Feb 25, 2021 | Advice, Bird, Blog, Creativity, Dollar Tree, Ideas and Crafts, List, Organizing, Personalize, Planner, Planners, Planning, Productivity |
Creating Content: What It’s Like Being Creative.
Being creative can be a blessing and a curse. It can help you in times of need or times where you don’t want to need it. You can sit around all day and think you’re being productive. At the same time, you’re a master procrastinator.
Creative Pros
First, I love being creative. Usually it’s an introverted thing. I like to spend my days inside crafting, creating, making things. I think we are the mysterious ones. the ones who can make things out of nothing and everything, all at the same time. Need a hat? We can make you one. Have a cat? We can make one for them too.
Since I’m chronically ill, it’s an everyday task to be creative. I make lists on lists, and have been looking for the perfect app for all of these lists. You won’t catch me without my favorite
fountain pen and some sort of paper in front of me.
Creative Cons
Second, it’s just as much of a curse to create. My apartment is one big craft tornado chaos. If you walk in, you’ll know exactly where I work. My kitchen table has my laptop on it with all of my stationary and planners. The con about this, is that my memory doesn’t allow me to stop this chaos of planning. Another one is the hallway leading to the bathroom and bedrooms. It’s a very small hallway. Georgie likes to hang out in the bathroom the most. She likes to chew on plastic buckets and baskets in the sink, and don’t remember the last time I used that sink. So, I do my crafts in the middle of the shallow hallway so I can be bird sat. This is when she needs to keep an eye on me at all times and I’m not allowed to leave that spot. Evidently, my roommate hates that spot, because he has to step over not only me, but the creative chaos all around me. I think every crafter has a problem with putting things away. I’m always working on something and never want to put anything away. I know I’m coming back to it, and my brain agrees, but it’s not always a good idea to have sewing needles on the floor with a sewing project.
What I do about this…
All things have to end eventually. Unfortunately, this includes my creative chaos. At the same time, this is where the creative chaos comes in. I use my crafts to create solutions. A knitted loom hat upside down can be a basket pouch. Just putting my earbuds and something cute makes me want to put it away. Another, cinch bags are some of my favorites to use for small things. Markers and colored pencils are neatly placed away with tall cinch bags. I loom knitted a pencil case and sewed a zipper on top. These cinch bags order my pens from my highlighters so nothing drowns in everything else.
Have you ever gone into a Dollar Tree? This is the only place I get organization from. Things like buckets and baskets that are also chewed up from my bird, are great to utilize in your work areas. I just put my sewing essentials in a shallow basket, since those are the things I carry around the most.
During the Valentine’s Day holiday, I grabbed a few of these tiny buckets with a sealed lid for garbage I might have on the floor from the chaos. They’re perfect for tiny threads that can stick to your socks, or sticky notes you don’t want to get up to put in the garbage just yet. I got one last year to put laundry quarters in, but had to wait another year to get a few more.
I hope this helps a little bit with your own creative chaos.
-Jenni
Oct 24, 2020 | Advice, Binge Watching, Bird, Blog, Create Yourself, Georgie, List, Planning, Podcasts, Productivity, YouTube |
I have been away for almost two weeks now. Turns out, it isn’t hard to burn out with a blog. I have been watching webinars, studying the art of blogging for profit, writing notes, and making sure I have what I need to be successful.
The problem, I haven’t been taking the time for myself. I love creating. It’s the one thing that truly makes me happy, but wasn’t doing it. I had to stop everything, and do nothing, just to reflect.
I had bought a ton of stuff to create with at the beginning of the month, and haven’t really touched any of it. So, I started an embroidery project on a pillow. It says, Happy Forever. I’ll have to show you the finished project later. I have happy done, of course, like the armature I am, with ties everywhere.
I had to stop and think about all the wisdom I have received from professional bloggers in my email. I look for bloggers on Pinterest and Instagram, and search for them in the ads. I don’t tend to look at the pictures, if I’m looking for webinars and newsletters.
So, I sat down on my living room floor, scattered the printed pages, and began to read. I took in that wisdom, and wrote in the handouts what I needed to not burnout.
I love my blog, but I need to structure out my days to let myself breathe. A creative lifestyle blog is something I need to advise from.
At that moment, I decided to tell you about what I’m doing to make time for creation:
Embroidery: Sewing takes a lot of time, and that’s what I need. I need time to think about how to get in a healthy routine. My pillow was calling my name for a pretty project, and started covering happy. Watching videos on Pinterest for flower designs was probably my favorite part.
Making lists: Being burnt out, I do what I do best; I make lists. Lists of routines I need to be doing for myself. I found a bullet journal I had gotten from Walmart a few years ago. It was in a book, so I took out the stitches, and put a couple in my Happy Planner.
The journal has days of the week to tick off for tasks, and under them is where I put your tasks for the week. I loved this format so much, I made a variation for you. I put in more rows, since I ran out of space pretty quickly on the other one. I also have different sections of tasks, and thought many rows were a good idea anyway. I hope you like it.
Bing watching: Not touching the website is really hard. I love changing things up, and seeing what kinds of technology is out there for blogs. I usually watch YouTube all day, but I decided to switch it up to Netflix. It takes a lot for me to get into something time consuming, and YouTube is pretty good for the shorter content. This time, Netflix is calling my name, to really take the time to focus on something out of my norm.
I have finished a series called Legacies, am about to finish The Haunting of Bly Manor, and have a secret love affair with all things supernatural.
YouTube has been a picky one lately. Podcasts are getting to me, as I listen to them with my bird. This is when I create my projects, and just hang out. Come Sit With Us is a great one from The Try Wives. If you love to dig in deep about mental flaws, Good For You with Whitney Cummings is another favorite.
Spending time with my bird: I love my bird. She is so sweet. She is also like a child, who needs your attention at every second of the day. So, I have spent many days serenading her with YouTube Music. Singing and switching up the words, makes her melt every time. Any song with the word love in it, is a great song. I tend to listen to a lot of 90s music for this reason. I wonder if she was a Backstreet Boy fan in another life.
Animals are a great way to settle down with, when things are a bit hectic. She has her little personality quirks that just make me laugh. Hanging out in the bathroom, her favorite room, made things extra special.
The daytime is for Georgie. Being a night owl myself, I do better burning the midnight oil. She went to bed early, and I got so much done! It’s the time I am most creative, and productive. It’s my favorite time of the day. A cup of tea, something to listen to, and anything to keep my hands busy.
Create yourself: Have you ever just sat down, and played with makeup? Maybe it’s been a while, and I need to take the time to do it again. For me, it was this, and shaving my head bald. Hair hurts with fibromyalgia, and has been gradually getting shorter for about 10 years. I shaved it 2 years ago, because it hurt too much to have it. This time, I don’t want the maintenance of my hair. I love my curly hair, but it was annoying to have. I like rubbing my bald head, and knowing there isn’t hair to get in the way of massaging it.
I have been taking the time to go on Amazon to look at plastic earrings to compliment my new hairdo. I’m allergic to metal, and thought it was a great idea to look up plastic instead. My skin doesn’t like to have metal on it, and the idea of alternatives is a nice thought.
Without hair, I don’t need to maintain products, and can focus on other confident boosting avenues. Like the earrings, I love scarves. Scarves and mascara are the perfect accessories to a bald head.
What is a good way for you to not cause burnout? How do you make time to create?
Bye for now.
Always,
Jenni
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