The Important Thing (Journaling Framework)

Several years ago (I would go have to look at some layouts to determine what year it was) a dear friend, Michelle Snyder, read "The Important Book" to us at a retreat I attended.  It was for self-reflection and for journaling inspiration.  Since then I have used this activity in my classroom as a teacher and recently shared it at a training with several of my staff members.  When thinking of what I wanted to do for the blog hop that went live yesterday this book came to my mind again.  Let me share with you what I have taken from that day several years ago...

This is the cover of "The Important Book" which I ordered from Amazon.

Here is a page I found online on one of many of the pages contained in the book.  The author writes about a spoon, a daisy, the rain, and other items (mostly from nature) in the same way as shown below about grass.

You will notice the first and last lines are the same.  They identify the noun to be described.  The next few lines contain verbs which describe the noun selected.  I have done poem/journaling activity focusing on various nouns like me, the sunset, etc.  Here is a sample I did for my staff a few weeks ago.

This time I choose to focus on Principal as my noun for the purpose of my scrapbook page and did a little spin on the journaling.  This is how it reads:

The important thing about me

is I am the Principal.

It has been a long-term goal of mine

and I want to make a difference.

I lead how I want to be lead

and I have worked hard for it.

But the important thing about me

is I am the Principal.

I have considered doing a scrapbook album that focuses on the important things.  Wouldn't it be fun to do so, making my own "book"?  I think I might just do it!

I would love to know what you think of this idea and challenge you to try it yourself.  I believe it is a great way to journal, especially for those who find it a little intimidating.

Remembering to focus on the important things,

Pattern Switch Blog Hop

I am participating in a Blog Hop today, hosted by my dear friend, Debi, where we were asked to take a card pattern and use it to create a layout or take a layout to create a card.  I love that all of our How-To books can be used to serve dual purpose in this capacity.  Too cool, right?  Talk about getting more for your money!

There are 10 ladies participating this month.  If you have come from Terry's Blog, you are on the right path!  She is always sure to have many treasures to share!  You can find a complete listing of blog participants on Debi's Blog if you were to get lost along the way.

I chose to use a 3 x 3 card pattern as a layout and multiplied the dimensions by 4 in order to create this 12 x 12 layout.  I found that a bit challenging in that I always create layouts (2-pages) rather than single pages so I decided to create a piece of artwork that could serve as a title page.  (The card pattern I selected can be found in the Originals book).

 I used the Laughing Lola paper packet as my focus and also incorporated some retired products (paper flower, dimensional alphabet, etc.) to spruce it up a bit.

Here are some close-ups of the title.  I used our Artbooking cartridge and Cricut Craftroom (aka CCR) to make the title.  I welded the letters together so they were "connected" - that is one of my favorite features of CCR.  I love the textured dimensional elements and added a little Crystal Blue ink.  "The" was spelled using some retired, adhesive letters.

I did not want to take too much away from the focus of the layout but you can never go wrong with a little bling.  In fact, I used three different pieces to make the Sparkles Flourishes but you cannot even tell.  Yet, I did not feel the main piece was enough.  Is there such a thing as too much bling?!

I will blog about "The Important Thing" tomorrow.  The idea comes from a children's book entitled, "The Important Book" and was shared with me several years ago by a friend of mine named Michelle.  It is a fun way to journal and great for writing lessons for students.  I shared it with my teachers at a recent training and thought it would be fun to include it here.  Join me tomorrow so I can share more.

Now, hop on over to Debi's Blog to continue viewing some fun artwork and the rest of the artists' interpretation of this challenge.

Thanks for joining us and be sure to let me know what you think of my blog item.  I would greatly appreciate.

Happy hoppin'!