January 2025

Dear First name / friend,

 

I hope your new year is off to a creative start! I'm looking forward to seeing what wonderful experiences we can find for ourselves this year. Are you? Since I've planned some travel I'm thinking about how I might maintain my creative practice while on the road. It may look like journaling or sketching along with some photography. Portability will be key and it should be easy to do in random downtime since my routine will be inconsistent. I expect it will be a season of gathering inspiration to revisit later.

One idea I have is to make an altered book, where I can doodle or add the various ephemera I collect along the way. It can be dedicated to a trip as a sort of travel journal that will contain visual reminders of my thoughts and experiences. Initially just a used book, it becomes a mixed media piece with many layers. Pages can be started at random and built up over time. It's very flexible and freeing with a low intimidation factor because it can be kept private. The printed text becomes a base layer of visual texture that reduces any hesitation to start on a blank page. If I don't like a page, I can always work on top of it or tear it out. It's therapeutic and there are no rules. It's like scrapbooking combined with recycling. Less polished, more spontaneous.

A page from an altered book I started in an Expressive Arts Class.

Let travel be an opportunity to spark creativity rather than an excuse for not getting to it. What might that look like for you?

Designing patterns for my Spoonflower Shop and improving my skills for art licensing continues to be my biggest endeavor this year. I entered nine Spoonflower Design Challenges last year, with my best placement being 395th! I never thought that kind of ranking would delight me but considering the competition, it actually does. This year I've set a goal to place in the top 100. Once a goal is set, the dream is in motion. What dreams are you moving towards?

 

In the past month I worked on a collection of patterns in two color schemes for home decor fabric called Eucalyptus Grove and entered the first Spoonflower Challenge of 2025 for accent wallpaper with the design shown below. Feedback is always welcome! You can see the entries and vote for your favorites here. You'll be supporting artists with much appreciated love that makes a difference in their visibility on the platform. I find the voting process as awe inspiring as viewing any other type of art show. Plus it's fun to give others my “People's Choice” award.

Contemporary Bauhaus comes in multiple colorways. This one uses Benjamin Moore's 2025 paint palette.

Lastly, I'm learning to sew. Even volunteer work can be creative. Check out my bear from a workshop hosted by the Rare Bear Army at my local JoAnn Fabrics. We volunteer to make teddy bears for kids with rare diseases around the world, on behalf of Rare Science, a non-profit that works to reduce time to diagnosis. In the process I'm getting reacquainted with my sewing machine. I plan to practice with some other projects on fabric I salvaged from my husband's old dress shirts!

A Rare Bear I sewed to support Rare Science initiatives.

Libby App - You may know you can get audio books and e-books for free with your library card on the Libby App. But, did you know about the creative resources there? Art classes by well known artists like Lisa Congdon, author of “Art Inc.” and others, have recorded video classes you can stream for free. Search by topic.

 

If you don't have access to the Libby App in your part of the world perhaps there's something similar. A little digging on the web to see what's new at your library or local community center might reveal a new creative opportunity for you. Many museums, art galleries and botanic gardens also offer classes and free art and craft events. 

Attention sewists - this one's for you! I'll be giving away a fat quarter of 100% cotton quilting fabric each quarter - drawing randomly from my funletter subscriber list. A fat quarter is one quarter yard of fabric, 21" x 18", commonly used in sewing projects and by quilters. The sewists I know, love adding to their stash. I'll announce a winner in next month's funletter. If you don't sew, you can pass it on to someone who does. If you do, I'd love to see what you make with it. I designed each pattern and the fabric was printed by Spoonflower, an environmentally conscious brand in the U.S. that uses non-toxic dyes, low waste on-demand production methods and supports independent artists like me.

Fat Quarters - upcoming giveaway items for funletter readers.

I'd like to thank readers Mary R. and Gail T. for sending photos of their coloring page and Christmas watercolor creations last month. Grace R. also shared a fabulous crocheted blanket-in-progress. It's so fun to see how every artist has a unique hand and is drawn to different ways of expressing their creative side. I want to start including these reader submitted creative projects in future funletters so do share your talent and ideas with me for a possible mention, with your permission of course.

 

Until next month, happy creating!

P.S. Thanks for reading! If you know someone who might enjoy this funletter, please pass it along.

 

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