Category: Blogging

Posted in art, Blogging, creativity, lifestyle, memory keeping, Planning and journaling

Top Tips for a Successful December Daily in 2022

Posted on by Laura

This year, as I’m in a good place with my mental health for the first Christmas in a while, I’ve decided to do another December Daily challenge. I made a TN style journal quite a few years ago and I found it really enjoyable. The finished booklet looks great, and I have loved looking through it this month as a wonderful reminder of the things we did in December 2018. I can’t wait to get started on my 2022 album but I’m trying to make sure I’m well prepared and have everything I need to meet with success. I was amazed by the array of YouTube videos which showed people still working on their 2021 album in September of this year – some of them with pages and pages still to complete! With this in mind, I decided to write today’s blog post which focuses on my top tips to make sure that the process goes smoothly and ultimately, that the challenge is completely by the end of the holiday season (or at least by the end of January 2023).

What is December Daily?

The idea for December Daily was created by Ali Edwards who is a designer, blogger, workshop instructor and author based in the USA. She has a passion for memory keeping, capturing everyday life with photographs, words and decorative elements. On her website she has this to say about the project:

December Daily® is a December mini-album project that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. The simple goal is to capture the spirit of December via one story per day.

Since 2007 this project has become one of the highlights of my year and a beautiful community of memory keepers has come together to share their December stories with one another. It’s an awesome way to document and celebrate the season.

Tips for a successful and fun December Daily

As part of the preparation for my 2022 December Daily, I’ve watched lots of inspirational videos, read bits and pieces about the project online in various blogs, and collected a number of tips and ideas. As I explained earlier, I’ve seen quite a number of YouTube videos of people still working on their album for 2021, despite the fact that we’re getting close to December 2022. If I was in this situation, I would be worrying that I’m never going to get there and may have already abandoned the project part way through (and likely with feelings of guilt about all the time and money I’d spent). So, below are my top tips for success, enjoyment and a timely completion.

Start by watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts for inspiration

You already know the main idea behind December Daily but there are so many different ways to approach the project. Well before the start of the month (I began in October!), it’s a good idea to watch a range of videos and read blog posts for inspiration and composition ideas. You’ll find that some creatives prepare a mini album before they begin, leaving space for photos and journalling, whilst others use a 6×8 D rings binder and make up the pages as they go. As well as seeing different layouts, you will also find many variations in shape and sizes of journal. There are pros and cons to all of the different methods, layouts and album sizes, and of course, there is the cost to consider – the more supplies you want to use and therefore need to purchase, the more expense involved.

When watching videos and reading blog posts, I like to make notes and sketch the detail of layout ideas so I can remember my favourites at a later date and seek inspiration from them if I get stuck. I’ve also collected lots of ‘story’ and photo ideas on Pinterest and then copied out my favourites in my bullet journal to refer to throughout the month. I only chosen prompts which are relevant to me and my family situation.

Consider which supplies you want

Before you embark on the project, think about what you might need to complete it. Doing the above should have helped but you might also want to sit down and create a list in preparation for purchasing items. For example, I decided I wanted to do a 6×8 album with some of the pages inside page protectors and some just reinforced with card. I also love the idea of lots of different layouts and photo sizes so I took this into consideration too, again making notes about my ideas. I ordered my album and page protectors pretty early on as when I looked at available options, I noticed some of the ones I liked were almost sold out as they had been released last year. I chose an Echo Park white album with poinsettias, holly, berries, snowflakes and spruce stems on and I still absolutely love it!

6×8 Album from a collection by Echo Park

Other items to think about could be Christmassy papers in 12×12 size or smaller, glittery number stickers for labelling each day, journalling cards, gift tags, stickers, washi tapes, ephemera, ribbons, twine for attaching tags, sequins for shaker pockets, glue sticks and tape runners, maybe even a fuse tool for sealing shaker pockets – the possibilities are endless.

I also made sure I ordered my supplies from a company based in the UK as I wanted to make sure my items were received quickly with no chance of being stung by customs fees. There are lots of resources on Ali’s own website which look amazing, but they would end up being very costly! Although I’m prepared to spend quite a bit on the project, I did create a fixed budget, so I don’t overspend.

