You have from today and about one month forward to create ten handmade postcards (or 20 if you opt to create that many) in any creative style you like (although they have to be originals). It will be a blast!

If you’re new to mail art and mixed media – you are welcome to join us!

If you are a working artist that loves getting happy mail – you are welcome to join us.

If you’ve signed up previously and loved the experience of this swap – welcome back my friend.

Current status of iHanna’s DIY Postcard Swap: Open – you can join right now. If you would like to be notified about the autumn 2026 swap, make sure that you are subscribed to the newsletter. Thank you.

If you feel curious and in need of a deadline to make sure you create something uniqe and fun this month – then this swap is for you!

If you’ve never signed up for anything online – this is your chance to try it out in a secure, welcoming way together with a bunch of kind, generous peeps all around the world!

Most of you have done this previously many times so just go ahead and sign up, no rules have changed since the spring although I am definitely adding in that AI “art” is not welcome in any shape or form in this postcard swap, but why would it?

If you have any questions about deadlines, size, payment, participation, anything : check the FAQ.

Current status of iHanna’s DIY Postcard Swap: Open – you can join right now. If you would like to be notified about the autumn 2026 swap, make sure that you are subscribed to the newsletter. Thank you.

The sign-up period for the swap opens today – and it will remain open until 10th of May. Sign up before then and join us in all this fun and joyful creativity! Let me know below when you’ve signed up, I love learning what you’re up to on your creative journey.

You might also be interested in:

The DIY Postcard Idea Book

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and Join now: DIY Postcard Swap spring 2026 first appeared on iHannas Blog.

When I wrapped it in pink polka dot tissue paper, I remembered a blog post of mine that I recently edited, where a recycled paper flower adorned a birthday gift (also for my mom). I decided to replicate that bow idea for this gift (about 19 years later), but using paper of a roll of yellow gift wrap. It’s the Easter color after all.

I think it turned out rather sweet in it’s simplicity. And the sticker in the middle says:

I hope this package brightens your day!

How to make your own paper bow

To create your own paper bow all you do is cut strips from any fun, patterned paper, abot 5-8. Fold them in twice, so that the ends meet. Then staple them together in the middle. You can add as many strips as you like, alter with and length, play with folding them upwards to make the bow fuller. You might want to glue a button, bead or round sticker in the middle to hide the staples. Stick the bow to your gift using double sided tape or a rolled up piece of regular magic tape. Enjoy.

I am so glad I made this wee something today, and repurposed an idea documented on the blog so many years ago! A blog is truly a gift that keeps giving.

I’m wishing you a happy Easter my dear. I hope you are well. Here it’s been the rainiest Easter in years – which has made all the snow (that fell last night) melt away. Gloomy sky, but only feet bright yellow socks with a brown hen pattern. All is well.

I hope this blog post brightens your day.

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and A paper bow that lifts your gift first appeared on iHannas Blog.

Read my answers on the blog, type out a comment to let me know you read me and say hi (I’d love to know where you’re at and what you like doing). Then feel free to answer these questions yourself if you feel inspired to do so.

Below you’ll find my responses to the Colbert Questionert* (*not a typo), because why not?

Get to know iHanna

Here we go…

1. Best sandwich? Ciabatta bread with Brie and salami, and some veggies as garnish (sallad, fresh cucumber and/or a slice of tomato), that I can slowly munch on while sitting alone in a cafe in town, people watching, reading a great book or with my journal. Bliss!
2. What’s one thing you own that you really should throw out? My attachment to memories and memorabilia of the past? Or perhaps plants that are obviously asking for active death help, not for me to spend weeks trying to save them!
3. What is the scariest animal? In Sweden most of our fauna is non poisonous and gentle, but as I love nature programs I know that there are many other species that I would not want to have close encounters with in the wild. I’m okay with most of them from a distance, but if I have any phobias at all it is bats. The way they fly low, look, hunt and see in the dark creeps me out! I can see the beauty in snakes and bugs, sure, but not bats.
4. Apples or oranges? From an environmental perspective I should go native and discard oranges since they can’t grow in our climate… but why choose when we can have it aaaaall? Mwaha-ha-ha. I love sliced fruits together in a bowl: aka fruit salad.
5. Have you ever asked someone for their autograph? Yes, but never musicians or band members, only authors (and one book illustrator). I’m a nerd like that. Notably: Marian Keyes, Michelle Magorian, Paul Auster to mention a few.
6. What do you think happens when we die? I think the body slowly rots if not burned, and that what we leave behind is most of the time: nothing, especially as we will fade from the memory of our loved ones in just one generation. Exceptions occur, so let’s all aim to write and publish moooore.
7. Favourite action movie? Die Hard, because: epic.
8. Favourite smell? Candles/fake smells: vanilla. IRL: freshly baked bread.
9. Least favourite smell? When it comes to fake smells I really back away from strong and/or old perfumes and hair spray, women and men smelling not clean but soaked and drenched (like what are they trying to disguise?). And when it comes to “natural” smells: really old sweat/body odour, and rotting food.
10. Exercise: worth it? I hear good things about it all the time. One of these years I’ll give it a try and get back to you on that. *wink*
11. Flat or sparkling? Sparkling if it’s flavoured, flat if it’s not.**
12. Most used app on your phone? The audio book app, Instagram and during this winter a game called “Township” where you fill train carts with things you grow or make in the factories you invest in. So time consuming, but I still enjoy it.
13. You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it? That’s a hard one, I have so many on so many different mood-lists. But maybe I’d go with “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” with (and by) Joan Jett & the Blackhearts from 1981. Great dance and clean-the-house song full of energy and feelings.
14. What number am I thinking of? 49.
15. Describe the rest of your life in 5 words? Art. Craft. Creativity. Love. Joy.

