Setting Goals Made Easy with Goal Setting Worksheet

Last week, I blogged a bit about mind mapping. This week, I'm back with a free goal setting worksheet! I began the year looking for a goal setting worksheet and couldn't quite find one that met my needs. So I designed one and perhaps it will meet your needs too.

Designed by Pearl Lui: Free Download Goal Setting Worksheet for Action Planning and Successful Habit Building with Disc-Bound Margins

I wanted something that was rather simple in design with flexibility and not a ton of lines which I often find limiting my writing and drawing space. Channeling the spirit of high school biology workbooks, the worksheet was designed with a dashboard view and limitless flexibility. I'm sharing a watermarked version of this for free PDF download below.

Designed by Pearl Lui: Free Download Goal Setting Worksheet for Action Planning and Successful Habit Building with Disc-Bound Margins

1. Subject/Date. The top of the worksheet has a gray bar for titling with a subject, theme, or name. There's also room for a date so you can record when you filled out the sheet.
2. Goal/Why/Success Measurement.There's a big box for writing or drawing a goal! Next to it are two sections for you to write why the goal is important to you and what success looks like.
3. Action Steps Checklist/Due Dates. In the left of the main middle section is an area for listing 5-7 action steps needed to meet the goal, a gray circle for checking off when a task is complete, and a place to write the date of when the action should be taken.
4. Routine Building and Recurring Tasks Schedule. In the right of the main middle section are rows of light grey and white alternating perfect for creating a table of recurring tasks in a weekly or daily view. By having a clear view of the routine you need to bake in the day or week, allows you to build habits in a set schedule. To use for weekly recurring tasks, just use each row as a day as shown in the image below. To use for daily recurring tasks, just use gray and white rows together as needed to create your own table. See below for a daily schedule with AM, PM, and Night identified in the left column.
5. Notes and Brainstorm. The bottom left section can be used for notes or brainstorming. There are no lines so you can make lists or draw in this area.
6. Result/Learnings/Next Up. The bottom right section is a tracking area. Write down the result of your goal and what you learn. There's also an area for you to write down a next focus area based on learnings.

Designed by Pearl Lui: Free Download Goal Setting Worksheet for Action Planning and Successful Habit Building with Flexible Routine & Habits Section

It's been helpful for all of the goals I've set up for myself this year. Let me know if this works for you and let me know if you run into any issues with the download below.

If you're interested in a watermark-free version of this worksheet, you can find it here in my Etsy shop, Pearl's Pen Pals.

Download Free Goal Setting Worksheet for Action Planning and Successful Habit Building designed by Pearl Lui

Designed by Pearl Lui: Free Download Goal Setting Worksheet for Action Planning and Successful Habit Building. For watermark-free version, visit pearllui.etsy.com.

Mind Mapping to Stay Goals-Focused in 2015

Every new year, I write a long sectioned list of goals. I've done the same this year. But I'm also trying something new by mind mapping.

Mind Map: Routines focused on goals and how to achieve them.

Mind mapping is a great way to see how all goals are related. It shows the bigger picture. Here's my process:

1. Identify one main goal. By limiting to only one thing, you find what is most important to you this year. If there's only one thing to achieve this year, what would it be? Start your statement with a verb. Put this statement at the very center and heart of a blank page.
2. Identify habits and objectives. If there are 5-10 only habits or objectives that will help you towards your main goal, what are they? Put these statements around the page and let each thought lead you to the next. Once you get to a natural stop, look at each statement and identify any gaps and write those down. By limiting yourself to 5-10, you again focus only on the things that are most important to you.
3. Connect your habits and objectives to the goal. Identify the relationships in the habits and objectives so they become "workflows" or routines. Simply draw arrows to illustrate the connections.
4. Create routines and build a mindset. Now that you have all of these dots connected, start filling them in with action.
5. Hold yourself accountable. Remind yourself of how you want to live every day. Take action!

My mind map is centered around one main goal: Live a fuller life.

The relationship between my habits, objectives, and goals are clear.

