I always take on a lot in January creatively and wonder what will fall off as the year progresses. I am hoping this isn't one of them since even though I am coming to it a week behind, I have long had the desire to do this.....last year I LOVED my Klimt in the garden with Rumi project. It was small and challenging but oh so rewarding at the end with 15 art cards. I've shared the photo a lot recently, but if you're a new visitor, click HERE.
Effy Wild is once again offering Journal 52 prompts FREE through her Wilderhood FB group and over on her Patreon ($2 a month for this and other content). I have a jumbo deck of playing cards from the $2 shop that have been waiting for this opportunity. They measure 3.5'' x 4.75'' (8.5 x 12 cm) which is larger than a normal Artist Trading card but significantly smaller than my Klimt art cards.
My friend inspired me with her handmade oracle cards a couple of years ago - they are paper collaged and she glued 2 cards together so they feel wonderfully chunky
If I keep my expectations limited about how much time I spend each week, I should manage this. Each card will include stitch, a found word, and I will try and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. Since the cards are plastic coated, I will need to apply some kind of ground to them first. And I bought another set so that once each is completed, I can stick a back on for extra chunkiness and to hide any stitching. These are the first 2 prompts for the year (released on a Friday so waiting for me every Saturday).
#1 : Heart. Inspired by my word{s} of the year : Shine with Intention and the colours of green and turquoise. Created on a piece of previously stenciled cardstock which I then sewed to the playing card by machine. This one is finished with a spray gloss varnish because I wanted the Shine and to seal in the black stabilo grungy pencil marks.
#2 : Calm. Inspired by a Book of Days lesson with Rachel Kentish this week. I shared wish feathers inspired by her teaching in my previous post and she provided a bonus lesson which I used for the card inspiration. Began by coating my new card with white gesso and then the watercolour ground...You need to let this dry completely - maybe longer than you think it needs - (ask me how I know!) before applying your watercolour layers. The gold is the Uniball Signo brand. Sprayed with workable fixative since not waterproof. Finished this one by hand-couching pretty thread.
This is really fun seeing 2 done already. Hoping I can share these cards weekly and by the end of the year have 52 in my organza bag ♥
I've been finding these posts where I summarise the past month useful as a record of what I've been busying myself with, and then I take some time to look forward so I can set my creative direction for the month to come. I hope you find something useful in these posts too.
I am continuing to write and memory-keep in my Inner Work Journal. This is now an {almost} daily practice for me. I no longer need it as a reminder on my to-do list ♥
It includes journaling about my days
and responses to almost-daily drawing of Tarot cards - my friend loaned me her Stretch Tarot deck and I am very tempted to buy my own since as well as the lovely mixed media art it includes one-word guidance about what the card means at the top - useful for traveling when I don't have my books to look up.
I use Tarot as a mirror - so I draw the card, look up its meaning, and then see what resonates with what's going on in my world and write about it. It's very useful to dig deeper and be present to what's going on in your life. And writing things down often helps find a way forward. I am new to Tarot (only started exploring last year) and find these books really helpful.
You can also get Theresa Read's "Tarot Card by Card" manual as a free download if you join her email list. Each card has keywords, general meanings, an affirmation, a theme song, a journaling prompt, and a rap....so fun ♥ I've printed and put mine in a binder. I particularly love how the affirmations positively frame some of the "harder" cards
This is my monthly review of what I read and watched
Still really excited that we got to see Imagine Dragons in Wellington last week - they were so fantastic to see live. Awesome sound, great visually, and so much energy. My friend took this photo from where she was seated above us - we were standing right under the balloons ♥
Also last week we celebrated Book Week at my school. It's always a really fun but exhausting week because of the all the organisation - book character dress-up day is always a highlight me hearties - aaaargh!
I've also explored Bullet Journaling a bit this month. You can get lost down a rabbit hole with Boho Berry HERE and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer HERE! I've decided to adopt the symbols for checking off lists - love how it's neater than crossing out and I can see easily what's been achieved - using it everywhere, not just this journal.... at work, on shopping lists.... how did I not discover this sooner?!
I began my #100daysofstitch project in April. Last week's email from the organisers of #the100dayproject included this :
You may have read that I'm still doing weekly-review stitch posts but I've stopped counting days. It's interesting to see how long ago my stitch habit was re-ignited. I will continue to add stitch projects to my to-do list. Last week I finished another paper/stitch project - my cotton reel book which you can read all about HERE.
