Stencils are definitely a huge trend in scrapbooking and papercrafting and The Crafter’s Workshop makes so many beautiful ones! You’ll find stencils by well-known designers like Dyan Reavely and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer!

Prima always launches so many products every year, always stunning and always high quality! In this video I highlight the pieces that most caught my attention, particularly the types of accessorizing pieces, embellishments and canvas letter stickers they’re releasing this year.

The Prima Press was in the top 20 innovations for CHA! Sharon shows it to us, along with their new Mixed Media Albums. They have a resist effect, which can be used with any color art medium.

It’s always fun and inspiring to see the Design Challenge in the Ranger booth! Designers were challenged to dress up some forms with glitter and Perfect Pearls! Lots of favorite designers share their amazing talent here!!

*update* The video is working now!

Julie Fei Fan Balzer has partnered with Eco Green Crafts and in this video she shares the stamp sets she designed for them. She also demos their delicious paints and shows us what’s different about them!

One trend that’s been building over time is the use of stencils! Julie Fei Fan Balzer has released a huge amount of stencils with The Crafter’s Workshop, including stencils that are intended for layering! In this video she demos how these layers can work together.

We’re so lucky to see Dyan Reavely art journal a complete page, start to finish! She’s a new signature designer for Ranger and shares with us the fantastic new supplies she designed!

This is a fun demo where we see Jess emboss metal shapes to get an impression. She shows how to add rich coloring to them with lots of depth. Next she shows how to relief the metal so some of it shows through the color. And finally, she demonstrates melt art with a melting pot to give the metal an amazing shiny covering, or a thick raised matte finish.

I stopped setting goals and resolutions a few years ago and found that I accomplished more without them.

It’s not that I have no dreams or ambitions. I just think specific goal-setting is less productive, uses up lots of valuable time, and can close your mind to opportunities outside of the specific goal you set for yourself.

So what do I do instead?

Last year I chose a word for the year that related to all of my areas of interest and I developed a chant — or a list of mantras — that I said to myself most days while meditating. That helped to keep my focused.

Then partway through the year I figured out an approach that helped me to be even more successful in my desired areas — again, without setting goals.

And that’s what this post is about — I’m starting a new year-long series here at Paperclipping (in addition to the Photo Stories series) where I’ll be sharing the process with you, and I hope many of you will jump on board and share back!

Thrive! 2012

Thrive! 2012 is all about keeping track of progress, developing empowering plans, keeping important relevant information, and documenting what you’re learning — all in the area(s) in which you’re interested in improving or learning skills.

These journals or Plan + Progress books will help you develop whatever it is you want, and at the same time they’ll become a document of the journey you took to get there!

Here’s the story of how this started for me and why I’m so passionate about this…

This fall I added seven new dance classes to the one I’d been taking already. I may be too old to become a professional dancer, but there’s no reason I can’t fulfill my own dreams of dancing for myself — not just casually, but with a real effort to learn and improve my skill.

I bought myself a journal where I could document what I learned or worked on in each class session:

• class corrections from the teacher
• personal corrections from the teacher
• areas I was focusing on for a lesson
• improvement I was seeing
• instructions or choreography I felt I needed help remembering

Do you know how much journaling has helped? Before the journaling, attending class was almost like starting over every week. Progress was slow. Once I started journaling I saw sudden rapid improvement and my daughter has commented numerous times how fast I was learning things.

I’m now an enthusiastic convert of journals and smash books and folders and binders that are dedicated to learning and tracking progress! I have been starting new journals or Plan + Progress books of varying types for each of the areas I’m trying to make real strides in.

It’s my opinion that if there is anything you’re serious about learning or improving, keeping a journal that is dedicated to the subject is one of the best things you can do.

Way more motivating and helpful than making a list of goals.

Way more instructive, too.

And way more flexible, encouraging you to take advantage of unexpected opportunities throughout the year; opportunities that you could never have seen way back on January 1st.

Here are the books I’ve been using and their purposes:

1. Gardening + Planting (potted and un-potted, indoor and outdoor).
2. Home Decorating
3. Dance
4. Work – Paperclipping
5. Art (not shown)
6. Drawing and sketching
7. Food Menu
8. Doodle Brainstorming
9. Sleep Journal – This is an online journal for the Zeo.

Some of them are more about journaling to track progress (Dance, Art, Drawing). That’s what I mean when I refer to a journal.

Others are more about brainstorming and planning ahead in order to make things happen (Home Decorating, Work, Food Menu). This is what I call a Plan + Progress book.

Throughout this month I’ll share photos and details of my various journals and Plan + Progress books. I’ll share the type of book I’m using, what the purpose is, and how I’m tracking and planning in that book.

Then I’ll post updates with photos of my books throughout the rest of the year.

Anyone else here dedicated to improving a specific area of your life? Want to start a journal or Plan + Progress book to help you do it?

Please leave a comment to let us know what area(s) you’re focusing on. If you’re ready, tell us what type of system you think you’ll use (journal or Plan + Progress book).

As we continue with Thrive! 2012 this month and through the year, I’d love to see photos of your own books and what you’re doing with them! You’ll have opportunities to share with us when I post my updates!

The cabinet should actually be moving to a different wall to make way for the piano that belonged to Izzy’s natural-born mother, who was a concert pianist but died when he was a toddler.

I’ll share more about our plans for this wall and the cabinet’s new locations another time. Right now I want to tell you about something specific in this photo that is staying right where it is.

I’ve always had a problem with what to do with items that need to leave the house — library books, items we’re giving or returning to friends or family or taking back to the store, etc.

• I don’t like them hidden away around the house until leaving-time because we forget. Always.
• I don’t want the clutter of them sitting on a table or cabinet for an indefinite time.
• For a while I put those items in the top right shelf of the white cabinet, since it’s near the door. Out of sight out of mind was the problem. Plus, not everything fit.

After trying and failing at each of these “solutions” I found a new solution in May and it’s actually working!

See that colorful tote bag next to the cabinet?

I LOVE THAT BAG!

It’s made with the artwork of my current favorite artist, Flora Bowley. I bought it at her painting workshop in Berkley.

The sad thing is I love it so much that I’m afraid to take it outside, even though it’s very sturdy and easy to wipe off. So I decided to put it out where others and myself can enjoy its vibrant beauty every day.

It holds all the items that are waiting to be carried out of the house and transported elsewhere.

Here’s why it’s been working:

• The stuff is visible from the top so I’m not forgetting about it.
• The stuff is not visible enough to register as clutter.
• The bag is big and I’ve been able to fit everything in it so far, even when it’s been lots of different items.
• The bag is gorgeous, so it’s an attractive solution.
• The bag is vibrant so it’s an attention-getter — which makes it an effective reminder to me that I have stuff to take care of.
• If I ever relax about it, I can even take the whole bag with me on errands where I’m taking the stuff.
• Items like this are an affordable way to support your favorite artist and also live with their art.

Have you found a different way to store the stuff without forgetting about it? Please share!

If you’ve been struggling like me, maybe there’s a gorgeous tote that will add color to your living room or entry way that you can pull out!