handmade homework

Sometimes you just have to push yourself to do something. You know, give yourself some sort of incentive, even if making things is your passion. Sometimes you just get bored, or tired of making the same thing. I know Etsy teams have challenges like the CCCOE team that I (kind of) belong to used to have a monthly challenge (do they anymore?), and Etsy metal has "Ring a Day" here is how they describe it "This is an exercise in creative exploration. The rules are simple: create ring every day for the entire year of 2010 out of anything, no matter where you are." I don't know how many people made it this far (it is november and all) and well that's a bit much for me.... but here are some I found that I like a lot on their flickr set:

What is your handmade homework? what do you do differently to push yourself? The holidays are swiftly approaching and I know that should be my impetus, but I'm still here in my studio, looking at my same old things wondering how to get motivated. The increasing price of my materials is not helping... maybe I will try to think of new materials to use and THAT will be my handmade homework.... I think I'll go eat.