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One Little Word® 2019 | BREATHE

My One Little Word® for 2019 is BREATHE.

I am joining Ali Edwards and her One Little Word® class for the sixth time this year and like always at the beginning of the new year, I am super excited to learn more about the word I picked. Like I mentioned here in this Instagram post, my year with WILD in 2018 wasn't the best. I didn't really connect with that word. I learned that I tried to force something that I don't really want or need in my life.

My new word came to me back in September. It wasn't that I was actively searching for it but I started to brainstorm a few ideas. I asked myself: What do I need most? The answers were: Yoga. Calmness. No stress. Peace. No pressure (I don't have to do it all!). Taking a break. Moments to pause. Meditation. Take a deep breath. A space for positive things. Mindfulness.

All of this (and even more) is "breathe" for me.

Making my word visible and documenting my journey

(01) To make my word visible in our house I bought a salvaged word from Colleen Attara. If you never received a package from her you are definitely missing out on something. She puts so much love in her packages and it's pure joy to open it.

(02) Another way of making my word visible is to keep a pocket talisman from soulmantras close by. In addition to the heart talisman I also got a five deep breaths key chain. Liz wrote about the "five deep breaths" practice here on her blog and her words really spoke to me. In addition to these two things I also have a Snowflake Obsidian Stone. I reveived this one from her, when I ordered my pocket talisman in 2017. I don't know if I believe in the power of stones or not. But I really like the idea behind having a mantra and an object that represents that mantra.

(03) In the past I always used a minibook (held together with book rings) to document my journey and the answers to the prompts from the class. This year I'll try something new. I have a few of these great notebooks at home which I got from past kits from The Crafter's Box (July Kit and August Kit). The notebook is a mix of watercolor and mixed media paper. I want to remove pressure to create the perfect album and hope that this notebook will do the trick. I want to have a place where I can add all sorts of things related to my word. Magazine clippings, inspiring quotes, answers to the prompts and maybe some sketches. Nothing perfect, just documenting how this word becomes part of my life.

(04) Because I decided to work with a notebook, all embellishments and stuff I add to it have to be very flat. I picked everything from my stash (all items are from Ali Edwards and her past One Little Word® kits) and put them in one of these great pouches from Studio Calico (their kits (used to?) come in these). I don't know yet, what I will use, but to keep everything in one place definitely makes it easier.

 

READ MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY WITH MY ONE LITTLE WORD® HERE
one little word® 2018: WILD
one little word® 2017: BALANCE
one little word® 2016: LIGHT
one little word® 2015:  QUALITY
one little word® 2014: OPEN

One Little Word® 2018 | January

New year, new word, new spreads to share with you. I really enjoy picking a word each year, invite it into my life while following the prompts from the One Little Word® class and also creating the pages for my album. Of course I will continue to share my spreads here on the blog.

This year I decided to use a box to keep all my supplies in one place. This way it's super easy to work anywhere in the house (or outside) on my album. In my box I have:

• Main Kit from Ali Edwards
• Stamps I collected over the years (all are related to One Little Word®)
• WILD Story Kit™.
  I love that I have now a perfect opportunity to use all those leftovers from that kit.
• 3x8 album from Jamaica Makes.
  To work with a different size this year will be super interesting.
• "note to self" notepad from Ali Edwards.

 

January is always a very intense month because you have to learn a lot about your word and which direction you want to go. But I really like this first prompt. It's intense, but really important.

For my title page I used the smaller Salvaged word from Colleen Attera.

For my Intentions page I copied the words from this blog post (I added a sixth focus, but that's a private one).

This year I will keep all my notes I'm taking while watching the class videos. I added a section at the back of my album for those notes. Sometimes I write down something that won't end up in my final pages and this way I have a place for the thoughts and ideas I had.

My album is a mix of German and English. Some things can be said better in German, some better in English. I don't plan out which parts are written in German or English, it just happens naturally.

 

READ MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY WITH MY ONE LITTLE WORD HERE
why I chose WILD //

one little word® 2017: BALANCE // one little word® 2016: LIGHT // one little word® 2015:  QUALITY // one little word® 2014: OPEN

BASIC SUPPLIES
several items (stickers, stamp sets, notepad) from the 2018 selection at AliEdwards.com, all printables are part of the class, precision pen in #03, black StazOn ink pad

*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® 2018 | WILD

My One Little Word® for 2018 is WILD.

