Starting the New Year Right

New Year's Day in the United States feels a bit off this year because January 1 fell on a Sunday. So, a lot of the traditional new year events, such as the Rose Parade and football games got put off until Monday, January 2, which is also a holiday here. In many ways, the second seems like the start of the year.  So, today I thought I'd share some of what I'm doing with my 2012 OLW ("home").  I've started to do a lot of cleaning and purging in my craft area and clothes closet (because I store a lot of my craft stuff in my clothes closet). It feels great to get organized and focused on where I want to be in my art.  For Christmas, I received the book "Painted Pages" by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare, which Sian had featured in her Pass the Book blog activity and which really captured my imagination (even though my name never got pulled in the Pass the Book draw). I've been working my way through the exercises, and I used one of them to create the art journal page above which talks about approaching each new year as a journey. For me, this journey will actually take me deeper inside my home (my creative home, as well as my physical home). I've been thinking a lot about what I want to focus on in my art this year, and that has helped me in deciding what to keep and what to toss.   I also found an assortment of projects that I want to finish.  I'm looking forward to a very fun year creatively!
In my organizing, I came across three idea books which are really quite good (which is why I had not parted with them before) but a little dated and not really my style anymore.  I am happy to send them to anyone who wants them.  Preference given to people in the states to keep the cost of shipping down, but I'll send them abroad if no one here wants them.  If more than one person wants them, I'll draw names.  You can ask for one, two or all three.  The books are:
Full Circle by Lil Davis Designs (about Circle Journals);
PaperKuts Power Book of Tips and Techniques and
Rebecca Sower's Scrapbooking Life's Little Treasures (has a lot of good journaling advice).
{UPDATED to add: I'm sending Full Circle off to Nancy and Life's Little Treasures off to Carrie in today's mail. Going media mail, so it may take a few extra days. Enjoy!}