Also at school I'm taking craft club once a week - we are making neonatal quilts to gift to our hospital and they are so enthusiastic it is a joy. I am very lucky to have 2 adult helpers - we are almost finished cutting out and I will share more as the quilt tops come together.
I had a break from #52stamps in April and am not feeling the need to go back yet. A challenge is only good if it's inspiring you isn't it?
I can tick most things off my list of creative intentions for May so it does seem that if something makes it to the list it gets my attention. I'm attempting this month to have less on my "to do" list! CREATIVE INTENTIONS FOR JUNE :
- to work in my art journal WEEKLY (I have a variety of lessons to choose from)
- To continue to stitch regularly - I have quilt fabric and a pattern ready to go
- to continue my healthy body focus supported by my journal
What are your creative intentions for June? If you are looking for some cheap/free online offerings, these are current :
Roben-Marie Smith is retiring some of her classes and the links are available HERE at half price until June 10th (access to classes continue they just won't be available for sale any more)
Tammy's 8th Index Card a Day (ICAD) challenge runs in June and July 2018.
Also check out my list of cheap and FREE online offerings HERE. I keep that updated but last did that properly in January so please let me know if you have seen new offerings I could add there. Wishing you a creative and joyful June.
#The100DayProject launched today. Choose an action. Do this action every day for 100 days, posting each instance on your Instagram account. Keep going.
Any day is a good day to start...I'm thinking I'm going to do #100daysofstitch.
So you may be thinking "Are you crazy?" - which was my very comment to a friend who is blogging every day in April! This is so much longer being 100 days BUT if you are a new follower to my blog this year, would you even know that I stitch?... That I call myself a quilter?... That I LOVE to combine paper, fabric and stitch together? It's what I say in my blogger profile, but I've not been walking the talk!
I did some course correction at the end of March and that post started with a photo of a stitched piece and included these words :
** I am NOT making a checklist of projects to complete for this month
** I REALLY want to stitch more
I've been feeling frustrated with myself, because when I shared my Ta Dah! list for 2017, I stated that "I want to include lots more stitch generally in my projects. There'll definitely be more mixed media projects". So when I saw a post this morning from someone starting this project, I decided it's just the push I need! I then drew Tarot for my day - Left is where I am today, and Right is my daily guidance. 7 of Cups is daydreams, and the Knight of Pentacles can make it happen!
I'm taking it as a sign ♥ Let's turn my dreams of stitching again into reality with a methodical approach and diligent work. I'm aiming for a little and often, and not for completing a thing every day - stitching by hand, stitching with my machine, but also planning a project that involves stitch, gathering my supplies - they will all count. I'm all about finding time to create by using Micro-movements : this is an idea from SARK which I use a lot. Check out some of my stitched projects and read more about micro-movements HERE.
Turn off the computer, and use 15 minutes to create every day and you'll be surprised at how much you can achieve in a week. I'm going to share tomorrow what I've chosen for my first stitched project and how my first day went. Then I'll share daily on my instagram account with a weekly summary here on the blog.
Are you going to join in? What would you like to try for 100 days?
My word for this year is SHINE. February was hard but I'm heading into March with a positive outlook and some new things to think about and be inspired by. I am still enjoying writing and planning in my Inner Work Journal. I always keep a record of what I've been reading and watching during the month - it's a bit eclectic since some of the watching is dictated by what we want to watch as a family (teenage boys in mine) and sometimes the reading includes books that I am trying out to share in my job as school librarian. This was Feb :
I wanted to share this because I highly recommend "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine" and "The Orphan's Tale". "Paddington" movie is also charming - must try and see the second which I've been told is even better!
At the end of each month I do a bit of a review and a look ahead, based around some prompts from Susannah Conway about checking in with your word.
One of the prompts asks "How can I bring more SHINE into my home?" so I've been reading this book from our lovely library
and am feeling really enthusiastic to try some clearing in my home and also in my studio. I like that the title aligns with "Shine" for me ♥ This is a nice review of the kinds of results I hope to get out of this process. If you want to take it even further, Brave Girls have a course currently running called Soul Shaker
It's about decluttering all aspects of your life, and you can join the free FB group to get some insights without joining the paid course.
