2022- Daily Dozen....

 Every year, usually in January, I make some sort of plan for the year.  

In 2017 and 2018 I had a long list of goals that covered various areas of my life.  I wanted to achieve them during the year.  I also had myself a vision statement in 2018.  I didn't quite meet all these goals, but I made progress on all of them.  In 2019 and 2020, I decided to have a "word" of the year.  Then, run everything through the filter of my word.  You can read more about that here. 

2020 was tough for everyone and I decided that my lofty 'goals' were well thought out and perhaps "SMART" (read more about SMART goals here) were too much for me. In 2021, I changed tack a bit and decided that I wanted to work on developing some healthy habits that would help me reach some of those long term goals that I had hoped to achieve.  

After watching a Clutterbug Video I decided to use a "Daily Dozen".  In a nutshell, you list 12 things you want to do daily, and plan to do them everyday.  The great thing about this, is that you don't have to start on 1 January.  You can start any time and as you are trying to develop long lasting habits, you should never really 'stop'.  Once you feel a particular habit is well cemented in your daily routine, you can choose to change the point and add a different point to your dozen or you can leave it in the list while focusing on a different point that you might not be doing so well with.  I didn't share my daily dozen here at AGT in 2021.  I'm not sure why.  

At the end of 2021, I decided that 'a dozen' was too many things.  I realised that the only real reason for having 12 things on my list is for the sake of alliteration and I didn't need to do that. Calm down people, it's okay. So, while it's still called my daily dozen, I don't have a dozen 'habits' on my list.  It's okay, really it is. 

One of the keys to feeling some success with the Daily Dozen is to keep some things on your list that you already do daily. You can latch your new habit to an established habit to help you develop the new habit quicker. Check out this video from How to ADHD, if you want more info about this.

Here's my Daily (not a) "Dozen", in case you are interested. 

1. Read my bible and pray.

2. Drink Water (at least 1.8L).

3. Eat two serves of Fruit.

4. Exercise/ Stretch.

5. List three things I'm grateful for. 

I realise I don't even have 6 things then it could be a half dozen.  You could technically make Bible reading and Prayer different points. 

The Exercise/Stretch point means that I have to, at the very least, stretch, every single day, no matter what. I try to include more vigorous exercise each day as well, but when you have chronic pain you have to give yourself grace. 

I'm maintaining a gratitude journal.  While I'm not quite managing to list three items in the journal everyday, I am acknowledging three things everyday, before I go to bed. I say them to myself.  5 days is the maximum number of days I have gone without writing in my journal.  If this is the case, I reflect on the past 5 days and include several items to my gratitude list. I use prompts to help me think outside the box a bit when I'm considering what I'm grateful for. 

Not my actual light swith! ;)

My Daily (not a) "Dozen" is posted in my bedroom - right next to the light switch.  Just before I turn the light out each night, I read my daily dozen and tick off which ones I have managed to do that day.  Most days, I can tick off all the things.  Some days, I haven't had enough water (and I know it, because I have a headache!) or I only ate one piece of fruit.  Some days, I realise I haven't stretched since morning, so I do a few quickies before getting into bed.  

My Daily (not a) Dozen has really helped me this year to focus on small steps and remember to start fresh each day.  I have always had a goal of drinking a minimum quantity of water and for several years, I have read my Bible and prayed daily.  These are not so hard to "check off".  It means that whenever I read my list, I still feel a sense of achievement even if I can't tick off everything. 

What habits would you include on your Daily Dozen? Would a Dozen be too many for you too? Let me know in the comments. 

Next time, some snippets from my gratitude journal. :)

I appreciate you! 

One Stamp Set- 6 Cards!

Hello Everyone, 

After my recent post, where I showed you how I made 9 cards using one small stamp set. I started wondering how many cards I had made using other small stamp sets I have in the stash.  Mary Polanco has a small series of videos called 10 cards a mini stamp set, showing how she makes at least 5 cards with a small stamp set, then links to a crafty friend who makes 5 different cards.  I don't have that many crafty friends, so I don't really have the opportunity to collaborate this way. We all know how much I love Mary and my love of a bargain, so I have quite a few small stamp sets in my stash.  They are usually include a small image and a sentiment.  That's it.  This can feel a bit limiting and admittedly, these stamp sets are often only designed to be used one way.  Let's be honest though, we all like to stretch what we have and the best way to do that, is to think outside the box.  Anyway, here are 6 cards, I made with a small set from Catherine Pooler (of course) called ....

Started by stamping the sentiment on this card.  

I used the rule of three and triangles to 

stamp around the sentiment. I used one colour per stamp. 

This makes the stamping really quick, as you don't need to worry about

clearing off stamps in between. I supplemented this set with 

small flowers from another stamp set from Catherine Pooler's foundations box. 

This card was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest,
which used embossing powder to make the flowers sparkle
and the creator stamped the flowers very tightly together- touching. 
I simply stamped the flowers with one colour and spaced them out so 
there was room to use the other stamps from the set.  
I love the three tiny tirangles in this set.  
The card is finished off with some irridescent gems (from Nuvo)
This seemed like a very cheerful card to me,
so I added a birthday sentiment from Penny Black set. 

