I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and that you are still enjoying time with your loved ones! We had a great Christmas Eve gathering with all of our family and it was so fun to have all of my family together! We had dinner and a fun night of sharing our White Envelope Stories (we changed this up just a bit this year and had the kids all tell us what they did). We then we opened presents with all of the adult men getting a Nerf gun and having an all out competition with a target drawn on one of my french doors! (Even my 86 year old dad got in on the action!) It was crazy!
Then we all settled down to read the Nativity story in Luke 2. The kids loved the nativity costumes and it turned out really cute to have them act out the different parts!
So are you now ready to move into 2013?
It seems like we all turn to organizing and setting some goals for the new year and I have a fun little idea for you. I am not very good at setting goals because they are the same every year, which means that I am not very good at accomplishing the goals that I set for myself! But I am good at making lists and accomplishing a lot of the things on my list, so I love the idea of the Smash journals. If you are not familiar with them, the basic idea behind them is that you just “smash” your ideas, pictures, magazine articles, ticket stubs, etc into your book. Here is the description from the Smash Pinterest page:
“So, what do you Smash? Well, it doesn’t have to be a life event, just the special little moments and mementos of your day—some of that stuff in your junk drawer, for example. A snapshot, a ticket stub from that movie you loved, a newspaper clipping, a magazine snippet, a cardboard coaster from a favorite restaurant, your child’s first crayon doodle…get the idea? Smash it, jot a note or add a caption sticker, and go! Smash is a great way to document everyday life or a road trip.”
So I made some “Smash” books for some of my Christmas gifts this year!
I bought some spiral bound journal books at Hobby Lobbyand covered the front and the back with some of my scrapbook papers:
The book and band and the pen are “Smash” products. The pen has a glue stick on the opposite end of the pen, and it is perfect for “smashing” pictures, ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, etc into your book.
I put a pocket in the very front, with some tags and small envelopes to tuck inside the book.
Then I put another pocket in the very back with some journaling pages, larger tags, and paper clip flags.
So now I am ready to “smash” some of my ideas, pictures, invites, ticket stubs, or anything from the junk drawer into my new “Smash Book”. This is my kind of journaling and organizing!
So what would you “Smash”?
I hope that you all have a great day today and that you find joy and peace in the things that you do!
Love Ya!
I nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award. Go here to read more about what you need to do:
http://www.rainonatinroof.com/2012/12/liebster-blog-award.html
Happy Blogging!
-Jenna
Oh, what an adorable Nativity Scene! How cute! A great idea to get everyone involved. Thank you for sharing it with Wednesday’s Adorned From Above Blog Hop! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
I just bought a smash journal I cant wait to get started..
Your homemade ones are super cute.
I love the concept of these journals. I hope that you will enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I love hearing from you!
I am a big fan of Whippycake and Smash Books and I think this idea is fabulous!
Thanks for linking to Take-A-Look Tuesday over at Sugar Bee Crafts. You were featured today! –
–Mandy, http://www.SugarBeeCrafts.com
Wow! Thank You.
stopping over from sugar bee :)
what a clever idea- I was actually pondering the idea of smash books to clear out my bin of momentos (to make room for more of course!) into smash books- it is full of guide maps from places we have been and all kinds of other things.
newly following!
What a fun idea to “smash” in your guide maps! I love the concept of the Smash books. Thanks for stopping by and please visit me often!:)
Love this~ and love the paperclip flags!
Thanks for the tutorial~
Susan
You are welcome, I love the whole concept of the smash journal! My goal this year is to try to be more diligent in writing in mine! :) I love how creative you can get.
I must be behind the times cause this is the first I’ve heard of these but I LOVE. IT!
I think I will start with one of the small three ring binders and see how that goes. Thanks for the inspiration.
That is a good idea. I think the most important thing is just that you put your ideas, thoughts, etc down on paper somewhere!
This is so cute! I love my Smash album. Have fun creating!!
Jenn
So flippin’ cute! Thank you for sharing this at the Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse
Thanks for linking up at Riverton Housewives! We’ve featured you! http://housewivesofriverton.blogspot.com/2013/01/riverton-housewives-round-up-47.html
How do you get the scrap book paper to stick to the cover? Please and thank you? I just got a spiral bound book from my class and have no idea how to protect the soft cover outside.
The books that I used were a hard cover and I just used a good scrapbooking tape runner. You could also Modge Pod the paper on if you wanted to. But I have not ever covered a soft cover, so I am not sure what the best method would be.
Maybe glue some cardboard first and then cover it
I love these. Where can I purchase the smash stick pens?
Barbara, I just googled “smash stick pen” and several options came up. Give that a try to see if it comes up with a good option for you.