Tag Archives: listing

9 Reasons Why I love the 30 days of Lists Challenge

February 28th 2018

The 30 days of list March challenge starts tomorrow!! Have you signed up? Without further ado, please click here and go sign up, then come back. This is one of my absolute favorite projects. I only wish I had started sooner than December of 2013! Another 30 days of lists post here.

Here are some reasons why I love this project:

  1. It has a start and stop time.
  2. It’s 3 times a year so it’s something I can look forward to.
  3. It’s an opportunity to be creative daily.
  4. It’s fairly quick to whip up a list, so I can keep up (usually)
  5. It helps you track what’s going on in your life “right now.”
  6. Prompts are different each time.
  7. It’s a wonderful community of listers that I am very fond of.
  8. It’s portable and I can take it with me on vacation (and I have!)
  9. Did I mention you can be as creative (or not) as you like and it’s an excuse to buy crafty, listing goodies from I love it all shop. 😉

For the March challenge this year (It starts tomorrow, have you signed up yet? Do so HERE.) I am doing it this way. I had this little journal from Monika’s shop and just added some washi tape and circle tags to the front. The design on the butterfly sort of matches the washi. Perk!

When you register for 30 days of lists, you get a registration packet email that gives you access to the private blog where people share the different ways they are listing this month.  You also have the option to sign up for a daily email with the prompt, which I have done in the past. I discovered, however, that I prefer to have the entire list on hand and not have to access Social Media or email every time I sit down to list. So I started doing a little pocket on the front cover of my book to house the entire list. And I am happy to say that I am very disciplined at only looking at “that day’s” list.

In addition, the 30 days of lists private blog, also gives you access to printables that include a complete lists of all the prompts for this challenge in various formats plus some fun printables from affiliates. See below.

These printables are from Monika and I love it all shop, but you have to register to be able to print them. I love yellow!  So this round, I am going against my own grain and using a more uniform approach to my listing by using her freebie journaling card and extras for most of my lists. I am also using the December lists printables to add pop or make certain lists stand out.

I also totally flipped over the printables offered by Allie Scraps, also available when you register. I just love the design and color elements in these. I printed them on beige cardstock and they look sort of vintage now which is so cool! I want to incorporate some of these into my lists, they are so fun! But I also filed some for future projects. Remember to always save the download file to access them later if you really loved them.

I can’t wait for tomorrow to start the listing. Please say you’ll join the fun! Click HERE to register. Don’t say I didn’t tell ya!

 

A Year in Review

January 12th 2016

If you are not seeing enough posts here, find me on Instagram.

Happy New Year! I don’t know what happened to 2015, it came and left in a flash. I was really having a hard time recalling events and projects but as I looked back via Social Media 🙂  I did see some highlights.

For starters my WORD last year was

FINISH image

It was a complete struggle for me, maybe more in connotation because it gave me stress and I wasn’t enjoying the idea nor was I accomplishing what it was supposed to do. The purpose of the Word was to get me to follow through, actually reach goals and get things done. I am a process type of person so the pressure was kinda ruining it for me, ya know? So I decided to drop it around Summertime (see that, I didn’t even finish with my word!)

Keystone, CO Dercum mountain view

In January, we took a nice trip to Colorado, which is always fun, although I didn’t find any quilt shops.

I started this heart wreath last Valentine’s and hope to put the last of the strands on it this year. I love Valentine projects, I also have a Valentine pattern I am working on.

In March, I met all these amazing ladies that are also working on their quilting businesses.

Baby Dean Collage

I made this quilt and pillows for Baby Dean who was born in June, see post here.

Vintage pattern Simply Retro 1

and I finally finished this one for his Grandpa, our pastor.

totes 2015 Collage 1

It was a blast to learn new things while making these totes, bags and pouches, most of which were gifts.

pattern Collage

I finally launched my first 6 patterns this Summer and visited some shops on vacation (more here and here) and they are now being sold via distributors (Checkers, Brewer, Quilters Warehouse) and my online shopping cart and I have more coming out soon!

