I've completed my final project for 2022. It's a book of gelli prints from a combination of the first two months of lessons in Fodder School 2. We started in October with lessons from Rebecca Sower on Colour mixing, Gelli printing and Collage composition - so much in there to refer back to again and again. These are from my first gelli printing session.
I didn't manage to make any finished collages, but I knew our next lessons were with Drew Steinbrecher, another gelli print artist, and perhaps his project might work in combination with what I'd already done. I had already made these prints with inspiration from his free sessions in July
His project was to collage a board book. He re-used a children's book, but I already had this board book in a box that's been in my cupboard for a number of years (sorry no idea where it came from!)
I combined gelli prints from both sessions with what I had learned from Rebecca about composition, and it seems no project is complete for me without words (these are Tim Holtz Idea-ology : Big Chat).
It was challenging to work in this narrow format to begin with (20cm w x 8.5cm h) but then I enjoyed the stretch and got into a rhythm.
I thought that I would want to add more marks and embellishments to the pages, but once it was all glued down and I paged through, I decided I enjoy being able to focus on the simplicity of these colours and patterns. Click on the photos to see the words larger.
Happily there were some perfect spaces on the back of the box for me to stamp and date my project.
I learned so much from these lessons. I was limited to not include as many layers and texture as I normally would so the book would still fit inside the box and am happier with the outcome than I ever thought I'd be.
It's New Year's Eve morning in New Zealand so I'll wish you a 2023 of discovery, love, laughter and creative joy 💜
It's a little early but I'm ready to share my review of projects for December. I am very happy to say I am on my summer holidays. December is always a hugely busy time with school events and I don't get to create much in the first half of the month. I did manage to make birthday and Christmas cards which I shared HERE, and then went on to create a gift card holder inspired by BB Henry's instructions on YouTube
Mine has a wee variation in that my holder has a full lining
I've managed to start putting together my November Fodder School project and I'll hopefully get that finished to share soon...
Mostly I've been trying to do a December monthly journal. I did some gatherings at the end of November and created my base on my last remaining file folder
I decided to stitch in a couple of lovely cards that were sent with my order for the fabulous Ellen Giggenbach calendar this year (she has an inspiring shop in Petone, New Zealand, plus online although closed until mid-January). They will be extra space to write about my December events and feelings.
My cover is inspired by my fodder school Christmas card project which I shared here.
These pages are again inspired by some of the techniques from Megan's class Journal into your Art. This time I used a lot more quotes and photos to capture my month. These are my favourite spreads and I've done a flip-through for you too.
The back cover is included in the first picture at the top of this post, and there are a couple of pages at the end of this journal reserved for a family gathering on the 30th and whatever we do to celebrate New Year's Eve.
I'm going to do a review of the year post soon and I'll show you how I'm storing this set of journals from the year.
My Mum, Mother-in-Law and Aunty all have birthdays in a run of 3 days in December. This year, I went simple and stitched lovely pieces of gelli printing with meaningful words to my card bases.
Last weekend I made Christmas cards inspired by a couple of our bonus teachers for December Fodder School 2: Karen Elaine and Rebecca Chapman. I was thrilled, because I didn't think I was going to manage to make any this year.
Previously printed gelli papers, simple shapes, some pen work and Christmas tape for my words made this a fun project.
I am also thrilled to be using my new stamps on the backs
We've started December but I needed the break of the weekend to do my November review. I have been loving the warmer temperatures and the joy of roses that November brings. This was my first bunch picked on the first Saturday of this month
Although I'm sharing lots of creative joy in this post, I want to be real (cos this is All of Me) and say it's been a rollercoaster of a month : busy overwhelm at work but I love my job and am blessed with supportive colleagues; my eldest son left home to move to Wellington with his girlfriend - thrilled for them and it's time, but we were very close and I am missing his presence; hassles with bad neighbours; continued frustrations with insomnia and migraines and times of feeling utterly unmotivated; too much rain. I am grateful that art continues to be a way to work through issues, to find joy, and to make new discoveries. As I gather this monthly review, there is a lot to be grateful for. I loved this reminder from Liz Lamoreux on Instagram : You can feel grateful AND other feelings. We get to feel multiple things and no one can take that away from us. You can be grateful and still be grieving, or angry, or whatever you have to deal with that you are not grateful for. There is room for both.
On to the creative reviews : I got some new supplies - I found these lovely New Zealand bird stencils in Warehouse Stationery for only $5.99. I adore fantails (top left) so I'm sure that will get a lot of use - and wonderful to have a stencil rather than a stamp since I can play with them facing each other. .
For a while now I've been thinking about getting a custom-made stamp for my cards and book gifting so when I saw the suggestion for our December Fodder School lesson, I explored Rubber Stamps by Montarga in New Zealand and decided it was time to order.
I've spent some time thinking about my creativity and why I've not been motivated at times this month. I've been inspired to think about a December Daily practice and I shared some options herealthough it might be mid-December before I manage to do anything about it! I've been really interested to read Wendy Solganik's blog posts about finding your artistic style. Have a read and see what rings true for you.
I've also enjoyed watching Mary Beth Shaw's FREE Dirty Secrets class - sign up HERE. Available until 31 December if you've not seen it yet. Great for all stencil lovers and cool to be reminded of some techniques.
Time to share my completed November monthly journal.
In my October review, I mentioned I'd been struggling with my monthly journals, but using Megan Quinlan's techniques from her new class Journal into Your ArtI was able to create some different effects and be reinspired with my monthly practice.
My base file folder colour was a rather vibrant yellow, but I was very happy with the softened effects I was able to achieve and I loved gathering my stencils and rediscovering what I had and new ideas to use them for documenting.
I decided to try out other ideas from Megan's class and moved away from the Journal 52 prompts this month. It has been liberating to give myself permission to continue to finish my monthly journal project for the year but in a different way.
Also loved how I could include layered effects with gelli printing from Fodder School classes too. This is such a lovely print it deserved to be on a flip-out page
I even managed to make a flip through video.
See all my posts about my monthly journal project HERE and previous posts aboutJournal 52 HERE. I'm looking forward to creating a December journal but these next 10 days are going to be crazy busy so I'm just going to try and do what I can and be grateful for my pockets of creative time....I have started to bring together a project from Fodder school too - more of this soon I hope
See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram. Wishing you creative joy and peace this holiday season.
I learned so much from these lessons. I was limited to not include as many layers and texture as I normally would so the book would still fit inside the box and am happier with the outcome than I ever thought I'd be. 
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