One Little Word–January

Rinda threw down a challenge earlier this month to create an art journal, book, or some method of keeping a record of your progress with your One Little Word. My word for 2011 is FINISH, and I am well aware that having some method of accountabilty helps me in any endeavor. Typically I made a book or a layout to document my One Little Word, but I’ve never done a monthly accounting. I’ve decided to join her, and created a tag book to record my progress.

I had a set of chipboard tags from The Paper Source that I purchased for a project that was never finished. (Hah, thus my word for 2011!) I decided this was a perfect format for this project. I painted the tags with Making Memories Manila paint, and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain ink. Then I chose some papers for the project. I decided to stick with Papertrey Ink papers since their colors remain consistent from one paper collection to the next. I chose a kraft cardstock and shades of brown, kraft, & cream with a bit of green mixed in for the patterned papers.

My second decision was to utilize my stamp collection rather than letter stickers. For the cover I stamped Papertrey’s Fillable Frame #9 and the word “finish” with the Fresh Alphabet. The 2011 came from Calendar Basics which I used to stamp all of the months as well as the little star detail (more about that later.) The tab and hanging tag are both from Basic Grey.

There are seven tags total. I’ll journal for each month on one side. For the back of the cover I typed up a list of projects I’d like to finish this year, cut them in strips and distressed the edges. Do I think I can complete all 12 projects? Probably not, but I think the list will help keep me focused this year. You can see one star next to JYC 2010 because I have finished that project. As I complete each project, a small star will be added next to the title.

For the journaling I’ve decided to use Papertrey’s Spiral Notebook Page die and paper from their Library Ledger collection. It seems to be just the right size, and I’m trying to streamline this project as much as possible so it doesn’t become an unfinished project in the end. I also decided to change the color of my ink whenever I use the word “finish” as a way to accent the accomplishments. You can see I chose to add a comment about another activity as well as my papercraft projects.

I found the perfect spot to display the tag book—on my table under my printer’s drawer that holds many of my wooden stamps. I’ll see it every day and will have a visual reminder of my focus for 2011. Thanks, Rinda! I’m not sure I would have done this without your prompting, and I’m glad I did.

I’m linking this post to Creative Every Day.