Choose your main items from one designer collection

If you want all of your pages to go together really well, it’s best to have a specific colour palette and style throughout. An easy way to achieve this is to choose items from a particular collection or at least from a particular designer. For example, this year, all of my supplies (ordered online using the Craftie Charlie website) are from Carta Bella’s ‘Home For Christmas’ and ‘Happy Christmas’ collections. I also purchased a few bits and pieces from Hobbycraft a few months ago but if these don’t go with my new supplies, I’ll use them for decorating my bullet journal instead.

December Daily Supplies from Craftie Charlie

Think about creating some foundation pages

Before December begins, you might want to consider making some foundation pages. These are pages which are done in advance to give yourself a head start on the project. For example, you might create a cover page which includes a title and the year 2022. You might also have a go at making particularly crafty stuff pages and elements such as shakers (containing sequins or glitter), sewn materials or multi-layer bits and pieces,

You could also create a page which explains your reason why. This is short piece of journalling which says why you’re doing the project and what you hope to get out of it. Is it a way of recording your little one’s first Christmas? Is it a chance for you to have more fun this December? Is it a way of winding down each evening by doing some journalling or is it more of a photographic challenge for you? Again, this is totally personal to you. You might want to watch videos or read about what it means to others, but you may have completely different ideas and reasoning.

This year, as one of her foundation pages, Ali Edwards created a table of contents, and this idea appeals to me too so I might give it a go. You can view her first set up video here. I’ve subscribed so I can watch all of her videos as and when she shares her creative process.

Journal your experiences and how you feel in the moment

I’m going to carry around a very small notebook in my bag wherever I go during the month of December so I can make notes about my experiences and how I feel. This means that even if I don’t do the page for that day straightaway, I’ll still have a record of the key details and my emotions at the time. You could also create a page on your phone using an app such as Notion if you would rather write things down electronically. Also, make sure you take lots of photos so you have plenty to choose from – let your family and friends know about the project so they can help with image ideas.

Above all, have fun!

December Daily is potentially a wonderful and fun memory keeping challenge to do, but it won’t be if you get yourself stressed and worried about getting everything perfect! Remember, there are no right or wrong ways to go about it – it should be completely personal to you and as simple or creative as you want. You may use lots of photos and decorative elements, or you may just do a series of simple journal entries.

The holiday season can be incredibly busy and it’s important to find time each day for rest and relaxation. This may mean working on your daily entry in the evening to help you wind down, but alternatively, it could mean that you make up most or all of your album after Christmas, when you are able to devote a few hours each day to some enjoyable and mindful creating, working at your own pace. If you want to spend most of next year finishing your creative project and this is what would make you happiest, go for it! Whatever you do, keep it fun!

Final words…

I hope you’ve found today’s post useful, and the tips have helped you with preparing yourself for doing your own December Daily project. Let me know if you’re going to give it a go or if you’re taking part in another challenge for the festive season e.g. Blogmas where you try out new and fun things on your blog related to Christmas. Although I’m not doing Blogmas this year, I’ll hopefully find the time to do a few blog posts next month as well – I might even share a few of my favourite December Daily pages as I go along too.

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Posted in Blogging, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, Planning and journaling, watercolour painting

Setting up my Bullet Journal for June: Butterflies theme

Posted on by Laura

June is here and the weather is finally starting to warm up and give us blue skies and sunshine. As our gardens start to fill with flowers, we get more and more bees and butterflies visiting and the latter is the focus of my bullet journal this month. Again, I wanted to get my watercolour paints out, this time for a single focal image. I hope you like the results and that they inspire you to give a butterfly theme a go some time. The pages took me quite a while to produce, hence me being a little behind schedule sharing them but better late than never eh?!!

Front cover

One of my favourite butterflies is the peacock butterfly with its bright colours and its spectacular eye spots. I found a photograph online and printed it for reference and also did a black and white copy which I traced so as to get the butterfly looking symmetrical (yes, I cheated but I wanted the focus to be on the watercolour, not drawing!). I spent a while creating the perfect bluey colour and I’m definitely getting much better at colour mixing. The other colours were relatively easy to get right but the painting took a long while as I used tiny brushes for the details. I also used a Pigma Micron to do the stripy detailing along the top and a while gel pen for the spots. I was pleased with the results and the use of pale yellow paper at the top and bottom of the page has nicely hidden a problem I had with water dripping on the page which caused some of the Tombow ink from the calendar page to seep through (I may have cried a little when I messed up though!).

