Inspiration for the school holidays

Finished school for Term 3 on Friday and we are now on 2 weeks of school holidays. Started in the most inspiring way with our SLANZA (The School Library Association of NZ Aotearoa) conference. My professional cup is overflowing - so many things buzzing around in my head last night I had trouble sleeping! 

I definitely have the best job in the world and our conference was affirming, challenging, hopeful, inspiring, energizing, mind-expanding, questioning, stimulating, and overwhelming. So many ideas, I spent today getting my notes in order so that I can jump into the new term with enthusiasm and a more organised idea of what to tackle first! 

One of the first challenges was to spread the word of the importance of reading for pleasure and the work we do, as widely as we can. I do feel passionately about this, so here's a reminder that you can check out my recommendations for Fiction HERE, arty books HERE and other library-related things HERE. I've not been sharing my recommendations for a while but above are my September reads so far : Jodi Picoult writing fun YA fiction with her daughter Samantha Van Leer, "Take my hand" is a beautiful book about a terrible event, and I am about halfway through "Lessons in Chemistry" which I'm sure if you are a reader you have come across the great reviews, and has finally come to me on reserve from the library. I'm all about reading real books from our local libraries. 

Holidays are a great time for me to reflect and regroup. We are heading into Spring and I can feel my creativity bubbling again. I have been reminding myself of these 3 important truths :  You can do ANYTHING - but you can't do EVERYTHING!

So with all that in mind....I've started tidying my studio, and I'm going to decide on one creative project to do this week. 

I'm also sharing a few online offerings if you need some creative inspiration. You can still sign up for Laly Mille's Abstract Colour Challenge FREE class HERE today, and it's open to watch until Monday 2 October.

Also on this holidays, you can register HERE for the annual Life Book free Tester Week.

It's a great chance to check out different teachers for this collaborative course that runs through 2024. 

These are American dates so will start tomorrow and run until the end of the school hols.

Consie Sindet believes that everyone is creative, and wants to prove it to you with a free mini-class to start a daily-ish creative practice. Sign up HERE

Also check out her Youtube channel HERE including making a junk journal from cardboard and masking tape HERE.

I've shared this one of the Fringe Flip book with Brooke Henry before but if you're new to mixed media you might like to have a play 

And of course you can see all the FREE online art classes I have recommended over time on my blog by clicking HERE. Some only stay up for a limited time, but there are a large number of offerings that remain open forever. Just keep scrolling back and clicking the links to see what you can still have access to. 

I love to make handmade books, and one of my recent favourites was this tag book which was collaboratively taught by Kristi Nazzaro and Kristen Peterson. 

The photos are the one I made HERE. You can still sign up for that class HERE for US$22. I loved and recommend that class, so am seriously considering signing up for their most recent offering announced today. 

Get more info about this class and sign up HERE for US$33. I'll let you know if I decide to do it. Don't forget I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. I'll be back with a September review here on the blog at the end of the month. 

Looking forward to Spring

This is a photo of my magnificent Magnolia tree and the gorgeous blue sky we have today. Feeling grateful and inspired. I struggle with being creative in the winter. The days are short and despite a good heater, I don't like going out to my studio at night away from my family inside by the fire. This August I've had the added challenge of adjusting to my new full-time job so I've just given myself grace to enjoy a month of cocooning and I know that September will see me start to stretch my creative wings again. I have been watching online lessons, buying and had gifted some lovely new and recycled supplies, resting (a mini-break long weekend away) and celebrating birthdays with friends and extended family. 

I did manage to make more birthday cards for some of those celebrations and love the masterboard technique where I use collage and metallic watercolours on cheap watercolour paper, and then cut them apart to make card bases.

These are what I can share completed so far : 

September means Spring soon and warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours plus school holidays at the end of the month. All of which = more productivity and fun to come.

There's plenty to look forward to if you are looking for free online art inspiration. This weekend is Wanderlust Live 2023. You can still join HERE. 

Get a taste for a new teacher and be inspired by some favourites. If you are busy this weekend, don't panic. They'll be recording everything. Join now and you'll get access to all videos once the event is over without extra charges.

Coming later in the month, Life Book 2024 Taster Sessions for 2 weeks. This event usually coincides with my school holidays for which I am always grateful. 

Join HERE. Sessions will begin on 25th of September and will run until 8th October 2023. 

Happy September. May the sun shine on you and may you be inspired to spend time doing what you love as you head into Spring or Autumn. 

Junk Journal July : Part 3. And what's next?

I've been really happy to have participated in Junk Journal July 2023. I was inspired by the small accordian format - mine measures 15cm high x 12 cm wide.

Above is the list of prompts, and below are my responses for prompts 21-31. I used the idea of Tiffany's interpretation of an earlier prompt for my Contrast page, and then had a bit of fun with the pocket prompt. I attached an offcut of printed vellum as a pocket and inserted a wee stencil figure from Leaca Young with pockets ♥ as well as a couple of lovely handmade tags - delicious leftovers from this project.

Obviously I haven't been looking ahead at what prompt is next. This very vintage page features a favourite photo of my Mum and Aunty as children, and then the next prompt was photo. 

I got a bit off track with the prompts at this point with other family commitments taking some time, but I was loving the challenge and working in this book so much, I've just taken an extra week to finish up.

See the playlist of prompts and demos on youtube here. I believe these will remain up on youtube so won't matter when you are reading this if you want to check some out for yourself. You can see my other blog posts about this project by clicking these links : Part 1 and Part 2

I also decided to do a video flip through too : 

Overall July was a productive month in terms of finishing projects. Look back at my blog posts to see my finished Stitched Garden Roll and a lovely book project which combined some fodder school lessons from a couple of different teachers. 

Wishing you time for creativity in the month ahead. I am looking forward to inspiration from Francisca Nunes' collaborative Flowers Magic Art Fest 2023. You can still sign up HERE

As you can see, it's an outstanding line up of teachers. Although it is still Winter here in New Zealand, I hope to get lots of ideas to fill the journal I made with Francisca last year

August is our last Winter month and I am looking forward to Spring and an increase in my art time - already I can see that the daylight hours are starting to lengthen a little. Don't forget I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.