#littlewinterjoy - Get into your story

At first I thought this prompt was going to be hard. Although I love journaling, sometimes time and perfection don't let me tell the whole story.

Last night I sat down to check out the classroom and to try and get some motivation to tackle this next prompt.  This is probably my favourite lesson yet.  The prompt details from Marie and the video's from Julie were so inspirational it really got me thinking and writing.  We all have stories, good, bad, happy and sad and if you are anything like me, you always tell yourself you are going to write that story down but it just never seems to happen.  Time is usually my first reason and then it's, as soon as I print that photo and so the excuses go on.

What I liked about this prompt was that it was all about the words, the story, just getting it down and not worrying too much about the photos, embellishments etc.  I also like the photo tips for this prompt, it made you tell the story first then worry about the photo later.

I had several stories from this weekend but no photos.  But after reading the class content I realised that I don't need a photo or that I can use another photo to tell the same story.  My first story was about my sons basketball game and his new shoes.  I didn't get a photo of the game or the shoes but I did have a photo of the shoes from several days before, which my son took just after getting them.  

The second story is about my difficulty is trying to choose a new case for my iphone and how my son helped me to choose which colour.  This story in particular, I know is a story that I would never have told if it wasn't for this prompt.  It's one of those little stories that I would have forgotton the details to and the story would have been lost.

I also realised that I could add some doodling.  Both of the stories that I have written so far were very text heavy and it was nice to break it up with a simple hand drawn picture.  I actually love that these doodles have the same effect as if I had photos.

I loved Julie's idea about creating a lift out page so much that I decided to copy it.  It also has allowed me to add an extra page into my notebook giving me more room to tell more stories.

I am loving this project so much and if you would still like to join it's not too late.

All the details can be found here at Little Paper Projects.

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#littlewinterjoy - be a tourist

I thought I would share my pages from my #littlewinterjoy travelers notebook for prompt two "being a tourist in your own home town".  

Last week my friend and I decided to create our own walking tour of Northbridge (right near the CBD) to find some street art and try out some new cafes.  It was such a great idea and the whole day was just wonderful.  

I have included my journaling below:

Today my friend Donna and I set out to try some new cafes and to find and check out some street art.  It was a beautiful Winter’s day, the sun was shining and there was no rain in sight.  We parked at the Art Gallery, then headed straight to “Lot Twenty” for coffee.  Wow! loved it. Loved everything about it.  We probably spent more time taking photos than drinking coffee but there was just so much to photograph.

We then started our own walking tour of Northbridge to seek and find some street art.  We were not disappointed.  We found lots.  Yes, we even ventured down alleys and dodgy lanes.  It was so interesting looking at the art pieces, all different and all unique.

Next stop was “Livingstone’s” for lunch.  There menu looked so nice and I struggled at first with what to order.  Alex’s friend Lilly was working there and  she suggested the “Raging Bull” – [slow cooked red wine braised beef short rib, balsamic caramelized onions and homemade cauliflower cheese in a toasted bagel] sounds amazing right, so that’s what we ordered.  And OMG words cannot describe how amazing this actually was.

After our yummy lunch we set out to find more street art, took heaps more photos then finished off our tour with total yum gelato from “Chi Cho Gelato”.

What a great day.  We did all this, and we only walked about one kilometre.  It’s amazing what you can find when you actually look around.

I decided to add a fold out page because I had so many photos but I didn't want to use up a lot of pages (my notebook has 32 pages not 64).  I also hand drew a basic map of where we walked, then stitched the route that we took.

on the back of the fold out page containing the map I added information about the two cafes that we tried.  I also added a business card from one of the cafes. I love to photograph food but I also love to photograph funky looking cafes and both of these cafes were so cool.  I could have taken photos all day.

We enjoyed this day so much that we are planning to do another one but in a different area.  I have already found an area with tons of cafes, a vintage shop, funky boutiques and some street art.  

Can't wait

love me :-)

LittleWinterJoy To Do list...

One of the things that I have added to my #littlewinterjoy #travelersnotebook is this "to do" list of sorts.  Although I have made a manifesto (which I will be sharing soon) I wanted to have a place where I can make notes and list ideas of things that I want to try, do or see etc.  This compliments my manifesto if you like.

For example, one of the things on my manifesto is to "drink hot chocolate" ( I am a serious coffee drinker so I thought I would try something different).  I saw a post recently on Instagram of a cafe that is serving special hot chocolate's that I thought would be great to try.  So I don't forget, I have added it to this "to do" list under the "try" heading.  

I think it will be fun to have a place to jot things down as the season goes by.  

I used the new "slim jim" clear alpha stamp set from Kellie Stamps which you can pre-order here.  I then hand drew lines to make little boxes to create little sections for each heading.  I have made a pocket at the front of my travelers notebook where I will keep this list and any other fun things that I want to try over the winter season.

Can't wait for this class start!  Remember if you sign up before 30 June you can save $5 dollars using the code save5.  Link in side bar.

I will be back on the 1st July to share what I have done so far in my #littlewinterjoy #travelersnotebook.

Love me :-)

#littlesummerJOY

Totally excited and thrilled to let you know that I will be a contributor for a fun new project starting 1 July.  #littlesummerJOY is a wonderful project about finding your summer joy, capturing that joy, and documenting it. In a really simple, straight-forward way.

If you loved #myselfiescrapbook then you are going to love this.  I had so much fun doing #myselfiescrapbook, it took me on a journey that I was not expecting.  I captured some amazing photos of myself, yes myself, that I love all because of a great community of wonderful, supportive and encouraging women.  

As you may or may not know, I live in Australia so for us it is Winter.  How am I going to do a summer project I hear you ask?  I'm not!  I will be doing this project from a #littlewinterJOY.  I will be doing all the same prompts as everyone else only from a winter perspective.  I am so excited to be doing this project from a different angle and as Winter is my favourite season I am hoping the challenge won't be too hard.

At this stage I will be doing a photo book, similar to the one I did for #myselfiescrapbook (pictured above) as this was an easy, no fuss way for me to document this project.  I am also hoping to do the odd scrapbook layout and PL pages as well, but my main form of documenting will be the photobook.

A few things to note:

Registration opens 1 July 2015

Class starts 6th July 2015

for all the details head on over to Little Paper Projects.

Don't forget to register so that you are kept up to date with all the fun challenges and prompts.

I will be using the hashtag littlesummerjoy and littlewinterjoy

If you are following along a doing a #littlewinterjoy please remember to use the #littlesummerjoy as well so that we can all find you.  

let the JOY begin...

love me :-)