DIY Valentine’s Day Banner

I can’t believe we are already through the first week of February!  The snow days really threw off my rhythm of the week.  And because I have used January to do some introspective work, I decided to have some fun with a Valentine’s Day craft.  I love this holiday, and I decided to comb Pinterest for some inspiration for some DIY décor.

I found this banner by VickyBarone.

I loved it and used is as inspiration for my banner (since I could not replicate it exactly because her skill set is just a *tad* above mine, being a professional artist and all).

First, I cut out rectangles out of brown cardstock.  They measured approximately 2 1/2" x 5".

Then, I picked out some printed cardstock that I had from my Thanksgiving project to use as the first mat.   I made these about 2" x 3 3/4".

I found some coordinating color cardstock for the second mat. These were about 1 1/2" x 2 3/4".

I glued the printed cardstock to the brown piece of cardstock.

I glued the coordinating cardstock to the printed cardstock.

Then I went to PicMonkey and found a font that I liked (Special Elite) and printed it out on white cardstock.

I cut the letters out into squares and stuck a double-sided sticky mounting square to add some dimension.

I cut some twine and put it on the floor so I could space out the letters.  Then I used the  gold glitter clothespins to attach the letters to the twine.

Then I hung it up.  I love how it turned out!

But I wasn’t done decorating.  I found these awesome printables from SoHo Sonnet.  You know when you print something out, and the colors turn out all meh and washed out?  These colors were *exactly* like they were on the screen, even the glittery gold color!

Have you done any fun (and easy!) projects lately?  Be sure to share – I would love to hear about them!

January: Burn Out and the Creative Process

Oh, January, you are such a difficult month.

At first, I feel exhilarated by a new start.  I am inspired by the clarity of my vision for my new year. I am overcome with motivation- I will accomplish all of my goals/intentions now!  Yay! Let’s go!

Somewhere in all of that fervor, I became derailed.  My energy is not there; I am still recovering from the Thanksgiving/Christmas whirlwind. There is something about that intense energy of producing a holiday and making sure there are *happy* memories that is exhausting. January seems like the right time to cozy up on the couch and recover.

Except life keeps marching on. There is homework that needs to be done. Swim practice to attend.  Deadlines to meet. 

And then that all goes to the wayside when someone gets sick. 

I started to feel really sad and numb, and then scared because I wasn’t sure how to pull out of this.  I mean, just four months ago I felt awesome – kids both in school, working from home, blogging, writing.  Just remembering that feeling helped to put these sad, slumpy feelings into perspective.

I was experiencing burnout.

I think as much as I love working from home, I do feel that there is this pressure to always be hustling.  If I’m not grading papers, managing a client, or creating content for myself, then I am doing laundry, grocery shopping, and running the kids around.  The busier I am, the more worthy I feel.  And this is no way to live (and probably deserves its own blog post).

So I took a week off from blogging to recharge the creative batteries.

I took the kids to see Annie, I went to see Selma, and then went to the movies for a third time that week to see American Sniper.  I didn’t just stop there.  I binge-watched Olive Kitteridge on HBO.  I just soaked in each story, enjoying the complicated characters and their intricate stories.  It was nice just to be still and listen.

Being so goal orientated, I often brush aside the cues my body gives me that I’m overextending myself.  I wanted to spark my creativity without the pressure of results.  I decided to finish the collages that Elizabeth Gilbert talked about onFacebook.

Post by Elizabeth Gilbert.

 This quote sums up the project:

This isn't exactly a vision board (although I do think vision boards are a useful exercise.) It's a lot more random than that. It's not about calling in things or goals or dreams. It's more about how I want to FEEL, than about what I want to ACHIEVE. Mostly, it's just about colors and images that appeal to me for reasons that I do not overthink. I just start cutting and then I start gluing, and I trust the process.
When it's over, I have my visual/emotional wish for the New Year.

It was fun to clip the images that I liked without overanalyzing anything, just working from instinct. Then I arranged my images, and it was very clear that I had two separate things going on here: bold images about self-discovery and soft, clean, cozy images with lots of green and white.

I think this is a pretty accurate depiction: going on a journey of self-discovery, nurturing my dreams, and finding inner peace - pretty much what I hope to find in 2015.

Or maybe I just really want a garden, a cozy Pottery Barn bed, and a cruiser bike.

Either way, I think I am ready to move past this bump in the road.

How are you feeling this month?  Does January have you down?  What do you do to get yourself feeling happy again?