I love the idea of spending an afternoon making something.
A table covered in beautiful paper, scissors, paints and glue. A cup of tea nearby. Nowhere to be for several hours.
Unfortunately, my actual life rarely looks like that.
There’s always something that needs doing. Work, emails, washing, cooking, children, appointments, messages I’ve forgotten to answer — and by the time there is a free hour, I’m often too tired to decide what to do with it.
But I’ve realised that creativity doesn’t actually require an entire afternoon.
Sometimes you just need ten minutes.
Stop waiting for the perfect project
I think one of the reasons we don’t make things is because we make the whole idea too complicated.
We see beautiful journals, intricate collages and elaborate craft projects online and think, I’d love to do that when I have time.
But “when I have time” can easily become never.
Instead, look for crafts that can be started — and preferably finished — in 10, 20 or 30 minutes.
Press a few flowers. Make a tiny collage. Decorate an envelope. Paint one flower. Cut out some beautiful vintage images. Add a page to a scrapbook.
It doesn't have to become a masterpiece.
It can simply be something enjoyable you did with your hands.
Keep a little creative box
This has to be one of the easiest ways to make crafting actually happen.
Find a box, basket or drawer and put together a small collection of things you love: pretty paper, old book pages, botanical pictures, postcards, ribbon, stickers, scissors, glue and a couple of pens.
Then leave it somewhere accessible.
If getting started means finding the scissors, digging through a cupboard and clearing half the dining table, chances are you won't bother.
If everything is sitting in one box, you can pick it up when you have fifteen minutes and put it away just as quickly.
Choose crafts with no rules
Not every hobby needs to involve learning a new skill.
Collage is wonderful for this.
There is no correct way to do it. Take a piece of paper, choose a few images you like, move them around until they look pleasing and glue them down.
That's genuinely enough.
The same goes for scrapbooking, nature journaling and making ephemera. You don't have to create a perfect page worthy of Instagram.
In fact, sometimes the slightly messy pages are the ones you end up loving most.
Use the little gaps in your day
We tend to dismiss small pockets of time because they don't feel long enough to accomplish anything.
But ten minutes while dinner is cooking is enough to cut out some images.
Twenty minutes before bed is enough to add something to a journal.
Half an hour on Sunday morning is enough to make a card or paint a little watercolour.
Instead of asking, “When do I have time to craft?”, try asking:
“What could I make in the time I have?”
That tiny change makes creativity feel much more possible.
Let nature give you the idea
If deciding what to make is the problem, go outside.
Pick up a fallen leaf.
Photograph a flower.
Notice an interesting colour combination.
Collect a few leaves or petals to press.
Then use that one small thing as your starting point.
You could sketch it, paint it, write about it, photograph it or create a collage inspired by its colours.
A five-minute walk can provide enough inspiration for your next five creative projects.
Have a list of tiny crafts
Keep a note on your phone called “Things I Can Make in 20 Minutes.”
Mine might include:
- Make a botanical bookmark
- Decorate an envelope
- Create a postcard-sized collage
- Press a flower
- Make a journal page from today's walk
- Cut out vintage ephemera
- Paint a tiny watercolour flower
- Write and decorate a letter
- Make a gift tag from leftover paper
- Create a page using only scraps
Then, when you suddenly find yourself with twenty minutes, you don't waste fifteen of them scrolling Pinterest trying to decide what to make.
Creativity doesn't have to be productive
This might be the most important part.
You don't have to sell what you make.
You don't have to post it.
You don't have to become particularly good at it.
And you definitely don't need to turn it into another item on your to-do list.
Sometimes cutting up pretty paper while drinking a cup of tea is reason enough.
We're surrounded by things asking us to be efficient, productive and useful. There's something rather lovely about doing something simply because you enjoy it.
So if life feels too busy for creativity, don't wait for the free afternoon.
Find ten minutes.
Get out the paper.
Make something small.
And then go back to your day. 🌿
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