Back when I was doing a blog post a day for a while (NaBloPoMo), Elisabeth of The Optimistic Musings answered these questions (originally posed by Stephen Colbert to various celebrities) found on Stephany’s blog. I was then reminded of them as Alexandra posted answers to the same questionnaire, and I started writing my replies 1,5 years ago. I decided to answer them, just for fun & now I’m posting them as well, LOL. True story of the Cool Bloggers Club: what goes around, comes around!

** Definitely just blatantly stole Elisabeth’s answer to the question about sparkling drinks straight of, because that’s was the same answer for me. Can’t drink sparkling water, it’s weird!

Check out the original Colbert Questionert too.

Your turn. Feel free to answer all the questions. 

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and Get to know iHanna in 15 quick questions first appeared on iHannas Blog.

I love sewing and have created quite a few quilted pillows, pin cushions and table cloths over the years. But big quilts feels big to me and a bit intimidating, so I hesitate before I jump in. And then I grab my mom, because she’s a wonderful quilter with a big stash of tools, fabrics and helpful advice. Also, she is not that hard to talk into making “another quilt” along with me, her only daughter. We both enjoy crafting together, and have created everything from bags to bunnies and glue books through the years.

When I created my first “comfort quilt” 18 years ago, I made a pink one from fabrics in my mom’s stash. Mom made a similar one using her blue fabrics, because that is her color. I came up with the concept after a photo of a vintage quilt that I saw at someone’s blog, and we free cut strips and sewed them together randomly. This time, my concept wasn’t in the construction of the blocks but in the choice of fabrics. We picked only polka dot patterned fabrics!

I wasn’t sure she would have enough polka dot fabrics for two quilts, but she did. And oh my, we found plenty all stacked up together on the shelf. It was kismet.

But why would I replace my favorite lap quilt you might ask. Well, it was falling apart. I have used it almost every day for the past +15 years and some of the fabrics was sourced second-hand. Those fabrics were the first that started to split and fray. I kept mending it, but last year I just decided it was no longer serving its purpose of making me happy. It was still keeping me warm on the sofa, sure, but it was not looking like something I’d want to use. So I decided to make myself a new quilted blanket, and I’m calling it comfort quilt right now, because that is what it’s all about. Coziness and comfort in the warmth of a home-made patchwork quilt.

An abundance of polka dot fabrics

I picked all my favorite colors, to start with, but in the end I sorted out the turquoise and greens, and only went with warm colors. Pinks, oranges and reds, because I think that creates a united and calmer quilt. Although I think all these fabrics are stunning and you could create any number of different designs using them in different combinations.

Mom was on cutting duty while I was by the ironing board, to flatten all the folded fabrics before cutting them. That is how we collaborate, in an assembly line. Then when all is cut we each pick our pile and start designing our quilts. I created a temporary “design wall” over mom’s wall-hung fabric shelves so I could move my squares around before I started sewing them together. I moved mine around a lot, taking black and white phone photos to “see” how the darks and lights was distributed.

Mom tried my idea of a design wall as well, but didn’t need to move her squares around much at all. I think it was because she have a more practiced eye for what she wants. As I am more of a beginner still, I had to visually see my quilt before I knew what I wanted.

I really wanted to finish the quilt during the week, so we decided on doing mostly big squares. Faster to cut and quick(er) to sew together. But then, to mix it up, a few of the big squares are created by four smaller squares sewn together to the same size as the big ones:

I definitely have suggested to make a quilting design wall to my mom before, but she isn’t interested. To me it was really helpful though, and I doubt my quilt would have turned out as good if I hadn’t moved blocks around for so long. The idea of a design wall this time comes from Kate of The Last Homely House on YouTube. I love watching her and have watched her for many years by now. She is very much like me and does a little bit of everything and loves mixing up her crafting days. She’s into gardening, spinning, quilting, sewing, knitting and more. I recommend you to check her out if you haven’t already. Kate used to be a blogger before she got YouTube famous and back then we did a trade. I still have the little cat book she sent me.

