nurturing creativity

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finding my mama groove

June 30, 2010 in essays+reflections, nurturing creativity, parenting | 16 comments

When you take a vacation with me there are things that will be missing.

Hairbrushes. Deodorant for Mama. (Sorry kids.) A map of the subway system that my husband kindly printed out for us. Band Aids.

All were forgotten.

There are also many things that you will not get to do. Children’s museums and aquariums packed wall-to-wall with people.

Sorry. Not Mama’s thing – and definitely not while flying solo in the city.

Double-decker buses and amphibious vehicle tours. I’d love to — really I would – but at $30+ a person, it’s just not going to happen.

But what I am realizing more and more as I walk this path of mindful parenting is that simply being present – with all my quirks and foibles and limitations – is one of the best gifts I can give my children.

So yeah. I forgot about Band Aids. And when my son fell and skinned his knee racing into the train station at the start of our trip, I really questioned myself and the time I spent carefully packing my vintage suitcase with reporter-style notebooks, pens, pencils, and crayons - without even once thinking about the possibility of needing a Band Aid.

But you know what I found out?

Most public places (including train stations) have first aid kits. And perfect strangers can be very generous and compassionate when faced with a sobbing four year old with a scraped knee and a slightly frazzled mother in need of assistance.

And once Band Aids are in place and you realize that your train is running 40 minutes late, boy is it wonderful to crack open a suitcase filled with art supplies!

Our notebooks and crayons went with us everywhere in the city.

Sometimes I prompted the kids by encouraging them to capture the essence of a place through the colors or the shapes that they saw. Other times, I simply took out my own notebook and began sketching, which often led them to do the same.

One of my sketches from Boston Common.

I was trying to remember my high school art classes and how to capture the perspective of the benches without getting too hung up on those kinds of technical details. (Note to self: Quick sketches are good for helping you to relax and focus on process, not product. Keep doing them!)

Quinn shows off his drawing inspired by the metal drainage grates in the Tadpole Playground in Boston Common and Lily works on one of her sketches.

On our second morning, I attempted to make sense of the city map I bought at a visitor’s center…

…but quickly decided to scrap the map because honestly we had everything we needed in and around the Common and the Public Garden! 

Sometimes I wonder what the adventure-seeking, big-dreaming, 20-year old version of me would think about this life that I am living.

Yet as I confidently guided my children through the city – wearing my pig-tales and Chuck Taylors – she was right there with me. Loving every moment.

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*** This post – one of the longest I have written in months – is brought to you in part by the always-inspiring Rachel Turiel at 6512-and Growing, who inspires me with her words, cheers me on with her comments, and nudges me every so gently, always at just the right time, to keep moving forward as a writer.

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{ breathing space } keepin’ it simple

June 28, 2010 in energy management, nurturing creativity, shifting perspective | 13 comments

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“I have found lately that the entire family is happier when the house is a bit messier, the meals are a bit simpler and the project table is totally covered with crafts and doings of all sorts.”

~ Liz, a.k.a. MamaBird

 

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I am so grateful for all of you and the wise words you share here that inspire and encourage me. (Truly. They are what keep me going with this whole, slightly-wacky blog-writing gig.)

Saturday morning as I was scurrying around the house attempting to get the post-vacation chaos under control, I found these words that Liz, a.k.a. Mama Bird, shared here last week running through my mind.

As my hungry, travel-weary children tromped among the clutter in the living room and I started to feel totally overwhelmed, I took a deep breath, smiled and announced “Cheese rice cakes for breakfast! And new art supplies!”

The art portfolio is one they received for Christmas that I’ve been intimidated to open (oil pastels, paints, glue – you name it, it’s in there!). But you know what? It all worked out beautifully!!

Thank you dear Liz, for reminding me, especially as we transition into summer, that a happy family is what matters most! 

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exhale interviews :: rae grant

June 23, 2010 in exhale interviews, mixed media, nurturing creativity | 33 comments

I have been a fan of Rae Grant and her work since I first laid eyes on her beautiful books Cooking Fun and Crafting Fun. Over the course of the past year we’ve enjoyed many lovely e-mail exchanges and I was thrilled and honored when she asked me to be part of her book tour for her latest book, Homemade Fun: 101 Activities to do with Kids.

It is my great pleasure to introduce Rae Grant and to share this space with her today.

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EBG: How did you come to do the work you are doing?

RG: Books and handmade paper have always been my medium for creative expression. I always have my own ideas about things so I found making books to be a happy medium for that tendency. My book projects come from my own experience and interests. It’s fun and I feel lucky to have a publisher like St. Martin’s Press who supports my approach.

