The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
It is the most wonderful time of the year! For me this season means getting together with family and friends, watching Hallmark movies and journaling! Lots and lots of journaling.
I have finally made my December Daily for this year and if I might say so myself I am quite happy with it. I used an old address book and created a curved spine junk journal using old book pages, fabric scraps, ribbons, tea dyed papers, marbled papers and so much more. If you want to see how I created this journal – head on over to my YouTube channel and check out the two-part video series.
Once again, like last year I am using all sorts of things in my journal. Packaging from presents, lots of pictures printed on my Canon Selphy and stickers, lots and lots of stickers.
I usually create a little box of things I want to use in my journal during the month and just keep that on my desk. I want the December Daily journaling experience to be a relaxing one for myself and I don’t want to run around the room looking for specific embellishments and supplies. My goal for the month is to use what I have in the box. That limits me in a good way and saves me from feeling overwhelmed and eventually frustrated.
Do try and make your art practice as easy for yourself as possible. This could be something as simple as assembling a kit for yourself and just limiting supplies or having a small space set up in your home where you go to create. Anything that makes the practice easier.
As most of you know I am a Certified Zentangle Teacher and love tangling. I have several books on Amazon full of gorgeous tangles from CZTs hailing from all parts of the world. Even though the practice of tangling calls for very limited supplies, as is the habit with most of us creatives, I have amassed quite a few pens and so to make the practice of tangling easier I have taken a few select pens and tiles and put them in a little pencil holder on my desk. Those are the only pens I will tangle with. I also just use one of my books as a tangle reference to limit the overwhelm of dealing with too many patterns.
And as many of you know, us creatives as also plagued by the pesky little voice in our heads that constantly tells us we are not good enough. Well, that may be so, but what I am creating is for me. It is for the process. The way I feel while I create. I don’t care if my tiles are not the best or my junk journaling is messy. That’s fine. I had fun doing it and that is what counts. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we envisioned and that’s ok. At the end of the day, it is just pen, paper, fabric etc. Don’t let the supplies intimidate you and definitely do not let that little voice tell you that your work is not good enough. It is!
These are just some ways in which I try to reduce the noise and actually dedicate time to creating. Are there any tips or tricks you would like to share? How do you make creating a fun and stress-free exercise for yourself? How do you deal with the pesky little voice in your head that suggests what you’re doing is not good enough?