My Absolute Favorite Creations of 2025 (by Month)
As 2025 comes to an end, I've loved looking back at the pieces that shaped my creative journey this past year. There were so many moments when color, culture, and collage came together in all the perfect ways, and I'm excited to share the highlights with you.
Here is that artwork that defined my year.
JANUARY - "Journal January"
I kicked off 2025 with Journal January, a creative sprint where I challenged myself to make one journal every day for 30 days—and I sold every single one! What I didn’t expect was how much I’d learn in the process: the power of consistency, the momentum that comes from showing up daily, and the confidence I gained in running my online shop. Creating and listing work every day sharpened my workflow, strengthened my discipline, and reminded me how energizing it is to share fresh art with my community in real time.
FEBRUARY - Fodder Journal Deep Dive
This fodder journal, created in Fodder School 4 under the guidance of Fodder School teacher Liz Constable, was a true deep dive into the art of handcrafted books. The process engulfed me in so many ways, from making the master sheets to layering collage in unexpected combinations and exploring new mark-making techniques that pushed my creativity further. Each page felt like its own little art project, building on the last. And the fact that I bound the entire book by hand was both humbling and exhilarating! The video of this journal received over 13,000 views on Instagram, which was so exciting to me! To see this video, click here.
MARCH - Women's Retreat Journals
A dear friend of mine organized a women’s health and wellness retreat in Sonoma, CA, and I was honored when they hired me to create twelve custom journals for their staff. For this project, I decided to make all the journals in the same color palette and added a bit of heart and soul by painting a few brand-new floral pieces specifically for these covers. I wanted them to feel intentional, calming, and crafted with care. It was such a meaningful way to contribute to a weekend devoted to women my age who are navigating the joys of menopause! : )
APRIL - Tag Swap
One of my favorite creative moments this year was learning how to make handmade tags under the direction of Fodder School teacher Tracy Wozniak. Using her guidance, I created a set of twelve mixed-media tags. I mailed them off to twelve recipients across the U.S., and in return, I received twelve beautifully unique tags in my mailbox. If you’ve never done an art swap, there’s nothing quite like the anticipation of seeing what arrives in the mail and feeling connected to other artists through something made by hand, that's for sure.
MAY - "Defined" Color Palette
Up until this point in my art journey, I had never once considered sticking to a defined color palette. I had always chosen my colors intuitively, but one day I felt an internal pressure to create an official palette, and it turned out to be quite a process. Even after painstakingly narrowing down the hues I loved most, the palette still felt limiting, as it boxed in that freedom that makes creating so enjoyable for me. I attempted to follow it while making new hand-painted collage pieces, but eventually, it fell to the wayside. Still, I’m glad I went through the exercise as it taught me more about color than I had ever known before.
JUNE - Patterned Paper
This year, I pushed myself to try something new: creating an entire collection of background papers using my gel plate and a mix of stencils, stamps, and sponge brushes. These richly layered prints were meant to become the base papers for a new series of large collage pieces, but working with them proved more challenging than I expected. My hand-painted collage elements are already so detailed, and pairing them with equally complex backgrounds required a whole new level of problem-solving! In the end, I created 4 large-scale pieces that I love, and since then, they’ve found their way into countless mixed media projects I've made.
JULY - Bali Painting Session
This summer, my daughter and I took a two-week volunteer trip to Bali. This was a trip I had had in my heart for years, and making it a reality turned into one of the most meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Between our busy days of teaching English, I managed to squeeze in a few painting sessions with the lush jungle spread out in front of me - not to mention the early morning fog and sounds of creatures in the jungle! I felt so grateful and fortunate in those moments. Two parts of my world, service and creativity, had woven themselves together.
AUGUST - Fodder School 4 Teacher
My favorite creation for August has nothing to do with my own work, but rather the beautifully creative work of the Fodder School 4 students who took my lesson, as I was the featured Fodder School 4 teacher for the month. In the lessons, I taught the community how to create circle fodder to use in handmade greeting cards, and watching what everyone made was pure magic! The variety, the color, the individuality...it all exceeded anything I could have imagined. This experience was truly a highlight of 2025, as it was incredibly rewarding to see my teaching spark such stunning and personal creations in the hands of so many talented artists!
SEPTEMBER - Large-Scale Collage Pieces
September was the month I challenged myself to put one large-scale collage piece into the world each week on Instagram and to my newsletter subscribers, all built on the patterned backgrounds I made in June. Sharing these bold, experimental pieces weekly felt both vulnerable and exhilarating, and it definitely marked a real turning point in my confidence as a collage artist. Knowing I could accomplish collage pieces of this scale, with so much detail, simply proved to me that I could do it and it made me feel like a bona fide, professional artist! : ) The remainder of these pieces are available on my website, www.carriesmithcollageart.com.
OCTOBER - Hamsa Hands
I love any cultural project thrown my way, which is exactly why September’s Fodder School 4 lesson from the amazing Willa Wanders (Founder of Fodder School) lit me up from the inside out. It was a deep, immersive dive into color, pattern, and symbolism, and I pulled out every collage paper I’d collected in Bali to bring this project to life. The combination of cultural motifs, vibrant colors, and intricate mark-making pushed my creativity in the best possible way. Honestly, this is one of my favorite art projects I've ever worked on!
NOVEMBER - Holiday Art Show Creations
In November, I poured my energy into creating artwork for a holiday art show where I exhibited an entire collection: 28 brass-framed 3×3-inch ornaments, 25 wood-block collages, miniature hand-painted jewelry boxes, and a full suite of digitized Christmas cards and gift tags. The show itself was a success, but the experience also taught me that selling my products in this kind of setting just isn’t for me. What truly lights me up is sharing my process, teaching what I know, and connecting with fellow mixed media artists online who want to explore and grow. This realization was a gift in itself, and it’s helping guide my path forward as I enter 2026.
DECEMBER - Exciting New Projects for 2026!
I already have some exciting new offerings underway for 2026, and I can’t wait to share what’s in the works! One project in particular blends my love of travel, culture, and collage in a way I’ve never explored before, and it’s going to be something truly special for mixed media artists of all levels. I’m also developing new online classes with fresh techniques, culture, and inspiration woven into every lesson. Stay tuned… so much goodness is coming in the new year!
Looking Back
Looking back over this past year, I’m struck by how much growth, curiosity, and creative courage shaped every month of my journey. From daily challenges and deep-dive lessons to cultural projects, art swaps, large-scale collages, and meaningful travel, each experience added a new layer to my practice and helped clarify the kind of artist and teacher I want to be.
I experimented boldly, learned what energizes me (and what doesn’t), and found deep connection in the Fodder School community and beyond. As I move forward into 2026 with exciting new offerings already in motion, I’m carrying all of these lessons with me.
Thank you for being a part of this colorful, ever-evolving journey!