2017: Reflecting and Goal Setting

Hey everyone!

One year ago today I was sitting here typing a post about getting myself out there. Starting to share creatively, starting a blog, beginning a You Tube channel, and working for design teams. In 2016, I did those things. Not all well but I can honestly look back and say...wow...I jumped and started to get my feet wet.

Did everything work perfectly? nope.
Did I accomplish everything that I wanted to? nope.
Did I experience some successes? YES!
Did I grow and change? Absolutely!

This past year has been one of immense change. I moved into a new house, grew in my career goals, started a doctoral program, and worked to build the beginning foundation of a creative presence. I grew my Instagram account (although not as much as I would have liked). I grew my You Tube channel in the last nine months and learned a TON along the way there. I worked on several different design teams and collaborated with lots of amazingly talented crafters. Those were definite successes! I made some great friends out there in the world and that has been the most rewarding and amazing part.

So now....onward and upward! 2017....I am SO excited to start a new year. I have some pretty lofty goals and aspirations. I am still plugging away on my life goals and career goals. I have finished the first course of my doctoral program and moved right into the second. I am going to play along with the One Little Word community this year and my word (I think) is going to be SEEK. I want to SEEK knowledge...SEEK adventures...SEEK clarity...SEEK wisdom...SEEK opportunities...SEEK balance. It is going to be SO exciting!!!

In my crafty life....I have some HUGE aspirations. I can't wait to start some new collaborations and explore some new design team opportunities. I want to keep working to figure out this Instagram follower business (seriously weird stuff...but come follow my feed if you don't already :) @redefinedkreative.  I can't wait to continue to grow my You Tube channel because that is where I am loving my social media presence and community the most. I can't wait to meet more people, explore more opportunities, and grow my crafty contributions even more. I am loving every step of this adventure and can't wait to see what 2017 brings. I hope you will stick around, follow me on Instagram, interact and converse with me in Facebook groups, and check out my You Tube channel.

Here's to another year of great adventures!!
Bring it on, 2017!!

Stick it Down--December Sketch Challenge

Welcome back to another month of sketches with Stick It Down! This month's sketch was a little bit more challenging for me but I ended up having a lot of fun creating with it. The sketch for the single page design team this month was focused on a large initial letter with very little embellishing given. You can see the sketch below...

I decided that I wanted to focus on a Christmas themed layout for this particular design and I had a photo from a past trip on the Polar Express that I thought would be perfect. I used a font on my computer to create a fancy letter "S" to stand for Santa and made my title (Santa's Magic) part of the large letter title. I decided to cut that letter out of red velvet paper to mimic Santa's suit and then stitched with some gold thread to add some detail. I cut the arrow out the same way and stitched there as well. I added a few layers of patterned paper and tissue paper with some Tim Holtz Candied Apple distress ink as well as some gold accents and red sequins to finish the look. The mirror embellishments are from Pink Fresh Studios and the sequins are from SpiegelMom Scraps. 

I hope that you enjoyed seeing what I created with this month's sketch and that you will also play along with this sketch. Make sure to share your layout over at Stick It Down!  Happy Crafting!!!

SpiegelMom Scraps December Blog Hop

Happy December and welcome to the SpiegelMom Scraps blog hop! 

December is such a fun month of winter memories, holiday celebrations, and excitement. In the shop this month, there are SO many amazing new sequin mixes and some great cut files. You should have arrived here after checking out Hannah's amazing project! I decided to stay away from the traditional Christmas colors and theme today and instead tell a different kind of story.

One year for Christmas, my youngest son begged and pleaded for a drum set. It was the only thing he asked Santa for and talked about it for months. That drum set caused the biggest smiles that filled his whole face! He was SO proud of his new musical "skills" and drove everyone crazy with his masterful songs...LOL! That story deserved a special space in his scrapbook! There are a series of photos on the coordinating page to this one that tell the story in detail and show his reaction when opening the gift and helping his dad put it all together. 

The cut files for December in the SpiegelMom Scraps store were a great starting point for this story. I used them as a stitching template to create the different musical notes. Then, I combined it with some star cut-outs and two different new sequin mixes in order to create the background elements on this page. Everything paired perfect with the Crate Paper Cool Kid collection. SUPER FUN! 

I hope that you enjoyed this layout and use it as a starting place to tell a story about a favorite gift, musical talent, or treasured Santa surprise! This holiday season I definitely encourage you to think outside the box with your layouts and stories. That is definitely what I will be doing this year and would love to see you check out more of what I'm creating by following me on Instagram @redefinedkreative and subscribing to my You Tube Channel by clicking here. 

And off you go to check out the stunning layout by Sara Scraps who also worked with the music cut file today! Happy Crafting!!