My Artist Friend

Take a Break! This is just a super quick episode to remind you to rest when you need to. Sending you so much love! See you in Notes and Friday Favorites! ♡ Becky Thanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...

Meaningful souvenirs are very important to me. I am a very sentimental person who loves a gift shop. Give me trinkets, ornaments, puzzles, plushies, t-shirts, I’m all over it. I love collecting memories. But, I also love making things. So naturally, if I can craft a memory, that’s perfection. After our recent trip to New York City, where did the Empire State Building, Nintendo Store, Toho Shoji, K...

It’s time for another Snack + Art = SnArt! This month, we’re going for a very niche craft that I’m surprised hasn’t made a huge comeback yet. With everyone craving nostalgia and cozy cottage vibes, you’d think plastic canvas crafts would be everywhere. They’re easy to make and give that perfect, whimsical feel that’s all over my social media feed at the moment. I actually shared a tutorial once, a...

Being creative every day is hard. Nay! Impossible! But, in my quest to live a slow, creative life after a magnificent burnout, I’ve found a few ways squeeze creativity into my days. Let’s get into it: * Journal. Full stop. * Listen to all the reasons I love journaling in this podcast episode . You can even follow my friend Laura Woodmansee ✦ who writes all about journaling. * This is a great way t...

The 100 Day Project started 25 days ago! Lindsay Jean Thomson hosts the official party and you should see all the cool work other artists make! We’re a quarter of the way through! And I’ve actually done it every single day (ish). I have definitely shared a project on Notes every day. One of the pieces was an extra that I photographed just in case I didn’t have time to make something new over the w...

This is not a toxic productivity episode! I just realized that March is almost over, which means that the first quarter of the year is almost over and it might be a good time to take stock of our goals and try to squeeze a few things in before April starts. So, whether you have personal professional goals, I want to take you through a quick framework for redefining and reassessing your goals to se...

It’s time for another Snack + Art = SnArt! This month, I’m taking all my beading knowledge from The 100 Day Project (check my Notes to see what I’ve been up to) and using it to make bag charms. I’ve been charm girlie for years. My keychains are always heavy, my cell phones had multiple dangly charms and my ita bags have always been full. The LaBubu craze and obsession with blind boxes is not new t...

It’s time for another Snack + Art = SnArt! This month is a little weird because the topic is very niche. We’re doing t-shirt quilting in February! I know. I know. I haven’t even done regular quilting as a topic for Snart yet, but I think this has a lot of potential. We’re going to de-stash, up-cycle and make some stuff out of t-shirts that is not limited to just quilting. I promise, I have some fu...

Hi! I’m Becky, a former shop owner & independent artist, currently reclaiming my creativity & living a slow, nerdy life. I love sharing small businesses, chatting about crafts and hollerin’ about books. Come hangout in this silly, cat-photo-filled, creative space! Be Gentle with Yourself * Get at least eight hours of sleep! * I cannot stress to you how important sleep is. Check out any episode of...

Hi! I’m Becky, a former shop owner & independent artist, currently trying to reclaim my creativity. I love sharing small businesses, chatting about crafts and rambling about books. Come hangout in this not-so-serious, cat-photo-filled, creative space! Dopamine Menu for Crafty People ***Apologies for the audio quality! I explain it in the beginning and I’m so sorry!*** Today, I’m leaning into a ver...

This week, I’m excited to share how we do our Advent calendar each year. I painted this tree for Emmit’s first Christmas and we’ve used it every year since. I fill each box with a Christmas chocolate and small piece of paper with an activity on it. Sometimes the activities are things we’re planning to go out and do. Sometimes they’re small ways to celebrate the season without much fuss. Here are s...

We’re celebrating a year of the podcast with a Snart episode! Snart is Snack+Art (the snack bit isn’t as important, but if you want to be a purest, grab some Christmas Tree Cakes) and I’m sharing some artists who have amazing holiday ideas, thoughts on books about Christmas crafts, activities to do with people you like, and fun projects to try as we get into the season. Enjoy!! And be sure to scro...

