enJOY it

week in the life : in the book.

April 30, 2012

I was NOT super active camera wise last week. Really only Wednesday, did I make a major effort to take a bunch of photos. But that's the beauty of my plan to only include seven photos a day. My favorites got in and I threw the pressure out the window. Below are the full pages.

I printed and saved and documented throughout the week and for that I am grateful. I loved the baseball card pocket pages. LOVED them. Perfect size for little snapshots. Will be remembering that for next year. Love all the color. Love the square corners. Love the result of each page and each spread.

The only text other than some bits and pieces on the photos was the "day in the life" journaling I blogged last week. I printed it on a piece of 5×11 paper and trimmed an 8.5×11 page protector down to fit it. I didn't have enough text to fill both sides of the page so I slipped a piece of American Crafts paper on the back.

Instead of using photos from this week as bookends for "week in the life," I picked ones from our photoshoot in mid-April.

One was cropped up from a big photo and the other side holds just 4×6 and 3×4 snap shots. Good enough. I am planning on making some sort of full album of just those photos, but I also wanted some of my favorites in this Project Life album. I am happy with the result.

Some of the pockets got a business card or an embellishment to talk more about the photo.

Others days were kept pretty simple – just photos.

This week in the life section is actually THE END of volume one of my Project Life album. I decided to break the year into three albums (Jan-Apr, May-Aug & Sep-Dec). Size wise, it's going to work out just about right, I think. To make things official, I stuck an envelope page into the back of the album (into it went a few letters from P I hadn't put anywhere else and our anniversary cards).

I also stamped & stickered a label for the spine.

I am still working on the end page of this first 2012 album (it's SO much harder than a title page!) but I'll share that when I'm done as well as my title page for 2012, volume II.

Embellishments used in these pages came from Elle's Studio, Banana Fish Studio & Ormolu.
maintaining long distance friendships.

April 27, 2012

I got a question yesterday about whether or not Paul and I have made friends in this new town and then that reminded me of another question from awhile back about how I keep up long-distance friendships. I thought I'd use today's post to address both.

The answer to the first question is yes, we have. It's (mostly) a mirage that we're hermits. As it turns out, deployment will help you make some lasting friendships and Paul came home knowing some really rad men & women. I have been able to meet them and their spouses many times (at organized base functions & out to dinner). And they are good people. Very good. It's nice to know people who are in a similar boat and hear how they dealt with and are dealing with the realities of military life.

But the truth is that right now my close friends do not live in my town.

In both high school & college, I had strong groups of girlfriends who I am fortunate to still be close to now. When we lived in Maryland, and I worked at a paper store, my co-workers were fantastic creative people that I got along with really well. I actually looked forward to seeing them all day at work and going out for drinks after.

Since moving back to California, I have been able to catch up with my "old" friends more often (many are in LA), but I have not yet met a new core group of people who live right near me. This is something that I absolutely have to work on because I miss having girlfriends nearby. I miss the ease that comes with best friends who live in your town.

The only way to get that back, of course, is to make an effort (since school or work can't do it for me) and find the folks with whom I click. I have to put myself out there which sometimes is hard for me because I am such a creature of habit. So while I am trying that, I also work to keep my existing long-distance friendships healthy.

Usually this is just through email. Plain old email. I exchange hundreds of emails a month with my girlfriends. Gmail makes it super simple to have conversation threads and so our emails run much like our normal conversations… one line responses – most hilarious. It makes discussions feel relatively normal despite the distance.

I rely a lot on twitter & instagram. I don't spend much time on facebook, so these are my social media information overloads of choice. It's easy to stalk people keep tabs on friends through their twitter and instagram feeds. Often the photos and thoughts shared are not the things that would make it into an email, but they are the things that make up their daily lives. And when you're long distance, the daily stuff is the best stuff.

I also I send a lot of cards. Usually they are short, sweet and to the point. Sometimes the point is that I just found the perfect maxi dress.

I try to make frequent plans (every month or every few months) with the friends that live in LA (about 60 miles away). Dinners, brunches, anything to touch base again and remember how important our friendships are. And last, but not least, I try to never miss an event. Wedding, graduation party, reunion in Vegas, whatever – I'm going. Nothing keeps the friendships alive like a 48 hour weekend with seven girls in a hotel room. Sometimes they are expensive. Sometimes they are inconvenient time-wise, but they are an absolute priority for me.