Here I still had some green quilt blocks left on the wall, but later I removed those in favor of more warm ones. We ended up with so many extra blocks mom started a third quilt after she’d sewn her blue one together.

I will show our two finished quilts next week. Cheers my crafty friends.

* You might also enjoy taking a look at my first comfort quilt from 2008, that I mended quite a few times before I gave up on it and decided to make a new one, this my third ever quilt.

* The Brown Quilt – the second quilt I made was brown, and it’s still in great condition.

* More on Quilting – all my blog posts tagged quilting

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and Time to sew: Replacing my comfort quilt first appeared on iHannas Blog.

Reacquaint yourself with your diary by spending time with it.

You could, like I’ve done here, spend time adding in washi tape and stickers, lettering and journaling, gluing in magazine images and snippets of articles that are relevant to the season you (and/or nature) are in. Just to give a few examples.

Another fun thing to add into your journal is a monthly intro-page at the start of the month, much like they do in fancy bullet journaling. A page or a spread that introduces the upcoming journaling/writing.

I recently got some new country life type magazines from my mom, and made intro-spreads first about February, and then about March:

Recently I also got a pack of new brush pens that I’ve enjoyed lettering with. This spread say just that “spend time with your diary” in Swedish, and then I listed a few ideas on how to do that:

When you feel a disconnect with your journal you might want to spend time with it adding in quotes, recent photos, doodles,writing about your day or about a movie you watched or a book you’re reading… Or adding in random stickers to prepare the pages for the week’s journaling session.

I am really enjoying stickering (using stickers) randomly on my pages right now. It is just such a delight to use so many at the moment, now that I have gotten some cheap ones. Stickering for the win!

* You might also like my previous blog posts about diary collages

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and Spend time with your diary first appeared on iHannas Blog.

They’re so small, these illustrations, and they were getting smashad already in the folder. And as you probably knew, I am mostly drawn to colorful images when I create – so why did I pull all of these out of the stamping magazines then? Well, they’re rather cool looking and I can not resist cool illustrations. So instead of tossing all of them into the bin, I decided to be more purposeful and use them deliberately straight away. New project idea born!

I created a little pile of the small illustrations and added them into a plastic envelope to keep them together. I also found a stack of cut up graph papers that I then cut in half and folded into tiny notebook pages. I did not bind them together, because even though I love everything about notebooks I also love working on loose papers. I will later make those papers into a small art journal (that is already filled). It’s the same process, but different enough that it feels like I am mixing it up, which is good for the creative mind.

A small project with big impact

A few days later I was tired and felt stressed out, so I decided to try my idea out. I brought watercolors, the folded graph papers and some very small magazine bits, including the stamp motif illustrations. I listened to an audio book, made one tiny page after another, drank coffee, and didn’t think about the world falling apart around me once. It was bliss.

I worked on each paper as it were four distinct pages, and tried to match the order so the following page would “fit in” with what surrounded it. I like this way of working, but you can absolutely ignore the order of your pages and be surprised by the combination of left and right page when you gather the folded signatures up and sew or staple them together. This way of working offers a freedom or expression that I (at times) appreciate and need.

It’s been quite a while since I worked on loose pages, and just writing about this idea now makes me long to make my own square smArt journal again. I named them sm-Art Journal because I was working on pages one at a time and re-ordering them as I pleased. Back then I waited until I had a stack big enough to become a journal, and then I used my big spiral binding tool to create the finished product. After I had created & decorated a cover I punched and bound the square pages together, and when the journal was bound it was also done – already filled and finished. I love this idea so much. But back to current day small project.

The thing about such small projects (that can, of course, grow to become huge expansive projects if you feel like it) is that they are instant happiness boosters. You get to finish several pages in a sitting, each one a little success, and it builds up until you feel very accomplished and joyful even though all you have done is to glue some papers together. The happiness boost is not promised, though. It only hits if you can let go of your shoulds and find that you are content in the moment. This is true for almost all creative and leisure activities though, but the more you practice the better at this you will get. If at once you don’t succeed, try and try again…

With this little stamp illustration booklet though, I did not have to work for days to finish it. The pages were so small that I finished all of these in one sitting, and I think I have enough to call it done already.

I have been (trying to) give myself this kind of joy for years, and even a little art journal like this one, now, will make me happy (or at least “happier than before”). Often this freeing kind of creativity also leads me into a feeling of flow. Flow is a state of mind where you forget about yourself and your problems at large, and you exist within the activity you’re doing right now. It comes when you’re at ease but concentrating, when you’re mastering what’s at hand but also making intuitive decisions. At least that’s what creative flow is to me.

Creating something “in flow” does not (at all) mean that what comes out is a masterpiece, or even something you’ll always love or want to hang on the proverbial wall, I think. But the fact that there was joy within you when you created does mean something. In fact, I feel that this joy is worth taking note of.

