Updated: Nov 28, 2024
Are postcards a thing of the past? Would we rather take the instant option and send 20 photos on WhatsApp instead?
Are you a creative person who's looking to connect with your friends but haven't got the time to make something perfect or 'finished'? Here's my attempt at inspiring you to send a postcard to your best mate this summer!
Nostalgic times
As a child, getting post through the letter box was exciting. It wasn't going to be the brown letter of doom from HMRC or a scheduled health appointment that involves being poked or jabbed.
No, it was going to be a postcard or two from your best mates who was off enjoying their time in Wales, The Isles of Scilly, or somewhere even further afield! They wrote to tell you what the weather was like, what they'd eaten or what they'd seen.
The days before a WhatsApp picture, postcards were little pieces of art curated by an experience. The postcard was chosen (maybe even paid for with pocket money), a pen was snatched and a stamp came from somewhere (probably mum's purse). Your friend then wrote out what they wanted you to know about their trip.
AND imagine what it was like when you then went on holiday! Finding the perfect postcard to send to their front door with your story all written out on the back. Even the details like using a found green biro or creasing the edge when it was in your bag or getting ice cream on it. The delicious design of a foreign or limited edition stamp. Imagining how excited your friend would be to see your masterpiece arrive, just for them. The time and effort you'd put into it.
(Yes, I'm missing the part where they got home before the postcard and they've already told you what's on it - but I'm being nostalgic).
Making a story out of a trip
Even if you aren't going anywhere fancy over summer, just looking out of the window in a different light with fresh eyes can be enough.
How would you curate that experience for your friend? What would you write about? What would you draw on the front? If you used the materials around you, what would they say about your experience. What colours can you see? What animals or greenery? What are the people doing? What's the temperature like? What's the weather like? Is there a tiny little detail that you just love?
My recent trip up the road
I mentioned the other week on a newsletter that I went on an adventure to my friends house. It was only up the road from my house but a change in scenery and routine just shifted something in me - so I emailed my mailing list about it (you're all very welcome btw).
I wanted to share with you how I would sum up that experience and how I would translate it across. If I were to make a postcard about that week, what would it have looked like?
Your Turn
Let's share some love. How can you share your experience of a trip or surroundings with someone else. Send them something meaningful, get creative and sum up your experience just for them. Pack a load of love onto that little piece of paper and slap a stamp on it.
Every month I send out a big Round Up of inspiration (and a smaller in-between top-up) on my newsletter, click the banner at the top of my website to join in! P.S. I'll send you a free list of 30 prompts to get you started.
Have more ideas than an what you can squeeze onto an A6 postcard? Have you thought about making a zine?
Get your postcard opinions in the comments, I'd love to hear them!
I'm still working on this theme of compounding small, daily creative habits. I want to share this magical idea and show you how you can benefit from it too.
Let's just jump in feet first here.
What skill do you want to master?
Drawing? Song writing? Writing short stories? Pottery? Sewing? Even just being more creative in general...
Building up a substantial body of work can take yearrrrsssssss and years and years.
Ok, now that we feel hopeless and that precious time has been wasted, let's see what we can do about this problem, right now. Instead of looking at the MASSIVE picture of having mastered our skill and being rich and famous for it, let's work backwards and start with today. What is the ONE THING you can do right now that you can practice to get you to that future skill?
Let's avoid 'shiny object syndrome' and just stick to that 'one thing'.
Making the time
I understand that everyone's day looks different and I'm not going to tell you to set your alarm for 5am to squeeze it all in. Be conscious of the little snippets of day that you can cram your creative practice into. Can you find a way to make yourself accountable?
Do you have 5 minutes whilst your food is cooking? Or whilst your tea is brewing? Can you scribble something out whilst you're waiting in a queue? In fact, your ideas might be even better if they're influenced by your temporary surroundings!
-- An idea that I love is to make something small everyday for a loved one's lunch box. Write them a joke, draw them a picture, tell them a short story and then pop it with their lunch (or stick it to the fridge) as a little surprise for later. A great way to create a daily deadline for yourself and to share your idea with someone else. --
Simply think about it.
Can you just simply think about your creative ideas whilst you're brushing your teeth? A bit of advance planning for when you do have the time to create. Can you create that brain space on your commute? Making use of that idle time and not filling it with podcasts and music.
