enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

new one.

 
I haven't been carrying a journal recently and I am finding myself scribbling all over my planner or forgetting thoughts. This one I am anxious to carry around. To make the front and back covers, I made a mosaic of some of my flickr photos and then printed them on lightly textured cardstock. I am hoping to do a "Bookbinding : How To" post sometime next week. It is tricky only because you do need a lot of specific supplies. Sadly, there are no short cuts with these guys.

PS : What are your thoughts on custom books? You provide 12 photos and I make something like this for you?

etc.

I am so very excited for summer. Which means that I'm even happy to say good-bye to February. I am ready for warm days. And hot air. And windows open. Ready for flip flops and skirts and mocha mint frappacinos. Summer, my friend, come on down. (Spring, you are also invited if you bring along hot sunshine.)

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Thank you for the sweet words about my 24 book. If I do it right it will be the coolest project ever. I just need to stay on top of it. I cannot stress enough HOW EASY these little books are. All you need is a hole punch, a paper cutter and some fun paper that wants to be recycled. The whole idea is to not worry so much about the how? and the why? and the does this look good? Because hey guess what - it does look good. And if it doesn't, you rip it out and start over. It's just paper. Little books are the best. 

Q: Where do you get your binder rings?

A: The office supply store. They are sold in boxes of 12.

Q: Where did you get all those mini file folders?

A: Paper Source sells them and I also made some by tracing.

Q: Are you going to sell these books?

A: No plans. They are a little bit too one-of-a-kind.

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All right. Let's power through Thursday night and Friday and then WEEKEND IT UP. I have big decisions to make and one yoga DVD that I will move my body to OR ELSE.

i will do better this time.

Last year, I made a list of 23 things to accomplish at 23. And I accomplished 17 out of 23. But I did nothing to chronicle the adventure aside from a few blog posts. This year, I thought I would just GET STARTED right at the beginning. I put together a 4x6 book of assorted papers and a few photos as a blank canvas for my 24th year.

The list is displayed a few pages in and it is followed by 24 additional pages. Each page will represent one item on the list. Each page is not yet numbered - I will move them around and embellish them as I work on the goals.

I invision this book as a little bit Ali Edwards December Daily and a little bit my Kauai Album on the Road. I hope it gets stuffed with photos and text and menus and receipts and plane tickets and all the memorabilia I will collect as I accomplish 24 different things this year.

stars.

Last month, I switched to Google Reader to keep track of all the blogs I read. I used to be addicted to Bloglines, but was tired of feeds either not updating at all or re-updating (and re-updating) with the same material. I am thrilled with the format of Google Reader and love that they have a "Top Recommendations" column of blogs you might be interested in - I am finding lots of new reads.

I also love that you can "star" blog posts that appeal to you. I use this feature in gmail all the time, and it is creating quite the inspiration folder for me in reader.

Here are a few of my recent starred posts:

Handle + Sprout on Oh Happy Day

Patterned masking tape available again via Creature Comforts

Marta's new writing club

Pearl by Milkmaid Press on Snippet & Ink

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about Creativity on Caroline's blog

Oh, Internet. I love you.

(Photo is the current "scape" on my dresser.)

well said.