You guys, I love January! Not just because it’s my birthday month, but because I look at the clean calendar pages, the fresh start waiting for me in the year ahead. I use the early weeks of January as a wrap up and refresh. I will be wrapping up Christmas in the days ahead, as I type this the tree is still fully decorated and twinkling, though most of the other decorations have come down. I like bringing the tree into the new year because it gives me a chance to take all of those missed photos from the busy holiday without the clutter!
On tap for this first week of January is to wrap up my Celebrate the Season album so I can re-organize my craft room and put the new Cricut in her permanent spot. But while I’m trying to make space for her (she’s a her and her name is Rose) I’m also trying to learn all the things she is capable of so I can utilize her to her full potential. This is where some of the new in New Year comes, I’m learning, I’m creating and I’m planning for the year ahead. I know in my head all the things I want to create but I have to focus and learn first, which is a good lesson on so many levels not just for Cricut usage!
The first week of January also means I refresh, restart, reset! I wrap up my previous year’s One Little Word and I start a new journey with a new word. This year’s word came to me months ago, which has never happened before and I decided to try something new and house all my One Little Word lessons, thoughts, photos, ideas in a black out bullet journal. I am obsessed with how this book is turning out even though the first pages were absolutely scary. That is also part of the New Year journey right? Taking chances, trying something new, knowing what works for you and what doesn’t and also knowing that these memories are yours and you should be having fun with them and if you can’t take risks in your own journals and scrapbooks then where can you?
For me the idea of using a bullet journal for this project is a scary one, it’s something new and different from the traditional scrapbooking I gravitate towards. But it’s exciting too and it makes it fun and it keeps my ideas fresh and my pages whether in a bullet journal or on a 12×12 page from getting stale.
The turning of the calendar also means setting up a new month in my regular bullet journal. As this is also the start of a new year I try to set the intentions and tones for the year ahead. For January I relied heavy on Rose the Cricut and had a blast. I want this to be a year that I sparkle, I want this to be a year of celebration and if I believe it and work for it, I know it will happen!
I don’t tend to buy into the whole New Year, New You that is hyped all over the internet and television, but I do think goals are important, not just for regular life but scrapbooking and craft goals too. Here are my five suggestions for craft/scrapbooking goals for the new year:
- Try a technique that is out of your comfort zone. Is it housing a project in a different size or style book or format? Is it painting, splattering, layering? Try something you usually shy away from.
- Make a list of photos you want to take. It is great to have a goal to take or scrap more photos and even easier if you have a list of what you want these photos to be to work off of.
- Participate in a challenge. You guys know I love the LOAD challenges but it has been a long time since I’ve completed one, it is one of my scrappy goals this year to complete one and it really helps having the prompts as a starting off point.
- Learn. I plan to learn everything I can about the Cricut and I’m giving myself the year to do so. I want to be able to make gifts and projects, use paper and vinyl and iron ons, but to do that I have to learn. Maybe you want to learn fancy lettering, or photo editing, or how to mix patterned paper. Take a class, turn to YouTube, visit us here at ScrapHappy but decide what you want to learn this year and work towards it. And don’t pick too many things you don’t want to be overwhelmed.
- Start a new project. I start One Little Word, also this year I’m starting a Traveler’s Notebook where I am documenting new recipes I try using my scrapbooking supplies to document photos and reviews of recipes. What project can you start? A book of lists, a day in the life, a week in the life, a photo a day, a particular celebration – make it new and exciting and then you will want to work on it and focus on it.
I hope these ideas inspire you in the year ahead as we start fresh and work to make 2021 a great year. Above is a sneak peek at the food book I started, I will be sharing it over at AdventuresbyDani.com if you want to come visit and see how it grows and evolves. I wish you all the happiest New Year and can’t wait to scrap with you all again soon!