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.

Even more free online classes!

I've been on school holidays and was excited to have the opportunity to create some abstract landscapes in a free class with Laly Mille (sorry now closed).

I love how they turned out and very happy that I managed to leave some white space. I still need to frame them, but here they are individually

Check out student work from that class HERE.

Another free class just started is Flowers Magic hosted by Francesca Nunes : July 22-August 10. 

You can still sign up HERE. Includes eco printing with flowers, nature ink powders, and mixed media techniques. I gathered some papers

and I've made my raw journal

You can see what other people are doing HERE on Insta.

Birthday Lace

Last year I made birthday gifts for my brother, my mum and an Aunty of framed lace. We recently had birthday celebrations including the other Aunty of that family. Since it's family lace, I decided she needed to receive her own piece.
Once more I used coffee to stain some watercolour paper, then tore it to size and used hand stitching to attach some pieces of her Grandmother's lace 

The watercolour is then mounted on a piece of scrapbook paper (the frame is 12" inner) before inserting in the frame which has a spacer to the glass so the lace isn't squashed.

Hard to photograph without reflection, but click on the photo for a larger view. As a bonus aside, I just love the paper I found to wrap it {$2 shop!}

Framed Lace

In October I showed you the birthday present which I made for my brother

I mentioned that I might have to copy this idea for myself, but this time it's my Mum's & Aunty's turn. It's their birthdays this week and this is their Grandmother's lace. This time I used coffee to stain some watercolour paper, then tore it to size and hand stitched a piece each

These frames again have a spacer to the glass so the lace isn't squashed, but they measure 12 inches square within the frame and the cardboard mount wasn't the same quality as when I did the original project, so this time I mounted them on scrapbook paper. Here they are finished - I like how the paper in the background gives them an added vintagy feel. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Birthday gift

It's my brother's birthday this month and when I got given a box of my Great Grandmother's lace earlier in the year, he mentioned it would be really cool to have a piece framed.....I painted some watercolour paper, tore it to size and hand stitched some pieces to it.

Found a lovely deep frame so the lace isn't squashed - there's a spacer to the glass

I am so happy with the way they look. Size inside frame is 15 1/4" square

I might have to make one for me as well!

My 2015 Ta Da! list

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Woke up in New Zealand to sunshine and roses. Hope you have a 2016 that is full of love and laughter and creative joy. This rose is in my garden - called Double Delight. I wish that for you this year

Before I look towards creativity in 2016, I want to take a moment to celebrate and share my completed projects for 2015 (as suggested by Michelle Ward). I've separated them into paper projects, quilt/fabric creations, and other fun things.

First up was my Paper Stitched Daily Journal which I finished on 2nd January

And then a week later my Full Tilt Boogie Journal was finally full

In February I was back to work at school with a new diary

Work diary 2015

And then I was able to get on with my 2 main art journal projects for the year - Documented Life and Life Book 2015...
I chose a word for my year which was NOURISH - it appeared in a lot of my art over the year.
This was my first page for Documented Life :

Posted January 7th

and here's that journal now completed :

This was my first main lesson for Life Book :

Posted January 11th

and here's what I created from that class through the year (see my previous post)

This next one is a cover created for the notebook I will be using for notes for Life Book 2016. I haven't actually blogged it yet, but since I made it on the last day of 2015 it has to be shared here :-)

My other main focus for this year was to be quilts. I started the year by attending 2 classes with Karen K Stone in the last weekend of Jan/beginning of Feb. I kept my "On A Lark" piece small, and it became the holder for my Life Book lessons above :

Fabric Folder : posted February 20th

In March, my niece turned 21 and gave me a good reason to finish another quilt

Mystery quilt finished for 21st : March

Not a quilt, but made with some of my fabric stash - I was really happy with how this wrap skirt turned out :

Blogged in May

At the end of May, I was really REALLY excited to get a new Janome 8200 QC sewing machine :

"Wild Women don't get the blues" was the other quilt class that I took with Karen K. Stone at the end of January. In June, I started my "Spiked-border-a-day" project in an attempt to make some progress...I now have a finished quilt top ready to quilt over the holidays

Quilt top completed October

I also made time for various other small projects through the year. In March, a friend had her birthday and I turned a wooden word into a piece of wall art.

LOVE : posted March 2015

Then it was winter, and I fancied a knitted headband

 posted June 2015

In June I also had my birthday, and celebrated with a playday with friends. We made collages inspired by the work of Anne Brookes - another tick off my wish list :-)

Blogged HERE

In August I had another friend with a birthday, and I enjoyed creating LOVE (above) so much, she got JOY

Blogged HERE

In September, I was asked if I would like to teach a short (2 hour) art class for our local library's local history week. This was my sample :

Class details HERE.

I've continued to make birthday cards like these :

Blogged my method HERE

And my school librarians received handmade bookmarks from me as a thank you for the year

Blogged my method HERE

Then it was Christmas time :

Batch 1 HERE

Batch 2 HERE

So when compared to my initial plans, not as many quilts made as I had thought I might, but I am so happy with how I've grown with my art journaling and other mixed media projects and it was such a lovely surprise to be asked to teach :-)

Hope you are celebrating your creative achievements  - it's important to recognise what you've learned and how you are moving forward on your creative journey. 

And now's the time to look ahead to 2016 : What choices are you willing to make so you can create art?

Wishing you Creative Joy in 2016