In my blog post On the Receiving End I showd a few of the postcards I got in the DIY postcard swap
last year (you can still join today – don’t miss out!). Here are the rest from that lovely pile of postcards that I received:
DIY Postcard created by Julia, who sent her postcard out in an equally beautifully decorated envelope. I even got a “bonus postcards”, which I find hilarous:
I am all over the place with Art Journaling. Or not at all, I’m not sure. I am not really working consistently in the different books I have going at the moment, so I should concentrate on just one or two I guess…
Maybe I need to finish those ongoing art journals or simply be more concentrated by working in just one at a time, like I used to do when I first started art journaling. But instead of writing about my struggles with being consistent and the sometimes confusing maintenance of living an artistic life, I’m doing the opposite. I’m starting in a new notebook! Because, heh, it’s fun.
So in the last DIY Postcard Swap, which was last year, I got a bunch of cool postcards and shared them as they came in on my Facebook page Studio iHanna, but not on the blog. So I thought I’d go ahead and make a blog post to show you what kind of awesome postcards you might get if you sign up for the spring version of DIY Postcard Swap – it’s still open!
And as much as I love making my own postcards for this swap, I also love getting happy mail for a few weeks each year, as I’m not only a hostess but a participant. Being on the receiving end is awesome!
Here’s the first postcard from last year;
I think it’s about developing a system to create. Once the creative habit is there, the possibilities are endless.
Crystal Moody
I have always been a voracious reader, devouring books like candy. I probably read a lot more on my younger years, but still I would feel really strange if I didn’t have a novel “going” at any give time. A book that I can pick up and dive into when I have time to read (even if it’s not always every day). These days the phone is in the way a lot, but then again, I love listening to audio books, so with a subscription app in the phone, at least I can “read” while out walking or when I’m painting…
Anyway, what I wanted to tell you today is that along with reading, I’ve kept a list of “read books” since I was a kid. Then I had a printed one line reading journal, now I pick the nearest notebook and number each book as I finish it. I write down author, title, and date finished, and sometimes I write a little blurb about the content, a review, or thoughts I had while reading the book. Last year my list was in this simple brown Traveler’s Notebook, and this year I’m staying in the same notebook, although I finally got around to decorating the cover with a bit of bookish collage.
Which means, it’s collage time!
Give your own creativity time and power by deciding to be creative this month. Maybe a push in the right direction could be to sign up for my postcard swap? It will give you a goal of what to make and when to finish (end of May), and then it will continue to give in June, as postcards from others starts arriving at your door step (or mail box)!
Doesn’t it sound like fun?
Oh great, because it is time once again to sign up for the awesome DIY Postcard Swap spring 2019 edition. Yay! Go here to sign up.
If you’re new to this, please allow me to tell you a little about this swap and provide you with some inspiration…
The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.
Mary Oliver
I am not great with math, but I think the 24th of April this little blog ‘o mine turned fifteen years! Yes, 15 YEARS. If nothing else, you must admit I am tenacious and persistent. I just won’t be easily dispelled.
Some years I have done blogged and done bigger celebrations about the “blog’s birthday” (#blogoversary), other years I forgot all about it. And even though the real date for the Blogoversary has passed with a few days, I feel I just can’t let the moment totally pass without acknowledge the importance of it in some way.
So here we are…
Make action a habit. Don’t wait until things are just right. There is never a perfect time to begin. There is only now. Expect that things will be difficult. Know that there will be setbacks. Remember how strong you are. Expect to succeed anyway. When you take action fear fades and confidence rises.
Tess Marshall
In March I painted little portraits in my little journal. I am not a portrait painter, so I was in no way aiming to paint anything realistic. Instead I’ve experimented with colors, forms and different ways to start.
I filmed every time I sat down to paint, and I’m hoping that my approach might help loosen you up as well, to try some experimental portraits yourself. As grown ups we are afraid of failing, of creating something ugly and flawed, and nothing is as intimidating as trying to draw someone’s face. It almost never looks like them, right?
Instead of imagining the worst, try to ignore what your brain is telling you about what a “successful portrait” must look like. Who cares what others think of it? Have fun!
Remember the important parts; like the 2 eyes, 1 mouth and a nose, and play with placement, size and what details to add. Let it be “just for fun” and maybe exaggerate one eye (very big or very small or very narrow) so you don’t have to struggle with making the eyes exactly the same. That’s so hard anyway! This is what I did, and it was fun!
Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.
Paramahansa Yogananda
All through February I have been painting colorful hearts in my little notebook. I could probably continue for a while longer, because there is no end to the ways you can portray something that has meaning to you…
Each time I sat down to doodle, draw, paint or splatter paint on the page I filmed the process in time-lapse mood. I have shared some of these already on instagram (where I’m iHannas if you want to follow along there), but I also saved each one and made a compilation video, showing all of them in chronological order.
I hope it will inspire you to bring out your colors. What you paint doesn’t have to be hearts, it can be anything. But allow your ideas to evolve for a while. Create a series of work, that comes from your heart. Continue reading
I believe in process. I believe in four seasons. I believe that winter’s tough, but spring’s coming. I believe that there’s a growing season. And I think that you realize that in life, you grow. You get better.
Steve Southerland
Dear Photo Diary,
I am sorry that I have ignored you for so long. It feels like winter has been long and harsh, and quite colorless.
It has not really been a lot of snow around here this winter, but when there was snow on the ground it made the day a bit brighter. Swedish winters are so dark it’s depressing. I wish I could’ve traveled somewhere else from November until the end of February. But I couldn’t, so when we got a little snow I tried to enjoy it…
Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either.
Elizabeth Zimmerman
I love wearing wrist-warmers when I sit by the computer and write blog posts. My hands often gets really cold, and even with a thick sweater it’s the fingertips (and nose) that gets cold in the winter. That is one part why I like to knit wrist-warmers.
I also think that this kind of wrist-warmers are fun to knit, and so easy that anyone can do it. I’ve also been obsessed with this color combination for the past year: magenta pink & orange. I must say I think it’s the perfect color combination. It just sparks fire and joy, don’t you agree?
My awesome book:
Make your own Book:
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