This word works on different levels. I want to do something new and exciting in 2018. I want to make wild decisions. Do something, I never did before. Expanding my comfort zone. I want to learn new things and improve my skills. I want to be more outdoors, literally in the wild.

I participate in Ali's class again next year but as always, will use my own album. I fell in love with the 3x8 size and thankfully have another album from Jamaica Makes in my stash. I love to make my word visible with my Salvaged word from Colleen Attera and whole heart pocket talisman from Soulmantras. I also started a Pinterest board a few weeks ago to collect quotes and other stuff about my word.

I didn't set any goals for 2018 but there are some areas I want to focus on and my word will be my guidance through the upcoming year:

• Focus on a handmade wardrobe and don't buy any new clothes
  This means I have to improve my sewing skills and learn how to make new things like Jeans or Underwear.
• Focus on being more outdoors
  I love to be outdoors, but I always have so much on my plate that I just don't find enough time for this. In 2018 I want to change that.
• Focus on reducing my belongings
  How wild would it be to give away almost everything I own? I like the idea of just keeping what I truly love and need. Minimalism and slow living are really speaking to me right now. In this area I always talk about "my" belongings, because I can't decide for others what and how much they want to keep. So if my boyfriend wants to hold on to stuff, that's totally okay with me.
• Focus on producing less waste
  Zero Waste (or Minimal Waste) concept, do something wild and ask for meat, fish and cheese without packaging (this really scares me), visit a package free store, try to make my own cleaning supplies, and so on. The goal here is to minimize my ecological footprint, which also resonates with the word wild.

Wild is a loud word. And I'm scared and excited at the same time what and which changes this word will bring in 2018.

*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 it and sign up for the class here. 

READ MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY WITH MY ONE LITTLE WORD® HERE
one little word® 2017: BALANCE // one little word® 2016: LIGHT // one little word® 2015:  QUALITY //
one little word® 2014: OPEN

One Little Word® 2017 | November

One month left with my One Little Word® Balance. The journey this year was a good one and it definitely changed me in some ways. December will be the last month with this word, before I start again with a new word in 2018. I already picked my word for next year which will be something totally different than the words I picked so far. I'm super excited to share more about it soon on my blog. 

But today I want to share my November pages with you. November was all about writing a letter to ourselves. I talk about how proud I am about myself for what I achieved in the past few months. My life is balanced. I focus on the good and make sure that I have a healthy work-life balance. I take care of myself and that is all that matters. Yes, there are still areas where I have to work on but overall I'm pretty happy about my life when it comes to "balance".

Here on this page I also added all those bits and pieces I got from Collen Attara when I ordered a salvaged word last year. That quote on the right and also the "balance" tag was part of her package she sent. I also included the "yout got this" sticker from my word talisman I bought from SoulMantras.com.

You might notice that I skipped the October prompt. That prompt just didn't felt right and I had no time to work on it. So I simply didn't do it and I'm totally okay with that. That's also balance. To realize when it's just not the right time to do something.

 

READ MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY WITH MY ONE LITTLE WORD HERE
why I chose BALANCE // January // February // March // April // May // June + July // August + September //

one little word® 2016: LIGHT // one little word® 2015:  QUALITY // one little word® 2014: OPEN

BASIC SUPPLIES
several items (stickers, stamp sets, notepad) from the 2017 selection at AliEdwards.com, all printables are part of the class, precision pen in #03, black StazOn ink pad

*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® 2017 | August + September

This year with my One Little Word® Balance is soon coming to an end. It was fun to work with it and I learned a lot about myself. But like every year around this time I start to think about the word for next year. So far nothing has been decided. There are a few words that I'm considering, but those plans can change about a hundred times in the next few weeks.

Today I share my August and September spreads with you.

August was about documenting how our life was right now, what we are celebrating and what we are struggling with. We had to pick photos and write about those things.

 

September was about paying attention. Documenting what gives us joy, how we rest and writing about our own pace. We also had to find photos that fit the theme. As always I like to focus on the prompt throughout the month and then at the end of the month (or a few weeks later) I document it in my minibook.

 

 

READ MORE ABOUT MY JOURNEY WITH MY ONE LITTLE WORD HERE
why I chose BALANCE // January // February // March // April // May // June + July //

one little word® 2016: LIGHT // one little word® 2015:  QUALITY // one little word® 2014: OPEN

BASIC SUPPLIES
several items (stickers, stamp sets, notepad) from the 2017 selection at AliEdwards.com, all printables are part of the class, precision pen in #03, 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.