January Review

Had lovely long school holidays but I'm back at school now and the challenge is to continue with a mostly-daily creative practice...I started January with the Artsy Marathon Meetup which I shared here and then made a couple of envelopes later which were inspired by Leaca Young

and then I moved straight into Junk Journal January 2025. The YouTube collaboration playlist for that challenge remains up here - you could use it for any month of the year. My accordian book started by looking like this.

When I completed the first side of the accordian half-way through the month I posted here. 

Here's the other side.

These are some of my favourite pages from the second half of the month, because I was able to play and learn some new techniques. 

Prompt 16 : Unfold. YouTube instructions here (see also how I made the faux aged yellow tape below)

Prompt 26: Movement - a waterfall card effect. YouTube instructions here.

Prompt 28 : Sealed - made a vellum envelope and then my own seal from embossing powder and a heat gun - lucky me already had a stamp that looked like a seal. YouTube instructions here.

And now the completed journal looks like this. 

And here's a flip through on YouTube: 

I loved Megan Quinlan's JIYA journal class and shared my first finished one here. While I love it, by the end I'd pretty much moved away from her concept which is to create journal spreads ready for writing so I decided I should try again. I thought it would be a bit more junk style, but when I was thinking about colour schemes I thought I'd like to go lemon yellow and apricot and do it the same as the original lessons so I have space to write. 

I find yellow quite a hard colour to work with but when I took the photos, the background paper looked lavender so when I made the cover I added purple as well and now I have a colour scheme I'm very excited about. I chose Yellow because it seemed great for a journal started in Summer and I was actively seeking something to get me away from my usual Paua/Turquoise scheme.

It is a little smaller than my first journal and the spreads measure 26.5 x 19cm (10.5 x 7.5 inches). I was surprised to read in the instructions that Megan’s are only 10 x 6.5 inches. I did some gatherings of collage imagery and stencils in those colours, and then realised that the point is to have a colour story as the base and then explore combinations of colours to see what looks great with them.

Here are some pages prepped ready for me to write on 

And here are some so you can see them after writing - nothing fancy - just a record of my life for me to look back on.

This is now my written daily-ish journal which will hopefully last/be used up by Autumn when I would like to make another.

I was very lucky that my Aunty gifted me this bracelet recently because she said every time she wore it she thought of me - these words often appear in my work. I hope I can use these in a special project this year.

Fav free online inspiration this month :  I found a YouTube explaining how to make my own aged vintage tape with transparent tape and alcohol inks. How did I not think of this myself?! I loved this video because she keeps the process very simple and uses Adirondack Butterscotch on wide tape. I had that colour and a couple of others to try which may be a bit bright, but you never know til you have a go. 

and I added it in my junk journal. This is the butterscotch colour and it looks great with these vintage papers

Looking ahead to February : You may have read about my idea for Creating a Book a Month with the Mini Marks '23 and '24 courses here. I numbered the projects and then used a Random number generator and I'm excited to say that my February book is going to be inspired by Autumn Moon's Circle Journal (sorry you can no longer sign up for this class)

I wanted you know that The 100 Day Project is starting again this year on February 23rd. Roben-Marie Smith has participated in this project since 2017 - check out her projects here. She is so enthusiastic about getting others involved (she's not affiliated with The 100 Day Project, just loves doing it and want to encourage others to as well) that she has created a workbook and tracker to help you stay organized, motivated, and inspired every step of the way. 

Read all about it here - you can order a free online digital version. Let me know if you're going to have a go. I think I have enough on my plate but many get involved in this as a way to help them to stay motivated to create daily-ish. It doesn't have to be more than committing to 5 or 10  minutes a day. 

I was reminded recently to share my method to create a little and often with micro-movements which I share here. This is the summary : you use every 5-15 minutes you have to do just one step towards a creative project - 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. 

It you want to see what creating and calling it done in 5 minutes looks like, The Ugly Art Club host a 5 minute challenge a couple of times a year. Read about their most recent one here and you can be motivated by their demonstrations by using this playlist on YouTube.

Have a fabulous February. I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

January Mid-Point Review

We are half way through January and I wanted to share progress in my Junk Journal January book and share something else I am very excited about. 

The YouTube collaboration playlist for Junk Journal January 2025 will remain up here - you could use it for any month of the year. And Meg Journals (the organiser) has her own playlist for her take on all the prompts here. My accordian book started by looking like this

and I've completed one side of the accordian

These are some of my favourite pages so far. 

I especially love the accordian view of the these 3 prompts 

 If you want to see more, I am posting my pages every couple of days over on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. It's not too late to join us. 

I have been very privileged to have recently enrolled in a couple of my dream classes - when the Mini Marks collaborative course was first launched by Autumn Moon in 2023, I dearly wanted to do it, but couldn't commit the money when I didn't have the time. 

Then she did another one in 2024, and I felt like I wanted to do it even more than the first round but again couldn't justify it. 