As someone who often cries, falls into depression, or feels overwhelmed, I know that this is important, this creative work that I am doing. Maybe not change-the-world important, but still important to me. Maybe even a wee bit important to my friends and family who cares about me. Because I know that this is what is keeping me alive, sometimes the only thing. And I feel like we all need to put more worth on this kind of creative “work”. The work we do for ourselves to stay alive, to find energy, to exist.

Hobbies are not frivolous or unimportant, and that shouldn’t be saved for “another day”. This “work” can not be pushed to the bottom of the to do-list, because if we don’t get to this work we might never get to the dishes, to the laundry, to the family dinners.

To me it feels just as important to do creative work as eating and sleeping. Without my creative work I am reduced to being that sad cry-baby person. I feel myself slipping away from myself when I don’t prioritize a bit of creativity in my days.

I think we all need to understand this better, and give all of us room to explore whatever it is that makes us human (maybe it’s about prioritizing what society calls leisure activities).

Who are we when we give ourselves permission to feel joy, to find joy, to create our own little sliver of happiness? Especially now.

Especially as the mantra of conforming productivity increases, when inhumane hours on the clock and streamlined workflows are norm (or the fear of being unemployed is near). This is when the rebellious act of taking time for ourselves is an even greater joy. Let’s do it. Let’s create joy.

Project details: The size of my journal pages is 13 x 8,3 cm (5,11 x 3.26 inches), which folded in half creates a tiny page that is 6,5 cm in width and 8,3 high (2,5 x 3,2 inches). Folded, this notebook fits inside my palm.

I feel like this project is about nothing special – but also a lot about carpe diem and joyfilled moments of creativity. To me it’s been all about finding some flow, serendipity and collage joy. Tiny turned huge, in many different ways.

Continued from here: The rebellious act of being creative

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and A Tiny Art Journal Project just for fun first appeared on iHannas Blog.

A bit of a restart or refresh doesn’t always help in the long run, but in the moment it offers a kind of relief that I crave. Starting something new is also a much needed distraction from my own thoughts I guess. I am not sure you know how this feels, but maybe that matters less to you than it does to me. And on the whole, what I wanted to share today grew out of a very small notebook project that I started on one of those days (of which I have had many in the past months).

The act of starting it almost felt rebellious, and my hope is that by me sharing my thoughts and the fact that I resisted my own “I shouldn’t right now” idea, you’ll also feel the rebellious tug in your stomach and follow it without shaming yourself. That you will be able to ease into your own creative longings. This is when you know you shouldn’t, and you absolutely know that you don’t have the time right now, but you want to, right? All you really want is to sit for two hours and do nothing but fill a new little notebook with color, collage, doodles or thoughts (or whatever it is you long to do).

Can we allow it? This frivolous act of self-indulgence? Yes, yes we can.

This is my pep talk of the day

You are allowed to do “this” (creative thing) for yourself! You probably already know it will help you feel calmer and less stressed in the moment, so let yourself embrace that tug. Be in the moment, ignore the musts. Maybe it’s not a tiny notebook project for you, but casting on a new knitting project or sitting down to sort through some of your materials. Whatever it is you want to do but don’t allow yourself to do (because there’s always so many other things you need to put away/fix/attend to/arrange/finish that you’re always exhausted). Life is full of these must-dos, and often we tell ourselves that we will do them first, right?

I don’t know your situation, but I know we as creative women have a lot on our plate and on our mind, all the time. Too much to ever be “done”. I get that, but your well-being is also important. Very important. So please, take a break from your musts and do a few wants for a while today, this weekend, soon. Be in the moment. You are worthy, you are allowed to take breaks from your tasks (and your racing mind and the shit-show that is the world right now) and to break up your schedule with some creative play.

Anyway, what did I do during my own much needed creative break from life? I made up a small, ephemeral, absolutely meaningless project that I loved creating. A project that had me thinking all these thoughts about my own (and our collective) need of down-time, me-time, time for our creativity – what ever you want to call it. I was thinking about how we too often ignore our need to slow down, sit still, and find a bit of flow. To scroll less and let our minds wander. There’s a sneak peak above of the tiny notebook I made, but I’ll show you more soon.

PS: the Studio iHanna Shop is up and running again after some downtime due to a need for a php update & intense spam attacks. Check it out:

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and The rebellious act of being creative first appeared on iHannas Blog.

A big heart filled with colors. It is my way of adding myself & my heart into my new art journal.

A heart is such a beautiful symbol of all that really matters in the end. Love. Compassion. Kindness. Friendship. Generosity. Because love comes in many different forms. This blog for example. It is filled with love atoms that I formulate and finesse as best I can, and then send out into the ether. To my bosom friends. To my family. To like-minded dreamers. To creatives everywhere. To you.

It’s filled with my big heart. And little painted hearts, and doodled hearts.

