present in 2016 - the idea

I don't know if you noticed but I've been working on a little project for the last "few" days :)

I've been calling it "present in 2016" and the more I think about it the more excited I am.

So, what's this all about? It's actually very simple - I'd like to invite you to be more present in the upcoming year; to notice things that are happening around you, things that happen only to you, the little things that you find on your walks or while you're out drinking coffee and browsing a nearby magazine. I invite you to note them down in your journal or a notebook or a planner and with doing this, this action alone, making yourself be here more, noticing more, observing more.  

I know we live in extremely fast world, things need to happen fast, everything needs to be done almost yesterday and with all the tasks of our everyday lives we put ourselves in “auto-pilot” mode; it’s our safety mechanism for coping with all the stress. And sometimes we notice that the whole week, or even month has gone by and we have almost no idea about what happened during this time - and it bothers us, right? I know it does bother me and I am trying to live by the rule of “slowing down to smell the roses” a lot and I will continue to do so even more.

Why exactly am I so excited about this? Well, it’s because I’d like to invite you to join me in this quest of “being here”. Grab a notebook, use your favourite journal, make yourself a weekly planner from the files I prepared or just go and buy one - it really doesn’t matter - as long as you have all the days in a year in it and some space to write things down - something like this:

weekly planner for 2016 designed by yours truly ;)

Then, I challenge you to start noticing things and at the end of the day, note them down. Did you open your newspaper on a page and something really grabbed your attention? Tear that out and glue it in your notebook. Were you thinking about a question and an interesting song came on the radio and it had just the answer for you? Note it down. Did you see something interesting while commuting? Note it down. Yes, it’s this simple. All these things make you be here more, more perceptive and often, they make the time slow down a bit. Try it, you’ll be surprised.

I will open up a FB group for this because I’d love to hear about your synchronicities, special moments, hear about a good guided meditation you found on-line or anything good really. We need to share, write things down and with doing this, help each other.

And if you know me, making art will not stay out of all this :)  I think a really good challenge would be to make weekly art pieces that would mirror what actually happened in that week. And because we’ll be noting things down, it’ll be easy to sit down, relive the week again and do some kind of art to honor it, to show we’ve been there, felt it, seen it...  I know some of you already do it and I’d love you to join me and share your art with others and inspire all of us.    

I’ll be setting up the group in the next week but I wanted to give you all a heads up to think about this and hopefully making you want to be present a bit more ;)

Let me know if you’re interested in joining and what kind of things you’d like to see in the group as well. I know that if we go and do this, it’ll be really really good!

Wishing you all a very happy Sunday!

With love,

nini

p.s.

if you like my little planner that I made for myself, I am offering it as a downloadable file in my Etsy shop - 2016 weekly planner  I'll be honored and very thankful for your support if you'll use it.

12 pages in 2015 - DECEMBER prompts

Wow... I almost can't believe it's already December! Seems like it came so fast yet I know a lot has happened in between. I hope it did for you as well and that the memories are good.

These are our final prompts and the challenge I chose is... well... suitable for December and it's happy moments :) 

 

I am still  very much behind with my pages BUT I did manage to complete two last month. I still have every intention of completing my little book and I encourage you to do the same. Once I started ideas flew in and it was only the other projects that needed my attention more that kept me from making more. Well, I know December is the busiest month of them all - especially with the presents making and attending all the parties ;) but I'll still try and squeeze in some time for my little book - because it deserves it! And I really want to fill it up because I know it'll feel so good when I do.

I promise to post pictures when I'm done and I'd still love to see your pages too. Don't forget to hash tag with #12pagesin2015 across the web so that I can see your works... and others too of course.

Now please tell me how do you feel about this project?  Did you enjoy making your book and filling it up? Is it something you'd like to give a go again next year? Would you change anything?

I'd love to host this again in 2016 but I really need your feedback. Let me know what worked for you, what didn't but most of all, is there anything you'd like to see ME do differently. Or just let me know about any ideas that crossed your mind when you saw me post the prompts :)

See you later! Thank you so much for being here.

With love,

♥

nini

12 pages in 2015 - NOVEMBER prompts

Welcome to the November prompts! They are quite a pair, don't you think? :)

Hope you're still having fun with this project. I'd love to hear how it's been for you now that we are closing in on this year - did it fly by you so fast too?

12 pages in 2015 - OCTOBER prompts

Wow, September was in very high speed for me. Wow indeed, I hope it went slowly for you :)

So, here's how the prompts surfaced for us this time:

I chose INK as the extra challenge because I know many of you will be doing the Inktober challenge as well and why not use those ink know hows for our October page as well.

