C*U*R*R*E*N*T*L*Y Blog Hop - Summer Dreaming

Yay another blog hop! I do enjoy these as it gives me a chance to catch up with the lives of my writerly pals. In this blog hop we share our summer dreams with you. Please have a read and enjoy. Then visit the other #Gr8Blogs listed at the end of this post for more Summer 2016 C*U*R*R*E*N*T*L*Y inspiration.

My plans for summer are like no other summer I have had before. Huge life changes are happening in the background and will come to fruition by the end of July. So what’s been going on these last couple of months, well….

Loving

I am still very much into my new found love of energy healing and meditation. I must write up a blog post about the star magic workshop I went on by Jerry Sergeant http://www.starmagichealing.com it was an experience that I will never ever forget and I didn’t realise how much my fear was controlling my life until I attended it. It gave me some extremely deep healing and really opened up my world in ways I didn’t think possible.  I have done a huge amount of self discovery this year through meditation, reading endless blogs / articles about the whole subject and connecting with fellow like minded people. I have made some amazing friendships through it and met some real characters! I feel completely at peace and things are all snowballing into a crazy little whirlwind of much fun and excitement, with the odd spell of fear thrown in ha ha. One of the biggest changes this year, is my growth in confidence! I am surprised with what I have been throwing myself into, there is no way in the world I would do half of the stuff I am doing this time last year. I am so curious to see just how far I will push myself with it all, but the more you face your fears the stronger you become, in all areas of your life.  My blog Don't Let Being an Introvert Stop You From Living Your Creative Dreams gives some tips for those introverts out there. Don't let this trait run your life for you, if I can do this... seriously, anyone can!

with thanks to http://anjaphotos.com/

Anticipating

So a couple of weeks ago I decided to do a new moon ritual to manifest my goals and desires. Are you starting to back away? Ha ha. Yes I know all this sounds nuts, but this is what is working for me and what I believe in, so as crazy as it sounds I feel I should share it.  I personally get affected by the moon a lot, and I know many others do too. It will either be a case of being on an extreme high or an extreme low or even full on internal rage…. It might just be a woman thing ha ha. So I came across a post advertising Sarah Prouts new moon manifestation ritual. The New moon was a few days away which was ideal timing to do the ritual so I thought, why not. You have to try these things right.

The new moon signifies beginnings so is the perfect time to put your intentions forward. I have had some major decisions to make this year and will be taking a massive leap of faith so I kinda need all the support I can get out there. So I thought lets give this a bash, what have I got to lose. The  ritual consisted of writing your 5 intentions out 55 times in a meditative state. I won’t give away all  the instructions as they are not mine to give away, but if you are interested then please do check Sarahs website out http://sarahprout.com

Now two have already come true! The first one was to lead a healthy lifestyle and stop smoking the second was to be chosen for an art competition that would be an opportunity of a life time. I can’t say too much as I am still waiting to see if I have made it to the finals, but I got as far as the 2^nd stage which I am absolutely blown away by. Out of over 1000 artists, I was chosen as one of the 200. Apologies for gloating, but I am so dam proud of myself! Anyway we will see what happens there, but it well and truly gave me the reassurance I needed for my plans this summer.

Reading

My intention of stopping smoking happened in an odd way. I put my intentions out to the universe and the next day I was struck down by an infection that literally wiped me out for a week. So while I was stuck in bed I thought I would try finding another hypnosis video for stopping smoking, I have tried them twice before and lasted a week and then the will power crumbled.

I stumbled across a video clip mentioning  Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Now any smokers out there will know how difficult it is to stop, I have lost count of the amount of times I have tried! Well this book was amazing! It encourages you to smoke the whole way through it which is every smokers dream ha ha

I just found it a fascinating read more than anything because it makes you really look at the whole psychology behind smoking and you start to see the truth for what it really is and that is MIND CONTROL! It really does make you look at smoking in a whole new way, fascinating stuff. Now you can’t force people to stop, you either want to do it or you don’t, but if you really do, then honestly… download the book! What  have you got to lose? If anything it really is a good read.