As a new follower of Instagram this year (find me @elaine.summercrafter), I met so many great quilty people and participated in various swaps. First was the Rainbow Mini swap, more here.

Beachbound swap 2015 Collage

Then the Beach Bound Swap, for which I made my first Dresden block, more here.

Home Sweet home swap 2015 Collage

Next was the Home Sweet  Home Swap, which was perfect for my swap partner who had just gotten married and had moved to a new place. Read more here.

Pat Sloan radio

Oh, and I was on Quilting Radio with Pat Sloan, woot!!

vermont 2015 Collage 2

In the Fall we enjoyed Vermont, although we missed the Fantastic Foliage Splendor it’s famous for.

Christmas swap 2015 Collage

Soon after Summer, the Christmas swaps started popping up on Instagram (find me @elaine.summercrafter) and I couldn’t resist joining two: Christmas Craft Swap 2015 and The Most Wonderful Time of the Year 2015 Mini Quilt Swap. The pillows are what I sent with personal embroidery and glass seed bead embellishments. The mini quilts are what I received, I was so happy with this exchange! These are so treasured, I will be glad to pull them out to decorate every season. Thank you @foreverquilting and @mommyhead7.

 

And just when I thought I was done, @vojen invents the B&C (Bonnie and Camille) Christmas Ornament Swap. That was a complete bust for me. I got on an ornament making marathon and I could not stop! I made Scrappy Christmas tree sachets filled with Balsam Fir, tutorial here, and I sent some, not only to my Swap partners, but other quilty friends I met on IG. Fun!

20151206_183018_resized

Everyone got Peanutized this year. Have you tried it? Go here.

hearties 2015 Collage

On a total whim, I made these craft “Heartie” ornaments after another fan posted her version on the Facebook Fan page of our favorite show When Calls the Heart on Hallmark Channel. We both kinda got carried away making renditions of all the characters. Find a tutorial here.

Christmas truck Collage 1

My last and most favorite project was this Vintage Holiday Embroidery Pillow I made for a friend. I used the pattern from Sherri Falls at This n That patterns and for the Patchwork, I used Holly’s Tree Farm Fabric by Sweetwater for MODA. I love how it turned out, now I have to make one for me!

december listing

I also did plenty of listing this year with 30 days of lists  and loved it! (Another opportunity coming in March)

  Christmas tree 2015

And just like that it was time to say “Merry Christmas” which was here today and gone tomorrow.

Miami beach 1

I wasn’t going to do a WORD of the year in 2016. I did a MORE and LESS list. The first thing I noted was More Nature and I am so glad I did just that on January 1st, I went to Miami Beach (which is a rarity). What’s the first on my LESS list? Social Media!

Progress

I did stumble onto this word PROGRESS which perfectly complements my MORE/LESS concept that allows success without stress or pressure, just moving forward and developing over time which relates to all aspects of life and work (including blogging). So I think we can both see it was a busy year (although I didn’t blog as much as I should have) I have set great goals for this year and have started working towards them already! What are your goals and plans, or your WORD for this new year?

30 days of lists

December 18th 2013

This 30 days of lists sounds mundane and may even make you think “what?!”    But really this listing thing has been so fun and you meet so many great people on the Facebook group  but it’s only for us listers! It’s a hoot!  Here are some of my prettier renditions of some of the lists. This one was about list of movies you want to see, I did mine with Christmas movies.

list movies

I thought the December version would be geared toward this Holiday month like your favorite songs or what’s NOT on your Christmas list, but no! This one is really a “snapshot” of what your house looks like at this time of year. I only put 5 for my book insert, but all my lists have about 10 items.

list around the house

Many of the people participating are both reflective and fun and it’s a great activity to be as creative or as plain as you like.  For this take, many people listed material items, food, holiday related things, memories… I listed the Fruits of the Spirit for the new year.

list stocking up

And some of these lists really make you stop and think… Like this one “How were you a friend this year?” I had to reflect all the way to my working days at the beginning of the year. I hope that I was able to encourage someone somehow.

list friend

This one was a favorite for many of the listers. Just talking about what gets us excited was exciting!

list excited when

Still have some more to work on… are you listing yet?