Craft day reimagined

Well I had big plans for an afternoon of crafting, but when I walked out to my car I saw that my neighbor's car looked like this. Mine is the blocked in white car (clearly) and there is only about a space of 4 feet to get by to get out of the parking lot.

Apparently he was having car problems, and the tow truck operator thought it would be a good idea to leave his car like this (where no one else could get in or out) for a few hours this afternoon. Brillant, I know. It being Sunday in the South barely anything is open anyways and what was open was closed by the time I was able to exit my parking lot.

So I decided to make the best of it with some major house cleaning (while watching the Cowboys get spanked, ouch). The main place I attacked was my guest room/home office. Now a home office didn't used to be very important to me because I had an office already, it just wasn't in my house. But now with Arbonne being a big part of my life I need a home office that functions for me, and since it is in my guest room it also needs to look nice.

Mine wasn't looking so nice as you can see.

After a few hours of organizing, some creative storage in my already overstuffed closets, and a new bulletin board from Hobby Lobby (bought yesterday when I could actually exit my parking lot) my desk is way way better and I don't want to run screaming for the hills at the thought of sitting down here to work.

There is one craft project that I did last night that I can share with you today. It is a monogrammed journal and I got the idea from the Real Simple Holiday gift guide. Now I am a sucker for anything monogrammed and since one of my new year's resolutions was to start keeping a journal I thought this was perfect.

Now for full disclosure I will put what the magzine pic looked like, but just remember professionals did those.

The inside cover was my best attempt. I have to say, with a bit more practice I could really learn to love doing this project.


The stamps on the top and bottom of all the pages was a bit difficult, but some of them came out.

It was impossible to do the stamps on the middle edge of the papers, they were always uneven. Which is why halfway through those I gave up on them. Sorry the pics are not so great (although it kind of hides how not professional my project looks)

So here are the instructions some of them I didn't do, maybe why mine didn't turn out exactly as planned. But I am still happy with my newly monogrammed journal anyways.

You need:1 hardback journal, set of alphabet stamps, stamp pad, rubber band, large binder clip, ruler, pencil

How to: Use the rubber band to secure three letter stamps together in monogram order (I did not think this one through and since my first and middle names have the same letter I only did my two initials) Practice stamping on a piece of scrap paper. Open the journal covers flat on the table. With the clip, clamp all the pages together (didn't do this part, maybe that's why I struggled). Stamp the edges of the stacked pages one side at a time, moving the clip as needed. Draw a light horizontal or, for a looser motif draw diagonal lines, across the paper (once again I skipped this step, but wish I hadn't) Stamp along the lines and let dry for 15 minutes. Erase pencil marks. Repeat for the inside back cover. Voila, you now have a monogrammed journal.

Let me know if any of you try this and have more success than I did with stamping the stacked pages. It was tough, let me tell you.