Every day on my Idealog account on Bluesky - except for the days I forget - I share a quick creative idea - in addition to the more lengthy ones.

And because I like to archive things all in one place, I archive the collections here, adding the list on the last day of the month.

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December

1. Make something you love to give away to a stranger.
2. Create a new hand-lettering style and use it to make a piece of wall art of your favourite quotation or lyric.
3. Make a list of favourite things you like that no one else seems to.
4. Use old photographs to create a stop-motion film.
5. Make a list of boredom busters to bust your boredom with.
6. Go to the farmer's market and find something new to try.
7. Make a list of things that are most important to you.
8. Have a cook-off with family members or friends. Enjoy your resulting potluck!
9. Read a short story by an author you've never read before.
10. Explore your local library's resources.
11. Start a book with a one-word title.
12. Create a photo essay about something that's important to you.
13. Cover found objects with paint and use them as stamps.
14. Make a list of favourite holiday activities.
15. Create a still life of your favourite snack or drink.
16. Make a list of favourite life lessons.
17. Choose pictures and words that inspire you and create a mood board.
18. Walk with a friend or family member and catch up while strolling.
19. Create a self-portrait using only the shapes of the letters of your name.
20. Create an unconventional bouquet using twigs, leaves, and any bits of nature you find. Give it away.
21. Create a poster for a fictional event.
22. Make a seasonal wreath using recycled materials, broken items, or found objects.
23. Create a typography-based piece using quotes or lyrics.
24. Create something about a place you've never been but want to go.
25. Collage your cards and holiday wrapping paper.
26. Using stone, or wood stump with exposed rings, as a printing surface, apply paint/ink, place paper on it, and rub it gently with your hands, back of a spoon, or roller.
27. Create a hand-stamped or embroidered fabric design.
28. Doodle a repeating pattern using different textures.
29. Create a collage that illustrates a dream you had.
30. Transform old jars into decorative (or functional) vases, pen holders, or something else, by gluing found objects or broken items to the outside.
31. Make a list of things to start.

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November

1. Make a list of things to start saying no to.
2. Give someone access to a camera and ask them to spend the day taking pictures of everything they find beautiful. (Good activity to have a child do.)
3. Make a list of things you'd like to do for yourself.
4. Make a list of small ways to make a difference in the world, then do one.
5. Listen to a podcast about an unfamiliar subject.
6. Attend a songwriting workshop.
7. Make a mobile.
8. Start a book based on a true story.
9. Host or join an urban astronomy night.
10. Learn to draw something you've never drawn before.
11. Attend a virtual concert or webinar.
12. Try a new form of self-care, such as a favourites day or meditation.
13. Send handwritten letters to friends, family, or others.
14. Create a pop art-inspired portrait of a historical figure, or from a family portrait.
15. Make a mosaic from old tiles, glass, or stone.
16. Draw simple designs or messages on index cards or postcards.
17. Visit or volunteer at an urban garden or community farm.
18. Create a support list. What is important to you? What causes, what people can best do to help, etc.
19. What are your little wonders? It's always the little things that bring the most joy.
20. What are the things you've never done? Do one!
21. Plan your ideal day, even if you have to wait to do it.
22. For each letter of the alphabet, write about a topic that starts with that letter.
23. Do something you miss doing.
24. Make a list of future logs, then start one.
25. Learn to create envelopes out of decorative scrapbooking paper.
26. Create your own set of magnetic words for your fridge.
27. Make a list of things to keep. It doesn't have to be thing things, it could include promises.
28. Craft a miniature sculpture from whatever you have laying around.
29. Make a list of things that remind you of home.
30. Big TBR pile? Spend the month of your choice reading the first page of a different unread book. You can find my November 2024 list here.

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October

1. Use some fabric from something that was once important to you but is no longer usable to cover your journal.
2. Construct a narrative from letters - real or fictional, emails, blog posts, or texts.
3. (missed)
4. Make a list of things to photograph.
5. Create a mandala or geometric pattern.
6. Make a list of things to eat when you're feeling blue.
7. Find a local craft shop that lets you make something on site and make something.
8. Join a historic walking tour.
9. Make a list of unconventional uses for random household items.
10. Find an out of the way place in your town and create a hidden gem.
11. Start a book by a local author.
12. Create your own picture book with your own photographs or those you like from others.
13. Make a list of things to draw in a sketchbook - then get a sketchbook and draw them.
14. Make a stop-motion video using clay, toys, home goods, old jewellery, etc.
15. Create new rules for a classic game.
16. Make a simple stained glass ornament or window piece.
17. Make a list of things about the place you were born.
18. Using a randomly generated group of words, develop a word-based game or puzzle using these words.
19. Take a stroll along a lake, river, or beach and enjoy the sounds of the water.
20. Draw a comic strip or cartoon character.
21. Create a photography portfolio.
22. Make a list of things to do on your big day out.
23. Start a book from a genre you've never read before.
24. Write a monologue or dialogue for a character.
25. Make a list of things you want.
26. Create a vision board for goals and dreams, or things that make you happy.
27. Use a GPS device to track your movements for a day, then create a piece of art with the output map/shape.
28. Make a list of favourite sounds.
29. Design a new logo, crest, or other symbol for yourself or a friend.
30. Upcycle an old t-shirt into a reusable tote bag.
31. Make a list of favourite holiday traditions.

