I’m so thankful for the current sponsors at Making This Home.  They’re creating some really beautiful things, and I hope you are able to go check out their sites.  Here we go!

(If you are interested in becoming a sponsor yourself, I’d love to welcome you.  Please visit this page for more information.)

The Borrowed Abode is a blog offering rental-friendly decor and organization solutions to both renters and homeowners alike. Having rented more than 11 spaces in only 9 years, Jane’s had to make do with all sorts of quirky living spaces. Creating small-space storage solutions, decorating rented homes, turning trash to treasure, building furniture to fit odd spaces – these are just some of the projects that Jane tackles and shares on the blog. And she’s doing it all while trying to make the world a better place, through simplifying, upcycling, and shopping for fair trade goods. Jane shares her borrowed abode with her boyfriend Ryan, as well as two cats and two dogs.  You’ll love Jane’s blogging space and tweets.

Over the years, have you felt overwhelmed by the complexity and growing consumerism of the holiday season?  Do you get frustrated by the trash that’s being generated?  Wouldn’t you like to slow down just a little with a more peaceful, greener Christmas?  A Green Christmas is just the ticket!  This book is packed with tutorials, repurposing ideas, and a slew of ideas for keeping the celebration without all the stuff.

Joyeful Art is a beautiful shop by a truly beautiful woman.  Joye loves simplicity and the search for beauty.  She says, “I have been painting watercolors and oils for 23 years and have always been in love with color. Currently I am interested in manipulating some of my artwork in to jewelry, fabric, cards, giclees, and wherever my imagination takes me! I just opened an Etsy shop with lots of colorful artwork, jewelry, and stationery!”  Here’s where she tweets, too.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.  I’m quoting the movie, The Notebook.  As I was looking at the newest journal I have created and wondering how to best introduce you to it, all I could think of was The Notebook.

It’s near the end of the movie.  Allie and Noah are standing outside of his house next to her car.  Her fiance knows about the two of them.  She’s flustered and worried about what her fiance will say and what he wants.  She’s worried about what her parents want.  She’s worried about what everybody else thinks.

“Damn it, Allie,” Noah says.  ”Quit worrying about everyone else.  What do you want?  What do YOU WANT?”

And what about you?  What do you want?

When you really get down to it, that’s a really tough question.  Following your heart – and knowing what your heart is whispering! – is really hard.  We get so caught up on the shoulds and woulds and what everyone else wants (or what we think they want).  I’ve learned that really what most people truly want is for you to find happiness.  That happiness has to come from deep within your heart.

And that’s what this journal is all about:

{I Follow my Heart} ~ Personal Insight Journal

Be the poet, and document what your heart is telling you in this mini book. The writing prompts will guide you.  Poetry isn’t “something that rhymes”.  Poetry is the things of the heart.

I deeply believe that listening to our inner voice – the one that holds our hearts – is nudging us.  We just have to open up to listen to it.  I would have loved having this journal fresh out of college, when I felt lost and unsure on the outside.  A dream college, teenage, or unemployment gift?  Oh yes please.

The cover is deliciously 100% recycled.  And the papers inside are recycled, too.  (The white is 100% recycled; the pink is 30%.)

I can’t get enough of the punched-out heart on the cover.  It feels almost like a peek into the soul of this journal.

{I Follow my Heart} ~ Personal Insight Journal

So you know what the question is now, right?  What do YOU WANT?

With the fantastic celebration of this blog turning two (!) and my shop, Gadanke, turning one (!!), I promised to answer some of your business questions from what I know now.  I’m certainly not an expert.  But thanks to some incredible frugality, I’m able to run Gadanke full time while Martin’s back in school.  So every so often, I promise to offer Small Business Tips because I know that a lot of you are thinking of taking the leap yourselves.

(I’ll do my best to make these posts both relevant to small business and life, so non-business folks can reflect and enjoy, too.)

Who’s ready?!

(my very tall brother and sister – awesome cheerleaders in life who will be models in today’s story)

Whoa!  We’ve got to back up a second because there’s a major problem that often keeps us from leaping into anything.  It’s fear.  And fear is a horrible, horrible thing.

When I started my shop, my biggest fear was, “What if someone steals my ideas?”

Turns out I’m not alone.  Here’s a question one of you lovelies emailed me:

Katie, do you ever worry about the fact that there are other people making similar products to yours, or are you just supremely confident? Maybe that doesn’t happen, because your journals are so awesomely unique. Just curious. I am struggling with that lately, a fear that no one will want my products because there are already similar ideas out there.

Well you can’t just wake up and have no fears.  You can wake up and feel a little less fearful every day as you slowly work your way to the place you want to be.

(My brother demonstrates…!)

That’s how it was when I learned to fly an airplane last summer.  A serious mistake = death.  I felt that fear every day that I wasn’t good enough.  So I practiced.  I studied.  I hung around other pilots.  I yacked about aerodynamics and engines – yes!  Engines.  I slowly pushed that fear out of me.

Sllllowly.  Here’s my cross country solo flight.  You can see the fear.  But you also can’t see anyone else in that plane, right?  Facing fear is tough; I know.

Now if I make an excuse like, “I can’t speak any German” or “I can’t steer a canoe” (both of which I have claimed on multiple occasions since becoming a pilot), I have to step back and remind myself that YES I CAN.  Maybe not now.  But soon.

You can become uniquely awesome by just being YOU and by believing in you.

If you’re not good at something now, keep working on it.  There was a time when you couldn’t read.  You spent years learning how.  And now look at you – do you even pause and doubt your ability to read?  Of course not.

