30 Days of Lists, September 2013: My Journal

If you've never heard of this thing called 30 Days of Lists, well, it's exactly what it sounds like. Thirty days of list prompts, offered twice a year, by the creative gals over at the 30 Days of Lists blog. There's a whole community of fellow listers to inspire and motivate you, a private blog where ideas, giveaways, and daily prompts are posted, and a new-to-this-round private Facebook group. I'm also excited about posting my lists to Instagram (hashtag #30lists) and seeing other listers there, too.
The fun starts tomorrow, September 1st, and I'm all ready to go with my journal. I had this adorable Big Dreams Photo Journal kit from Simple Scrapper sitting around and decided this would be the perfect project for it.

And here's my album cover:

To set myself up for success, I pulled together everything I thought I might want to use in the album - printed-off 30 Days of Lists cards (included with purchase), the embellishments from the kit, a pen and mini glue stick, and a few extra labels, stickers, sequins and veneer from my stash. I'm pretty proud of myself. Going to keep it simple, and get it done. I tucked it all into this Timeless Beauty Bag from Thirty-One Gifts:

I don't have that much makeup, but I certainly have enough scrapbook supplies to fill a few of these nifty totes. Maybe more than a few. Priorities, people. 

If you're listing this month, too, share a link to your blog/Facebook/Instagram/wherever and I'd love to follow you. This project inspired my longtime friend Erin to resurrect her blog, LifeInk List Maker, and I'm super excited to read her words this month. Always thought-provoking. Or funny. Or head-scratching. Sometimes all three. She's pretty cool. 

See you back here next week for my next Project Life installment, and my first few lists!

Cards and Cooking

Hi, welcome to August's post! This has been the summer of the sickies - nonstop doctor appointments. Of course Avyn always provides more than his fair share, but the rest of us contributed too. In between playing taxi service and nurse, I've enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen and in my craft nook. Although digital scrapbooking still gets the lion's share of my creative time, I found that I really missed the hands-on papery stuff. So this summer I dived back in, dug out my paper supplies, and played!
I especially enjoy making cards that I can send to my family and friends. I get the fun of making them, and then the fun of giving something special and handmade! Win-win! Here's a few from the past couple of months:

Everyday Eclectic by Echo Park, Ranger Stickles in Silver and Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Broken China, baker's twine

Simon Says Stamp May card kit

Random letter stickers, paper, and buttons from my stash; washi tape from Mindy Mae's Market

Hybrid fun! Second Chances and This is Me ATC backgrounds by Design by Tina, printed and mod-podged onto card base. Washi tape and old chipboard letters from my stash.

Lime Rickey 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey, washi tape from Mindy Mae's Market, baker's twine from WRMK, Tattered Angels glimmer mist

Now for the cooking part - I tried out a new recipe yesterday that seems to be a huge hit with the kiddos. It's based off of these Toddler Muffins. I made one version almost identical to the original with a couple substitutions for ingredients I didn't have, and one version wheat/dairy/egg-free for Avyn. These came out so super moist, and Cai actually scarfed down three before I put on the brakes! He'll never know they're so healthy...

Ready to pop in the oven!

Toddler Muffins (regular)

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran (I used plain old-fashioned oatmeal)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups (mine ended up filling about 16 muffin cups - the amount will vary based on the size of your carrots and bananas and any substitutions you make).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran/oatmeal, baking soda, pumpkin pie or other spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

Toddler Muffins (Top 8 Allergen-free)

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil (or other butter replacement)
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
1/4 cup applesauce

1 Tblsp ground flaxseed mixed in 3 Tblsp water (or replace the applesauce and flaxseed with your favorite egg substitute, enough to equal 2 eggs)
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur gluten-free multi purpose flour)
1/2 cup gluten-free oatmeal or oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (again, I used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups (mine ended up filling about 17 muffin cups - the amount will vary based on the size of your carrots and bananas and any substitutions you make).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the oil and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and egg substitute. Stir in the flour, oat bran/oatmeal, baking soda, pumpkin pie or other spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

I plan to bake up more batches before our cross-country trip in a couple weeks to take for snacks. They also seem to freeze well. Delicious, and a great way to sneak veggies into my picky preschooler's diet! I hear that other veggies work well in this, too. Try different baby food varieties or fresh squash instead of jarred, etc. And if you find a particularly great combination, let me know! 

When You Don't "Feel Like It"

Feel like scrapbooking, that is! Sometimes I'm just not "in the mood," even when I have the time. Which is definitely a travesty! But if I'm not feelin' the creative mojo, it's no use. Nothing good's going to happen in Photoshop. BUT - that doesn't necessarily mean I can't do anything creative or scrapping-related. Here's a list of ideas for the next time you find yourself mojo-less.

• Gather up your cameras and smartphones and download pictures to your computer.
• Organize photos.
• Organize scrapbook supplies.
• Clear out your downloads folder - unzip everything and put it away. I started keeping a "To Use" folder within my download folder, for those kits I don't want to forget to use before putting them away. Often it seems that kits disappear into my computer and I forget all about them, but I also don't like a cluttered downloads folder.
• Pick out a template, kits, embellies, etc. for a planned layout. Create a new folder for this layout and copy materials you might want to use. Alternatively, create a text document and list what you want to use. 
• Select photos for a layout (or several).
• Write some journaling.
• If you're having a hard time coming up with a story you feel like scrapping, scroll through your Facebook page to remember funny/memorable moments from the last days or weeks. 
• Throw some stuff on a page and move it around.
• Read a book.
• Listen to some music. I like Spotify and Pandora.
• Eat chocolate. 
• Break out the paper-crafting supplies; cut, paste, ink and distress til your hands are messy and your mojo is rockin' again.

Another great way to get inspired is to read magazines, paper or digi. I write a couple articles a month for the DigiShopTalk Insider, and this month I wrote up a quick tip for adding cool lighting effects to your layout. Check it out here: Add Drama With Light to see how I turned this layout:

into this:

What are your favorite ways to track down and reclaim your missing mojo? How do you use those bits of time when you don't "feel" like actually scrapping, but want to "get something done" anyway?