30 Days Hath September Make'n'Tell Challenge

I've been racking my brain, trying to think of ways to motivate myself to increase both my crafting and my blogging, and last night (or rather, very early this morning) it came to me: Make something every day AND blog about that thing. Remember when you were in grade school and you had Show'n'Tell and you brought your whatever in and told everyone a little bit about it? Pretty much the same thing here, except the whatever has to be created by me and the telling is done with pictures on this blog instead of in a classroom full of snot-nosed kids.

Should you be a crafty blogger yourself, I invite you to join me. Let me know you're participating by emailing (lauraDOTyonaATgmailDOTcom -- modify all caps to symbols) me your name and blog address and I'll link you over on the right there. There might even be a badge (hey, maybe that could be my first Make...). I know it's short notice, but feel free to join in at any time during the month. I originally thought I'd try to do this for a year, but then I thought I'd see how it goes for a month. So hopefully this will be an ongoing exercise.

Here are the rules, such as they are. If you don't follow them, we will all point and laugh (just like real Show'n'Tell). Seriously, these are the parameters I'm setting for myself. If something in these doesn't work for you, feel free to change it so it does. This is intended to help me focus and grow as an artisan, not be some kind of weird refuge for rule lawyers. Without further ado and in no particular order:

1. The Make can be in any medium, including but not limited to yarn, digital graphics, food, photography, drawing, painting, etc.
2. The Tell must include at least one photo.
3. The Tell must occur on the same day as the Make, unless the blogger gives previous notice (for example, I'll be on vacation with spotty internet access in the middle of September. I'll still Make on those days, but will have to post my Tells later. Before I leave, I'll post the exact days I'll be gone.)
4. The Make may be derivative but may not be wholly unoriginal. The best example of what I mean by this is with cooking. Today I made Indoor S'Mores. I followed the recipe exactly, with no deviation or modification. I would not count that as a Make. I would totally count it if I had, for instance, made little muffin cup portions instead of just throwing it in a pan as directed in the recipe. (Note to self: do that next time. Brilliant idea.) Generally, though, I want my Make to be even more original -- the idea, after all, is to stretch my creative wings.
5. There should be a Make'n'Tell every day of the month, except as noted in Rule 3.
6. The Make should be either a complete work OR consist of at least 30 minutes of work on an ongoing project. I do a lot of bigger projects, and I don't want to stop doing them, but I don't always have time or ability to do a big project in a single day. On the other hand, if I have a small project in mind and it only takes me 15 minutes to complete it, I'm okay with that. And some days I might only have time for that one little thing. So I think that should count, too.
7. The Make can be similar to a previously completed project. For instance, I've made several dresses for my daughter. I use an original pattern and modify it pretty much every time. Each instance of dressmaking would count as a Make. Similarly, every single Everlasting Bouquet I make is different and would count as a Make.
8. 30 Days Hath September Make'n'Tell will last for the 30 days of September, commencing on September 1 and closing on September 30.

posted by Laura Y. @ 11:21 AM