enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

three things I know to be true / DIY projects.

It's no secret, I SUPER LOVE TO MAKE STUFF. And after many years of DIY (do-it-yourself) projects, I have learned a few things. This, fellow DIYers, is what I know to be true:

Would I buy this? This is the question I am constantly asking myself throughout a project. If the item I am attempting to make isn't something I would pay money for, I probably won't love it long term. Please understand, this is not to be confused with the question "could I sell this?" I don't care if anyone else wants to buy the stuff I make for my own home, but I do care that I would. "Would I buy this?" is a simple way to ask: do I love this? Is this project something I can successfully execute? Is this going to look awesome and/or be functional? Am I going to be proud to display this in my home? I have made (and shared!) many a lame project, but the ones that I LOVE for longer than a season are the ones where I look at them and think they are awesome for more reasons than just the fact that I made them.

If you're curious these are a few of my favorites : chevron headboard, hairpin leg coffee table, big script art, foldover clutch, Ellerie's quilt, quilted floor pillows. I totally would have bought all of these, but I am so thrilled that I was able to make (and customize!) them instead.

You have to enjoy the process of making as much as the end project. DIY isn't just about having handmade stuff in your house. It's about enjoying the time spent making the stuff. I have learned that nearly everything (even with a perfectly written tutorial to follow) involves a ton of trial and error. I don't mind this aspect at all...in fact, I LOVE that part. I love figuring things out. I love gaining insight about a new craft. I am prepared to make the mistakes. Paul, on the other hand, is a perfectionist (which is awesome considering his job) and struggles with DIY projects because he doesn't love the errors that come between point A (conceptualizing) and point B (the end result). Over the past few years I think our personalities have rubbed off on each other for the better...I've become more precise and wasted less raw materials and he's become more willing to embrace the process and accept the flaws.

Making breeds making. The more you do, the more ideas you have. I used to think that there were a limited amount of ideas out there and it was in my best interest to hoard them for a rainy day (which in San Diego basically means forever). The very best thing that has happened for my business, life and blog is that I realized the opposite is true. The more you experiment and the more you share, the MORE ideas you have. Every time I learn something new (like how to stain wood or how to sew a zipper) I think of 15 new projects that incorporate my new skill. This is why I set so many random craft challenges for myself. Making from scratch is inspiring. You get something customized. You gain an appreciation for well-crafted handmade. You learn something.  You end up with something special. And more than that, you earn inspiration for more projects.

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY I'm having a small business discussion with Ann-Marie Espinoza. We chat about a bunch of different things, but the focus is on bloggers and brands working together. Click here to subscribe or stream the episode from your computer here.

 

Other posts you might enjoy:

• our favorite toddler art supplies.
• creative books I always return to.
• super simple rainbow quilt.
• big script art 
• hand carved stamp

what's in my behance action book?

 

I got a question recently about how I use my Behance action book and my first response (in my head) was "how don't I use my Behance action book?"

Since last fall I have used it for alllllll my business thoughts that are not complicated enough to warrant a spreadsheet (like income and expenses or my to-do list for the Blog Design Love 2.0 eCourse).

I thought sharing a few pages would make for a fun post and then I got carried away and took photos of the whole book. This is literally a spread-for-spread breakdown with photos of most of the pages. Feel free to skip this post unless you're like me and find how other people keep track of their work load fascinating.

1 : quilt eCourse brainstorm

2 : master list of photos to take for the quilt eCourse & ideas for quilt eCourse #2 (not yet finalized or realized)

3 : list of projects to create for the blog before 2013 ended & thermometer style chart of my financial goal for 2013 (drawn in September) and a break down of where that money will actually come from

4 : sketch of new office layout & office reorganization measurements/cost breakdown

5 : MAKE29 project ideas (wrote this much later on the backside of another paper) & 2014 financial goal with ideas for where the money will actually come from

6 : stamp inventory & fall Queen Bee Market to-do list

7 : stamp inventory after the QBM & backyard plans and measurements

8 : grid I created to track a media campaign I worked on & list of various projects to complete before the end of 2013

9 : initial brainstorming for MAKE29 (called edition29 originally) (two pages)

