Organizing My Thoughts in 2013

On Pinterest I came across  a journal comprised of index cards.  There were 365 cards tucked into a bowl. Each day a person is encouraged to write one sentence about their day. The bowl with index cards was cute and I love the idea of journaling a simple sentence every day.  However, knowing me...I need to have my cards bound together. Plus, I want them to be reflective of me.  I wanted something that screamed, "Nacole made me!"  My sister and I headed over to Walgreens. They had the little Five Star Notebooks on sale, buy one, get one free for $2.87.  I looked at index card books, but they didn't quite have enough cards.  I decided this notebook would be ideal. Here is what I started with, a black little notebook.

This project was perfect because it happened to fit in with the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Get Organized Crawl! I started by designing the cover. I had some paper that I fell in love with and purchased on a whim a few months ago.  I didn't know at the time what I would use it for, but this project was the perfect use! The paper is from Simple Stories and is part of their Documented line. As I pieced the cover together, I added some ink to distress, a strip of brown rib, a gear to look like a flower, and of course used my Cricut to cut out tabs, letters, and numbers. The tabs are from the Elegant Edges Cartridge and the letters and numbers are from the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge.  On the letters I did a shadow to match the tabs and topped with the letters I cut out in chocolate.

After the cover was done, I decided to add just a little more to the covers. This is the inside cover!

This is the back cover. See that last tab? It has a hidden surprise!

I added a secret pocket! You know, for those fortunes out of fortune cookies, special photos, clippings, etc. that sum up that year! I tucked a silly little card in to the pocket so you could see it.

This is how the tabs turned out. I staggered the tabs and the numbers.  Finally, I updated the first three days of January.  My biggest challenge? Just writing a single sentence about the day. I am a very verbacious person, so one sentence is a bit tricky. I planned to use a half of each side of the page per day.  I'm glad I did, because I have been filling up my space! 

This was a fun project and I'm so excited to have a fun way to organize my daily thoughts in 2013!

Sketch 3 in the 4 Card Blitz!

The third sketch I went crazy with blue and green polka dots accented with yellow glittery paper. My friend T gave me some cute polka dot flowers as part of my Matron of Honor Gift last year, I have saved them for just the right card and as soon as I started thinking about what I wanted on my card, I knew the glittery and polka dot flowers would be excellent!

An Apple A Day

I love challenges because they make me think outside of the box and often use shapes I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. For example, an apple! Out of all my Cricut cartridges I have several apples to choose from. I haven't ever played with any of them, until today! Jitterbuggin' had a challenge requiring the use of a red, yellow, and green color scheme; to add something black; use an apple; and of course to use their sketch and a Cricut! Here is the sketch:

I played with my color scheme and some fun argyle papers I have had on hand.  I started with a yellow cardstock base.  I added a rectangle piece of plaid print paper, a red and off white checkered ribbon, a yellow oval cut out of the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge and an apple cut out on a green argyle paper from the same cartridge.  I bumped the yellow oval up with some foam adhesive. My touch of black was three tiny buttons.  To make some additional borders and make everything pop, I distressed all of the edges with dark brown ink. Here is my card:

I like how the card turned out and am hoping I remember to give it to someone for either fall or Johnny Appleseed Day!