I am finally coming to the end of cataloging all of this Stampin' Up! paper. I should have a photo and an embarrassing number to share with you next week. In the mean time, there is still LOTS to do before Bob gets home tomorrow, so I'm making this short and just sharing the video link for this week's part of the monthly challenge!
I hope you're playing along! Please share on your social media using the #KCDJanJJ23 so I can see what you're doing!
Every January I start out sending
Birthday and Anniversary cards each month… for about the first three months
then I fall off the wagon. I think I just get busy. The other reason is I haven’t
found THE ONE… the one way in which I can be more organized about them.
I tried a file box with just index
cards telling me who I needed to send cards to each month.
Then I got the idea to put them in a binder with monthly tabs and a gallon zip-lock bag behind each month to put the cards in. I never got the cards pre-done. Also, binders are really difficult for my small hands and some days the arthritis just won’t let me grasp something bulky.
This year, I have a plan. I’m going back to the box system.
I am a flipper by nature. If you’ve seen previous posts on how I organize my stamps, you’ll get this. I like to flip through things to see what I am looking for. The first system worked fine except for not having cards ready.
I have a solution:
I have two of these boxes full of
cards for all kinds of occasions but mostly Birthday and Thank You. I’m going
to pull from these first. I am going back to the box/ flip style but I'll be using a shoe box with dividers for each month. I'll include the recipient list and start putting the cards/ envelopes behind each divider. I'll keep you posted.
Next week, we’ll kick back in with
new cards for Make It Mail It Monday where I’ll begin building my stash for Thinking
of You and Sympathy cards – two categories I have almost no cards ready for.
For the month of January, I have 7
Birthdays. 3 guy and 4 ladies. A couple of those were last week, but the
thought will still be there.
Another thing to consider is that
postage is going up again. Effective January 22, 2023, First Class stamps will
go from .60 to .63 cents.
Here’s what I do when I hear this.
I calculate how many stamps I need to mail the monthly cards and bills then
purchase the Forever Stamps to get me through the year. I know not everyone can
afford to do this but if you budget the amount in, you can save a big chunk of
change over the course of the year – enough to cover buying the following year’s
stamps. This kind of keeps you ahead of the USPS for a short period of time.
Do you still send cards? Please let
me know in the comments below.
As I set up this post I realized I had not posted the details about my monthly challenge here! I was sure I'd moved the video over.
I've been busy, to put things mildly. I've spent the past four days cataloging over 30 paper packs from Stampin' Up! that never got cataloged - over the past 2.5 years!!! Geez. Was way overdue. That project is done and I now at a flip through my binders what paper I have.
So quick note, I'll leave 2 videos today. The first will be the Monthly Challenge details and the 2nd is of the stick pull for Week 1.
Basically, we're doing a month - long challenge with your base colors being BLUES, WHITE, SILVER (or gray). Then each week, I pull an art stick and that is one of the items you're to make. You have all month to complete any part of this project. Choose to do the ones that excite you and skip the others. No minimum requirements... just have FUN!
Challenge video with complete details:
Week 1 item:
I'll be back tomorrow to show you the 1st item going in my shop.
Basically, you have a prompt every day of the month to do something in your journal. You do NOT have to play every day. You can skip prompts that don't jive with you. Other than that, it's just a time to let go and be creative as it comes.
The journal can be anything. If you go to Meg's YouTube Junk Journal January Playlist, you'll find all the several options from great creators. There are 29 collaborators in this project.
I decided to do flat sheets then I'll put them together with binder rings.
The other thing I'm doing is blending this with Madi's Spectrum Art Creations Christmas Challenge - which she has extended to January 15th. There are 42 Challenges for us to do - each one completed enters us into a drawing (for each number so 42 chances to win!)
I'll explain that part in a minute. But first, this is what I'm starting with:
For Madi's challenges we have to use at least 50% of products purchased from her in each of the projects. I'm starting with the brown packing paper that comes in my orders. I'm going to cut each down to 4.25" x 6". Technically the working space will be 4x6 but the 1/2" gives me binding room. I'm going to cut the mats from the brown paper, glue together in the center then stitch around the parameter. The stencil, stencil butter, washi and Lyndi's Magical powders were purchased from their Spectrum Art Creations store. That stencil, by the way, is their own design.
Then I have all of this lovely ephemera to play with when doing the prompts:
Some of the pieces came in a box from my friend, Terri, in London. Others, like the book paper (Stamperia), the botanical cards, tickets and ephemera packs are from Spectrum Arts. I also have a box of clippings from the personal journal I did last week.