• Make great memories. This goal is purposely vague. Great memories apply to all parts of my life, whether it be to laugh with my family, dance with my God-children, travel with friends, or enjoy lunches with coworkers.
• Take more photos. My list of crafting goals boils down to this one doable daily routine.
• Minimize practically. I am learning to live minimally, in a way that works for my family. I am reorganizing, reducing, reusing, and recycling more than ever. The first thing is starting with the closets. I want to do more with less and really only keep things I need and love.
• Spend less by reorganizing, reducing, reusing, and recycling.
• Cook more. I want to continue practicing making meals regularly which will also help us spend less!
• Be healthy. Eating out less and cooking more at home means consuming more nutritious foods.
• Prioritize and build efficiency, to do more, live a fuller life, and make more great memories.
• Craft and create. The decision-making process becomes easier by minimizing the number of choices, leaving me more time to fill my soul through creating, crafting, and learning.

I've already started some routines. The key now is consistency.

I look forward to holding myself accountable here. :)

Easy Appetizers & Delicious Desserts

I find entertaining difficult, especially with a baby. However, if you preplan a simple menu, most of the work can be done ahead of time with your regular weekly local market visit.

A cheese and cured meats platter with a small dish of olives is an easy appetizer to create. Everyone loves attention to detail. Add flags made with labels and toothpicks for that extra fun touch.

When in season, grab a cantaloupe, cut in small pieces, top with prosciutto for another delicious and easy-to-assemble platter.

Once you get to the dessert portion of the meal, fix cups of teas, coffees, or just pour glasses of milk to accompany a delicious brookie (brownie cookie) or two.

My introduction to baking all started with a recipe from the Clinton Street Baking Co. With each batch I would adapt it to a different craving. "The Science Behind Baking Your Ideal Chocolate Chip Cookie" by Anne Miller from the NPR Blog was a real game changer! For a consistent size and round shape, use a small ice cream scooper.

There are several different flavors here with each batch making 12-18 depending on how big you scoop each. The recipe even suggests creating your variety with white chocolate chunks, walnuts, or peanut butter chunks in place of the semisweet chocolate chunks. These can be made a day in advance to take the pressure off of having to prepare a dessert the same day.

To tie the meal together visually, add a few more flags to the brookies labeling the different variations. So what do you think?

*The Clinton Street Baking Co.'s recipe was something I had clipped back in November 2010 from Daily Candy. Oh how I miss Daily Candy!

An Elegant & Minimalist Baby Shower

Co-hosting is a great way to divide and conquer the sheer amount of work behind an event. Recently, a couple of friends and I hosted a baby shower for a wonderful mama-to-be. Her personal style and mantra is all about minimalism, clean lines, and simplicity. We kept her style in the design of the event.

Things came together when we found this gem on Paperless Post:

We secured Sarabeth's Tribeca as the perfect backdrop for brunch. Then the creating began. I am the banner lady* and I pretty much make banners for every event I host. One of my co-hosts made a gorgeous diaper cake while our other co-host brought delicious cupcakes. Both banners and cupcake toppers were made with the handy dandy Silhouette Cameo.

"Yay Baby" Minimalist Baby Shower Party: Banner, diaper cake, and cupcake toppers.

Borrowing the same font from the invitation, the banner and gold hearts were a perfect match and just the right light minimalist touch to pull the details together. The gold hearts became the theme and common thread. It is especially fitting because the baby is due on none other than Valentine's Day! Seriously couldn't have done it without the Silhouette Cameo!

Of course, no baby shower is complete without a guestbook, or in this case a Project Life scrapbook. Didn't catch a photo of the final book, but here's a look at some of its foundation.

"Yay Baby" Minimalist Baby Shower Party: Guestbook Project Life scrapbook.