Clearly, it all takes effort. Both making new friends & keeping the old.

I am also so grateful for the friends that I have met online over the past few years – many through this blog! I think all the sharing that happens here, on twitter and through email is part of why I don't stress too much over finding new "real life" friends. It might not make sense to everyone, but my online friendships are very real to me.

I would love it if you want to share your own suggestions for finding new friends (post-school years!!) or maintaining existing friendships in the comments.

And it's already that time again : Want to promote your blog or business on my sidebar? I am currently taking sponsors for May. 2012 has been wonderful traffic-wise and I expect next month to be the same. Go here for details and shoot me an email if you're interested.
how our days roll.

April 26, 2012

Above are a few more photos I have been able to grab this week, mostly all from yesterday. Our week days are pretty similar right now, so I figured I would just jot down the gist and stick it in the album with the daily photos spreads. This is the gist :

Paul wakes up at 6:15. Shaves (his electric razor wakes me up), brushes his teeth and goes to base for morning PT (physical training). I drift back to sleep. I wake up for real at 8am. Head downstairs, start coffee & clean up the kitchen a bit, then check email and read blog on my iPad on the couch. Paul gets home around 8:15. He showers, gets dressed & comes downstairs. We drink coffee and he eats cereal (recently I have been eating quesadillas for breakfast). We chat a little bit. Paul heads out the door at about 8:50. I refill my coffee and head upstairs to work.

Work for me is emails, emails & emails. I prep orders that came in. I think about the blog and what needs to be happening there. I deal with workshop posts. I print photos & get organized. Work for Paul is usually seeing patients, seeing patients & seeing patients. Depending on the day, it might be a meeting or two.

Based on what my work load looks like, I might go for a run around 11:15. Most days, Paul comes home from work around noon and by that time I am ready for a break. We have lunch – usually it's leftovers from dinner the night before. When we don't have that, it's egg salad or egg scrambles in tortillas. We usually have about 50 minutes together which is enough time to fix lunch and chat a bit.

Sometimes, depending on what needs to be done, I'll drive Paul back to work after lunch so I can have the car (we've been a one car family since we got married) for errands. Other days, I'll stay home to work and Paul will head back to the clinic. Around four I'll start wrapping up and either to go pick up Paul or to go for a quick run (if I didn't in the morning).

We're usually back home together between 4:30 and 5. Paul changes out of his uniform & we settle into the night routine. Which sometimes involves cocktails. We start dinner (sometimes on the grill) around 5:15-5:30 and are ready to eat around 6-6:30. We always watch something with dinner. Right now we're rotating between Game of Thrones (purchased from iTunes) and Friday Night Lights (his first time through). We just finished season 2 of The League.

After an episode or two, things vary. Sometimes we'll just chat. Sometimes we'll go for a walk. Sometimes we'll watch another episode of something. Sometimes I'll work (trim paper, make books, deal with email, upload photos, write blog posts) and Paul will play games on the xbox or computer. I bring my computer downstairs so we're "together" on those work/play nights.

Around 9:30 we head up to bed. He's usually asleep by 10:15 and I am out closer to 11 (I'll read or catch up on blogs in bed).

We're so fortunate right now to have so much time together. It's helpful that we live so close to base so he can go back and forth throughout the day. And I am over the moon to be so busy with work these days. There is good stuff ahead, I can tell.
so much photo love.

April 25, 2012

I mentioned last week that Amanda of Driver Photo contacted me about an E&P photo shoot (her reason for why is unbelievably sweet). We were so happy to take her up on it two Saturdays ago. Amanda and her husband Nate came to our house and we shot downstairs (I really wanted to capture a bit of home in the photos) and then we wandered around the neighborhood. (The beach was much too windy!) I am so thrilled with the many shots they got.

This is the third photoshoot we've embarked on and by now, we're almost pros. Paul has the forehead kiss down-pat and I've mastered "look-down while thinking about something sweet" gaze. Also I am well-aware that standing on tip-toes usually looks cute in photos.

But in all seriousness. I love them so much. I love seeing how we've grown over the past few years and even since our wedding. I know that sounds strange – it's a comment usually reserved for kids when comparing photos. But adults grow too. We change and adapt and learn.

