Leah Piken Kolidas is Art Every Day Month ´s soul

 I participated in Art Every Day Month for the first time in 2006. It was fun, bubbly, with awesome talent and new friends and I went back for more again and again year after year. For 2014 I´m interviewing 30 talented and interesting artists from all over the world. Of course I had  to start by the creator of such an amazing art project: Leah Piken Kolidas.

I asked her about her creative space:

1) The day you stepped into your current creative space for the first time, did you already know how you wanted your studio to look like or did the design evolve from the actual space?

My current space is new and I’m still getting organized. When we added a new member to our family this year, I made my art studio my daughter’s big girl room, so that our son could move into the nursery. Our study downstairs is now my studio space. It is smaller, so I’ve had to get creative with storing things, but I love how it’s on the first floor and easy to access in my day to day life. And I love how sunny it is! I have the basic layout happening, but it may change as I get used to it.

2) After the work is done, do you clean up after each piece, after each day or whenever you can´t find the table anymore?

I’m kind of messy. I love organized space, but in reality it gets a bit chaotic. The upside to this is making unexpected discoveries as I work. It works for me. I tend to wait until it bothers me and then do one big clean.

3) Which is your best time of the day to create? Do you have music on or do you prefer to work in silence?

I love to work at night, but with two young kids, one of whom is a newborn, I create whenever I have the chance! I like to work with music on or even a podcast.

4) Which is your next project?

My next project is Art Every Day Month! I’ll be creating every day and posting it on my blog every day in November as I have been doing every November for over ten years! This year will be extra challenging, but I’ll be going for it along with anyone else who signs up for the challenge. All forms of creativity are welcome!

5) Where can we find you on line?

Blog: http://creativeeveryday.com

Art Every Day Month: http://creativeeveryday.com/art-every-day-month

Blue Tree Art Gallery Shop: http://www.bluetreeartgallery.com

My month in numbers August 2014. Goals check in.

August was all about art. We hadn´t set that intention, it just happened!

Edited to add: It took me 3 hours to write this post in between editing, resizing photos, making a photo collage and getting the numbers.

What is the longest you took to write a blog post?

For August 2014´s update and goals check in I´m doing {My month in numbers}. It is a project taking place at Julie Kirk´s blog  where you sum up your month with numbers. Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. This is my 29th consecutive participation.

I´m keeping 118 photos and 1 video for the month. Here are my favourites from each day. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I followed 25/31 of the #photoprompts for August plus 3 Plan B takes:  Find September´s prompts here in this note on my Facebook page (note available only during September 2014)!

For daily reminders of the #photoprompts Like my Facebook Page here or Follow me on Twitter here.

"On line" goals:

In August my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page grew by 45 followers. I´m hoping for the 900 followers milestone next. Suddenly the "crazy" goal for 2014 of 1000 looks doable. My Twitter account for which I didn´t set goals is growing too. 297 persons are following @PBAtweets.

Btw: everyday at 6pm my time I post a #photoprompt for the next day. Takes off the pressure of thinking what to photograph for your 365 projects, gives you a conversation starter and once you start looking for things you actually SEE more.

Plus I wrote 4 Wednesdays posts and had 1 guest blogger:
+ My July´s numbers.
+ #augustmoon14 writing prompts days 1 to 3
+#augustmoon14 writing prompts days 4 to 10
+ #augustmoon14 writing prompts days 11 to 15
+ Coach Donna: Fall in love with Life



Still working for the International Bloggers Association in my role of  VP of our G+ community which you can join here

I was invited to cohost linky parties:
+ 4 #ilovesocialsaturday
+ 4 Ultimate Facebook parties
+ 3 #Growyourcircles
That many linky parties I´ve been doing had been overwhelming for my Happysnappy blog so I moved them to their own site: Nice to meet you

My "hobbies" goals for this year include:

60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 0 in August, 5 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for June, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 ! Finally!!!).

My "go out" goals for 2014:

The girl in the pink shorts is my daughter. :D
You can barely see my face behind her.

From the 6 new places to eat: 0 this month, that is 2 total, 1 craft fairs in August ( 7 total), 0 animé exhibitions ( 3 out of 2 total Yay! ) and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1art exhibit in Jan. and now 1 revisit.
I hadn´t added any theatre or dance, yet we were invited to two events.

First a ballet gala. Marianela Nuñez is one of the Principal Dancers in The Royal Ballet. From London to her childhood neighbourhood, which is my own. She came for a charity event. :) 

The school my kids attend has a theatre for the school plays and also has its own troupe with students, former students, parents and teachers. They usually present German plays because it is a bilingual school Spanish / German. This year we were invited to see Happy End by Bertolt Brecht.

