#CraftyGoals

 Good morning, everyone!

Thank you for your patience as I attempted to get through the studio disaster last week. The progress was slow as I spent four days inventorying my napkin stash.  If you want to see why I took four days, you can check out the video HERE as part of my Organization Series

I came across THIS youtube channel a couple of weeks ago. The video I watched, Amalia was talking about her December crafty goals.  There were several others in the collab and she invited anyone who wanted to join the collab to jump right in.

Well, you know that while I do 'jump right in' to a lot of things, there is also prep involved. My OCD won't let me do things small. :-)

I'm going to include my video at the end of this post as to how I've set up my creativity planner to help me track my goal for the year... but what are my goals?

My list encompasses several things that may not necessarily be 'goals' but items I want to be more aware of this year. So let's take a look at my list:

Track 'craft' finances. 

     This includes my spending as well as everything related to my Etsy shop

5 New items in the shop each month

10 Christmas cards per month minimum

Monthly birthday/ anniversary cards

House scrapbook

Girls' 2019 albums (there is one for each of the girls as well as mine but all similar in layout)

52 Hat/ scarf sets

Take part more in the Splitcoast groups - check in at least 2x per week

Finish the twins' afghans (by April)

Reindeer Club

I'm also either directly in some Collabs or at least playing along:

Monthly Junk Journal challenge

#52tagshannemade - a handstitching challenge on a 2x4 (approx) tag

#Canned Pumpkin - using up our Paper Pumpkin kits

#Case on the 5th - find a card to case. I'll be exploring past SU catalogs

10 on the 10th - Christmas cards

#roxysweeklychallenge - junk journal type of items. 

Smash that Small Paper Pad - 6x6 use it up with Deb Houck's Crafty Cottage

I know that is a lot, thus the reason for the actual planner to help me track them, especially where collabs are concerned. So I don't have to keep referring to the Creativity Planner, I've made it so I can just move the current month into my everyday planner. 

For the rest of the month I want to catch up on the #52 tags as well as Roxy's weekly challenge, since they are quick tag challenges. My first actual collab commitment is due on the 25th with the 6x6 collab then the Paper Pumpkin on the 31st.  I hope to get those items done up this week and videos uploaded.

Here's the Creativity Planner video.  

I will see you back here tomorrow with my first card of 2021.

What are your crafty plans for the year? Please share in the comments below.

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

HOW TO EAT AN ELEPHANT - Goals for 2016

In place of Teapot Tuesday (no recipients this week), I thought I'd introduce you to a cool book by VJ Schultz.  The book is called "How to Eat an Elephant" (Available on Amazon)

I have found that most 'creative' people are either OCD, ADD or a blend of both. We like to know where are tools are (even if they are in a state of chaos) and we have as my hubby lovingly calls 'oh shiny things' moments. 

VJ's book helps reign in those moments. If nothing else, you have them written down to refer to when you need to find your ground again so that you can move forward.

The book is broken down into 3 sections:

1 - Elephants 

      These are the (no more than 3) major goals you want to accomplish this year

2 - Monthly

      You take each of your goals and break them down into 'monthly' steps

3 -  Weekly

      Take those 'monthly' steps and cut them up into weekly, 'doable' goals. 

My Elephants for 2016 revolve around 3 areas of my life:

Author/ writing

Creative

Health

If you want to know about my 'Author/ writing' Elephant, you can check out the post on my Author Blog - Angela Drake

My Creative Goals for 2016 encompass three things:

Participating in more Challenges

Keep up with All Occasion Card Challenge (I host)

Keep up with Christmas Card Challenge

These are not huge elephants but they do require time and planning. 

I've already begun the 'more challenges' by taking part in the Tim Holtz 2016 tag challenge. Once I get things in a routine, I would like to pick up at least one or two more challenges from other blogs. 

The All Occasion Caror AOCC and Christmas Card  or CCC challenges are part of the Splitcoast Stampers forums. Both of these are 'encouragement' forums. The AOCC is a reminder to get those birthday/ anniversary cards made AND mailed in each month.  For the CCC, we estimate about how many Christmas cards/ tags we'll need for the coming Christmas season then divide that by 11 months - giving us the number we need to make each month. This enables us to have all of our cards ready for mailing and tags ready for packages before Thanksgiving. I've accomplished this goal two years out of the many I participated in and I have to tell you, you will thank yourself if you join and follow through with this challenge.

Once I pinpointed what my 'elephants' were, then VJ takes you through breaking each one down by month:

JANUARY:

Finish the big stuff in the studio

Take part in Tim Holtz Challenge

Research 3 other blog challenges for future months

Set up the AOCC threads for the rest of the year.

From there, we break each month down into the individual weeks:

I failed to do this part. I got side-tracked by the holidays and January is almost over. But with good reason. Bob always comes first and since he was gone for the holidays, the first three weeks of January have been our Christmas vacation.

However, I have done the first 2016 tag and linked up at Tim Holtz's blog and I've set up the AOCC threads for the year. Next Monday I will post their challenge to get the group thinking about their February birthday/ anniversary cards. I'm not sure I'll get much 'research' time as I have a couple other deadlines and Bob's only home for one more week. He is occupying himself on FB now as I type this. 

So tell me, how do  YOU eat an elephant?  VJ suggests one bite at a time...

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

GOALS - 2013 - THE LIST

As I don't have my space cleared out yet, I didn't participate in Teapot Tuesday this week. But I am looking at what I need to do in 2013 to get out of this creative hole of quicksand I seem to be sinking deeper and deeper in to.

While watching TV with Bob the other night I made a list of what I want to accomplish this year. I am a LIST person. Also, a very visual person. So I figure if it's in front of me, I might actually accomplish something. That's why I've posted my list  on the sidebar of the blog. It will be in front of me on a regular basis.

I've broken my tasks down into categories. Christmas is one of the categories with specific projects with a definitive time-line. Our local bank has a Mitten Tree every year. They collect hats/ mittens/ scarves/ socks the three weeks between Thanksgiving and the Christmas break. A day or two before break, the items are taken to the local grade school. I've purchased several pairs of gloves and a few hats on the seasonal clearance sales. I plan to put them all into hat/ scarf/ glove sets. For some of them all I need to add are scarves. Some of them will also use hats. Doing this also gives me the resource of using up some of my excessive yarn stash. I want the tub out the work room. It's time to finish this project. I haven't counted what I have on hand, but I'm estimating approximately 20 sets I need to finish by November 1st.

I also make my own Christmas cards. I have already set up my new card box complete with updated addresses I'll need to insure I have 100 cards ready to mail by Thanksgiving.

Finally, under the Christmas list are the 10 scarves I want to make for the members of the Polish Sinfonia from Krakow Poland. Traditionally, while they are on tour here (covering 3 south central states), they eat all of their meals in church basements and local restaurants. If all goes according to plan, I will be hosting a traditional Christmas dinner (buffet style) for these amazingly talented young people. One of the things I want to have is a Christmas stocking for each of them filled with gifts. A handmade scarf will fit nicely in the toe of the stocking.

For the rest of my goals, I want to complete two of the mixed media projects I didn't complete last year as well as three basic scrapbooks.

I figure if I can accomplish these goals, 2013 will be a very productive year!

What Creative Goals do you have for 2013?