Pre-Christmas December review

It's getting closer to Christmas and I have a lot going on so thought I would publish an earlier review of my month so far and then I'm having a month off posting here. You may find me with some sneaky posts on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page if I am excited to get something finished! But no promises.

December always means 3 birthdays in a row for my Mum, Mother-in-law and Aunty.

I love how the floral fodder I made in November combines with these card bases.

I've started my December Daily-ish journal. I started with the idea of combining 2 free offerings of Care December with Kasia Avery and Art Journal Advent 2023 with Raspberry Blue Sky and Tamara Kreativstudio. You can still join I believe and they are not completely orientated around the season so could be useful to use at other times. These were my initial gatherings

I started "late" and have only completed 10 prompts (and there are 19 out so far) but there is no behind. It's really about having prompts there to respond to when the mood takes me.

Paper cut out of Kererū (wood pigeon) by Ellen Giggenbach

I haven't stitched any of my pages inside a cover so I can add more if I wish and they are easily removable to stitch elements on too. And if I don't finish this in December, I can just continue on into January with this additional inspiration : 

This is the same concept as when I did Junk Journal July last year. Sign up HERE. Each day throughout the month, watch a new video from 30 different creators on YouTube. I'm not back at work until the end of the month so hopefully I can fit this in but I have a large list of things I want to do this holidays!

Although I've moved schools this year, I still have student library helpers so I made another batch of bookmarks for a thank you. See my previous years' efforts here. Started with a rather messy base of stencils, sprays and paint. Often at this point I think I should have used less colours!

But then when they are cut up, top corners rounded, edged with black ink, and lovely fibre tassles added, they look quite different and the children loved them.

And to finish, I'm sure Caylee Grey of Get Messy won't mind if I share her Release & Return workbook. 

Focusing on your creativity, reflect on 2023, release that which no longer serves you, and return to your true self as you prepare for 2024. Make a plan for bringing things into your life that your heart wants.

Wishing you a season of love and creativity. Talk to you again in January.  

November Review

I am happy to report that I only have a couple of weeks left of this year's final school term and then I'm on summer hols until the end of January. November has been a month of unexpected challenges, but as it came to a close I could finally feel myself coming out of the creative funk that I've been in. I always find art helps to work through tough things. 

I was really excited to create some watercolour floral fodder inspired by Fodder School 3 lessons with Tiffany Sharpe along with variations by Susanne Randers. I love that I have forever access so can revisit these lessons at any time in the future. 

These then inspired me to get back into my JIYA Journal. 

I only had cause to make one special card in November

I have a few birthdays coming up in December, so these last 4 bases will be put to good use and then it will be time to make a new batch.

In my last review post, I shared some December Daily inspiration. Kasia Avery is once more doing Care December, and 2023's theme is Blue. Sign up HERE.

Care December is 15 days of mindful, intuitive mixed-media art journaling. This FREE offering is your permission to give more space to self-expression through daily art making, and self-care during the busy month of December.

Here's the info again for #artjournaladvent2023. Info linked from Insta HERE with a youtube video from Raspberry Blue Sky here about how to make a journal for this project. 

Art Journal Advent is all about mindfulness and selfcare in December. With daily journal prompts - from December 1st until the 24th - we encourage you to take a short "time-out" by simply taking some time for yourself and your creativity. Our prompts are a wonderful mix of self reflection, mindfulness and creative fun!

I really want to combine these projects. Both offerings emphasise that they are not a challenge, but rather an invitation to take some time-out for yourself. 

These are my gatherings so far. I began by very quickly (within half an hour) grabbing a selection of handmade papers from my stash and folding them to a semi-similar size. I tore the extra bits off with a metal ruler, and have kept them to add to pages later. 

I began with the Care December theme of blue, but mine will be more paua themed as those are my fav colours and it is summer in New Zealand and I am dreaming of the beach. 

I feel enthusiastic looking at this pile so hopefully more to share with you soon.

Finishing this post with a book recommendation. 

Set in early Covid times it is a lovely read with lots of other book ideas inside (hint - the list of the books is published at the end), and includes some short chapter interludes where the author talks directly to the reader. I love this : 

I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. Wishing you a fun and creative December. Celebrate your successes. 

October review

I began October with my second week of school holidays and on my to do list was this challenge from school - we were given a blank canvas square and told to decorate it including a specific allocated letter. The letter had to stand out, and the way we did it could relate to our hobbies, career, identity in whatever way we chose. I covered the background with book pages and then cut out my letter from a piece of free-motion quilted fabric. Applied a thin layer of gesso to the paper background, and then hand stitched the letter on top. It's a great representation of me as librarian, reader, and creative combining paper and stitch.

These are going to be used to spell a well-known Whakatauki (Maori proverb) in our staffroom. Unfortunately not everyone has completed theirs yet. I will share when that happens.