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Please tell us about your family.

I live with my husband and daughter in New York City. My husband is an architect and I am a book designer. I’d say we have a fundamentally creative household while balancing all the complexities of modern living. It’s fun, busy, and challenging but we know when to relax and unwind.

Do you have a television in your home? If yes, can you describe when/how it is used? If no, how long have you been TV-free?

We have a TV in a non-central part of the home and usually watch the news or public television programs. I am not impressed with the junky side of TV culture (to put it mildly), and would rather see children playing cards, reading a book, building a project, baking in the kitchen, or running around outside. One reason I wrote the book trilogy Crafting Fun, Cooking Fun and Homemade Fun was to offer modern kids and families an alternative to TV, computer, and thinking that ”fun” has to be bought at the store. Living simply is a value that shouldn’t be underestimated. It seems extremely important to many families these days given the current state of the world.

What can you share with us about your creative process? 

I work in a small home studio in my apartment. When I do a project it is all encompassing. I sort of live with the project whether it is short or long-term and work on it constantly. It is always a bit of a relief (to me and my family) when I am done but that is how I work. My family is a big supporter of my work so they are very good about living with my books.

Something that struck me about all three of your books is that not only are they full of wonderful ideas and recipes, they are absolutely beautiful to look at. Is it true that you designed them yourself?

Yes! I am a book designer by passion as well as trade. I love it and I hope it shows. It’s always a thrill to hear how people use the books too. It makes me happy to think that I’ve contributed something useful and of quality to the world of kids.

With all that you have going on, when and how do you nurture yourself and “return to center”?

Like so many families today, I sometimes feel that life is moving like a fast train. I’m not sure if it is because we all have a busy family life, or if the world is just moving along at a new clip but I have to stop and get off sometimes. I swim often as a way to relax and quiet down and I make simple projects with my daughter that amuse and delight us. I also simplify my expectations of how much I think I should be doing and have learned to say, “that’s enough.” Usually it is.

What’s next for you and what is the best way for people to follow along with your work?

My sister Julie and I are collaborating on a children’s book. The story is near and dear to me and I love working with Julie because we are creatively simpatico. I am also developing another adorable cookbook for kids.

The very best way to follow me is on my author website and on my blog.

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Thank you Rae for sharing your time with us and for sharing your many talents with the world!

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For a chance to win a copy of Rae’s latest book, Homemade Fun, simply leave a comment here between now and Saturday (6/26) at 8 a.m. EST when I will close the comments and announce the winner.

For a second chance to win, please help spread the word about this giveaway. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Share it on Facebook. Call your friend. Mention it to your sister. It’s all good.  Just come back here and leave a second comment noting what you did to help spread the word, and you will be entered a second time.

Comments closed. I’ll be back over the weekend to announce the winner!

remembering rita

May 17, 2010 in mindful moments, nurturing creativity | 16 comments

 

