15 Days of Gratitude project with Aly Dosdall!

One of the things I’ve tried to focus on this year is to see the positive in my life—to acknowledge all the good things and be thankful for them.  I decided that November would be the perfect time to create a project inspired by this goal of mine, since for those of us in the US Thanksgiving is coming up this month.

My project is called 15 Days of Gratitude.  The basic idea behind this project is that each day for 15 days you record 5 things you are grateful for in a journal.  At the end of the 15 days, you record your feelings, thoughts, and experiences as you focused on positive and good things in your life.  If you’re in the US and celebrating Thanksgiving on Nov 22nd, you can begin the journaling part of this project this Thursday, Nov 8th.  That way you’ll finish writing on Thanksgiving Day.  If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving this month, then just look at the project as a great opportunity to count your blessings any time of the year.  Or you could pin the idea and use it next year.

Here is the journal I created for this project:

Supplies: patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, Jillibean Soup, October Afternoon), journaling cards (My Mind’s Eye), mini envelopes (Jillibean Soup), glassine bags (Uline), cardstock stickers (Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, Studio Calico), rub-ons (Studio Calico), wood banners (Jillibean Soup), baker’s twine (We R Memory Keepers), washi tape (We R Memory Keepers), brad (Basic Grey), button (Jillibean Soup), tab punch + tab stickers (We R Memory Keepers), circle punch (The Paper Studio), circle cutter (Creative Memories), corner rounder (Creative Memories), binding machine + wire rings (We R Memory Keepers), die cutting machine (Cricut for Provo Craft), Reminisce Cricut Cartridge (Creative Memories), font (AmerType), other (5 ½ x 8 ½ inch vintage book, 9x12 inch clasp envelope)

You can use any base you’d like for your journal—a handmade mini book or journal, a Smashbook, or you could simply pick up a plain notebook at the store and embellish it.  Whatever works for you! 

For the base of my journal I used a vintage chapter book I picked up at a thrift store for 50 cents.  If you’d like to use a vintage book for your project, find one where the pages are not bound to the spine of the book, but rather the first and last pages in the stack are glued to the inside covers as shown in the photo below.

You are going to detach the front and back covers from the spine, so first you need to remove the book pages by using your craft knife to cut through the pages attached to the front and back covers as shown.  Save the book pages to use for this and other projects. 

You will then cut the covers from the spine using a heavy duty paper cutter.  Use a sharp pair of large scissors to clean up the cut edges of the front and back covers, and then cover the edges with washi tape to seal them.

Now you are ready to gather items to include in your journal.  I wanted mine to have some patterned paper, journaling cards, book pages, and envelopes so I could have some room for writing, photos, memorabilia, and hidden journaling. 

I cut a 9x12 inch office clasp envelope in half, saving the top half with the clasp to house a folded 8 ½ x 11 sheet of lined paper for recording my thoughts at the end of my journal.  I cut the bottom of the clasp envelope into two smaller pockets for hidden journaling, punching a notch in the top with my circle punch.

I used the new We R Memory Keepers Bracket Tab Punch and Stickers to mark each day in my journal.  I simply printed out the numbers for each day from my computer, and then punched them.  I wanted my journal to have a vintage/office eclectic feel, so I used products from my stash that matched the style I was going for.

I included some book pages (text only, and text+image) in between the patterned paper.  I also added some smaller envelopes and glassine bags for more bits of hidden journaling.  I left room for photos, writing, and memorabilia if it works to include those.  If not, the pages will also stand alone nicely with only my journaling for the day.

On the last day, I included the large section of the clasp envelope with a folded sheet of lined paper where I will record my thoughts and feelings after focusing on gratitude for two weeks.  Maybe I’ll include something about our Thanksgiving Day, too.

I hope this project has inspired you.  If you’re interested in more photos and info about this project, please visit my blog: www.alydosdall.blogspot.com.  Cheers!   ~ Aly Dosdall

 

Thank you Aly for a fabulous project and the PERFECT project this time of year!  We would love to see your Gratitude journals so please send them to us at [email protected]!

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Have a great day!  See you tomorrow!

~ Catherine

Mark your calendars friends!!!

 

Comments

[Margee']

This looks like a great project. Been a tough year for me.

[Penny Douphinett]

Wonderful idea - for any time of the year!

[Trisha]

Wow, Aly did an amazing job on this journal. Sure do love it.

[Karen M. Roth]

What a wonderful idea! I cannot write,though, my hand cramps up painfully bad every time I try to write anything beyond my name due to breaking my hand once. So maybe I can type it up on the computer and add it instead, but this is a great idea to get me started even if my project will extend beyond Thanksgiving :o)

Thanks for sharing it :O)

[Melinda T]

Great idea! I love how you used the book as the base!

[Barb in AK]

LOVE this book and love the idea of a Gratitude album :-)

[Dorina D]

Love this project and we are doing 30 days for grattitude in my family, I think I'll head to a thrift shop and book shopping. Great tutorail and fun project. Thanks for sharing.

[Gisele]

Wow, an amazing project!!! Very inspiring 😄

[Aly Dosdall]

Karen, I'm sorry to hear that writing causes you pain. I love your idea about typing up your thoughts and adding them. You can always keep things short and to the point as well--no need to write a lot unless unless it works for you. =) Good luck, and thanks for your kind comment.

[Rosann]

Amazing Thankful album project !

[Tracey]

This album is gorgeous!! Love it!!

[Lesa Bean]

Just a wonderful idea to help keep the joy and thankfulness in front of a hectic, and sometimes too stressful season. I can't wait to get this going!!