With color explosion and explorations.

And rainbows.

With my previous two spreads I’m moving along swellingly in the new Art Journal. Traveling on the road of my renewed art journal practice. How is yours going?

Happy Valentine’s!

Art Journal Prompt #6: Rainbow of Hearts â€“ paint a big heart on your page, a rainbow of hearts or a heart filled with rainbows. When love is on our side we know we can go far and beyond even on our own.

— prompt from the list 50 art journal ideas

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and Art journal prompt: Add your Big Heart to the page first appeared on iHannas Blog.

I decided to compile a list of 50 creative projects that I want to start or work on (but preferably of course: actually finish) this year. In writing the list I was considering what craft & art materials I own already, what work in progress projects I have stored away, my ambitions, and my general longing for encouraging myself to get back to making more often. I am writing this list to remind myself of what to focus on and what I really want to see through and finish – as crafting, painting and creating is important for my mental health. On my list you’ll find digital projects, yarn and fabric projects, artistic and book binding projects, diy postcard ideas, and some fill-a-notebook suggestions – because I can never focus on one thing like a little bit of everything in my weeks.

I am sharing this list with you guys not for accountability, but to help me remember what’s important to me right now (in the “beginning” of the year) and to see where this list (maybe subconsciously) can take me. I’m sharing it as inspiration as well, in case you need a few ideas to get you started too. Or maybe my list simply will inspire you to write your own crafty or creative wish list.

* Notebooks & junk journal ideas

1. Birthday journal
2. Strawberry journal
3. Frog journal
4. Ribbon covered journals (4 of them – 3 for me, one for mom) WIP
5. The textile collage journal collection WIP
6. Swedish inspired journal(s)
7. Childhood memories journal
8. Journal charms
9. Zines – photo zine layouts or crafts to scan (1-5)
   
   * Yarn ideas
10. Knitted cardigan WIP (finish and take photos)
11. Crocheted shawl (rainbow yarn) WIP
12. Granny go round cardigan
13. Left over yarn sweater a la danish designer Lærke Bagger
14. Wool needle felting
15. Punch needle project
    
    * Textile Ideas
16. Kawandi blanket WIP
17. 10 DIY postcards using fabric collage
18. Wall hanging of flat textile hearts WIP
19. Stuffed beaded hearts project
20. Lace greeting cards (with mom)
21. Finish fabric book “Journal of Stitches” WIP
22. Create another small textile journal with scraps
23. Fabric scroll on a wooden spool (textile art)
24. Art doll with legs
25. Hexagon quilt table cloth (yellow WIP, for Easter?)
26. Miniature hexagon quilt
27. Quilted triangle project
    
    * Random projects
28. Start & fill a new Randomosity notebook
29. Fill a new En Masse Glue book
30. Color and doodle on more pages in my Kikki K notebook
31. Start a BIG glue book (bought a A4 notebook)
32. Work through my 50 art journal ideas list
33. Diary collage notebook (fill the last half of it and make a video about it)
34. 10 painted DIY postcards
35. Paint the porcelain owl
36. Paint clay rainbows WIP
37. Assemblage 3D heart filled with mosaic/stuff
38. Strawberry shortcake doll room and furniture WIP (this also need to be a photography project)
39. Fridge magnets made from air dry clay
40. Christmas wreath with baubles and tree ornaments
    
    * Photo books and digital projects
41. Printed book with my writings (in Swedish, early work)
42. A year of photos Blurb book
43. Photo book about my grandmother
44. Photo book for my little brother (his childhood photos)
45. Collage sheets as a digital product in my shop
46. Printed notebook with colorful pages (product)
47. Book documenting all my 365 collage project(s)
48. Photo book with photos of Smilla
49. Travel photo book (just pick one of the trips you’ve made and document it)
50. Blog posts in a printed book form (for prosperity)

Please note that this is a list of ambitions, my big ambitions (and long-term creative dreams). It is not a quick to do-list! I know I can not get all these things created this year. I am just a wee bit delusional. In fact, most of these ideas I have had on my want-to-make-list for years and years, and they’re still not created. This fact makes me sad, but it is what it is. Quite a few of the listed items could be year long projects on their own, some of the items are several junk journals which takes me for ever to finish. So they are big projects that can’t be finished in a few days or even weeks. And I am just one person, you know.

Also note, that this is not a complete list. I have so many other ideas too. For example, I also want to write blog posts, write essays for my newsletter, update the shop, create a lot more youtube videos, scan old photos, update old blog posts on the blog, and so on…

I feel slightly embarrassed to publish my list because (even though it’s not even the full list of my wants and ambitions) it is way too long and way too big for one person, but I can not get these ideas out of my head! They linger inside my brain, and I should get cracking on at least a few of these ideas this year. I usually write lists like this all the time in my diary or on loose papers, and then never look at them again. But today I am going to print this wee list and try to refer back to it at least once every month this entire year. We’ll see if that helps me some, and where it might take us.

