blog hop!

I was invited to play along with this wonderful blog hop by my lovely friend, talented writer and awesome mother; Lori. Her blog Wild and Grizzly is definitely one of my first stops for inspiration! Thanks so much for tagging me, here are my answers! 


1. What have been the doings/makings/scribblings at your desk/making table in the last week? 

I don't really have a proper desk, and our dining room table is constantly littered with little craft projects and work from our 'Montessori at home' activities, I have however recently been scribbling away making lists and more and lists. I'm a planner, and my best way to plan is to make lists. Around my house you there are various scraps of paper with little notes about things I need to remember; shopping, chores, blog posts, photographs to make, general achievements. I find that as soon as it out on paper, written in neat little lines, my head clears a little and everything makes a little more sense.

As we are in the midst of a house renovation / move my list making has gone into over drive, and I've actually taken it upon myself to write in a whole pad of paper. They include detailed notes of what is in each room of our house and what needs to be packed then unpacked and placed in new rooms and places. There's a huge shopping list (hello Ikea) and an attempted schedule for work to do, which may or may not have gone straight out the window! 

Now if only I could actually begin to tick off half of the things on my lists, I'd be happy! 

2. Where are you currently finding your inspiration? (influences, heroes/who, sources of inspiration, paths exploring)? 

So everyone on Pinterest must have a dream home board, or more like a board for every room? Then yeh, that is my main inspiration source, as well as the various sites it leads you too. I've actually had to stop myself from looking at it as it's driving me a little crazy that our house isn't going to be instantly (or ever) Pinterest worthy! 

Our new house is from the 50s so I've been more and more drawn to beautiful mid-century furniture and design recently, and therefore spend quite a lot of time scouring ebay and researching local furniture and antique markets. 

Aside from the house (I can't actually think of anything else at the moment, it's an all consuming beast) I turn to my favourite blogs and magazines for visual relaxation and inspiration. I need inspiration a good old fashioned walk always does me the world of good or drive out of the city watching the buildings fall away and the countryside rushing by relaxes me and gives me focus once more. Visiting markets or taking a stroll down my local varied high street full of charity shops and independent shops always helps too! 

3. How important is being creative to you & how do you blend this with your work/life/family balance?

I think I've always struggled with making sure I keep creative and doing. I'm quite a practical, planning sort of person which sometimes doesn't instantly conjure up the image of a creative person, and I sometimes forget that I need a creative outlet otherwise it all just gets too much. I'm a very visual person and need to see things in real life, like making lists etc and I get a bit angsty and impatient when things don't become tangible quick enough! But I do need to remember that being creative is a massive part of my personality and I love the whole dreaming/planning/making cycle. 

Saying that I also find the pressure of being creative ALL of the time quite hard, and found that especially when doing an art degree, it was hard to maintain a constant level of inspiration and motivation to keep working and creating. Something that I still find difficult to this day, say with this little blog. But I feel it's important to admit that sometimes you don't feel like being creative all the time, and that's ok! 



Finally I would love to pass this wonderful hop onto two of my favourite bloggers and inspirational ladies out there! 

Firstly the lovely Alexis of Something I Made, because her house is certainly very swoon worthy and has given me lots of inspiration! I love seeing little insights to her family life and their adventures in London and beyond! 

Secondly, Lia from Tangerine Canteen, with whom I've had the pleasure of making a 'real life' friend! If I need to jazz up our weekly dinners hers is always my first stop for recipe inspiration, and ones that I actually do try out and make often! The weekly collection of internet finds are always inspiring too. 

All you have to do is answer these same questions, and post with your answers by next Monday the 14th, and tag two more bloggers to play along!