10 : "edition29" list of things to do before 2013 ended & 2014 photo calendar ideas and to do list

11 : talking points for an in-person workshop I taught (written upside down) & ideas for a temporary freelance gig

12 : sketch with measurements for the tree skirt I never completed & list of items on my 2nd shop my closet instagram sale

13 : list of photos I needed to take for my Play! workshop handout & conference call notes about the Play! workshop

14 : conference call notes about the Your Story Retreat & my voiceover speech for the MAKE29 trailer (written in Sharpie over another page)

15 : November and December blog editorial calendar & brainstorm of personal goals for 2014

16 : notes for an ebook concept that isn't finished yet & conference call notes about the ebook

17 : intital planning for my Use Your Stash eCourse plus notes about the December Duos class (two pages)

18 : MAKE29 project notes & notes from a conference call about the Studio Calico creative team

19 : grid to keep track of freelance gig progress & talking points for my Play! presentation

20 : MAKE29 project notes & notes from a conference call about joining a media network

21 : stamp order tracking (you might be like "ELISE, YOU TRACKED STAMPS BY HAND?" and I'd be like, "I know, it's embarassing.") & new website notes

22 : more stamp order tracking & MAKE29 video trailer breakdown of shots to capture

23 : more stamp order tracking & to do list for the Use Your Stash eCourse

24 : to do list for the website upgrades & QBM spring prep

25 : pricing and inventory projections for QBM & more changes to make to my website

26 : listings for my first FOUND instagram sale (two pages)

27 : A BLANK PAGE! & notes from the podcast webinar I attended

28 : ideas for podcast episodes & Blog Design Love 2.0 brainstorming

29 : another page of ideas for podcast episodes & a legit breakdown of what I needed to do for the use your stash class (I generally mess around with to-do lists to feel like I am on the right track and then when the deadline approaches and I get super serious and fancy)

30 : listings for my second FOUND instagram sale (two pages)

31 : MAKE29 project notes & a calendar breakdown of podcast episodes from April - July that once had  many more post-it notes until Ellerie "helped" me get organized

32 : random free-form journaling from the Your Story Retreat (written upside down) & official QBM pricing plan with calculated possible income breakdown

33 : notes for a video I recorded for a BPC class & MAKE29 project notes

34 : (brief) notes from a conference call about a possible brand partnership & a blank page

Looking back through this book as a very interesting excercise for me. When I look at the pages, this is what I see : Brainstorm. Calculate. Communicate. Mock-up. Plan. Re-calculate. Break-down. Follow-through. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

This is how I run my business. This is how I execute. This is how I make money doing what I love. I am obsessed with the nitty-gritty. I love to put my head down and work. I like to make stuff but I equally like to plan how I'm going to sell that stuff. I have found that success comes when you can balance the two.

I am about 2/3 through the book and just keep turning the pages. I always have a few different projects in the works (and therefore a few different revenue streams) and it's been awesome to keep track of everything in one place. I'm a huge fan of this book and will for sure have a second one ready and waiting when I fill in that final page.

please note : I am not affiliated with Behance or the Ghostly Store in anyway and yes, I totally think you could keep amazing notes in a normal spiral bound notebook. I just love that this one has the orange column to break down porjects and a grid section to fill up however I need. I'm always working to improve on my brainstorm and organization skills and so far this book is helping me do that.

Since writing this post, I created Get To Work Book! It's a day planner + goal setting workbook that is designed to help you take your big goals turn them into something real. Learn more and shop the brand here.

Other posts you might enjoy:

• on motivation
• how I tackle huge projects.
• time spent consuming vs. creating.
• how I keep my daily tasks organized.
• why I set goals
• the difference between goals and to-do list items.
• tips for success with long-term projects
• more thoughts on "balance."
• creative books I always return to. 

 

project life 2014 : april.

As mentioned at the end of 2013, I am no longer completing my Project Life album on a weekly basis. I did that for two years. I enjoyed the process and I love my albums. This year I am taking a much more relaxed approach and playing more with this project. I don't have much of a plan other than to complete at least one (and sometimes many more) spread a month.

