Heart of the Day

Anette Bäck of Skövde, Sweden is creating one heart daily in 2019 for her project Heart of the Day...

Why did you decide to do this project? A few years ago I got the book 365: A Daily Creative Journal by Noah Scalin from a dear friend. A perfect opportunity for me to challenge my creativity. In my professional life I am the head of an IT department, which is a fulfilling and challenging job in many ways and I think I'm pretty good at it. But it isn't the most creative job.

I wanted to start the project on January 1st. But... for several years I had forgotten it, but not this year. This year I started my project. I am going to continue as long as it is challenging and fun. Hopefully I will reach the finish line at December 31st. But if the "want feeling" is replaced with a "must feeling" I have promised myself to change the plan. I don't need any more musts in my life!

I chose hearts as my project for two reasons:
1. It's quite a simple shape
2. I associate it with positive feeling and hope that it will help me carry on if (or rather when) the inspiration comes. 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I have just started my project and so far I have learned that I can't bring myself to destroy books. This project is also teaching me to settle with "good enough". Normally, I am kind of a "good girl type" that always wants to do the best (preferably to perfection), but the time restraint when creating one heart every day while working and taking care of everyday stuff doesn’t leave room for perfection. It is a really valuable experience for me.See all of Anette's project on Instagram at @heartoftheday and on her site HERE

Book Release Party

Celebrate the release of Creative Sprint: Six 30-Day Challenges To Jumpstart Your Creativity in Richmond, Virginia.

Our first official book release event is at Chop Suey Books on Tuesday, March 28 from 6-7pm. Hope to see you there!

Book Release party with Noah Scalin & Mica Scalin

Tuesday, March 28

6-7pm

Chop Suey Books

2913 W. Cary St. Richmond, VA

Creative Sprint: Six 30-Day Challenges To Jumpstart Your Creativity!

I'm pleased to announce that my next book is coming out in April 2017 from Voyageur Press!

The book was co-written with my sister Mica and is an expansion of the Creative Sprint public art game we've been running for the past few years!

Pre-order your copy today! 

Quarto Knows

IndieBound

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

Indigo

The Book Depository

Waterstones

365 Sticky Notes

Michelle Genders in Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia is creating 365 sticky notes...

Why did you decide to do this project? I just completed the April CreativeSprint. During the sprint, I decided to continue making something every day and got hold of your book 365: A daily creative journal. I’ve decided to begin with a Post-it note a day. I just wanted to keep up the momentum. It may change in time.

When I started the sprint I was going to only use ink and paper but soon I was making with other things. So I’m open to evolution. Having said that, Post-it notes made sense because I wanted to keep it simple, fun and not too daunting while I’m putting a lot of hard work into my other art work.

I know from studying jewelry at art school that small is not always easier, but being bound to a relatively small scale means less labour and being someone who tends to make ridiculously labour intensive art I definitely need a labour limit. Other advantages: I can carry a Post-it note anywhere, they are relatively cheap and I already have lots of materials to use with them. I’m interested to explore the possibilities within this small scale.

I've completed two "creative challenges" in the past: Academy of Emergency an art exercise where you create two things per day for two weeks in response to the newspaper. And The Artist's Way a twelve week programme to support your creativity. You journal daily and complete other exercises on a weekly basis.

Both of these experiences:

• evolved my art practice to another level 
• developed confidence in my ability to create 
• where the generation of a few seeds that grew into other projects 

How has doing a daily project changed your life? During the April creative sprint, I found that lots of ideas that had been floating around vaguely in the back of my mind for ages had a chance to come into being. This either:

• allowed me to get it out of my system and move on 
• see the potential in this idea to go further 

and this was very useful! I want to see what else will show itself if I continue with this discipline.   

See all of Michelle's sticky notes HERE.

Rosanne's 365 Days of Creativity

Rosanne Hansen in Darwin, Minnesota is making 365 Days of Creativity...

