Don’t forget: Turn on the light
Hey! Reminder that tonight is the deadline for this week’s creativity contest. The prompt is “light.” So let it shine, ladies… 🙂
Posts by Miranda
Mar 3
Mar 3
Sounding Board: Housework
It’s the great equalizer: Time. Each one of us receives a new allotment of 24 hours every time the clock strikes midnight. And most of us feel like that allotment is never enough. It often seems like there aren’t sufficient hours in the day to do all the things screaming for your attention, never mind working on your creative projects or taking care of your own well-being.
While we can’t beg, borrow, or steal more time, there are things we can do to “save” time. One key area where you may be able to scrounge up a few more precious moments is on the domestic front.
How do you divvy up your household tasks? Are you able to delegate effectively to your spouse and/or kids? Do you feel like you do more than your fair share — and that housework cuts into your creative opportunities? Do you use positive or negative reinforcement to encourage your kids to pitch in? Do you tie chores to allowance? Have you ever used a chore chart? Is it all a regular routine, or a free-for-all? Are you the kind of person who thinks it’s just easier to do it all yourself? Do you subscribe to the idea that chores are important self-esteem builders for kids, and that even a three-year-old can help unload the dishwasher and put toys away? Do household chores cause strife between you and your kids or spouse?
Cathy Coley and I had an interesting conversation on this topic last week. There are certainly some common male/female dynamics at play in both of our houses. Tell us how things work — or don’t work — at your house. What would you like to improve? What successful strategies do you want to share? Let’s use our collective wisdom to gather up a bonus hour or two.
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Feb 27
Breakfast with Nina
So glad that you stopped by for our latest Breakfast installment! And you’re going to be glad too: Meet Nina Johnson, clothing designer, blogger, and single mom of two. Nina’s commitment to her creative life — and her ability to make it happen — are a huge inspiration. So whip up a fruit smoothie and enjoy!
CC: Please give us an intro to who you are, what you do, and your family headcount.
NJ: Let’s see…some know me by NeoSewMama. My given name is Sha’Nina — although most everyone calls me Nina. I’m a 29-year-old funky, vegan, urban hippie, rockin’ a nose ring and a curly red ‘fro, who designs clothing, sings way too much, and spends most of my time making the lives of those around me lovely. I’m currently living in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, which just so happens to be the metropolis of everything funky, vegan, indie, and Earth conscious…therefore I fit right in!
I am a single SAHM to two beautiful and full-of-life little people — Jade, 6, and Myles, 3. I also have a special guy in my life who we call Buckets, that I spend as much time with as his busy college football coaching job allows (long-distance relationships aren’t for the faint of heart).
My journey as a SAHM began when we learned shortly after birth that Jade had a rare condition called VACTERL Association. She spent 3 1/2 months in the NICU, had countless surgeries (open-heart, diaphragmatic hernia repair, TEF repair…just to name a few) and once home, required my around the clock TLC. 
Although she has long-lasting medical issues, Jade has made remarkable strides from where she once was.
A few years ago (after becoming a single mom and having Myles), I began providing in-home daycare so that I could bring in some extra income and remain at home with my children. About 10 months ago I realized that the long hours and stress was putting too much of a strain on our little family, so I quit and decided to pursue my clothing designing on a more full-time basis.
CC: Tell us about your creative work and what’s on the offing in your Etsy shop.
NJ: Although my true love creatively is clothing construction, baking and crafting with my children come in a close second and third.
I can and will make just about anything. Lately I have been focusing a lot of time on learning (and mastering) dyeing, printmaking, crocheting, knitting, and weaving. I used to think it was bad that I was so all over the place with my creative interests. I now know that it’s great because it expands the possibilities of what I can create.
My goal is to incorporate all of these various mediums into my clothing creations as embellishments. My dream is to build a complete line of clothing and accessories and to successfully maintain a boutique of my own. Right now, my etsy shop consists of a few hand-dyed items and a handful of my favorite vintage finds. Over the next month or so I plan to introduce many new designs…mostly one-of-a-kind pieces for spring and summer.
CC: What prompted you to start a blog? What keeps you going?
