my one little word ~ explore

I'm going on a journey in 2017 with One Little Word ~ Let's go ...

As I stated recently, I signed up for the One Little Word workshop with Ali Edwards.  I'm super excited about it and for 2 days last week, I started digging deeper into my word.  My word started out so simple with the premise that I wanted to Explore my life through photos and stories in my scrapbooks.  I wanted to be more intentional about doing both.  But... OH MY GOODNESS ~ this is going to be so much more.  So far, I've already discovered that I need to do some self exploration about some things in my life.  Now that sounds like it's a bad thing or that my life is in turmoil, but it's really not.  Things are good, but I am sort of in a transition phase with my kids becoming young adults and starting to move on.  That's part of the reason that I want to document more, but it's also told me that I need to be okay with it & figure out what this new role looks like as their mother.

So as part of Ali Edwards OLW workshop, she comes up with monthly prompts.  This helps the participants keep our words in our lives in a purposeful way.   Here's how I documented my January prompts.

January Cover Page:  I have some Simple Stories chipboard dividers that I'm going to use for my album.  With the workshop, we also received lots of digital files from Ali Edwards, so I used the "one little word" file in Photoshop Elements and added the 2017.   I also stamped "january" on the tab using an older Stampin' Up set that I have in my stash.

Note: The plastic "explore" word is a custom order from Ali Edwards.  I haven't decided how I'm going to use it yet, so at this point I'm using it in my photos to keep my word front and center!

January Prompts ~ Page 1: For the first few pages, I wanted to include some graphics & phrases.  So I went Pinterest & Google searching and found these fun photos and quotes to add.  Ali challenged us to be curious about our word & to add a photo of ourselves in our books.  

Life Begins: I'm all about being in my comfort zone, so this is a good reminder to me. Photo found in Google.
One Word Card: From the AE OLW digital files & I typed my word in with Photoshop Elements then added some twine and a button.
Explore More: I found this graphic on Pinterest.
Photo of Me:  Taken within the last few month.  I added the "Jan" from the AE OLW digital files and trimmed it with a circle punch.  The "Explore" is from the AE travel stamp set.
Blessed are the Curious: Found on Pinterest.  Ali challenged us to "be curious" about our word.  What other meanings are out there for me on my word.

Here's a better look at the "Explore More" photo

January Prompts ~ Page 2: I debated about adding this page to my blog since visually it isn't very interesting, but then decided to go ahead and show what I'm working on.

The cards and graphics are all from the AE OLW digital files that comes with the workshop.  She also sells a physical kit, but I didn't purchase it this year.  I prefer to journal on the computer because (1) I hate my handwriting; (2) I tend to fumble around with my handwritten words and make mistakes... which looks messy; and (3) I write more in depth with computer journaling and it is more meaningful in the long run.  So I pulled these digital cards in to Photoshop Elements & added text/photos to them.  Then I saved them as .jpg files and printed them.  They are already sized for the 6x8 & 3x4 album pockets.

I particularly love the photo I found on Pinterest for the "Quotation" block. {click on the photo to enlarge}

January Back Cover:  I used the AE OLW Pattern Maker Stamp to stamp the words in kraft on kraft cardstock.  Then I added some pink embossed cardstock to the other side and pink/gold washi tape down the middle.  The photo is from a Pinterest search and I printed it on my photo printer with a white border.  For the final touch, I added the "love life" image from the AE Messy Circle stamp set in gold embossed ink on pink cardstock.  

So there is my January assignment... I'm excited about it and looking forward to this journey with my One Little Word.  There's still plenty of time to pick a word and sign up for the workshop if you're interested... Come explore with me!