create.share.love

One Little Word® 2016 // February

In February our prompt from the One Little Word class* was to pick one thing we want to practice throughout the month. I decided to turn off my phone at 8pm. The main reason behind this was the fact that I don't like it how many times I just mindlessly scroll through Instagram or check my emails every three minutes. I wanted to be more present in the evenings. I wanted to make more stuff.

It didn't mean that I was completely offline after 8pm. I still worked on my computer, read blogs or took a few minutes to scroll through Pinterest. My "real" problem is my phone, not that I am online. I reach for my phone SO many times in an hour it's almost a little bit embarassing to admit. And there is absolutely no reason to pick up my phone that often.

During that month of practice I realized, that I can actually do it. It is totally possible to turn off my phone in the evening and not feeling about missing something important. Some evenings (especially when I got home later) I wasn't successful. But that's okay. The goal is not to be perfect on each and every day. The goal is to keep trying and getting back on track after a day (or a few days) of not being successful.

READ MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY WITH ONE LITTLE WORD HERE
why I chose "light" // January //

one little word 2015: quality // one little word 2014: open

SUPPLIES I USED
clear album made by jamaica makes, one little word mini kit 2016, printables from the one little word class, precision pen in #03, precision pen in #01, black StazOn ink pad, thick white cardstock from StampinUp

*One Little Word® is a concept created by Ali Edwards where you pick a word at the beginning of the year. You work with your word on a year long journey. You can find out more about the class and sign up here.

One Little Word® 2016 // January

Another year, another set of prompts from the One Little Word class. I am super excited to work with my new word this year. I'm looking forward to all the changes this journey will bring and can't wait to see all the progress I make.

I use again a 5x7 mini album to document the prompts each month. This time I use one of jamaica makes clear albums (which will be available today in her shop). I really really love the see through effect. Especially because my word is "light".

I stamped the words "one little word" from this stamp set on the cover itself with black StazOn ink. For my next page I painted these big alphas white and adhered them to a white piece of cardstock. 

At the beginning of the year we always get invited to take a photo of ourselves. Although I don't take that many photos of me alone smiling at the camera I really appreciate this prompt because it's interesting to look back and see how I changed over the years.

On the right you can see the quote I picked for this year. "Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light" by Yogi Bhajan. I know nothing about him but this quote resonates with me.

I bought the 2016 one little word mini kit to get that stamp set. I like that I can easily add some color to my spreads this way. And that stamp set will be used each and every year. Below the quote (you almost can't see it) I added a clear star I had in my stash.

The first month is always a little bit intense word wise. You set your intentions and write about your expectations. For the right side I used the text from this blog post and printed it out. 

On this page you can see that I use a combination of German and English in my album. I don't really care about the fact, that it's not the same language on each and every page. Some things can be said better in English, some in German.

READ MORE ABOUT MY ONE LITTLE WORD POSTS HERE
why I chose "light" //

one little word 2015: quality // one little word 2014: open

SUPPLIES I USED
clear album made by jamaica makes, one little word stamp set 2015, one little word mini kit 2016, printables from the one little word class, big alphas from StudioCalico which I painted white, precision pen in #03, precision pen in #01, black StazOn ink pad, red Memento Luxe ink pad, sahara sand StampinUp ink pad, thick white cardstock from StampinUp

*One Little Word® is a concept created by Ali Edwards where you pick a word at the beginning of the year. You work with your word on a year long journey. You can find out more about the class and sign up here.

Stash Less // The Beginning

Some time ago I read on The Craft Sessions about Felicia's project "Stash Less". It's about having a meaningful stash of supplies. This concept appealed to me from the first time I read about it and so I decided to start with it sometime in the future. But the future never arrived.

