The Pen Pal Project Book

This is the cover of my pen pal project book.  I will be collecting the [snail] mail goodness in here.  I created a 9 x11.5 chipboard album held together with book rings.  Each pen pal, I have 6 so far has their own section with a envie tab and page protectors that contain their goodies. I can simply slip in the [snail] mail, whatever it be, a drawing, letter, card or postcard.  This way it only takes a snap and I can go back through and smile at the little [snail] mail beauties! 

A little more about the cover.  I wanted to have a bit of lace adorning it, attaching it with staples for a more [snail] mail like feel.  In one of those crafting accidents I stapled my finger...TWICE!  Actually bled onto the vintage lace.  I guess that's one way to dye lace!  Wounded and sporting a band-aid I decided to sew the lace on- with safety being a top priority.  Note: Only two fingers were hurt in the making of this album...so far.  I have been enjoying practicing my handwriting along with Heidi's Love Your Handwriting book.  *Will updade with the source of the mailing label printout.

Each section has a paper source envie that I will be storing items I want to mail to my special pen pals.  I attached the stories I was told about my pen pals excitement to participate.  'Courtney: Do you want to be pen pals with Lindsey?  Scott: What's a penpal?  Courtney: It's where she mails you stuff.  Scott: Ooh, like when she mailed me a Nintendo DS game!?  Courtney: No, just mail.'

'Tammi: Do you want to be pen pals with Lindsey?  Makenna: YES!!...What's a pen pal?'

This was the first letter/acceptance back.  It melted my heart.  I LOVE IT!  Thank you Marta for the inspiration to star' this project and making this letter possible.

For the love of photos, a memory that they have chose to share with you.  Much appreciated.

Alright, now I think I need an old fashioned typewriter to type up my very own pen pal letters.  The look of a typewriter, the sound, the font.  Note: Find typewriter that looks cool and works.

Ah, postcards.  I love to travel.  And the next best thing to travelling somewhere yourself is receiving a postcard from someone who has been travelling!  So exciting to see a snipit of their adventure.

Thanks for looking!  Hope you feel moved to feed someone else's [snail] mailbox.

27 Book

Finally putting this book together felt good.  It has been so long since I have created- ANYTHING!  So many ideas floating in my head it was hard to harness all of them from coming out into slop.  I kept the journaling to 'the reason' and 'the result'.  This book had so many goals with good intentions.  Some were accomplished, some were no longer of value, and some still need attention.  This being my first birthday to-do book I had made it was a great way to learn what was realistic, areas- like follow through that need more attention, and that I am ever changing into the person I want to be.

Tips that I will be remembering as I put together my next birthday to do list are...

• Take more photos to document my progress.
• Put it together as I go along, as I was putting this book together I kept thinking 'man that goal was SO last year.
• Add more embellishments and texture.
• Look at my goals more often and make a plan on how I would like to execute.  This way they are more likely to get accomplished.
• Journal more about how I feel about the goals, whether they are far fetched, easy peasy, something I've been dying to do, etc.

See the WHOLE book here.

Tomorrow stay tuned for my 28 things before I turn 29, the inspiration, the list and the book fixin's.  I am in a creatin' mood and it feels GREAT!

Thanks for the inspiration, Elise.

My idea of HOME

Right now I am living in two places, at Josh's in Stanford and my own in Great Falls. Soon it will be Josh's for good, especially once the baby comes. Deciding to move is hard, but I know it is right for us. I don't want to be all by myself when something weird happens and don't have him to say that it's okay. That's his role I guess, never thought about it until now. So soon we will share a Home Sweet Home.




























































This book has been a work in progress for over a year, and continues to grow everytime I find something new. Intersting to see how some things don't change in what I like and others are completly trendy. This book is my plan for what I would like in my house. A place where the ideas I see from everywhere (mainly magazines and the internet) are collected. You know, those ooooh that is really cool I should remember that but never do. I kept a pile of clippings for what seems like FOREVER! Now they have a cool book to live in. So when I am looking for something or need something done I can say- this is what I want. A perfect visual and idea keeper. YES! Now putting these into reality is the trick, I wonder how many years that will take?



Currently the only place that exists completed is this book. But I guess it will always be getting larger with more ideas. Ah, it's nice to flip through the pages and imagine if it were reality. Wait I can make it my reality!! I just need to concentrate on one room at a time.