Every Friday I write the 20 Minute Club Minutes–because using a timer for what I call the 20 Minute Technique can keep your creative momentum going in your busy, time-crunched life–20 minutes at a pop.

Please join in and share your 20 Minute Experiences in the Comments–good/bad, it’s all fair game, because sharing your experiences about the process is a great way to increase your creativity.

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My Glitter Thang

This week my creative bursts were tangled up with lots of business-y type decisions.

I had to figure out a budget, order supplies and work out pricing for a new holiday ornament kit I’m creating, which really meant that I had to make lots of final design decisions before I could do anything else.

Which meant that I was basically covered in glitter all week.

I think I made every possible holiday color combination of paint and glitter in order to figure out how to keep things affordable but doable and more importantly, still pretty–so there was lots of running back and forth between my design table and my calculator.

This designing on a shoestring is basically like every design job I’ve ever had so I was in familiar territory–and I like it actually.

I must also admit though, that when I work for myself, I am much more disciplined about sticking to my budget.

Which forces me to find solutions to seemingly impossible design conundrums so that I can actually lay the monies down for those bulk quantities without having a heart attack and still offer something special.

A tight budget creates a design discipline that almost always teaches great art lessons as well as provides deep satisfaction because fewer resources demand way more creativity than if I could just recklessly buy everything I thought I absolutely needed at the beginning of a project.

Necessity really is the mother of invention. And it makes you a better designer to boot.

Wheels within Wheels My Friend

I also had a blast this week with the Creative Breakthroughs Collage Tele-class.

I’m starting to use some unfinished pieces from the past as fodder for my new work–so I’m collaging collages on top of collages and really enjoying the “instant depth” I get from doing that.

I got drawn into working on them again this morning and spent 20 minutes an hour  I didn’t have continuing where I left off last night. It was naughty and fun.

My favorite piece this week was my simplest, so I thought I’d share it here. That’s it up there on the left.

This class is so much fun, I hope you join us.

It’s a wonderfully simple way to carve out time for your creativity (lots of 20 minutes‘ to be had) and it’s almost dangerously easy to keep working on them for days afterwards, even when you “shouldn’t”–and isn’t that what it’s all about?

Getting back to your creative self? Digging deeper and letting yourself experiment?

Feeling seduced by your projects and consumed by your creative energy?

Just sayin’.

Appreciation

Appreciating yourself is an important part of the 20 Minute Club because it helps you keep your creative momentum going.

Carving out the time to create is important of course, but it’s not enough. Getting (and eventually staying) on your own side is a critical factor for helping you take bigger risks with your work, get yourself out of a creative rut, or just enjoy the process more.

Taking the time to remember to appreciate yourself and all your efforts (big or small, creative or not) is a powerful way to make this happen.

Here’s my five self-appreciations for this week:

1. I appreciate how much I got done for my kit(s), and I also appreciate how much I underestimated how much there was to get done.

2.I appreciate that I’m tracking my time on my worky-work (versus my art-making work) which makes me feel very grown up about my itty-biz and it’s helping me plan. Who knew!

3. I appreciate how much I’m learning about creating great systems for myself (thanks mostly to Cairene at Third Hand Works) and that I’m getting better at actually putting them into place. It feels really good every time I do it!

4. I appreciate how I am getting better at catching that hurrying-hurrying “thing” I do when I get overwhelmed which helps me to not (completely) succumb to its seductive franticness!

5. I appreciate that I went to the gym last night even though it felt like an impossible thing to add to my day because I’ve learned the value that just “showing up” can have for long term goals.

Your Turn

How about you? How did your creative week go? Are you thinking about signing up for the tele-class? Are you busy creating or are you just too damn hot to do anything but nap in the shade? Leave a comment–I’d love to hear from you!