Creating Intentions {One Little Word}

create pendant

Affiliate links may be included for your convenience. View our privacy and affiliates policy for details.

I’ve talked a couple of times about the fact that I’m participating in the One Little Word project that Ali Edwards does each year. The intent of the project is to have participants focus on one word throughout the year. Instead of making resolutions, you make decisions based on whether they resonate with your word.

My word is create.

create pendant
My “create” pendant from Liz Lamoreux.

Being part of the formal program, Ali gives you a task for each month that keeps you focused on your word, and for this month it was to create 12 intentions having to do with our word and to make some kind of scrapbooky things to illustrate them (One Little Word started as a scrapbooking thing). Extra cards were made more artsy, with quotes or other ideas about the word.

I should mention my cards have no clear design theme because I was using them as a place to experiment with mixed media and scrapbooking stuff that I had on hand, so they’re intentionally all quite different.

Then, of course, you focus on one intention a month.

My Intentions

I already shared a little bit about the intention I chose for January: Create Space. I’ll talk more about how that’s going in a minute. Here’s the whole list, along with some of the questions or ideas I wrote on the flip side of these cards: one little word intention cards

  • Create Space: What would it mean to have more space for creativity? What would having ample creative space feel like?
  • Create Art: Play with colors, materials, subject matter. Create your life’s masterpiece every day.
  • Create Action: How can I act more creatively? What actions can I take to support my creative life?
  • Create Meaning: What is meaningful creation? What does it mean to create meaning?
  • Create Engagement: What does it mean to be engaged creatively? How can I create engagement on my blog? With other bloggers? In my family? In my life?
  • A Time to Create: How can I make/take more time to create? What would make that time more enjoyable and productive?
  • Create Growth: How can I help myself grow as a creative person? How can I use my blog, my time and my life to help other people grow?
  • Create Possibilities: Dream big, aim high, try something new, reach out, branch out, explore the world inside and out.
  • Create Flow: What would it look like to go with the flow? What would it feel like? Explore meditation and yoga.
  • Create Words and Stories: Play with words. Dabble in poetry, fiction, verse, plays…reading and writing.
  • Create Ease: (subtitled go with the flow, obviously I did these over time and forgot that flow was already in here!) What would make life easier? What could I change/add/let go of? What would make being creative easier? Take steps to make it happen.
  • Create Connections: How can I better connect with other bloggers/crafters/moms/people? Who do I know who ought to be connected to each other? one little word intention cards

Other Cards

one little word art cards

I made a few other cards because I had enough tags to. The only one I skipped is one with a picture of me, because I misplaced my last tag, but I found it again, so I’ll probably add it later.

These are the quotes:

  • “Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.” — Dee Hock
  • “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou (she’s on the back)
  • “So you see, imagination needs noodling — long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” — Brenda Veland

The one with the fabric collage on it says “Create with what you have” on the back; appropriate because these were all scraps from other projects I was working on at the time. The one with the Veland quote on it has a faux-French sticker on the back and I wrote “noodle, doodle, oodle.”

The one with the buttons says “Create what you love what you create.” There’s nothing on the back, because I kind of see that as the back page. The one with the butterfly is the front cover and has definitions of create on the back.

Checking In

This has been a harder month than I expected. I’ve been saying yes to a lot of really fun creative challenges and projects this month, which has been great, but hasn’t left as much time for the concrete parts of creating space as I expected.

But I have gotten some physical space clearing done. Just yesterday I emptied out the floor space under my desk, and I’m making good progress elsewhere. I’ve decided I need a sewing table so I can create dedicated space for that craft.

I feel like I’m making some progress with the mental part of creating space, too, which is why I’ve been saying yes to so much. I still haven’t formally answered all those questions that are on my card, but I understand that what it means to have space for creativity is that I take it seriously, which I do. Now I know I need to act more like I do.

How’s your first month gone? Have you abandoned your resolutions or word yet? Or realized you needed to change your focus? I’d love to hear about it!

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing!


(Visited 519 times, 1 visits today)

You may also like

3 Comments

  1. Great start! I am relieved to see that even though I’m also focusing on creating, I’m going in a different direction than you – didn’t want to look like a copycat. 🙂 Onward!

  2. Yeah! I think “create” is a pretty broad category. And I had about 20 different possible intentions, so hopefully we won’t overlap. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.