Looking Back, Moving Forward

Hello all!  I often start the new year by looking back over the journey from the year before.  I find it it really useful to chart the ideas, obsessions and possibilities which have travelled across my craft mat.  Reflecting on the pieces which gave me most joy in the making (and it almost always aligns that if I've enjoyed the process, then I'll like the finished project) allows me to see where the journey is taking me, and that helps with moving forward into the next year.

So here are some of my favourites from 2018... in chronological order - it's way too hard to put them in order of preference!  If you want to revisit any of them in detail, just click the project titles.

Trailing Ivy

This ATC, made for Destination Inspiration over at A Vintage Journey is an easy pick for the list.  It may be tiny, but it has my favourite colours, some crackle, meadow flowers and ivy.  And words that very much hit the mark for what's been going on with me this year.

Believe in Adventure

From a tiny ATC, we move to a pair of jumbo tags.  But they have the blues and browns in common, and those words again - the sense of potential and possibility, with the need to be strong.  And I so loved playing with the die-cut circles and the offcuts from the cutting.

Bubble, bubble, boil and bubble

You can tell I like something when I give it a Shakespearean title... even if it is a slight adaptation!  These rusty bubbles of glassy UTEE were one of my favourite experiments of the year - and the words take us on a thought experiment about finding a new place to live.

No Small Dreams

I released some new quote stamps with PaperArtsy early in the year, and these tags were part of my launch samples.  It was so interesting to work with the colour palette required - a fresh combination for me, and it worked so well for some of my favourite words - in this case from EAB07 Dreaming & Doing.

Secret Things

There are more of my words - these from an earlier set, EAB03 Music & Silence, and by one of my favourite poets, Rilke - on this simple, springtime tag.  The Idea-ology Paper Dolls seem to have made their way into this favourites post quite a lot.  I love how they tell me stories as I'm creating with them.

Salty Watercolour Words

A whole bunch of quotes appear on these salty bookmarks.  And I get double points from William Morris ("Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."), since these are definitely useful - I have them tucked inside all the books I have on the go - and they make me happy each time I open the pages and see them there.

Meadow Medley

This album was created as part of my design team duties for the Mini Album Makers Challenge.  Sadly, I've had to pull out of the team now, but along the way I made some of my all-time favourite things.

I love the natural elements here - first of all used to create the Gelli prints inside, and then they made their way onto the cover, preserved forever(ish).

Meadow Meditation

This second album is a companion piece to the first and I couldn't pick between them, so you get both!  This time it's all about the stencils - printing inside, and used with texture paste on the cover.

And this time I used the Gelli plate to print my inky backgrounds before letting loose with stamps and stencils and some more of my quote stamps.  When I turn the pages of this book, I feel calm and serene, and the words on each page allow my thoughts to follow fresh ideas.  It really is a meditative piece.

A Celebration of Friendship

This concertina tag album was created to celebrate 60 years of friendship between my mother and one of her oldest friends.  It makes me happy front and back, inside and out - and it's just as well I had a lovely time making it as, having given this to her friend, Cestina demanded one for herself too.  I've yet to make it - but hope to get round to it soon!

Engraved Enamel

These "engraved" panels were a PaperArtsy project for the Baked Texture theme - using Seth Apter's Baked Texture powders and my quote stamps.  I was thrilled with the outcome.  The technique has so much potential and I'd forgotten all about it... see, that's what a retrospective is for!

Thy sweet love remembered...

The vintage neutrals are pretty standard round here, as is the fact that whenever romance puts in an appearance it tends to have a melancholy twist to it.   To be honest, I'm not quite sure why this tag appeals to me quite so much - it just does, and it definitely had to be in this list.  Maybe it's those lavender sprigs?

Naturally Neutral

This tag trio is definitely competing for top favourite of 2018.  Again, it may be those dried flower sprigs, or something about the spare simplicity.  Of course the meadow flowers are always going to make me happy, but there's also something about not piling too much on, and knowing when to stop.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Having said that, this giant tag is also vying for top place, and this has got plenty piled on to it!  It was made in a joint Skype crafting session, with Brenda and Nikki - each of us taking turns to suggest the next step in the process.  I'd been nervous about working on such a large substrate, but oh how I loved it once we started!

Autumn Splendour

Having got over my jumbo tag fear with the Skype session, this one sprang to life almost without my help.  In fact, I started preparing the basics before we even got to the Skype session.  Autumn is the one time of year when bright colours fly across my craft desk without a second thought... where nature leads, I follow.

Winter Journal

After a sluggish time creatively, I set myself the challenge of journalling as often as possible through December, and I had a ball.  For me, it's a tough call between Pages I, V, VIII and IX for my favourite, but you can choose for yourself by clicking the link above the photo, which should allow you to scroll through all twelve.

Star Light, Star Bright

I'm finishing with another tag trio.  I do like sets and pairs and trios and series, something I'll definitely take forward into next year.  These came about from another Skype crafting session - something I also hope to squeeze in again, though it may be tough to schedule.  There's something very freeing about not being in charge of every step of the process!

It was a relatively quiet year here on the blog (busy with lots of theatre work) and 2019 is going to be just as complicated, involving - amongst other things - a move to another country.  But a chief reason for that move is to rebalance so that the artwork can play a larger part in life from here on.  So, although it may be another quiet-ish year here on the blog, I hope it will be a pull back in order to spring forward by 2020.  Watch this space!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and for your company on this crafting journey.  Oh, and thank you for the lovely comments on my Winter Sun tag.  Although it's simple, I can see it making its way onto next year's list - it does make my heart sing along with the birds!  I wish you all lots of luck and joy with your journeys this year, wherever they may be taking you.  Happy Crafting all!

We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.

From Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera