I came up with the idea to do a year long project related to my word of the year - focus - and my goal for the year - setting up an Etsy store and making enough income from my creative endeavors to pay our bills.  This was a giant leap for us this year, but there were so many signs pointing me in this direction at the end of last year, that I just decided it was the right decision for us.  Now I have to make it happen though!  My biggest stumbling block for getting the Etsy store up and running was I had no clue what kind of product to make, because I am a dabbler.  I love to play with everything and experiment and then move on to something else.  Hence the Create Fearlessly 365 challenge.  I decided to create an original piece each and every day for 2016.  I gave myself one oops day (hence 365 despite the fact it's a leapyear). 

100% Original

What do I mean by original, you may be wondering?  Well, a lot of the times my art journal pages end up being a mix of collage, stencils, stamping, and scrapbooking papers - all of which are copyright to their original creator, making it very difficult for me to sell prints and such of my artwork.  So I decided this year that I'm going to create things that can be used in a multitude of different ways, but I want it to be my work 100%.  That is what I mean by original work.  I want to offer prints and other fun ways to get your hands on my artwork - and I want you to be able to create amazing stuff yourself.  This month for my Create Fearlessly Project, I'm working on creating coloring book pages.  These will be listed shortly, once I get them scanned!  Each month will probably have a different theme or medium that I concentrate on.  But right now, I'm loving just doodling and playing around!  My goal with this project is to experiment and play in areas that I love, but sometimes feel like I'm not good enough in.  

 

The First Set of #CreateFearlessly365 Projects

Here's a small sample of the pieces that I have been working on for the past couple of weeks since the New Year began.  These will make awesome coloring book pages and components for art journals.  I'm really super excited about how these doodles have turned out so far!

Join Me In #CreateFearlessly365

This is a great way to make space for your word of the year.  You can develop a challenge of some kind to hold yourself accountable to sitting with your word every single day.  You are also more than welcome to come play with me using #createfearlessly365 on social media!  Despite my ulterior goals with my own version of the #createfearlessly365 challenge, the real point of this challenge is to get us to make time and focus on making stuff.  Plus, as an added bonus, I will be posting free printables that you can color and play with in your art journals, planners, or even on your scrapbooking layouts!  I'm so very excited about this project and this year!