Episodes

  • #37 - Snart Theme for March! Bag Charms!

    #37 - Snart Theme for March! Bag Charms!
    Mar 4 2026
    It’s time for another Snack + Art = SnArt! This month, I’m taking all my beading knowledge from The 100 Day Project (check my Notes to see what I’ve been up to) and using it to make bag charms.I’ve been charm girlie for years. My keychains are always heavy, my cell phones had multiple dangly charms and my ita bags have always been full. The LaBubu craze and obsession with blind boxes is not new to me. Don’t recite the old magic to me. I was there when it was written!Anyway! Let’s make some charms this month. I’ve got lots of links below for inspo and resources. I can’t wait to see what you make!ALSO! I totally forgot to mention that this craft is perfect for fiber artists, too. So please include small quilted objects (zipper bags, single blocks, etc), crocheted trinkets and knitted cuties to the list of projects.Ok! Enough rambling! Enjoy the episode!Thanks for listening to the podcast! If you don’t want to subscribe, but want to support, consider a small, one-time donation. Similar to the “buy me a coffee” buttons, but I don’t drink coffee and would rather wander a thrift store lol. Love you!ArtistsBright Bat Design* Nugget Keychains - adorable plush keychain charms that even have their own ita bag backpacks!* Acrylic Keychains - If you just want cute keychains to add to the mix, she’s got them!Burger Babie* Blind Bag Keychains - Padded vinyl blind bag charms in her unique style.Sugarbones* Star Pocket Trinket Keychain - I have one of these and they fit Sonny Angels perfectly. I have a bunch of Calico Critters in mine.* Star Bag Mini Backpack - If you need a bag with lots of rings to attach your charms to, this is the one!Ugly Plants* Photocard Holder - These are great for showing off Pokemon cards or KPop photocards. A fun addition to any bag charm.ResourcesThe Stylish Maker YouTube Channel* Keyring Tutorial* Necklace Stringing TutorialPerkins on Parkway YouTube Channel* Dangle Bag Charm* Wrap-around Bag CharmKitto YouTube Channel* Plush Charm TutorialChelsea DIY YouTube Channel* Plush Cookie Keychain Activities* Craft Night - Swap supplies, make things for each other, put on a movie and have a cozy night in.* Thrift or Vintage Hunting - Go looking for trinkets that can be used as beads or charms or pendants. Get nostaligic!* Long-distance charm swap - Send your friends a bag of a mystery beads, or make something just for them! My friend Courtney and I are doing this right now!* Sisterhood of the traveling charm - Start a charm and send it to a friend. Then, they add to it and send it to another friend! Keep it going!Projects* Beaded Charms - A great place to start.* Sew Your Own Plush Charm - Use your own characters or choose an existing plush to modify.* Up-Cycle a Vintage Toy - If you have a dremel it makes it easier, but if just get some screw eyes, you can shove it straight into a soft vinyl toy!* Rhinestone a trinket or keychain - Get our your glue and rhinestones and make something mundane, fabulous.* Recreate Vintage Charm Necklace - Do your remember these charm necklaces from the 80s? How cute would it be as a charm chain going from one handle of a purse to another?I hope you make something fun this month!♡ BeckyThanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beckyhelms.substack.com/subscribe
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    22 mins
  • #36 - Snart Theme for February!

