Have you heard about the 100 Day Project? It is a free, global art project where participants challenge themselves to do a creative project every day for 100 days in a row and share their process online. The next round starts January 31, 2021 and I am going to do it!
I attempted the 100 Day Project once, a few years ago, with a project to make art involving fish for 100 days. I cannot remember why I thought that was a good idea… The idea fizzled quickly so I decided to switch gears completely and declutter every day. But that fizzled as well.
Still, I am intrigued by the idea of working on a creative project for 100 days in a row and sharing my process online. I just did NaNoWriMo in November 2020 and that was a tremendous success. I finished the first draft of a novel in early December and I am currently deep into revisions. I love these sorts of projects and the 100 Day Project feels like something I should do.
I could write something for 100 days, but that does not feel right for me. I already have an ongoing writing practice. I want to use the 100 days to jumpstart a completely different creative practice.
Over on Pinterest and Instagram, I have been swooning over punch needle crafts. I love the fiber arts. I already knit, crochet, cross stitch, embroider and weave — and damn, that’s probably enough hobbies in the fiber arts arena for one busy stay at home mom who is also writing a novel, right? But no, my heart aches to do punch needle.
After pinning scores of punch needle projects, I finally bought myself this kit and gave it a try. It was love at first punch. That was early January.
With about an hour of punch needling another my belt, my intuition started to ping. This, this, this.
This is your 100 Day Project.
This! This! This!
I resisted, but my intuition persisted.
This! Punch needling! Do this for 100 days!
I have resisted my intuition many, many times but magic always happens when I cave in and honor my intuition. (Exhibit A, my memoir. Exhibit B, my activity book. Exhibit C, my podcast.) So I have decided to stop resisting and embrace 100 Days of Playful Punch Needling for my 2021 #100DayProject.
I am nervous I simply do not have the time to do this. I am still in the throes of distance learning with my second grader, and that just sucks up ridiculous amounts of time. And I’m revising a novel. And trying to blog every weekday. And exercising. And I could keep going, but hell, I just need to spend ten minutes a day on this project. If the day is really that crazy, I can punch needle for one minute and that’s enough.
I might not have the time to do this, but I also think I don’t have the time to NOT do this. My intuition is hollering, and I have to listen. I don’t know what I am going to learn from this endeavor, but I won’t know until I try.
#100DaysofPlayfulPunchNeedle