Time to wrap up the 2014 Documented Life Project art challenges. Melinda and I have enjoyed each week’s challenges as a way to stretch our creative thinking and try a few new things along the way.

Our last couple of weeks of 2014 were a little more quiet than last year. Not as many family here as last Christmas and Melinda and her kids were fighting “the sickness” that was going around. I finally got caught up on the last challenges and will share them with you now. Melinda will share her last challenges in another post.

The challenge for week 51 was: Arrows. I chose to make a gelli print of arrow shaped trees in a snow storm.

The challenge for week 52 was: Document your family holiday tradition. Through the years we haven’t done very well with traditions. Maybe because I have a creative family and they like trying new things. I think traditions are supposed to last for many years to be called traditions. This year we once again made a pasty dinner for Christmas (last year was the first year) only this time the meat was venison. They were yummy! Once again gifts were a minimal part of our Christmas– presents for the little kids and the adults drew names and gave gifts to the favorite charity in their honor.

No matter what each of our Christmas’s look like, the reason our family celebrates is because of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. When my son was a baby I wanted to have a nativity set he could play with. I made three dimensional figures out of fine plastic canvas using needle point stitching. I think the pattern included directions for a nativity with kings and shepherds and maybe more animals. Joseph, Mary, Jesus, a lamb, and donkey were all I completed with the intention of making more the next Christmas. Then I had more kids and this is as far as I got. Through the years this set was always placed under the tree in easy reach of my kids and then my grandkids. However, the plastic canvas on Mary has become brittle, so I had to stop letting the grandkids play with it. For this challenge, I took a picture of the nativity set, glued burlap fabric around the edges, and hand lettered the verse.

The challenge for week 53 was: Draw or collage something that begins with the first letter of your first name. I know what you are thinking– there are only 52 weeks in the year. Somehow they squeezed in an extra week for 2014! As I was taking down the tree and putting away the ornaments, I got my inspiration for this challenge. I have several ornaments with the word “JOY” hanging all over the tree. Since Jan and joy both start with “J”, it seemed a fitting way to summarize my year of 2014.

I cut circles from gelli prints I made and added hangers and silver thread to my page. I drew the word joy on red paper, cut it out and outlined it with a silver pen.

If you have enjoyed seeing the art challenges Melinda and I did this past year with the Documented Life Project 2014, why not join us in the Documented Life Project 2015? It’s just getting started and the focus this year is on the art with teaching of various techniques to use in your art journal. Come create with us!