Why I started a creative habit
I wanted to do something more meaningful with my time when I was off sick. I knew I'd be off for a minimum of 8 months and I didn't want to spend that time time scrolling through social media and having nothing to show for it. I wanted to do something that was relaxing and mindful and that was a way of expressing how I was feeling as well as a reminder of the good things or little stories that came from my day. I started my drawing journal and gave each page somewhere between 5 minutes and 2 hours a day.
Shortly after I finished the journal, it was accepted to be a part of the Manchester Open exhibition at HOME, Manchester. I never expected it to become a public piece of work and felt really proud to see it on display.
I'm now on drawing journal number 4 and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.
Go and be creative!
Our time, energy and attention are so important, a creative practice can help to protect them and can encourage you to be more mindful about your day.
Enjoy being an amateur in something, you don't have to share it with the world and you don't have to be perfect at it. Enjoy the satisfaction of small steps towards your bigger project.
Have a bit of fun, test new ideas, express yourself and enjoy the feeling of accomplishing something small every day.
What one small thing could you do every day that will build up to a bank of ideas to work from in the future?
EVEN MORE IDEAS!
Join my mailing list and I'll send you a list of 30 prompts that will spark some ideas for you (as well as regular monthly ideas and the occasional story).
Create a Pinterest board of things you love that you can refer back to, I use my Dwelling and character boards quite often to get some fresh inspiration
I love this TedTalk by David Litchfield about drawing everyday
We've had John Kenn Mortensen's book Sticky Monsters on our shelf for years, Mortensen finds time around bringing up his twins to make a drawing on a sticky note - and then made a book from them.
Updated: Jul 26, 2024
Choose yourself a simple book and a simple writing or drawing tool.
Right. Let's get started.
Why start a creative journal?
Ideas buzz around and sometimes they land on you, if you don't take note and at least jot it down somewhere, it might fly off again into the life abyss of stuff.
By noting down words, ideas or a simple drawing, it creates a prompt for your mind to remember it at a later date. It's a secret and personal reminder to your creativity.. You need to collect the dots in order to connect them later on.
Fear of the white page
Just getting started on anything is a huge pressure, remind yourself that this is a starting point for your ideas, if you feel like you want to develop them later, you can do. Don't let perfectionism stop you from making the first steps. This will be a book of ideas. This is a marathon, it's going to take a while and you need to not loose faith early on.
Put yourself into the work, it's 100% you and how you interpret the world around you, it's your journal. Have a look around you at what you might like to pay special attention to. You might want to note something from your day, an event, an object, a stranger on a train, a loved one wearing a stripy t-shirt, a particular pattern on a mug. Add your fashion sense into it, add your favourite patterns, add your story, what characters do you enjoy - use them!
Killers and fillers.
The goal in this book is quantity over quality, we want loads of good ideas, executed at an ok level. Like anything, good days, bad days, good pages, bad pages. I think 'killers and fillers' in my head.
Fillers are the ideas that fill the book, they don't need to be shared, they don't need to be developed. They are simply stretching the creative muscle and attention span muscle to keep that creativity ticking over.
Killers are the ideas that spark something. You might feel happy about sharing a killer, you might want to develop it later on - that's the one that sticks in your mind a little longer than the others.
You don't have to share your creative journal with anyone if you don't want to and you don't have to share it online either. It's nice to have a personal project.
Keep it practical
In terms of drawing: find a simple tool that works for you. Anything claggy might stick your pages together, things like pen and ink tend to be more of a 'sitting at a desk' tool so bear that in mind if you want to create on the go. Mechanical pencils are great, you don't need to sharpen them.
As for your book, get yourself something that you can easily throw into your bag and take with you, you never know when an idea might strike. Sketchbooks don't need to be huge A3 ring-bound things that schools and colleges insist on using.
Things I use: (some of these are affiliate links)
Black pigment pens - usually 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 in thickness
Mechanical pencils - different weights of graphite leads are available for them too
I've had a trusty Pentel mechanical pencil for years
Ready to get started?
There's even more inspiration on my Pinterest board
I've written more about the process of being inspired in my 'Idle Time' blog post
Is committing to a whole journal too much of a task right now? What about a creating a zine?
Bag yourself a list of 30 creative prompts when you sign up to my Round Up Newsletter at the top of my website
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This post includes affiliate links. Whenever you buy something through one of these, I get a small commission without any extra cost to you. This helps to support my blog, thank you.
