Sometimes as a mom with young kids, you can feel like you have absolutely no time for yourself. Between keeping up with the little monsters, your house, your relationships; feeding our creativity often ends up at the bottom of our long list of to-dos.

For me, it took some mindset-shifts, a little push, and some life rearranging to make it happen. But I am so excited to share that I have finally made space to create again!

Read on to find out how I’m making time for creativity in 2026, + 4 tips to help you make space for your own creative practice.

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For a long time, practicing watercolor sat quietly on my “someday” list.

I had a watercolor sketchbook and a set of paints sitting on my Amazon wishlist for what felt like forever. I’d watch videos of people painting loose florals or playful patterns and think, that looks so relaxing. But I never quite made the time to try it myself.

Then this past Christmas, my dad surprised me by gifting me the watercolor set and sketchbook that had been sitting on that wishlist for so long.

It was the perfect little nudge I needed to start being creative again!

Returning to Creativity After Kids

Before kids, creativity was always a big part of my life. I actually went to school for art, although I never had a clear vision of what I wanted to do with it professionally. I just knew I loved making things.

Then life happened. I met my husband, we started a family, and creativity slowly moved to the back burner.

Last year I tried dipping my toes back into it through my shop. I started designing stickers and art prints after seeing videos of other artists doing the same thing online. It seemed like a fun way to reconnect with art while also building something for myself. But somewhere along the way, the focus shifted from creating to producing.

I found myself spending more time making products than actually enjoying the process of making art. And with two small kids at home, there wasn’t a lot of extra time to spare in the first place.

An Important Mindset Shift!

But here’s the thing. I was embracing the season of life that was gifted to me at the time. And that’s the mindset shift I feel like a lot of people are missing. Just because you may not have time to make art and create right now and create right now, doesn’t mean you never will. It might just not be your turn yet. Know your time will come.

However, once I was out of the new-baby-weeds with my second, there were some shifts that I was able to make in my own life that I hope can help someone out who’s looking to do the same.

How to Make Time for Creativity (When You Don’t Have Any)

1. Find a Rhythm That Works

My daughters are four and a half and almost two, and our daily rhythm changed a lot this year. When my oldest started pre-K, I assumed I’d suddenly have more time during the day. Ironically, it felt like the opposite. Between school drop-offs, pickups, and my youngest shifting to one nap a day, the schedule became tighter than ever.

For a while, it felt like creativity might stay stuck in the “someday” category.

Eventually, I realized that if creativity was going to happen, it had to be intentionally built into our daily rhythm. The solution ended up being surprisingly simple. When my youngest goes down for her nap in the afternoon, my oldest is already home from school. Instead of filling that time with errands or chores, we turned it into quiet time.

During quiet time, my pre-schooler has a few options:

She can paint with me
She can watch a movie
She can have tablet time
She can do something quietly by herself

The key is that it’s our individual downtime. It’s not the time of day when I’m organizing elaborate activities or running around the house.

Sometimes she joins me at the table and paints alongside me, which I love. Other days she’s perfectly happy doing her own thing. But that small shift opened up a consistent window of about an hour to an hour and a half each day where I can create. And that has made all the difference.

Consistency is so important here. The rhythm stays the same everyday. The whole family knows what to expect. It’s in the schedule. We’ve made time for it!

Even if you don’t have kids, you can apply the same principle to your life:

Schedule creativity into your daily rhythm the same way you schedule anything else that matters.

2. Focus on One Creative Hobby at a Time

One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I have a lot of creative interests. Probably too many. If left unchecked, I’ll bounce between ideas — watercolor one day, sewing the next, something else the day after — and never go deep enough to really enjoy or learn any of them.

So this year I decided to try something new ~ A seasonal creative focus

Right now, my focus is watercolor. My dad’s gift gave me the perfect starting point, and I’ve been slowly filling up a watercolor sketchbook and experimenting with different techniques.

Interestingly, I also pulled out another long-forgotten creative tool earlier this year — my sewing machine. I bought it on Amazon back when I was in college, fully intending to learn how to use it. But I was so intimidated by it that it ended up sitting in my closet for nearly ten years. This year I finally pulled it out and started making a few simple projects, like tote bags.

But for now, watercolor has my full attention. Maybe this summer I’ll rotate sewing back into focus again. For now, it feels really good to give myself permission to explore one creative outlet at a time.

3. Make Creativity Easy to Start

One thing that’s helped tremendously is simply keeping my supplies ready to go.

We have a large dining room table, and one side of it has quietly become the “creative side.” I keep my watercolor supplies in a basket so they’re easy to pull out whenever quiet time begins.

No digging through cabinets.
No setup process that feels overwhelming.
Just grab the basket and start painting.

Sometimes the biggest barrier to creativity is simply the friction of getting started.

4. Keep Inspiration Close

I’ve also been collecting inspiration as I go.

Whenever I see something interesting online — a watercolor technique, a pattern idea, or a sketchbook exercise — I save it into a folder on my phone called “Art to Try.”

If I see something that inspires me when I’m out and about (usually a color combo or cool plant), I’ll snap a picture and put it in my “Art Inspo” folder on my phone. Pinterest has been great for finding photo inspiration too.

But surprisingly, my favorite source of inspiration so far has been something much simpler: books.

I’ve picked up a handful of beginner watercolor books that I can flip through when I sit down to paint. There’s something soooo refreshing about learning from a physical book instead of a phone or computer!

When I’m working from a book, I’m not tempted to check notifications or scroll social media. It helps me stay present in the creative process.

I’ve also taken a few Skillshare classes that I’ve really enjoyed, and I may share some thoughts about those here on the blog as I continue exploring them.

Turning the EPC Blog Into a Creative Diary

In many ways, this blog is becoming a place for me to document this journey: Part diary. Part resource.

I want to share what I’m learning as a beginner again — the tools I’m enjoying, the classes I try, the books that inspire me, and the little exercises that help me grow creatively.

If someone else stumbles across this blog while trying to find their own way back into creativity, I hope something here might encourage them too.

For now, I’m just enjoying the process. And after a long season of creativity sitting on the sidelines, it feels really good to finally be making space for it again.

Creativity doesn’t always come back all at once. Sometimes it returns quietly — in a sketchbook, during nap time, one small habit at a time.

How are you making space for more creativity in your life this year?

Leave a comment below and let me know!