My Auntie Rita passed away last Wednesday. She was a truly remarkable woman and an incredibly gifted writer, artist and poet.  As we gather to celebrate her life and mourn our great loss, I would like to share just a tiny snippet of the beauty that was — and is  – our Beloved Auntie Rita.

~~~ 

 

 

Look For Me

By Rita Jessop

I will not lie content
beneath that plot of
greenery in Saint Ann’s
the resting place of bones.

Look for me in a
russet leaf, swaying
on an autumn windswept
flight, I will be there.

In the perfume of
a lilac bush, I shall
permeate the air.

I will awaken with the
forsythia, those golden
messengers of spring,
and sit a droplet of
rain on their yellow bed.

I shall ride on a
dagger of lightning
through the humid summer night,
and with the thunder’s roar
I will shout, I am here!

With the spirit of my
ancestors I shall unite
to pay homage to our God,
and sing in the chorus
of all creation,

I am here! I am here!

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Wishing you all a beautiful week. I’ll be back when it feels right.  xo ~ erin

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wip wednesday

March 31, 2010 in at home, handmade + homemade, nurturing creativity | 11 comments

Edited to add: I wrote this light-hearted post earlier this week before the intense flooding here in the North East began. We are safe and dry at home and right now it appears that all of our friends, family, and neighbors are also safe — though many are (at least) knee-deep in water in their basements. I hope that today’s post finds you and yours safe as well.

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The week before we left for our trip I was overwhelmed by a wave of nesting energy. Forget about packing and making sure we had sunscreen, all I wanted to do was move furniture, organize my sewing projects, go thrifting and set up new little nooks in our house.

(Does this happen to you too? I’ve recently come to realize this is a pretty typical pre-travel pattern for me and I’ve started allowing myself to ‘go with the flow’ – even though it sometimes makes for some last-minute, late-night packing!)

The first thing that I had to do before we could leave was to make our art supplies more user-friendly. We have had a number of different set-ups over the years, always with the intention of making our creative supplies as accessible as is appropriate for the ages of our kids (and Mama’s sanity level). Permanent markers, paints, and glitter, for example, are not self-service supplies. Crayons, colored pencils, paper and stickers are.

We also have to factor in that we live in a relatively small home where all spaces are shared spaces. In other words, there is no art studio, yoga studio, sewing room or woodshop where projects can be left untouched for days at a time. All of our creating, of which there is no shortage happening, takes place on our kitchen table or in our living room.

One thing that has helped tremendously in our closet-lacking country house are the shelves my cousin Dan has been building for us. Simple wooden boards mounted above window and door sills are allowing us to “stow our gear” — out of the way but still readily accessible.

I also dragged some child-level shelves in from the barn right before we left to create some more storage space in our kitchen – specifically in the dinette that until very recently was our “play room.” As I dusted off the shelves I noticed some wire around the back rungs and remembered the first time I dragged these shelves out of the barn.

Lily was a newly-crawling baby and I wanted to create a safe place for her to play and explore with her “creative supplies.” So I filled the shelves with baskets of board books, stuffed animals, play silks, wooden blocks and a few plastic, battery-operated, beeping things that I mostly detested (ahem…except when I was on deadline for a writing project) and secured the shelves to the wall with wire.

{ april 2005 }

Today these same shelves are filled with blank paper, stamping supplies,  homemade play dough, crayons, a basket of beeswax, a few preschool workbooks (which both of my kids are absolutely loving) and a little makeshift “listening station” – something I have dreamed of creating for my children since my (very brief) tenure as an elementary school teacher many years ago.

(I got all of these books – new Barefoot Books with CDs – at a thrift store in Florida for $2.50 each!)

I also recently brought our wooden kitchen back up from the basement. And although for years this beautiful hand-me-down stove was once THE center of activity, the kids have largely ignored it as of late. Lily did mention the other day that it would be nice to have some more play food – not the plastic kind but the soft wooly kind that you make Mama – since we can’t seem to find the food we used to play with.

So that’s what I’m working on this week — nesting, making nooks, felting food for my little ones — and savoring how wonderful it feels to be home.

How about you? What’s in progress in your world?

life in progress

March 10, 2010 in at home, handmade + homemade, nurturing creativity | 15 comments

Still plenty of time to enter the Hip Mountain Mama Giveaway! Thanks for all your help getting the word out about the giveaway! I am really enjoying your comments and hearing about your favorite products!

Repairing my favorite skirt. Photo by Lily.

For quite some time now I have enjoyed visiting various blogs (Frontier Dreams being one of my favorites) on Wednesdays to see what people have “in progress” but I never really felt inspired to join in…until now.

A while back the always-inspiring Sara at Farmama mentioned that she was not able to sit and knit while they were renovating their house due to the chaos around her. Her words really resonated with me – except for me it wasn’t a temporary renovation that prevented me from feeling relaxed and settled and capable of crafting and creating, it’s the way we have lived for so many years.

John and I rented our house — a cozy cape with just a few rooms and even fewer closets — before we purchased it and inherited a barn and basement full of our landlord’s and former housemates’ stuff in the process. (That’s not to say we don’t have our own clutter issues…ahem, you may recall this little confession…but we definitely have some extra challenges we’ve had to work our way through. ;-) We’ve pretty much been de-cluttering and attempting to organize our house in fits and starts ever since. 

