The month of September

Our first month of the Autumn season.

September in the UK is associated with returning to school and the time when we celebrate the gathering in of the harvest.  There's some more information here.

There are some more really bizarre celebrations listed for this month.  How about Ask a Stupid Question Day or Fight Procrastination Day.  I probably need to celebrate that one!

Our Flower of the Month is the Hawthorn or May.  Interestingly September 16th is Mayflower Day remembering the ship that took the English to America.

The hawthorn was thought to be the ancestor of the maypole and was the source of May Day garlands. The rhyme “here we go gathering nuts in May” referred to the collection of knots (not in fact “nuts”) of may blossom

The saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out" is thought to refer to the hawthorn blossom, not the month and was good advice that summer hadn’t really arrived until the blossom was in flower.   

Here's your September checklist.

Art Challenge
Make a page inspired by the information or poetry you have found here.

Don't forget to share your work with us all via the linky.

Introduction to the season

In the northern hemisphere we are now moving into Autumn whilst the southern hemisphere is moving into Spring.

In the UK, Europe & Commonwealth Countries we describe this season as Autumn whilst in America and Canada they use the word Fall.

Find out more here.

There's an interesting article here on the use of Harvest, Autumn & Fall.

Autumn is a time of great change particularly in the colours of leaves before they fall from the tree.  New England is particularly famous for its Fall colours.

And pumpkins.   Pumpkins are often seen outside houses in North America during October to celebrate harvest rather than Hallowe'en with which they are often associated.

I love this song.

Autumn poetry is often melancholic as the summer is over and we move towards winter.

To Autumn     (click on the link for the remaining verses)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
      To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
      For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Other Autumn poems can be found here.

Colour Scheme
The colours we chose for this season are orange, mustard, brown and red.

An Autumn theme
The theme for the next 3 months is Gratitude and Remembrance.  You may want to do something to commemorate the anniversary of September 11th - there won't be anything particular on the blog about it.  If you're interested and you didn't join in last year you might consider making a gratitude journal.  At An Attitude of Gratitude you will find 30 days of prompts.

Quotes and Bible Verses
You can download pdfs from here:  Autumn Quotes     Bible Verses     Gratitude Quotes

Challenge
Make an Autumn related introductory page.

Don't forget to add your page using the linky.

September Calendar

Congratulations to all those who have followed the blog since 1st March.  Well done if you have managed to keep up with the art.  You don't have to try everything.  Just pick and choose the challenges you want to do.

It's that time of the month again when we prepare our art journaling calendars.  The calendar is a project set up by Kate Crane.

At 12 Months in View we are starting a new season in September and for the following two months.  Here in the UK we call it Autumn, elsewhere it's known as Fall.   The colours for the season are orange, mustard, brown and red.  So I used these colours to produce my calendar page.

My journal isn't particularly wonderful quality paper so it doesn't really take to Dylusions Inks.  However I still keep using them.  I used my favourite White Linen to spray through the stencil.

I planned to have leaves on this page but as I cut out the leaves using a Paper Artsy die and my cuttlebug, I realised they looked more like little birds.

Please share your calendar with us.  It is so inspiring and encouraging to see other people's pages.

Art Challenge

We are coming to the end of our 6th month together and during that time we have tried lots of different techniques.

So for this month's art challenge I'd like you to look back through all the work you've done for 12 Months in View and choose the art technique or challenge you most enjoyed and use it again today.  Or a technique you would like to try again.

Try to include this quote on your page:

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.    John Lubbock

Have fun.

Please share your work via the linky below.  It is so inspirational to see other people's art.

Creative Date

Julia Cameron in The Artists Way suggested the idea of making time for a regular creative date.   This idea is also picked up by Matt Tommey in Unlocking the Heart of the Artist.   

Or have a look at ideas here: 101 Artist's Date Ideas.

I am suggesting that we should each make time for a creative date each month.  Ideally we will go out.  Go to a local museum, a local art gallery, go for a walk!  Whatever idea you have that will feed your creativity.

However sometimes it's not possible to physically visit those places.  So here's my idea for August.  Visit an online museum.

Do let us know what your favourite parts of the museum are using the linky below.

Technique Challenge

The technique challenge for this month is rubber band embossing.

Watch this video and then experiment with various colours of cardstock and embossing powder.  Don't worry if you don't have the anti static pad.



If you don't have a brayer you can put the rubber bands across a piece of thick card and use it like a stamp.

Please share your work with us using the linky below.

Recycled Maps

I love maps.  When Roger & I are on holiday I am the one who does the navigating - with proper maps - no satnav for us.  Although Roger does own one - for the times when I'm not with him!

It's always sad when a map needs throwing away but here are some ideas for re-using them.

Some time ago I did an online class with Shimelle called Explore where she suggested making embellishments.  I loved these.

So stealing this idea I cut out circles using nestabilities and a die cutting machine.

I stamped birds, flowers and butterflies onto map paper.

And cut them out.

I also cut out butterflies with a punch. I  assembled the embellishments.

I used some of the embellishments I made on this tag.

And the cutouts on these tags for Summer of Color.

Another thing you can do with old maps is to make journals.  The obvious is a travel journal but you could use the maps as decoration.

I have made two different types of journal.  The first is a 5 inch square zigzag book made from watercolour paper.

These are all the pages laid out flat.

To find out how I made this book please go to Newly Creative.  While you're there you will also be able to find out about this book made from a map.

The inside looks like this.

I hope you enjoy recycling your maps.  Please share your work with us using the linky below.