Month: January 2016

Bits & Bobs From My Week

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I don’t know if anyone else gets this but I am looking at my list of unbelievably brilliant ideas for blog posts and I’m feeling completely uninspired and lacking in motivation to write any of them. None of them relate to what I’m actually thinking about.

Last time I felt a bit like this I wrote a sort of diary entry of a day and it got me back into it, so I thought I’d give that a whirl again, except I’m upping my game…today we are not settling for a mere day. Pah! Let’s take on the highlights of the week.
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Creative Mothers Series – Art and Soul

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Welcome to the second edition in the Creative Mothers series where bloggers and non bloggers are encouraged to share thoughts and experiences about the impact of motherhood on their personal creativity.

Last week you showed lovely blogger warmth towards our first Creative Mother, Laura (a non blogger!), thank you. If you missed it you can find her post along with information on how anyone can join the series on the Creative Mothers page.

I’m delighted now to introduce you to Claire Huston who blogs at Art and Soul. I am in awe of Claire, because, while I consider a productive day with my child to be one where I’ve managed to whizz the Hoover round, Claire has written a novel since becoming a mother. That’s right, written a novel! Continue reading →

Creative Mothers Series – Laura Southorn

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Welcome to the first edition of the Creative Mothers series of guest blogs.  I am passionate about creativity and interested in the impact of motherhood on personal creative expression which is why I’ve started this series. If you would like to add your thoughts to the conversation, please visit the Creative Mothers page for more information about the series and how to get involved. 

Now on with the first contribution! I’m very excited to be introducing you to Laura to kick off things off. I worked with Laura at an Arts Festival MANY years ago for a brief but significant time. I’m really pleased that she has agreed to take part in this project – Laura offers a fascinating insight into her journey with personal creativity, from a career immersed in the arts, to some tough prioritising and the reconciling of motherhood with that career, and then finally to finding new ways to create, for herself and with her children. Over to you, Laura! Continue reading →

My Chocolate Tiffin Recipe

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I made my first ever fridge cake yesterday. Definitely not challenging in the baking stakes but certainly satisfying. Given that baking is like a science and I’m not a scientist, I normally stick pretty rigidly to recipes for fear of increasing my, already high, risk of failure.

Cobbling together this Tiffin was MUCH more fun…no baking equals no science and so, after a cursory flick through some recipes and realising I didn’t have exactly the right ingredients for any one of them, I went off-piste.
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Creative Mothers – Calling: Everyone!

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I’m very excited to be launching my Creative Mothers guest blog series this week.

Bloggers and non-bloggers, creatives and non-creatives, mothers and fathers are invited to share thoughts about the impact of parenthood on their personal creativity.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a little while…I’m passionate about the human ability to be creative but have never before defined myself as a ‘creative’. I’m not sure I would now either to be honest! But from imaginative play to expressing myself through writing, it is a part of my personality that has certainly emerged since having my son in 2013.

In November 2015 I attended the Mumsnet-organised Blogfest conference and was excited to see that the opening discussion (with a wonderful panel) was on this very topic.

As expected there were some interesting musings on questions about the emotional and practical challenges that motherhood can bring to creativity. In the pursuit of entertainment and given the time restraints, however, the discussion was unable to cover every angle; speak for every parent and get to the heart of the complexities both for those who are creative already and those who don’t see themselves as creative.

I hope this series will go where Blogfest could not! I’d love you to share your stories here on the subject: I’d like to create a space where people can be inspired by other parents, understand other people’s experiences and raise the questions that may encourage us all to reflect on ourselves in different ways.

Everyone is welcome! Please visit the Creative Mothers page for more information and how to get in touch.

Update: pop over and read about the first contribution. Laura’s experiences can be found here.

Mummuddlingthrough
my petit canard
And linking with the fabulous #momsterslink

18 Million Things – New Year Edition

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Happy New Year!

Welcome back to  my blog and my first post of 2016.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post to remind myself of some of the beautiful, silly, toddlery quirks my son exhibits. You can find that post here.

I promised myself that I would continue to record these moments so that I could enjoy thinking of them and looking back at them. After a fairly intense festive period with all the ups and downs in toddler (and parental) emotions that Christmas can bring now seems like an opportune moment for me to focus on just the good stuff.
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