Wishing you loads of fun with the themes!

P.S.
As always, I'm still accepting members to the Facebook group so come in and join us, there are so many nice people in the group and the art and interests that get shared are very special - link to the group.

12 pages in 2015 - SEPTEMBER prompts

Hello there and welcome back.

I hope you had a wonderful summer vacation and that you got some time off too ;)  I know how busy and stressful vacations can be.

But, it's time to get creative again and time to share new prompts and a challenge with you. Drum roll please:

I love the prompts and the challenge. Who doesn't like to stamp? If you don't have any stamps, don't fret (although I highly doubt this is the case ;) )... you can use ANYTHING to stamp with or you can make stamps by yourself. Either cut some from an eraser, use potato, use veggies (chicory makes really beautiful flowers if you stamp with it - "stem" bottom part of the head cut off), legos, doilies, pens, caps from pens.... well, really anything.

And don't forget to hashtag your published creations so that we can all see them!

Happy creating!

P.S.
I'm still accepting members to the Facebook group so come in and join us, there are so many nice people in the group and the art and interests that get shared are very special - link to the group.
 

Awesome friends!

This one is going to be a bit long-ish so make yourself some tea and come back to read slowly ;)

Right. Here I go. Have you ever heard of Jeanne Oliver and her huge Creative Network? No? Well, I didn't either until I stumbled on it one day I looked for something watercolor related. And despite me disliking sites that want you to sign up to see their content I did it. And when I got in... wow... I was impressed. She set up this huge network of artists and they offer online courses there. There's free videos to be found on the site as well and I really recommend getting yourself be a part of it. Here's the link so you won't have to look too hard ;)

Jeanne Oliver Creative Network

They just released this beautiful catalog of all the courses they offer which you can see HERE.

Awesome friends? Where the... ??? Yes yes, I'm getting there :)

Take a look at the before mentioned catalog and flip through to the page 13 where there's info about a class named Nature's Canvas led by Tania Bain. Well, this is the class I fell in love with the moment I read about it because if you know me than you know how much I love hiking through the woods and noticing all sorts of pretties in there. I immediately wanted to learn how to paint these beautiful little whimsical faces on found sticks and branches so I signed up. I even had to wait for it to start as it was a brand new class :)

Well, I was not disappointed with the class's content. There are tons of videos in just one class (I honestly expected just one) and Tania is just so lovely to watch and hear - I totally loved her accent. She makes these pretty faces on stick and then she leaves them in the woods in her area to be found by lucky passers by. Lucky indeed! I realized she was from South Africa and jeez... I can't really fly there to go for a walk in her parts of the woods, can I? BUT! Here comes the story of my awesome friends... finally, I know.

Liezl and Hugo live in South Africa too and they are my online friends. So when I noticed Tania posted one of her spots with a gorgeous painted branch to be found I immediately asked Liezl about it. She told me that the place is really far from them and that they can't just hop by to pick it up so I thanked her for the info and forgot about it. Still I was a bit jealous about the fact that somebody can get there and find the treasure :)

A few months later, Liezl and Hugo came to Slovenia! :) Yes, I mentioned this in my previous post. I finally got to meet them for real - which is really always a super awesome thing and sooo SOOO unreal at the time being. Think about it. Usually you are chatting online with your friends from the other side of the world and you get used to it. So when you have them right in front of you - WHOA! Really. You have to try it. Meet up if you can, seriously.

Sorry for my digression but one needs to be thorough.

The first day my friends came in, they brought along presents.... for me! ♥ :) Oh I love presents.
First there was a package wrapped in a pretty rainbow colored paper that contained one very pretty images full SA creative magazine - which I love. Yummy yummy local sweets, local postcards and a pretty inspirational notebook for me to use. All fabulous and nini was so happy and surprised. Really, she was. I was too ;)

But then Liezl told me that's not all. No? And she comes in the room with a huge bag of something. ???? Okie, I begin to unwrap and it's branches and sticks from SA!!!! Jeez. To paint little faces on. Whoa. Incredible. But that still wasn't it. Nope. She comes with yet another package (seriously ppl, I was completely blown away and I think my emotions went numb because of it).

