Making art when you don't feel like it...

I had a bit of a moment today.

I've been feeling fairly uninspired creatively (not surprising really, given waves hand around vaguely in all directions) and apart from my almost daily knitting and/or crochet I haven't picked up any art tools recently.

I've been doing writing journaling, meditating and going for long walks with the dog in nature (you know, the usual stuff when you feel like shite) but nothing's really shifted.

Back at the end of December, in what my friend Nyree calls "the taint of the year", I set up my new Hobonichi Techo Cousin diary for the following year. I decided the colour theme for 2026 would be all green and gold. I picked out a bunch of stickers from my collection and put one on each page of the year.

When I turned to this week there was a sticker which said "Embrace what is good". I don't know why, but this morning I decided to grab some more stickers from the pocket of my journal cover. I started adding them to the side of the page and kind of went a little nuts with foliage and flowers. Halfway through I realised I had covered up the word "good". Now it just says "Embrace what is".

COINCIDENCE??? No idea. What I do know is that I felt a hell of a lot better for having let myself get a little creative this morning instead of playing Sudoku on my sodding phone.

You don't have to be an artist to do art journaling. You just need whatever is at hand and to stop overthinking. I've been overthinking a lot recently and it's been stifling my creativity. When I let go and just went bananas with some stickers it absolutely made my day.

I have never professed to be particularly good at drawing, but I do love me a bit of collage. I decorated the cover of my Hobinichi with images from magazines and stickers to inspire me in the year ahead.

I find the recycling of lovely images extremely satisfying (okay, I have to be mindful to rein in the amount of "fodder" I have) and sometimes just getting out a shoebox of papers is enough to inspire me to grab the glue stick and get creating.

Why do we forget about this playful art-making form? I was in my forties when I rediscovered collage and a way to invent new pieces from old stuff. There's something so gorgeously engaging about it and you don't need an artistic bone in your body to start.

My art journaling journey (once again I can hear my sister cackling) began with a craft paper notebook, a Pritt stick and some stickers. Now I'm a right fancy fecker with all manner of stencils, stamps, spray inks and lawd knows what else. But you don't need all that to start. Just a bit of glue and some old magazines.

Some art journalers actually call their art journals "glue books" because that's literally all they do - glue images and words from other sources into their journals.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a piece of paper, some glue and those magazines, leaflets and newspaper that were destined for the recycling.

Embrace what is. Make art.