Hello! Happy Saturday to you!

I have something new I will be bringing you starting today and I’m really excited about this!

I really love challenges. I am a member of the Digi Dares creative team and some of my all-time favorite layouts have come from scrapping along with these challenges! I’ve also recently been reading a book (slowly, but surely!) on the topic of Writing Motherhood. The book is more about writing, but it relates to a topic that’s so close to my heart—journaling on scrapbook pages! You may know that a few years ago, I hosted a journaling workshop at The Digichick. It’s a passion of mine—inspiring others to not just make a pretty page, but also to make a meaningful page. Telling our stories is so important…

So, with that said, I would like to welcome you to the “Get Writing” Challenges.

Each week I will have a new challenge and a new set of prompts for you. I would encourage you to mull over these thoughts and either set pen to paper or your fingers to the keyboard and start telling your stories! However you do it—in an art journal, on a scrapbook page, as a blog post or simply in a diary—be sure you are writing your stories out. And if you create something and want to share it, there will be a place for you to do that below!

Challenge 1 : Your Perfect Day

I struggle every day. I would love to wake up early! I would love to go for a run. I would love to consistently make myself breakfast. I would love to start school on time. I would love to go outside more with my kids. I would love to read to them more often. I would love to work on designing something every day. I would love to have some energy left over at the end of the day for cooking from scratch. And after all that is said and done, I have at least five hobbies I wish I could play with (scrapping, papercrafting, kniting, sewing and quilting…). Is it any wonder that I usually end up going to bed at 1:00 a.m.?!

I usually walk around, all wound up and full of guilt. Then the idea came to me that I should write out what I’d like my perfect day to look like. By doing that, I could practically examine what I am looking for in my day and see how I could realistically fit it in!

So, I wrote out everything—from sun up to sun down—that I wished for in my day. And it worked! Ever since then, I’ve been getting up at 6:00 a.m. (except for one or two nights when work kept me up late). I’ve reorganized my walk-in closet and you can actually walk in there now! And I feel like if I keep this going, I’ll have no problem getting my house and life back in order. It feels so good to be making these changes. And in a funny way, it’s all thanks to my love for scrapbooking! I write, I tell stories, I learn more about myself, I make changes, I make pages about it all… it’s all one big, happy circle!

This week, I challenge you to do the same! Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

Your Prompts:

• Picture your perfect day. Write about what you’d like to do from sun up to sun down.
• Talk about the things you love, but you never get done. End your writing with how you think you could work them into your day.
• Start with the phrase “If today was a perfect day, I…” and keep writing until you’ve said all can on the subject.
• As we go through life, we are continually changing seasons. Right now, I’m in the “I Have Lots of Little Kids (Send Help!)” season. I know it won’t be like this for me forever! I bet I’ll even miss this crazy time in my life. Think about where you are in your life right now and how it effects (or completely derails!) your efforts to have a good day.

I hope you find this journaling challenge to be an exercise that is helpful, practical, enlightening, uplifting and something that helps you to treasure all the little moments in your day!

And There Are Prizes!

Each week, I will be selecting one random winner who will win a $10.00 discount code to my Sugarplum Paperie shop. If you would like to enter this challenge to win, simply follow the rules below:

1) Pick a journaling prompt from the list above. 2) Make a layout or hybrid project that relates to the topic at hand, using at least 75% Sugarplum Paperie products (either new, retired or even a freebie). 3) Come back and add your link to the widget below. All entries must be posted by Saturday morning before 8:00 a.m. (EST). That’s it!

Happy journaling!

Keep up with the latest Sugarplum News:

Keep up with the latest Sugarplum News: