6 Worthwhile Hobbies That Every Mum Should Consider

Photo by micheile dot com on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

Mothers are usually never off their motherhood duties, which can feel a little all-consuming. It's very easy for a mother to forget about herself and focus on meeting her children's and her family's needs. In such instances, mothers can experience intense burnout that keeps them away from the one thing they cherish the most; mothering. It is time to evaluate how you spend your time as a mum and how to factor in taking care of yourself. This post brings to light some worthwhile hobbies you can start in the comfort of your home.

Crafting

Yes, every mum has a child who comes home with one or two craft assignments. Some mums love doing these crafts even without their children having them as homework. Such mums will have a great time picking up crafting as a hobby. This helps to give you a worthwhile creative outlet. Some great crafting hobbies you can easily take up include how to crochet, painting, pottery making, refinishing furniture, calligraphy, and card making, amongst others. The best part about these crafts is that they can be sold online for some supplementary income and double as great gift options for loved ones. 

Gardening

 

Gardening as a mother is an enjoyable experience. Indeed, trying to tend to a garden while caring for a newborn can be a lot, as you might hardly have time for watering your flowers and taking out weeds. Expert plant mums who are actual mothers, too, suggest picking gardening as a hobby after your kids have matured a little. When your kids are old enough to entertain themselves, you will have more than enough time to take care of your plants. Gardening is known to be highly therapeutic, and it's also known to be a great form of exercise. Lastly, growing things in your home is a great way to inspire your kids to eat more organic foods while helping you save money on grocery shopping. 

Enjoying our Time at Masterpiece Pottery Painting Studio - East Sussex

The girls received some money for Christmas and from the first envelope opened Miss E was adamant that we would have to head over to Masterpiece pottery painting studio, near Hailsham in East Sussex. It's somewhere we've been a couple of times before and enjoyed, so I was happy to promise that we would go over there during the Christmas school break.

Pottery Studio
Masterpiece is a pottery painting studio based on the Holmes Hill Estate, on the A22 heading from Eastbourne to Lewes. There is an abundance of free parking and also onsite is a furniture store, fabric warehouse, cafe and a couple of nice lakes where you can sit or walk. You're always best to call first and book in so that a table can be ready for you but on occasions where we have turned up without a booking, we have been able to be accommodated, just maybe on a shared table.

A Perfect French Holiday for Crafters and Artists

If like me, you're an amateur crafter who enjoys a bit of me-time with paints or pottery then I’ve discovered the perfect break for you. Nestled in the beautiful French countryside by the picturesque beaches of Vias Plage is Camping Club Farret that we recently stayed at with Eurocamp.

We took this family break with the intention of enjoying all the regular fun of a Eurocamp parc - amazing pools, kids clubs, fun evening entertainment, play parks and a beautiful holiday parc to rest at. I had no idea when we booked that there would be the most amazing opportunities to get creative!

The Atelier Creatif run by a lovely German woman called Sabine is fantastic. For six days a week (it’s closed on Sundays) who can go along from 9-11am and 3-5pm and get involved with whatever takes your fancy.

This is Sabine with my daughters, teaching them to tie-dye silk

How to make a New Parents Survival Kit for under £5

Last year some friends of mine were expecting their first baby and the Mum-to-be was quite apprehensive about having her first baby. She isn't the most confident of women but I just knew that having her babe would be the making of her. I wanted to get them a gift but there wasn't anything material that they needed and all I really wanted to do was give her something that would encourage her to trust her instincts and to realise she would know best for her baby.

I therefore came up with the idea of giving her a New Parents Survival Kit, full of reassuring tokens to symbolise all the wonderful times ahead and qualities that the new parents already have but maybe don't realise. As my friends are Christians, I created a Christian new parents survival kit but you can tailor the kit to any faith or none.

My friends loved this gift and it was so inexpensive to make that I am making more this year for other friends who are expecting babies.

How to make sandcastle flags (for the non-crafty family)

If we are honest I am a little late getting this post up on my blog but seeing as we are having an Indian summer right now, I'll go for it.

Here is an easy crafty activity that I do with the kids each summer. I am not at all a crafting guru and this is super simple and hardly costs a penny, so any regular mum like me can have a go!

Every child I have met so far seems to love playing with sand and of course a trip to the beach is even more fun.  I recall wonderful times as a child going to the seaside with my family and I have very fond memories of making sandcastles with my Dad.  He is a bit of a sandcastle hero really and even now 30 years later he is still enjoying making them but with my kids now.

Whilst Dad mostly did the hard work digging moats and crafting the multi layer castles I always enjoyed the final decoration and would collect shells and stones and also place small flags on the sandcastles.  We used to buy a little pack of these flags and I recall they used to be pretty expensive.  When JJ was first old enough I knew I wanted him to have the fun of flags too but I did not want to spend out on them, so each year we sit down and make some flags. Here's how.....

