18/12/2015

Inspiration: Holidays


Here it is! The last post in the Inspiration series. Over a year ago I asked in my blog's Facebook what you'd like me to post about. Of course I shall continue sharing the crafts and DT work I do, but I wondered if there's something more that you'd like to know. Like something about the mediums I use, my favorite supplies, about my process or similar. What was suggested was a post about inspiration. So I decided to start a series of post concentrating on something that inspires me.

In these posts I have share also my favorite mediums at that point, my craft space and drawn inspiration of the events I have attended. I honestly believe that anything and everything can inspire. It's just about keeping your mind open and not editing out the very first impressions, feelings and ideas that you get but instead evolving them to something fantastic. At least in my case the original idea might not be a true gem, but just by pondering it I usually get an idea that's worth doing. Like an upcoming post for next week when the last thing before falling to sleep I said to my husband is that if he'd know where to get a violin. 

Here's links to previous posts on the series:



As the last source I thought to concentrate to something that is on everybody's mind at the moment. At least I think so. More or less the upcoming holidays affect the way we are now behaving, crafting and living our lives. It can be Christmas or New Year or Hanukkah or just winter. But same applies to every holiday and major festivity in the calendar. To some it's Easter celebrations, or the Independence day. So while I celebrate Christmas and it's bound to effect my writing, the same applies to every holiday.

The one obvious way to use the upcoming celebration as the source for inspiration is the December or Christmas minialbums. To document something you do for the holiday each day or think back and journal about the ways and traditions of your family. I've done some kind of December daily every year since my first daughter was born. The first year I documented her first Christmas, next year it was time to document my second daughter's first Christmas. And after that it's been more about documenting what we do as a family. This year is partly an exception as I journal from my own point of you and document the things I do for Christmas or don't do.

To me these kinds of albums are awesome. I've done a Project Life album once and it's still not finished. I have all the texts and photos but the putting together... well, yeah. So even though I love the idea of documenting the daily life, the routines, the way we live now, I just can't keep up with it the whole year. I could do a monthly project like the December album during any month but somehow the end of another year, the winter time and the special month of December fit the best.


The other easy way is to add the holiday to your layout or to your journal. Even if you wouldn't take a lot of photos normally the holidays usually make us grab the camera more. And you don't have to do the layout just about Christmas or decorating the tree. Try to see pass the obvious and instead journal about the bond of the people in the photo, what they are going to do next year or about their wishes (Christmas wishes, if you want). Or take a picture of your tree and instead of describing how it was decorated, journal about the feeling it creates, your own way to relax in the middle of all the fuss. 

Depending on the way you journal in your art journal you can even pour all the stress and fatigue to it's pages, paint over and that way deal with the negative feelings. I think I personally might have to need to do just that as I've never been this late in my Christmas preparations! 


One more way to use the upcoming celebrations as a source for inspiration is to make decorations for it. Maybe mimic your favorite ornament or re-do last years decorations with a mixed media twist?  Or then try to capture the essential part of the season and making something to depict it - like the ghosts of Christmas past and present. You can also use the same idea in your journal or make a layout about the important parts. Maybe even make a piece of word art - think about the one word that would summarize the essence of the holiday for you.


Here's just a few ideas to get you going:

- document this years festive cards

- think of one word that would summarize the essence of the holiday for you

- use the received cards as the base or material for another craft

- use your favorite decorations as a jumping of point to another project

- pour all your negative feeling on to a journal, paint over and make it a start for something beautiful

- try a festive minialbum - make it either during the holiday or afterwards, swap for next year and see which way is better for you

- store gift wrappers, food packaging or other other paper-like festive items. Make a collage using them and turn that into a project.

- document your traditions

- make a piece of art for festive decoration

- think about the holidays that you celebrate and are important to you - what connects them? Journal about your findings or make a layout about it

- document your wishes for the upcoming holiday


Like always, I hope you found this post interesting or perhaps even inspiring! Like I said in the beginning of the post, this was the last one in this series. If you have any questions of suggestions for a series of posts for the new year, please let me know! And please also remember the "Inspired by" posts as I usually try to open up my process in them. For more inspiration and festive giveaways you could also check the "Countdown to Christmas" posts - there's more to come!

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a pleasant start to the weekend and lost of warm wishes for the upcoming Holidays also! 

2 comments:

Dawn C. said...

Riikka, thank you for sharing your inspiration posts this year. Lots of great ideas that can be applied to all kinds of crafts! Happy holidays to you!

Kathy Bradley said...

Riikka - I think that a true artist can be inspired by anything and everything around them - as you are. No matter what piece of art you create, ATC, tag, layout or off the page creations - your work is wonderful - and you let your love of the art shine through!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...