And as I unwrapped the final package - there were three already painted little sticks, with these beautiful and very familiar faces - and they were from Tania herself. The teacher of my online class. Can you believe it? Well, I wouldn't have if I wasn't the one who set all these events into motion in the first place. Boy oh boy. I still get goose bumps when I think about this. ♥

Turns out that Liezl contacted Tania, set up a meeting and then they immediately clicked. Tania was so generous and gave away three girls just for me and then she even took them on the trail she usually takes where they picked up those branches up for me. And to top all of this up, you know, with a cherry.... one of the girls was actually painted in the online class. WOW! Yes... I'm speechless. Again.

I think this was the best surprise ever and I am so grateful for all the friends I have in my life, here and there in the big huge world that just got really small and cosy with the ability to connect via web.

And I really wanted to share this awesome story because it deserves to be shared.

Thank you Liezl and Hugo, again. Thank you Tania, again. You are all amazing and I love you! ♥


And here are the precious little forest fairies that now live in my world and take care of it:

Which one is from the e-curse? Go and find out on your own :) It'll be worth it. I promise.

Do you have an awesome surprise story to share too? I'd love to read about it so please, share share share away!

With love, always.

About July

Yes, I need to mention this July because it was AWESOME. Indeed. Pure awesomeness and deserves to be written about.

I had visitors. And it wasn't just any ordinary ones either. They were my online friends whom I got to know pretty very much via Facebook - oh yes, FB can be really good for some things - and they decided to visit Ljubljana and well, I live just around the corner too, so they came to see me as well :)

So, from 10th to 18th I was busy with showing them around Ljubljana, Slovenia and even Italy a bit. We had massive amounts of cakes - still need to get rid of those extra pounds now ;) - lots of fun, creative sessions with sketching, making collages and needle felting. Needle felting? Yes, I had my first ever workshop and I taught my friends how to needle felt and I am happy to say they all liked it and are now happily on their way to making some awesome things all by themselves. Which makes me feel oh so proud :)

It was such a great time! I wish Elke could make it too since she was the reason for all this to be happening in the first place but the big U. had other plans for her and I do know I'll get to meet her soon enough.

Liezl, Hugo, Andrea, Thornsten, Margarete and Yvonne - I had a blast and I can't wait to see all of you again and do some art with you. It was really amazing. Thank you for coming ♥

And here's some eye candy for you all, none of us on the photos but just imagine lot of happy faces in these places and you won't be wrong at all :)

I have other news too but I'll leave them for the next post ;)

See you soon. Happy AUGUST to all of you!

♥

12 pages in 2015 - AUGUST prompts

I hope summer/winter time is treating you nicely and that you are managing to get some creative time just for yourself as well. This month themes are quite hilarious I think :)  The first one is all about flavor, but not any kind, it's about what would you get if you got your Jelly Beans from Harry Potter :)  The next one is about jeans... funny eh? And to top it all, I'm challenging you to use charcoal somewhere on your page.

I hope you'll have fun with this one.

If you are new to this project and want to tag along, click above on the "12 pages in 2015" tab to read all the posts about it. I even opened a FB group to support this project because it's always fun to share our art and get some feedback. It's also fun to meet new like-minded people so I encourage you to join us. Ask to be added here.

The 100 Days Project - update II and the end of it

I don't even want to know how much time passed since my last update but I'm here now to tell you, that I stopped doing it. Why? At first I had to stop because the tiny fibers together with my seasonal allergies made it really uncomfortable for me and then I decided to not get back on track because it was stressing me too much.

These became earrings but I forgot to take pictures and they are now with their new owner.

I am so terrible at staying away from these kinds of projects because they always seem such great fun but for me, as soon as I commit to them they become a great burden, a responsibility about keeping up with the promise I made. So in the future, I shall not even talk about me doing these things but I'll just publish them when I'm done with them and IF I'm done with them, ok? :D

Jup... this is a kind of "note-to-self" post. Thank you as always for reading ♥

12 pages in 2015 - JULY prompts

Hello there and welcome back for the new installment in our 12 pages in 2015 monthly themes.

This time, we have ... drum roll .... HOME and WAVES to draw in our lovely art books. And if you want, you can add some colored pencils to your chosen art supplies if you want some extra challenges in your life :)

Have fun! And don't forget to hashtag your works across social media - #12pagesin2015

If you are new to this project and want to tag along, click above on the "12 pages in 2015" tab to read all the posts about it. I even opened a FB group to support this project because it's always fun to share our art and get some feedback. It's also fun to meet new like-minded people so I encourage you to join us. Ask to be added here.

12 pages in 2015 - JUNE themes

June is here - my favourite month - and it's time for our new themes and a new challenge.

