Keeping with the Theme…

..from my previous post (you can read it here) I thought I would highlight another subtle change that has been going on since I’ve moved apartments.

Recently (since the big move) I have been feeling like scrapbooking. That’s right, scrapbooking. I’m surprised I even remember how. Honestly, I scrapbooked a total of 2 times in 2011. Yup, 2 – once in February and once in November.

Anyways the other night I revisited these steps from November, dug out my supplies and put together a layout. Here is said layout:I don’t know if it is the fresh space, the time of year (the end of winter, various fashion weeks around the world providing endless inspiration) or what. I also need to take a minute to acknowledge Vee’s role in my coming back to scrapbooking. Her layouts are always killer, and there is something about them that when I look at them I want to make some of my own. Finally it just got to be too much and I couldn’t look at anymore without playing with paper myself. Check her out, her layouts are like medicine for the uninspired scrapper. Also, the girls at The Dares have been back at it semi-regularly. So check them out too. I was pretty surprised at how easily this came together really easily. Taking my own advice, I didn’t think too much, I just went ahead and starting sticking stuff down, and went for it. I also stayed pretty closely within my comfort zone - paint, mists, and little collections of papers and other goodies- which helped keep me to keep going because things felt comfortable.

So there you go, if you’re having trouble putting a layout together, keep it simple by sticking with things you feel comfortable with and stop thinking about it, just get off your ass and do it. Which is something I need to remind myself every. single. day.

Hello March and A Few Words on Making a House a Home.

So, here we are at the beginning of March. So, hi March.

The beginning of this particular March, marks the end of my first full month living in my new apartment. And coincidentally, what I think is my first picture in my bathroom mirror. How it has taken me this long to do this, I’ll never know.

Now if you had seen how my apartment looked shortly after I moved in and could see how it looks now it might look as though no time has passed at all.  Why might you think this you ask? Because at a first glance it may appear as though nothing has changed. But that’s not exactly true. Let me enlighten you…

To the naked eye yes, nothing has changed. I am still sitting on my crappy student furniture, I don’t have a new dog to keep me company, some of my clothes are still in garbage bags because I have yet to get a new dresser and there is nothing hanging on the walls (yes,  absolutely nothing).

However, what you can’t see by looking at the apartment is that after a month of living here, its starting to feel like home. Its no longer just a place I’m sleeping and eating in. This is beginning to feel like my space. Which feels amazing.

The fact that I’m still using my old hand-me-down furniture and that I don’t have anything hanging on the walls doesn’t make this place any less of a home. It doesn’t make it any less mine. I’m not about to go out and buy a bunch of stuff just to hang on my walls because there isn’t anything hanging there. Part of the fun of making a house a home, is taking time and finding pieces that I love to fill up my home.

Anyways that’s what’s been on my mind recently. I’m really looking forward to Spring because it feels like it fits really well with my fresh start. I’m looking forward to this season.

j