Some Free Fodder challenge play

The Free Fodder Challenge is now up and running and content will be available until 27 July unless you sign up for Fodder School 2 in which case you get to keep all of it as part of the new year-long experience! 

Our first offering was Lucie Duclos making a Peace Catcher. Of course I couldn't resist adding some machine stitching and extra beads. Can't decide which side is my favourite!

The second was with Drew Steinbrecher and I decided to combine ideas from his lesson with our current July offering in Fodder School from the fabulous Roxanne Padgett since they were both lessons with the gelli plate and encouraging us to cut our own stencils. These are the papers that happened using a limited colour palette

Really happy with how these all turned out. Then I was intrigued by Jane Chipp's lesson. Buttons which I transformed from this

to this

They're not the best quality photos but they're of my grandparents, my mum and my great grandmother so I am very happy and will try this again. 

More info about the teachers and you can still sign up for the free challenge HERE. One of the things I really love about the fodder challenge is how many of the projects can be combined. I'll share more about that soon.

Early Bird Registration for the year-long experience that is Fodder School 2 is now available only until 22 July when the price goes up. You get to keep all the free challenge lessons as well if you join this.

I am on school holidays, so I'm going to leave those lessons for now so I can enjoy another free online experience with Laly Mille (open now and available to view until 22nd July)

You can still join if you're quick - might see you there.

July Inspirations

First I'm sharing a peek into my new July Journal. I couldn't quite make it in time for my June review post where you can learn more about this year-long project. A blue journal again, this time for a chilly winter month. These are my base journal spreads for the first 2 weeks.

I'll be adding extra elements as I add the writing to this journal, and my flip outs (can see one on the left above) will be used for my weekly response to Effy Wild's Journal 52 prompts. See my posts about that as they happen on my FB artist page and Instagram.

We are half way through the year and I'm a week away from our lovely school holiday break. It's winter here, so my idea of holiday fun is to get creative. Luckily for me there are a number of Free online offerings that are going to support me. 

First up, the Free Fodder Challenge will run July 5-13 and content will be available until 27 July unless you sign up for Fodder School 2 in which case you get to keep all of it! More info about the teachers and sign up HERE. If you want a taste of what we got last year, some of that is accessible via links kept by DeeDee Catron HERE.

Make Create Express is next weekend. Register HERE. From past experience, this one can feel more pressured because you only have 24 hours to watch the content, but you mustn't feel like you have to see it all. Best strategy is to choose a few favourite teachers and enjoy them as free inspiration and time for you.

The Artist Soul Retreat with Laly Mille is back. She created this is October 2020, and is releasing it again for 13-16 July. Register HERE. I'm always inspired by Laly's classes and I remember watching last time around but not having time to actually create. Hopefully this month will be different.

June was my birthday month, and although I spent quite a bit of that with a nasty headcold, I have rebooked celebratory gatherings with friends during the next fortnight, and I have some lovely new art supplies to play with. 

Feeling lucky. July is looking to be a fun-filled month. 

June monthly journal review

Time to share my completed June monthly journal. I chose Pink for June since it's a joyful colour to celebrate my birthday month 💜 I was sick with a head cold for a couple of weeks and had to postpone many of my celebrations. At least I had some brightness and delight in this journal. 

After this spread I realised I wasn't enjoying the collage so much so I got out some favourite stencils and paints 

My art in this journal is created in response to Effy Wild's Journal 52 cards for 2022. My rules : each piece will include stitch, a found word, and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. 

Week 22 : Healing. Inspired by the card project I was doing that week

Week 23 : Intensity. I wasn't sure what to do with this word so I just sat with it and then a couple of things happened. I saw this amazing stencilled feather tutorial from Michelle @RaspberryBlueSky, and I had the idea to look up poetry by Victoria Erickson because her words never fail to inspire and she paired these words : "You can be both soft and intense"

I stencilled on 3 feathers (because I couldn't stop at 1!)

and this is my journal page - intensely fun, intensely felt

Week 24 : Offering. Decided to use one of my really gorgeous mehndi hand stencils. 

Week 25 :  Fury. Deep and passionate feeling, and a bit messy. 

You can get access to the prompts by joining Effy's Wilderhood group on FB or subscribe to her newsletter. See all my posts about this project here. See all my posts about my monthly journal project HERE and Journal 52 HERE. See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram. Wow - half way through the year!! 

Haven't quite started my July journal, but you may remember I purchased file folders at the beginning of the year for this project, and will have to repeat colours now for the remaining 6 months.

I've chosen Blue for July since it's chilly. Funny that I also chose Blue for January for the opposite reason! Looking forward to sharing more art this month since I have school holidays coming up. See you soon.