July Review

In the middle of July I reached the milestone of blogging for 14 years! I started in 2010 and although I blog a lot less now, and most artists do their sharing on Instagram, I have no desire to stop any time soon. I love having a record of my projects and writing about what I've been doing. I also process a lot of my thinking and keep note of inspiration. You will see that this post has turned out to be long because I am thinking about Fodder School 4 alongside other inspirations.

I always start my monthly review with progress on my #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 July cards : 

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

My Uncle had an important birthday in July and I had to make him a unique card. So great to have lovely handmade papers ready for this.

Last month's teacher for Fodder School 3 was Kecia Deveney. While I didn't have time to attempt her amazing book project, I had a lot of fun making shrink plastic charms and some layered tags

These will definitely fit in well with future projects. 

This month's teacher is Alison Bomber. She creates beautiful projects and has a fabulous YouTube channel HERE where she shares heaps of free lessons and inspiration. I love her voice and her beautiful soft techniques often inspired by Nature.

Fodder School 4 is coming and there are a few changes. 

The teachers are currently being revealed through August on Instagram and the Fodder Challenge will take place in October, but it is no longer free. You can buy just the challenge lessons, but they are only available until mid-November UNLESS you sign up for the whole course and get the Fodder Challenge and the other 11 months of teachers. Read all the information and sign up with the early bird price HERE. I have LOVED my time with Fodder School - been in it for the full 3 years. But I am currently considering whether I want to keep going with this since I have so many projects uncompleted and other challenges I want to do. Will keep you posted and I'm sure you won't ever regret signing up. I always find that each year there are several projects that would be worth the price of admission by themselves. And I have learned something from every single teacher.  

If you've never done Fodder School before, you could go to Willa Workshops and check out her taster options 

Lots of food for thought there....

July contained 2 weeks of school holidays and I was really excited to spend some of that time with inspiration from Francisca Nunes in her collaborative Flowers Magic Art Fest 2024. 

I made the journal above in 2022. Go HERE for my post of making it and you can see more "before" photos. I now have a few completed pages and lots more inspiration to keep going following the flower theme. I have forever access to the lessons and will keep sharing as time goes on. These are the pages I completed in July. This waxed page I added as a flip out to enjoy both translucent sides.

I loved the flower lesson from Lisa Goddard which I incorporated into my weekly card and will soon appear as a page or more in my journal

And there are a few lessons I've watched but not yet been motivated to action. It has still been very cold here. Looking towards September and the promise of Spring...

These are a couple of other FREE inspirations which I may incorporate as I go along : 

Roxy's Journal of Stitchery current play list for their Volume 6 Field Notes prompts via YouTube are HERE. They release inspiration and guidance every fortnight and the idea is to create a stitched accordian journal by the end. 

And while I didn't participate in Junk Journal July - those lessons remain up on YouTube HERE. 

Other free inspirations this month :  Helen Colebrook has free printables on her site HERE. Includes goal and habit tracking, envelopes and doodles. This is my fav  - so cute

And I adore these book inspiration from Giogio Craft : Seahorses, Shaped altered books, and Klimt. She says she has some tutorials on her YouTube channel. This is a blog post about her Everything Circles Book

a Klimt cover 

and a Klimt House Booklet.

She also does amazing slow stitching and I keep thinking about her E-book available on Etsy. 

I hope you don't mind going down that rabbit hole with me! It's good to be saved for my future reference - I adore Klimt, want to do more slow stitching, and her colours sing to me! Also an example of how you can get completely distracted from actually creating by looking at others' work! And a good example of why I am wondering if I need to drop Fodder School in favour of some new opportunities.

August is a very busy month ahead for me - 2 birthdays (husband and eldest son), trip to Welly to watch the All Blacks play Argentina, and at school we are celebrating the NZ children's book awards and our own library Book Week with a lit quiz (designed by me) and dress up day. I've also been invited by a local quilt guild to give a talk about my mixed media work. Hopefully there'll be time for some creativity too. I will try and post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

June Review

I've been waiting to share this review until I could get some decent photos of my recent work. It's a challenge in the middle of Winter. I'm still continuing with my weekly project #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 June cards : 

And we are now half way through the year!

I post details about the inspiration for these on my Facebook Artist's page. It's motivating to see all 26 of them together.

I work full-time as a librarian at a local intermediate (Year 7-8) school. One Friday last month I was so lucky to put on my creative hat and teach Arty Junk Journals as part of our Be Brave sessions. These were an opportunity for students to learn something new out of their comfort zones. 