The big win is that I can never be "behind" on this album. I also like that I don't have to worry about having seven horizontal 4x6 photos each week and can group photos by subject instead of date. I love that I will be under no "weekly deadlines" and will be blogging just once a month about my album.

click to enlarge.

March ended with 5 4x6 photos, so April starts with 5. These are just random favorites from the month that didn't need too much of an explanation. Next to it a sequence of photos that I love of Ellerie from one morning a few weeks ago. I used stickers, cards and letters from the Studio Calico Camelot kit and Lancelot and Arthur add-ons.

This pocket page is by We R Memory Keepers and features a 6x8 pocket that I floated a 4x6 journaling card inside. I am obsessed with free space and floating items this year. 

click to enlarge.

I am so happy with how this spread turned out.

I had to back that 4x6 card with something and so I wrote some simple journaling and picked four more favorite photos that tell part of our story from April.

That HELLO stamp and those cute tags are from the Studio Calico Camelot project life main kit. I love using "hello_______" as a journaling prompt (I think I got the habit from Ali) and the stamp was perfect to set off a lot of different journaling about this month. That checker board scheme (alternating predominantly white journaling cards with photos) is still my favorite.

click to enlarge.

And then it's all about coffee.

I buy and drink a lot of coffee and have been saving the bags on top of our fridge. This month the collection got a little unruly so I decided to chop them down to 4x4 and slip inside a square pocket page from We R Memory Keepers.

To give them a little context, I printed 12 3x4 photos from my #eliselovesmornings series (these are not all from April). I love to see photos of the same thing taken different ways and I love that this little (but significant) part of our daily routine is not documented.

And that's April! No stress, just simple. Thank you so much for following along. See my title page for this album here and 2014 album progress here.

product sources: Studio Calico Camelot PL kit and add-ons (available tonight at 9pm Pacific time), We R Memory keepers 9 pocket page, We R Memory keepers 6x8+4 pocket page, Design A pocket page, staz-on ink, black sharpie.

all photos were printed at home on my Epson PictureMate Show.

weekend links / 16.

As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online...

the 25 things people with Type-A personalities do - some of these are so painfully true they made me laugh out loud.

how to cut cherry tomatoes (this is a game changer).

love the #reasonstowrite hashtag on Instagram.

in case you were curious, the swimsuit (in the stripe!) I linked to last week came and it's super cute!

this skirt doesn't look like much online, but is worth trying on..just don't spill red wine on it and then shrink it in the wash like I did.

couldn't have said it better myself.

a high school student works to change the bra industry.

10 great backgrounds for beautiful craft photography.

what a gorgeous scarf.

need a laugh today?

around here.

It was quite a week (or non-week) around here with the frequent Typepad (my blog host) outages. I am sorry if you tried to access the blog or an old post and had issues these past few days. There are still some bugs, like pinning from posts is acting strange and sometimes comments fail, but I expect things will get back to normal soon. If you missed any posts this week, here they are:

• our personalized stationery from minted (today is the last day to save 10% with the coupon code provided in that post!)
• progress on our backyard garden & a tip for tomato pruning
• how I use affiliate programs (and a link to this week's podcast)
• happy anniversary to Paul (FOUR YEARS? our marriage is now a pre-schooler and/or has completed one presidential term)

Outside of blogland, the April edition of MAKE29 was a hit (thank you!) and my garage is currently storing a PALLET of shipping supplies for May's edition. We're going big or going home next month and I'm super excited about it.

And my newest eCourse, USE YOUR STASH, launched through A Beautiful Mess this week. This is a go-at-your-own-pace crash course that features 8 lessons written by me and 15 never before seen projects. My goal is to encourage you to stop staving STUFF and start saving MEMORIES. I did a giant purge of product before I started working on these projects and a giant purge after and both felt awesome, but not as great as playing with paper and putting some stuff to use. A peek at the layouts can be seen in that last photo above and you can sign up for the course here.

Have a great weekend! I plan to play in the garden (how is that so fun?), chase Ellerie around the house (how is she so fast?) and make it through an issue of Vanity Fair (how are the articles so long?).

Cheers!

ps that Pantone COLORS book Ellerie is so diligently studying is this one.