I know it’s late to publish a list like this in February, but I started writing the list in December. Today I added the last couple of items and finalized it. Yay me, LOL. Plus, the year of the horse hasn’t even started yet (with the Chinese new year being next week), so I’m right in time in that way.

Which of these project ideas makes you a bit curious? Let me know, and if you’ve got suggestions on how to tackle big lists that feels overwhelming give them to me please. Oh, and what’s one big project on your list that you want to tackle this year?

PS: If you need even more ideas, here’s a list of one hundred more ideas that hopefully will spark something within you:

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The post is written by Hanna Andersson and 50 craft projects to tackle this year first appeared on iHannas Blog.

“Swatch” is both a noun and a verb.

noun

Swatch – a small sample of color intended to demonstrate the look of a larger piece: let’s look at some “colour swatches”

verb

Swatch – apply a sample of (paint, makeup, etc.) to a surface to test or demonstrate the colour. I’m going to swatch these acrylic colors in my art journal to see how they look.

The first prompt on my list of 50 art journal ideas to try this year is “swatch colors”, because I thought that would be an easy way for me to get back into art journaling. I have filled many pages in the last 2-3 years, but I have not managed to be consistent or fall in love with my current books as much as I used to (for various reasons). So a reset is in order.

I picked a new book to alter (this one on gardening), to make into my Art Journal this month. It’s thinner and newer than I usually go for, but I am hoping that it will help me fill it quicker, so I can move on from these “beginning stages” sooner. LOL. I mean, I’ve only been art journaling since 2005, which is +20 years (it seams I did miss the 20th anniversary of art journaling last year). Hence I consider myself a beginner still… ;-)

Over 20 years of art journaling

In any case, the swatching idea is great for both beginners and seasoned artists as it is a testing ground and a warm up exercise all in one. You can pick your favorites. You can swatch out a whole set of colors, do color mixes (for example mix all the colors with a bit of black to darken them, or a bit of white to make them lighter), or simply grab your newest paint tubes to see how they look on the page. I did the latter.

I got six different acrylic paint colors for Christmas, so I decided to swatch them in the new altered book. The brand is called Amsterdam Acrylic paints from Royal Talens, and they were on my wish list (although I did not specify the exact colors). I got a white, a light pink, a very light blue, a grass green, a magenta and a neon pink (which of course is my favorite).

First I gessoed the background to hide the text and images that was already in this spread. Then I painted each color as a swatch, part thick acrylic paint and part watered down to see how that worked. After my swatches was dry I simply continued to play on the entire spread until it felt full and done.

I wrote out the product numbers & name of each color, doodled in paint and when it was dry I continued to letter and write on the page. Swatcheroo done!

Initial review: I like all the different colors of the Amsterdam acrylic paints, but thought (hoped) they’d be a bit more opaque (specifically the green and the magenta). I don’t think they will be my new favorites, but I will continue to play with them this year.

And I did! I continued to play and created another spread with these colors. It turned out more messy and wild, and I like that look. I felt free and relaxed, and that’s also a good thing that art journaling does. It frees me in such a wonderful way.

The woman on this page is as usual a self portrait of an aging lady. White hair, pale winter skin, almost forgotten & erased from the world already… You can tell because she’s a bit transparent… An experienced newbies coming of age, in a way.

I meant to make this page in January, and post a lot more here too. But half of January disappeared for me because I got a bad cold that made me sleepless and coughing for over two weeks. I didn’t even have energy to open any of my journals, even less so to sit by the computer and edit photos, write or blog. Now that I feel better, I’m ready for the new year.

Art Journal Prompt #1: Swatch colors â€“ Swatching is a great way to get started without thinking too much about what to put on the first pages of your journal. Also itâ€s a great activity to do when you have some new paint tubes, but it can be done on any art journal page to test out different (or all) color combinations before you start painting. If you mix up your own colors you can use your swatches to come up with your own color names as well, make them as fun or poetic as you want.

After you’ve swatched out your colors, continue to the next page and paint something using those colors.

— prompt from the list 50 art journal ideas

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Ideas on what to include in your journal

Fun free prompt list to try out

The post is written by Hanna Andersson and Art Journal Prompt: Swatcheroo first appeared on iHannas Blog.

For this list I have looked through my own blog for ideas. Each art journaling idea is linked to an older blog post where I have shared a page or spread using the material or technique described in the listed “prompt”. I have kept the list descriptions brief, in case you want to print the list and tuck into the pocket of your current art journal. So if you need clarification on anything go ahead and ask your questions in the comments below and I’ll reply ASAP.

