grace.

...my one little word for 2013. this has been a favorite word of mine for a while. I'm delighted it was the right word to choose for this journey this year. (I made the final decision in early December while I was decorating my word tree and that's the real story behind my blog banner for this winter!)

one of my favorite things about this word is that it looks out...and in. and I am really excited Ali has re-worked her class this year.

I must admit - the new prompt threw me for a (very good!) loop when I first watched the video back on New Year's Day. I was completely prepared to re-run the opening pages like I did the last two years...but no. this year we're journaling intentions - one for each month. and actions to support those. my original thoughts had been tied up with Princess Grace. and pearls. and it took me another week plus before I figured out how to approach it. and how the 18 cards that make up the spread could really come together.

another few weeks and I got more settled on the actions. and tweaked another verb or two.

one hang-up I wasn't expecting is that I de-stashed a lot (as in almost all) of my scrapbooking "stuff" before we moved last fall. and I was not going to let myself buy anything new to start this project. then my printer died and I almost bought a new one yesterday, but fortunately, Marc decided he didn't need his and now I have a new-to-me HP Photosmart C4480 and I am in love with what I can print myself. I just got the printer setup yesterday, so finally. I'm ready to go. ...and now a little bit later, ready to share it here.

this is actually the front and back of a single divided page protector

I am still using pearls.

but all the papers and other "stuff" are coming from this small collection of Anna Griffin papers and embellishments (plus a small piece of music, a stack of Papersource cards, plain white cardstock and a few other things I kept):

I'm hoping that, just like Project Life, having a smaller selection will make the decisions easier.

I assume the remaining 11 months of prompts will give me reason to share my intentions and actions for those months, so I'll close this month with the wonderful quotation that prompted my January intention - grace notes:

text printed onto a tag ... and mounted on a piece of the Anna Griffin paper.

My actions - pay attention to the details and smile!

grace notes indeed.