The smaller stamps in this set, lend themselves to some fun techniques, 
like this triple square card, which gives oppotunity to stamp
in various colour combinations and add some dimension by raising the 
square panels off the card. Finished off with a sweet sentiment and
just three irridescent gems in different sizes. 

Only two big flowers with those gorgeous tiny triangles! 
I started this card with the flowers and added the senitment last.
A craft card base provided a nice border around this smaller panel and
a few 'crater lake' sequins from Catherine Pooler finished it all off. 

We all know I love sunflowers and of course, the colour yellow! 

I used a dot stamp from another stamp set to give a sunflower look

to the flowers in thsi set.  I spaced the flowers out and filled in with 

the tiny stamps in the set. Using a fine tip pen, I added tiny dots in the 

other open spaces.  A 'friendly' sentiment from a Gina K Designs stamp set

fits nicely just above the flowers.  A thin brown mat sets off the sentiment

and the flower centers.  You could use almost any sentiment on this pretty flower card. 

I really wanted to stretch this stamp set, so I took the leaf stamp
and made this tone on tone background. The geometric design of
this leaf lends itself to this repeating pattern.  
You could add a black mat behind the main panel to step it up.

While I added extra stamps to make these cards suitable for different ocassions, all these cards would look great with the sentiment included in the set.  I just needed some birthday cards. 

Next time- let's talk about something different.

One Stampset = 9 cards and counting!

 Recently, I NEEDED to buy some new craft supplies. When I saw this mini stamp set, I just HAD to click "buy it now", besides this got me over the minimum to access Free Shipping!  So, I was saving money, really.  

After it arrived, I made this card and went to put away the stamp set.  

Then, I thought, I spent $5 on this stamp set.  I should be able to make more than one type of card with it.  Surely.  I mean, it has a solid circle stamp in it.  That is like THE most versatile stamp around.  I got thinking and came up with more cards.  I started simply, by just stepping up this first card I made.  I used my cloud stencil.  So lucky, I'd just bought a brand new (to me) grassy border stencil from My Favorite Things. Yay! 

I'd made two, fairly similar, cards that could be sent out for almost any occasion.  I had a circle stamp.  I decided some repeat stamping a circle with rainbow colours could go a long way.  Any big bold greeting would look great with this rainbow of circles. 

Then, that 'face' spoke to me and almost without thinking, I made this card! 

I ended up, drawing the smiley face,
because the face in the set was much smaller
and I thought it should be bigger. 

Then, two baby cards (one for a girl, one for a boy). 

I was on a roll. Surely, I could make another birthday card with this set.  Surely, I didn't have to limit myself to just using the circle.  Surely, the rays on the sun could be used to make something!  I pulled out my "Spa" ink colours from Catherine Pooler (these are more muted colours) and stamped out my very own patterned paper, which I used to make a Masculine (gender neutral) birthday card. I also played around with some other designs, but this was the best one. 

I'd made a card for practically every occasion, and I decided to go back to using the sun stamp as intended.  I tore some copy paper to mask off some ink blended 'mountains'. The sun stamp needed to be masked too, so I used the same torn paper and flipped it over. I added some blue ink around the top of the card, leaving some white around the sun, so it looked like it was glowing. This scene could work for practically any sentiment.  I tried out so many different sentiments on this card and they all could have worked.  I thought about something with "today", "tomorrow", or time moving on, like "today is your birthday". It could even work for a Graduation card, with something like "adventure awaits" or "you could move mountains".  I settled on this lovely sentiment about a "path of light" in this "dark time" to make this a sentiment card.  

Later, I was looking at the birthday card I'd made and thought... "I wonder if I could make a Christmas Card?" So, I tried it. I didn't execute it very well, but you get the idea.  

If you don't want to spend too much cash on specifically designed Christmas stamps.  You can certainly rock what you got to make some Christmas cards.  I actually bought this stamp set, because I have a large sentiment die that says "sunshine" and I thought this stamp set would go brilliantly with it.  I haven't even pulled out the die yet and I have already made 9 cards, for almost any occasion!

There are several other small stamp sets in my stash and I really need to try this with them as well.  I need to work out how I can use them and how many cards I can make with each of them! 

School Holidays are nearly done.  So much to do! 

See you next time! 

Encouragement Cards

We could all use some encouragement at the moment. Here are some easy encouragement cards I made recently. 

I'm loving this "paper hug" sentiment die from Picket Fence Studios! 
It is so versatile.  This sentiment works for any and every occasion.
The background on this card, was made using ink on my Gel plate
and a stencil.   

You might think I'm crazy, but I can see
the water colours hugging in this
background. Then the rainbow sequin mix
(also from Picket Fence) compliments
this card perfectly! 

There's something to be said about big word dies
that fill a chunk of your card! Some simple stamping
or a quick inky background, is complimented nicely
by a big word die and some bling or even a 
simple mat.