July 2017 Creative Update

I started a creative update series last month. I plan to continue updating you each month how I led my best creative life during the month. As I’ve said before, I want to do this to remind you (and myself) that being creative doesn’t have to mean huge DIY projects or elaborate scrapbooks. It just means taking the time to be creative in whatever ways I can throughout the month.

July was a busy month of parties for us. It seemed that every weekend we had something planned, so my weekend crafting time was limited. My goals for July were to work on some new projects, get in some scrapbooking time, and get back on SkillShare to learn some new things.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will earn a small commission to help keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more). Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Projects

Much to my disappointment, I didn’t get to work on the photography DIY project I’ve been wanting to make. You can bet I have the materials still in the Michael’s bags from when I purchased them in June. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon practice of mine. When life gets in the way and I don’t prioritize time for the project, the materials just sit in the bag. (As many of you can relate I’m sure!) My goal for August will be to complete that project and I can’t wait to share it with you.

I have also been working on our Project Life family album pages. I have been using the Project Life app and sporadically work on pages, so not as many got completed as I had hoped. I plan to set a goal next month to get a lot more done. I’m still chugging along with our 2016 family album and want to complete that album before the end of the year. Once I finish the pages in the app, I save them to DropBox for printing in a big batch from Persnickety Prints. Once they are printed, it’s a small, quick project of adding my own titles and small embellishments and slipping the 12×12 pages into an album.

Inspiration

This month I found a lot of inspiration in being outside and enjoying the weather. As silly as that sounds, getting out of the house and watching my daughter play helped me unwind. That time we spent together outside gave my mind the time it needed to reset. I also was able to get away from sitting at a computer desk. It helped me to prioritize more “reset” time as well as find time to be creative while enjoying the outdoors. For a couple weeks, while we had good weather, I woke up early to blog and sat in our kitchen with the windows open and enjoyed the summer air. Although I was on the computer, it gave everything a different perspective and helped me feel creative and more productive.

I also followed Becky Higgins posts on Facebook during July more closely. She is a great inspiration to me as a business woman, entrepreneur, scrapbooking guru, and a real person. Becky and her team are such fun and I love how they share not just scrapbooking inspiration, but anything that follows their brand motto. “Cultivate a good life and record it.” I can usually find great advice and ideas to get me in a creative mood.

Learning

Near the end of the month, I did a little bit of watercolor painting practice from a SkillShare class. I worked through the Easy Watercolor Sweets & Treats course by Yasmina Creates. This is one of the courses that I mentioned in my 5 Best Watercolor Classes for Beginners on SkillShare blog post. If you are interested at all in watercolors, SkillShare has great classes and I recommend trying them out. You can get a 2 month premium membership for just $0.99 using my referral link. If you like it, then you can continue with a premium monthly subscription, if not, you can cancel – no questions asked! The trial is worth a try and you get unlimited access to as many classes as you want.

Practicing watercolor painting in that course was also a great pre-cursor to an August challenge that I started on August 1 with The Happy Ever Crafter, Becca Courtice. She normally does modern calligraphy challenges and courses, but this time she partnered with a friend, Stephanie Fehrenbach, and put on a watercolor floral challenge. I couldn’t wait to start painting! I bought some new watercolors and got some more watercolor paper that was on sale at Michaels for this challenge. More to come next month on my progress from that watercolor painting challenge.

Business & Blogging

This month I continued with a new set of 90-day goals for blogging and business ideas. I am preparing to attend my first conference in September.  Before I arrive, I want to write a ton of content by that point. It will be exciting to meet others who are on my same path of blogging.

I also started using Becky Higgins’ list making method for organizing my tasks for business. I wrote an article about How to Manage Your To-Do List because it has changed the way I work and it’s helped me to be successful both on this blog and my normal job. Also, as of the last couple of days, Becky has come out with her own line of notebooks. I was so excited because finding a good notebook is tough. I’m the type of person who cares are the size, line spacing, and durability of a notebook. Needless to say, I ordered a couple and they are on their way in the mail right now. I’ll let you know next month how they work out.

Wrap-Up

July was just as busy as June, but I felt like I was able to get in a few things that I have been wanting to accomplish. Although not everything got done, I was still able to set aside time for myself. I also was able to get everything I needed for the August watercolor painting challenge. I’m hoping this will send me on a month long journey to be creative every day of August.

The next two months are going to be busy, exciting, and hopefully have a lot of creativity involved. I can’t wait to see what I accomplish moving into the fall.

So now, I want to hear from you! Share with me your July creative accomplishments and crafting projects, scrapbook layouts, or whatever you’ve been working on. Let’s inspire each other – let me know in the comments.

As always, lead your best creative life today 🙂
Julie

Blog Header Photo by Joe Shillington on Unsplash