Documenting Covid-19

Processing life with crafting. How I'm documenting Covid-19.

A few weeks ago I wasn't so sure I wanted to document what's happening in my home, neighborhood, city, state, country or world. Then I started noticing that my daily routine was looking different. I would stand next to the radio in our kitchen listening to our governor and the president give daily briefings. I was taking screen shots of the newsfeed I look at about once a week, oh, and I was looking at that newsfeed multiple times in an HOUR. Life was changing rapidly and I was holding my breath waiting for the next thing to happen. School cancelled. Restaurants closed. No toilet paper (what the hell is the deal with that?!) Masks. Gloves. Bad news. Bad news. Bad news.

Not only was I noticing the difficult things happening in life, but also the blessings. School cancelled = no immediate PTO president duties for me. Yeah! Restaurants closed = more cooking for me. Yeah? Yah, yeah. No toilet paper = ok, I can't come up with a blessing there. I guess we're learning to conserve it, so money saved? Sure, we'll go with it.

After a few days of our "new normal" I started taking pictures of moments that were directly a result of Covid-19. Just incase. After all, I'm a memory keeper and some of this stuff will make it in the book eventually (check out my Project Life catch up plan)

Then while going through a stack of 12x12 patterned papers for a new project, I came across a sheet I had picked up on clearance a few weeks before. It stopped me in my tracks.

TOGETHER. Over the past week I'd had one theme running through my head. We're all in this together. This paper exactly captured that for me.

What finally convinced me to start documenting Covid-19 and it's effect on my life were all the wonderful printables other creatives were putting out. It's like the creative world was saying "hey, it's OK to find a creative outlet for what's going on."

I'm using a combination of digital and physical products in my ____________ kit. I'm still trying to decide what I want to call this project. Covid-19 Life. Pandemic Life. Life Right Now. I always like to name my projects.

I really like the This is Family collection by Jen Hadfield for this project. The colors are a bit different than what I typically lean toward and the overall theme of the collection fits so well with how I'm feeling. So many sentiments are perfect.

Based on the fact I purchased this on one sheet of paper on clearance...in February, the likelihood that my local craft store would still have any of this collection is zero to none, plus you know #stayathome. So I started looking online. Thankfully the collection is available as a digital kit from ACdigitals.com. You can also find the entire collection of physical product at Scrapbook.com.

I've decided to document in a travelers notebook and it will be a combination of photo documenting and journaling. Here are a few elements of my kit and the resources I'm using:

1. This is Family cut apart sheet

2. This is Family digital paper

3. This is Family digital journal cards

4. Free Stay Safe printable by Kerri Bradford

5. Todays Front Page by Newseum.org (thanks to Colleen Hornung for clueing me in.)

6. Free journal cards by Geralyn over at In a Creative Bubble

7. Free word art package by Ali Edwards

8. This is Family digital elements

9. This is Family digital die cuts

10. Felicity Jane Lindsay Die Cuts

11. Free TOGETHER cut file by Dearly Dee

For this project I'm printing onto Epson Premium Presentation Matte paper. It has a bit of a grey tone, but it's not as thick as cardstock so it keeps the bulk down in my travelers notebook insert. I'm using inserts purchased on Etsy from Smplnotebooks. I like these notebooks because they are bright white and there are 20 front and back pages (40 total) which is the perfect size for a theme book. I've also included some random papers and embellishments from my stash.

I hope you are finding time to pause, breathe, create, and enjoy all the blessings life has to offer. I wish you health and peace during this crazy season of life.

Be well my friends!

xoxo - Kelli

#thisisfamily #dearlydee #aliedwards #inacreativebubble #kerribradford #felicityjane #travelersnotebook #covid19 #stayathome #jenhadfield #pebblesinc