This month she has opened the doors (for 3 weeks only) to the Mini Marks classes separately and as a bundle. They are now self-guided and although still a sizable financial commitment, I hadn't enrolled for a year-long anything, it costs less than Fodder School (my previous commitment for the last 3 years), I am so excited about ALL the teachers, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about these classes since 2023! The Bundle cost is less than the price of one of the classes when they first launched. Once you divide the cost by the number of teachers and projects on offer, it's amazing value for a year of anticipated joy. If you want to jump in with me, you still have time. Sign ups end on January 24th. Go here for info, and if you sign up to Autumn's newsletter you get extra discount. Email her if you have questions.

In the past I've tried Creating a Book a Month and I feel inspired to do that again, using Mini Marks classes to fill in the blank months below. I hope the offerings from Meg Journals roll out as previous years, but I could just use 2024 prompts if not run again in 2025 : Junk Journal January, Junk Journal July (2024 playlist), No Sew November (2024 playlist) and some kind of December Daily-ish.  

I'll let you know which book I'm going to start with for February inspired by a Mini Marks teacher. I will continue to post Junk Journal January page progress as it happens on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. Talk again at the end of the month.

Creative ideas for 2025

I have finished my year-long #52cards2024 project and my JIYA journal and decided, after 3 years, to not continue with Fodder School 4. So what does 2025 look like for me?  One thing I really wanted was another year-long project. I like documenting my days and in recent times used cards in 2020, tags in 2021, a small monthly journal in 2022, really missed doing something weekly in 2023, and have just finished my #52cards2024 project. 

Before that I did daily journal projects in several different forms.

I loved Megan's JIYA journal (shared finished here) but by the end I'd pretty much moved away from her concept which is to create journal spreads ready for writing. I've decided I should try this again but more junk style - I haven't done Megan's other class, but she has shared plenty of inspiration (and check out her Instagram) and I have so many gorgeous documenting stencils that would be fun to use.Thinking I could post as the pages are prepped ready for me to write on, then I will have freedom to write as I wish - these are pages pre-writing from my previous JIYA journal. 

Will share my new journal in my end-of-month review.

I LOVE the sense of community that being in an online class and sharing work brings.

I'm starting January the right way - I joined the Artsy Meetup Marathon and Junk Journal January. I wanted to start the year as I mean to go on - trying to get into the studio and make some art every day. The Artsy Meetup was an online New Year's Eve 20 hour event that because of time differences fell on New Year's day here in NZ. It was awesome ♥ This is what I completed on the day

and we have time to work on all the lessons until the end of March. If nothing else, it reminded me that you don't need to have a lot of time to just start creating... My favourite projects are the 3 neutral tags inspired by DeeDee Catron and the little matchbox with words inspired by Kristin Peterson. Here a couple of close ups - so cute

Junk Journal January has begun - this is the collaboration playlist on YouTube of the artists responding to these prompts

I've been using a lot of pink lately so wanted to go in a different direction. Don’t forget to use your own art for inspiration. I looked back through my Instagram and found some more neutral colours that spoke to me and are going to guide this journal. 

Neutrals with blues and purples feels perfect for Summer. I will try and experiment with blues other than turquoise but if you know me at all you won't be surprised that I'm anticipating it will pop up somewhere! These were my gatherings of papers to make the journal, with the covers of an old diary to use as my end boards. They measure 16.5 cm high x 12.5 cm wide

I wanted to make an accordian book because it is such a fun structure and lends itself well to junk journaling. You get a nice flow and I enjoy how you can move across the edges onto the next page. I already added a tie to keep this one closed because they bloom with using both sides. My papers are a mix of vintage with blue touches. I am saving the purple I mentioned earlier for prompts on individual pages.

Prompt 1 is Cover 

You will be able to follow my progress on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. I may do a half point progress reveal here. Very excited about this one. 

I did post more regularly on Insta and FB in 2024 but I sometimes didn't know whether to bother. I'm not trying to support a business, I just do art for fun and I share to encourage others. The blog is written as much for my own memories of my projects as it is for encouraging others to create and I've learned in the past that while I can have a break, I miss blogging if I try to stop completely. Monthly reviews of my projects seems to be working well for me, and Instagram is a great visual to see my art style coming through. I was surprised when I accessed my Top 9 on Instagram that the analysis that came with it shows that my likes/followers ratio is super high compared to accounts with similar follower numbers so I guess I'll keep doing that!

You can do ANYTHING, but you can't do EVERYTHING! 

I love that I have this blog to write my thoughts and as I type I have epiphanies about what direction I should go. I guess that's why this is "All of Me" - it's about my inner workings sometimes as much as my art. I have to also remind myself that at this time of year (on holiday, long sunny days) it's easy to think I'll be able to sustain a number of projects once I am back at work, and especially when the seasons change.  I need to make sure I keep things manageable - a weekly documenting project, themed handmade journals, night-time small stitched projects, some knitting perhaps (grandson due in April) and keeping space open for projects and online classes as they take my fancy. Looking forward to having you visit to see what happens next. Wishing you a happy and creative year ahead.