A very ART FILLED New Years Resolution

First, allow my family to wish you a very Happy New Year! Video below has the story, set, costume design, and characters created by my very own Mini Matisse.  The whole family helped out with the voice over.

Did you see the awesomeness that Cassie Stephens posted recently to celebrate the upcoming New Years?  Wow does she have her goals laid out there.  I mean really... focused, clear and dreaming BIG!  I knew there was a reason I loved that girl, well that's at least one reason.

In the past I have put goals out there for my professional goals, but not today.  Today I want to share some goals that I have for my personal life rather than my professional.  If you watched the video you saw that my number one New Years Resolution this year is to collect art from friends.  I want to fill my home with art... art that I love, art from the people I love.  I have been working hard at decorating my classroom with artwork that I love, but now... it's time for my home.

I'm going to start with this wall!

This is my front room.  I never wanted a 'front room' but we have used it a bunch... playing games, chatting with friends, sometimes homework.  See the feet on the wall... they are the Hahn's feet.  I love that picture but my 8-year old's feet were newborn in this image.  I need to switch it up. 

Here's my plan.  I spent the day creating 8 X 8 boxes.  I had my husband show me how to use all the tools I needed to make these little gems... and I have a good start to my wall of art.

I plan to put out a personal invitation to create a mini work of art for my wall.  I have a budget for the artist and/or will offer to create an art exchange. I was playing with the idea of a subject requirement but I chose to go with a color request.  I want each artist to create the style, medium, the subject and the inspiration of their choice but I'm hoping that they would be able to put a little of the blue(ish) color to coordinate the front door in the same room.  I have a Southern Blue door by Behr paint.

I'll send these wooden bases out to excepting artist via mail and hope to have them all back (and on the welcome wall) by the end of 2016.  

I have two other happy goals for the new year.  The first is a continuing documentation of our Hahn life. Our family lives away from us so to communicate the happenings of our household, I will be continuing the 5th year of Project 52.  Project 52 is taking a picture (or two) every week and posting a little caption.  I print these books off every 100 pages using Blurb, which allows you to take an album on Facebook and plop it into a book.  I have quite the collection (seen below).

This is perfect for the images that I collect over the year and has taken over as a scrapbook.  Way easier!  I don't have something to document our 3D yearly moments such as movie tickets, notes, and good finds.  I saw this amazing solution on The Idea Room.  A time capsule for the year!! Great idea, right?  I'll give this a try for 2016.

So yes, I plan to do great things in the classroom... you know that. But this year I wanted to resolve to do things I'm excited for, I mean I could put on the list that I need to do a better job of flossing (New Years Resolution for the past 10 years) or collect art. YEP!! I'll choose collecting art.  Have fun picking your goals for the upcoming year!!