I recently watched an online lesson from Deepak Chopra about how to handle inner and external chaos. It was something that I wasn’t expecting to be so helpful and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I have used these 4 sentences to get myself through chaotic situations.

What am I observing? (Non judgmentally) It’s important to simply identify what is happening without placing judgment on it. This is harder than it seems.

What am I feeling?

What do I need?

What is the best way to fulfill this need?

I used this new learning as inspiration for a 2 page art journaling spread.

For more than 13 years, I’ve kept a private blog just for my family. It’s been a place to share photos of my children with my parents and siblings. We used it to document our homeschool years and even though it’s been more than 7 years since anybody in the house has been homeschooled, we still tend to refer to it as “the homeschool blog” for some reason.

It’s a place to record vacations, school and work information, missions and church stuff, health progress, holidays, special events and more. I use a very similar format to my Creative Lady blog.

I’ve always loved reading and I graduated from college with a degree in English. I also went on a literary tour of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France for a study abroad program. If you ever want books to come to life for you, just visit the place where they were written or take place. Here I am on the moors of England while studying Wuthering Heights in 1989. Epic!

There are several events and venues that don’t allow photography. You can’t snap photos during performances like plays and symphonies. You also are not allowed to take pictures during a movie. If you love to document these events, you might want to use one of my favorite tricks. Just hold up a program or ticket for the performance and take a picture of it before it begins.

I’m so grateful that I started this layout early in the month and kept adding to my journaling cards as the month progressed because as I reached the end of May, I didn't feel like working on this project. I think it’s important to carve time for creative projects when you have the energy to work on them.

Here’s a little glimpse of my past month:

I think you know what I’m going to say here, right? It’s the last day of the month and that means I’m going to share my roundup prompt!

I was quite surprised when I got an email about a week ago asking me if I was willing to share any digital files. I thought it was pretty bold for someone to ask a designer, but I know it happens more than I would like to think. It made me realize that it’s important to review digi scrapping etiquette (and legal terms) once in a while.

I’ve been reading a lot of great books this year and one of my favorites was Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine. I’ve followed Amy’s work for several years, but I didn’t know much about her background or how she got started in the scrapbooking industry. Her story is fascinating and her philosophy on crafting is so refreshing. I felt so inspired after I read this book that I ordered another copy and sent it to my daughter.

I’m in the mood for a giggle or two today so I thought I would share some of the funny things I’ve been collecting. 🤣

I don’t even have to think about doing a roundup at the end of the month anymore because it has just become part of my memory keeping routine. I can look back at any month since I started doing roundups in January of 2006 and find information on what our lives were like at any given time. It’s very useful for memory keeping and often helpful in many other ways as well. I’m excited to getting working on my April roundup! 🌷

Hi. I’m still here. I bet you didn’t even know I was gone for a bit. I’ve been out of town for a week helping my daughter with a few things and getting in a nice visit with her and her husband. Alex came along as well (broken leg and all). We are back for a somewhat routine week of our lives that seem to be anything but routine these days.

I just realized that I never shared my March roundup page here. I posted it on Instagram right at the beginning of March but neglected to post it here. I love how it turned out!