Let's draw our inspiration on our June page and see if blue color fits in there as well. Extra challenge this time is about using stencils. If you don't have any I made a tutorial on how to make one yourself. I even prepared some stencil images for you to print and use in the process.

If you are new to this project and want to tag along, click above on the "12 pages in 2015" tab to read all the posts about it. I even opened a FB group to support this project because it's always fun to share our art and get some feedback. It's also fun to meet new like-minded people so I encourage you to join us. Ask to be added here.

This is it for this month :)  Don't forget to tag your art if you publish it on social media with #12pagesin2015 so that we can all see it. Now go and have some fun with your page and I hope you'll make a stencil too!

Making Stencils - DIY

I see stencils used a lot in art making - they are perfect for adding interest to backgrounds or look good as stand alone feature. Many use them for making patterned wall accents or simply to make cool T-shirts with them. Well, as versatile as they can be they can also be quite expensive and push you into another art related addictiveness. So I decided to make some by myself using quite ordinary house-hold things. I do confess though, I wouldn't mind owning one of those cutting machines because that would make making my own stencils a breeze :)
 

Here's what I used:
- print of a pattern I made myself (I'm sharing a few at the end of this post)
- clear tape OR clear self adhesive vinyl (I have a roll of it - intended for wrapping notebooks - and I get it in our supermarket stores at the school section)
- precise cutting knife - I have one from Derwent
- ordinary cutting knife - can be used for cutting out the stencil too
- cutting mat

 We need to make this print water proof and we'll do it by covering it on both sides with clear vinyl or clear tape - whichever you have at hand.

Using the self adhesive roll type of vinyl I start by cutting a piece of it that is a bit larger than my print. Then I tape it down on the cutting mat so that it stays put while I insert my print under it:

 Then I adhere the vinyl on the paper slowly and I push the air away as I go:

 When I'm done I cut away the excess vinyl with my cutting knife:

 Time to repeat the process on the other side. I'm using clear tape here and as you can see I had a bit of a "problem" because the thing adhered itself on my paper before I had the chance to align it properly. So I continued taping diagonally because it really doesn't matter how you cover it. It's a bit trickier to use tape because it's so thin but you'll get the hang of it:

Cut away the excess tape when you're done taping.
Using the most precise cutting knife you have, start cutting out the stencil image. I found out that the best thing to do is, to rotate the paper, not your knife. And press your knife quite strongly so that you cut all the way down, because if you won't you'll have to cut again. Changing your knife's blade to a brand new sharp one is a must too!

Because the image that is cut out can be used later too I do my best to cut it out nicely.

Here's my finished stencil with the cut outs. All ready to be used :)

You can also draw your image to the paper before vinyl-ising it or you can use an image from a magazine. The sky is the limit here, so go crazy ;)

But, as promised, I made a few patterns for you to print out and make into stencils - right click and choose "save image as" to your computer. They are A4 size but you can print them in any size you want. Have fun with them and if you make the stencils, please let me know about it, I'd love to see what you did with them.

12 pages in 2015 - MAY themes

Hello there, how are you? I hope you're all well and eagerly waiting for May prompts and I shall not make it difficult and withhold them any longer ;)

 

It's Early Morning and Comfort with the additional challenge of using collage. I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with so please don't forget to tag your posts with #12pagesin2015 so that I'll see them :)

If you're new to this, welcome! Don't fret about the fact it's already May, you can still catch up. And you can find a bunch of us in FB group HERE (just ask to join).

Happy creating and Happy 1st of May!

The 100 Days Project - update I

I've been good and needle felted for whole 14 days in a row. Then I had a bit of a high temperature and I skipped a day. Then felted for another 4 days and realized I have to give it up for now. It's about me having allergies and being on the edge with them right now and the tiny little fibers that I inhale are making my lungs feel kinda bad and full. So for now, I'm pressing my pause button on this project :/

But this makes me think... did I fail? Should I stop completely because it doesn't look like I'll be doing it any time soon? And I just received my order of 50 shades of colors to use up.... gaaaah... Any suggestions? You'd really help if you'd share your wisdom with me my dear readers and friends. I'm also thinking about committing to some other type of 100 day project just to stay in the loop but I don't know... I really don't know.

Ending with a recap of my finished works during these 19 days:

Tiny bear, jointed. 2 inches tall :)

Tiny jellyfish made after my friend's beautiful drawing of sea animals. Mostly fish but this little guy kinda stood out amongst the crowd so I just had to make him :) You can see the drawing here.

