Twelve for twenty-twelve.

Twelve plans for the new year.

Do you have plans? Resolutions? Dreams you want to turn into reality this year? Why don’t we share? I’ll tell you yours and you tell me mine, and that way we can keep a friendly eye on each other (perhaps even whisper a gentle reminder in each other’s ear in case either of us comes in danger of flaking off on one or two). Sounds good?

I’ll start. Here are my 12 for 2012:

1. Prioritize prayer.

Too often, too many things fill up the day, like different ties clamped onto my body pulling me in this and that direction… and all of these things I have to do every single day matter not one bit, and all of those points on the To-Do List will not be as successful as they could be, if I don’t stop to spend some time in conversation with Him who gave me my life. This fact is not easy to remember, especially on the busiest of days: I know that by experience. It is a struggle. But a sweet one, and one that I want to apply all my energy to, because He comes first, after all.

2. Send a newsletter every month.

Just because I love ya and would love to keep in touch with you more often. And maybe pester you in your inbox. 😆

Nah, seriously. I would love to be able to share more, and I see my newsletter as a way of achieving that goal… with the side benefit of staying in touch with updates that might not find themselves into a blogpost. Also, I love learning a new thing everyday, so it was a total thrill to learn how to create sign-up forms and set up a whole newsletter system! Took me more than 24 hours — close to 48, actually — to set the whole thing up, but it was an awesome experience learning it!

And so do check out the right sidebar, right over there –> and DO sign up! You know you want to… 😉

Or if you visit my Facebook page HERE, you’ll find it on the left sidebar too.

Now why would you want me popping into your inbox? Uhm… cos you love me? 😆 Seriously, though, I’m planning to hop by perhaps once a month (unless there are more delish things to share after I’ve sent the monthly newsletter). I’m really excited about this, because not only do I get to bore you with my random thoughts (mwahaha), but I also now have the perfect way to share more goodies with you!

Here’s what you can expect from my newsletters (in case you find yourself wondering “Should I or shouldn’t I?”) – the latest news on the homefront (think: be the first to find out about sales and freebies and events!), my newest creations and products, news about classes (exciting ones that I would highly recommend as well any classes that I might be coming up with this year 😉 ), perhaps a few samples of my photographic adventures, quite possibly some random thoughts, and while we’re at it, why not throw in some special subscriber coupons and freebies as well? *Squeal!*

3. Release freebies through my Facebook page.

Remember that Facebook page I talked about? Well, I’m presently working on setting up the systems that will allow me to give exclusive freebies to liv.edesigns Facebook fans (or, in Facebook lingo, those that “Like” my page).

The work that I’ve been doing on this behind the scenes constitutes part of all the Geekifying-Liv Adventures that I’ve been enjoying since the new year started. (If you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be among the first to know, too, if and when the freebies are out on my Facebook page! How’s that for incentive? >tee hee<)

4. Put up a new product in my shop every week.

I sometimes suspect that I have Designers ADHD – and no, there’s no such thing in real life 😆 . I just invented it as an excuse for all the half-finished projects that I have in my work folders on my computer. Plus all my projects-to-be that are still sketches in multiple notebooks and boxes and artwork that needs to find its way onto my scanner… that kind of thing. Sooo I need to actually get them off the physical (or mental) plane and onto the digital drawing board and then into my shop. Every week. For all the 52 weeks of this year.

Keeping my fingers crossed (and toes… and eyes thrown in, for good measure) that I make it! 😉

 5. Create one layout every month.

I looked back on the layouts I created for 2011 and discovered that these weren’t even enough to complete an album (whereas I could easily fill 16 pages of an album with one of Jessica’s three-week classes in the past). Maybe part of it is taking more photos (I completed Project 365, yay!), maybe part of it is having my three youngest kids in school (and therefore I’m a driver-mama in the mornings and tutoring-mama in the afternoons till evenings), maybe part of it is taking on parent-projects from the said schools, and maybe part of it is growing old and losing the ability to exist on 3-hours of sleep night after night on a regular basis. 😆

But I do feel the need to scrap more, even if it needs to be a “quickie” kind of thing. Just because there are all these stories that need to be told, not just in photos, not just in words, but in a pretty triple combination of words+photos+art.

 6. CreART.

By this I mean I want to stretch my boundaries, artwise. Learn something new. Get my hands dirty with paint and glue and stuff. (Or find a way to do it digitally! ;)). Experiment with something, even if it’s just sewing paper or painting a frame or putting together a miniature chair.

Another thing I really want to get into: create an Art Journal. (More on that soon! ;))

7. Do Project 365+

Last year was my first attempt to take a photo a day for each day of the year. And I am so thrilled to say that I actually did it!

This year, I’m attempting to do it again because it’s a fab way to document life as it happens (even if you may not have the time to scrap a page about it, at least you’ve frozen the moment in a photo that you can always go back to). Also, since practice makes perfect, I truly believe it does wonders in helping one constantly develop one’s photographic skills. And beyond that, the biggest reason why I love Project 365, is this: it forces you to look at everyday, ordinary moments and see the beauty, the miracle, the joyful wonder that might not immediately be visible on the surface.

