Flowers and Faces

Jessica Mack (aka BrownPaperBunny) from Seattle, WA is drawing / painting a flower or a face every day, in any medium, on any surface available for her project Flowers and Faces...

Why did you decide to do this project? Drawing and painting flowers and faces is something I enjoy but also something I want to improve, so I’m setting out to draw a flower or face every day.

How has doing a yearlong / daily project affected your life? It has become a habit now, and I start to feel ‘the itch’ if I miss a day because I’m traveling or sick etc. It has also become a little piece of my day that is just for me, which has done wonders for my stress levels. I’d even go so far as to say I’m sleeping better at night because of my daily creative habit.

See all of Jessica's project on Instagram at @100daysofflowersandfaces.

366 Cranes

Ellen Fithian in Flower Mound, Texas is making 366 Cranes and leaving them for people to discover in various locations...

Why did you decide to do this project? My new project for 2012. Via instagram (@efithian #366cranes), I'll post and geotag a new crane everyday. Each will have a message tucked into a wing. I will also post the photos and quotes here as well.
I'm doing this for a couple of reasons:

1. Making cranes makes me happy
2. I need to read more quotes from people much smarter than me
3. Finding a new place to put a crane everyday will be a challenge
4. If someone happens to find one, that would be a great BONUS!

Along the lines of the ornament page from last year, Kiana and I have decided to donate $1 for every LIKE to Shiba Inu Rescue of Texas. Hope you LIKE, share, follow and maybe even find! 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I'm only a week into this project and it's already been a challenge to find new places everyday since I work in one location. But, it forces me to seek out places and gets me out of my usual routine. I pick the quotes which resonate with me but they may equally touch another person if they read it on FB or actually find one of my cranes. I've also realized that at the end of the year, all the photos would make an awesome poster.

See all of Ellen's cranes HERE.

Toy-A-Day

Joe Tanaka Chiang in Singapore is making 365 DIY paper toys at Toy-A-Day. Originally a daily project started in 2008, Joe now periodically makes a toy to add to the collection, all of which include a downloadable PDF so people can make their own!...

Why did you decide to do this project? At that time I had a lot of spare time at hand, so I was looking for ideas to do something to spend my time. At the same time, I did not want to start something too difficult so I thought making a paper toy using a simple template was the best solution. Also, I could share the templates easily with anyone as I did not want to do something too self-indulgent.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The project certainly changed my life in unexpected ways. Toy-A-Day was featured by popular sites like Gizmodo, Technabob, Super Punch, and the official Star Wars blog. I certainly did not expect to have thousands of hits a day when I began this project.

One of the more unusual things that happened was getting an email from Disney asking me to remove all the characters belonging to them within two weeks or they would send in their lawyers! I had no choice but to comply. However, that was not the end of the story. A few months later, I got another email from Marvel (which is owned by Disney). This time round, they wanted to commission me to design several Marvel characters for a new magazine they were starting using the same templates! I have since gone on to have a good working partnership with them.

One of the things that made me feel worthwhile doing this project was when I received some photographs from a school teacher in South Korea of little children having fun making paper toys from my templates on Children's Days. That really made my day!

See all of Joe's toys (and make them yourself!) HERE.

The Daily Cootie Catcher

My friend Michelle Taute in Cincinnati, Ohio is spending a year creating The Daily Cootie Catcher. 

She says these old school paper fortune tellers, "are [mostly] for adults and they cover all kinds of topics (Valentine’s Fortunes for the Chronically Single, Will You Reproduce?, Tattoos and You). Each one is available as a free PDF that you can download, fold up and start having fun with right away."...

Why did you decide to do this project? First, I’m a big fan of Skull-A-Day and your book! They both made me want to do a daily project. Once I started thinking about ideas, I remembered how much fun I had with cootie catchers—those little paper fortune tellers—in grade school. So, I thought, why can’t adults still have fun with those? One of my designer friends made me a template, and I started writing fortunes on a different theme each day.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I’m a busy freelance writer, so my personal projects often get pushed to the side by client work. This forces me to do a little of my own work each day. It’s also helped me be less of a perfectionist. I can’t think about the copy too long if I’m actually going to make a fortune teller every day. Also, it loosens me up because I know I’m going to make 365 of them. If I don’t get it right today, I’ve got another shot tomorrow. And the next day, and …

Download all of Michelle's cootie catchers on her blog HERE.

Crafting The Day – Everyday

Tatiana Kontouli, a graphic designer & artist who specializes in "everything paper made", based in Antiparos, Cyclades, Greece is Crafting The Day – Everyday...

Why did you decide to do this project? I intend (and already fulfilling) to make something (mostly) paper related every day, in order to challenge my creativity and to reach a whole new level. Also, along with graphic design, handmade stuff is my main income and by this way, I need to be motivated to create things and update my online shop everyday!
 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?The project has affected me in a really creative way, although some days are difficult, but the result at the end of the day makes me so happy, so I am glad I started it!

See all of Tatiana's creations on her site HERE.