Tuesday, February 1, 2011

One Little Word

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.
--Wayne Dyer (b. 1940)
For several years now I have been reading about people choosing a word to be their "Word of the Year."  One word to use as a sort of mantra or touchstone or guiding light. This year I decided to play along.

2010 was a great year for me, one of the happiest in recent memory, and as the year was coming to an end I started worrying about what I would do if I somehow lost ahold of all that goodness. I wanted to do something to somehow build on this happiness and maybe even turn it into something greater.

When I remembered about Ali Edwards's One Little Word project, I felt doing something similar would help me harness some of the positive energy I found in 2010. (I realize this is sounding incredibly hokey. There's nothing I can do about that. It's just the way it is.) Anyway, those of you who know about my addiction to Big Picture Classes workshops will also understand how provident it is for me that Ali decided to make her One Little Word project into a year-long workshop at BPC. Hooray! (The workshop is a serious bargain and open all year long. You can do it, too.)

For my one word, I picked the word motivate. Yes, motivate, not motivation.  I wanted a word that not only would encourage me to get off my lazy butt and get things done but also would help me channel my enthusiasm for life into something that would encourage other people to enjoy their lives more, too. I know that last part sounds really vague, but I'm trying to go with it. I need some time to figure out exactly what that is going to mean. This is a year-long project after all.

MOTIVATE has already meant more to me this past month than I could have predicted. You know how when you buy a new car, you suddenly see the same make and model all over the place? I feel this way with MOTIVATE. This word has already cropped up in several unexpected ways this past month, but that's another post for another day. I'm trying to keep myself in introductory mode here.

So. As part of Ali's workshop, I am creating a notebook to keep track of all things MOTIVATE for 2011. Here is the title page. It's only 5x7. (You can click on any of the photos to see them in greater detail.)


This is the cover of my notebook. It's a lovely cream canvas number from Pink Paislee. It's roughly the size of your average 3-ring binder. It's meant to hold 8.5 x 11 pages or any other sized page protector that fits into the rings (such as the 5x7 title page above).


Here's a close-up of the title block.

For part of our January "assignment" in the workshop, we were encouraged to include a current picture of ourselves in our notebooks. So here is my first ever project using a photo overlay in Photoshop.  (Some people might even call this a digital scrapbook layout.) I used the most recent, decent picture of myself I could find, which was from Christmas Eve 2010. Doesn't she look happy? (Overlay design by Ali Edwards.)

Our last assignment for January involved this sort of multi-sectioned meditation on our words. I love this divided page protector, which I never would have attempted to use were it not for the workshop. (Ali designed the cards with the journaling titles on them such as quotation, because, thesaurus, etc.)
Putting this page together was a wonderful exercise because it made me confront my word and its many facets head on, early on. I also really enjoyed the chance to make ultra-mini layouts. Those cards are only about 2.5 x 3.5 inches, so each card became a little design challenge for me. I enjoyed packing in my favorite color combination (red/aqua/kraft/black) along with some scraps of favorite papers and embellishments that make me happy.

Art + words + inspiration = seriously MOTIVATED.  :)

Wow. Okay. If you've read this far, you are probably either my mom (hi, Mom!) or are having a very dull lunch break (hi, Covesie!). No matter who you are, thank you for hanging in there with me. I will save this month's further revelations about my word until my next post on the topic.

Lastly, my dear readers, if you came here as part of the OLW Blog Hop, your next stop is:

Sharyn at An Altered Life.

If you are lost along the blog hop path, or if you just want to check out what One Little Word is doing for a few dozen other people, here's the whole list. Enjoy!


OLW BLOG LIST (Jan) 
3) Monica http://scraplifters.blogspot.com
15) Relly http://rel.ly
29) Monica Scrapmom http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com
30) Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com
32) Margaret http://www.gutsymom.blogspot.com


Thank you all for stopping by my blog! Whether you comment or not, whether I know you in real life, online life, or not at all, I am truly motivated byYOU.

Love,
The Gutsy Mom.

29 comments:

Donna said...

Love the red, white and kraft!!!

ThisKalilLife said...

Love your pages. I found your blog via LOAD, as we're both signed up for it. I too am doing OLW (healthy is my 2011 word) and I appreciated the long list of links to other OLW participants. Thanks for sharing.

Monica said...

love the butterflies on your title page! and how you altered the cover is so cool. thanks for sharing!

Cassie_lu said...

wonderful color combo you used and I really like the use of the butterflies

MonicaB said...

Love your title page - butterflies are always wonderful!

Maureen Reynolds said...

Beautiful pages, and yes, I'd call the your photo a digital layout! No rules in scrapbooking!

Anonymous said...

What a great start to your album. I hope 2011 proves to be just as wonderful as 2010. Great word to guide you through :)

April said...

You used my most favorite color combination too! And I love all the butterflies. Hope you remain as motivated as you are now, throughout 2011!

Sharyn said...

Great word. I like your 9 cards and that album..i have it too and like what you did with it. Those butterflies are lovely.

Abbey said...

Great colors and I am big fan of the butterflies!

Debra Dotter Blakley said...

Don't you love it that there are so many of us circling through the OLW together! Thanks for the beautiful pages!

MarleneMAZ said...

Great pages, love that you are really using your word in your life.

Heather Hare said...

Lovely blog! Your enthusiasm for this project is contagious... Good luck with your word this year! :)

Rebekah said...

Love your equation, Art + words + inspiration = seriously MOTIVATED Wonderful!

Cheri said...

love your color scheme and the butterflies... may you be motivated throughout the year to many wonderful things!

Sue Madex said...

Loved your post - what a great word.

Jan B said...

Oh, gosh, love your thoughts about your word "motivate" as opposed to "motivation". Your pages are great! Really nice! I look forward to sharing the journey with you...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pages & photo. I love your colors. I like how you are thinking about your word. And I feel motivated! Thanks for joining the blog hop!

Unknown said...

Great post, love the butterflies on your title page. Good luck with your word in 2011 and with LOAD!

mandyb said...

love the colors you have used on your pages!!! very cool as is your word!!!

Miranda said...

Beautiful pages! And I love your word, and the way you explained it.

Becky said...

Those colours together are divine! I would never have thought to use them all for the one project. Great post

jillconyers said...

Beautiful color combo. Wonderful word. So many possibilities.

InkyArt said...

I love the butterflies and your stamping - very nice.

Anonymous said...

That is a very pretty color scheme. I look forward to reading more motivational posts :)

Tere Azua said...

LOVE IT!!!!
Your title page is gorgeous!!! I love butterflies!

Kat said...

pages looks gorgeous - love the colours. Love your word!

Susanne said...

Nicely done. Getting a good picture of myself is holding me up. Yours looks great.

cia said...

I really like how you approached the divided cards as mini-canvases! They look great : )