Dephemerember 2023 starts on December 4th and for the first time, I’ve planning on participating. I’ve only watched the previous years, but found the videos so inspiring that it’s finally time for me to try it, too. I’d like to make a bird-themed journal and this seems like a great way to get a lot of work done on it.
I’ve described the who and what of Dephemerember previously, but for those who don’t know, it’s a December ephemera-making challenge that isn’t holiday-themed. YouTubers Luise Heinzl of Junk Journal Art and Barbara of 49dragonflies make items for their junk journals using prompts for inspiration. (Junk journals get their name from the trash paper items that are included in them; the journals themselves are often works of art.)
This year, Barbara and Luise have simplified things. Instead of having prompts for every day of the month, there will be four per week, or sixteen total. I’m guessing this was a necessary compromise. Plenty of people suggested moving this event to January so they would have more time to participate, but even more people appreciated the December videos because they helped them to get through a difficult time of year. Going to sixteen prompts will make it easier for people to participate while keeping the event in December.
Another change is that there will be a single prompt per day. Multiple prompts per day had Barbara and Luise tearing their hair out in the past. The 2023 prompt list was released on November 20th, and at first I was tempted to ignore it completely. I am not a big fan of prompts and many of these are as far from my bird-theme as I can imagine.
Selfie in a bubble? Kintsugi houses?? Mushroom robots???
Then I started having ideas for a few of them. Like how I can make “11. Halloween Meets Christmas” about birds. I got excited. Some of them are going to be hard for me to do, so I made a little notebook with a prompt on each page so I can collect ideas and materials. It will be much easier (I hope) if I have ideas ready to go when the actual day for the prompt arrives.
I have covered a binder and pulled all the birds out of my paper stash. I am hoping to fit the Luise Heinzl card I won last year in somewhere, but I don’t know if it will work because I accidentally made the cover really bright and not very natural looking. I’m worried that only flamingos, roseate spoonbills, and painted buntings will be at home in my bird journal.
Sinced I’m nervous about trying this, I am also making a list of structures I can make for my journal. If all else fails, I can work my way through that.
Like many others, I have found watching these two create relaxing and inspiring. They make the hectic month of December calmer by providing a holiday-free zone where you can forget about everything else for a bit. I hope creating as well as watching will make it even more fun.
Are you going to make ephemera in December? Do you like challenges that use prompt lists?
Dephemerember 2023 playlists:
49 dragonflies (Barbara)
Luise Heinzl Junk Journal Art
This looks like a beautiful and fun hobby. If I didn’t already have too many things on the go, I would choose something like this.
I enjoy it and I wind up with a really cool journal to write in, so it’s double the fun that way.