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September

1. Seek out a street performance of some kind and enjoy.
2. Go on a virtual road trip via mapcrunch.com, randomstreetview.com, driveandlisten.herokuapp.com, or drivenlisten.com.
3. Choose something at random from ted.com to watch.
4. How would you illustrate the concept of time?
5. Put together an outfit inspired by a painting or photograph you like.
6. Combine book pages with other materials like paint, ink, fabric, or found objects.
7. Listen to a new style of music.
8. Perform an act of kindness.
9. Find and explore the oldest building in your town or city.
10. Try a volunteer activity you've never tried before.
11. Create your own trail mix. Find a trail to enjoy it on.
12. Go to a book or poetry reading.
13. Write a letter to someone - even if you never send it.
14. Play a one-person board game. They do exist.
15. Go to a craft workshop and craft!
16. Learn to say “hello” and “thank you” in a new language.
17. Create a story around a random found object, like tickets, receipts, a rusted key, or notes.
18. Choose a random word from a dictionary and use it as the inspiration for something.
19. Create a drawing using only lines.
20. Visit a local museum or art gallery.
21. Make a list of grassroots ways to do an end run around capitalism.
22. Go on a historical walking tour.
23. Using a map, let the place names guide your story or poem.
24. Create something that provokes thought rather than tells a story.
25. Spend the day doing a hobby you enjoy.
26. Watch a documentary.
27. Create a playlist where the titles of the songs tell a story.
28. Sign up for something at the local library.
29. Listen to a different music genre every day, or week, or whatever.
30. Go to a workshop to learn something new.

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August

1. Create some writing prompts for yourself or others.
2. Choose a random photograph and write a short story, poem, or other descriptive piece inspired by it.
3. (missed)
4. Pick a favourite recipe and change one ingredient.
5. Choose an image. Tell a story.
6. The 10 things you'd take to a desert island.
7. Write a poem that uses alliteration in every line.
8. Create a poster for a cause you support.
9. Create a sculpture using old jewellery pieces.
10. Use a random text generator to create a prompt. Tell a story.
11. Learn to weave or knot a rug.
12. Make a list of favourite song lyrics. Bonus fun if you arrange just those lyrics into a whole new verse of their own.
13. Make up a list for your go bag, including the fun things.
14. Plan a solo picnic in a place you enjoy.
15. Using yarn or embroidery string, wrap various items to create decorative ornaments
16. Try a poetic form from another culture.
17. Make a list of favourite fictional items.
18. Take photos of silhouettes or shadows.
19. Make a list of favourite quotations.
20. Create a new recipe using unexpected ingredients.
21. Make a list of things to do for fun.
22. Create a collage of your favourite colours and textures.
23. Create a monochromatic mural.
24. Listen to a new podcast or try a new audiobook.
25. Get a journal and decorate the cover.
26. Take yourself on a solo reading date in a local botanical garden or park.
27. Visit a local museum or gallery you've never been to before.
28. Start and keep a list of any random questions that come to you. Spend a day once in a while looking up the answers.
29. (missed)
30. If you go out of town, send yourself a postcard from where you went - even if you just went one town over to do groceries.
31. Make a landscape using only images cut from magazines and newspapers.

