Just the other day, I was thinking about how it always feels like there’s never enough time in the day to do all the things, including reserving time for creativity. As a creative, I find that reserving time to work on my creative projects is essential to my self-care.

Creative time is a big part of my self-care routine. When I create, I feel most like myself. Whether I’m creating my collage art, taking street photography, or simply writing in my journal, creating brings me back to myself.

For my creative time today, I focused on making mixed-media art in my new art journal. I repurpose used and vintage books and turn them into altered-book art journals. It’s very similar to junk journaling. The two art forms overlap a lot. In fact, I do both mixed-media art journaling and junk journaling.

I also reorganized my little art space to refresh the room. It seemed very fitting since today is the beginning of a new season. I feel like I can breathe and think clearly now that the art space is refreshed.

How do I make time for creative self-care?

Dude, I have to make time for it, and it is NOT that easy with six kids, a husband, homeschooling, homemaking, and other life responsibilities, but I make it work…somehow lol.

I get creative with my time by working on my creative projects whenever I find a little downtime on weekdays, even if it’s only for 30 minutes. I also like to create on the weekends, when I usually have more time and the pace of the day feels a little more relaxed.

The images below reflect the joy and self-expression of creativity–and how creating can be a form of self-care. Click the photos to enlarge.

Photo credit info: Photos 1, 2, 4, and 5 taken by me. 1. taken outside of an Ulta; 2. Diego murals at the DIA in Detroit; 3. photo taken of me by Ami Nicole; 4. street portrait in Detroit; 5. event photo at a Sidewalk Detroit event.