NJ: I originally decided to start a blog as a project of sorts with my best friend and sister, Ki. We are inseparable (even though we live thousands of miles away and didn’t grow up with each other) and are ALWAYS finding things that we can do together. We thought blogging would be a good way to document all the things happening in our lives and provide a visual scrapbook not only for the two of us to share, but also something that we could show our children someday. Gradually it grew into much more than that as I found it becoming a part of me…my voice. As a single, stay-at-home mom with very little family and few friends, I spend all of my time with my children. There is only so much that I can share with them…meaning there is not a lot of deep, intellectual conversation being had here. So a lot of my thoughts and ideas where being stifled. I have found that blogging is just a new form of the journaling that I have used as an outlet throughout my life. I’ve also met so many wonderful people blogging. I feel blessed to have made many lifelong connections through the blogging community.
CC: Do you find that your blog keeps you “honest” creatively? Meaning that you have a place to state your intentions — and that you need to keep producing work in order to have something creative to blog about?
NJ: I do believe that it keeps me honest creatively…just not necessarily so that I have something to blog about. I mean I do believe that mentioning my works in progress helps keep me motivated somewhat. I’m a firm believer in the idea that we speak things into being. So once I state it there…and can visually see it, I am much more determined to see it completed. As much as I am blogging to share my creations with others, I am also doing it to encourage myself.
CC: Where do you do your creative work?
NJ: I do most of my creating in our living room/dining room. I began working in a small space I set up so that I could work while watching the kids play. My work has now spilled over to the dining room table (it has a larger cutting surface area). I have also created a dye “studio” in my basement in which I spend quite a bit of time as well. I want to move my work elsewhere so I can feel better about leaving things messy, but that will have to wait…more than likely until we move into a bigger place.
CC: Do you have a schedule for your creative work?
NJ: I have a schedule. I even went as far as setting alarms into my BlackBerry to stay on track. It worked for a while but as of late we have had a lot of distractions and illnesses that have really curtailed things on the creative end. Since I’m at my best in the morning, I try and spend the first two hours back home after dropping Jade off at school blogging, e-mailing, picture taking, packaging, fabric cutting and/or sewing. From noon til 8:30 it’s pretty much mommy duty. After the kids are in bed I try to fit in as much sewing and dyeing as I can before I pass out (which lately has been well before 10 p.m.).
CC: How has motherhood changed you creatively?
NJ: My journey through motherhood has pushed me to pursue my creative endeavors with much more passion. I was originally planning to go to college for fashion design right after high school. But for whatever reason I thought it was impractical, so I put my interest in clothing design aside and focused on becoming a teacher instead. I packed away my sewing machine and let it sit collecting dust. After many, many years of always putting everyone else’s needs first and going out of my way to make sure everyone else was happy, I made the choice that it was time to do something for me. I rediscovered my first love…sewing.
CC: What do you struggle with most?
NJ: My biggest challenges are time management and staying productive. There is hardly enough time in the day to do all the things that I need to do, even less to do all that I should do and NEVER enough to do all that I want to do. I have tried many tactics — some that have worked better than others (lists and prioritizing), but it continues to be a struggle. I want so badly to be able to become more productive as far as my shop is concerned. I have very small blocks of time to work within, so a dress that I should be able to finish in day usually takes me days (sometime a week) to complete. I know there is a solution…I just haven’t discovered it yet.
CC: Where do you find inspiration?
NJ: I find inspiration everywhere…literally. Playing outside with kids. The colors in ads or product packaging, old movies, African and Japanese culture, magazines, people on the street, blogs, the way my daughter puts her clothing together, vintage fabric, my imagination…the list goes on. I sketch out ideas as I get them…sometimes in my sketchbook other times on napkins, receipts, bills, or on whatever I have near me at the moment.
CC: What are your top 5 favorite blogs?
NJ: Just five? Hmmmm…this is hard. I’ll have to do the first five that come to mind…
- Quejimenez — my sis
- Fly
- Heart Handmade
- Jubella
- Puhti
CC: What is your greatest indulgence?
