I haven't scrapbooked anything (minus December Daily) since October 2015.  Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants to get us motivated once we have taken a long break from something.  Challenges can be a really fun place to start when you are feeling unmotivated and intimadated by your photos, your products, and your blank page.  It just so happens that this month at Get It Scrapped, they are having a fun challenged called Calvinball.  If you are a fan of the Calvin and Hobbes comics by Bill Watterson you may be familiar with Calvin’s competitive game of Calvinball. It’s a random sport-type game with no rules, points for self-designated goals and the flexibility to change the game as you play.  Calvinball at Get It Scrapped is a month long scrapbooking competition with constantly changing rules to keep things fun and your momentum going.

#1 - Rock Your Scrapbooking Stash by Joining a Challenge

The fun has already started over at Get It Scrapped, and it is going to be a really awesome month!  You should totally check it out if you are looking for a boost in your creative mojo.  However, there a ton of challenge sites and prompts out there that can help inspire you to get started.  Simply Google or check out Pinterest for scrapbooking prompts and challenges.  I have always enjoyed using challenges and prompts to get me moving again.

#2 - Clear The Decks

Another thing that really helps me to feel inspired is to completed clean off my desk/workspace and put all the bits and pieces away.  This often includes finished projects, unfinished projects, and various products like sprays and inks.  Looking at a clean workspace can be oddly inspirational and it can help you break through your creative block.  I also use this time to put away my stack of completed layouts.  Far too often, my layouts pile up to several inches before they find their way into an album.  Plus, I find forgotten goodies that have been buried under other stuff on my table!

#3 - Create Page Kits

I love working with kits.  They simplify my decision making process so much.  I also come up with some interesting and unusual ways to use certain products when they are paired with other things, and I would never have come up with this inspiration without having a kit put together.  Since Calvinball is a month long challenge, I wanted to do a little prep over the weekend.  I decided to pull out all of the paper in one of my storage bins and create kits using every single paper that I possibly could.  Obviously, you don't need to go to this extreme - you could pull out one or two paper pads or even just several sheets of paper, depending on your available time.  The process of matching papers with similar colors and themes took me about an hour and then I stopped for the night.


When I came back for the next round, I started with my embellishment bin.  Inside this bin is everything from 6x6 paper pads, sticker sheets, diecuts, paper flowers, enamel dots, tags, DIY embellishments, cut-apart sheets, chipboard, flair, doilies, and other random bits.  I grabbed 10 of the paper kits and started matching up themes and colors once more.  I worked with one paper kit at a time and I went through ALL the embellishments.  I did this same process for each kit.  I just spread everything out on the floor in front of me and got to work.  I didn't include letter stickers, because I like to mix and match different font styles and colors.  I also haven't picked photos yet or titles for that matter so I just removed them from the equation for the moment.  For individual stickers, I used baby powder to remove the stickiness, and I applied it with a soft paintbrush.  Then, I added them to the kits so I could use the same sticker sheet for multiple kits.  By breaking down the paper kits into 10 or so layouts at a time, it made the whole process less overwhelming.  Over the weekend, I ended up with X number of prepped kits that I can now use for Calvinball.


The sky is the limit here.  Don't overwhelm yourself, but cater to how you scrapbook, adding those things that will help your process.  Do you need cut files as part of your process?  Then make sure you have them linked up with your kits or already cut.  Additional ideas could be incorporating stamps, stencils, ink pads, and spray mists.  You could also add any sketches, photos, title, and journaling to each kit, as well.  The whole idea is that when you have 10 - 15 minutes you can easily knock out a layout, because all of the decisions that you get stuck on have already been made.  This opens the process to more creative freedom without perfectionism getting in your way.  There is also a bit of magic in simply going through your stash of goodies that can be very inspiring.

I'm so excited to start playing with my new kits this month.  Stay tuned for more Calvinball updates and tips this month.  And don't forget to stop on by and play along with us - it's going to be a fun month!

Tips and Resources

I’ve been using a bullet journal for several years on and off.  This year, since my Word of the Year is Focus - I want to really work on daily plans so that I can focus on getting at least my top three goals completed each day.  Last month, I did okay at daily planning, but I'm hoping by simplifying some part of my process that I will do even better this month!

Why I Plan

Let's take just a minute and discuss planning.  There is magic in the act of putting your intentions down on paper.  Somehow things just seem to happen once you write them down.  This applies not only to your big dreams and goals, but also to your daily tasks!  That is why I'm working on making daily planning part of my routine.  I'm a very busy Momma to a lovely 2 year old, and planning helps me to remember life's little moments (through my monthly calendar and daily notes), while also letting me get stuff done so I can actually focus on my daughter.

