An Introduction to January

Welcome to a new month and a new year.  I hope your Christmas celebrations were all that you hoped they would be.

One Little Word
Do you pick a word for the year?  Have you chosen yours already? Or still struggling for your focus for the year?  I'm joing in with Ali Edwards One Little Word course for the year and you can see on my personal blog what I have chosen.

New Year's Revolution
Or how about taking part in a New Year's Revolution?  You can download a free practical kit to help you make 2014 the year you do something you love.  There's a Facebook group too.

A Documented Life Project
And here's an altered book project that looks really interesting.

So on to January.

Here we are in January and the new year of 2014.   You can find out about the bizarre days celebrated in January.  How about celebrationg Nothing Day?  I quite fancy celebrating Winnie the Pooh Day.

And possibly the best one Inspire your heart with Art Day on January 31st.


The Flower of the Month this month on 12 Months in View is the Snowdrop.

 A poem by Wordsworth

To a Snowdrop

Lone flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

January Song

Here's your January checklist.

Art Challenge
Make a page inspired by the information or inspiration you have found here.  Don't forget to share it with us.

January Calendar

Another month has rushed past and it's time to make our January calendar.  If you want to know more about the idea behind the monthly calendar please look on Kate Crane's blog as the whole thing is her idea.

I sprayed the pages with 3 colours of blue Dylusions inks although by the time I wiped them to the edges they all amalgamated into one blue.  I spayed White Linen through the Tim Holtz Shatter Stencil.  I also sprayed water through Dyan's Let It Snow stencil before stamping snowflames down the sides.

I had previously made a stamp from one of Tim Holtz Along the Edge dies and used it to stamp across the top and bottom edges.

I stamped some circles which have days of the week in them - who knew I owned such a thing!!!??!! Added some more snowflakes and the month.

I thne decorated the page with a silver pen.

I look forward to seeing what you do for your January calendar.  Don't forget to share your calendar using the linky below.

Aren't you clever!

“AREN’T YOU CLEVER??”

That’s what you’ll hear NEXT Christmas when people see the cute little gift ornaments you’ll have made in our January recycling art project.

Joanna Grant will bring us a fun and easy project using recycled Christmas cards, so save all yours from this holiday season and tune in on January 11th 2014 for all the details.    

Don’t have a lot of Christmas cards?  Ask your friends and family to save theirs for you.  Any size, any colors will do.

See you then!

Happy Christmas

Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Thank  you for joining me on this 12 month art journey.

Creative Date Challenge

This month instead of the usual creative date, technique challenge and art challenge I have combined them all into one Creative Date Challenge.

And this is it!

Take a photo of something to represent each letter of the word Christmas.  Preferably go out of the house to take the photos.

I is for icicles

Here are some suggestions 
C: candle, cake, carols,

H: holly,

R: robin, red, rudolph

I: ice, icicles
S: string, santa, singers

T: tinsel

M:  mince pies, mistletoe
A:  angel

And here is a website I found to help you: Christmas Vocabulary

And if that isn't enough for you then try this Christmas Photo list that Judy shared on Facebook.

I hope you have fun with this.  I look forward to seeing what you come up with.  Do share with us using the linky below.

Quarterly Zine

Today is the start of a new Zine.   For instructions on how to fold and cut the paper to make your Zine go here.

As I am going to make all my quarterly zines into one book at the end, it was important that I cut the cartridge paper for this quarter exactly the same size as the last one.

I sprayed the paper with 2 colours of blue spray inks.

I spritzed water through a snowflake stencil.

Then I sprayed Dylusions White Linen through the same stencil, but in different places.

I folded the paper to make the zine and started on the pages for December.

I sprayed green ink through the Tim Holtz holly stencil and added red stickles for the berries.  It would have been better to wait until the end to add the stickles as I couldn't work on the page until they had dried!

I stamped the word december on a scrap of paper and stuck it on.  I printed out the quote and cut it up and stuck it down.

I look forward to seeing your December Zine.  Don't forget to share it with us using the linky below.

Photo Challenge

In March I introduced this monthly challenge.  Each month we take a photograph on the same day, at the same time, of the same place.  How are you getting on with this challenge?

You choose a day or date and a place to suit you.  It could be taken from your front door, your back door, a particular place on your journey to work or on the school run.  It could be where you walk the dog.  Wherever it is, it needs to be a place you are at or near regularly.

Each month we take a photo and over the year we will build up a picture of the changes in the seasons.   If you haven't already, I suggest you have a folder on your hard drive where you keep these photos so you can find them at the end of our 12 months together.

If you upload them to the Facebook group please add the photo to your album or if you are new please make an album with your name and a suitable title.  Thanks.

There's also a Flickr group if you don't have a blog or a Facebook account.

I've added a linky for you to add your photo or blog.