NJ: Indulgences…another hard question. It used to be fabric and magazines but I have cut both my fabric and magazine buying drastically in the last year or so. I’d have to say that drinking tea or coffee in the morning before the kids wake up…and again at night after “cuddle time” is over is something I like doing just for me. The occasional pint of Ciao Bella Blood Orange Sorbet or a movie via Netflix (when I can stay awake) is always a lovely treat. With all that said, my most favorite thing — hands down — is spending time being silly with my children. Our singing/dance parties are much more lively than any nightclub could ever be.
CC: What are you reading right now?
NJ: I’m always reading something. There are stacks of books all over my house to prove it. Never been much of a novel person. I was always that kid reading biographies and home improvement/how-to manuals…which is probably why I can figure out how to make just about anything. The books I’m currently dragging from room to room are: Donald Trump’s Think Big and Kick Buttocks (I don’t use the real word), The Unschooling Handbook, The God of Small Things, Ralph S. Mouse (with the kids), Fast Knits Fat Needles and a constant source of reference is Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.
CC: What advice would you offer to other mothers struggling to find the time and means to be more creative?
NJ: I know it sounds like the obvious, but be creative when and wherever you can be. As a single mama with very little help, I’m almost never alone. If I waited for free time to create it would never happen. I find things to do that are portable and take them with me to Jade’s doctor’s visits, to the park or anywhere else we go. It may take me a bit longer to finish things, but at least I’m continually creative.
Although creating for self is great, I believe making time to create on a daily basis with your children is just as important. Teaching kids to be creative at an early age helps open them up to self-discovery and gives them methods in which to express themselves. It puts the power to dream in their fingertips.
It’s never too late to learn a new craft or skill. I’ve always wanted to learn to crochet or knit but could never quite get the hang of it. I had come to the conclusion that maybe it just wasn’t for me. But after Jade learned to knit from a kit she got last Christmas, I was determined to pick up a pair of needles myself. I’m happy to report that since then I have not only taught myself to knit, but I have also figured out crocheting and we have made a weaving loom as well. I guess I’m trying to master all the fiber arts.
Last but not least, NEVER let anything or anyone keep you from expressing yourself creatively. There have been many setbacks and detours in my life that at times had me questioning whether or not I should pursue my creative endeavors. But to suppress that desire would be to deny all that is within me. And what good are you to anyone — yourself, your family, or society — if you aren’t your authentic self? I have known from a very young age who I was meant to be and what I wanted to do with my life. I am not settling for anything less than living this dream. Don’t stop until you have become the you that you see in your dreams!
CC: Love, love your advice and perspective, Nina. Thank you so much!
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Feb 25
2/25 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt
Ah, the eyes have it! Lovely submissions for this week’s creativity contest. Our winner is Elizabeth Beck, for this beautiful collage. Elizabeth writes: “i just finished this collage this week …. and intentionally left out the eyes …. to leave it all more ambiguous and mysterious ….. so … for my eyes entry, i give you no eyes!” (I just love your work, Elizabeth, and I’m anxious to try my hand at collage with the SIX BOXES of potential collage materials I gathered up while packing for my move.) Congratulations, Elizabeth — your $10 amazon.com gift certificate has been issued.
From Karen Winters, a watercolor painting. Karen writes: “I have always admired the way Egyptian women were portrayed in sculpture and painting, so I decided to do a closeup watercolor just featuring the eyes of an exotic beauty. Unlike the ancient paintings that were very stylized and graphic-looking, I chose to represent the eyes in a more realistic manner. The kohl that Egyptian women and men used for distinctive outlining served more than a decorative purpose. Originally made from the soot derived from burning sandalwood paste, kohl served as a medicinal aid and protection against strong sun. Modern preparations may contain lead, so caveat emptor.”
From Jen Johnson, a poem. Jen writes: “My submission is a quick little poem dashed off during naptime (because that’s all the time I had this week!) based on something I seem to remember reading somewhere a long time ago. Your prompt reminded me of it — not sure if it’s scientific fact or not (and a quick google search with the kids in my lap can’t confirm it) but I like the idea anyway.”
Moongaze
They say that the dark side of the moon,
The side blind to human eyes,
Has a gigantic crater, so big it could be seen
With ease from our own Earth —
If ever we could see what can’t be seen.
It would look like an enormous lunar eye,
Peering down at us each night.
