8 WAYS TO HAVE AN AWESOME JOURNAL

I have been working on this little post for quite some time. A draft of this has stayed on my phone for at least 6 months and whenever something came to me I would jot it down. I've always been pretty good at keeping a journal- something just feels so good about having all my memories pressed safely between the pages. I figure that this time of the year is perfect for resolving to document your life on paper. Even though I love instagramming & blogging nothing could ever replace my journal. I love the thought of my favorite moments being tangible in a way. It's also somewhat therapeutic to be able to pour your heart out onto the pages. It's like your own personal time capsule that never expires and you can look back on it as often and as soon as you'd like. So with that said, here are a few of my tips for having an AWESOME journal:

1. You don't always have to have a hard copy of your journal with you

I almost always have a draft of journal entries on the notes app of my phone then end up writing them down in my journal later on when I have a chance to. I especially do this on trips & vacations (I'm crazy paranoid about my suitcase getting lost and something happening to my journal so it hardly comes with me in my travels). This is also great because you can just jot a few ideas down while you're out and about to help you remember those topics once you get a chance to write. Also, if you have a ton to say it's easy to use the voice command on your iPhone and just speak out what you want to type. I also write down 3 things every day that I'm thankful for in a section of notes then just screen shot that and print it out every couple of months. I also have it up on my blog and post my gratitude lists monthly which helps me keep track of it and stay motivated to do it.

2. Journal especially when it's hardest to/ during changes 

It can be overwhelming starting a new school year, moving to a new place, beginning a new chapter in your life, or doing anything that involves a variation in your normal routine. It's all too easy to just forget about writing down your thoughts. But out of all my journal entries the ones I re read most are the ones I wrote during changes. It comforts me to be able to look back on that point in time and see the growth and progression over the months/years. 

3. Have titles on each page (other than dates)

When I look back on my journal and try to find a specific time, I don't remember the calendar date at all practically. It helps me organize my journal when I put a little recap/title in addition to the date (example: while in Hawaii I just put "Hawaii" at the top of every page). And if those days were really important I might even hilight the title (just because I'm so OCD) 

read about my trip to Hawaii here>>

4. Print pictures

It's hard but do it. The best thing about my journal to me is that it's full of not only words, but pictures too. Yes it takes a little extra effort to go get them printed out and tape them in but it is so worth it. I'll usually leave space (a half page to a page depending on how many images I think will make it in) then once every couple of months get my pictures printed at Costco. They practically know me there because I always try to sneak in with my moms membership ID (whoops). Having those visuals just makes my journal so much more valuable to me. It's so great to think that someday my little kids can read through my journal and the crazy things I'm going through right now and have pictures to go along with it all.

5. Print all your pictures in one

If you don't have the time/energy/motivation to actually go through and print out pictures to put in your journal another way to do it is just print out a few pictures in one every month. By that I mean arrange your pictures into a word or pages document, take a screen shot of it or save is as a jpg and print that out. Another way I like to do it is just add pictures into the app pic collage and then save that to my phone then print it out. I always post my monthly reviews on my blog so it's easy for me to print them out with all the other pictures I am getting.

read about my monthly posts here>>

6. Don't just save pictures, save stuff

I got quite the collection on my church history tour of postcards, pass along cards, little notes, leaves, maps, and ticket stubs. It's so great because to me it makes everything so much more authentic. It's so satisfying knowing a few special keepsakes are arranged safely with my words and thoughts about where it came from and what I was doing there

read about the trip in the pictures above here>>

7. Keep it short and sweet if you have to

I ordered this journal for my mom a few years ago from Anthropologie to inspire her to start journaling and documenting all the fun things that happen to our family. As far as I know, it has been so helpful for her to be able to jot something down so quickly. I went ahead and bought the same one for myself this year (Anthropologie no longer has it but Amazon does!) because a lot is going to change for me by the time 2021 comes around. I think it will be so cool to make a daily documentation of how my life changes over these next 5 years. There are tons of other journals you can get just like this so I liked a few below.