I had learned most people have trouble putting a scrapbook page together at a party or shower because the social setting isn't typically conducive to creative thinking. The end product is sometimes empty pages. So I tested out a simple formula at this shower and it turned out great. Each guest pulled out a single page protector once they settled in. Each page protector has 6 modules made up of 3 pockets x 2 pages (front and back). I walked around to chat with each brunch table to give some instructions. Each pocket played a part:

• Front top left: With my favorite party tool, the Fujifilm Instax camera and film, we asked each guest to take a picture with the mama-to-be and slipped it in this pocket.
• Front top right: Simple creative design with a sentiment, flair, chipboard sticker, or just the original Project Life card design.
• Front bottom: We asked each guest to write a brief congratulatory message to the mama-to-be.
• Back top left: We asked each guest to finish the sentence "my best parenting advice for mama-to-be is _______."
• Back top right: We asked each guest to sign their name and date the card which happens to be the back of the card that the photo is adhered to.
• Back bottom: We asked each guest to number the card 1 to 5 in list form. Then asked them 5 questions.

1. Will the baby be born with hair or no hair?
2. Will the baby be born with the mom's eyes or dad's eyes?
3. Will the baby be born with the mom's nose or dad's nose?
4. Will the baby be born with the mom's lips or dad's lips?
5. Will the baby be born with the mom's ears or dad's ears?

It took some of the creativity out of the guest scrapbooking process, but it really helped everyone just enjoy their conversation, jot a few quick things down, and at the end of the event, we were able to deliver a complete scrapbook to our guest of honor.

I sure hope mama enjoyed being showered with all our love!

*Tangent: My father was a talented calligrapher and skilled craftsman who created signs for over 20 years. During my formative years, I spent summers watching him paint and make with his own two hands. Probably explains a lot about my hobby and my profession. :)

A Party to Celebrate 1 Whole Year (and 2,788* Diapers)

As a full-time working mom, it is always difficult to find time to be creative. It is a delicate balance between using the time to rejuvenate the body (also known as sleep) or the soul (also known as fulfilling my innate need to make something). When my daughter's first birthday came around, I wanted to make everything myself. But my reality just didn't allow me to and so I picked only the things I could manage and enlisted the help of other makers. Here's how it turned out!

"I Love You to the Moon and Back" First Birthday Space-Themed Party Dessert Display Table and Backdrop. Photo Credit: Morgan Bayard Photography

My vision was a space-themed birthday party because we love my darling daughter to the moon and back. Even though I couldn't make everything for the party, I wanted to keep the spirit of crafting in all of the details. Things started coming together when I found much of the decor on Etsy. Here's a run down of everything from the party, just in case you're looking to create your own space-themed birthday party. It takes a small village to craft a party!

• An Etsy seller, Kourtrivera, made the awesome ribbon banner and I added some gold foil strips to give it a metallic touch.

• To create the feeling of vastness, I found a giant black foam core board at my local Artist Craftsman store and created the space backdrop. I altered outer space clipart I bought from an Etsy designer, DragonflyTwist, printed them and fussy cut each piece. I compiled the words "Happy Birthday Elizabeth" with holographic letters from Staples. They're the alphabet sets that are usually found in classroom bulletins. I then free-hand drew a chunky banner using a gold marker to give the appearance that the rocket ship is pulling the banner held by the astronaut.
• Part of the birthday girl's gift was an astronaut backpack, Hello Kitty doll in a space suit, and a really amazing hand-painted astronaut doll from another awesome Etsy seller, LIllakopmis. She was kind enough to even customize the hair so that it resembled my daughter's. On the backpack, I adhered a serious space explorer iron-on patch from another great Etsy seller, MokuyobiThreads.
• Inside of the backpack were some snack-size Miky Ways. In fact the dessert table displayed Starbursts, Moon Pies, Astro Popcorn in awesome baking cups from Etsy seller, InTheClear, and Astronaut Neopolitan ice cream. Each sweet was labeled! I printed names of food using 01 Digital font and stuck them to smaller pieces of black foam core board.
• Paying attention to all of the details, I also printed space-related signs, using the same font, such as "Coloring Station" for a kiddy coloring area, "Orbital Nutrition Station" for the food buffet, "Fueling Station" for the drinks, "Waste Management" for garbage and restroom directions, "Odyssey Check-in" for the guestbook area, "Space suit Drop-off" for the coat rack, and "Wavelength Observatory" for the TV area.
• The birthday cake and delicious mini cupcakes were baked by our favorite local bakery, DuJour. Inspired by my search on Google for a "moon-shaped cake", we designed a buttercream frosted half-moon cake with gray fondant craters and a light dusting of edible stardust. I also fussy-cut another astronaut clipart figure to top off the cake. On the cake is the perfect gold glittered beeswax candle from another amazing Etsy seller, NikkiCrafts. NikkiCrafts also supplied gold and silver glittered star cupcake toppers.
• The chevron rose-gold sequin table runner is also from an Etsy seller, Jessmy. The option of rose-gold pulled in the pinks and peaches from the banner but also complimented the gold and metallics.
• Details are key! In the background, we played all space, moon, planets, and star-related songs such as "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles and "Moonshine" by Bruno Mars. On the TV, we looped Amazon instant space-related episodes of Peg + Cat, Daniel Tiger, and Caillou.