You are encouraged not to stop smoking until you finish the entire book and after that you set your stop date. I was very skeptical, but while I was reading it I was finding I didn’t really want to smoke even though I was being told to go and have one. When I finished  the book I was eager to start there and then and it has been so painless!  I won’t pat myself on the back yet as it has only been a week and a half but I will dedicate a blog to it when I reach a month, and I WILL reach it.

Making Me Happy

Everything is making me happy right now, my family, friends, the people I am meeting through my workshops and creative endeavours.  We recently went on a camping trip with some friends to the New Forest which was amazing. It was the children’s first camping trip and they absolutely loved it. We loved it so much, all of us are doing it again at the end of August. It was so lovely to get in touch with nature and to leave the gadgets behind. Days were spent on long walks followed by bbqs and pub lunches. Then the evening was spent playing cards and hanging out. Most people know my obsession with trees so this little trip was heaven on a plate for me. Beautiful part of the country!

We have started to become green fingered again and started doing bits and pieces in the garden. I have a little vegetable patch on the go which is lovely, hopefully we will have some tomatoes, green beans, pumpkin, courgettes, corn and strawberries on the go. We are also planning to deck out the side garden so that we can do some summer entertaining and for the childrens art workshops that I want to run from home.

August is going to be a month that I am a grin on legs. My sister is having a baby… yay!! So that is super exciting and my other sister is coming down for two weeks from Australia. I haven’t seen her for over a year so I cannot wait for that. My Mum is also back from Australia for a while so it will be so lovely having most of my family around me again.  Most of my family live in Australia which at times can be difficult as we are all very close, they are my best friends. Thank goodness for skype though, at least that makes things easier. August also marks the time that this bird finally flies. I think that is a rather nice little thought to end this blog post on.

Thank you to all who do read my blogs, if you have any questions at all on any of the subjects that I talk about or just want to connect with me then feel free to get in touch. I love getting to know new people and listening to their tales. Life is one big game and learning experience, there is nothing better than sharing it with people and just spreading the love.

Namaste

For more Currently -Summer 2016 inspiration, visit the #Gr8blogs below.

And hey, if you’re pumped about writing your own Currently - Summer 2016 post, just add your family-friendly Currently link to your blog post in the comment section. We’ll visit your blog and give you some blog love!

Auden Johnson, Dark Treasury
http://ow.ly/DQrK301hW8U

Cat Michaels, Cat’s Corner
http://goo.gl/2OIYQg  

Carmela Dutra, A Blog For Your Thoughts

http://carmeladutra.com/blog-post/currently-a-blog-hop-of-what-im-up-to/

Jd Holiday, JD Writers Blog

http://jdswritersblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/currently-what-im-up-to.html

Julie Gorges, Baby Boomer Bliss

http://babyboomerbliss.net/currently-how-im-finding-my-bliss-the-summer-of-2016/ 

Station Creation Blog Hop - Our Creative Spaces

I don’t know about you, but I just love seeing the work spaces of other creative folk…. from getting more of an insight into the lives of my online buds to being in awe of how the professionals have created their perfect workspace. This has inspired another blog hop between my writerly friends and I on sharing our creation stations with all of you.

So I would like to take you all on a little journey around my current workspace, going through how I have been working in the past, how I work now, to my dream workspace. Please also visit the awesome bloggers at the end of the post to find ideas and inspiration with how they create their perfect space to get their creative juices flowing.

Creative Space 1

So how have I worked in the past… well… it’s a good job I have a sense of humor that’s all I can say! My workspace has for the last 6 years, been, what one can only describe as a tip! I have literally taken over our kitchen / dining area and filled it with my endless supplies of art materials. Having a husband who is extremely laid back has been a god send as a tidy house is not something our family has been used to, between me and the kids we really do know how to trash a house in style.

