Hello Twenty twelve.

It’s a new year already and it feels like this year– any­thing could be possible.

It’s time to dream with our eyes open; make res­o­lu­tions (or goals as we term it these days…) and tweak our lives to make it a lit­tle bet­ter in many lit­tle ways.

For this year, I have sim­ple goals.

Noth­ing that is going to restrict me or bet­ter my bad habits.

Instead I want to improve what is good in my life already.

For this year, I want to have a new perspective.

For this year, I want to have a new outlook.

For this year, I want to believe that every­thing is possible.

For this year, I want to embrace chaos.

Find beauty in it.

Find my peace in it.

Enjoy it.

And pause.

I want to pause each and every moment I can, and savor it and enjoy it for every­thing it is worth.

I want to enjoy every lit­tle ges­ture, every smile and every coo my lit­tle girls make, because they are so pre­cious to me.

I want to spend more qual­ity time with my hus­band, and have more con­ver­sa­tions that don’t involve dia­pers, meals or chores.

I want to read more books, relax more and rel­ish every­thing I do.

I want to lis­ten more and talk less

I want to be a bet­ter me.

Happy new year to you all!!! May this year bring enor­mous hap­pi­ness and good luck to you and your family!

And for todays crafty project share, I have a mini­book I made as a gift for my cousin…

I love the idea of mak­ing a minibook/album in Jan­u­ary itself, with space ready for pho­tos to be added through­out the year. I also added jour­nal­ing spots, with some prompts, so that you can enter what is hap­pen­ing that month, while it is still fresh in your mind…

For the pho­tos, I have made the mats slightly larger so that when you adhere a photo is will be mat­ted by about a quar­ter inch all around. I jot­ted down the size of the pho­tos to be inserted in pen­cil onto the mats itself. This way, you will know what size pho­tos  you will be need­ing for that month, and if needs to be a hor­i­zon­tal or a ver­ti­cal shot and plan accordingly.

For this open­ing page, I included space for a fam­ily pic­ture… A great way to start an album!

For the album cover, I cut very thin strips from pat­terned paper. About a quar­ter inch wide strips. I then spritzed them with some glim­mer mist and adhered them onto cream card­stock. I also added some ink and stitch­ing all around. And finally added the title num­bers 2012…

Here is a view of all the pages…

I typed out the month titles in Pho­to­shop and printed them onto a card­stock. I also printed the jour­nal­ing spots off the computer.

And finally, before I gifted it, I tied a twine bow to keep the album shut… That twine bow turned out so pretty!!