For the last couple of years, the Hello! Hooray! creative manifesto has been living in the notes pages of my iPhone.  It is something that I decided to write not long after Little One was born, as a way of motivating myself to enjoy the little snippets of creative time that I was able to catch here and there. I’ve added more things to it over the past two-and-a-bit years and if I’m feeling in a little bit of a creative slump, I have a read through it and think about things that inspire me. Something as simple as having a cup of tea in the garden, taking a load of deep breaths in the fresh air or being inspired by photos in my craft books can be a huge boost to my creativity levels. Juggling all the things (family/blog/small business/day job) can get pretty tiring at times…well, it’s incredibly exhausting actually! It’s hard to feel like I’m making progress at times (even though I am, just slowly!) so having the Hello! Hooray! creative manifesto is a way to make me feel good about what I’m doing creatively when I’m feeling a bit stuck.

Hello! Hooray! creative manifesto

So here’s a list of the things that are on my creative manifesto:

Embrace imperfections

Take your time

Make for pleasure

Make do and mend

Live a creative life

Find inspiration in the little things

Read more blogs

Get out in nature

Make something for you

Support other makers

Live colourfully

Do something creative every day

Collaborate

Explore

Love what you do

Experiment

Go with the flow

Make mistakes

Learn a new skill

Host a crafternoon

Don’t compare yourself to others

Follow your own path

Get out of your comfort zone

Do it!

Some of the things in the list are reminders to myself about my creative process, and what I end up doing when the dreaded comparison sets in. You know that thing where you compare yourself to others on Instagram? The worst! Other things are reminders to keep going and explore, to experiment, to try something new. And also not to worry about making mistakes along the way – it’s all part of the process. Thank goodness for my seam ripper!

If you saw my last post you’ll know that I’ve been getting started with Bullet Journal, and I thought that this would be a brilliant place to write out my creative manifesto! I usually carry my journal in my bag so that I can jot things down when I’m out and about. I decided to use rainbow colours to decorate it, and I think each element stand out nicely in its own box. In some ways I feel a bit nervous sharing this – lettering is not my strong point (the main subheadings are traced, but the handwriting is mine) and I just sort of wrote it as I went along without planning it! But as one of the things on my creative manifesto is ‘get out of your comfort zone’, I thought I’d embrace it and share it with you!

What would be on your creative manifesto?

Do you have a creative manifesto? Or maybe just some words that you like to live by? Do let me know in the comments below – I love to find out what inspires people, what keeps people going and what people do creatively.

I’m still thinking loads about what I learnt from Blogtacular this year, so I’m putting a post together with my best bits! I’ve also been working on a ‘Keep Going’ piece for The Indie Rollercoaster, and I can’t wait to share it with you. All will be revealed next week…I’m planning to share it in the Twitter chat next Tuesday, so stay tuned!

Post updated 12th February 2020.

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