How to be more creative: my 2025 Making List – A Review
At the start of 2025, I wrote a post about making lists, specifically a making list and a being list.
I kept my lists next to my desk which meant I probably looked at them a few times each week during 2025.
Keeping things visible is important – whether they are making lists, your word for the year, a vision board, joyful moments, important reminders… For most of us a visual reminder is supportive. The saying ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ exists for a reason.
Before I review how I went with my 2025 making list, a quick reminder: a making list is simply a list of things you want to make. In a world of distraction and endless stimulation, it’s easy to forget, get side-tracked, be tempted by countless options, new trends or ideas without finishing anything.
So often, I work with people who speak about their yearning to be more creative. The admire the maker schedules and rhythmic practices of artists; some hoard materials with the intention to fulfil their creative vision, one day. Some stop-start with the best intentions. A making list is a great way to stop wishing and start doing.
For me, a making list serves as a helpful reminder of what interested me at a certain point in time and what I would like to explore and make.
I don’t care whether the list gets completed – no goal pressure here! I also welcome changes to the list throughout the year, because naturally my interests change.
So, let’s look back at my 2025 making list:
Things on my 2025 making list that I actually did:
Pick up my crochet hook again and make the Golden Hour Cape out of yearn that’s been sitting in my stash for 2 years now.
I did pick up the crochet hook but decided to crochet something else, with a different yarn! The Sunset Sweater is almost finished, the yarn stash needs further attention.
Do the #100dayproject 2025.
I did 100 days of non-dominant hand art – a lot of collage and also some drawing; the most joyful days were those on which I recreated the covers of much-loved childhood books. I also enjoyed a few days of creating collages out of a very limited set of papers that were all illustrations of fruit. This limitation of working with minimal materials was an insightful challenge. It taught me something about reduction and how this can fuel the creative process, something I transferred to other areas of my creative practice.
My fruit-inspired collages as part of my 2025 100 Day Project.
Things on my 2025 making list that I partly did:
Make my own brush set out of found driftwood etc.
I collected branches but have not finalised my brush set. I believe I stalled because I didn’t have quite the right materials… this is often a barrier for making, not having quite the right space or materials. That’s why my motto for my arts-based reflective groups is: come as you are, work with what you have. It avoids purchasing things we end up not using or amassing stash that eventually turns into a burden rather than a source of inspiration.
Create and fill my hand-made fold-out book in which I capture how I’m travelling with my word for 2025: enough.
I made the book and completed some pages, but I wouldn’t call it a completed book, and I’m ok with that. The word ‘enough’ was a good companion even though I didn’t complete different prompts relating to it. Maybe ending up with the book as it is was simply enough!? In October last year, I realised that attempting different prompts or creative exercises each month was a bit ambitious. I felt much more drawn to repeat the same activity or approach each month and document how my relationship with my word or my understanding of it are changing, what I’m learning, and how this informs my choices or actions. This observation will inform my approach for my 2026 word.
Write artist statements for each page of my arts-based coaching journal. And maybe turn them into a book.
This remains work in progress. I did notice how useful this semi-finished project was during my accreditation process with the Association for Coaching: it’s a great way of documenting my evolution as a practitioner and it sharpens my awareness around new skills and also what I’d like to focus my continuous professional development on. This realisation injected fresh energy in this idea. So all in all, I think I’ll keep going with this.
Things on my 2025 making list that feel off the radar:
Create a pile of collage papers using my completely underused gelli plate.
This project needed a space where I can be messy. Our studio space wasn’t quite finished in time, and therefore, the gelli plate adventure was put on hold and instead, I decided to use a lot of old artwork as collage material in my reflective practice.
Other things that were put on hold in absence of a studio space where I can be messy: Make a papier maché sculpture. Paint the large canvas! The large canvas stays on my list, and I’m not entirely sure about the papier maché sculpture anymore. Maybe this idea has had its time and I’ve moved on.
And then there’s my favourite part of this review: things I did that weren’t on my list!
Falling in love with an A3 Studio Book approach.
In the past, fold-out books have been a bit of an obsession when it comes to reflective practice. But they are a lot more work. To create the book paper needs to be cut, folded and glued together – with some degree of accuracy, otherwise the accordion principle falls flat... So, 2025 was the year of taking a new approach: I bought a basic, inexpensive A3 visual journal, 120gsm paper quality, not flimsy but also not top quality and simply began. I loved the large pages and how it was easy to make art on them and have plenty of space for reflective writing and process notes. These studio books feel like a thorough documentation of my 2025 reflective practice, which is important as this helps with seeing patterns and themes emerge. Sensemaking is, after all, a process of patterns spotting and pattern matching.
A slow stitch contribution to Julie Paterson’s Menindee Memorial Loop.
I absolutely loved this tiny, unplanned project. The story behind the Menindee Memorial Loop struck a chord and aligns with my values of protecting the world we live in and shining a light on exploitative actions. Stitching my little square gave me the sense of being part of something bigger. Beyond that, slow stitching is such a simple and delightful activity. As someone who has strong and much valued methodical and systematic parts, this project helped me notice how good it feels to my system when I don’t create something of order, something that follows a set pattern or unyielding method. I don’t have to focus, and - in an odd twist - that helps me be entirely focused and absorbed in the activity.