Watercolour peacock butterfly
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative

Calendar page

After spending a full afternoon on my front cover, I decided to keep the decoration on the calendar page quite simple. The line drawn butterflies were lightly sketched first to get the wing shapes and symmetry looking okay and then I inked them with a 0.3 Pigma Micron. I was surprised by how long it took me to draw them but then. drawing isn’t a strength of mine.

Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative

Gratitude pages

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been doing these gratitude pages for a while now. At the moment, I’m struggling with negativity due to various medical complaints impacting on my mental health and this means that finding things to be grateful for becomes a little more difficult but all the more useful. Sitting down and coming up with two or three things each night, reminds me that there are some good things to be thankful for. I’ve filled in the first two days to give you an idea of the kinds of things I write.

The meadow washi tape with gold accents is a nice addition to the page and I also added lots of tiny punched paper butterflies around the title section. I used a multipurpose glue and a little pin head to apply it to the reverse – time consuming again but they look cute I think.

Photo Credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative

Yoga Session Tracker

Another spread I’ve been doing for a while to record my daily yoga practice. I write down which YouTube yoga routine I’ve done so I can make sure I’m targeting different parts of the body and ensure that I’m not repeating sequences too often. I was keeping a yoga journal too but I seem to have got out of the habit of writing in there at the moment so this will do for now.

Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my spreads for this month. I’m also planning on setting up a mood diary but I will hopefully be sharing this in my next Monday Matters post on the 7th. I’m now going to spend half an hour checking out everyone else’s spreads for this month as I love looking at a variety of themes and layout styles – I may have to set a timer though as it’s easy to lose hours on blog posts, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube as I’m sure you’ll all be well aware!

Just one more thing before I go…

I just want to share this little graphic which popped onto my phone screen yesterday. Thank you so much to all of you who take the time to read my blog – I appreciate every single view, like and comment.

Posted in Blogging, productivity, wellbeing, wellness

Keeping my distance: Life during lockdown for an office worker

Posted on by Laura

This morning I received an email from my husband with his contribution to my how life has changed during the pandemic series of guest posts. He is only upstairs, but as he’s working on his computer, he decided to quickly attach his MS Word document and forward it to me rather than asking me to read it on his screen. So without further ado, here’s his summary on things.

Since March 23rd, when Boris Johnson made his announcement about social distancing, we have been spending much more time at home. My wife, Laura asked me to document some of the things that have changed for me personally, so here goes.

The good aspects of the lockdown

I work as a materials planner for factory and my place of work is a 30 mile commute from home. This means I am usually out of the house for 10 hours each week day, leaving at 6.30am and returning home by 5pm. Since I am now working from home, I get to spend more time with Laura. I’m also saving lots of money on fuel as I buy approximately £35.00 worth of diesel each week.

I am spending most of my day working in Laura’s ‘craft room’ (although I do manage on my laptop for the first half hour, sat at the dining table downstairs so I don’t wake my wife up tapping away on the keys!). When Laura gets up (usually around 7.30 – 8am, I’m able to take my things upstairs and spread out on her large desk, making use of the very comfortable office chair and connecting my laptop and keyboard to a large monitor, kindly loaned by work so I can actually see what I am doing on the various emails and spreadsheets! We are lucky as, with the nature of our business, we still have plenty of orders and with the factory operating with less staff we are probably busier than usual, especially as we have issues with getting hold of the materials from different sources as our suppliers are self isolating too.

Although Laura and I have the chance to converse more during the day, our company is still really busy with production and I am always typing away, making calls and having meetings. The only time I really see Laura, when I’m hard at work, is when she brings me coffee (and sometimes a biscuit or two!).

When I was at the office, I used to mainly spend my lunchbreak still sat at my computer but now I’m able to stretch my legs and enjoy my lunch at the dining table so my wife and I can spend quality time together, something we would never be able to do usually. I can also have a pop out into the garden and check out all of our various plants and see what needs to be done out there in terms of weeding, mowing the grass, digging etc. At weekends, there are of course all those little jobs in the house or garden to finally tick off as we are spending much more time at home.

The not so good aspects of the lockdown

When I first started working from home, I only had my laptop and keyboard and could barely see what I was doing. The company decided to arrange for us to have a monitor to use at home as ours are affixed to our desks in the office but I had to wait a while for this to be arranged and ended up having neckache each day and everything seemed to take twice as long to do. I’m getting used to the new way of working now but tasks still take a little longer as you can’t just pop over to a colleague’s desk to check something with them like I would usually do.

