December Daily-ish 2021 Complete

It's time for my final share of my 2021 December Daily-ish project. In January I created an accordian book form and shared my first spread. My intention was to create a book a season, but it just didn't happen. Happily when I decided to do a December Daily journal this year I already had this book form ready to use.

I've been responding to Michelle and Tamara's #ArtJournalAdvent challenge prompts. I was wondering if I had totally unrealistic expectations of doing any pages, but wanted to give it a go as an act of self care and I've been sharing weekly without expectations about how many pages that will be depending on how life is. Sharing the final 6 prompts.

AJA 19 : The power of love. A double spread - I love so many things about this.

AJA 20 : To simply be. I love being with my family. Hidden photo from Christmas day with my Mum and Aunty. The facing page is a print of a piece of my art from 2018 that I'd attached in January.  

AJA 21 : Come to rest. I decided I'd use a lovely image that makes me feel at peace after the bustle of Christmas day. An opportunity to add stitch which is harder once the back side of the page is complete.

AJA 22 : Looking back. One of my favourite projects this year as been #52tags with Anne Brooke. It's been a weekly challenge and I thought it would be fun to do a variation of my first tag from that project. The theme was white which is lovely here. 

AJA 23 : Winter wonderland. This is not going to work since I live in New Zealand...changed to Summer shine. Very excited to use my new pohutukawa wooden block stamp (purchased from Trade Aid) - used paint, a mouse pad for cushioning beneath, and stamped onto lovely dense handmade paper. Facing our final prompt, AJA 24 : Word for 2022. Always Shine. It's been a tough couple of years with many personal challenges. I look forward with hope. 

And here's how my book looks finished ♥

Scroll back through my December Daily-ish posts to see more detail about pages.

52 Tags : Project complete

I've been participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her weekly demos on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Week 52 = Macramé tree. Mine is a bit shaggy cos I used silk fibres and I love the colours. 

That's the last one for the year. See all my posts about this project HERE. They live in a box.

And they all have journaling on the back as a record of my year.

I love this view of the tassles.

Here they are in order for each quarter of the year. See others on Instagram here.

Next week we start #52flagshannemade. Find out all about it via her YouTube video. 

The project is going to be bunting and you can do entirely fabric ones, or work like this year's tags on a card base. A small charge this time and you join via Ko-fi (￡3 = around NZ$6/month). 

December Daily-ish : Week 4

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas day. It's already Boxing day evening here in New Zealand and time for my Sunday share of my current December Daily-ish project. I'm responding to Michelle and Tamara's #ArtJournalAdvent challenge prompts. I'm currently on holiday and it shows! Lots of prompts to share this week.

AJA 10 : Inner Strength facing  AJA 11 : Free spirited soul.

AJA 12 : Dreams that give you strength, featuring another centre tag, and AJA 13 : Priceless.

And then we turn to the other side of the accordian journal. 

AJA 14 : Hodgepodge. This prompt fell on the pages I did when I originally began this journal. It's a mix of Summer feels.

AJA 15 : Burst of courage. I also already had this tag in my journal and amazingly it fit perfectly with what I needed to express courage on the day I approached this prompt.

AJA 16 : Scent. Always lilies for me at Christmas time.

AJA 17 : To grow. Growing my art practice with the #fodderschoolproject

AJA 18 : Meaningful. Again, already had this print of my art on the page so swapped my prompts for this spread. Every step of my creative process is meaningful to me. I cannot imagine not creating art to celebrate, to unpack feelings, to de-stress, to learn new things, to experience joy.

Hope you are able to have some lovely rest and creative time this week. I'll be finishing up this journal to share by end of year I hope.

52 Tags : Weeks 50 and 51

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Two tags to catch up this week.

Week 50 : Circles. This was intended to be a simple option for last week thinking everyone's so busy but I couldn't even manage that until this past weekend. Done is better than perfect!

Week 51 : Wreath. Now on holiday and happy to spend a whole evening stitching this one.

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. One to go! 

Merry Merry to you. 

December Daily-ish : Week 3

Time for my Sunday share of my current December Daily-ish project. I'm responding to Michelle and Tamara's #ArtJournalAdvent challenge prompts with no expectation about how often I'll do these. I'm not behind - I am where I need to be. I finally finished work for the year on Friday so now I've got more time for art.

AJA 6 : Moment of happiness. This prompt inspired me to print a piece of my own art from 2018.

AJA 7 : Short break. Thinking about being present. Again repurposing some art, this time I've taken the base off a recent paper doll.

The beauty of machine stitching is that I could easily unpick the head from the back and I can reattach her to another base later. Added a few extra words and some new sari ribbon.

AJA 8 : Fulfilment. Reaching the end of the year and knowing I'm doing a good job gives me a great sense of fulfilment. I got lots of lovely cards with heartfelt messages from children at school last week. This handmade card was small enough to include and is a very special memory. 

AJA 9 : Boundaries. Thinking about how I push boundaries in my mixed media art, including using ALL the things including stitch and especially love when I have bits poking out over the edges. So much personal symbolism on this page.

So glad I'm doing this project and look forward to sharing more next week.

Free online class inspirations for December

I have finally finished another challenging school year and am officially on summer holidays. I can enjoy reading, swimming, catching up with friends, and more art time 💜  These offerings are available now and I've brought in a few extra things that I've shared before for my own use in one spot. Hope there's something to inspire you here. 

I recommend Susannah Conway's free annual workbooks. Unravel your year 2021 and Find your word 2022 can both be found HERE in her inspiration library. Password : delight. There's even a mindful colouring version of Unravel this year.

If you didn't get a chance to finish (or even start!) the free taster sessions for Life Book 2022 they are available for a limited 7 days replay but you have to sign up this weekend. 

Tam has also recently shared the Woman Unleashed Retreat

December 20-31. Each day you’ll get an email with the daily sessions. After retreat sessions air, you'll be able to watch sessions until Jan 9th. Below is Tam's lesson.

You can just pick and choose as many or as few sessions as you want. I usually have a couple of artists I love and explore. Let it be a treat not a pressure. 

Ivy Newport is also sharing her 12 Days of Creativity - favorite creative lessons from her Studioworks class library

I've shared this previously but sharing again cos I'm still tempted to try this - it doesn't have to be a Christmas project : Anne Brooke's #12pagesofchristmas on YouTube.

I'm currently participating in a December Daily-ish project and I think I'm going to use Kasia's December offering this year next month as #CareJanuary instead. 

It's presented as an approach to self-care through mindful art journaling. Based on previous classes by her, I think this will be easily translatable. Sign up HERE. 

If you want even more, click HERE for my full list of free online art classes. I'll be updating this again in January so if you know of any additions please let me know.

Cards for all occasions

I do like to make my own cards. I've learned some things from Fodder school about preparing bits ahead, and these came together easily but still managed to be meaningfully created for each individual. Bases created in August

Fodder created in October 

and November

Combined with a lovely words and stitch, these have been gifted over the past month

See others from this batch of bases here. You may have seen that these latest cards inspired one of my December Daily journal pages shared here. 

I have one more day of work to go and then it's Summer holidays for me with long days to read, create, swim, and enjoy my lovely family and friends. I can now count the hours instead of the days 💜