Setting Yourself Up For Success
February 14, 2025
A direct line from my art table to your inbox—where creativity, connection, and a little chaos collide.
In this email, you'll read about:
✔️ Making time for personal art ⏳
✔️ My unexpected struggle with filming 🎥
✔️ The project that’s keeping me grounded 🧵 (photos included)
✔️ BB Bash + Masterclass updates—what’s coming next! 🚀
✔️ Rethinking my approach to the 100 Day Project 🤔
As a full-time artist, you’d think I have it all figured out when it comes to prioritizing my own art practice, right?!
But here’s the truth—maintaining a regular art practice is difficult, no matter what your profession is. Life will get in the way. Events pop up. Work deadlines take over. Family needs attention. And even though my job revolves around creativity, I often find myself prioritizing facilitating creativity for others rather than nurturing my own personal practice.
Don’t get me wrong—I wouldn’t trade this career for anything (nor would any other profession really want me 😂), but I just want to say this out loud: no matter how creative your life already is, making time for your own art takes conscious effort. It doesn’t magically happen just because you have a creative career or personality.
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Right now, I’m in an incredibly busy season—preparing for BB Bash, getting everything ready for my Masterclass launch in April, and juggling all the behind-the-scenes work that comes with it. My natural tendency in times like this? Hunker down, focus, and let everything else slide.
I’ve done this before. I know where it leads. I become so tunnel-visioned on work that I forget about the things that actually keep me feeling grounded—until it’s too late.
So this time, I’m setting myself up for success before I hit burnout.
I’ve learned that during my busiest seasons, I need an art project that is:
✔️ Easy to pick up and put down
✔️ Low-effort but deeply satisfying
✔️ A soothing way to wind down at the end of the day (instead of mindless scrolling)
For me, this usually means a stitching project—something repetitive, meditative, and simple. And actually, this leads me right into what I’ve been working on lately…
In the studio this week, I've been filming the remaining art tutorials for the BB Bash and all of the bonus content for BB Bash Beyond!
But when it comes to my own personal art practice, I’m finally tackling a long-overdue mending project on a favorite jacket. (Somehow, two giant seams in the back completely ripped out? No clue how. One day it was fine, the next—it looked like I had fought a bear. 😂)
At first, I was bummed. But then I remembered—this is an opportunity. A chance to add personality, to make this jacket even more mine through visible mending. And since it requires little prep, it’s the perfect project to keep within arm’s reach during this hectic season. I've set myself up in the living room, so technically not in the studio, but this way, I can get comfy on the couch while stitching. Take a look at my progress so far →
To be honest, I’ve been feeling more drained than usual when it comes to filming. This surprised me because normally, that part is a breeze for me! So when I started feeling off, my first instinct was to be hard on myself. Why is this suddenly so exhausting?
But that thinking wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I explored the topic in my morning pages. And wow—some big insights came up.
This time around, I’m putting way more into my filming than I have in the past. I’m using multiple camera angles, including one on me. Before, I only had to make sure my hands looked nice—no one was going to see that I’d been wearing the same clothes for three days in a row or that I hadn’t bothered moisturizing my face—let alone put on makeup. 😂 But now? There’s a lot more effort involved, and let’s be real—getting ready has never been my idea of a good time. Quite the opposite.
So, of course, I was feeling more drained! I was expecting to use the same amount of energy as before while putting in so much more effort. The math wasn’t mathing, if you know what I mean.
Once I broke it down in logical terms—rather than spiraling into What’s wrong with me?—it became clear that I needed to adjust. So I revisited my calendar and spread my filming days over two weeks instead of cramming everything into one.
And instead of letting my all-or-nothing mindset take over (I must finish filming before I work on anything else!) I quieted that bitchy voice and allowed myself to work on other things each day—depending on where my energy was.
It’s so easy to get stuck in a mindset that doesn’t serve us—one that’s critical and self-deprecating. But with consistency and self-compassion, we can reframe our thinking and make adjustments that actually work for us, not against us.
Speaking of reframing our thoughts, I just published a new blog post about the 100 Day Project. I’ve done it for the last three years, and even though I promised myself I wouldn’t participate this year… I’m strongly considering it. But if I do, it’s going to look very different than before.
I’m rethinking my approach to the 100 Day Project keep reading...
Next week, I’ll let you know my final decision on whether I’m joining the 100 Day Project. It officially kicks off on February 23—so stay tuned!
Side note: If you’re looking for accountability and a way to stay on track, I highly recommend the workbook and tracker my friend Roben-Marie Smith created! It’s available as a free digital download or as a hard copy for purchase (which I have, and the quality is top-notch).
Today marks day 54 of my morning pages practice, and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. And as cliché as it might sound, it’s been life-changing. But not for the reasons you might expect… I’ll be doing a deep dive on the blog about this soon, and I’ll include it in next week’s BB Broadcast. (Which now officially puts me on the hook to actually write it. 😉)
✨ BB Bash registration opens at the end of the month—stay tuned!
🚀 The waitlist is NOW OPEN for my annual 12-week masterclass! Join the waitlist for the BB Art Journals Masterclass now—doors open at the end of April! Join The Waitlist
A Peek Inside the BB Henry Studio Community…
This week, I’m shining a spotlight on Liz Wilson, who took BB Stitched Zipper Pouch and is totally addicted! 🩷 She’s already made three gorgeous pouches—each one uniquely hers.
••••••••••••
xxBB
Here are the bullet points in case you are a skim reader 😉
✔️ Making time for personal art ⏳ – KEEPING A LOW-EFFORT PROJECT CLOSE DURING BUSY SEASONS
✔️ My unexpected struggle with filming 🎥 – ADJUSTING MY SCHEDULE TO AVOID BURNOUT
✔️ The project that’s keeping me grounded 🧵 – VISIBLE MENDING ON MY FAVORITE JACKET (scroll up for photos)
✔️ BB Bash + Masterclass updates 🚀 – BB BASH REGISTRATION OPENS SOON + MASTERCLASS WAITLIST IS LIVE!
✔️ Rethinking my approach to the 100 Day Project 🤔 – NEW BLOG POST: HOW I’M SHIFTING MY APPROACH