To keep the kiddies busy, I found cardboard space ships! I assembled, painted, and colored in a Build A Dream Cosmic Cruiser and Alex Color A Rocket with the help of my husband. They turned out to be perfect toys and photo ops.

Instead of a traditional book, we asked guests to pose with a cardboard astronaut helmet prop, snap a photo with the Fujifilm Instax camera, and write a little note to the birthday girl.

To create a cardboard astronaut helmet, I painstakingly cut cardboard with super sharp and strong scissors and painted the helmet details using black paint and stuck it on popsicle stick.

Now, about the birthday girl's outfit... our little star wore a beautifully crafted pieces from Etsy sellers!

• Gold star halo headband from SparkliciousBoutique
• Silver glitter first birthday one-piece and tutu from PaisleyPrintsSpokane
• Metallic silver baby leggings from BlushTaylor
• Gold leather moccasins with bows from StitchesAndSoles

"I Love You to the Moon and Back" First Birthday Space-Themed Party Room and Cardboard Spaceships. Photo Credit: Morgan Bayard Photography

To give the venue a space museum look, I also adhered prints to black foam core boards and added a source label with the Etsy seller name and shop URL to the lower right corner of each board. The space-themed prints included:

• "I Love You to the Moon and Back" and "Here Comes the Sun" prints from ThePrintAnnex
• "Constellation Map" print from AnneGarrisonStudio
• "Planets Galaxy" print from LucyDarlingPrints
• "Moon Space Astronaut" print from Holli
• "She Leaves a Little Sparkle" print from SarahACampbellDesign

Sprinkled on the tables were flowers from my local supermarket sitting in beautiful vintage ball jars from Etsy seller, TheCherryGrove. I actually had these left over from my wedding that I've kept in our apartment for years. They are the perfect go-to vases.

We really appreciated all of our family and friends who joined us in the celebrationLast but certainly not least, a huge thank you to my pal, Peggy, my husband, the grandmas, and our photographer, Morgan Bayard, for capturing all of the details and little moments of our day.

It was a beautiful day for my darling daughter and I look forward to her looking back at these photos and feeling our love!

P.S. Wow! *2,788 diapers as estimated by KidsGrowth.com. Now that's a reality check.

A New Year, A New Blog

Hello 2015 and welcome to my new blog!

I was previously blogging as krafty Pearl, sharing many of my scrapbooking and card-making projects. Then I started on the biggest project of my life and made a baby! Needless to say, my life changed and the me that would stay up through the wee hours of the night to finish paper projects after a long day at work became a mommy.

What does this mean? Welp, if I even have a single "free" moment, I would much rather sleep and the only thing I'm up doing in the wee hours of the night is trying to put my dear daughter back to sleep. These are also some of the most precious moments of my everyday... watching the little one sleep.

Being a new mom has not only redefined my daily schedule but it has also redefined me as a human being. Hence, the move from krafty Pearl to "mommy" Pearl here. I'm looking to have a cleaner and simpler look to focus more on the content. This brings me to the next subject: what will I be sharing on this blog? I don't have a plan, but I really enjoyed looking at my old blog posts as a collection of my creative endeavors, so that's where I'll start. I'll share the things I make, whether it be a paper project or baby food.

