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.
May
- Create colouring pages.
- Do something, and detail it, that starts with each of your initials.
- Use a magnifying glass to focus on small objects or their parts - fabric textures, leaves, etc. - and draw or paint what you see.
- Cut a paragraph of text into its separate word parts and arrange/rearrange them into different groups to create poems, sentences, phrases, etc.
- Find an online tool (if you need to) to generate some soundwaves with, and use them to create something else - fill in the wave forms with images, colours, patterns, words, or something completely different.
- Create a map for a loved one, or yourself, that shows different important spots from their life.
- (missed)
- Cut the letters out of old bags, t-shirts, and other items and use those in a project.
- Make a fun and games gift jar for someone you know - add a notebook, pens, puzzle books, games/adventures you create for them to do, project ideas, colouring pages, sudoku, mini kits, etc.
- Create a landscape using "wrong" colours - pink air? orange sea? mauve trees?
- Try an upcycling workshop or project.
- Use your phone to capture at least one thing each day that pleases you in some fashion.
- Catch a local theatre production.
- Using 52 photos you took yourself, create your own deck of cards.
- Collect random found objects into a mystery bag that you gift to someone else to create something with.
- Create some natural jewellery from leaves, flowers, stems, and other flora.
- Take a bird's eye photo of a location and create a game board with it.
- Arrange the titles of your favourite songs into a poem.
- Make a piece of jewellery out of something that isn't jewellery, or make jewellery into things that aren't jewellery.
- Do a doodle a day and turn them into a grid at the end of the month.
- Create a landscape using any media you like using only different shades of one colour.
- Make your own photo-based storybook with photos you take yourself. Add text, or not.
- Create playlists for your cleaning mood, your reading mood, your relaxing mood, or any mood.
- Put together a story from the first (and/or last) lines of your favourite books and stories.
- Make a sticky-note flipbook of something simple.
- Put together a piece of wearable art from fabric scraps, yarn, pieces of metal, etc.
- Make a zine or mini magazine.
- Decorate the sidewalk in front of your home with some sidewalk chalk art or a cheering phrase.
- Cross something off your apocalist by doing it.
- Decorate a rock and put it somewhere for someone to find.
- Learn one of the many ways to marble paper.
April
- Make a list of fictional items you'd like to own.
- Build sculptures from sticks, stones, leaves, and other natural elements and leave them out in the wild.
- Choose an item you'd planned to throw away and turn it into something you'd want to keep.
- Document the small joys of your day in a scrapbook or journal by using photos, doodles, clippings, or writings.
- Find a puddle and use it as a mirror to draw or photograph the reflections shown in it.
- Go for a walk and write a short poem inspired by something unusual you see.
- Make a list of places you want to visit. Visit one.
- Play a favourite childhood game.
- Recreate a famous artwork, in whatever size or format you like, using everyday objects.
- Turn your favourite quotations, sayings, or lyrics into a word cloud to glue into your journal or turn into a piece of wall art.
- Use magazine pages for gift wrap.
- Create a dictionary of words that have significance to you and define them with your own stories, drawings, images, and more.
- Design your own coat of arms.
- Explore where you live, and try to find something starting with each letter of the alphabet. For example: A = art gallery, B = book store, and so on, or even the letters of your name.
- Make a bingo card for your walk and take a photo of each thing you find. Attach it to the spot on your card, and make some wall art from your grid.
- Learn something you've always wanted to learn.
- Write one-sentence stories based on things you've overheard.
- Visit a botanical garden.
- Make some t-shirt yarn and create a wall-hanging with it and other fabric scraps.
- Acquire a list of random words and design a menu with absurd and creative dishes inspired by them.
- Join a photo walk or history walking tour.
- Embroider some favourite words or quotations onto a t-shirt to wear.
- Design some quilting squares, even if you never make them, or the quilt.
- Create some ornaments, window gems, or chandelier hangers from old jewellery.
- Using some sturdy enough card, take a photo and create your own postcard by affixing a print of the photo to the card, or printing right on the card. Write a message and send it to someone.
- Try a workshop with a local artisan, artist, or crafter.
- Choose a book you like and redesign its cover.
- Animate a dream in flipbook form.
- Pick a colour before you go for a walk and look for things that colour. Take pictures of them and turn the photos into a collage. Or just enjoy them as they are.
- Build a sculpture entirely from leftover materials or "junk".
March
- Starting today, or on the first day of any month, pick a single word each day that encapsulates it, and create something with the collection at the end of the month - a visual piece, a poem, a collage, an embroidery of the words, a gift for a loved one, etc.
- Add something unexpected to a piece of old thrifted art.
- Pick a book you enjoyed that's never been made into a film, and cast its film.
- Draw winding paths and fill them with tiny stories.
- Create an audio collage or soundscape of ambient sounds of places you visit.
- Arrange chaotic drawings or doodles into grids.
- Use translucent/transparent materials to create some layered art.
- Arrange objects of different colours into distinct groups or patterns and snap a photograph from above to create a colour-blocked image.
- Build or craft something for your home that you'd normally just buy ready made.
- Create some desert island lists.
- Capture something reflected in water, mirrors, or glass.
- Embroider a simple design onto a piece of clothing.
- Carve an eraser into a stamp and make prints on paper or card.