    #36 - Snart Theme for February!
    Feb 5 2026
    It’s time for another Snack + Art = SnArt! This month is a little weird because the topic is very niche. We’re doing t-shirt quilting in February! I know. I know. I haven’t even done regular quilting as a topic for Snart yet, but I think this has a lot of potential.We’re going to de-stash, up-cycle and make some stuff out of t-shirts that is not limited to just quilting. I promise, I have some fun activities and projects to try. Let me know what you think!!My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.ArtistsI usually mention artists that use whatever medium I’m yapping about, but I couldn’t find any that were specific to t-shirts. There are lots of amazing textile artists, but in my brief research, I couldn’t find anyone specifically upcycling shirts. There are lots of craft round-ups about things you can make with shirts, but nothing that stood out to be shirt-specific. If you know of anyone, please let me know!BooksThe T-Shirt Quilt Book: Create One-Of-A-Kind Keepsakes - Make 8 Exciting Projects or Design Your Own by Lindsay Conner and Carla Hegeman Crim* I found this book at the library the other day and it kicked off of my hyperfixation. It’s got step-by-step instructions and advice on specific interfacing that works best to stabilize t-shirts.Modern Memory Quilts: A Handbook for Capturing Meaningful Moments,12 Projects + the Stories That Inspired Them by Suzanne Paquette* This one looked promising from the preview photos. Something a little more modern?T-Shirt Quilts Made Easy Quilt Book by Martha Deleonardis* The listing for this one on Fat Quarter Shop (a favorite online fabric store!) said, “cracked the code of stabilizing all sorts of stretchy fabric” and I need to know everything!Activities* Go through clothes together - Sit down with your family and go through clothes together! Reminisce, choose favorites for the quilt and maybe choose others for hand-me-downs or donations. Do a clean-out and craft at the same time. * Clothing swap - Organize a t-shirt swap with friends and grow your collection! Maybe other folks would want to join in on your project after seeing everything together and adding new shirts to their stash.* Thrift adventure - Go out and find some new-to-you treasures! Maybe you want band tees, 90s nostalgia, a specific color scheme or local spots? I think checking out the thrift, yard sales and estate sales would be a fun way to gather material for a recycled craft like this.Projects* T-Shirt Quilt - You can just google “t-shirt quilt patterns” and be inundated with all kinds of patterns and YouTube videos. Go wild with those! But here are three patterns that I thought were unique in a crowded space.* Rebel Girl Quilt Pattern - This quilt looks like records coming out of their sleeves and I saw someone on reddit use it by putting band tees where the record sleeve piece go! Brilliant. And it’s free!* Book Nook Quilt Pattern - This made me think of another favorite pattern that is of book covers and stacks of books. You could do a bookish quilt, or just make it like, the story of your life. * Polaroid T-Shirt Quilt - I just thought this one was so fun. It’s a clean layout with a vintage feel that is so versatile. How fun would it be to print out actual photos on fabric to use for this?! Not what we were talking about, but kind of cool. Oh! Or t-shirts with faces on them like bands or movies? I’m overthinking now.* Pillow Shams - These can be as simple or as complicated as you want. You can quilt multiple shirts together, or just pick one. I’ve linked three different methods of sewing them together.* No Zipper Free Pattern - This is a very simple YouTube video showing how to make a pillowcase without a zipper. I’d add some interfacing to it, tbh, but it’s a great place to start.* T-Shirt Pillow with Zipper - This is a little more advanced, but I think it looks nice.* Simplest Pillow of the Bunch - This one doesn’t require flaps or zippers!* Ornaments - If you have shirts with smaller elements or a repeating pattern that can be cut and used multiple times, ornaments might be a fun thing to make.* The House that Lars Built - This particular pattern has fabric that was custom printed, but it gives you a good idea of how to cut out abnormal shapes and how to add some extra flair. I’d definitely recommend interfacing to make stuffing them easier. T-shirt fabric can get ridiculously stretchy and hard to manage.* Kimekomi Ornaments - These come from a Japanese dollmaking technique where lines are scored on a foam surface and fabric is tucked into the lines. Definitely use interfacing, but this is great for smaller, recognizable patterns.* Upcycle Elements from T-shirts - This tutorial is so cute. I love the idea of using the interfacing to fuse the shirt onto felt and then cut out the design from there. * Use Excess as Material - After you ...
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    26 mins
  • #35 - Gently Pushing Through Creative Block