I think we all get inspiration from one another, and it can grow into something beautiful.  But flat out stealing?  That’s not cool.

I guess I like to think that totally uncool people could take the ideas I’ve already created, but they can’t take away my experiences, my constant practices, or my ideas for more.

That’s the attitude you have to have, too.  Put yourself out there if it’s somewhere that you want to improve.  Who cares what others think.

(Here’s my sister in the back of the airplane – her original response to flying with me!)

In fact, here’s a little exercise.  Pull out your She journal.  (hehe – how could I resist the plug?  I’m going to tell you to journal something…)

Pull out your She journal.  Finish writing this letter:  (you’re welcome to finish it in the comments or please tell us your thoughts on fear below as well)

Text reads:  Dear Fear, I’m not afraid of you.  You keep trying to hold me back, but I’m not going to let you any more.  I’m going to…

I’ve become such a huge fan of homemade holidays.  Making things by hand always takes longer.  But do you remember the handmade ornaments you used to hang on the Christmas tree as a child?

The memories of those ornaments are the ones that resonate most strongly in my heart.  There were the ones that my siblings and I made, of course, and there were ornaments from relatives.  But my absolute favorites were the ornaments my mom made for her first Christmas away from home so she’d have something for a tree.

I’m replicating her project this month.

I originally thought, “Oh.  I’ll make one ornament each day of November!”  30 seemed like a perfect number of handmade ornaments.

I’m already behind!  It takes time to come up with each unique ornament idea, find the fabric, and piece it together.  So my plan has changed into something more like:  Make handmade ornaments this month.  It’s not measurable that way; it’s just fun.

Today I’m linking up with “A Crafty Holiday” where 35 bloggers are taking turns talking about our homemade missions and favorite homemade shops and goodies this season.

If you’re on the hunt for ornaments and gifts this year, try handmade.  I’m loving my little project already!

Some big chain stores in the US have caught onto the handmade movement and are pushing their own lines of handmade ornaments made in third world countries.  So what is handmade then?

I’m not sure making those handmade ornaments for department stores gives these workers any more opportunity or better treatment than the people next to them working in factories that produce ornaments that aren’t labeled handmade.  If you think about it, everything is handmade to some level – even ipods.  Somebody’s hands have to put the pieces together or guide the machines that will.

So for me, handmade is:

• made by the person selling it to me,
• enriching the life of the person who builds it when I purchase,
• made by me or someone I know,
• local, stateside, or coming from an online handmade shop like etsy or my own big cartel shop of journals and baby books.

(A huge thank you to everyone who has purchased a Daily Christmas journal!  I can’t wait to work on these through the season with you.)

What’s your definition of handmade?

Oh – and while we’re at it, if you know of any fabric-related ornament tutorials or cool pictures out there, plllllease send them my way!

Up next week – a new small business series, a few autumn tricks on living with less, and some handmade goodness.  See you then!

I don’t know the secret to a perfectly happy life.  I am discovering quite a bit about how to create a happier life.  That’s what this list is all about.  Please chime in with some of your thoughts.

The deep-in-the-heart truth is that less of so many angers and more of the happy and love-filled moments is all it takes to create a good life.

This is my list.

A happier life means

1. holding less hate and embracing more love
2. eating fewer on-the-go meals and sitting down to more family dinners
3. holding less doubt and welcoming more trust
4. doing less and enjoying more
5. wanting less and sharing more
6. needing less and giving more
7. less frustration with what I don’t have and more joy in what I do
8. talking less and listening more
9. eating less and tasting more
10. and always grumbling less and smiling more

Is there something more or something less you add?

Yes I am sharing something Christmasy with you today.  Too soon?

It was snowing like crazy outside here, so I think it’s time to introduce you to one of my favorite journaling projects…

I’d officially like to invite you to join me in journaling this December.  This month is the busiest; there’s no argument there.  It’s also the month that holds the greatest impact on our lives if you really reflect on it.  December is when so much of who we are all bundles together:

• our traditions,
• our beliefs,
• hopes,
• our community, and
• our family memories and pleasure

If I were to say, “Tell me about memories of your grandparents’ house”, chances are that part of that description would include December moments.  This month is powerful for our souls.

I wrote a daily journal last December.  (You can catch glimpses here and here.)  It was my first Christmas abroad.  We’re still figuring out where our December celebration will be.  Do you know where you’ll be?

I do know one thing:  this {Joy to the World} journal from Gadanke will be a part of our season.  Would you like to peek inside?

Did you guess “Christmas Journal” when you saw this photo?

I’ve included writing prompts, Italian papers, and 100% recycled papers – the good stuff you come to expect from Gadanke.

This journal also includes some all-new items and plenty of holiday embellishments.

My journal last year was all words and colored paper; I had no photos or fancy scrapbook items.  That’s the kind of idea I wanted for this book.  It’s stories.  It’s simple.

If you have scrapbooking tools or love using them, great!  And if you don’t, then this book is still just right.  It shouldn’t be another stress in your holiday season.  It should be a book for reflecting with.  (I liked to sit next to the Christmas twinkle lights at the kitchen table to reflect a little each night… or any night when I had the opportunity.)  I didn’t write every day, and that’s totally okay.

Would you like to join me in this mini celebration?  I’ll be sharing some ideas for transforming a {Joy to the World} journal into your personal holiday book throughout the holiday season.  I think it’ll be a weekly project update, and I really can’t wait to embrace it with you.  All of this snow that we’re getting on and off doesn’t help!

I hope you can join me in celebrating your holiday story!

And again, thank you so very much for supporting Gadanke and our family.