Ta da!!!

Melissa says:

Here's October all squared away with Novemeber hot on it's tail. I guess Jill might be onto something. Though I often find that sometimes a project can be a great distraction at the best time.

Project Motivation?

Melissa says:
September was quite a month. Lack of motivation and inspiration pretty much sums it up. It was the first time all year that I had not done something until the month was over. The photo's were taken, notes were jotted down but scrapping wise, absolutely nothing.

Eventually, the mojo and creatvity returned. I must admit, I am not usually a project girl. Jill is the one who loves a big gift album, I'm a page by page kind of person and the whole Lifescrap 365 concept has pushed my concentration beyond it's limits.

August & September altogether!

Jill says:

Ok, no more excuses required. I made cleaning off my table a priority yesterday afternoon and low and behold, today you can actually see what colour it is! With my scrapping space all cleared off the creativity (well, if you could call it that; maybe motivation is a better word for it) flowed. So finally, August is done and dusted and what's that down below? I do believe it's September as well.

I guess that's the beauty of keeping it simple. It only takes about an hour to print out photos and journalling and stick it all together once it's all planned. I already had the nine backing cards done.

I thought I would be struggling to find photos to record even the eight main events of September. I obviously had the camera out more than I remembered. Thanks goodness for the early weeks of the month. Phew!

On Top of it

Jill says:

On the home front, the health issues aren't as pressing as before and I have found that since the pressure is less, I have felt a heightened need to create. This morning I sat down and finished off March's Lifescrap365. Look, I even took a photo of it and have already posted it here! This month as I didn't have too much of an opportunity to carry my DSLR with me, I relied more on different media to tell my story. You'll see parts of a brochure for the craft expo, a cut out letterhead from an email, wrist bands from hospital (my son didn't want his photo taken with the tube in his nose-I guess a memory he didn't want to keep looking at forever and fair enough) and a clothing label. I even used my phone camera in the hospital because I had enough other stuff to cart in there, I didn't want the added responsibility of lugging my good camera. Ah! It definitely feels good to finish March's record of my goals.

Motivation

Jill says:
I have been away on a very relaxing, no computer, no phones, no electricity type of camping holiday (ok, they turned the generator on for a couple of hours every night so we could have a hot shower) and came back to this great link from Mel. Have a read. I found it to be very motivating and really put things into perspective. It doesn't matter how far you fall behind in anything, really, an extra 20 minutes spent each day can catch it up before you know it. http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2010/04have-you-fallen-little-behind.html
And I loved the bit about it all really being about reminding us what a great life we have and feeling gratitude for our family and friends, our homes, our lives, everything we experience. It's not about stressing that we are behind, it's about enjoying the little things every day.

Blank spots

Melissa says:

It's true that life just takes over, things fall by the wayside and scrapbooking can sometimes take the backseat. Right now, there seems to be so many other things that need doing. I haven't sat and scrapped in my life scrap journal for a few weeks now. I'm supposed to be producing for classes right now but have only found the time to jot down the date and what my photo was for that day. I will get my journal up to date over the weekend. Even as type this, I am reminded of a conversation Jill and I had when this all began. We promised ourselves to enjoy the process, not to stress and if you don't get something done every day, there's always tomorrow. Something will twig and you'll be off and running again. Maybe all you need are a few ideas that can help fill in those blanks.



No 1. Print an email from a friend.

No 2. Use a favourite quote that lifted you spirits.

No 3. Stamp an image on a journalling card.

No 4. Use a link to remind you of something inspirational.

No 5. Take a photo of your phone.



Little kick starts like these take only 5 minutes. I might even use one myself today.

International Women's Day

I'm not sure if you are aware that today is International Women's Day. I Googled the celebration to find out some more about this day so I could share it. Normally I would paste in the link, however it wouldn't work with this site. It's called "Only Kent-Breaking World News" and it claims that International Women's Day celebrates and recognises women's achievements in social, political and economic fields. It began in 1909 in the United States. The event faded in popularity between the 1930's and the 1960's due to the feminism movement and it's popularity.
This year, International Women's Day focuses on the women trying to escape armed conflict who are facing intimidation and violence.
Today I have taken a few moments to think of the women in my life who have or still do make a difference. The reason why I posted to this blog is because Mel, the other 'project manager' on this blog, has made a huge difference in my life. She motivates me, she inspires me, we laugh together, we share our tears with each other and we grow together. She is such an amazing person and I wanted to especially say thank you to her today even though she makes a difference in my life every day. Thanks Mel.

Photos for January

Jill says:

Well January is over with very quickly for me as well. Here are some photos of what my journal looks like with January complete; in order of title page, goals page and January's ATC's. The end of January and so far this month, I have had quite a challenging time, personally, with a family member being less than healthy. The best thing about this challenge is it has made me look for things I am doing each and every day to work towards my goals. It does at times feel like this health issue is all consuming so to peek out from the cloud to see a bright shining light is enlightening to say the least. And as this health issue no longer incorporates my health goals, I have found my health goals have been something that has aided keeping me focused and in good spirits. Must be the endorphins!

Mel and I managed to meet for lunch last week and we discussed our journals and had a show and tell. We were both pleased and amazed at how different they were. We were also pleased we had scrapped separately (for the first month anyway) so we weren't influenced by each other and we could see what we each came up with separately. We also discussed how our styles are different anyway, and therefore two completely different journals have been created. I am definitely looking forward to our next get-together (whenever that may be-was booked in for tomorrow and has had to be postponed, story of my life so far this year!) to share our inspiration and enjoy each other's creations.

Yesterday

Jill says:

Well, Mel sent me a message this morning pointing out to me that yesterday was the first time since the inception of this idea that we hadn't in some way discussed it. There was also some texting about how our inspiration and motivation was just as enthusiastic with both of us taking some steps toward documenting our achievements.

I spent some time networking my own personal blog and making a post or two. I also began my visionboard and posted my goals up for the world to see. It felt good to do that; I was proud to shout my goals to the world because I feel ever so confident, whatever happens, it's going to be a pretty darn good year!

What did you do for your life scrap 365 challenge?