Discovering Saori weaving.
The surprise of the year and possibly linked to what I noticed when slow stitching my little school of fish for the Menindee Memorial Loop. While Saori looms are mechanical masterpieces, the weaving itself is remarkably uncomplicated, free-flowing and purposefully steers clear of following rigid patterns. It’s therefore impossible to make mistakes and the possibilities of what you could be making are endless. Colours, textures, the mix of materials and a random/ intuitive combination of simple techniques result in unique pieces, unpredictable in their beauty. Weaving Saori style pulls me into a focused and mindful state, without having to concentrate on anything in particular.
I continued with my Tiny Practice Journal.
Not in the daily rhythm I started with, but regularly, and it’s almost filled with found poems I’m creating to make sense of a specific topic in my life. Once more I appreciate how arts-based reflection leads to creating a body of work around a particular topic, an artefact that is insightful and beautiful in its own way.
Final verdict: even though quite a few things on my 2025 making list got ignored, and some just partially attended to, looking back over my year through the lens of my making list feels super satisfying.
Write your own 2026 making list
Before I share my 2026 making list, I offer you some questions to get started with your own making list.
Simply take a moment and list things you’d like to make.
What materials do you have that have been ignored for too long? This is a good decision point: do you want to use them or maybe consider giving them away so that they don’t weight you down?
Can you think of modalities or artforms you’d like to explore, learn, practice? Whether that’s ceramics, textiles, knitting, sewing, printing, writing poetry, some form of painting. If something intrigues you, add it to your making list. Maybe there’s a course, class, workshop, book that could help you get started?
Does your mind wander back to something you’ve enjoyed at a different time in your life? This can go as far back as your childhood, and you might want to rekindle something you loved doing as a child. And maybe it only goes back a few years, the time before family life took over, or before your work became so intense, or when your health was different or you had more space or access to a different space…
Do you like ‘challenges’ to give your creative explorations some structure? The 100 Day Project is a great way to start. You can of course create your own challenge, take inspiration from my Tiny Practice for example.
Do you like the idea of lots of unconnected projects or activities, dipping your toes in many different waters? Or do you feel pulled to make things that somehow belong together, a body of work where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts?
Do you want to make for pleasure, for practicality or for purpose? Some people are more drawn to making useful things, others love to make something that’s not about being a practical object to be used daily life. And some people want to use their art to express their values, views or support a cause close to their heart. All these choices are perfectly ok, but it helps to know what type of creator you are. Getting stuck in Amigurumi can be a delight for the playful creator, but the practical creator might soon lose interest and the purpose creator might find it an indulgent use of time better spent on something else. If combining your artmaking with some form of activism matters to you, get started by finding a collaborative art project (like I did with the Menindee Memorial Loop project) or look into craftivism.
Remember:
Being a practical creator doesn’t make your creative time less joyful.
Being a playful creator doesn’t make your creations less valuable.
If you don’t create to support a cause, it doesn’t make your artmaking less worthy.
These different motivations for making describe tendencies, not mutually exclusive kinds of making. In a world so used to binaries, it’s important to stress that things are not and don’t have to be clear cut. My Menindee Memorial Loop square was made to support a specific purpose and it was totally joyful and pleasurable!
My 2026 making list, in its current form and subject to change:
Some things will be carried over or continued from last year:
Pull out that gelli plate and tackle the large canvas!
The 100 Day Project is also here to stay. I think it’ll be my seventh year with varying degrees of completion!
Writing artist statements for all the art made in my coaching book shall be continued.
I’ll finish my Sunset Sweater and I already have yarn for the next project.
Continuing with the A3 Studio Books in my arts-based reflective practice. My next group program ‘Creative Reflections’ will introduce you to this approach.
Filling the Tiny Practice journal – I have nine pages left.
New additions:
Saori weaving – current projects include table runners, place mats and cushion covers. And I don’t want to forget about weaving cloth without deciding on a specific use or purpose upfront; I want to lean into the free and intuitive qualities of Saori.
Reacquainting myself with my sewing machine to turn some of my woven cloth into garments, cushion covers etc.
I did love my slow stitching patch and am curious about exploring this more. I’ve already added more stitching to my reflective practice and the fact that I own three books on this topic is probably a clue. (If you’re into books, they are Slow Stitch, Resilient Stich and Soulful Stitch, all published by Batsford Books.)
My word for 2026 is Stories. Based on my experience with ‘enough’ I’ve decided to pick one small arts-based activity and repeat this every month to document my journey with my word. The activity I’ve chosen is a monthly collage card. It’s quite possible that I make additional cards as and when. I will use a set of reflective writing prompts with each card and maybe at the end of the year, I’ll turn this into a book about Stories.
In the spirit of keeping things visible, I’ve cleared some space in my collage card corner and made my first card with lots of empty space underneath to be filled. I can’t wait to see the Stories cards grow into my 2026 storyline.
Are you ready to get pen & paper for your making list??
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