I needed a special gift so I came up with this. This little frame used to be pink so I had to drown it in white gesso but it was worth it.

Made this tiny kitty for my artsy online friend Pavinee who draws every day and has a really cute and merry style. Find her here. Can you spot the cat?

My last little creation was Beni who is a bit bigger than the first bear - 2,75 inches tall. I'd like to develop my signature style teddy and I think I'm onto something with him. I just looove his cute big nose :)

I also made two tiny little pink birdies but they are not finished yet - as in made into earrings. I'll show them when they are :)


What are you up to? Are you doing this type of project too? I'd love to know about it so please share.

The 100 Days Project

Last month I stumbled upon - or was led to - this interesting project: 100 Artworks Challenge . It resonated with me so I said I'll do it and I chose needle felting as my medium. Nothing happened since :)

Today, I was let to this: The 100 Days Project.

Hmmmm... Right?

So, yes U. I got it, I am going to do 100 needle felted things, 100 days in a row - or so. I know I'll have to catch up some days as I won't be able to make it but that's ok. I know doing things each day is stressful, especially for me on the days I am just too tired or simply not at home. I learned that with my Small Sketchbook Challenge. But I want to do it - otherwise I wouldn't really put it out here :)

Wish me luck and come back to see what I'll make. I'll be posting on IG too (so much quicker), you can find me HERE.

Edit on April 8th, 2015:

After two days of felting really late at night I realized this project is really more about showing up, doing the work so I know now it's impossible to finish one thing each day, no matter how small it is (ok, if I'd be doing 100 little balls or cubes that would be doable ;) but that's not my goal). So I'll be felting each day but finishing things up as I can. Sadly that means no 100 finished little ones in the end but that's ok too. This way I can work on more complicated things so there's more challenge in it for me ;)

12 pages in 2015 - APRIL themes

I love the themes for this month, what about you? They just might make actually finish one page! :D

As usual, I'd love to see your works so hastagging with #12pagesin2015 is a must ;)  Do share please. I will, as soon as I have something to share!

If you are on FB find us in FB group.

Happy creating and happy Spring to half of you and a very happy Autumn to the other half of you ;) 

12 pages in 2015 - March theme

Yes, it's March which means time for our new theme to draw/paint/sew... :)  I hope you are having good times with your pages even if the prompts seem difficult at first. There's always a solution out there we just need to let go of our expectations so that it can come to us.

Interesting choice, don't you think? :)

I can't wait to see what you come up with and I'd love to see it. So please, if you are not in our FB group but are posting your pages on other social media platforms, please tag them with #12pagesin2015 so that we can all see them. Thank you so much.

Happy creating!

P.S.

If you are wondering how my pages look like.... well... I will post them here when I actually do them :)  There's still time till this year is over ;)

12 pages in 2015 - February theme

I can't believe it's February already! And I didn't even finish my January page... heh. But I did start working on it and that's what counts! So, if you are new here, join in as it's really not too late to start ;)

It's never too late to start with something that makes you feel good!

Okie, that said, let's see what our February prompts are:

 
It's BOATS and BROKEN with the additional challenge of sneaking some watercolors on your page. Or making it all with watercolors, whatever sings to you. It's your page so have fun with it.
And remember - make it mean something to you.

I'm still accepting members to the Facebook group so come in and join us, there are so many nice people in the group and the art and interests that get shared are very special - link to the group.

See ya! :)

12 pages in 2015 - January

I hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and are now fully recovered from all the celebrating. I had a wonderful evening but am still not fully functional ;) But nothing will prevent me from posting our first two prompts for this year's new project, so here we go....

Because I received such a wonderful response to this and because there are currently 50 prompts/themes suggested in the FB group I decided to offer 2 themes each month + an extra challenge in form of using our drawing supplies. I am selecting the themes via random numbers generator so don't blame me for the weird choices if we get them :D

Without further ado, here are our January challenges: BEGINNINGS and FRIENDS with the extra challenge - use some Washi tape on the page because I'm sure you have a lot of it stashed around ;)

You can create using only one theme, both themes, all three of them (with the tape) or none of them. It's definitely up to you. The only thing that really counts is one finished page by the end of January. Easy peasy, right?

Now let's go and have some fun! :)  Do post your pages in the group, on IG, on your blogs, twitter... where ever really and tag them with #12pagesin2015 so that we can all see different takes on the themes. It's fun to share, trust me on this.

Hope to see some art soon! ♥

Facebook group for 12 pages in 2015