I hope you feel inspired by this!

iHanna’s list of 50 art journaling ideas

1. Swatch colors – Swatching is a great way to get started without thinking too much about what to put on the first pages of your journal. Also it’s a great activity to do when you have some new paint tubes, but it can be done on any art journal page to test out different (or all) color combinations before you start painting
2. Quilt grid – paint a grid! It’s fun, easy, quick and a bit like creating a quilt, but using acrylic paint
3. Cut flowers – big flowers, tulips or something totally different cut out of paper
4. Add in a bird – at least one – I’m partial to Bluebirds, but all birds are beautiful
5. Strip tease – tear paper strips to create a layered background – or a finished abstract spread
6. Rainbow of Hearts – paint a rainbow of hearts or a heart filled with rainbows
7. Tribute to Love – create a tribute page to someone you love, use images and themes that they’d appreciate, write about them, use photos or magazine images
8. Document Valentine’s – play with the themes of the holiday (pink, red, romance) – or document a place or activity that you love
9. Paint a personal color wheel – this was a workshop I created years ago – and I love this project
10. The Flower garden – fill an entire spread with different flowers in different styles
11. Fabric patterns – find a blanket, curtain or any patterned fabric in your house that you like, and try to replicate it in your journal (in your own style) – maybe copy down a pattern that you see every day, like your pillow case, your knitted socks, the shower curtains…
12. Fill a page with doodles – in one sitting, or by adding to it for a whole week or until you can’t fit anything more (for example like this)
13. Paper doll collage – it’s when you cut out different body parts and creates a new human (or humanoid or animal). Grab a fashion magazine and start cutting
14. Experiment on loose pages – create a finished journal page before you bind it into a notebook (or tip it into an existing journal)
15. All-over-collage – create a page from many smaller images or paper scraps. Let it evolve organically and start with one or two pieces in the middle. This is one of my favorite ways of creating!
16. Use a quote – use someone else’s words to inspire you further, write it big or illustrate it
17. Abstract relaxation – poor up 5-8 different colors and cover a spread with mark making in paint
18. Self portrait – create a self-portrait (and no, don’t skip this one, be as creative as you like and please don’t worry about likness, just do ot for fun)
19. Found Poetry – cut out words from a book page or magazine and glue them together to create new meanings (maybe subconscious wisdom, maybe poetry – maybe it will be nonsense)
20. Journaling in a Heart – write inside a heart shape a list of things, people or places that fills your heart with happiness and/or love
21. Home of Random things – what’s on your desk right now, what post-it notes and images, markers, junk? Let your art journal be a home of random things
22. Least liked color – create a monochromatic page or spread using the color you like the least right now, still trying to create something that is pleasing to you
23. Song lyrics – copy or print a song lyric and use it in your Art Journal page (you can often google song title + lyrics” to find the text online)
24. Grid Sampler – document old or newly acquired papers that you own by creating a grid sampler on a page in your current art journal (or in a specific book for documenting your materials)
25. Background Grid – cut squares, glue them down in a grid and then paint a light coat over them (of white gesso or any color you like) to create a background from scraps
26. Journaling Block – leave empty space on a page to journal on, add the date and some thoughts – even if you don’t enjoy writing diary entries, art journaling sometimes needs a bit of journaling/scribbles
27. Circles ad infinitum – I will never tire of polka dots as a pattern, or creating them one by one to fill an entire spread or journal
28. Copy cat – find any image and make 3-5 printed copies of it, use all of them in different ways on your spread (idea from Lynne Perrella’s most excellent book)
29. Letter your own saying – Write a personal sentence big on a page, like it was the most important quote or a saying, something you often think to yourself or have heard often
30. Scrappy pages – a favorite method of art journaling for me is to create using just scraps, little paper bits and a glue stick
31. Wing it, baby – yes, you can! So create something with wings, in any shape, matter or form. There is no rules to what an art journal can contain
32. The Starburst – not my idea, but a fun color-, writing-, and doodle exercise to fill the entire page with
33. Write a List – if you’re not a journaler, you can always create a list on your page, a list of anything. Linked are just one of many starting points for creating a list.
34. Create a Sub-Page – a great art journaling idea. That your journal is already bound together doesn’t mean you can’t add in new pages, just hinge in a postcard, or a couple of fold out pages, or any bits you want to see both sides of
35. Journal a Season – my art journal pages tend to be influenced by nature, but you don’t have to document the current season, you can pick any season, create a journal page about it or simply use colors that you see outside your window
36. Scrape and scratch – try this method of scraping the colors on the page instead of painting them – it’s super addictive
37. Tissue Paper – decoupage on the page, glue down that thin flimsy stuff and create a page you like
38. Arrange some triangles – I’m not just a fan of grids and circles, but all geometric forms. How about painting or cutting out some triangles (or pyramids) to fill a page with – in any way you see fit
39. Creative Doodles to color – create a random scribble doodle all over the page, choose a paint palette and color in all the forms
40. Headline page – cut out a headline or magazine title that is big and bold (preferably one that’s filled with joy or encouragement), glue it to the middle of your art journal page and create something around or about it on the page
41. Typography Fan Art – use words from a magazine and fill an entire page with different fonts, words, letters (with our without meaning to you)
42. Use the Neon Colors – I love neon paint, but if you don’t own any neon pencils or paints, use the brigtest stuff you’ve got and get to playing on the page
43. Don’t forget about the crayons – I tend to forget about mine even though I love them, so I want to create many pages using my water-soluble crayons this year
44. Find the flow – paint or draw a mass of water, something blue, something that feels like it’s flowing along your entire page
45. Drops of Water – use paint along with a lot of water, let it flow out on the page, drip and run – be messy
46. Use one of your stamps – or all of them, on a page – stamps is a tool many love that I tend to forget about, but I think I have some stamps here somewhere…
47. Wrapping paper background – I love cheap material that allow you to not care about the outcome. One such material is wrapping paper, so use what you have and use it liberally on the page, fill the page with one pattern or glue bits together to create a new background/competition
48. Mix some gray – black and white creates gray, but how often do you mix it for a journal page?
49. Holiday Collage – make sure to document the holiday in some way, why not as a crazy colorful spread in your art journal
50. Welcome the Year – say welcome to another new year of art journaling and creative play by creating a title page for the year, or write about your creative aspirations and goals. Take a deep breath and keep going. This is your year of art journaling!