 

Why did you decide to do this project?
When shopping After-Christmas Sales at the mall, I saw the book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal on display at a used bookstore. The title intrigued me, so I went in and flipped through it. I remember thinking “This is pretty cool! I should do this.” So, I bought the book and I began my journey on January 1st, 2016 as my New Year’s Resolution to make more art.

I am an art teacher and I found myself constantly making art as lesson examples, but I rarely making my own art. I decided this would be a great way to get back to creating art. I began without any specific theme, but I seem to be making a lot of flowers.

Before starting, I read the tip to share your projects. I made a photo album on my Facebook page so I could share my projects with family and friends. I am glad I did, because some days it is hard to be motivated to make something. Then, I remember all of the likes and comments, both online and person, that I have received and I find the strength to keep going. I even had someone text me at 11:30 one night asking where was my daily project. I was just finishing it and getting ready to post.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  Since beginning this yearlong journey, I’ve found myself exploring many new materials and processes. Some projects, such as book folding (Day 2) and working with polymer clay (Days 20 and 76), I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but never found the time to do it. While other projects, such as knitting with plarn (plastic yarn) (Day 57), I would have never thought to explore.

I’ve found that my creativity inspires others as well. For example, I was working on my noodle collage (Day 49) at an art club that I lead after school once a week. My elementary age students thought it was so cool that they begged to join in on the fun. So after altering the lesson for that day so that they could make a mini collages, I bought more noodles so that they would make larger collages the next week.

See all of Rosanne's creations HERE. 

 

 

 

365: A Daily Creativity Journal – New & Expanded!

 I'm pleased to announce that the brand new edition of my book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal is now available! 

This book is your guide to making your own daily yearlong creativity projects, inspired by the success I had with my own Skull-A-Day project. This new & expanded edition features an additional month of prompts to keep you going after you finish your own yearlong project and new resources & interviews to keep you inspired!

Ask for it at your local independent bookstore! Don't know where one is? IndieBound can help you out.

Of course it's available at your favorite online book retailer as well, including Amazon.com,
Barnes & Noble & Quarto.

If you'd like for me to do a book signing/talk/workshop in your town drop me a line!

My Creative Year

Angie Safford in Toledo, Ohio is creating My Creative Year.

Why did you decide to do this project? I wanted to do this project for a couple of reasons, I have a tendency to start things and not finish them, I'm hoping this gives me a chance to start something and finish it. I'm a huge procrastinator I'm hoping this helps that too and I wanted to find my creativity again in my life.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I look forward to the projects everyday and the discipline it gives me. I get a lot of people at work asking me about it. It takes me out of my comfort zone and helps me with my shyness.

See all of Angie's projects HERE.

EyeTry365

Grace Renovo in The Netherlands is attempting to do something creative daily in EyeTry365...

She explains, "My main theme for the project will be eyes - since they are something which fascinate me, but my creative attempts will not always feature eyes as there are lots of mediums I would like to try my hand with."

Why did you decide to do this project? This year I'm on a quest to express. I feel as though I've been stifled for a long time and I'm using creativity to try and channel my expression and become more self-aware and forfilled.

Recently I came across the book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal and this helped fuel my quest of expression and become more disciplined in my creative practice.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This project is only a few days old and so I cannot comment too much about it's affect on my life. However, I've discovered a new enthusiasm for creativity and over the past couple of days seen my surroundings differently - since I'm always on the look out for ways to make an eye with whatever happens to be within eyesight!

It will be interesting to see if I manage to keep it up - since I have a string of unfinished projects and ideas behind me. e.g. my last website.

See all of Grace's tries HERE.

Diana's Writing Challenge

Diana Joiner who is "floating between Baltimore, MD and Ocean City, MD" is creating a Writing Challenge inspired by my book. 

 

She explains, "A friend of mine sent me your book all the way from Vienna to remind me to continue working on my craft. I was amazed by the different projects and artwork that resulted from your 365 challenge, but I’m no artist. I’m actually god awful at art; I’m way better with words. So, instead, I decided to start a fictional story and build on it with each challenge, incorporating the task into the next plot development. Some tasks I use in a different context to flow with the story, but I’ve loved seeing what I’ve come up with so far. I’ve got a historical cult-conspiracy on my hands; who knew that would happen?!"