Happy to share more cards created from my card bases

And a unique one for my brother's birthday - I just love the image

Fodder School 3 has begun. I know it's a big financial outlay, but since I've been in it from day 1 I get generous alumni discounts and always find several projects in the year that are worth the price of admission. Scroll back through all my fodder school posts HERE. Di Venter was a wonderful teacher for October (our first month for FS3) I didn't want to make a coptic bound book or to create with watercolours and ink but I watched all her lessons and they are forever access so there when I need them. I did have a moment where I got out some old painted fabric and sprayed through and then printed with a stencil to see if I would be inspired to take it further

It just wasn't exciting me enough, so back into the stash these pieces go but you never know when they may appear again! I did love her free challenge project from July which we now get to keep as part of our full enrolment. I didn't have time to do it then, but I am happy to be reminded of this...maybe in November. 

I've been reading good books and I recommend all of these

and these were my favourite movies seen last month

Watched "A man called Otto" on Neon, and went to see "Uproar" at Focal Point cinema with some workmates. It was a wonderful movie - a serious subject treated with a light hand. See the trailer here. 

I am currently thinking about whether to do a December Daily journal again, purely because Raspberry Blue Sky is already sharing info to sign up for #artjournaladvent2023 here and has a video here about how to make a journal for this project. 

Last year I was doing my monthly journal project and you can see my December journal here. In 2021 I made an accordian journal for a December Daily-ish project. I've also done them previous years and really love having that practice....

There may be other December options that come up later in the month and I will continue share here as I find free online art classes. 

I also managed to do a little more in my JIYA journal (online class with Megan Quinlan) 

The clear envelope on the right contains letters of appreciation from students from my new school about how I am making a difference to them as their new school librarian 💜

I have actually completed 1 of the 3 signatures. I would love to complete this this year...I'll keep you posted. 

When I started putting this post together I felt like I didn't have much to share from last month, but turns out I am still making progress, even if some of it is sorting out ideas in my head. I am trying to be kind to myself and hope you can give yourself some grace as well. Whatever we are managing to create in the midst of our busy lives and the sad news of the world is good enough. 

I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

September review

We have reached the end of the month and the first week of my school holidays and I am thrilled that I can share a newly completed handmade book project. I began the month with my studio still in a mess, my head knowing I should tidy and do some art, but my heart just wasn't in it. And then I had an epiphany. I've been overwhelmed by choices and all the possibilities of what I could do. I needed to tidy away everything in the studio and pick just one thing to work on. In my previous post I shared school holiday inspirations, including beginning to tidy my studio and a decision to focus on one creative project this past week.  

You know how much I 💜 Fodder School. July was the Free Fodder Challenge to introduce us to all our teachers for FS3. These lessons were only open until August 4, 2023 but Fodder School 3 students receive continued access to all Fodder Challenge 2023 lessons. Register HERE. I've been involved since the beginning and highly recommend this collaborative course. My project this week was inspired by Megan Quinlan's Free Fodder Challenge tag book project. You can see hers HERE and a variation using her new art stamps HERE. I knew that to make progress I needed to go back to micro-movements = a little but often. I discuss micro-movements here but the essential point is that you use every 5-15 minutes you have to do just one step - gather your materials, arrange your work space, thread your machine, add a layer of paint, add a layer of collage, find the mask/stencil, add another layer of paint, cut out found words....The effect of the micro-movements idea is 2-fold. Firstly, 5 minutes here and there can quickly build to 1/2-1 hour in a day, which is 7 hours in a week....Secondly, if I feel in a bit of a creative slump, I can trick myself by saying "I'll only do this for 5 minutes" - often after that 5 minutes, I'm sucked in :-) Once you light the flame, it's going. 

This process worked with this project. You also should walk away and do something else if the next thing to do isn't suggesting itself. You just need a break. Above is the project in process a few days ago (you will see some elements didn't make the final project), and yesterday I finished.

So I've started from the end of the month, but my September also included

a play day where 4 of us shared some of our favourite art makings. I shared these handmade books created from Fodder School lessons over the last couple of years.

If you are stuck, looking back at your own work is a really good way to remind yourself what YOU love to create. Then I had a play with lessons from August's fodder school with Ricki Midbrod

and while the collage papers and glue stick were out I also altered some dress tags

I just got in the zone and enjoyed the process so much.

Last monthly review post I shared some of the cards I'd made from this set of mixed media bases 

I've completed a couple more although I can only share this one until the other is delivered next week.

I've got another week of holidays, but I'll be having a few days away so will have to make sure I keep using micro-movements to make the most of any time I have out in my studio. I'm very hopeful that now we are back to daylight savings and longer days, you'll see more art from me. I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. Hope we can all get creative in October 💜