Prompt: Gluebooks
“[A creative practice is] about giving yourself permission to not do it perfectly—giving yourself permission to resist, giving yourself permission even to skip a day, to make the reason you skipped part of the process.” -Michael Bierut
Today is Day 9 within the tradition of Twelve Days of Christmas, and today’s prompt is one of my very (very!) favorites! ☺️ Gluebooks!
I started hosting Gluebook ✂️ Parties on Instagram in 2014 (back when Instagram was fun and hashtags were a way to connect). 😉
- I first learned about Gluebooking via a weekly prompt shared by Aimee of Artsyville in 2013. (Her account looks to be dormant now, but it remains a colorful display of creativity!) ❤️💛🧡
Once a month, on a Saturday afternoon, I hosted a kindred community from all around the 🌎 world to share our collaged pages and support! 🥳
- I would absolutely love to resume monthly Gluebook Parties. If you are interested and have time on the third Saturday (or Sunday) of the month, please contact me and I will share more details with you. ✂️👩🏻💻💕
“Sometimes we are so confused and sad that all we can do is glue one thing to another. Use white glue and paper from the trash, glue paper onto paper, glue scraps and bits of fabric, have a tragic movie playing in the background, have a comforting drink nearby, let the thing you are doing be nothing, you are making nothing at all, you are just keeping your hands in motion, putting one thing down and then the next thing down and sometimes crying in between.” -Lynda Barry
💁🏻♀️ Gluebooks are simple, quick and fun; they can be large or small layered creations in a journal, a planner, altered book—or simply bits of collage on a single page or index card.
Within allowing time and focus for this tactile means of expression, you are also allowing yourself to [process + release] as you redirect your focus to gain clarity after a cranky-day or simply to collect fragmented thoughts.
Sitting down with scissors, glue sticks, magazines, junk mail and random bits of paper is my mind’s cue to be in the 😌 moment; and to release fragmented thoughts, runaway what-iffing and worry; it is an essential element of self-care and self-compassion.
“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” -Anna Quindlen
Braveheart, full disclosure, as a starting point I compiled a list of twelve prompts for this twelve day series. Part of my motivation was/is to foster momentum for 2026.
This prompt was definitely a home run! And I am so-o very grateful for your kind words and encouragement for this series of posts!
- I would absolutely love to resume monthly Gluebook Parties. If you are interested and have time on the third Saturday (or Sunday) of the month, please contact me and I will share more details with you. ✂️👩🏻💻💕
Compiling a journal—in whatever format is doable for you—is the path to new outcomes.
Braveheart, what we make visible provides us with snapshots of our needs, desires, worth and progress. AND the very act of prioritizing time and space for expression is a calming + clarifying practice.
Gluebooking (in whatever form is doable for you) is also a simple way of showing up on the page (note or index card) that can be enjoyed literally minutes at a time! 🥳
“Colors and shapes make a more definite statement than words.” -Georgia O’Keeffe
⏲️ The first step of a creative habit: it needs to feel doable + beneficial [for you] within two-minutes. “You have to standardize before you can optimize” (James Clear). This minimal threshold of time and energy ensures you will continue—and fosters flow and momentum.
“You are the sky. Everything else–it’s just the weather.” -Pema Chödrön
Braveheart, we learn by doing: we discover details about ourselves through chronicled observation 👀✍️📔 because everything we experience is data. 📊
Data is value-neutral; it is neither “good’ or “bad”—it is merely information to use for our choices, intentions and conclusions. Remembering this helps us to live free from judgment and shoulds.
➡️➡️➡️ As a daily prompt I have been posting oracle cards, content + free downloads here to offer ideas and resources for self-compassion + expression + attention + reflection.
- I would absolutely love to resume monthly Gluebook Parties. If you are interested and have time on the third Saturday (or Sunday) of the month, please contact me and I will share more details with you. ✂️👩🏻💻💕