Awesome group of 18 kids. They created these beautiful books out of recycled materials in just 2 hours.

In my May review I shared progress on my Fodder School project with Susanne Randers. I wanted to complete my portfolio and fill it up, and I very happily achieved that before the end of June 

Empty above and full below 

June was also my birthday month. I am looking forward to making use of these lovely gifted stamps

and I used some birthday money for this : 

Find out everything about this event HERE and my thoughts about it HERE. Currently early bird registration is US$67. This goes up to US$97 during fest (July 12th to 31st) and then US$137 after Fest ends.

I finish our current school term tomorrow and then 2 weeks of school holidays ahead for me. I am looking forward to what I'll be able to do with my free time. I'm going to focus on the Flowers Magic class but check out other FREE class inspiration in my previous post. Also excited to see our new project for Fodder School 3 with Kecia Deveney. 

Hopefully lots to share at the end of July.

May Review

As is usual at this time of year, I feel the effects of Autumn/Winter and recognise I am not as productive at this time. Instead of getting frustrated with myself, I have accepted that I haven't as much to share in this review but I've managed some small lovely pieces.

#52cards2024 : to create a card that reflects the past week (ending Sunday). I must include stitch, the colour turquoise and a word. 5 cards again for the past month.

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

Last month's tutor in Fodder School 3 was Susanne Randers. I had been looking forward to her lessons and this is what came out of them so far. Creating fodder : 

Creating art cards from the fodder. My last weekly art card for the month was created as part of this project. 

I am working on the portfolio to house these but I don't want to rush it. If I delay posting I'll be able to include other art from Fodder School 3 and share some cards I make inspired by June's teacher Sarah Gardner. 

Also happening in June, Tam is running her gorgeous Kaleidoscope course for the 5th and final year

Sign up HERE for more info and the free taster week which starts 17 June.

Hopefully more to share in my June review. I post a little more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page...depending on the season 💜

February review

February review time. I'm happy to say I've continued to make time to be creative and I think my weekly card project is definitely helping that. #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 February cards : 

More detail about the meanings posted on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

This month's tutor in Fodder School 3 was Jennifer Wilkin Penick. I managed to make fodder in the first half of this month which I really enjoyed

Her project was an accordian book of collage. I just wasn't feeling like it's my style, but then I saw some photos from a class that Anne Brooke recently taught, and I am inspired to think about combining paper and stitch...let you know if this happens in March.

In my January review I was hoping that I might finish my journal which I started as December Daily-ish and get back to working in my JIYA Journal. I have been supported in both of these by the 30 day challenge part of "Love your (Imperfect) Letters" with Wendy Solganik who has been running a cohort for all those who have previously enrolled in this class.When I tried to do it on my own (purchased the class on special last year), I only got to day 4. I have completed day 9 so although "behind" I am still calling it a win since I am still going, and further on than last attempts. These are the spreads completed in each journal for February and I am loving what is happening. In my JIYA journal :  

 

I have now turned my December Daily-ish into my Summer journal, and as well as the lettering, I have learned from Wendy that it's okay to jump around in a journal to find the perfect page that inspires you in the moment. Hoping to get this one finished before the Autumn Equinox on 20th March.

I love Sarah Gardner's art - she's been a teacher in Fodder School 1 and we're going to see her again in Fodder School 3 in June. Clicking here will get you to the places on my blog where I've shared art inspired by her. She's also produced a fabulous book

She is currently advertising a new art journaling class through Willa Workshops called Love Your {Imperfect} Art Journal 

To launch it she's giving access to a FREE inspiration class : Accumulate, Curate and Store Magazine Images for your Art. It's available now until March 18 (or in the workshop if you join). I've already had a look at it and it is inspiring ♥ 

I also enjoy Brooke Henry's art - it's colourful and includes stitching. She is hosting a Free Week of Inspiration, Connection, and Creative Freedom. She calls it the BB Bash and you can find out all about it and register HERE. Videos go up 25-31 March and will be available to watch through April 6. 

It's been really busy being back at work with library lessons, selecting teams for an area kids' lit competition, and training up keen student librarians. In my spare time, as well as my art journal fun, I've still been reading and this was my favourite in Feb 

I'm also trying not to purchase many new supplies but we had a trip to Wellington and I thought I would share a couple of great places if you are able to get there. In central Welly, managed to get this calligraphy paper - 3 packs for $10 at Daiso

And in Petone - these paper cut-outs from Ellen Giggenbach. Love her art and you can buy online as well. 

I enjoy her calendar every year. 

Looking forward to seeing what March will bring creatively. I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.