29 Comments

I really enjoyed reading the story behind your creations. I think it's so important to have that creative joy, especially as mums, and to do it just because we enjoy it, it's expressing a different part of yourself and meeting that creative need isn't it. For me, creative joy is crochet. I taught myself via Youtube and my favourite thing to make is huge colourful blankets. They take me ages, but I love the process just as much as I enjoy the finished blanket. I'm also partial to helping my daughter make friendship bracelets, something I used to love doing as a kid too.

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Love fiber arts! And I remember the friendship bracelet age. 🥰

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There's definitely something special about sharing your love of something with your kids, and it unlocked some lovely childhood memories for me too.

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Love this - and love your muppet! I am currently going through a creative renaissance and loving the freedom to just play without consideration of how it makes sense for my audience. More importantly, without listening to the voices in my head telling me I have no right to create in <that> way.

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Thank you Rachel! I feel like this is a cycle with me, bit every time it goes deeper. Here's to telling those voices off and making whatever we please!

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I really love the question why do we love the stories that we do? You said you felt it in your bones, so it’s magical! I don’t know the answer to the question but I know I’ve felt that same thing.

Also, I love your puppet!

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Thank you Donna. 🥰

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this is beautiful!! I have not read wheel of time, but I have my own favorites that bring creative freedom ♥️ the interconnection of artists and art-making is incredibly fascinating & so fun! thanks for sharing this.

I'm personally finding a similar joy of making in some pottery classes I'm taking (an art medium I've always loved watching but have NO experience with!)

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Oh, pottery is so fun and tactile. And theres something about a new medium isn't there?

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something that lets you BOTH focus and get completely lost in something new ♥️

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A pleasure to read about how you've rediscovered your joyful, playful creativity, Sarah. And the muppet you made is amazing!

I relate in that I've recently bought myself some watercolours and started playing around with them. I'm absolutely loving it. There is no end goal. I'm not really showing the paintings to anyone yet. I don't really know what I'm doing. And it's bringing me so much joy!

I hope this is the start of you making more stuff just for you, just for a fun. (And then there's a strong chance it'll end up having an impact on others in the future too!)

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Thank you Janelle! Watercolors can be so playful too. Its funny how things can end up impacting others in the end, but if I think too much about that early on I get all muddled up.

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Totally, Sarah! I'm the same. Enjoying the creation and the process as the goal in itself is the beauty. Not always easy to achieve but getting into that playful flow state is wonderful.

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I really appreciate the sentiment of joyfully creating for ourselves. I’ve been on the struggle bus for a while with this issue, trying to navigate a balanced path of creating for “work” and creating for me. I’m also trying to tweak my career so both of those paths merge into one.

I loved hearing your experience. Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you Sara! I think it can be a tricky balance, but a life giving one.

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I love this so much Sarah. I've always felt that it would be amazing to earn a living from my creativity, but the reality of how it feels for me when it's "all tangled up in career and profession and entrepreneurship" has been a huge awakening. Of course I would still love to draw and write to my hearts content, and have it all pay the bills, but I want that all on my terms, which isn't realistic. And while I love the work that I have done on commission and enjoyed every minute of it, the joy that I get from the things I create when it is just for me, is on a different level. So exited to find a fellow WOT fan as well! It was one of the very first epic fantasy series I ever read - I loved it so much and grew to love the characters. I re-read the earlier books over and over waiting for the later books to be written and published. When the weather is particularly hot or cold, I imagine that I know the Aes Sedai trick of not letting it affect me!!

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Thank you Emily! You should check out The Dusty Wheel on YouTube. You can also find WoT folks on #TwitterofTime and Discord as well. It's been such a nice community to connect with. Do you identify as a certain Aes Sedai Ajah?

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Love this opening! “Today I want to talk about creative joy.” Such a powerful statement and I’m really contemplating this at the moment. Being away from insta and re using photos has helped. My next project for creative joy is the inside of our camper! Kicking myself I forgot the battery powered fairy lights! So so lovely to read more about your trip! ✨🥰⏰

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I can't wait to hear all about your camper! Here's to kindling more creative joy. 🥰

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Creating joyfully for ourselves - such a simple act but one that we so often overlook. Thank you for putting it front and centre today.

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This is the way. 💫

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This is a beautiful post. I love seeing your projects that are just for you. 🩷 I hope you’re not offended, but I watched the wheel of time series recently and loved it and THEN I found out it was based on books 😂🙃 maybe I’ll try the books sometime before the next season comes out. Whenever I want creative inspiration just for me I pull out my favorite picture books and just swim around in the illustrations! 🎨

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Oh, we love new show watchers! I think watching the show first and then reading could be really fun. 🐉💫📖

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Have you ever read the book Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell? I relate a lot to the main character, and I think you probably would, too. I re-read it for the first time since I was diagnosed autistic, and I realized that the main character is also likely autistic.

I love the question, "why do we love what we love?" but I can't really come up with a good answer, either.

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I haven't yet, but I think it's in my ebook library.

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Thank you for sharing this! I would draw. Pencil and paper, lots of eraser marks just to bring something to life.

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Nice! ✏️💫

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I think for me what brings my joy is being able to follow the creative flow. It's not any one type of project, but any one at any given time that just feels right. Being able to dive into that feels amazing.

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This is the way. 💫

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