I took a year long hiatus from blogging and crafting, but I've decided to come back with some record-keeping and crafting goals:

• I will post 52 times this year. Come December 2015, I want to reflect upon the things I made - my maker's diary, if you will.
• I will participate in Becky Higgin's Project 52. Every little moment in 2014 was captured in my noggin, but none of which, my daughter will find in a book or simple digestible format. So 2015 will be a year of catching up and recording the new year.
• I will take a photo a day. My husband and I took a photo a week of our daughter during her first year so that we can reflect on how much she grew in a year. I loved that and I wish I would have done the same daily to record our own growth as parents. I will do it this year with the Becky Higgins Project Life app.
• And last but not least, I will give myself permission to skip days or weeks, if need be. Life happens quickly and while I'm committed to restarting my blog and my hobbies, my priority will always be my family. To avoid any sort of self-disappointment, this is a note-to-self that goals change and that's OK.

With that, here's a little more about me: I'm a full-time working mommy living in a tiny outer borough New York City apartment with my husband and daughter. I have tired feet from working all day and frequent baby-wearing, so I proudly rock my comfy shoes to keep my feet supported and spine straight; no dainty shoes for this mommy. Ever since we welcomed our baby girl to the world, I haven't done much paper-crafting or jewelry-making but I have plans of returning from "vacation" to my Etsy shops, Pearl's Pen Pals and Quinfetti. For full disclosure, I also work full time at Etsy as an employee and all opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and mine only.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon!

Happy 2015!
Pearl

Silhouette Cameo: "December" Handwritten Title

Hi there! How is everyone's December coming along? Today, I thought I'd share a bit about how I created the "December" handwritten die cut title in my

December Daily album

.

Anyone who has the 

Silhouette Cameo

 probably LOVES it just for this kind of application. I wanted my own handwriting to be captured in our December Daily, and the 

Silhouette Cameo

 is perfect for this.

Materials used:

See this

blog post

for details.

Here's a quick how-to:

1. Write your word in script using a tablet and pen in Photoshop and save it as  JPG file. Or write your word using a black Sharpie marker on a white piece of cardstock and scan the word into a JPG file.
2. Then open the file in your Silhouette Studio software.
3. Trace the area where the word is. (Menu > Object > Trace > Select Trace Area and create a box around the area you want to trace)
4. Play with the filters on the right side until you have a nice trace line around the word.
5. Simple remove the JPG from the background and you'll have a nicely traced word you can cut with the Silhouette Cameo.

I love this technique when you're looking for a nice handwritten title for scrapbook pages or even sentiments on cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant: Stamps Perfect for December Daily

Hi there! I'm over at the Mama Elephant blog today, to share the December Daily foundational pages I made in November. Here you'll find all 31 layouts so far... This is my third year making a December Daily album and I absolutely love it! You can see 2011 here and 2012 here. Every now and then, my husband and I really enjoy flipping through the other two years to see how every holiday season has evolved for us. Since December is always a busy month (and even November), I put together all of the foundational pages so that I can simply print/slip photos and journaling into the pockets.

Mama Elephant Inline Letter stamps, coordinating Creative Cuts dies, and Embellished Tag Creative Cuts die are perfect for this project. In fact many of Mama Elephant's latest releases are perfect for December Daily. I have been documenting 2013 Project Life in 6x8 Simple Stories Snap albums because this was my first year at PL. Filling the giant PL album seemed daunting and I wanted to make sure it was something I could easily stick to the habit. The 6x8 Simple Stories Snap album seemed like the perfect size. I absolutely love it now! One album filled up very quickly covering months February (I started a little late) August, and another filled up with September through November. Since December is going to be a photo-filled month, I decided to start a whole new album just for December Daily. I'm glad I did because the foundational pages alone have already bulked up the album plenty!

