If your desire to create seems to always end up getting edged out by your busy life while the supplies you bought with good intentions collect dust you are in the right place. Today I am going to share with you how I overcame being too busy to do something I love and quite honestly need as a part of my life in order to be a become a better version of myself.

Do you spend time wishing you had more time? If you had more time, what would you do with it? If you love creating, but never seem to find the time, stay with me. We cannot manufacture or multiply time but we can purpose to spend our daily allotment doing more of what we love. Maybe the last time you left a paint party or decorated your home for the holidays you felt invigorated and it left you wishing you could do something like that more often. It can be very hard to imagine ourselves creating on a regular basis when we relate the experience to spending a 2-3 hour time block. What if I told you there was another way?

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So, if you also feel a pull towards your creative side, let’s talk a minute about why that may be. I believe we were born to create, but life convinces far too many of us that we do not have a creative bone in our body. You are not alone if you have ever said, “I am not creative”. I am here to tell you that you are. Believing that may start with looking at making art from a new perspective. Mixed media boils down to learning techniques and processes. You do not need a certain skill set or experience level to achieve success. And more than that, it is entirely beneficial in so many ways! Research has shown, engaging in art processes can be every bit as beneficial as any meditative or physical exercise. It is a great dopamine source for our mental and physical health. I will let you fill in the blanks for what dopamine sources could use replacing in your life. I know mine. Yours are none of my business. It is so worth adding to our schedules! Here are some of the ways I have been successfully fitting mixed media making into my schedule on a regular basis.

I have found I am way more likely to start if a break projects down into micro commitments. Depending on your set up, which we will talk about more in a future discussion, this may look like grabbing a few items out of a nearby closet and taking over your dining table long enough to get a base coat of paint on your canvas. Perhaps you have the space to dedicate a table or even an entire room to your creative meditation. If this is the case, maybe all you need to do is get yourself to the table or into the room, right? This is where micro commitments have helped me. If I look at what I want to make as if it must be completed in one sitting, my ADHD overwhelm kicks in and the next thing you know I am scrolling through Pinterest and back to just thinking about what I might do when I finally start. The dopamine hit from connecting to others’ creative accomplishments temporarily satisfies me, I forget what I was doing and I move on and I don’t get anything done. Does this sound familiar to you? I have had great success getting over this hurdle by breaking the project design down based on the number of processes needed to complete it into easy to manage steps as I progress to a finished canvas. This has not only been helpful in the starting and finishing, but it also enables me to slow down and enjoy each therapeutic step. I can now afford to give more careful attention as my engagement with the process gives back tenfold, in the way of relieved stress and the sweet satisfaction that making progress can bring.

Let’s use a typical Mixed Media Design of the Month to illustrate this. We conveniently provide a step by step guide for club members, so it could be broken down into greater detail, but for the sake of, well, time, we’re going to stick to the 3 main steps to completing a club design at home. You may say, this is easy for me to do because it’s my job to make mixed media but I have always had to squeeze it into a busy family life while running a retail studio and an online creative membership! As a matter of fact, since it is my job, I could justify doing it in one sitting and occasionally I find myself in that position, due to busy life or procrastination and an approaching deadline. Either way, I still get all of the health giving benefits of engaging in art processes!

I like to start with the background. Some backgrounds techniques can be achieved in as little as 10-15 minutes like a simple white wash over a black canvas to create a chalkboard effect, like the one featured in Campy Christmas. Some designs feature multiple fun processes that I find easy to complete through a series of 10-20 minute increments over a couple of days. I LOVE a good layered background with lots of rich texture. In the Design of the Month teaching videos we speed up these processes in editing to save you some watching time, but I encourage you give yourself permission to slow down and lose yourself in creating for the best experience.

I admit, I do get carried away, very often in fact, but when time is limited planning a stopping point also helps keep me from not starting at all for fear of not getting other important things I have to do done. By determining the stopping point of a process, I am more likely to stick to my allotted time and not get carried away.

Once I am satisfied with my background, I can move on to making the other elements such as templates. These are also provided in the Design of the Month package and are easily traced on your favorite paper or other materials. Sometimes I begin with the paper I plan to use for my templates and let those colors and patterns determine my background color choices. The simple act of choosing paper to cut your template out of counts as a step in the right direction. Tracing and cutting can be saved for the next time you can spend a few minutes. If you have some capable scissor users in your family, involving them in the process could also be fun! I keep envelopes handy to contain cut template pieces until I am ready to arrange them on my canvas and adhere them.

The final micro commitment, finishing details and touches, often comes together over a period of days for me, where I occasionally revisit the canvas, rummage through my vast collection of beads, buttons and various ephemeral treasures for possibilities and holding them up to see if they light a spark and bring the design together. I rarely settle for just any addition and occasionally give myself permission to keep it super simple by adding nothing at all. I have also been know to return to a previously finished canvas with an addition inspired while creating the next design. This is how Mix It Up Mondays was born. Each process leaves me wanting to dig deeper, try something different the next time and inevitably leads to a whole new mixed media creation. Often the ideas come so fast I cannot make them fast enough. Other times I enjoy a certain design so much I end up creating several versions. If it is a Christmas design, I find it very hard to stop!

So, are you ready to answer the call of your heart to create and make a series of easy micro commitments that could lead to your success? The best part about mixed media is how accessible it is. While developing skills is a part of the experience, there are no particular talents or requirements needed to start, except for a desire to create.

Join in next time when we will talk about storing supplies when space is limited.

Happy Making!
Donna

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