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 wander

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.social

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