April Challenges and Inspirations

Since most of us are heeding the call to stay home and protect ourselves and everyone else, it's nice to have something to look forward to doing; like an art challenge. Admittedly, I participate in a couple of these challenges and inspirations each month anyway, but they mean so much more right now when it's tough to go anywhere and do anything outside of the home. 

The first one I'm going to mention needs more of an introduction than the simple bulleted list I usually do. It's The100DayProject. If you're on Instagram, you've likely seen mention of this project. It starts each April 7th (That's TODAY!) and runs for 100 days. The purpose is to explore your creativity for 100 days in any form you see fit and share your creative explorations online to inspire others. This will be my fourth year participating in the project. In 2017, I used the hashtag #Make100Earrings and did just that! In 2018, I decided to simply alter anything I could with #Altering100. And, last year, it was all about searching our property for the wild and wonderful for #SilverloxFinds. In fact, I still use that tag when I find something fun here since it was such a big hit. 

This year, I wanted to work on using some of the many art supplies I have hoarded for my art journaling. There are so many things that I have just never used. It's time for me to change that in some small way. I even created a spreadsheet by listing ten general supplies, then ten somewhat specific materials that I should try to use under each of those general ones. I'll pick one material each day and use it. Since being an artist is about actually using your materials and not just collecting them, I'm going to use the tag #MakeArtDontFakeArt this year. It looks like a couple of people have used that tag previously, but not in years. So, I'm grabbing it!

Like I said, the project starts today. You can join in with us or start whenever you like. It's such a creativity boost. And, gives you something to look forward to each day. I know I'm biting at the chomp to get started.  Will you be participating? I'd love to follow along!

Now, for the semi-monthly challenges that I often mention.

• Erin from Earrings Everyday is back at it with another We're All Ears Challenge for us. This month, she's selected HOME as the inspiration and has asked, "What does Home mean to you?" The reveal will be April 17th.
• I always love what Sarajo and Eric throw at us for the Honey Do List. This challenge began with Eric giving photos to Sarajo for jewelry-design inspiration, and now she shares those with us. The photos are ones Eric has taken himself and are often from one of their travels. I'm loving the ornate lock that is this month's photo-inspiration. Take a look and play along. The linky tool will be available for your reveal on April 20th. 
• At the Art Elements blog, Niky was given the task of selecting this month's Theme. She chose Bees! Unlike the other challenges in this list, this challenge is open to ANY art medium, but you must have a blog and sign up by commenting on the original post in order to participate. The blog hop will be on April 30th. 
• At Art Bead Scene, they've been doing Art Journies with specific art from artists as the inspiration. This year's Art Journey #3 is all about the quilts of Gee's Bend. This pulls at my heartstrings since I do love me some quilts and I AM from Alabama. The main requirement for this challenge is that an art bead must be included in your piece. Make sure you read all the specifics on their blog. You have until May 8th to participate. 

I'm sure there are all kinds of other challenges and prompts going on right now with so many people at home. If you know of any that I can add to my list, just let me know! Which will you be participating in?