My creative kids #ColourMeInRK

My children love a challenge and they adore doing crafty things, so when I showed my twin girls the 2 boxes of Rice Krispies that I had for them to colour in and enter the #ColourMeInRk competition sponsored by Kellogg’s and hosted by BritMums they were up for the challenge.  Just one small problem I had not banked on my 8 year old boy, JJ wanting to join in as well.  Luckily our local supermarket was able to provide another Rice Krispies colour me in box and the three of them sat down Sunday morning before Church and started to colour in.

I took loads of photos so I could show you the intense looks on their faces, the beautiful creative process that they went through and I am gutted to say that my dh seems to have wiped them off. He was doing me a favour on Monday, transferring all my photos from my laptop to the external hard drive and sadly when I went to use them today in this post they are not there, nor on the camera.  Oh well, life goes on.  Luckily I do have the beautifully finished Rice Krispie boxes and I can show you their creations that they are so proud of.  When I needed to open a new box of Rice Krispies this morning for breakfast there was a big debate about whose box we should eat first!

I had to laugh at the way they took this task so seriously, they have no idea what they can win, I just told them that if one of them won they could go to the local toy shop and choose a small something each and that we would be having a nice holiday this year. As they all sat at the table with their pens, glue, glitter etc every so often I would hear a small argument break out ‘I’m going to win’, ‘no, I’m going to win’.  Not once did it occur to them that someone outside of our family may win.  Of course we had the usual conversation about us all being winners for making a good effort and having fun in the process.  But I know this is not enough for JJ, he has already asked me since when the close date is and when will he find out if he has won.

If you fancy the chance of winning £500 or a years supply of Rice Krispies then your child can join in with this competition too. All they have to do is colour in one of the Rice Krispie Colour Me In boxes (or you can draw the Rice Krispie figures if you do not have one), blog and tweet about it using #ColourMeInRK hashtag and add to the BritMums linky. The close date is 31 July 2012 and you can read the full terms and conditions on the BritMums post.

So without further ado I give you the entries from my children -

First up is JJ's creation and he is aged 8

....and he told me to ensure that I showed you that there are glittery bits and that he has done some patterns in the colouring too.  I offered him some craft bits so he could decorate the box more but he said it was a colouring competition. Here is the close up -

And here is Miss M's, she is my more flighty and stubborn child and refused to colour in the third man - Crackle. Aged 4 when she did this.

Lastly Miss E's creation.  She is of the ilk that 'more is more' and wanted to add all sorts to the box, I think Hello Kitty makes a great addition, don't you?  Aged 4 when she did the colouring.

There we go, we hope you like the children's creations.


Disclosure: We received Rice Crispies and 2 art kits in exchange for taking part in this competition.

Explaining Easter to very young children

Image supplied by Customer

This is a sponsored guest post

Something which happened the other day made me think of what the concept of Easter meant to me as a very young child.

Part of my job involves writing content and articles for a company which makes arts and crafts for young kids. There is a definite seasonal element to the crafts so each March I find myself writing a lot of Easter-related content; often about bunny rabbits and chicks and other colourful Easter symbols which are great fun for young hands to make.

Which is what I found myself doing last weekend when my five-year-old nephew Charlie wandered into my study. He asked what I was doing and when I told him he had another question.
“What exactly is Easter?”

#SilentSunday...

Silent Sunday = One photo, no words, taken in the last week! 

My How Times Have Changed!

So here is my Proud Mummy wall.  Never would I have imagined that I would have such tat on my wall (even if my kitchen is the only room left needing a makeover!) and love it!

Wordless Wednesday: Love Your World

OK, this post isn't wordless. Hands up I told a fib! I wanted to make it wordless but wondered if any of you would know what the pictures were about! lol

Today, we went to messy Church in our local town. This is a fab initiative that is run nationwide. You arrive after school finishes, have squash and tea. Make crafts for an hour - loads of fun doing messy activities, then we have an interactive story and song and finish by having tea all together. How fab no cooking for Mich today!

The picture above shows all the fab things my children got to make and take home, including bird feeders.

These two pictures show all the children's activities from their time in messy Church today.

If anyone local would like to come with me, once a month on a Wednesday just shout. You do not have to be a Christian, but you do have to enjoy fun!!!!

Our weekend in pictures

It has been a lovely weekend. Fun, family and friends - just how it should be! (and now I need to do the ironing! lol)

We took a walk round the local lake and we bumped into loads of babies...

Had fun at a summer fete at a local school (the kids got temporary tattoos - the best 25p I have ever spent -so happy, does not even describe it!)
Worshipped at Church, the girls enjoy some flags!
and some junk modelling to finish off the fun...