"So, what do you do?"

This post is not really about my latest creative, erhm..creations but is sort of related to it. I've been dwelling on this of late and feel compelled/brave enough to put my thoughts into a post. Each September when T returns to school, as he becomes more independent, more grown up, I start to become a little more introspective about 'Me': my self-identity and how I spend my time.

This niggling little query at the back of my mind was thrust forcibly to the front of it whist completing an information form for T's  Beaver Scout group last week. As I scan over the questions in front of me, I think, "yep, easy, this will take a couple of minutes to complete":

Name? fine,

Address? fine

Emergency Contact Details? fine

..and then, there it is:

'Occupation?.......'

Now quite why the Beaver Scouts need to know what my occupation is, I do not know, but it did send me into something of a panic.  Ever since T arrived into our world and I stopped having what you might call a 'proper job', I've been stumped by that section when form-filling and broken into a cold sweat in any social situation when someone asks me ......

"What do you do?"

Now, of course, these simple four words are just an ice-breaker, a normal question asked by normal people who are taking an interest in the person stood in front of them.  For me though it  feels like I'm suddenly under some sort of FBI interrogation and feel the need to justify my place in the world, my identity, my existence, my day to day life. I'm not talking here about the whole, 'Non-working Mum thing' and 'what they do all day' The only people that will ever understand and 'get' this, is other women in the same situation so I'm not even going to go there. No, I'm talking about a label, a definition, a basic, succinct reply. Six years on from having my son, I still don't have a satisfactory response:

Housewife?  Way too 1940s

Stay-At-Home-Mum? Sounds like I never leave the house and is more appropriate for those with babies, toddlers or pre-schoolers. (and by the way, who came up with this phrase? It and it's  shortened form: SAHM are both horrendous and so inaccurate)

Home-maker? Oh, pleeease

Domestic Engineer? I don't think so!

...and all of these labels just feel a little bit derogatory. They all just sound like I am on this planet to serve my Husband, my Child and make my home look nice. Which, whilst is a large part of what I do do on a day to day basis, it certainly isn't how I would wish to define myself (not that there is anything wrong in doing so, it just doesn't feel right for me)

So, I try to ignore the whole Mother/Wife bit and concentrate on the creative tinkerings side of things instead  but here, again, I find myself struggling to describe that element of 'What I do'.

Is it a hobby?

Is it a business?

Am I a Designer?

Am I a Crafter?

A Blogger?

So, I turn, as I always do when I want an answer to a question these days: (No, not a therapist, or a matriarchal Grandmother or a 'magic-8 ball'), but  to our friend 'google'....and after a bit of research, I find the answer:

I am a self-employed designer/maker of gifts and accessories.

It's not brilliant, it's not particularly catchy, it probably doesn't feature on too many on-line drop-down lists, but I like it.

I don't consider myself to be the sort of person who suffers with an Identity Crisis but as soon as I am asked to define myself; to pigeon hole exactly what I do...then I am....and that it turn leads so some (perhaps negative) overly self-indulgent analysis of my role in the world, my contribution, and whether I am content with it all. However, whilst I'm sure I will continue to do that from time to time, at least on this occasion the analysis and soul-searching (and google!) has provided me with a satisfactory, one line answer to that damn question!

It's been waaaay too long!

Ok, it would seem that keeping up with regular blogging lasted less than a year....but I do have a sort of valid excuse: We moved house in July and I had an awful lot to do clearing out 'stuff' from our old house, selling things, doing the conveyancing on behalf of solicitors who, it would seem, get paid a great deal of money to do absolutely nothing unless you constantly phone and email them (!!),  packing and then the mahooosive task of unpacking and cleaning the new house (WHY O WHY do people think it acceptable to move out of a home without properly cleaning it? I know I am slightly, ok quite a lot, OCD about cleanliness but this place was something else...) Anyway, I digress....We are now happily settled in our new home, T has returned to school after a fabulous 6 weeks off for the summer and whilst I have had time to make a few bits and pieces, I've only had time to update my Facebook page, rather than indulge in a whole blog post. 

So, here I am back with a quick update. (It has to be quick because I need to do the school run in about 20 minutes and abandoning my son in favour of blogging wouldn't go down well at the school gates!)  I've added some pics in below of some of the latest creations. Apologies to those who look at my FB page because most of these have already featured on there!

The early summer and spring time saw a bit of a baby boom amongst friends or friends of friends and I seemed to be making endless strings of personalised bunting for new babies. Really loved doing it though and the positive feedback from the recipients was well worth cutting out all those flags and letters!  I also started using some fabulous cotton fabric sheets that you can use in the home printer....these worked really well for printing on birth dates to the bunting to add that extra bit of personalisation.

I also had a request in the summer for some Back-to-School pencil cases. I've mentioned before how clothing and accessories for boys are really tricky unless you go down the branding/licensing route...and the pre-teen market is particularly hard to please.  I sat down with 10 year old Ben and had a chat about the sort of thing he might want...and ta-dah, came up with this design.  The fact that he described it as 'AWESOME' when I presented it too him, was heart-warming and made me want to jump for joy.  He is a lovely boy and might just have been trying to spare my feelings but he did seem to genuinely like it!

Of course, his younger sister, also needed her own pencil case too.  Found this lovely print by Michael Miller with lots of pretty colours for a 7 year old girl.

Since moving in to the new house, I've become slightly obsessed with creating mood-boards on Pinterest as inspiration for our new home decor.  Some of the rooms in the house are just great the way they are, but quite a few (6 to be precise) are in need of attention. Given that our budget is limited and that I am more than capable of a bit of DIY, I will be undertaking the redecoration myself. Although not quite the same as 'making' things, it is still a creative process and therefore I thought it would be an idea to record on here the transformations as they occur....as long as I remember to take the 'before', 'in progress' and 'after' photos of course!  I appreciate this isn't particularly interesting for anyone else and I'm not about to offer my skills as a Painter & Decorator, but it will serve as a nice record for me and give me a sense of satisfaction when I look back at the posts. 

First up, T's Room: Being the selfless mother that I am (??!!), I put any plans to decorate our bedroom on hold in favour of making our son's room look far more fabulous than it was. The huge smile, big hug, kiss and 'Thank You Mummy...I LOVE it! made the hard work all worth while.  I'll do a proper 'interiors' post once each room is finished (this one really does need a new carpet to finish it off and some new bedding, but that's on order and won't arrive until late October) Therefore, in the meantime, here's a few pics of how a 6 year old boys room is looking after about 10 days of sanding and painting!

I found this brilliant wall decal online through amazon..available from lots of sellers. It was a bit of a bugger to apply and I definitely lost a couple of Caribbean islands in the process but really pleased with the end result.

One of the door stops I'd made earlier in the year, fit in perfectly with the World Flags theme and contrasts brilliantly with the green feature walls.

Can't take the credit for the flag bunting...that was supplied by the Cotton Bunting Company. Great quality and vibrant colours.

I wanted to put up some inspirational wall art above T's bed. Love the sentiment on this piece from Lana's Prints via her eBay shop and thank you to her for printing it on the blue background especially for me.

So there we have it...I've broken the silence...back in the blogging game....and only just in time for that school run.....!