I don’t know about you, but I am so ready to move forward into Fall. Fall is by far my favorite season. There is just something about fall that brings a peaceful feeling. I don’t know if it’s the change in weather or the beautiful warm colors, but I just can’t wait for that  first crisp breeze that lets you know summer is gone and fall is in the air.

As fall officially begins this month, I’d thought I’d share a few of the things I look forward to. Here are some of my Fall Favorites:

• The Crisp, Fresh Air
• The Beautiful, Warm Colors
• Leaf Lookin’ (as we call it in the South)
• Football Season
• Sweaters & Tall Boots
• Pumpkin Lattes (or anything pumpkin flavored)
• Snuggling Up with a Warm Blanket and a Good Book
• Halloween
• Corn Mazes
• Hot Apple Cider
• Making Soups
• Pumpkin Patches
• Leaves Crunching Under Your Feet
• Fall Festivals
• Fall Spices – Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves

I used Little Lamm & Co.’s Crisp Collection to document some of my fall favorites.

So, how about you? What are your fall favorites?

I’m hosting a challenge over on the forums at The Digital Press so grab a Pumpkin Latte and come play along! Check it out at The Drawing Board: Challenges. See you there!

About the Author: Lindy Krickbaum is a Creative Team Member here at the Digital Press. She is a happily married wife and best friend to her twin sister. She currently lives in Johnson City, TN.  Lindy is a self-admitted scrapaholic, rarely missing a day to scrap. She also enjoys designing jewelry, reading and traveling every chance she gets.

Hey you fellow scrap challenge aces out there! Are you ready to be inspired? With the new word for September “forward”, I thought it would be great to look back on what we achieved this year and more so make plans for the coming last four months.
Did you make any resolutions for 2015? I did and when I look at them I think it might be the first year I actually followed through most of them! Way to go! *insert self backslap*
There is one compartment though, where I struggle and that is the gym and fitness part. If I want to make it happen this year, I have to rush to not get into a rush. Goal set! Now how do I really make it happen?
My biggest obstacle is that I might have things in my head but they just vanish in the everyday craziness. To overcome this hurdle I decided to make a dedicated planner for this cause. I have several planners and apart from one planner to keep up with the daily to do’s, I use them mostly for my personal projects. Mari Koegelenberg came up with this sweet planner prep in her Plan with Me collection and this is what I made of it.

I also made a double pager to fitting into the planner about my goal and how I want to achieve it.

When you think about the coming months, what is it that you want to achieve? What will your biggest obstacles be? What will you do to overcome them to reach your goal?

Hop on over to the challenge forum and let us know! You know that once the goal is written on (virtual) paper and out in the open, there is no turning back. You can do it!

About the Author: Alina enjoys sitting in front of her large computer screens too much. Apart from that she loves walking her dog and watching sunsets while being amazed of life in general. She is married to her best friend. Tries to manage the needs of her two cats and her dog and badly fails when they all want their cuddle time at once. Everything else is scrapping, taking photos and currently crafting. Having said that, she needs a bigger craft room.

This month here at The Digital Press we are focusing on the word Forward.  In the monthly inspirational post HERE I was really struck by the J.R.R. Tolkien quote  “I will not walk backward in life.”

It sounds so determined, so persistent.  And it really struck me.

We don’t have a choice, time keeps moving and takes us along with it.  We can either keep looking back to the things that are behind us, be they pretty or be they ugly, or we can turn around and face the future, boldly marching on.  Now, I will be the first to say that it is sometimes easier said than done.  I have had some pretty awful things happen to me, and it was hard at times to keep moving forward, but it is possible.  I might not always sprint headlong into the future, I might drag my feet and progress at a snails pace, or maybe even stop and take a breather for a minute, but I do make an effort to keep looking ahead, to keep moving forward.

One way I do that is through art journaling.  Now I confess, I stumbled on art journaling by accident through my scrapbooking hobby, and I am so glad I did.  Art journaling has really helped me to keep things in perspective, to find the good when it is elusive, and to create for myself the encouragement I need when no one else is offering it.  It has also allowed me to get to know who I am and what my style  – in life and in art –  really is.

One of the key ways that art journaling helps me to keep moving forward is through the visualization of quotes that really speak to me.  Whenever I run across a quote I really like, I pin it to my “inspire me” board on Pinterest or jot it down in my planner and later when I am feeling crafty, or need to make some inspiration for myself, I go back to those quotes and pick one to visually interpret.  Sometimes that is through paint and messy art supplies, sometimes it is digitally, but it always helps me to solidify the concept that the chosen quote embodies to me.

For example, here is a page I made for the quote I mentioned above

(credits:   Lets Go Outside Collection by Sugarplum Paperie)

And for those of you who are Pocket Scrappers, did you know that you can do art journaling in pocket style as well?

Just after my youngest was born I was really struggling with PPD and I wanted to art journal so bad, but between my own health issues, our living situation, and having to care for a baby, it was not possible to pull out the paints.  Then one day I ran across a pack of inspiring SNAP pocket cards and decided to make a little Pocket Card Art Journal.  It was so easy to make, and so healing for my heart at the same time.  I still have fun making pocket style art journal pages.  If you have never done it I encourage you to give it a try. Here is a pocket style art journal page I made using one of my favorite quotes from the Winnie the Pooh series.

(credits: You are Loved Collection by Mari Koegelenberg, Project Twenty Fifteen (Vol. 5- The Inserts) Templates by Laura Passage)

This month, as we focus on the word forward, I encourage you to find some quotes that really speak to you in some way about moving forward.  Now I know that this could mean different things to different people, and that is OK. It really should be personal. And while you are at it, head on over to the TDP Challenge Forums and check out the challenge I have for you!

Here is to Moving Forward!

About the Author: Erin is a work from home mom of three living in Thailand. She loves playing with her kids and anything artsy. She can often be found knee deep in toys with paint on her face. She is slowly learning the meaning of living an authentic life, and enjoying every minute of the adventure.

One of my favourite things to spend my time doing is exploring. I love to go to new places and wander my way around seeing what there is to see and photograph. There are lots of layouts in my gallery covering various trips we’ve been on over the last few years. I made this one about part of our trip to Italy with the July Special Edition.

I love to travel as far and wide as I can given the constraints of real life (I’d love to go on a grand tour of Europe, but we’ll just have to do it in sections!) but sometimes new experiences can be just around the corner.

The photographs in my layout were taken at a seaside resort just a short drive from home, we go there regularly, but we normally spend our time on the watersports beach rather than in the ‘touristy’ section. My daughter had recently mentioned that she’d quite like to try ‘Crazy Golf’ and we knew that Clacton has a fun pirate themed Adventure Golf course. My husband and I had played before, years ago, but there are new experiences everywhere when you’re 10! I chose to emphasis the seaside theme over the pirates, so I chose to use Scotty Girl’s Beachside Boardwalk collection.

I hope that seeing my layouts inspires you to document your own adventures and explorations Don’t forget to check out today’s challenge over in the forums!

About the Author: Jude Toone is part of the Creative Team at The Digital Press. She lives in the UK with her husband and two fantastic girls. She loves travelling, would be off in her campervan every weekend if she could get away with it and loves time spent exploring new places and trying new experiences – and photographing them! She also spends too much time on the computer and still doesn’t go running as often as she says she’s going to.