Countless evenings were spent of me losing art materials down the sofa and wondering around the kitchen muttering a few choice words of where I had left the last sketch, rubber, pencil, tablet.. you name it… I could lose it. Then I had the delights of sitting down for all of five minutes and then being told someone was hungry, bored, had just been bashed over the head by their brother / sister. Yes, very hard to concentrate! I would paint on the easel in the kitchen, living room… anywhere that fits really…paint splashes would appear everywhere no matter how careful I thought I was. Yes our last house was very, very... erm lived in, shall we say.

Creative Space 2

Well last year we moved house and I had a spare room to use as an art studio but due to a complicated house move I wasn't able to use the room until last month. At long last, I now have my own room to create in and we have an area just for eating! The house is tidier, we sit down and eat our meals on a clear table and have more family meals together….it truly is a transformation.  I had always dreamed of the moment I would have my own private space to work in, but after so many years of working on a sofa I was convinced that I wouldn’t use it, thinking that it would take the pleasure of painting away, as it would then turn things more “worky”.  I think I just told myself that to appreciate what I had at the time. Well, I take back my words because I absolutely love it! I still need to put my stamp on my room, I want to dedicate a wall to all the gifts I have been given over the years by artist friends. Then It will be my little haven, it already has a lovely calming vibe to it.

Creative Space 3

I get so much more done now, with not as many interruptions or distractions, although the kids do seem to be hijacking my room quite a lot… lock on the door sorts that out ha ha! Seriously though, even the children are benefiting from it, my daughter has started writing again and my son has started doing his homework in there and even started sketching again. Not sure how long all that will last, we will see.

The next step will be to have a bigger space in the garden to run workshops, but that will be a long way down the line, or I might even look into renting a bigger space. It all depends how my new plans evolve, there are big dreams that I am working on right now. For the now I am perfectly happy with what I have got, it suits my needs perfectly. All I have to watch out for is not hiding in there too much, so I am trying to find the perfect work / home life balance.  I believe I will have this in oooh, lets say, five months ha ha. I will write a blog later on this year about everything that is going on in the background, for now I will have to go quiet for a bit while I put my plans into action.

So I shall leave this post on that cryptic little nugget he he. Will be back with more posts on inspiration, energy healing, living your dream, stepping out of your comfort zone, empowerment and taking control of your life later this year when hopefully I will have the proof to back me up.

Looking forward to seeing the work spaces of the other hoppers.

Thanks for stopping by.  For more ideas and inspiration about writerly work spaces, please visit these #Gr8blogs today.

Auden Johnson,

Dark Treasury

Cat Michaels

Cat's Corner

Julie Gorges

Baby Boomer Bliss

K. Lamb

K. Lamb, Author

Leigh Shearin

Leigh Shearin, Writer

If you have a PG-13rated blog about work space, we'd love to have you post your blog link in the comments section below, and we'll give you some blog loving!

How to involve children in your creative process

Do you ever have writer or artists block?... 

I know I do!! Not so much with thinking up illustrations but the times I have tried to sit down and write a story I am as much use as a chocolate teapot. I used to love writing as a child so you would think this would come naturally but I find it very hard to get that initial concept for the story line down. Once I have it then it all flows but getting it is the tricky bit! I tried writing my first book around five years ago and I really struggled. 

So what did I do….. I asked my son Dylan who was five at the time to come up with a story. It took him seconds to come up with an idea and went something like this….

“ so there’s this penguin who wants to fly but he can’t…. so he travels to the jungle and meets a peacock and he teaches him how to fly”

My initial thoughts were…. Okaaaay!... that was a pointless exercise!  But at the time Dylan had a fascination with peacocks and I couldn’t find them as a character in any picture book out there so I sat down and I started writing and you know what.. we came up with a really cute little story called Flic’s wish. It’s a book I would still like to illustrate one day. That was my first attempt at writing as a grown up and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it but full credit goes to Dylan as I would never have thought the initial idea up in a million years.