I envisioned this year's December Daily to have a mix of wintry turquoise, silvers, golds, textured whites, kraft, and spots of coral and red. Like my 2011 December Daily album, I wanted a transparent, layered look and like my 2012 December Daily album, I wanted crisp black stamped sentiments and images -- for which Mama Elephant stamps are truly perfect.

Unlike most December Daily albums going through just the 25 days of Christmas, I like to document all 31 days. I imagine throughout the month of December, as I'm actually printing out photos and filling up the album, I will be moving some of these pages and elements around to make it fit around my December. But the point of having foundational pages is that, I'll have all of these pages as a base and if I have more or less photos, I can simply add page protectors or move some of the foundational pages around. I'm sure by January, this album will look very different and that's totally ok with me. :) Here's a look at all of the foundational pages I put together.

Title Page: 

To create this page, I used Inline Letters to stamp "joy" multiple times on a Midnight Project Life card in black and grey. I then die cut "2013" from the Inline Letters Creative Cuts die cuts. And then I stamped the little deer image from the Winter Wonderland set. To further give it some dimension, I die cut tissue paper features from the Fair Feathers Creative Cuts dies. I wanted to keep it fairly simple, so I didn't stamp the coordinating feather images. Instead, I cut little slits in the feathers in various parts of the feathers to give each a slightly unique look.

Day 1 layout: 

To create the "Day One" tag, I stamped "day" with Inline Letters and then used the coordinating Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies to cut out "one". Then I used the Silhouette to die cut "dec" and layer it onto the Embellished Tag. As you can see, I put in packets of sequin stars in the slots where I would expect to use them. By laying down a foundation ahead of time, it will be easy to just slip photos in and jot down simple journaling during the busy days of December.

Day 2 tag: For the day 2 tag, I used a ton of sequins and glued them to the base card. I then die cut "day" using the Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies and stamped the number "2".

Day 3 tag: For the day 3 tag, I simply die cut the word "day" using the same kraft color cardstock as the tag base for a tone on tone shadow look. I then die cut the number "3" and put a piece of glitter cardstock beneath it. I then finished it off with a few sequins. To keep a light transparent look, I adhered the tag onto a piece of transparency.

Day 4 & 5 layout: To create the day 4 and day 5 tag, I stamped the words "day" with Inline Letters and then stamped the numbers outline image from the Four Seasons set beneath it. To highlight the actual days "4" and "5", I filled the outline numbers with gold and silver Stickles.

Day 6 layout: For the day 6 tag, I stamped the "day six" letters using Inline Letters in grey on the tag. I again decided to go for a transparent look by adhering the tag to a clear transparency. To give it a bit of depth, I sprinkled some silver stars in the pocket and stitched it up. For the right side of the layout, I put green glitter in to a stitched vellum pouch. The photo doesn't quite show the little green specks peeking through the vellum, but there's a nice pine needle feel about this page in the background. I then took a regular shipping tag, stamped "twinkle all the way" from Merry Greetings on it, and added sequins and stars from Confetti in black and silver ink.

Day 7 & 8 layout: To create the day 7 tag, I used the Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies to die cut "day 7" in vellum. I then added a piece of silver doily to the edge of the tag to give it a bit of texture. To add more dimension, I die cut a heart filled kraft card using the Silhouette and backed the tag to keep a fairly transparent and airy look. On the left, I added a piece of white glitter decorated cardstock to the back of the vellum pouch from the day 6 layout. I added some Fair Feathers die cuts and sequins. I envision stamping a label of some sort and adding it underneath "Dec" once I have photos in December. As you can see, I also added a pouch of gold stars in the bottom pocket, again so that all I have to do is add photos and sprinkle the gold stars in December. On the backside of the day 7 tag, the heart die cut card nicely matches the day 8 kraft tag.

Day 9 & 10 tag: To create the day 9 tag, I die cute "day" from vellum and adhered it to a woodgrain tag. I then die cut the number "9" from the woodgrain tag and slipped a piece of silver glitter cardstock under it. Then in the left pocket, I stamped the word "cherish" from Remember December in white several times on transparency added some clear glitter stars in the pocket and stitched it up. The day 10 tag is on the other side of the day 9 tag. I love how the stars in the transparent pocket beautifully sparkles through the backside of the pocket.