Laura and I used to enjoy getting out at weekends. These days we can’t really go out, except to the supermarket, which is now a stressful experience, queuing outside, trying to keep your distance from other customers. Trying not to touch my face whilst in the shop, or feeling like I’m nagging Laura to do the same. Some essentials, such as bread or vegetables are often sold out, so you have to go to ANOTHER shop even though we have been advised to only go to one place! When we return from the supermarket, there’s all the hand washing to be done, which has been making my already cracked and sore hands much worse.

Lots of other things have changed besides, too numerous to mention, or even worth thinking about without being overwhelmed. The situation is ever changing, but for the right reasons and will help us come out of this faster with less lives lost. Stay kind, stay safe.

Michael

Thanks to my wonderful husband for sharing his experiences. I am sure others who work in an office have had similar issues with setting up their space at home, although many of you probably have less to do or have to complete tasks a little differently. Also, now I know how much money we save in fuel costs, I’m thinking of all of the things I could buy with that £35.00 each week!

Posted in Blogging, mental health, productivity, wellbeing, wellness

Life during lockdown: A guest post from my student friend

Posted on by Laura

Today, we hear from my friend Larissa who is a postgraduate student at our local university. I first met her at the compassion group which we both attended last year. I found her really lovely to talk to, so we swapped phone numbers and have stayed friends. We recently met for coffee and cake but I guess we won’t be seeing each other in person for a while now. Anyway, I’ll hand this post over…

Hi, I’m Larissa, a 21-year-old student living in Sunderland. In January I started a Masters Degree in Media Production, but obviously due to the global pandemic we’re all experiencing, I’m stuck at home.

How have my week days changed?

My weekdays have changed quite dramatically, before I was at University five days a week, learning production management, to use cameras, sound equipment and editing software. Now I have limited amounts of work I can do at home and most of my week days consist of playing Animal Crossing on my old Nintendo DS and trying out new vegan recipes.

I’ve also gone from seeing a twenty-plus group of friends and peers, to only seeing those within my household.

How have my weekends changed?

My weekends haven’t changed all too much in honesty, I do occasionally go out drinking on weekends when things are normal, but had been limiting how much I was anyway. However, recently myself and some friends had been having ‘Games Nights’, and I am missing getting together, relaxing and having a good laugh.

What’s one of the worst things about lockdown?

Undoubtedly, there were always going to be negatives about being in lockdown; most people don’t enjoy being stuck in their house, unable to leave. I had considered myself a home-bird until the UK’s lockdown began, but it has made me realise how much I enjoy the freedom of being able to leave my house and pop to see a friend, to the beach, to grab a coffee.

My mental health has also been negatively affected during lockdown; most people (including me) are likely experiencing anxiety regarding their own and other’s health, but personally I struggle with not being able to see my loved ones often (you might call me clingy), and as overwhelming as day-to-day life can prove to be, the lack of normal routine has left me feeling unmotivated and low.

What have you found to be positive about lockdown?

Of course it’s not all doom and gloom (although it’s okay if it feels that way at the moment), I feel there’s been an increase in community spirit, and lots of children in the area have been drawing and writing nice messages and sticking them up in their windows for everyone to see.

I’ve also started exercising daily, something I’d been meaning to get back into the habit of for months. Basically, I’ve had a lot of time to focus on practicing self-care and doing the things I enjoy such as:

-Meditation

-Sketching

-Writing (including this blog post, something I probably wouldn’t have been doing had I not been stuck indoors with all the free time in the world!)

-Gaming

-Cooking

-Spending time with my cat Loki

-Walking in nature (for the government approved one hour per day might I add)

I hope you and your loved ones are all staying safe and well. I know people are going through some horrific things collectively at the moment, but I suppose what I want to finish with, is use this time, if possible, to reconnect; whether that be with yourself, you loved ones, nature or whatever.