Over the holidays, John reached his saturation level and right around that time, I heard my son casually report to my mom that he always wipes his hands on his pants because “We can’t really find towels in our house.”

Ouch.

Immediately after the holidays, we got to work purging, creating storage spaces, and getting our stuff under control as our first step in the One Small Change project. 

The results have been absolutely amazing.

Our house – all 1,200 square feet of it — is far from perfect. As I write this the kitchen is a disaster and I can barely see the living room couch, but it now feels more like the normal ebb and flow of life with small children.

For the most part, thanks to some serious purging and constant re-evaluation of what we need to have, we have gotten out from underneath the gigantic masses of clutter that have swamped us for so long.

And as the tide of clutter has receded, I have been absolutely amazed (and delighted!) at how quickly my energy and creativity have increased.

I first realized how wonderful living in a more organized home is one school day morning when Quinn asked me to sew a button on his new (thrifted) shirt. I started to have my auto-pilot reaction…We don’t have time…I have to make breakfast…I’ll fix it later…but then took a breath and realized:

Wait a minute. I know just where my sewing kit is and I know just where the jar of buttons is. And sewing a button only takes a minute or two.

“Sure, Sweetie,” I said. “I can do that for you.”

My boy was thrilled and happily watched as I whipped the needle and thread in and out a dozen times. An hour later, when we arrived at school he proudly showed all his friends his new shirt, complete with the button his Mama sewed for him.

That first button got me excited about finally mending and repairing some of the clothes I have been collecting in a basket for as long as I can remember, which is what I was doing in the photo above – mending my favorite (also thrifted) skirt!

I’ve also started working on Lily’s Knitted Farmyard – except that inspired by Kendra and her beautiful etsy shop, I’ve decided to make ours out of recycled, felted sweaters.

As I was going through my collection of wool sweaters, the boxes on this argyle sweater caught my attention. So I did a little chopping. And a little piecing. And a little stitching. And the first hay bale for the farm was created!

While I was stitching, I realized that I don’t do too well with patterns and directions that require precision. I’m much more of a wing it kind of crafter. So I’m going to go with that and use the book for inspiration but let the farm and the fiber talk to me and guide my hands.

I’m also probably not going to post weekly updates on my work in progress (I don’t do too well with posting schedules either ;-) but from time to time, I look forward to sharing my post-de-cluttering creative endeavors with you!

 How about you? What do you have “in progress”?

a poem for papa

November 19, 2009 in at home, holidays + celebrations, nurturing creativity | 14 comments

Late last week, the kids and I started getting ready for a very special day – Papa’s birthday. Taking my lead from the beautifully simple way birthdays are celebrated at our kids’ school, I encouraged them to make homemade cards for Papa as their gifts.

While we worked we talked about all the things we love about Papa and took turns telling stories about some of the (many) funny things Papa says and does.

It was a truly lovely morning.

To go along with the drawing she did (of a little girl finding a mama robin and her eggs), Lily asked me to write these words, her poem for Papa.

Green as the grass,

Light as the snow.

You are my father,

Let’s go.

I love you so.

Love,

Lily

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Happy Birthday Papa! We love you!

 

what’s working :: organizing my ideas

August 18, 2009 in life as a writer, nurturing creativity, what's working! | 9 comments

I’ve shared quite a few of my home-organization projects here, but today I thought I’d give you a little peek into how I am working to organize my creative ideas…

.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.

When my kids were babies (and toddlers ;-), I had a favorite chair where we sat to nurse. Often while we relaxed there together, my creative ideas would flow freely.

And after a while this began to cause me a lot of discomfort. I started to resent my beautiful babies and all the time I spent sitting in that darn chair flirting with creativity but never being able to follow through on anything.

Then one day I looked up and noticed an empty ceramic planter hanging on the wall and I decided to start “filing” my ideas in there, trusting that someday I would be able to return to them.

 

I set myself up with a pen and some index cards and soon nursing became a favorite time for me to unwind and release all that was swirling in my brain.

 

 

One day last fall, after my children began attending daycare two days a week, I climbed up on the chair, dug my way through the dust, and retrieved my notes.

 

As I flipped through the cards my Mothers’ Retreats and An Evening of Refreshment began to take shape. Blog posts were born. And I also started to see the very faint outlines of my future books (both for children and adults), writing retreats, a farm-based cottage school and a family yoga camp.

 

And I started getting really excited.

 

From there I made myself a very basic portable file with folders that say things like – blog posts,  my books, freelance articles, retreats and workshops etc.

 

 

I have found one of the biggest challenges for me as a writer, creative thinker and passionate lover of life is that I tend to scatter my energy far and wide, bouncing around from one idea to the next so quickly that I just can’t seem to make progress on any of them.

 

Creating a system, albeit a very simple one, to “download” what is in my brain for possible future use, and to start to sort and categorize everything, was a huge step for me in getting more focused and being more productive (and happy!!!) in my work. And that really works for me.

the ghosts of past hurts

August 14, 2009 in life as a writer, nurturing creativity, the contrast | 3 comments

Thank you all so very much for your words of support and love and encouragement. I was not able to keep up with responding to each of you individually to say thank you but please know how very grateful I am for your comments and e-mails.

 

