Resolutions

So, I finally decided to make a few new year's resolutions. These are not commitments I have made lightly. I've been thinking about them for a while and was trying to figure out a way to better myself but keep it (life) reasonable at the same time. Especially since the addition of a baby makes life a bit more unmanageable at times, I knew that if I made my resolutions too big and then failed on the first or second day I would be rather upset with myself for the rest of the year. So, instead of jumping in with abandon, like I usually do and expecting way too much of myself, I've scaled it back a bit. They are small in some ways, huge in others:

1. I will do something creative every day.
I am leaving this so exceptionally open-ended that I can't imagine not being able to do it. As long as I can sew, knit, blog, journal, write, sketch or plan a project for even 30 minutes in a day, I will consider this one met. Pretty lenient on myself, I know, but I'm hoping to build the habit and then make it a more consistent part of my life. And, who knows, maybe the things in my life that I consider acts of creativity will expand, too.

2. I will learn to do something new this year.
I want to learn something not completely unrelated to what I know now, but I want to deepen or broaden my knowledge about the things I already do. In other words, I want to learn something that makes me much better at the sewing, knitting, and crafting I already do. I have a few ideas of where to start with that, but we'll see what pans out!

Yesterday my husband helped me with the daily creativity by handling the staple gun (he has a better track record with sharp and dangerous tools) as we made these:

I am a pack rat and just couldn't let go of these bits of my past. One is a collage frame from a friend in high school and the other is a project I did in graduate school. I'm particularly partial to the scrabble letters on the border. But, we are trying to get rid of the junk and clutter that seems to breed in our house so I was gradually bringing myself around to the fact that they were going to have to go. Then, I realized that I could keep them if I used them in some other way. A few layers of batting, some solid cotton fabric, leftover webbing, and several staples later I had two "canvases" to try out fabric combinations on, and keep track of various scraps in my stash. Plus, they make for fun ever-changing wall art!

And, if I am every overcome with the urge to see my memorabilia ever again I can just uncover it! Okay, I don't see that happening, to be honest, but it makes me feel better to know it's still there. I plan on dealing with this habit in a future year.