Exciting News!

I'm super excited to share with you some crazy good news. I am one of the newest members of the SRM Design Team! Woot!

SRM is a leader in the papercrafting industry and I am honored to be asked to joing their talented Design Team. Their products include stickers, calendars, stamps, vinyl, twine, containers and more.

If you're new to my blog, welcome! I'm so glad you're here. Feel free to scroll through and, hopefully, be inspired. I love all kinds of papercrafting - scrapbooking, cardmaking, and fun projects with my young daughter. I also spend a lot of time Bible journaling. Some entries are quick and simple, sometimes I spend much longer. I enjoy journaling in my Bible as well as in notebooks that I usually create for specific seasons or studies.

I'll be posting here on my blog, but I also post regularly on Instagram and my Facebook page. Be sure to follow me on Pinterest, too! The links to find me are under my photo up to the right.

Thanks for sharing in my exciting news! Come back soon :)

Summer Daily 5 Chart

Yep - mean mom here. I actually make my 7 year old daughter do stuff in the summer besides watching tv or playing on the computer/iPad all day long. Actually, I don't believe I'm mean at all and most days neither does my daughter (most days). She has a lazy morning and then electronics get turned turned off until she completes her Daily 5. We got the idea from her classroom last year in which she had a daily 5 list of activities.

After coming up with our Daily 5 categories (we kept them pretty broad for lots of flexibility with activities), I typed them up and printed them out. For this project I used the thinnest papers I could find in my stash so the magnets would still work.  The board is an old (like from my teaching days) magnetic white board. I decorated with a die cut title from my Cricut, a few random stickers, and SRM sticker stitches.

For the magnets I also pulled from my stash - wood tiles painted with acrylics and a magnet glued on the back. She moves the magnet to the right once she completes a category.

This works pretty well for us. Personally, I like summers to be kind of lazy, with lots of creative playtime and outdoor adventures. Our chart reminds us to brush our teeth even if we're not going anywhere, get away from screens for a bit and see what else there is to do, help with a few chores, and learn some new things. It's flexible enough for everyday application and can be suspended when outside activities or camps/classes are scheduled.  So far so good. :)

Revival Camp - Week 1 "Ignite" Journaling

Week one of camp has been awesome and my time in the Word and reflecting and being challenged by the devotion has resulted in several pages in my journal. I'm excited to see where God takes me in this study. Nehemiah (1:3-11) sets a good example for us in taking his passion and stirring heart for Jerusalem to God in prayer before jumping into action. Waiting on God's timing is so hard, but will set us up for better alignment with Him and His very best plans for us.



For this week in my journal, I used several of the printables, including the devotion itself, some washi tape, a die cut fire (Cricut), a few extra stickers, and paints/inks. On the first page especially, I did a lot of writing and notetaking with my micron pens as I studied the passage.




As I spent time in God's Word and my journal over a few days, I felt these words standing out to me as God's good gifts to me and also as descriptors of the things I do that stir my heart and passion - TEACH, ENCOURAGE, CREATE, SHARE, INSPIRE. I've been a teacher in some form or another nearly my whole life. I love that these words can be applied in so many different situations as seasons change and God calls me to use these gifts in new and exciting ways and places.




The author of the devotion (Tonya Hamilton) wrote, "He also births new dreams in new seasons, so be open to the way He directs you." Ummmm, YES! When I look back and see how God has directed me to put my gifts into action in my past, I am so thankful and so excited for how he's going to use me in the now and future. My prayer is that I hear Him well and let Him lead the way. I hope that you are also letting Him lead the way in your life!

It's not too late to get started in this study. Here's the LINK to Revival Camp at the Illustrated Faith site.

Off to Camp!

I'm so excited to start camp! Illustrated Faith is hosting "Revival Camp," an online Bible study. When you sign up, you get lots of fun printables. To get ready, I printed many of the badges, sentiment strips, and ephemera with my colored printer onto 8 1/2 x 11 sticker sheets (I found mine at Staples). Then I used my circle punches and scissors to cut the fun bits so they'd be ready to use. Then I went through my scrapbooking supplies and pulled coordinating washi tape and some additional papers and fun things that I may want to use to journal the lessons.

Although the class provides printable journal covers and "field notes" inserts, I decided to make my own journal (much like I did for Lent HERE) and went hunting at a local thrift store for a suitable hardcover book. I knew I wanted something fairly small and was hoping for something "outdoor" or "camp" themed as a bonus. 

I was thrilled to find this small volume "Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass" on the shelf for $2. It's a great size - 7" by 9 1/2" and less than an inch thick. The best part is the perfect green cover and plain black spine hiding underneath the removable book jacket.  I removed the inside pages with my X-acto knife first. There are some fun sketches of fly-fishing gear and fish that I may want to incorporate, so I'm setting it off to the side for now. The book title on the spine was in gold, so I simply scratched off some of it with my knife and then used regular acrylic black paint to cover it up. That worked great!

For inside my book, I created simple folded and stapled journals that can slip into elastic bands - much like a dori-style journal. I used my Crop-A-Dile hole punch to create holes in the spine of my book and strung the elastic banding through to create two loops. I tied the ends together at the top of the spine on the outside. I think I will add some more fun ribbon or doo-dads later. I kept the front simple by adding a printed sticker camp logo badge and the printed sticker "2016." Both of these are part of the down

The blank paper journals for inside are really easy to assemble. I used regular typing paper for inside (7 sheets each journal) and folded them in half. I rummaged through my scrapbooking stash and found a couple of double-sided 12x12 sheets to use as the covers. Both of these covers are from Simple Stories. I cut them slightly bigger than the inside pages and folded them in half.  To bind the books I simply used my long-reach stapler and stapled along the fold twice. 

Once that was done, I used more of my scrapbooking stash and some of the printed elements from the study resources to decorate the fronts. I insert the journals into the book by opening to the middle and tucking them behind an elastic cord.  If I find that I need more space, I can quickly and easily create an additional book and slip it into my journal binder.  

Now I'm all set for camp! The study begins soon. You can still register HERE if you're interested in joining the summer study. 

I'll be posting my journaling on my Instagram Accout and Facebook page most regularly, but it might show up here, too! Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook (links upper right) to stay most updated.

Lenten Journal Journaling

I have let my blog fall to the background a bit as I've posted more on Instagram and Facebook. We are just about to get into offical summer, but since I highlighted my journal at the beginning of Lent, I wanted to post some of my journal pages that I completed in that time. Here is a quick and simple video showcasing most of the pages I completed in my Lenten Journal for 2016.