November review

We've started December but I needed the break of the weekend to do my November review. I have been loving the warmer temperatures and the joy of roses that November brings. This was my first bunch picked on the first Saturday of this month

Although I'm sharing lots of creative joy in this post, I want to be real (cos this is All of Me) and say it's been a rollercoaster of a month : busy overwhelm at work but I love my job and am blessed with supportive colleagues; my eldest son left home to move to Wellington with his girlfriend - thrilled for them and it's time, but we were very close and I am missing his presence; hassles with bad neighbours; continued frustrations with insomnia and migraines and times of feeling utterly unmotivated; too much rain. I am grateful that art continues to be a way to work through issues, to find joy, and to make new discoveries. As I gather this monthly review, there is a lot to be grateful for. I loved this reminder from Liz Lamoreux on Instagram : You can feel grateful AND other feelings. We get to feel multiple things and no one can take that away from us. You can be grateful and still be grieving, or angry, or whatever you have to deal with that you are not grateful for. There is room for both.

On to the creative reviews : I got some new supplies - I found these lovely New Zealand bird stencils in Warehouse Stationery for only $5.99. I adore fantails (top left) so I'm sure that will get a lot of use - and wonderful to have a stencil rather than a stamp since I can play with them facing each other. .

For a while now I've been thinking about getting a custom-made stamp for my cards and book gifting so when I saw the suggestion for our December Fodder School lesson, I explored Rubber Stamps by Montarga in New Zealand and decided it was time to order. 

The customised one had its first outing when I did my annual making of bookmarks for my school librarians

I've spent some time thinking about my creativity and why I've not been motivated at times this month. I've been inspired to think about a December Daily practice and I shared some options here although it might be mid-December before I manage to do anything about it! I've been really interested to read Wendy Solganik's blog posts about finding your artistic style. Have a read and see what rings true for you.

I've also enjoyed watching Mary Beth Shaw's FREE Dirty Secrets class - sign up HERE. Available until 31 December if you've not seen it yet. Great for all stencil lovers and cool to be reminded of some techniques. 

Time to share my completed November monthly journal. 

In my October review, I mentioned I'd been struggling with my monthly journals, but using Megan Quinlan's techniques from her new class Journal into Your Art I was able to create some different effects and be reinspired with my monthly practice. 

My base file folder colour was a rather vibrant yellow, but I was very happy with the softened effects I was able to achieve and I loved gathering my stencils and rediscovering what I had and new ideas to use them for documenting.

I decided to try out other ideas from Megan's class and moved away from the Journal 52 prompts this month. It has been liberating to give myself permission to continue to finish my monthly journal project for the year but in a different way.  

Also loved how I could include layered effects with gelli printing from Fodder School classes too. This is such a lovely print it deserved to be on a flip-out page

I even managed to make a flip through video.

See all my posts about my monthly journal project HERE and previous posts aboutJournal 52 HERE. I'm looking forward to creating a December journal but these next 10 days are going to be crazy busy so I'm just going to try and do what I can and be grateful for my pockets of creative time....I have started to bring together a project from Fodder school too - more of this soon I hope

See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram. Wishing you creative joy and peace this holiday season.

Bookmarks

I work at a private school in Palmerston North, part-time librarian and part-time administration support. As part of my library role we have student librarians who help throughout the year. Since 2015 I've been making bookmarks for them all as a thank you. Every year it's VERY busy at this time, and every year I think it's important enough to create for my special helpers. These are my process photos and what they received this morning

Spray inks through stencils over an original stencil on watercolour paper from several years ago. Look really different once you cut them apart, curve the top edges and punch the hole

I thought I would have to add more but once I put the ribbon on, they are really cool. 

And I purchased a custom-made stamp for the back 

Especially lovely to hear some of them say they still have their bookmark from last year 💙 Check out my other postings about bookmarks from previous years here. 

Cheap and free inspirations for December Daily Journaling

We're half way through November and no matter how much I don't feel ready, it's time to start thinking about what December might look like for you. I love a good December Daily, and I'm always tempted by the offerings at this time of year. I did manage one last year, although it was December Daily-ish. Last year I followed the Free prompts of Michelle and Tamara for #ArtJournalAdvent and they're doing it again in 2023.

They say "Art Journal Advent is all about mindfulness and selfcare in December. With daily journal prompts - from December 1st until the 24th - we encourage you to take a short 'time-out' by simply taking some time for yourself and your creativity. Our prompts are a wonderful mix of self reflection, mindfulness and creative fun!" All the links and info to sign up here. This includes tutorials on how to make your journal.

Next up another Free offering with Kasia Avery.

Formerly known as Kasia's Advent Calendar, Care December is getting ready to bring you daily caring, soothing and creative art journaling prompts and videos. I did Kasia's prompts in 2019 and I used her 2018 Prompts to create an Autumn Advent journal in April 2020! Kasia is also focused on taking some time for yourself and your creativity. Read all the details and sign up here.

And one more I've just found out about but haven't experienced before is with Liz Lamoreux called December Pause. 

Liz is a list maker and this is an ecourse series that invites you to explore the creative practice of writing lists to anchor you in the midst of daily life. It's about giving yourself the gift of presence and connection for a few moments each day and sounds like it would be a good way to start a writing practice, or give you ideas to include in a journal practice you have already. It's not free but is only US$15 - find out all about it and sign up here.

Make sure you prioritise self-care this December 💜