My First 365 Page

Well my first week of Project 365 is finished, and I got the first layout done! I'm so excited! This is only the 2nd template I've used, so I didn't get all fancy or anything, but I'm excited about it! I actually just figured out how to add the photos where they belonged in a template yesterday, so today I did my first two. Now that I now how, you can bet I'll be using them a lot! So easy!!! : )

Here is my first week page.


Credits - Template: Lindsay Jane Template 101 - P365 blog freebie, Paper: from Bless Our Nest collab from Divine Digital, Ribbon - Baers Garten Designs Everyday 365 Weeks


And since I'm already doing a post, I might as well show you my very FIRST template creation!


Credits - Template: Studio Hillary Whitespace Template Set #4 - Template B (I am in love with these templates!!!), Paper: from Bless Our Nest collab from Divine Digital.

I hope you are having a fantastic weekend!! I have been sketching different pages I want to do for my art journal this morning - my mind is absolutely spinning about it! I am so excited!

Take care!

Sweet Pea

Oh - my - gosh! If you haven't seen this kit before, I say, run, run as fast as you can and get it!!! Sweet Pea from Createwings Designs. I don't think you can make a bad layout with it!!! The papers are gorgeous, the elements are unbelievable, and the word arts are truly incredible! I am so in love with the whole kit!! I bought it a while back, and for some reason didn't work with it until now, but I am so glad I did! I made this great layout with Jake in it, and as I worked with it, I knew this was the kit I wanted to do my first art journal page with. I have some great stuff to work with, but THIS was what I wanted to use! So, here you are...

Sweet Pea Jake



This I am really proud of. I got up early this morning, and in the quiet just enjoyed adding element after element, and really trying to put some meaning into what I was doing, and I LOVED IT!! (I don't think my computer loved it though - it kept working slower and slower, the more elements I added!) What does this mean to me? We do a lot of gardening, and we do it out of love. We do it to nourish our children's bodies with the finest, most natural vegetables we can give them. And it is such a labor (and I do mean labor) of love!

Grow Life, Grow Love



On a side note, I love to grow flowers as well, and I'm sure as spring and summer come around, you'll start seeing lots of mine here!! : )

On a more personal note...

I feel like I've been doing a lot of CT work on here, and not a lot of personal stuff, so here is little something more personal.

I just recently discovered that scrapbooking does not HAVE to have a photo! Yes, I absolutely love my photos - I'd better, since I plan to take at LEAST 365 of them this year (although I think honestly that I've already taken that many in the last 7 days!) Yes, I love my photos! Anyway, I have done a few pages that I want to share with you that have meaning to me, but no photos.

The first one I did was for a chat challenge at Scrapbook Graphics - I've been to a couple of their chats now, and have really enjoyed it! They are a crazy fun group of ladies!! The challenge was to come up with one word that you wanted to focus on for the new year. This layout was done using the Cranberries N Cream kit from Veronica Spriggs.




The next layout I did was slightly similair, done for a Studio Tangie Creative Team challenge. This time the challenge was if you could focus on just one goal, what would it be? I really have fallen in love with this layout! If you've not been to the Studio Tangie Creative Team blog, I would highly recommend it - they have 4 challenges each month, and by participating in just 2 of them, you get a brand new Studio Tangie exclusive kit! This layout was made using the fantastic Impressions of Kindness collab kit from Scrapbook Graphics.



Lastly, I am participating in the DigiScrapAddicts Scrap Off 2010, and this is my first week's layout for that. I know I don't stand a ghost of a chance against the wonderful scrappers there, so I am just focusing on making layouts I love. I actually just joined Studio Tangie's Art Journal Caravan, and while reading through the info I just got last night, it hit me that all this time I've been focusing on making layouts that other people will like. I need to make layouts that I love. I've found most of my life, in art, I've been trying to make things to please others - be it the jewelry I spent so much time making, trying to make items that would sell, rather than pieces that I loved; or the knitting that I did to relax, but quit because I never felt like I was good enough at it because I wasn't willing to teach myself all the different stitches; or the baking I do, always trying to figure out what people will want to purchase, rather than just making things my family and I love. I don't want to get burned out on scrapping because I'm trying so hard to figure out what others want. I want to scrap what I want! So, that is the story behind this layout, and why you may see a difference in my work from now on.

In The World of Purring Cats from BlackCat Designs

Here is a lovely new kit from BlackCat Designs, titled In The World of Purring Cats It will be in her store starting tomorrow!



And here are my layouts:

Improvise



Time Spent with Cats

ONE from Digi_licious Designs

Here is a great kit from Digi_licious Designs called One! It's a great kit for scrapping birthday pictures!!



And here are my layouts from it:

Lily's 2nd Birthday



Elizabeth's 9th Birthday

Mammoth New Year Sale

Digi_licious Designs is having a Mammoth New Year Sale, with 50% off everything!! Check it out here

Happy New Year!!!

To my lovely readers:

May you have a wonderful New Year!

May you enjoy happiness and health...
may you experience beauty and wonder...
may you have lots of time to scrapbook and enjoy everything else you want to do without feeling guilty...
may you love and be loved...
and may you have everything your heart desires.
That is my wish for you this day and always!

My pledge to myself this year is that I will start a Project 365, and start journaling. I realize that I have done far too little to document my life and the lives of my family, and I need to change that NOW! To that end, I have started a Project 365 blog - you can see it here. Sorry, the journaling will be private. : )

Take care!