Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick post here to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

I spent some time last night thinking about the things I would like to accomplish in 2012. I don't make "Resolutions" anymore..they are easily broken and seem to be an "all or nothing" sort of deal.

So this year I am making Goals instead. For me, a goal is something to shoot for, and you can celebrate your progress and achievement even if you don't quite make the goal in the end.

Its probably just the difference in choice of words used, but it sure feels a heck of alot less stressful this way.

So on to my Goals!

1. Do something Creative Everyday. I made a framed art that hangs on the wall in my craft room reminding me of this little wisdom. You can see it here.

I am planning on doing a little something everyday...whether it is something permanent like a scrapbook page, or fleeting like carving something in the snow.

I plan on trying new techniques and mediums in my endeavors as well as enjoying my favorite paper crafting techniques.

I purchased a book titled, : "365 A Daily Creativity Journal - Make Something Everyday and Change Your Life" By Noah Scalin. Noah has for the past five years made a Skull a day from many different artistic mediums, and he has inspired many people to embark on similar creative journeys. I plan on giving this some serious thought and incorporating many of his ideas into my crafting this year.

2. To take better care of myself, both physically and emotionally.

As a mother of three, including a special needs child, it is very easy in the daily grind, to forget that I need to take care of myself as well as my family. I refuse to declare a specific goal of "losing X # of pounds" or "exercising X # of hours a week" But to just take the time to learn to make better choices overall for my health and well-being.

3. To Use what I have in my craft room first, before adding to my very large stash of supplies.

Well its unrealistic to say I won't purchase anything..but I am going to make an extra effort to go to my supplies first and only purchase those things that are necessary to complete a project. I will work hard to avoid those random "Look what I found on the clearance rack" purchases that have cluttered up my room over the past couple of years. I want to regain the space I have lost in here and I can only do that by using up what I have.

4. TO get my household more organized.

This is a ongoing project in my home. I am always looking for better ways to organize, downsize, purge, and run things. I notice that as my girls get older, some of this gets easier.

5. To work on completing some albums this year.

Last year I made many things, but did few scrapbook pages, and I have become very far behind in my album making. I have several boxes of the girls school memorabilia taking up valuable real estate in my scraproom, and the sooner I get that stuff into albums or purged, the better.

6. Lastly..to spend more quality time with the people I love.

It seems that in the daily grind we run around trying to get all the things we HAVE to do completed. (Homework, Cleaning, School, work, etc..) so that we are too tired or burned out to do the things we WANT to do. So I am going to work hard on making more family time, and date nights with my Hubby.

SO that is my list of Goals for 2012.

It seems like a tall order, but I am determined to make some changes that will benefit me and my family.

I wish you all a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Jan