Thank you for reading, and if you liked my writing and would like to link up with me, you’re quite welcome to message me on https://uk.linkedin.com/in/larissa-hird-9b29b9183

Larissa

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about lockdown from the point of view of a student. I know Larissa is keeping in touch with people on Facebook, but it’s not quite the same as enjoying face-to-face contact time with friends and being with lots of other students during the week. Hopefully we can meet up for coffee and vegan cake again soon. Take care and message me any time,

Posted in Blogging, wellbeing, wellness

Self isolation from the point of view of a retired person: A guest post from my mum

Posted on by Laura

A brief introduction

Hi everyone, my mum has risen to the challenge of creating a guest post about the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on her life and so I’d like to present her words to you below. It’s probably the first time ever that I’ve seen her write at length on a subject as we usually keep in touch via phone and WhatsApp message where we try to keep our writing to a minimum character length! So, without further ado, I’ll hand over this post to its main author:

Hello, I’m Laura’s mum , Julie, and I’ve been asked if I would like to jot down the good bits and the bad bits about self isolation from the view of an older person (I suspect she might be trying to keep me busy lol!). Well here goes…

I’m not quite 70 but close enough and my husband (Laura’s dad) is getting on for 80 so we are treating this as both of us being ‘vulnerable’ although I can still shop whilst he stays in the car. I’ve tried to come up with positives first, but there are fewer of those.

The positives of staying at home…

Firstly, I like gardening and having more time and the weather not being too bad, though chilly at times, I’ve warmed up digging over the patches where my husband sets his runner beans when the weather warms up. I’ve also been hoeing between my plants. Since our soil is solid clay and had flooded several times, it is now drying out to concrete! – so I’m getting fresh air and a good work out.  

Secondly, my husband has had a spell of physical problems involving lots of pain in various parts of his body, which the doctor says is related to gout and arthritis. However, he has begun taking medication for his difficulties, and now he has picked up, he is able to do some of the jobs that have had to be put on hold. It’s a pity though that the DIY shops are no longer available to us for garden supplies.  

Thirdly, and probably the best of all, people have been so kind. We have had offers of help from our son’s girlfriend who works at the hospital and has been a bit down herself. Also, Laura’s friend from childhood, who works in intensive care at the hospital has offered help and so has the woman who has recently moved into the house across the road. Our son would do our shopping, but quite honestly, whilst I can, I would much sooner do it myself and of course Laura lives a long way away in Sunderland whilst we’re in the Midlands.  

Finally, on the positive side of the situation, I’ve got more time for hobbies such as jigsaws, crosswords and reading which I always enjoy.

The negative aspects of social isolation and distancing 

Now onto the downsides…

Before this all started, we used to go out on bus trips with lunch in Wetherspoons twice per week. Well that is out for now and I miss it. We started off driving a little way to quiet spots for a picnic in the car and a walk but now, the Government have said they don’t want people driving to places for exercise so we stopped doing that. Walking locally gets a bit tedious after a while, but never mind!  

Next, whereas I used to shop 4 or 5 times per week, I’m trying to just shop once per week which isn’t easy because our favourite supermarket doesn’t stock absolutely everything I need to buy. On the plus side, I can do my own shopping, unlike my auntie and uncle who are totally isolated due to my auntie’s serious health issues and have not yet been able to get a delivery spot. Hopefully they will soon. In the meantime my brother and sister-in-law, who also have health issues and want to isolate but can’t get a food delivery are helping my auntie out (back to kind people again!).  

Another problem is that we are running out of jigsaws to do. My brother has some but he can’t bring them to me because he is in isolation too and the charity shops where we usually get them are closed but that is just a small problem. These are just practical issues.

The worse thing about having to isolate is that Laura and her husband will not be able to come down at Easter, which they always do. Also I can’t go round to ours son’s on a Saturday to spend the day with him and our granddaughter Lexi, or see them on a Wednesday for tea which is our usual routine. However, on a positive note, although we   don’t do social media, and it takes me all my time to send an email, I am able to keep in touch with Laura, our son and granddaughter and the rest of my family by text and the odd phone call. I got a very noisy, but very welcome phone call from our granddaughter, aged 8, last weekend which cheered me up no end! Also, my husband and I have each other to talk to and it would be much worse to live on my own in the middle of nowhere like some people have to contend with. That’s it. Take care everyone and keep well.

Julie (Laura’s mum)

I hope you have enjoyed hearing from my mum and it has made you think about the effect of social isolation on the older generation. It’s also nice for me to know that my mum is being thought of by members of her local community, especially with me being too far away to offer practical help. After being initially really upset by the turn of events, I can see she is beginning to adapt relatively well to the situation and is still able to make the most of life and see some positives.

So, all that remains for me to say is, thanks mum for providing your input, and I hope to see you, my dad, brother and niece for some face-to-face contact, days out and games evenings sooner rather than later! It might not be at Easter, but hopefully it’ll be some time in the summer before Lexi and I have our shared birthday.