January is usually a pretty laid back month for me. The holiday season is over and all the frenzy that comes with that is returning to normal. It's typically a slower month for my freelance clients in my line of work. It probably won't start getting back to busier levels for another month or two. (I mean, this isn't to say I'm not still busy—I am a mom after all LOL—but I can find a little more free time during the day...) This is when I like to take the chance to refresh, organize, and plan for the upcoming year.
As I talked about in my last post, I didn't really make any solid New Year's resolutions this year and have decided to "go with the flow." So that's what I've been doing—just...whatever I feel like. I've been enjoying some crafting and decorating for fun, gradually transitioning my home from Christmas to Valentine's Day. I've also had two kids' birthdays to put together. (Yep, I'm one of those lucky moms with not one, but two kids who have birthdays closely following Christmas.) I played around with some new toys I've acquired recently, like a nice art supply set and wire notebook binder (The Cinch by We R Memory Keepers—such a fun toy!).
A collage of some of my January creative projects
I've also been spending my time learning! One of my Christmas gifts was an online course called Textile Lettering Masterclass by Aurelie Maron. This was right up my alley! Perhaps you may have seen some of my past digital faux felt illustrations (shown below). This course was a perfect continuation of that experiment.
My digital felt sketches from 2020
Once I went through that course, I got the itch to seek out other fun tutorials and techniques. One of my favorites was the Realistic Paper Cut Illustrations in Procreate course on Skillshare by Lisa Bardot, which ended up being a nice companion to what I learned with the textile lettering one. I ended up taking a Valentine's Day–themed lettering sketch I'd done recently and creating two pieces, each using a different technique. Both were so much fun to create. I'm not sure which is my favorite...
My digital LOVE illustrations using two different techniques—faux textiles and paper cutting.
By the way, if you're interested I've turned these LOVE illustrations into a mini Valentine's Day card printable (with envelopes!) that you can get for FREE (available starting in February 2022) in a bonus section of my website, which you can access by signing up for my email list in the sidebar or bottom of the page.
Over the course of the month, I continued to go on a bit of a video binge whenever I had the chance, exploring a variety of creative topics ranging from watercolor painting to sewing. I really do feel inspired to learn and do MORE. So although I may not have done as much "work," I feel like my January was pretty productive!
—Nicole
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