up on what had been going on the second half of 2017. December was a whirlwind, as always, with the holidays in full swing and all the activities Christmas revelry entails.

Holidays, my darlings, are hard work.

That being said, I had a blast this year. Daniel and I decided to stay home and return to some of our Christmas traditions that we missed in 2016 because we traveled to be with extended family. Our nephew joined us for the festivities, and it was a sweet, cozy, quiet holiday we all three enjoyed.

And then...a New Year to ring in! 2018. Hard to believe, though I say that every single year. Sometimes, almost always, it staggers me how quickly time passes, even while I intend (and often succeed) in savoring moments so that time doesn't drag me so quickly forward.

I scribbled a poem (if we can agree that entering text into the Notes app on my iPhone can be referred to as "scribbling') on December 15th that relates to my feelings on time. Take a look:

***

Time Reflected

Time pretends

to move

at the same pace

equi-distant chase

around the empty space

between then

and now

and then again.

Time feels

like flying back and forth

among memories

and moments

and all the things you thought

you’d do and never did.

Time lies

not only between

the plans you make

and their fruition,

or hopeless lack

thereof,

but also in

the vague flash

of what happened,

and the flicker of

what could have been…

…and what is.

***

It's been a LONG time since I wrote anything remotely creative, so it's creaky, I admit. But it did feel good to have creative inspiration tug at me, even in the midst of all the hustle-bustle of holiday preparation. And I'm proud of myself for taking a couple minutes to listen to inspiration and jot down those words swirling in my mind. It's one of the ways my One Little Word--CREATE--manifested itself in real effect.

In these early days of this New Year, as 2018 gets off the ground, I am excited and full of great expectations of the year ahead.

What's going on for you in 2018?