February Review

My blog is called "All of Me" so while I want these reviews to celebrate my creativity, I also want to be real about life. February has been both very tough and also full of joy. On the joyful front, both our sons have found their loves and we have celebrated an engagement and a baby shower. The tough stuff is stressful and exhausting but we can do hard things if we celebrate the good, support each other, and give ourselves grace to accept help and take breaks when we need to without feeling guilty. I am grateful that in February I read some great books, had some lovely catch ups with friends, enjoyed swims and sunshine and long daylight hours. I'm back at work for Term 1 at school which is busy and exhausting but also very rewarding. And I managed to create art this month. I made a 50th birthday card for a friend : 

My JIYA Journal isn't anywhere near a daily journaling practice yet, but I have made progress. These are some favourite spreads from the month.

I'm still enjoying the yellow base (see how it started here) and it will serve me well as we approach Autumn.

I've embarked on a monthly challenge this year : Creating a Book a Month. January was an Accordian Junk Journal. My February book was inspired by Autumn Moon's Circle Journal (sorry you can no longer sign up for this class). I managed to have several fun sessions making papers 

and I've cut them into the circle shapes 

and started to put them together 

but I'll have to share the finished book in my next review...Hopefully there'll also be a March book to share then. 

Brooke Henry is once more hosting her BB Bash later this month : a FREE 14-day interactive experience filled with live calls, prompts, and hands-on art-making. Sign up HERE. March 16-29, 2025. Loved this last year. She says it's for mixed media artists, beginners, and creatives who want to let go of perfection, embrace play, and explore new techniques.

If you are interested in participating in the 100 Day project see my January review post and check out more from Roben-Marie Smith about getting ready.  I'm loving her posts on Instagram about #100daysofembellishbits

I will continue to post as art happens on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page. I hope that March treats us all kindly and that we can find joy in our days. 

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. 

December and the year in review

As the year draws to a close so do a couple of my long-term projects. I shared my JIYA journal completed yesterday, and now I've finished my weekly #52cards2024 : to create a card that reflects the past week (ending Sunday). I must include stitch, the colour turquoise and a word. These are my December cards : 

And here's the last quarter of cards together (see the first 3/4 here)

I decided to make a snippet roll to cover the box 

I wonder what will replace this project in 2025? I have loved having something that has kept me creating every week even if that's all I've monaged some months. I am percolating ideas at present...

December is my month for Mum, Mum-in-law, and Auntys' birthdays. I always create their cards as a set. This year I combined some bases from when I taught in October with florals created in May. I think they've made very joyful cards.

I have read some great books this month, but have to smile cos looks like I've been following a colour theme. Recommend all of these for holiday reading

It's been a bit of a rocky year overall for us and the result has been less creativity. I have found this difficult because usually I use art to help keep me grounded and uplifted. On the bright side, I made progress in my Flowers Magic journal, made some lovely birthday cards, had fun with parts of Fodder School 3 lessons, had some rewarding creative teaching experiences, and do have a few finished projects to celebrate : This quilt for my sister-in-laws 60th birthday : 

And these projects that still live at my house : 

Affirmation deck "Advice from the Sea" inspired by Fodder School lesson with Megan Quinlan, Summer Journal, Fodder School 3 Portfolio with Susanne Randers, JIYA journal including December Daily-ish project, and my #52cards2024 project above. 

We added 2 beautiful kittens to our family at the beginning of the year and became empty nesters in November. This has meant more space in my studio as my husband has moved his music gear inside to the vacated room, and Oscar is now a regular studio supervisor for me ♥ 

Obi is also cute but keeps more to himself

As my thoughts turn to possible projects for 2025 I want to thank you so much for continuing to visit. Talk to you very soon.

September and October Review

As shared in my mid-September post, I delayed my monthly review for September and combined it with October since I had a trip away at the beginning of our school holidays. We were so lucky to have a wonderful holiday in Rarotonga - highly recommended.

Unfortunately, since we've been home, stress has stolen my mojo and I am feeling frustrated with myself but unable to feel inspired enough to create very much. I am so thankful to have my weekly project that I am managing to keep up with. #52cards2024 : to create a card that reflects the past week (ending Sunday). I must include stitch, the colour turquoise and a word. 

These were my September cards :

Week 39 = 3/4 way through the year so here's everything that far. 

And now to October : starting with Raro inspiration of course 💙

I post details about the inspiration for these on my Facebook Artist's page and Instagram.

I also had to make a few cards for birthdays in October. I decided to go back to the backgrounds that I had created in August 

and ended up these 5

I had the opportunity to teach a lovely group last month with a day-long mixed-media class. I taught my Star Book class as well as Tag projects, including how to make master sheets and Zines. These were my samples and inspiration for them

This was the master sheet I demonstrated and the week's card that came out of it. 

And these were their star books. It was a really fun and successful day.

Looking ahead to what's next, I haven't signed up for Fodder School 4 so I have more options for what to do when my creativity revives...and it always does 💜

Some free online inspiration coming up with another Zen textile-arts-focused retreat

The classes aren't available for long, but I am looking forward to watching Brooke Henry create this removable hand stitched notebook cover.

And of course there'll be December Daily-ish book projects coming up - will share those as I find out what's happening this year. 

When I am really stressed, I love to watch good movies and read good books. These were my favourite 3 books last month.

I hope I have more to share next time.