    #35 - Gently Pushing Through Creative Block
    Jan 22 2026
    Hi! I’m Becky, a former shop owner & independent artist, currently reclaiming my creativity & living a slow, nerdy life. I love sharing small businesses, chatting about crafts and hollerin’ about books.Come hangout in this silly, cat-photo-filled, creative space!Be Gentle with Yourself* Get at least eight hours of sleep!* I cannot stress to you how important sleep is. Check out any episode of Life Kit about sleep.* Get a physical and ask about regular bloodwork* Sometimes there’s a physical reason you’ve got brain fog. I have to take vitamin d supplements in the winter and I can tell when I need them!* Think about therapy or bring it up to your therapist.* Talk therapy on a regular basis is amazing! Sometimes just getting it out at being validated can open a new door for you.* No negative self talk.* Don’t be the villain in your own story. It’s so easy to spiral, but please be gentle with yourself.Things to Try * Go to a museum, or browse a museum’s collection online.* Pinterest is full of AI slop, so sometimes you have to go straight to the source. Being around the physical work can give it a whole new meaning. Seeing the brushstrokes and taking in the scale can impact you in ways you’d never imagine. I saw Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi in person the other day and I’m obsessed. * If you don’t have any museums near you, browse the online collections of your favorite spots. These are great because you can see works that they don’t have out, too. Get lost in a rabbit hole of modern and ancient art!* Bring your sketchbook, camera and/or a friend and take your time!* Go take a walk in nature.* This is not groundbreaking and I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but it always works. * If you can’t get outside (our high as I write this is 15 🥶), I suggest finding a botanical garden with a greenhouse! The walk in might be rough, but it’ll be toasty warm inside and you’ll be surrounded by beautiful plant life. There are also florists and plant stores if there’s nothing else. But maybe don’t settle in for a long visit there lol.* Bring a sketchbook or camera (single-use, instant film, fancy camera or just your phone) and record what you see. If you bring your phone, maybe you can print out your photos on one of those sticker paper printers. I want one.* Make your home the studio.* Grab a bouquet of flowers at the grocery store or a cute new plant at the local plant shop and bring it home (if you don’t have a cat like Sprinkles who eats every plant I’ve ever bought 😑)* Thrift some items to make a still life. Pressed glass vases, vintage books, toys from your childhood, a letter case full of trinkets, a table setting of beautiful china. Sari shows us that still life paintings can be anything!* Draw your subject from different angles. Paint flowers each day as they wilt. Dry the flowers and hang them and draw them again. Sculpt your still life out of air dry clay and make a 1:1 replica. Use paper mâché to make a giant version of your subject. The possibilities are only limited by your brain. And as long as you’re not using genAI regularly, you probably still have a brain to use!* Go to YouTube University!* Pick a medium you’ve always wanted to try and find an instructional video on YouTube. Grab your supplies, make the time and get ready to suck at it! * Try it at least twice so you can learn from your mistakes and keep trying. You don’t have to show anyone and you can chuck after you want. This is just to stretch your creative muscles in a new direction for a bit.* If you’re feeling sassy, invite a friend over or do this with your partner or kids!* Junk journal or collage.* This is an easy way to use the things around you in a new way. You don’t have to buy anything, unless you want a new sketchbook. I’ll never stand in the way of an artist and new sketchbook.* The point here is get creative with things around you. This is nothing you’re going to monetize. It’s just a way to cut and paste and play for a minute. Get out of the day to day and don’t force it to be good. Just like Jen Perkins says, “Glue stuff to stuff”. * Bonus, you can make this as easy or difficult as you want. Get some paper and scribble on it. Make your own textures and colors. Or just use what you’ve got if you don’t want to mess with it.♡ BeckyThanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beckyhelms.substack.com/subscribe
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    24 mins
  • #34 - Dopamine Menu for Crafty People

    #34 - Dopamine Menu for Crafty People
    Jan 7 2026

    Hi! I’m Becky, a former shop owner & independent artist, currently trying to reclaim my creativity. I love sharing small businesses, chatting about crafts and rambling about books.

    Come hangout in this not-so-serious, cat-photo-filled, creative space!

    Dopamine Menu for Crafty People

    ***Apologies for the audio quality! I explain it in the beginning and I’m so sorry!***

    Today, I’m leaning into a very silly idea.

    My therapist suggested I make a “dopamine menu” for myself a while back. Just a list of little things that lift my spirits and bring me joy.

    So, I decided to adapt that idea into a restaurant-style menu of different types of crafts and projects I can pull from when I need something to make.

    Join me to learn what kinds of crafts I add to my menu. I’ve got appetizers, entrees, salads, specials and desserts! It’s very dorky and I’m into it.

    ♡ Becky

    Thanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it!



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beckyhelms.substack.com/subscribe
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    17 mins
  • #33 - Advent Activities for a Fun & Easy Holiday

    #33 - Advent Activities for a Fun & Easy Holiday
    Nov 25 2025

    This week, I’m excited to share how we do our Advent calendar each year. I painted this tree for Emmit’s first Christmas and we’ve used it every year since. I fill each box with a Christmas chocolate and small piece of paper with an activity on it.

    Sometimes the activities are things we’re planning to go out and do. Sometimes they’re small ways to celebrate the season without much fuss. Here are some ideas for things you can add to your Advent calendar!