And we are really learning. I think in some ways we are still settling into the grove of two again and in other ways are feeling the pressure over what's next. Working on staying open is important. Working on being kind is more important. Working on patience and trust and faith every day. As Professor Mad-Eye Moody would say, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE." Marriage is awesome, but marriage can be hard.

But long story short, THANK YOU Amanda & Nate. Thank you for reaching out. Thank you for being so sweet and wonderful (and quick!!) to work with. We're so honored and we will treasure these photos.

I am anticipating some questions … the art on the walls is from left to right : 5×7 print from For Me, For You in a C&B frame / art I made after taking Kal Barteski's script school workshop in a West Elm frame / a canvas I designed and had printed by CanvasPop* / a print by Austin Kleon from 20×200. The pink ikat pillow is by MoxieMandie. Our gray couch is West Elm and that photo of us on it was taken from the loft window on our second floor bedroom. That black and white striped rug is Crate & Barrel and those fantastic poofs were knitted by Robyn Devine. (See more of our downstairs here & here.) My dress is Old Navy and my arrow bracelet is Odette NY. My nail polish is by Essie, but I am not sure of the name.

*we were gifted this photoshoot but there was no pressure to blog about it. this is not a sponsored post, though I absolutely do recommend this photo team. 🙂
week in the life : first few days in photos.

April 24, 2012
2 years.

April 24, 2012

Two years ago, Paul and I had a wedding.

Every day since we've been working on a marriage.

Love you to the stars, babe.

Happy anniversary.

photos by The Goodness (formerly Lisa Welge)
documenting a week in the life.

April 23, 2012

I am so excited to document a week in the life this year. This is a concept created by Ali Edwards (you can read more about it here) that focuses on capturing a detailed account of one week. I did this project for the first time last summer while Paul was away training in Mississippi and I loved it. This year will be different because hey! – Paul is home.

A question you might have is, "what's the point?" I already do Project Life each week and get a decent record of everyday life there. But I think my answer is another question, "what's the point of any of this?" And the answer to that is, "I LOVE the process." Sure, it's rad to have a record of weeks and years past, but much more than that, I love taking photos & I love playing with paper. I love documenting anything and everything and so embarking on this adventure sounds just right. Plus, even though I do document on a weekly basis, this is a much more "intense" project and involves a lot more photos.

I am not making a special album for this project. I am probably not going to take notes on what's going on throughout the day. I will be taking lots of photos (and I've set a ridiculous goal to take 90% them with my big camera – not my phone).

The plan is to add extra inserts to our Project Life album this week and that's it. I've prepped four baseball card pocket pages (I'll be using one side per day) with date numbers cut from my Stendig calendar in the top two pockets. To each side I will be adding seven photos / found papers each day. Not sure how journaling will be added yet. The baseball card pockets are small – 2.5"x3.5" so I'll be cropping my photos accordingly and printing at home.

I will not be doing a "normal" weekly spread this week, but because these pages are in my PL album they will be bookended by the back and front of other week spreads. I am going to use each of those spaces for two giant photo (cut into pieces using this method).

Because there is an odd number of days in a week I was left with an "extra" pocket page side and used that as sort of the title page for the week. It matches pretty well with the album's title page which wasn't intentional. I think I've just learned that black, white, kraft & metallic work with everything. I did something different in each pocket and I love the look.

Top three : covered a card with striped washi tape from Freckled Fawn (something cool : save 15% off the entire Freckled Fawn website with coupon code enJOYit through 4/30) & added number brads and an Ormolu page flap / wrote on a diagonal our names over and over again (love that this looks like a pattern) with black pen on white cardstock / used a pattern piece of Crate Paper and added a circle label with my "THIS" arrow stamp on top.

Middle three : that "cheers" guy came with something I ordered years ago. I've been saving it forever and this seemed like a good spot for it / cut down a piece of Amy Tangerine paper and added a circle journaling spot from Elle's Studio on top with text / cut down a Project Life clementine kit folded journaling card.

Bottom three : added two flair buttons (camera from American Crafts and "we" from ormolu) to white cardstock / added an Amy Tangerine "C" chipboard sticker to gold glitter paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle) / stamped each day with a date stamp and sewed on an Ormolu tag with a zig zag stitch.

I can't believe how much I love playing with paper. Creating this week in the life title page was much more fun than it should have been. 🙂

So that's the plan! I'll be sharing the complete inserts next week and extra "daily life" photos throughout the week here.
project life : week 16.