- Experiment with abstract photography.
- Find a fence, and instead of leaving a lock, tie a string of beads, a little bag with a tiny gift, or something else.
- Go to a poetry reading, spoken word, or open mic event.
- Indulge in a home spa day, in whatever form that means to you.
- Learn how to create a DIY bird feeder using inexpensive materials.
- Make a list of favourite local things to do. Go do one.
- Something that makes you feel at peace.
- Take a series of photos capturing a day in your life.
- Use ice or sand to create something temporary.
- Build, or at least plan, a small diorama in a box, bottle, or frame.
- Arrange a random group of words on a page to create a poem, image, or something abstract.
- Create a mandala using found objects, coloured pencils, and collage elements. Make it your own by including symbols, colours, and items that represent you.
- Press natural objects into paint or ink to use as stamps.
- Manually distort printed images to create something glitchy, pixelated, or distorted in some other way.
- Bring a notebook and write down interesting words or phrases you see on signs, graffiti, advertisements, etc. throughout your day. Use them to create a poem or some other thing when the day is over.
- Use pages from old science books or newspapers to create blackout poetry.
- Take macro photos of everyday objects to reveal hidden textures.
- Create a monogram of your initials.
February
- Design a treasure map that leads someone to a hidden surprise (a small gift or note).
- Make a wishlist.
- Create a list of things to share, make one, and share it.
- Carve some intricate designs into the pages of an old/damaged book, or do some folding art with it.
- Try a free online class or tutorial on something you've never done before.
- Create an audio collage or soundscape of ambient sounds of places you visit.
- Use an old or damaged map as a cover for a journal, scrapbook, photo album, or something else.
- Collaborate with friends or other loved ones to create a collage.
- Invite friends over for a book swap. Each person could leave a note in the book at their favourite part.
- Compile a learn list of things you want to learn - facts, skills, crafts, words, languages. Anything you like. Start learning one.
- What makes you laugh?
- Add surreal and unexpected elements to photographs, either when you take the image, or on it when you print it.
- Build a mobile with found objects, old jewellery, mismatched cutlery, etc.
- Create a decorative family tree (or friend circle) and frame it as a gift for a loved one.
- What are your favourite wastes of time, good and bad? Waste some time on one, or three.
- Get a large enough format scrapbook shaped to suit your tastes, and design your own book covers - either for books you might make yourself, books that don't even exist, or redesigns of book covers that do.
- Take a photo of something beautiful and send it to someone who would appreciate it.
- Invent a game. Teach it to someone.
- Find some obscure or obsolete words and make them new again.
- Create a collage or other visual art piece from a newspaper headline that caught your eye.
- What's your favourite weird fact? For me, it's that water doesn't move around the earth, the earth moves under the water.
- Make a list of ways to make a commute more enjoyable.
- Give quilling or paper filigree work a try, or invent your own paper art craft.
- Think about your favourite flowers and try to create them in fabric, paint, paper, with buttons, with whatever you like, in whatever style suits your fancy.
- Find a way to play with clay.
- How far would you go, and what would you go that far for?
- Make a list of "I prefer - this to that". Like: I prefer black ink pens to blue, oranges to apples, punk to metal. Here's one I started years back.
- Create a playlist based on your preference lists from yesterday. Share it, if you like.
January
- Transform book pages into wearable art by turning them into pendants, earrings, bracelets, or make beads of the paper and string them.
- Make a list of things to know.
- Spend a day taking photos of a particular theme (e.g., doors, colours, reflections) and share your best shots, with or without commentary.
- Make a list of food combinations you'd like to try.
- Create a playlist that tells a story.
- Write a poem using only words that start with the same letter.
- (missed)
- Make a list of things that are on your manifesto - or make a manifesto.
- Draw or doodle something that represents your day.
- Make a more of / less of list for the year ahead, or month, or just overall. Let's see: more reading, more making art, more community involvement, less sedentaryness.
- Cut out shapes or words from book pages and attach them to a mobile structure, creating a kinetic art piece.
- Create a landscape using only shades of one particular colour.
- Using a randomly generated group of words, pair two of the words together and pretend it's a new product. What is it? What does it do?
- Create a 15 or 30-second silent film - animated, drawn, live action, or whatever other form you like.
- Something you're looking forward to.
- Design and print a small 3D object. If you don't have a 3D printer, many public libraries have makerspaces that have them.
- Create a still life, digital or otherwise, of mechanical things.
- DIY something around the house without spending money.
- Pick your favourite books, or ones that have impacted you the most, and create a poem out of their first lines.
- Design a piece of jewellery or an accessory.
- Create a list of your all-time favourite books, movies, or songs. Share it.
- Draw a favourite animal or insect and exaggerate one feature.
- Write about something you're proud of.
- 5 things you love, hate, want, need, hope, and are.
- Make a list of things to do for a solo or couple date night/day, cut the list into strips, put them in a jar, and draw one randomly to do.
- Make a list of things that challenge your comfort zone. Do one.
- Write a short poem or story inspired by something you read.
- Something beautiful you saw today.
- Collect discarded items and turn them into something useful or beautiful.
- Create stickers or cards with positive messages and leave them in public places.
- Create a collage piece where each element represents a different memory.