One Word for 2011: Action

Mini album titled 'One Word for 2011: Action'

It appears that the 'in' thing to do these days is to have a word of the year. I first became aware about it from Ali Edward's One Little Word blog posts,dating a few years back. Currently the One Little Word seems to have become an epidemic in the scrapbooking blogosphere.

Usually I'm skeptical of the whole New Year's resolutions thing. Having set numerous lists of things to improve upon, only to realize that I'm not a superwoman with the ability to accomplish all, and reach a status of my own version of perfection. With my all-or-nothing mentality, if I didn't accomplish all goals, I felt like a failure.

This time around, committing to only 'One Little Word' seemed doable. This one word will guide me and influence all aspects of my daily life.

My one word of the year is: Action

Why action? Because I tend to procrastinate and am my own worst critic. For example, one of my goals has been, and still is, to submit my work for publications. Last year was the 1st time I got picked up by Scrapbook Trends. It was rather unexpected because I've somehow managed to convince myself that only 'the regulars' get published, or  artists that are already well known in the industry. I self-sabotage myself too frequently. 

This year I wow, to borrow Nike's slogan: "Just do it!" To not over-think, over-analyze, make excuses, but just to spring into action. I have a feeling that 2011 will be a great year of change for me!

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The concept for this mini album came from these Donna Downey for Unity Stamp Company She Said UK-472A stamps; I feel that the inspirational messages are a perfect fit for goal setting, or bringing about positive change to one's life.I have used more than half of the stamps in tis set for this project.

These are rubber stamps that cling on any acrylic block. It's the best of two worlds - the quality and precision of rubber stamps, but with the compact storage of acrylic stamps, sans the wooden block. They are just awesome!

So let's look at the creation and the techniques that went into creating this mini album ;)

The cover girl is stamped on cotton fabric with StazOn permanent ink. It seemed a bit flimsy, so I placed it on fusible webbing and thick canvas and ironed it on to create a dimensional canvas embellishment. I further personalized her by sewing on a turquoise necklace (notice that in my portrait, I'm also wearing a turquoise necklace....Nope! not a coincidence). 

I colored her with color pencils, matching her hair color to mine. I didn't want to leave her eyeless, so I placed a metal heart to symbolize my hearts desire - the goal, and that if I act out of love, nothing is impossible to achieve.

This is the view when you open the cover. Picking only one paper line (October Afternoon's Thrift Shop), has really simplified the creation of this piece. The monogram 'Z' was a serendipitous find, and it echoed the message of picking only one word/goal, out of a zillion.

The red doily was stamped with a Hero Arts stamp and heat embossed. The red circle stamp on the monogram card is a pen cap dipped in red ink.

On the back of the 'Z' monogram card, I typed my 'action' plan for the new year with my c.1920's Royal Portable typewriter. The typewriter sticker (again by October Afternoon), was a perfect touch.

Also, I sewed on a Jenni Bowlin 'she said' journaling tag on a shipping tag.

Here's the view of the final page - the inside of the back cover. I first stamped the Unity Co.-Donna Downey stamp on the green patterned paper, but unfortunately it was undistinguishable, so I painted over the area with acrylic paint, and re-stamped it to make it readable.

Front and back covers.

Thank you for visiting, and I'd love to hear your comments!

Irma

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Lithuanian translation:

Jau daugel metų sau nerašau Naujametinių tikslų, kadangi metai po metų jie daugmaž vienodi, ir jei visų neįvykdau, nusivyliu savimi. Betgi, jau kelinti metai seku Ali Edwards tinklalapy kuriame ji jau keli metai sau užsibrėžia tiktai vieno žodio tikslą - One Little Word. Idėja ta, kad vienas žodis - vienas tikslas yra labiau įveikiamas. Stebėjau kaip kasmet Ali pasiekė savo tiklsą....kažkiek susidomėjau. Šiais metais būdama Jordanijoj turėjau marias laiko naršyti interneto platybes, ir tuomet įsitikinau kad 'One Little Word' blogosferoj tapo ne fenomenas o epidemija :) Nusprendžiau pasiduoti masinei tendencijai ir asmeniškai sudalyvauti sau užsibrėžiant vieno žodžio tikslą. 

Mano žodis yra 'action' t.y. veikti. Kodėl 'veikti/veiksmas'? Todėl kad labai daug ką atidėlioju vardan ateičiai, bei tom dienom 'kada atsiras daugiau laiko'. Taip pat dažnokai save pati žlugdau. Pavyz. praeitais metais mano tikslas buvo dažniau priduoti savo skrebo darbelius spaudai, betgi sugebėjau save įtikinti kad veltui gaištu laiką, kadangi spauda priima savo nužiūrėtus favoritus. Btgi, kada pasistengiau ir pajudėjau, man atsidarė durys. Šiais metais žadu retoriškai paimti gyvenimo vėdžias į rankas :)

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Apie mano mini albumą/Technika:

Visa koncepsija ir kryptis buvo nulemta viršuj pavaizduotų štampukų vartojimu. Taip, šis mini albumas darytas gamintojo konkursui kuris prašo pademonstruoti kaip įmanoma kūrybiškai panaudoti jų štampus.

Darbo eiga palengvėjo, kadangi pasirinkau tik vieno raštuoto popieriaus kolekciją (October Afternoon Thrift Shop leidinys). 

Moters vaizdas štampuotas ant drobės, ir papuoštas kad būtų panašus į autorės nuotrauką ;) Atveriant albumą matosi spausdinimo mašinėlės lipdukas, kuris čia labai į temą, kadangi mano šių metų tikslai yra atspausdinti su c.1920 m. Royal Portable spausdinimo mašinėle.

*Jei kas neaišku, drąsiai palikite komentarą. Nu, nors ir viskas aišku, komentarai visvien labai laukiami ;)