A printable bookmark . . . just because

I don't know.  This week I took a side trip away from the usual journal page.  I was thinking about books and information overload and my inability to pair the random thoughts roaming through my brain with their sources and wouldn't it just be smarter to write them down while I had the book/magazine/article in my hands instead of trusting my increasingly rusty memory to keep it all straight . . .

I tinkered a little and ended up with this:

A handy-dandy, fill-in-the-blanks, cut-and-paste, folded bookmark.  An easy place to jot down a few impressions, memories and quotes from the latest read . . .

Below, I took a sample shot of a completed bookmark parked on page 204 of Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life.  Page 204 is the home of her wonderful recipe for French-style Yogurt Cake with Lemon, the only from-scratch cake I've ever been able to make successfully.  It is utterly delicious, simple and elegant, and amazingly resilient when left to the devices of rudimentary bakers such as myself.

Anyhoo, my plan is to generate a collection of bookmarks, file them close by for frequent reference and pat myself on the back for taking a little wind out of the sails of information overload.

If you'd like to try it out for yourself, the pdf is here.

Happy Friday, friends!

Yesterday . . .

Not unlike a master jeweler appraising a rare gem, no?  The sorting of the eggs is serious business around here.  And while they're sorting, I'm readying myself for the onslaught . . . "Mom, I'm not hungry for breakfast.  Can't I just have some eggs instead?"  "Mom, when can I have another egg?"  "Mom, she had two eggs and I only had one." "Mom, can't I have just one more?  Pleeeeaaaase!" 

Thankfully, the husband is an accomplished egg pilferer.

How was your weekend?

Knowing thyself and a new journal page

Update: The journal page in this post is no longer available for download. For a selection of free, printable journal pages, please visit my Printable Journal Pages collection.

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Dropping in this Thursday evening to post a new journal page.

It begins with a cheeky to-do list -- the only kind of to-do list that gets me off my butt . . .

and a look at the things -- for better or worse -- that we know about ourselves . . .

Thought I'd take a stab at that one right here, with your indulgence . . .

Conflict:  Avoid it whenever possible, even if it's to my detriment.  Working on that.
Change:  Crave and loathe it in equal parts.
Communication:  My record on this one is spotty at best.  Sometimes I just can't.  Can't bear the connection.  Working on that.  Right now, in fact. 
Happiness:  I try to choose to be happy as often as possible.  For me, it has to be a conscious decision; I have to go to it, rather than it coming to me.  (Is that how it works for everyone?)  When I put my mind to it though, it works more often than not.

How about you?

The full page, with coloured border thanks to a newish set of magic markers, looks an awful lot like the shot below:

You'll find our newest journal page here (border-free) and here (borderful, colour-free) and here (borderful, colourful).

Happy Thursday, friends!

In progress

Working on a new journal page today.  It should be ready to post late tomorrow, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a few photos of other stuff in progress around here. 

This, below, is the beginning of my fourth watercolour painting ever.  Actually, my fourth painting of any kind ever, if you don't count fingerpainting and paint by numbers.  My mom's picture is there too at the top of the frame.  That day, we were sketching (read: tracing) and applying masking fluid to our flowers to keep their edges crisp while we painted our backgrounds.

Those two, below, are unfinished third painting ever and unfinished fourth painting ever.  I still have a long way to go and these particular efforts are truly evidence of that fact, but it's been really satisfying (and at times, incredibly frustrating) to try something new, something outside my comfort zone.

Finally, this one below -- a scarf with pretty tassels -- is almost done.  Just a few rows left and then I'm boxing it up and sending it out, with love . . .

What projects are you working on these days?

New journal page

Update: The journal page in this post is no longer available for download. For a selection of free, printable journal pages, please visit my Printable Journal Pages collection.

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This is the part I always leave until the end.  The post.  I leave it until I've run out of time and I'm stressed and I'm staring at a blank screen and a flashing cursor and not a single meaningful word will present itself for duty.

So this is what I do:  I write the word blah in the empty text box.

Take that empty text box!

Then I leave a space where a photo might be nice and write blah again.  Then more spaces and more blahs until I get to the last bit where the links to the page belong and I write blah here and here and here blah.

Ha!

Not so blank anymore, are you, text box?

Then, gradually, I fill in the spaces with a photo or two, link up the heres with their corresponding documents and replace the filler blahs with sentences.

Before I know it, I'm at this point, the point where I get to show you the new page.

This week, it's all about the people who put us at ease (except for that one guy -- or gal -- who makes us a little nervous) . . .

 

It's also about starting off the weekend to-dos with something easy . . .

The full page looks a little something like this . . .

and you'll find it here (border-free) and here (borderful and colour-free) and here (borderful and colourful).

Happy weekend, friends!

A tentative return . . .

Whew, that was a bit of a rough go.  I won't lie to you; I'm still struggling a bit and my thoughts are a little muddled these days.  Mostly, though, I think I'm feeling better and ready to jump back in with both feet. 

I've missed this place and our journal pages.  I know I have a lot of work to do here, but I'd like to reconnect -- to catch up on emails and write a whole bunch of thank you notes and apologize for disappearing like that.  It feels a little daunting though -- okay, totally daunting -- so I'm going to start slowly with today's post.  Then, on Friday, I'll post a new journal page.  If all goes well, there will be another new page next week too.  Several lovely commenters have suggested bringing the journal page count up to 52, a weekly year's worth, and I think that makes a lot of sense, so that's where I'm headed.

Before I go though, I've been wanting to write about this little treasure . . .  

A few months back, when I was starting to wobble, my dear friend the Scribbler sent me one of her gorgeous handmade creations . . .  

What began as a sewing project with her mom and a return to her crafty roots ended with a lovely collection of scarves, some of which she gifted to very lucky recipients like me.  It is so very soft and warm and bright and happy and I grin a big silly grin whenever I wear it, which is often.  Thank you, Scribbler.

And thank you to everyone who has stopped by to comment and email in my absence.  I have let you down by not doing you the courtesy of stopping by to respond, but I hope to make up for that going forward.