 

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to do this project to challenge my creativity and myself through writing. I’m going through that awkward, mid-twenties where-is-my-place-in-this-world phase in my life and needed something to “lose” myself in that was a fun, but applicable, release from all the stress. Plus, it was time for me to write a new badass story. I was overdue for that.

 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It’s given me a whole new sense of confidence and imagination. I’m taking my writing to the next level, staying open-minded, flexible, and inventive in what I come up with. The fact that I’m also posting my story little by little on my website for people to see my progress has been scary, but also encouraging. I wasn’t expecting people to be so invested and curious to know what happens next, so their engagement has been my virtual cheerleader urging me to keep going. Plus, it's holding me seriously accountable, which is like an additional challenge in itself.

 

Follow Diana's story HERE. 

365 Days of Luck

Gina Hampen of Santa Fe, Texas is back with another daily project, this time it's about fate, fortune, and luck!

Why did you decide to do this project? In 2011 I did a blog and tried for 366 days of fans but didn't quite make a whole year. It was a very interesting and rewarding project and I enjoy going back to review all the entries from time to time. When I look at them I am amazed by some of the things I had to come up with to make the daily deadline. I have begun printing the photos into book form using Snapfish and I must say I get a warm glow from seeing my little books all lined up on the bookshelf. Only 4 volumes are done so far.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I'm really rusty, both creatively and with the blogging. I expect to stretch my mental muscles and learn some new skills. I've done almost two weeks and already feel more alert to possibilities for creativity everywhere. I love the anticipation of a piece waiting to be made every day. Very happy to be back!

See all of Gina's lucky posts HERE.

And see her original 365 interview HERE.

365 Daily Creative Duel

Deb Trevan & Manny Sena in Montrose, Colorado are having a  365 Daily Creative Duel!  

They explain, "We tweaked the 365 book by putting all the prompts into a bucket. We take turns drawing from the bucket and Doing the prompt. We each picked an image for the year and daily we send each other pictures first. Then I post them to my Facebook page or once a week to my blog."

 

Why did you decide to do this project? I ordered the book for the daily creative prompt vs all the journaling ones that I participate in. One day he was looking at it and I tossed the idea to him about doing it with me and he was interested but we have different schedules and jobs etc. I put all the prompts from the book onto cards into the bucket with one exception.  I did trade the dream one for a trade images for the day. He balked at the thought of some "weird" dreaming thing....which made me laugh but gave me a chance to get a trade in. He hates reading I have read it so I think I have an advantage with some pondering of prompts before they come up. But, he is a very clever art mind and will make it a challenge no doubt.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? We have this creative competition going and creative union as well as different interpretations to the prompt. Its been fun. Of course we are only on day two as of October 2nd but its been good. We are both looking forward to the year of stuff we come up with. It has added a level of creativity and fun to our relationship.

I plan on the Unstuck book as well and if there are prompts in there I will probably get cards and toss them on and into the bucket. I bet he doesn't catch the more than a year part.

Follow the duel HERE.

365 Days, 365 Skulls, 1 Book!

This site is a direct result of my original yearlong daily project Skull-A-Day that I started way back in 2007 and I'm very excited to announce that at long last there is going to be a book of the all 365 of my original skulls from that year! But it'll only happen with your help...


You can read more details and reserve your copy of the book HERE. And please spread the word, the more people that know about this the more likely we will be to succeed in reaching our goal. Thank you!

Food Faces

One of the 52 techniques for getting your creative juices flowing that I feature in my book Unstuck is called Meal Emotions. This project encourages you to play with the leftovers from one of your meals to make a face. I recently had a chance to put this technique into a project for one of my clients at  Another Limited Rebellion.

The Broad Appétit food and art festival in Richmond, Virginia had me eat meals at eight of the featured restaurants and create faces from the foods I was served. It was an extremely fun way to create art for a client and a great excuse to eat out at some wonderful restaurants. In addition we made a ninth face at FeedMore, a local food bank, which gave me a chance to visit and learn about something new in my own community.