Day 11 layout: To create the day 11 tag, I die cut "11" from white cardstock, adhered it to a clear transparency Embellished Tag, added gold stars, stitched up the tag to another piece of transparency, adhered a Silhouette-cut "Dec", added silver sequins to the pocket, and then stitched up the pocket.

Day 12 through 14: To create the day 12 tag, I stamped the word "day" using the Inline Letters set and the numbers outline from Four Seasons. I then added silver Stickles to the numbers 1 and 2 to highlight "12". To the left of the tag, is actually the back of the day 12 tag which is a clear tag sewn to a piece of transparency sandwiching some tiny glitter stars and then I added large silver sequins to the back pocket and stitched up the pocket.

I really love stamping on transparencies because it's such a nice layered look. Here I stamped a family of deers using Winter Wonderland and a sentiment from Cinnamon Spice on a piece of transparency. 

Here's a view of the stamped transparency in its full layout with pattern paper . It has a nice faint white shadowy touch.

Here's the backside of the stamped transparency on the left in the full layout. I love that the stamped image shows through both sides and adds a nice touch of dimension and texture in a light airy way.

Sometimes, if I have a simple tag design like "14", I added a striking Project Life card next to it to give it that extra pop. I love this gold foil card from Studio Calico!

Day 15 tag: For the day 15 tag, I die cut the tag from an old Hambly overlay. I then die cut the number "15" from the overlay tag for a super transparent look. To give it a sense of transparency, I added a piece of silver doily and some gold glitter stars to the pocket.

Day 16 & 17 layout: I love the look and function of envelopes, so I added a couple to the day 16 and 7 layouts. The turquoise one is perfect for larger memorabilia such as ticket stubs, receipts, or tags. For the smaller ones on the day 17 layout, I think I'll be saving that for notes that my husband and I will be writing to remember the holiday moments together. It'll be fun, twenty years from now to look at those notes.

Day 18 layout: For the day 18 tag, I kept it very simple by die cutting "day 18" from the same kraft cardstock as the tag base and adhered it to the tag for a tone on tone shadow look. To the right of the tag, I stamped the words "celebrate", "capture", "remember", and "cherish" from Remember December to a Midnight Project Life card. That's what I really love about the Mama Elephant stamps, they can be added to any preprinted Project Life card for a lovely unique look.

Day 19 layout: For the day 19 tag, I die cut the number "19" from cardstock, adhered it to a Hambly overlay tag, and then further adhered it to a piece of gold cardstock.

Day 20 tag: To create the day 20 tag, I die cut "day 20" from a vellum tag and added clear star confetti to the pouch and stitched the pocket up. I really love the layered, yet transparent look.

Day 21 layout: For the day 21 tag, I simply stamped "day 21" onto an Embellished Tag die cut and adhered it to a piece of gold glitter cardstock.

Day 22 layout & 23 tag: For the day 22 tag, I simply stamped "22" using Inline Letters on a tag and added a flair to the tag. On the right page of the layout, I stamped the sentiment "merry, merry, merry, merry" from Merry Greetings and a bunch of sequins and hearts from Confetti onto a shipping tag.

I love the Fair Feathers Creative Cuts dies. Just as I did with the title page, I cut some extra slits in the die cut feathers just to give each a little more of a unique look.

Day 24 tag: To create the day 24 tag, I die cut the tag using Embellished Tag from a polka dot-embossed kraft cardstock, adhered it to a piece of transparency, sprinkled gold glitter stars behind the transparency, and stitched up the pocket. I love how the stars fall under the die cut number "24" for a sparkly transparent look.

Day 25 tag & 26 layout: To create the day 25 tag, I die cut "day 25" using Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies from a woodgrain tag. I put washi tape behind the word "day" and silver glitter cardstock behind "25". I then layered the tag on top of a piece of pattern cardstock. To the right of the tag, you'll see the back of the day 24 tag/pocket. By adding glitter hearts to the back of the pocket, the transparent backside of the pocket blends in with the rest of the page nicely.