The huge hole a dark iris, pale moondust sclera.
What myths would have been made,
What stories spun, what gods imagined,
If each night we looked up to see
A changeable gaze staring down from the sky?
From Rebecca Coll, a painting that she created this week as a gift to her husband on their anniversary. Rebecca writes: “I stretched the theme of ‘eye’ to include how we use it and experimented with the whole optical illusion thing. I figured after 19 years a marriage is about so much more than you can see on the surface. It’s about who we are and the love we have shared. To show this I painted a tree (growth, stability, branches for our independent passions, etc.) using both of our profiles to create the trunk. Then, up in the tree I added 19 hearts for the 19 years… Can you see them all?”
From Kelly Warren: “Pure goofiness…the eyes are two of my evil eye pendants. I’d say this is me after one too many margaritas.” Love it, Kelly!
From Cathy Coley, a poem:
Eyes
My eldest son’s mossy deep forest green
glow in the sun and mute to wood.
They are the unusual eyes
of my grandfathers,
both of Carolina Cherokee blood.
I wander lost in those eyes
when they look at me.
At a powwow when he was three
a young Mohegan boy of eight
smiled and said,
‘He has the eyes of my tribe,
the eyes of the wolf.’
From boy to boy passed more
than a stick of rock candy.
This is his second early memory
after the red and licorice
ladybug birthday cake.
He has the eyes of a wolf.
My second son’s eyes kaleidoscope
from bright blue to green to slate.
My mostly Irish father’s eyes are aqua green,
Turn to crystal blue, even lavender.
My boys’ father’s Irish eyes switch, too —
Sky eyes clear blue to thunderclouds.
My young son’s eyes are big as the sky.
I can fall into them, and rarely swim back out.
My daughter’s eyes are deep,
clear, warm bullets,
black brown depths of her father and me.
My mother, my grandmother,
his father and generations
back into the hills and across the ocean.
The deep history of continents
collide in our daughter’s eyes —
founders, natives, immigrants,
brown as earth’s rich soil.
Histories upon peoples read
in our children’s eyes.
From me (Miranda): A header image that I several months ago — it’s one of my favorites. Naturally, I am enchanted by the eyes of all of my children, but I have to say that Liam (the youngest) has extra depth to his baby blues.
This week’s prompt: “Light”
Use the prompt however you like — literally, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 10:00 p.m. eastern time (GMT -5) on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) All submissions are acknowledged when received; if you do not receive e-mail confirmation of receipt within 24 hours, please post a comment here. Remember, the point is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.
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Feb 24
All eyes on you!
Don’t forget to send in a submission for our weekly creativity contest. The prompt is “eyes.” Deadline is tonight, 10:00 p.m. eastern time. Come on, “see” what you can do!
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Feb 24
Relieving yourself of genius
If you loved Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love, then you’re going to love this video of Gilbert discussing her paradigm of creativity, and how it might help you too. Recommended viewing. Do you subscribe to Gilbert’s philosophy? If not, do you want to?
(Thanks to Suzanne Révy and Rebecca Coll for alerting me to the clip.)
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Feb 20
Open House
Happy Friday! I hope everyone has something fun to look forward to this weekend. Here’s our bi-weekly roundup of noteworthy blog posts from the Creative Construction community.
- Suzanne Révy shares a creative dialog with her son.
- Jacqui Robbins fights with part three.
- Elizabeth Beck sets the record straight on her favorite colors.
- Emma-Jane Rosenberg had some challenges with the challenge.
- Suzanne Kamata’s short story won an SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Magazine Merit Award for Fiction.
- Kristine Coblitz took to evening power writing for the February Finish-a-thon.
- Kate Hopper asks why write?
Have a wonderful weekend! Grab onto a few moments for yourself, somehow, somewhere.