    You can also watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts!

    My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    Activities

    * Local Events - Anything date specific goes on the calendar and into the Advent tree

    * Cocoa Crawls

    * Tree Lightings

    * Musical productions

    * Parades

    * Trivia Nights

    * Trail of Lights

    * Craft Shows & Holiday Markets - Get them on the calendar

    * Blue Genie Art Bizarre in Austin (Running till Christmas Eve as always)

    * Christkindl Markt in Grand Rapids (November 19th - December 23rd)

    * Detroit Urban Craft Fair (December 6th and 7th at the Masonic Temple in Detroit)

    * Family, Friends or Workplace Parties - If they’re part of your holiday season, add them to the Advent!

    * Go Ice Skating - I prefer to watch from a distance with hot chocolate lol

    * Buy a Special Ornament - We like to pick out a new ornament for each year, though I usually end up getting a few 😬

    * Small Business Crawl - Visit your favorite small businesses all in one day! Maybe even eat at locally owned restaurants while you’re out. Bring some friends and support independent shops.

    Movies & TV Shows

    * The Muppet Christmas Carol

    * How the Grinch Stole Christmas

    * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

    * Frosty the Snowman

    * Care Bears Nutcracker Suite

    * White Christmas

    * Home Alone

    * Elf

    * A Chipmunk Christmas (does anyone else remember this?)

    * Christmas episodes of your favorite TV Shows (Like The Office, listed below)

    * Season 2, Episode 10 - “Christmas Party”

    * Season 3, Episode 10 & 11 - “A Benihana Christmas: Part 1 & 2”

    * Season 5, Episode 11 - “Moroccan Christmas”

    * Season 6, Episode 13 - “Secret Santa”

    * Season 7, Episode 11 & 12 - “Classy Christmas: Part 1 & 2”

    * Season 8, Episode 10 - “Christmas Wishes”

    * Season 9, Episode 9 - “Dwight Christmas”

    Food

    * Make a hot chocolate bar (or just make hot chocolate together)

    * Make Chex Mix together

    * Cookie marathon day - sugar cookies with decorations, chocolate chip, etc

    * Host a cookie swap

    * Make a gingerbread house (or use graham crackers for an easier treat)

    * Bake a yule log and decorate it together

    * I always make my Great Aunt Becky’s toffee and send it to folks

    Traditions

    * Make paper snowflakes

    * Play Candy Cane Hide & Seek

    * Make a memory chain

    * Make ornaments together

    * Make your own Christmas cards

    * Jolabokoflod - gift books on Christmas Eve!

    When I’m putting my calendar together, I try to space things out and think about when we might need a break from the more involved things.

    It must be said that we don’t always make good on every single activity every single day. Sometimes life happens. Sometimes we’re just not in the mood. We hold it loosely, but I like to use it as a framework for our holidays so we’re sure to do all the fun things we love each year!

    ♡ Becky

    Thanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it!



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beckyhelms.substack.com/subscribe
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    17 mins
  • #32 - Snart Theme for November!

