The month of May is nearly over, which means that ICAD-ians are officially looking forward to June 1st, the opening day of the Index Card a Day project, 2025 version, devised and hosted by Tammy G. of Daisy Yellow Art! What is ICAD? It's sixty-one days of making art ON INDEX CARDS. And yes, we really mean the cheap, flimsy index cards that they sell at the big box store. That is quite an important feature, actually, because this event is NOT about making perfect finished pieces of art on high-quality substrates; this is about showing up, every day for two months, and making marks, trying new ideas, making lists, blending colors, test-driving new pens or inks, drawing mandalas, assembling collages, writing haikus, or perhaps a little bit of all of the above. You can read lots more about the nuts and bolts on the ICAD Home Base page at Daisy Yellow or on Instagram via the @indexcardaday feed.
You absolutely positively DO NOT NEED to make a special book or acquire any supplies except for index cards and a pen! You can keep your finished cards in a box, in a photo album, in a stack or in a notebook. I favor punching a hole in one corner of each card and keeping them all together on a book ring purchased at the stationery store. I also happen to like making little books, so in the middle of May, I tend to grab a few pieces of scrap carboard, decorate them, and call the result my ICAD book. This is the 2025 rendition.
You also don't need to buy more than one style of index cards, but since this is my fourteenth year, I have acquired a few different types and I keep them together in a little file box. In addition to lined ones (which... if the lines are messing you up... you can flip and use the back!) I especially like gridded ones and the extra sturdy divider cards. Over the years I've found colorful ones, tabbed ones, unlined ones, etc; and usually I will treat myself to one pack per year.
Until recently, I'd been keeping all of my ICAD books together in a vintage train case, but I've out grown it; so now that case has about the first ten years and I'm still debating where I'll put the later ones. But again, it's an ancillary issue that isn't impeding my joy for additional years.
Some years I make a title page; some years not. The last few years, I've written or typed Tammy's prompts onto index cards that I add into the book as I work. The prompts, like every aspect of ICAD (except working on REAL index cards!) are 100% optional. Some years I use all of them, in order, with a quasi-religious fervor; some years I use hardly any. Most years it works out to about half and half.
Occasionally I've chosen a theme or a particular skill to work on like drawing, hand lettering or collage; but generally I like to keep it loose and mix it up. There's no right or wrong. If it's your first time, I definitely applaud trying a lot of new things, it will help you figure out what your style actually IS!
Choosing whether to post your cards on a blog or on social media is obviously a personal decision, but I highly recommend doing so.
Instagram is my favorite place to share (
my account is @llaurenb if you want to say hi!) and I love connecting with other ICAD-ians, who are very friendly, very supportive and committed to inclusion. If you put the hashtag #dyicad2025 on your posts, other folks will interact with you in a very positive way. There are (
as far as I know) NO ICAD trolls!
Some cool things I've learned in various years of ICAD: what
wabi sabi is; how to draw an ogee pattern; the meaning of
tessellation in pattern art; the beauty that is
payne's grey; the joy of mandala art (
that was a BIGGIE for me!); how much I love free-style cutting and stitching; the absolute awesomeness of inventing a font... there are far too many examples to list them but basically I do learn something VITAL every year!
Don't over-stress organizing or making the "perfect" set up; but DO try to streamline the process. I find that keeping all my blank cards and my ring-bound book together, visible, and near my "core" supplies of pens and adhesives makes it quick/easy to sit down and make a card each evening, rather than having to seek out and gather my ICAD supplies each night.
Is it "cheating" to make more than one card per day? NO!!! This is your project, and a big part of your enjoyment will come from figuring out the logistics that work for you. If you know that Sundays at your house are pretty chill; whilst Mondays are 16-hour marathons of work, errands, soccer, dance lessons and a huge homework assignment... by all means, double-up on Sundays OR feel fine about making six cards per week instead of seven. Your way is automatically right for YOU!
A final note about the sixty-one days*: Please try not to get too hung up on the exact number. Yes, this is meant to help you start or re-invigorate a daily art practice and commitment is part of that. But let's face it, we all get de-railed at times, life happens, things get busy, it's easy to fall behind and find you've missed a day or even a week. Please let me assure you, if/when this happens YOUR ICAD IS NOT "RUINED"!!! Jump back in. Make the next card. Just keep going. You don't need to catch up; you don't need to apologize. If you weren't enjoying it, or you were feeling stressed out by yet another "chore" added to your day, feel free to stop. But if you were having fun and finding it valuable JUST KEEP GOING. Here endeth the ICAD lesson! :)
*I know, I know, if you've followed me for a bit you know I write a version of the above paragraph every year and it seems repetitive. But truly, every single year, I have heard/read someone saying they "failed" because they didn't complete 61 cards by August 1st. There is literally NO WAY to "fail" at ICAD. Do what you can, when you can, and have as much fun as possible!!!
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