Here's the video for that journal:
I will be back tomorrow where we will talk about Birthday and Anniversary cards for the month of January.
I hope everyone had a blessed day yesterday. Christmas day was quiet here. I did the video I'm linking below, cooked a small Cornish hen with all the trimmings and watched a couple of Hallmark movies. I was even blessed with a text with a GIF from dear friend in the country music industry. While we're not the kind of 'call on one another friends', he put his number in my phone and that's a biggy.
Evolutionary Consistency
A couple of weeks ago, I chose my word for 2023 - Consistency. A spirit guide suggested we add Evolving or Evolution ahead of our one little word. Why? Because as we focus on that new word for our year, we will evolve with the changes we incorporate into our life as a result of that word.
I want to be more consistent with my postings, my creative goals, my writing, etc. I sat in on a replay of Ali Edwards and her Team. Each member offered an insight as to how/ why they chose their word for 2023. The video is just over an hour long but well worth the listen. Here's the LINK
While I listened to the video and took notes, I pulled out my Creative Planner (Planner video coming later in the week) and put little reindeer stickers I got from Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance on the 25th of each month. I've also created stickers to fit in my HB90 Daily planner so I'd remember.
On New Years Day, I'll have another video for you. I want to start my own challenges on my YouTube channel this year in hopes of growing my channel. In the past, I've found many of the challenges do not allow me the FREEDOM to play with all my toys and the way I want to create. I'm hoping my challenge opens that gate for you.
I have the January theme set so I plan to spend part of today setting the remaining 10 themes (We're taking December off) so I can create the stickers for those. I will post that info & video here on New Years Day, but if you want the details a little early, then I encourage you to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell. The video will be a premiere at 11 a.m. EST New Years Eve so we can be in the chat sidebar, giving you the opportunity to ask questions and offer suggestions for future challenges.
My GOALS for the challenges are:
1 - To fit within YOUR creative wheelhouse while offering the opportunity to maybe learn something new
2 - Offer you the opportunity to create the way YOU want to create - but with in the minimal parameters
3 - To be FUN!
Above all, I know that without consistency and sticking to deadlines, neither of my businesses can grow. I work from home. It's time I treated this as a money-making venture, and not a leisure activity.
Here is the Reindeer Club Introduction Video:
Tell me... Do you have a One Little Word for 2023 - share if you'd like. Let's support one another on this Evolutionary Journey.
It's been a crazy 4 months! I am so ready to slide into 2023. How are y'all doin' out there?
I offered to co-host a collab back in September and things haven't stopped moving since.
This collab was with Brian Dickey @ B&D Crafts & More (see him on FB, IG and YouTube). He is also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. The idea was to post a video every week from the second Sunday in September up through last Sunday - December 18th, related to Christmas. The final project took me a lot longer than I'd anticipated so posted the final video last night.
I chose to work with an older 6x6 paper pad from Stampin' Up! called NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS For my projects I used the 6x6 paper pad and various 6x6 One Sheet Wonder sketches. One week I'd take a sketch and make cards. The next week, I'd work with the same sketch and make junk journal elements. (You'll see them in the video later in the post).
I wound up with 25 Christmas cards:
Links to all of the One Sheet Wonder templates are linked in the description box of the videos. You'll find the playlist HERE.
I combined most of the elements with others that I made from the remaining papers to make a 3-signature journal. Here's the final Flip-Through video with some important news about what's coming up on my channel:
I'm back to normal in here January 1st. I hope you were patient while I went nuts over here LOL. I'm fine, just took a lot of time off and spent lots of it with Bob.
P.S. He has since put me on a work schedule. LOL No more fluffing off when he's home. I work 9-5 or 10-6 four days a week except for his first and last weekend home. My plan is to have the content up ahead of those off-days.
I will be back on Monday, December 26th with a bit of what to expect in 2023. In the mean time...
A quick heads up - after tomorrow's post I'm going to take a couple of weeks off to try and finish the studio and spend time with family before Holiday activities are upon us.
I have a non-scrapbooking project that was inspired by THIS December Daily project from Jan Hobbins that I linked you to on Wednesday.
This was supposed to be for a Graphic 45 challenge but as I went to upload pictures yesterday I realized this was supposed to be an ALBUM. While mine is inspired by Jan's December Daily 'album' this didn't qualify. However, in the end I have something I love and am proud of. That's what's truly important, right?
Here's my finished box:
Close-ups of a couple of the contents:
File Tab
File Tab with file folder
front & back of file folder
I'm not going to leave a product list or dimensions. Everything is in the video below:
Tomorrow, I'll be back with a HUGE Hobby Lobby haul. You won't believe how much I SAVED!