(I am also considering trying my hand at the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, where you choose a photo to interpret their theme for the week. Read more about it HERE).

 8. Use my Bind-It-All.

I confess. I’ve had this for hmmm, three years? And I’ve never used it. Geesh. I can be hopeless that way.

So this year, I plan to actually use it instead of looking at it on my shelf and promising “One day, BIA, you and I are going to be good friends.” That day must come this year. 🙂

9. Maintain serenity.

In the midst of attempting to put all these plans into action, I would like to be peaceful. Calm. Serene… whether the day is just like any other day or the world is spinning madly and I’m doing all I can to hold tight.

A very wise person once said “Be like the duck: all calm on the surface but paddling like hell under the water.”

Yep, I want to be a duck. I mean, not literally, but… you know what I mean. 🙂 (And somehow I’m pretty sure that if I stick to Plan #1, I won’t have much trouble sticking to this one 🙂 ).

10. Send a family newsletter at least bimonthly.

Because life today is such that we find that the people we love very dearly and the folks we grew up with are living in different areas all over the world. And life can get so busy that sometimes months pass without any of us managing to sit down and trade news and hugs with family and our closest of friends. So this year I want to consciously make time for that. Time to remind my brother and sister and aunt and uncle, who all happen to live in different parts of the globe, all oceans away from me, that I miss them and I love them and I think they’re precious.

11. Blog three times a week.

Because I love you! And I love spending time with you on my blogporch!

‘Nuff said. 🙂

12. Cook something special once a month. Or maybe cook up a new class.

Who knows what surprises the year holds in store, right? Wink wink.

Phew! Whattalist! Thank you for reading through that! And as your reward for sticking it out till the end, I have some super-fab news for you! Do you love templates? If you do, you’re in luck, honey!

Fifty Free Templates

… are yours for the taking! Fifty of them. I’ve got to be kidding, right? Nope. Fifty free awesome templates from the JessicaSprague.com Admin and Creative Team are just waiting for you to grab them, if you don’t have them yet.

Just in case you’re not a regular on our Spraground (in which case I would say to you, Aww, come on! You’re missing half of your life by not joining us there! ), these 50 templates were given out as freebies over the course of more-or-less fifty “Template Tuesdays” in 2011.

The last Template Tuesday was done on the 26th of December last year (sounds so far off, can you believe that’s just 2 weeks ago?) and guess who made the last of templates? 😉

Here’s Template Tuesday #50, by yours truly…

… and if you click on the image above, it will bring you to the page where you can download it (along with #49 which was created by our Creative Team Member, my friend Chrissy Guido).

You can use the template any way you want to (for your personal use, of course) since it’s a layered file (you can move things around if you wish, clip more than 1 photo to the masks, etc)… and as a special bonus I threw in a 12×12 textured background paper ;). Sweet!

Here’s what I created with my template:

To download the rest of the Template Tuesdays, you can read my dear friend Kari’s instructions and get the links on the page where you grab my template…

Or you can download the latest templates HERE (Templates Nos. 28 to 48)

and HERE (Templates Nos. 21-27)…

and the earlier templates HERE (Templates Nos. 1-26) .

(So sorry for having to give you all these separate links, but they ended up in separate areas since these were first given on our Digi Lovely Blog and then moved to our homepage blog at JessicaSprague.com).

And if the prospect of getting FIFTY FREE templates isn’t enough to make you squeal, here’s a little more interesting info: if you download these templates and create with them, and then upload those creations in our Template Tuesday Gallery HERE, you get not only a kajillion awesome layouts created by YOU (plus get those marvelous photos and memories documented, finally! 😉 ), but if you upload 10 layouts created with 10 different templates from the Template Tuesday collection, you also get the chance to win a $5-coupon to use at our JessicaSprague.com shop (so you can buy those yummies you’ve had your eye on for the past weeks).

Seriously, does that not just ROCK? (I have to insert here that I totally {heart} the JessicaSprague.com Admin and Designers and Creative Team! I’m pretty sure you will too, and when you see the awesome templates they’ve created you’ll love them even more!).

Here’s the only catch: Since Template Tuesday has been around all of 2011 (the last one ran last Dec. 26th), you only have till the end of this month (January 2012) to download those template babies as well as to upload your layouts with them to be eligible for the coupon. And if you end up being so busy these days that you can’t create 10 layouts, then you can still hoard those amazin’ templates and create with them later on! Just don’t forget to grab them before the end of this month, okay? 🙂

Voila! All good things must come to an end (you still awake? :lol:) so now it’s time for my little Tell-Me Bunny’s last postscript:

Okay, your turn: What are your plans for 2012?

But wait! Before you hit that comment button and tell me what your plans are (are we embarking on some journeys that are the same? I’m excited to know!), don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter.

And… that’s it, folks! See you real soon!

(((hugs)))