Season 2 is here! After a little transition time between the summer and the new school year, I’m back with another podcast episode! As you can imagine, things didn’t turn out quite as I expected over the long holiday and I wanted to recap my expectations vs my reality and how I square them for myself. If you’d rather watch YouTube, you can hop over here . What Worked * Adding events to the calenda...

It’s time for the Season 1 Finale of My Artist Friend! Let’s chat about how to plan a creative summer and some of things I’m looking forward to while my kid is out of school. I’m chatting about project ideas, scheduling tips to limit decision making and just mindsets to help you survive the summer with your creativity intact. Thanks for hanging out with me for the last 30 weeks, omg! I’m taking a...

This episode is all about you! I put out a call to Instagram and got a few questions from some sweet friends (thank you!!) and we’re getting into some difficult questions about balance and owning a business, but also chatting about collecting and Animal Crossing. Literally, my favorite things to talk about! Keep scrolling down for the full list of questions, outlined answers and links. My Artist F...

June’s Snart theme is Embroidery and I couldn’t be more excited! I forgot to mention in the episode that I used to teach beginner embroidery classes in Austin. Seems like a big thing to leave out considering I even taught a class at one of the branches of the Austin Public Library, but I’m very grateful for photographic evidence of me teaching lol. Be sure to scroll down for all the links you coul...

This week, we’re talking about ways to get the joy back in your creative practice. I’m the kind of person who leans towards burnout as soon as I start a new project and I need to consciously slow myself down to avoid the inevitable art block. If that sounds familiar, I have some ideas of quick things that can help break you out of that cycle and bust through art block like a champ! These are thing...

I had to take some time to celebrate 6 whole months! When I first started this podcast I decided to give myself 6 months to really give the podcast an honest go. Now, I’m talking about how it’s affected my life and what’s next! My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Links * Newslett...

When I realized that all of my projects were long term and taking foreverrrrr to finish, I figured out a way to turn things around, make some dopamine and keep things rolling when things felt hard. My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Finding Myself Unbalanced * What projects I ha...

It’s time to Snart it up with Printmaking! I’m so excited to print and stamp my way through May! Keep reading for inspirational artists and books, plus lots of activities and project ideas to keep you busy all month long. Also, apologies for saying “little owl workshop” so many times! It’s Yellow Owl!! My brain short-circuited, but all the links are correct below. My Artist Friend with Becky Helms...

Let’s get in to Q2! Spring has finally sprung up in Michigan and I’m ready to make good some of these goals that have been haunting me since the beginning of the year. My Artist Friend with Becky Helms is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Personal Goals for Spring * Garden This is my year to really start experimen...

Today, we’re talking about some concrete things you can do to support your favorite small businesses and indie artists right now because the tariffs are stressing everyone out. These feel like obvious things to me, but I wanted to emphasize the importance of each of these things you can do and to just put them in the forefront of your mind. If we do these things with intention, we can make a huge...

Today, we’re doing a little spring cleaning. This episode is for personal projects and for business owners. If you’re not a business owner, you can skip the last half, but if you are, I’ve got a few good nuggets of info to help you spring clean your shop! Below is the outline I used while making the podcast. I thought it would be beneficial to include it her on Substack just incase you’d rather re...

It’s time to Snart it up, y’all! I think these are my most favorite episodes to make because I get to do research, learn about new artists and brain dump a ton of project ideas. Ideal! If you’re not sure what Snart is, start here: * https://beckyhelms.substack.com/p/10-becky-snart-snackart-afterschool * https://beckyhelms.substack.com/p/12-snart-theme-for-february-with * https://beckyhelms.substac...

Today, we’re having a chat about some projects I’ve got in the works. Multiple home projects, crafting projects that I want to finish and a couple of work projects that I’ve been mulling over for a good long while. Let’s chat! LINKS Some things I mentioned: Podcast Episode with Taylor Hart: https://beckyhelms.substack.com/p/17-crochet-pivoting-and-mom-life Snart theme for March: https://beckyhelms...