Does This Mean You'll Be Designing?

Does This Mean You'll Be Designing?

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I've gotten this question a lot the last couple weeks, and I wanted to share with you what this blog means and my vision. The answer to the question is "NO"... for now. The truth is I don't have a desire to design full time. That doesn't mean I haven't had a blast working with Lynne-Marie and Rubia (Studio Basic), because I totally have and will continue to. I just don't plan on opening a digital scrapbooking store or pursue designing on a regular basis. I love making memories, telling stories, and being creative, but feel that if I pursue just being creative, I will lose the other two parts of my tagline. Yes, I've refreshed my blog a bit and I'm sharing freebies and tutorials and some of our most memorable memories in the hopes to inspire you. Yes, I'm trying to make my blog more reader friendly and trying to get my name out there to inspire more people.


So, let me share a bit about my vision for the blog. It's always been my God-given heart's desire to be creative. I've been doing creative things since I was a kid. Through the years my creativity has been squelched by "rules". I've been through many ups and downs and have learned so much from every good and every bad experience. I've found that telling my stories has been of great help to others. I've shared my stories of infertility, being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, our call to homeschool, babywearing, cloth diapering, breastfeeding and other "hippie" things. I've found that telling my stories has helped open up dialog, inspire and encourage... and not make it just something we don't talk about publicly and just suffer in the privacy of our own home.

I've also found that telling our family stories through my pocket pages, or "Project Life", we remember things we wouldn't have remembered if we hadn't recorded them. It's been so fun to look through our books the last few years and say "Oh yeah, I remember that", or "Oh, I totally forgot about that". Some of them being little things like cute quotes we would have never remembered even a few months later.

I've also found that sharing my art journals have helped others see the importance of processing some of our thoughts on paper... There is something so cathartic and freeing about writing it out and then covering it with paint. It's been an amazing way to let go of hurts or just to process guilty feelings or what next to do. I've also found it an amazing way to worship. There is just something so freeing about letting go of "rules"... turn on some music and just paint and try new things and just let my fingers and my heart speak. I didn't realize it but I've been art journaling and doodling since a kid. We found some of my old Bibles and I was "Smash" booking and doodling in them even back then. It was really cool to see, but at the same time, really sad to see how "rules" prevented me from continuing.

So, over the last few years since being diagnosed with ADHD, I've been processing that. I don't know why it's considered a "disorder". It's my desire to show you that it isn't a disorder and how to live with it in a world that tells you you have a disorder. I will be sharing tools and tips on how I make memories, tell stories and be creative while living with ADHD. This will include, how I homeschool, my workflow and routines, how I "focus" and get things done.

Over that last two years, some seasons have changed and I've had to close some doors I didn't want to close. In those closed doors, I'm finding that God is leading me in a different direction. The past few years, I've had a hard time letting go of those things and fear has gotten in the way of doing God's work and will. This is a continual thing and I will continue to seek God and his will for this blog. Right now, I see this as a teaching tool. A way of helping you to make memories, tell your stories and to be creative. My scrapping and art journaling is my hobby and the blog will focus mostly on those things, for now, unless I find God leading me in a new direction.

It means, I will be spending more time with my family in order to make memories... because w/o memories, I can't tell stories or be creative... I feel that all three of them belong together and I can't do one without the other. I also feel if one gets more attention than the other, then the others fall off the radar and my life becomes un-balanced. So let me explain a bit about what my vision is for each category.

Making Memories:

This will be a place I share some of our family memories, lists of things to do aka bucket lists, etc... I strongly believe that without memories, we don't have stories to tell or fun being creative.

We love spending time together and enjoying God's amazing creation and take advantage of living in the suburbs of Chicago and all it has to offer. It's amazing to live so close to such urban delights and also such beautiful rural goodness. I'll be sharing our adventures as we work on our home renovations together as a family, as well as things we do to live a life full of many memories.

Telling Stories:

This will be where I share our scrapbook pages and family memories documented. You will find my weekly pocket pages, December Daily, Week In The Life, and some of my projects that are still a work in progress, like our wedding album, some heritage albums and getting our photos out of their boxes and into albums and the stories behind the photos documented. 

This is something so very important to me and so you will likely see many posts in this category. I can't wait to share this passion with you and inspire you to get your stories documented and in albums to share with friends and family.

Being Creative:

This will be where I will be sharing my art journaling pages and mixed media projects. This will include wall art and DIY home decor. I want to encourage you to do something creative every day and try new things. My goal is to set aside 15 minutes a day to turn on some music and sit in silence and "be creative". I can't wait to learn some techniques and share some of the things I've been learning.

Tutorials:

This will be a place where I share all sorts of tutorials and tips. My goal is for every Wednesday to have a "Workflow Wednesday" post. This will be something short and sweet and will share bits and pieces of my weekly workflow. I've found that a routine is the only way I "keep up" on my weekly albums and I hope that by sharing my workflow it will help others to "keep up" with telling their stories too. Not only will I be sharing my workflow but I'll be sharing "everyday photography" tips, software tutorials, and craft project tutorials.

Freebies:

Along the way, I will share some freebies that go along with the tutorials or go along with being creative, or just because I really liked something I created and wanted to share them with you.

Through many trials and errors and figuring things out, I want to be able to share things that will make memory documenting easier for you. I have plans to share hybrid pocket freebies, Adobe Lightroom print templates, Silhouette Studio files for printing and cutting for your pocket pages.

My love language is gift giving and so I want to give gifts to my readers as much as I can, so if you have any ideas for things you'd like to have to make your memory keeping easier, let me know... I'd be happy to help out and share them with everyone.

Etsy Store:

Eventually, I am hoping to open up an Etsy store to sell some of my "being creative" projects. Right now, I don't see myself getting into digital designing, but if God leads me in that direction, I will follow. At this time though, God is leading me to share my heart, make more memories with my kiddos and to spend more time being creative.



What this means, for my creative teams... I am finding that it means stepping down from some of my teams. I attended an amazing parenting conference this weekend at my church and it made me realize that I'm not "Supermama" and I can't do it all and still be the best "Supermama" to my kiddos. It has been really hard coming to that decision and to write my resignations, but I know that some of those doors were needing to be closed and I needed to let them close so I can focus more on my family and not have "work" to attend to. I've been extremely blessed and honored to be a part of those teams and they will forever be in my hearts. I wish them only the best. I have shed many tears this weekend coming to that conclusion, it's seriously like I'm breaking up with them and I hate that feeling. I'm so thankful for the friendships I've made, and those will never go away... and for that I'm so very thankful for social media as a means to stay in touch with my scrapping family.



I also want to say... Thank you so very much for all your encouragement and cheerleading through the past few years. I hope to do the same for you through this blog. Changing my domain name to "...designs" was only because "heathergreenwood" was already taken. It was not because of a desire to actually become a digital designer. It was mostly because it was all I could think of at the time, and because at this time the main focus of the blog is sharing my layouts, my workflow and some freebies along the way. I felt a need to make a brand name for myself, just in case the Etsy store thing happens too. With stepping down from some of my teams, I wanted to make that clear, that I was not stepping down to pursue designing, that it really is to spend more time with my family and being the best mama I can be for them.
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