When Life Gives You Lemons

 This past year, I turned 40 years old.  Within 4 months of my birthday, I was told that I needed a total left hip replacement.  I was not expecting this news, so it came as a great surprise and was very overwhelming.  I knew that I would have months of recovery ahead of me.  Unfortunately, I did not anticipate the amount of time that I would be sitting in a recliner without anything to take my mind off of the pain after surgery.  So, when Life game me Lemons, I made Lemonade.

First of all, as I prepared for my hospital stay, I packed everything that I use on a daily basis for personal growth and order including my Bullet Journal supplies, my daily journal, and my tablet for reading and watching documentaries.  Mind you, not all of my BuJo supplies were able to transport, so I only took what would fit in my traveling journal case.  It was still more than I thought I would need.  This down-time would be an excuse to catch up on my list of 101 Goals in 1,001 Days (see the Bullet Journal Page for a complete list of my goals).  And, on top of everything, it would be a temporary distraction from the post-operative pain.  I would highly suggest that when packing for surgery (or any long-term trip) you take advice from Coco Chanel. "Take off the last item that you put on."  

Secondly, use your time wisely.  I stick to a "growth agenda" on a daily basis.  Schedule time when you will work on each separate goal.  I allocate one hour a day for reading literature, 1 hour a day for reading Latin (I am a Latin tutor), 30 minutes for journaling, and up to 1 hour for Bullet Journaling.  If I don't use all of the time, that is okay.  I have allocated time for each goal to be completed so that I don't have to rush through anything.  Although perfection is not the key to Bullet Journaling, it never hurts to aim for it.  I suggest that any time not spent in creating your Bullet Journal should be used for reading blogs and searching Pintrest for inspiration.  Do you have a favorite blog site or Instagram page?  These are great ways to gather ideas for your BuJo.  Feel free to list your favorites in the "Comments" section.

Finally, be easy on yourself during recovery.  Down time does not mean that you just sit and watch television or Netflix the entire recovery period.  Unfortunately, we have less energy and less clarity during recovery than we would have on any other given day.  For that reason, I like to create templates on the computer (you can find these under Free Bullet Journal Printables) for each layout that I use in my journal.  The Bullet Journal community is very big on sharing ideas and adapting them for your personal needs.  If you are planning for a long recovery, I suggest printing out (or Pinning) any template you wish to use during this healing period.  I love my Leuchtturm 1917 because I always know exactly how many dots there are per page which helps me to plan accordingly.  Make sure to have a pencil and eraser handy during this process.   Use this time as an opportunity to create layouts that you always wanted to include but did not have the time, plan the month ahead with weekly spreads, and simply explore your creativity.  Make sure you are having a "good time" with more emphasis on GOOD rather than TIME.  

Do you have an upcoming surgery or event that will cause you to have a lot of free time?  What are your "rules" for recovery?  Planning ahead of time will allow you more opportunities for personal growth and creativity.  This is a time to explore your wants and needs with the focus on healing yourself.  May you find both during this period of excessive free time!

Start the New Year with a Vision Board! (Happy Rosh Hashanah!)

 There are so many beginnings in a year, one hardly knows when to start a new goal, project, or program.  There is the Jewish New Year (September), the Solar New Year (January), and the Lunar New Year (March).  So, how do we know when to actually begin again.  In my opinion, I think it is useful to learn from and celebrate all three.  

The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is the time when The Almighty determines who will have a happy, successful life during the next year.  We apologize for all of our wrong-doings (both intentional and unintentional) and eat special foods to welcome a Sweet New Year.  The Solar New Year begins on January 1st every year.  As with all holidays, we eat special foods, make resolutions, and try to be better in mind, body, and spirit throughout the calendar year.  Lunar New Year begins in March, and is the start of the Chinese Zodiac.  The characteristics of the Zodiac sign for the year determines who and what will prosper and how.

As a follower of Judaism, I have developed my own rituals that include elements of all three.  This Rosh Hashanah, I decided to develop a Feng Shui Vision Board for the upcoming year which will be posted on January 1st.  I learned about Feng Shui from a practioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  She introduced me to the idea that various colors and the arrangement of color can influence the outcome of the future.  I must admit that I was a skeptic (and still am), but as life wasn't going peachy for me, I decided that it could not hurt any worse.

Let's start with the idea of a Vision Board.  It is widely agreed upon that if you want something to come to fruition, you must first envision the goal for yourself and commit it to paper.  You often see these based on jobs, projects, weddings, or even what you want your house to look like.  So, if you can visualize the goal, then you can achieve it.  Feng Shui Vision Boards do the exact same thing, but they look at all aspects of your life.

Each color on a Feng Shui Vision Board represents a different area of your life that you wish to improve upon.  

Purple = wealth and prosperity

Red = fame and reputation

Pink = love and relationships

Green = family and physical health

Yellow = spiritual well-being and health

White = children and creativity

Teal = knowledge and wisdom

Black = career

Gray = travel and helping people

I created this easy to follow template which can be found under the FREE Bullet Journal Printables tab.  After laying out my format, I decided to find clip art in each color that represented what I want for my life this year.  I also found quotes that matched my goals and included those in each box as well.  For example. if I wanted to get married, I would find a picture of a pink engagement ring to paste on the printable.  For knowledge, I found an image of a blue bookshelf with the phrase "Knowledge is Power."  And for spiritual well-being, I looked for a yellow Torah scroll.  I encourage each of you to take a few moments to ask yourself what you truly want from the year ahead and make an effort to put it down on paper.

Most Feng Shui practitioners will tell you that it is important to hang this vision board where you will see it often in the place where you want things to happen.  That is why this Vision Board always goes in the very front of my Bullet Journal.  I can easily envision what I want to take place in the year to make my goals come true.  Now, I am not exactly sure if this works, but I did revive my tutoring business this year, I have established my library, I have lost 10 lbs., and I have started a series of creative blog posts.  

I wish you all peace, prosperity, and creativity in the New Year!  L'Shanah Tova!

~ Melissa

Maximizing the Minimalist

For those of you who do not know me, I am a minimalist at heart.  It took me years to become that way, and if you looked in my closet, my office, or my art nook, you would think differently.   I believe that I became a minimalist shortly after my house burned down in Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  It took an act of G-d to make me realize that my attachment to stuff was just that...stuff.  I didn't lose my memories, my knowledge, my beliefs, or any of my core values.  Everything else is replaceable.   Now, I am not going to tell you to read a book by Marie Kondo or start selling all of your earthly possessions on ThredUp.  I will ask you to evaluate what is important to you enough to spend your time, energy, and emotional investment.

I really did not see myself as a minimalist until I started keeping a Bullet Journal.  While there are many fabulous spreads on Pinterest and Instagram that will make you drool, I stick to a simple template without extraneous detail.  So, for my new BuJo journey, I decided to maximize my minimalism.  Just because you do not NEED to have a full detailed agenda, doesn't mean that you don't WANT one.  One way for me to maximize my time, paper, and sanity is to have all of my information that I need for the week in one place. 

After asking myself what I would like to know each week, what are my goals, what MUST I accomplish, and what I would like to track, I created a fabulously busy minimalistic weekly template for next year (or any year for that matter).  It includes Daily Appointments, a Habit Tracker, a Meal list, a To Do list, Notes, Weather Tracker, Random Act of Kindness, a Gratitude Log, a Grocery List, an Expense tracker, and Image of the Week, a Quote of the Week, and a Work Log.  The great thing about it is that everything fits on 2 pages of an A5 journal.  I have left the log black and white to suit the needs of everyone.  I have not yet decided if I will use color this year to code my appointments, so this leaves me the option to decide later.