Ever been to a ballet or a musical? 

My month in numbers for July 2014

July was all about the pictures. Not surprising from someone who calls her blog "Happysnappy". ;)

For July 2014´s update and goals check in I´m doing {My month in numbers}. It is a project taking place at Julie Kirk´s blog  where you sum up your month with numbers. Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. This is my 28th consecutive participation.

I´m keeping 220 photos and 3 videos for the month. It was my girl´s birthday and that event got a lot of camera attention. :D Here are my favourites from each day. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I followed 09/31 of the #photoprompts for June plus 7 Plan B takes:  Find August´s prompts here in this note on my Facebook page (note available only during August 2014)!

For daily reminders of the #photoprompts Like my Facebook Page here or Follow me on Twitter here.

News of the month:

My girl´s 15th birthday party

"On line" goals:
In July my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page grew by 78 followers. I´m hoping for the 900 followers milestone next. Suddenly the "crazy" goal for 2014 of 1000 looks doable. My Twitter account for which I didn´t set goals is growing too. 268 persons are following @PBAtweets.

Btw: everyday at 6pm my time I post a #photoprompt for the next day. Takes off the pressure of thinking what to photograph for your 365 projects, gives you a conversation starter and once you start looking for things you actually SEE more.

Plus I wrote 4 Wednesdays posts and had 1 guest blogger:
+ My June´s numbers.
+ How to plan a party using Pinterest
+ Something I found on Pinterest that I actually made
+ A step by step tutorial on using jars for souvenirs
+ First steps on setting up Pinterest by China Rodriguez 


Remember I got invited to be part of the board of the International Bloggers Association? Well I was promoted to VP of our G+ community which you can join here AND I´m also in charge of the G+  sharing network. It is brand new, come and make your voice heard.

I was invited to cohost linky parties:
+ 4 #ilocesocialsaturday
+ 4 Ultimate Facebook parties
That many linky parties I´ve been doing had been overwhelming for my Happysnappy blog so I moved them to their own site: Nice to meet you


My "hobbies" goals for this year include:
60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 0 in June, 5 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for June, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 ! Finally!!!).

My "go out" goals for 2014:
From the 6 new places to eat: 0 this month, that is 2 total  ,  0 craft fairs in June ( 6 total),1 animé exhibitions ( 3 out of 2 total Yay! ) and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1 art exhibit in Jan. and now 1 revisit.
(

Rowing club in Tigre

Navy museum

Do you keep track of your goals on a regular basis?

June´s 2014 summary in numbers

For June 2014´s update and goals check in I´m doing {My month in numbers}. It is a project taking place at Julie Kirk´s blog  where you sum up your month with numbers. Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. This is my 26th consecutive participation.

I´m keeping 115 photos for the month. Here are my favourites from each day. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I followed 18/30 of the #photoprompts for June plus 5 Plan B takes:  Find July´s prompts here! For daily reminders of the #photoprompts Like my Facebook Page here or Follow me on Twitter here.

News of the month:
Edwina, that´s my car, got to her 40000th km on June 1st. I kept an eye on the dial so I could park and take the picture.

Tati participated in an UN project at the National Congress for her school as part of a three team group, one of the teams got a prize for their work. Congrats kids!

Daniel was in Germany representing our school. He learnt how to take selfies because I asked him to. :D <3 p="">

Our son bought his first dot com domain. :)

"On line" goals:
In June my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page grew by 143 followers. Somebody must have been promoting my page as I got 100 new Likes in a 24 hours period. I´m hoping for the 800 followers milestone next. *I even have my celebration sign ready* The goal for 2014 is 1000. My Twitter account for which I didn´t set goals is growing too. 206 persons are following @PBAtweets.

Plus I wrote 4 Wednesdays posts:
+ My month in Numbers with May´s data
+ The reasons why a handmade calendar is so awesome by iHanna  
+ My work style
+ Quinn McDonald´s latest book Inner Hero, arrived in a box An autographed copy for me. :)

I got 1 award this month: the 2014 Influencers Award

I also got invited to be part of the board of the International Bloggers Association. I will be in charge of our G+ community which you can join here. It is brand new, come and make your voice heard.

I was invited to cohost linky parties:
+ 4 Saturday Media
+ 4 G+ Mondays

My "hobbies" goals for this year include:
60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 1 in June, 5 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for June, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 began in Jan but I got going again this month).

My "go out" goals for 2014:
From the 6 new places to eat: 0 this month, that is 2 total  ,  1 craft fairs in June ( 6 total),0 animé exhibitions (2 out of 2 total Yay! ) and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1 art exhibit in Jan.

