2012 Goals

Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but it's been a very crazy couple of months! I thought I would start out listing what my goals are for 2012. Now, I want to point out, these are not "resolutions" because we all know those don't last. Rather by calling them goals, it makes it seem more acheivable... this is what I want to accomplish in the next year.

1. Getting organized... or maybe more organized? It seems like I've always been trying to get organized. But here are my specific goals for getting organized:

Make sure everything has a place. If it has a place, it's easier to keep organized, right?

Simplify. Don't keep what I don't use. When making new purchases, it should be something that has multiple uses.

Go through my recipes and try them out! I have so many cookbooks, I need to start using them! My goal this year is to go through my magazines and try out the recipes I like so I can get rid of them. The ones we like will go into a scrapbook... I'm thinking of doing an annual family cookbook with recipes we like that we try each year, but we'll see how that goes first. 

I also need to create a household routine. It may seem obvious to most people, but that is a skill I never learned. My mother didn't like to clean, and my grandmother who was very neat never took a moment to teach me what she did. So this year I will be figuring out a daily/weekly/monthly routine that works for me.

I think if I can accomplish these goals, I will be ending the year feeling much more organized than when I started.

2. Scrapbooking goals: I'm so far behind in my scrapbooking that I really do need to make a few goals to get caught up.

Finish unfinished projects. I have several projects that I started but never finished... or got supplies for and everything together but never worked on it. If I focus on completing one project each month, I should be able to get caught up.

Participate in more challenges. I really am more motivated to do pages when I have a starting point.

Work on Collin's medical scrapbook. This has been the hardest project for me to start, and the biggest reason for my creative block. It has been a painful journey that isn't over yet, but it is an important part of our lives that I need to document. By getting this project down onto paper, it will open me back up to catching up on my scrapbooking.

Learn digital scrapbooking. I do have photoshop elements, but it has been so hard to learn to do anything in it. I recently got MyMemories digital software and have been playing around in it. It is sooo much easier to work in, and I think I'll be able to get a lot of projects done in it. I still love paper scrapping, but digital would make it quicker and easier to create books for gifts for friends and family.

Use up my stash. I have so much scrapbooking products I could probably go all year using what I have without buying anything new. In order to use up what I have, I've created the following plan: 1. Follow the Counterfeit Kit challenge blog to use my stash to make a new kit every month to use. 2. Focus each month on a specific paper manufacturer when not using my kit. 3. Focus each month on a specific type of embellishment to try to use up.

3. Other creative goals:

Improve my photography. This is a really important goal for me. I have found several websites that offer free photography classes that I intend to learn from. Once I've gone through those resources, if I feel my photography still needs some improvement I hope to be able to take a paid online class, or find an online community that I can get feedback from.

Learn to sew. Santa brought me a Singer sewing machine, and I fully intend to learn how to use it. If I get good enough, it could be another source for homemade Christmas gifts. I've seen so many wonderfully creative projects on the blogs that I would love to try myself, and now I can!

Finally, I need to clean up the blogs that I have in my feed. I spend so much of my spare time looking at blogs for inspiration that I never have much time left to create. Besides, most of the blogs either leave me wanting to buy more stuff that I won't use for a long time, or make me feel like I'm not good enough because my style is different from theirs. So I'm getting rid of any blog in my feed that doesn't meet one of my above goals.

If anyone wants to leave a comment, I'd love to know what other people's goals are for the next year!