My Craft Diary Shop is finally open!

After years of deliberation and even more months of resistance, I’ve finally gotten around to selling the stuff I make online. I’m now selling my stuff on Carousell, which is mostly a local platform where people sell things, old and used alike but if you like any of the stuff I’m selling, and you’re not from Singapore, feel free to email me at mycraft.diaryshop@gmail.com to contact me and we can arrange something out.

You might notice that I’m not only handmade stuff on the shop. That’s because it started out with a few steps to overcome my own resistance, and selling old stuff that I no longer use/enjoy while purging my stash was a good way to start. It then evolved a little to selling the stuff that my mum didn’t want to keep in the house anymore, since a lot of people sell them on the platform as well. And then I finally finally got around to putting some of the stuff that I made. It’s not a lot at the moment, just some minibooks that I made, and painted tags from my stash. I’m planning to add more stuff, particularly handmade cards, which should give me an excuse to create them. I like to make cards, but I don’t send them out too often. Sure, my friends enjoy receiving them but it gets kind of funny just sending out cards again and again without any reply… Nowadays I mass send them on special days so I mass produce for that purpose too, which isn’t too creatively challenging if you ask me. But the alternative would be too tiring to make like 9 different cards for the same purpose within a short period time.

Really need to thank Jennibellie and the folks over at Journal Workshop for giving me this mental push and butt kicking to overcome my creative resistance for this May’s monthly challenge. But this is a start at least, as I’m one (baby) step closer to overcoming my creative resistance. I hope that this too would perhaps inspire you to tackle your creative resistance as well.

Monthly Challenge Prompt: Back to School

September Monthly Challenge

This month’s monthly challenge prompt from Jennibellie’s Journal Workshop is “Back to School”. I actually did this page back in August, using the same prompt, since school started in August for me. Because I am still in school myself, I didn’t approach the prompt in the same manner as Jennibellie (her’s is more like nostalgia, reminiscing her days in school).

Each element on the page represent a part of my school life, both past and present, except for the background which was done way in advance – I just happened to pick this background as the page of my art journal page. It’s just a simple background, with a paper collage, tinted gesso and stamping. The colours I choose for each of the elements are kind of random. I just wanted everything to be a different colour and bright, hence the colours I have chosen from a limited colour palette. I used Neocolor II (set of 15) direct to paper, so no colour mixing there.

On the top left, the “Moosic Notes” was a memo pad gift from a secondary school friend. She bought this in Canada while on university exchange because of my involvement in music. To me, this represents the musical part of me – studying music up to ‘A’ levels, playing in orchestras (then and now), juggling piano lessons with university classes.

Below it, the books represent well, school itself. It’s all the textbooks that have past my hands, all the reference books I have referred to and all the readings that I have to read for my university classes. It is also my lecture notes, and all things words that my eyes see when I’m studying or in school.

The thought bubble on the top right represents daydreaming. It’s all the times that I get lost in class and stare blankly at my lecturers. It’s all the times I lose focus and let my mind wander to things that have nothing to do with the class. It’s also all the times that I get tired and doze off in class, entering my dreamland in the middle of the class.

Lastly, the pencil below the “Back to School” is just a representation of my writings. It’s the notes I write messily in class and rewrite neatly again after class. It’s the assignments I have to write in exchange for a grade. It’s the examinations I have to do at the end of every semester before I get my temporary freedom from school.

That for me basically sums up everything about “Back to School”. It started out because I was restless and wanted to do something. “Back to School” popped up as a prompt because school was about to start (think this was a couple of days before university started) and I couldn’t have done a more appropriate page to the prompt. Hope this does not count as cheating though, to submit a page that was done prior to the release of the prompt even if the exact same prompt was used.

Monthly challenge prompt: Window and doors

For the first time in a long while, I did an art journal page based on Jennibellie’s Monthly Challenge prompt (join the group, it’s free with lots of exclusive videos and crafty goodness!). This month’s challenge is all about windows and doors and this particular interpretation came into my mind:

It’s based on the saying, that whenever heaven closes a door, they will always open a window. And so I interpreted this way (and also what I journaled on the page):

Sometimes, doors look like they are good opportunity lost. But when heaven closes a door, they always leave a window open, whether or not you can see them at first. You just need to be patient for a little bit, wait for the clouds to clear and you’ll see the beautiful window and angel that heaven has laid out and opened for you a long time ago.

It surprises me how much this resonated with myself, even as I work on it. It’s been a long time since my art has been in sync with my journal; often it has just been journaling accompanied with colours or patterns or something that don’t speak the same as the journaling. Hence I hope this can continue, and that my interpretation of this has struck a chord with you too.