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Feb 18
2/18 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt
It probably wasn’t too difficult to figure out where the “box” prompt came from in this week’s creativity contest. (For anyone not in the know, I just moved!) This week’s winner is Brittany Vandeputte. Brittany writes: “I was inspired for this week’s contest when my brother-in-law finally proposed to his girlfriend yesterday (it wasn’t soon enough for our taste). I thought to myself ‘Cupid must’ve finally knocked some sense into him…’ Then ‘Hmmmm… isn’t our prompt for the week “box”?’ Cupid is approx. 4 inches tall, adapted from Laurie S. Wagner’s Mini Baby Mannequin pattern. He is entirely hand sewn (I hate using a sewing machine) and made from hand tea-dyed flannel, black vinyl, polyester fiberfill, and craft feathers. I embroidered his hair, face, and tattoo and used white embroidery thread for his boxing glove laces. His diaper is made from a scrap of interfacing and a spare safety pin.” Very creative, Brittany — love your pugilist take. Your $10 amazon.com gift certificate has been issued.
From Jen Johnson: “My submission this week is a little poem, one of those ‘came to me in the shower’ creations. It was also inspired by the deteriorating ‘playhouse’ that has become a fixture in our dining room over the last few weeks.”
Boxes (Thinking Outside)
Crayon, canyon,
match, mail, window,
gear, strong, jury,
car, kite, music,
ballot, chatter,
soap, Pandora.
Black, juke, sentry,
signal, compass,
sound, snuff, witness,
office, coffin.
Jack’s in, cat’s out.
Cardboard spaceship.
From Cathy Jennings, an image created in Adobe Illustrator. Cathy writes: This was fun. ‘Box’ got me thinking about spring cleaning and emotional baggage.”
From Cathy Coley, a pair of photographs. Cathy writes: “No better entertainment exists for a baby than a box! S was about the same age Baby C is now in this photo from ten years ago. Look how he adored his big brother! So, yes, I went for the obvious once again. It was nice to break out the old photos! Baby C was too active to get a good shot of her sitting in the box to mimic the old one. I liked this one of her heading in.”
From Rebecca Coll, a piece just for me! (In the interest of full disclosure, Rebecca is my BFF.) Rebecca writes: “So I wasn’t able to finish (as you can clearly see!), but I figured I’d send it in anyway. The piece is actually going to be your housewarming gift once it’s done — hence my comment earlier about not being in the running to win this week 🙂 . It’s a shadowbox, loosely depicting your family and your new house. I glued the frame and started to place some of the elements (people, your front columns, windows) but I didn’t have a chance to finish and I also need to paint it. It obviously looks very underdone in the raw colors of the board I am using. Trust me, it will look VERY different when it’s done.” (Editor’s note: Look’s like I’M the big winner this week, ladies!)
From me (Miranda), a prose piece and photograph:
Moving
All of my wordly possessions, my life in the most mundane terms, wrapped in sheets of gray paper and boxed by strange hands. Hands that had no interest in my bird’s nest diorama, my reams of manuscript pages, my hundreds of books, the many ceramic treasures that my children have created over the years, the quilt that my mother made for me, my prized sugar bowl. Three Guatemalan men packed my house in silence — except for when one of them accidentally pushed a button on a small key-chain found in the kitchen desk: “Dr. Fart.” From the next room, we heard the eruption of laughter.
The hands packed without interest, and perhaps without judgment, although I wonder what the inventory of my household looks like through someone else’s eyes. I catch a glimpse, I think, as I unfurl each carefully wrapped item. I open a thousand presents, sometimes with a smile as I discover a favorite object; sometimes with a sigh as I unwrap yet one more thing that I’m not sure I really want to keep. In the light of a new home and shifting priorities, I wonder why I paid to have it packed and moved. Out it goes.
The mover’s boxes are my appreciated friends, but our friendship is fleeting. As soon as a box is empty, I am anxious to remove it — immediately — from my living space. Each emptied box feels like a significant accomplishment. Box by box, my life comes back to shape, as much as I wish my life weren’t so thoroughly defined by my material goods.
Two days ago, a couple came by and took masses of boxes from the collection in our driveway — mostly flattened, but many bulging full of crumpled newsprint. I was relieved to see most of the boxes go, and glad to know that they would be serving another family rather than heading to the recycling center.
Ten days after moving, there are just a handful of boxes left in my living space. By the end of the coming weekend, those will be gone too. Back to “real” life, out of the box.
Maybe I’ll save a few in the basement, just in case I’m not quite ready….
This week’s prompt: “Eyes”
Use the prompt however you like — literally, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 10:00 p.m. eastern time (GMT -5) on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) All submissions are acknowledged when received; if you do not receive e-mail confirmation of receipt within 24 hours, please post a comment here. Remember, the point is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.
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Feb 17
Writing and motherhood
From the Irish Independent, a glimpse into the life of Cathy Kelly, best-selling writer and mother of 5-year-old twins. The piece includes her own writing tips.
Since discovering motherhood, Cathy admits that her writing schedule has changed. “I don’t want the boys to think they aren’t as important as my work, so I tend to do the real ‘working mother’ thing, which means everything fits around them. If I’m in trouble near the end of a book, I just work at night when they go to bed, which I hate doing, but sometimes it’s the only way. I’d prefer to be there for them in the afternoon.
“John and I get the boys ready for school, then we drive them in and I start working at my desk from 9.30am until 2pm. I always pick the boys up. You can count on one hand the amount of times I haven’t dropped or picked them up. My theory would be to do another hour of writing after they come home, but a lot of the time that doesn’t work out very well because my study is in the house and they come in and out. They think it’s their computer that I get to work on. They call what I do ‘mummy’s typing’.”
No matter where she is, Cathy will always write something daily, even on holidays. “Maybe it goes back to the journalism days where I worked full-time and wrote three books; I got so used to working all the time that I got used to working on holidays. Now, when we go down to Spain, I take a laptop.”
Read the full article here.
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Feb 13
Breakfast with Gabrielle
It’s Breakfast time again! This week you’ll want a generous helping. Gabrielle Blair is a New York-based designer, mother of five (OK, so I have a soft spot for that particular trait), and the blogger behind Design Mom, named a Top Motherhood Blog by the Wall Street Journal. If you aren’t familiar with Design Mom, don’t worry — there are at least four of you out there! 😉
CC: Please give us an intro to who you are, what you do, and your family parameters.
GB: I’m Gabrielle Stanley Blair. I was formerly an art director and graphic designer by profession, but just last year my work hours filled up with blogging and kirtsy — I’m loving this second career. My husband and lover is Ben Blair. We have 5 kids: Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar, and Betty. They are really good kids. I hope we have more. I also write at Cookie’s Nesting blog.
CC: Your blog is, uhm, insanely popular. What prompted you to start blogging? How did your huge and loyal readership evolve?
GB: Gosh. Thanks! I’m blushing from reading your kind words.
I started blogging a couple of years ago, when my youngest baby was born. I’m prone to some pretty serious post-partum depression, and I knew that being creative helped me manage it. Blogging was a perfect solution. I could do it in my PJs, in the middle of the night. And it was free. If I skipped a day, no one cared. Just the sort of non-commitment a new mother needs.
But I rarely skipped a day, because I LOVED it. And the more consistent a person is with blogging, the more one’s readership tends to grow. Which is what happened with my blog.
CC: In addition to your “day job,” where you must be creative nonstop, do you have “extracurricular” creative pursuits?
GB: For sure. I love when I get any opportunity to flex my graphic design muscles — like making a poster for school or a flyer for church. And creative projects with the kids are pretty much non-stop. We had a great time making gifts for each other during December. I still dream of designing textiles.
CC: You have five kids, a demanding career, a serious blog commitment, and everything that goes with busy urban family life. What are your time-management strategies?
GB: Hmmm. I feel like my schedule, and how I manage, it changes from week to week. Working from home certainly helps keep me flexible. I also put my kids to bed pretty early and take full advantage of the time they are sleeping — those evening hours are some of my most productive.
CC: Where do you do your creative work and blogging?
GB: Computer work happens mostly in my home office. We carved a rough office space in the back of our garage. Non-computer creative work happens at the kitchen table and is often interrupted by meals.
CC: What do you struggle with most?
GB: Keeping my fridge stocked with chocolate milk for more than 48 hours.
CC: How much does guilt factor in your life?
GB: I’ve mostly said goodbye to guilt. But I have found that our home life works most smoothly when I’m home and concentrating on the kids from after-school through bedtime — no computer allowed to me during those hours.
CC: Where do you find inspiration?