I couldn't resist snooping in my mom's 5 year journal and I came across this little gem from last year... "Jacob here with Madison all day every day!" it's so weird to think how fast the time since last year has gone hah!

5 year memory journals: $15 anthropologie // $17 paper source // $17 paper source // $23 5 minute journal

8. Try to stay positive

A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles. Yes, some days we just need to let it all out and put the struggle into words, however, writing down the happy things that occur on a daily basis will help you remember them. It puts a silver lining on the day no matter how hard it what's when you count your blessings & the silver lining becomes permanent when you write it down.

Journaling makes you happy. It's a fact. Especially when you're sure to document the wonderful things (even if they are small). I hope these little 8 things inspired you to get started on your journal for this new year. I promise you won't regret the 5 minutes it takes every night to jot down your life story. 

*I have gotten all of my journals in the past from Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters (I LOVE these ones) or shopbando.com. I also love the variety that Paper Source has- they carry moleskin, kate spade, bando, and all that good stuff.

HAPPY VALENTINES

This post is in honor of the best/worst holiday of the entire year- Valentines Day!

I came across this pin the other day and absolutely fell in love with it. I was so inspired to make my own little valentines for my nearest and dearest.  

 To make the cards I started by just painting strokes of different shades of pink and red all over a few pieces of watercolor paper. After that dried I traced hearts on the back of the paper, cut them out, and added names to make them a bit more personalized...

 To make the Hershey Kiss pretzels I followed this recipe. They were so easy- it probably took a total of 30 minutes to pop out 100+

 yay valentines treats for EVERYONE!

Other valentine's day festivities included me and Lexi being crazy enough to think that we could cut out 3,000+ hearts for everyone in the entire school to have one with their name on it. It only took 4,782,941,908+ hours to finish the biggest student council obligation of our lives. 

stay tuned when we clover attack the school for St. Patrick's day (just kidding that's NOT going to happen)

Tissue Paper Tassels

Tissue Paper Tassels from Generalized Loveliness

Lately I, along with some other friends, have been planning an upcoming birthday party (!!!). And with that my inner party/wedding/occasion planner has come out. One of the cutest things, I think, is the tassel garland. Making this little video was a great opportunity to share how to do this simple (yet effective) decoration and also to try out my new camera.

Make A Keychain

 A super exciting thing has been happening lately and that is nearly all my friends have gotten or are about to get their drivers licenses. So more and more lately I have found myself scrolling through pinterest on the hunt for some cute keychains to give as gifts/keep for myself and I was so inspired by this pin and this one I decided to try it out myself. They turned out pretty splendid if you ask me.

You will need:

+ key rings (probably the most important)

+ craft floss (for the ombre tassel I used twine)

+ a strip of leather

+ a hot glue gun

You'll also need some scissors, a piece of cardboard/notebook/something to wrap the string around.

+ fabric dye (if you want to make an ombre tassel)

 making a tassel is super simple:

1. First off, wrap the string around a piece of cardboard. The more you wrap around the thicker the tassel will be (I personally like mine somewhere in between thick and thin)
2. After you pull the string off, take a separate piece of the same color string (or not) and tie a knot in it in the very middle
3. Fold it in half so the string you tied in step two is at the top of the tassel. Then snip the ends so they aren't connected anymore
4. Take another separate piece of string and tie it about a fourth of the way down the tassel. (Tie it then circle the pieces around a couple times then tie it again to make it super secure)

to make the ombre keychain on the far left I referred to this tutorial

I loved the look of mixing different colored tassels with the leather.

for the leather tassel:

*You want to first cut slits in the leather. I bought my piece already cut so I skipped this step :)

1. take one of the pieces you cut (two if you want to be safe) and loop it through the key ring. You'll want to glue this down and cut off the extra so the little short pieces don't stick out
2. put a dot of glue on the side of those pieces and start rolling. Then just continue until it's all rolled up. I ended up adding a second strip of leather to make it a little bit thicker.
3. thats really it :)

 Seriously these keychains just make me so much more excited to get my own set of keys very soon :))

find more DIY's here

A Hot Weather Treat

I am not known to spend very much time in the kitchen. But sometimes I come across a pin like this and happen to go to target that same day and then a fun little project like this comes about. 