Day 27 & 28 layout: To create the Dec 27 tag, I die cut the number "27" using Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies and die cut the tag using Embellished Tag, both from vellum paper for a tone on tone shadow look. I then used my Silhouette to die cut "Dec" from a piece of woodgrain paper and adhered it above "27". On the right side of the layout, I adhered silver glitter label-shaped cardstock to a piece of transparency. On the backside of the transparency, I adhered another white glitter label-shaped cardstock to the day 28 layout.

Day 29 layout: To create the day 29 tag, I simply combined stamping the word "Day" using Inline Letters and die cut the number "29" using the coordinating Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies and slipped silver glitter cardstock behind the number opening. Also on this layout, I added a kraft envelope to collect memorabilia throughout December. I added a shipping tag, stamped with a deer image from Winter Wonderland, "love" using Inline Letters, and a silver bow from Confetti.

Day 30 tag: For the day 30 tag, I simply die cut the number "30" using the Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies from a Hambly overlay tag created using the Embellished Tag Creative Cuts die. To the right of the tag, I created another tag by stamping images from Winter Wonderland and Cinnamon Spice.

Day 31 tag: For the day 31 tag, I adhered a ton of sequins to a piece of transparency. I then die cut the number "31", using Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies, from an Embellished Tag die cut polka dot-embossed kraft cardstock.

Materials used: Mama Elephant Confetti, Fair Feathers Creative Cuts dies, Four Seasons, Embellished Tag Creative Cuts die, Inline Letters, coordinating Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies, Winter Wonderland, Remember December, Merry Greetings, Mama Elephant Cinnamon Spice stamp set especially designed for the October Studio Calico card add-on kit; Knot & Bow silver doilies, gold star glitter, silver start glitter, sequins, Silhouette Cameo, Midnight Project Life Kit, SEI Chalet collection, Singer sewing machine, Studio Calico Project Life kits, 6x8 Simple Stories Snap album

Hope you enjoyed a peek at my December Daily foundation pages! Come back in 2014 for a look at my completed December Daily 2013 album!

Thanks for stopping by!

- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Highlight: Inline Letters

Good morning! I'm back again today for the last November

Mama Elephant

highlight. Inline Letters is an awesome set and has so many uses. The best part is that it comes with coordinating dies so you can cut virtually any word out!

Materials used: Mama Elephant Inline Letters, coordinating Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies, Many Thanks, Bold Banner Creative Cuts die

I created this card by stamping "thanks" on the white card base three times in Creative Color inks in Bubblegum and Smoke. Next, I used the Inline Letters Creative Cuts dies to cut the word "thanks" out from vellum paper and adhered it to the card base. I then die cut a Bold Banner from kraft paper, added light gold glitter speckles to it, and adhered it to the card base behind the die cut word "thanks". Lastly, I stamped the sentiment, "a million thanks" from the Many Thanks set in Bubblegum and adhered it to the front below the die cut letters.

Be sure to stop by the Mama Elephant blog for more inspiration from the rest of the design team!

Thanks for stopping by!

- KRAFTY pearl

Mama Elephant Highlight: Fair Feathers

Hello! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. Today I'm here to have a closer look at the Mama Elephant Fair Feathers set. I love this set because it has great outline and solid feathers along with perfectly coordinating dies.

Materials used: Mama Elephant Fair Feathers, coordinating Fair Feathers Creative Cuts dies, Embellished Tag Creative Cuts die

I created this card by stamping feather outlines on the white base of the card with Mama Elephant Creative Color inks in Lollipop, Sunshine, and Bubblegum. I then added a piece of kraft paper off set to the right of the card base. To give this card tons of dimension, I layered feathers on top of a die cut Embellished Tag and further stamped ink spots, sprinkled confetti, and added a small silver star for a touch of sparkle.

Don't forget to visit the Mama Elephant blog to see what the other design team members created!

Thanks for stopping by!

- KRAFTY pearl