I'm doing something small and joyful every day in May. Join me.
A 31-day stamp experiment. All you need is a glue stick, a stamp cutter, and a sense of curiosity.
On 1st May, I’m starting a new tiny experiment 🧪
And I’d love you to join me.
Last September I committed to one page in my sketchbook, every day, for a month. I didn’t know what it would do to me. What I didn’t expect was how much it would open me up.
Last week, I was inspired by a post from Pam Vale, so decided to mash up her creative medium with my Joy Experiments to create a 31-day stamp experiment.
So I’m going again. But this time with a twist.
This month, the experiment is stamps.
Here’s what you need (affiliate links):
A sketchbook (I like this one by Ottergami)
A postage stamp cutter (the craft punch that gives you those amazing perforated edges around £10)
Found images: magazines, old books, wrapping paper, catalogues, anything beautiful that crosses your path
That’s it. I promise that’s it.
Here’s what you do every day in May:
Cut one small stamp from a found image and stick it in your sketchbook. Five minutes, max.
Or, create a whole page of stamps in your sketchbook. Fifteen minutes, max.
You cannot do this wrong.
Why stamps?
There’s something about that perforated edge that I’m obsessed with. It turns a scrap of paper into a specimen. A fragment worth keeping. A peacock feather. A stripe of midnight blue. A line of handwriting from an old book.
And collecting the images? That’s half the magic. You start seeing differently. The catalogue you’d normally bin. The birthday card you can’t quite throw away. The colour in the corner of a magazine page that makes you stop and look.
This is what the September experiment taught me: creativity doesn’t need any plan. It needs a page. And fifteen minutes.
The (optional) rules
✂️ One stamp (or page) per day, every day in May. That’s 31 stamps or pages.
✂️ Found images only. No drawing, no printing, go full analogue.
✂️ 15 minutes max (set a timer, the constraint is the point)
✂️ Stick it in your sketchbook.
✂️ Share with #JoyExperiments if you want the community to cheer you on
✂️ There are no other rules
If you’ve been feeling creatively flat or if you just want a tiny, joyful daily practice that’s just for you, here it is.
I’ll be sharing mine every day here. Drop yours in the comments. Let’s see what we create in May.
Are you in? Let me know what you’ll be doing in the comments.
xo, Louise 🫶
P.S. If stamps aren’t your thing, do the experiment in whatever form calls to you. One tiny creative act, every day. That’s the experiment.