GB: I find inspiration pretty much everywhere. Most recently, I was inspired by the holiday windows at Bergdorf’s. I don’t know who does those windows, but I need to find out and send some fan mail. They are unbelievably gorgeous.
CC: What is your greatest indulgence?
GB: Candy. I’m a complete addict. Not really for chocolate, but for straight-up sugar. Pear Jelly Bellys and Life Saver’s Wint-o-Greens are my favorites. I never say no to Swedish Fish or Sour Patch Kids.
CC: What are you reading right now?
GB: Two books: An advance copy of Kathryn Center’s new novel, Everyone Is Beautiful. It’s so good! I’m also deep into In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It is life-changing.
CC: What advice would you offer to other mothers struggling to be more creative?
GB: Don’t think about it too hard — just do something. When I started my blog, I remember hating that I was using a standard template, because I am a designer for goodness sakes! I should have a really cool custom design, right? But if I’d waited to make the perfect design, I would never have started. I’m two years in and I’m still working on the perfect design. 🙂
CC: Thank you, Gabrielle!
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Feb 11
2/11 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt
Two delicious entries for this week’s creativity contest on the prompt “cookies.” Rebecca Coll wins for a fabulous, extremely creative submission! Rebecca writes: Here it is — a silly little idea I had when nothing else was coming to me. I was having a hard time getting creatively motivated by ‘cookies,’ when all I really wanted to do was eat them… Attached are three images of a paper doll I made who also seems to have an issue with cookies.” We love it, Rebecca! (Anyone who has ever personally related to the term “muffin top” will be especially appreciative, LOL.) Your $10 amazon.com gift certificate is on its way.
From Cathy Coley, a recipe you’re going to want to make RIGHT NOW. Cathy writes: “I haven’t made these in a long time, as I can’t find sucanat or decent molasses (with sulphur, not unsulphured) around here, but these are good for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and dessert, smell unbelievable, will guarantee a good romance that night (and the kids love them, too). They are magically chewy and crispy and crunchy all at once! Yes, the magician is letting you in on the secret!”
Cathy’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, softened
1½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
OR ½ cup sucanat + 1/2 cup molasses +
½ cup dark brown sugar (this is the better option)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats, even better if Irish
1 cup raisins
Throw in a big handful of nuts or 2: walnuts or pecans
Preheat to 350 degree oven
2 big bowls
In first, beat together butter and sugars until creamy
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well
In second, combine dry ingredients: flour baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, mix well
Add dry ingredients to sugars bowl, mix
Stir in oats raisins and nuts
Drop rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets
Bake 10-12 or until deeply goldenish brown
Cool one min on sheets, transfer to racks to cool more
Kinda hard not to eat straight out of oven, but they will burn, have milk handy and blow to cool before you chomp one! I tend to be generous with spilling in extra of many of the ingredients as I go, so they’re not perfectly the same every time, but the variety makes them good, too — little surprises in yummy. Now I have to go make them! I should be writing, but grandma’s home, baby won’t nap, and my mouth is watering thinking about these cookies!
This week’s prompt: “Box”
Use the prompt however you like — literally, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 10:00 p.m. eastern time (GMT -5) on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) All submissions are acknowledged when received; if you do not receive e-mail confirmation of receipt within 24 hours, please post a comment here. Remember, the point here is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.
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Feb 10
Miranda: Moving toward creativity
Hi all! Just a quick post to thank everyone for all the well wishes and support during my move. We’re hard at work getting settled, and my library (yes, my library!) is going to be a wonderful space. (Below is a shot of the work in progress.)
After nearly two years of limbo, it is an amazing relief to finally be “here.” No more wasted time, energy, and emotion spent trying to improve our house situation and fretting about it and cleaning the house for showings (while pregnant and then with a newborn) and hoping that “this time we’re going to get an offer.” It’s finally over.
All the kids are enjoying the new space and I think the house is a big improvement for everyone. Even the teenagers seemed pleased, which is no small accomplishment.
By the end of this weekend, all of the boxes will be unpacked. We’ll make a trip to IKEA for a few necessities. At that point there will till be lots of organizing left to do, of course, but the limbo — and life amid boxes — will have ended.
I guess that means that I’ll actually have to start being creative, huh?
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 