Hello friends! It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.
I must confess that I haven’t been feeling at all creative for the last several months. I just couldn’t motivate myself to do any papercrafting projects at all. I have an autoimmune illness that I have been battling for over 30 years. Suffice it to say, my immune system has been unhappy and grumpy for the last few months!
I’ve never felt so unmotivated before. To get my mojo back, I decided that I wanted to learn to crochet. I thought it would be something that I could do in front of the TV in the evenings. I also pulled out some needlepoint kits that I’ve had for a bit and worked on a few of those.
It worked! It’s amazing how making projects to decorate the house and to gift to my family motivated me to actually complete the projects I was working on.
From October to now, I made a needlepoint for my daughter and framed it. I made two holiday decor needlepoint projects and framed those for our house. I made 7 or 8 amigurumi animals from Wobbles kits that I absolutely got hooked on. Those little kits gave me a huge amount of confidence in my newly learned crocheting skills. I started watching YouTube videos and began crocheting ornaments for the holiday. Then I decided to do some macrame and I created a wallhanging for the bedroom and more holiday ornaments. At this point, it was time for a bigger project…I crocheted a scarf for my daughter, then two ear muff headbands. I moved on to hats and made one for my new son-in-law and one for my son. Then I pulled the sewing machine out and made two really nice zipper bags for my daughter and created a table runner and chair covers for the kitchen table for the holiday.
It felt wonderful to be creating again and not just making cards and paper crafts. I’ve definitely caught the crocheting and sewing bug now and it feels great to make useful things for people. I made my mother a gorgeous birthday present which I will share later in the month! I also made two really sweet basket with big chunky yarn. My daughter will get one of those and I’m using the other to hold my yarn and afghan that I’m making. Go big or don’t bother learning to crochet, right?
I will share pictures of these projects on Instagram throughout the month!
Today, I want to share my One Little Word of the Year!
This is the first Challenge YOUrself scrapbook challenge of the year for 2024. I love this challenge, and I love that Sharon is starting us with this challenge for this year.
My word of the year is HANDMADE!
You got it!
I picked the word that has been filling my soul up for the last three months.
For these challenges, you can make any size or style scrapbook layout, but YOU have to be in one of the photos on the layout.
I LOVE traveler’s notebook journaling, so I pulled out a new TN and started my OLW (One Little Word) journey in this format. (You can also see a sneak peek of the gift I made for my mother around my neck. I’m super proud of it!)
The first time I ever did OLW was in 2020 and I took Ali Edwards class. The first thing she had us do was to look up the dictionary definition of our word. I’ve used that here on my layout. I also created some circle stickers from some plain stickers and stamps that I have in my stash. I added some washi tapes and two acetate stars along with my journaling to complete my page.
My word in 2020 was JOURNEY and it was enriching to really explore that word at that time since I retired in December 2019 and we spent our first winter in Florida from January-May 2020. I was on a journey of self discovery and recreating my purpose in life with such big changes happening. (Along with a global pandemic…it was quite a journey from my norm!)
My thoughts about delving into the world of handmade has me so EXCITED that I can’t stand it!
I went to Joanne Fabrics a couple days ago and hit the 75% off clearance fabrics and remnants sales. I also piled in a lot of yarn that was on sale as well.
I have actually already used 3 skeins of the yarn I bought making baskets the last two day! They are so useful and it feels so good to make things I can actually use and that I am really proud to gift to family and friends.
My first thoughts about what my intentions are for this word this year:
1. Crochet: I have a list of crochet projects that I want to make. (I’ve got 3 blankets started and I definitely want to make more shawls, hats, and baskets…and maybe just one sweater for myself as the year goes on.)
2. Sewing: I also want to do more sewing. I want to make some project bags, more zipper bags since I can’t have enough of those, and some tops that actually fit me. I bought some fabulous fabrics on clearance and I’m looking forward to starting those projects in a couple days.
3. Healthy Meals: 18 months ago, I started on a healthy food journey to battle the Crohn’s Disease that I have and I feel good and I’m hopefully on the path to really having that under control. Handmade also applies to the meals that I make. I have been experimenting with new whole foods plant based recipes to really heal my gut and feel better. By cooking my own food and modifying recipes to use ingredients that I can eat without getting sick and that are not processed foods. I believe is a huge step in the healing process. I’ve completely revamped my pantries and refrigerators. They could be in a magazine! Not only are they super organized, my kitchen is full of super healthy unprocessed foods and ingredients. Handmade meals are a must for me.
4. Traveler’s Notebooks and Scrapbooks: I will continue documenting my days through art and journaling this year. I just love doing this and it just feels good. I’m living in each moment in a more intentional way thanks to these crafty tools.
One thing I’ve learned about choosing a word for the year and then actually intentionally doing something with that word every single day of the year will help me discover new ways that handmade works in my life. I’m so looking forward to see how I grow with this word this year.
Thank you for stopping by friends! I wish you a very Happy New Year and a healthy and prosperous 2024!
Join us for the Challenge YOUrself scrapbook challenge. Pick a word for this year that you want to focus on and create a layout with you in a photo and share it with us HERE!