It seems according to pinterest, popsicles are all to rave about. These little strawberry, orange, & banana layered ones are perfect for the summer time and so delicious.

I first blended up the smoothie recipes above then poured each layer into the popsicle mold over time. (ex: strawberry layer, let that freeze for an hour, add orange layer, etc.) I also added in a couple diced strawberries which tasted super yummy when I bit into them with the orange layer

 I think the key element in these delectable popsicles was the little bit of strawberry syrup. It was super easy to make too. Just add…

+a half cup of water

+a few diced strawberries

+a half cup of sugar

*note: the more sugar you add the more gooey and sticky the syrup will get (a.k.a. add a lot of sugar)

put it all in a pot over a burner and stir occasionally

my favorite layer by far was the orange flavored. Enjoy!

Summer Bucket List

i have found that it can be a little bit hard to be productive during the summer time (but who can blame anyone-- school is out and a break is well deserved). After a few weeks of doing nothing but taking day trips, making videos of those day trips, pinning, hanging out with friends, and netflix marathons i feel a need for new adventures. 

and thats where the summer bucket list comes in. It is essential to keep goals, ideas, and adventures in mind even during the lazy season. i am the kind of person that finds it so helpful to write things down and make lists of tasks, ideas, etc. and i especially love when that list happens to be wonderfully designed. 

i can't wait to add to my list throughout the summer as thoughts/ideas come to me and i especially can't wait to do all these things. Print one out for yourself too if you wish 

directions to print:

right click the image above > select open image in new tab > in that tab click file print 

String of Stars/Makeshift Christmas Tree

I absolutely adore decorating for the Christmas & holiday season. I was so inspired when I found this, this, and this pin. I love the little bit of holiday spirit that this project brought to my room. I hung my stars up over a lovely little christmas tree that I had printed but there are endless amounts of pretty things to do with this string of stars. Enjoy!

I traced the stars onto craft paper then cut them out but another wonderful way to do it is print the stars directly onto the paper

After glueing two stars together with the string in between them the finished product was so pretty

A Door That Inspires

You may remember from waayyy back (4 months ago) my inspiration board. For a few short months I put everything on that little board. Movie and plane tickets, polaroids, notes, art work, letters, bits and pieces of my life, vintage stuff, and some items of miscellaneous inspiration. So you could probably imagine how cluttered and dysfunctional it got. And there is literally nothing I hate more than being unorganized. So I decided it was time for my little inspiration board to get an upgrade. To the door. I love keeping all these things on the back of my door now. There is so much space on it and room for being inspired. Keeping all of these little things all in one spot just makes me so happy and reminds me of how blessed and wonderful my life truly is. So here is some bits of what I keep on my board. I hope it inspires you to start one too. Enjoy!

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Pretty Pens {do it yourself}

School is pretty much here. And as unfortunate as that is, there are a few perks. Making wonderful supplies is a prime example of one of those perks. So today there is a lovely do it yourself project: pretty pens. They are super easy to do and the supplies are minimal. I absolutely love how mine turned out. Enjoy!

// go here for more school supplies DIYs {geometric notebooks} \\

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*Not pictured (but pretty self explanatory)

Spray the pens & pencils white- or whatever base color you choose then let dry

*Not pictured (but, again, pretty self explanatory)

Spray the pens and pencils gold, let dry, then peel the tape off

like why wouldn't you want to just pull those beauties out in class and start taking notes?

Do It Yourself Seashell Jewelry Holders

While in Oregon I went to a little beach that was so plentiful in these beautiful purple seashells. So of course I grabbed a few with intentions to use them for decorations or maybe something else that I would figure out later. And this is what I figured out later. Seashell jewelry holders! I am always taking off my necklaces and jewelry before I get in the shower or wash my face and having one of these beauties on my bathroom counter top really makes a difference. They are super easy to do and require little materials and money. Enjoy!

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