It’s a similar story with my latest book Animania. The original idea is something Dylan came up with a few years back. We were having one of our nonsense chats on the way to school and he mentioned how strange it would be to mix animals up. So we landed up discussing what animals we could make up, what we could call them and what they would look like etc We came up with characters such as the prickly python, antosaurus and fluffa fish.  A little light bulb switched on flashing "picture book" So I was going to write a story based on that idea but after doing some research I noticed that there was already a book out on the market like that…typical!. So I have now gone with a rhyming animal alphabet book with a twist. Making it a fun educational tool, if anything I actually prefer this concept so it was  a blessing in disguise.

My daughter Felicity aka Flic also has her characters included which are the tickly bears and hefty weirdos. These names came up when we were reading one of her bedtime stories. I can’t remember the exact wording but the characters were a hippo and a panda. She muddled her words up some how and came up with the names hefty weirdos and tickly bears. I fell in love with them and they have been used many a time ever since. So when Animania came up it was only natural that they were to be included.

My children are a massive part of my inspiration, I very much doubt I would have thought of these ideas up myself and I am sure my illustrations are influenced a lot by them. So how can you too gain inspiration from the little people in your life….

How to get children involved with the creative process

Have brainstorming sessions

Children love being part of the creative process and they have the best imaginations in the world. Make the most of this and utilise it. If you have absolutely no idea of a concept then ask them to come up with a story, simples….you will be very surprised with how quick they can do this. Or start off with a main character, discuss what they should look like, do they have any special talents? What kind or personality do they have? What do they look like? What do they love doing? etc From there you can start to build a story. You will be very surprised how a little brain storming session like this can open up a floodgate of inspiration.

I tend to have our little "chats" on our walks to and from school or while they are having a bath etc. The key is for them to enjoy the experience so by turning it into a “game” you will most probably find the best ideas come up. I find this works better for us rather than sitting  down with a notepad and pen and quizzing them, this turns the experience more into a homework session, and that is a big no no with my lot. So try to make it as relaxed as possible, and keep mental notes that you can jot down after.

Turn it into a game

One of the games my children enjoy is making up a story by taking it in turns  to come up with the next scene in a story. So for example I will say “Once upon a time there was a little mouse called tufty who lived with his mum dad and sister in an old abandoned farm”

Then they would then continue with the next scene …. “ Tufty loved going on adventures with his best friend Chip, one day they decided to go to the seaside.

You get the jist. More often than not the stories just get ridiculous and make no sense whatsoever but you will be surprised how they might just trigger something off for a concept.

All children will enjoy doing this, they don’t have to be a budding author or illustrator. Dylan doesn’t enjoy writing but he has such a good imagination on him and is a fantastic story teller so if you see this in your child please encourage it. If they aren’t a keen writer then play games like this to feed their imagination.  

Photocopy your sketches to use as colouring pages

Some children enjoy drawing more than others. Flic loves drawing and painting and will more often than not sit with me while I am painting. I let her colour in my sketch book so when I have my pencil draft I will transfer it over to my heavyweight paper and work on that and she will sit there and colour in my original sketch. 

I also try and get photocopies of my initial sketches as they make great colouring in pages. Their friends often ask if I have any of my colouring sheets to use so if your child has an interest in drawing this would be a great way to get them involved in your creative process.

I always feel guilty when I am working on a  book that I am not spending enough time with the children but by doing things like this you are making the whole experience more interactive, they get a bit more mum time and you in return are rewarded with the best inspiration available out there!

If you don’t have children then there are plenty out there you can borrow he he! Nephews, nieces, cousins, everyone must have  a tiny person somewhere they can reach out to. Now go out there and get inspired!

Have you involved children in your creative process? Perhaps you have a game or tips you would like to share. If so please leave a comment :)