April Review

Daylight Savings has ended and I have to admit we are in Autumn now (leaves falling, lower temperatures at night, dark by 6pm) but we had stunning weather for our school holidays, including Easter and ANZAC weekends, and I'm only just thinking about swapping out my summer clothes for boots and warmer layers. 

In my work life, I started April with a couple of "Be Brave" art sessions at school (2 hour sessions with 20 students learning something different out of their comfort zone). I taught them how to collage master sheets and then use these to create a zine from a single piece of paper or make bookmarks. This is their work.

In case you are keen to make zines yourself, Camila Garcia has created a YouTube called Mastering the Art of Zine Folding and shares 5 different ways of folding a book from one piece of paper. Very clear instructions and useful to have a variety of techniques in one place. 

See her other beautiful zines here. 

I am also very proud to say that my Intermediate School Kids' Lit Quiz A team competed against 45 other teams and won their Regional heat of the Kids' Lit Quiz on the last Monday of term. The team of 4 answered 100 questions : 10 questions across 10 different categories (unknown ahead of the day). They will compete in the National final later this month.

In my last review I shared that I was making a secret stitchy project that had an April deadline. Here's the quilt for my gorgeous first grandchild.

I stitched these words around the borders : twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. 

This was the song I used to sing my boys when they needed soothing and is a strong memory that will hopefully now get passed to our next beautiful generation. 

Still working in my yellow JIYA Journal - a place for written journaling. These are some of the spreads from April : 

I am half way through now and it is just what I need it to be right now.

I joined Brooke Henry's offering of BB Bash Beyond which I shared last month (no longer available) which gave me lifetime access to all her prompts from the offering plus fun bonus content. During April I managed to play with the prompts of Messy

Repetition

and Scraps - snippet rolls and a master sheet on a recycled coffee sachet box which is going to be a book cover!

She has also inspired me to rearrange my supplies : I have always organised paper and fabrics by colour so why not paints and markers?! Seems obvious when I always gather by colour story for projects! She made me realise that this way you can concentrate on using the whole variety of supplies you have, making substitutions and using everything because you can see it. I had such fun laying out the colour stories.

Seeing them this way I am even enthused to use colours that aren't my favourites - all look full of possibility to me ♥ I now have dedicated containers that I will pull out as I do my projects with limited colour palettes.

A few free classes around at the moment - I guess Spring in the Northern Hemisphere is a time for new ideas. I was thinking I'd do Messy May (you can sign up HERE to get prompts delivered by email or just follow along on Instagram or Youtube) but I might just give myself some grace and hopefully create a journal with the lessons I have from Brooke. I have the prompts if I change my mind as I get into this month. 

Tam is hosting a new venture in May with 35+ art sessions.

As is often the case with such a large offering there is a 2 week free showcase (1-14th May) and then you can sign up for lifetime access for a price. Find out about the artists and sign up here.

Wendy Solganik is also offering a free Mixed Media 101 series. 

As I write this she has a playlist on YouTube that so far includes Under paper, Paper stash, Know your glue and Limited colour palettes. If you are a beginning artist, what I've seen so far is highly recommended. You can also get these videos as a free class which you sign up to from her site. This would be the way to go if you are interested in joining her email list and getting information about other classes and special deals. It's also a useful place to read more about what videos and why she is producing in this series.  

Hope May treats you well. You can see me posting during the month as projects happen on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

November Review

November has been a month of big changes for us. Our youngest son (and his dog) has moved out to be with his girlfriend, and they are expecting a baby in April so more changes ahead. We are excited to be empty-nesters after 24 years. We know it will take some adjustment, but my husband has already moved from the room we shared into the vacated bedroom and turned it into a music room. This means I now have a lot more space to organise things in my studio so hopefully that will lead to more creativity. Progress so far : 

As I post this we are heading into December and while it will be busy, it's almost summer school holidays for me and I am looking forward to the break from work and fresh ideas for new projects. 

Only a few weeks to go to finish my year-long challenge of #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 November cards : 

You will realise why the last is more pink themed when you read what I'm planning for December. I post these individually with a bit more info about the theme each week on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

I started November by teaching arty junk journals to a group of students at school for "Be Brave" - a 2 hour session to try something different out of their comfort zone. They created a journal with recycled materials and I talked to them about using art to support positive self-talk and as a way to destress by spending time creating something for themselves. Thrilled with how they were engaged and what they took home with them. 

I love a December Daily or Daily-ish journal. 

Last year's evolved into a Summer Journal that lasted from December to March. It became what it needed to become. This year there are once again some free online offerings to take some self-care time and focus on yourself amongst the busy of December. 

Care December 2024 with Kasia Avery -the theme this year is Pink. 

Care December is 15 days of mindful, intuitive mixed-media art journaling. 

Then there's Art Journal Advent 2024 - an instagram offering with Michelle and Tamara.

Read more about it on Michelle's website. There's a prompt a day, and this year some other artists sharing their interpretation of the prompt. 

Also check out journal construction ideas on Youtube with MegJournals - she's one of the organisers of the Junk Journal January and July projects I've participated in previously. She's been doing a challenge called No Sew November which has great journal making ideas to create the base for a December Daily or Junk Journal January (fingers crossed she does it again in 2025). 

And not free, but a small price of US$18 is December Pause with LIz Lamoreux. Explore the creative practice of writing lists to anchor you in the midst of daily life. 

I wondered if I might make myself a new journal, but as I was thinking about the pink theme for Care December, I realised that I have 24 spreads left in my JIYA journal 

- last seen in March this year, I started it at the beginning of 2023 so it would be fabulous to finish it before the end of 2024. Not sure how it will evolve, but as I said above - It will become what it needs to become. If you haven't seen this journal, these are a couple of empty spreads

and a couple that already have something as a starter

And I've made pink gatherings - although obviously I'll need some other colours for contrast.

I have got quite excited writing this and can't wait to share more in December. Make sure to follow my FB Artist page or my Instagram for {hopefully} regular page posting. 

Another class which is available for Free for one month access from when you sign up is Wendy Solganik's Phone Photography and Editing Webinar 

It sounds good but I am waiting to access it until mid-December in the hope that I can make good use of it through those days that stretch between Christmas and New Year.

Now it's Summer and some of my stresses have lifted, you can expect to see me posting more regularly on my Instagram and my Facebook Artist's page too. Wishing you some pockets of creativity and peace in December. Take care of yourself ♥ 

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.