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Living my best life - the pressures of being a content creator

Why creators shouldn’t be criticised for posting their best life

November 23, 2018

The reality of my October is this: I spent a miserable month in a block of flats with paper-thin walls and not getting much sleep due to the noises; a tiny bed and inability to relax in such a soulless place. What you see of my October is quite different: Photos of me smiling in outfit posts on my Instagram and blog; photos of beautiful landscapes and sunsets; blog posts about pretty parks and interesting places to visit, and youtube videos showing me being (mainly) positive. Creators get a lot of stick in the media for giving an unrealistically happy, positive, perfect image of life, but at the end of the day, would you actually want it any differently?

Response to Sara Tasker

A response to Sara Tasker’s podcast episode with Lucy Sheridan; Hashtag Authentic

October 19, 2018

I adore Sara Tasker’s podcasts, but when I saw the title of this particular one, ‘A Cure For Comparisonitis’, I very nearly didn’t listen. Whenever the subject of comparison comes up, there is one particular phrase that is always mentioned. And it makes me scream and weep with frustration. It’s this: ….

craft storage solutions

Craft storage solutions for organising and sorting out my crafting stash

September 27, 2018

Craft supplies multiply when you’re not looking, don’t they? Well mine certainly have, and they were taking up too much space in my sewing room. That’s mainly because my fabric stash is currently doing the same thing! However, I decided it was time to separate the business from the hobby, and relocate my crafty bits and bobs….

black and white photography project

What to do when your photos don’t match your Instagram! (A black and white photography project)

September 1, 2018

The use of Instagram means something different to different people, and I’ll write more about my feelings on that in another post, but briefly, I’ll tell you that my Instagram, @HelenHobden is fairly curated with some of my best photography included. However, whilst away in Connecticut, slouched on the hotel-room armchair, having a break from typing; I realised that the simple scene with my feet up on the arm would look great as a square-cropped photo in grainy high-contrast black and white….

Mirror reflection - challenges of self love

The challenges of self love

August 14, 2018

‘Do you think I’m pretty?” The nine year old girl asks eagerly. Her parents had just told her older sister she was looking pretty that day. It was a compliment she had never heard for herself, and is keen to be included. Her cheeks are pink from the uphill walk and her face clashes with her red tracksuit (bought for comfort and ease of washing). Her parents don’t lie. ‘It’s what’s inside that counts,’ her Mummy says….

british blogger sitting on the grass under a blossom tree

3 reasons to be glad of a wet bum

Something dawned on me at Glastonbury Festival on the Thursday night last year and this is the story behind it: Rain and I were sitting in a field on our little fold-up seats, surrounded by all sorts of weird and wonderful vehicle creations waiting for Johnny Depp to appear (in actual real life, right in front of us) to introduce The Libertine, soon to be shown on the massive screen in front of the ever-growing crowd. All of a sudden, a woman amongst the group of friends sitting near us jumped up, saying something along the lines of, ‘I think someone’s spilt their drink here – I’ve got a wet bum.’…..

handmade thank you cards with zig brush pens

Zig Kuretake Clean Colour watercolour brush pens review & a handmade thank you card idea

After some research, I put the Zig Kuretake Clean Color real brush watercolour brush pens on my wishlist and was lucky enough to receive a pack from my cousin for my birthday. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted brush pens like this! I think it must have been an episode of Blue Peter when they showed an artist who decorated narrow boats with beautifully crafted swirls that inspired me to recreate the style as best I could. When I grow up I want to paint narrow boats!….

Magnolia flower bud for silence poem

Silence is more beautiful than any song

After the entire restaurant hears a plate crash in the kitchen. When the final and most devastating insult is slung in an argument. When there’s an unexpected pause in traffic during rush hour. When you remember…..

Derwent Inktense pencils review

Review of the Derwent Inktense ink pencils

Drawing and painting was a hobby of mine that I spent an awful lot of hours on when I was a child. I took GCSE and A-level Art, but since then, I have rarely allowed myself the time to just enjoy it again. You may already know that I have an Etsy shop where I sell my pyrographed items, which often is a form of drawing, but when I’m making something to sell, it’s never quite as fun! I have resolved to stop thinking of time spent drawing and painting as an indulgence, and started allowing myself some free time to enjoy myself and relax. So last year, whilst away in the Lake District, I treated myself to some new art supplies from the Derwent shop in Keswick, and following my discovery of the Derwent Inktense sticks, I put the Derwent Inktense pencils on my wishlist. Chris obliged with them as a gift on our wedding anniversary, and here’s what I think of them so far…

British lifestyle blogger

Fourteen years of blogging – why do I do it?

Happy Birthday When I Grow Up blog! Yes, if you can be bothered, you can click on the ‘Archives’ button over there on the right and see my first feeble offerings beginning on the 7th April 2004. I don’t know anyone who’s been blogging that long! We didn’t even own a digital camera then, so none of the posts have photos to go with them for a while! Many people talk about needing a creative outlet as their reason why they started a blog. Well fourteen years ago I had recently done my A-level Art and was on my second year of a part-time degree in Creative Writing with a novel about to be published; so I can’t really site that as my reason. My kids were eight and five, but ‘Mummy blogging’ wasn’t yet a thing, let alone a thing that occurred to me to want to do, so talking about parenting wasn’t my impetus either. At the end of the day, I suppose it all boils down to the simple love of writing…..

review of things are what you make of them by adam j. kurtz

A review of ‘Things are what you make of them’ – Life advice for Creatives by Adam J. Kurtz

Rain kindly bought this book for me for Mothers’ Day, and I’ve since managed to fit in the odd five minutes here and there to read it. That’s one good thing about Things Are What You Make Of Them – it doesn’t take long to read! Oh that makes me sound like I don’t like it, which isn’t true. It’s a book for the current generation who take their entertainment and information in snippets; in bite-size chunks of Instagram stories. There are even perforated edges so you can choose your favourite little pages of words of wisdom to put up on your copper magnet board next to the foiled print that says Eat Sleep Create….

Teen mom

How I’d do things differently if I wasn’t a teenage Mum

I’ve never really considered being a Mummy blogger – I’m not sure why – it just wasn’t what I wanted to write about; however this topic of conversation came up in the car a while ago, and as it was Mothers’ Day on Sunday, I thought I might do something a bit different and write about the subject in a blog post! Yes I am in a category. I am a statistic of the 90’s. I was a teenage Mum….