Here’s what is happening right now in my world and in my heart…

 

 

 

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I am doing very, very well. I feel lighter than I have in a long time.

 

My husband contacted our friend directly and called him out on his actions. He responded (within hours) by sending a heartfelt note of apology to me, which he copied to his wife, along with a request to meet with us to express his apology in person.

 

I have asked for a little time to continue to process and heal wounds that are still very tender, but shared that I would like to sit and talk with him, with his wife/my friend, and with John, with open hearts at some point in the near future.

 

I have no idea what form that meeting will take or where our friendship will go from here but I believe in my heart that there is beauty and opportunity for growth and expansion and the sharing of love everywhere – even here.

 

Internally, I am visiting with some old ghosts that I didn’t even know were still with me until this week.

 

You see, when I was in sixth grade I wrote a 12-page stream-of-consciousness letter to a boy I thought I loved.

 

He lost the note and a group of eighth grade girls found it.

 

And for the first time I experienced the gut-wrenching pain of having the words and feelings of my heart used in the spirit of mockery.

 

And so many times this week I have found myself absolutely sobbing, and realized that along with the pain I am feeling now, I am also very much revisiting the deep hurt that I felt all those years ago.

 

And I’m doing my best, with lots of love and support of those closest to me, and the beautiful words shared here by all of you, to allow it all to come up. To feel it. To name it. To write it. And as best I can, to stay with it and breathe.

 

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For those of you who are feeling anger on my behalf. I invite you, if it feels right, to explore what feelings my recent experience may have triggered from your past (or present). Please feel free to share your thoughts here, in your journal, or just hold these questions in your heart.

 

 

Namaste my friends.  

i need to be me

August 12, 2009 in life as a writer, living our dreams!, nurturing creativity, the contrast | 39 comments

I’ve been feeling very quiet this week. More reflective.

 

Being away at conferences/workshops always has this affect on me — or is it effect? I don’t know. I never know. I have to look it up every. single. time. and today I just don’t feel like taking the time…

 

This week there is something more.

 

Every Friday afternoon I get an e-mail report from my website host. On it I can see things like how many people visit my blog, when they visit, and what websites they come to my site from.

 

Earlier this week, as I looked over my stats there was an unusual spike in hits coming from a particular website. As I always do, I went to check it out. Normally this is a positive experience that leads me to kindred spirits and wonderful new connections via the amazing World Wide Web.

 

But this time was different. This time it took me to a discussion forum and a multi-page thread, started by someone who said they know me, with the sole purpose of mocking me, my blog and most specifically my amateurish and annoying photographs.

 

It didn’t take me long, thanks to the wonders of technology, to figure out exactly who started the thread that directed several hundred bored, sarcastic, critical eyes to my blog.

 

And the image of this person, whom I consider a friend, and his wife, a very good friend with whom I have collaborated personally and professionally, “pissing themselves laughing” as they scroll through my blog that just gets “weirder and weirder” stung like hell.

 

It still does.

 

It feels like a punch in the gut.

 

And I found myself questioning why the heck I am doing this – putting my heart and soul and my family “out there” like this, sharing our joys and our struggles, exposing our messes, and photo-documenting our days.

 

And I really seriously considered just giving up on the whole thing…my farm dreams, my writing career, the yoga retreats, the mother’s circles, the birth network forums, and all the books in my heart that I have been outlining and visualizing and scribbling notes about over the years.

 

And I said things to myself like…I need to just stop pretending that I am a writer or a photographer…or that I have any clue what I am doing as a mother or a wife or a yoga teacher…or that I have anything of value to offer.

 

But the thing is. I know that’s not true.

 

I know in my heart that I am a writer and an artist and a community leader and a healer and a powerful networker who brings people together to collaborate and expand. I know that the words and photographs I share here inspire people and give them hope that they too can create the life of their dreams. 

 

I know this because I get so many beautiful comments and e-mails from people who tell me how my words inspire them and give them permission to feel their dreams and take steps towards living their dreams.

 

But even if none of that were true. Even if no one read my words or cared about my life, I need to do this for me.

 

I need to take pictures when I feel like I’m going to totally lose it with my kids. I need to find every bit of beauty that I can in our home that is chronically enveloped in clutter and our yard that is one giant “to-do” list.

 

I need to visit farms and talk to farmers and dream about “some day” when we have our happy, quirky little homestead and we’re growing and raising a good portion of our own food, and John and I are both doing work that we love and are enjoying our time together as a couple and as a family.

 

And I need to spend time appreciating all that we already have. And how far we have come. And how blessed we are.

 

And I really just need a place that I can fully and completely be the fullest expression of who I am.

 

And so, with the full understanding that there will be those who will laugh at me. And sometimes it will be people I thought were my friends. And sometimes it will hurt. And sometimes I will cry…

 

I’m going to keep moving forward and living my dreams and being me anyway.

 

{self-portrait taken today at the top of the ferris wheel at the county fair} 

 

Love and Light to all…

 

~Erin

 

 

 

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