{Noteworthy} You Can Do Anything, But…

A lot of times, if you’re like me, I want to be able to do EVERYTHING that I aspire or hope to achieve whether it’s my creative goals as an artist, building a business or maybe it’s my everyday to-do list with home and family, financial matters, special events, personal connections , or travels. Regardless of what it is, I have to remind myself of this fact that “I can do ANYTHING, but NOT EVERYTHING.”

So many times, I’ve stretched myself thin to the point where I get so burned out and miserable which eventually leads me to feeling stuck, so stuck I don’t want to do anything at all. You know what I’m saying? Why do we overwhelm ourselves with responsibilities and obligations that are beyond what we can handle? I guess for me, I’m a bit an overachiever and love being able to get things done, but some days I stop to think about what exactly am I trying to achieve when suddenly I realize that I’ve gotten off track. It sucks when I discover that I’m nowhere close to what I had intended on doing and it can be so disappointing. Why does this happen?? I personally think that when we have too much going on, it becomes all too confusing to focus on just ONE thing and we get sidetracked or so overwhelmed that it makes you feel like the whole world is on your shoulders. Sometimes, I find that my lack of priority skills can get the best of me and I’m willing to accept the fact that I need to stop trying to do everything and to focus on just ONE thing at a time. But how do I do that?

Awhile back, during an online business course I took, I learned that having a time management system in place is important whether you’re in business or not. Life is busy and hectic with the demands of family, work, special events, personal connections, etc. There are so many different methods or techniques to suit each and every person’s lifestyle, but finding the right one is the key to finding a solution. Some found that system to be their smart phones, iPads, calendars, bulletin boards, planners, post-it notes etc.  I’ve tried almost all of those things and I still found that they weren’t enough to keep me going and it would slip through the cracks or I’d lose interest in keeping up with it. But during the online course, I was introduced to the Planner Pad. And let me tell you, it has been a life-saver. It’s not your typical planner and at first, I dismissed the idea that it would even work. Since it was highly suggested, I gave it a try and I do not regret it. Now, I can honestly keep track of my schedule, categorize my activities, and prioritize them all in one spread which is designed to give you a lot of room to write, something that appeals to me since I love to write. It comes with a helpful CD that gives you a tutorial, tips and ideas to understand how to customize it to your needs. It’s nothing fancy, just a plain and simple planner that keeps everything in life and business, easily organized in one happy place. It may not work for everyone, but it sure works for me! Love it!

Anyway, back to my point I was trying to make…. Whenever I feel overwhelmed with the demands of a crazy schedule or need to express all the goals and creative ideas that build up, I remind myself that “I can do anything, but not everything.” and to focus on my priorities first so I can handle what I need to do, ONE THING AT A TIME… No pressure, no stress! I know that not only does it benefit my creative biz and personal goals, but it also benefits my family and my sanity!

Note: I am not affiliated with the company manufacturer nor was I paid to endorse this product. Therefore, I own and purchased this with my own funds and this review was based on my own personal opinion. 

Safari Baby Shower

Tomorrow, I am hosting my sister’s baby shower and wanted to share the invitations and favors that I designed for her and my brother-in-law. When they asked me to design their invites, I already knew they were expecting a boy, but still didn’t know exactly what theme I was going to go with, which they gave me full permission to get creative. So what I did, was look up their baby registry items and saw that most of the gifts that they requested had this jungle safari theme. I copied an image from the site that had these cute baby animals and a color swatch that I can pull from and went from there.

I knew that although I could have illustrated my own little animals (which maybe I could do one day), I just didn’t have the time. Illustrations are something you don’t want to rush creating and knowing me, I would probably take forever. So in cases like this, sometimes I find it more convenient to search around for other high-quality designs that I can use. Of course, whenever you do that you have to read the designer’s terms of use and make sure that it’s perfectly okay for S4H (scrap-for-hire) or personal use. If you plan to resell your derivative works, you would need to purchase designs that are offered for ‘commercial/professional use’ for a fee that is either offered directly or you may have to contact the designer for permission and their policy details. Anyways, that’s another different topic that we won’t get into right now:)

That being said, I used Lisa Sisnero’s ‘Animal Crackers’ kit from her shop at Little Dreamer Designs. It contained exactly what I needed and it was so much fun to work with. I absolutely love her animal doodles Aren’t they adorable???

Check them out!

If you’re curious to know, I got these printed by Persnickety Prints, who do fabulous prints by the way. They’re actually having a Super Bowl sale starting Sunday, so if you’re wanting to catch on printing your digital scrapbook pages, now is the time to do it and save a little extra money! For more details, visit their blog.

The favors are basically your typical Hershey’s chocolate bar which I bought from bulk at Costco. I designed the wrapper, cut it to size, score the appropriate areas to fold, then used glue dots to stick it all together. On the back, it says “Thank you for joining us”… Easy peasy and oh so cute!


Will be back with more photos of the shower! Have a great weekend!