For a free copy of my Maximized Minimalist Weekly Bullet Journal Template please click here

After developing my weekly template, I looked at past journals and agendae to see which portions of my monthly spread I actually used.  Where my week is packed with goodies, my monthly spread was merely a glance at the month ahead.  Adapting a monthly BuJo template was quite easy compared to the weekly.  

For a free copy of my monthly Bullet Journal spread, please click here.

I think that Minimalism is a state of being.  Once you know what you have to have to get along, then you can add extras here or there...whether it be a new scarf, a new pack of Mildliners, or an extra column in your Bullet Journal.  There is no rule stating that a Minimalist cannot maximize her time, effort, creativity, or even stuff.  I encourage each of you to employ a practice of minimalistic thinking to one area of your creative life.  Does your ATC need 3 different stickers?  Do you have to have a new set of Gelly Roll pens to start the year?  Will your world collapse if your office doesn't have the right pattern of wallpaper?

This can be a hard concept to grasp for some people.  However, when you let go of the need to have stuff, you make more room to maximize the things you love.

~Melissa

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Hello Everyone and welcome to our Christmas In July Blog Hop. This hop is hosted by Touched By A Butterfly and A-Manda Creation.

You should have arrived from YoBeth's Blog http://scraptious.wordpress.com/

We wanted to start Christmas a little early this year. We have some new digital kits to showcase for you today. You will see some awesome inspiration along the way as well as some great freebies.

Here is a cute QuickPage that I created using Touched By A Butterfly's kit entitled "Funky Christmas."

Grab "Funky Christmas" here

Freebie QuickPage Download Here

Here is the blog hop list in case you get lost along the way.

Celeste http://www.touchedbyabutterfly.com/
Amanda http://amandacreation.blogspot.com/
Yobeth http://scraptious.wordpress.com/
Melissa http://missasmuse.blogspot.com/
Dawn http://dawnsdelightsart.com/
Yolie http://www.justyolie.com/
Stacie http://hestiashelper.blogspot.com/
Dagi Scrap http://dagiblog.blogspot.cz/
Amy http://scrappinmemories78.blogspot.com/
Hilary http://www.facebook.com/cutiefatchick

Keep on hopping... Go to Dawn at http://dawnsdelightsart.com/

Ho Ho Ho!!! Hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy our Christmas In July Blog Hop.

Finding Freebies

When delving into the world of digital scrapbooking, it is always important to know where to get good scrapbooking content for free.  In the past several months, I have downloaded tons of freebies, won contests for more freebies, and followed blogs just searching for more freebies.  I must admit that I have become addicted to the plethora of goodies out there for all to have.

The first place to look (besides the sites listed on the right hand side of the page) is Facebook.  Almost all designers and companies have a Facebook page where they offer exclusive materials that can be downloaded as "outside content."  MyMemories even offers a Friday Freebie that can often be downloaded directly into your Software Suite Volume 3!  I found that the best way to find new designers is to go to a page (like MyMemories) and simply "like" all of the companies and designers that they "like."  NOTE: You MUST like a page before downloading exclusive content.  Very quickly you will see how much content is to be had for free with only the click of the mouse.

Occasionally, design companies will host a blog/page hop.  This is a communal project among all of the designers the company uses and almost always coordinates in colors.  For Black Friday (available this week until Sunday), Scrapbook-Bytes is hosting a Facebook page hop which has absolutely nothing to do with shopping!!!  The colors are vibrant and varied, but they look gorgeous together.  I downloaded approximately 10 zipped freebies which even includes several alphabets!  This is the perfect opportunity for developing your outside content folders.  The only limits are the boundaries of your imagination.  This is one I created using an old photo of my pet, Cleo, and the Black Friday Facebook Hop downloads.  I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving with tons of memories to scrap!

And just for a very special Thanksgiving, I have included two links to FREE design kits from the MyMemories Store.

https://www.mymemories.com/store/display_product_page?id=3SDS-CP-1111-8426

https://www.mymemories.com/store/display_product_page?id=MHMH-CP-1111-8584

Suite dreams!