I have completed all the January birthday cards which is really a shocker because I usually forget my nephew's birthday (which is tomorrow) and end up sending his card at least a week late. He should have received it earlier this week.
My best friend Helen's card is done but now I am making her a gift (a last minute decision) so she may not get hers on time but I think she will forgive me.
Here is a picture of my nephew's card.
What do you put on a card for a 25 year old? I put minions lol
The minion was an SVG that I downloaded years ago. I can't even figure out from where which is sad because it is a set of 3 and very well done. I will keep looking and will add a link if I can find the source.
The background was embossed with the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday folder.
So, are you asking yourself, how on earth is she keeping herself on track when she is normally very scatter brained this time of year?
Bullet Journaling!
I'm not sure how I missed the start of this trend (I think it started a few years ago) but it is blowing up big now. Planners and Bullet Journals are becoming a huge thing which is rather amazing considering how almost everything else in the world has moved to paperless online tech.
I think the average person is figuring out what all of us crafters have know all along.....you cannot beat the feel of paper in your hands, or gripping a pen or brush in your fingers. The thrill of that first stroke on the plain page.
Most craft stores have created entire planner/journal sections in their stores with large varieties of books, pens, stamps and stickers....and who could forget washi tape!
I started a practice journal in December just to see if 1. did I like the process? 2. would I keep at it or give up after a couple days?
Turns out I like it. And I keep at it. And it keeps me on track (go figure lol)
You can find thousands of videos on YouTube to give you ideas but the bottom line is it has to work for you. A regular planner didn't do that for me. It was too rigid with no creativity.
I love the fully decorated, super fancy bullet journals but I don't have time for that (I have a full time job and craft projects to make other than just creating a journal)
Here is the article that really explained bullet journaling for me and made me think I could do this and enjoy it.
My style is a happy medium. Functional, simple with a bit of creativity. It doesn't take me days to create a spread, usually around an hour or 2 and I can see what I need at a glance.
Want to see my journal?
This is my journal cover. Isn't it gorgeous? Do you need one this fancy? No! But for me, I did. This is important to me. I am trying to be more organized in how I do a lot of different things this year. Yes, I can use any notebook but I thought if it looks important and 'impressive' then I will feel like it is important to use it. Yeah, it is all a mental game inside my head but it works for me! lol
I purchased my journal at Oberon Designs. You might recall that I purchased a journal from them last spring that I use for sketching. I love their stuff!!!
You can find your own gorgeous leather journal here.
This is my 2018 cover page. I drew the twig wreath and then wrote in the center (and realized my handwriting is so atrocious that I needed to cover it up! lol)
Thank goodness for my Cricut Explore! I had it write up the sentiment, cut it out on a circle and cut another blue layer circle to go under it.
Very simple, very clean, actually legible lol
Here is my January cover. I am practicing my handwriting but seriously, it is really bad! So my Cricut rescued me again. It is off center because it is covering my horrible handwriting lol
I drew the snowman and snowflakes :-) My overall theme for January is basically winter (snow, cold).
This is one of my January weekly spreads. I free-handed all the boxes and 'attached' them with tape and push pins :-)
The baby polar bear is a stamp from Stampendous! I drew the his snowman companion.
As you can see, clean, simple with a tiny bit of "art".
I've started setting up my February pages. Here is my cover and that short, half-week at the beginning of the month.
I used stencils to create the boxes and little extras (arrows, diamonds, triangles)
I purchased my stencil set on ebay but you can find them all over the internet. Just search for journal stencils.
The tiny calendar you will see on all my spreads is a stamp set. I purchased it on Amazon.
I wanted to convey love without all the hearts and flowers.
They aren't perfect but I like them. They are colored with Inktense Pencils. The background has a blue tint. I used Pan Pastels rubbed onto the corners.
Did you know this year is the Year of the Dog? I don't think these guys did either from the looks on their faces lol
I drew all the large lanterns to use for my daily entries, To Do list and weekly quote. The tiny banners (created using stencils) at the top right are for tracking my food log and daily steps.
I printed the year of the dog image from the internet.
The confused dogs are from the Mini Cats and Dogs/Crazy Dogs set from Tim Holtz. They were colored with Prismacolor Pencils as were all the lanterns.
Here is my vacation tracker spread.
The left page is a packing list.
The right is a savings tracker. I need to save up some big bucks so I can buy my plane ticket!
Both of these pages were drawn free hand.
And lastly...
I needed something to hold all my goodies....stencils, stamps and pens.
This was a cosmetic bag I purchased from MyVinylDirect. I was going to make some as Christmas presents. I bought 2 to practice on. Finished one. Here is the other that was still sitting blank on the shelf.
Now it is the perfect journal supplies pouch! Cricut to the rescue again!!!
So now you are all caught up with what I've been up to!
I wish you all a fabulous 2018!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!!!