[DIY Paper Craft Decor] Accordion Paper Flowers

DIY TUTORIAL: ACCORDION FLOWERS [Large Sized]

What you will need:

• 12×12 Solid or Patterned Card Stock - TWO STRIPS CUT OF EITHER ONE OF THESE SIZES: 4′X12′, 6′X12′, OR 8′X12′ INCHES.
• 1 Coordinating card stock with a different color or pattern
• 2 in or bigger round circle or scallop punch
• Scoring Board or Ruler w/Scoring Tool
• Glue Gun
• Stapler or Adhesive strips

1. First step is to score 1 inch increments on each strip of card stock. I decided to use 6 x 12 inch strips for my project, but for different sizes you may try this with 4′ x 12′ or 8′ x 12′ inch strips as well.

Oldies, but goodies + they’re FREE!

Happy Monday!

After such a long weekend, it’s back to work and time to start a fresh week! For those of you in the states, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales are going well! I have found me a few deals that got me on the right track to getting my Christmas shopping list done, but thankful that I didn’t get hurt in all that madness. Yes, for the first time, I actually got up to be at the store by 4 am! The lines were ridiculously long before the doors had even opened, but then once they let people in, I was in there in 20 minutes and checked out 30 minutes later. NOT BAD, eh?

So anyways, I am still in a thankful mood. Today is my 7th year Anniversarsy <3!!!!!! Mr. Co and I will be having a date night tonight while kids are with my aunt & uncle. Yay! Seven years is actually not that long, but it feels like forever!

Today, I wanted to repost some oldies, but goodies that you can download for free. If you ever want to find any freebies that you’ve missed, just click on the category ‘freebies’ down below in the sidebar.

These were made last year so I hope you can still enjoy them! Feel free to share them with others, but please direct them to my blog for them to download!

FREEBIES:

 

 

 

*Sorry, link has expired.

+ Download here +

Please leave a comment, it’s always nice to hear from you. Thank you and will be back soon to give you some updates of special holiday news!

Take care!

Baby Savannah | CD Favors + Photography Inspiration

THANKFUL :)

I woke up this morning to sounds of my children playing, my husband’s voice, and the warm sun in my face… I laid there thinking of how beautiful my life is. However, my life wasn’t always colorful and bright, but just like any painting looking up close, you will discover some rather dark and unattractive colors mixed in. What I’m trying to say is, we may not have a perfect life and there will be moments of darkness, but if you look at the BIG picture, it suddenly reveals this rare beauty that evolved from everything that we go through in life, whether good or bad. It makes us who we are, builds our character, our faith, self-respect, appreciation, patience, and humility… It makes you unique and different. But, most of all… we learn to APPRECIATE the things or people that really matter in life.

Yesterday, I shared my love for cards and how it was the first love in my creative journey. Well, today I decided to share a free gift with you that I hope you’ll enjoy giving to others. I know I will! It’s a printable Thanksgiving Card + some general Thank You cards that you can you use any day. They measure 4.25 x 5.5 inches when folded and works well with size A2 envelopes.

 

 

 

Included in each download are high-resolution, 300dpi files in .PDF format that you can easily open in Adobe Reader. If you don’t have that installed, you can download the software for FREE right here. Once you open the file, just print it on 8.5×11 cardstock. I used 110 lb white cardstock, but you can also use 65 lb + up or even matte photo paper. Then, just fold and cut at the marks.. That’s all!! It’s that simple!

Thank you for making it a pleasure for me to share these with you and hopefully you’ll remember to come back for more goodies in the future!

Hope you have a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY! Be safe, be blessed, and eat to your heart’s content!

XOXOX!

DIY Wish Lists | Photos

 

Yes, I’m done! I didn’t realize that it would take me a whole day to work on this, but I had the absolute best time just decorating the finished WISH LISTS. After printing them out, I thought it needed something extra and it led me to dig through my huge stash of supplies that I’ve collected over the years. I couldn’t believe how much supplies I had at my disposal to work with and create so many things. I guess you can say, I’ve been the addictive type when it comes to scrapbook stuff, buying every cute and adorable thing there is at a craft store, but never wanting to use it for anything for the fact that I can’t let go of such cool paper, stickers, punches, stamps, etc…. Well, I’m finally seeing that I can no longer live this way and my creativity is limited when I choose not to create and play and make beautiful things that I and/or others can enjoy… We only live once, right?

So, what I ended up doing was pasting my wish list onto colored cardstock, giving it that matted border around the edges, as well as giving the paper more support. Then I punched small holes at the top and added ribbon which can be used for hanging or pinning up on the wall. After that, I found some buttons, glittered felt, and beads to add a little dimension to it. Voila!  I especially loved the cute snowman.

The great thing about hybrid is that I can reuse the digital kit over and over again and print out different things to make with it, without having to repurchase everything all over again, like I would have to if this were all completely made with supplies bought at a craft store. See why I love this?

Next, I’m going to try making an advent/countdown calendar using Michelle Filo’s ::Hybrid Magic No.15 Advent Christmas Calendar Template:: . Hope it turns out as good as this last project!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Tomorrow is Creative Connection Wednesday, so be sure to come back for more inspiration….

Cheers!