I am already in love with this list and plan to use it all year myself. If you want to join me then let me know in the comments below.

Here’s another inspiration list that I compiled, of one hundred ideas to spark you into creative action:

I would love to see what you come up with, and I’ll share my progress as well.

Here’s to a fabulous creative year. Cheers.

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Ideas on what to include in your journal

Fun free prompt list to try out

The post is written by Hanna Andersson and 50 art journaling ideas to try this year first appeared on iHannas Blog.

I caught the Collage Bug many years ago, and I love him so much. Itâ€s one of the few things in life where I totally love all the steps of the process, from finding material, to sorting through papers, to collecting and saving to cutting, gluing and making somethings new out of something that previously was something else…

The above quote is from the last collage post of 2018, when I successfully finished a 365 collage project in a year. Today I’m sharing the last eight collages of my 365 collages in 2025 here, and it’s a wrap. I did it. I successfully made 365 art pieces in one year (2025).

This is my fourth finished 365 project in a year, and I am equally proud of this one even though I already knew I could do it. I have not created these daily, but in chunks of weekly or sometimes monthly energy bursts. Due to circumstances gathering up around me I’ve been behind most of the time, but pulled my collage muscles together and finished strong in December. Yay me!

This is not the end of my collage journey, or my love of creating scrappy looking mixed media wall art, but it is the end of this particular project. Now I need a break, you need a break – we all need a break!

This practice takes a lot of time, and on top of creating a lot of art pieces, there’s also documenting, titeling, tracking and uploading to share every new piece of art x 365 times or 52 blog posts… so it’s a lot.

Right now I’m really looking forward to blogging about other things beyond this 365 project. I’m looking forward to filling spreads in my neglected art journals, getting back to glue booking, and creating photo books – and so many other projects that patiently had to wait out 2025.

I’m happy to have proven to myself that I could still get productive and stay on track in 2025. Even if nobody in my life cared to ask about this project (that is so important to me and my mental health) I’m glad I created these little art pieces. It mattered to me, and art matters to the world – in 2025 and beyond.

If you’ve taken the time to look, read posts, or even commented – thank you for showing me that art matters to you too. Thank you.

I’ve been both an artist and a documentarian with these collages. They’ve been light and fun most of the time, but also comments to what’s going on in my life, with my closest people, and the world at large. They’re comments on family policies, politics, women’s role in society and more.

Because collage, and art in general, can be all that at the same time as providing solace to the viewer and the artist, making the everyday magic and keeping us sane in a totally fucked up world.

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

— Marie Curie

If you’re wanting to be “more creative” this year, to create your own 365 project, to start something new or restart one of your WIP / abandoned projects – go do it now, today, this week. This is your year. You can do it. I believe in you. And take note that:

It always seems impossible until itâ€s done.

— Nelson Mandela

Thank you so much for coming over, taking a look and leaving me a comment below. Until next time, take care.

It’s been fun so please do not forget: this is not the end.

Read about week 52 in 2013 (the end) and
week 52 in 2018 (the end – for now) if you have the time.

About this project: I made one collage for each day in 2025 and blogged seven at a time. Thanks to everyone who has been leaving me comments and cheering me on. I appreciate you so much.
❤
365 collages in 2025 | previously: week 51 | this is week 52 | week 1 | conclusion

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Finishing my creative project 2025!

All art created by hand by iHanna. Copyright Hanna Andersson. All rights reserved. AI FUCK OF

The post is written by Hanna Andersson and This is Not the End | Collage week 52 2025 first appeared on iHannas Blog.