Making a Sketchbook for the New Year 🫘

I love this time of year. January is my birth month & has always felt like a time for fresh beginnings. In the afterglow of remnant holiday cheer, it’s quiet and low-key— the qualities of an afternoon nap before dinner.

Usually at this point, I’m getting together with friends to recap our holidays and curling up with a craft to hibernate for the rest of winter. This year is different because we’re throwing a huge party. It’s a joint housewarming-engagement-birthday celebration extravaganza, and we can’t wait!

Update: this was a success! I wrote a lil blurb in my January Favorites 🫘

New Year Beginnings ✦

One of my new years “goals” is to commemorate special occasions with tangible reminders. One of the ways I’m trying to to do that is through Junk Journaling Our Engagement Chapter 🫘, and also kind of my Studio to Closet— Behind the Make of My Wardrobe Project 🌱.

I think this practice of ‘memory keeping‘ + how it manifests physically has been such a strong theme in my mind, because even things like annotating books feel like they meet this goal. [See: January Favorites 🫘]

And a form of tangible memory keeping that comes to mind as an artist, is having a flourishing sketchbook practice.

Starting Small ✦

After making my own junk journal [See: Junk Journaling Our Engagement Chapter 🫘], I had the urge to make my own sketchbook as well. And I did! This time I actually took photos and created a DIY to go along with it. [See: How to Make an Upcycled Sketchbook 🌼]

My hope is that the small, portable size let’s me fill the pages without thinking too hard about it. The pages are quite thin so that I have to take a simple approach to it: pen, pencil, or pan pastels— a new medium I’m trying out!

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