This is me with Yasmin from Puchinis

Out and about in May 2014

For May 2014´s update and goals check in I´m doing {My month in numbers}. It is a project taking place at Julie Kirk´s blog  where you sum up your month with numbers. Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. This is my 25th consecutive participation.

I´m keeping 77 photos for the month. Here are my favourites from each day. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I followed about half of the #photoprompts for May:  Find June´s prompts here!

"On line" goals:
In May my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page grew by 26 followers. I´m hoping for the 600 followers milestone next. *I even have my celebration sign ready* The goal for 2014 is 1000. My Twitter account for which I didn´t set goals is growing too. 146 persons are following @PBAtweets.

Plus I wrote 4 Wednesdays posts:
+ Reduce the scope and keep the schedule James Clear on what to do when you don´t feel like showing up.
+ Blog planning: big projects, small tasks
+ The cost of lost opportunity
+ A moving story, literally

 And I was a cohost every Saturday for The Ultimate Linky Bloglovin party. If you want to get to know more cool people on different platforms and get people to know you and your work visit Tammy at The Ultimate Linky.


My "hobbies" goals for this year include:
60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 0 in May, 4 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for May, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 began in Jan).

My "go out" goals for 2014:
From the 6 new places to eat: 0 this month, that is 2 total  ,  1 craft fairs in May ( 5 total), 1 animé exhibitions (2 out of 2 total Yay! ) and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1 art exhibit in Jan.

Cosplay girls at animé convention

It seems that every month this year starts with a flurry of activities and then things get calmer, smoother and a bit of "I´ve had enough".

I made this #01

Remember when you were a kid & shared your creations with delight? I´ll share mine today. 

Each Monday Jamie from Jamie Ridler Studios invites you to share what you’ve made over the week before. It can be anything – a flower arrangement, a crocheted cap, a painting, a poem, a party, an outfit, a cake! Write a post about it and share it here (click here to add your link) 

Last year Susana from Diseña tu vida made three matching jackets for the girls based on the Matryoshka vocaloids.

The girls being photographed at an animé convention

Using that one to create the newspaper sewing pattern I cut the pieces from black fabric for the arms and white fabric for the body and hoodie to create a panda bear jacket.

Daughter pinning fabric - October 2013

The assembly part was not as difficult as I had predicted during  the six months that I had the pieces on hold. Yes, six. I was slightly scared. Honestly ... terrified, I tell you. That was until I started putting them together. I just showed up and did the work. I discovered then that the body was too short. Mmmmmmm What to do?

I added a strip to the bottom of the jacket. Doubled for it to have a tidier look. I ironed it and measured it to fit the waist.

When I added the pockets I niticed that it would be both better looking and safest for the sewing to tag them inside the seams. Although I discovered that after sewing the sides. Never mind. Simple sewing that side and tagged the rest. ;)

I admit I already knew how to sew a zipper, from my cushion making phase some 18 years ago (Mati was a baby then) so that was not hard. I will also admit there was some design problem that made the hoodie uneven. It will look better next time. Because there IS going to be a next time. Now I know it can be done and in the words of Srinivas Rao from Unmistakable Creative "I didn´t die, went bankrupt or went to jail" which are his parameters for trying out things, then I know I will try some more patterns.

The finished panda jacket

What is waiting for you in the "To be finished" pile?  

Keeping memories: How to organize your photos. Paper version

You have tons of photographs. Both the paper and the digital type. So many that they feel overwhelming. It is time to put some order to your memories.

My granfather on his grandmother´s knees. Ca 1907

First thing you need to know: where are your photographs?

Paper copies.
Are they in boxes, envelopes or albums? Gather them in one place to start sorting.
Most useful way to keep them in order to find what we are looking for quickly is in chronological order. Make some "When, Who, When, Why" notes. You might remember when these were taken and who is on them now but will you remember in 20 years time?

Tip: add a 6x4 card with all the notes in the envelope or place it as another picture in the picture slots of the albums.

For the older paper pictures that came from film: where are the negatives? Are they placed with the envelopes / albums or are they mixed up? If they are with their paper versions, leave them where they are. If they are mixed up, place them together in a box. We will come back to order those later.

Tip: when you actually go through the negatives add a small white label sticker on the negatives envelope with the date.

As I am a scrapbooker I print what I want to put in the albums. Those pictures are stored by album theme and sub theme. Click here to read a post showing you how I do that. 

Do you have photographs in frames at your home/ ofice? Do you update them with newer versions?