April 22, 2012

Week 16 & I'm over it. (Kidding – though that would be hiliarous.) Totally love this project.

(click to enlarge & the images above will be [somewhat] clearer)

Funny week, this week. All of my creative energy went into pulling the stamp shop together. I didn't take many photos except for product photos. As a result, when I went to put together the rest of the week yesterday, I had a full blank page to fill and very little photos to use. I thought about pulling some random shots from my phone and mixing in a few of the paper scraps I had saved this week, but finally decided just to slap a big photo of the stamps in there and call it done. Stamps were the focus this week so I don't mind that they dominated the spread.

PLUS – next week is week in the life so I'll undoubtedly be dealing with photo overload.

I do love the left side though. Those five photos are the best I took this week so in they went.

Emotions were running high this week and I decided to include some text about that in folded card, hidden journaling form. That's just a piece of American Crafts paper folded in half. I rounded the corners after folding and all the text is handwritten on the inside.

At the beginning of the week, before I realized everything would be dominated by stamps, I added a text insert with the text that was going in Thursday's blog post to introduce the stamp shop. That is a Design D pocket page protector that I trimmed down to fit 2 vertical photos back and front. I printed the journaling to fit 3 4×6 papers and then added a photo of my very fancy sale tracking method in the extra spot.

And then, of course, the big photo cut up. The stamps look kind of weird divided up like that – but I'm rolling with it.

Two cool things – I am the Project Life guest poster for Elle's Studio this week. A post about my PL process & a giveaway of some of my favorite products will be happening on their blog this Tuesday. Also, blog sponsor, Freckled Fawn – where I get my washi tape – is offering a 15% discount through 4/30 with code "enJOYit".

supplies / Paper Source labels, Martha Stewart and Avery labels, American Crafts patterned paper, Elle's Studio circle, date & journaling tag, Freckled Fawn washi tape, ELISE JOY "this" stamp, Design A & Design D page protectors (which are available in this variety pack), Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it's not amazing, but it's lasted the longest of any corner rounder I've ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.
reader question : going from idea to reality.

April 20, 2012
Sometimes I feel like I am drowning in questions. It's the nature of the blogging/social media beast, I think. While some are simple to answer ("Those blue plates are from Target five years ago." or "I make the photo grids with PSE."), some are more detailed and really make me stop and reflect a bit. These are often the type of questions deserve long 1000 word answers instead of a few sentences in response and so I am going to start addressing them in blog post format.

I have seen lots of reader Q&A happening on blogs (check out A Beautiful Mess, marta writes, Here's looking at me kid & DesignLoveFest) and I find the answers fascinating. I love blogger insight. So I am throwing my own hat into the ring and going to start doing the same every few weeks or so when a question strikes just the right chord. (Other questions that are not necessarily blog content will be addressed via email like usual.)

So here's the first question – and I am paraphrasing a bit here –

"How did you get the stamp shop idea from concept to reality in such a short time? How do you stop yourself from going crazy thinking about it and how it needs to be perfect, and just go for it?" – @janellermiller

I can't really get into how I made the stamp shop happen without first explaining the three levels of my job.

The first level is the blog. It's by far the biggest and most important level. Getting original content up each weekday is a non-negotiable. Addressing emails and comments in a timely matter is a non-negotiable. This is the work that I complete, regardless of if I am motivated or inspired, though usually, I find blog writing & coding very enjoyable. I make just a small amount of money directly from level one (through sidebar advertising and affiliate programs), but every dollar of my total income comes from the exposure & relationships I have established over the past 6+ years of maintaining this blog.

The second level is assignments & shop upkeep. These are sort of general terms, but include all of the work I do for others & the day-to-day running of my etsy shop (packing, shipping and re-listing old products). Custom projects, guest blog spots, writing for other outlets & freelance design work all fit under this umbrella. This stuff is semi-negotiable in that I don't have to take it on, but once I do, I am committed and need to work towards deadlines. Like the blog work, this is stuff that has to be pulled together, regardless of if I am feeling motivated or not.

My goal is to stay very on top of levels one and two so I have freedom and time to deal with level three when an idea strikes (which is really where I can answer the meat of your question).

