Hi there! It’s the 10th… And it’s time to share the May instalment of Inspired by with you!

Unlike last month when I wrote that it felt like I had just shared my previous post, it now feels like I haven’t posted in ages.

I don’t know whether that’s a good or a bad thing, but I do feel a bit like there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel. It also feels a lot like summer is here with super sunny days and high temperatures. So who am I to complain!

I’ll start with an update on my #100DaysOfUsingACamera!

The 100 Day Project
The good news is that I’m still going! Here’s a list of my realisations along the way:

• I’m recording things that I haven’t recorded before or at least not in a while.

• I missed a couple of days, and apparently, Fridays are particularly bad days for picking up a camera.

• I never feel like bringing a camera along when I have to go out and about. Both cameras are too heavy and bulky. I don’t have a huge purse, and when it comes to taking a (note)book or a camera or my sunglasses or a camera, the camera never wins…

• Most times I only seem to think of picking up my camera when I sit down. Which is often at the table in the living room. Or when I’m watering plants. This reminds me of how my husband always complains about the amount of food and drink related vacation photos. It’s just because when you sit down at a table you aren’t busy looking, following directions or doing anything else!

• I don’t feel like picking up the camera when I already spent a portion of the day on work-related photography. Which is OK. I’m rolling with it.

• The problem with work-related photography is that I can’t always publish a photo right away. But I still want all the entries to appear in the right order on my Marshas100DayProject feed, so I’m archiving these photos until the project I was working on goes online. In theory, this means it’s possible to catch a glimpse of something secret on my feed. But only if you watch it like a hawk. And don’t blink.

• I caved and ordered a small tripod. I didn’t think I would ever need one. But stacking books will only get you so far. And said books aren’t always around either.

• I promised myself beforehand that I wouldn’t have to take the look of my Instagram feed into account for this project. And I don’t. I just post what I have for that day. I do notice when/where the order of the feed could be better, BUT it surprisingly doesn’t look half as bad as I thought it would look! I even have an accidental colour scheme going on! I’m excited to find out what my conclusions at the end of the 100 days will be in this respect.

• On the note of just posting what I have: I’m still flying at the seat of my pants. I have collected a couple of photography challenge prompt lists, but I haven’t used any of them yet. All of my posts were spur of the moment ones or event or work-related. I do read Studio Polle‘s daily prompts for #100daysconceptualplayground every morning, and sometimes my photo is influenced by it. I never use the hashtag though because I don’t want to mess up the artful hashtag feed with my ‘real life’ photos.

• At the moment I feel neutral about the project. It’s not a huge deal. I’m not particularly enjoying it, but I don’t hate it either, and I’m determined to keep it going. I’m mainly curious about how I’ll feel and what I’ve learned once I’ve completed the 100 days. I think slow and steady wins the race in this case!

34 days down, 66 to go!

Now let’s dive into my primary sources of inspiration this month!

The 100 Day Project(!)
Knowing that I spend a lot of time at home, I anticipated going into the project that the subject of home decor and clutter would come up for me. So I made sure this was in a way part of Marshas100DayProject.

Well over a month into it there are only minor changes visible. But there was a fair amount of decluttering going on in April, and I think both my husband and I are now much clearer on what we’re missing, what’s in need of change (or repairs) and what we would like to add (or get rid of).

I’ve been studying interior design, home decor, styling etc. too. To be honest: it’s daunting. Especially if an interior designer sums up what makes a delightful home and your house doesn’t seem to tick any of the boxes. Is that going make all of my efforts pointless?

Anyway: we’ve been gardening too. Sowing some climbers and sunflowers. Adding potted plants. Nothing too shocking because we have an idea about how we can change the yard to make it work better for us. We’re just not ready to tackle that project yet. Small steps!

Susan’s Garden
On the subject of flowers: I can’t remember if I wrote this already, but I enjoyed meeting Susan Tierney-Cockburn at the Elizabeth Craft Designs booth at Creative World in Frankfurt this year. And I’ve been dying to try my hand at making some flowers with her dies ever since.

So in the build-up to Art Specially (which took place 14 & 15 April) Esther of Artchicks Studio lend me some of the dies to play with. Of course, I didn’t have enough time to complete any project with them yet, but at least I gave it a go. I have a list of project ideas though, and I will get to them eventually!

Chiara Spruit (Stijlcoach Indiaan in je kast) – photo by Yolande Avé Stijlcoach & Personal Shopper

Accessories
I don’t know why and I don’t know how but accessories were a reoccurring theme this past month. It started with helping my aunt sort through some of her accessory drawers.

Then I attended a fun and eye-opening workshop about accessories by style coach Chiara from Indiaan in je kast (which was organised by ‘my’ style coach Yolande Avé).

Chiara gave a lot of useful information during the workshop, and there was a lot to think about afterwards. I organised my own jewellery and scarves the next day… And from then on I started to try on different earrings, rings and bracelets every day. Just for fun!

I didn’t buy anything new until I visited the Jewellery – made by, worn by exhibition in Museum Volkenkunde. I could not resist some of the bangles that are sold in the museum shop. And I only went to see the exhibition because Chiara had mentioned it!

I also found two new scarves, and I bought a couple of hair accessories to try out.

But please don’t think that I’m now going to fill my closets with random new stuff! That’s not what I want, and I’m glad to report that I don’t have to. Because a huge point that Chiara makes is that the best accessories have stories.

That’s why some of them are just ‘meh’ and others you will hang on to for the rest of your life. Chances are you will not find the latter on the highstreet anyway. You could. But probably not.

There’s lots more to say about the workshop, the exhibition and the museum but because my inspiration didn’t end here, I’ll share more about it in my first column for StencilGirl® Talk. Which is coming up very soon, so the wait isn’t too long!!!

Multilayered printmaking
The last thing I want to mention is printmaking. Layered printmaking. For my latest Gelli Arts® video, I was initially inspired by screenprints and those layered stamp sets that are all the rage right now.

I went on a wild Google chase until I had an idea of how I could create something like it with the gel printing plate. And I found so many awesome things along the way that I wish could take a course in printmaking techniques!

That’s a wrap!
That’s it for this month’s Inspired by!

Don’t forget to stop by Riikka’s blog Paperiliitin to see what she was up to in the past month.

Inspired by is a blog series by my friend Riikka and I.

On the 10th of each month, we share what inspired us that month with you and each other.

It can be anything from a person, a film, a book, a painting, to an item, something found in nature or in the city, a colour scheme or some materials we bought or discovered.

We will also share how the source of inspiration affects our work. Consider it a window into our creative minds!