Why not try making a food face from your next meal? It's not hard to do, pretty much anything can be used on your plate. Just experiment and have fun. Be sure to take a photo when you're done so you can share it with me. And hey, if you're in the Richmond, Virginia area add the tags #FoodFaceRVA and #BroadAppetit to your image when you share it on your favorite social network and you could actually win some free food at the forthcoming event!

Create365

Sharon Wall of North East Scotland, UK is doing a yearlong project inspired by my book called Create365...
 

Why did you decide to do this project? I thought long and hard about themes and maybe next year I will repeat the book using a single idea but for now I really wanted to just be randomly creative. As an adult as I spend so much time encouraging my children to use their imagination and create and I really wanted to document all the different things I tried and saw and experienced in a day. However it was easier to limit this to a single mini project otherwise I might just break the internet with hundreds of post's!

How has it affected your life? I am only a week or so in to the project but I really hope to try new things and develop some technical art skills over the next year. After reading the book I realised that my ideas and creativity could be shared with others I just needed the confidence to get started. I love quirky crafts and art, storytelling and encourging others to use their imagination and play. Friends liking my photos has given me the boost I needed!

Follow Sharon's progress HERE.

How to Turn Your Daily Creative Project Into a Book

Today's post is guest written by Michelle Taute my friend and my co-author on the book The Design Activist's Handbook... 

I’m not going to lie. My 365 creative project started out as a painful slog. It took me a good month or so to really start hitting my stride. And there was still a little doubting voice lingering around on day 50 going, “Why, exactly, are you making cootie catchers everyday? I mean you’re practically middle-aged.”

Then something rather astounding happened around day 50. One of my Facebook friends, who also happens to be a book editor, asked me if I’d thought about turning all these fun paper fortune-tellers into a craft book. Um, yes, definitely, but I hadn’t thought about it outside the context of wild daydreams.

It took me another six months or so to put together a book proposal, but that simple Facebook note helped me keep going. And a few weeks ago my book, Fold Me Up: 100 Paper Fortune-Tellers for Life’s Pressing Questions, hit bookstores. I’m guessing your daily creative project would make an awesome book, too, so I tapped my wonderful editor at Perigee Books, Meg Leder, for some insider advice and wisdom.

How do you find new book ideas?
I spend time every day reading websites (Brain Pickings, Jezebel, The Toast) and skimming links friends send, looking for ideas that catch my attention. If I find myself spending more than a few minutes on any idea, and if I’m thinking about it for a few hours or days after, it’s usually well worth pursuing. If it’s holding my interest, it will probably hold a fair number of readers’ interest, too.

What really makes a creative project capture your attention? 
 I also look for things I can evangelize about because I flat-out love them. I recently published a nontraditional coloring book called Outside the Lines that features the work of street artists, video game designers, etc., because I have a huge sweet spot for street art. I also published a book from a really fantastic creator—Matthew Buchholz—called Alternate Histories of the World because I had uber-admired his work when I first saw it at Renegade Craft Fairs and the Bust Craftacular.

With Fold Me Up, I have many a fond memory of making fortune-tellers as a kid. The Perigee editorial team did as well. Seeing the proposal sparked a 15-minute nostalgia conversation amidst my colleagues—exactly the type of response you want to provoke in people when you’re thinking about publishing a book. If we’re enthusiastic, it’s likely others will be, too.

What should I know if I’m new to publishing?
People should keep in mind that publishing a book isn’t always easy. You’re taking something you love, and you’re commercializing it, which can be a tough transition. It can be heartbreaking if it doesn’t find the audience you want, but it can also be super validating when someone loves it as much as you do.

How can I improve my odds of landing a book contract? 
People should constantly be thinking about platform, platform, platform. As an author, how can you help spread the word about the book? How can you help us get the book out there? The more of an existing audience you have in place, the better we can help you publish your book.

Are you hoping to turn your 365-project into a book? Or have you done it already? Questions? Comments? Advice?