When I don't write stuff down, it all builds up in my head until my head feels like it's going to explode.  I will get more frequent and downright horrid migraines if I don't get that crap out of my head.  That's one reason that I love brain dumps as part of my daily planning sessions.  It gets all that junk that is bouncing around in there out of my head and onto paper so I can actually start crossing it off!

Another reason I plan is that it actually helps to increase my focus.  The act of planning helps me figure out what my top priorities for the day are, and planning helps me to break those priorities into action steps so that I can actually get them done without feeling overwhelmed!  Now, let's take a peek at how January worked out for me in my bullet journal and what February is starting to look like.

Changes, Experiments, and Lessons Learned.

In January, I experimented with the addition of a weekly layout as a way to track the tasks that I accomplished each day.  These tasks were my "Big 3" tasks and goals that I decided were my priority for each day.  While I did love being able to review all the these I accomplished at the end of the week that moved me forward in my bigger goals, I found that by adding this extra step to my planning process resulted in me simply not filling them out.  Plus, my daughter was sick for the last two weeks in January, which probably didn't help with using these weekly layouts.  Therefore, I decided for February to just nix them and move back to using strictly my daily pages for planning.

Another thing that I'm switching up for February is playing around with having an editorial calendar spread so that I can have easier access to the content that I am creating for my blog, YouTube, and other social media outlets (like Twitter and Instagram).  I created a spread that divides each page into two quadrants that gives me enough lines for two weeks on each page.  I also divided these weeks into four separate sections, one for each of the social media areas that I'm focusing on creating content for (Blog, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter).  I made sure that each week had 7 lines, so that I have each day of the week represented and can make notes on what content I've created for each platform on that day.  So far, I really like seeing everything altogether in this fashion, but this spread may need additional tweaking for next month.  We will see how it works out!

Finally, I've decided to allow myself some leyway with color coding, at least until I can find my highlighters that are currently MIA.  Last month, I did pretty good about coloring for about half the month and then it completely dropped off (I'll continue to blame my daughter being sick, despite the fact that it just added another step that put me off this whole planning process).  Instead, I'm going to outline the boxes in black pen this month for my monthly tracker and daily time tracker (with written notes on what I was doing), and then color code it later - probably at the end of the month because that's how I am.

That’s pretty much my setup so far for 2016.  I’m sure it will continue to evolve and change - that’s one of my favorite parts of the Bullet Journal system, it can work for you however you need it to!

Peek at My Current Art Journal

Using Pocket Page Protectors and Project Life to Catch Up on December Daily

I’ve fallen way behind this week in my December Daily process.  I had a major infection in my mouth due to a tooth that needed removed in the second week of December and never managed to get caught back up! I decided to focus my second week of December Daily on using pocket page style protectors and project life cards so that I could work on quickly catching back up. 

December Week Two Highlights

The highlights of our week included treating ourselves to Starbucks, getting my tooth pulled, looking at Christmas lights with Atty, and making Jello Jigglers.  We also took an inventory of what Christmas presents had already been purchased (I shop throughout the year), and decided what else we needed to buy.  We played, a lot!  Atty loves to toss balloons back and forth.  She can play with a balloon for about an hour, which is amazing in toddler time.  I also picked up a couple new learning games for her.  One was a matching card game using seasonal (winter) icons, and she had such a blast playing with it!  We also began our traditional holiday evening movies marathon.  We started with watching Elf, and also managed to watch The Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty, and The Cat in the Hat's Christmas special this week.

Choosing Your Cards and Page Protectors

I started my process this week by choosing a selection of pocket page style cards and protectors that would accommodate my photos from the week.  I also wanted to leave some openings to add in some clear elements and shaker pockets.  I used a mix of different manufacturers such as Simple Stories, Pink Paislee, and Becky Higgins Project Life (Heritage Core Kit).

The Project Life App

Another way that you can catch up quickly on your December Daily project is through the Project Life app if you have an iPhone.  I did a quick review this week on the print quality and how you create a project in the app.  This would be a great way to quickly get caught up on December Daily, so that all you have to do is slip them into 6x8 (or whatever size) pockets and move on to this week!  I also used this app to do my journaling and create collages of my photos for this week.  I enjoy processing my photos this way because everything is all together when I get to assembling my pages.

 

Washi Tape Shaker Pockets

Embellish to Tell the Story