Fast forward to the time I found my one little word "light". My one little word is about having less, being content with less and about feeling lighter through the process of reducing my belongings. There are many areas in my life where I just have too much stuff; clothes, scrapbooking supplies, yarn, fabric and knitting supplies. I am some sort of a hoarder. I like to have pretty things in my stash and not using it because it is too beautiful and it would be a disaster if I'd waste that precious piece of paper/yarn/fabric. 

Felicia says it perfectly:

"Over time I made things and wanted to make more things. I purchased a metre of fabric here, and some yarn there. Sometimes it was on sale but more often because it was pretty and I wanted to make X with it. And sometimes I purchased even though I knew I didn't have time to make the X, because I wanted the option to make it as soon as I had the time. But the time never came."

That's exactly how I feel. There is too much stuff I don't use. Not because it's not beautiful, but because I don't want to ruin it. Whenever I do work on a new project I almost always go out and buy new supplies. And while buing new supplies for my new project I occasionally see other things I really, really need to have but in the end it just goes into one of my many boxes and stays there, waiting for THE "perfect" project.

To finally go stash less* (which doesn't mean, to have absoulutely zero stash - it's about having a small and meaningful stash) I have two options: A) give away my stuff or B) make something with what I have. I'll do a mix of both: giving away or selling what I don't know how to use or what I don't like anymore and making something with the remaining items.

With this project I also want to improve my knitting and sewing skills. So I set the goal to sew or knit 10 garments this year. With those two things in mind I came up with a seven step plan:

1. go through all of my fabric and yarn and make two piles; one for keeping (= using) and one for giving away/selling
2. make a list of all the remaining fabric and yarn. Write down exactly how much of each fabric and how many skeins of yarn I have
3. clear out my closet and decide which items I need and want to add to my wardrobe
4. brainstorm possible projects that can be made with the yarn/fabric I already have
5. search for patterns which would work for what I have in mind; either from the ones I already have or new ones
6. make a final list about which fabric/yarn will be used for which project with which pattern
7. start working

I already started with step one and will soon move over to step two. I will share an update when I completed step three which will hopefully be sometime in February.

*Please note, that for the stash less project I only focus on my yarn and fabric stash. Craft supplies and clothes will get their own project because they are a little bit different to handle.

 

Stash Less is about having a small and meaningful stash, created by Felicia from The Craft Sessions.

 

One Little Word 2016 | Light

My One Little Word* for 2016 is LIGHT. I picked the word a few weeks ago and am super excited to start my journey with it. This year will be my third year joining the online class. Like the past two years I will document it again in a 5x7 minibook (I have something fun planned for the cover of the album this year - stay tuned).

So, why did I pick this word? There is always so much going on in my life. I have this feeling, I always have to make so much in my days. There are always plans of what I want to accomplish or need to do. And sometimes it's just too much. This year I want to focus on feeling light. On being okay with less. Less stuff, less time online, less crappy food, less expectations. I want to search for fun things in my life that make me happy. I want to feel light and carefree.

There are many things I can do to feel lighter:

• getting rid of stuff I don't love and use anymore (especially in my closet and craft room)
• finally use all the crafty stuff I keep hoarding for several years now
• start using all the wool and fabric I have in boxes (inspired by the stash less blog series)
• cleaning my computer and getting rid of digital clutter
• being less online and embrace the time offline
• better eating (more vegetables, less sweets) and working out more (one of my goals for 2016 is to work out 100 times - more about this on Thursday)
• investing time and energy into my relationship, spending more time with my boyfriend
• saying NO more often
• spending less money on things I don't really need
• creating a meaningful morning routine where I have enough time

These are just a few examples of where I hope this journey will lead me. I don't know yet, what exactly will be my action items or what will be my main focus. But I'm excited to learn all of that in the following months while working on the prompts from the class.

*One Little Word® is a concept created by Ali Edwards where you pick a word at the beginning of the year. You work with your word on a year long journey. You can find out more about and sign up for the class here. 

That heart talisman in the photo is from soulmantras.com. It's one of the ways I make my word visible. The "one little word" word art in the photo came with last years class content.