In Effy's Moonshine class we are exploring Origins and Oracles this months and I thought you might like to see some FREE offerings that have been shared in our group. I considered making my own oracle deck. I don't think I am up to that this month but have saved this free class for later.
If you are wanting to inject some more magic/woo woo into your life, there's this 30 day challenge which you can access HERE (and do any time)
and Effy has created a YouTube of how she's approaching that for this month HERE.
For those of us in transition for whatever reason/s, this is available to buy or for free printable download
New stencils always make me happy = cheap from Warehouse Stationery
and special ones from Etsy Wonderstrumpet
AND I have just started drawing mandalas inspired by Andrea Schroeder which also spark joy ♥ "It's about the process, not the product"
Happy March to you.
I've started journaling in my Inner Work journal (part 3). I won't share this one often because I use it a lot for personal writings, but thought I'd give you a bit of a peek to see the beginnings. My part 2 journal began in April last year
and I completed it nicely coinciding with December 31st
As well as written journaling, it's a great place to save inspiring pieces like emails from Brave Girls Club
and photos of my art
I also do a little memory keeping in the way of photos printed out and also keep a record of what I've been reading and watching each month
It's fun to set up a new journal. I shared my cover decorating HERE and here's how it's begun life
I added a pocket to the inside
Then I realised that most of my inspiration for this journal will come from class content for the only 2 classes I've signed up for in 2018 : BOD and Moonshine with Effy, so I printed and added those titles. LOVE the serendipity that they look so wonderful with my peacock feathers. Totally not planned but looks like I did ♥💜
Next is a selfie, as well as the journaling prompts for January - I don't answer all of these but if I feel like writing they are a good start.
I ordered a printable magical planner that ties in with my Moonshine class. Although the moon times are EST, other information includes Southern hemisphere times and the calendar pages are fun for planning and record-keeping
I did some written journaling yesterday, and I've also printed some pages from Susannah Conway's Unravel your Year. It's a FREE workbook which includes monthly reflections which will be fun to do at the end of each month.
I'm interested in exploring Oracle and Tarot as a mirror to inner wisdom, so tried out a fun spread for the New Year today. I decided to do Gaian Soul's spread for the New Year with my Klimt Tarot
It's not predictive - it's about opportunities and challenges. I am most interested in my reaction when I read interpretations of the cards. I'm still very new to all of this so for interpretation I use The Creative Tarot book, and I find these online resources can be helpful too if I'm still not sure : Learntarot.com and Psychic revelation. In case you are interested in exploring for yourself, I have also been recommended The Tarot Coloring Book by Theresa Reed which I have ordered. I felt like the Gaian spread was very positive and makes me feel energised about my direction in 2018 ♥
And now I'm off to start my first art journal spread for the year....talk soon.
I first shared about my new Inner Work Journal HERE. It's my self-discovery journal inspired by the concept of a "Sweet Trash Journal" a la Effy Wild. It's a place where you can capture ALL the stuff, and although it's more private than the art journal you share with friends or online, I thought you might be inspired by some of my pages.
My word for 2017 is SHINE, and many of the intentions align so well with this journal - especially the "I - Inner Work" . So here's some of what's in there :
My art - present and past - I re-discovered this manifesto from daily journaling last year and it is just as relevant today ♥ This art was a Book of Days lesson HERE. Click on the photo to see it larger.
I can print out inspiring emails
Write responses to the daily prompts from Book of Days
Remember what I've been reading/watching/listening to during the month
Print off inspiring things like this
and I've been enjoying drawing some tarot and oracle cards - as a mirror/tool to explore what's going on inside. I have these 3 decks.
I don't like the guide book that comes with the Morgan-Greer, so I turn instead to learntarot.com and pyschic revelation when I want a bit more useful insight to help me interpret what the card might be telling me. And I like thinking about my responses to cards drawn and how I can use them to develop myself
You can see I've covered some of my thoughts above with a card that is for the One Little Word workshop - my most recent spread in this journal is a background for my February prompt for that class.
So some of it's pretty, and much of it's not - and mostly it's not of interest or relevance to anyone else, but the main thing is that I'm getting my thoughts onto the page and it's helping me write out frustrations, discover more about myself, grapple with problems in a different way, and capture joys. So even when I'm not posting completed projects on my blog, know that I am still keeping up with a daily creative practice.
This journal's getting fuller, and I've only been doing it for a month - loving it. Have you started a new creative practice this year?