    #32 - Snart Theme for November!
    Nov 12 2025
    We’re celebrating a year of the podcast with a Snart episode! Snart is Snack+Art (the snack bit isn’t as important, but if you want to be a purest, grab some Christmas Tree Cakes) and I’m sharing some artists who have amazing holiday ideas, thoughts on books about Christmas crafts, activities to do with people you like, and fun projects to try as we get into the season.Enjoy!!And be sure to scroll down for all the links you could possibly want!My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Artists* Jennifer Perkins - If you love a kitschy, crafty Christmas like me, she is your one stop shop for inspiration! I love her! She’s my friend in real life and I still crawl her site during the holidays looking for inspiration. She does lots of events around Austin, so be sure to follow her on Instagram if you’re in the area and want to make cool crafts with a cool chick.* Substack: iamjenperkins.substack.com* Blog: https://jenniferperkins.com/category/holidays/christmas/* Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHuntressGatherer* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferperkins* The Crafted Life - If you like super simple, super colorful crafts at Christmas time, this is your gal! Another actual friend (how lucky am I?! 😭), Rachel is full of ideas that bring color into your life and holidays. Also, her books are incredible!* Blog: https://thecraftedlife.com/category/holiday/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecraftedlife/* Newsletter: https://thecraftedlife.com/newsletter/* Colorful Living Book: https://thecraftedlife.com/colorful-living-links/* Perkins on Parkway - I don’t actually know Krystle in real life, but her IG is full of fun home decor and DIYs. I recently saw, on Instagram, a felt Christmas chain DIY that I’m absolutely doing this year!* Blog: https://perkinsonparkway.com/category/christmas/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perkinsonparkway/* Mollie Johanson - We’re back to real life friends here! Mollie is an incredible artist, embroiderer and crafter. We even collabed on a pin together many years ago! Her felt holiday projects and sew-a-longs are beyond cute (as you’ll see below).* Blog: https://wildolive.blogspot.com/search/label/christmas* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/molliejohanson/* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wildolive* Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/wildolive/BooksI’m not going to share a list of books this time because I put together a pretty thorough list for the Christmas in July post. But, I will say, my best advice for finding good holiday craft books is to go thrifting. Any vintage Christmas craft book is going to be golden!Activities* Cocoa Crawl - I’ve only just heard of this, but apparently, shops will provide hot chocolate samples and you can just walk around town drinking cocoa and eating treats?! Sign me up! There are bunch around me, too!* Neighborhood Lights drive - I know there are lots of places to see giant light displays (we loved Trail of Lights and Peppermint Parkway in Austin every year), but when I was little and we didn’t have a lot, we’d just take a night and drive around the fancy neighborhoods to see what their lights were like lol!* Holiday Craft Night - There are so many projects you can do with friends for the holidays! Make ornaments and trade them, have a cookie baking day, make paper chains. Have a host, pick the supplies, get the cheesy music on and make it a night!* Ceramic Painting Studio - I flipping love a paint-your-own ceramics place. There’s one near us that has a giant light up Christmas tree and I need to paint my own pink, ceramic tree! It’s a must.Projects* Christmas Heirloom Dollhouse - This can be huge and involved (like Perkins on Parkway) or use a simple IKEA house as a base and be moderately involved (like Blushing Embers). Either way, I’m obsessed. You could even make a big dollhouse like A Beautiful Mess did years ago and make holiday themed rooms or swap out and redecorate that mini house for Christmas, too!* https://perkinsonparkway.com/diy-christmas-dollhouse/* instagram.com/blushingembers/* https://abeautifulmess.com/how-to-build-a-diy-dollhouse/* Wreaths - There are so many ways to make cute wreaths! You could make them humongous using pool noodles. You could hot glue a ton of vintage ornaments to a tinsel wreath (omg I want to do this so bad!). You could make tiny ones from bitty wreaths and kitschy odds and ends (I share this one for Christmas in July, but I’m still obsessed). * https://abeautifulmess.com/easy-oversized-christmas-wreath-diy-with-pool-noodles/* https://inspiredbycharm.com/diy-vintage-christmas-ornament-wreath/* https://www.bhg.com/christmas/ornaments/easy-christmas-ornaments/* Ornaments - Duh. First, please try making some pushpin ornaments! I got a bunch of satin ornaments from At Home last year to use as a base for pushpin decorating and I love them. ...
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    32 mins
  • #31 - Season 2 Podcast Premier!