The third level is creative ventures. In general, this level has the most potential to generate income. It's the one that sits on the back burner until the right idea comes along. And by idea, I really mean IDEA – all caps. I don't daydream about business ventures. Never. When I think of a product concept, I weigh it quickly – is it feasible? is it profitable? do I want to start writing or working TODAY? If the answer to all three is YES then I run with the project. If the answer to one of those is NO, I drop it. And that's it. No "someday" with a sigh. Having something on my "someday" to do list stresses me out more than having something on my daily to do list.

Why is this? I do not know for sure. But I have realized that my professional personality is pretty black and white. I don't waver on decisions or over-think things. Perhaps, this means I miss out on some possible good ideas, but I appreciate the time it saves. I want exciting & challenging projects that can be easily explained, packaged and marketed.

This is not to say that I don't want to spend a lot of time on my creative business ventures. I am more than happy to spend oodles of time, but I refuse to get started on something I don't feel passionate about seeing to fruition. Getting the stamp shop ready to roll probably took me about 35-40 hours. And that's before the doors opened and before I factor in all the time it will take me to actually run the shop and package and ship orders.

And the stamp shop is on the short end.

A project like BLOG 2.0, my typepad blog design workshop, is the culmination of hundreds & hundreds of hours of work. Organizing, outlining, writing, designing, filming videos, formatting and on and on and on. But I really enjoy teaching and that online workshop has a lot of life in it. I am currently on the fifth round and now that the content is complete, it's just a matter of addressing questions and keeping things current.

Online workshops are my bread and butter. In the past, they have generated the most financial success. With that in mind, for the past few months, I have been trying to come up with something new to teach that I am excited about, but I am totally stuck. Because I understand how I work best, I am not going to force it and instead will wait for the right idea.

Anyway – the point of all of this is to explain that I don't run with a creative project unless it fits my initial criteria for success. I can usually tell if one of my level three projects is going to flop or fly based on my attitude toward it. When I am excited, I work harder, faster and more efficiently and as a side benefit, the project is usually ready to go quickly and before I (or my target audience) has had a chance to lose focus or find a distraction. (Of course, I accept that some things are always going to flop, but if my initial passion is there, it has a head start.)

Staying totally on top of my work in levels one and two makes it possible for me to "clear my schedule" and roll with level three projects right away. I joked in my post yesterday about how I would have killed for the stamp shop idea to come in February or March, before I was busy. But really, I believe we are always able to make time for the right project. Plus, after a few years of this job, I have found that the busier I am, the better all three levels will do. I start working on one thing and the ideas for other things start coming and other opportunities tend to pop up.

Everyone is going to be different. This is the method for my madness and I wouldn't expect it to work for someone else. Hopefully though, this insight can help you think about how you delegate time, and deal with projects & opportunities. Allow yourself to identify your strengths and weaknesses and figure out what is holding you back from following through on your own ideas.

And then if you find you struggle with perfectionism, my best advice is to re-evaluate your definition of "perfect." My dad always says,

"Perfection is not flawlessness – it's wholeness and completeness."

And that is the greatest piece of wisdom I have ever received. (Thanks, Dadio!) Everything is flawed. Spending a lot of time on something is not going to make it perfect. Worrying about it and obsessing over it is not going to make it perfect.

Creating something with a clear concept, that works efficiently and is aesthetically pleasing (when appropriate)t should be the goal – not perfection. I promise, shifting your perspective can help a great deal if you are struggling with turning an idea into reality. And if you're still finding yourself over-thinking, here are some tips for making projects work.

sending you the best of luck & a giant box of creative energy, elise

Other posts you might enjoy:
thank you & more thoughts on “choose.”

April 19, 2012

Thank you so much for the stamp shop reception today.

Planning those stamps and getting creative with photos and playing with "marketing" ideas has been so fun. It's something I didn't realize I missed and I've really enjoyed the process. It has been at least a year since I've launched an entirely new product. I think I needed this venture to be a win and so far, so good.

I will never tire of seeing an idea turn into a reality. I know for sure I'll always be a very small business because I love that lightening fast turn around (tiny concept to reality in nine days) is possible. (I am going to be talking more about this tomorrow.)

I'll be honest, April has been a strange & emotional month so far. I've been keeping my one little word, "choose" at the front of my mind every single day. And sometimes, I am pretty sure it's mocking me.

But I am working on it.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and for your support.

Anticipating your questions … that wall calendar is Stendig, I had the "I CHOOSE" art printed at Office Depot, the black & white magnet board is by Paper Miniskirt, my kelly green pants are GAP and new favorites. 🙂