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July

1. Transform an everyday scene into an extraordinary one.
2. Plan, do, document, and maybe share a solo adventure or activity.
3. Decorate plain cardboard/shoe boxes for storage, decor, or gift-giving by covering them with magazine pages.
4. Start a new hobby.
5. Create a 30-day challenge for yourself (or your friends and yourself!) for art, songs, music, self-care, cooking, food, culture, fitness, language, writing, photography, local adventure, travel, or something else. Blog, journal, share the list.
6. Pick a line from a poem or song you like and use it as the jumping off point for a poem of your own.
7. Create a colour wheel where each colour represents a different emotion. Use them to express and track your emotions each day through drawings, swatches, images, or written descriptions.
8. Create a list of activities or places to visit in your town that are free to do or enter. Try them out. Share the list and your adventures.
9. Add a bizarre or quirky item to your apocalist/bucket list.
10. Work with a medium that is subtractive, like an eraser or bleach. If using a medium like bleach, you can use cotton swabs to draw with.
11. When doing reviews/logs/reading challenges and journals of books/movies/music, instead of just writing the name of the media, you could print out the covers on small stickers and place them on the appropriate pages in your journal.
12. Transform complex data/data sets into art pieces. Use charts, graphs, or other visual representations as a basis for your work, or find another way to translate the data into a visual form.
13. Choose a random group of words and develop a travel challenge where you create hypothetical travel itineraries - or real ones - routes incorporating destinations, or experiences related to each word.
14. Think of things you know how to do and write out instructions to teach others how to do them.
15. Write a piece that has no verbs.
16. Set a small challenge for yourself each day, like learning a new word in English or another language, perform a random act of kindness, or something else. It doesn't have to be the same thing. Set yourself the goal of trying something different each day.
17. Combine travel writing with geocaching, documenting places visited, hidden and found treasures encountered, and recording it in whatever way you see fit.
18. Think of a favourite quotation, lyric, or saying and find a way to illustrate it. Collage, drawings, still images from cartoons or films, etc.
19. Explore untranslatable words from different languages that encapsulate feelings or experiences that don't have direct English equivalents
20. Go for a walk with a bag or box and fill it with objects you find - rocks, lost earrings, pop can tabs, flowers, coins, other ephemera, etc. Take pics to put in the box too. Use the items to create a collage, sculpture, or shadow box.
21. Create a tiny garden using small plants, moss, stones, miniatures, toys, glass bottles and beads, and creative landscaping. You could also add LED lights. This would work in a planter box too, for those without the space for a garden.
22. Typeractive! Using a non-functional typewriter, transform it into an art piece by painting it, adding decoupage, add ephemera, redecorate the keys, or use it as a base for a mixed media assemblage.
23. Listen to a new podcast or TED talk each day/week. I'm so very guilty of forgetting these things exist, and yet there's such a richness of them. Great fodder for conversation, writing, a media “book” club, other projects, or just for you.
24. Draw a landscape using only dots.
25. Take a photo of something that makes you happy.
26. Never been in there before? Go in there.
27. (missed)
28. Write about your favourite solo activities or hobbies.
29. Make a cartoon inspired by something you read - news, human interest, educational, a book, a sign, a pamphlet, etc.
30. Draw a still life using only shades of one colour.
31. Pick a favourite art supply and show others how you use it.

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June

6. Lists are the easiest thing there is, so get you a new (or old) notebook or do it digitally, and make a list (and keep it going) of things to be happy about - things, people, movies, quotations, a moment of peace, a good sneeze. All of it!
   
   Here's mine:
   
   
7. Watch the first TED talk you find on ted.com that starts with the first letter of your first name. Apparently, mine's going to be “Let your garden grow wild”. I note that I don't have a garden.
8. Experiment with calligraphy or hand lettering.
9. Sculpt a small object using clay, play dough, or plasticine. There are multiple recipes online to make your own, which means you get to decide your own colours. My grandmother used to make me pastel colours.
10. Fill a page with small circles and colour them in. You could even use dice, or another counting method, to gamify how - and with what colours - you colour them.
11. Create a piece using only primary colours. RGB or CMY.
12. Write a short story exactly as many words long as how old you are in years.
13. Create a photo essay or photo scavenger hunt.
14. Create some puppets or paper dolls.
15. Go outside and photograph the first thing you see that's your favourite colour.
    
    If you can't go out, try to spot something from your window that's that colour.
    
    If you can't spot anything, write the silliest thing involving that colour that you know.
16. Using any means you like - still life, words, photographic, music - illustrate something from a dream.
17. Draw a continuous line without lifting your pen.
18. Make a list of words to look up in other languages.
19. Monochrome study - black and white, greyscale, sepia, or any monochrome you like, in any medium you like. Even text.
20. Make an apocalist (or bucket list).
21. Create a portrait using only words and text.
22. Write song lyrics or poems based on a set of randomly generated words. Any LLM or AI can do that, or you could ask some folks to pitch in words, or you could hit up random pages in a dictionary or other book.
23. Each Saturday I post a longer or more detailed creative idea on my blog - most under the tag inkspiration, some under adventures, and some under per diem.
24. Get a stack of books, any books you have, and stack them such that the titles on the spines create a verse from the top down. Any kind of verse you like.
    
    Here's one from my comfy chair-side TBR pile:
    
    
25. Try a sensory experience.
26. Make a list (and find or create the images if you want) of things that would be great album/book covers.
27. Find a way to gamify your movie-watching experience to help you choose a new movie to watch each week. If it's a foreign (to you) film, try a food from that country for your movie snack.
28. Make a list of rainy day ideas.
29. Create a map of your neighbourhood.
30. Turn old fabric scraps into stuffed animals, pillows, or patchwork quilts. If you can't, put the scraps into frames to make some wall art, or to use as backgrounds for framed photographs.