    #31 - Season 2 Podcast Premier!
    Sep 24 2025
    Season 2 is here!After a little transition time between the summer and the new school year, I’m back with another podcast episode! As you can imagine, things didn’t turn out quite as I expected over the long holiday and I wanted to recap my expectations vs my reality and how I square them for myself.If you’d rather watch YouTube, you can hop over here.What Worked* Adding events to the calendar* This is huge for me because I’m an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of gal, so making sure the big events we want to do are on the calendar, meant that they weren’t missed.* The biggest one was the Ann Arbor Art Fair, which continues to be one of my favorite things about living here. It was a perfect day.* Christmas in July* The Snart activity for July was my favorite so far! I cannot express the joy that it brought me* We visited Frankenmuth, made crafts, bought holiday fabric and I even did Christmas nails!* Morning Pages* I held space for this practice during the break and whenever I chose to let it go in favor of a lie-in, I felt the difference.* This small ritual in the morning is necessary to my well being now!* Small crafts* Making beaded earrings was my crafty lifeline throughout the break. * Being able to complete a project from start to finish is another necessity for my brain.* Vlogging!* I am so glad that I recorded videos each week during the summer! Having a record of our days helped me to see how much we actually did, even if it wasn’t what we’d planned.* Feeling productive and sharing our life was really fun, too.What Didn’t Work* Strict weekly schedule* I love planning a weekly schedule, but keeping to it is a totally different exercise. * When I don’t follow through with my carefully laid plans, there are definitely feelings of failure that pop up. I had to let those go this summer.* Regular day trips* I have a kid who loves being home. He’d much rather read and build LEGO sets than run around town.* And our days ended up being shorter than I expected. We’d sleep in longer than expected (a blessing and a curse), his limited screen time would blend in to lunch and then we just didn’t have enough time to go out before it was time to start dinner. Again…learning to let go.* Long-term projects* I just couldn’t rustle up the dopamine to get to all of my neglected, long-term projects.* Sometimes it’s ok to kick the can down the road a bit and let your future self figure it out.* Anything that required recurring plans* I think we’ve establish that the best laid plans of mice and men go awry. I love making them, but when you’re a parent, you have to hold everything very loosely.* This is something I’d like to work on in the future. When my schedule works, it makes things easier for me, but when it’s too much, everything goes out the window.My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Find me all over the place!* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms* Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thebeckyhelms/_saved/* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.socialThanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beckyhelms.substack.com/subscribe
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    22 mins
  • #30 - How to Plan a Creative Summer - Season 1 Finale!

    #30 - How to Plan a Creative Summer - Season 1 Finale!
    Jun 10 2025
    It’s time for the Season 1 Finale of My Artist Friend! Let’s chat about how to plan a creative summer and some of things I’m looking forward to while my kid is out of school. I’m chatting about project ideas, scheduling tips to limit decision making and just mindsets to help you survive the summer with your creativity intact.Thanks for hanging out with me for the last 30 weeks, omg! I’m taking a break after this episode until September, but I’ll still be hanging out on Instagram and Substack, so I hope to see you there!Keep scrolling down for the full outline and links.My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Scheduling Your Time* Events & Activities* Get out your calendar and add all the events that aren’t flexible, so you can plan around them.* Ann Arbor Art Fair: https://www.theannarborartfair.com/* Shakespeare in the Arb: https://www.annarbor.org/event/shakespeare-in-the-arb/19325/* Day Trips* Set a radius that’s reasonable for your travel in a day and explore!* Frankenmuth, MI: https://www.frankenmuth.org/* Detroit Institute of Arts: https://dia.org/* Toledo Zoo: https://www.toledozoo.org/* Summer-long Projects* Come up with one long-term project to work on during the summer.* Finish my stinkin’ holiday quilts.* Junk journal, scrap book, embroidery journal, pink eraser stamp collection, large paper mache sculpture, check past Snart Episodes!* Weekly Schedule* Naming days where you have recurring activities or meals will ease the burden of decision making. Don’t over plan or be in-flexible!* Library Mondays, Trip Tuesdays, Park Fridays, etc.* Brinner Mondays (that’s one of ours!), Taco Tuesdays (another winner), etc.* Daily Schedule* Having a couple of touch points during the day will help to keep things moving and keep the days from blending together.* Morning journal time (non-negotiable), one hour of Switch, one hour of vintage screens (Apple 2e games, NES, SNES, GameBoy, Game Gear, etc), Snart afternoon, reading time.Keeping up with Your Creativity* Schedule the time! Make it a priority!* It’s very easy to let your creativity go when you’re in the day-to-day of it all. Pick something small that you can do each day to fill your creative cup.* Journal time before everyone wakes up – this gets my brain going and puts me in a better headspace creatively and as a person.* have a project you can easily pick up and put down when you have a minute – be interruptible.* embroidery * quilting * simple jewelry making * drawing in a sketchbook * writing a short story, poem or song lyrics* Know that not every craft or activity will be a hit.* It’s ok if your kids, or you, aren’t into a craft that you’ve prepped for. Just let it go and try something else another day.* Reuse stores are great for experimental creativity, because their cheap and you can donate them right back.* Spend time outside and let your mind wander. * Get some solid, screen free time whenever you can. * Stolen Focus* Find flow - get super into a subject or project* Free play - let your mind wanderFind me all over the place!* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms* Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thebeckyhelms/_saved/* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.socialThanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beckyhelms.substack.com/subscribe
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    29 mins